Threadless + Havaianas contest!

I was clicking around on Threadless a few weeks ago and noticed their cool new “Living in Harmony” dual guitar design (acoustic? electric? how about both). I tend to be lamely paralyzed by indecision when buying clothing online and didn’t get it then, but serendipitously now the folks at Threadless have contacted me with a sweet little promo contest for you guys!

Fuel/Friends has a prize pack to give away containing the tshirt design by artist Josh Perkins, and matching Havaianas flip flops as well. You may or may not wear them together, depending on how completely dedicated to the idea of musical fashion you wish to appear.

TO WIN! I know this might cause you to groan, but you need to find a great joke to leave in the comments for me — one that makes you laugh out loud. The other night on a bicycle pubcrawl, I was talking about jokes and how hard it is to remember them when needed, and I realized I need some new fodder. Here’s my latest favorite: How do you get 100 Canadians to get out of a swimming pool? You say, “Please get out of the swimming pool.”

And because I like this song, both the original electric and this acoustic re-interpretation:

Reptilia (acoustic Strokes cover) – Howie Beck

Give me all your loving, and I’ll give you all of mine

Based on a recommendation from a friend who saw The Mynabirds last night at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop, I’ve googled and clicked and fallen in love with the toe-tapping sultriness and all these indie-rock goddess vocals.

Half of the former D.C. duo Georgie James, Laura Burhenn possesses a powerful alto voice that owns this album and every song on it. Ranging from dusty old soul to big gospel harmonies, with clattery percussion that evokes Spoon at times and smolders at others, What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood (Saddle Creek) is eclectic and thoroughly enjoyable. Burhenn’s voice channels the confidence of females like Dusty Springfield circa 1968, to Cat Power or Jenny Lewis in the modern-day lexicon. This song even has a touch of Cowboy Junkies?

Ways of Looking – The Mynabirds

I also strongly recommend that you listen to the piano-thumping fun of “Let The Record Go” and the echoey girl-group soul of “Numbers Don’t Lie,” among others.

What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood was recorded with lots of whiskey and dancing in an Oregon hillside cabin, and was produced by the uncannily flawless ear of Richard Swift (whose pop confections opened a Wilco show for me once). Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) arranged the shiny horns, and my friend J. Tom Hnatow of These United States brings his wicked slide guitar. It is a fantastic record, been listening to it all day.

CONTEST FOR THE DENVER KIDS: Wanna come see the Mynabirds on Monday night (July 19) at the Hi-Dive? I have a pair of tickets to give away. It’s an 18+ show, with Dark Dark Dark. As usual, please email me if you can for sure for reals come. We’ll get you on the list.

For the non-Denver residents, here are your other options:

MYNABIRDS TOUR DATES
* = w/ David Bazan
& = w/ Crooked Fingers

07/15: Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
07/16: Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
07/17: Boise, ID @ Neurolux
07/18: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
07/19: Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
07/24: Omaha, NE @ MAHA Festival
08/01: Council Bluffs, IA @ Stir Cove (w/ Al Green)
08/07: Council Bluffs, IA @ Stir Live and Loud
08/27: Omaha, NE @ Outside at Slowdown ( w/ Built To Spill)
09/03: Austin, TX @ The Mohawk &
09/05: Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress &
09/06: San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar &
09/08: San Francisco, CA @ Café Du Nord &
09/16: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall*
09/17: Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick*
09/18: Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Place*
09/19: Montreal, QC @ II Motore*
09/21: Burlington, VT @ Club Metronome*
09/22: Cambridge, MA @ TT The Bear’s*
09/24: Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl*
09/25: Wahsington DC @ Black Cat*
09/26: Charolottesville, VA @ The Southern*
09/27: Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle*
09/28: Atlanta, GA @ The Earl*
09/29: Nashville, TN @ Exit/In*
10/01: Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits*
10/02: Orlando, FL @ The Social*
10/03: Tallahassee, FL @ The Engine Room*
10/05: Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree*
10/06: New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks*

[thanks for the tip, Jess!]

