Grant Manship

Phosphorescent - A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise

Panda Bear Is Comfy In Nautica And On The Dance Floor

Panda Bear approached the release of his 2007 solo album Person Pitch like a dance album in that almost all of the tracks were released as vinyl singles leading up to the album's debut.  Now "Comfy In Nautica" has been completely overhauled into a full-on dance floor track by XXXChange (SpankRock, Kid Sister, Amanda Blank).

• Panda Bear - "Comfy In Nautica" from Person Pitch [XXXChange Remix]

Man Man Appreciation

I can't say enough good things about Man Man.  They're easily one of my favorite bands out today.  Each time I've seen them live seems to be progressively better than the last and considering how blown away I was the first time, that's saying something. 

The last time the band played at the Southgate House I spoke with Ryan (a.k.a. Honus Honus) for a little while about music, touring, the band's label search, etc...  He was gracious enough to let me listen to a few of the early demos for Rabbit Habits he had on his iPod.  Needless to say, the gesture made my night if not week, month, or year.  I was lucky enough to get through several songs while the band broke down their gear and was really impressed by what I heard even at that stage in the process.  From listening to the tracks it was apparent that Rabbit Habits is going to be an amazing album.  He asked what I thought and I don't think I could have come up with anything bad to say even if I tried.

In anticipation for their new record on their new label, Anti- Records, I figured I would post a couple of the tracks that have been released prior to the April 8th release date.  "Top Drawer" showed up a while ago and Stereogum debuted "Hurly/Burly" in this week's 'Gum Drop.  Enjoy!

• Man Man - "Hurly/Burly" from Rabbit Habits
• Man Man - "Top Drawer" from Rabbit Habits

Boris - My Neighbor Satan

Volunteer At The MusicNow Festival

Do you want to volunteer at this year's MusicNow Festival?  If you haven't checked out the lineup yet, it's another great one!  This year's lineup features contemporary music pioneers Bang on a Can All-Stars and Bill Frisell, alongside three of the world’s most creative rock bands, Grizzly Bear, The Dirty Projectors, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird.  Visual artist Karl Jensen will create a large installation in Memorial Hall, and Glenn Kotche; (WILCO) and Bryce Dessner (The National) will perform as special guests with Bang on a Can.

Right now we need extra ticket takers, ushers and general help.  If you're interested in helping with such a great event, email Kit Higgs at kithiggs@hotmail.com for more information regarding times and the benefits volunteers will enjoy for helping out.

Katkin Reflects On Vampire Weekend's Visit To Cincinnati

We've been blessed with a flurry of activity from the good professor Ken Katkin as of late.  In what caps a trifecta of recent additions to Katkin's Korner, here is his review of last month's Vampire Weekend show at the Gypsy Hut:

As of January 25, 2008, I'd never heard of Vampire Weekend. But when I took a quick January 26 foray into NYC, it seemed as though all of Gotham was buzzing about Vampire Weekend's allegedly fresh and infectious hybrid between African music and The Feelies (or maybe the Talking Heads). In Brooklyn, I was shown a youtube video for the band's signature tune "A Punk," which struck me as borderline enough that the band might potentially be either good or awful. One clever pal did express a prescient note of skepticism, warning me that Vampire Weekend at their best sounded like Paul Simon's Graceland and at their worst sounded like every generic English ska band from the 1980s.

When I returned to Cincy the next day, I stopped by Shake It Records to pick up the new Bonnie Prince Billy live CD Wilding In The West. While there, the shopkeeper told me that he had just received 200 tix for Vampire Weekend's semi-secret Cincy gig, which would take place on Wed Feb 13 in the Gypsy Hut, the smallest venue of the band's hyped and sold-out national tour. Having just spending a whole NYC weekend hearing people gush about this band of recent Columbia grads, it seemed like my inescapable karma to buy a pair of tix to go see them.

Favorite New Release of the Week - Mar. 18th, 2008

Adam Green - Sixes & Sevens

This album is full of Adam Green's most mature attempts at songwriting to date.  In the past I think some people were unsure if they were supposed to laugh at Adam's songs or take them seriously.  Maybe it was both.  Regardless, while there are a number of tongue-in-cheek moments here, it's hard to not take this round of songs very seriously.  That's because the majority of tracks on Sixes & Sevens are extremely lush, filled at one point or another with just about every instrument and style conceivable.

One of the first tracks that really stood out to me was the pan flute-infused "You Get So Lucky".  This track shows what a great voice Adam has.  He certainly possesses a chameleon-like quality at times with a healthy bit of Leonard Cohen showing up here.  Another track that stands out is the country-ish duet "Drowning Head First" that finds a charming back-and-forth between Green and girlfriend Loribeth Capella.  I also enjoy the western-campfire vibe of "Bed of Prayer".  The previous mentions of country and/or western influence is prevalent on this record, a clear acknowledgment by Mr. Green of his love for all things Nashville.

Regardless of your personal tastes in music I think you'll be able to find something you like on this record.  Finally, I think old fans will be happy with the progression on the album and all of Adam's new fans, ala Juno, will also be excited by what they hear.

