I met Paul Price of Good Field a whole bunch of years ago, in Austin TX through my friend Ryan I’d always stayed with at SXSW – so I’ve known the guy since something like 2007 and been dying to work with him all this time, and now IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

The good dudes of GOOD FIELD have also played as members of bands like Brazos (who I caught on tour with White Denim a little over a year ago), Tacks the Boy Disaster (who I saw play once with Midlake, a year BEFORE I even met Paul!! Tiny tiny world) and also Voxtrot. Which I guess is another way to say they’re from Austin.

GOOD FIELD

GOOD FIELD

Self-Titled

Good Field began as the solo recording project of Austin, TX’s Paul Price (Brazos, The Early Tapes), with instrumentation and production help from friends Nathan Stein (Tacks the Boy Disaster, Brazos, The Early Tapes) and Jared Van Fleet (Voxtrot, Sparrow House).  In the early stages of recording Price’s songs, Stein moved to Boston to pursue a doctorate degree in Statistics, while Van Fleet relocated to Brooklyn to tour with Beirut. Price, who had written some of the album in an isolated adobe by a cenote in Mexico, continued working on the songs in between tours with Brazos and Voxtrot, while the trio collaborated miles apart.  Shortly after the recording, which combined influences of shoegaze, indie rock, ’60s guitar tones, and pop hooks, wrapped up in the summer of 2011, Price formed the band known as Good Field – an homage to cricket and desolate landscapes. Joining Price are fellow Austin musicians Esteban Cruz (Coma in Algiers) on drums, Michael McLeod (Richard Linklater film composer) on bass and Kyle Robertson (whose work has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy, The Daily Show, American Idol, and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver) on keys.  

RIYL: Wilco, Midlake, Tacks the Boy Disaster, Grizzly Bear, Brazos

Start With: 7, 2, 3      FCC CLEAN

Contact me for a download link!

http://www.facebook.com/goodfieldband

http://www.goodfieldband.com/

http://goodfield.bandcamp.com/

http://www.reverbnation.com/goodfield

http://soundcloud.com/goodfieldband 

I got a new part-time job this year in addition to my Band Mom radio promo (actually, two new part-time jobs), and you’ll see that reflected pretty heavily when we get down to my Top Shows lists. Actually, looking back at my last couple years many of my top stuff of 2009 and 2010 took place at my future places of employment anyway, so it’s not really weird that this kept up once they started paying me to be there. I decided, though I’m keeping the rule that Band Mom Bands are ineligible for the Top Albums list because I couldn’t possibly rank them against each other, that I can’t rule out shows where I worked the door or stage managed for my Top Shows lists, because then there would be almost no shows to consider. You’re still reading??

As always, I never claim stuff on this list is the ‘best’ of the year. Art is impossible to grade on an objective scale, and it’s insulting and ugly to posture as though one could do so. These are just my favorites:

top 15 albums (or eps) of 2010:

1. the mountain goats – all eternals deck

   

2. mister heavenly – out of love
3. childish gambino – camp
4. pikachunes – pikachunes
5. princess chelsea – lil golden book
6. dolfish – your love is bummin’ me out
7. david bazan – strange negotiations
8. man man – life fantastic
9. m83 – hurry up, we’re dreaming
10. john vanderslice – white wilderness
11. st vincent – strange mercy
12. generationals – actor-caster
13. destroyer – kauptt
14. mansions – dig up the dead
15. bon iver – bon iver

honorable mentions / albums that might have made the list had i spent more time with them (could easily become future favorites):

nick diamonds – i am an attic; cut copy – zonoscope; chain & the gang – music’s not for everyone; tyler, the creator – goblin; toro y moi – underneath the pine; danielson-best of goucester county; lake – you are alone/higher than merry; deerhoof – deerhoof vs evil; ravens & chimes – holiday life; 13 & god – own your ghost; carol bui – red ship; we became actors – something major; jason anderson – summer style; lil wayne-tha carter iv; atlas sound – parallax; usf – the spray; bill callahan – apocalypse; jay z/kanye – watch the throne; eleanor friedberger – last summer; gang gang dance – eye contact; panda bear – tomboy; moonface – organ music not vibraphone like i’d hoped; wild flag – wild flag; nurses – dracula; blackout beach – fuck death; chad vangaalen – diaper island; handsome furs – sound kapital; the new release of brian wilson’s smile.

as mentioned and as always, band mom artists are ineligible for this list because i wouldn’t even begin to know how to rank them; this year that includes a few artists who technically released their albums this year even though i didn’t promote them, YET, but i still at least as of this writing consider them band mom artists and potential future band mom projects: this means you, bright brown, girls in trouble, the loom, and matt bauer. and you, zoe boekbinder, shenandoah davis, tennis pro, terrordactyls, tereu tereu, dc pierson, and joseph keckler. you all released FANTASTIC albums that are tied for number one in my heart, and i love you the most.

top 25 shows (concerts):

1. lcd soundsystem’s final show @ madison square garden (manhattan ny, april)

   

2. mister heavenly w/fort lean, mr dream @ mercury lounge (manhattan ny, november)
3. WHY? w/serengeti @ florence gould hall, wordless music show (manhattan ny, december)
4. kid cudi, childish gambino, aloe blacc @ terminal 5 (manhattan ny, june)
5. john vanderslice, damien jurado @ mercury lounge (manhattan ny, may)
6. mountain goats w/megafaun @ bowery ballroom (manhattan ny, march)
7. old 97s @ bell house (brooklyn ny, 2 nights, july)
8. girls in trouble, calvin johnson, chain & the gang ft fred thomas @ dead herring (brooklyn ny, february)
9. yo la tengo @ bell house (brooklyn ny, may)
10. chuck ragan w/ sean o’neill, SHARKS @ bell house (brooklyn ny, may)
11. crooked fingers @ bell house (brooklyn ny, may)
12. matt bauer record release show, the loom, melaena cadiz @ union pool (brooklyn ny, june)
13. robyn hitchcock, john wesley harding also ft ted leo, scott mccaughey (minus 5), sean nelson (harvey danger), peter buck, various decemberists @ bell house (brooklyn ny, november)
14. wild flag, lee renaldo @ bell house (brooklyn ny, october)
15. valley lodge w/hrny wrms, walt mink @ bell house (brooklyn ny, july)
16. peter wolf w/roy sludge @ bell house (brooklyn ny, october)
17. the thermals w/big troubles, eula @ bell house (brooklyn ny, july)
18. calvin johnson, damned dogs, generifus @ helsing junction followed by grass widow w/broken water, dogjaw (olympia wa, same day in august)
19. black moth super rainbow w/marshmallow ghosts, lichens, serengeti @ bell house (brooklyn ny, september)
20. roadside graves, dinosaur feathers, dolfish, melaena cadiz @ union hall (brooklyn ny, december)
21. shellac w/helen money @ bell house (brooklyn ny, 2 nights, october)
22. typefighter w/chris mills, brett harris @ kings (raleigh nc, june)
23. robbers on high street, poison control center, kleenex girl wonder, north english @ union hall (brooklyn ny, july)
24. bob mould @ bell house (brooklyn ny, november)
25. 5.6.7.8.’s, black lips @ bell house, norton records anniversary show (brooklyn ny, november)

