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I hadn't heard from my old pal Marshall "Fucking" Beck in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a comment on my Myspace page from him today. Apparently his old band Rebirth is releasing a CD soon (he's got a band called Reign of Vengeance these days). Here's what Marshall had to say:

You guys at the New Times are going to love the thank you list for Rebirth's upcoming album... The cd release party is going to be a New Times burning party... If the fans bring 3 copies of unread New Times to burn they will get 3$ off the cover of the door... spread the word...
love always,
The baddest mother fucker in the Az metal scene

I find that shit hilarious, although there's probably something illegal about it (I think the small print specifies that only one copy is free per person). Nonetheless, I'm anxious to see the shout outs he's got for us, but he didn't let me know when the release show is, nor could I find it on any of his websites. Oh well, I'm sure he'll get up here in the comments and let everyone know.

Don't let the photo above scare you, it's only my homeboy Ryan Breen, a.k.a. the one-man electronic machine known as Back Ted N-Ted. He's just finished up his debut album, Pop Animal, that's scheduled to be released soon by Ohio indie Abandon Building Records. If you click on the tag below, you'll see that I'm always watching what Breen and Back Ted N-Ted are up to, whether it's video collaborations with Japan-based artists, songs with Coppé, or his work with Chronic Future's Mike Busse. If you like the glitchy, bleepy stuff, this is some of the dopest coming out of the 'Nix right now. Check out a couple of the new ones:

Back Ted N-Ted - "Opening Credits"

I missed the Crowded House/Liam Finn show last Thursday at the Marquee, but one of the swell guys who occasionally takes photos of bands for my column was there, and sent me these shots as well as a pretty rave review of the gig. The photog is Luke Holwerda, and this is what he told me about the show:

It was a rad show!!! Liam Finn (Neil's son) opened the show...just him...guitar...3 amps...loop pedal...and a drum set. It was kick ass dude! It was so nice to see something different. It was almost indie (i hate that word)...but like...indie with great lyrics...and more than 3 chord songs. and it was all just him.
Crowded House...phew...come on! I had a blast! What can i say?

My thanks to Luke, and more photos from the show are after the jump...

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Actually, there's a whole hell of a lot to do, and in the interests of honoring the artists/designers that make up the (mostly) dope flyers around town, here's a truncated round-up...

Look at the pretty pictures and see what gets a rise out of you; seems like a busy week/weekend approaching.

This is a bit of either a spoiler or a teaser, since my column about Hellas Mounds won't be out until late today on the internet or tomorrow on the stands, but whatever the case, I thought I'd give you a little taste of what the band that I've blogged about previously has to throw down.

Without giving too much of the column away, these are 4/5 of the kids that were in spazzcore enthusiasts We Fly Our Kites at Night (who I blogged about here), and although that sounds like a much cooler name than Hellas Mounds, Hellas Mounds actually means something: it's a strange grouping of hilly lumps on Mars that are mysterious for scientific reasons that are beyond me. Nonetheless, the band is one of the most exciting new projects I've seen recently, in a droning, stoner-rock, loud sorta way, and it's not quite tangible what I'm explaining in the column without hearing the group. Thus, here's your chance - feel free to bust out your commentating skills with your opinion of them.

Hellas Mounds - "Last Ferry to Cydonia"

Over at AZPunk.com, my friends and detractors are polling and discussing the state of punk here in Arizona. The thread is here, and this is what overlord TPStank has to say about it:

I'm trying to determine the current state of our community, and it's got me somewhat disappointed. In reflection on the last 5 years of AZPunk.com, there's no doubt to the great things that happen in our community. Unbreakable friendships have been forged. Great bands who have been at it for years are still playing for the fun of it. We can usually find something fun to do every night of the week, and know at least a handful of the people in the bar. Definitely fun times. But the music and venues seem stale.

We all just seem kinda bored to me. I'd have to give us an honest 4.

Personally, I think some of us are too old to be out every night like the kids are (and I'm not that old), but from my perspective, where I examine every scene from country to hip-hop to dance music, punk rock's not doing too goddamn bad relatively. But let 'em know what you think, or just opine here in the comments section.

Above - Chippy's first drum set, 1971

Not to beat a dead country horse, but I was remiss yesterday in not mentioning that Chip Hanna, who I wrote about in my column Revolver this week, is playing at Mardi Gras tonight - the reason I mention this although I already mentioned his Wednesday night happy hours at Last Exit is that the turnout for the happy hour can be pretty sparse because of the early set; the one tonight is an actual nighttime, honkytonk, replete with jello shots - and it's Ladies Night, whatever that means (I won't tell Chip's wife Erin if you don't). Anyhow, here's another track by Chippy for you, one that pretty much tells the story of his journey from Louisiana to California to become a punk drummer, and finally to Phoenix to find his calling as a honky tonker. Enjoy.

Chip Hanna - "Wouldn't Change a Thing"

I'm a little bit shocked that my ol' homeboy Conor Oberst and his latest lineup for the ever-evolving Bright Eyes have actually debuted at #4 on the Billboard charts, despite remaining on Omaha's stalwart indie label Saddle Creek. The album, Cassadaga, is a step forward for Conor, Mike Mogis, and crew; something akin to I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, but eons away from Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. Personally, I was more enthralled by the latter (anyone that knows me or has paid attention to what I write over the years knows that I've got a soft spot for this kid who was scraping my bong for resin at the age of 16), because the electronics, experimentation, and subject matter (cocaine, booze, telling girls to fuck off) are far more compelling to me.

