We could not be more excited to announce this show!!! Backseat has been around for over three years now and one of the best things about running the site has been meeting amazing people. Owen Ashworth is one of those people. He started using the moniker “Casiotone for the Painfully Alone” back in 1997 and five albums, countless EPs and 7″s, and years of relentless touring later, he’s decided to retire the moniker (and the songs) and move on to new things. Before he does though, he is heading out on one final tour to give fans one last chance to hear their favorite CFTPA songs. After playing Louisville in 2008 and 2009, local fans must have an impression on him because he made a special request to play here!! We’ve locked down the Zanzabar for October 2, 2010 (doors at 8pm). I know this is a while off, but I wanted to get this on your calendar now. It is not to be missed.
CFTPA is bringing an opener with him from Australia, Otouto (Picture the female side of the Dirty Projectors with stop-start arrangements of tin pan drums, warped key sounds, minimal jangly guitar and a twin vocal attack). I had never heard about them before Owen pointed me in their direction. I think I’m in love.
If you really need another reason to go to the show, we’ve got another for you. Cincy-based (and lovingly adopted by Louisville), The Seedy Seeds will kick things off. They’ve stolen our hearts with their endless energy, catchy tunes and contagious positivity. They fit perfect in this line-up, so don’t miss out!
The tour has already started and Brooklyn Vegan has a great account of his set. Hopefully we can expect the some of the same. Here a snip of what BV had to say:
Unlike a number of artists who rely on laptops to generate significant portions of their songs, Owen builds most of the layers on stage, by navigating through a mass of wires, knobs, and keys – his arms often crossing to get the job done. There are definitely perks to seeing an artist who has been creating music for the better part of thirteen years. Owen has an impressive body of songs to pull from, and constantly finds ways to rework them in a live setting. Casiotone songs often fall between the 2 and 3-minute mark, but Owen manages to pack a story into each song thanks to his creative, humorous, and candid lyrics. Owen makes music akin to the heartfelt and often painfully (but endearingly) awkward mumblecore films Mark Duplass and Andrew Bujalski make.
Then, about midway through his set, Owen dropped the bomb. “Thanks to Todd for making the show happen. This is my first time here [at Monster Island] and I’m going to be playing here again in October and that’s actually going to be the last Casiotone show in New York. I’m going to stop this in December… and I’ll do something else after that.”
After this big announcement, Owen began to take requests, and he was immediately met by an avalanche of song titles. “Cold White Christmas!” “Grandmother’s Pearls!” “We Have Mice!” “Parthenon!” “When You Were Mine, please!” After just a few seconds, Owen jumped back in. “Alright, alright. Those are good suggestions, thanks.” The crowd may have been relatively small, but there’s something to be said of fans who actually care enough about the music to have an arsenal full of requests to call out when prompted. “Grandmother’s Pearls,” ended up winning this time. After each song, audience members called out more and more requests, and Owen usually obliged – even with “Young Shields,” which he initially claimed was too bass-heavy to play. Owen closed out his set with “White Jetta” before stepping off stage and making his way through the crowd, receiving pats on the back as he went.
We’ll keep you updated on this one as it gets closer.
Backseat Sandbar Presents
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (Final Tour)
w/ Otouto and The Seedy Seeds
Zanzabar (2100 South Preston Street)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
8pm
$6
Our friend Stanley of You’re My Density has been working on a new album for the last 2 years, and it’s just about done. The single is an All-American Rejects song (“Damn Girl”) and you can see the video below. The album comes out July 27th.
In partnership with ThinkIndie.com, this FREE digital download is a 17 song sampler of what we’ve been up to the past few years. Songs by Evergreen, Metroschifter, Straight A’s, Second Story Man, Lucky Pineapple, The Web, The Teeth, Minnow, Brett Eugene Ralph’s Kentucky Chrome Revue and more. Download it and pass it along to your friends. Go to www.louisvillenoise.com/blackbox
Born in Tennessee and raised in Louisville, KY, Matthew Cooper relocated to Portland, OR several years back and has since spent many a night holed up in his house transforming the vibrations in his brain into sweeping walls of elegant noise. With a depth ranging from fragile to glacial, he takes dense layers of guitars and pianos and builds them into an awe-inspiring fortress around himself. Resting comfortably and confidently in the spirits of Brian Eno’s most accomplished ambient pieces, Eluvium is a freakishly beautiful affair. If it was ever possible for a warm gust of wind to send chills through every bone in your body, then Eluvium is that warm wind.
