(Unfortunately, I had to take down the MP3 of "212-Margarita" for space reasons, but there are other places to find that one.) Looks like we're just waiting on "Bitchy Christmas" now... yeah, that might be a while happening... maybe that rumoured box set?
Enjoy, everyone! And if you're at all able to, a PayPal donation would be immensely appreciated. Thanks!
6-1-07:
Well, good news: I found a guy to rip that single, so I should have "Emperor" and the full version of "Prescription Sunglasses" posted in the next few days. (The service isn't entirely free, so if you nab the songs, feel free to drop some e-change into the front page PayPal link.) ;)
- Check the VIDEOS page for something really special - a Lifter Puller video clip! The first I've ever seen! Thanks to Xavi for the heads up on that.
- I found a picture of the back cover of "Fiestas + Fiascoes," so that's over on the DISCOGRAPHY
page if anybody's curious.
- The interview with Steve Barone is still coming. My internship ended and... well, who knew unemployment was this time-consuming? :)
- In the meantime, I've started updating my LJ a little more frequently in case anybody wants to check my daily scribblings.
- Peace for now.
4-13-07:
Friday the 13th. Oooh, spooky.
-I'm cold and wet from rain here at my intern gig just to let anyone out there know that I'm planning on doing a feature interview with Steve "the guitar player from Lifter Puller" Barone sometime in early May, so be on the lookout for that. Expect topics covered to include what Steve's up to now, the infamous lost LP song "Bitchy Christmas", the origin of the "LFTR PLLR" abbreviation, and other nit-grit relating to the band.
- In my ongoing quest to find a way to properly rip "Prescription Sunglasses" and "Emperor" off my seven-inch copy, I wrote to an old acquaintance at CKDU here and asked if I could use the station's equipment to do that. She told me I might have to go through training first, which I am so willing to do (given time). So keep watching for that, as well.
- Stay dry.
4-11-07:
Oh, yeah. This band. Right, forgot. Grad school will do that to you.
Well, The Hold Steady's been busy getting lots of press in the past 4-ish months, so I'll just bullet-form it, assuming most of you are already long-aware of much of it:
- They recorded a cover of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" for the benefit of the Minnesota Twins. They own it hard, but I'm still with Paddy Costello: "fuck baseball. It's old."
- They're releasing an indie-store only EP called "Live at Fingerprints" on April 17. (More info on the discography page.)
-Apparently at some point they did a live cover of "American Music" by the Violent Femmes. Try Googling it. It's really good. Oh, and a cover of "Against the Wind". So good. I love Bob Seger, and so do all of the alleged 40-somethings who love THS. (I've yet to meet any of them.)
-They released a kick-ass video for "Stuck Between Stations", which you can watch on my new Video page! A lot of people don't seem to care for it, but unless Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry is directing it, I'd rather just watch a band play than some high-concept piece. Plus, there's a cute joke at the end. CUUUUTE.
-They're still never coming to Atlantic Canada. But then again, no-one probably ever will. But, hey, who's pysched about the new Ted Leo (mine's in the mail), Streetlight Manifesto, Travis Morrison, D4 and Weakerthans albums? Answer: me, and you should be too. While I'm plugging, check out Jonny Lives. They're a very solid outfit from NY who were nice and sent me free CDs, which always wins my cynical indie hipster heartless heart.
-Oh, and again: if you're having any difficulty tracking down a rare song, I urge you to try Soulseek, or e-mail me and maybe we can hash something out.
12-28-06:
And, then, this morning, while taking a break from reading "Vineland", I found that Macleans, Canada's answer to Time and Newsweek (discounting, of course, Time Canada and Newsweek Canada) had declared "Boys and Girls in America" the second-coolest thing of the year, after the film "Little Miss Sunshine", which Lindsay liked and I have no real intention of watching.
And, really, when this guy tells you something is hip, you listen.
Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Wells, the author of "Right Side Up: the Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper's New Conservatism", in book stores now:
2. Boys and Girls in America. You take the spirit of rock and roll where you can find it. This year it was found, in its most potent form, in the third album from the Hold Steady, a Brooklyn bar band made up of Minneapolis refugees. Singer Craig Finn is a dumpy guy with glasses, not that there's anything wrong with that. The band's keyboardist looks like Super Mario from the old video game. Their songs are jubilantly tuneful odes to nightlife and angsty youth, the lyrics shot through with romance, substance abuse and betrayal: "Lost in love and fog and faithless fear/I've had kisses that made Judas seem sincere."
Nothing revelatory, but I get excited when this kind of thing shows up in a mainstream publication. Don't ask me why. It's awfully uncool of me.
12-28-06:
-Hey, revellers. Hope your holidays are going well. Hope you are drunk right now, and playing on staying that way until January 1st at 6AM, at which time our inebriations will vanish along with our resolutions.
Anyway, it's quarter-to-two AM and I just drank vodka while watching "Superman II: The Richard Donner remix", so it's time to update the site from my parents' house in New Brunswick.
Kelly of AOL/Spinner e-mailed me to alert me to the existence of a podcast of a live set our boys did. Going to go listen to it now, it's got acoustic versions of "Chips Ahoy!", "You Can Make Him Like You" and "Yr L'il Hoodrat Fiend".
That was pretty cool how THS were The AV Club's #1 album of the year, huh? Yes, it was. Ah, validation. You are fleeting and sweet, like eating cotton candy in a hurricane.
12-04-06:
New interview with Craig Finn up at Pitchfork! It's a really good one, talking about the writing process, having diverse musical tastes, favourite songwriters and a smorgasbourd of other captivating topics. Probably the best interview with Craig I've read yet.
Two bands I've given a listen to this weekend I've liked a lot: Washington Social Club and Drive-By Truckers. They're really good!
11-29-06:
Guten tag, fellow Germans.
I'm listening to the Best Show on WFMU right now, felt like music-blogging a little, so as not to do schoolwork. Tom Scharpling is like hipster insulin. His personality is occasionally aggravating, but he is anything but ironic.
HERE you go, this is an oddly eloquent live review of The Hold Steadies. Everyone was sober! I only drink alone, so this show would have been perfect for me.
A couple of non-Craig Finn-related links, but if you like good music: 1) The AV Club did a write-up on the amazing Jawbreaker album Bivouac. Every songwriter that is good has at some point name-checked Blake Schwarzenbach as a highpoint - John Darnielle, John K. Samson, Craiggers, Ted Leo, et al. 2) Apparently Dr. Jason Shevchuk (Kid Dynamite, None More Black) is releasing his new solo album as OnGuard for free online! Wotta punk. I'll forgive his mediocre last album now, and you should too.
Speaking of which, it's close enough to the end of the year that I'm confident doing my "Best Music 2006" list. Alert the media.
Best album of 2006: "Boys and Girls in America" by The Hold Steady
Best song that should've been on the best album of 2006: "For Boston" by The Hold Steady
Best album of 2006 that was written in 1998: "Keasbey Nights by Catch-22" by Streetlight Manifesto
Best songs from disappointing albums: "A Pillar of Salt" by The Thermals, "Under My Feet" by None More Black, "Mr. Tough" by Yo La Tengo, "Petty Problems" by Defiance, Ohio
Best German: "The Operator" by Barbara Morgenstern
Best album of 2007: "All Y'all" by Travis Morrison/new Ted Leo (tie?!?)
For reading all that self-indulgent crap, here's a picture of a big Craig Finn sticker on a door and a gig poster.
Bienvenue and Joyeux X-Mas.
11-26-06:
Not a whole lot new in the LP/HS world... I am having an auction on ye olde eBay for my custom "What Would Judas Do?" shirt, as seen in the song "Milkcrate Mosh"! Details here. Hearty bidding would be appreciated.
10-25-06:
Holla.
ITEM! - The video for "Chips Ahoy!" has been posted on YouTube! It is... not very good. Except, of course, for Franz Nicolay as Zorro. But the rest of the band, I insist you go back to acting class, messires. And Hold Steady videos can go back to just the band rocking out. (Or hire actual performers next time?)
