You’ve probably got at least $7 to your name so you should go see Those Darlins at The Grey Eagle tonight (Thurs, Jan 7). The bio of these ladies suggests that they like to defy convention and labels, but I’d call it country-twinged garage rock and they are suppose to put on an awesome live show.

Recently they’ve toured with King Khan and BBQ Show and Dan Auerbach from The Black Key. Bonus fun fact: Nikki Darlin is engaged to John McCauley from Deer Tick.

If you miss them tonight, you can come with me to see them at Down Home in Johnson City on January 28th.

Also appearing tonight are locals Kovacs & The Polar Bear and If You Wannas. I’ve somehow missed seeing either of them before, but they both sound like a welcome addition to the night.

My Top Ten Shows of 2009

Yeah, yeah. You are sick of lists. I promise this is the last one.

I spent a lot of 2009 away from WNC so a bunch of these show were elsewhere, but there were also some great shows here.

Two Cow Garage at Valentines, Albany, NY

Two Cow Garage, Austin Lucas, Mike Hale
Valentines - Albany, NY

Elvis Perkins in Dearland, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA

Josh Ritter, Ben Kweller, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Kaki King, Samantha Crain
MASS MoCA - North Adams, MA

The Hold Steady at Valentines, Albany, NY

The Hold Steady
Valetines - Albany, NY

Andrew Bird at The Egg, Albany, NY

Andrew Bird, St. Vincent
The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists at Easthampton High School, Easthampton, MA

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Easthampton High School - Easthampton, MA

A.A. Bondy at The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC

Elvis Perkins in Dearland, AA Bondy
The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC

Tiny Mtns (Elijah Wyman) at Ant Cellar, Lowell, MA

Tiny Mtns
Ant Cellar - Lowell, MA

These United States at The Red Door, Portsmouth, NH

These United States
The Red Door - Portsmouth, NH

Ra Ra Riot at Best Music Poll, Boston, MA

Metric, The Gaslight Anthem, Passion Pit, Ra Ra Riot
City Hall Plaza - Boston, MA

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco

Wilco
Dutchess County Stadium - Wappingers Falls, NY

Photos are all by me and of said shows except Andrew Bird, which is actually from a solo show in 2008 at The Egg in Albany, NY.

  • January 06, 2010, 3:25pm

          2 notes

My Top 10 Albums of 2009

Metric - Fantasies
This album just fit my life this year. Questions of art, money, and happiness are all there. Check out this beautifully shot interview with singer Emily Haines if you haven’t already. She talks about moving to Buenos Aires to escape the pressure of making music in North America. I got to see a special acoustic duo version of Metric this summer in Boston, but missed seeing them as a full band, which I’ve heard is amazing.

Japandroids - Post-Nothing
I originally didn’t take Japandroids seriously because of the similarly hyped duo of No Age, but these guys are from Canada and just rock without pretension. A quick 35 raucous romp and certainly my favorite rocking out record of the year.

Art Brut - Art Brut vs. Satan
I’m almost as much of a sucker for Art Brut as I am for The Hold Steady. This album is full of anthems for things you knew you liked (drinking, middle school crushes) and things maybe you didn’t know you liked (riding the bus, extended adolescence). This also led into my re-discovery of The Replacements, which is always an amazing thing.

Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Every year critics say that hip-hop is dead, but it’s definitely not this year. Mos Def is back after a 3 year hiatus and kills it. If you are tired of Kayne and the endless parade of shitty rappers, take a listen. Other notable great hip-hop records this year were Finale’s A Pipe Dream And A Promise and Mr. Lif’s I Heard it Today.

Micachu & the Shapes - Jewellery
I was hooked after I saw this video shot during CMJ last year. You can’t tell if Micachu is melodic or cacophonous, but you’ll definitely hear Matthew Herbert’s influence. If the album isn’t enough for you, check out the free Filthy Friends mixtape.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland - s/t
The songs on this album are old news if you’ve seen Dearland in the last few years, but it’s good to finally be able to hear them at home. You should also go see them live if you car because they are a great stage show.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Sure, the solo album of the vocoder/songwriter TOBACCO was on my 2008 list, but this is another great album. It’s a great snowy day chill-out album. My brain thinks this album is instrumental even though there is some “singing.” Ashe-villian was at BMSR’s show at Club 828 (what?) this summer.

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
 The New Pornographers may have passed their expiration date, but it feels like Neko Case is still in her prime. With the exception the awkward enviro-ballad of Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth, pretty much every track is great. However, like the Pornographer’s, she gives a fairly lackluster live show.

Those Darlins - s/t
 I’ve heard that this album pales in comparison to seeing these Tennessee girls live…which you can do this Thursday (January 7) at The Grey Eagle. They spent the fall opening for King Khan and BBQ Show (who also had a new album this fall) and isn’t that enough to make you curious.

Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall
Let’s be honest, Jay Reatard is an asshole. His antics make me hate him and never want to see him, but then I put on his records. Saying this record shows a more vulnerable side of Jay would sound totally emo so I’ll just say it’s just a great garage rock record.

Bonus Picks:
One of the things I’ve missed most about being away from Asheville has been seeing Reigning Sound as often as I want. The new record, Love and Curses, features a lot of songs you’ve probably heard them playing around. And then Greg Cartwright released the live solo acoustic LP, Live At the Circle A. I know you are suspect, but the man is dry, funny, and rocking.

