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Against Me!'s Tom Gabel Goes Solo with EP and Tour
September 29, 2008
Against Me! singer Tom Gabel will hit the road for a solo tour at the end of October accompanied by Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero), and Tim Barry (Avail) on the Revival Tour.MP3: "Thrash Unreal" by Against Me!
The frontmen will trade off playing solo sets of their own songs as well as collaborating on each others material, according to a press release from Earshot Media. Gabel is launching the tour in support of his upcoming seven-song solo EP, entitled Heart Burns (see track listing below), which will be released on CD, digitally and on vinyl by Sire Records on October 28th.
The centerpiece of the EP is "Anna Is A Stool Pigeon," which Gabel wrote after reading about environmental activist Eric McDavid who was convicted in 2007 of conspiring to use explosives to damage corporate and government property after being implicated by an undercover FBI informant who posed as an activist. McDavid's defense has argued that he was the victim of entrapment. He currently faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
"What struck me most about the story was a sense of familiarity," Gabel says. "I know the scene he was a part of, I used to be a part of it myself. I've thought the same thoughts, talked the same talk. I've hung out with the same people, gone to similar protests. If Eric could have become the target of an FBI sting operation, then so could I. This could have been me."
The EP was recorded late August in Los Angeles on a short two week break in between Against Me! tours. Gabel co-produced the EP along with Billy Bush, while Butch Vig executive produced. The EP contains several guest appearances including Chuck Ragan and Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio).
Gabel's solo tour will begin once Against Me! complete their upcoming U.S. tour with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, which begins on October 1st. Against Me! have been touring non-stop in support of their current album, the Butch Vig-produced New Wave, which was released by Sire Records in July 2007.
Called "the most invigorating, zeitgeist-capturing rock album in years" by Spin Magazine, New Wave was named the magazine's "Album of the Year," and also appeared in the Top 10 on Rolling Stone, Blender, and MTV.com's year-end "Best Album" lists. New Wave has spawned two singles, "White People for Peace" and "Thrash Unreal," which became the band's first single to chart in the U.S. when it climbed to No. 11 on the Modern Rock chart.
Gabel has announced plans to post every Wednesday on his MySpace page, a video for each song on Heart Burns. These videos will not feature the album audio, but rather exclusive live audio of Gabel singing on camera.The first (for the song "100 Years of War") is already up. View it at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=43422974.
He is also keeping a blog at http://www.ifeelsicktomystomach.blogspot.com where fans can check in to get the latest info about the upcoming tour and EP.
Track-listing for Heart Burns:
"Random Hearts"
"Conceptual Paths"
"Cowards Sing at Night"
"Amputations"
"Anna Is A Stool Pigeon"
"Harsh Realms"
"100 Years of War"
Tom Gabel's upcoming solo dates on the Revival Tour:
10/31 Pomona, CA, The Glass House
11/01 Hollywood, CA, The Knitting Factory
11/02 San Diego, CA, The Casbah
11/04 Las Vegas, NV, The Beauty Bar
11/05 Tempe, AZ, The Clubhouse
11/07 Lubbock, TX, Tequila Jungle
11/08 Dallas, TX, The Door - Prophet Bar
11/09 Austin, TX, Waterloo Park
11/10 Houston, TX, Walter's on Washington
11/13 Little Rock, AR, Juanita's
11/14 Memphis, TN, Hi Tone Café
11/15 Birmingham, AL, Workplay Theatre
11/16 W. Columbia, SC, New Brookland Tavern
Headlining:
11/20 NYC, NY - The Knitting Factory
Tom Gabel's MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tomgabelmusic
Labels: Against Me, Indie Artist/Group Profiles, Indie Rock Tours, Indie Solo Artists, Tom Gabel
End of September 2008 Indie Rock MP3 Round-Up
September 27, 2008
New Indie and Alternative RockThe usual flurry of indie and alternative rock album and single releases for return to school and pre-Christmas season is in full swing.
This week IRC has assembled another eclectic collection of new MP3 releases from already released and forthcoming releases of some of the best indie rock albums and songs of 2008.
Featured artists and bands include Ed Laurie, Jeremy, The Harvey Girls, The Trophy Fire, The Doleful Lions, Awesome Color, The New Up and others.