I know I’ll make it back / one of these days :: Wilco vinyl contest

On most days, my favorite Wilco album is Summerteeth (maybe on most warm days like today, or perhaps it would always be my favorite if I lived in California full time).

So today I am pleased to have a new contest to giveaway the 180-gram double disc gatefold vinyl of Summerteeth. The vinyl-loving folks over at Because Sound Matters let me pick something from their cool stock on vinyl to give away to you guys (not the Neil Young retrospective!), and with summer just around the corner, this one felt right.

TO WIN: Let’s talk about your favorite Wilco _______ (seemingly nonsensical but somehow profound song lyric, live concert moment, etc). You pick what to write about, and the responses will be enjoyable for me to read in these coming days of travel and services. I’ll pick a winner when I get home on Sunday night.

Me? Probably “Via Chicago” when I first saw it live in Denver and it wrenched at my insides when the song broke apart all dissonant. Still one of my favorite shows, and favorite things I’ve written about a show. It blew the veneer off my insides.

Via Chicago (live in Denver 9/1/07) – Wilco

“But the wind blew me back via Chicago, in the middle of the night
And not without fight at the crush of veils and starlight“

Win tickets to see Mimicking Birds

I recently got all giddy about how much I love the debut album from Portland trio Mimicking Birds, just released on Isaac Brock’s label (Modest Mouse frontman). Fortuitously, they are on tour and swing through Denver next week and I have five pairs of tickets to give away to spread the good word.

To be entered, tell me a bird story or a bird fact in the comments. I’m prepping for Jeopardy. (Please only enter if you can actually go for reals: It’s next Tuesday at the Hi-Dive)

Rivers, Veins, and Roots – Mimicking Birds

After you enter the contest, or if you are sitting dejected and despondent because you live not in Colorado, click on over to this site and gorge yourself on a bunch of heartily enjoyable, vulnerably lovely Mimicking Birds demos, like the one above.

WIN! The new White Stripes documentary

CORRECTION: Fuel/Friends gets to give away the White Stripes’ new DVD of Under Great White Northern Lights and the companion live CD. My deep apologies for the confusion between me and the PR people (but hey, it’s still a cool prize, for free).

Under Great White Northern Lights was filmed to capture moments from Jack & Meg’s summer 2007 tour across Canada, from the big city venues to the smalltown bowling alleys. This tour (in support of Icky Thump) represented their last live performances for a good two years, until they recently resurfaced on Conan.

TO WIN: Leave me a comment telling me about either your favorite White Stripes concert moment or your favorite White Stripes song, and why. I will pick one winner before I board a plane to SXSW next Wednesday.

And speaking of White Stripes and SXSW in the same breath, how awesome does this look? I’ll be there, and try to not wear my Third Man Records shirt to the store that day. Last year at SXSW, in another one of those surreal moments that thankfully seem to pepper my life lately, I had tapas with the director of this film, Emmett Malloy, and we chatted about the making of this documentary. It feels full circle that I’ll probably get to finally see a screening of it at SXSW this year. Wahoo!

put on your blue lipstick and i’ll put on my venus boots

One of my favorite songs on Langhorne Slim’s last outing Be Set Free was the rambling, jangly romanticism of “Say Yes” — specifically where he pleads, “Put on your blue lipstick and I’ll put on my venus boots, and we’re in California but it might as well be the moon. Say yes, say yes, say yes…”

I couldn’t resist that request from him, even if I’m not exactly sure what it means. I’d say yes.

Go send the song in a fancy little Valentine’s Day card to someone you’ve taken a shine to. I’m seeing Langhorne on Wednesday night at the Hi-Dive, and I have a prize pack to give away to a lucky Denver reader:

LANGHORNE LOVES YOU: SAY YES PRIZE PACK
- One vinyl copy of Be Set Free
- One signed Langhorne Slim canvas bag
- A pair of tickets to his show Wednesday night at the Hi-Dive

Leave me an amenable, yes kind-of comment and we’ll sort things out Tuesday night.

