Superdrag Reunion: Holy $@#!

It's been almost 24 hours since I was given the news that one of my all-time, Top 5 favorite bands was getting back the original line-up and hitting the road for six limited shows in October and November. And then I found out they were playing Boston. And then, I shit many a brick and phoned up one of my best friends at home.

The Kings of Power Pop, Knoxville, TN's Superdrag have apparently been rehearsing for the past eight months to get ready for the stint that will find them bringing the original line-up of John Davis, Brandon Fisher, Tom Pappas and Don Coffey, Jr. to the stage for the first time in a decade. Rumors had been spreading for months ever since the release of the rarities comp Changin' Tires On The Road To Ruin that something was a-brewing down south, especially when pictures of Davis, Pappas, and Coffey rehearsing popped up on Davis' MySpace. On top of all this, the band announced they have a compiled a 2-disc, 40 song set of rarities dating from 1992-1995 (that's about pre-Darla for all you 'Drag fans counting) to be sold exclusively on the upcoming tour.

"Sucked Out" - takes me back!


Tickets for all six shows go on pre-sale tomorrow for $10 and also get you an autographed tour poster. You can bet I'll be eagerly awaiting high noon.

Tour Dates:
10/05 - Nashville, TN - City Hall
10/13 - Chicago, IL - Metro
10/20 - Knoxville, TN - Barley's Taproom
11/02 - New York, NY - Fillmore at Irving Plaza
11/03 - Boston, MA - Paradise
11/08 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

Speaking of My Formative Years, James Montgomery writes a great weekly column over at MTV News called Bigger Than The Sound. This year's topic on albums that suffer from what he cleverly dubbed "The Pinkerton Effect" definitely reminds me of my diatribes on the records that shaped my life. Do check it out!

Dead Rock West touring with John Doe

One thing we've really been digging around the office lately is the new John Doe record, especially that song "The Golden State" featuring Cindy Wasserman on vocals with the legendary X singer. The duet is so awesome that her band, Dead Rock West, is going on tour with Doe starting tonight in Austin! Show up early to catch their set, and stick around to see John and Cindy do the duet.

"The Golden State"


Tour Dates:
July 11 - Cactus Cafe - Austin, TX (w/ John Doe)
July 12 - Granada Theatre - Dallas, TX (w/ John Doe)
July 15 - The Abby Pub - Chicago, IL (w/ John Doe)
July 16 - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI (w/ John Doe)
July 17 - Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines, IA (w/ John Doe)
July 18 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN (w/ John Doe)
July 19 - The Mill - Iowa City, IA (w/ John Doe)
July 20 - The Reverb - Cedar Falls, IA (w/ John Doe)
July 23 - Club Café - Pittsburgh, PA (w/ John Doe)
July 24 – 8x10 – Baltimore, MD (w/John Doe)
July 25 – World Café Live – Philadelphia, PA (w/John Doe)
July 26 – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY (w/John Doe)
July 27 – T.T. the Bear’s – Cambridge, MA (w/John Doe)
July 28 – Jake’s Bar & Grille – Providence, RI (w/John Doe)
July 31 – Iota Club & Café – Arlington, VA (w/John Doe)
August 2 – Capitol Ale House – Richmond, VA (w/John Doe)
August 3 – Hideaway BBQ – Raleigh, NC (w/John Doe)
August 5 – Smith’s Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA (w/John Doe)
August 25- Safari Sams - Los Angeles, CA (w/John Doe)
September 2- Summer Strummer Festival Los Angeles, CA

New Release Tuesday

Every year, and usually it is in the summer months, one Tuesday ranks higher than any other Tuesday in the books for me, and I usually dub it "Super Tuesday" or something lame along those lines. Today is that Tuesday for 2007. Besides Our Love To Admire which we covered yesterday, and The Else which you can now get in stores, here's the other notable releases this week.

