Wednesday, September 28th, 2005

About Today

I’m still catching up on stuff that happened while I was away. But at least I’m not jet lagged anymore. Much.

I may have missed The National’s show in Toronto a couple weeks ago, but apparently I still got a t-shirt out of the deal. Nice. Chart took the time to talk to the band in advance of the show and as they continue their North American tour, press clippings follow – here’s one from Salt Lake City Weekly last week.

I’ve also found a couple videos from Alligator (a 2005 best-of shoo-in. Yes we’re talking about that already) – a gorgeous one for “Daughters Of The Soho Riots” and another for “Lit Up”, featuring a different, friendlier mix of the song behind it. Beggars has also updated the band’s e-card to feature a remix of “Secret Meeting”, which they’re offering as an digital single with a live recording of “Geese Of Beverly Road” from a 2004 Black Session as a b-side.

And to everyone who’s gone to see the National/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on tour and left before the headliners came on? You are foolish. Billboard and Pitchfork agree.

Also under “missed shows” – Sigur Ros. I’m not certain Takk has earned a place on the 2005 best-of list, though. I’m not feeling it in that way yet, hopefully “yet” being the operative word. Paste and Pitchfork both have interviews with the band and you can see a 30-minute long electronic press kit (Real) for Takk detailing the making of the album. And the band has been keeping a tour diary over the course of their North American tour.

Junkmedia and Pitchfork both ran interviews last week with Carl Newman of The New Pornographers. Twin Cinema continues to grow on me and inch up my 2005 best-of list, which we continue to talk about. But at least I didn’t miss their show in a couple weeks at the Phoenix. Getting more and more excited about that one.

Nellie McKay evidently doesn’t care about getting Pretty Little Head on my or anyone’s 2005 best-of lists… the new release date for her second album is December 27.

Also going down in the past fortnight, the Austin City Limits festival featuring performances from, um, everyone. The Austin Chronicle ran brief features on some of the participants, including Arcade Fire and Doves (via Achtung Baby!).

Neil Young tells JAM how he took a journey through the past to revisit his early days in Winnipeg informed the writing of his new album, Prairie Wind. Reviews are decent, though I’m not sure it’s something I need to own. I haven’t bought a new Neil release since 1995’s Mirror Ball, and quite honestly, I rarely listen to anything later than 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps. I’m thrilled that Neil remains creatively vital, but I’m just partial to the old stuff, I guess.

PopMatters says it’s tough being a Malaysian Death Cab fan.

The rest of my Europe photos are now up.

np – The American Analog Set / Set Free

By : Frank Yang at 9:28 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. 9/28/05 9:48 am

     American Analog Set says:

    Fans of quality indie-rock should really check this band out. Their

    new album Set Free is quite good. In fact, it’s American Analog’s

    best album yet. New listeners can hop right in and not miss a beat.

    Adding to all this indie-rock goodness is that the album is being put

    out by the coolest label on the planet Arts & Crafts

  2. 9/28/05 10:33 am

     punky! says:

    You did indeed miss a FANTASTIC performance by The National at the Horseshoe. Far better than CYHSY were anyway. I left The National show with so much energy and humming so many tunes…I really loved that show.

  3. 9/28/05 11:12 am

     Andrew says:

    Sigur Ros were, as usual, amazing. The new songs really came to life live. Glosoli and Saeglopur in particular.

  4. 9/28/05 12:55 pm

     kathryn says:

    alligator’s definitely got a place on my year end list as well. and the national put on a great live show in nyc a few weeks ago. also, the secret meeting single is available on iTunes.

  5. 9/28/05 12:59 pm

     graig says:

    pictures of the National@Horseshoe gig and a mediocre review (the concert was awesome, the review is mediocre) over at my site (got hacked yesterday and server admin is messing around so it’s up and down for the next few days)

    http://…/

  6. 9/28/05 4:05 pm

     Fenton says:

    I saw both Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The National at separate shows in the same week at the same venue.

    CYHSY was good, but The National was the show of the year in Boston so far.

    I got a two minute interview with them and wrote it up over on MusicCherry.com if anyone’s interested in a full report:

    http://…/

  7. 9/28/05 7:56 pm

     Mike says:

    For all I know American Analog Set are an amazing band(I still haven’t heard them yet), but that first comment above seems so obviously like an advertisment…so this is what’s become of blog comments? For all I know, it could be a fan but the anonymous username’s highly suspicious.

  8. 9/28/05 8:02 pm

     Frank says:

    yeah, I thought that comment was pretty funny in its obviousness. Plus I got two for the new Ryan Adams album in the last couple days. I don’t know what kind of street team their management is enlisting, but I’m not holding it against the artists. the new AmAnSet IS good.

  9. 9/29/05 10:01 am

     Sandra says:

    CHYSY were fine, kinda sloppy, and that voice kinda grates after a while. But The National…. WOW!! Saw them in Montreal in large part because they’d been so enthusiastically recommended here. I actually had no idea what to expect (hadn’t gotten around to listening to anything), and wound up being completely blown away. Thanks!!!!!

  10. 9/29/05 1:34 pm

     marathonpacks says:

    I take issue with Josh Klein’s Billboard article reviewing the show. Without going into details here, I’ll re-direct:

    http://…/

  11. 10/4/05 8:47 pm

     American Analog Set says:

    Easy Mike. Just buy the album and thank me later …lol…

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