Say Yes – Langhorne Slim (do it!)

He is touring all over to about 40 cities between now and April so seriously, you got lots of chances to agree with him, and I think you’ll find him and his music…mighty agreeable.

The haunting melancholy of AA Bondy

Today dawned steely grey and covered in snow. While it was nice to get a slow start, I feel a touch of the seasonal blues, unexpectedly.

It’s the right kind of day for the sad, slow beauty of AA Bondy.

I fell in love with Bondy’s music last year and almost named his When The Devil’s Loose (2009, Fat Possum) one of my top albums of the year. Bondy wrote of it, evocatively, “To me [the album] sounds like a radio washed ashore after a shipwreck.” The songs are subtle on the album, but it is really something to hear what they become live.

HearYa Sessions recently had Bondy and his backing band into the studio, and I was amazed by the way “Slow Parade” becomes an electric beast at the end. It starts like morphine and ends like ten-foot waves crashing.

Slow Parade – AA Bondy

Drag your shadow down the street
is it you I was to meet?
with your saints there on a chain
Waiting on another rain

And I’m going down
where the waves will surround
to the roll and the pound of the wild, wild sea
singin sweet to me…

Also, be sure to listen to the HearYa version of “Mightiest of Guns.” That minute-long slowburn introduction here puts a lump in my throat.

CONTEST FOR THE DENVER KIDS:
Come see AA Bondy tonight at the Hi-Dive! I have four tickets to give away, so please email me ASAP if you’d like to attend! Willy Mason and A(aron) Tom Collins open.

AA BONDY TOUR DATES
28 Jan – Hi-Dive, Denver, CO
29 Jan – Jackpot, Lawrence, KS
30 Jan – Maintenance Shop, Ames, IA
1 Feb – High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
2 Feb – Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI
3 Feb – Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY
4 Feb – Valentine’s Downstairs, Albany, NY
5 Feb – T.T. The Bear’s, Boston, MA
6 Feb – Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY

Fanfarlo shimmers and spins :: “Just let the comets lead the way”

We need to talk about Fanfarlo. Seriously.

Despite listening to this album almost nonstop for the last few months, you and I haven’t yet delved into the full-scale conversation that their debut album Reservoir so clearly deserves. One of my favorite releases of 2009, this British/Swedish 6-piece has crafted a joyously shimmering album that arches and soars, and thumps compellingly through the speakers.

Reservoir was recorded late last year at Peter Katis’ Tarquin Studios (whose producer’s hand has also lent texture to some of my favorite albums lately, by bands like The National and Frightened Rabbit – “using all the colors“). Combining their youth and enthusiasm with Katis’ seasoned treatment gives us a gorgeous result.

Fanfarlo’s songs use a hugely expressive palette of instruments, heavy on the shiny trumpets, the dazzling saws and accordion, perforated at all the right places with pounding bass drums and quirky time-shifts in the beat. One of my favorite songs on the album is the flawlessly crafted “Comets” that waveringly coalesces at the beginning and end, like the deepening twilight and the stars appearing, wrung tightly with an almost tangible melancholy. “Harold T. Wilkins” is absolutely the best driving and yelling song all year, maybe all decade (“they’re trying to say – SAY!! they’re trying to say — SAY!!”). It feels good all the way down to your toes. The whole album dazzles the ears, and sounds just as delicious on a quiet Saturday morning as it does on a Friday night.

There is a large dose of Arcade Fire’s jubilance, but with a greater effervescence (like a sheer wash of fluorescent color dripping down) and it is uncanny how the swoops and lilts of Simon Balthazar’s voice evoke a young David Byrne. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Ghosts – Fanfarlo
Harold T Wilkins – Fanfarlo

And just in case their well-placed affinity for the song structures of Neutral Milk Hotel isn’t apparent enough, check their recent terrific cover of “In An Aeroplane Over the Sea.”

