Here in New York all we are getting is snow, but it seems like it’s summertime in Michigan, or at least people are wearing their swimsuits.

Fred Thomas, of City Center, has teamed up with his friends Shelley, Dina (who also plays in Secret Twins, among others) and Amber (formerly of Dos Hermanos, among others) h to form Swimsuit.

The first thing I read about Swimsuit was: “Did you ever watch that show Kids In The Hall? Remember the theme song? All of our songs sound like that. (via).”

Admittedly I’m a huge Kids in the Hall fan (see this post), and there is even a Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet LP on my shelf (which is excellent by the way).

Fred and friends channel this vaguely surf influence into their music, and their first live set that was posted on the City Center blog has me pretty excited.  Just like Saturday Looks Good To Me and City Center…Swimsuit seems to have the same magic that Fred and company bring to everything they are involved in.  I’ve been really digging the entire set, but something about this rocking instrumental number has me moving (I extracted it from the live set so you can sample…but you really should just download the whole thing):

[mp3] Swimsuit- “Untitled New Jam (live in Ann Arbor)”

[live set download] Swimsuit- Live in Ann Arbor Michigan

Thanks Fred and Ryan for recording and posting this (live set is via this post)!

I can’t wait for Swimsuit to hit NYC, and City Center for that matter…it seems like it’s been a long time.

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I’ve been meaning to post about City Center for a while now (in my early days I was writing about them all the time)…so expect more on Fred and Ryan in the upcoming weeks.

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• more City Center here.
• photo via Jen Lovely.

As you can probably tell by the title of this post at least a portion of it is going to have to do with They Might Be Giants. I am definitely a fan of the Johns, but not as huge of a fan as some people. I think a GIGANTIC: A Tale of Two Johns was a great documentary…one of my favorite music docs, but as far as their music goes I tend to focus on their early albums…I have a two disc collection of the self titled and Lincoln that I listened to for days at a time when working at 52.5 in college (Clay probably remembers that).

Last year I acquired a copy of Lincoln on vinyl, and I am very happy to own a copy of that on wax (it brings a smile to my face every time I play it).   They Might Be Giants have a new track called “Electric Car,”  and I have to say that this song also brought a smile to my face in the same fashion that Lincoln does. The pop sensibility that I love about TMBG, but with no Johns singing? A really wonderful little track with vocals by Robin Goldwasser and horn arrangement by Dan “The Machine” Levine.

[mp3] They Might Be Giants- “Electric Car”

This track is off of They Might Be Giants’ Here Comes Science CD/DVD, buy it here.

Something much less exciting that I heard was the newest Modest Mouse single (I don’t recall it’s name, nor do I want to acknowledge it by looking it up). I agree with klk that Isaac Brock sounds like a caricature of himself, and this song kind of depressed me.  I hadn’t really listened to Modest Mouse in a couple of years,  but actually put on Sad Sappy Suckers the other week, and remembered why I loved this band.  There is a track called “Call-to-Dial-A-Song” on the album, and I can only come to the conclusion that this was an actual message left on TMBG Dial-A-Song Answering Machine. There are internet claims that the latter fourth of Sad Sappy Suckers were from a Dial-A-Song service that Brock ran for a while, but I haven’t found a way to confirm…but this is supposedly one of the songs that was used:

[mp3] Modest Mouse- “Black Blood and Old Newagers”

Buy it buy it here.

Either way I feel that it was a pretty awesome idea, make a phone call…hear a song, whether you would be calling the original TMBG line or one that Modest Mouse might have done (I would have been happy to hear that song above). According to wiki TMBG’s dial-a-song “had died of a technical crash, and that the Internet had taken over where the machine left off.” I feel like this is really sad…almost like the death of a format, but more personal than a CD or record…Dial-A-Song only existed for a moment (if you didn’t hear the song from that day it was gone).

In the internet age I feel like there isn’t anything that exists for such a short period of time as a phone message. We have music blogs, and myspaces.  While myspaces theoretically could work in a similar way (put a song up, take it down the next day), I feel like there was something magical in the phone call.

