We’ve been fans of Guided By Voices since the day we first heard their breakthrough, Desert Island album Bee Thousand in 1994.  And then we caught GBV live in April 1995 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco while they were out on the Alien Lanes tour.  We’ve been hopeless devotees of the band ever since (though we will admit to wilting somewhat under the weight and girth of GBV’s and leader Robert Pollard’s prolific recorded output).  In 1995, they powered and swaggered through a lo-fi, anthem-riddled setlist while hammering big bottles of booze and chain-smoking away.  Straight outta Dayton.  The band (Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell and Greg Demos at the core) had the crowd completely enamored with Pollard’s high-kicks, leaps, and Daltrey-esque mic-swings, Mitch Mitchell’s guitar-windmilling and chain-smoking, bassist Greg Demos’ outfits and plowing bass, and 33 songs (all between 60 and 120 seconds long).  It was so powerful a performance that it caused us to forget until recently that Elliot Smith(!) was one of the openers that night.  The next year in 1996 at the GAMH, Spoon opened for GBV, on the Under The Bushes Under The Stars tour, and the band solidified its rightful place in our top live-bands-of-all-time echelon.

Fast forward through partial and complete breakups (in 2004), solo albums, and label-squabbles to their 2010 reunion and the band releasing six (!) new albums in the last 2-1/2 years.  Having not seen them since 1996, when we heard the band was at last headed to California and a show at the Fonda Theater last Friday the 13th, we couldn’t wait to catch ’em again.  In short, at the Fonda GBV once again restored our faith in rock ‘n roll and powered through 48 songs (like almost every night of this tour–see the setlist at bottom).

Thankfully, in many ways not much has changed since those San Francisco shows.  Yes, the band’s members have aged over those 20 years, but at the Fonda Pollard still had the high-kicks, leaps, stage-spits and mic-twirls, Mitchell still chain-smoked throughout while hitting the Cuervo bottles and beers hard with Pollard, Greg Demos (with his signature attire and heart-attack-level effort) and Kevin March passionately played and mouthed the words to the songs as if they were their own, and Tobin Sprout still added his seriously underrated guitar, songs and vocals to the mix.  What has changed these days is the band’s generation-spanning, mosh-happy audience.  There were tons of twentysomethings to mix with back-in-the-day fans and mosh and sing at the top of their lungs.  It was a joyous, heartwarming atmosphere.

As for the music itself, in the first third of the set GBV rightfully concentrated on their two most recent albums, last year’s fantastic Motivational Jumpsuit and the impressive, just-released Cool Planet.  Pollard urged the crowd to really jump onto the new songs cause “they’re big hits!”  And he isn’t wrong.  Many of the songs from their last four albums should, in a better world, be “big hits,” such as the well-delivered Littlest League Possible, Pan Swimmer, Planet Score, Vote For Me Dummy, Xeno Pariah and Record Level Love (minor squabble: where were two of the best new songs Islands (She Talks in Rainbows) and Save The Company?).  As great as the new songs are, it took the old “hits” to fully-ignite the age-spanning crowd.  And ignite they did on Buzzards and Dreadful Crows and Gold Star For Robot Boy, though there wasn’t a complete crowd-conflagration until the band fired up fan-favorite Tractor Rape Chain.  The singalong stimulants during the set were Teenage FBI, Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory, I Am a Scientist, Game of Pricks, Motor Away and night-closer A Salty Salute.  Other highlights were several spare ballads (14 Cheerleader Coldfront) on which Pollard and Sprout supplied their surprisingly deft harmony vocals.

Throughout the night Pollard was effusive about LA (“this great city”), and flipped, caught and handed out multiple beers to the audience from his magic bucket while calling the generation-spanning crowd “kids.”  Pollard also assayed the band’s early albums and provided his (many) opinions on various record labels (Matador the only one that received Pollard-praise and went unscathed).  By night’s end Pollard might have slurred a word or two, but it didn’t affect his singing, stage antics or high-kicks.

Regardless, the show was yet another phenomenal showing from this never-say-die band.   Make sure you pick up their recent albums HERE and catch them the next time they come to town (they remaining dates of their tour are listed below the setlist).

