For those of you who haven’t already decided which So Cow show you are going to on their 2010 North American tour I thought I would remind you of those dates one last time before it starts.  Tomorrow is the first day of their almost three month long American tour! Starting at Asbury Lanes in Asbury park (I’m guessing the Asbury Park and Philly shows are tentative due to the blizzard, but those are just my thoughts) .  So Cow is playing pretty much the entire country so there is no excuse to miss them this time around:

• Feb 11 Asbury Lanes Asbury Park, New Jersey
• Feb 12 Kung Fu Necktie Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Feb 13 Monster Island Basement Brooklyn, New York %
• Feb 14 Cake Shop New York, New York +
• Feb 17 O’Brien’s Boston, Massachusetts
• Feb 19 AS220 Providence, Rhode Island
• Feb 20 Casa Del Popolo Montreal, Quebec
• Feb 21 Rancho Relaxo Toronto, Ontario
• Feb 22 The Casbah Lounge W Hamilton, Ontario
• Feb 23 The Bug Jar Rochester, New York
• Feb 24 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
• Feb 25 Cafe Bourbon Street Columbus, Ohio
• Feb 26 Lager House Detroit, Michigan
• Feb 28 Eagle’s Nest Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Mar 01 7th St. Entry Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Mar 03 Badlander Missoula, Montana
• Mar 04 Empyrean Spokane, Washington
• Mar 05 East End Portland, Oregon
• Mar 06 Comet Tavern Seattle, Washington
• Mar 08 Mama Buzz Cafe Oakland, California
• Mar 09 The Crepe Place Santa Cruz, California
• Mar 10 The Hemlock Tavern San Francisco, California
• Mar 11 The Smell Los Angeles, California
• Mar 12 Bar Pink Elephant San Diego, California
• Mar 13 Trunk Space Phoenix, Arizona *
• Mar 14 El Paso Block Party El Paso, Texas
• Mar 16 The Mohawk Austin, Texas
• Mar 17 – Mar 20 SXSW Austin, Texas
• Mar 22 The Conservatory Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Mar 23 Record Bar Kansas City, Missouri
• Mar 25 Hi-Tone Cafe Memphis, Tennessee
• Mar 26 The Belafonte Hattiesburg, Mississippi
• Mar 27 529 Atlanta, Georgia
• Mar 30 Snug Harbor Charlotte, North Carolina
• Mar 31 2702 Lawndale Durham, North Carolina
• Apr 01 Black Cat Washington DC #
• Apr 02 Ruintown Baltimore, Maryland
• Apr 03 Terrace Club Princeton, New Jersey
  • % = w/ Blank Dogs, Frankie Rose and the Outs, Sisters
  • + = w/ Preacher and the Knife, White Blue Yellow and Clouds, Babies
  • * = w/ Nobunny
  • # = w/ Smith Westerns

I’m looking forward to catching these guys at Cake Shop, one of Manhattan’s finest venues.  If you are in the city is a great way to spend Valentines Day.

So Cow has also announced that their second LP Meaningless Friendly this year on Tic Tac Totally and it is due out sometime in the next couple weeks! I can’t wait to hear it…and if you haven’t heard So Cow’s So Cow yet I highly recommend picking it up…it was my favorite album of 2009.  Here is another one of my favorite tracks from last year’s amazing LP…just one of the many reasons you should be catching this tour:

[mp3] So Cow- “Shackleton”

• buy the self titled album  here.

not to mention So Cow always comes packing a wonderful array of cover songs…this is one they rocked while they were in the states last year:

[mp3] So Cow- “Mess Me Up (Nobunny cover)” via the FMA

• get the whole set here.

So which show will you be at?

Links:

• much more on So Cow can be found here.
• more on Nobunny here.

——————————————————
FMA credits:

I’ve been using an iPhone for about the past six months, and while there are somethings that I totally love about it…but it is not perfect, and I find that lots of applications are not nearly as useful as you would like them to be.

Recently Analog Apartment posted about a new iPhone app that uses discogs.com.  If you aren’t familiar with Analog Apartment it is a cross between Apartment Therapy and a techy audio file blog with a strong focus on vinyl.

The RECORDS iPhone App uses discogs.com to look up an album’s information quickly and efficently.  I don’t know if you are like me, but I’ve definitely tried to look things up on allmusic.com while at the record shop, and unless you are looking for reviews I’m pretty sure this application has what you need.

+’s:

The RECORDS app gives you a welth of information: Title, Artist, Record Label, Format, Country, Release Date, Genres, Styles, Notes (if applicable), and Track Listings.

Initially I was skeptical so I started off with something that was kind of obscure.  I typed in Cold Cave.  I wanted to see what info it would bring up.  I was slightly surprised when I get a whole bunch of results…it not only brought up the LPs, but also the CDs.   I chose Love Comes Close.  The results were pretty cool.  In the notes section on Love Comes Close (the LP on Heart Work) it said:

“Limited to 1,000 on black vinyl.”

At this point I was pretty impressed.  I’m interested in seeing what it says when the re-press comes available from Matador.

Next up I thought I would try something a little harder, and I punched in Gary War.  Just like Cold Cave I got a whole bunch of results (both searches brought up 7″s and eps).  I knew the pressing details of Horribles Parade, and thought that I would check it out.  The notes section on this one were equally impressive:

“Special edition with screen printed alternate cover art, a hand numbered insert, and an mp3 download code. Limited to 150 Copies.”