working at venues is awesome – it was tough to cut this down to just 25. also i should mention my two first-ever Band Mom Presents shows, which I’m not allowing to count but which were real highlights of my year: 9/17 with mighty moon, lips, pikachunes, and princess chelsea; and 10/22 my very first CMJ showcase with soft punch, mighty moon, bright brown, prairie empire, melaena cadiz, and girls in trouble.

top 50 movies:

1. the muppets

   

2. beginners
3. we need to talk about kevin
4. submarine
5. drive
6. melancholia
7. higher ground
8. hesher
9. super
10. take shelter
11. the tree of life
12. another earth
13. like crazy
14. beyond this place
15. the catechism cataclysm
16. bridesmaids
17. pariah
18. restless
19. martha marcy may marlene
20. the artist
21. incendies
22. of gods and men
23. terri
24. cave of forgotten dreams
25. another happy day
26. attack the block
27. a good old-fashioned orgy
28. super 8
29. uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives
30. my week with marilyn
31. j. edgar
32. the lie
33. source code
34. the future
35. heartbeats
36. crazy, stupid, love
37. green hornet
38. midnight in paris
39. shame
40. the skin i live in
41. our idiot brother
42. 50/50
43. the descendants
44. page one: inside the new york times
45. hugo
46. sherlock holmes: a game of shadows
47. cedar rapids
48. the girl with the dragon tattoo
49. exporting raymond
50. tell them anything you want: a portrait of maurice sendak

honorable mentions (roughly in order; this whole list was initially a numbered top 90 until I realized how ridiculous that is):

the trip; even the rain; moneyball; tinker tailor soldier spy; jane eyre; red state; magic trip; everything must go; conan o’brien can’t stop; ides of march; margin call; the adventures of tintin; take me home tonight; hanna; win win; into the abyss; the debt; pina (3d); detective dee and the mystery of the phantom flame; immortals; paul; horrible bosses; war horse; the adjustment bureau; margaret; potiche; beautiful boy; fubar: balls to the wall; last night; peep world; warrior; the tempest; shut up little man! an audio misadventure; extremely loud and incredibly close; 30 minutes or less; lemmy; the rum diary; rise of the planet of the apes; contagion; in time; pearl jam twenty; arthur; scream 4; the best and brightest.

top NEW actors of the year (as in i’d never heard their names before/never saw them in anything and now they seem like a big deal to me, were each in several things i loved): jessica chastain & benedict cumberbatch

standout actors of the year (who were not new to me, but were in a bunch of stuff i loved and seemed to have a really big year): michael fassbender, emma stone, ezra miller (is he the next paul dano?), tom hardy, john hawkes, and, of course, the gosling.

some notes on movies: in 2011 i saw 279 different movies. 60 of them were in theaters (i paid to see the muppets twice, and doubled up on a ton of others on dvd), and to date i’ve seen 114 movies that came out in 2011 (this includes a few that i watched after the year ended, so they’ll be among the total i report having watched in 2012, but they’re also part of the group of 2011 movies i’m counting as eligible for this best-of list).

as for movies with questionable release dates, i guess the rule i made up is basically that if i saw it in like a festival or limited-engagement special event (like how I saw Spike Jonze’s Maurice Sendak movie in a one-time screening at the Ace Hotel, or Beyond This Place with a live soundtrack by Sufjan and Ray Raposa at BAM) in 2011, even if it didn’t get even limited national release otherwise, it counts for my list, but if i did not see it in a festival before 2011 and its first limited release (any usa release that’s not a specific festival, even if it showed in fests pre-2011) was this year, then it counts. in other words it’s pretty subjective to my perspective, but it had to have its (limited or wide) release begin in 2011 OR be seen by me in a festival or special event (i saw movies at SXSW, tribeca, BAM cinema fest, NYFF and a few assorted micro fests) in 2011.

also of note, i saw 8 movies in 2011 in 3d (immortals, hugo, rio, green hornet, cave of forgotten dreams, adventures of tintin, pina, the dawn treader which came out in 2010 but which i saw in a theater in january). i continue to think it’s a stupid cash grab that almost never adds to the film, but cave of forgotten dreams was by FAR the best use of it i’ve ever seen (hugo takes second place this year; pina also makes a very strong case).

here’s what 1.15 trips to the movie theater a week (plus a few extraneous otherwise tix) looks like, btw:

here’s to beating it in 2012.

although i obviously saw a ton of movies this year, you’ll always miss a few; these are the ones that i suspect might have had a chance at making the above lists had i been able to catch them: a separation, carnage, young adult, the iron lady, miss bala, a better life, anonymous, retreat, circumstance, dirty girl, the devil’s double, tabloid, 13 assassins, certified copy, point blank, the black power mixtape 1967-1975, film socialisme, trust, we bought a zoo, beautiful darling, salvation boulevard, treatment, coriolanus, tyrannosaur, footnote. plus a few of the foreign & doc & those foreign animated oscar nominees which despite all that you see here (this is not a list light on foreigns or docs!) i had somehow never previously heard of. pretty much everything else, if it came out in 2011 and it’s not listed here, it’s on purpose. SO THERE.