Long live Guided By Voices!

Setlist:

Planet Score
Hat of Flames
Authoritarian Zoo
Pan Swimmer
Alex and the Omegas
Buzzards and Dreadful Crows
Psychotic Crush
A Bird with No Name
Wished I Was a Giant
Littlest League Possible
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Fast Crawl
Xeno Pariah
Vote for Me Dummy
Record Level Love
Ester’s Day
Fair Touching
These Dooms
Table at Fool’s Tooth
Tractor Rape Chain
The Head
Zero Elasticity
The Challenge Is Much More
He Rises! Our Union Bellboy
Echos Myron
All American Boy
Teenage FBI
You Get Every Game
Spiderfighter
Males of Wormwood Mars
Cut-Out Witch
Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
No Transmission
Cool Planet
I Am A Scientist
Game of Pricks

First Encore:

How I Met My Mother
Shocker in Gloomtown
Awful Bliss
Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy
Motor Away

Second Encore (Pollard:  “If it’s OK with you, how about we just skip that leaving the stage and coming back for the third encore part?”):

A Good Flying Bird
14 Cheerleader Coldfront
Pimple Zoo
Smothered in Hugs
Quality of Armor
Exit Flagger
A Salty Salute

Tour Dates:

6.20.14 Madison, WI – Barrymore Theatre *
6.21.14 Chicago, IL – Green Music Festival
6.22.14 Minneapolis, MN – Rock The Garden @ Walker Arts Center &
7.10.14 New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place@
7.11.14 New York, NY – Irving Plaza #
7.12.14 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club #
8.22.14 Huntington, NY – Paramount Theater %
8.23.14 Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony %
11.7.14 – 11.9.14 Austin, TX – Fun Fun Fun Fest

* with Bobby Bare, Jr.
& with Spoon & Kurt Vile
# with Crystal Stilts
@ with Speedy Ortiz
% with Boogarins

Color photos: courtesy of Bill Cuttler

David Letterman finished the week strong in the music realm.  On Wednesday Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit showed up in support of their newly-released album Stay Gold (produced by Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis) and performed their outstanding new song My Silver Lining.  Listen as these gold-embossed gals sing like the angels (so much so that Letterman advised the sisters that he is moving to Stockholm and “would be happy to run errands”).

And then last night Letterman had on the incomparably talented Janelle Monáe.  With the World Cup starting yesterday, Monáe’s performance was timed to coincide with her Pepsi-sponsored, World Cup-themed take on Bowie’s Heroes.  Monáe’s good-footed performance is, as always, a gigantic joy to behold.

Bring on that World Cup!

As mentioned repeatedly on these pages, we are huge fans of Melbourne’s upstart artist Courtney Barnett.  Her staccato delivery of deadpan, well-wrought lyrics is a refreshing change borne of Lou Reed/Velvets/Dylan/Pavement influences (in other words: the best there is).   All the while during her current tour, we’ve been receiving rave reviews from afar of Ms. Barnett’s and her band’s sets as openers for Phosphorescent.  If you’ve missed any of those dates, all remaining tour dates are listed below.  Get ‘ye there.

To give you a feel for what you’ve/we’ve been missing, WFUV has today released two rousing performances by Barnett and trio performing tracks David and Avant Gardener (sorry for the multiple vantages of the latter, but it bears repeating) off of her fantastic The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas.  Check ’em out below.

Afterwards, watch as Barnett and the illustrious Billy Bragg perform Velvet Underground’s/Lou Reed’s Sunday Morning on the awesome Aussie TV show, RocKwiz.  And finally at bottom, watch Barnett’s Nowness/Yours Truly session (get the picture? barn and Barnett?) where she performs Ode to Odetta and scrabbles regarding Los Angeles appearing to be one big movie set.  Yeah.  So?

Courtney Barnett is a bright new talent on the scene, and with any justice she will take over the world’s airwaves.  Elle est tres charmant, non?  Oui!  Bien sur.

