Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sasquatch 2009 Lineup Revealed

2009 is looking good

Announced at Sasquatch's MySpace page, it looks like the lineup for this year's Gorge festival in George, WA will be a good one (weather permitting).
  • Jane's Addiction
  • Kings of Leon
  • Nine Inch Nails
  • Ben Harper & Restless7
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • Erykah Badu
  • The Decemberists
  • Fleet Foxes
  • TV on the Radio
  • Animal Collective
  • Silversun Pickups
  • Bon Iver
  • Santigold
  • Of Montreal
  • Explosions in the Sky
  • DeVotchKa
  • Peter Bjorn & John
  • Gogol Bordello
  • M. Ward
  • The Avett Brothers
  • Doves
  • Calexico
  • Grizzly Bear
  • M83
  • Girl Talk
  • The Gaslight Anthem
  • The Walkmen
  • Chromeo (DJ set)
  • Deadmau5
  • Mugison
  • Sun Kil Moon
  • Airborne Toxic Event
  • Blitzen Trapper
  • Shearwater
  • BLK JKS
  • The Wrens
  • Tobacco
  • Monotonix
  • King Khan and the Shrines
  • St. Vincent
  • Passion Pit
  • John Vanderslice
  • Bishop Allen
  • Blind Pilot
  • AA Bondy
  • Black Moth Super Rainbow
  • The Knux
  • Ra Ra Riot
  • The Dodos
  • Beach House
  • Arthur & Yu
  • The Submarines
  • Owl City
  • Viva Voce
  • James Pants
  • Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
  • The Builders & the Butchers
  • The Duchess & the Duke
  • Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
  • Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
  • Fences
  • School of Seven Bells
  • Death Vessel
  • Horse Feathers
  • Hockey
  • Point Juncture WA
  • The Pica Beats
  • Loch Lomond
  • Vince Mira
  • Zach Galifiankis
  • Demetri Martin
  • Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job
  • Todd Barry
  • Jon Benjamin
  • God's Pottery
  • People's Republic of Komedy

Sunday, February 15, 2009

New Spoon Bonus Track (February)

illustration by Grant Snider

Spoon wished everyone a Happy Valentine's Day by releasing their latest bonus track, "Black Like Me". Head over to Spoon's website to check out the torn-down version of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's sweet closer. After missing the month of January, this track is the thirteenth released since February '08. For the previous bonus tracks, go here.

Also, if you happen to be in the Pacific Northwest, don't miss Spoon's "welcome home" concert on March 6. The band will be playing one show, and one show only, in the Portland area at the Crystal Ballroom (tickets here). Sadly, I cannot make it, but it's bound to be an awesome show - you might even here some new tunes.

MP3: Spoon - "Black Like Me" (demo) February '09

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Crocodile Cafe Grand Re-Opening

The Croc Returns to Seattle

It's the grand re-opening of Seattle's most famous concert venue, The Crocodile (sans suffix Cafe). From the soul of grunge to the heart of indie rock, the Crocodile has been there for Seattle's music fans. And now, starting March 20, 2009, they are opening their doors once again. Since the Crocodile abruptly closed its doors back in December 2007, there have been spy reports of the renovations and "cosmetic upgrades" performed under the watch of the new management. Starting next month, we'll finally get first-hand accounts of the improvements and dreaded flaws of the new place. It'll be interesting to see where the horrible pillar ended up. Hopefully the venue hasn't grown too much that it loses its intimate appeal. I guess we'll find out soon enough. My biggest complaint so far is that Ticketmaster is handling all sales. I just paid $25 for a $15 Dr Dog/Cave Singers show! That's such a rip-off.

Here's a list of upcoming shows to be hosted at the Croc (according to Monqui):
High Altitude Bluegrass Pioneers
March 21: Hot Buttered Rum and Everybody Orchestra

Portland's latest literary indie mavens
March 27: The Builders & the Butchers

Seattle's finest dance provocateurs
March 28: U.S.E.

