NEW RADIOHEAD ALBUM OUT IN 10 DAYS


Wow, I'm even beating Pitchfork and Stereogum on this one...just got a message from the Radiohead fansite At Ease to check Radiohead's website. And lo and behold, Radiohead has defied expectations (it was expected in 2008) and is releasing their new album, titled "In Rainbows", in 10 days, sans a record company, exclusively via their website. That is only where the weirdness begins--

1) There is no set price to download the album--as a pre-order, you just type in what you want to pay. It can be anywhere from .01 to $1,000. Your call.

2) Other than digital download, it will also be available in a "Discbox" format, which includes a 2xLP vinyl version, a 2xCD version, artwork, booklet & a digital download for 40 pounds ($80!). The physical materials don't ship until December 3rd, but you still get a download code for the digital version in ten days.

Crazy stuff...takes some balls for a band as big as Radiohead to give two fingers to the big labels and go it on their own. Can't wait to hear it.

GREG DAVIS @ CLUB METRONOME

DELETED SCENES, FORGOTTEN DREAMS


I recently found a great YSI blog for free downloads of rare experimental music (to be specific: experimental,electronic,drone,ambient,noise,dark ambient,avantgarde,field recordings)--

DELETED SCENES, FORGOTTEN DREAMS

There is some really great stuff on here. I'm listening to Sleepwalkers Local 242's "Things We Put Our Friends Through" as I'm typing--beautiful droney ambient bliss.

FOLLOW-UP

As I reported earlier, it turned out that the Meg White sex tape was actually a hoax. In other news, it turns out that the purported Tanner McCuin sext tape is also a hoax. Although this screen grab looked pretty damn convincing to me...

AKRON/FAMILY & GREG DAVIS - THURSDAY NIGHT


Akron/Family. Greg Davis. Thursday night. Club Metronome. $15. Be There. Be There. Be There.


Be. There.

GREG DAVIS...ROBBED!


At least he got a good picture on Pitchfork out of the deal....

Via Pitchfork--

Ripping off one dude is pretty cold-blooded, but jacking a whole family? That's all kinds of lame. Folkie fam Akron/Family, Megafaun and Greg Davis-- presently touring in tandem-- returned to their vans following last night's gig in Toronto to find they'd been relieved of these items:

1 Deering Siera Banjo with Hard Case, Dark and a Pick-up
1 Reverend 6-String (Olive Green, Semi-Hollow) in TKL Case
1 Fender Jaguar Baritone 6 String Sun Burst
1 Minidisc recorder in grey bag

According to Pitchfork contributor Grayson Currin (currently on tour with Akron/Family), the equipment was stolen from the bands' vans in Toronto, near the Spadina roundabout. Anyone with any information about the stolen goods can call (715) 864-1972 or e-mail either akronfamilyvalues@gmail.com or megafaun@gmail.com.

All shows will go on as planned, although expect a stern lecture on the value of personal property to precede each one.

In other news, last night's Grizzly Bear/Beach House show at Higher Ground was phenomenal. It boggles my mind that a show like this can't even fill up half the small room, but you can fill the main ballroom three nights straight with crap jam or reggae bands. So is life...

Oh, and by the way, that supposed Meg White sex tape (link NSFW!) that was floating around the internet this morning--it's not Meg. Unless you get really drunk, and then it's totally Meg.

See y'all at the Akron/Family & Greg show on Thursday!

JAY'S LIVEJOURNAL-ESQUE POST THAT HAS A LITTLE TO DO WITH MUSIC

Ahh, Hell Week is over...September is a very busy time at my work because we have our premiere tradeshow of the year the first week of October and we're all scrambling to get stuff ready for it. On top of that, we have a new boss and we had to have a bunch of meetings this week as a result. All in all though, despite a rough week, I still love my job. Unlike the last one, I'm not working ridiculous amounts of unpaid overtime and traveling constantly. Nine hours of stress a day is well worth it to get home by 6:00 every night and not have to be checking work e-mail at midnight.

Another great benefit--the 9/80 work schedule that gives me every other Friday off. Which is why I sipping a latte & blogging at Radio Bean instead of typing away in my cubicle this morning. It's a really beautiful day (I love autumn weather) and was nice and quiet until the beastly All Cycle trucks rolled up in front. The low rumble of their idling engines and howl of the espresso machine are mingling interestingly with the Thom Yorke song playing on the speakers thought. Cup half full....