- "Silly Long Songs" by Jeremy
- "Hey Little Sprout" by The Harvey Girls
- "Fourteen" by The French Semester
- "White Lotus Day" by The Doleful Lions
- "Year of the Dog" by The Lovely Sparrows
- "Broken Machine" by The New Up
- "Already Down" by Awesome Color
- "Divide" by The Trophy Fire
- "Hey Little Sprout" by The Harvey Girls
- "Fourteen" by The French Semester
- "White Lotus Day" by The Doleful Lions
- "Year of the Dog" by The Lovely Sparrows
- "Broken Machine" by The New Up
- "Already Down" by Awesome Color
- "Divide" by The Trophy Fire
- "Too Sweet" by And The Moneynotes
Labels: 2008 Indie Rock, Best Indie Songs, MP3s
Major Music Festival in San Francisco Was Far Out, Man
September 23, 2008
The following is a report that was written after San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival, but was not published until now due to time constraints.
SAN FRANCISCO - The first major rock music festival to grace San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in nearly four decades was a huge success last month (August 22-24), drawing a crowd that organizers estimated at over 150,000 people.
Outside Lands celebrated its first year as the Bay Area's newest major rock festival with three days of music from artists and bands like Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, Beck, Andrew Bird, Widespread Panic, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Rouge Wave, Manu Chao, Ben Harper, Primus and Rodrigo y Gabriela, among dozens of others.
Unlike most other summer rock festivals, there were no sun burns or cases of heat exhaustion at Outside Lands. San Francisco's famously reliable fog, that the city is known world-wide for, drenched Golden Gate Park's Polo Fields for most of the three-day music festival - probably not what the over-advertised Heineken vendors wanted, but what did they expect in August on the west side of San Francisco?
Outside Lands celebrated its first year as the Bay Area's newest major rock festival with three days of music from artists and bands like Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, Beck, Andrew Bird, Widespread Panic, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Rouge Wave, Manu Chao, Ben Harper, Primus and Rodrigo y Gabriela, among dozens of others.
Unlike most other summer rock festivals, there were no sun burns or cases of heat exhaustion at Outside Lands. San Francisco's famously reliable fog, that the city is known world-wide for, drenched Golden Gate Park's Polo Fields for most of the three-day music festival - probably not what the over-advertised Heineken vendors wanted, but what did they expect in August on the west side of San Francisco?
Believe it or not, Anchorage, Alaska has higher summertime temperatures, on average, than San Francisco, California (and it's not because of the hot air blowing from Sarah Palin's mouth).
But on the last day of the festival, Sunday August 24, the sun came out and blue skies replaced low-lying clouds and mist. Having been to plenty of outdoor concerts and festivals in the hot sun, it's easy to welcome and appreciate the cooling waves of continuous fog.
MP3s from Outside Lands lineup artists:
"KC Accidental" - Broken Social Scene
"Herectics" - Andrew Bird
"Sightlines" - Rogue Wave (check out the band's other music, they're awesome.)
When Radiohead took the stage late Friday evening, the lights surrounding the entire venue beamed up through the fog like lasers - a common site in northern California. Just ask anyone who has shone a flashlight or drove with their headlights on through the thick summer fog - you can literally cast a beam of light for as far as the eye can see.
"Herectics" - Andrew Bird
"Sightlines" - Rogue Wave (check out the band's other music, they're awesome.)
When Radiohead took the stage late Friday evening, the lights surrounding the entire venue beamed up through the fog like lasers - a common site in northern California. Just ask anyone who has shone a flashlight or drove with their headlights on through the thick summer fog - you can literally cast a beam of light for as far as the eye can see.
Perhaps this is how Stars Wars director George Lucas, a native of northern California, came up with the idea for the famous laser weapons featured in the classic trilogy.
Anyways, the sets for good indie bands and artists - like Andrew Bird, Broken Social Scene, M. Ward, Rogue Wave - were too short, and the time delay between various acts were too short for such a huge place - literally four football fields from end to end. Next time they should also do something about the dust - that really surprised me since most of the park is lush and green (thanks to the fog and irrigation); dust is just not something you see in San Francisco.
(photo by thegatos08 on Flickr)
For many festival goers, it was the first night's headliner, Radiohead, that proved to be the highlight of the entire festival (not that big on Petty and Jack Johnson as headliners). Not only did they put on an amazing light show, but they sounded spectacular - better than on vinyl - which is hard for me to believe in a way, but it's true.