While it isn’t as temporary I really feel that City Center is doing the most modern day equivalent to dial-a-song by posting new tracks extremely frequently on their blog.  Now a days everything is archived, and that is exactly what City Center have done.  At the beginning of the year I listened to a couple tracks of theirs… I wanted to hear more, and ventured in to the blog…I found myself downloading seventy or so tracks the first evening. They have been consistently posting free and legal mp3s, documenting their bands experimentation and growth.  Currently I’ve been digging on this spacey folky jam that they posted back in August:

[mp3] City Center- “Sky Flower”

As well as the video of their last practice before tour:

City Center- “Dinosaur Games”

Buy City Center records here.

While Dial-A -Song was a specific moment in time… City Center’s is an archived time line.  I see the advantages to both, but thinking back on it I would love to crawl through that back catalogue of TMBG dial-a-song recordings…I’m sure there are some gems that never saw the light of day in there.

Links:

• more on City Center here.

Calvin Johnson and his Hive Dwellers played the 92nd Street Y Tribeca this past Friday.  He was as wonderful and charismatic as ever.  Here are some pictures of the set:

I actually took a lot more pictures than this.  Check them all out here.

City Center opened this show, and have already posted a live recording of their amazing set to the City Center Blog!  Download it here.

For more on Calvin and the Hive Dwellers click here.

One of my indie rock crushes is the K Records head himself, Calvin Johnson, and he will be in our lovely city tonight (and again in a couple weeks).

This time Calvin isn’t doing it by himself …he has a new band, The Hive Dwellers.

I haven’t heard much by the Dwellers yet, except for the track they did for the Merge SCORE! Covers Comp (stream the whole album including the Hive Dwellers track for free for a limited time!), but I’m damn excited.  Gothamist confirmed that this is The Hive Dwellers first official release.

There really is nothing like watching Calvin mesmerize you with his dances on stage while you listen to his baritone voice.  Except the fact that his opening act is Fred Thomas and Ryan Howard’s CITY CENTER, and the headliner is Ian Svenonius’s new band Chain and the Gang.  Which makes these shows even better.

Besides Calvin fronting the Hive Dwellers and Ian fronting Chain and the Gang these two bands share all other members (they just switch it up on the instruments):

Bret Lyman (Bad Thoughts), Brian Weber (Dub Narcotic Sound System), Sarah Pedal, and Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good to Me, City Center).  [via TMT]

Yes, that’s right.  Fred Thomas will be playing in all of the bands tonight!

Tonight should prove to be a wonderful evening, and I will leave inspired by Calvin’s dance moves (and hopefully bust some of my own).

If you want to catch the Calvin Johnson and his Hive Dwellers there are two chances in the NYC area:

Apr 17, 2009 – New York City, New York
92Y Tribeca – (as The Hive Dwellers) w/ Chain and The Gang, City Center

Apr 26, 2009 – Brooklyn, New York
Market Hotel – (as The Hive Dwellers) Chain & the Gang , Mahjongg

And if you didn’t notice: Mahjongg (also of K Records) will be opening the Market Hotel show on the 26 of April!

Both of these shows should be super fun, and the line ups can’t get much better.  For the rest of the Hive Dwellers and Chain and the Gang’s tour dates check out the K Records tour page.

Gothamist just did a very entertaining interview with Calvin too…check it out here.

The Hive Dwellers will prove to be more rocking than some of Calvin’s more mellow solo stuff, but I found this recording of Calvin Johnson and Julie Doiron preforming the Halo Benders’ “Lonesome Sundown” and it’s just too good not to post!

[mp3] Calvin Johnson & Julie Doiron- “Lonesome Sundown” (Halo Benders cover) (via Gorilla Vs Bear) (well it’s not really a cover since Calvin sang on the original, but buy the original version here)

[mp3] Calvin Johnson- “I’m Down” (off of Before the Dream Faded) (Buy it!)

On a side note Julie Doiron will be in town next weekend…I should have a post up about her shows on Monday or Tuesday.

Photo of Calvin Johnson by Hillary Harris (via krecs.com).

Fred Thomas and Ryan Howard’s City Center is super prolific, and they don’t even have a full length release, yet.

