XX Merge: Get Ready

I have always been a big fan of Merge Records and most people know this about me. They also probably know I once spent a summer interning there - fun times for sure! This year is their 20th Anniversary and so far they haven't skimped out on anything. There's been the SCORE! Box Set of curated comps by awesome people, a covers album and now the motherload is coming to us in the form of nothing other than a festival!

XX Merge will take place in the beautiful Triangle of North Carolina July 22nd through the 26th. While the first four nights will take place at the infamous Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, the final night will take place at Memorial Hall down Franklin Street on the UNC Campus. Who's playing? Over 25 acts says the label. Confirmed so far are label founders Superchunk along with the classic Merge acts Polvo and Spent alongside the modern contemporaries like M. Ward, The Broken West and a band y'all know are near and dear to my heart, The Rosebuds. Oh and Spoon, Conor Oberst, Destroyer and Neutral Milk Hotel (whoops...too soon?)

Tickets for the event in the form of a five-day pass go on sale on Wednesday, April 8th, for the friendly price of $150 ($30 a night isn't bad). Exclusive merch and other daytime activities are to be announced. Hit up the XX Merge page for more deets. Also - who wants to buy me this here shirt? I'll be 25 this May ...

Friday Video Round-Up

So over the last week there have been some music videos that have come to my attention and I just wanted you to see all of them. Rather than just write separate posts I just thought I'd round them all up in to one awesome, videotastic post. Maybe this will be yet another recurring feature on the blog, though My Formative Years has just about run its course since I think all the albums on the mental/word doc list have been talked about. Or have they . . . ?

First up, we have what I think is the first official video from The Rosebuds. I'm a huge fan, yes. Kelly Rosebud's Facebook profile picture is one I took of her at the Middle East in January. I about fainted when I saw that. I kid you not. Ok, I didn't really faint, but I felt like I was five. ANYWAY - I don't think Kelly & Ivan ever made a music video, but now they have for the haunting brooder "Life Like" - I think it's like equal parts Bambi and The Most Dangerous Game or something.



Secondly, another first. That Wild Light record Adult Nights hasn't bored me yet - every time I put in another, I'm finding another song to enjoy. Here's the simplistic black & white video for the catchy first single "California On My Mind". I guess that girl is supposed to be Marilyn Monroe. I see her, think it's Marilyn Monroe, but pronounce it Marelynn Munrow like Jermaine's Australian girlfriend on Flight of the Conchords.



And finally, a first sort of, as in first video in, oh, I'd say 13 years. It's the clip for "Aspartame" from the newly reformed Superdrag. Their new album, and first with the original line-up since the MFY staple Head Trip In Every Key is called Industry Giants and will be in stores this Tuesday. Gone from this video are lighting cigarettes with dollar bills and singing songs in diner booths. Inserted are things blowing up and the guys dressed all in white and playing the shadows at times. If you're going to SXSW next week, make sure to catch one of their upteen sets they'll be playing - find out all the details of said sets on their MySpace.

SIS At The Club: The Rosebuds

It was the coldest it had been in quite some time in the Boston area this past weekend, but nothing would keep me from seeing The Rosebuds for the seventh time. There could be a blizzard, and so long as Kelly and Ivan Rosebud, along with whoever filled in behind the kit and bass that night would be in a room in my locale, I would be there, too. They are the band you take all of their songs to heart - they are life changers. They are the band you can apply to that old saying about breaking out of jail to see them.

They stepped out on stage past 11:30, minutes later than they were due to. As "Hello Darlin'," the whistling-dixie instrumental from Life Like played over the PA of the Middle East, Ivan took stage first. Kelly would eventually walk out in such a striking number of white dress and was it - leg warmers or just really high white socks - waving to us all like the beauty pageant winner she is. She gave some of us, myself included, a welcoming high five. The only other thing she could have done was blow the crowd kisses.

And where she didn't blow said smooches, the band did with their songs. While "Blue Bird" calmly opened the night, they would eventually launch into the 1-2 punch of "Life Like" and "Cape Fear". Midway through was the sing-along portion of the evening; anyone who has seen the Rosebuds before knows the band utilizes their encore to have a makeshift campfire sing-along. They usually hop off stage, bring their acoustics, and together we sing songs like "Shake Our Tree" and "Nice Fox" together, using our collective voices as one. This night, they just stayed on stage - let's just chalk it up to the Christmas lights strung all around. As people from openers The Love Language were welcomed onstage with a pack of girls from the audience to dance the "Bow To The Middle", Kelly would make up the sans-campfire moment by dancing with us down in front during "Get Up Get Out".

The encore was when they finally dug back, back to 2004, to a time when I first met a young Kelly and Ivan had a dive place blocks from Baltimore's Inner Harbor. "Back To Boston" was obviously welcomed with many a cheer, while Kelly got seductive next to Ivan for "I'd Better Run". They tore up a racous version of Make Out classic "Drunkards Worst Nightmare" before ending the night the same way it started - with another calm number from Birds Make Good Neighbors. After the hyper activity of "Drunkards", it was rather appropriate to segue in to the sedate "Wild Cat" to end the evening.

Kelly was eventually by the merch table. "Oh, you bought one of those!" pointing to my hand where Fun Book #2, their ridiculous Tour EP, was grasped. "I think you're really going to like it." She introduced herself to a friend of mine, and we were quickly cut off by another fan. And that was fine - I've had better nights with the 'Buds anyway, outside of being up front singing along every last syllable of every last song played.


Set List:
Blue Bird / Life Like / Cape Fear / Cemetery Lawn / Hold Hands And Fight / Leaves Do Fall / Shake Our Tree / Nice Fox / Border Guards / In The Backyard / Bow To The Middle / Get Up Get Out / Boxcar // Back To Boston / I'd Better Run / Drunkards Worst Nightmare / Wildcat

Download: "In The Backyard (J YU Remix)" [mp3]

Rosebuds Go Life Like on New Album

So I'm back from vacation. I loved being without the internet for a week, it was magical, but once I had access again I was told of a new Rosebuds album. Oh the things I miss when my Mac can't check e-mail and other assorted things.

So it's been a year and a half since the amazing face melting time that was Night Of The Furies and even less time since the remix album that paid tribute to it. And now, on October 7th, we will have the newest chapter in the Rosebuds tale, Life Like. The album apparently is more like album's previous to Furies; judging from the preview video the band uploaded, it reminds me quite a bit of Birds Makes Good Neighbors. Kelly and Ivan Rosebud tracked this one at home in Raleigh, and then had friends like touring drummer Matt McCaughn and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon chime in here and there. What excites me even more is that the 10-track set closes out with "In The Backyard", quite possibly the greatest unreleased Rosebuds jam.

And as I write this, I notice that the band has uploaded several tracks to their MySpace page. You should check them out!

Life Like:
01 Life Like
02 Cape Fear
03 Border Guards
04 Bow to the Middle
05 Nice Fox
06 Another Way In
07 Concordia Military Club
08 Hello Darling
09 Black Hole
10 In the Backyard

Teaser vid:

The Rosebuds Release Remix Album. Today. For Free.

The Rosebuds are one band I never tire of, who keep on getting better and better with every release that comes about. Today is no exception as Ivan and Kelly unleash Sweet Beats, Troubled Sleep, a remix of last year's #6 record, Night Of The Furies. The 10-track set features remixes from labelmates Portastatic, Roger O'Donnell, and Justin Vernon, better known to the world as Bon Iver.

The set is available, right now for download, from Merge's nifty digital store. Oh, and it's free!