James Apollo (Seattle, Washington) and his band are coming to Louisville, Kentucky on May 7th to promote their upcoming LP ‘Til Your Feet Bleed, out in June 2010.
“A high plains drifter on the dark side of tumbleweed roots rock ” – El Paso Scene Weekly
James Apollo is a master of melancholy, his smoky voice haunting each front-porch tale Relix
Americana in the truest sense The Times
a haunting set of western-folk… Apollo’s gravelly vocals, steeped in a dusty haze of melancholy, evoke the expanse of the west and the lonely open road. KEXP
with the grumbling jazz stylings of Tom Waits, Apollo brings to mind cactus flowers, Ennio Morricone and William Faulkner. TimeOut New York
Hailing from Libertyville, Arkansas, but yet to fully establish where home really is, James Apollo is one of life’s romantic journeymen. Rolling up the Mississippi before he could register his first emotion, it is a life drawn out upon a well-worn map that informs ‘Til You Feet Bleed’, which will be released in June in the US and UK Apollo’s dusty vistas are ensconced in a weary, whisky-toned knowing. Life hasn’t been tough, but relentless to this lost western soul. Leaving home at 16, Apollo settled on the long road west, and when his money and land began to run out, he took to a docked boat in San Francisco simply to put a rusty roof over his head, “I’d write these songs about beauty and sadness and love and loss, but what did I know? I was captain of a sinking ship.” – James Apollo
Tour Schedule:
Wednesday, May 5th @ Natasha’s Bistro (112 Esplanade, Lexington, KY 40507) with The Rainjunkies, 9PM start $6
Thursday, May 6th @ The Southgate House Juney’s Lounge (24 East Third St. Newport, KY 41071); Also at Southgate House Ballroom: Frightened Rabbit, 9PM start
Friday, May 7th @ The Delmont Room at Vernon (1575 Story Avenue) with Butch Rice and eremy•JIrvin. 8PM start, $7
Saturday May 8th @ the Sweatshop (2218 S Sawyer Chicago IL 60623) with Elam Abraham Blackman and Ghastly Menace. 8PM start, $7
If you are from Louisville, you know Wax Fang. Soon, everyone will know them. In full costume, they covered Prince’s Purple Rain in its entirety and proved more entertaining than the fireworks show itself. But, let’s start from the start because it was a long day.
After waking up at 8am to wait in line at ear x-tacy for Record Store Day and a full day of vinyl hunting, I headed downtown to “Go Crazy at Thunder” at The Louisville Ballet Center. I forgot to “dress to impress” and wore jeans, but oh well. Louisville’s The Pass started playing as soon as I arrived and I was excited because I was told I would hear some new tracks from their upcoming debut LP release. One of those tracks, “Criminal” is some of the best stuff I’ve heard them play and it just so happened that I got it all on video (check it out below). Their EP has been getting a lot of buzz and our friends at Pretty Much Amazing called their song “Crosswalk Stereo” one of the best so far in 2010 (edging out The National’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio” by a couple spots). You can download “Crosswalk Stereo” at the link above. Needless to say we are big fans, and you should check’em out ASAP.
After a few beverages and a helping of the buffet for a base, I got to see Lexington’s Chico Fellini for the first time. I wont go into it, but I had wanted to see them at the Pour Haus a while back and didn’t because of a sound problem. Well, they were worth the wait. They provided the crowd with a stylish blend of high intensity lounge rock. It was dramatic and over-the-top, but not in a way that it lost its appeal. A nice surprise and a great way to set up the fireworks show.
Fireworks. You probably saw them.
Okay. What happened next will be hard to put in words. My focus was on Wax Fang’s staple theremin, front and center on stage, then the band walked out in full garb. Wigs, frills, glam, gloves, and fake mustache (wait I think that was real). The highlights had to be “Take Me With U” (video below), “Computer Blue” (video below), “When Doves Cry” and, of course, a smashing finale with “Purple Rain.” Everything was spot on and I don’t mean just the tunes and the vocals. Scott Carney embodied Prince’s personality and flamboyance. It was truly a spectacle. You hear people talk around town about the talent of Wax Fang as musicians, but I don’t think I truly understood how good they were until Saturday. So I liked the show, if you couldn’t guess.
[NOTE: IF YOU MISSED IT, THERE WILL BE AN ENCORE AT THE ZANZABAR NEXT WEEK TONIGHT (4/20)!!! JUST $7. DOORS AT 8. MUSIC AT 9:30. I'LL BE THERE FOR TAKE TWO!!!]
