W♥M

Wye Oak at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (15 May 2014)

Setlist Before The Tower Shriek Holy Holy Plains Glory Sick Talk Spiral Schools of Eyes Despicable Animal Take It In For Prayer That I Do Hot As Day I Know the Law Logic Of Color -- Encore -- Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush) Civilian Tour Dates 05.16 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room 05.17 - Lawrence, KS - The Granada 05.18 - St, Louis, MO - Old Rock House 05.20 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge 05.21 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West Read More Wye Oak Wye Oak will be returning in 2014 with a brand new yet-untitled album from Merge Records, the follow-up to their 2011's Civilian. Singer Jenn Wasner talked to Spin Magazine about the new album… Braids Los Angeles' Islands is releasing Ski Mask this September 17th on Manqué Music. In addition to the new record, the band also announced a string of headlining tour dates in North America this fall. …

Wye Oak is currently on tour in support of their latest album Shriek, which came out earlier this month via Merge Records. The duo stopped by the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis last night, May 15th.

Opening up for the band was Montreal-based Braids (not to be confused with Braid). I've previously written about both bands, with Braids as "not" Velocity Girl.

Braids

Braids unveiled their brand new PA system for their show at the Fine Line Music Café, their first time playing a different venue other than the 7th Street Entry. After playing the first song, singer Raphelle Standell-Preston asked for the venue to quickly turn off the smoke machine because it was causing her to have an asthma attack. Near the end of their set, Braids decided to play a brand new song, written and inspired by their time they spent in the Arizona desert.

Braids ended their set with "In Kind," from their latest album Flourish//Perish, out now on Arbutus Records.

Wye Oak

Wye Oak (Andy Stack on drums and guitarist/singer Jenn Wasner) warned us that they were going to play their new record Shriek live, kicking off with "Before." As promised, all the songs from Shriek, with the exception of "Paradise," were played. Making up the rest of their set were some fan favorites from their previous album Civilian.

"We've been playing this song every night, hoping it'll be Summer," Wasner said before they played "Hot As Day", adding that she "didn't bring a coat on this tour," much to her regret that Minneapolis' weather was still quite chilly for May.

Wasner would later thanked the audience for showing up to support the duo. "Performing is difficult, and there were times when I thought it might not happen again. We don't take any of this for granted. The fact that you are here, it really means that much to us." She then tells us like it is, that they were going to play two more songs before they leave the stage and then come back for the encore.

Speaking of which, the encore songs were the highlight of their set. They came back and covered Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" followed by the title track from Civilian.

Wye Oak at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (15 May 2014)

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

This Week: Wye Oak, Potty Mouth, and Haim

Shriek Merge Records Read More Wye Oak Wye Oak will be returning in 2014 with a brand new yet-untitled album from Merge Records, the follow-up to their 2011's Civilian. Singer Jenn Wasner talked to Spin Magazine about the new album…

Sure, we've already written the weekly Minneapolis Music Guide: May 11 - May 17, 2014, but here is a bonus round.

WYE OAK
wyeoakmusic.com

Do you remember when I said that Wye Oak had a new yet-untitled album coming out in 2014? Well, it happened. The album is called Shriek and it came out April 29, 2014, on Merge Records.

The duo (Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack) is currently out on tour in support of the new record. They stop by Minneapolis at the Fine Line Music Café on Thursday, May 15.

Remaining tour dates:

05/13 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
05/14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
05/15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
05/16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
05/17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
05/18 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
05/20 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
05/21 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West

Hell Bent Old Flame Records Read More Vivian Girls I got this sad announcement today. Vivian Girls have official split with the announcement of farewell shows in NY & LA. This actually didn't surprise me, as the girls in the band…

POTTY MOUTH
facebook.com/pottymouthgirls

All the critics agreed that Northampton-based quartet Potty Mouth are "band to watch" or "songs we can't stop playing". If you love Vivian Girls and saddened that they broke up last year... I think you'll be happy with Potty Mouth. The all-girls band (Victoria, Ali, Ally, and Abby) are currently on the road in support of their 2013 album Hell Bent.

Potty Mouth will be at Turf Club in St. Paul on May 17 with Fleabite.

