Nu Rave Brain Wave

Don’t you love their look, especially in the picture to the right? I know I do. And if I was in England or Germany (not Spain) I would definitely check these guys out. Their American hype has died down a teeeny-tinsy bit, I think, since they stopped playing in LA every other day, but I’m still all about them.

Dates:
May 18 2009 8:00P
Academy w/ Titus Andronicus Oxford, UK
May 19 2009 8:00P
Academy w/ Titus Andronicus Birmingham, UK
May 20 2009 8:00P
100 Club w/ Titus Andronicus London, UK
May 21 2009 8:00P
Sound City w/ Titus Andronicus Liverpool, UK
May 23 2009 8:00P
Dot To Dot Festival – The Fleece Bristol, UK
May 24 2009 8:00P
Dot To Dot Festival – Trent Festival Nottingham, UK
May 25 2009 8:00P
Deaf Institute w/ Titus Andronicus Manchester, UK
May 26 2009 8:00P
King Tuts w/ Titus Andronicus Glasgow, UK
May 28 2009 8:00P
Cockpit w/ Titus Andronicus Leeds, UK
May 29 2009 8:00P
Club Privat Berlin, Germany
May 30 2009 8:00P
Primavera Sound Festival Barcelona, Spain

You may have noticed that my all-consuming coverage of the Muslims has kind of dried up. That’s due to the fact that they’ve been parading around Europe with the likes of Black Lips and Fronz Fordinond. They’re going back over there (meaning EU/UK) to play some more shows if I’m not mistaken, which is absolutely wonderful but I miss the days that they played the Echo 50 billion times a month. They did, in fact, sneak in an LA date this past Friday but a) it was at the Smell which = NO and b) it was opening for Mika Mika which also = NO and I had some work to do so I wasn’t able to see them. However, I was pleased to find Daytrotter finally posted their Daytrotter Session that they recorded at this year’s SXSW.

The Muslims played:
Extinction
Bright Side
Parasites
Faith Man

Go HERE to listen and download all the Daytrotter session tracks.

Ps. Daytrotter continue their dominance as greatest/funniest session artwork. Yes?

That’s right! They changed their name from the Muslims to the effectively lame Soft Pack and went over to the UK to take over (and I have no doubt they will) but what kind of fuckery is this? First they made an album and put it out as a 12″ (yeah, I have it) riddled with bullet holes. Then they got a little bit of press and they put it out as a CD. Now, they are like BUZZBAND and its coming out as a digital EP. Awesome. They forget that people like me are out here watching, laughing and blogging about it.

From NME (always)
The Soft Pack have announced that they will release a 10-track digital EP next week.

The Los Angeles-based band, which recently changed their name from The Muslims to The Soft Pack, are set to release ‘The Muslims EP’ on March 10 via several digital outlets.

Tracks include ‘Right And Wrong’, ‘Nightlife’ and ‘Bright Side’.

Meanwhile, the band are set to join White Lies and Friendly Fires this spring for an NME Presents North American tour, and will make several appearances at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival later this month.

The EP tracklisting is:

‘Right And Wrong’
‘Beside Myself’
‘Call It A Day’
‘Extinction’
‘Nightlife’
‘Future Rock’
‘On My Time’
‘Religion’
‘American’
‘Bright Side’

I honestly don’t know how that happened because …. they played a “residency” at the Echo last couple of weeks for $8 bucks and it wasn’t filled at all but ROLL ON muslims, roll on. Here’s all their coming up dates (oh and GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL isn’t listed but they are playing that)

Glasgow Barrowlands (March 4, 5) (with Franz Ferdinand)
Manchester Academy (6) (with Franz Ferdinand)
Birmingham Academy (8) (with Franz Ferdinand)
London Hammersmith Apollo (9) (with Franz Ferdinand)
Southampton Guildhall (10) (with Franz Ferdinand)
Austin Texas Gigotron SXSW Day Party at Club 1808 (19)
Austin Texas Green Label Sound Event at Opal Divine’s (19)
Austin Texas Official SXSW Showcase at Mohawk (20)
Austin Texas Press Here Party at French Legation (21)
Austin Texas Don’t Mess With Texas Party at Waterloo Park (21)
Minehead ATP (May 17)
Oxford Academy (18)
Birmingham Academy (19)
London 100 Club (20)
Manchester The Deaf Institute (25)
Glasgow King Tuts (26)
Leeds The Cockpit (28)
Barcelona Primavera Festival (29)

Just this past week, two days after having watched the Muslims last Echo “residency” show – they jetted off to London to join Black Lips for a few dates and then they go off with Fronz Fordinond on a UK trek.

