Husker Du thrashes San Francisco’s Mabuhay Gardens in 1981

In 1981, on a warm summer night when I was probably laying in my crib thinking about how I wanted to celebrate my 2nd birthday in a few weeks, Husker Du was just up the peninsula rocking the veritable old music venue in San Francisco’s North Beach at Mabuhay Gardens.

Nicknamed “Fab Mab,” the club hosted a number of important punk and new wave acts from 1976-1986, including the Dead Kennedys, The Avengers, Devo, Iggy Pop, Redd Kross, The Minutemen, Black Flag, The Ramones and Roky Erickson. This is a very early Husker Du show, when they were still relatively unknown. You can hear club promoter & booker Dirk Dirksen announcing the set: “Jello Biafra, while touring in the Northwest, ran across these people and asked me to book ‘em, so here they are, an addition to the program. Here’s . . . [sounds unsure of the pronunciation] Husker Du.”

And as the guy who made this available said, this is “one of the most intense live shows by ANY band you’ll ever find. I have no doubt in my mind that everyone who was there this night knew they were witnessing something very special. Any self-respecting punk fan needs to hear this one . . . Best played LOUD!” I agree.

HUSKER DU
July 24th or 25th, 1981
Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco
Introduction
All Tensed Up
Don’t Try To Call
I’m Not Interested
Sore Eyes
Wheels
Private Hell
Travel In The Opposite Car
Don’t Have A Life
Bricklayer
Tired Of Doing Things Your Way
Sexual Economics
Do You Remember?
Ultracore
Let’s Go Die
Data Control

ZIP: HÜSKER DÜ AT FAB MAB

The National :: “Without Permission” (from The Virginia EP, out today)

The new Vincent Moon-directed film that follows the making of The National‘s 2007 album Boxer is out today. A Skin, A Night offers the gorgeous treatment that this music deserves, making it feel even more special, all wrapped up in moonlight and grainy black and white. The film is being screened at select U.S. locations (and hmmm, should we do a Denver one?) and if you buy it, the DVD comes paired with an excellent collection of 12 rare/demo/unreleased tracks called The Virginia EP.

In addition to collaborations with like a song with Sufjan Stevens recorded at Benny’s Wash ‘N Dry in Brooklyn, some great UK b-sides including one called Santa Clara (which I like to pretend is about my alma mater), and that sublime Springsteen cover I posted in April, there are several home-recording demos and live tracks.

This cover is one of my immediate favorites on the EP — a mournful, quietly sad song written originally by a Bristol-born singer-songwriter named Caroline Martin. It starts with a fill of organ pipes like you just stopped into that little cathedral, and now are not quite sure what for. Maybe to say a prayer for someone, light a candle. Maybe just to sit in the silence.

Quickly the song blossoms within its traditional structure that caused me to wonder at first if this was a reinvention of an old doo-wop tune from a girl group. But there within the simplicity, The National wrenches out new layers of genuine loss and missing someone so much that all you can construct are lines that are three or four words long.

Without Permission (Caroline Martin cover) – The National

Oh
well I just don’t know
how you could go
without permission

‘Cause well,
if you’re not there
well i just don’t care
for this omission

Every moment brings me down
when you’re not around
but all i’m asking for
is come back for just one day

So
where did you go?
and do you now know
how to be happy?

‘Cause here
well it’s pretty clear
when you’re not near me
i am unhappy

Every moment brings me down
when you’re not around
but all i’m asking for
is come back for just one day

I’ll make it worth the while
just to see your smile
that’s all i’m asking for

Oh
I’ve come to know
you had to go
without permission

‘Cause it was how
how i wore you down
and how i dragged you ’round
my sore ambition

Every moment brings me down
when you’re not around
but all i’m asking for
is come back for just one day

I’ll make it worth the while
just to see your smile
that’s all i’m asking for
my dear

Originally featured on Caroline Martin‘s debut album I Had A Hundred More Reasons To Stay By The Fire (2005, Small Dog Records)

Order the A Skin, A Night DVD / Virginia EP here

A SKIN, A NIGHT TRAILER

[other Vincent Moon/National work]

Indiana wants me

I was up late last night after watching the Rockies sadly best the Giants at Coors Field in Denver (that bottom of the sixth was a bitch). So if I weren’t already working on a growing sleep deficit from this weekend, I’d be seriously considering going to the theaters at midnight tomorrow to see the new Indiana Jones (actually, I still might). I’ve been awaiting this new installment — I adore everything about those movies, and have even forgiven the Temple of Doom for scaring the bejesus out of me at a sleepover when I was 9 or 10. Ripping a guy’s beating heart out of his chest cavity may frighten children. Good to know.

