Andrew Bird Covers Smog!

In one of the more excited moments of my week, I came across this video from one Mr. Andrew Bird's in-store performance at our local record store here in Nashville, Grimey's, which happened earlier this week. I didn't attend the event, due to prior commitments, and now I'm really wishing I would have, as he covered one of my favorite songs in recent memory, Smog's Cold Blooded Old Times. Video of the cover, and an mp3 of the original below.



[mp3] Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times

AA Bondy Announces New Album

Good news for me, freshly back from vacation:

In case you care about anything other than Snow Leopard and the new Macbooks, I thought you might like to know that AA Bondy will be releasing the follow-up to his spectacular American Hearts. It's called When The Devil's Loose, and it will come out September 1 of this year. The track titles and location of recording (Water Valley, Mississippi) suggest that it will be another decidedly dust-bowl affair. HTFAF is excited to see that the song Mightiest of Guns, which we were lucky enough to have Bondy perform for our Backstage Session with him last year, will be included.

[mp3] AA Bondy - Lovers Waltz

R.I.P. Jay Bennett

Jay Walter Bennett died late Sunday night / early Monday morning in his Urbana, IL home. I've often very loudly made my case that Jay Bennett's presence was the best thing, and his absence the worst thing, to ever happen to Wilco. Jay was a huge part of the band's production, songwriting, and instrumentation from Being There to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. He also released several solo albums in the past 7 years, as well as recently completing and operating his own Pieholden Studios in Urbana. His production work on Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has influenced countless members of our musical generation for the better. He was only 45.

He will be sorely, sorely missed. Rest in peace, Jay.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone Announce Tour

Owen Ashworth, the tall quiet dude behind Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, knows a thing or two about playing music for people in rock clubs - he does it a lot, both on this continent as well as Europe, and he's going to be doing it for a very extended period of time this summer. Some of June, and all of July will find CFTPA in a sweaty van, drinking gas station water, and sitting around doing nothing while waiting to soundcheck - that is to say, living the dream.

You don't want to miss it.

05/28/09 - Chicago, IL - The Hideout >
06/25/09 - Bloomington, IN - Russian Recording
06/26/09 - Columbus, OH - Cafe Bourbon Street
06/27/09 - Louisville, KY - Skull Alley
06/28/09 - Nashville, TN - The End
06/29/09 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
06/30/09 - Atlanta, GA - 529 (529 Flat Shoals Ave) /+
07/01/09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 /+
07/02/09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Chapel /+
07/03/09 - Brooklyn, NY - Market Hotel /+ &
07/05/09 - Keane, NH - EF Lane Hotel /+
07/06/09 - Cambridge, MA - TT The Bear's /+
07/07/09 - Montreal, QC - Il Motore /+
07/08/09 - Toronto, ON - The Boat /+ *
07/09/09 - Grand Rapids, MI - DAAC /+
07/10/09 - Chicago, IL - The Hideout /+
07/11/09 - St Paul, MN - Turf Club /+
07/12/09 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium /+
07/14/09 - Seattle, WA - Healthy Times Fun Club /+ ^
07/15/09 - Portland, OR - The Artistery /+
07/16/09 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret /+ #
07/17,18,19/09 - Anacortes, WA - What The Heck Fest 2009
07/21/09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill %
07/22/09 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Steynberg Gallery %
07/23/09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo %
07/24/09 - San Diego,CA - The Casbah%
07/25/09 - Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space %
07/26/09 - Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture %
07/28/09 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive %
07/30/09 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown
07/31/09 - Iowa City, IA - Public Space One

> w/ Lineland & Animal Hospital
/+ w/ Cryptacize
& w/ Katie Eastburn
* w/ Mantler
^ w/ Ribbons
# w/ No Kids
% w/ Concern

[mp3] Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Optimist Vs. The Silent Alarm

Brent Knopf of Menomena to Release Solo Record

Well, well, well. It seems those clever dudes in Menomena are constantly coming up with ways to take your hard-earned money for some songs, not that you're complaining, and this time it's in the form of a solo album. No, not from Danny Seim, or Lackthereof as you may know him, who released a solo album last year on Barsuk (and many before that on his own). No, this time it's Brent Knopf - the one pictured above looking like Jim Halpert at Menomena's 2007 Halloween show in Nashville.

The album is called Intuit, and the "band" name is Ramona Falls, which is not a very good band name, but oh well. You can purchase this record on August 18th from - who else - Barsuk. In the meantime, you can hear some of the tracks at the Ramona Falls myspace - promo track coming soon, I'd imagine, where you can also read some interesting details about the album's creation such as the fact that there are a sort-of-astounding 35 guest musicians along for the ride including people you may know from The Helio Sequence, Mirah, Loch Lomond, 31 Knots, Talkdemonic, and a bunch more.

So, get excited, and don't start worrying that the band is breaking up or anything - they're just over-creative (again, not that we're complaining), and Barsuk tells us that they are working on the next Menomena LP diligently.

[mp3] Menomena - Muscle n' Flo

Awesome Judee Sill Tribute Announced

Judee Sill is a cult-hero of sorts - dead, incredibly talented, and maybe slightly unwell mentally, her music contains all the proper ingredients to make me swoon, and swoon I do. I only pretty recently got into Judee's legacy and have been trying to get the melody Jesus Was a Crossmaker out of my head ever since - un-succesfully, I might add.

So imagine my glee when I found out that there is a Judee Sill tribute album in the works - and on it would be Bill Callahan, Daniel Rossen, Ron Sexsmith, and a bunch of other awesome people. It comes out on September 22nd, via American Dust, and it's Called Crayon Angel. That's the artwork up there.

The Tonight Show with The Decemberists

The Decemberists - friends of Barack Obama, talk good with words, excellent and advanced readers, and tonight's guests on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - make sure you tune in as Jay's days are numbered until Conan takes over - coup style. I don't think anyone's complaining about that one.

The D's also ahve some touring to do if you'd like to go pretend you're being eaten by a whale, watch John Moen chase a floor tom around the stage, or marvel at how well-starched Colin Meloy's pinstripe linen pants are - it's all there for you, and the dates are here.