We're Back

So we're back, but if you access this site from www.goodweatherforairstrike.blogspot.com you won't be able to access it anymore. Instead enter www.goodweatherforairstrikes.com into your browser and go there. We really did return July 5th but I just didn't realize the old blogger page was still accessible until some of you sent emails inquiring as to our whereabouts. So yeah, there you go.

Love,

Derek & Everett

On Hiatus Until July 5th. We Miss You.

And thus the dreaded hiatus begins. Everett's at beach week drinking away his sorrows and engaging in all sorts of debauchery, so I'll give you all the lowdown on what happened. After Everett posted those Thom Yorke tracks ezarchive was all "that's not allowed, you must remove the mp3s from your archive" and while we removed the mp3s from the blog, one of us forgot to remove them from the archive. This shouldn't have been a big deal, only the songs were so sought-after that the mp3 links had been posted all over the internet (forums, other blogs, etc.), and as a result they continued to be downloaded. Thus, despite our best efforts to oblige, we did not comply with ezarchive's request, giving them the right to shut down our account, which they proceeded to do. Color us owned.

But hey, the hiatus isn't really all that bad. First of all, there's less than a month until we relaunch, and when we do, Good Weather For Airstrikes will have a whole new look and a veritable cornucopia of new content and features. The hiatus gives us time to prep said new content and also allows us to redesign the site without shaking things up here, which would have been the case if it weren't for this break. Here's a brief look into what you can look forward to on Good Weather For Airstrikes version 2.0:

• a professional redesign, featuring a new header, logo, color scheme and layout
• new features, more frequent updates, and better content (interning at a prominent record label yields all kinds of benefits, the least of which is exposure to all kinds of new, great and unheard of bands)
• full review and summary of the Intonation Music Festival, complete with an inside look at all of the weekends hottest parties (seriously, does anyone throw a better party than VICE?)
• a veritable crapload of show reviews, as my time in NYC has already yielded more incredible concert experiences than you can count on one hand (Regina Spektor playing to fifty people in Manhattan's oldest church? epic)
• M3 Volume 9 (as well as many more volumes to be released throughout the summer)
• one of those best-of-2006-so-far lists that everyone loves to hate and hates to love
• more commentary and witty banter from Everett and I that is guaranteed to be at least 200% more adorable than before

Now before you get all teary-eyed on us, I know some of you are wondering, "Is it something I did? Was it me? Should I have commented more? Am I not pretty enough?", and the answer is no. It's us, not you. But we're only going away for a little while, and yeah, we know you're probably going to fool around with some other blogs here and there, and we understand, we're a little bit hurt, but not mad. It's nothing we can't get past, we'll come back for you and we hope you'll come back to us. We like you a whole lot, really, and we have this feeling that this could really turn into something beautiful if you'd only give it a chance. That said, here are some suggestions as to how to best pass the time while you await our return:

• Visit all the blogs in our blogroll, we like them lots and lots and we think you should to. Also, check out Green Pea-ness, who I'd add to the blogroll now but blogger's all frontin' and shit and won't let me. If you can get past that unfortunate name, you'll see that this is one of the best blogs out there. James is doing an awesome job over there, and his writing is some of the best you'll see on any music website, let alone any music blog, out there. James and I share a similar appreciation for great production and dancy British rock, so if you're into that you've found your new favorite blog.
• Head over to Cable & Tweed where Rich, who was one of the first to champion GWFAS-favorite Heypenny, has posted an awesome live set from those lovable Cold War Kids. I had the priviledge of seeing Cold War Kids a week and a half ago at Bowery Ballroom, and despite the fact that they were the first opening band and were only afforded a 45 minute set, they brought the house down and may have been the best live band I've ever seen (stay tuned for a full review after the hiatus). Seriously, this band is for real. Best new band of 2006? Quite possibly.
• Continue reading All Things Go. Zack and I are basically the same person (NOTE: there is actually a facebook group titled "Zack Friendly Is The New Derek Davies"), so if you miss me too much head over there and he'll be sure to treat you right.

