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OUT TODAY: Flight Of The Conchords - The Distant Future (Sub Pop) [MP3]: “Business Time” via Tunes Consumed Magnolia Electric Co - Sojourner (Secretly Canadian) [MP3]: “Leave The City” via Aquarium Drunkard The Budos Band - The Budos Band II (Daptone Records) [MP3]: “Chicago Falcon” via Inflight at Night Okkervil River - The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar) [MP3]: “Unless It’s Kicks” via Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good Augie March - Moo, You Bloody... more ›

Last night's show was underwhelming. Not in terms of performance, but in terms of turnout. Given, the show was up against NME's David Bazan extravaganza (ouch). I feel compelled to expose the flaws in order to prove that Acute deserves much, much more. As I arrive fashionably late, I walk into the Troubadour and my jaw drops. There's no more than 50 people inside as Acute began their set with the upbeat 'Rip Your Heart Out!'. Nevertheless, the band dove head first into a set full of foot-tapping songs. Frontman Isaac Lekach successfully carried the band to safety from the Hot Water Music fans with the usual playful and endearing antics. He joked about getting stopped at the border for marijuana possession, despite not having any, and played the beginning of the set with a fake mustache, subsequently attaching it to his guitar for the remainder. Other highlights included: the irrefutably infectious 'Take A Step Back', the prom-perfect 'You Could End Up In Love', the sing-song 'Trouble' and an unbelievable cover of Electric Light Orchestra's classic 'Mr. Blue Sky'. I just couldn't get over the fact that such a tightly knit performance could pass so carelessly under everyone's radar. The crowd's distance from the front of the stage conveyed an overall hesitancy to approach, even to truly connect. Who would've thought? Hot Water Music front-man, Chuck Ragan, and Jesse Malin, who's most notably recognized through his associations with Ryan Adams, formed an abrupt conclusion to Acute's resoundingly poppy set. more ›

Björk - Volta (Atlantic) Bone Thugs -N- Harmony - Strength & Loyalty (Interscope) Barbara Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert [2 CD] [LIVE] (Sony) Keren Ann - Keren Ann (Blue Note) Brakes - Beatific Visions (Rough Trade) Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure / Beggars) Elliott Smith - New Moon [2 CD] (Kill Rock Stars) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge) Page France - Page France and the Family Telephone... more ›

The Key Club gets top billing tonight because The Bronx headlines a benefit for Wheels for Humanity, which supplies wheelchairs. Also on the bill : Chuck Ragan (ex-Hot Water Music) with members of Flogging Molly, and some rock star karaoke. Everyone will probably be there for either the ice skating or Great Northern, but The Submarines came out with a haunting CD that we played all summer long. Go downtown and ice skate from... more ›

Courtney Jones, The 3 Heads, Rye Hollow @ On The Rox more ›

Giant Drag, The Thermals, Envy, Dios Malos, Tussle, Silversun Pickups, Darker My Love, Foreign Born, Toys that Kill, Brother Reade, Whiskey Biscuit, Rolling Blackouts, Strange Boys, The Minor Canon, Sleeping People, Subtitle & Friends, Graf Orlock, Chuck Ragan, Hit Me Back, Carry the Casket, Upsilon Acrux,Shapes and Sizes, Thee Make Out Party, Michael Runion, Life with an Astronaut @ Fuck Yeah Fest more ›