• Adam Green - "Morning After Midnight" from Sixes & Sevens
• Adam Green - "Getting Led" from Sixes & Sevens

John Cale Has A Secret

During a discussion with Professor Katkin about the 2008 WFMU setlist and the two Velvet Underground tracks included in the set, I mentioned I've been on a big Velvet Underground kick lately.  In response to this, Ken sent over this little gem of John Cale on the September 16, 1963 episode of I've Got a Secret.  His secret centered around his participation in an 18 hour 40 minute piano performance, the first full length presentation of Erik Satie's "Vexations".  As the YouTube poster who uploaded the video mentions, the other pianists who participated in the performance were John Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Philip Corner, Viola Farber, Robert Wood, MacRae Cook, John Cale, David Del Tredici, James Tenney, Howard Klein (the New York Times reviewer), Joshua Rifkin, and two reserves.  The group played the piece, which is only three lines long, the required 840 times on September 9, 1963, from 6 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. the following day.  Seated also on the I've Got a Secret stage was Off Broadway actor, Karl Schenzer, who's secret was that he was the only person to stay for the entire piano concert.

Ken Katkin Reviews Wussy & The Championship - Mar. 6th, 2008

On a pleasant winter night in Northern Kentucky, I attended one of the four Cincinnati-area gigs being performed within six weeks by the Queen City's finest band, Wussy, the mixed-gender quartet (part-Velvets, part-Vaselines, part-Neil Young, part-Love Child, part-Dead Moon) that is the current project featuring ex-Ass Pony (and local luminary) Chuck Cleaver.  This flurry of local activity was designed to allow the local heroes to test out some new material, and also to prepare them for their forthcoming road trip to SXSW in Texas, to be immediately followed by their second-ever spate of east coast tour dates.

This gig took place at a new venue, The Keystone Bar & Grill in Covington, Kentucky.  I'd never been there before (at least since the excellent Sonoma restaurant, which used to inhabit the same space, closed down a while back).  And frankly, I was a little alarmed when Wussy bassist Mark Messerly noted in the band's blog that the Keystone's myspace site portrays the club as "a nice place with lots of young energetic people acting energetically."  Which I guess was a euphemistic way of saying that the club portrays itself as a haunt for overaged fratboys and feather-haired ex-sorority girls on the make, and also for the handful of "upscale" (the Keystone's word, not mine) yuppies who toil in Northern Kentucky's nearby three-block corporate office-tower district.

It turns out that Wussy organized this gig as a favor to a slightly gay dad-rock band from Milwaukee called "The Championship" who had apparently begged for help in scoring a last-minute Cincy-area gig. Although "The Championship" had their moments, my advice to them would be to come out of the closet, lean heavier on their underutilized Bowie influence, lighten up on their overdone Uncle Tupelo influence, and play fewer songs.

Thao Nguyen - Bag of Hammers

Awesome Color Sound Awesome!

Sorry, I couldn't resist using that title for this post.  The power trio that is Awesome Color currently reside in Brooklyn but originally hail from Michigan where they met in Ann Arbor.  I'm sure Ann Arbor's favorite son Iggy Pop as well as the spirits of the legendary MC5 to the east are proud of what they're hearing from the group.

It's also occurred to me that since the University of Michigan and Ohio State are such bitter rivals maybe Awesome Color joined the fray to serve as an answer, or should I say a shot across the bow, to the Buckeye state's very own Times New Viking.  That's certainly a battle of the bands I'd like to see!  Somebody get to work on that double bill asap. 

Awesome Color's second album Electric Aborigines is due out April 29th on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label.  Check out one of the tracks from the album below.

• Awesome Color - "Eyes of Light" from Electric Aborigines

Supergrass - Rough Knuckles

Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act I & II)

2008 Setlist for Yo La Tengo's WFMU All-Request Webcast

With his latest addition to our very own Katkin's Korner feature, Professor Ken Katkin, has once again compiled the setlist for Yo La Tengo's annual all-request set on WFMU this past weekend.  To recap, during the annual event listener's who make a pledge of at least $100 can request that the band cover a song of the listener's choosing, Yo La Tengo style. They do their best to come up with an arrangement of their own on the spot. 

This is what Ken had to say about this year's set, "This was a hard year IMHO, with more than the usual number of obscurities to identify.  But here is my best stab at keeping a setlist.  Thanks to metafilter poster Kowalski for identifying the Sonics song in the second set and the Hypnolovewheel song in the fourth set.  Thanks to WFMU Beware of the Blog poster jumba for identifying the Fleshtones song in the second set.  Thanks especially to Ira Kaplan for taking mercy upon me and filling in the remaining blanks.   Any further help in correcting any remaining errors would be welcome.  Also, if anyone has scored a recording of this show, a copy would also be more than welcome!"

Without further ado, you can take a look at the Professor Katkin's note and results after the jump and as previously mentioned, if anyone out there snagged a copy of the webcast, please let us know!

Richard Swift Doubles Up With Double EP

Richard Swift is back with a new double EP Richard Swift As Onasis, due out April 8, 2008, which should wet everyone's appetite until he releases his second full-length, and proper follow-up to last year's exceptional Dressed Up For The Letdown.

The EP's serve as a study of a bygone era when the main purpose of a record was to capture an artist's performance instead of focusing on the cutting, pasting, and auto-correcting we get from todays studio wizardry.  Mr. Swift conjures up Howlin' Wolf and Little Richard and throws in a touch of his Instruments of Science & Technology side for good measure.  Check out a couple of the tracks below!

• Richard Swift - "Phone Coffins" from Richard Swift As Onasis
• Richard Swift - "Knee High Boogie Blues" from Richard Swift As Onasis