We All Want Someone To Shout For

I’ve been meaning to make a nice post where I vent my frustrations with ticketmaster. I’ve been dealing with them for many years, like the rest of hungry, passionate music fans who spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of their hard earned cash towards their favorite bands each year.

Until 2009, I didn’t have problems with getting tickets. I was always up for the 10AM/Noon sales, and got tickets whenever I needed to. That wasn’t the problem. The major problem was the ridiculous fee’s that they constantly tacked onto the bill. Transaction charge, convenience fee, service charge. Thanks for being convenient to us, but fuck you! You make enough money, why are you trying to rip us off even more? Ticket prices are already steep enough as it is. They are robbing us blind. Charging a concert goer 10 bucks every time they buy tickets certainty adds up.

I dealt with that and just sucked it up because I go to a lot of shows and have gotten used to it. However, now I’m starting to have some ill fated luck getting shows. For the 2nd straight time, ticketmaster has caused Vampire Weekend fans like my friends and myself lots of grief. Last November I logged in to get tickets for their bowery show literally when they went on sale and had no luck. I eventually got United Palace, but I could tell that there was something wrong with the ticketmaster system. I noticed ever since ticketmaster started doing their “American Express Presale” (um, why?), it’s been harder to get tickets.

Today is the day I’m official annoyed at ticketmaster. I tried to get tix for Vampire Weekend show at Radio City. Me and my friends all got sold out. We logged in literally when the clock struck noon, logged in, and  got nothing. Um, wait, what? All sold out instantly. I know Vampire Weekend got popular on us, but damn. They sold out Radio City in the matter of SECONDS? If they didn’t have the ridiculous American express presale, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But part of me thinks the presale may not be totally to blame, although it is an incredibly annoying feature. I think that Ticketmaster went through another malfunction, similar to what happened with Bruce Springsteen tickets last year. I logged on literally at noon, and couldn’t even get nosebleed section tickets? I think something fishy went down. AKA ticketmaster fucked up.

The system that they use for tickets is very poor. It runs slow, and seems to have plenty of errors. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten bad seats on a first try, refreshed the page, and got BETTER tickets. How the hell does that makes sense? Then there are times like today when you show up on time but still get locked out, seemingly because the site runs slow for you. It is completely out of your hands, and it sucks.

I’ve been very fortunate and lucky with seeing Vampire Weekend. Chris Baio was the guy responsible for getting me free tickets to Terminal 5, and sending me the Contra promo. They play tons of free shows, such as the amazing Central Park show. So this isn’t the end of the world for me. Vampire Weekend are incredibly good to their fans. This isn’t me being mad at the band, it’s far from it. It’s more so a big Vampire Weekend fan who is disappointed he can’t even see his band play anymore, all because of a shitty ticket service. I miss the times where I bought Vampire Weekend tickets for a grant total of 15 dollars and got to talk to the band outside of Bowery. Good times.

I am very tired of Ticketmaster. I’m sure I am not alone either.

Thom Yorke’s side project band that accompanied him during his live gig a few months ago is now Thom’s official side project band and have a name. They went with Atoms For Peace (a song on The Eraser)! Pretty damn cool. Thom posted the info on the good old deadairspace. The band consists of Flea of the RHCP, Joey Waronker of R.E.M.,  Nigel Godrich (Radiohead’s producer) and Mauro Refosco.

For you fellow New Yorkers, you have a chance to catch this rare event. Thom Yorke and Flea together? Is that worth the hefty 48 dollars they are asking on ticketmaster? That is without the annoying fee’s too! YIKESI’m debating on going to the first Roseland show, but I don’t know if I can afford that. I would really love to go see Thom Yorke do his live thing, but don’t know if it’s worth over 50 bucks. What do you think?

They play at Roseland April 5 & 6. The rest of the dates can be found here.

I just drove home from college in this semi-blizzard. I will make a post explaining it in a few minutes. I came home to the delightful surprise of a new leak for the Gorillaz new album, Plastic Beach. My buddy Rogo notified me via twitter that the new track was posted. BBC premiered the song on the radio today and the band immediately uploaded it onto their official youtube. They know how to keep it real and promote their stuff in this day and age. As expected, people ripped mp3′s out of the video and here we are!

The song starts of with some audio for a cheesy breakfast commercial promoting “a hot home-cooked breakfast”. Then the song kicks in with a ?uestlove like beat and some rhyme spittin’ from De La Soul. The song is smooth and cool just like their delivery. The smoothness continues with the sugary sweet chorus delivered by Mr. Gorillaz, Damon Alburn, and Gruff Rhys from the awesome Welsh band, Super Furry Animals.

This rocks. I’m totally psyched to get Plastic Beach. This thing is going to deliver some classic cuts, I can feel it! I loved “Stylio” but I think this one blows it out of the water!

[mp3] : Gorillaz – Superfast Jellyfish (Feat. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)

Get on the pre-order over at insound. Grab it on regular CD or the Deluxe CD!