I had a couple more suggestions, but I'm at work and I started this post at 7 PM at the same time people were breaking out the beer (Beck's sent VICE 25 cases as part of their promotional partnership) and at that point I was merely nursing my first Sparks, but after numerous distractions, a couple more Beck's and Sparks, and a binge font-downloading session, it's now 9:30 and I hope you'll forgive me if I just want to get the tearful goodbyes over with.

Finally, if you really like the site and you're really sad we're going away and want to do something to help, it'd be super awesome if you felt like donating to help get things back up and running. The expenses involved with getting a new hosting service and professionally redesigning the site aren't exactly neglible, and if anyone wanted to throw some cash our way it would be more than appreciated. Any person who makes a donation over $5 (this is making the bold assumption that people would actually want to donate in the first place) get an awesome prize pack assembled by yours truly. Each will vary, but they'll probably include a couple mixes (an advance copy of M3 Volume 9 maybe?), some sweet vinyl LPs (I have more Silent Alarm [Bloc Party] and Hind Hind Legs [The Lovely Feathers] LPs than I know what to do with), and a random assortment of other CDs, posters and vinyl 7"s that I'd love to send to loyal readers. If you have a PayPal account and would like to donate, my PayPal account is registered to my UVA screen name, dwd7e@virginia.edu, and you can easily donate simply by pressing the PayPal donate button on the left sidebar beneath the Defunker ad. So yeah, now that I've gotten my shameless begging out of the way, I guess that's pretty much everything. Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon when we relaunch the site on July 5th.

CONTEST: Guillemots Dress & Prize Pack

PREFACE: Due to a dispute with our hosting provider, our account has been terminated and Good Weather For Airstrikes will be going on a brief hiatus until July 5th. This contest is the last of two posts, the second of which will appear early next week, after which our hiatus will begin. I will write up a full farewell post sometime next week that further elaborates on the situation and will reveal what new surprises we'll have in store for you when GWFAS version 2.0 launches in July. To reiterate, we're not going away forever, we'll just be taking a little break while we revamp the site, find a new hosting provider, and get all of our shit together.

Not that anything's going to top the excitement generated by those new Thom Yorke tracks, but I thought I might as well put in a valiant effort by giving away some free stuff. That's right, a contest. I'm not much of a contest guy, but I've been assembling some pretty sweet prize packs (i.e. stealing stuff while my bosses aren't looking and toughing out the lashings when I get caught) and will be giving them away throughout the summer.

The catalyst for all of this is the overwhelmingly awesome Guillemots contest. Not only will one lucky winner win both the CD and 10" gatefold LP versions of Guillemots incredible debut EP From The Cliffs (along with some stickers and postcards and whatnot), that same lucky winner will also win a one-of-a-kind (pretty much) Guillemots dress! The lovely folks over at Evil Needles have been churning out awesome DIY dresses adapted from punk t-shirts for punk rock girls for years, but now they've got their sights set on your indie, Guillemots-loving girlfriend. Fyfe designed the logo featured on the Guillemots t-shirt below, and Evil Needles will be taking that shirt (which is originally an Adult XL) and tailoring it down to fit your measurements, which I will elicit from the winner after he/she is selected. Here's how it works: Evil Needles takes this shirt (follow the link or look at the image below) and turns it into a dress that looks something like this, and then sends it straight to your doorstep, a little bundle of DIY love. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail adress. That's all. You might think that with a prize pack as awesome as this the qualifications might be a bit more stringent, but yeah, you just need a name and an e-mail adress to win, and the winner will then be selected randomly. If you are a personal friend of mine, you are not eligible for this contest because that just wouldn't be fair, sorry. The contest will close ten days from now on June 18th, and a winner will be announced shortly thereafter (or when we return on the 5th of July, we'll see). Below is the shirt, which was designed by 'Mots lead singer Fyfe Dangerfield himself, which will be turned into a dress and will look a little bit like this or this in the end (except it's made from the Guillemots shirt, obviously).

And one more thing. Did I mention the 10" LP is autographed by the band? Well it is. I don't even have one of those, and I'm over at addVICE section of the office everyday, sucking up to those kids 24-7 like it's my job (which it is). But that's enough talk, here's a full list of all the awesome shit you get if you win, in case you're unable to read anything not presented in list form:

• Guillemots stickers
• Guillemots postcards (featuring the album artwork)
• Guillemots ' From The Cliffs CD, which is only like the best thing ever
• Guillemots' From The Cliffs signed double 10" vinyl
• Guillemots' dress courtesy of Evil Needles

I will contact the winner, at which point I'll need you to give me your/your girlfriend's/your friend's measurements, which I will pass on to Evil Needles, who will in turn do their magic and whip you up a fly-ass Guillemots dress.

