Yeah Gates Records

Foul Swoops + Plums, Free Show, Sun. 10/2

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:15:29 -0400

Free shows are the best show. This one is right near Yeah Gates HQ in lovely Arlington, Va. It’s this Sunday, Oct. 2 at 6pm.

In addition to Foul Swoops, our dear friends Plums will be performing.

Relevant details

"I’m really hard on myself. I welcome people challenging what I’ve done on a level of what I’ve done...."

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:27:14 -0400

“

I’m really hard on myself. I welcome people challenging what I’ve done on a level of what I’ve done. But I do get embarrassed about adulation that I see when it comes my way, if it comes my way. It’s embarrassing because I recognize it as part of this complete affirmation of the idea of a cool rock band. Of which there can be nothing wrong with them. There can be no question. You can’t mention the second terrible album. No one wants to mention that it’s terrible. No one wants to talk about that. No one wants to talk about, well, maybe they only had one album in them. And the kind of patronization that goes on with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Mick Jagger on one end, and then the other end as far as adulation for a buzz band — it’s sickening. I just see the baby boomer’s technique is being used by the bloggers.

And I wish the voices of harshness — the fanzines I read like Conflict and Forced Exposure … if you were to actually apply any of the artistic principles that people used to apply and judge standards of music by … there’s a lot of foolishness going on. There’s very little wisdom going on. There’s certainly very little wisdom being communicated. But nobody wants to rain on the parade. And nobody wants to find out they’re not invited to the party. In a way, I think, that we’re going through a period right now where it’s sort of like people have no faith in any institutions other than what’s popular.

”

- Yesterday I found audio files from an interview I did with David Berman on March 1, 2008. There’s a lot of great stuff in there and I’ll find a home for it eventually, but this really seemed to be so on point.

The Cheniers - "Drift"

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:21:55 -0400

The Cheniers - "Drift":

Four new songs, free for your streaming/downloading pleasure.

It’s a tiny picture below, so here are the relevant...

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:56:41 -0400

It’s a tiny picture below, so here are the relevant details…

THE DIRTBOMBS (Motor City)

THEE LEXINGTON ARROWS (Charm City)

FOUL SWOOPS (South Arlington!!)

Thursday, June 2 at 8 p.m. (tonight)

Rock & Roll Hotel, $14

Truly awesome show. I mean, motherfucking Dirtbombs? Come on!

America Hearts are on the road. Here they are performing in...

Wed, 18 May 2011 12:26:22 -0400

America Hearts are on the road. Here they are performing in Atlantic City. Righteous.

America Hearts are going on tour!!! Help spread the word! They...

Fri, 13 May 2011 13:42:55 -0400

America Hearts are going on tour!!! Help spread the word! They will be bringing their charming and catchy songs to the following cities and venues. Go there and heckle them in my absence, please…

May 13th
The BONEYARD
20 South Virginia Ave
Atlantic City, NJ
7:00
w/ Bill Ridenour, Creepoid, the Courage Pills, Forever Broken
Presented by elephant talk indie music magazine
$5

May 14th
Pianos
158 Ludlow Street
New York City
7:00
w/ WIN WIN, Situation, the Shining Sea, and Jess Kohn
Free

May 15th
AS220
115 Empire St.
Providence, RI
w/ Walri, Diamond Doves, and Kid Mountain
9:00
$6

May 16th
Yes.Oui.Si
Boston
w/ Cotton Candy and the Sneaky Mister
7:00
ACLU Benefit

May 17th
242 Main

Burlington, VT
w/ Forget the Times and FM Drag
7:00
$7

May 19th
Black Eye
1947 East 71st
Cleveland, OH
w/ Jukebox Value

May 20th
Live on WNUR Chicago 89.3
@ 7:30

Beat Kitchen
2100 West Belmont
Chicago, IL
w/ Sleep Out and Coupleskate
10:00
$8

May 21st
The Rudyard Kipling
442 West Oak Street
Louisville, Kentucky
w/ Hal Dolls
9:00
$7

May 22nd
Craig’s (house show)
2702 Laamdale st
Durham, NC
9:00

May 23rd
Winston’s Cafe
1412 Greenbriar Pkwy 133
Chesapeake, Virginia
w/ uglyography
8:00

“Shot In the Dark” by Foul Swoops Live at Comet Ping...

Tue, 10 May 2011 17:12:44 -0400

“Shot In the Dark” by Foul Swoops

Live at Comet Ping Pong on May 7, 2011

This is the jam.

Recorded on my phone, so, y’know.

Coming soon on the new Foul Swoops record.

“Soon”

Love that spin move by Sean at 1:48.

Slick.

Busy day tomorrow. First up is Punk Rock Flea Market II: Spring...

Fri, 06 May 2011 13:30:18 -0400

Busy day tomorrow. First up is Punk Rock Flea Market II: Spring Cleaning and Skill Sharing at St. Stephen’s Church. This is where you can: 1) Buy stuff (last time there was everything from vegan cookies to vibrators), 2) share a skill (potentially, but not certainly, involving those two things) and 3) enjoy live music from both Foul Swoops and America Hearts, as well as the most-excellent Deleted Scenes. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.; music starts with Foul Swoops at 2 p.m. If Swoops don’t have a cover “Others Way” up their sleeves for this show on the 7th of May, I’ll be disappointed. It costs just $3.

Then later in the evening Foul Swoops will be bringing the rock again, this time at Comet Ping Pong. They will be opening for Apache Dropout, who remind me of Dancing Cigarettes, that kind of weirdo-damaged Indiana post-whatever. Learn more about them in this interview with Marc Masters on Pitchfork. That starts at 10:30, and costs just $10.

