Lots of Shows This Weekend!

So we’re gonna tell you about a few things going on in Louisville over the next few days that are worth your attention. First, on Saturday night at Harley’s Main Street Tavern, Michigan’s Child Bite performs with locals Opposable Thumbs and Friends & Relatives. Here’s the flier:

Harley’s is located at 122 W. Main between 1st and 2nd Streets. Music gets underway around 10 PM and costs five bucks.

On Sunday our favorites PARLOUR play at the Chestnut House (714 East Chestnut Street, between Clay and Shelby) with Dischord recording artists Edie Sedgwick, Julie of the Wolves (a new band consisting of members of Venus Trap, Second Story Man, Minnow, The Frequent Sea, and Madame Machine) and Life at Home (Don’t know anything about them, unfortunately). Here’s another flier:

Also on Sunday at RYE (900 E. Market at the corner of Market and Campbell), Bro. Stephen plays with Joan Shelley. Cost for that one is $15, which includes food, and it starts at 7 PM.

Last but not least, on Monday Brooklyn noise merchants VAZ play Cahoot’s with Trophy Wives, Alcohol Party, and Neighbor. We’re seriously considering breaking our no-Cahoot’s rule for this one. Maybe we’ll see you there?

UPDATE: We knew we forgot something! There’s also another show on Sunday at Zanzabar with SOFTCHEQUE, Y/Y, and the Ecstatic Girth Survival Sextet. Or something. Info on the flier:

Rumor has it one band is TROPICAL TRASH-related, who killed it last Tuesday at Harley’s. So there’s that. Enjoy!

THE LADYBIRDS and NATURAL CHILD at ZANZABAR, Saturday March 31st

(Flier by Mikie Poland.)

Cropped Out and The Other Side of Life are proud to present:

THE LADYBIRDS (Louisville, KY)
NATURAL CHILD (Nashville, TN; on Infinity Cat Recordings)

Saturday, March 31st
at ZANZABAR
2100 S. Preston
9  PM, 21 and over, $6

(Photo of The Ladybirds by Eddie Dant)

THE LADYBIRDS masterfully balance a mean juggling act. The Louisville, KY-based five-piece -Jaxon Swain, Max Balliet, Anthony Fossaluzza, Brett Holsclaw, and Sarah Teeple, articulately summons greasy garage rock and lush Spector pop sans kitsch or tribute act fluff. Their main influences are the years 1954 to 1973, when it was just about fun and swingin’ grooves, not the droll, heavy-handed, over-serious approach to songwriting oft employed in the contemporary American underground. Their 2007 debut, Whiskey & Wine, was well received in the region, and saw the group sharing the stage with the likes of Wanda Jackson, Dex Romweber Duo, Heavy Trash, The Greenhornes, and many more. The Ladybirds’ sophomore album, Shimmy Shimmy Dang, as demonstrated in the title, is truth in advertising. Flavors of surf, rockabilly, doo wop, and dusty retro bubblegum pop all take a front seat. Yet, as Jaxon explains “we’re all punk rockers in the end.” And that’s what separates THE LADYBIRDS from a simple nostalgia offering – modern and original twists on familiar sounds, influence by the genres the band describes as “rock at its most authentic.”

Watch the video for THE LADYBIRDS song “Hum De Dum” (courtesy Everybody’s Hugging): http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=31084096&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0

Summer 2009 Wez ate brownies had a vision. He told big black Zack and called Seth 3 times. They started the Nashville-based three piece rock band called NATURAL CHILD. Maybe known as much for their incessant rambling on-stage banter as their unprecedented pure rock sound, NATURAL CHILD are often described as “the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world”, a title which the trio has worked mercilessly hard to gain… and they have the balls to show for it. NATURAL CHILD want to play in Jamaica and want to play at the pyramids. They have a plan that involves Jack White to befriend Keith Richards and be the opening act on Rolling Stones farewell tour, thus having “the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world” torch officially passed on to them. Not Jack White. These guys love to party. And they love to ride in that van. Oh man.

Watch NATURAL CHILD cover “Born to Be Wild” in Louisville here:

Find the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/events/357209240968905.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil AT gmail DOT com.

UPDATE 3/27/12: Fantastic lady DJs KIM SORISE and BLYTHE SHADBURNE will be spinning lots of tasty cuts in-between bands! Don’t miss it!

Two Good Shows Tomorrow!

It’s going to be tough to decide on which of these to go to — that is, if we end up not having to work tomorrow night!

The Web
Brett Ralph’s Kentucky Chrome Revue
David Grubbs
Rude Weirdo
Straight A’s
at the Bard’s Town, 1801 Bardstown Road. 9 PM, $6, apparently now it’s all ages. This show, presented by Louisville’s excellent Noise Pollution label, should be a good one as it’s well-stocked with artists that (should) need no introduction. If you need more info, you might find it at the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/events/145355115567233.

