(top photo: Voxtrot.  Bottom photo: no idea but surely not Vampire Weekend) (EDIT: that’s Dr. Dog and yes, IU’s Union Board needs to better tag its indie band clip art)

Until they release something new, or play live where I can see them, I’m going to keep posting videos like this of Women. This is a version of “Group Transport Hall” that slows the song down significantly from the recorded version–like playing a 45 at 33 speed–resulting in a nice quasi drone-metal buildup that [...]

There’s no better way to establish a mythic rock presence than to resist public appearance while continuing to issue uncompromising, obtuse, and often brilliant music. That’s been the case with the Silver Jews’ David Berman for the past decade and a half, and it was great to witness a manifestation of the devotion he’s accumulated [...]

Before I get to the concert, I want to mention that yesterday was a gorgeous 75 degree day, and we’re currently on spring break, so I thought it apt to get outside and do what I like to do outside, which is play basketball. The fact that I’m borderline freakishly tall (6′6″) means that, [...]

While waiting in line for the first of what would be many beers at Bloomington’s Second Story on Friday evening, I asked the bartender if he knew in which order the bands, Head of Femur and The Mendoza Line, would be playing. He didn’t know, but the girl in line behind me did, and [...]

Until last Saturday, Stereolab existed in my mind as not much more than a series of symbols. I’d for whatever reason never taken the steps to seek out what the group actually looked like, and was content with whatever imagery came to mind while listening—typically something along the lines of a group of Marxist scientists [...]

Last year, the Fiery Furnaces covered “Norwegian Wood” (mp3) for the Rubber Soul tribute compilation, and were summarily lambasted across the music-crit sphere, both pro and amateur, online and off. How, in the name of everything holy, they wrote, could a band with only a few years of existence have the chutzpah to radically re-interpret [...]

Perhaps Voxtrot will be 2006’s version of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah? After I wait for the groans to subside, I’ll offer my evidence. Okay, that’s better. On the strength of only one 5-track EP and some pretty thick blog buzz (Gorilla vs. Bear, Gothamist, Brooklyn Vegan), and with no Pitchfork review, they managed to [...]

Brought together through Myspace communication, the Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin/Catfish Haven tour began in earnest last night in Bloomington. Catfish bassist (and marathonpacks reader!?) Miguel explained to me that the pairing should work nicely, with both bands currently reading magazines in the waiting room that is blog popularity—neither is big enough to [...]

I’m embarking on an excursion Saturday night that I haven’t often (ever?) needed to. Along with my long-suffering girlfriend and fellow Hoosiers Dodge (from MOKB) and MJ, I’m going to attempt to procure tickets to the sold out Andrew Bird concert at Bloomington’s lovely Buskirk-Chumley Theatre. The four of us, despite blindingly close proximity [...]