There were two brief sound outages, but the band apologized for that. As if. No apology needed Thom, you guys were so awesome, everyone already had forgotten about it. It's the only reason the performance gets an A instead of an A-plus.
Next year, assuming the fest will be held again (all indications are that the greedy promoters and investors made plenty of money) they should step it up have more real headlining bands (it is San Francisco, man), not try to cram so much on so many stages in three days and definitely invest more in facilities, and lower the three-day pass price.
Outside the parameters of the fenced off event were hundreds, if not thousands of people, who were presumably not ticket holders but had no problem hanging out in or under trees and on strips of grass soaking in the many artists - for free, and they didn't have to wait in the lines for the disgusting portable toilets.
Also, it'd be nice if they could come up with some innovative ways to protect the park more from environmental damage. I can't help but to feel a little guilty for the digging up of the grass (grass - not talking about that kind people - is a rare thing in SF) and how the loud music affected wildlife in and around the park.
Also, it'd be nice if they could come up with some innovative ways to protect the park more from environmental damage. I can't help but to feel a little guilty for the digging up of the grass (grass - not talking about that kind people - is a rare thing in SF) and how the loud music affected wildlife in and around the park.
Nevertheless, the festival was considered a success to most who attended. Those who were most dissatisfied were area residents who lived within an earshot of the music blaring above the trees and throughout adjacent neighborhoods. The fog actually helps carry sound, so at times residents blocks and blocks away felt almost like they were part of the festival.
Labels: Festivals, Outside Lands Festival, Radiohead, San Francisco Concerts
Indie Rock End of Summer MP3 Tardy Party
September 17, 2008
The following is an indie mixed tape of new songs and releases that came out this summer. Since they have already been released this summer, it seems right to call this tape the Tarty Party mix.
Just click the button on the cassette image below to start the stream featuring songs from Amazing Baby, Ratatat, Beaujolais, Hacienda, Sam Champion, Kings of Leon, I Heart Hiroshima, Awesome Color, Rainbow Arabia and The French Semester.
Here are some free MP3s from the mixed tape above. Others are available from the MP3 tab above.
MP3: "Headdress" by Amazing Baby from Infinite Fking Cross EP released on August 29, 2008
MP3: "Mirando" by Ratatat (via Pitchfork Media)
MP3: "Friday, The Thirteenth: The Loft" by Beaujolais from the Parasol Records Release Love at Thirty
MP3: "Be Mine Everyone" by Sam Champion
Just click the button on the cassette image below to start the stream featuring songs from Amazing Baby, Ratatat, Beaujolais, Hacienda, Sam Champion, Kings of Leon, I Heart Hiroshima, Awesome Color, Rainbow Arabia and The French Semester.
Here are some free MP3s from the mixed tape above. Others are available from the MP3 tab above.
MP3: "Headdress" by Amazing Baby from Infinite Fking Cross EP released on August 29, 2008
MP3: "Mirando" by Ratatat (via Pitchfork Media)
MP3: "Friday, The Thirteenth: The Loft" by Beaujolais from the Parasol Records Release Love at Thirty
MP3: "Be Mine Everyone" by Sam Champion
Labels: Indie MP3s, Indie Rock Songs, MP3s
September Indie Rock New Releases
September 14, 2008
There is no shortage of exciting indie releases this September and the stack is already growing high for October.Among the most talked about, and triumphant indie releases this September is Austin's indie sensations Okkervil River's The Stand Ins.
MP3: "Los Coastlines" from Okkervil River's newest release
Rock critic Will Sheff called The Stand Ins and its 2007 counterpart The Stage Names "essentially a fat-free double album. They're also striking in-progress documents of a band that continues to sharpen its bookish but brutally honest indie rock with every disc."
Other artists and bands releasing new work this month include The Broken West, Kings of Leon, Woodlands, I Heart Hiroshama, Broadfield Marchers and Mason Proper, among many others. (Check back as this page will be updated as new music arrives).
SEPTEMBER'S NEW INDIE RELEASES
MP3: "Sex On Fire" by Kings of Leon from the forthcoming September 23, 2008 release Only By The Night MP3: "Auctioneer" by Broken West from the forthcoming album Now or Heaven, released on September 9, 2008 via Merge Records.
MP3: "I Wasn't Made For Fighting" by Woodlands from their album Heart Attack on Paper Bag Records. This is a great song for those of you who enjoy trip-hop trance mixed with rock-like interludes and vocals.