From Death From Above 1979
April 2: Sebastian Grangier

The Blues / Garage / Punk sound of
April 11: Heartless Bastards

Britians Hottest Import
April 12: The Ting Tings

Sweet Indie Pop & Local Songsmiths
April 14: Dr. Dog & The Cave Singers

Folk rock revivalists
April 18: Vetiver and Richard Swift

Japantronica Godfathers first tour in 4 years
May 1: Ghost

The throwback style of
May 28: The Devil Makes Three

Monday, February 9, 2009

Handsome Furs Launch Online Store

Patience is a virtue - something I lack.

Handsome Furs have a new online store where you can buy music and merchandise directly from the band. I jumped on the first packaged deal through Insound, in which I received a t-shirt and a digital copy of the Handsome Furs' second LP Face Control. Had I waited, I could have chosen between three shirts at the Furs' site, and it would have included a physical copy of the album. Oh well.

Pre-order album at:
Handsome Furs Online Store (here)
Sub Pop Records (here)
Insound (here)

MP3: Handsome Furs - "Officer of Hearts"
(live at Neumos, Seattle - 4/19/2008)

Friday, February 6, 2009

DIY: Mash/Lauter Tun

Making your own Mash/Lauter Tun

In college, we discovered a loop-hole in our club funding policy. While it was against the rules to use student club funds to purchase alcohol, it turns out buying equipment and ingredients that could be used to make alcohol was perfectly fine. So I helped found The Brew Society, and last I heard, the club is still going strong many years after my graduation. Back then, we did strictly all-grains, and we brewed them pretty seriously (using the bio department's incubation rooms to regulate fermentation temperatures and the autoclave to sanitize all of our bottles and equipment).

Once in grad school, home brewing sadly got pushed to the side, and for years I didn't even own any brewing equipment. Just last year, however, I came into possession of a friend's brew kit - and since then I've been dabbling with partial grains. Getting ahead of myself, I recently went ahead and purchased ingredients for an all grain; unfortunately, I have no all grain equipment. So, rather than buy a mash tun and lauter tun, I've decided to build it all myself. Now you can spend A LOT when it comes to this type of equipment, so if I can save money without sacrificing functionality, then I'll do it. Hopefully others who are in the same boat may find this helpful.

I don't plan on brewing anything larger than 5 gallon batches, so when I first started shopping around for Rubbermaid coolers, the 10 gallon seemed a bit large for my desired scale. A nice compromise was the 7 gallon Rubbermaid cooler, which can be found at Walmart.

Once I had this in my possession, the question became either to use false bottom or manifold - I chose a false bottom. So now that I knew what I wanted, I purchased the rest of my supplies:

Supplies:
Rubbermaid 7 gallon cooler ($40.00)
Stainless steel false bottom ($30.00)
5 ft Tygon Norprene tubing ($6.00)
3/8" ID copper pipe ($0.25)
3/8" in-line valve ($2.50)
2 stainless steel hose clamps ($0.75)
Permatex clear RTV silicone sealant ($5.00)
Adjustable wrench (borrowed)
Pipe cutter (borrowed)
Half-round file (borrowed)
Hack saw (borrowed)

Total: $84.50
The end price turned out to be a little more expensive than I had originally hoped, but compared to most MLT that you can buy online, it's still over a $100 savings. The cooler is definitely the most expensive part of this assembly - there's no getting around that. To save a little more money, the false bottom could have been replaced with a manifold; however, the false bottom seems to get better efficiencies and is less prone to stuck mash.

Assembly of the mash/lauter tun was quite simple and fast. Using an adjustable wrench, the plastic nut on the inside of the cooler was removed (the nut is an odd size, so an adjustable wrench works best). Rather than spend +$50 bucks on a ball valve/bulk head package, I followed a similar prep posted on RonBlog. The faucet was taken out of the cooler, and using a hack saw, the faucet end was removed from the bulk head.

A small length of 3/8" copper pipe was inserted through the faucet bulkhead. It was a snug fit, but I used food grade silicone sealant to ensure a watertight fit.

