The latest from clairecords, which helps keep the shoegaze (and some indie pop) flowing.

Sciflyer: The Age of Lovely, Intimate Things EP
What Swervedriver would sound like underwater. About 50 feet underwater. As usual with Sciflyer, the vocals are way way buried in the mix and the guitars are droney. The Age, which is two "lost singles" and some "b-sides," includes a song called "Never Come Down" that clocks in at 14 minutes. So they pretty much should have called the band Vervedriver. -Kenyon

released: August16, 2005
similar: Swervedriver, Skywave, Moose, Sianspheric
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Silver Screen: The Greatest Story Never Told
Cris Miller (aka Silver Screen) got started playing music by trying to play songs by OMD on a Casio. You can definitely hear an influence from OMD here, but The Greatest Story is more about guitars than keyboards. Those guitars are pretty and so are Miller's vocals. -Kenyon

released: May 24, 2005
similar: Riverside, Lucksmiths, Starlet, Cocteau Twins, Lightning Seeds
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Eau Claire: s/t EP
Members of Experimental Aircraft and Clear Horizon, residents of Texas and Ohio. Four tracks of whispery ambient pop.

released May 24, 2005
similar: Softies, Sugar Plant, American Analog Set

U.S. Air Guitar Championships

oh come on, I can totally do this.

"We've got a lot riding on this record," says O.A.R. vocalist Marc Roberge. "We tend to get pigeon-holed as a jam band, a college band or a touring band. We haven't been taken seriously as songwriters."

Cue violin.

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As reported earlier, "Any Way that you Want Me" by Spiritualized (originally by the Troggs) is on the soundtrack for Me and You and Everyone We Know. Warning: those hoping for the song to be played during a magical, romantic moment in the film will be a tad disappointed. In fact, you, me and everyone we know may never think of the song the same way again.

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Music by M83 is in the trailer for the wierd looking sci-fi/thriller/apocalyptic film Night Watch, out today, July 29, 2005. See the trailer HERE. Mute records will re-issue M83's debut album on September 6, 2005, originally released by French label Gooom in 2001.

This time they didn't forget the gravy.

Worked Up so Sexual!!!!

Gravy Train!!!! at the Knitting Factory, NYC. July 25, 2005.
by Shannon Ronan

A lot has changed in the two years since Gravy Train!!!! released their hella dirty, hella danceable debut, Hello Doctor. For starters, Drunx has been replaced by the aptly-named Junx, (imagine half the clothes and double the gay-chic of Andrew McCarthy's quirky sidekick, Hollywood, in the 1980's flick Mannequin). Oh yeah, and Chunx has noticeably lost most of her chunk. You follow?

There's no doubt that Gravy Train!!!! could have easily coasted by forever, fueled by shock value alone. Sure, Gravy Train!!!! is gimmicky and often over the top, but they are undeniably the best at what they do. Though the new album, Are You Wigglin?, includes a track called "Pussy Sauce" the sound here is way more mature. Okay, well maybe not mature, but certainly more developed. Even if the best song on the 22-minute album happens to be a cover ("I Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Wanna Get Rid of You"), Wigglin still proves Gravy Train!!!! to be the sexually-liberated phoenix rising from the ashes of the short-lived and long-dead "electroclash" movement, churning out new songs with lyrics that could make Peaches blush and keyboards that leave Le Tigre to lie flat as a cat nap.

The Train managed to pack another show at The Knitting Factory. But more noteworthy is the way they made even the too-cool-for-dancing kids dance themselves into sweaty summer oblivion. Junx proved to be the best addition to the band, swinging his pink pom-poms and flinging his trunks into the audience while informing rowdy dancers, "we're not here to be shady. We're just here to be fierce." Still, the seemingly harmless on-stage dancing and off-stage diving soon emboldened a few front row titty-grabbers to grope Chunx, who I then believed punished New York City leaving "You Made Me Gay" out of the short set, choosing instead to close the show with other old favorites such as, "Titties Bounce" and "Sippin 40s." Despite the awkward tension of the show, Hunx proclaimed it to be one of their best ever and I concur, having once again been convinced that Gravy Train!!!!'s synchronized dance moves and impromptu humping never flunx.

