MURAKAMI

Admist swarms of kids, I checked out the Takashi Murakami exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum today. Their was a big crowd, and for good reason. The show was really colorful and incredible fun. With the cartoonish figures that populate Murakami's art, it's tough to take the work very seriously, but maybe thats the point.

My Morning Racket

For the last several Saturdays, at approximately 8:00 AM, Ive woken to the sound of a jackhammer, right outside my building, strategically aligned with my eardrum and relentless in its task of refusing me rest.

Yesterday morning, I put my head phones on, broke out the swiffer, and cleaned my apartment. I listened to a little album called Evil Urges, by a little band called My Morning Jacket, from a little place called Heaven. For the unitiated, My Morning Jacket is a Kentucky bred, part hippie, part prog, part dub, part southern soul hard rock band. Theyve been dipped in so many buckets, its hard to describe what they have all over them, other than to say they are covered in awesomness.

Their new jam, Evil Urges comes out in June and it is a gem. See them live.

The P is Free

Portishead is back. Their third studio album, titled Third for some odd reason, is set to be released next week. If youve looked hard enough, you may already have had it for several weeks and had an opportunity to get complelely and utterly spooked the F out by it.

A couple of weeks back the NYTimes said all that needed to be said about the band from Bristol. Worth mentioning again is that its been ten years since they have released anything (and that was a live album).

So it was with great anticipation, and curiosity that I approached Third. Im not 100% sure how I feel about it. It is abrasive throughout and really gloomy. There are brief beautiful moments, but mostly it feels darker and more sinister than their previous efforts, if you can beleive that.

Here is a warmer moment: The Rip

FAIRYTALE FUNK

It's been five years since the German rock band The Notwist released a proper album. 2002's Neon Golden was a revelation. An emotional, textured, rhythmic experience that popped up on many critics Top 10 lists. This critic goes back to it every few months and I still feel its power.

On a recent visit to the hypemachine I stumbled across a song off of The Notwist's new album, The Devil, You and Me, due to be released in May. So, I dug into my google machine and literally tracked down the whole album, which I'm glad I did.

Check out the first single, Good Lies.

HOLY CANOLLI

The 2008 Lollapalooza lineup is crazy good. Though not a complete list, here are those artists Im most excited to see:

Radiohead, Wilco, The Raconteurs, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, Jamie Lidell, The Black Keys, The National, Broken Social Scene, Battles, Okkervil River, Rage Against the Machine, Bloc Party, Explosions in the Sky, The Gutter Twins, MGMT, Spank Rock, Mason Jennings, The Gutter Twins, Black Lips, Yeasayer, Booka Shade, Santogold, Louis XIV, ...among others.

I cannot wait to be back in Chicago for what has become the music event of the year, in my opinion.

LIVE @ BLOOMIES

"...name in lights..."

School's Out

Damien Hirst and Lever House http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/12/arts/hirst.php?WT.mc_id=rssarts

MALKMUS!!

Dragonfly Pie
Hopscotch Willie
Cold Son
Real Emotioal Trash
Out of Reaches
Baltimore
Gardenia
Elmo Delmo
We Cant Help You
Wicked Wanda

Stephen Malkmus (and the Jicks) are coming back in March with Real Emotional Trash on Matador. Check out a great interview at Pitchfork with the master and listen to most of the albums tracks by going clicky above. Among other interesting things to know, this album's vocals were recorded in Jeff Tweedy's Chicago studio. The Jicks tour the US in 2008...

FIESTA

On Friday, November 30th and Saturday, December 1st I was fortunate enough to witness Ween's triumphant return to NYC. Even if Terminal 5 is not the best venue in NYC, little could get in the way of the party that ensued when Aaron and Mickey (and Claude and Dave and Glenn) strapped on their jammy pacs. There was moshing, midget security guards, drunk girls grinding, abnormally tall guys in silly hats, the persistent smell of dirt weed, trippy lights, and of course, a theremin.

Though I caught a Dean Ween solo show in March of this year, Ween had not played in NYC since the Quebec Tour in November of 2003 (my introduction to their incredible live show). Having not seen them in four years it was satisfying to see the band playing as well as they were. All star music critic from the NY Times, Kelefa Sanneh, agreed.