WIN TICKETS! I have a grip of tickets to give away to Fanfarlo’s Denver show, this Friday the 13th at Moe’s, to celebrate the launch of their national tour. It’s one of the most hotly-anticipated shows of my year. Please email me if you would like to win a pair, and I will let you know by Wednesday night if you can get your dancing shoes on, or bowling shoes, as it may be. There are lanes next door and if you’re brave enough, we’ll play (when we’re done singing along).

FANFARLO FALL TOUR DATES
Nov 9 – Schubas Tavern – Chicago, IL
Nov 11 – Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN
Nov 13 – Moe’s BBQ – Englewood (Denver), CO
Nov 14 – The State Room – Salt Lake City, UT
Nov 16 – Knitting Factory – Boise, ID
Nov 17 – Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Nov 18 – The Media Club – British Columbia
Nov 19 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
Nov 20 – Great Basin Brewing Co. – Sparks, NV
Nov 22 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA
Nov 23 – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA
Nov 24 – The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Nov 27 – Muddy Waters – Santa Barbara, CA
Nov 29 – Club Congress – Tucson, AZ
Nov 30 – Sante Fe Brewing Co – Santa Fe, NM
Dec 2 – The Independent – Austin, TX
Dec 3 – The Loft – Dallas, TX
Dec 4 – Walter’s On Washington – Houston, TX
Dec 6 – The Bottletree – Birmingham, AL
Dec 9 – Metro Gallery – Baltimore, MD
Dec 10 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA
Dec 11 – IOTA – Arlington, VA
Dec 12 – Brillobox – Pittsburgh, PA
Dec 14 – Majestic Cafe – Detroit, MI
Dec 15 – El Mocambo – Toronto
Dec 16 – Il Motore – Montreal
Dec 17 – T.T. The Bear’s – Cambridge, MA
Dec 18 – Webster Hall – New York, NY

if you’ve got something to say, say it to me now

Irish songwriter Glen Hansard took the crowd outside Fingerprints by surprise last week, as they waited in line for his appearance inside with Marketa Irglova (of The Swell Season, and the movie Once):

Doesn’t that just give you the best kind of visceral reaction in your gut-parts? Sometimes I wish we could always live inside wonderful moments just like that, where people sing out what they mean, and mean the things they sing. Glen is an artist of the first-class.

That night their set included tracks from the new album Strict Joy (out tomorrow on Anti- Records), the Once soundtrack, Leave (The Frames), Tim Buckley’s Buzzin’ Fly (Jeff Buckley was once Glen’s roadie, ‘member?), and “New Partner” by Will Oldham. Those who were there say it was truly magical.

Say It To Me Now – The Frames
(from Hansard’s 1996 album Fitzcarraldo; a version was later on the Once Soundtrack)

In conjunction with the fine folks at Fingerprints, I have one autographed poster from that event to give away. It’s only signed by Glen (“Marketa wasn’t feeling great, so after the performance and almost two hours of meeting fans we set her free for the nap that was calling so loudly”).

Leave me a comment if you’d like to be entered for the poster — and go see Swell Season on tour this fall, eh?