Normally, most of my Guillemots posts just end with me throwing up an mp3 of "Trains To Brazil" and telling you how omg it's the best song ever. This time I've got some special treats for you, two exclusive Guillemots tracks, acoustic versions of their two most recent singles, "Trains To Brazil" and "We're Here".

MP3s:
"Trains To Brazil" (Acoustic) - Guillemots
"We're Here" (Solo Piano Version) - Guillemots

And, um, yeah, in case you forgot, "Trains To Brazil" is still the best song of the year.

MP3: "Trains To Brazil" - Guillemots [sooo highly recommended]

I was wholly anticipating Through The Windowpane (still with the preposition-based album titles), out in the UK on July 10th, to be my album of the year (From The Cliffs is my favorite release so far), and while my first few run throughs of it (it leaked earlier this week) fall slightly short of that expectation, it's still an incredible debut full-length and justifies all the hype Guillemots have received as of late. The next single from that album will be a re-produced version of "Made Up Love Song" (out June 19th), and the video is already in roation on MTV2 and VH2 in the UK, but if you know of somewhere on the internet where it's available for viewing let me know in the comments. Good luck to all on the contest, which again, ends ten days from now on June 18th.

Exclusive First Listen: Thom Yorke's "The Eraser"

[UPDATE: We apologize for the lack of posts recently, we have been having issues with our hosting service. Regular updates should start up again on Monday, and we have plenty of great new music coming your way in the coming week, so please bear with us. Thanks for reading.]

Thom Yorke's day job is, of course, fronting what is arguably the best band in the world. Obviously one could tire of such a chore, so his decision to distance himself temporarily from Radiohead and establish a new musical identity is not only understandable, it's welcome. the eraser is the name of this new project, and though Yorke expressed a desire to keep the word 'solo' out of it, the rest of his band is absent from this recording. Unless, of course, you include producer Nigel Godrich as a band member; the eraser seems to be more of a collaboration between Yorke and Godrich than anything else, veering more strongly towards the electronic than anything Radiohead's done since Kid A. Indeed, at times the eraser is evocative of that masterpiece of an album, though I'm hesitant to make comparisons between Yorke's new work, which I've now only heard twice all the way through, and what I believe to be one of the defining albums of a generation. The presence of Yorke's otherworldly vocals and Godrich's electronic production make such a comparison obvious and viable. The emergence of this album with relatively little warning (the first mention of it was made less than three weeks ago) helps to soften the news that Radiohead's next studio albums release has been pushed back in to 2007.

Though I don't feel this album can really measure up to any of Radiohead's recent output, that's not really the point. Yorke made the conscious decision to try something new here, and that is what Radiohead has been doing their whole career. The innovation is present, and that's what makes this record exciting. Yorke is held to an absurdly high standard resulting from his remarkable consistency at producing diverse and incredible albums with Radiohead, and that standard carries over to his new work on the eraser. Thom Yorke meets those standards with his new album, which will surely make plenty of year-end best lists. It is difficult to remove the inherent bias one has listening to this record, as Yorke is already so established as a musician. It will forever remain a hypothetical what the reaction to this album would be were it a true debut from an unknown artist. Instead, Yorke has simply added a new chapter to the ongoing saga of Radiohead, the band that will define a generation of musicians, music critics and music lovers alike.

MP3: Thom Yorke, "Atoms for Peace" [link removed]
This is probably the most immediately accessible track on the eraser. Named after either a 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower speech, the motto for the International Atomic Energy Agency, or something entirely different, this song definitely sees Yorke's vocals at their best. The arrangement is more subdued than much of the album, giving Yorke's voice center stage with fantastic results.

MP3: Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill" [link removed]
Another immediate standout track, the song borrows its name from the place British Ministry of Defense employee David Kelly, who inadvertently caused a British political scandal through his discussion with a journalist regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, was found after committing suicide. The relatively straightforward production and vocal melody mask the eerie lyrics, highlighted by Yorke's emoting what was likely going through Kelly's head at the time, "I can't take the pressure / No one cares if you live or die / They just want me gone / They want me gone."