Now it's important when using a sealant that comes in contact with any type of beverage that you make sure it is food-grade sealant. A way to check is to look for the NSF seal of approval. If it doesn't say so, then it's probably not good for you. Don't go cheap on this either - you may not care, but your friends that you share your beer with probably will. A good sealant to use is Permatex's (#66B) RTV silicone sealant. It passes the NSF 51 Standard (food safe), and it's waterproof and flexible with a temperature range up to 450 °F!

Once the bulkhead is placed through the cooler wall and tighted down with the nut you previously removed, you can now connect the false bottom to the copper pipe. I used Tygon's Norprene tubing, which is designed for hot beverages so you know it's food safe. This tubing is thick-walled so it won't collapse under weight of the grain bed, and it's good up to 275 °F. On the outside of the cooler, I affixed more tubing and an inline valve (food grade). These were tightened down with hose clamps, and the job was finished. Very simple.

UPDATE: After its inaugural run, this MLT held its watertight seal, and was able to maintain its temp for an hour (only losing 1 °F in that time). I also got an efficiency of around 90% using a batch sparge. It was very easy to clean up - definitely worth building one of these.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Robin Pecknold's Solo Project: White Antelope

Fleet Foxes frontman releases music
under different animal name


Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes has always played solo shows - this is not a new thing. However, a MySpace page has recently been activated featuring his songs. Performing under the moniker White Antelope, it's obvious from reading the band's description that Pecknold is not only a Lost fan, but he also has a sense of humor about adding another to the long list of animal named bands:
White Antelope is the latest and greatest in a long line of exciting animal-named and themed music groups. This particular word synergectomy, "White Antelope," has heretofore never been used for such an application and we at the Dharma Initiative could not be more pleased to reveal this innovation to you, the listening public. This is our first serious co-branding initiative with Microsoft's animal-named music group software Fleet Foxes. We hope you enjoy this new animal-name, our most graceful and polysyllabic concoction yet!
Currently, there are only two songs posted on the site, "False Knight on the Road" (b-side to the Mykonos 7") and the Leo Kottke sounding "Guitar Duet" (aka "Magic Rings"). Some may ask if White Antelope will take higher priority over Fleet Foxes, or if this will delay the follow-up to 2008's fantastic Fleet Foxes LP. To relinquish any of these worries, the band has just posted via their blog that the band is currently in Port Townsend working on recording their next album. Apparently White Antelope will feature mostly covers.

Also, I saw Pecknold last Wednesday at the Dept. of Eagles/Cave Singers show (incredibly awesome show) - not to sound like some crazy groupie, but it looks like he's chopped off his hair!

Monday, February 2, 2009

First Impressions: Handsome Furs - Face Control

Disclaimer: I've already pre-ordered Face Control, so downloading the leak is not an act of me ripping off the band, it's just a testament to my impatience. If you haven't pre-ordered a copy for yourself, you can over at InSound (LP or Digital LP w/ T-shirt).

So after a few spins, I feel confident enough to report my first impressions of the album Face Control, the second LP from husband/wife duo Handsome Furs. The album technically has a release date slated for March 10, 2009 through Sub Pop Records, but a leak has surfaced on the internet (missing track 10).

Like its predecessor Plague Park, Face Control is stripped down rock in its purest form, though it relies heavily on the influences of 1980s electro-pop. Alexie Perry's improved skills on the drum machine are very apparent in this second attempt. She alone makes up the rythm section on every song, utilizing dark and menacing hooks and a vast array of percussion sounds. Her mastery as a musician shines through on this album, with more textures and composition than any of her previous work. Meanwhile, Dan Boeckner (also of Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic) provides the pipes and jams for this record, creating eerie, fuzzed-out riffs reminiscent of the Eastern Russian block - suffice to say, his contribution is as solid as ever. And with a great follow-up to their amazing debut, Handsome Furs have affirmed themselves as truly and simply a great band, period. To label Handsome Furs as merely a "Boeckner side project" is not only a slap in the face to Perry's contributions, it also a gross generalization of this separate and entirely original entity.

