WTVD | Freeform Parting Shots with Jon Sidel

Ten tracks to kick start your weekend courtesy of Jon Sidel—and just as they should be delivered—on radio:

The Icarus Line - We Sick | Plain and simple, there are not enough “desperados” in rock n roll these days. Joe Cardamone’s message has been simple. We know our lives are fucked but we’re gonna live em anyway. Sickkkk!

Broken Bells - Vaporize | James Mercer and Danger Mouse I just can’t resist! Looking forward to owning this LP!

Luther Russell - Motorbike | Rock n Roll journeyman has moved to Brooklyn and never sounded cooler! There are a few great bits on this release. Coming to Paris soon! Ep 12” out on Wool Records (France).

The Generationals - When They Fight, They Fight | I hear they’re from New Orleans and this record has soul 45 sound! Looking forward to seeing these kids at SXSW.

Bern Eliot and the Fenmen - New Orleans | Speaking of New Orleans this is a “merseybeat” take on the city’s early 60’s sound. The result is HOT!


Creature With The Atom Brain - The Color Of Sundown | At times this band sounds like early Monster Magnet. OK, any friends of Chris Goss & QOTSA, are friends of mine! From Transylvania Master album just out.

Les Blanks - Body Politic | From their new album due this spring. Loving this release! The vibe on this track screams rock n roll hoochie koo!

Paul “Sir Raggedy” Flagg - Moma Papa Romper Stomper | “Papa love mama, mama love papa too. They got a thing going on, call it a bugaloo” OK that’s my idea of Valentines Day records! Georgia soul circa 1967.

Yeasayer - Love Me Girl | Tons of cool songs on “Odd Blood.” Here’s the one I spun for Valentines Day. Their “proggy” use of sampling is very cool.

Active Child - She Was a Vision | This band is really buzzing over here in LA. Gotta say this song and artist are really growing on me. I spun it back to back with a Ted Neely song from Jesus Christ Superstar film soundtrack, those two have vocal skills…indeed!

The Idelic Hour [2/23/2010] (Mp3, 83Mg)

Rock on!
—sidealer

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 3 | Sub Pop Week, Day 5

So, Monday it was The Album Leaf, Tuesday we had Beach House, Wednesday was AFCGT, and yesterday we had Retribution Gospel Choir. Closing out our week of Sub Pop/Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways is the new one from The Ruby Suns, 'Fight Softly.'

That's a darn fine giveaway week, I'm thinking.

The prime mover of The Ruby Suns, Ryan McPhun has literally traveled around the world to arrive at Fight Softly, the band’s 2nd album for Sub Pop, and 3rd overall. McPhun possesses (or is possessed by…) a voracious musical mind and this new album is the kind of head-spinning combination of big-picture vision and sumptuous detail that only comes from an artist with an urgent need to express all the stuff he’s seen. And you can dance to it!

Fight Softly veers from the path set by its predecessor, the 2008 release Sea Lion. Thematically, it’s not as wide-eyed or lighthearted, picking apart the relationships faced as we pass through the world—with our surroundings, each other, ourselves. Sonically, it remains as beat-centric, though these beats are deliciously artificial—stretched and compacted and distorted beyond recognition.

Melodies are scuzzy and digital, no guitars strummed or basses plucked. McPhun’s soulful upper-register croon, swallowed into the mix, replaces group chants and full-throated singalongs. Rather than an album of clearly-drawn influences, Fight Softly is a unique, inscrutable synthesis, more itself than anything else.


The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!

TVD First Date | Vedera

"Kansas City has always been a good place for local businesses to start up in hopes that the city will support and all will thrive. Streetside Records in Westport (home of the best bars and a haven for second hand/vintage clothing, great venues, and coffee shops) is where you'll see us chilling out when we're in town.

Though Streetside is a chain (allowing u to get all the new hits) there is also a thorough vinyl and used section, giving the shop a local feel. The staff are all super music lovers so we make it a point to check out their pick's of the week. Along with a grand selection with styles from jazz to hip hop, they also have a local section, supporting new music and giving artists a chance to sell their cds in stores. This is where we sold our very first e.p!!

The last music I picked up was the first Stars album (used, only five bucks), the latest Tegan and Sara, and a vinyl copy of O.K. Computer. I miss home already..."
—Kristen May

Vedera - Satisfy (Mp3)

Catch Vedera with Jack’s Mannequin on 3/3 and 3/4 at the 9:30.