saw filmmakers/actors/film-related musicians in person promoting:

-tell them anything you want (spike jonze, catherine keener, lance bangs)

-royal tenenbaums (10^th anniversary screening!! w/noah baumbach co-leading a q&a with wes anderson, bill murray, gwyneth paltrow, and anjelica huston)

-beyond this place (q&a with director kaleo la belle, live soundtrack by sufjan stevens & raymond raposa)

-metropolis (alloy orchestra performed live score)

-the catechism cataclysm (i’m not pretending this actually counts but as i was walking in, star steve little was walking out having just completed a q&a for the prior showtime. oh I also did almost exactly this same thing passing by josh radnor doing a q&a for happythankyoumoreplease. damn it)

also as an aside, last year I made up a ‘best sound design‘ category because I felt so strongly about black swan’s and was mad that it was slighted in oscar nominations, and this year I feel the same way about the sound in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.

my 25 favorite comedy shows I saw (in chronological order):

-diddygethard @ ucb 1/14

-the rejection show @ bell house 2/14

-the chris gethard show’s ‘night of zero laughs’ @ ucb 2/19

-’john and scott’ (lutz & adsit doing improv) @ ucb 2/23

-mr funny pants book release show for michael showalter with eugene mirman, kumail nanjiani, reggie watts, and the a cappella group ‘nonsequitur’ @ bell house 2/27

-marc maron live wtf tapings featuring, among others: sarah vowell, chuck klosterman, fred armisen, bill hader, jonathan katz, jon benjamin, will arnett, tom scharpling, wyatt cenac, horatio sanz, amy sedaris, gabe liedman, elna baker, julie klausner, scott adsit, julian mccullough, seth meyers, morgan spurlock, nick dipaolo, artie lange, ira glass @ bell house: 3/10, 6/1, 7/25, 9/19

-whiplash featuring brent sullivan, robert kelly, nick kroll, eugene mirman, colin quinn and leo allen @ ucb 5/9

-party machine featuring jason sudeikis, jon glaser, nikki glaser, sara schaefer, nick turner, lisa delarios and adira amaram @ union hall 6/25

-mr coconuts, hosted by gabe delahaye, with ted leo and jon friedman, with heather lawless and nick diamonds, and with gabe liedman, max silvestri and jenny slate @ union hall 7/19, 10/18, and 12/20

-literary death match with dave hill, michael showalter and daniel nayeri judging jenny slate, barbara browning, hilary hamann, and mira ptacin @ le poisson rouge 5/25

-’cool as nice’ with jon friedman and adam wade @ union hall 7/26

-pretty good friends with they might be giants, neil degrasse tyson, patton oswalt, jonathan coulton, eugene mirman @ williamsburg waterfront 7/29

-del close marathon: ny mets monoscene, match game ’76, doug loves movies, the benson interruption, director’s commentary live, raiders in 15 minutes, derrick @ ucb & FIT 8/12-14

-startalk live, hosted by neil degrasse tyson, featuring guests kristen schaal, scott adsit, eugene mirman, john hodgman, alan alda, and astronaut mike massimo @ bell house during eugene mirman comedy fest 9/15 and again 12/18

-archer panel with aisha tyler, jessica walter, john benjamin, chris parnell, amber nash, lucky yates, and I think adam reed during eugene mirman comedy festival (which also included an awkward party bus, a petting zoo, and a disastrous drinking game masquerading as the talent show) @ bell house 9/17

-louis ck @ the bell house 9/30

-asssscat with monologist chris kelley and chris gethard, anthony ataman, fran gillespie, neil casey, john gemberling, shannon o’neil, sue galloway, zach woods, jason mantzoukas 10/2

-whiplash with eddie brill, hannibal buress, langhorne slim and reggie watts @ ucb 10/10

-cheap date, hosted by tyler fischer and sharron paul, with sherri shepherd, godfrey, joe mande, and hari kondabolu @ union hall 10/11

-paul f tompkins @ bell house 10/22 and 23

-john hodgman ‘that is all’ book release show with paul rudd, wyatt cenac, jonathan coulton, david rees @ bell house 11/1

-the jukebox with kurt braunohler, julie klausner, ted leo and joe randazzo dueting the pogues, mike doughty rapping ll cool j @ union hall 11/29

-party machine holiday show, hosted by arden myrin and lisa delarios, with seth herzog, michael showalter, eleanor friedberger, bobby tisdale, colin quinn, adira amram and more @ bell house 12/8

-aziz ansari @ bell house 12/10

-wfmu’s seven second delay live with suzanne vega, sandra bernhard covering lou reed’s ‘walk on the wild side’, tao lin @ ucb 12/14

favorite new tv shows:

happy endings

bob’s burgers

jon benjamin has a van

up all night

wilfred

eagleheart

ntsf:sd:suv::

american horror story (i know. shut up. i loved it. TATE!)

favorite non- new tv shows:

parks & recreation

louie

sherlock (bbc)

community

adventure time with finn and jake

downton abbey (bbc)

mad men

bored to death

30 rock

archer

childrens hospital

delocated

the league

it’s always sunny in philadelphia

(looking forward to breaking bad, luther, justified, and maybe episodes, men of a certain age, and enlightened eventually joining this list…need more hours in the day)

and lastly, some stray cool stuff i did in 2010 that didn’t fit into any of the above categories:

-daniel kitson’s one-man theatrical production ‘the interminable suicide of gregory church’ @ st ann’s warehouse

-michael shannon’s mostly one-man play ‘mistakes were made’ @ barrow street theatre

-cillian murphy’s one-man theatrical production ‘misterman’ @ st ann’s warehouse

-worked on (obviously without much success thus far) how to nonchalantly mention that i’ve met michael stipe, steve buscemi, britt daniel (spoon), andrew bird, norah jones, david johansen (new york dolls), mick jones (the wrestler ‘mankind’), tom kenny (spongebob/heifer/the ice king!), peter salett (musician/actor who co-wrote the forgetting sarah marshall dracula musical), jonathan demme, and about a million other people plus most of those mentioned above working the door of my favorite performance venues in brooklyn

-attended the first taping of ‘pointless’ (name since changed i think?), a pilot for a new game show for IFC hosted by kurt braunohler and with contestants kristen schaal, kumail nanjiani and ethan t. berlin.