MP3: "Punks" and "Surgery" by I Heart Hiroshama from the new album Tuff Teef
MP3: "Warchful Hill People" by Broadfield Marchers from album The Inevitable Continuing, released on September 2, 2008.
MP3: - "Lock and Key" by Mason Proper off the album Olly Oxen Free due out September 23, 2008 on Dovecote Records.
IRC actively supports aspiring, and established, indie and alternative rock musicians, bands, artists and labels that make great music worthy of highlighting.
More releases coming soon. Get the Feed Me Indie RSS or email feed.
Labels: Kings of Leon, MP3s, New Indie Songs, New Releases, Okkervil River, The Broken West
About Indie Rock Cafe
September 10, 2008
Thanks for your interest in the web site Indie Rock Café. First published in 2006, IRC is committed to bringing together musicians and music lovers who know that a lot of the best music is not mainstream.
IRC promotes artists, bands and their labels by writing profiles and featuring their music. We strongly encourage indie artists to submit music links, photos, and whatever else as a vehicle of self-promotion.
Music submissions
Musicians, bands and those representing an artist, please submit valid MP3 links that can be shared with IRC readers and visitors for evaluation and promotional purposes.
Sorry, but for a variety of reasons, email attachments, links to streaming music (like MySpace or LastFM, among others) or file hosting sites (like SaveFile, etc.) will not be published.
We strongly recommend that you browse the site to get an idea for what kind of music IRC listeners, readers and visitors enjoy. Links to online press kits for labels, bands, artists also peek our interest.
Readers and site visitors
Thanks for your interest in IRC. We hope to continue to provide great new indie music for you year-round, and appreciate your help in promoting the site on the web, sharing it with friends and whatever else you can think of to 'get the word out.' Traffic to this site has tripled since January 2008 so thanks to all of the loyal readers and thousands of visitors each week.
You can help by adding links from IRC to your favorite social networking sites (like Facebook, Digg, Twitter and others), bookmarking the site, signing up for the “Feed Me Indie” RSS feed and sharing the site with friends.
To place a link on your website to IRC, simply use this code: Indie Rock Cafe.
Writers, Photographers and Illustrators
If you would like to contribute album, festival, artist, concert reviews to IRC, please send us valid links to your previous writings or other work and what you would like to write about. Since IRC is non-profit at this time, contributors are unpaid, but do get exposure to literally tens of thousands of people a month.
How IRC helps musicians, labels and groups
Some artists have written us to say that being featured on IRC has generated interest in their music and many readers and visitors have left their compliments as well. That’s the whole idea – to make others aware of great music ‘out there’ that they may not otherwise know about or have access to and simultaneously help in any way to encourage new and independent artists.
To leave a comment for a posting or a general comment, click on a post on the IRC website and then click on the Comments link. No login is required to leave a comment, but is encouraged.
Thanks again for your support and interest in IndieRockCafe.com. We have many more plans to bring you more unique great music you probably never heard, and more of the great music you already know from indie rock.
http://www.indierockcafe.com
IRC promotes artists, bands and their labels by writing profiles and featuring their music. We strongly encourage indie artists to submit music links, photos, and whatever else as a vehicle of self-promotion.
Music submissions
Musicians, bands and those representing an artist, please submit valid MP3 links that can be shared with IRC readers and visitors for evaluation and promotional purposes.
Sorry, but for a variety of reasons, email attachments, links to streaming music (like MySpace or LastFM, among others) or file hosting sites (like SaveFile, etc.) will not be published.
We strongly recommend that you browse the site to get an idea for what kind of music IRC listeners, readers and visitors enjoy. Links to online press kits for labels, bands, artists also peek our interest.
Readers and site visitors
Thanks for your interest in IRC. We hope to continue to provide great new indie music for you year-round, and appreciate your help in promoting the site on the web, sharing it with friends and whatever else you can think of to 'get the word out.' Traffic to this site has tripled since January 2008 so thanks to all of the loyal readers and thousands of visitors each week.
You can help by adding links from IRC to your favorite social networking sites (like Facebook, Digg, Twitter and others), bookmarking the site, signing up for the “Feed Me Indie” RSS feed and sharing the site with friends.
To place a link on your website to IRC, simply use this code: Indie Rock Cafe.