[UPDATE: According to Facebook, "Wax Fang : Oh, snap! Prince lost his voice. Purple Rain at Z BAR to be rescheduled for sometime next week. Stay tuned. Spread the word." Kinda reminds me of Wax Fang's free Nachbar show back in September that was canceled for the same reason. I guess I can wait until next week, but I hope it isn't on Wednesday because Beach House is playing in Nashville.]
[UPDATE: The show will be on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. See you there!]
Bigger than the show is the realization that Wax Fang will be the next big band to come out of Louisville and we will be happy to call them ours. They recently signed withAbsolutely Kosher Records out in California and in May they are going to re-release La La Land digitally, on CD and for the first time ON VINLY!!! On top of that, they were hand selected to play Pavement’s All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK (also in May). I see them riding this wave right on to everyone’s iPod (and record player). I can’t think of another band more deserving of the success.
Needless to say, we are HUGE fans of Neon Indian. Their debut album, Psychic Chasms, was one of our top albums of 2009. We saw them in Bloomington, IN last year and SXSW this year and they are really getting their live shows down (just see their Fallon show performance!). Well, on June 11th, you get a chance to see Neon Indian for FREE. They will be playing the MidPoint Indie Summer Series at Fountain Square. It is a great summer music series and we can’t wait to see who else they have lined up for performances.
PNC MidPoint’s Indie Summer
PNC Summer Music Series, Memorial Day to Labor Day
Fridays, 7 to 11 p.m.
Fountain Square on Friday nights is the place to be for all fans of independent rock music.
In 2009, Indie Summer partnered with MidPoint Music Festival to offer a preview of MPMF’s indie music showcases all summer long.
Local, regional, and national bands will perform every Friday night from 7 to 11 p.m.
TOUR SCHEDULE:
04-09 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
05-12 New York, NY – Terminal 5 *
05-13 Boston, MA – House of Blues *
05-20 Calgary, Alberta – Hi Fi Club
05-31 George, WA – Sasquatch
06-02 San Diego, CA – Casbah
06-03 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
06-04 Los Angeles, CA – Natural History Museum / First Fridays #
06-05 Corvallis, OR – Flat Tail Musical Festival
06-07 Austin, TX – Emo’s
06-09 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
06-10 Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo 06-11 Cincinnati, OH – Fountain Square
06-12 Pittsburgh, PA – Brillobox
06-13 Baltimore, MD – Sonar
06-17 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
06-19 Denver, CO – Westword Music Showcase
07-17 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom
This past fall I went to go see local favorites and the always-incredible husband&wife at The Bishop in Bloomington. I wasn’t planning on staying for the closer that night which was the latest signing to Secretly Canadian-imprint Dead Oceans. This was the band Nurses and I sure as hell am glad I did. The band was a swirl of psychedelic pop, synthy dance beats, and washed out vocals. They also released one of Backseat Sandbar’s favorite records last year. So, needless to say, this is a show you shouldn’t miss. I haven’t even mentioned yet, that opening the night will be the almighty Prayer Breakfast. You have been warned. This one will be great. (show details after the jump)
Holiday Shores and Twin Sister stopped at the Nachbar in Louisville, Kentucky last Saturday on their way back from SXSW. There is something special about seeing two bands on the rise play a free show to a packed bar and just knowing inside that each time they tour through the area they will be bigger and bigger. Thanks to everyone for coming out, we had a great time and hope you did too! We grabbed some pics and video from the show for those who missed it.
Also, both bands recorded a Daytrotter Session yesterday and Twin Sister’s new album just got a rave review from Pitchfork and they are giving it away free for the next two weeks. Download it NOW HERE. You can also pre-order it on vinyl and CD. Get on it!
Growing, originally from Olympia WA, but for some years based in Brooklyn, are living up to their name. Not only is their music evolving, from ambient soundscape to purposeful rhythms, but also since signing to The Social Registry in 2007. 2008 saw an outflow of recordings, including a new album ‘All The Way’. Lastly, well evident at this show to crown the year, is the most noticeable growth-spurt – the addition of a new member in the person of Sadie Laska, who we have seen before playing with Gang Gang’s Lizzi Bougatsos in I.U.D. A good crowd showed up to see the band headline at Santos and were rewarded with a healthy chunk of new material. I’ve picked a couple of the more upbeat pieces ‘Innit’ and ‘Party Nintendo’.
