FALL CONCERT UPDATE

"Some people travel, some people are pretty,
we have a scraggly dog."

It's been a while since my fall concert preview, so here's a by-no-means-comprehensive (or binding!) list of other shows I might see this season. Please let me know what I'm missing.

Also, download Spoon's set from this summer's 80/35 Music Festival here (via Joe Lawler).

October

Hank Williams III. People's Court (with tbd). Oct. 26. All Ages $20/$22

Joan of Arc. Vaudeville Mews (with Love Songs for Lonely Monsters and Noremac McCarthy). Oct. 28. 21+ $10

Willie Nelson. 7 Flags Event Center. Oct. 28. All Ages $40-$50

Bear in Heaven. Grinnell College (with Lower Dens and Sun Airway). Oct. 30. All Ages & Free

The Misfits Karaoke Halloween Ball. Live-band Misfits karaoke at Vaudeville Mews. Oct. 30. $21 & Free

The Books. Grinnell College (with the Blackheart Procession). Oct. 31. All Ages & Free


November

Electric Six. Vaudeville Mews (with the Constellations and the Jitz; Kinky Kyro will spin records). Nov. 2. 21+ $15

Oh No Oh My. Vaudeville Mews (with the Pomegranates, Parlours). Nov. 3 All ages $7

Candy Claws. Vaudeville Mews (with the Chain Gang of 1974, the Autumn Project, Love Songs for Lonely Monsters). Nov. 6. 21+ $7

The Coathangers. The Underground (with Coyote Slingshot, Deep Sleep Waltzing). Nov. 6. 21+ $5

David Vandervelde. Vaudeville Mews (with Brass Bed, the New Bodies, the Seed of Something). Nov. 9. All Ages $7

Gold Motel. Vaudeville Mews (with Mother Culture, Pink Kodiak). Nov. 20. All Ages $7

Rhonda Is a Dead Bitch. Record release party at Vaudeville Mews (with Golden Veins, Distant Trains). Nov. 20. 21+ $5

J-FLo. Vaudeville Mews. Nov. 26. All Ages $8

PrettyGirlHateMachine. Vaudeville Mews (with Touchnice of Maxilla Blue, Neon Current with Richie Daggers, MC Genetics, the Renegades of Sound). Nov. 27. 21+ $5

George Jones. 7 Flags Event Center. Nov. 28. All Ages $50


December

Free Energy. Vaudeville Mews. Dec. 8. 21+ $10

I LIVED ON A FARM, YEAH, I NEVER LIVED ON A FARM

Ain't that some shit?

Tiger Trap: "Supercrush"

Long-overdue quarterly report for stuff from, like, July 1 to September 30, but I don't promise I didn't make some exceptions. I never like doing these:

ALBUMS
Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest (review)
Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Best Coast: Crazy for You
Das Racist: Sit Down, Man
Robyn: Body Talk Pt. 2
Tennis: Tennis (cassette)
Tamaryn: The Waves
Darren Hanlon: I Will Love You at All
Rick Ross: Teflon Don
How to Dress Well: Love Remains (review)

Apologies to Wavves, No Age, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Glasser, Superchunk, the Walkmen,  Los Campesinos! (EP), Junip, Andrew Cedermark, Washed Out (CD-R), Kingdom (EP), Salem, El Guincho, Gold Panda

Special extra apologies to Das Racist for not spending enough time with Shut Up, Dude before my 2Q list

Stuff I thought I'd really like and never quite warmed to but still might end up loving: Matthew Dear, Jamey Johnson, John Legend and the Roots, Oneohtrix Point Never

Stuff I thought I'd really like and never warmed to and don't expect to listen to again: Cee-Lo's Stray Bullets mixtape

TRAXX
Cee-Lo: "Fuck You"
Deerhunter: "He Would Have Laughed"
Das Racist: "hahahahaha jk?"
Deerhunter: "Helicopter (Diplo & Lunice Mix)" (I like to think of this song as my cat's theme song right now... she's been moping in the corner ever since we brought home a dog yesterday. Sad!)
Tennis: "Marathon"
Jens Lekman: "The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love"
Robyn: "Hang With Me"
Warpaint: "Undertow"
Duck Sauce: "Barbra Streisand"
Les Savy Fav: "Let's Get Out of Here"