Also, over at Zanzabar (which is at 2100 S. Preston, of course), Natural Child and State Champion are playing (here’s the event invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/255787627819138). Natural Child played an excellent set at this year’s Cropped Out, so if you missed it, don’t sleep on this show! It’s $5, 21-and-over, and starts at 9 PM.

No matter what you end up doing, have a fantastic New Year!

A CROPPED OUT Summary: Or Louisville’s Best Music Weekend Ever

Hey Louisville, if you weren’t at CROPPED OUT at some point during this past weekend, you really missed something quite special. It wasn’t just that there were a buncha noisy, arty bands and rock n’ roll and whatnot. There was actually a quite palpable community spirit, evidenced by the smiles, high-fives, and general fun it seemed that most everybody had. Didn’t hurt that some of the best weather of the fall made it possible for lots of bands to play outside, too. So here’s a quick rundown of best parts of the festival, complete with crappy pictures from my cellphone.

DAY 1 — FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11th: Though it got started way early on Friday afternoon, and there was some noise issues early on, Friday was a good start, especially for the Louisville bands on the bill. SAVAGES played immediately after LEARNER DANCER, both of which brought forceful, guitar-heavy rock (the former more in a pop vein, while the latter mined some heavy Sonic Youth-style dissonant territory).

One of the early Friday highlights was, of course, Louisville’s SHEDDING (disclaimer: Connor and I are buds, but even if we weren’t, I’d still love his music). Despite his talk of being influenced by RUSH, Connor really brought more of a CURRENT 93 vibe, perfectly mellow yet eerie.

Another Friday highlight was Austin, Texas’s SHIT & SHINE, which featured none other than the BUTTHOLE SURFERS’ KING COFFEY on percussion. Tribal, BOREDOMS-esque throb with synth squiggles and CB radio nonsense. Totally fun.

Other Friday night highlights included (in no particular order):
1. apologizing to KING COFFEY for talking his ear off at SxSW ’07
2. MOUNT CARMEL — and the revelation afterwards that KING has never seen ZZ TOP!
3. bonfires (more on them later)
4. hangin’ with MV + EE‘s dog Zuma
5. SHIT & SHINE‘s bunny suits
6. MV + EE singing “Fire on the Mountain” at the end of a fantastic set backed by TIM BARNES and CHRIS from the CHERRY BLOSSOMS (thanks for the beers!)
7. Locals ALCOHOL PARTY, NATIVES, ANWAR SADAT, and AXEL COOPER showing how it’s done
8. Chorizo taco from the Holy Mole Taco Truck
9. Good times with friends old and new
10. Beer

DAY 2 — SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th: Saturday started inauspiciously as I showed up to the venue, the CRUMMY DEN, way early, so I wandered over to the FLEA OFF MARKET (where I bought an excellent book of photography from Louisville Hardcore’s poet laureate, Mr. BRETT EUGENE RALPH), then had lunch at the Blind Pig. Missed most of the early sets due to some errands I had to run, but caught a little bit of VIDEO DAUGHTER, who were okay.

CROPPED OUT is one week away!

Holy smokes, folks! Time flies when you’re… working, eating, L-I-V-I-N’ in the Louisville these days. CROPPED OUT is nearly upon us! That means what will be Louisville’s best weekend of music (like you thought I was gonna say “Forecastle?”) is just a week away! (You can read our previous preview here: http://othersideoflife.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/cropped-out-is-coming-up/.)

There is some slightly bummer news as we hear that Detroit garage weirdos HUMAN EYE had to cancel (thankfully for us that means there will be no weird stains on our living room rug). But hey, there’s still lots more musical excitement for your listening pleasure. Here’s the whole lineup (our “picks to click” a la Hawk Harrelson in bold):

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11th — MV + EE, DOPE BODY, SUN ARAW, SAVAGES, MOUNT CARMEL, NATIVES, CHRISTMAS BRIDE, ANWAR SADAT, COUGH COOL, SHIT & SHINE, SHEDDING, ALCOHOL PARTY, AXEL COOPER, LEARNER DANCER

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th — BILL ORCUTT, GUARDIAN ALIEN, PYGMY SHREWS, THE DREEBS, ANGEL OLSEN, CHAT LOGS, JOHN WESLEY COLEMAN III, NATURAL CHILD, LAST YEAR’S MEN, SAPAT, TROPICAL TRASH, MAYOR DALEY, THE MEN, FAT HISTORY MONTH, CIRCUIT DES YEUX, JOVONTAES, ANGELS IN AMERICA, ARCANE RIFLES, CROSS, VIDEO DAUGHTERS, BLACK GOD

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13th — SCRATCH ACID, YOUNG WIDOWS, COLISEUM

Check it out at the following internet spots:

Facebook event invitation: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=251887664858861
Official website: http://croppedoutmusic.com
Official tumblr: http://croppedout.tumblr.com

See y’all there!

