The Big Bad News

Bass Wolf (from Guitar Wolf) died of heart attack at age 38 a day or two ago:
http://www.goner-records.com/board/index.php?action=vthread&forum=4&topic=5964

I just heard these guys for the first time a couple weeks ago when they put on that stunner of a show I blogged about -- now I feel even more fortunate to have caught them. It's very sad, especially considering his age. Everyone turn it to 11 tonight in memorium.

Drive-Thru Rhyme

McDonald's is looking to pay rappers for mentioning Big Macs and the like in their songs. Awesome.

http://ad-rag.com/119514.php

Mount Tweety's Head on Your Next MP3 Player

http://news.com.com/Pez+to+dispense+MP3s+instead+of+candy/2100-1041_3-5637456.html?tag=st_lh

New Releases / Catching UP

Lots of delays on the postings again, due to extra work, illness, and my car stereo and some cds being stolen, which threw me out of sorts for a bit. At any rate, I've hardly been writing for my official outlets, but I do have a review of Regina Spektor's debut up today:

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2871

It's a little experimental and the type of concept-review I don't generally go for, but something about the music drew me that way.

On to new releases:

Beck -- Guero (Geffen)
Blueprint -- 1988 (Rhymesayers)
The Bravery -- The Bravery (Island) 3/5
Morrissey -- Live at Earls Court (Sanctuary)
Okay -- Low Road and High Road (Absolutely Kosher) 1.5/5*
Over the Rhine -- Drunkard's Prayer (Back Porch)
Will Smith -- Lost and Found (Interscope)**
The Stereophonics -- Language. Sex. Violence. Other? (V2)
Summer at Shatter Creek -- All the Answers (Bad Man)

*I can't get past his voice, but others who have seem to enjoy this one
**Yes, I like Will Smith -- so there!

Two Big Surprises at SXSW

I saw tons of great shows at SXSW (some of which I'll probably write on later), but I want to mention two that took me completely by surprise:

Guitar Wolf was a surprise guest the night of the Spoon/John Cale show. I was only there on a rumor that it would be the Arcade Fire, but GW put on a show far better than I could have expected. It was all half-ironic/half-serious rock'n'roll posturing, including floor-rolling, stack-jumping, spitting, drinking, windmills, shouting, and far greater volume than anything else that week. The highlight: when GW dragged an audience member up on stage to play, who also began rolling on the floor and jumping around. Absolutely fantastic, and now I'm going to end up searching out the albums that won't be half as good.

The second surprise: Los Super Seven. I went to see them at a party because I was intrigued, not so much because I had great hopes. They had recorded with some impressive people (including Caetano Veloso) and would be joined by Calexico, so I thought it would at least be good for some free food and decent entertainment. They went way beyond that level, though. Charlie Sexton sat in for most of the show, and I think he had as much fun -- and was as impressive -- as anyone. I haven't seen a band this large that was this tight in a long time, and even packed into a backroom on a hard bench, I loved every minute of it.

New Releases This Week

I hope you've been saving your money for this week's releases:

The A-Frames -- Black Forest (Sub Pop)
Acetate -- This Band Makes Me Feel (Sanctuary)
Aqualung -- Strange & Beautiful (Columbia/RED Ink)
Brendan Benson -- The Alternative to Love (V2)
Bloc Party -- Silent Alarmm (V2)
The Decemberists -- Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
Edie Sedgwick -- Her Love Is Real... But She Is Not (DeSoto) 2.5/5
Ghost -- Metamorphosis (Drag City)
Gogol Bordello -- East Infection (Rubric)
Hella -- Church Gone Wild/Chirpin Hard (Touch & Go)
Los Super Seven -- Heard It on the X (Telarc)
Louis XIV -- The Best Little Secrets Are Kept (Atlantic)
Moby -- Hotel (V2) 3/5
Out Hud -- Let Us Never Speak of It Again (Kranky)
Prefuse 73 -- Surrounded by Silence (Warp)
Queens of the Stone Age -- Lullabies to Paralyze (Interscope)
Radar Bros. -- The Fallen Leaf Pages (Merge)
Stereophonics -- Language. Sex. Violence. Other? (V2)
Kanye West College Dropout: Video Anthology CD/DVD (Island Def Jam)
Yo La Tengo -- Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985-2003 (Matador)

Alternate Tuning Hiatus

I'm probably going to be on a blog hiatus for about 2 weeks. But don't any of the four of you delete your bookmarks -- I'll have all kinds of exciting stuff when I'm back, including SxSW reports...

New Releases This Week

Solomon Burke -- Make Do With What You Got (Sony)
Elvis Costello -- Delivery Man [Deluxe Edition] (Lost Highway)*
Doves -- Some Cities (Capitol)
Half-Handed Cloud -- Thy Is a Word And Feet Need Lamps (Asthmatic Kitty) rating: 3/5
Little Wings -- Grow (K Records)
Manic Street Preachers -- The Holy Bible [10th Anniversary Edition] (Epic)**
The Mars Volta -- Frances the Mute (Universal) rating: 4/5
Okkervil River -- For Real (There's Nothing Quite Like the Blinding Light) EP (Jagjaguwar)
David Singer and the Sweet Science -- The Stars Burn Out (Engine Studios)
Regina Spektor -- Soviet Kitsch (Sire)***

*The original's good, but no way am I already going to shell out more for a re-release.
**I have word that there have been some distribution issues with this one, so if it's not in your local store today, look for it in a week.
***I'll be reviewing this as soon as possible for Stylus. Looks intriguing but I've yet to spin it.