MP3: Thom Yorke, "Cymbal Rush" [link removed]
"Cymbal Rush" was the first song Radiohead enthusiasts heard from this album, as Radiohead played it in a live setting in early May. The closing track on the album, "Cymbal Rush" ends thing on an unexpectedly abrupt end, serving to both whet and strengthen the appetites of listeners for more new material from Yorke and Radiohead.

Architecture In Helsinki @ The Avalon 5.18.06

[all photos courtesy of The Village Indian/Stereogum]

If you ever get a chance to see Architecture In Helsinki and you're even a slight advocate of fun or exuberance, it'd be in your best interest to do everything in your power to make it out to see them because after seeing them bring down the house at the Avalon last week, I can assure you their live show is some of the most fun you'll ever have. Though I missed opener Clue To Kalo, I was more than ready when the AiH collective took the stage in their colorful attire and quirky outfits.

Cameron Bird is a unique vocalist because of the cartoonish highs and lows his impressive vocal range enables him to reach, and his vocals definitely held up live, as did those of adorable back-up vocalist Jamie Mildred. The show was an absolute blast, and it seemed as if everyone in attendance was having the time of their lives, especially the group of what must have been more than 15 kids who apparently skipped their high school prom to attend the show. Bird had been informed of this before the show, and invited any of the couples in the group to take the stage, and one couple took them up on their offer and climbed up on stage to waltz to "Maybe You Can Owe Me" (pictured below). Bird went on to say that John Hughes (see: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club) would probably end up making a film about them someday, but this comment was met with mostly blank stares and nod-and-smiles from the group, all of which were likely born after Hughes box office heyday (not that I was alive then either or anything).The prom kids aside, the rest of the audience seemed surprisingly young as well, but the lack of indier-than-thou 20-something hipsters was certainly refreshing. Everyone in the crowd was moving throughout the entire show, and you'd have been hardpressed to spot a single person in the attendance who didn't look like they were having an awesome time. Highlights included "The Owls Go", "The Cemetery", "Wishbone", "Maybe You Can Owe Me", and set-closer "Do The Whirlwind". "Wishbone" was perhaps the single happiest two and a half minutes of my life, made even more enjoyable by the fact that during the horn-happy bridge, Jamie ran up to the balcony and threw confetti from the railing onto the crowd below, who loved it, before racing back down to get in place to continue her vocal duties before the bridge ended. The band also played an awesome new jam, introduced as "Derby" (if memory serves), which sounded really great and has me really excited for AiH's next release. After leaving the stage at the conclusion of their regular set, the band returned to the stage to chants of "Whirlwind! Whirlwind!", which closed the night out perfectly. Below is the setlist, which I got from Stereogum (here) but modified slightly because I know they played "The Owls Go" and I'm positive that "Maybe You Can Owe Me" was a mid-set highlight rather than a closer. I take special exception to the fact that "The Owls Go" was left off their recounting of the setlist, as the song contains what is easily the most adorable single moment in the history of music at the 2:54 second mark (which I owe Adrian for showing me). So yeah, below is the setlist from the show, with some mild guesswork at play at parts in regards to the ordering of the songs.

Setlist:
1. "Neverevereverdid"
2. "It'5"
3. "In Case We Die"
4. "Heart and Faces"
5. "Frenchy I'm Faking"
6. "Hot To Trot"
7. "The Cemetery"
8. "Wishbone" [highly recommended]
9. "Kraftwerk"
10. "Maybe You Can Owe Me" [highly recommended]
11. "Fumble"
12. "The Owls Go"
13. "What's In Store"
14. "Derby"
15. "Do The Whirlwind" [highly recommended]

Also, because a) I'm a nice guy, and b) I'm sure most of you have those AiH tracks already, I've decided to throw in a handful of "Whirlwind" remixes for your enjoyment as well, which you can get at below:

MP3s:
"Do The Whirlwind" (Hot Chip Remix) - Architecture In Helsinki
"Do The Whirlwind" (Halma's Remix) - Architecture In Helsinki
"Do The Whirlwind" (Metronomy Remix) - Architecture In Helsinki