Tour dates:

05/12/14 Toronto, ON The Silver Dollar Room
05/13/14 Cleveland, OH The Happy Dog
05/14/14 Cincinnati, OH Motr Pub
05/15/14 Chicago, IL The Burlington
05/17/14 Saint Paul, MN Turf Club
05/18/14 Kansas City, MO Czar Bar
05/19/14 Denver, CO Hi-Dive
05/20/14 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
05/21/14 Boise, ID The Crux
05/22/14 Seattle, WA The Black Lodge
05/23/14 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret
05/24/14 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
05/26/14 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop
05/27/14 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst
05/29/14 Los Angeles, CA Echo
05/30/14 La Jolla, CA Che Cafe Collective
05/31/14 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole
06/01/14 Phoenix, AZ The Rhythm Room
06/02/14 Las Cruces, NM Trainyard
06/04/14 Austin, TX Red 7
06/05/14 Dallas, TX Three Links Event Center
06/06/14 New Orleans, LA Gasa Gasa
06/07/14 Birmingham, AL BottleTree
06/08/14 Gainesville, FL The Atlantic
06/09/14 Orlando, FL Will's Pub
06/10/14 Atlanta, GA WonderRoot
06/11/14 Durham, NC The Pinhook
06/12/14 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
06/13/14 Philadelphia, PA Boot & Saddle
06/14/14 Brooklyn, NY Silent Barn

Haim Sold Out US Tour Poster Read More Haim The numbers are in, and as expected, the Haim sisters (Este, Danielle, and Alana) received the #1 spot in the U.K., and an impressive #6 on the Billboard album charts in the U.S., for their debut album Days Are Gone……

HAIM
haimtheband.com

Say what you will, but it's hard to ignore all the buzz that is the sisters Haim. The American rock band is currently enjoying a sold out US tour for their album Days Are Gone (out now on Polydor/Columbia), stopping by Minneapolis' First Avenue on Monday, May 19th.

Tour dates:

05/13/14 Boston, MA House Of Blues Boston
05/14/14 Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
05/15/14 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
05/17/14 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
05/19/14 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
05/21/14 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
05/22/14 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
05/24/14 Vancouver, BC Malkin Bowl
05/25/14 Sasquatch! Music Festival
05/30/14 Primavera Sound
06/03/14 Mallorca Rocks Festival
06/04/14 Ibiza Rocks Festival
06/05/14 Optimus Primavera Sound
06/07/14 Pinkpop Festival
06/08/14 Rock am Ring
06/09/14 Rock Im Park
06/26/14 Bravalla Festival
06/29/14 Rock-A-Field Festival
07/02/14 Open'er Festival
07/04/14 Roskilde Festival
07/05/14 Rock Werchter Festival
07/11/14 T In The Park
07/12/14 Musilac Festival
07/13/14 Ilosaarirock
07/17/14 Slottsfjell Festival
07/19/14 Longitude
08/09/14 Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival
08/17/14 Musicfest NW

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Merge at 25

Merge 25k Road Race Read More Merge Records Future Bible Heroes is currently on tour in support of Partygoing, out now on our favorite Merge Records. Check out their song, "Living, Loving, Partygoing" .…

MERGE RECORDS
mergerecords.com

We like Merge Records. The North Carolina independent record label is celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2014, by re-issuing classic albums from their back catalog every month in 2014. Some of these re-issues are long out of print and they'll usually throw in bonus material with the new releases. (Although they confessed Merge employees just want to own them on vinyl).

Lambchop: Nixon (reissue)

Their first re-issue will be Lambchop's Nixon. Nixon will contain the original album, plus a bonus disc of White Sessions 1998: How I Met Cat Power (a remastered live solo session singer Kurt Wagner recorded at Radio France in 1998). Vinyl fan will want to grab the 180-gram vinyl, which comes with the CD of bonus material.

Also, according to Merge 25, there will be a unique road race that stretches 25km (15.5 miles), holding on Saturday, March 22, 2014, at Chapel Hill, NC. This is a point-to-point race of its kind, benefiting the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and Habitat for Humanity of Durham and Orange County while also marking Merge Records' 25 years. If you live in the area, or are willing to travel, please register now at SportOften.com.

Below are just some of the artists signed to Merge Records:

Photo credit: Facebook Read More Mary Timony Around 1999, Helium broke up. I'll have to admit, I didn't follow Helium's singer, Mary Timony's solo work, but I did manage to catch her on the last tour for Ex Hex at the 7th Street Entry .…

EX HEX
exhexband.com

As I have previously written, I first discovered Mary Timony's band Helium on MTV's 120 Minutes for "XXX". I loved it, the singing, the subject matter, the dark sexual lyrics...