ITEM! - Tad has started a Music Blog, talking about all his Classic Rock influences.
ITEM! - Here's a negative review for a change, one star from the Chicago Sun-Times.
ITEM! - The trusty AV Club posted a quality interview with the band. More interesting than that, however, is that in the review for the new Lucero album, the AV Club says that band could the "hick Hold Steady". Oh, you.
ITEM! - The discography page has been revamped, as of last night, broken up by band so as to make it slightly easier to navigate, given my eighth-grader's knowledge level of HTML.
The titles of the Hold Steady albums are now links to Amazon, so if you wanted to click them and make me some free money, I'd be very much obliged to y'all.
ITEM! - I'm so glad the third season of "The Office" is getting up to season two-level quality. I was worried. I tell you this only as an excuse to post this:
Pax.
10-12-06:
- Here's an audio grab of "212-Margarita". I think this is the first audio file of it, ever(?). As the French say, "enjoi!" (Not actual French.)
10-09-06:
- I finally bought the album today! Hoorahuzzah! Well, I had to trade in some other CD's to CD Plus to get it... I am a tiny bit broke for cash right now. But it sounds so much better than it did coming from tincan laptop speakers!
-The discography page has been updated with a tiny, pretty picture of the overseas-only "Chips Ahoy!" seven-inch single. Nice pony.
- Still looking for a scan of the "Boys and Girls in America" promotional comic online. When I find it, you'll know.
- This is Craig introducing and explaining the meaning of the song "Don't Let Me Explode". Man, when that guy eventually loses his mellifluous singing voice, he can go on a speaking tour AND I WILL GO SEE HIM.
- Someone made a map of the Twin Cities using all the references from Hold Steady songs. Nerd. No, seriously, that's really cool. My girlfriend has taken to calling me a half-man because I won't make a detailed chronology of the Lifter Puller Mythology for this site.
Whatever.
Pfft.
- Metacritic has tabulated all the reviews for the new album (as they are wont to do) and have decided it has rated an "85%" which = "Universal Acclaim".
So you don't have to!
- Here are my Amazon Wish List and my YouTube favourites list. The former in case you want to see what I'm shopping for (yeah, right), and the latter in case you want to inspect my questionable taste. Yes, there are "Tiny Toon Adventures" music videos.
10-04-06:
- 6 AM and I can't get back to sleep, so time to update the site! Yesyesyall.
- I didn't have time to buy the album yesterday. I'm not even sure if I'll have to hunt hard for it, but CD Plus here in Halifax usually has the big-name indie bands there. I think. I did download it, however, as I have no ethical qualms with 'stealing' the album now that it's out in general circulation (go figure). I'm taking it in slowly, but my first impressions? The live acoustic version of "Stuck Between Stations" was better, but "First Night" is really nice, it serves as a quite touching epilogue to the events of the last record. Apparently,(spoiler) Charlemagne is not dead!
(It likely will end up my album of the year, though, as I wasn't a big fan of the new Mountain Goats, Yo La Tengo, None More Black, Thermals or Cursive records. Boy, I hate everything that's by artists!)
- Dave from Prefix Magazine wrote to ask me to post this review (4/5) of the album. I have done so, despite the presence of the phrase "over-educated". Also, there's an interview with the band on the site, in which Tad name-drops The Weakerthans! Who I am seeing this month at the Halifax Pop Explosion! Also, Randy! I didn't think anyone in the United States of Freedom knew the former existed.
- Again, I just want to thank the half-dozen of you who've written me encouraging encouragements. You're my favourites out of the thousand-plus visitors to my site.
- I might try and sleep! That, or have a (veggie) roast beef sandwich. Oh, here's the AV Club review, too.
10-02-06:
-Hey, Pitchfork has given "Boys & Girls" a 9.4! Wow, we've come a long way since "Fiestas" got a 3.2 back in ought-zero.