Currently AiH are wrapping up the final dates of this tour, and have just finished a cover of The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", which is to be featured on an upcoming Beach Boys tribute (which will also feature covers by Daniel Johnston and Iron & Wine as well) to be put out by Spanish label Houston Party later this year. Also, they've revealed that they just finished their first remix, of The Shout Out Loud's "Very Loud", which should appear on an upcoming Shout Out Louds single release. Finally, AiH will be heading into the studio soon to record the follow up to 2004's incredible In Case We Die, due out in 2007, which should be excellent if the new songs they played last week were any indication.

Imogen Heap: "Hallelujah"

So I finally saw the season finale of The OC this morning, which I had missed when it aired a week and a half ago because my roommate's TV in my apartment works almost as well as the internet does (read: not at all). Plot-wise, nothing happened that I didn't expect; not to say I'm prescient or all-knowing, but considering how we've been trained to hate Marissa for the entire season it's not exactly a surprise that she was the one killed off. However, it was this climactic scene that debuted, for the second OC season finale in a row, a brand new Imogen Heap song.

Last year audiences were floored by Heap's incredible "Hide and Seek"; this year we got Heap's previously-unheard cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Like "Hide and Seek", "Hallelujah" features an equally-sparse arrangement and uses Heap' stunning voice as the sole vehicle with which to tug at (or in this case, to obliterate) your heartstrings. It's rare that an artist can create a powerful peace of music without the use of any actual instrumentation, but Heap has done it before with "Hide and Seek" and proves here that she can do it again. I can't say it comes anywhere close to topping Leonard Cohen's original, or the Jeff Buckley version that made it famous, but it was a great treat regardless. Download the three aforementioned versions below, along with a great live version by Damien Rice, which begins as "Cannonball" and smoothly transitions into "Hallelujah". Also, definitely head over to My Old Kentucky Blog, where Dodge has compiled a huge list of "Hallelujah" covers, featuring even more versions of the classic, including interpretations by Dylan, Bono, and Rufus Wainwright, as well as pretty much every singer-songwriter ever. Hallelujah:

MP3s:
"Hallelujah" - Imogen Heap
"Hallelujah" - Leonard Cohen [highly recommended]
"Hallelujah" - Jeff Buckley [highly recommended]
"Cannonball/Hallelujah" - Damien Rice

Speaking of Imogen Heap and The OC, the season finale also prominently featured another new Heap track during the stirring graduation scene, "Speeding Cars", which I already featured here nearly two months ago, but am reposting due to its renewed relevance. However, when I posted that track, I received a ton of requests in the comments and via email to post another Imogen Heap b-side, "Cumulus", so here that is as well. "Cumulus" is a swirling, swelling, string-laden instrumental track, as epic and beautiful as "Hide and Seek" was before it. I prefer "Speeding Cars", which I think is even better than the A-side it supports ("Goodnight and Go"), but both tracks are worth the download regardless.

MP3s:
"Speeding Cars" - Imogen Heap
"Cumulus" - Imogen Heap

I'm home for Memorial Day weekend, so I'll be posting as much as possible to make up for my lack of posts during the week, so keep an eye out for my review of the AiH show and an artist profile containing my new favorite song, as well as, you know, other good stuff. It's a nice-ass day. Peace.

Art Brut w/ The Chalets, The Robocop Kraus, and "Art Brut 47" @ The Knitting Factory 05.17.06

I officially kicked off my summer concert season in NYC this past week, catching Architecture in Helsinki last Thursday and seeing Art Brut, not once, but twice. That’s right, I saw Art Brut twice. I saw Art Brut TWICE (albeit fully clothed). Desperate puns aside, both shows were quite awesome, though the first goes down as one of the better shows I’ve ever seen (the second was just a brief eight-song in-store performance at Brooklyn’s Sound Fix) due to its incredible line-up, featuring three openers all incredible in their own right: The Chalets, The Robocop Kraus, and “Art Brut 47”, who, as speculated, turned out to be We Are Scientists.