Ever since the previews for the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull started airing, I’ve pretty much been walking around humming this when I need to feel especially victorious. If I had a personal theme song, this would kind of be in the running because then I’d feel awesome all the time.

CONTEST: The soundtrack for the movie is released today, featuring an original score composed by Academy Award winner John Williams. Fuel/Friends has one copy to give away if movie soundtracks are your thing, or if you just have a crush on Harrison Ford. Leave me a comment about some element of one of the Indiana Jones movies that you wanna write a comment about — a quote, a moment, the time when that dude literally melts and turns into dust because of God’s wrath, etc. etc. You choose.

And since I have no mp3 from the soundtrack, this song works very very well. A girl can dream.

Indiana Wants Me – R. Dean Taylor

PS – I so just added him as a friend on MySpace

New Monolith acts announced and a new contest :: Win a weekend pass to the festival!

News this fine Monday morning from the craggy hills of Red Rocks — the 2008 Monolith Festival just added twenty-two hot new acts to an already airtight lineup.

New Monolith additions include:
Atmosphere, Hercules and Love Affair, Foals, Does it Offend You, Yeah? Port O’Brien, Pomegranates, Colour Revolt, KaiserCartel, Candy Coated Killahz, Jukebox the Ghost, American Bang, The Chain Gang of 1974, Joshua Novak, Erin Ivey, The Wheel, Paperbird, Noah Harris, Lynsey Smith, Scratch Track, David Moore, LoveLikeFire, and Dave Beegle.

Add these to the complete listing that will now be rockin the ‘Rado on September 13th and 14th.

Now each of us Hot Freaks partner blogs is getting a chance to give away some passes to the festival, in addition to our work in helping curate the lineup! So I’ve got a new contest that starts today and runs for ONE WEEK (til May 26).

Two lucky Fuel/Friends readers will each win a weekend pass for the Monolith 2008 Festival (a $110 value)! To enter, you must do a little clickety-click research and find out what the original purchase price of the Red Rocks land cost the city of Denver back in 1927.

EMAIL ME your answer with a subject line of “Hey Heather, I Wanna Buy You A Beer At Monolith” (or something to that effect, that’d be grand). Don’t leave it in the comments, please, or you’ll wreck the whole illustrious trivia vision.

I’ll pick two readers randomly from all the correct answers received. For those that won’t get the passes (but you’re all winners in my book), tickets are onsale now.

One band added to the lineup today is Sub Pop-signed Oxford art school dropouts the Foals, who we’ve mentioned before because they get us movin. One of the Monolith organizers DJ Hot To Death (I call him Fecher) worked up a special remix of the Foals song “Electric Bloom” in honor of the occasion today. The world premiere:

Electric Bloom (Hot To Death remix) – The Foals

The Hold Steady almost killed me

The Hold Steady have their newest album all wrapped up. Stay Positive is due out on July 15th on Vagrant, and the first single “Sequestered in Memphis” is out this Tuesday on iTunes. To help ease the sting of waiting for their follow-up to the absolutely brilliant Boys and Girls In America (2006), I’ve gone down a few rabbit trails and come up with the following live versions of new Hold Steady songs for you to wrap your ears around:

NEW HOLD STEADY: SONGS FROM “STAY POSITIVE”
Stay Positive
(live at Emo’s 2008)
Constructive Summer
(live at Emo’s 2008)
Lord I’m Discouraged
(live at Toad’s Place, 2007)
Magazines
(live at the Metro, 2007)
Joke About Jamaica
(live at the Metro, 2007)

ZIP: NEW HOLD STEADY SONGS

Also for your reading pleasure, UNCUT Magazine blog posted a very positive early review of the overall feel (with some strong lyrical excerpts), while The Music Magazine UK also published a track-by-track review.