In about eight hours, Jaime-Lynn and I are headed to Newport, NH to spend the weekend at her grandmother's house. We haven't been there in over a year and it used to be a once a month trip for us, a sanity-saving retreat to a very small town, where we could spend a few days reading, shopping, watching Red Sox games & eating Gram Betty's delicious meals. Because of work and school and hobbies and other things we stopped making it a regular trip, but we both missed going & are very excited for a leisurely weekend where time passes more slowly than here in the "big city".

I also have some "work" to do while I'm there--I need to work on the 2nd track of the Solah ep. A bit of editing, lay down a synth track and bassline and it's ready for JB's percussioin. I'm pretty psyched to get this album finished; it's the first recording I've produced since college and I'm enjoying the entire process, from composing to collaborating to editing & final production. The EP should done by October 1st and there is some talk of trying to pull the stuff off live as a quartet which I'm really excited about, seeing as there doesn't seem to be much in the way of drone doom metal outfits in Burlington (if I'm wrong, please let me know because I'd really like to go see one of their shows).

Speaking of shows....as much as I'm looking forward to going to New Hampshire, I'm really bummed about missing the noise show with A Snake In the Garden and other groups tomorrow night at Kriya. I can't be there, but you sure as hell should be--videotaping it for me, even. Here's the poster and showtime info:


That's about it. Life is pretty good right now; guess I should stop writing about it & starting enjoying it while it last--take care everyone & have a great weekend!

APOLOGIES TO SMOKE

I received an e-mail this morning from Brian Halloran asking me to remove the Smoke album downloads from the site. I thought the albums were out-of-print, but apparently they are available at cdbaby.com, so go there and buy them because they are incredible albums.

I must say it was the kindest & most rational artist response to someone sharing their music that I've ever seen--he just requested that I not share the entire album, and that if I continued to do so he wasn't going to press the issue any further. Pretty refreshing attitude in the days of paranoia in the music industry.

But I decided to just remove the links completely and to encourage you to buy the full albums because they are worth every penny. Pure Pop folks, if you're reading this, you should be stocking these albums. And if you haven't watched the "Benjamin Smoke" documentary yet, go rent it from Waterfront right now.

FEIST @ FLYNN THEATER, 9/9/07


Well, it's a bit too late to do a full review of the Feist show this past Sunday at the Flynn, but I will say that it was definitely in the top ten live shows I've ever seen. Feist is definitely at a career peak, and she's performing her hit songs beautifully and passionately. A killer backing band, tight arrangements that still leave room for improvisational touches and a great & friendly stage presence made for a wonderful evening--thank you Leslie!

A few of my favorite moments from the show--

• Being part of the Feist "grade school chorus"
• The beautiful lighting effects, especially the junior-high dance disco ball effect
• The on-stage banter, especially the lame jokes ("Beef Burlington"; "guitarsenal")
• Feist inviting the kid who left a tambourine backstage for her to come on stage and play it.
• The huge attack-hug the kid gave her when he made it onstage, and the split-second look of terror in Feist's eyes when she thought he was attacking her.
• The huge mass of dancing fans onstage who took up Feist's offer to come up during the encore.

Did you go to the show? What did you think? What were your favorite moments?

BADFISH @ HIGHER GROUND, 12/7/07


So who wants to go with me to see Badfish, the premiere Sublime cover band, at Higher Ground in December?

See, my initial plans for that evening (giving myself paper cuts in between my toes and then pouring salt & lemon juice on the wounds) fell through, so I had to settle for something slightly more painful and stupid.

Just kidding. I'd rather light my scrotum on fire than go to a Sublime concert. I'd opt for full-body self-immolation before going to see an homage group.

(Flame on Sublime fans...)

SPITTING OUT TEETH - DOWNLOAD(S) OF THE WEEK

This week's downloads are the only two albums ever released by the Atlanta, GA band "Smoke". The band's music became known with the help of Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen's beautiful documentary "Benjamin Smoke" which documented the life and death of the group's frontman. These albums are very difficult to come by and are obscenely underrated, especially their debut, "Heaven on a Popsicle Stick". Highly recommended for fans of Tom Waits, Jandek, Sparklehorse, Vic Chesnutt or folk-punk.

