Yo La Tengo Support Popular Songs with Inevitably Popular Tour

by Jon Lorenz on 08-31-2009

It seems like all has been forgotten since the Wavves debacle at Primavera fest. In case you forgot to watch the video again this morning, Wavves main man Nathan Williams freaked out on the sound guy and drummer Ryan Ulsh walked off stage while Williams yelled "Come back here, motherfucker, we're not done yet!" For a few days, it was up in the air whether or not Williams could continue, especially after European dates were being canceled.

Well, the band still exists and Ulsh still plays in the band. In fact, Williams has also made a friend of Zach Hill (Hella, Nervous Cop, CHLL PLL), and the two have started playing and recording together. It is unknown whether or not this will come out as Wavves or a brand new project, but there has been talks of doing a full-length LP together. Two tracks have been made available so far, but you'll have to go visit Pitchfork to check them out: click here for "Cool Jumper" and here for a live video of the track "Hula Hoop."

In September, Wavves will hit the road for a month-long tour across the U.S. They will be joined by Ganglians, who have a new hyped-up album on Woodsist/Weird Forest. Check it:
09.05.09 - Los Angeles, CA - LA Historic State Park (FYF Fest)
09.06.09 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Shop *
09.13.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge *
09.14.09 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
09.15.09 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Music Hall *
09.16.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry *
09.17.09 - Grinnell, IA - Gardner Lounge, Grinnel College *
09.18.09 - Champaign, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival *
09.19.09 - Madison, WI - Forward Music Festival *
09.20.09 - Chicago, IL - Chopin Theater (early show, all ages) *
09.20.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (late show, 21+) *
09.21.09 - Detroit, MI - Majestic Cafe *
09.22.09 - Toronto, ON - El Mocambo *
09.23.09 - Montreal, QC - Friendship Cove *
09.24.09 - New York, NY - Santos Party House *
09.25.09 - New York, NY - Todd P NYC *
09.27.09 - Boston, MA - Great Scott *
09.29.09 - Philidelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
09.30.09 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
10.01.09 - Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel *
10.02.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *
10.03.09 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club *
10.04.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
10.06.09 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's *
10.09.09 - Dallas, TX - Pastime Lounge *
10.10.09 - Austin, TX - Emo's $
10.15.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room *
10.16.09 - San Diego, CA - Casbah *
10.17.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex *

* Ganglians

$ The Soft Pack

by Mike McHugh on 08-26-2009

The planks have been holstered, the wenches dismissed, and the rum, yes, it is gone. It’s official, folks: after nearly six years of sailing the open cyber seas and plundering every shining doubloon of media in sight, The (Swedish) Man has slashed the masts of The Pirate Bay for good. But don’t you all unsheathe your inhalers at once. For all you content-hungry but empty-pocketed individuals left listless by the absence of your precious TPB, be not so nervous, be not so frail , because the opportunity for unspoiled riches abounds at these two-dozen-plus-one other torrent sites that can get you a fat slice of that torrenty goodness, just like Pirate Bay used to make.

But I get why you’re so upset right now. Sure, The Pirate Bay was just one twinkling star in a constellation of other reliable torrent sites, yet you trusted TPB more than the others. The incessant watch-doggery of the commenters kept you safe from viruses, and the bevy of seeders made for quick and easy downloading. Yep, there’s nothing in this world that can replace The Pirate Bay, except, perhaps, an (almost) exact fucking copy of The Pirate Bay . Sure, it may look different, but all your favorites are there. From the high-quality DVD rips of your favorite TV shows to the super-suspect porn that managed to slip onto the servers, TPB is not only alive and well in the hearts of nerds the world over, but also on your very own Internet. Good lord it’s just so precious I can hardly stand it!

In the days before its demise, one loyal Pirate Bayer went to the trouble of compressing the entire catalog of TPB’s hosted content into one convenient 21.3 gigabyte torrent. The file essentially is a backup copy of the more than 800,000 torrents hosted on TPB website. Since many torrents tracked by TPB were not hosted on its servers, the better part of its 2 million torrents couldn’t make it on the backup, but (conjecture alert) one would assume that the most popular and reliable torrents would be hosted on the site itself. Either way, thousands downloaded the torrent over the weekend, including one helpful soul who loaded all the content (before TPB even shut down) onto a clone site that has every file on the backup available to download. It’s even possible (again with the conjecture!) that there are other TPB clone sites ready to launch should this new haven face flak from the powers that be. For closing remarks on this story, I humbly defer to this t-shirt .

by Liz Louche on 08-26-2009

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dalston, London three-piece Male Bonding to the Sub Pop roster. “Who?” you may be asking. Why, the Dalston, London three-piece who, prior to their signing with Sub Pop, released a handful of split 7-inches and who -- oh, what the hell. Let's make this a list!

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The Top Four Reasons You Should Be Into Male Bonding

(No, there will be no jokes about buddy movies here or 1980s Chicago sitcom Perfect Strangers or that period of time when everyone said “I love you, man” because of that Budweiser commercial. Nothing of that sort. Just good, old-fashioned REASONS.)

1. They’re a garage rock kind of band, but not in that derivative “oh God not another neo-garage rock band” kind of way.
2. They recorded a track for a Flipper tribute 7-inch to which Lovvers, Ponytail, and PPM Allstars also contributed.
3. Their MySpace headline thingy says “Ride the Dreamcatcher.” I will! Just on your suggestion.
4. They toured in the UK alongside Vivian Girls and have played with the likes of HEALTH, Fucked Up, Magik Markers, Mika Miko, and others.