Mary Timony at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (05/25/05)

I eventually did catch Mary Timony when she played solo in at 7th Street Entry on May 25th, 2005. It's been a very long time, but if I recall, she did come back to Minneapolis at the Varsity Theater in 2007, but that's the last time I heard she was touring (I could be wrong, of course).

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to report that Mary Timony is back, with Betsy Wright and Laura Harris, in their new band is called Ex Hex. Timony fans will note that the band's name is actually taken from one of Timony's album of the same name.

Ex Hex, from Washington DC, is currently signed to Merge Records. Look for their debut album (and a tour around that SXSW Festival in March) in 2014.

Photo by Natasha Tylea Read More Wye Oak If you like Wye Oak as much as we do, you may want to head over to The Pour House Music Hall on Friday, September 7th from noon to 5pm at the Brooklyn Vegan & Figure Eight Management showcase. .…

WYE OAK
wyeoakmusic.com

Wye Oak will be returning in 2014 with a brand new yet-untitled album from Merge Records, the follow-up to their 2011's Civilian.

Singer Jenn Wasner talked to Spin Magazine about the new album, saying "There's not a lick of guitar on this whole record. It basically inverts what we were responsible for. Andy [Stack] was playing droney bass lines on keyboard. Now he's responsible for the more upper register stuff that guitar would normally handle, while I'm playing bass lines on a bass guitar. The idea was really appealing to me because we had sort of hit a wall, just with the complete and total excess of touring that we had done, the use and overuse of that format. It tainted the guitar for me and I was finding it really, really hard to get anything out of it from a writing perspective. I wasn't excited about it — too much baggage. It just felt tired to me."

As a warm-up, Jenn & Andy will be doing a co-headlining tour with Future Islands, on their way to Austin, Texas, for SXSW 2014.

Mar 03 Charlottesville, VA — The Southern
Mar 04 Asheville, NC — Orange Peel
Mar 05 Saxapahaw, NC — Haw River Ballroom
Mar 07 Chattanooga, TN — JJ's Bohemia
Mar 08 Oxford, MS — Proud Larry's
Mar 09 Baton Rouge, LA — Spanish Moon

*all shows with Future Islands

Read More Hospitality Brooklyn's Hospitality came to the 400 Bar in Minneapolis, last night, in support of their debut self-titled album. .…

HOSPITALITY
hospitalitylives.com

I saw Hospitality at the now-defunct 400 Bar last year, and I noted that they played "almost every song from their [debut] album". They're back on tour, but this time they'll have additional songs from their new album Trouble, that they can add to their setlist. Unlike their fun/happier debut album, Trouble is said to have a darker sound overall. The new album is coming out January 28th on Merge Records.

Hospitality will be out on tour:

Jan 31 New York, NY — Ecstatic Music Festival
Feb 01 Washington, DC — Rock & Roll Hotel
Feb 04 Chicago, IL — Schubas
Feb 05 Minneapolis, MN — 7th Street Entry
Feb 08 Seattle, WA — Barboza
Feb 09 Portland, OR — Doug Fir Lounge
Feb 11 San Francisco, CA — Rickshaw Stop
Feb 13 Los Angeles, CA — The Echo
Feb 14 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar
Feb 15 Phoenix, AZ — Pub Rock w/ Augustines
Feb 17 Austin, TX — Red 7
Feb 18 Dallas, TX — City Tavern
Feb 21 Atlanta, GA — 529
Feb 22 Carrboro, NC — Cat's Cradle (Back Room)
Feb 23 Charlottesville, VA — The Southern
Mar 01 New York, NY — Music Hall of Williamsburg

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Hopscotch Spotlight: Deerhoof, plus Altos and White Life

The third annual Hopscotch Music Festival is taking place September 6-8, 2012, in North Carolina. Event tickets and information are available on hopscotchmusicfest.com.

Going this year? Perhaps you'd want to check out some of these Hopscotch shows:

Read More Hopscotch Music Festival The Independent Weekly is bringing its third annual Hopscotch Music Festival to North Carolina …

DEERHOOF
deerhoof.net

I saw Young Magic at the 400 Bar, Liars at First Avenue, and will be checking out Deerhoof (with Buke & Gase and Mirel Wagner) at Mill City Nights on 9/23. All three are deserving headliners, so having them all under one roof at Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh on 9/6, with one ticket price, is a deal.

Since I've previously already written about Liars and Young Magic, I'll just touch a little on Deerhoof.