Apologies to Cheryl Cole: "Parachute (Ill Blu Remix)", Das Racist: "You Oughta Know" (technically 2Q but needs to be reiterated ahead of year-end consideration, besides, it's my list), Deerhunter: "Revival", Digital Dubstar [ft. Miss Fire]: "Can't Say No", Dream Cop: "Daily Mirage", the Fives (ft. Vanya Taylor): "It's What You Do (Hottest by Far)", Frankie Rose and the Outs: "Little Brown Haired Girl" (should've been on my 2Q list), Gold Panda: "Same Dream China", Kisses: "People Can Do the Most Amazing Things", Maximum Balloon [ft. Little Dragon]: "If You Return", NDF: "Since We Last Met", Nicki Minaj: "Your Love", No Age: "Fever Dreaming", R. Kelly: "Fireworks", Robyn: "Criminal Intent", Still Corners: "Endless Summer", Superchunk: "Everything at Once", Teen Daze: "Wet Hair", Teengirl Fantasy: "Cheaters", the Walkmen: "Stranded", among many others

The track you should pick from The-Dream's Love King, a 2Q album: "Make Up Bag", if only for the title pun (can you believe this hasn't been done before? Or has it?) and T.I.'s persuasively remorseless verse ("All that I do for you is just a part of me doing me").

LIVE SHOWS
- Pitchfork Music Festival (LCD Soundsystem, Robyn, Titus Andronicus, Major Lazer, Pavement, Big Boi, Beach House, Neon Indian, Surfer Blood, Freddie Gibbs, Best Coast, Sleigh Bells, Modest Mouse, more). July 16-18, Union Park (Chicago).
- 80/35 Music Festival (Spoon, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, the Walkmen, the Cool Kids, Zola Jesus, Califone, Evangelicals, the Poison Control Center, more). July 3-4, downtown Des Moines.
- Pavement, with the Poison Control Center. Sept. 11, the Uptown Theater (Kansas City).
- Best Coast, with Male Bonding. Sept. 17, Grinnell College.
- Tennis, with Maid Marian, the Land of Blood and Sunshine, the Seed of Something. Sept. 17, Vaudeville Mews.
- Devo. July 24, Walnut Street Bridge.
- The Poison Control Center, with Christopher the Conquered, Why Make Clocks, the Atudes. Aug. 29, Des Moines Social Club
- Darren Hanlon, opening for David Dondero, with Derek Lambert. Sept. 28, Vaudeville Mews.
- Black Mountain, with Mondo Drag. July 26, Vaudeville Mews.
- Toro Y Moi, opening for Phoenix. Aug. 10, People's Court.
- Tim Kasher, with Cashes Rivers, Parlours. Sept. 27, Vaudeville Mews.
- Retribution Gospel Choir, with Why Make Clocks, Wolves in the Attic. Sept. 30, Vaudeville Mews.
- YellowFever, with Coyote Slingshot, the Seed of Something. July 19, Vaudeville Mews.
- Abstract Rude, with Musab, Gadema, Young Tripp. July 11, Vaudeville Mews.

The Strokes: "Under Control"

The Softies: "Goodbye"

THAT'S TWO-THOUSAND-AND-NINE

Operator, get me the president of the world!

When Tokyo Police Club first started getting what kids used to call "blog love," longevity was a non-issue. They were "Tokyo Police Club," after all. And the concise, energetic Canadian band's first few releases were EPs and singles-- short-lived, but satisfying, pleasures. Then another much-blogged band known for their EPs, Austin's Voxtrot, put out a full-length and the thing flopped. In 2008, Tokyo Police Club issued debut album Elephant Shell, making the jump to Omaha's Saddle Creek label (Bright Eyes, Cursive, Rilo Kiley), and what do you know? It turned out to be pretty good. I saw them open for Art Brut at the Warsaw in Brooklyn. They were awesome. I saw them play in front of like 2,000 people at Denmark's Roskilde Festival. Also awesome.

Response to this year's follow-up, Champ, has been more mixed. A lot of the discussion has focused on the songs being longer, the band stretching out a little bit, but I think it's telling that most reviewers seem to have trouble finding something distinctive about the music to use as a hook. Here's Spencer Kornhaber, writing in SPIN: "How can a band with so many ideas make so many songs that leave you feeling the exact same way?" Champ still sounds like Tokyo Police Club, so it's never bad, at all, but as far as I've been able to tell there's not much reason to listen to it rather than the first album or early EPs.