…Austin quartet The Strange Boys have taken up the quest for pure rock n’ roll bliss on their debut disc …And Girls Club and come up with a brilliant garage/psyche gem. Dig the vintage blues jangle of the guitars. Ryan Sambol’s wiry whine bringing it all back home. The wiggle in the rhythm section. The sound of Sun and Shel Talmy and Tom Wilson and Bakersfield coating each and every note. This could have just as easily dropped anytime over the past 50 years, but we’re pretty thankful it did so today…

MP3: The Strange Boys “Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up”

04.02.09 Thu Dallas, TX Doublewide
04.03.09 Memphis, TN Murphy’s
04.04.09 Oxford, MS The Blind Pig
04.05.09 Athens, GA Farm 255
04.06.09 Atlanta, GA The Earl
04.08.09 Asheville, NC The New French Bar
04.09.09 Tuscaloosa, AL Little Willie’s
04.10.09 Baton Rouge, LA The Spanish Moon
04.11.09 Houston, TX House Show
06.05.09 Denton, TX Rubbergloves *
06.06.09 Austin, TX Red 7 *
06.07.09 Houston, TX Mangos *
06.08.09 New Orleans, LA Saturn Bar *
06.09.09 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn *#
06.10.09 Greensboro, NC UNCG / Square One *
06.11.09 Washington, DC Comet Pizza and Ping Pong *
06.12.09 Baltimore, MD Sonar *#$
06.13.09 Brooklyn, NY Market Hotel *#
06.14.09 New York, NY Cake Shop *
06.15.09 Philadelphia, PA Danger Danger Gallery *
06.16.09 Worcester, MA Ralph’s Diner *
06.18.09 Cleveland, OH Now That’s Class
06.20.09 Columbus, Ohio Bourbon St *
06.22.09 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen *
06.23.09 Minneapolis, MN First-Avenue *
06.24.09 Iowa City, IA Public Space 1 *
06.25.09 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Music Hall *
06.26.09 Denver, CO Hi-Dive *
06.27.09 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court *
06.29.09 Los Angeles, CA The Smell *
07.02.09 San Francisco, CA Hemlock #
07.03.09 San Jose, CA Nickel City #
07.06.09 San Diego, CA Casbah #
07.07.09 Tucson, AZ Plush #
07.09.09 Lubbock, TX Ash Riprock’s #
07.10.09 Dallas, TX TBA #
07.11.09 Austin, TX Mohawk #

* = w/ Mika Miko
# = w/ The Coathangers
$ = w/ The Death Set

…following their last stop through the Dayton Dirt Collective, St. Charles, Missouri collective Holy!Holy!Holy! left quite a buzz in their wake. Upon finally hearing them, we understood why. It could just as easily be a hundred years ago, sitting out at an IWW camp meeting listening to songs of the workingman. Through their hypnotic singalongs/growls/spoken word and acoustic instrumentation (well, mostly), the music and politics of HHH seem to be inextricably linked. You can read more about their views on their blog here and listen to their new EP, If I Can’t Revolt It’s Not My Dance, here. Holy!Holy!Holy! will return to the DDC this Friday, April 3. See you there…

MP3: Holy!Holy!Holy! “From The Bottom Up”
MP3: Holy!Holy!Holy! “Gone Like Jesus”

…when we visited Forecastle last summer, one of our most exciting finds in the region was coming across Louisville outfit Lucky Pineapple. The band issued their second full-length, The Bubble Has Burst In Sky City, on Noise Pollution Records last fall and are gearing up for a national release of the disc. Melding their hometown’s affinity for jam-inflected weirdness and the slightly older jazz/math inclinations of the early 90s found in Louisville, Lucky Pineapple meld a twisted Zappaesque flavor into minimalist Chicago jazz and eastern European flavors, brewing up an unpredictably savory stew. A summer tour in support of TBHBISC is currently in the planning stages, so stay tuned for the all the details…

MP3: Lucky Pineapple “Moonlight Spiderbite”
MP3: Lucky Pineapple “Moment in an Empty Street”

…maybe it’s the longing for better weather, but we’ve digging into a lot of new stuff coming from the West Coast as of late. Continuing in this trend, we’ve been enjoying LA-based quartet Eulogies. Due out April 7 on Dangerbird Records, Here Anonymous is a sunny slab of bouncy 80s-fueled indie pop on one hand, tempered on the other by a steady stream of remorse and subsequent resolutions from lead singer Peter Walker. In addition to the new album, you can grab some sparse home demos recorded by Walker under the title of The Homespun Sessions for free over at Eulogies website. The band will be rolling through the region in May, so check the sounds and get the dates…

MP3: Eulogies “Bad Connection”
MP3: Eulogies “This Fine Progression”

April 2 || Union Hall || Brooklyn, NY*
April 4 || Beachland Tavern || Cleveland, OH*
April 6 || The Firebird || St. Louis, MO*
April 7 || Replay Lounge || Lawrence, KS*
April 8 || Larimer Lounge || Denver, CO*
May 1 || Bell House || Brooklyn, NY#
May 2 || Valentines || Albany, NY#
May 4 || Bowery Ballroom || New York, NY #
May 5 || Johnny Brenda’s || Philadelphia, PA#
May 7 || Black Cat || Washington D.C.#
May 8 || Diesel || Pittsburgh, PA#
May 9 || Grog Shop || Cleveland, OH#
May 10 || Skully’s || Columbus, OH #
May 11 || Magic Stick || Detroit#
May 13 || Lakeshore Theater || Chicago, IL#
May 14 || Blue Note || Columbia, MO#
May 16 || Hailey’s || Denton, TX#
May 17 || Warehouse || Houston, TX#
May 18 || Parish || Austin, TX#
May 22 || Casbah || San Diego, CA#
May 23 || Echoplex || Los Angeles, CA#
May 24 || Independent || San Francisco, CA#
May 26 || Douglas Fir Lounge || Portland, OR#
May 27 || Crocodile Cafe || Seattle, WA#

