Hope you're all somewhere comfortable, gorging on the bounties of the season, loosening up the waste line, watching the Detroit Lions kick and claw their way to their first win of the season...all before ultimately slagging off into some Tryptophan enhanced, acid dream land. It's Thanksgiving after all...THE GREATEST HOLIDAY OF THEM ALL (in my humblest of opinions). You, my dear reader, deserve to take in the down time.

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Happenstance is one spooky phenomenon. Think about it. Examine the place you call home, the people you share your life with, and that which keeps you busy from day to day. Chances are these are the random results of monumental kind of coincidences. Your entire life, in fact, is the grand result of some spectacular moment slowly unfurling itself over time. Of course, you already know this, so what's my point? Well, these strange sorts of synchronisms are important. Without them, music fans most assuredly would have missed out on two of the better bands going these days.

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photos by James Holk. See more photos HERE.
Several weeks back, I, along with thousands of other concert goers, found myself helplessly movin' and a'groovin' to Of Montreal's acid-washed theatrics at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. As I watched Kevin Barnes stroke the fine hair of a white stallion (no joke), hang himself from the gallows, cycle through numerous costume changes, all while refusing to miss a single sonic beat, I knew we had to film this band...and film them fast. So last week, we packed our bags for Portland OR, conveniently remembering to bring along the cameras as well. We'll have the Portland show at the Roseland Theater in its' entirety for you in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we got pictures!

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Charles Misodi is one shameless dude. Take the swinging slice of advice the Harlem rapper...aka 88-Keys...offers up on his recently released hip-hop concept album The Death of Adam (Decon): "Your morning could start off on the right foot if she takes care of the morning wood". How very ho hum, huh? Not so much... Scribbled here, such a brassy bit of self-help no doubt carries with it a certain cringe-worthy kind of quality. Yet packed inside the bouncy beats and sing-songy melodies of his album's opening track, this misogynous tip grazes on the verge of honest to god humor, which is, incidentally, how I'd recommend most listeners approach The Death of Adam as a whole. Sure, it's certainly ok to feel offended...it's OK to brandish 88 a libidinous a-hole. But, if listeners hold on to their stones and let the record cycle through, they just might find 88's more harmless than he presents himself. That's, at least, what a recent interview with 88 revealed to me.

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Last Thursday at Public Assembly in Williamsburg, The Secret History (the band of former My Favorite singer/songwriter Michael Grace Jr.) unveiled their new Desolation Town E.P. to a packed house of indie die-harders and never-too-early weekenders. What was delivered was a performance that was both intellectual and primitive; danceable, yet emotionally opaque. It was indie-rock to a T, but like any favorite old T-shirt, it was worn in and familiar with room to wiggle.

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Want a chance to win a one of a kind piece of Matt and Kim memorabilia? Then enter now to win one of Kim's trashed cymbals autographed by her and Matt! All you need to do to win this incredible stocking stuffer is follow the very easy steps listed after the jump.

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Yes, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo hail from the drizzle dreary encloves of the Pacific Northwest. But, given the partially Podunk country bumpkins these bronco buckaroos wrangle in, their huge hunky hearts are no doubt reserved for more Southwestern locals. Word is these boys are devoted to their cause, donning their "Devo meets Johnny Cash" getups at all times, both on and off the stage. Yee haw lil doggies.

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It can be lonely at the top; a fact Emil Svanngen and his sparkling band of Swedes might want to grow accustomed to after they get through with what they have planned for America. Of course, such success would be sort of a "been there, done that" kind of thing for Loney, Dear. Svanngen fashioned himself an instant winner when his CD-R demo somehow found its' way into the ever-loving hands of some employee of Sub Pop. Though it appears Loney, Dear didn't hang on too long with the Seattle super label, recently they found themselves a mighty fine new home in the company of Polyvinyl. The label is preparing to tear the wrapper off the band's new album Dear John on January 27th.