They're far from My Formative Years, but Billy Corgan and his Smashing Pumpkins (or can we just say it's Corgan hiding under a moniker after TheFutureEmbrace,) have made a record I'm not ashamed to say I'm listening to constantly. Or, at least a few songs. After seven years, the messy solo record, and a decent supergroup that came out of Zwan, old Billy and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin shacked up and (as one of my best friends would put it) wrote songs in the vein of the Pumpkins to make Zeitgeist. Some songs, they honestly do shine: opener "Doomsday Clock" is gargantuan and on par with any song from Siamese Dream; "For God And Country" sneaks in elements of Machina; "Tarantula" actually isn't a bad single! But where the album strives, it also has its pale moments. With the use of three different productions teams (either Corgan and Chamberlin themselves, or with the help of Deftones producer Terry Date or the legendary Roy Thomas Baker,) the album at times has three distinct sounds. Where "Clock" has that signature brutal guitar and pounding drums, "Starz" sounds like a rough demo with lead guitar overdubs. The finale "Pomp And Circumstances" sounds as awful as anything we were expected to Embrace on Corgan's solo effort: covered in synths and all kinds of unnecessary electronic elements, the squealing guitar solo that comes in mid way makes you want to turn it off and question why this song is on the album? Luckily, the 10-minutes of "United States" is worth every second: holier than thou guitars, movements and changes like "XYU" almost. It's as close as we'll get to the Pumpkins of yesteryear. I do suggest checking out the multiple bonus tracks from various retailers (or blogs.) "Stellar" is exactly that, and makes me wonder why that isn't on the album instead.

Stream: Zeitgeist [Here] /// [Buy Here]

If Boxer (or, yeah that War Stories record) were the safe bet for my album of the year, "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" is without a doubt the best song to come out in 2007. In 3:08 (not even, since the song ends at 2:44,) Spoon made me go cuckoo for Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. With the simple tambourine, the bright brass, and, is that a xylophone(?), Britt Daniel and the rest of the Austin band (now featuring ex-Get Up Kids/current White Whale bassist Rob Pope) craft a gem that I've been saying for two months now is the Greatest Motown Hit Barry Gordy forgot about. Besides the saccrine blast of "Bomb," Ga features what sounds like a sonic throw down between Chicago and a random mariachi band (the Jon Brion-produced "The Underdog,") brooding melodies that almost sound out of place ("Eddie's Ragga,") and the obvious inclusion of the hand clap, world's cheapest instrument ("Don't Make Me A Target,") Spoon have grown from their previous efforts into an even more comfortable zone and still don't let me down. First editions come with the Get Nice! EP: 12 songs in 22 minutes that fit perfectly as the soundtrack to 3 A.M. on Saturday after a long night out.

Stream: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga [Here] /// [Buy Here]

New Diet Kong Video: "Much Love In The Evil Sound"

Diet Kong's new video mixes black suits and white gloves, an old school lesson in anatomy, and most importantly the rock. Don't freak out, just enjoy the love in the evil sound.

Interpol: Our Love To Admire

"Spare me / the suspense” Paul Banks commands on “Mammoth,” one of 11 new songs on Interpol’s third opus, Our Love To Admire. Finally, after a three-year wait, listeners are no longer waiting in suspense but listening to see what changes and modes of growth would occur after jumping from Matador to Capitol.

Like “Mammoth,” opener “Pioneer To The Falls” was previewed on tour dates earlier in the year and fails to disappoint on record. The opening chime of the guitars that start off the record would almost channel the opening moments of "Everywhere" from Tango In The Night if there was some wind chimes whistling away off in to the background. It’s near six-minute slow march that goes in to the standout “No I In Threesome.” From a pulsing bass line, comes a stomping beat and clang-clang piano which I really don’t remember them utilizing much before, and showing that the band again has given themselves room to grow and explore as opposed to just play everything by the book.

Admire does have the paint by numbers Interpol that we loved on Turn On The Bright Lights (the amazing finale "The Lighthouse,") and the one we kind of appeared to enjoy but maybe we didn't really with Antics (the sludge-like movement of "Rest My Chemistry.") Like Antics' lead off single "Slow Hands," "The Heinrich Maneuver" does not let down in the least, with its catchy hook spiraling about and hints of organ in the chorus (at least I think its an organ.)