-also I did jury duty. or rather i was called in but dismissed without even speaking to anybody. like a real patriot.

-balanced out a grandfather’s funeral in pittsburgh in march with two friend island weddings: congrats ryan & georgia (pawleys island sc in june) and tyrel & sophia (vashon island wa in august)!

the seriously relatively unimportant thing everyone wanted to talk to me about when i went home for christmas:

THE END!

ZOE BOEKBINDER

DARLING SPECIMENS

Extropian Records

Zoe Boekbinder’s newest album is a heartrending and tousled collage of auxiliary percussion, haunted horns, theremins, and strings. Her voice flutters with delicate precision, and her frequently macabre and surreal lyrics hint at the haunted circus from which they must have sprung. The album recounts a long trail of heartbreaks and disappointments with a coroner’s eye for detail: each song emerges as a sneakily alluring specimen neatly stuck onto a foam board with a pin. Shenandoah Davis‘ distinctive production stunningly brings all of Zoe’s strange and beautiful idiosyncrasies front and center.

Zoe habitually tours North America, having played with the likes of the Dresden Dolls and the Ditty Bops. She is in fact currently traversing the US on an Oct-Nov 2011 tour. One of her favorite places to play is New Folsom Prison, partly because it makes her feel like Johnny Cash. She resides in Oakland, California and dreams of one day moving to New Orleans or rural southern France.

Zoe has an affinity for mason jars, rusted metal, Dolly Parton, sea creatures, botanical drawings, dilapidated barns, chocolate, avocados, broken hearts, port wine, and the open road. She went to clown school and wants to own a farm someday. Her last name is pronounced “book-binder”, like a person who binds books.

“Zoe Boekbinder opens her mouth, and the voice that comes out is ageless, beautiful, heartbreaking and wise. Zoe looks so young, and so innocent. I think she kidnapped a marvellous singer from long ago Paris, and stole her voice. It’s the only explanation.” - Neil Gaiman

RIYL: St. Vincent, Feist, Shenandoah Davis, Mirah, Dark Dark Dark

Start With: 1, 6, 8, 9 FCC CLEAN

Contact me for a download link!

http://www.zoeboekbinder.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoe-Boekbinder/101938519186?ref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=210711785657281 (tour dates)

http://twitter.com/zoeboekbinder

http://www.youtube.com/user/zoeboekbinder

http://www.riotactmedia.com/artists/zoeboekbinder.php

(designed by Tyrel Stendahl, a designer for the Cheezburger Network [LOLcats, Failblog!] by day and Terrordactyl by the rest of the time!!)

Here’s the facebook invite. Here’s some more stuff about it!!

FREE (no badges, RSVP, or cover charge required!!)

DRINK SPECIAL: $3 Maker’s Mark all day!!!

21+ (sorry babies!)

Union Hall is located at 702 Union Street near the corner of 5th ave, in Park Slope Brooklyn. Take the R train to the Union stop, or it’s a short cab ride or one train transfer from Williamsburg (to the R from the G or the L – I’ll be happy to give more detailed directions to out-of-towners upon request – jenn [at] thebandmom.com)

there are 2 great comedy shows in a row following this showcase at Union Hall, so stick around!

info on artists!

12:45 SOFT PUNCH:

Soft Punch is the brand new solo project by Ryan Little of Tereu Tereu, from Washington DC. Ryan is also a great music journalist in DC and an all-around solid dude. His description of the music is “Intimate, queer vibrations.” I think this might be his first show as Soft Punch? Come be a part of history!

1:30 MIGHTY MOON:

Jay Giampietro (Daylight’s for the birds) and Leah Evans make sweet, sun-soaked acoustic pop with faint hints of foreboding as Mighty Moon. Their debut EP “Breezes” was recorded at Black Dirt Studios and has been called “like Chairlift on a hilltop or George Harrison on a date” by Gill Mills of New Music Matters.

2:15 BRIGHT BROWN:

Bright Brown, led by Alex Nahas, plays Pink Floyd-influenced psychedelia with an organic/folk sensibility. As they put it, “Bittersweet layers and textures abound, and beautifully crafted songs exist at the core.” They’ve currently got a Pledge Music campaign going to release their latest album on vinyl (check it from that fb link!)

3:00 PRAIRIE EMPIRE:

Brittain Ashford makes beautiful celebratory folk music with her band, Prairie Empire. I met her in Brooklyn through recent client/current friend Shenandoah Davis, then promptly ran into her in Portland two weeks later and found out that she knows a bunch of my other friends as well, like the next artist on the roster! The world is a tiny place and it is filled with beautiful people.

3:45 MELAENA CADIZ:

Melaena Cadiz is one of the sweetest, most good-hearted and genuinely and effortlessly creative spirits I know. Her music has a country twang and a broken heart. When I did a radio campaign with her in June 2010 her album reached #1 on Earshot’s Folk/Roots/Blues chart, and it deserved it.

4:30 GIRLS IN TROUBLE:

Girls In Trouble is a labor of love spearheaded by Alicia Jo Rabins, violinist, lyricist, and Torah scholar extraordinaire, and also includes Aaron Hartman of Old Time Relijun. This band owns a big chunk of my heart. The music is a totally arresting indie-folk/art-pop song cycle about the complicated lives of women in Torah. Or more simply, a series of songs about what it feels like to be alive.

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Here is a poster for it!

(designed by Kaity Curry, a summer music director from Walla Walla WA!!)

Here’s the facebook invite. Here’s some more stuff about it!!

It’s at Union Hall, a venue where I also often work the door. Union Hall is a good place! It’s at 702 Union St, just east of 5^th Ave in Park Slope Brooklyn.

The doors are at 7:30pm, and the music starts at 8. Here’s stuff about the bands! In last to first order:

Lil’ Chief Records, the New Zealand indie label that brought you The Brunettes and The Ruby Suns, is proud to be showcasing two of its newest signings in New York this fall, in a show presented by Brooklyn-based boutique promotion company The Band Mom:

PRINCESS CHELSEA

Princess Chelsea is a female composer who fuses elements of classical music, 60s pop, soundscape and electronica into a delightfully wacky live set complete with drums, guitar, bass, and no less than four keyboards, one triangle, one whirly, and two glockenspiels. Her four-piece live band features Jonathan Bree of The Brunettes on drums and guitar duties and New Zealand boy wonder Pikachunes on bass.