HEAVEN ON A POPSICLE STICK

LINK REMOVED PER ARTIST REQUEST - ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE @ CDBABY.COM!

ANOTHER REASON TO FAST

LINK REMOVED PER ARTIST REQUEST - ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE @ CDBABY.COM!

Enjoy!

T.REX DISCOGRAPHY DOWNLOAD


Hey T.Rex fans--go to http://dudu2dovinil.blogspot.com/ to find download links for pretty much every T.Rex and Tyrannosaurus Rex album ripped at 320kbps. Then go buy the albums on vinyl.

There are also a bunch of other albums at the site, including a bunch of Blue Oyster Cult (I'm looking at you Casey...)

Enjoy!

APOLOGIES & EXPLANATIONS

So you may have noticed that the updates at Spitting Out Teeth are fewer and farther between lately....and the content has been lacking a bit. My apologies for that--things have been a bit chaotic lately and unfortunately the blogging has been taking a back-burner to a few of my other interests:

1) I've been playing more music than I've been listening to lately. Beyond my ArtHop show with the The Le Duo tomorrow, my old cinematic nom de plume Solah has been resurrected for a drone/doom metal project with JB. An EP called "Darkcar" will be released later this month; I will post the cover art and an excerpt from one of the tracks this weekend.

2) My good buddy Travis got me a year of Netflix for my birthday and I'm starting to rediscover my love of cinema as a result. And seeing as my film posts never seem to go over too well here, I've kept from doing reviews.

3) I'm spending some much-needed time with my lady love as our favorite season, autumn, fast approaches.

Another obstacle to my posting is the fact that my work disabled the script that allows you to create new posts on Blogger. Although it's frustrating, I can't complain--for the first time I can remember, I actually have a job that I love. It's a nice feeling after a long stretch of soul-crushing employment.

So no more excuses--I will be busy for a few weeks, but once the weather gets colder I will be doing a lot more blogging and a lot more stout and porter drinking. Which may or may not be the best combination in the world. It's like peanut butter and chocolate, but with more emotional rollercoasters and vomiting. God bless America.

ART HOP TOMORROW


I will be playing the noisy box with The Le Duo tomorrow at Art Hop--hope to see you there!

HIPSTER OLYMPICS

ZACH GALIFIANAKIS @ UVM PATRICK GYM, 9/30/07


A couple things struck me immediately as my friend Travis and I walked to the back of a short queue in front of UVM’s Patrick Gym to get into the Zach Galifianakis show last night:

1) It was a much smaller line than at the Dane Cook show we went two a couple years back
2) We were by far the oldest people in line

We attributed the first observation to the frat-boy nature of Cook’s humor and (more importantly) his sex appeal to the young female crowd. Travis and I decided that if Zach Galifianakis was considered a sex symbol then we would be beating off the ladies with a stick. And that obviously isn’t happening.

The second observation I still can’t figure out. I was expecting to see a lot of late-20s/early 30s educated hipster types in the crowd, and instead it was just a group of UVM freshman, mostly in the usual costume of “rich hippie” with guys in Birkenstocks and American Eagle t-shirts and girls with au natural makeup and overpriced potato sack dresses. I doubt there were most than a half-dozen people in the crowd over 25, Travis and myself included.

We chatted a few of the UVM kids in line, most of whom seemed to not really know who Galifianakis was or how to pronounce his name. The ones who were familiar with his work seemed to know him from his movie role in the snowboarding comedy “Out Cold” and his recent music video for Kanye West (not surprisingly, I got a blank look when I mentioned his creative partners Fiona Apple and Will Oldham).

One young lady seemed particularly intrigued by our knowledge of Galifianakis’ stand-up act and picked our brains about everything from “Live at the Purple Onion” outtakes to the Comedians of Comedy tour. When we mentioned that he once berated a drunk woman who came on stage and starting playing his piano, she remarked “Really? Oh, I’m so going to do that. I really want him to yell at me.”

When the doors opened a little after 7, we walked into the gym and headed for some seats near the front. The girl from the line grabbed my arm and said “I want you to sit near me so you can tell me what to do to get him to talk to me!” I had no ambition to incur the angry Greek wrath of one of my comedic heroes so I pretended to follow someone into the row behind her. She shrugged and took her seat.

