Just in time for Easter, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone resurrected my faith in music. There are a whole lot of perks to being a rock critic – free records, free shows, and working in sweatpants most of time among them – but the problem is that after a while, you begin to hate music. Polite, boring, faceless guitar bands begin to irritate you. The raft of CDs that arrive in the mail start piling up in the corner, still wrapped in plastic weeks later. You forget why you even started doing this in the first place.

Then a show like Sunday night’s Casiotone gig rolls around, and you remember with a stunning sort of clarity. Casiotone, who is actually a bespectacled dude named Owen Ashworth, has been a favorite of mine for a while; his last record topped all my year end critics poll lists, and I’ve called him the next Springsteen in multiple publications. His lyrics have the narrative quality missing from so much music today; Ashworth is first and foremost a storyteller. His set at the Bowery started off with ‚”Cold White Christmas,” a song about post-college malaise and homesickness. He then played ‚”Nashville Parthenon,” which chronicles the feelings of a young gay boy whose lover is forced to leave town, and ‚”Scattered Pearls,” disco track about broken necklaces. At this point, the crowd had swelled to fill the room, and most of them were dancing. The beat of the next track, ‚”Young Shields,” sounded just like a heartbeat, and the audience went nuts when he brought out Carolee from Xiu Xiu to sing Prince’s ‚”When U Were Mine” with him. The next track, ‚”Bobby Malone Moves Home,” is the anthem of every confused kid who needs a couple months on the couch to figure things out; ‚”New Year’s Kiss” perfectly encapsulated the crashing letdown that is the first morning of the year. He finished strong with the quiet, wrenching ‚”Last Night Was a Disaster,” and closed the set with a new, untitled track that bore a strong eighties vibe.
Casiotone is playing tonight at the Raven’s Den in Bushwick. Do yourself a favor and go check him out.
Show details: Tuesday April 10th @ SILENT BARN
:: special secret band for the painfully alone
:::: High Places
:::::: Golden Ghost ——–> Laura from Castanets
[ SILENT BARN ] aka Raven’s Den aka Club Krib
915 Wyckoff Ave @ Hancock | Ridgewood/Bushwick, QNS/BKLYN
L-Halsey or M-Myrtle/Wyckoff | 8pm | all ages | –> $3 <--
mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/cftpa

Thanks to Jeff Stokvis for the photos.
-Cortney Harding

Via Idolator

“Earth Intruders” is the first song from Bjork’s Volta to make its way to the Internet, and it’s got a big, messy backbeat by Timbaland, additional percussion by the thumb-piano players Konono N¬∞1, and the enigmatic Icelandic singer surveying the carnage that surrounds her.

Download Earth Intruders

Vice investigates Greenpoint’s Oil Spill. Turns out Williamsburg/Greenpoint is “the most toxic neighborhood” in NY.

Iggy Pop, ‚”I Wanna Be Your Dog”
It’s IGGY FUCKING POP. Do you need another reason?
Show details: Mon 4/09 7:00 PM Iggy and the Stooges United Palace Theatre All Ages $39.50
-Cortney Harding

This video is hilarious, even if it’s a bit derivative of this makeover we did for a writer at Entertainment Weekly, uh, 4 years ago. [Video via Gawker & Imaginary Socialite]

Toronto-based post-punkers the Creeping Nobodies might have started as a one-off collaboration at a Fall tribute show, but they have come a long way from imitating Mark E. Smith for kicks. The Nobodies are touring in support of their latest record, ‚”Sound of Joy,” which was released in May 2006 on Toronto’s Blocks Recording Club label and sounds like a modern version of Sonic Youth’s classic, ‚”Sister.” The band also channels the Ex and the Birthday Party, and their live show is characterized by the frenetic energy they bring to the stage. Lead singer Derek Westerholm, in true punk fashion, is more than willing to not only hop on his band mates, but dive in to the audience as well. In an era when many post-punk bands take on an air of cool detachment, it’s refreshing to see a band that are willing to jump right in, even if they do wind up landing on your head.
Show deets: Creeping Nobodies —–> from Toronto
:::: Parenthetical Girls
:::::: The Golden Era
[ UNCLE PAULIE'S ] ~~ heated! ~~
NE corner of Monitor St & Greenpoint Ave | Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G-Greenpoint or L-Graham | 8pm | all ages | $tba
– MYSPACE / DIRECTIONS –> http://myspace.com/unclepauliesnyc
mp3s: http://www.myspace.com/thecreepingnobodies

Webzine nemu.com described Erase Errata as ‚”post-riot-grrl, post-feminist, and post-punk.” Maybe they’re better defined as the pre-eminent art noise band of the decade. Cited as favorites by godfathers of feedback Sonic Youth, Erase Errata caught some flack last year when a line-up change resulted in their usually chaotic noise gaining some discipline. They certainly haven’t hit the straight and narrow, though; their art-damaged noise is still spastic, danceable, and fun. Closer inspection of their lyrics reveals able brainpower and a feminist mindset; this is a band that hosted a discussion of third wave women’s issues after a concert at Smith College. Like a Gender Studies class set to a beat, Erase Errata inform and entertain at the same time. Their marriage of dancing and revolution would make Emma Goldman proud.
Show deets: :: Adult
:::: Erase Errata
:::::: Child Abuse
[ STUDIO B ] -> totally superclub style! now w/ friendlier bouncer dudes!
259 Banker St @ Calyer | Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford/G-Nassau | -ALL AGES- | $10 | 8PM | 718.389.1880
-Cortney Harding

This looks like a trailer to some unmade horror movie where Cheney leads a minion of Zombie Pod-People at the onset of Armageddon. [Via Huffpost]

We’re voting for Myspace Tom
From HuffingtonPost

It’s true, and it’s a brilliant marketing gimmick if not exactly the most electorally sound: MySpace will be inviting each of its members to vote in their very own primary on January 1st and 2nd, 2008, prior to any of the state primaries. Said MySpace president Tom Anderson (that’s MySpace Tom to you): “Iowa and New Hampshire may be selecting delegates, but the MySpace vote will be the first test of where candidates stand in the election year.”
Wow. Sort of scary, when you think about it. How difficult is it, exactly to sign up for a MySpace account? For multiple MySpace accounts? You certainly don’t have to be American to do so. Or of voting age (especially not of voting age, which is why MySpace got into some hot water with respect to its underage users). But, like the voting for American Idol, that matters not all that matters is the numbers, and when they come down next January you can bet they will shift the dynamic of the primaries. This is what they’re talking about when they talk about the power of the web in 2008. READ IT ALL

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