Fig & Mint

Poster design by El JefeIn the spirit of "better late than never," I saw my first My Morning Jacket show on Wednesday night, and it was totally awesome.  I'd heard lots of stories and accounts of Jim James fiery stage presence, perfect replication and expansion of their myriad catalog and the exuberant volume and bravado of their rockmanship, so I was wary of my lofty anticipation being fulfilled, but the show was, as I said, super freakin' good.  Rather than rehash all of the the nuances of the performance and my logistical complaints of the DAR Constitution Hall (not the greatest venue), I would defer you to FM Memphis Editor John Miller's account of MMJ in Nashville, which you can read here.  One advantage I do have in this post, however, is one of our favorite contributing photographers was there and came out in spades with awesome pictures of the band.  I've put a few below the setlist, and you can check them all out here.  Thanks Shantel!

###

An Evening With My Morning Jacket
2008-09-03 Constitution Hall - Washington, DC       

1. Evil Urges
2. Anytime
3. Off The Record
4. Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1
5. Two Halves
6. Golden
7. Thank You Too!
8. I'm Amazed
9. The Way That He Sings
10. Sec Walkin
11. War Begun
12. Phone Went West
13. Cobra
14. Librarian
15. Dondante
16. Gideon
17. Lay Low
18. Steam Engine
----------
19. Wordless Chorus
20. Highly Suspicious
21. Smokin From Shootin
22. Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2
23. Run Thru
24. One Big Holiday 

###

Were continually expanding our wings here at FM Headquarters, to the point that actual musicans (as opposed to the ones that we make up in our minds) have started granting us interview requests.  In a summer series of sorts I've had the opportunity to chat with members of The M's, These United States, Revival, Panther and more.  Today we're talking (sort of) with The Walkmen.  We took some time out of our busy schedules to sit down in front of a computer screen and discuss what's happening in their world via email.  Enjoy!

###

(from left) Tom Hnatow, myself being a tourist, Jesse Elliott and Mark Charles Heidinger at The Rock & Roll Hotel in DC earlier this year.

I've talked about the new direction in sound featured on Crimes, the impending release from These United States.  Now you get a taste for yourself. 

###

So I was checking out some videos of Fleet Foxes and The Dodos at "French" blog La Blogoteque and...well, let's start over.  First of all, I don't really know if it's a blog or not, mainly because I can't read a word of Francaise.  Second, I believe these videos were from a party of some kind, but, again, not really sure there either.  What this whole tale amounts to is that I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Mark Charles Heidinger, a.k.a. Vandaveer, performing at what appeared to be the same party. 

If anyone out there speaks French, check out the page and maybe you can tell me a little more about what's happening on these videos, but the performances are great, so at give them a look even if you're a silly dumb Anglo like myself (and MS redneck to boot).  

On another similar note, I believe the Vandaveer song over at the Blogoteria (or whatever) from the forthcoming release that I've caught wind of and must be from around May or so, but, again, these questions and more I suppose will have to wait until the next time I see Mark around town to ask.  In the meantime, enjoy this clip of The Dodos (I couldn't find an embeddable Vandaveer clip, so check out the rest of the videos here) and tell someone you love them. Peace!

###

One of the brightest and most original groups to recently come out from Portland's rich musical scene is the dynamic dance duo Panther.  They recently finished a short East Coast jaunt and will  be going on the road in support of Ratatat beginning tomorrow.  I caught up with Charlie Humara, Joe Kelly and guest violinist Sara Welker before their recent DC show at The Velvet Lounge, and even stuck around for their set (which no one else seemed to be interested in doing, in spite of the fact that they were by far the best group on a four band bill...silly goth-kids).  I think a great time was had by all, as we delved deep into the mysteries of laxative tea, the horribleness of Canada and the most expensive Motel 6 in the world.

