[Thanks Carlos]

Chan Marshall portrait by Grant Siedleck
Given the persistence of this shitty weather, we’re looking forward to some of this summer’s upcoming shows. Namely Cat Power at McCarren Park Pool.
Plus it’s been rumored that Sonic Youth may perform Daydream Nation, in its entirety, at Prospect Park. On the downside, Celebrate Brooklyn is reeking of patchouli this year:
Prospect Park Band Shell, Brooklyn, NY
Thu 06/14 – The Neville Brothers
Sat 06/16 – Joan Osborne
Thu 06/21 – Richard Thompson
Fri 06/22 – Ralph Stanley
Tue 06/26 – Manu Chao
Tue 06/27 – Manu Chao
Fri 06/29 – Ravi Coltrane, Groove Collective
Sat 06/30 – The Stills, Sam Roberts Band, Malajube
Thu 07/05 – Isaac Delgado
Wed 07/18 – Ani Difranco
Thu 07/19 – Morley, Blackmail with Alloy Orchestra
Fri 07/20 – Catherine Russell & Bobby “Blue” Bland
Thu 08/09 – The Hold Steady, The Big Sleep, The Teenage Prayers
Sat 08/11 – African Festival w/ Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
BrooklynVegan has more here.

Yacht is solo project of my Portland homeboy Jona Bechtolt from the Blow, and his forthcoming record ‚”I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real” is already getting major blog love. The Fader is even threatening “Akon-level posting” about him; the last band they did that to was TV On the Radio, and look what happened to them. Live, it’s Jona, his laptop, and a whole lot of crazy visuals and spazzing out.
Mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/yacht
Show deets: Gang Gang Dance, Professor Murder, Yacht Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel(Rhizome Benefit) 21+ $35
-Cortney Harding

In case you missed them last night, Pitchfork has the video, costume changes and all. Check it out here.

The Faggot Family
Our favorite story of the week: From the BBC

A West Midlands family is playing a central role in the quest to raise the profile of a forgotten British dish – faggots.
The Doody family from Wolverhampton has been crowned The Faggot Family in a national competition, and to kick off their reign they will launch National Faggot Week.
The family will be touring the country extolling the virtues of the dish, which is best-known for its links with the Black Country.
The Doody family were chosen to front the campaign after impressing judges at the Savoy Hotel in London in November. They displayed their fanaticism for the delicacy during quizzes, role-plays and mock commercials.
“The nation knows that the Cornish pasty, Yorkshire pudding, haggis and fish and chips are great British dishes, but all too often the faggot is left off that list,” said Janet Doody.
Her husband Fred added: “It’s unfair because faggots were a British delicacy long before any of the others.
“The great British faggot is full of flavour and a great belly warmer at this time of year.”

Free Williamsburg first interviewed Calla in July of 2003 (http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/july_2003/calla.html), and oddly, not much has changed since then. Calla’s new record, the dreamy ‚”Strength in Numbers,” sounds very similar to 2005′s ‚”Collisions” and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Calla has their slow, creeping, slightly psychedelic formula down pat, and they are smart enough to realize that it’s a formula that works. The last show I saw them play was at Brooklyn Lyceum way back in the fall of ’05, and they broke out the smoke machines and turned the bass high enough to make my insides vibrate. Their show at the Bowery tonight hopefully won’t be much of a departure.
Mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/callamusic
Show details: Sat 4/14 8:00 PM Calla, Dirty on Purpose, The Sugar Report Bowery Ballroom 18+ $15
-Cortney Harding

The New York Times has a nice overview of his life here.

I don’t know if Kaiser Chiefs front man Ricky Wilson has ever spilled his methadone supply in an airport and wound up smoking crack in it’s absence, but he sure has quite a few other traits in common with the Happy Mondays Shaun Ryder. The Chiefs, named after a South African rugby team, have the usual Brit-Pop influences (the Clash, anyone?), but manage to sound pretty fresh. I’m underwhelmed by their new record, but their debut album, ‚”Employment,” still merits pretty regular spins.
Show deets: Thu 4/12 6:45 PM Kaiser Chiefs, The Walkmen, Annuals Roseland Ballroom All Ages $31
mp3s: http://www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk/txp/index.php?s=audio
-Cortney Harding

She’s done backup vocals for the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens. Now Annie Clark (under the moniker of St. Vincent) is about to release a debut record that’s all her own. You can check out the first single here. We’ve been loving it and can’t wait to hear the whole thing when it’s released July 10. More track streams are available on her MySpace page.