the cure's "pictures of you"

"I've been looking so long at these pictures of you
That I almost believe that they're real
I've been living so long with my pictures of you
That I almost believe that the pictures are
All I can feel..."

Spring is here or something. Everyone's love-sick it seems... I thought this Cure song would be... well, the cure to some of these "feelings" my friends are spreading around like the change-of-weather germs we exchange with hugs and handshakes. Spring makes us all little pussy(cat)s. How better to share the oogly googly sentiment - that a shift in pollen, new flowers and better weather cause - than Robert Smith's crooning about some lover he once had - with only pictures to preserve the memory?

"You were bigger and brighter and wider than snow
And screamed at the make-believe
Screamed at the sky..."

Nirvana's "Love Buzz"

FYI from Wikipedia:
* "Love Buzz" was the first single released by Nirvana in 1988 on Sub Pop Records. This single contained two songs from the debut album Bleach. It was a limited release of only 1000 hand numbered 7"s. Several different counterfeit pressings are also in circulation. The single contains "Love Buzz", a cover version with slightly different lyrics than the Shocking Blue original and "Big Cheese" on the B-side. The Bleach album version of Love Buzz was mixed differently and is missing a 10-second sound collage introduction put together by Kurt Cobain. "Love Buzz" was later released on the EP Blew.

* In 1989 a review by British music magazine Melody Maker described the Love Buzz single as "Limited edition of 1000; love songs for the psychotically disturbed".

* A "violent" performance of the song can be seen on the 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!. Earlier in the show (not seen on the video), Kurt, drunk, angry and high on cough syrup, smashed the PA system at the club with his guitar, frustrated that it had consistently malfunctioned. (Viewers can see a pallet covering the PA, which was added in case Cobain decided to take a second shot.) Unbeknownst to Cobain, the PA belonged to a friend of the bouncer, Turner Van Blarcum who, when Kurt dove into the crowd, decided to exact some revenge. Kurt responded by hitting the bouncer in the head with his guitar, drawing blood. A brief fight ensued but the bouncer was restrained by Novoselic.

* A rehearsal from 1988 and another live performance from 1990 can both be found on the DVD with the 2004 box set With the Lights Out.

* In 1995 'Love Buzz' was used in the film Mad Love.

Love Buzz's cover art probably features my favorite-era Nirvana. Perfect length on the hair, boys. Yeah, I don't expect to be groundbreaking on this one. I'm probably preaching to the converted, which seems to be the theme as of late... in any case, I was reminded of how fucking awesome this song is when it randomly started playing tonight. In turn, I just wanted to encourage you to dig it up and just give it a listen.
Turn it on,
dance a little
(just a little, please)
and get sexy.

Saxon Shore's "The Shaping of a Helpless Joy"

If Tristeza were still what I longed for them to be, they would be Saxon Shore. That's strange for me to say because SS just got done with a tour in Japan with Tristeza - so I mean, whoever booked it is probably under the same train of thought.
The driving drum rolls on this song are what pinned my ear, and the layers of guitars hooked me in further. However, the sonic sounds panning left to right and back again are what caught my soul...
Listen, I know this is Oliver's band - but anyone will tell you that I'm not inclined to just like a band because my friend is in it. I sincerely like this album! It is fucking good.
It's a bit timeless - is it from 1992? 2018? -or- Are you waking up to it? Falling asleep? Still dreaming?
And there's no distinct [name of city here] sound - San Diego? Cork, Ireland? Kyoto, Japan? It's just good music on a good consistent, fluid album. Inspiring.

saxonshore.com

eagles of death metal's "i want you so hard (boy's bad news)"

Easy to love, hard to miss... A number of autonomous friends have wagged their little fingers at me telling me that I would totally love this band. Upon seeing them in Austin for SXSW - Eagles of Death Metal have caught my eye (*wink*) and my heart. These cats are totally awesome. Check out their hot-as-hell video with cameos by Jack Black and Dave Grohl:

Quicktime users click here for the video

Click here for other forms of vid watching: http://www.eaglesofdeathmetal.net/index.php?p=news_show&item=50

