new appleseed cast, wsc, bp...

I don't really seem to be having the time to post everyday, but I think I'm going to start to try to make a huge ass post once a week with a couple of bands and whatever else strikes my fancy at the time I'm writing.

Last night I saw Washington Social Club at the Crowbar with a couple of local openers (of most note, Bullet Parade, but also The Minor White, and North). It was a fantastic, amazingly fun show with the addition of randomly interspersed audience percussion thanks to Kleeb of Bullet Parade. Both were very high energy sets condusive to much movement. I had a lot of fun and took some pictures when I was not banging on a tambourine or shaking maracas. Here's a sample of some of the stuff my shutter caught:

Washington Social Club (above and the 2 below)

Bullet Parade (2 below)Anything that Bullet Parade has recorded is with their old line up and in my opinion isn't that great. The new band is awesome and will hopefully have an ep or something recroded soon. As far as hearing Washington Social Club, they have a couple live mp3s on their site which I'll link to.

[mp3] Washington Social Club - Are You High (live @ Schuba's)
[mp3] Washington Social Club - Modern Trance (live @ Schuba's)
[mp3] Washington Social Club - Charlie the Russian (live @ Schuba's)

The Appleseed Cast's new ablum Peregrine is due out March 21 on (if you didn't already know, you might not believe this but) The Militia Group. This (like Denison Witmer) was a very unexpected move in my eyes, but the label has great PR and seems to do a great job selling records so this might have been for the better even though Deep Elm and Tiger Style were such great labels. Despite the picture, they have not turned into a metal band and the new album is not a departure at all. Personally I love it. It seems a little polished and upbeat to be an Appleseed Cast album, but the progression of their sound grows on you fast and you find their classic signature sound settling in your ear when it's all said and done. I'll link a download for a zip of the album but it is someone's personal server space ... find it here (link from Indie Surfer Blog). Listen to "Here We Are (Family in the Hallway) on myspace before you get the album.

Show Your Bones (Yeah Yeah Yeah's) has been slowly leaking song by song. And I'm really like what I've heard so far. It definitely better than Fever to Tell which I solely adore for the last 4 songs. If I'm assuming correctly, Karen-O has mellowed out a little, which is so much better in my opinion. The guitar work of Nick Zinner continues to impress me... "Dudley" is the the slower mellower part of Yeah Yeah Yeahs that I adore and "Golden Lion" is upbeat but not to the trashy extent of a lot of the last album and the "Oooo, oo's" are catchy as hell.

[mp3] Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Gold Lion
[mp3] Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Dudley (yousendit link, expires in a week)