Some of you might recognize Fred Thomas from Saturday Looks Good To Me, or if you catch Chain and the Gang and the Hive Dwellers on tour he will be playing in both of their bands…but to me you can set these acts aside and take City Center on it’s own.

The City Center blog has been booming with mp3s over the past year or so, and if you just scroll through you can end up with over a 100 mp3s on your computer for free download (reason enough to want to support these guys on the physical releases).  On top of the mp3s posted they have released three 7″s (one of which was a split with Grouper), and numerous tour CD-Rs (and maybe an actual CD EP at some point).

City Center is mostly electronic and range from atmospheric sound scapes to noisy  pop….all based in the realm of guitar, synthesizers, and other electronic devices.  I have posted several mp3s from their blog on the great pumpkin since I started (check out my other posts here) , and I am really excited to finally get my hands on a full length (I was lucky enough to snag copies of all of the 7″ and the Gold Girls 7″ was my favorite single of last year!).

City Center album appropriately titled City Center is coming out on Type Records in the US on June 8th.  Type is the label that released Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill…and you will recall if you tried to get a copy of the LP that it went out of print immediately.

The City Center LP will be limited to 500 copies, and of these 500 the band will be getting about 100.  They want people who love their music to get these records, and have made them available for pre-order it here (more info is also available through this link).

I grabbed mine last night…I recommend that you get yours soon too.

If You need more convincing (all mp3s via the City Center blog):

[mp3] City Center- “Open/House” (off of the upcoming self titled full length…Buy it Here)

[mp3] City Center- “Obvious”

[mp3] City Center- “Girlfriend in a Coma” (Smiths cover)

[mp3] City Center- “Practical Thaw”

City Center has several other releases coming up as well:

4-song 12″ Title TBA (Troubleman)
“Life Meeting” Cassette (Pleasuredome Tapez)
“Cops Don’t Care” 7″ (M’Lady’s Records)

I finally got to go to Academy this past weekend after an extremely stressful week at work (and this week might not be much better), but one of my favorite things about Academy is their showcase of new 7″ records.  I picked up several this weekend (all of which were totally rad), but I have been really obsessed with the new self titled 7″ by Real Estate on Underwater People Records.

Real Estate are from Ridgewood, NJ (and from what I understand a few of the members live in Brooklyn).  I had heard the name before and checked out the myspace (which doesn’t do this band justice), and after contemplating the slightly more expensive than usual 7″ I bought it anyways.  To my surprise it included a CDR of the songs.  And I have pretty much been listening to it non-stop.

While Real Estate sites influences from a variety of sources including but not limited to New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen, RayDavies, and the Beach Boys.  Matt Kimmel of Acid Marshmallow made the observation:  “Galaxie 500 mixed with the Grateful Dead,” and my friend Marc also pointed out the Galaxie 500 influence.  While I am seeing all of this (except the Boss, but definitely some Galaxie and Kinks) I am getting a bit of country, some Pavement (especially on the end of “Suburban Beverage” and during “Old Folks”), and CCR in the mix too.  Overall creating a really refreshing sound, and not really what I was expecting.

The nice people over at RCRD LBL have a couple exclusive downloads from Real Estate:

Real Estate- “Suburban Dogs”

Real Estate- “Fake Blues”

Neither of these tracks are on the 7″, so if you dig I highly recommend picking up the record.  You can buy it here, or pick it up at Academy Records in Brooklyn.

StereoGum has also reported that Real Estate will have a new 7″ that will be released by Fred Thomas of City Center. And, from the looks of their myspace and Woodsist Records website,  we can probably expect something coming out on Mexican Summer , and the debut full length, as well as another 7″,  on Woodsist.