If you're a big fan of My Morning Jacket, then you're probably at least somewhat familiar with their 2 Early Recordings discs comprised of material the band produced leading up to the At Dawn sessions, both of which feature a number of great covers.  My personal favorite is Erykah Badu's "Tyrone" that appears on Vol. 2, so when Dallas music blog gorilla vs. bear posted an mp3 and video of Badu stepping out with MMJ on August 23rd, well...just watch for yourself.  It's pretty much incredible.

The college football season officially begins in about 38 minutes, and I for one couldn't be more excited.  Well, that's not true.  I'd be more excited if ESPN covered college football as well as they cover other sports; the well known fact remains, however, that ESPN is jack assed and biased against the SEC and toward USC and Ohio State.  I am generally able to put up with it well enough, since I know it going in, but tonight Mark May has forced me to hate him.  Rather than regurgitate all of the well worn and plainly valid arguments over the amazing depth of play in the SEC as opposed to any other conference, I'm just going to repeat the most retarded point that I've ever heard a college football analyst try to defend.  When asked about the strongest conference in the nation, May conceded that SEC was undoubtedly top, but, he explained, the margin isn't very large because the Big XII is coming on strong.  The Big XII?  What...THE BIG XII??  Are you kidding me? Thankfully, Lou Holtz effectively rebuffed May's idiocy, and even went on to talk about the immense talent in unspoken SEC teams such as South Carolina and Ole Miss (Hotty Toddy!!!!!!!), not to mention the fact that 6 SEC teams are ranked in the preseason Top 25, with 2 in the top 5 and the aforementioned Gamecocks at #26.  Well, I can't get away from this without pointing out that USC only wins (on average) by about 10 points a conference game in the PAC-10, the worst of the Big 4 conferences, and Ohio State can't help but get embarassed by SEC schools in big games (I seem to recall this one national championship...).

I hope you get fired, Mark May.  Of course I know you won't, since ESPN is obviously on some under the table Buckeye and Trojan bankrolls and tends to revel in college football lunacy.  Meh. 

Don't just take my word for it, read this article which outlines the different aspects of the argument.  Then, check out the best college sports blog on the Interweb, The Dead Guy's SEC Site. 

Go Rebs!

Here's a new band for you, darling reader.  That's right, they're called CAW! CAW!, which initially made me want to hate them voluminously.  Unfortunately, their promotion company outsmarted me and sent a track from their forthcoming EP and I was bored at work.  "Meh," I thought to myself as the track opened, "I can go on ignoring them, it's OK, they won't be any big deal."  But I didn't stop listening to the track, and by the end of it I was reading their one-sheet and checking tour dates.  I've listened to it three times now, and I must say it gets a little better every time. 

Here's the skinny on them: they began as a punk quartet in 2001 and must not have gained much notoriety.  Musically, though, they had some cohesive ideas, because after years of relentless practicing and gigging in and around Chicago, they have morphed into a grand pop-rock outfit with deft textures and sound execution.  Their debut EP, Waiting Outside, drops September 23rd and is available via Slanty Shanty (although pre-orders will ship on the 16th...that's your FM Tip of the Day).

Everyone's favorite overdramatic zipcode is returning for what promises to be one of the least interesting things on television / most interesting things on The CW.  Well, maybe I'm being too hard on the revamped Beverly Hills series.  I mean, the star power seems to be top notch: Jennie Garth and Shannon Doherty will be reprising the only roles that ever paid better than the ones where they felt dirty the next morning, as well as former Full House castmember and Lifetime Original Movie allstar Lori Loughlin, who (I'm sure) will expertly complement former Silk Stalkings frontman Rob Estes.  Who could ask for more?

Ironically, there may be a reason beyond pity laughter to tune in to the season re-premiere on September 2, as everyone's favorite tap dancing Omaha five-piece Tilly & The Wall will be performing their song "Pot Kettle Black" (not to be confused with the synonymous Wilco track) on 90210's first episode.

If you're not familiar with Tilly or their recent album o, not to worry!  You can stream their full album below, courtesy of our friends at Fanatic Promotion.