I’m excited as all get out about the summer tour which was announced Thursday. Presales are on this weekend, with several ending Monday night. The Hold Steady still put on one of the most ebullient live shows I’ve seen. Go buy your tickets now.

HOLD STEADY SUMMER TOUR
07.17 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
07.18 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom
07.19 – Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Festival
07.21 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
07.22 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
07.23 – Fargo, ND – Fargo Theatre
07.26 – Seattle, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party
07.27 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
07.29 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine
07.30 – Los Angeles, CA – Avalon
08.02 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
08.03 – El Paso, TX – Club 101
08.05 – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
08.06 – Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
08.08 – Oxford, MS – Proud Larry’s
08.09 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt
08.10 – Charleston, SC – The Pourhouse
08.12 – Carrborro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
08.13 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva

[t-shirts here]

“Alkaline, clementine, valentine, columbine . . . (the flower not the high school massacre)”

I missed this first time around a few months ago but thanks to Ashley for pointing it out again.

So what does make the perfect song? Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have some ideas on the matter. And in my opinion, the real triumph here is that they filmed this whole bit without laughing:

THE PERFECT SONG (originally posted on ThunderAnt.com)

Nice Corin Tucker cameo at the end.

Superdrag is both filthy and afraid

Back in the studio since February, Knoxville’s Superdrag has loosened another new song upon the music world, this time over on the Gibson guitars site. Although a release date for the new album has not yet been set, Superdrag is playing a few West Coast dates in the coming weeks, then Bonnaroo this summer and, of course, Monolith.

According to frontman John Davis, the new material keeps it tight with the sound Superdrag fans love, described as “an amalgam of Dinosaur Jr.-inspired guitar noise, Hüsker Dü-style energy, and melodies that aspire toward the pop sophistication of the Beatles.” Davis also talks about how good it is to get to experiment again with the interlocking guitar parts that they pride themselves on, and to be making new music together — “to step right back into that, after all this time.”

As for me, the addictive melody here is stuck firmly in my cortex (or wherever really good songs loop on repeat and make you hum them for the last 24 hours). The rough edged Teenage-Fanclubesque vocals on this cut make me feel happy, and not at all filthy, nor afraid.

Filthy & Afraid – Superdrag

Read the full article here, and then if you’re feeling inspired, you can also go back and check out the Fuel/Friends interview with John Davis (Oct 2007).

Catch Superdrag on Saturday afternoon at Monolith, come September.

[thanks Lauren!]

Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump

The cool little Strut Records imprint will be releasing the new Grandmaster Flash album later this year, and in addition to a fine roster that already boasts things like Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics (so all over that!) and Funky Nassau, they have a new collection that I am absolutely loving.

Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is a compilation of “original heavyweight afrobeat highlife and afro-funk” music that I’m finding to be just the cure for ears tired of the same old same old. Quick wiki-history lesson: Following the freedom of independence from the UK in 1960, and the bloody wars and ethnic clashes that the late ’60s brought to Nigeria, the ’70s were a time of relative oil-fueled prosperity, and a time where musical expression and experimentation could grow.

During this decade Nigerian musicians melded the outside influences of European and American big band, jazz, and rock that they heard crackling over their radios with their own traditional beats, instrumentation, language, and spirit. On this compilation, leading Afro archivist Duncan Brooker worked with Strut Records founder Quinton Scott to introduce a wider audience to the eclectic, funky, bold sounds of this era.

The previous 3-CD collection of Nigerian music that Strut Records put out in 2001 (Nigeria 70) is now out of print, and sells for close to $100. So, yeah. You might think about gettin’ while the gettin’s good. The opening track:

Yabis – Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars

PREORDER — Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is out on May 27.

SOMETHING about you makes me want IHOP today

Yeah, you’re gonna need to click refresh quite a few times.

[via]

New Ryan Adams :: “A Song In The News”

A song in the news indeed — a music magazine to be exact. Take a listen to a snippet of the new Ryan Adams song that he contributed to the Esopus Magazine Spring 2008 sampler CD. My first thought was “wow he is trying to stick a lot of words in here,” followed by an immediate, “meh.” After that came some vague frustration directed towards a possible lack of trying. But I could just be having a bad day. Your thoughts?