North American Tour Dates /

06.12.14 – Georgia Theatre – Athens, GA *

06.14.14 – Music Hall Of Williamsburg – Northside Festival – Brooklyn, NY **

06.15.14 – The Surf Lodge – Montauk, NY

06.17.14 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY **

06.18.14 – The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA **

06.19.14 – Firefly Festival – Dover, DE

06.20.14 – 06.22.14 – Silver Dollar – NXNE Festival – Toronto, ON

06.24.14 – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN **

07.01.14 – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO ^^

07.02.14 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT ^^

07.04.14 – Fortune Sound Club – Vancouver, BC ^^

07.05.14 – Neptune – Seattle, WA ^

07.07.14 – The Triple Door – Seattle, WA

07.30.14 – Schubas Tavern – Chicago, IL

08.01.14 – Lollapalooza – Chicago, IL

08.02.14 – Osheaga Festival – Montreal, QC

08.03.14 – Pickathon Festival – Happy Valley, OR

08.07.14 – Casbah – San Diego, CA

08.08.14 – Pappy and Harriets – Pioneertown, CA

08.08.14 – 08.10.14 – Outside Lands Festival – San Francisco, CA

11.07.14 – Fun Fun Fun Fest – Austin, TX

* w/ Phosphorescent

** w/ Benjamin Booker

^ w/ Sharon Van Etten

^^ w/ Your Friend

It’s been quite a week for Jack White.  Following on the heels of his lively, hectoring appearance on The Tonight Show on Monday and the release of his artfully-agro new solo album Lazarreto on Tuesday, last night White appeared on Conan  and NPR broadcast his entire concert (all two hours of it, including White Stripes, Raconteurs and Hank Williams songs) at the Fonda Theater in LA.  You can watch all of the Conan participation below and his entire Fonda show on NPR HERE.

On Conan, the comparatively subdued new songs Temporary Ground and Alone In My Home were well-wrought and a welcome wind-down from the more incendiary fare presented by White.

Lazaretto is out now on Third Man/Columbia, and Jack White is off to some tiny festival known as “Bonnaroo.” Ever hear of it?

Temporary Ground:

Alone In My Home:

Interviews:

And in our seemingly weekly Sylvan Esso news, the dynamic duo was recently caught by Noisey on a Brooklyn rooftop with added horn quartet and handclapper/wine-bottler.  Watch as the group performs a stripped down acoustic version of their catchy Hey Mami.  Amelia Meath prefaced the performance by explaining that the song is addressed to ridiculous cat-calling harassers.  The performance recalls Paul Simon motifs and rhythms, updated well.  Simply superb.

At long last, the stupendous New Pornographers have announced they will release their new album The Brill Bruisers on August 26th on Matador Records.  The album was recorded by/with the fantastic lineup of A.C. Newman, Neko Case, Dan Bejar (Destroyer), Blaine Thurier, John Collins, Kathryn Calder, Kurt Dahle, and Todd Fancey.  Listen to the album’s ebullient, rocking title track and/or click on the prompt to go over to the band’s site and “paint” the song in full palette.  Following on the heels of Newman’s last contemplative and heavy solo album, Shut Down The Streets, Newman says about The Brill Bruisers: “This is a celebration record. After periods of difficulty, I am at a place where nothing in my life is dragging me down and the music reflects that.”

It’s early in the week, but we’re calling it now after listening to the song on repeat for ours:  its the Song of the Week.

The new album’s tracklist is below (Champions of Red Wine has to be great!) and the band’s tour dates (Cali: they come to Cali mid-October, including The Wiltern) follow the video (tickets HERE).

Tracklist:

1 Brill Bruisers
2 Champions Of Red Wine
3 Fantasy Fools
4 War On The East Coast
5 Backstairs
6 Marching Orders
7 Another Drug Deal Of The Heart
8 Born With A Sound
9 Wide Eyes
10 Dancehall Domine
11 Spidyr
12 Hi-Rise
13 You Tell Me Where

Tour Dates:

