That Dog Concert at the Troubadour, West Hollywood, August 28, 2011

Mime Crime opened. This troupe of mimes and a jester acted out performances of hard rock and heavy metal songs. Whenever anyone tried to sing along or clap, they shooshed the offenders. It was somewhat amusing. Let's leave it at that.

Next Maya Rudolph's Prince cover band Princess played a few songs.

That Dog (Anna Waronker, Petra Haden, Rachel Haden, and Tony Maxwell) played a mix of songs off all three of their albums. Here are a couple of favorites off their final album "Retreat From the Sun," one of the best albums of the 1990's in my humble opinion. Although it sounds like no widespread tour is planned, let's hope they work on some new material for the future!

"Never Say Never"



"Minneapolis"



Here are a couple of videos of Anna Waronker's solo work:

"Beautiful" off Anna from 2002:



"How Am I Doing" off California Fade from 2011:

Aimee Mann Concert at Burton Chace Park, Marina Del Rey, August 13, 2011

Aimee Mann put on a great show at Burton Chace Park for the Marina Del Rey Summer Concert Series on August 13, 2011. Here are a few of the highlights from the performance:

Aimee Mann performing a new song "Daisy" that is sure to make you cry:



Aimee Mann performing the beautiful song "Wise Up" off the Magnolia soundtrack:

Dead Milkmen and Art Brut

The new album "The King in Yellow" by the Dead Milkmen is probably going to be my favorite album of the year with catchy melodies, interesting instrumentation, and humorous lyrics. Here is a clip of them playing "Meaningless Upbeat Happy Song" off the new album along with "The Woman Who Was Also a Mongoose." You can get their new album at http://www.deadmilkmen.com/thekinginyellow/



I recently discovered Art Brut and I like what I am hearing. Black Francis from the Pixies has been producing their albums and the influence is clear. Here is "Alcoholics Unanimous" from their album Art Brut vs. Satan.

Wild Flag Concert at Spaceland in Silver Lake, Los Angeles on November 19, 2010

This was one of the first live performances by Wild Flag in November 2010 at Spaceland in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. They are Mary Timony, formerly of Helium and the Mary Timony Band, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, former members of Sleater-Kinney, and Rebecca Cole, formerly of the Minders.

Mary Timony and Carrie Brownstein worked together previously on an EP called "The Age of Backwards" in 1999 as The Spells. Their new material is a great mix of their musical styles. Fans of Helium and Sleater-Kinney will be pleased when their new album comes out September 13, 2011.

This was an exciting concert because it was a small venue (holds about 250 people) and you really had no idea what they would play. They had no recorded material available and had only played a couple of shows in the preceding days. They did not disappoint and put on a show filled with energy.

"Electric Band"



"Future Crimes"



"Arabesque"



Jam session from "Racehorse"



"Beast of Burden"

Wye Oak Covers Danzig, Björk and the Moomins, and Jay Reatard

This will be a dark week on the blog:

Wye Oak did a brillant cover of Danzig's "Mother" as a part of the A.V. Club's Undercover project:


Wye Oak covers Danzig

Björk recently made a song for the film "Moomins and the Comet Chase." This is beautiful, moving, and dark:



Lastly, "It Ain't Gonna Save Me" from Jay Reatard. Again, great music but depressing stuff, especially since it seems to foreshadow his death last year.



Now that some of the depressing stuff is out of the way, maybe we can have an upbeat rest of the week!

Arrah and the Ferns, Mates of State, Vetiver, and Rogue Wave

Arrah and the Ferns is a great, relatively unknown band. This is their video for "Slim 5" off their album "All the Bad in One Place." I just ordered their cd this week and am looking forward to it! I am wondering why I waited so long. Make sure you get to 2:54 in the video, when the build-up explodes. Good stuff!



Mates of State announced their new album "Mountaintops" will come out on September 13, 2011. After seeing an amazing concert put on by them at the Echo last July, I am looking forward to this album. Here is the video for their upcoming single, "Maracas":



Vetiver is sounding like Fleetwood Mac in the song "Wonder Why" off their album "The Errant Charm," which is a very good thing in my humble opinion. They also have a cute video to go along with the song's charm:



I came across this great cover of the Pixies' "Debaser" by Rogue Wave this week and wanted to share it with you.

Matt and Kim, The Go Team!, and Minutemen

I am liking Matt and Kim's high energy Sidewalks album. Check out the video for "Cameras" and while you are at it, please comment what you think the video is about. How does it mesh with the lyrics?



The album Rolling Blackouts by the Go Team is finally starting to sink in with me, after not feeling that strongly about it with the first couple of listens. One of my favorites is "Secretary Song" featuring Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof:



"Punk Rock Changed Our Lives" I've been listening to Minutemen's 1984 classic Double Nickels on the Dime lately. Here is one of my favorites off the album, "History Lesson Part II":