TVD Ticket Giveaway | Drink Up Buttercup, Tuesday (3/2) at DC9

A little while back I wrote about the odd, frequent occurrence that happens to me when I'm juuuuust getting into a band—and they’ve come and gone, just having played DC. It’s happened too frequently to be believed, unfortunately.

But not so this time as I’m quickly warming up to Philly’s Drink Up Buttercup—and they’re here next week. And we’ve got a pair of tickets for one of you to snatch up.



But seeing how the fates have been unkind to me in the past, we’re going to go easy on you. The loudest voice in the comments to this post who makes their case to attend the show gets the tickets. No puzzles to solve, thesis to write, or pranks to perform.

Just get at us—with contact info!—before noon on Monday (3/1) and we’ll hook up the most eager among you. It’s that simple. Fates be damned.

Drink Up Buttercup - Young Ladies (Mp3)

WTVD | Freeform Programming with Jon Sidel

I’m feeling a little bit Yoko Ono today.

If you’ve followed her career or even her Twitter postings, there’s an odd ability for some forest through the trees-type thinking, albeit typically couched is some New Age-isms. Minus the latter portion there, I’m thinking I’m on to something by just being able to toss it out on here and have it coincidently make it’s existence known.

Now, I don’t know Jon Sidel personally although we’ve exchanged a bunch of emails this week and last. We’re both products of the New York City area and its sensibilities, not the least of which is radio and its intonations as we were growing up.

Me? I started a blog about vinyl and record stores. Sidel’s got a radio show.

And it’s just the type of show I was pining for earlier this week. To my ears, his taste is music is impeccable and the show is immediate and personal just like the radio of our East Coast-loving roots.

Jon’s show can be heard on KCRW internet radio and I’m happy to announce that each week, TVD will be making a podcast of his show available right here for your office cube or Bat Cave.

So, to get you up to speed, we’ve got two previous shows posted below and Jon’ll be back tomorrow with his newest one.

Now, let’s see...what else can I make happen here by merely posting it?



The Idelic Hour [2/9/2010] (Mp3, 86Mg)
The Idelic Hour [2/15/2010] (Mp3, 86Mg)

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 3 | Sub Pop Week, Day 4

Our Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways, The Subpop Week marches on with the new '2' from Retribution Gospel Choir.

Retribution Gospel Choir is a rock trio founded in 2007. The group features Alan Sparhawk on guitar and vocals, Steve Garrington on bass and Eric Pollard on drums and vocals. Alan also fronts the band Low with his wife, Mimi Parker, and Steve also plays bass in Low. 2 is Retribution Gospel Choir’s 2nd full-length and Sub Pop debut! Eric Swanson recorded these performances at Sacred Heart Studio in Duluth, Minnesota, and Matt Beckley mixed the recordings at Faux Rock in Sherman Oaks, California.


The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!

TVD First Date | The Joy Formidable

Last night while taking in the fabulous Clientele, I started counting the number of bands that exist now, who are currently out there making music—that I just adore. And I got to five.

The Joy Formidable was at the top of that list.

Rumor has it that the band will make it to DC this year and I urge you to fall in love with them prior as I have, so you all can join me right up front.

We chatted with Ritzy a little while back about her inspiration behind some of the TJF vinyl that frequents the TVD turntable:

"It can go either way when you grow up in a family of bootleggers and record collectors; you either catch the bug and join in or snub music completely. I was in cahoots from the start and absolutely reveled in my parents near library of vinyl, cds, cassettes and reel to reel. The vinyl section covered 2 walls and stacked on top were four large boxes of 7" singles.

I decided that this would be the starting point of my listening habits, I'd try and listen methodically to every single in every box. Black Coffee in Bed, Say a Little Prayer, Sex Machine, Family Affair, Fire, Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart.... so many brilliant tracks. I got quite far in the quest of going through every box; the joy and calamity of being an only child.



My favourite 12" was Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces,' not only for the musical contents, but for the artwork by Barney Bubbles. I loved the folding flaps of the back panel that peeled out to reveal more artwork and postcards.