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What we have here we're told is a "natural fit" by a fairly reliable source. Chromeo's retro disco inclinations no doubt tend to attract a whole slew of worthy producer and DJ types looking to cut and carve his stems up into their own monumental, remixed creations.

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To most listeners, 88 Keys' The Death of Adam (Decon) will most likely touch a nerve. In a word, the Harlem rapper's modern resurrection of the Biblical fall from grace comes off as just a bit misogynous. Of course, if you, like 88 no doubt, see the honest to god humor in all this, then there's a pretty good hip hop album to be had here.

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Meet Matt and Kim. They call Williamsburg Brooklyn home. And like so many of their neighbors, M&K have themselves a band. So why is it that their music has taken over Brooklyn? How is it that this overly-energetic, insanely stripped down brand of synthetic power pop has heralded M&K the borough's (and beyond) absolute party band of choice? I think you'll find the performance offered here to be an awesome explanation to such questions.

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Oh boy oh boy. You're going to be thanking yourself for plopping yourself in front of the computer today. That's because the day belongs to Brooklyn's most loveable of synth-pop punksters, Matt and Kim.

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Also chugging about the country these days, Brooklyn based dream-pop band School of Seven Bells are currently in the middle of their own triumphant, post-CMJ stretch of dates.

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Fresh off walloping rounds upon rounds of audiences at this past year's CMJ Marathon, electro-pop-ish band Passion Pit have announced a steady slate of dates that should have the Boston boys oh so busy on in to the New Year. Still supporting there somewhat-recently released Chunk of Change EP, the band is buying time, so to speak, before dropping their Frenchkiss supported, debut full-length sometime in early '09 (we're hearing April) by offering up the stems to "Sleepyhead" for their fans' remixing pleasures.

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When bands break-up, sometimes everyone wins. Take the disappearing act post-9/11 rock revivalists The Strokes performed after their '06 album First Impressions of Earth failed to deliver the goods. As it turns out, the album would be the public's last impression of these stylish young trailblazers. And while the band's early '00 efforts were, in retrospect, kind of monumental for the genre they helped recover, The Strokes' undoing was a-ok. Not only was First Impressions, how do I put this, really bad, but the solo recordings guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. released in the band's wake helped to keep the band's original sonic aura aglow. And while Hammond's had the market for post-Stroke relevance cornered up to this point (that Converse commercial Julian participated in does not count), drummer Fabrizio Moretti recently threw his hat in the ring. And wouldn't you know it? His effervescently titled new trio Little Joy might have just upped the ante.

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photos by Chris Gayomali. See more photos HERE.
Sunday's in NYC can be rough, if only because they're either a) reserved exclusively for football, or b) a recovery day that can be used to gauge how fun your Saturday night was (for all intents and purposes of this article, mine was really, really fun). After shaking off a residual hangover and drearily pulling myself out of my third or fourth nap of the day, I made my way into the city to catch the riotous stage shows of Baeble favorites No Age and Titus Andronicus.

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So I know it's been a week since that gooey, good feeling overtook most of the world in the wake of the American election. But honestly...shouldn't all the giddy, hope-mongering and serene sense of satisfaction a lot folks are feeling these days made way for some good, old fashion American cynicism by now? Shouldn't something have happened to instill a bit of doom and gloom by now? I mean, it's been a week people...

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There was a bit of irony involved when we ventured to NYC's most carnivalistic of venues, Spiegelworld. The magnificent, wood and canvas tent that sits oh so awesomely on Pier 17 derives its' name from a Dutch word meaning mirror tent; an appropriate reference as it's a place plump full of plenty of aesthetic allusion and deception. But The Dodos, the band who sold out the venue, are none of that. Theirs' is a craft that offers absolutely nothing to hide behind. Theirs' is a brand of boozy, electric roots that's elemental, yet completely unique unto them.