Ween's mix of funk, punk, country, reggae, prog rock, R&B as well as genres unnamed, makes them hard to pigeonhole. Recently, The New Yorker called them The 'Coen Brothers of rock and roll'. Whatever it was they played on their two night stint though, it was played well and it was damn fun...

Friday Setlist:

Exactly where I'm at

She wanted to leave

Aids

Golden eel

Baby bitch

Piss up rope

Voodoo lady

Your party

Light me up

Waving my dick in wind

Touch my rooter

Even if you don't

Your just a object to me

Beacon light

Mr richard smoker

Zoloft

Johnny on the spot

Pony

Stallion pt. 5

Puerto rican

power

You fucked up

Tender situation

Mollusk

Panady fackler

Put the hammer down

Ocean man

Reggaejunkiejew

Someday

Encore:

Jammy pack

Fiesta

Booze me up & get me high

Blarney stone

Saturday Setlist:

Fiesta

Take me away

transdermal celebration

nan

Bannans and blow

learin' to love

spinal meningitis

happy colored marbles

my own barehands

buckingham green

mutilated lips

Acoustic set:

tried & true

birthday boy

help me wipe the mucas...

i don't want it

electric:

Roses are free

push the l'il daisies

sorry charlie

woman and man

stroker ace

dr rock

lullaby

powder blue

papa zit

Gabrielle

frank

big jilm

fat lenny

Encore:

never squeal (w/ Claude drums solo)

fiesta reprise

Barely repeating a tune across 2 two and half hour plus shows, and over 60 songs, Ween's virtuosity shined. They are a band like no other with a passionate, albeit strange audience. As as we left the show on Saturday night a crowd had formed on the corner of 11th Avenue and 56th Street. Approaching the mass, I noticed balloons and people laughing hysterically. It was a nitrous party, and it was the first time Id seen one in close to ten years.

I just hope I dont have to wait another four years to see Ween again.

They're Not There

Last night's "Im Not There" (Dylan Movie Sountrack) Benefit Concert at the Beacon Theater which promised a great lineup of performers, underdelivered. There were highlights, more than one of which involved Jim James (of My Morning Jacket). But save a few sprinklings of creativity and energy, the night could be best characterized as messy and uninspired.

Perhaps hopes for the show were high because more than half of the 37 songs on the album are keepers? But few of the heavy hitters on the soundtrack were even announced for the concert (No Jeff Tweedy, Stephen Malkmus, Eddie Vedder, Sufjan Stevens, Willie Nelson, Antony, The Black Keys, Los Lobos, etc). So, my expectations were somewhat minimized. And aside from the aforementioned My Morning Jacket, plus Cat Power and the always brilliant Calexico, I more than likely wouldnt have gone to see any of the other artists performing.

The 'Special Guests' teaser on said bill was really too little to hang my hopes on. Evenso, the program was sloppy, anticlimactic, poorly produced and lacking in more than a couple of moments of music revelation. While were on the subject, those were:

Jim James with Calexico...his voice rules
My Morning Jacket being My Morning Jacket (covering Dylan)
Tift Merritt channeling Edie Brickell
John Doe's moves (he of punk band X)
Dinosaur Jr. founder J Mascis shredded it for the Beacon


Setlist:
‘When the Ship Comes In’ (Marcus Carl Franklin)

‘Billy 1′ (Calexico)

‘Goin’ To Acapulco’ (Jim James and Calexico)

‘Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)’ (Joe Henry with Calexico)

‘Man in the Long Black Coat’ (Mark Lanegan with Calexico)

‘All I Really Wanna Do’ (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros)

‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry’ (Al Kooper and the Funky Faculty with the Uptown Horns)‘

As I Went Out One Morning’

(Mira Billotte and the Million Dollar Bashers)

‘Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright’ (Ian Ball and Olly Peacock)

‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ (Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks)

‘Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35′ (Terry Adams)

‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ (Yo La Tengo)

‘Fourth Time Around’ (Yo La Tengo)

‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ (My Morning Jacket)

‘The Times They Are A-Changin”’ (Mason Jennings)

‘Pressing On’ (John Doe)

‘Buckets of Rain’ (Jimmy LaFave)

‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ (Tift Merritt)

‘Can’t Leave Her Behind’ (Lee Ranaldo and the Million Dollar Bashers)

‘Santa Fe’ (J. Mascis and the Million Dollar Bashers)

‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ (John Doe and the Million Dollar Bashers)

‘Masters of War’ (The Roots)

‘All Along the Watchtower’ (The Million Dollar Bashers and guests)

WHY so GREEN and LONELY (part THREE)?