Tour Dates
Date - Location - Venue
3/31/2006 Universal City, CA Gibson Amphitheatre
4/2/2006 Portland, OR Roseland Ballroom
4/4/2006 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
4/7/2006 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
4/8/2006 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
4/10/2006 Milwaukee,, WI Eagles Club
4/11/2006 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
4/21/2006 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
4/22/2006 Washington, DC Black Cat
4/23/2006 New York, NY Irving Plaza
4/24/2006 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club

Miami Vicing

I made it through my first Winter Music Conference. I went in expecting to cringe at every corner, especially since it was happening the same time Spring Break 2006 was in full effect, but grew to love it. (I only wish Oly was around!) It took me three days and four text messages to find the one classic rock station to broadcast over South Beach, and I was a happy camper. Jamie Lidell was fantastic at M3 and Induce was spinning all over the map! The guy must be the most popular kid in Miami - Brian from UrbanGroove pointed out that we couldn't go one block without having to stop so Induce could chat with his homies. Onitsuka Tiger's rooftop event at the Townhouse Hotel was so much fun, it served as a sun-tanning retreat from the boom boom room that was Miami Beach complete with water beds and bar, especially when the free sushi came about! Prefuse 73, Stephen from Warp Records, Tommie Sunshine, Induce, and Spencer Product were among the slew of DJs we had spinning our rooftop event. We also met the hardest working college rep there is out there, named Raquel - who happens to look a lot like Soliel Moon Frye (aka Punky Brewster). Our last night there, we got to stop into the cutest record shop in South Florida, Sweat Records and afterwards Brian from UrbanGroove insisted we go and do karaoke - let me know if you want to see videos of him rockin' out with his c*ck out. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, our new friends, UrbanGroove, Onitsuka Tiger, The Townhouse Hotel, Michelle & Merin & Christina for helping me out, Induce for taking us under his wing, and all our DJs. You are fabulous, the lot of you.

ps) I took this picture just minutes before hopping a jet back to Chicago. Farewell Miami!

SOLID PR @ SXSW, y'all!

Many of your Solid PR favorites will be performing at Austin, TX's South By Southwest Music Conference this year! Man Man, Skeletons & the Girl-Faced Boys, Goblin Cock, TODD, DJ Franki Chan, Measles Mumps Rubella, Everylovely LIghtningheart, Oxbow, Imaad Wasif, Big Bear, Odiorne, An Albatross, The Post Office Gals, The Great Redneck Hope, The End of the World, My Way My Love, The SIlent League, Velella Velella, and more! Like we did for CMJ - here's a downloadable pdf of our events and our band's performances:

*DOWNLOAD OUR SXSW 2006 SCHEDULE HERE*

Just about a week to go... see you in Austin!

niagra falls

South by Southwest, an email to Big Blackhawk

One of my favorite rock DJs, BIG BLACKHAWK, asked me for a list of bands I'm into who will be playing SXSW this year: "I wanted to hit you up and see if there were any bands at SXSW that you think I would like. I really didn’t get to see many bands last year because I was working for two, but I plan to change that this year! So if there’s anywhere you think I should be let me know!!"
It was good timing: I am home and pulling a late-nighter, had three shots of espresso five hours ago that haven't worn off, and probably have to do some prioritizing and scheduling myself - so doing this was uber helpful. Below is my response...

Props out to you, Big Blackhawk.