Once Travis and I were firmly planted in our hard metal folding chairs in the forth row, we made a few more observations:

1) There were a lot less people here than the Dane Cook show (in fact, half of the auditorium was closed off)
2) We were damn close to the stage.
3) It was really, really fucking hot in there.

We spent the next hour listening to mediocre indie rock and reminiscing about our favorite Zach Moments: his awkward clapping in the audience of the Ellen Show, lip synching to “You Bring Me Joy”; his stand-up gig in an elementary school classroom, etc.

Just as the heat and boredom was about to overtake us, the head of the UVM student union took the stage and introduced the opening act, a guy whose name I forget who recently appeared on some late-night show whose name I forget. All in all, a pretty mediocre set that was, well, forgettable. All I remember is a litany of bad jokes about drinking and “magic mushrooms”—not exactly ballsy jokes for a college crowd.

Almost immediately after “The Opener” left the stage, Zach came bursting through the door and took the stage just a few feet in front of us. In what became a night of many observations, a couple more things struck me:

1) Zach looks a lot shorter in person.
2) Zach looked remarkably healthy.

Almost immediately, he addressed the source of my first observation—he was cutting back on his drinking. Good for him; mostly every video I had seen him in featured either a tired, hung-over Zach or a smiling pint-in-hand Zach. In the age of Lohan and Winehouse, it’s nice to see a celebrity who cuts back on the mind-altering substances when fame hits instead of the other way around. Without the booze, he still seemed confident and zany, his two best characteristics and the ones I was most expecting to see taken away by the self-realizing chill of sobriety.

It didn’t take long for Zach to make a couple of observations of his own—

1) He wasn’t exactly thrilled to be performing in the middle of a basketball court
2) It was really, really, really fucking hot in there.

I felt his pain, especially on the second count. If I was sweating like a pig in the shade of the audience, I could only imagine what a guy who was carrying quite a bit more weight than me, covered in hot spotlights & wearing long slacks & a button-down shirt must be feeling. Not to mention the polyester Annie costume he was wearing underneath. More on that later.

The performance was great, if fairly typical Galifianakis fare (about 90% of the jokes I'd already heard from either the "Live at the Purple Onion" DVD or Comedians of Comedy). About 40 minutes into his set, Zach was obviously a bit annoyed by the heat & broke into the big finale--his (in)famous "Political Annie" routine.



Even though I'd seen it before, it was still great to see a grown, bearded man skip around a stage wearing an Annie outfit & sporadically flashing his hot pink man panties. Decide what you will what that says about me. After the lights went up I made a self-conscious dash towards the base of the stage in an attempt to grab a souvenir ripped page from Zach's write-board, but a couple spry young freshmen beat my old dulled reflexes to it.

As we walked out of the stifling gymnasium, Travis and I batted around the idea of heading to the bar at the Sheraton Hotel where we were sure we would run into Zach and change his mind about the whole abstinence thing, thus ruining a brilliant career. We decided against it though and made our way back to Travis' car. I looked back towards the gym and saw the girl we were talking to earlier who, not having had the contentious run-in with Zach that she had hoped for (the closest being a security guard who asked her to stop taking pictures), walked back towards her dorm with a look of confusion and disappointment in her eyes.

THE OL' LINK DUMPAGE

Check out a great article from The A/V Club about the masters of onstage banter.

Here's a good interview with one of my recent favorites, Sunn O))) on BBC.

Here's an interesting way to avoid drunken driving charges...and instead just have a pesky child endangerment charge instead.

But you can always make it up to the little ones with a lullabye...by Tool, Nine Inch Nails or Metallica. Grip your pillow tight, kiddies.

I promise to post something a bit more substantive in their near furture.

FARM & NOSEBLEED ISLAND - TONIGHT @ THE MONKEY HOUSE



There's a great show tonight at 8:00 at the Monkey House Bar on Main Street in Winooski--Enosburgh rockers Farm (with How to Stay Alive In the Woods) and Burlington's own wack-pack, Nosebleed Island. Come get your fill of killer folk-rock riffs & Kochalka-esque twee-pop songs about robots--see you there!