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Not the most local of dates for our American audiences, but our readers across the pond should be thrilled. So what do you say Western Europe? Why not take in our incredible production of the Dodos' performance at Spiegeltent earlier this Fall...then watch the band go...well, dodo actually...live in the flesh.

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Listeners should prepare to shed any two man expectations when taking stock in the hollow body sweat and bombastic stomp that is the Dodos' sophomore release, Visiter (Frenchkiss). Familiar touchstones like The Black Keys, The Kills, and The White Stripes just can't provide a proper framework in which to consider guitarist/vocalist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber's best of '08 kind of release.

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Yes he can? Perhaps...Reaction continues to pour in from all over the world following last Tuesday's historic election of Barack Obama. The world sort of seems like a better place these days, doesn't it? Almost anything seems possible, right? It's just all so very bliss...All of which might have lead the king of grime to proclaim, "Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minster, yea!" when he appeared on a post-election special in Britain last week.

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Not to make you feel old (though, I imagine you'll probably end up feeling just that after this next bit of news) but Jimmy Eat World's timeless, genre defining second album Clarity is turning 10. That's right. Clarity is nearly a decade old...though most devotees to the monumental musical moment could probably agree the album hasn't aged a day in its' life.

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It's a shame I happened upon The Gaslight Anthem when I did. The New Brunswick NJ outfit's blazing brand of true blue rock and roll would have struck an appropriately monumental tone just three nights prior. Having found myself all but losing my shit in a fantastic, new found feeling of civic pride (along with a delusional pack of hundreds, mind you) at the intersection of Bedford and North 7th in Brooklyn, the only thing missing from such an extraordinary moment was a fitting, cinematic soundtrack blasting, at the very least, in my own head. But, alas, it was in the wake of Tuesday's events, on Wednesday, that I first heard The '59 Sound...which, I suppose will have to do.

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Fresh off his ghoulish, Halloween shindig at the Apollo Theater, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals are set to embark on a UK headlining tour, followed by a "monsters of rock" kind of trek in support of Oasis. He's also got an early '09 North American headlining tour in the works, but Adams' "nasty little" PR folks aren't quite ready to budge on the dates.

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No need to remind anyone around here just how good Leslie Feist's last album was. The Reminder took home top honors for our annual, "best of" rundown last year. Now comes news that the career defining record is going deluxe...just in time for holiday season. Set for a December 2nd release on Arts and Crafts, the original track list has been plumped up with all the standard bells and whistles.

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We're rummaging through the archives this week, resurrecting one of our favorite shows from the Summer of '07. Filmed at the Mercury Lounge, this pre-Furr performance from Portland's Blitzen Trapper is quite a feat. When a young band meanders musical terrain at will, often times they sound lost or searching. But Blitzen Trapper's well-informed pull on multiple sonic seams never tears apart the band's performance.

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It's been a year and a half since first we heard the rabble rousing sound of Portland's Blitzen Trapper. In that short amount of time, the band has rolled out two critically acclaimed albums - that would be '07's Wild Mountain Nation and the recently released Furr and rarely left the road in their support. No surprise then that BT is currently doing what they do best, rocketeering round the country on their current tour. Love them up at any one of the dates listed below.

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Blitzen Trapper are good. Real good. As indicated by the acclaim garnered to their 2007 breakout, Wild Mountain Nation, this Portland based sextet can hang in there with the best of 'em. Their newest offering on the Sub Pop label, Furr, twangs, bangs, stomps, and coos with an Americana ferocity that's both country revivalist and, surprisingly enough, refreshingly sincere.

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Frenchkiss sure has been vanquishing some awfully good releases over the last year or so. Of course, when you're the recorded home to Les Savy Fav, the Dodos, and Passion Pit, I suppose that's just the sort of thing that happens. Convenient for music fans, even more so for New Zealand's most touchy-feely challenged band, Cut Off Your Hands. As reported last month, the band will soon know all about the label's steady run as they prepare their full-length debut, You and I, for an apparent January 20th release.

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