And even more news coming soon because America Hearts are going on tour … stay tuned!

Reminder: The Cheniers playing at Comet Ping Pong tonight. Get...

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:15:12 -0400

Reminder: The Cheniers playing at Comet Ping Pong tonight. Get there early to see Tyler Jon Tyler, stick around to see Greenland. It should be a fun show.

To “get you in the mood” here is a new Cheniers jam. It may or may not be called “Tea Spring,” this may or may not be the finished version, it may or may not appear on an upcoming 7”, it may or may not be about Gilbert Arenas, and it may or may not feature excessive use of photo theremin. Mysteries abound.

On Friday, the Cheniers play at Comet Ping Pong with local pals...

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:56:47 -0400

On Friday, the Cheniers play at Comet Ping Pong with local pals Greenland and a great band from Chicago called Tyler Jon Tyler. Listen to their song “Tick Tock Tick.” And read what Jonathan L. Fischer of the City Paper had to say about them:

Punk begets pop, that’s just evolution. Chicago’s Tyler Jon Tyler has the trappings of a garage-rock band (loud, dirty, stripped down), seems to play with a lot of bands of that ilk, and has a frontwoman who frequently wails like she’s in The Raincoats. But Rebecca Flores’ songs are a bit more refined, featuring massive hooks, smart-simple choruses (“Hey, hey, hey, hey-ee, hey, hey/Where have you gone, baby?”), and guitar riffs with more jangle than the C86 comp. The band, which also features Chi-town stalwarts Tom Cassling (Daily Void) on drums and Nathan Jerde (The Ponys) on bass, calls its sound “pop music for floozies,” which is probably just a cute way of saying they really like Dolly Mixture and the Aislers Set. But who doesn’t?

Because this is the sort of thing we do, Matt Lemay and I have...

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:29:00 -0400

Because this is the sort of thing we do, Matt Lemay and I have decided to rank our top 10 Destroyer songs. Without commentary, because we’ve been there before. Below are my picks. Here is where you can find Matt’s.

The Bad Arts (Streethawk: A Seduction, 2001)
Bay of Pigs (Bay of Pigs, 2009)
Beggars Might Ride (Streethawk: A Seduction, 2001)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Sea of Tears) (Streethawk: A Seduction, 2001)
Hey, Snow White (This Night, 2002)
Looters’ Follies (Destroyer’s Rubies, 2006)
New Ways of Living (Your Blues, 2004)
The State (Trouble in Dreams, 2008)
Suicide Demo For Kara Walker (Kaputt, 2011)
Your Blood (Destroyer’s Rubies, 2006)

(Photo by Josh Sisk)

“…it looks like I have a contender for new favorite...

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:11:00 -0400

“…it looks like I have a contender for new favorite band in the DMV.”

(Is it cool or lame that I know the image in the bottom right is...

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:52:00 -0400

(Is it cool or lame that I know the image in the bottom right is Beck on the cover of Rolling Stone from 1997?)

This will be a good one. I can give an enthusiastic co-sign to...

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:16:36 -0400

This will be a good one. I can give an enthusiastic co-sign to Last Year’s Men, who released an excellent debut LP on Churchkey Records.

Foul Swoops - “Not That Funny” Live last night at...

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:01:36 -0400

Foul Swoops - “Not That Funny”

Live last night at Velvet Lounge. Thanks to Nate for the video.

I think Jacky from Thee Lolitas summed up the show nicely:

“The best point of last night’s show was when devin took ten minutes to tune his guitar while facing his (rather large) ass at the audience with his underwear peeking, when he started playing the guitar was STILL OUT OF TUNE!

PUNK ROCK!”

All the info you need right there. See the buzz band of...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:53:27 -0400

All the info you need right there.

See the buzz band of tomorrow, tomorrow.

Broadcast - “Tender Buttons” (2005 Peel Session) I...

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:18:00 -0500

Broadcast - “Tender Buttons” (2005 Peel Session)

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a death blog…

Broadcast was truly one of the world’s great bands. Their November 2000 show at 9:30 Club remains an all-time favorite. They opened for Sea & Cake; we left after Broadcast’s set. How was anything going to follow that?

“Tender Buttons” ranked #7 on my best albums of the 2000s list. The scratchy buzz that was all over that album … it just burrowed into your brain, triggering weird electric impulses. And then Trish’s voice would just make everything OK.

This 2005 Peel Session the band did is one of my favorite things in the world.

RIP Trish.

“Dark Shadows” - Lost Sounds We all loved Jay...

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:56:00 -0500

“Dark Shadows” - Lost Sounds

We all loved Jay Reatard, of course. I went back and read a few of the things I wrote about him. In this one I suggested he change his stage name and record an acoustic album. Apparently he was going to do both! Here’s a 2008 interview I did with him at SXSW.

“Popular music is missing any sort of sense of spontaneity. It’s so contrived, it’s manufacturing a product. That’s why I’ve never recorded in a studio. I mean, how do you book creativity three months, four months ahead of time? How do you pre-pay for the moment you’re supposed to create something? Yeah, there’s no spontaneity to it, it’s boring”

Tyvek + Xray Eyeballs + Foul Swoops @ Comet, Monday 1/17

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:40:07 -0500

Beers. Pizza. Rock-and-roll.

Be there.

Heads up on a show The Cheniers will be playing in a few weeks....

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:20:37 -0500

Heads up on a show The Cheniers will be playing in a few weeks. I think it’s a benefit to buy discmen for underprivileged children, or something. Not too clear. Should be fun!