The soundtrack for Me and You and Everyone We Know came out July 12 (whoops) on Everloving records and it includes "Any Way that You Want Me" by Spiritualized (originally by the Troggs). Enough said. Ok well, the rest of the soundtrack should be neat too (I haven't seen the film yet, don't want to spoil it by listening) because the original score is by Michael Andrews, the same guy responsible for the soundtrack to Donnie Darko, which all the kids seem to like so much.

Just listen to yourself!

As I have experienced, it's hard (sometimes impossible) to be objective about your own music. What else could account for the latest records from Billy Idol, Rob Thomas, Daft Punk or, say, some trashy local rock band that thinks being 'indie rock' means not being on a major label? Well, apparently post-grunge/metal/punk-pop kiddie band CKY (come on, it stands for Camp Kill Yourself) is still in denial about this, and will fire back at anyone who says their new record is shit. That includes Rolling Stone of course. Oh man, I can't wait to tell CKY that they suck, just so I can get a pissed-off response from them.

Very very few records released this week. That's very very odd for mid-July. Ok, so Frank Black released his like, 20th solo album.

some upcoming records to look forward to:

August 23- stellastarr*, John Vanderslice, BRMC
August 29- Ladytron (UK only)
September 6- Warlocks, Richard Hawley
September 13- Sigur Ros
October 4- My Morning Jacket

Brian Jonestown Massacre sells out two shows at Bowery Ballroom, obviously attributed to the film Dig! (which BJM frontman Anton hates). I can gladly say I saw them, pre-Dig!, a couple years ago at Bowery, when the venue was less than half full and there was plenty of space to dance. I'm still, however, gonna look around for a guest list.

There was no entry yesterday. In fact, I didn't even touch a computer yesterday. What could possibly be better than sitting in front of computer? Being an extra on MTV's High School Stories, of course. Filming was all day yesterday and today. And damn, it was warm out. Episode will air during the fall season, at which point you can see Kenyon portraying a Catholic high school student. For real.

Well, tomorrow, July 16 is the celebrated (or should I say notorious?) Siren Music Festival at Coney Island. I haven't gone to one yet, don't plan on going to this one. I don't even think it matters to me anymore who is playing. Spoon, Mates of State (ok fine, Jason is a really nice guy), Ambulance Ltd, VHS or Beta, et al. Whoop dee freakin' doo. Oh how I would just love to spend my day in the hot sun, packed together with thousands of other suckers, including the people that would normally be there who picked the wrong day to go on the rollercoaster. I would like, however, to hear some opinions of this show. Anybody? As for me, I'll be gearing up for a "performance" taking place on Monday and Tuesday. Stay tuned.

Ghostly International has become the first record label to give Advance Copy links to mp3s, specifically for use on blogs. werd. oh and the music is pretty decent too.

The curiously named Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys offer the title track from their album Git (released June 28), a bit of light electro-pop:

http://www.ghostly.com/audio/clips/Skeletons-Git.mp3

The title track from the upcoming record by Mobius Band (out August 9) makes me think of Longwave, for sure:

http://www.ghostly.com/audio/clips/MobiusBand-TheLovingSounds.mp3

-Kenyon Hopkin

VOODOO MUSIC EXPERIENCE 2005 to take place October 29-30, 2005, in New Orleans' City Park. Sure to make people from Long Island once again feel crappy about the failure of the Field Day festival, but others thankful that their town's environment wasn't ruined.

Over 80 acts slated to perform, including Nine Inch Nails, the Bravery and the Neville Brothers (what?).

Tickets went on sale July 8 at www.voodoomusicfest.com (which rejected my "back" button on the browser) and at ticketmaster. Single day tickets will be on sale in September.