PIKACHUNES

Pikachunes is a 22-year-old bedroom producer who has won over New Zealand with his catchy and danceable yet dark brand of synth pop. Stripped back to bare essentials, a typical track features one or two synths, a 70s analog bass line, and a series of reverberated vocal harmonies, all driven by an atypical disco beat – no unnecessary frills. There’s something charming about a scrawny white guy occupying a stage with nothing more than his drum-machine and laptop, but Pikachunes more than compensates for his physical presence with the grooving hypnotism of his music and in-between song charismatics.

LIPS

Lips is the solo project of Steph Brown, a vocalist and keyboard player from New Zealand who is now based in Brooklyn. Formed in October 2010, Lips has already been making waves across the blogosphere. Music Ninja says of her latest track, “Everything to Me”: “Taking a chilled bedroom style of production and coupling it with her adorable soft-spoken vocals, Brown has managed to create a hazily beautiful track that haunts the mind for hours after listening.”

MIGHTY MOON

Jay Giampietro (Daylight’s for the Birds) and Leah Evans make sweet, sun-soaked acoustic pop with faint hints of foreboding as Mighty Moon. Their debut EP, “Breezes”, was recorded at Black Dirt Studios and has been likened to “Chairlift on a hilltop or George Harrison on a date” by Gill Mills of New Music Matters.

I know this is the first time I’ve mentioned this on here, so it seems kind of abrupt, but don’t worry, it’s all over the internet already…I just figured I should put a record on this place that belongs to me instead of relying on other people’s websites to remember it. But again, you can find the facebook invite for the event here, info on the venue’s site here, and the ticketweb link to buy a ticket right here.

SEE YOU THERE, BROOKLYN!!!

In any event, these three records are doing SO GREAT! Ever since hitting #11 Most Added on CMJ’s Top 20 adds, Tennis Pro has been tearing up the charts. They’ve hit a CMJ chart every week since we started this thing, so far peaking just over halfway up the big’n at #96. They’ve also showed up a couple of times on the Mediaguide Self-Released Select charts that I get in a weekly email, which seems like a big deal? And they ALSO picked up a totally rad review from Seattle’s Three Imaginary Girls, who had this to say:

Honestly, where previous (third) album Are You There, God? It’s Me Tennis Pro perfectly sort-of evoked the dark, down edges of the ’00s (indie feeling creepy about the good times being almost gone), the band has brought a whole new barefoot, mock the cops before you get the pepper spray, antagonistic playfulness recalling their balls-hanging-beneath-the-dress live shows. The trio is a briskly playing, siren-winding shit-hot blur of sweet power pop and post-psyche on this fifteen track creature of joy. There’s still some serious messages here beneath the messing-your-mind-up hilarity (the clap-dazed and Gary Glitter-crunchy “Clothing Optional Christian Barbecue,” the vividly visceral “Song Detergents”), but every other track is a straight ahead MAKE THIS A TOP TEN HIT Fountains Of Wayne and Weezer first LP-type hit. My first pick: “Make You Think You Want Me,” which I think I hear on a thousand radio stations with a true clue right now.

Hint hint, radio!!!!

The Terrordactyls are also totally killing it! After jumping on #8 Most Added, they’re leaping their way up the Top 200 chart, this last week landing at its highest point so far at #87. WOO!! If I remember correctly, their 2007 self-titled album reached #67 on that same chart, so the goal is to beat that one. I think we can do it!!

I saw Michael Cadiz (of the Terrordactyls) play the Terrordactyls song “Come Home” during his sister Melaena Cadiz (of my previous work)’s last set during her residency at the Ace Hotel a couple weeks ago. It was awesome!! It was the first time I’d seen Michael perform, outside of band practices and recording sessions I’d snooped on and weird karaoke nights, for about 3 years. Worth the wait.

Their cousin Joseph Keckler (also of my previous work) also jumped onstage to join them right after that. It was a magical family night! I think these three should probably just form their own band and call it a day. Joseph didn’t stand there with his eyes closed that whole time, I promise, but that is how he was when I took this picture:

PLUS ALSO, things are going swimmingly with Shenandoah Davis, your favorite new lovely warblevoiced ladysinger. Last week she busted effortlessly onto the scene at #14 Most Added on CMJ. In fact, she also recently did a Daytrotter session that turned out absolutely perfectly, as Daytrotter sessions are wont to do:

Aaaand she’s out NOW on a massive national tour! If you live basically anywhere in the United States now is your chance to see her, and if you are at a radio station basically anywhere in the United States now is your chance to have her in for an instudio or an interview or whatever (hit me up about that!): Shenandoah Davis fall 2011 tour dates:

8/14 – PORTLAND, OR @ The Old Church (with Harlowe and the Great North Woods, Ezza Rose and Ben Meyercord) http://www.facebook.com/ev​ent.php?eid=22273547777180​3

8/15 – EUGENE, OR @ SONG (with Betty and the Boy)

http://www.facebook.com/ev​ent.php?eid=25534976115757​9

8/16 – CORVALLIS, OR @ The Troubadour (with Eric Nordby)

8/17 – COTTAGE GROVE, OR @ Axe & Fiddle (with Broken Spoke)

8/18 – ARCATA, CA @ The Green House (message for address)

8/19 – REDDING, CA @ Maxwell’s (with Jupiter)

www.maxwellseatery.com/

8/20 – CHICO, CA @ outdoor festival (afternoon)

8/20 – DAVIS, CA @ Sophia’s Thai Kitchen (with Yesway and Bright Archer)

http://sophiasthaikitchen.​com/live_events.cfm

8/21 – DAVIS, CA @ Armadillo Records In-Store (4 pm)

8/21 – GRASS VALLEY, CA @ The Tin House (with Yesway and Foxtail)

http://www.facebook.com/ev​ent.php?eid=22445606426792​3

8/23 – BERKELEY, CA @ Caffe Trieste (with Yesway)

8/24 – FOLSOM, CA @ Folsom State Prison (with Yesway)