Yes, this is another one of those popular animal-named bands. With their latest album, Breakup Song, to be released September 4th via Polyvinyl Records, their drummer Greg talked about their latest album:

We've been called a lot of things, as you know. But pop has always marked the spot on the Deerhoof treasure map.

Pop = catchy
Pop = new
Pop = no rules

If you want to come dance or sing karaoke with Deerhoof, you don't have to ask twice.

We've just finished this sensational slice of Cuban-flavored party-noise-energy music. We called it Breakup Song. Just don't expect a bunch of Grammy®-baiting sob stories, OK? In Deerhoof's thesaurus, freedom's just another word for feeling good again and raising hell and getting away with it. Stick with us and the bad guys with guns will never catch up...

Young Magic, Deerhoof, and Liars are playing at the Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh on Thursday, September 6th.

If you want to see more Deerhoof, here is their tour schedule:

09-05 Washington, DC The Black Cat * 09-06 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Festival & 09-17 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall Of Williamsburg $^ 09-18 Cambridge, MA The Middle East $^ 09-19 Montreal, QC Pop Montreal$^ 09-21 Lexington, KY Boomslang Festival$ 09-22 Chicago, IL Scuba's Tavern (early)^ 09-22 Chicago, IL Schuba's Tavern (10PM)$ 09-23 Minneapolis, MN The Brick $^ 09-24 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room $+ 09-25 Denver, CO The Hi Dive $+ 09-27 Garden City, ID Visual Arts Collective $+Ï€ 09-28 Seattle, WA The Vera Project $+ 09-29 Portland, OR Branx $+ 09-30 Arcata, CA The Depot $+ 10-01 San Francisco, CA Slim's $+

10-02 Los Angeles, CA The Echoplex $+ 11-03 Dallas, TX Prophet Bar =%? 11-04 Austin, TX Fun Fun Fun Fest 11-05 Houston, TX Walter's =? 11-06 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon =~? 11-07 Mobile, AL Alabama Music Box =? 11-08 Tallahassee, FL Club Downunder =? 11-09 Orlando, FL Accidental Music Festival 11-10 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club =? 11-12 Richmond, VA The National =? 11-13 Baltimore, MD Ottobar =*? * w/Dope Body | & w/Liars and Airstrip | $ w/Buke And Gase | ^ w/Mirel Wagner | + w/Raleigh Moncrief | = w/Liam Finn | ? w/Formica Man | % w/Skating Polly | ~ w/Twin Killers | π w/Luke Wyland (of AU)

Be sure to check out some of these other Hopscotch shows:

ALTOS groupofthealtos.com Milwaukee's Altos announced a brief September tour with Death Blues (a multidisciplinary project by percussionist and composer Jon Mueller.) Their final stop will be at a Hopscotch show at Lincoln Theatre, alongside Death Blues, Screaming Females and Baroness. The only burning question I have is how they're going to fit all twelve band members* on stage? Good luck! Altos Tour Dates: 09/02 RCNCAVE Akron, OH 09/03 Soundlab Buffalo, NY 09/04 Glasslands Gallery Brooklyn, NY 09/05 Studio 34 Philadelphia, PA 09/06 Hopscotch Music Festival Current roster: Thomas Duffey, Brendan Benham, Amelinda Burich, Shawn Stephany, Erin Wolf, Daniel Spack, Todd Ringe, Adam Krause, Marielle Allschwang, Nathaniel Heuer, Heather Hass and Ken Palme

WHITE LIFE ehserecords.com In case you missed the Hopscotch Day Party announcements, check out some great bands for FREE. If you like Wye Oak as much as we do, you may want to head over to The Pour House Music Hall on Friday, September 7th from noon to 5pm at the Brooklyn Vegan & Figure Eight Management showcase. The showcase features Flock of Dimes, which is 'singing waitress' Jenn Wasner's other band. She may, or may not, also be singing with Baltimore's White Life, as she has done so on past shows. Wasner and White Life's main songwriter, Jon Ehrens, are also involved in a new project called Dungeoness. Look for more information later on this year. In the meantime, if you're lucky enough to see this year's Hopscotch, be sure to check out White Life and find out why the Baltimore City Paper voted them Best New Band of 2011.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Wye Oak, Callers, and Zoo Animal at Turf Club, St Paul (04/05/11)

Tour Dates 04/12/11 Middle East - Cambridge, MA* 04/13/11 Machines Magnets - Pawtucket, RI 04/14/11 Bowery Ballroom - New York* 04/15/11 Johnny Brenda's - Phila, PA* * with Wye Oak Free Download Download Callers' "Life of Love" via their record label, Western Vinyl (direct link) Read More Wye Oak Why, Wye Oak, is that an ironic imbalance of instrumentation in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Spirits were high at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis, Wednesday evening, as Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner...