SWELL SEASON FALL TOUR DATES
11/01 Milwaukee, WI – The Pabst
11/02 Indianapolis, IN – Clownes Theatre
11/03 Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
11/04 Montreal, QC – Olympia
11/06 Boston, MA – Berklee Performing Arts Centre
11/07 Providence, RI – Lupo’s
11/08 Philadelphia, PA – Merriam
11/09 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
11/12 New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
11/13 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
11/14 Dallas, TX – Palladium
11/15 Austin, TX – The Paramount
11/17 Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts
11/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
11/19 Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern (WITH JOSH RITTER)
11/20 Oakland, CA – The Paramount
11/22 Seattle,WA – The Paramount
11/24 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
11/25 Vancouver, BC – Centre For the Performing Arts
11/27 Boise, ID – Egyptian
11/28 Salt Lake City, UT – Jeanne Wagner Theatre
11/29 Denver, CO – The Ogden
11/30 Kansas City, MO – Uptown
12/03 Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theater
12/04 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
12/05 Minneapolis, MN – The State Theatre
01/19 NYC, NY – Radio City Music Hall (WITH JOSH RITTER)

Win a Lucero poster (hey darling … do you gamble?)

Gravelly-voiced, unrelentingly rocking Memphis band Lucero engenders the most rabid of fans, and for good reason. Their songs pulse hot and true with the heart of rock and roll (yes, Huey, it is still beating).

Lucero comes through Denver on Tuesday night on their “Ramblin Roadshow & Memphis Revue” tour, in support of their sixth studio album 1372 Overton Park. The album is their major-label debut, and was produced by Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem). After a series of near misses, I think this time I will finally make it to be baptized into the cult. The show is rumored to be daunting in its intensity, but I hope mostly it won’t hurt.

To celebrate with us, talented Denver poster artist Alan Peters (Jupiter Visual) has offered a pair of posters to Fuel/Friends readers. The posters are three-color screenprints, 13″x20″ on kraft brown enviro-cardstock. They’re pretty damn cool.

TO WIN: The new album is named after the Memphis loft where the band used to live and make music, but also enviable: in the ’70s, 1372 Overton Park was a karate dojo where local resident Elvis Presley, among others, took lessons. Tell me a story in the comments about a place you used to live. I’ll pick two winners on Monday night before I go to bed.

Nichols is one of the finest writers we have of music to accompany bitter disillusionment and heartbreak, but Lucero’s best songs also burst forth with a sort of irrepressible hope — here, in the shiny Memphis horns.

1372 Overton Park is out now; see you Tuesday at the show.

“So what if all my heroes are the losing kind?
We ended up with nothing, but we put up a fight.

Well come on little darlin’, can’t you cut us all some slack?
‘Cause the winners they all took off babe, and they’re never coming back…”

What Are You Willing To Lose? – Lucero
(from the new album)

Hey Darling, Do You Gamble? – Ben Nichols of Lucero, solo
(great song with a Townes Van Zandt backstory, from this earlier post)

PS: This Lucero song is still one of my favorites from them — or from anyone for that matter. It’s made it onto near every mix CD I’ve made for the past 3 years.

LUCERO FALL 2009 TOUR DATES
Oct 23 – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN *
Oct 26 – Aggie Theatre – Ft. Collins, CO †
Oct 27 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO †
Oct 29 – The Crocodile – Seattle, WA †
Oct 30 – Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR †
Nov 1 – Mezzanine – San Francisco, CA †
Nov 4 – The Casbah – San Diego, CA †
Nov 5 – The Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ †
Nov 7 – Longhorn Saloon – Ft. Worth, TX #
Nov 8 – Fun Fun Fun Fest – Austin, TX #
Nov 9 – Meridian – Houston, TX #
Nov 10 – Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL #
Nov 12 – Club Downunder @ FL State Univ. – Tallahassee, FL #
Nov 13 – Czar – Tampa, FL #
Nov 14 – Lizzie McCormick Stage – Orlando, FL #
Nov 15 – Café Eleven – St. Augustine, FL #
Nov 17 – Visulite Theatre – Charlotte, NC #
Nov 18 – 40 Watt Club – Athens, GA #
Nov 19 – Valarium – Knoxville, TN #
Nov 20 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC #
Nov 21 – Headliners – Louisville, KY #

* with Amy LaVere and Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm
† with Jack Oblivian and John Paul Keith & the One Four Fives
# with Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm and The City Champs