However positive it may be, this review is a good example of why it's bad to read Pitchfork reviews at 7 in the morning before class. Imagine a voice in my head that's a cross between Comic Book Guy and Professor Frink going "well, the band sent us free coasters, implying that they are a bar band. Here are seventeen reasons why they're not a bar band. And here are forty-nine overwritten reasons why you can't like The Hold Steady and Belle & Sebastian. Sniff."
- I read this on the bandsite or somewhere this weekend: it seems they're handing out free Hold Steady comic books in select (American) record stores when the album comes out. Anyone gets a hold of this, you scan one for a Canadian hoser, eh? Aboot?
9-29-06:
- Hey, the band's MySpace page has video interviews up... as well as "Southtown Girls" and "Stuck Between Stations"! (It seems over 11,000 people already knew this, but I try to avoid MySpace.)
Incidentally, my girlfriend just asked me if I was mad they sold out.
"Why did they sell out?" I ask.
"I can listen to them now without being irritated."
I think they've just grown on her. Whatever. But there's their first album review.
I see someone on their friends' page referred to themselves as a "Steadhead". Do we like this or is it silly?
9-26-06:
- Not at all news, but I was just looking at my record collection from the side and I saw my album by The Jam, which is "All Mod Cons", but I thought on the spine they had written "The Jam Lies Down on Broadway" for a hilarious joke.
Then it turned out it was just my copy of "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
-In other news, I own a copy of "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
-Ohshitschool!
9-22-06:
-Pitchfork has an interview up with John "Mountain Goats" Darnielle, where he talks about his similarities to Craig Finn, and where he stands on the vital "LP" vs. "THS" debate.
Make sure you check out that Barbara Morgenstern lady John talks about. She is too fine.
Musically.
09-16-06:
-Brandon Oswald pointed out this ESPN article with a strange unintentional (?) Hold Steady reference.
- Hey, you know the LFTR PLLR Jenny Jones appearance that's referrred to in an interview with Craig somewhere? Anyone with a copy want to get in contact with me? Or for that matter, anyone out there with the oft-rumoured LFTR PLLR knuckle tattoos have a picture they feel like submitting?
Thanxomgkisses.
Oh, yeah, this just in from Broswald: Craig Finn wants to do a LFTR PLLR box set. His response on being asked about a Brokerdealer (the post-LP, pre-THS techno project) CD was 'he laughed a bit and said "i don't think so"... but he mentioned wanting to do a Lifter Puller "boxset" with a DVD and a thickass booklet and some other nice sounding things.'
This is just as I was preparing to do a whole page about how perfect a LFTR PLLR boxset would be. In my imaginary head, it would include 4 discs: the two discs of Soft Rock, a disc of "Fiestas + Fiascoes", plus the four MIA tracks, and a live disc (DVD?) of the 6/6/03 Triple Rock concert. But I'm sure the actual box set (if there is indeed to be one) will be even prettier and fancier.
09-14-06:
- There are outtakes from the "Boys & Girls in America" sessions circulating the web. The titles are "For Boston", "Teenage Liberation", "Arms and Hearts" and "Girls Like Status". Lyrics here. To editorialize for a second: Personally, I haven't downloaded the album yet, because I want to wait to own the CD. If you do choose to DL the leaked album, PLEASE buy the record on its release. As for the outtakes, I just see them as a teaser, so go nuts!
- My soul brother Nick Masi e-mailed Tad "Tha Koob" Kubler to ask whether he had a copy of extremely-rare LFTR PLLR track "Bitchy Christmas" lying around somewhere. Koob's response?
"Bitchy Christmas!!! Too much. No idea. So sorry. If
you find one (or if I do) share. Tad"
So much for that. I'll throw it up here (not as in regurgitate it) if I find it somewhere. Meanwhile, two of the four rarest LP songs are on the discography for your perusal. "Emperor" will join them as soon as I find somebody in Halifax who can rip MP3's from vinyl.
-Craig did a Guest List thing for Pitchfork, if you wanna see what he's all about.