UPDATE: CROPPED OUT has posted the festival’s entire schedule here: http://croppedoutmusic.com/fest/#schedule.

CROPPED OUT is coming up…

We haven’t had too much to say about the upcoming CROPPED OUT festival, on the weekend of November 11th – 13th here in lovely Louisville, Kentucky, because it seems like it’s all anybody can talk about anyway! I mean, can you believe freakin’ SCRATCH ACID is gonna play?* Me neither, and I’m really stoked!

But the CROPPED OUT fest is far more than just one band. It’s a whole mess of ‘em! Including some of our favorite performers ever:

• BILL ORCUTT, former guitarist for HARRY PUSSY, and one of the most exciting purveyors of six-string nonsense (even though he only plays four strings, apparently) going today.
• MV + EE, the duo of Matt Valentine (formerly of THE TOWER RECORDINGS) and Erika Elder is probably the closest you’ll get to seeing Neil Young live, except perhaps even more damaged. And rumor has it that former TOWER RECORDINGS member TIM BARNES will be joining them!
• MOUNT CARMEL is probably our favorite of the new SILTBREEZE roster — straight-ahead Ohio-style boogie rock!
• HUMAN EYE might possibly be the best rock band in Detroit right now. Period.

And there’s a whole slew more, including lots of shit we’ve never heard of before! And a bevy of fantastic local artists, including our friends SAPAT, YOUNG WIDOWS, SHEDDING, COLISEUM, CROSS, and lots more!

They got a new web site up at http://croppedoutmusic.com, so check it out and buy your tickets ASAP.** It’s gonna be killer!

*On a side note, how come nobody got it together to bring THE JESUS LIZARD to Louisville during their recent reunion action? Just because Laura Shine has no idea who they are doesn’t mean they weren’t one of the most popular Chicago-style bands to play in Louisville during the 1990s. Our excuse for not booking them is, well, we were too poor to afford their guarantee (as if our shoe-string show budget wasn’t obvious).

**Seriously Louisville, if you sleep on this like you slept on TERRASTOCK 2008, you only have yourself to blame. The prices are good, the venue is centrally located, and if you miss it…

DISCLAIMER: We are buds with Ryan and James who are booking/promoting CROPPED OUT, and we think they’re awesome! We do occasionally co-promote shows with ‘em but that’s only because they rule!

Two Great Shows This Weekend!

Louisvillians have the rare treat of two really great shows this weekend. Here’s information on both of them:

CEREBELLUM (from Louisville, on Noise Pollution)
TROPHY WIVES (from Louisville/Illinois, on Noise Pollution)
THE TEETH (from Louisville/Southern Indiana, on Noise Pollution)

Saturday, July 31
at SKULL ALLEY
1017 E. Broadway
8 PM, $6, ALL AGES!

Here’s what Mat Herron wrote about the show in this week’s LEO Weekly:

Cerebellum was only around from 1988-1989, but the work of the band’s members outlasts its breakup.Three-quarters of the band went on to form Crain — guitarists Tim Furnish and Joey Mudd, bassist Jon Cook and drummer Will Chatham. The team of Furnish, Cook and Breck Pipes — an apropos furniture store name if ever there was one — now hold court in Parlour, Mudd fronts Midnite Sons, and guitarist Drew Daniel [Drew didn't actually play guitar, but sang/banged metal objects --ed.], who designed the cover of Cerebellum’s lone cassette, is one half of Baltimore experimental duo Matmos…

This past spring, Noise Pollution, who has taken up the mantle of curating much of Louisville’s older punk music, re-released Cerebellum’s first tape along with five songs — “Begin,” “Guard,” “Hurt,” “Brighten” and “Crawl Out of the Water” — recorded at Trip Barriger’s Studio K.

The special edition LP came out just in time for the band’s reunion show back in May to raise money for Jason Noble, but their proper release happens July 31 at Skull Alley (1017 E. Broadway, www.skullalley.net). The all ages show is $6. Trophy Wives and The Teeth open.

CEREBELLUM’s performance in May was awesome, don’t miss this one!

Also, Sunday night brings the following show to a new space (in the same building as St. Francis High School):

BEAR IN HEAVEN
SHEDDING
SLOW ANIMAL

Sunday, August 1st
at LAND OF TOMORROW
233 W. Broadway
7:30 PM, $7-10 suggested donation

This show was curated in part by Michael over at the Decibel Tolls, so it’s bound to be great. Don’t miss it!