Wye Oak, with Callers and Zoo Animal played a late show in Saint Paul on April 5^th to a pretty packed Turf Club venue.

We've previously covered both Zoo Animal and Wye Oak before, so I won't spend too much talking about them.

The thing to note about Zoo Animal is that I think Holly Newsom has a pretty interesting way of singing. It reminds me of Thao Nguyen, the way words fade in and out. A Big Takeover writer once told me that she thought Newsom is so handsome, but she doesn't exploit it at all, which I'll agree with.

WYE OAK

Of course, I've seen Wye Oak a few times now and it's funny to see their growth throughout the years. They mentioned that this was their seventh time playing in Minneapolis/St Paul.

I used to think they were really shy, but seeing Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack on Tuesday, they seem a lot more comfortable on stage. Also new, this time around, they had help from a Callers' horn player. I thought that was cool.

The highlight of their show is their cover of Danzig's "Mother". The story that Wasner told was that this song was fairly new and they specifically asked people in the audience to not put it on the internet - and then they found out that it's on youtube already. She seemed really crossed about the whole thing. Hearing the song live, I can mentally see Glenn Danzig's disapproval: it's just too sissy.

I mentioned how packed The Turf Club got, and surprisingly a ton of people got up close to the stage when Callers came on. This is a good indication that a lot of people were here for this opening band.

The band's sound is hard to explain, it's what you would think of jazz vocals (very smooth style by singer Sara Lucas) with art-rock math music, provided by Don Godwin and Ryan Seaton. The whole thing sounds very New York.

As you can see from their setlist, they had a little trouble deciding on which songs belong where. The titles are also codes for other songs, for instance, "LOL" is meant for their title track of their latest album, Life of Love, and "WIRE" seems obvious for their Wire cover song, "Heartbeat". It also looks like they did mostly new songs, with the exception of the intro song, "Fortune" from their Fortune album.

I did end up picking up their latest album on vinyl, mostly because I wanted to support the band and, also, I was rather impressed by the die-cut custom sleeve (you can see a picture of this cover at Western Vinyl). You often see gimmick color vinyls, but die-cut covers are still pretty rare.

CALLERS

vu () ♥ myspace.com/callers

Free in July: buffalos roaming in the reflection city.

It's warm and sunny, and like everyone else, we're out and about, so it's perfect that there's always something happening in the Summertime in Minneapolis.

For the month of July, the Cedar Cultural Center is having a series of free shows. They're staged outside in the patio, so with the noise ordinance, their free shows usually ends pretty early (which is actually not that uncommon for the NPR-ish venue).

I got a chance to catch the end of local band, Buffalo Moon (myspace) on July 15th. They had a girl singer (Karen Freire), who sounded a bit like shoegazing, but apparently was supposed to be bossa nova with synths.

And what are the chance that there was another local Buffalo band called Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo (myspace) was playing across the street that night at the Nomad World Pub?

You all know my theory about bands with repeating names, but simply put: it's catchy and easy to remember. That's why bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Tapes N Tapes and Duran Duran are so popular. I suspect Buffalo³ will do well with their name, even though there are a few other bands in the States that are also called Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo.

♥ Reflection City

But going back to free and July ... all Thursdays for the month at the Nomad Pub will feature Reflection City (myspace). They seem like a pretty retro rock band, and singer Erik seemingly over sensitive to the bass feedback from the oblivious bass player... but they all seem to have a good time anyway.

Wye Oak - Warning

Their next appearance are with Option 2 with Out of Bounds (7/22) and Prozac Rat with Kill Me Kare Bear with Trees In Training (7/29). By the way, The funny story I have about Reflection is that I sort of know the drummer Mat, who apparently was at the Wye Oak show last year.

As for the free shows for the Cedar, they include The Brass Kings with Purgatory Hill (West Bank Deep Blues Festival 7/22), Charlie Parr with Joe & Vicki Price (West Bank Deep Blues Festival 7/23), and Portland Cello Project (7/29). I'm mostly excited for PCP, and can't wait to hear them do Pantera again.