Acts scheduled so far: Nine Inch Nails, The Flaming Lips, Queens of the Stone Age, Billy Idol, Social Distortion, Tiesto, My Chemical Romance, Secret Machines, New York Dolls, Cake, Ryan Adams, Mickey Hart's Voodoo Drum Circle, The Bravery, Louis XIV, LCD Soundsystem, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Digable Planets, Carl Cox, Brazilian Girls, The Decemberists, Death From Above 1979, VHS or Beta, and many more.

-Kenyon Hopkin

Electro-pop duo Goldfrapp will release its third album, Supernature, in the U.S in February 2006 on Mute records. That's FEBRUARY 2006, seven months away. It will be released in Europe August 22, 2005 because, well, we're not as worthy. (well, actually it's a part of a "global strategy.")

European tour dates begin this summer with festival dates and continue into the fall with club dates. The duo--Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory--are currently in the middle of a European promotional tour.

Alison Goldfrapp says Supernature is "an über world of sound and hybrid creatures. It's a place to take part in fortnightly disco séances, where people dance with spirits and howl like beasts of the forest wearing lycra and stilettos." Uhh, yea, cool...I think? -Kenyon Hopkin

Two killer records out today, July 12, from bands of which you likely haven't heard, which have a pretty good chance of landing somewhere between #30-40 for my best of 2005:

OXFORD COLLAPSE: A Good Ground (Kanine Records)
Similar to Stellastarr*, Les Savy Fav.

also out today on Kanine is the latest from Mixel Pixel. Watch for my interview with the band, coming soon. Kanine will release the next Mommy and Daddy record September 27.

THEE MORE SHALLOWS: More Deep Cuts (Turn)
Similar to Grandaddy, Earlimart.

Thankfully, these records cancel out Bronson Arroyo and William Hung. -Kenyon Hopkin

Boston Red Sox Pitcher Bronson Arroyo releases Covering the Bases today.
Cover of "Hunger Strike" causes an expressionless look on Eddie Vedder's face. More at MLB.

Not to be upstaged, William Hung one-ups Arroyo with Miracles, also released today. Thousands across America wonder why he's still allowed to make records.

Neither one deserves a photo here. -Kenyon Hopkin

Secretly Canadian signs I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, a band with one of the best names ever. Bluffington, a runner-up for one of the best names ever, remains unsigned. Full-length debut from ILYBICD (whew!) will be produced by Paul Barker of Ministry (!) and slated for release in early 2006.

MP3 from their 2003 EP.

LIVE 8. July 2, 2005.

If you missed Live 8 last weekend (and hell, why would you want to watch TV all day and miss most of it anyway due to commercials and the fact that it's in several cities at once?), all the performances are online at AOL. god damn i love technology. also there's a lot of good/funny comments at Stereogum, who I hope will trade blog links with me sometime within a year.

some highlights:

U2
Although they played it way too safe with the non-surprising "Beautiful Day," "Vertigo" and "One," I'm still looking forward to October 10 at Madison Square Garden.



Pink Floyd
Roger Waters was there. Really, you need to bow down to them.




Coldplay with the Verve's Richard Ashcroft for "Bitter Sweet Symphony." Unfortuntely, no signs of Verve guitarist Nick McCabe. Rolling Stones probably recieved a small royalty for the sample in the song.

The Cure
What? the Cure played? oh hell yea! Except there didn't seem to be a keyboardist. And the guitarist is...hmm, looks like Porl Thompson, otherwise it's someone new. That'd be sweet if it's Porl Thompson.

Will Smith Dude, come on man, he did "Summertime."
Scissor Sisters. they can dance
the Killers just one song but pretty sweet
Duran Duran original line-up
a-ha yea!

-Kenyon Hopkin

tomorrow, wednesday, july 6.

live phone interview with lo-fi indie rock band MIXEL PIXEL (kanine records)


the mainline. with kenyon.
http://electricmainline.blogspot.com/
indie/brit/space/dream/electronic/synth/rockwednesdays 2:30-5:30PM (EST)
WUSB 90.1 FM (http://www.wusb.org/)