* w/ Bad Veins
# w/ The Dears & Great Northern

…from the start, it was obvious that Hospital Garden planned on making this a special evening at South Park Tavern for The Buddha Den Showcase. Suits. Ties. Dresses. Fedoras. Yeah, they looked sharp. They also brought an avalanche of songs. Melodies that burrow into yr soul. The incessant rhythms that slowly get every head bobbing in unison. The guitar histrionics of Lucas Hollow elevating the visceral impact of this trio. More than anything, Hospital Garden is a band that obviously enjoys what they do. You can see the evidence in the ear-to-ear grin of drummer Ian Spencer, the twirling of bassist Sarah Carey and most certainly in the trumpet-weilding freakouts of Hollow. These kids love the game. They can kill a song in any number of ways: grinding punk meltdowns, fist-pumping anthems, machine-gun breaks, slacker-shred solos, soul-bearing slowjams. Even covering the War classic “Low Rider”, Hospital Garden owned it, putting their imprint all over the song. By the end of their second set, the trio reveled in shared jubilation with their audience, bringing an incredible evening to a close with shared smiles all around…

For more photos from the evening, go here. Additional photos by Atomic Justin here.

…we apologize for the late notice on this, but we just got word that there will be a planning meeting today for the second annual Ladyfest Dayton. From the fest organizers:

Our first planning meeting will be this Sunday, March 29, at 2 pm, at C{Space (The venue we had Ladyfest in September). For those of you who don’t remember, we are located at 20 N. Jefferson St., Dayton, OH 45402. We can’t make Ladyfest Dayton 2 happen without your help! You, and you and you, are welcome to come join us (and feel free to bring snacks if you like!) We want this to have as many creative hands involved as possible this year, so that it can be a huge success and raise lots of money for charities, and awareness about why Ladyfests are needed. Ladyfest 2 will most likely take place mid-August. We will need more ways of raising money, fundraisers, and benefits. If you have some ideas for us then come join us. Bring yourself, a pen, some paper and lots of ideas… What you do depends on what you want to bring to the table. You are welcome to join us on Sunday, if you cannot make meetings but still want to contribute in some way, or any way feel free to email us at: ladyfestdayton@gmail.com

…if you’re at all inclined to lend your time and services to this event, we would highly encourage you to do so…

…as we previously announced, Vandalia high-schooler John Callon aka Wake Up Mordecai is already planning a follow up to last year’s acclaimed North to the Nth Degree. According to Poptek Records, the label will issue Too Young for the Disco with a Release Party at Dayton Dirt Collective on May 23. Here’s the tracklisting for the disc:

01. LOVEMACHINE5000
02. That’s What She Said
03. Kinky Girl Scout Cookies
04. Orange Soda
05. Dignan
06. Bach Called – he wants his orchestra back
07. XOXO
08. Infinity x2
09. Disco = Crack
10. You’re the Bomb(bay)
11. Cowboys and Indians

…if you want to keep up to the minute with the Wake Up Mordecai universe, you can tune in to his blog over here. Rest assured, we’ll keep you posted as we get more information…

MP3: Wake Up Mordecai “Girls Don’t Ride On Viking Ships” from North to the Nth Degree

…in case you missed the notice earlier this week, tonight is our big show with one of our favorite locals, Hospital Garden over at South Park Tavern. If you haven’t checked them out yet, tonight is a great opportunity since the show is FREE. Music starts at 9 PM sharp and the band will be doing two sets throughout the night. We’ll see you there…

…according to reports from Gorilla vs. Bear, Baltimore trio Celebration have boldly moved into the future of the music “industry”, announcing a direct release approach that may finally eliminate unnecessary barriers between artist and audience. The band’s decision to forego the traditional label release routine (with 4AD in their case) stands as further evidence of a burgeoning reformation. From Celebration’s website:

We as Celebration, have felt the continual growth of web culture’s need for barrier-free exchange. We also feel that the traditional methods of releasing music have put too much distance between us…Our plan and experiment is to post new songs monthly, as we create and record them. Under the creative commons attribution non-commercial share alike license, all of our new music will be free to download on our new website. When we have enough music for an album, we will release it on vinyl for those who want to have something to hold. As artists we can only stand for our music, our art, our creation. So here it is–laid bare.

Read more of the band’s manifesto and grab new music over here.

MP3: Celebration “I Will Not Fall”

…back in the early days of our education, there were some pretty important books that all the kids were reading. Lots of Shel Silverstein. Judy Blume. The Choose Your Own Adventure series was huge. One of the first books that really blew our minds was Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sedlak. The cover alone both terrified and intrigued this 6-year-old mind. Well, following in the fate of the world’s most beloved books, WTWTA is soon to become a major motion picture. Under the direction of Spike Jonze, WTWTA is set for a October 2009 release. Check out the trailer with an interesting version of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up”…

…thanks to You Ain’t No Picasso for the tip…