  • January 03, 2010, 11:59am

          1 note

A girl riding her bike around downtown last night said she had extra tickets to see The Avett Brothers at the Civic Center. We didn’t take her up on the offer, but we would have seen Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside open the show if we had. If you missed that show as well, you can check out Sallie and her band at Harvest Records on Saturday night. She’s originally from Asheville, but moved to Portland, OR a few years back. I think her laid-back old-timey jazz stylings will suit an in-store much better than an arena show. As with most Harvest in-stores, it’s a $5 donation at the door and you can get some tasty brews at Gas Up across the street. (We’ll have to talk about how a gas station has it’s own website on another day.)

A girl riding her bike around downtown last night said she had extra tickets to see The Avett Brothers at the Civic Center. We didn’t take her up on the offer, but we would have seen Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside open the show if we had.

If you missed that show as well, you can check out Sallie and her band at Harvest Records on Saturday night. She’s originally from Asheville, but moved to Portland, OR a few years back. I think her laid-back old-timey jazz stylings will suit an in-store much better than an arena show.

As with most Harvest in-stores, it’s a $5 donation at the door and you can get some tasty brews at Gas Up across the street. (We’ll have to talk about how a gas station has it’s own website on another day.)

Remember how your prom was suppose to be a magical night that you would remember forever? …I know I’m certainly like to write over those memories and tonight you can. Quite possibly the most awesome prom line-up ever. Reigning Sound Floating Action and DJ Rob Castillo (if you ever woken up on Thursday morning with a slight memory of dancing to 80s tunes at Broadways, it’s probably his fault)

Remember how your prom was suppose to be a magical night that you would remember forever?

…I know I’m certainly like to write over those memories and tonight you can. Quite possibly the most awesome prom line-up ever.

Reigning Sound

Floating Action

and DJ Rob Castillo (if you ever woken up on Thursday morning with a slight memory of dancing to 80s tunes at Broadways, it’s probably his fault)

Remember last week when that Park the Van showcase was at Grey Eagle. That was fun. Floating Action, the Spinto Band, and Generationals.

The Dodos last migration to AVL was a year ago March where they played a pretty full Harvest in-store. This year they got upgraded to The Grey Eagle and the show was packed. It’s nice to see great bands gain a local audience that quickly. Yeah, we <3 our town like that.

First up was the Durham band of brothers, Megafaun. Brothers Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund used to be in a band with Justin Vernon (you know, that Bon Iver dude). Now that Bon Iver has gone on hiatus, we hope that Megafaun gets the spotlight. They’ve got awesome harmonies reminiscent of Fleet Foxes and a dynamic live presence often jumping into the crowd to finish their songs. I preferred the live show to the record and even then preferred when they left the electronics out of it.

Indie pop New Zealanders, The Ruby Suns, were up second and they gave me a good opportunity to get another PBR and some delicious bread pudding from Twin Cousins.

The crowd swelled and welcomed The Dodos. It was hard to get anywhere near the front, but standing on our toes on a chair in the back, we could see that they expanded from a minimalist two-piece to a stage busting three-piece with that addition of a second percussionist, Keaton Snyder. There is a complete lack of pretension with these guys who were just rocking the t-shirts and hoodies and I mean rocking. High energy, killer show. See them next time when I’m sure they’ll be headlining at The Orange Peel.

If you missed the Short Street Cakes preview at the East West Asheville Artwalk, you better get down to the Mardi Grad Opening Day Celebration. That&#8217;s Sunday, February 22 from 10am - 4pm. 225 Haywood with the cute pink and white awning (not pictured). Jodi does mind-blowing things with her cakes.

If you missed the Short Street Cakes preview at the East West Asheville Artwalk, you better get down to the Mardi Grad Opening Day Celebration. That’s Sunday, February 22 from 10am - 4pm. 225 Haywood with the cute pink and white awning (not pictured). Jodi does mind-blowing things with her cakes.

Top 10 Albums of 2008

After being nudged by Matt from Harvest, I finally came up with my top album from 2008:

  1. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
  2. The Dodos - Visiter
  3. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
  4. Why? - Alopecia
  5. The Felice Brother - The Felice Brother
  6. Ratatat - LP3
  7. Thao Nguyen - We Brave Bee Stings and All
  8. Dosh - Wolves and Wishes
  9. These United States - A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden
  10. Daedelus - Love To Make Music To

I could link to the albums and get money back from Amazon, but I’d prefer if you went out and bought them locally.

Did you know you can listen to WPVM on your iPhone? Download SHOUTcast Radio from the iTunes Music Store and then search for &#8220;wpvm&#8221;. Listen to the 128k stream by enabling hi-bit streams in the Settings app. You can also listen to WNCW using the Public Radio Tuner. Both the apps are free and work on your iPod Touch too.

Did you know you can listen to WPVM on your iPhone? Download SHOUTcast Radio from the iTunes Music Store and then search for “wpvm”. Listen to the 128k stream by enabling hi-bit streams in the Settings app.

You can also listen to WNCW using the Public Radio Tuner. Both the apps are free and work on your iPod Touch too.