So what are left with after the suspense is no more? An album that stands out beyond Antics, but still there will never be another record that comes out of them quite like Lights, and I'm fine with that. And I hope you are, too.

Stream: Our Love To Admire [Here] /// [Buy Here]

SIS V6: Landing and Arriving Your Way Soon

For all of those smart enough to subscribe to Stranded In Stereo the compilation (as opposed to this wonderful little companion blog that I love running so dearly) should start watching their mailboxes as we'll be starting the mailing process for Volume 6 very very shortly. This is the strongest, greatest line-up SiS has seen yet.

What can you expect this round? Check it out:

CD:
Interpol - "The Heinrich Maneuver"
They Might Be Giants - "Take Out The Trash"
Ola Podrida - "Instead"
Robbers On High Street - "Crown Victoria"
Midnight Movies - "Souvenirs"
Buffalo Tom - "Three Easy Pieces"
No Second Troy - "Burned"
Go Motion - "Different In Time"
Pictures Of Then - "Instant Rocket To Glory"
Lay Low - "Mojo Love"
Verona Grove - "Goodbye Surrender"
Jupiter One - "Countdown"
The Mercies - "You Can't Stop Me Now"
The Yarrows - "Cellophane"
Sullivan - "Tell Me I'm Wrong"
Tiger City - "Dark Water"
Gogol Bordello - "Wonderlust King"
Bedouin Soundclash - "Walls Fall Down"
Chuck Ragan - "The Boat"
Drakes Hotel - "Broadcast To The Addicted"
Edison Glass - "All Our Memories"

DVD - videos:
Green Day - "Working Class Hero"
Young Knives - "Weekends & Bleak Days (Hot Summer)"
Midnight Movies - "Patient Eye"
Margo Guryan - "16 Words"
The Cribs - "Men's Needs"
Jesse Malin - "Broken Radio"
No More Kings - "Sweep The Leg"
Wildbirds - "421"
Ursula 1000 - "Electric Boogie"
Grand Atlantic - "Smoke And Mirrors"
Kava Kava - "Bank Job"
Loney, Dear - "I Am John"
Edison Glass - "This House"
Magic Bullets - "Yesterday's Seen Better Days"
Supersuckers - "Rock n' Roll (Ain't Selling This Year)"
Diet Kong - "Much Love In The Evil Sound"

DVD - Film Trailers:
Element
Hairspray
The Simpsons Movie
Live Free Or Die Hard
Love's A Bitch
Neighborhood
The Party

Live Free Or Die Hard: In Theatres Now

So, I decided to celebrate my Independence Day a little bit on the early side this year by seeing the newest film to feature the legendary action hero John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) in Live Free Or Die Hard.

Growing up, I was always a huge fan of Die Hard trilogy: the original was groundbreaking for its time, bringing a return to form to the action hero in cinema. It was also named the greatest action movie of all time the other week by the folks at Entertainment Weekly. Where the first one was all about one macho man with a gun taking down an army of terrorists, its sequel upped the ante by putting him on a race against time at Dulles Airport to stop another group of terrorists and get all the planes in the air to land safely before they ran out of fuel. The third film, Die Hard With A Vengence, is my personal favorite. Teaming McClane up with shop owner Zeus (played by Samuel L. Jackson,) the action was greater than ever and the villian was a relative of the original terrorist from Die Hard. High speed chases throughout NYC, subways blowing up, riddles and games every corner to be turned all added up to one big cat and mouse game. How would they top it?

Surprisingly, Live Free isn't that bad at all. Kept in tact was the humorous one lines from Willis' most famous character (example: "I'm tired of all this kung fu" or "He's like a damn hamster!") while make the action scenes more intense. In the several years since the last film, advances in special effects have only benefited the makes of the newest installment, helping wild ideas like police cars blowing up helicopters to become a reality. The plot, involving terrorists using computers and modern technology to just shut down the universe, proves an interesting villian and enemy to the non-so-tech-savvy McClane, who gets help from Matthew Farrell (played by Justin Long,) a computer nerd but such a strongman with a gun in his hand. Either way, still a good film, and they've kept a series of good films alive. Wonder what happens if they make a fifth one?