Writers, Photographers and Illustrators
If you would like to contribute album, festival, artist, concert reviews to IRC, please send us valid links to your previous writings or other work and what you would like to write about. Since IRC is non-profit at this time, contributors are unpaid, but do get exposure to literally tens of thousands of people a month.
How IRC helps musicians, labels and groups
Some artists have written us to say that being featured on IRC has generated interest in their music and many readers and visitors have left their compliments as well. That’s the whole idea – to make others aware of great music ‘out there’ that they may not otherwise know about or have access to and simultaneously help in any way to encourage new and independent artists.
To leave a comment for a posting or a general comment, click on a post on the IRC website and then click on the Comments link. No login is required to leave a comment, but is encouraged.
Thanks again for your support and interest in IndieRockCafe.com. We have many more plans to bring you more unique great music you probably never heard, and more of the great music you already know from indie rock.
http://www.indierockcafe.com
Labels: About IRC
Indie Rock Cafe's PlayThis! MP3 Playlist Series, Vol. I
September 4, 2008
Soon summer will pass the torch to autumn, leaves will deceive nature by coming alive as they die and people will plan holidays, take out sweaters and coats and harvest the last crops before winter ushers in its long chilly nights.But let's not say goodbye to summer too fast; it's still with us, and in that spirit, Indie Rock Cafe
kicks off it's PlayThis! MP3 Playlist Series. The first installment is, you guessed it, songs about
summer. Here's a streaming version featuring ten songs, followed by an MP3 playlist. You can PlayThis Playlist now!
1. Summertime - Miles Davis
2. A Summer Wasting - Belle & Sebastian
3. A Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill - Jens Lekman
4. Constructive Summer - The Hold Steady
5. Electric Music And The Summer People - Beck
6. Feel Good Hit Of The Summer - Queens of the Stone Age
7. It's Summertime - The Flaming Lips8. Jogging Gorgeous Summer - Islands
9. My Summer Girl - The Rentals
10. Play In The Summer - Trans Am
11. Spring And By Summer Fall - Blonde Redhead
12. Summer Babe [Winter Version] - Pavement
13. Summer Days - Phoenix14. Summer Dress (Live on KCRW) - Red House Painters
15. Summer Is Coming - Matt Pond PA
16. Summer Kids Go - Moonbabie
17. Summer On The Westhill - Kings of Convenience
18. Summer Party - Breakbot
19. Summer Seen - The High Llamas
20. Summer Skin - Death Cab For Cutie
21. Summer Snow - Fahrenheit
22. Summer Songs - Barcelona
23. Summer Wind Was Always Our Son - Ataris
24. Summer's Gone - The Kinks
25. Summer...It's Gone - Grandaddy
This is the first installment of the PlayThis! MP3 Playlist Series focused almost exclusively on indie and alternative rock.
Over the years, I have been sorting my favorites songs - thousands of them - into categorical and thematical playlists. During this time, a collection of more than 50 mostly indie rock, folk, pop playlists has been produced. Little by little, each playlist, in a trimmed down version of course, will be published on this blog.
Eardrums Music has a free 24-song compilation of summer songs available for download at:
http://eardrumsmusic.com/summershere_vol1/
Forthcoming PlayThis! Playlists
Autumn Fills The Air - Featuring songs about autumn time, fall and the change of seasons
Halloween Tracks and Treats - A playlist of Halloween-related songs. Think ghosts, ghouls and goblins.
Labels: Indie Songs, MP3s, PlayThis MP3 Playlist Series
Free Indie Album Download from Ashtmatic Kitty Records: "Interoceans" - Various Artists
September 3, 2008
A number of musicians and bands contributed to this free MP3 album download available from Asthmatic Kitty Records, a label that has produced favorite indie artists like Sufjan Stevens and Half Handed Cloud.The album mainly consists of various remixes of the I Heart Lung's song "Interoceans" from artists like SugarLoaf, Strategy and Omid.
Download Interoceans from Asthmatic Kitty Records. You can also stream the album and buy the original from I Heart Lungs.
In case you missed...
IRC's first installment of the PlayThis! Indie MP3 Playlist series featuring MP3s with the word 'summer' in them from artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Kings of Convenience, Belle & Sebastian, Pavement, Queens of the Stone Age, The Kinks, Grandaddy and Beck.
Labels: Asthmatic Kitty Records, Indie Record Labels, MP3 Indie Albums