8/24 – SACRAMENTO, CA @ Marilyn’s On K (with Yesway and Eric Nordby)

http://www.facebook.com/ev​ent.php?eid=27082149293230​4

8/25 – FOLSOM, CA @ Folsom State Prison (with Yesway)

8/25 – OAKLAND, CA @ Mama Buzz Cafe (with Yesway and Hello Mtn)

http://www.mamabuzzcafe.co​m/

8/26 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ Viracocha (with Yesway and Tiny Home)

8/27 – NEVADA CITY, CA @ Nevada City Bizarre (1-3 PM w/ Yeswway)

8/27- FOLSOM, CA @ House Show (with Yesway, message for address)

8/28 – SUNNYVALE, CA @ Golan House (with Yesway)

8/31 – SANTA CRUZ @ The Crepe Place (with Yesway and Matador)

–september—————​—————–

9/2 – MONTEREY, CA @ Alternative Cafe (with Dakota Belle Wit)

9/3 – SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA @ tba (with Eliza Rickman) ** HELP

9/4 – SANTA BARBARA, CA @ tba (with Eliza Rickman) ** HELP

9/5 – SAN DIEGO, CA @ Park Gallery (with Eliza Rickman)

9/6 – LOS ANGELES, CA @ Hotel Cafe (with Eliza Rickman)

9/7 – LAS VEGAS, NV @ Beat Cafe (with Eliza Rickman)

9/8 – PROVO, UT @ Velour (with The Mighty Sequoia and Adam Klopp)

9/9 – FORT COLLINS, CO @ KRFC (on-air @ noon)

9/9 – FORT COLLINS, CO @ Everyday Joe’s (with Ian Cooke)

9/10 – DENVER, CO @ Mercury Cafe (with Spirits of the Red City)

9/11 – BOULDER, CO @ Caffe Sole (with Golden Ghost)

9/13 – LINCOLN, NE @ Clawfoot House (with Meaner Pencil)

9/14 – AMES, IA @ tba

9/15 – FAIRFIELD, IA @ The Beauty Shop

9/16 – ROCK ISLAND, IL @ Rozz Tox

9/17 – BELOIT, WI @ C-haus

9/18 – MILWAUKEE, WI @ Mad Planet (with John Muther)

9/20 – EVANSTON, IL @ WNUR in-studio (on-air @ 5:30)

9/20 – CHICAGO, IL @ The Spaceship (message for address)

9/21- CHICAGO, IL @ The Whistler (w/ The Minneapolis Henrys)

9/22 – ST. LOUIS, MO @ Pops Blue Moon

9/23 – FARMINGTON, MO @ The Vault

9/24 – COLUMBIA, MO @ Blue Fugue

9/25 – BLOOMINGTON, IN @ The Bishop

9/26 – CINCINNATI, OH @ tba (with Boyfriend)

9/27 – COLUMBUS, OH @ Spoonful Records (with Bad Heart Bull)

9/28 – COLUMBUS, OH @ Brothers Drake Meadery (with Time & Temperature)

9/29 – PITTSBURGH, PA @ Carnegie Mellon U.

9/30 – PITTSBURGH, PA @ tba

–rocktober—————​—————–

10/1 – BUFFALO, NY @ The Vault

10/2 – ITHACA, NY @ Delilah’s

10/3 – SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY @ tba

10/5 – PHILADELPHIA, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie

10/6 – NEW YORK, NY @ tba

10/7 – PROVIDENCE, RI @ AS220 (with Prairie Empire)

10/8 – NORTH ADAMS, MA @ Union & Field Presents (with Prairie Empire)

10/9 – BOSTON, MA @ the Sock Hop (with Prairie Empire)

10/10 – PORTLAND, ME @ tba (with Prairie Empire)

10/12 – NEW YORK, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall

10/13 – NEW HAVEN, CT @ tba (with Cabinet of Natural Curiosities)

10/14 – NORTHAMPTON, MA @ tba **(Help, please!)

10/15-17 – BOSTON AREA tba ***(HELP, please!)

10/18 – BURLINGTON, VT @ Taz Michaels Show on The Radiator

10/19 – HANOVER, NH @ Dartmouth College

10/20 – BELFAST, ME @ tba

10/21 – BIDDEFORD, ME @ the Oak and the Ax

10/22 – BURLINGTON, VT @ the Skinny Pancake (with John Craigie)

10/23 – MONTREAL @ tba

10/26 – BRATTLEBORO, VT @ tba

10/27 – HUDSON, NY @ tba

10/28 – BROOKLYN, NY @ Pete’s Candy Store

10/30 – WASHINGTON, DC @ tba **(HELP!)

–november—————-​—————-

11/1 – BALTIMORE, MD @ Cyclops Books

11/2 – NORFOLK, VA @ tba *** (HELP, please!)

11/3 – DURHAM, NC @ the Pinhook

11/4 – ASHEVILLE, NC @ the LAB

11/5 – ATHENS, GA @ tba ** HELP!!!

11/6 – ATLANTA, GA @ tba

11/8 – TUSCALOOSA, AL @ Green Bar

11/9-10 NEW ORLEANS, LA @ tba

11/11 – BATON ROUGE, LA/ HOUSTON, TX @ tba

11/12 – AUSTIN, TX @ Saxon Pub (with Jack Wilson and the Blue Hit)

11/15 – DALLAS, TX @ tba

11/16 – DENTON, TX @ tba ***HELP!!!

11/17 – NORMAN, OK @ Opolis (with Penny Hill)

11/18 – ALBUQUERQUE, NM @ Gold House

11/19 – SANTA FE, NM @ tba (with World History, Real Live Tigers)

11/20 – LAS CRUCES, NM @ tba

11/22 – TUCSON, AZ @ tba

11/23 – PHOENIX, AZ @ Yellow Canary

11/25 – LOS ANGELES, CA @ tba

11/26 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ tba

–december?!————–​——————

12/1 – PORTLAND, OR @ tba

12/2 – TACOMA, WA @ tba

12/3 – SEATTLE, WA @ tba

PHEW! I told you it was long. Here is a link with more info about that. GO SEE HER!! If you live in any of those ‘TBA’/'Help!’ places let me know if you’d like to help out! And have her in your studio if you work at a radio station!!