Aged 8 I had a musical epiphany whilst listening to Yes' 'Close to the Edge' and roused the warning of Mum and Dad that I'd ruin the needle if I kept lifting it up and down to repeat the phrase. I always was a bit cack - handed when it came to the record player.



I guess with so much choice at hand, buying my own vinyl came a lot later. My first purchase was at a record fair in London, where I no doubt paid over the odds for the Drill E.P by Radiohead. College and University I was minus a turntable, so it was CDs, then downloads and now, in the band, I'm very happy that vinyl makes up a big chunk of our modest back catalogue.

We started with Austere on 7" - and fell about laughing when it dropped through the door in purple rather the midnight blue we'd designed. We upgraded to double 7" vinyl for Cradle , next - it's coloured vinyl and down the line I'm hoping picture disc, vinyl boxset , maybe even something with an expanding back panel , a tribute to Barney. "

The Joy Formidable - Austere (Mp3)
The Joy Formidable - Cradle (Mp3)
The Joy Formidable - The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade (Mp3)
The Joy Formidable - Cradle [Kyte Remix] (Mp3)

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 3 | Sub Pop Week, Day 3

It's Day #3 of our Record Store Day Sub Pop Week of vinyl giveaways and next up are the purveyors of Drooling Hillbilly Metal, Sea Urchin Psychedelia, Yukon Freak Thrash, and Beatnik Swamp Drone, or whatever else you want to call them—AFCGT.

The cretinous calliope that is AFCGT descends from a decrepit longhouse on the shores of a dark lake where the self-inflicted wounds from a windy forest of flailing, whipping branches gave birth to the white heat oddities from their self-titled new album on Sub Pop Records.

Conjoined a little over two years ago, the group has already been dishing out vinyl; recording a 10” EP, a full-length LP, and appearing on a 7 inch compilation not to mention a few super-limited CDRs thrown in for kicks. With 3 electric guitars, a bass guitar, and a drum kit they manage to emulate the decaying soundtrack of an international airport with all the trimmings.



The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!

TVD First Date | Dawn Landes

So, let me get this straight...Dawn Landes is a vinyl fan and "Son of Schmilsson" is on heavy rotation?

Um...where do we send the flowers?


"I got a pretty new cherry-red record player for Christmas two years ago and now I only listen to vinyl at home. I can't believe it took me so long to come around to it. I remember leafing through my parents ragtag collection when I was a kid... the albums that stand out in my memory are "Break Out" by the Pointer Sisters and "Traveling Wilburys Vol 1"... go figure. I love the format for artwork, I've used my friend Danica Novgorodoffs illustrations on all of my records, and it's so nice to really showcase the art.

And the fact that it's kind of demanding on the listener. You really have to be a part of the experience... holding the thing, using your arms to even open the sleeve, keepin your eye on the needle. I love listening to records! Excuse the enthusiasm but I'm pretty new to it, and it's changed the way I listen to music.



Most of my 12''s at home were bought from garage and stoop sales around Brooklyn in the past few years. "Son of Schmilsson" and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" have been on constant rotation for the past few months. I love all the photography in there from the sessions... funny how it satisfies that voyeur impulse without kicking all the mystery out like we do now on the internet.

This is my third album and the first one I've released in 12" vinyl format.... it feels like a real accomplishment! A few years ago I released a couple of 7" singles on a small UK label called Boyscout, run by DJ extraordinaire Tim "Love" Lee, who has the largest vinyl collection I've ever seen.

I've noticed touring around the world that certain areas are really digging in to it- Spain, especially. More people were buying vinyls in Spain on a recent tour than cds. It's awesome. I hope it's contagious. The vinyl we pressed for the Sweetheart Rodeo record comes in all different colors, which really excites me. How do they do it? Each one looks like a sandstorm bowling ball, with its own color wheel. It's incredible! "

* dawn



Dawn Landes - Young Girl (Mp3)

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 3 | Sub Pop Week, Day 2

Our Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways—The Sub Pop Week—continues today with the brand new one from Beach House.

Recorded in upstate New York, in a converted church called Dreamland with producer/engineer Chris Coady (who has worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blonde Redhead, and a bunch of others) Teen Dream is the third album from the Baltimore-based duo Beach House, and their Sub Pop debut.