Almost every album I have looked up has cover art, and all relevant information. There are some problems though.

-’s

The information is pretty detailed, but  I have tried to stump it and I think that it runs into problems with re-presses.  For example when punching in Nobunny…I get one hit for Love Visions, and it says that it is a press of 200 copies…I know that this LP is currently in it’s 3rd press, but those were not mentioned.

Of course with the digestible format that discogs.com has created in this app it will fall short in some areas…for example if you are trying to figure out exactly what pressing of a Beatles album…the 20 or so listings for Abbey Road might be confusing, and in the end you might not be able to figure out exactly what you have in your hands when at the record shop.

Lastly…the search is sometimes case sensitive.  A little annoying, but something I can deal with.  This hasn’t happened every time, but when writing this review I had a problem searching Cold Cave until I used capital C’s on both words.

Overall:

Discogs.com is a community built database so the information will be getting better each day, and I really feel that it was a pretty good for the small prices of $1.99.  I highly recommend trying it out.  It might not have everything you need, but it has most of it…and it is a whole lot faster than trying to use the internet on your phone.  If you want the database to be better head on over to Discogs and join, and contribute to the information.

Links:

• Companion post with mp3s by Cold Cave and Gary War.
• Discogs
• RECORDS iPhone App
• more on Gary War here.
• more on No Bunny here.
• more on Cold Cave here.

Nobunny played at Bruar Falls last Friday (June19th).  I’m a fairly new Nobunny fan, but a long time listener of punk rock…and while I remembered that punk shows were short…I forgot how short.  It’s cool though…Nobunny fit more rocking into 25 minutes than most bands can do in an hour.  I will definitely go see him again next time he is in town…now I just need to track down a copy of Raw Romance.

A couple more Nobunny pictures can be found here.

More about Nobunny (including mp3s, tour dates, and mail order info) here.

Tonight, Friday June 19th :

• Nobunny, Hunx and His Punx, The Beets, and German Measles  @ Bruar Falls!

Saturday June 20th:

• Health @ 979 Broadway Backyard (probably will be rained out…anyone got a rain location?)

Sunday June 21st:

• Nobunny @ Death By Audio (all ages)

I’m kinda glad it’s a quiet weekend after the craziness of the past two weeks.

If you have any recs feel free to leave them in the comments.  Cheers.

I’ve been itching since the weather started to get nice for a punk rock show, and while Dark Meat partially fulfilled this I wasn’t totally satisfied (my punk rock fix I mean, Dark Meat was great)…but that will be nothing compared to Nobunny this Friday!

I had a dual introduction to this band both by The Pop Filter sending me a link, and then So Cow covering one of their songs.  This happened some time over the past couple months.

When  you first click on Nobunny’s myspace you think to yourself…what the fuck is this.  Half-Man, Half-Bunny, Half-Nude, all pop punk?  How can this be good? But if you take the time to listen to Love Visions you find that not only is Nobunny good, but it is some of the best Ramones’ influenced fuzzy sloppy bubble gum punk you have heard in a long time (if not ever).   It took me a while to get over the name and the gimmick, but now I have embraced it.

Nobunny makes  you want to bob your head and sing-a-long, and have really brightened my spring.  Even though I no longer bike while wearing headphones this record makes me want to.

Love Visions is currently in it’s 3rd pressing since it came out in 2008.  The first press was on Bubble Dumb Records…this one had home made covers, came with a button, and a signed picture of Nobunny (200 on Pink wax, 800  on Black).  1-2-3-4 Go! Records did the re-press and did 300 on orange/gold and 1,200 on black.  And now 1-2-3-4 Go! has done a 3rd pressing…this time on red vinyl (500 or 1,000 copies…can’t figure this out for sure?  anyone know?).

Either way check him out:

[mp3] Nobunny- “I Am A Girlfriend”
(via Raven Sings the Blues)

“Boneyard” Video:

Both songs are off of Love Visions, Buy it here (No Idea! happens to be $6 cheaper than Insound on this one)!  It doesn’t matter what pressing it is…you really should just own it.  For the punk rocks sake.

Originally from Tucson this Nobunny now resides in Oakland, but will be in New York this weekend!  Here are the tour dates though mid July (lots more TBA):

• 6/19/09- Brooklyn, NY @ Bruer Falls w/ Hunx and His Punx, The Beets, and German M easels
• 6/21/09- Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio w/ Uzi Rash
• 7/4/09- San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout w/ Burger Boogaloo
• 7/15/09- Los Angeles, CA @ 5 Star Bar (21+)
• 7/17/09- San Diego, CA @ JOHNNY RAD FEST 2!!!!!
• 7/18/09- Los Angeles, CA @ 5 Star Bar (all ages)

Oh and if you couldn’t tell by the line up…the show at Bruar Falls will be amazing.

As a bonus WFMU’s Free Music Archive has So Cow’s cover of Nobunny’s “Mess Me Up” for free download.  This was recorded for Jason Sigal’s great Tuesday morning show Talk’s Cheap:

[mp3] So Cow- “Mess Me Up” (Nobunny Cover) (also on Love Visions)

Nobunny just put out another album called Raw Romance on cassette only (Burger Records), and this one is already sold out.  More info when this comes back available.