a u t o p i a

Serena Maneesh unleash tour dates across North America

So you're still bummed about that Coachella lineup happening this summer in letdown, USA? Keep your chin up people, it's not too bad. Serena Maneesh are gonna blow the doors off of venues all across North America including a two night extravaganza at Spaceland.

3-6 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
3-7 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
3-8 - Boston, MA - TT The Bears
3-9 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
3-10 - Columbus, OH - Little Brothers *
3-11 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
3-12 - St. Louis, MO - Creepy Crawl
3-13 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
3-14 - Denton, TX - Hailey's
3-15 - Austin, TX - Emo's
3-16 - Austin, TX - SXSW
3-17 - Austin, TX - SXSW
3-19 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
3-20 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
3-21 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill
3-23 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir / Holocene
3-24 - Seattle, WA - Neumo's
3-25 - Vancouver, BC - Richards
3-28 - Minneapolis, MN - Entry
3-29 - Chicago, IL - Empy Bottle
3-30 - Toronto, ONT - Lee's
3-31 - Montreal, PQ - La Sala Rosa
4-1 - Brooklyn, NY - Northsix

Dinosaur Jr. announce US tour!

After reading this you should immediately click over to the Troubadour website to see if tickets are already on sale. J. Mascis, Lou and Murph will once again melt the paint off the walls with their massive sound and shredding guitars. If you've never seen Dinosaur Jr. now is the chance, I never would have thought this reunion would even last as long as it has. They are one of the great guitar-pioneering bands of our generation and still sound just as amazing as they did back in the day. And to make your day a little brighter, the band is reportedly in J's studio recording new material. Aaaaalright. Here's the schedule:

March
29 - Gypsy Tea Room - Dallas, TX
30 - Stubb's Bar-B-Q - Austin, TX
31 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX

April
1 - House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
2 - The Moon - Tallahassee, FL
3 - Free Bird Cafe - Jacksonville, FL
4 - House of Blues SCN. - Myrtle Beach, SC
6 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
7 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
8 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
9 - City Hall - Nashville, TN
10 - Young Avenue Deli Memphis, TN
11 - The Vogue - Indianapolis, IN
12 - Blue Note - Columbia, MO
13 - Liberty Hall - Lawrence, KS
14 - The Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO
16 - The Depot - Salt Lake City, UT
18 - WOW Hall - Eugene, OR
19-20 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
21-22 - The Troubadour - West Hollywood, CA

Ester Drang: Rocinate (Jade Tree, 2006)

The strings on "Come Back Alive" has to be the catchiest melody of the year so far, not that the entire album isn't catchy. It actually took me a while to figure out that it wasn't even a sample while sounding so spacey, think MBV's mid-chorus keyboard sample on "When You Sleep". In fact, most of the gorgeous instrumentation on Rocinate is just as lush and natural as the opener. The album emanates more layers of piano, horns, and strings than I would have ever expected from Ester Drang. It sounds like the boys took their time on this one and explored the possibilities of arrangement without even thinking about a guitar. Every song is orchestral and crafted with plenty of different sounds for one to latch onto.

Well into half the album and there are two bands that immediately stick: The mid-seventies pop albums of Brian Eno and the vocal harmony richness of Blue Oyster Cult. I'm dead serious about that last one. Rocinate has this undeniable sadness about it that creeps up on many tracks, like the epic guitar swelling of "Valencia's Dying" and mellow-strummed "Hooker with a Heart of Gold". But the album also has plenty of sunshine. "Everyone is a Victim" has a triumphant, feel-good chorus with steel drums to boot. The band loosens up even more on "Caledonia". It's a step in the direction of Tortoise and free-jazz experimentation.

Ester Drang certainly transformed themselves into a more serious and thoughtful sounding band since the atmospheric and psychedelic Infinite Keys. Rocinate is a very moving album with a more delicate approach to textures. This album will most likely end up being one of the year's melodic treasures. Highly recommended.

The Temporary Thing, Sabrosa Purr, and Nathan Payne this Thursday at Spaceland.

Two of the hottest bands in Los Angeles, and one guy I've never heard of, have announced a not-so-last minute showcase at Spaceland this Thursday night. The Temporary Thing (aka pop-brillance federation), Sabrosa Purr (howling and fierce melodic guitar a la Pink Floyd) and Nathan Payne (I'll let you know in 3 days) round the bill while you prep your livers for Sunday's annual drinkfest that we call The Super Bowl. Ya know I've been listening to my advance of Belle & Sebastian's The Life Pursuit and it's been growing on me bigtime. The Temporary Thing are the hot-rod version of all things B & S, and I swear it takes about 30 seconds of any one of their songs to make you a believer. Who cares if you have to work the next day. I thought Thursday was the new Friday?