The new album gives voice to a full universe of unbridled imagination, and the manifestation of Teen Dream has been a welcomed and all-consuming obsession for Beach House the past 9-12 months. Both the CD and LP formats of Teen Dream will arrive packaged with a companion DVD featuring a video for each song on the album, each by a different director.

Need we say more? Didn't think so.



The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!

WTVD | Freeform Programming

I’ve been thinking a lot about loss lately. It’s as if anything that can be had can be lost and eventually it all is.

From parents to siblings, friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, pets, money, memories, waistlines, hairlines, teeth...you name it. They all go. We live in anticipation of goodbyes.

There’s a thread however that runs through all of these that doesn’t depart. If it had a name I’d give it one, but it’s certainly an intangible—a faint buzz perhaps when the pieces are coming together, a hint of sunnier climates or of possibilities yet to materialize that summon a sad spirit in the sweetest ways. The first breeze through an open window maybe.

At the record fair last week I was tempted to repurchase a record or seven to re-conjure a sweetness that arose in and around a LP once adored. Frankly, I was in a room full of people doing the same thing, some having not yet danced with Miles Davis or Bootsy Collins or whomever.

My shelves of records are just like that too—bookmarks of all things lost, the last remnant of the butterfly net of years.

Last week I railed on the old, corporate guard that doesn’t realize that the paradigms have shifted especially in the barren wasteland that’s contemporary terrestrial radio. We may have gotten accustomed to its loss but why work to underscore its inevitability?

For me, the human element’s all but gone from radio and while satellite radio may have removed much of the commercials, it’s as stale as can be. What good are ‘deep cuts’ without any human relevance behind the music?

So, if you lug your own box of records to the radio station, sit down with a story or seven and cue up a new old favorite, you might have the makings of pretty compelling radio. See, tales of loss set to music we all have in common whether you can dance to ‘em or not.

If you stoke it, the fire stays lit. Before it gets lost, anyway.



ELO - Can't Get It Out of My Head (Mp3)
Cliff Richard - We Don't Talk Anymore (Mp3)
Graham Parker - You Can't Be Too Strong (Mp3)
Phil Lynott - Talk In '79 (Mp3)
Steely Dan - Dirty Work (Mp3)

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 3 | Sub Pop Week, Day 1

I know we're onto something with these Record Store Day 2010 Vinyl Giveaways and to underscore this notion, our friends at Sub Pop Records have given us not just one LP to offer you guys this week, but a total of five. Right, five.

So, we're going to give one a day all week. How's that for dedication to the cause?

First up: The Album Leaf's 'A Chorus of Storytellers' which marks the first decade for the group led by Jimmy LaValle. In those 10 years, LaValle has gone from initial improvised home recordings to now five complete studio albums, from opening slots to leading an incredible world-touring band to the stage at Red Rocks, headlining the Metamorphose festival in Japan and performing at the Hollywood Bowl with the Incredible String Band. LaValle’s well-earned reputation as a crafter of impeccable sonic imagery even led to a critically-acclaimed show at the Seattle International Film Festival where The Album Leaf performed a live score for the 1927 silent film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.



The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!

It's a TVD/Comedy Central, Sarah Silverman & Demetri Martin DVD Giveaway!

A while back we ascribed a number of things beyond vinyl as meeting a few simple aesthetics we appreciate. I mean, far be it for us to be simply one (analog) note, right?

Which is why we're pleased to have teamed up with Comedy Central to put into your laps some of our personal favorites that comprise a stellar evening of Thursday night television: it's a Comedy Central Prize Pack where we'll award one winner The Sarah Silverman Program, Season Two, Vol. One and Important Things with Demetri Martin, Season One on DVD!

Comedy Central doesn't trust us to hit all the high notes so they sent this along:

"Sarah Silverman. Demetri Martin. Back to back. Comedy Central is bringing you an all new Thursday night comedy block with the return of Important Things with Demetri Martin and The Sarah Silverman Program, every Thursday at 10/9c!

In the second season of his hit sketch comedy series, comedian Demetri Martin tackles more significant stuff and imperative items, and Sarah Silverman is back and ready to resume all the terrible language, unabashed ranting, and sweet, sweet self-absorption you’ve missed so much! Join us on Twitter here and here! Visit the Official Site for more!"

Riveting, hm?