07/18-20 Pemberton, BC @ Pemberton Music Festival
08/29-31 Edmonton, AB @ Sonic Boom Festival
09/06 Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
09/06-07 Toronto, ON @ Riot Fest
10/05-06 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox*
10/08 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom*
10/09 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory*
10/10 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot*
10/11 Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre*
10/13 Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom*
10/14 Tuscon, AZ @Rialto Theatre*
10/15 Pioneertown, CA @Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace*
10/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern*
10/18 San Diego, CA @ North Park Theatre*
11/04 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom*
11/05 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel*
11/06 Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre*
11/07 New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre*
11/07-09 Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
11/10 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant*
11/11 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown*
11/13 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater*
11/14 Chicago, IL @Riviera Theatre*
11/15 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues*
11/17 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom*
11/19 Boston, MA @ House of Blues*
11/20 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer*
11/21 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club*
11/23 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle*

*w/ The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

As everyone knows, Jimmy Fallon and crew have great taste in music, and last night Fallon was in music-geek heaven when the great Jack White lit up the stage on The Tonight Show.  White and band first played the rootsy Just One Drink as a web-exclusive, and then rendered an incendiary take on the title track of White’s new album, Lazaretto.  After bowing to White after each performance, Fallon interviewed White, focusing on the inventive, feature-laden “Ultra LP” edition of Lazaretto (watch White’s video at bottom).   You can check out the Tonight Show songs and interview below.

Anybody questioning the passion and intensity of Jack White on stage need only assay how long it takes for him to come out of his trance-like state at the end of the slashing Lazaretto.  The boy has got it.  In spades.

Jack White “Lazaretto” ~ Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight… by HumanSlinky

Someone leading the PopUp Chorus in North Carolina has recently been picking some particularly great unheralded songs for the PopUps to sing.  PopUp Chorus is held in Durham, NC by Community Chorus Project.  Check out below as first the PopUp performs Lost In The Trees’ fine Daunting Friend.  The song is off of Lost In The Trees album Past Life, a stupendously underrated album which will indubitably appear on our Best Albums of 2014 (highly recommended; full review soon come).  After the two PopUp videos, listen to Lost In The Trees studio version of the song and watch them perform it for WNRN.  Beauty.  The song’s lyrics are at bottom.

After watching the PopUps perform Daunting Friend, check out the PopUp’s well-done cover of what will undoubtedly end up as one of our Best Songs of 2104, Sylvan Esso’s Coffee.

Daunting Friend

“you’re such a daunting friend
you sing to me under your bed
a melody’s rotten
all your spirling hair
I will meet you on the stairs
the angels are speaking

so I will lie
in your shadow
out where the oceans are dark
we’ll never hunt alone
so long
out where our eyes are all older
our memories have grown

we’ll float around the town
chasing all that beauty we’re after
a mirror repeating
saying you’re alright
sing with all the color of night
our love’s always changing
like angels speaking

so I will lie
in your shadow
out where the oceans are dark
we’ll never hunt alone

and rise up
arise
light of our own
our armored moon will burn bright
and fold us in her arms

I let you slip away
you let me slip away
forever
when our eyes are all older
our memories stay”

Last night Arcade Fire brought out Ian McCulloch to cover Echo & The Bunnymen’s The Cutter at London’s Earls Court.  Tonight they returned at the venue and covered The Smiths’ London with brother Butler (Will) on lead vocals.  Listen to it below.  Tonight’s set list is at bottom.

We’ve been huge fans of Echo & the Bunnymen since we wore out Crocodiles in 1980.  Imagine our delight then to discover that last night at Earls Court in London, Arcade Fire did this above (photo) and brought out Echo & The Bunnymen’s leader Ian McCulloch for a resounding cover of Echo & the Bunnymen’s 1983 hit The Cutter.  Watch below.  Echo & the Bunnymen are coming to the Observatory in Santa Ana on July 30th courtesy of Club Mercy.

Arcade Fire plays the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 4th and we can’t wait to see if they can top The National and Elbow for the best show of 2014.  Be there.

To get a great feel for the band live, Arcade Fire tweeted earlier today that tonight’s last UK show at Earls Court will be broadcast audio live on XFM London radio.  Lorde (who also plays the Santa  Barbara Bowl on October 9th) will open tonight from 7:00-7:45 pm UK time (11-11:45am Pacific time) and Arcade Fire’s set is from 8:20-10pm (12:20-2pm Pacific).  US and other non-UK folks need to use postcode SW193RQ.  Go HERE and plug in the code.