ALSO, I’ve spent at least a week at a time in and around Seattle every year since 2008, making the trip I have planned for the 17^th-26^th of this month Year 4 of my annual pilgrimage. Last year I did a bunch of totally sweet Band Mom-related stuff, like visited a buncha sweetheart radio stations. One of my favorite things to do is to make music directors pose awkwardly at their desks as though they are talking to me on the phone so I can picture them like that forever. Exhibits A, B, and C:

KAOS (at Evergreen College in Olympia):

And also Rainy Dawg Radio (at UW in Seattle):

Aaaaand also KEXP (also UW-affiliated, through more loosely, in Seattle). Chris Mak is not a music director but he is totally a volunteer there:

Looking forward to repeats and new faces this year. I LOVE YOU SEATTLE!!!

SHENANDOAH DAVIS

THE COMPANY WE KEEP

Self-Released

Immersed in classical music since the fragile age of three, Shenandoah Davis grew up at the bench of her parents’ piano. Continuing her musical studies through college, music at some point became more an occupation than a passion. After finishing a bachelor’s degree in opera performance that she was already certain she would never use, Shenandoah moved from her long-time home of Boulder, Colorado to Seattle, Washington, got a job as a barista and slowly began making her way back to the world of music – this time with her own compositions. In the three years since Shenandoah Davis released her full-length debut We; Camera (2008), she’s toured the US, Japan, and Western Europe, and performed at some of North America’s largest music and arts festivals (SXSW, Bumbershoot, Sasquatch). She’s been featured on KEXP, collaborated with the Seattle Rock Orchestra and Portland Cello Project, recorded and toured as keyboardist for Seattle-based buzz band Grand Hallway, and held a musical residency at the Art Monastery in Umbria, Italy.

Fan-funded through Kickstarter and recorded by Alex Kostelnik in Seattle (with additional recording in Denver and New York), The Company We Keep is fiercely poetic and emotionally artful assertion of her craft. Musically, it’s a natural progression from We; Camera – pulling from her intuitive sonic landscape, with elements of indie pop, classical, ragtime, and American roots music. Her piano continues to leap between rhythms and time signatures, as if it’s following the lyrics down a winding forest trail. At the helm of it all is her classically trained voice – equal parts warbly and powerfully direct – the breeze which tickles tree leaves before billowing into sails.

Thematically, though, it’s much more nuanced and complex. Driven, she says, by “the idea that no one person will ever know the exact same version of you as anyone else, because we are all defined by our experiences,” The Company We Keep presents snapshots of intensely personal moments between two people. From the Saratoga, NY, racetrack and park where she spent her teen years (“The Loudest”) to the home she once shared with a lover (“Separate Houses”), the songs on The Company We Keep tie together the experiences which have brought Davis – and her music – this far. The question the album seems to raise comes in “Throne,” where she sings, “Do you keep track of where all your seeds have been sown?” Underscoring the record’s impressive cohesion, she answers for herself in the final track. When its refrain (“Don’t go anywhere without me now”) repeats, the lesson becomes clear. Such a thing would be impossible – for Davis, at least, it would seem the “seeds” are never left behind.

RIYL: Joanna Newsom, Regina Spektor, St. Vincent, Grand Hallway, Parenthetical Girls

Start With: 8, 5, 9, 10 FCC CLEAN

Contact me for a download link!

ALSO, check out this totally awesome thing: Shenandoah recently recorded a Daytrotter session, which was just posed this past Wednesday! And it is perfect!!! This girl is going places. CHECK IT OUT!

http://shenandoahdavis.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shenandoah-Davis/162458635794

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206190846092893 (tour dates)

http://shenandoahdavis.com/

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/shenandoah-davis-concert/20054899-3738459.html

Anyway. I can’t WAIT for the whole world to hear this Terrordactyls album. You should read the bio below, because it is basically a list of facts that don’t seem like they could possibly all be true, but they are, every word, I’ve seen most of it happen with my own two eyes.

THE TERRORDACTYLS

RAGE MOUNTAIN

Self-Released

The Terrordactyls are Tyrel Stendahl and Michael Cadiz. They met in high school in 1999 and formed the band in 2001, with a lineup that once also included members who would go on to become The Pharmacy. They’ve released albums, 7″s and EPs on Seattle’s Don’t Stop Believin’ and Austria’s Seayou Records; they’ve toured the US and Europe, made a stop-motion animation video for a duet they recorded with Kimya Dawson (Moldy Peaches, Juno soundtrack) that got over 200,000 views on Youtube, landed a sponsorship with Kazoobie Kazoos, and had songs featured in the MTV show My Life As Liz.

Rage Mountain was recorded beginning in 2009 in a cabin by a creek and in a practice studio above the record store where Tyrel worked on Vashon Island, Washington. All of the guitar solos were recorded on a Squire Strat that’s owned by Tyrel’s boss at the music store and which was signed by K.D. Lang. Tyrel’s boss doesn’t know this. Vashon is a small island in the Puget Sound. You have to take a ferry to get there and it’s full of magic and pine trees. Sometimes there are even orca whales. To complete the Seattleite stereotype, besides being in a band, wearing plaid and listening to Nirvana, these days Tyrel works for an internet company and Michael is a barista.

There are already two music videos for the track “Overlapping Circles”. One is about burning Christmas trees on a summer day; the other one is by friend Will Janowitz, an actor. He’s been on The Sopranos and also Mad Men. Plus there’s the “Stars” video, which was made by Kori Valz, an animator who has worked on the preschool-age TV show The Wonder Pets, and it is full of penises.

Besides tales of pain and insecurity disguised as sweet melancholic folk ballads, and stories about cats orchestrated with kazoos and toy pianos, Rage Mountain features a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “Down In It”. Michael was a huge NIN fan in middle school, and both Terrordactyls contend that Pretty Hate Machine is an AMAZING album.

Following the recording of this album, Kellen Rack, a bicycle and fantasy novel enthusiast, became the band’s full-time drummer. The now-trio is already hard at work recording Rage Mountain II: Return to Rage Mountain.