One lucky winner will take home both DVD sets for simply singing the praises of both Comedy Central shows or Sarah and Demetri in particular in the comments to this post. We do these contests week in and week out, so you know by now what we're looking for—effusiveness please. Oh, and your contact info too so we can let you know you won. Which is always good.

You've got a week to suitably crack us up in the comments. We're closing this one on 2/25!

TVD Ticket Giveaway | Fredrik w/ Meredith Bragg and Pree, Monday (2/22) The Black Cat

"Record stores are getting rarer by the day, but one that will be around for a long time is Rundgang in the rougher southern part of Malmo. "Rundgang" means both "feedback" and "circulation" in Swedish. They buy, sell, and stock everything from eclectic new sounds to kraut, italo, punk, and early minimalist works. They also sell/trade books and DIY fashion, and they function as a hub and meeting place for the local noise/free form/weird-format music scene.



We've played several sidewalk shows outside the store at street festivals, and over the years we've just generally met a lot of good people there, staff and patrons alike. Anyone passing by should take the time to check it out..."

And that's how we've felt about Fredrik the band for sometime—you must take the time to check them out. Quietly unassuming and enveloping, we'd say.

And now you can say it too.



We got a pair if tickets for what's shaping up to be a bit of a Kora Records/SXSW Showcase Monday night (2/22) at The Black Cat. The DC label is hosting an evening with three of it's acts on its roster—Fredrik, Meredith Bragg, and Pree—in advance of the yearly jaunt down to Austin. (More on the SXSW showcase here.)

Your task to win the tickets is the same as always—convince us it's you who should be front and center Monday night in the comments to this post and we'll award the pair of tickets to the person who sufficiently twists our arms. Leave us some contact info too! Contest closes Monday (2/22) at noon!

Fredrik - Locked in the Basement (Mp3)

TVD's (Pie in the Sky) Parting Shots

#5. Nurture the song AND the artist.


Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number (Mp3)
Elton John - Daniel (Mp3)
Seals & Crofts - Diamond Girl (Mp3)
Paul McCartney & Wings - My Love (Mp3)
Eagles - Best Of My Love (Mp3)
10cc - I'm Not In Love (Mp3)
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams (Mp3)
Joni Mitchell - Help Me (Mp3)
Jim Croce - Operator (Mp3)
Harry Nilsson - Livin' Without You (Mp3)

TVD's The Kora Records SXSW Label Showcase

Not only is DC's The Kora Records hosting something of a label showcase at The Black Cat this coming Monday night (2/22) for which we have a pair of tickets, the label's got an official showcase at SXSW this year which happens at Valhalla on March 2oth.

In what turns out to be a showcase for us, we've hit up the label's acts trekking down to Austin this year for some insight into one of our favorite topics around these parts—record stores. Their favorites, to be exact.

"I used to work at Go! Compact Discs while I was in high school in Arlington. Each employee had a shelf with their name on it where they could stash records they wanted to buy. Most of the time I would sit in a small converted closet and process any new or recently traded stock. This meant that I effectively got first dibs on everything that came in the store... and at a discount no less. I'm sure I wound up spending more money at that place than I ever made, but it remains one of the best jobs I've ever had."

Meredith Bragg - Work and Winter (Mp3)



"My favorite record store would probably have to be Wax 'n Facts in Atlanta. It was in a fringy part of town I wasn't allowed to go to in high school, so of course it became my favorite place to hang out. The clerks never gave me the time of day, especially with my stylistic wardrobe choices (overalls, purple Skechers, glitter makeup, etc etc) and highly refined taste in music (not giving this one away.)

Fortunately, even dorks are allowed in record stores, and is because of this that high school remains marginally bearable, at least for some. I doubt that my friends and I are any cooler now than we were then, but at least our record collections are."

—May Tabol, Pree

Pree - Heaven is a Drag (Mp3)



"I don't have a favourite record shop any more. They've moved or I've moved or they've closed. I don't feel attached to one in particular any more. Spinadisc was the first one I knew, it was the only independent record store in Northampton where I grew up. There were always goths and skater kids outside, I was never in those groups.

I used to order in Twisted Nerve Records, I religiously brought everything that came out on that label, A bit like TKR, good record sleeves, once I sent my Mum in to get me the first release by Alfie, the guy in the shop was impressed, thought she knew her stuff - its still one of my favorite ever records. They had a second hand department upstairs which was awful but I used to sell my old CDs by Britpop bands that I'd bought a few years earlier (Cast, Reef(!), Ocean Colour Scene) and buy new 7's back downstairs. That shops closed now, but I moved first.