Almost as soon as Spider Roll's last post went up, this news hit the world wide web:

"Radiohead to embark on a world tour in 2008"

Why So Green And Lonely (Part II)?

i just figured out that its been over 4 years since ive seen radiohead live. please come back to new york city.

everyday i write the book

About 3 songs into Saturday night's powerful Arcade Fire performance at Randall's Island, lead singer Win Butler encouraged the audience to really enjoy themselves because the band would not be returning to NY for "a couple of years." I sensed a collective "WTF?" but it was a short time before the intensity peaked again. Like as soon as they started the next song.

My last AF show at Radio City is a cloudy memory, due in no small part to the quantity of bourbon I consumed that night. So, it feels like last night's show was the first and last I will see (for a while, anyway). Personal highlight for me had to be "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" a monster song on their self titled EP. Come to think of it, my highlights include pretty much every song with a reference to cars in the title. Grammy award winning song "Cold Wind" was also excellent, as were the anthems "Power Out" and "Wake Up." Here is the full setlist:

Black Mirror

Keep The Car Running->Laika

No Cars Go

Haiti

I'm Sleeping In A Submarine

My Body Is A Cage

Cold Wind

Intervention

Antichrist Television Blues

The Well and The Lighthouse

Tunnels

Power Out->Rebellion (Lies)

Encore:

Headlights Look Like Diamonds

Wake Up

WHY SO GREEN AND LONELY?

oh mama: In Rainbows, Radiohead's latest, is eminent.

Versions of all songs can be clickyd here.

Wikipedia: On October 1, 2007 Radiohead announced via their blog the title, track list, and release dates of their seventh studio album, In Rainbows. At the time of its release, the band will not be in a contract with any record label. The album will be available exclusively as a digital download from inrainbows.com on October 10, 2007. The download version includes the 10 tracks that make up the album. It is reported that a standard CD version of the album is to be released in early 2008.[13] A special "discbox" will be released on December 3, 2007, and will contain the physical album on both CD and two 12" heavyweight vinyl records with artwork and lyric booklets. The discbox will also include a bonus Enhanced CD which contains 8 bonus tracks, as well as digital photos and artwork. The overall set will be packaged in a hardcover book and slipcase. The band are, however, planning a CD release of the album for early 2008.[14]
While the discbox is priced at £40 (which includes the digital download), the price of download by itself is left up to the buyer. Upon purchase, the buyer is prompted to type their desired price (plus a transaction fee of 45 pence if purchased for more than £0.00).[15]

ALL IN YOUR MIND

Spider roll: Last published on April 13th.

This post: About Phonograph playing this friday

Where: The Living Room, NYC

SOMEONE ELSE'S SONG

radler telling me about a jgb show this morning on the elevator set the tone.

today my favoite writer passed.

"thats it for the other one"

BACK ITS THE INCREDIBLE

hyperbole has served spiderroll's last two titles well. s'okay, because austin city limits on pbs got it right for the second time this past December with the holiday pairing of the raconteurs and cat power. my dvr a' hummin'.

reminiscent of past cat power, get down appearances on the program and other classic jawns from a few years back; bright eyes/wilco, modest mouse/gbv, dcfc/mmw, or maybe even peyton manning/tonydungy...its about that time.

blues and soul in that order. ordered up, the cup runneth...tonys back too with the tastiest show on the tube...
...and on the tube, stephen colbert vs. bill "papa bear" oreilly missed the mark, but his battle with the decemberists was bullseye fly. sometimes pitchfork does get it.

ice cold super bowl sunday in the now why. why? because we like you...

-bobby

STILL NUMBER ONE

DVR is set for 11 PM this Saturday night

The International Bank

some interesting art finally bubbled up to the surface this past year. check the cover story of NY Magazine this week for downtown's dirty gettin theirs. but i think it's banksy who crossed over from emerging artist to a household name in the media world.

anyway, he's made his work available to you.