Black Lips and the Soft Pack played some sort of NME Brats show, so you know NME covered the shit out of them…. Alas, their last gig in London with King Khan at Heaven was a lot crazier (the band went naked) but um, I guess this one was good too.

Here’s some blurbs from NME and setlist:

Taking the stage, after guitarist Cole Alexander briefly wondered out front to borrow a guitar pick from an audience member, Black Lips emerged to play an hour-long set to huge applause.

After making repeated calls for “more beer!” through a distorted microphone, Alexander and co ended their set with ‘Buried Alive’ and ‘Juvenile’, from 2007 album ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ before a brief encore

Setlist
‘Take My Heart’
‘Drugs’
‘Sea of Blasphemy’
‘Oh Katrina’
‘Dirty Hands’
‘Cold Hands’
‘Dutronc’ [Fans may know this song by its title Hippie Hippie Hoorah, not the composer of the original song Jacqou Ductronc.]
‘Elijah’
‘Starting Over’
‘I’ll Be With You’
‘Fad’
‘Bad Kids’
‘Not A Problem’
‘Lock And Key’
‘Buried Alive’
‘Juvenile’
‘Fairy’
‘Wild Man’ [Amazing Cover]

And Muslims blurb:
Earlier in the evening The Soft Pack opened proceedings by playing their first ever UK gig, with a half-hour set that included the single ‘Nightlife’ and online favourite ‘Parasites’.

Frontman Matt Lamkin kept banter to a minimum, explaining to the crowd that the band were “really jet-lagged” – although they showed little signs of fatigue, playing a well-received show.

And may I just say…. I’m dying. This is where I will be. Fucking yes.

The Black Lips / Soft Pack (The Muslims) / King Khan & the Shrines / The Thermals / Akron/Family / Japanther / Coalesce / Monotonix / Trash Talk / Jason Lyttle / The Bronx / Vetiver / Abe Vigoda / Vivian Girls / Gentlemen Jessie /Death Set

I know FF and the Muslims are playing SXSW but after they are going on a fairly big trek across the US. Speaking of the Muslims – I took some more pictures of their first residency day at Echo, so those’ll be up later.

Washington Black Cat (3.24)
Philadelphia First Unitarian Church (3.25)
New York Bowery Ballroom (3.26 & 3.27)
Boston Paradise Rock Club (3.28)
Montreal Les Saints (3.30)
Toronto Lee’s Palace (3.31)
Ann Arbor Blind Pig (4.1)
Indianapolis Radio Radio (4.2)
Chicago Double Door (4.3)
Minneapolis Triple Rock Social Club (4.4)
Seattle Neumo’s (4.7)
Vancouver Richard’s On Richards (4.8)
Portland Doug Fir Lounge (4.9)
San Francisco Slims (4.11)

They will play at:

The Soft Pack – 2008 Tour Dates
Dec 5 – RICKSHAW w/ The Morning Benders San Francisco, California
Dec 15 – CANE’S w/ Franz Ferdinand San Diego, California
Dec 19 – THE ECHOPLEX w/ Darker My Love Los Angeles, California
Dec 30 – BRIXTON w/ The Nightmarchers Redondo Beach, California
Dec 31 – BELLY UP TAVERN w/ The NightMarchers Solana Beach, California
Jan 23 – BIMBOS w/ The Raveonettes San Francisco, California
Jan 24 – HENRY FONDA THEATRE w/ The Raveonettes Los Angeles, California
Feb 15 – ‘NME Brats’ at Carling Academy Islington w/ The Black Lips London, London and South East
Feb 17 – White Heat at Madame JoJo’s London, London and South East

Ahh what I wouldn’t give to see Black Lips & Soft Pack together…