Mimicking Videos

Tomrrow's paper features an almost unhealthy amount of love for Friday's Blind Pilot show at the HG Showcase Lounge. What can I say? I'm excited. In addition to running an interview with BP co-founder/drummer Ryan Dobrowski, I decided to lead my column with a bit about one of the opening acts, Laura Viers and the Hall of Flames. You may remember them as the band who opened for — and by more than a few accounts, upstaged — The Decemberists at the Flynn in September.

Anyway, in my excitement about those two groups, I fear I may have overlooked the other supporting act, Portland, Oregon's Mimicking Birds. That, it appears, was a mistake.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any live footage high quality enough to be worth your time, so the attached vid is one of those weird "unofficial" music videos making the rounds on YouTube — presumably made by folks with iMovie and way too much time on their hands. But the song is great. And if you're feeling spacey and/or really high, the "visuals" are actually kind of cool. Enjoy.

Dammit!

Just a couple of notes to pass along about this weekend's live music shenanigans that didn't make this week's print edition.

First up, for some reason tonight's shows at Metronome and Nectar's were omitted from the paper. Not sure why, cuz I distinctly recall entering them into the system and thinking, "Oooh. Cool local show at Nectar's!" and "Hey! Local support for a big regional band!" Effin' technology.

Anyway, Nectar's plays host to three of my personal local favorites this evening: The Vacant Lots, Lendway and Barbacoa. Show starts at 9 p.m. Meanwhile, upstairs at the 'Nome, we have electro-rock outfit The Indobox and local jam torchbearers Greyspoke. Rock and/or roll.

Next up is a show that wasn't listed because no one told me it was happening until after deadline. Still, it should be a good one, and it's happening in one of the more interesting venues in town, Muddy Waters. Saturday night local ska-punk hooligans Husbands AKA take the stage with The Flood (aka Patrick Brownson) and Boston's You Can Be Wesley, who friggin' rock (and also recorded their last album with our old pal Jeremy from Pretty & Nice). Here's a vid from Wesley, whom apparently, you can be. Oh, and this show is free.

The Jazz Guys: They Rock, You Decide

A couple of a weeks ago, Burlington's crown princes of pop, The Jazz Guys, took the local interwebs community by storm with a great cover and video of "Single Ladies," the recent chart scorcher by pop diva Beyoncé. If you haven't seen it yet — or simply wish to relive the glory — here it is again.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my SoundBites column two weeks ago, they are itchin' to get back into the studio and do it all again. The only hitch: they need your help to figure out which song they should lampoon next. Decisions, decisions.

Below is a list of five songs the band is currently considering. Take a look, cast your vote and in a couple of weeks, The JGs promise to rock our worlds yet again with another funny tune — and maybe a copyright infringement lawsuit.

 

Online Surveys & Market Research

Of Puppies and Death Metal

This might just qualify as the strangest — and perhaps coolest — bit of news I have ever received.

Apparently, every year around Halloween, the employees of Burton host a "Howl-O-Ween Doggie Costume Contest" to benefit their Chill youth program. And this year they have enlisted the help of some celebrity judges.

No, no. Not me. Not even a real celebrity like Tom Messner. This year's adjudicators of cute and cuddly are — are you ready? — GWAR.

Yes, that GWAR.

The contest, which takes place tomorrow (Tuesday) at the factory at 2 p.m., is not open to the public to enter. But since it happens in the lobby, right next to the store, it is, for all intents and purposes, open to anyone who wants to watch.

Bird Droppings

I was kinda laid up this weekend, fighting off the dying remains of a head and chest cold that sidelined me earlier in the week. Whilst spending Saturday night on the couch in my pajamas, hot toddy and dog by my side, I happened to catch some of Andrew Bird performing on PBS' Austin City Limits. In a word, whoa.

Now, I don't know that I really buy into "the healing power of song" or other similarly new age-y remedies. Give me a bottle of NyQuil any day. That said, Bird's TV performance got me really excited for his show at Higher Ground tonight — and in particular for opening act St. Vincent, who also appeared on the broadcast — and may just have served as the lift I needed to put that bit of nastiness behind me. I awoke Sunday feeling better than I had in days. Of course, that also may have had something to do with aforementioned hot toddies and NyQuil. Whatever.

Anyway, here's a recent clip of Bird performing with St. Vincent. Hope it whets your, um, whistle.

My Dearest Darling, "Decay"

This just in: a new track from My Dearest Darling, "Decay." MDD — now boasting Villanelles' Zane Gunderson — have been MIA for the last year or so while finishing up a new 8-song disc. Expect the new disc to drop this month. In the meantime, they'll be rocking Higher Ground tomorrow night with White Rabbits and Glass Ghost.

Portugal. The Show.

So, I had hoped to unleash the second installment of my still as yet unnamed podcast series today, this time featuring Vermont native Sarah Cronin from Drug Rug. The idea was to do a quick Q&A about the band and then spin a couple of tunes from their excellent new album, Paint the Fence Invisible. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Right.

However, Drug Rug are increasingly becoming kind of a big deal. As such, our schedules never quite lined up. We had to reschedule several times, the last time around because the band was slated — are you ready? — to tape a Daytrotter session when we were supposed to talk. If my humble little podcast had to be bumped, at least it was bumped in style. C'est la vie.

Anyway, tonight Drug Rug is playing Higher Ground with Portugal. The Man and Hockey, who are both pretty rad. Here's a vid from a recent DR show in Cleveland. No, not as cool as podcast. But cool nonetheless.

And here's a new-ish vid from the aforementioned radness that is Portugal. The Man. Enjoy!

Farm Is Pretty Fuckin' Good

This Just In: I love Farm.

You're shocked, right? Eh, maybe not so much at this point. Anyhoo …

Here are two tracks that Farm's Ben Maddox recently sent my way from the band's ongoing recording sessions. Apparently, they have about twenty songs in the works right now, with another ten or so on the way. Do I smell a double album in the works? Cuz that would be rad.

I should point out that these songs are both works in progress. Still, they seriously whet my appetite for more new material from a consistently excellent and sonically provocative local band. Enjoy!

Monkey vs. Demon

River to the Ocean

The Jazz Guys Do Beyoncé

Um, her music, that is. This is rad.

Little Boy Blues Rawk

The week-long multimedia purge continues with this cool cut, "Little Boy." The track comes to us courtesy of our very own Fatal Flaws and is the result of an increasingly intriguing collaboration with Montréal's the Broken Jugs. Me likey.

Oh, and speaking of multimedia fun, if you've got time to kill and want to exercise your brain muscles, check out what our old pal Casey Rae-Hunter has been up to this week. This is a link to the live streaming video from the Future of Music Policy Summit happening right this very second. Trust me, it's much more entertaining than it sounds, especially when the FMC gets all "Obama Death Panel" on stuffy industry dudes like they did yesterday with a clearly overmatched Steve Marks from the RIAA. Good times!