Finally, speaking of free, I will be making my way out again to Barbette Cafe's  Bastille Day Block Party (7/18 - Tomorrow!)

Red Pens - Hung Out

Red Pens

Stage Line Up:
2:00 Romantica
2:55 The Magnolias
3:45 Black Bondie
4:35 Chooglin
5:25 Eyedea & Abilities
6:25 Red Pens
7:15 Mayda
8:15 Brass Messengers

Street entertainment by Infiammati Fire Circus, North Star Roller Girls, Spot Spa Hula Hoop Contest, Familia Skateshop, and Anthem Heart.

I don't know if I'll be there for the whole day, but definitely for Red Pens (myspace) and Eyedea & Abilities (myspace), so say hi if you see me.

 07/17/2010 10:48:32 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥podcast.weheartmusic.com 

Wye Oak and Pomegranates at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (4/19/09)

Wye Oak - Warning Wye Oak Tour Dates 04/20/09 Public Space One Iowa City, IA 04/21/09 Waiting Room Omaha, NE 04/22/09 The Lions Lair Denver, CO 04/23/09 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT 04/24/09 Neurolux Boise, Idaho 04/25/09 Red Room Kennewick, WA 04/26/09 Sunset Tavern Seattle 04/27/09 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR 04/29/09 Rickshaw Stop SF, CA 04/30/09 Silverlake Lounge LA, CA 05/01/09 Stinkweed Records Phoenix, AZ 05/04/09 Opolis Norman, Oklahoma 05/06/09 Mohawk Austin, Texas 05/09/09 Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, GA 05/10/09 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC 05/11/09 The Black Cat Washington 05/12/09 Kung Fu Necktie Phila, PA 05/13/09 Mercury Lounge NY 05/14/09 TT The Bears Cambridge, MA 05/15/09 Cafe Nine New Haven, CT 05/16/09 Metro Gallery Baltimore, MD 06/15/09 Southgate House Newport, KY

Jenn Wasner, singer from Wye Oak* (official/myspace) joked that their touring teamup of Wye Oak and Pomegranates should be called "The full spectrum of human emotions tour" because while Wye Oak brought the "sadness", Pome brought the "happiness".

Opening up for both band was Minneapolis' Bill Caperton (myspace), who, when not playing solo, is part of the band Ela (myspace). He played a pretty long set, surprisingly since it was a Sunday evening and there were two other bands on the bill. I think he might have realized this just ended after one song when he announced that he had two more... saying "I think I'll just leave it at that."

Pomegrantes at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (04/19/09) ♥ photo by vu

Pomegranates (myspace) took the stage and introduced themselves as "Jesus Christ and the Fire Eating Five!" as they set in their energetic music set.

The band name shenanigan continues on as Isaac Karns introduced them again as "Three Ninjas Plus One", and would continued with "as Joey said, we're called the E-Flat Band!". Apparently the last name never fail to get a laugh.

Pomegranates - Late Night Television

My personal favorite from their set list is "Late Night Television" from their debut album, Everything Is Alive (2008). Anyway, for some reason, the aggressive music doesn't seem to go with the depressing lines: "I want to know where you've been at night. I've been lying awake, I left on the lights. ", but it worked (and it rocked).

I think the highlight of the show was for their last song, they asked Brody to come on stage for their finale song "Southern Ocean" (see video below).

Wye Oak at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (04/19/09) ♥ photo by vu

So embarrassingly enough, I actually have listened (and own) Wye Oak's first album, If Children, I only realized this after I picked up their album again.  Anyway, that would explain why they sounded so familiar to me.

They sounded really good live, with this constant guitar fuzz, and melodic girlie vocals of 'singing waitress' Jenn Wasner. But let's not forget with Andy Stack's contribution with his right arm on the drums, while his left on keyboard thing, while his mouth on blow-y thing.

Wasner said they have a new recorded already recorded, and that it was coming out on July 21^st. A quick check reveals the album is called The Knot. At the moment, you can get If Children via their record label, Merge Records.

As for Pome, you can get their records at Lujo Records - check out the free MP3 downloads!

So, definitely go see the rest of the "the full spectrum of human emotions" tour in a city near you.

Pomegranates - Southern Gate

* Incidentally, the band's name comes from their homestate Maryland's honorary tree of the same name.

 04/20/2009 11:07:06 ♥ vu () ♥ myspace.com/everybodyoutside ♥ wyeoakmusic.com/myspace