Face Control immediately hits the ground running, opening with the a Euro-dance bopper "Legal Tender". The momentum is carried through on the album's second track, "Evangeline" - this song kicks so much ass. I'd heard it performed live twice, but the studio version really sounds great. To be honest, there really isn't a weak track on this album. The strongest tracks, in my opinion, would have to be the afformentioned "Evangeline", "Officer of Hearts", "Thy Will Be Done", and "Radio Kaliningrad".

All in all, this album is much more a rock album compared to Plague Park, and it's also more uplifting. I'm not necessarily saying that Plague Park was a downer, but after hearing songs like "Radio Kaliningrad" and "All We Want Baby, Is Everything", Face Control definitely leaves the listener with a positive feeling. The Furs are also experimenting with new sounds on this album - "Officer of Hearts" features the bongo drum, and "Radio Kaliningrad" showcases some synthesized bag pipes (which sound a lot like Church's "Under the Milky Way Tonight"). The end result is one great sophomore effort. Pick up a copy on March 10 when this album drops.

To hear a sample track from the upcoming album, head over to their MySpace page and listen to the first single "I'm Confused" (it's also attached to this post). If you're in the Midwest or Europe, check out their live show at a venue near you.

MP3: Handsome Furs - "I'm Confused"
(buy Face Control)

Handsome Furs tour
Feb 9 2009 8:00P
Bang Bang Club Berlin
Feb 11 2009 8:00P
Super Festival @ Point Ephemere Paris
Feb 12 2009 8:00P
La Vapeur @ Generiq Festival Dijon
Feb 13 2009 8:00P
Le Cylindre @ Generiq Festival Besançon
Feb 14 2009 8:00P
La Poudrière @ Generiq Festival Belfort
Feb 17 2009 8:00P
Lio Bar Brescia
Feb 18 2009 8:00P
La Casa Milano
Feb 19 2009 8:00P
Locomotiv Bologna
Feb 20 2009 8:00P
Traffic Roma
Feb 21 2009 8:00P
Route du Rock Winter Edition St Malo
Mar 6 2009 8:00P
The Mercury Lounge New York
Mar 12 2009 8:00P
Mavericks Ottawa
Mar 13 2009 8:00P
Horseshoe Tavern Toronto
Mar 14 2009 8:00P
Blind Pig Ann Arbor, Michigan
Mar 15 2009 8:00P
Empty Bottle Chicago, Illinois
Mar 16 2009 8:00P
Off Broadway St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 17 2009 8:00P
Mojo’s Columbia, Missouri
Mar 19 2009 8:00P
SXSW Austin, Texas
Mar 20 2009 8:00P
SXSW Insound Party Austin, Texas
Mar 21 2009 8:00P
The Loft Dallas, Texas
Mar 23 2009 8:00P
Jackpot Lawrence, Kansas
Mar 25 2009 8:00P
The Aquarium Fargo, North Dakota
Mar 26 2009 8:00P
7th Street Entry Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 27 2009 8:00P
The Maintenance Shop Ames, Iowa
Mar 28 2009 8:00P
The Mill Iowa City, Iowa
Mar 30 2009 8:00P
Southgate House New Port, Kentucky
Mar 31 2009 8:00P
The Grog Shop Cleveland, Ohio
Apr 1 2009 8:00P
Bug Jar Rochester, New York
Apr 2 2009 8:00P
Spark Art Space Syracuse, New York
Apr 8 2009 8:00P
Cargo London
Apr 10 2009 8:00P
Motel Mocique Utrecht
Apr 11 2009 8:00P
La Maroquinerie Paris
Apr 12 2009 8:00P
Domino Festival Brussels
Apr 14 2009 8:00P
Gebaude 9 Cologne
Apr 15 2009 8:00P
Molotov Hamburg
Apr 16 2009 8:00P
Beatpol Dresden
Apr 16 2009 8:00P
Beatpol Dresden
Apr 17 2009 8:00P
Nachtleben Frankfurt
Apr 18 2009 8:00P
59:1 Munich