Coachella 2006 Festival lineup announced

The rumors circulating blogs and forums for the past four months were completely off, of course. Well except for Depeche Mode. This year looks like a very comprehensive and genre-spanning festival. It's actually a pretty good lineup considering there's a few outstanding bands who will probably disappear into studio hibernation after this affair (Sleater-Kinney, Dungen, Bloc-Party). More artists will be added soon, and hopefully someone will be brave enough to admit that The Living Things are the most horrible thing to happen to music, and live venues everywhere, since K-Fed, Check it:

April 29:
Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Common, Damien Marley, Atmosphere, Carl Cox, My Morning Jacket, Ladytron, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Posca, Cat Power, Animal Collective, Hard-Fi, Devendra Banhart, She Wants Revenge, The Walkmen, The Juan Maclean, Audio Bullys, Lady Sovereign, Deerhoof, The Duke Spirit, Editors, Stellastarr*, Lyrics Born, The Zutons, White Rose Movement, Colette, Wolf Mother, The Living Things, Nine Black Alps, Youth Group

April 30:
Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Paul Oakenfold, Scissor Sisters, Matias Yahu, James Blunt, Mogwai, TV On The Radio, Sleater Kinney, Gnarls Barkley (Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo), Coldcut, Digable Planets, Amadou Mariam, Little Louie Vega, Mylo, Seu Jorge, Phoenix, Wolf Parade, The Go! Team, Metric, Imogen Heap, Art Brut, Dungen, The Dears, Jamie Liddell, The Magic Numbers, Los Amigos Invisibles, Jazzanova, Michael Mayer, Mates of State, Gilles Peterson, Gabriel & Dresden, The Subways, Minus the Bear, Be Your Own Pet, Giant Drag

PAIK ready new releases and Eastern US tour.

The "wall of sound" is a technique perfected by the few. Detroit's PAIK have spent the last ten years perfecting it with their perfect blend of heavy bass and penetrating guitars. You don't need noise or an account at Guitar Center to build a wall as huge and natural sounding as these guys do. Paik are ready to remind us again with a new album, live DVD, and a tour of the Eastern US which includes an appearance at the Terrastock Festival in Providence, RI.

The new album will be titled Monster of the Absolute, a fitting title. It drops May 9th on CD & Vinyl formats courtesy of Strang Attractors Audio House (home to Nels Cline, Kinski, and Landing among others). The record earns a Japanese release on Human Highway around the same time. Next comes a live DVD called Magnesium Fire on Beyonder Records. The live DVD spans ten years of live performances and aural medication. The bonus here is that it comes with a 3" reissue of PAIK's 1998 "Spacer" single, which I personally have never been able to get my hands on. Ready for the big payoff? A tour of the Easten US and a stop at the 6th annual Terrstock Festival, which takes place April 21st - 23rd. Bring your earplugs.

Morrissey at SXSW, interview and performance news.

Donewaiting did a bit more investigation on Morrissey's landmark appearance for SXSW. Here's how it's gonna roll in Austin:

"In what could best be described as a once in a lifetime experience, Morrissey will be interviewed by Rolling Stone's David Fricke for a SXSW Interview on Thursday, March 16 at the South By Southwest Festival followed by a performance at Austin Music Hall presented by the BBC Radio. This will be a rare chance to hear the icon discuss his work and his influences. Additionally, this will be one of the first performances in support of his forthcoming album Ringleader of the Tormentors which will be released on April 4th on Attack/Sanctuary."

This is good news. The Austin Music Hall is a big place which should be abe to accomodate plaenty of wristband wearers. Also, Morrissey will likely be playing L.A. soon after the festival as a Coachella peformer or solo tour. More tba.

Viva K residency ends tonight.

Menu

Main Course: Viva K & SOUND team

Appetizer: Birdmonster & Army of Robots

Refreshments: Yes.

Cost: FREE!

Time: 9:15 pm

Return of The Charlatans, new album and tour.

The Charlatans have returned with a new album entitled Simpatico and new UK tour dates, no this isn't an album of Velocity Girl covers. Simpatico will be released worldwide through Sanctuary on April 10th. This will be preceded by a new single "Blackened Blue Eyes" scheduled for release on March 27th. Check out www.thecharlatans.net today for exclusive full length demo tracks and a video of the band recording the album. Why haven't American bands been doing this out?

Simpatico was produced by Jim Lowe and recorded at Hook End Manor Studios and mixed at Townhouse Studios at the end of 2005.

The full track-listing is:

Blackened Blue Eyes
N.Y.C (No Need To Stop)
For Your Entertainment
Dead Man's Eye
Muddy Ground
City Of The Dead
Road To Paradise
When The Lights Go Out In London
The Architect
Glory Glory
Sunset & Vine

Helen Stellar

Haven't heard from these guys for a while, and we're always glad to. Helen Stellar are soon returning from a short tour of the Midwest. They have a string of L.A. gigs lined up for us.

2/13 - The Echo - 9:00 pm
2/26 - Zen Sushi - 9:00 pm
3/05 - The Echo, w/ Antarcticans - 9:00 pm