Boogie Knight — Paul Major on Toy Tiger, Hikes Point and points beyond

(Photo by Jeff Winterberg)

A short interview I conducted with the one-and-only Top Dollar, aka Paul Major of Endless Boogie, ran in this week’s LEO Weekly. Check it out here:

Louisville native, record dealer and guitar genius Paul Major of Endless Boogie chats with LEO Weekly about growing up in Louisville and about Endless Boogie’s second full-length record, Full House Head, due out July 20.

LEO: Talk a little bit about what memories you have of Louisville, especially concerts you saw or buying records.

Paul Major: One of my earliest memories is the sadly gone Toy Tiger sign at Bardstown Road and Goldsmith Lane. I grew up near there. I was in grade school (when) I heard my first fuzz guitars in 1966. As a kid, I went nuts, and my entire gear shifted. So every Saturday with my lawn-mowing money, I’d head up Bardstown Road and go to the head shops and the used record stores. Like Rivertown Records, I remember being one of the first ones. Just went up there and bought every obscure, weird-looking record I saw that might simulate what it was like to be trippin’ out. I remember getting my first copy of (the 13th Floor Elevators’) Easter Everywhere for 27 cents.

But the main difference back then was radio. That was a time when every genre of music competed on Top 40 radio, and you’d hear Deep Purple next to Frank Sinatra next to the Mamas & the Papas next to Claudine Longet. I remember that (Texas International recording artist) Bubble Puppy had a No. 1 hit in Louisville with “Hot Smoke and Sassafras,” and that was kind of a dud elsewhere. I used to sit with the AM transistor radio with little notebooks, and I had all these different categories for tones of the fuzz guitars.

LEO: Tell us about the new record, Full House Head. It’s not a huge departure from the first Endless Boogie record, Focus Level, which means it’s a good rock record.

PM: (One difference with Full House Head), it builds up a little bit with the guitar parts. It’s a little more just being totally spontaneous, but then throwing in some other stuff, with a couple of catchier numbers on there. It’s on No Quarter, so we’re looking forward to that. I just saw the cover art when I got back from Europe. People that have heard it so far are enthusiastic. (It’s an) all-time record for Endless Boogie: only two years to get something done.

Full House Head comes out on July 20th, on No Quarter. The full transcript of the interview will be posted soon.

THE WEB, PHANTOM FAMILY HALO, SOFTCHEQUE at The Vernon Club, Saturday, June 12th

THE WEB
PHANTOM FAMILY HALO
SOFTCHEQUE

Saturday, June 12th
at The Vernon Club
1575 Story Avenue
9 PM, $6, 18+
“No Dicks”

Details about the show from Noise Pollution:

Completing their slow reemergence from the abyss, enigmatic Louisville legends THE WEB will be releasing their (very, very) long awaited third album, Clydotorous Scrotohendron, on June 12th. The seven song album will be released on LP with letter pressed covers by Dexterity Press. Clydotorous Scrotohendron will also include a free digital download of the album with purchase of the LP.  This will be The Web’s first release in twelve years (and only third show in the same timeframe) and features the core lineup of Andrew Willis, Jason Hayden, Steve Good, Tony Hoyle and Gary Pahler.  The release show will take place at Vernon Club (1575 Story Ave) on Saturday, June 12th and marks The Web’s return to (at least) semi-active status. Opening for The Web will be two other incredible Louisville bands Phantom Family Halo and Softcheque. Doors at 9pm. Cost is $6. 18 and over. As huge fans of The Web for many years, we are thrilled and honored to have them on the label.  Azuza!

UPDATE, 6/9/2010: LEO Weekly ran a short feature by Mat Herron on The Web, including details on the new album, in today’s edition. Check it out here: http://leoweekly.com/music/follow-plant.

The Endtables, s/t (Drag City/Alien Intelligences)

LEO Weekly ran my review of the new retrospective of Louisville’s own Endtables today:

I thought we were modern, sings Steve Rigot at the beginning of “Trick or Treat” by the Endtables, a perfect statement on life in Louisville circa 1979. Arguably the first punk band in town, their music utterly reflects the anxiety of growing up “punk,” modern, in a thoroughly unmodern place. Songs such as “They’re Guilty,” “The Defectors” and “White Glove Test” exude a nervous energy that’s hard to match. But after self-releasing one four-song single, the band broke up, with their music known to only a handful. This long-overdue collection corrects the historical record by presenting the six songs they recorded while active (on the new 12-inch EP), along with an unedited take of “Process of Elimination,” as well as six live songs — five of which were never recorded, and three video clips of the band in action (on the CD only).

Buy it from Drag City here: http://www.dragcity.com/products/the-endtables.