Cassadaga, however, continues the country-ish mode that I'm Wide Awake was so adept at. It's still sinking into my consciousness, but you've got the pedal steel and finger-picking - this is just a guess, but I think that his collaborations with M. Ward and Jim James of My Morning Jacket rubbed off on him considerably. This record also seems less uber-personal than anything previously - but then again, a year or so ago I was talking to Conor's best friend Tim Kasher, of Cursive and the Good Life, and he told me that he and Conor had agreed they ought to stop writing songs about writing songs. Which is fine and well, because although I dig that shit, I've still got Fevers & Mirrors and Lifted or the Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground when I need a fix. Anyway, if you haven't heard any of the new stuff, or you're under the mistaken impression that Bright Eyes is an emo band (it's modern American folk music, always has been), here's a track to check out.

Bright Eyes - "No One Would Riot for Less"

A strange email came to us lately that's just so out there I've got to share it with you... this is what it said:

Can a dead man win the American Idol songwriter contest? Maybe...

Regards,
Clark D. Lough
"Confetti Drop"

Mayberry died in 1995 of an apparent cocaine overdose according to the old New Times article found here. He was a local musician of some renown and also owned the legendary Sun Club. Anyway, the song's called "Happy Song," and you can listen to it here:

A while back I issued a call to arms in my column (found here) for DJs to send me their mixtapes/mix-CDs... and I didn't get much of a response. There was a little big, which I posted about here, but just a trickle. So I was stoked when DJentrification shot not one, but two mix CD's over. The track below is a 15 minute or so chunk of the one he sent called The Thing - enjoy.

DJentrification - Excerpt from the Thing

Last week, I promised to throw up some Runaway Diamonds tracks once I figured out how to do that with my new blogging software; all the glitches have been solved, so here's the tunes for you. I'm torn in my opinion of the songs, I think Pomerenke's lyrics are just too damn stupid, whereas the music and the girls' voices have a lot of potential. But let me know what you think.

Runaway Diamonds - "Raw"

Runaway Diamonds - "End the Night"

Hopefully you saw my column this week on punk-rock-drummer-gone-country-troubadour Chip Hanna (if not, read it now, you're obviously not working). I was under the weather a lot of this weekend and didn't get out to any shows, but yesterday Chip and his wife Erin had me over for some steaks and beers and to hit me off with some new material - so new it's not in the article this week. For one, his two-disc live CD set, Last Exit Live, is hot off the press, and it kicks fuckin' ass. Sound maestro Jack Maverick did a damn fine job, and you get a shitload of Chippy doing classic covers like "London Calling," "Man of Constant Sorrow," "Folsom Prison Blues," and more. Down below you'll find his cover of David Allen Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," which I threw up because it reminds me of an ex-girlfriend.

But even better than the live discs, Chip gave me a disc of ten new songs, recorded with twenty-year-old wunderkind Tim Martinez (hopin' I didn't spell his name wrong, Chip didn't write it down for me). Nonetheless, these songs eclipse even his latest studio album, Chip Hanna & the Berlin Three, which was supposed to be out last Friday but Chip's still waiting for the boxes of CDs with full art to arrive - anyway, look for that on his website, and try to catch one of his Wednesday night happy hour sets at Last Exit before he takes off to tour Europe in June.

Chip Hanna "True Believers" -

Yes, it's the infamous 4/20, which means little to anyone except the legions of pot smokers out there who need yet another reason to get stoned. And it also means there's a plethora of shitty jam band shows crackin' off, but I wouldn't recommend any of those unless you're really high and something of a middle-aged hippy. Instead, I suggest that you go check out the Insects, who I wrote about here, with Bionic Jive and Wadada at Chasers. Go ahead, hit up McDonalds first and grab some $1 Big n Tasty's, then get your stoned ass over there to enjoy some of the most avant-garde hip-hop happening around town.

And remember...

It's something of a rarity when homeboy brothers Mike and Jared Bell are both in town to play as the Lymbyc Systym ever since Mike relocated with his girlfriend to Austin, so I highly recommend that you hightail it to Modified this evening to scope them out with Colorstore and Back Ted N-ted. If you haven't heard Lymbyc Systym's latest record, Love Your Abuser, you can hear a couple of tracks here and here.

But if that's not your steez and you prefer a little country music, Chip Hanna, who you'll read about in this week's issue of the New Times in my column Revolver, is holding down happy hour at Last Exit from 6 till 8:30 this evening. And I also wanted to alert you to a "secret" show on Friday, which is 4/20, whatever that means (wink), by the sassy-britches in Peachcake. Peachcake's also requesting your assistance in making the show go off - after the jump, I've reprinted their requests.

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According to the sister-act death metal band Hellen's Myspace page, the older sister, Desiree, passed away on Friday the 13th. My initial thought was that it was a gag, but the photo above is captioned "Chaser's 4/7/07 Desi's Last Show," and I haven't found any information to the contrary. In any case, it's sad indeed; according to the Myspace she was just shy of her 19th birthday. Hellen was profiled by New Times' music editor Niki D'Andrea here last year, if you're not familiar with the band. If anyone has any information about services or the veracity of this information, hit me up in the comments.
UPDATE: Niki confirms that she heard from Desiree's father in an e-mail about her untimely passing.