---

Starting with some notable SOLID PR bands:
TODD – they’re on Southern Records. I just picked them up. London-based, originally from Texas. Crazy ass metal. www.toddranch.co.uk
MAN MAN – from Philly. On Ace Fu. They’re like Tom Waits’ illegit kids raised on The Muppet Show. Fantastic musicians. www.wearemanman.com
SKELETONS & THE GIRL FACED BOYS – they’re my favorite music-related clients currently. Been called “the future of pop music” and shit. Seriously, I saw them at CMJ and nearly lost my mind. You can hear them here: www.everyprettyboy.com
IMAAD WASIF – he’s the latest member addition (as well as opening act) to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. His record is sooooooooooo beautiful. He is playing a lot during SXSW, and I hope to see him at least once. On Kill Rock Stars/5RC
GOBLIN COCK – need I say more?
BIG BEAR – Boston based 5 piece on Monitor Records. Female-fronted but you wouldn’t guess it in the way that Jordyn screams into the mic while beating herself with a tambourine so hard that she has to duct tape her leg to prevent too much bruising. The other four members totally slay equally as hard as that tamourine to the tape. www.bigbearbigbear.com
You can download our event schedule here: www.solidpr.com/solidsxsw2006.pdf

Non-Solids:
PART CHIMP – they’re on Monitor Records, friends with TODD and are comaprable in the metal dept.
EDITORS – They’ve been compared to Interpol, if Interpol actually understood Joy Division. I’ve heard the buzz about them and am curious as to what they’re like live.
I LOVE YOU BUT I’VE CHOSEN DARKNESS- I like them on record, never seen them live.
THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO – cheery poppy british duo. Their music is so cute it hurts.
JOSE GONZALES – I usually don’t go for the acousticy stuff, especially someone who gets big doing a cover of one of my favorite bands for a Sony commercial. So, the fact that I’m crazy about this guy’s music is fucking weird. There’s just something about an Argentinean-born, Swedish-raised dude with an acoustic guitar and great voice to go with it. I guess it’s pretty easy to load and unload an acoustic guitar because this guy is playing 239,847 times this year.
WHY? - Saw them at CMJ too, they’re a rad ensemble with interesting takes on song structure and instrumentation.
UME – I’ve tried to sign these guys a million times. Girl fronted three piece, her name is Lauren and she goes off. When they’re on stage that chick channels freaking Kurt Cobain in 1990.
THE DUKE SPIRIT – Travis from Buddyhead is really into this band’s musical prowess... I usually trust his taste in music 90% of the time, but I don’t like them on record, maybe I’m missing an ear, or maybe they’re rad live though?
ODIORNE – inactive clients of ours, on File 13, I've noted that people who are into Pink Floyd are really into them! Jimy Chambers who is the main dude used to be in Mercury Rev too.
MARK MALLMAN – holy fuck... I can’t believe I got this far into the email without mentioning him. You would love this dude. You guys would probably be BFF. He’s not only a rad musician but he does crazy things like play one song for 2 days or put himself in a refrigerator box and play inside it in the window of a record store. He’s an old pal. Hope I get to introduce you two, if that doesn’t happen – go see him and shake his hand. He’s super nice and funny. www.mallman.com
LUCERO – all I know about this band is that they’re from Memphis and numerous unrelated friends keep telling me that I would be super into them.
LES AUS – they’re great spazzy punk rock from Barcelona.
PARTS & LABOR – Can anyone say slay?
CHIN UP CHIN UP – also from Chicago. These are the nicest guys ever put into a group together and it’s weird because usually when a band is made up of 75% or more of nice guys it means they’re horrible. But CUCU is really fucking amazing.
ATMOSPHERE – somehow these hip hop dudes made it into the hearts of indie rockers. However they did it, I’m glad cos they got some mad skillz.
MARITIME – on Flameshovel. part Promise Ring, part Dismemberment Plan. Both great bands - and this one is a direct example of that. My best friend and my roommate haven’t stopped listening to the record on repeat. That is a good sign.
THE SILENT LEAGUE – also inactive clients. They’re an ensemble so they have a ton of rotating members and I sometimes wonder how they all fit in any practice space that isn’t a vast field or a mansion. Their music is lush and well orchestrated, to the point of soaring in the air so far like a long lost balloon that might just take you with it.
SWEARING AT MOTORISTS – I’m really interested in checking them out because I just popped their record in recently and was surprisingly really into it. So surprised, that I had to spin it three times to make sure I wasn’t just being emotional (PMSing) or something.

Sorry if I got super cheesy but I’m delirious and it can’t be helped,
Celeste