Backseat Sandbar

Softcheque www.myspace.com/yessoftcheque
animal city myspace.com/animalcitymusic
state champion www.myspace.com/iamstatechampion

Finally. The day that many Louisville music lovers have been waiting for has come. Tonight Second Story Man release their full-length album “Screaming Secrets” in a celebratory show at Skull Alley. We were lucky enough to sit in on the band’s final practice before the show earlier in the week, and let us be the first to say this show will be incredible. Every guest musician that performs with the band on the album will be on hand to play, as will some other local heroes (horn section from Lucky Pineapple!). Here are the details:

- Doors open @ 8:00 pm
- $5 cover (dirt cheap for this caliber of show)
- softcheque opens the evening at 9:00, with Straight A’s soon after
- Second Story Man provides your nightcap

The band will have “Screaming Secrets” for sale on CD AND Vinyl and you should buy both. Throw in a few t-shirts for good measure. We will definitely be seeing you there.

Saturday, December 5th- Louisville, KY @ Skull Alley

Friday, December 12th- Lexington, KY @ TBA

Tuesday, December 22nd- Nashville, TN @ The Basement

Wednesday, December 23rd- St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway

Wednesday, December 30th- Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle

I was in Underground Sounds the other day and Phantom Family Halo‘s new album Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die was playing.  I didn’t recognize it at first, but what I heard was epic.   Every track seemed lifted from a timeless album that changed music, but in a mirror reflecting PFH’s own image.  It’s messy, its distorted, it’s trippy, it’s perfect.  I’ve seen them a number of times in the past and I’ve always been a fan, but this album has taken them to a whole new level for me.  The album throws pretension and convention out the window and does whatever the fuck it wants.  Fast, slow, melodic, electric, old, new, hard, soft…they do it all at their pace, not yours.  White Stripes, Velvet Underground?  I raise my head and wonder if I’m listening to the same album, only to be reassured that, yes, it is still PFH.  Get a taste of the album below, but you MUST listen to this WHOLE album.  It’s one of my favorite albums of the year.  No question. Take notice.

On a related note, Karate Body Records is KILLING IT!! Let’s review:  This album (a beautiful 2xLP), Bonnie Billy and Cheyenne Mize (10″ Cream), Louisville is For Lovers Vol. 9 (Pink/White mix), Ben Sollee (White LP), Rachel Grimes (w/ Sheet Music), Wussy/The Fervor (Green Vinyl), Ume EP (Gold vinyl), Pokey LaFarge & Joe Manning 7″ (heavy as hell white vinyl)… It’s all ridiculously awesome and I can’t get enough of it.

Phantom Family Halo will open for Russian Circles and Young Widows on the following tour dates:

FRI NOV 27 – Detroit MI, Magic Stick
SAT NOV 28 – Buffalo, NY Soundlab
MON NOV 30 – Milford CT, Daniel Street
TUE Dec 1 – New York NY, Bowery Ballroom
WED DEC 2 – Cambridge MA, The Middle East
THU DEC 3 – Washington DC, DC9
FRI DEC 4 – Philadelphia PA, First Unitarian Church
SUN DEC 6 – Montreal QC, Il Motore
MON DEC 7 – Toronto ON, Lee’s Place
WED DEC 9 – Kalamazoo MI, The Strut
THU DEC 10 – Cleveland OH, The Grog Shop
FRI DEC 11- Louisville, Kentucky, Skull Alley

Also:

PFH’s double LP Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die is out now and you can get it online at Karate Body or at a fine record store near you.  Mark it down: Their record release show will be Nov. 25 in Louisville at Lisa’s Oak Street Lounge with Softcheque. Cost is $5.

Phantom Family Halo – Blackouts and Runaways
Phantom Family Halo – Alive and Well

Photo via The Decibel Tolls

I just saw Softcheque play at Rock the Whole Lot and was blown away.  I can’t believe that I haven’t heard this band yet, but better late than never.  Softcheque is driven by its two female singers with absolutely enchanting voices and supplemented with a mellow drone of keys and percussion.  Immediately, Bat for Lashes came to mind and the similarities are scary.  Each combine hypnotizing vocals with a dark and eerie journey sound.  Keep on on on this group, they have a ton of talent and will win you over after a single song.  You can catch them at Phantom Family Halo’s album releases party at the Z bar on October 17th.  Check out a video from their show at DCE below (via The Decibel Tolls)…

Wax Fang‘s Scott Carney, along with sonaBLAST’s resident weirdos Lucky Pineapple, Softcheque and Consume Consumer are going to be playing a benefit this Saturday for the Whole Planet Foundation. Additional musicians are expected to perform, but as of now they’ve still not been announced. Combine good music with local art, South American cuisine (with Whole Foods Chef Allan Rosenberg), beer, beverages, raffles, and silent auctions and it should be a great time even if it’s a little east-end for many of you. Everything begins at 2 and goes until 9 in the Whole Foods Parking Lot at 4944 Shelbyville Road. All proceeds go towards the foundation.

UPDATE: SCOTT MUST STILL BE SICK BECAUSE HE WAS SCRATCHED FROM THIS BILL AS WELL.  START SENDING HIM GET WELL CARDS.

A little more about the foundation (more…)

photo by State of the Commonwealth

Louisville has a new space on 6th and oak street…somewhere between a gutterpunk flop house and an art shack gallery; posing a great alternative to bar shows.

Friday is what should be a great party/show. Blues Control, from New York, are playing the most retarded take on the downer blues ever in the little dive, just days after a show with Mika Miko, to close their tour. Louisville is starting to get some big acts in unexpected places (See Pere Ubu).

Also, Softcheque, a local group of two divas and a weirdo guy messing things up and Beat of Blood (two guys from Parlour playing stuff that doesn’t sound at all like Parlour) will be there too. Music starts promptly at 10pm & it’s free and don’t forget to BYOB. (Thanks Kaptain Molases)

Blues Control – End Zone
Blues Control – Losing Game
Blues Control – Live on WFMU (stream)
Blues Control – Make it Easy (stream)