Best Coast are coming to a city near you! Beth and Bobb along with guest drummer (Ali Koehler from Vivian Girls) are coming to the East Coast starting with NYC on April 1st, then hitting up the Mid-West, ending the tour in Chicago on 4/16.

Tour Dates + MP3 are posted below. I am home for spring break when they are in NYC so I am thinking of going to one the NYC shows (Bowery, Knitting Factory) or the Montclair NJ show at the weirdly titled venue : The Meat Locker. I hope that they play plenty of the cuts from the new album, along with all the classic singles that they have already released!

4/01 NEW YORK, NY, Bowery Ballroom (w/ Japandoids)
4/03 PHILA, PA,Barbary
4/05 MONTCLAIR, NJ, The Meat Locker
4/06 BROOKLYN, NY, Knitting Factory
4/07 NEW YORK, NY, Mercury Lounge
4/12 MONTREAL, QC, The Cove
4/13 TORONTO, ON, The Garrison
4/14 DETROIT, MI, Magic Stick4/16 CHICAGO, IL, Schubas

[mp3] : Best Coast – Sun Was High (So Was I)

Watch the very artistically cool video for jj’s “let go”. It fits the mood of the song, just right!

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My friends Rogo and Confusion have the shoutbox application added to their blogs, and it seems like its a good feature to have to interact with your readers. So, I figured I would give it a go as well. It’s under my facebook fan page (become a fan if you haven’t already!) on the sidebar. Having this shoutbox makes sense considering my blogs title.

If you are to lazy to email me or tweet me on twitter, you can use the shoutbox to SHOUT at me. Use it to say hi, to tell me to stop being lazy and post more, to tell me that radiohead gave away a free mp3. Whatever! I’m hoping this thing can be a cool way for me to shoot the shit with my fans.

Or it could be completely useless and ignored by all. Oh well.

We Are Scientists are back with a new record called Barbara. The album is the band’s 4th, was recorded in New York, London, and Los Angeles, produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, and features drumming from former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows, who is now an official member of the band. A pretty solid addition to the band, I gotta say!

The first single from the album is called “Rules Don’t Stop”. Zane Lowe played the song on BBC, and a devoted We Are Scientist fan smartly ripped the song. It is a very short song, but they pack in plenty of hooks and fiery instrumentation into it. The quality isn’t CD quality, but it is certainly listenable. The song is hits the mark and is instantly gratifying. It is filled with sharp guitars, a funky bassline, and Keith Murray’s usual sexy vocals that is sure to get the girls going. Murray makes it clear through the catchy chorus that rules don’t apply to him. It’s a pretty good single, and a good sign for the rest of Barbara. I’ve been listening to it pretty much all morning, and I wouldn’t mind upping the playcount a bit more!

MP3 posted below. To stay updated with album news from WAS, check their website, twitter, or myspace.

[mp3] : We Are Scientists – Rules Don’t Stop

Renee, the owner of the We Are Scientists fan blog emailed me, and the original rip apparently came from her, so a thank you to her for making the effort and time to rip the mp3 Renee!

Today, James Murphy was eager to tweet (and post on his website) that LCD Soundsystem’s third album is DONE! Finished! This is excellent news that all fans of good music should be excited to hear. We can expect another glorious album from Mr. Murphy’s team. It’s gonna be hard to top the near masterpiece that was Sound Of Silver, but I never say never!

The band has been posting some brief “making of” video’s showing the band at work recording the album…or fooling around. There are some clips of music, and they sound cool! Check it out:

Read the rest of this entry »

Saw this posted at the Morning Benders Tumblr. Seeing the words on paper really makes you realize just how beautiful and well written this song is, doesn’t it?

I am not sure if I like the new song from Apples In Stereo. Yesterday they gave away “Dance Floor” as a free mp3 from Stereogum (who has a fresh new layout). I’ve given the song a few spins, and am not sure where I stand on it right now. “Dance Floor” shows the band in a completely different direction. I didn’t expect The Apples In Stereo to go electronic on us! The band relies heavily on electronics and production on this track, leaving behind their old sound. The production is pretty sweet on the album, but I feel like something is missing. I think the song may need some cough …Energy…cough. I’ll keep listening, maybe it will reveal itself to me with more listens!

“Dance Floor” is off of their new album Travellers In Space and Time which comes out on 4/20 (oh dear) via Yep Rock Records. I wonder if the rest of the album is like this? Maybe I will tweet the band and ask? I posted tour dates below. The band is coming to Ithaca, which is only an hour away from my college! I may have to check it out!

Download the mp3, below:

[mp3] : The Apples In Stereo – Dance Floor

I figured I would throw in one of my favorite Apples In Stereo tunes from their last album:

[mp3] : The Apples In Stereo – Energy

04/16 – Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlie’s
04/17 – Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant Street
04/18 – Washington, DC @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
04/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
04/21 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/23 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Underground
04/24 – Ithaca, NY @ Castaways
04/25 – Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
04/27 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
04/28 – Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room
04/30 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
05/01 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
05/03 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
05/04 – St. Louis, MO @ Billiken Club