TOUR SCHEDULE:
04-06 Brooklyn, NY – COCO66
04-08 Winooski, VT – Monkey House
04-10 Montreal, QC – Casa del Popolo
04-11 Toronto, ON – The Garrison
04-12 London, ON – Call the Office
04-14 Detroit, MI – Contemporary Art Museum
04-15 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
04-16 Madison, WI – Project Lodge
04-17 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
04-18 Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
04-21 Seattle, WA – The Vera Project
04-22 Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret
04-23 Olympia, WA – Northern
04-24 Portland, OR – Berbatis Pan
04-26 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
04-28 Oakland, CA – The Parish
04-29 Santa Cruz, CA – Brookdale Lodge
05-02 Irvine, CA – UC Irvine
05-04 Tucson, AZ – Solar Culture
05-07 Austin, TX – Mohawk
05-10 New Orleans, LA – Circle Bar
05-11 Atlanta, GA – E.A.R.L.
05-12 Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light 05-13 Lexington, KY – Al’s Bar (LEX)
05-15 Pittsburgh, PA – Garfield Artworks
05-16 Huntington, WV – Pleasant 123
05-18 Baltimore, MD – Floristree
05-19 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
On March 9, Dark Dark Dark releases the stunning six-song EP Bright Bright Bright on Supply and Demand Music. Hailing from New Orleans, New York and Minneapolis, the chamber-folk sextet have yielded a lush and intoxicating follow-up to their 2008 full-length debut, The Snow Magic. The band has also unveiled their new website, www.brightbrightbright.com, where you can listen to the entire EP and pre-order it in both digital and 12″ vinyl formats.
On the new record the band moves beyond lost love, heartache and loneliness toward more hopeful horizons. “These songs are about new beginnings, and usually have a little triumphant twist in them,” says band member Marshall LaCount. “The songs are often about a character finding a place in the world, and the strange interactions that happen along the way.”
The EP is also about finding and creating beauty. “Lyrically we’ve grown,” says LaCount. “We’re working on the new songs the way a painter might work. Each of us adds a different shade or texture to the canvas.” The resulting songs are expansive and dynamic, layered with serious overtones but with joy at the center.
After a successful run opening for the band WHY? last fall, Dark Dark Dark recorded the new EP at Sacred Heart Studios in a former church overlooking Lake Superior, and worked with Minneapolis producer Tom Herbers (WHY?, Low, Retribution Gospel Choir, The Jayhawks, Fog). Herbers engineered, produced and mixed Bright Bright Bright on analog equipment from start to finish. He encouraged the band to record live as opposed to tracking instruments separately, taking advantage of the band’s unique chemistry and using the chapel’s natural reverb to amplify the power of their live performances. LaCount explains, “Recording like this allowed so much room for musicality, warmth and energy. It’s the most honest way we’ve ever worked.”
Bright Bright Bright also features new additions to the band, resulting in a much fuller and melodic sound. Multi-instrumentalist Walt McClements, of the New Orleans bands Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship and Panorama Jazz Band plays trumpet, accordion and piano. Brett Bullion, a member of the Minneapolis outfit Tarlton, adds percussion.
Dark Dark Dark is currently recording new material for their sophomore album (due Fall of 2010) at the historic Music Box Theatre in Minneapolis with Tom Herbers again producing. Once completed, the band will tour in support of the EP, beginning with three SXSW showcases in Austin this March.
I’ve had Louisville’s The Commonwealth on my radar for a while now, but it wasn’t until a few days ago that I got the chance to listen to their self-released EP, How to Play Pretend. DAMN THIS ALBUM IS GOOD! They claim influence from Yo La Tengo and I couldn’t agree more (listen to “Ginger” below). With seven or eight musicians going at the same time in a smooth and clean lounge style, this album is fantastic to throw on at the end of a day or mid-road trip. On songs like “In Your Attic”(below) you can even hear hints of The Flaming Lips. Frontman, Daniel Duncan has a captivating voice that just floats over the beat. I’m kicking myself for not listening to this EP sooner. Better late than never though and I recommend you check them out now if you haven’t already.
The Minor Leagues are touring the midwest in support of their fifth album, “This Story Is Old, I know, but It Goes On..” It’s a kitchen-sink rock opera that is equal parts Pet Sounds and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Their sound is rooted in 90’s Brit-pop with a little 60’s soul and even a touch of 70’s glam-rock for good measure. TML’s melange of pop sounds have earned them comparisons to Beulah, New Pornographers, Blur and the Elephant 6 collective, while managing to sound almost nothing like any of them.