Me and Rebekah first lived together in Kensal Green which was about a 20 minute walk from Notting Hill which has Honest Johns, Intoxica, and best of all Rough Trade. Spoilt for choice. Rough Trade West is the best record shop in the world, it just is. I haven't been there for about 5 years but I know it's still the best - look at the walls!I brought a bootleg cassette of a live Buzzcocks gig from the punk who had a stall out the front - that was a good tape, I only have the case though now.

We moved to the Holloway Road after a year and were just down the road from Puregroove, that was the first shop that I knew someone that worked in it, which meant I could go in and just hang out when I had days off - good days. Sometimes I filmed instores for them which is the closest I've ever come to imagining my dream job of working in a record shop, although I've never applied to work in one.

That shops moved now, I still go but its a longer walk, plus its more a bar than a record shop - you need crates or it doesn't really count.

—Iain Pettifer, Stricken City, Guitarist

Stricken City - Pull The House Down (Skellington Remix) (Mp3)

TVD Live Tease | Adrian Krygowski w/ Molly Hagen and Twins of a Gazelle, Sunday (2/21) at Iota

DC-based acoustic rocker, Adrian "Hardkor" Krygowski celebrates the digital release of his much anticipated new album, Road on the Left, with a full-band release party at the highly acclaimed venue Iota Club & Cafe, in Arlington, VA on February 21st. Opening the evening will be DC's Molly Hagen and Spelling for Bees Collective's "Twins of a Gazelle."

"Road on the Left" was recorded in December/January 2010 at Blue House Studios in Kensington, MD by DC Musicians, Michael Smirnoff on Percussion (No Second Troy, The Blackjacks), Jean Finstad on Bass (Justin Trawick Group), Mark Williams on Guitar (Jonesay), Jon Ozment, Tommy Lepson & Adrian Krygowski.

Five years ago Adrian left a small Minnesota and Wisconsin regional circuit and heartfelt songcraft in the snowy tundra for bigger things. Now, Adrian's constant pummeling of the Boston, NYC, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Chapel Hill markets have built an extensive catalog and regional following from his five short years based on the East Coast.

Adrian Krygowski - I Found You (Mp3)

TVD Live Tease | La Snacks w/ Transmography, Typefighter, and Ionosphere Club, Saturday (2/20) at Velvet Lounge

Remember Marvel Team Up, the Marvel comic from the 1970's that brought together Spider Man and another hero of the same ilk to battle injustice? Well, this morning we've got our pal Jumbo Slice from DC Rock Club sharing the stage with us, and if there' any justice, he'll get you over to Velvet Lounge on Saturday night:

"Greetings from Austin. I heard you've had a bit of snow up there in DC. Well, Texas is sending help in the form of La Snacks. Admittedly, they can't do a damn thing about the Snowmageddon, Snonami, or whatever it's being called. What they can do is put on a rollicking rock show to help you forgot you're in the midst of an arctic winter.

I moved from DC to Austin in April of 2008. It wasn't long after that I discovered La Snacks, stalwarts on the Austin music scene. My first La Snacks show was at Club DeVille in Austin's Red River District. For me, the band's appeal was immediate. They put on a boozy live show that had people dancing and singing as the band cracked wise on each other. Normally, I'm not a fan of stage banter but lead singer Robert Segovia was so engaging and hilarious that I didn't mind one bit. It was amusing to hear him explain his lyrics which span everything from the trade deficit with China to Jesse Jackson's run for the presidency in 1988.


Another reason I'm such a fan is their loose sound resembles the best groups from my college years. La Snacks' smart ass slacker vibe draws frequent comparisons to Archers of Loaf, Pavement, Superchunk, and other college radio darlings of the late '90s. Segovia's yowling vocal delivery wouldn't get him far on American Idol but it's a perfect fit for his wry and cynical lyrics.

La Snacks represents much of what I love about Austin. They both laid-back, smart, and fun-loving. If that sounds good to you, check out the band when they play Velvet Lounge this Saturday."

La Snacks - The Circle Argument (Mp3)
La Snacks - Meteorologist (Mp3)
La Snacks - Jackson 88 (Mp3)