[all photos courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan and Music Snobbery]

The Chalets were the penultimate highlight of the night, eclipsed only by the headliners, and they put on an absolutely awesome set, which I’ve already reviewed here. Next up was The Robocop Kraus, who were absolutely great. I hadn’t enjoyed the few recordings of The Robocop Kraus I’d heard preceding the show, but their excellent performance completely changed that. First of all, they were sooooo German. Second of all, their glitch-pop/guitar-rock fusion sounded awesome in a live setting, and they put on a great performance, with lead singer Thomas Lang venturing into the crowd on multiple occasions. My two favorite songs by them are “Laughter Becomes Tears” and set-closer “You Don’t Have To Shout”, both of which were the undisputable highlights of their performance and can be downloaded below.

MP3: "Theme From Chalets" - The Chalets [highly recommended]
MP3: "After Laughter Comes Tears" - The Robocop Kraus
MP3: "You Don't Have To Shout" - The Robocop Kraus

Next up was the much speculated-about and anticipated performance by Art Brut 47, who turned out to be We Are Scientists as was rumored, though there was nary an Art Brut cover to be heard. They introduced themselves as being “in the vanguard of Art Brut cover bands”, but explained that they settled for an opening slot upon the real Art Brut’s arrival in town. Instead, they explained, they’d be playing We Are Scientists covers for the evening, and immediately launched into “Lousy Reputation”. Their set consisted exclusively of tracks culled from their excellent 2006 major-label debut, With Love & Squalor, with the exception of brand new song “Ram It Home”, which is featured as the b-side on the CD-single re-release of “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” (and is available for download here and below). Despite copious amounts of witty banter and excellent run-throughs of all the hits on Love & Squalor (not to mention Chris' excellent sports-goggles), We Are Scientists proved to be a mere appetizer for the feast of a show that Art Brut put on. Download their new b-side "Ram It Home", as well as a studio recording of the acoustic version of "The Great Escape", below.

MP3: "Ram It Home" - We Are Scientists
MP3: "The Great Escape Under The Sea" - We Are Scientists

Eddie Argos and company took the stage and right away launched into the immediately-recognizable “Sweet Child of Mine” riff, which segued perfectly into “Formed A Band”, instantly setting the tone for what would be an incredibly enjoyable performance. Argos has a flawless stage presence, overwhelmingly likeable with his affable confidence and humor, and he had the crowd laughing throughout the show with his clever and impromptu lyric revisions and monologues. In “Formed A Band”, Argos revealed his intention to write a song more universal than happy birthday and perform it “FOREVER on Total Request Live!!!.” During “Moving To L.A.”, Argos shared his ambition not only to drink Hennessey with Morrisey, but also to drink beano with Brian Eno and Rose with Axl Rose as well. Before the final verse of “Emily Kane”, he stopped the band to share the fact that Emily Kane heard the song and had actually contacted him, and that he realized that in actuality it wasn’t so much that he was in love with Emily Kane, but it was more that he was in love with the idea of being in love when he’s 15. He went on to say that “Emily Kane” shouldn’t be viewed as a desperate plea to a long-lost love, but it should be instead be thought of as a celebration of moving on from ex-lovers and accepting that it wasn’t meant to be, and being happy for them instead of harboring resentment. Amidst applause from sentimental audience members, the group immediately launched into the final refrain of the song, before leaving the stage, only to return moments later for an encore that consisted of “18,000 Lira” and their international hit of a new single “Good Weekend”. Before the latter, Eddie took us on a tour of the pop charts around the world, reminding us that “Good Weekend” was not only #1 in Ireland, but in Germany, Australia, the Ukraine, the former Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria (among others) as well, despite maintaining only the #2 spot in the UK (“but we’re working on that”, he assured us). Then, after invoking chants of “Art Brut! Top of The Pops!” from the audience, the band launched into the song, the perfect finale to an incredible performance saw a typically-unaffected NYC crowd rocking out like there was no tomorrow and Art Brut coming into their own and beginning to realize their role as one of the world’s most popular bands.

MP3: "Good Weekend" - Art Brut [highly recommended]

Though "Good Weekend" is my favorite Art Brut track and was the highlight of the show, the band did treat the crowd to one brand new song, which Eddie called "Nag, Nag, Nag, Nag". Fortunately, RySpace was in attendance and recorded an mp3 of the song for your listening pleasure, available here.