After visiting Salt Lake City in November and playing to a pretty decent sized crowd at The State Room, Fanfarlo is set to return later in the month on the 27th at the Urban Lounge. If you happened to miss them the first time (shame on you!), I would highly recommend you make the trip the second time around, as I’m sure you’ll be entertained to no end with their warm, summery pop sounds of trumpets, violins and acoustic guitars.

But for those who may be a little cash-strapped, the folks at Atlantic Records have been kind of enough to provide a pair of tickets for me to giveaway for the upcoming show. To win these tickets, just email me at theyellowstereo.blog@gmail.com with “I want to see Fanfarlo!” in the subject line with your full name in the body.

I’ll probably run this until the end of next week (no concrete date, but possibly on February 19th at midnight).

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Luna”
MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Finish Line”

Fanfarlo recently announced on their website of an upcoming US tour starting on November 9th in Chicago, and for all of you locals — a November 14th date here in Salt Lake City.  This is excellent news, as I have been wanting to see these guys for quite a while now.  I missed my opportunity to see them way back at SXSW in March, so I’m anxiously awaiting this!

As an added bonus, the band uploaded a laptop session that includes a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”, which you can watch below.  Also, if you have yet to listen to their excellent debut Reservoir, please do yourself a favor and listen to it right now.  I promise that you will fall in love with it.  You can thank me later.

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “I’m A Pilot”

In one of the more exciting, and at the same time disappointing, recent tour announcements came in the pairing of St. Vincent and Andrew Bird for a number of dates that started at the beginning of September.  I only say disappointing as there were no tour dates remotely nearby.

Of course, I come across this live session of the two simply jamming playing together in front of a small crowd somewhere in France I imagine.  The video is excellent, especially towards the end as Bird adds his violin skills to a few choice tunes from Annie Clark’s recent record.  This only hammers home how bummed I am to not be able to attend any of their shows together.

Remaining tour dates can be seen after the cut.

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After a bit of a hiatus due to a family emergency, I can now comfortably say that I am 100% back and ready to kick things into high gear here over at The Yellow Stereo.  Another announcement that has been in the making for a couple of months now, is that I am now living here in Salt Lake City, Utah.  After spending my entire life in the south, a time for change was needed and this opportunity opens tons of new possibilities in regards to this blog.  Hopefully, it means more of a focus on what seems to be a thriving music scene here, but still keeping things as they’ve always been for our regular readers.

To kick things off, one of my favorite bands right now, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, came into town last night along with Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Depreciation Guild, both of whom have been mentioned here on the blog at some point.  It was a night of firsts, as it was my first show in SLC at the lovely Kilby Court and the first time being in Utah for all three bands.  The venue reminded me a lot of the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, being very small (it’s basically a large garage) with a very long history of bringing great bands to the area. The crowd was not as large as one would hope, though, there were quite a bit of options that night with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Wavves both playing at other venues.

Cymbals Eat Guitars kicked things off first, and while I’m not as familiar with them as the other writers here on TYS, but the band was very intense and incredibly loud.  Definitely provided a good example of why one should bring earplugs to a concert, because as soon as their set ended, a ringing in my left ear continued for the entire duration of the night.  To be honest, they seemed like the odd band out that night as their music is almost the exact opposite from the other two bands on the bill.  Despite all of this, I still enjoyed their set.

The Depreciation Guild took the stage next, and while lead vocalist Kurt Feldman (also Pains’ drummer) mentioned that this was there first real tour, the trio performed like seasoned veterans.  In fact, I will go ahead and say they were the surprise of the night for me with their shoegaze/electronica sound.  Performing in near complete darkness (the venue is pretty dark regardless as evident from my photos) except for a rear-projection backdrop that showcased a mix of different colors and shapes that seemed to vibe perfectly with the music being played.  While the band’s use of 8-bit sounds are very much at the forefront on the studio recordings, in a live setting a majority of it seemed to be drowned out by the distorted guitars, which made them a completely different sounding band for me.

In Her Gentle Jaws [download]:
MP3: The Depreciation Guild :: “Darklooming”
MP3: The Depreciation Guild :: “Butterfly Kisses”

I couldn’t help but be excited to see The Pains of Being Pure at Heart perform again, as I had only seen a few short sets while I was in Austin for SXSW.  It was great to talk to Kip again and hear about their plan to see Titus Andronicus immediately after in nearby Provo, which I would’ve loved to have gone to as well, though I didn’t have a vehicle to drive.  Once the band took the stage, it’s just clearly evident that the band just loves to play music.  They may not be the most enthusiastic band to ever take the stage, but it doesn’t even matter as the songs speak for themselves.  Playing many songs off their excellent debut, they also played quite a few new tracks off their forthcoming EP Higher Than The Stars, including the song “103″ as Kip jokingly compared it to “103 you probably can’t do in Utah.”  Their set was a bit quick, with almost no break in between a number of songs, as I suspect that they were trying make it in time to see the aformentioned Titus Andronicus, but who knows.  Still, it was great to see them once again, as they seem to continue to  improve by leaps and bounds throughout out this extended tour.

MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: “Everything With You”
MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: “Young Adult Friction”
video: “Everything With You”
video: “Young Adult Friction”

I also have a short video I recorded of Pains performing “Higher Than The Stars” which kind of ends abruptly as my memory card ran out of space.  You can watch it below.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart seem to have been on a never-ending tour since early February in support of their self-titled debut, which is still one of my absolute favorites so far this year.  If you happened to miss them the first go around (shame on you!), fear not, as it’s just been announced that the band will be playing a slew of additional tour dates all the way through October.  This time around, they’ll be accompanied by both The Depreciation Guild (drummer Kurt Feldman’s band) and Cymbals Eat Guitars.

MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: “Everything With You”
MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: “Young Adult Friction”
video: “Everything With You”
video: “Young Adult Friction”

Check the full list of tour dates after the cut, which includes an Atlanta date on September 28th at The Earl.

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I ended up seeing The Pains of Being Pure at Heart twice at SXSW (they performed a whopping thirteen times throughout SXSW), with this video I recorded having taken place at Emo’s Jr. during the Slumberland/Cakeshop showcase.  I actually almost didn’t make it into this one, since it required a badge/wristband to enter.  I think the people at the door felt sorry for me or something, because I ended up coming back an hour later after being initially denied and they just let me walk in free.  This is a new song called “Falling Over,” which Kip mentioned would be a future single release on Slumberland.

As PJ mentioned in the Sunday Shuffle, he’s not making it down to SXSW for the third year in a row.  That is no longer the case.  While he continues to collect his thoughts and thank yous (and I retract any comments that I made about him being lame), I’ll let you know about the one and only place where you’re guaranteed to find me during the week, and that’s the second annual DC Does TX Party. We’re at Friends Bar on Wednesday the 18th and I’m basically going to copy the top ten reasons from our Facebook events page on why you should go.  Other than to say hi to me (and PJ for as long as he decides to stay at that particular event.)

1) Because now that you’ve seen their claymation alter egos, you’ll know what Middle Distance Runner looks like in person. At 2:50pm.[Tripwire]

2) Friends Bar is right on 6th Street..we’re not making you cab out towards the University this year and your drunk ass can stumble nicely to the other parties once we’re through pwning you.[Friends Bar]

3) Because we already got a mention in the Washington Post.[Washington Post]

4) Because Carol Bui does percussion…with her body. No seriously, she puts on a large clinky belt and belly dances when she’s not playing the guitar and it looks and sounds awesome (so come see it, already.)

5) Because we have two Pitchfork high scorers playing back to back. Deleted Scenes (8.0,[Pitchfork]) at 1:20pm and Carol Bui (7.8,[Pitchfork]) at 2:00pm.

6) Because we love These United States more than Pitchfork does, anyway. So do Daytrotter, NPR, and the bazillion artists who played with them on their tour last year. And they’re closing the show at 4:30pm. [Daytrotter]

7) Because even though Laura Burhenn had to cancel on us at the last minute, we’ve got a special guest to open the show. You’ll have to come out to see who it is! (It’s a guy named Jamieson Clem, by the way.)

8 ) Val just might be drunk as a skunk before US Royalty even takes the stage at 3:40pm. But the rest of you will enjoy them. Spin did. [Spin]

9) Because you all know that Aaron Leitko is a damn fine writer. Did you also know that he’s playing bass with Carol Bui? (FYI, Aaron Leitko is one of my favorite local/Pitchfork writers. He makes my output look like crap.)

10) Because the rest of the country needs the occasional reminder that DC still breeds good bands in an era of post-Dischord dominance.

12: 30pm – Jamieson Clem
1:20pm – Deleted Scenes :: “Ithaca”
2:00pm – Carol Bui :: “Modern Dance”
2:50pm – Middle Distance Runner :: “The Unbeliever”
3:40pm – US Royalty :: “Every Summer”
4:30pm – These United States :: “West Won”

Tour dates have been announced for St. Vincent in support of her forthcoming record due out on May 5th on 4AD.  Surprisingly enough, it seems to be lacking any Georgia dates.  But you’re in luck as she’s coming to Birmingham in June to perform at the Bottletree Cafe.  For some reason, I still haven’t driven up to Birmingham for any show in years.  If I’m still living here by the time June rolls around, than I may just show up for this.

MP3: St. Vincent :: “The Strangers”

St. Vincent Tour Dates
5/19/2009 Somerville, MA Somerville Theatre
5/20/2009 New York, NY Webster Hall
5/21/2009 Philadelphia, PA Unitarian Church
5/22/2009 Washington, DC Black Cat
5/24/2009 George, WA Sasquatch!
5/25/2009 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
5/27/2009 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club
5/28/2009 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
5/30/2009 San Diego, CA Casbah
5/31/2009 Phoenix, AZ Modified
6/2/2009 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
6/3/2009 Omaha, NE Slowdown Jr.
6/4/2009 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
6/5/2009 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater
6/7/2009 Chicago, IL Epiphany
6/10/2009 Lexington, KY The Dame
6/11/2009 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
6/12/2009 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo
6/16/2009 Birmingham, AL Bottletree
6/18/2009 Dallas, TX Granada Theatre
6/19/2009 Austin, TX Mohawk

Photo: Pavla Kopecna

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released one of the first truly great records of 2009, as heaps of praise have been showered over the band from all corners, including yours truly.  After kicking off a tour in early February in support of the record, the band have added a substantial number of additional tour dates, which include many appearances at SXSW and the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Now for us around the Atlanta-area, we would originally be seeing them on the 13th of this month, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, the band had to reschedule the date for May 3rd.  It’s a bummer, but I’d like to think I’m patient enough to wait a little while longer to finally see them in person.

In addition to the new tour dates, Slumberland have announced the release of a new 7″ single for what I would consider is arguably one of the best tracks on the record, “Young Adult Friction,” a song that I absolutely loved in a previous post that you can read if you wish.  It’ll be released on Mar. 31st, along with a new 7″ from fellow Brooklyn natives Crystal Stilts.  Both of which you can listen to below as they’ve been made available as MP3s. Tour dates can be viewed after the cut.

MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: “Young Adult Friction”
MP3: Crystal Stilts :: “Love is a Wave”

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