solace

Under The Radar, Magnet, & Filter

saw him on that tour, he wasn't that bad actually

nope, the 2 residency shows i saw were my last Wilco shows until the next record

Eugene Mirman rules http://eugenemirman.com/

it was at the State, they moved it to the Pantages in the last week due to poor sales

yikes. he had close to 1000 in Mpls, granted they downsized the venue from a 2000 seat one (not that surprisingly tho)

Lifter Puller are more funny/tongue in cheek than The Hold Steady, is part of why I enjoy them so much. as for BAGIA vs. Seperation Sunday, well Almost Killed Me is still my favorite for a few reasons, but i'd put the last 2 at about a tie. BAGIA has the bigger anthems, that's for sure.

it is... but barely

http://www.plantsandanimals.ca/

great record! missed them at SXSW, but seeing them next month here in MPLS

fair enough. i'm certainly biased as i was a LP fan before The Hold Steady and saw them a couple times, but i'd agree that THS's music is more accessible that's for sure.

yes, but i'd like to think that Via is a bit better on average than the rest of the net...

Lifter Puller either... if you've yet to check out Craig & Tad's old band, do so now... i still prefer a lot of LP's stuff to THS.

the latest Magnetic Fields album is awful, one of the worst in their catalog actually

he's not touring, they are only doing 4 shows, Chicago, Minneapolis, and not sure the other 2

funny thing is, my friend who accompanied me to a lot of those Ben Harper shows Jack opened kept telling Jack he was going to be huge in 2 years and even bigger than Ben himself, and Jack just shook his head in disbelief. the fact that Jack's music has mass appeal doesn't surprise me really, but deep down it is what it is, just fun/light-hearted/sunny day beachcomber surf music. fwiw, Jack's bass player Merlo played in the band Spain, if you're familiar at all with them, which featured Josh Haden (brother of Rachel & Petra Haden) and has played with Dan the Automator on various project

now... hate his music all you want, but his music is so not "prefab", sorry dude. the guy had no intentions whatsoever of even being a full time musician if you know anything about his past. he was convinced to do so by his friends (one of which who happened to be Ben Harper). had he not had a terrible surfing accident, he'd still be on the pro surfing circuit and/or making surf films. his songs/music were just things he'd play around a campfire, etc. until 8 years ago. and actually Jack doesn't take himself or his music career all that serious at all to be perfectly honest. he was as sho

fair enough. there's just not enough going on musically for me to put up with the so-so melodies. his first record had some truly great/catchy songs, but those have been few and far between on the albums since (2nd one was OK). like i said, i wish his music interested me more than it does, because personally he's fantastic, but oh well :/

unless it's changed a ton in the last 5 years, there's not much energy there at all to be honest. look, i like Jack, especially personally, he's one of the nicest and most down to earth dudes around. I got to know him and bandmates Adam & Merlo pretty well in 2001 when he was on tour opening for Ben Harper (prior to his first album blowing up) as I saw 4 or 5 shows that spring, but his music is pretty one dimensional and his shows are quite dull for the most part. he's showed pretty much zero growth musically over the course of his records. not saying he needs to pull a Kid A, but come o

oh it's still pretty mellow/boring. this latest record is probably his weakest yet i think.

it doesn't make a ton of sense, but he is pretty damn popular, especially in California (southern even moreso)

you honestly think he wastes the time he does to make those fuck around records for publicity? he's just a huge nerd/dork. he knows that hardly anyone will listen to those things, but finds them amusing enough to put up often (who knows how much stuff he throws away too...). i find a lot of 'em pretty funny, but I also get his weird sense of humor too. i'll admit a lot of the spazz outs and tantrums at his shows is a big turnoff for me, but when he's on, the dude is frickin' great.

while they said at SXSW they don't have any real plans to tour, they have a hold on a venue here in Minneapolis in May

see above assholes