RIYL: Kimya Dawson, Paul Baribeau, Jeffrey Lewis, pwrfl power, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

Start With: 4, 8, 15, 6, 12, 10 FCC: 2, 3, 14 [CLEAN EDITS AVAILABLE], 9 [NO CLEAN EDIT]

Track 9 happens to be my favorite on the whole disc, the only one with swears that doesn’t have an edit, so if you happen to have the kind of radio situation where it doesn’t matter what words are in the tracks you play, spin the s**t out of that thing!!!

Contact me for a download link! Downloads available both of the full album and of the clean edits! I’ve also got a secret extra download of a couple clean edits with completely ridiculous sounds instead of just blanks for the swears, if you’re into that sort of stuff.

The world is a magical place!!! The Terrordactyls help. ADD THIS RECORD!!!

http://terrordactyls.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-terrordactyls/27184283711

http://terrordactyls.bandcamp.com/

So: Tennis Pro are great!! They are a kinda garagey, slightly surfy (at times) rock band from Seattle, and I think we all know by now how much I like Seattle (I really like Seattle, everybody). Another new-ish band they remind me of is The Soft Pack, if you are the kind of person that needs a slot to plug them into, with their Kinks and Violent Femmes influences on display. But really you should just listen for yourself, and also read the bio below because there is a ton of really exciting information packed into it (tracks mixed by Steve Fisk!! A movie in the works!!!) LET’S DO THIS!

TENNIS PRO

SHIMOKITA IS DEAD?

Self-Released

Tennis Pro is from Seattle, but don’t let the gray clouds and sad, bearded indie-rock populace fool you. Tennis Pro doesn’t wear beards. Sometimes Tennis Pro wears beards, but in a totally ironic way. Tennis Pro likes to have a good time when they play, and they wish to extend that feeling on to you. Tennis Pro plays indie power-pop. Melody and anarchy. Let’s just leave it at that. If you wonder whether Rainbow-Infused Flute-Funk or Cocktronic Retro-Core might better describe the feelings you feel when you listen to Tennis Pro, then blog it out, but don’t beat yourself up over it.

Once described by novelist and screenwriter Dave Eggers as “melodic and anarchic,” Tennis Pro is at times punky, at times surfy, and always grounded in melody and electricity in recordings and live performances. Lyrically, Tennis Pro remains a band obsessed with the trappings of attitude and all things Rock and Roll. Their songs tell stories of heartbreak and entitlement, often out of the mouth of an untrustworthy narrator. This, the band’s fourth album since forming in 2003, draws particular inspiration from experiences while touring Japan in production of forthcoming feature film Big in Japan, directed by John Jeffcoat (Outsourced).

Shimokita is Dead? was produced by band member Phillip Peterson (Owl City, Helmet, Portugal The Man, Gym Class Heroes, Mastodon, The Posies, Nada Surf) and includes the engineering and mixing talents of Steve Fisk (Nirvana, The Posies, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Harvey Danger), Don Gunn (Peter Frampton, Ian McFeron), and Greg Williamson (Sunny Day Real Estate).

RIYL: Violent Femmes, Kinks, Hives, The Soft Pack

Start With: 3, 2, 1, 6 FCC CLEAN

Contact me for a download link!

Oh also an explanation of the album title: I learned from the band that Shimokita (pronunciation key: Shee MO kee tah) is short for Shimokitazawa. This is a neighborhood in Tokyo that has the most live music venues, vintage stores, record shops, cool bars, etc (the Williamsburg, or Capitol Hill if you’re a Seattleite, of Tokyo). The government is building a highway through it which will kill much of its charm. The band was there in Shimokita in April when they had a 7.4 quake. Whoa!

everything is awesome!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tennis-Pro/167226971806

http://tennispromusic.net/

http://www.myspace.com/tennispro

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tennispro/big-in-japan-a-john-jeffcoat-film-featuring-seattl

For longtime Band Mom loyalists, these guys will already be familiar to you: their first full-length was my second Band Mom project ever back in 2009. It did really well, including getting tons of play on WOXY (RIP WOXY :( ) – and now it’s two years later and the band’s lineup has gone through some serious changes, and their lyrical themes have gotten a little darker, but their music is still totally recognizable from that first album. As I pointed out in 2009, they make a really interesting combination of music that fuses catchy indie pop with their DC post-punk heritage. You haven’t heard much like it before. Plus their name is an allusion to TS Eliot’s The Waste Land…the English major in me rejoices!

This is a 3-song EP that is NOT a leading up to a full-length anytime soon, so don’t wait: play this today! Radio stations, my hard copies were VERY limited, but if you didn’t get one then check your email or contact me for a download link! It’s worth it!!

TEREU TEREU

NW EP

Self-Released

They began in Fredericksburg, VA in 2006 as a noisy two-piece. Over time, the band expanded in scope and adopted the moniker Tereu Tereu; in 2007, they released a split with The Light Footwork, and in 2009 they released their debut album, All That Keeps Us Together. The band toured up and down the mid-Atlantic and played with bands like The Dismemberment Plan, Ra Ra Riot, Foals, Jukebox the Ghost, Georgie James, Birdmonster, Maritime, The Good Life, and Pomegranates.

In late 2009, Tereu Tereu moved to DC, shifted members and shifted sounds. Now a three-piece, they play disjointed pop music, mixing elements of DC post-punk with melodies influenced by Taureg desert music. They run ear-pleasing hooks through oddball time signatures and punctuate their songs with feedback-laden freak outs. The continuing evolution of the band has brought more focus and darker undercurrents to the music, lyrically grappling with queer suicides and friends lost to cancer. It’s a heavier moment for a pop-centric trio, but it’s their most ambitious to date.

This 3-track EP serves as a re-introduction for this newest incarnation of Tereu Tereu; it is a standalone release rather than a lead-in to a full-length, and its official release comes in a limited-edition hand-stenciled package.

“both powerful and slightly unnerving”- My Old Kentucky Blog

RIYL: Dismemberment Plan, Phoenix, Q and Not U, Ra Ra Riot, Spoon

Start With: 1, 2 FCC 3 (radio edit available!!)

Contact me for a download link!

yes!!!

http://www.myspace.com/tereutereu

http://tereutereu.com/

http://twitter.com/tereutereu

http://tereutereu.bandcamp.com/