Real Estate has a handful of upcoming shows…including quite a few in NYC and SXSW (as well as various other dates scattered across the US).  Here are the dates:

3/3/09 (TONIGHT!)- Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands
3/7/09- Brooklyn, NY @ Dead Herring w/Dinowalrus, Bachelor of Arts
3/12/09- Baltimore, MD @ The Bank w/ RA KHUIT NOOR, MARRAAMS , WE
3/13/09- Chapel Hill, NC @ ???(Houseshow)
3/14/09- Charleston, SC @ TBA (Venue TBA)
3/15/09- Birmingham, AL @ ??? (Venue TBA)
3/16/09- Pensacola, FL @ ??? (Venue TBA)
3/17/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @ The Parlor w/ So So Glos, Graffiti Monsters, Factoms, Golden Triangle
3/18/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @ Club 1808. Secret Agency Party
3/19/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @Club 1808. Mexican Summer Party w/Kurt Vile, etc.
3/19/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @ Natrix Natrix House
3/20/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @ Peacock Lounge w/ Invisible Hand, others…
3/21/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @Hot Freaks Showcase
3/21/09(SXSW)- Austin, TX @ Mrs. Beas (WOODSIST SHOWCASE) w/ Blank Dogs, Woods, Kurt Vile, etc.
3/24/09- Lexington, KY @ The Fact House
3/25/09- Bloomington, IN @ Cinemat w/ Dylan Ettinger
3/26/09- Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop Pizza Night
3/27/09- Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel w/ Titus Andronicus
4/11/09-New York, NY @ Pianos w/ Friendly Foes and Prussia
5/7/09-Brooklyn, NY @ Public Assembly (Crashin’ In)
***all dates from Real Estate’s Myspace.  Please check here for updated info.

Once again: Buy the new 7″ here!

UPDATE! as MCG pointed out they are playing on saturday(see above).  And I saw on toddpnyc.com that Real Estate is playing in Long Island City this Friday, March 6th.  Here is the info (via Todd P):

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Friday March 6th @ THE JACKSON

|| Dan Friel —————– from Parts & Labor, http://myspace.com/danfrieldanfriel
|||| Real Estate ———— http://myspace.com/letsrockthebeach
|||||| Boogie Boarder ——- http://www.myspace.com/boogieboardertheband
|||||||| Frat Dads ———- http://myspace.com/wearefratdad
|||||||||| Haunted Houses — http://myspace.com/shittysunset

| THE JACKSON |
1223 Jackson Ave @ 47th Rd | LIC, QNS
7-Vernon/Jackson, G-21st/VanAlst, EV-23rd/Ely | 8pm | $tba | ALL AGES

| curated & organized by Dan Santiago |

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This morning I was catching up on the mp3s that Fred Thomas posted to City Center’s blog.  I do this every couple weeks, and while all of the tracks were good this one really stood out:

City Center- “Obvious”

Fred describes the song as “”Tonight Tonight” by the Smashing Pumpkins, maybe with some Alice In Chains undercurrents,” but I’m also getting a bit of The Microphones song “the Glow pt. 2″ in the guitars.

Listen and enjoy…I know I did…This song was on repeat in my headphones my entire commute to work.

Photo by Amber Fellows via City Center.

City Center tour Dates:

Fred Thomas is also backing Calvin Johnson’s new band The Hive Dwellers as well as Ian Svenious’ new band Chain and the Gang.  The Hive Dwellers and Chain and the Gang will be touring together this April and May. Tiny Mixtapes has the tour dates here (I’ll have more on this tour as it gets closer).

Grouper (Liz Harris) hails from Portland, Oregon and release a really killer LP, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, and a wonderful split 7″ with City Center in 2008.   Both of these releases are beautiful, and deserve your attention (they sure got mine…see my best of lists: LPs & singles). Mary Pearson, of High Places, I think put it put it best:

If I were better at controlling my dreams, I would make them sound like this album.

It’s 2009 now,  and Grouper is on her way back to NYC this weekend to play two shows,  Australia, New Zealand, and a couple other scattered US dates. (All tour dates via Grouper’s myspace.)

Listen to Grouper:

mp3- “A Cover Over” – from Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (one of my favorites off the album… courtesy of Raven Sings the Blues)

Grouper – “Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping” (also from Dragging a Dead Deer…)

Buy Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Dead Up a Hill from insound.

Photo via City Center’s blog.

UPDATE: It looks like a dead deer was actually dragged into NYC to promote the show at the New Museum.

UPDATE II: I’m sorry if my original update implied that the Liz Harris/someone related to Grouper was responsible for the prank (I’ll be more careful with my wording next time).  Liz Harris clears this up below. Thanks Liz.