M. Ward

Pre-order A Wasteland Companion on CD or LP now in the Merge store. M. Ward can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and at mwardmusic.com.

M. Ward on tour:
Feb 2 Los Angeles, CA Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Apr 11 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Apr 12 Santa Cruz, CA The Cocoanut Grove Ballroom
Apr 13 Indio, CA Coachella **SOLD OUT**
Apr 14 Santa Barbara, CA SoHO
Apr 16 San Diego, CA Belly Up
Apr 17 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
Apr 18 Flagstaff, AZ The Orpheum
Apr 20 Indio, CA Coachella **SOLD OUT**
May 5  Portland, ME State Theatre
May 6  Burlington, VT Higher Ground
May 7  New Haven, CT Toads Place
May 8  Boston, MA House of Blues
May 11 New York, NY Webster Hall
May 12 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
May 13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
May 15 Durham, NC Duke Performances at Page Auditorium
May 16 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
May 17 Atlanta, GA Buckhead Theatre
May 22 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
May 24 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
Jonathan Richman supports 4/11
fIREHOSE supports 4/12, 4/16-4/18
Lee Ranaldo Band supports 5/5-5/22

In the three years since Portland, OR-based troubadour M. Ward released his last solo album – the universally lauded Hold Time – he’s toured the globe, released two albums as one half of Grammy-nominated duo She & Him as well as one with the talented group of friends collectively know as Monsters Of Folk.

Inspired by his increasingly itinerant lifestyle Ward set forth to create something of a musical travelogue. He explains, “Between now and when I made Hold Time there has been a lot of traveling which requires a lot of reckoning with what to leave behind and what to carry – material and otherwise – and thinking about what I want versus what I need, creatively and otherwise. I wanted to get a reflection of that on the album. It was a process of stripping away my security blanket, which is the same four walls I always record in.”

The album was made with 18 musicians and recorded in eight different studios in Portland, Omaha, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Bristol (UK). A Wasteland Companion features the talents of M Ward (piano, guitars, voice, production), Mike Coykendall (percussion, bass), Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb (piano), John Parish (percussion, marimba), Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis (organ), Susan Sanchez (vocals), She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel (vocals), Jordan Hudson (percussion), Adam Selzer (bass), Nathan “JR” Andersen (piano), Scott McPherson (percussion), Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley (percussion), Dr. Dog’s Tobey Leaman (bass), Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman (strings), Oakely Hall’s Rachel Cox (vocals), Amanda Lawrence (violin), John Graboff (pedal steel) and Tyler Tornfelt (bass). The recording utilized eight engineers, including Tom Schick (Rufus Wainwright) and John Parish (PJ Harvey).

Pre-order A Wasteland Companion on CD or LP now in the Merge store. M. Ward can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and at mwardmusic.com.

Track listing:
1. Clean Slate (for Alex & El Goodo)
2. Primitive Girl
3. Me And My Shadow
4. Sweetheart
5. I Get Ideas
6. The First Time I Ran Away
7. A Wasteland Companion
8. Watch The Show
9. There’s A Key
10. Crawl After You
11. Wild Goose
12. Pure Joy

M. Ward on tour:
Feb 2 Los Angeles, CA Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Apr 11 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Apr 12 Santa Cruz, CA The Cocoanut Grove Ballroom
Apr 13 Indio, CA Coachella **SOLD OUT**
Apr 14 Santa Barbara, CA SoHO
Apr 16 San Diego, CA Belly Up
Apr 17 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
Apr 18 Flagstaff, AZ The Orpheum
Apr 20 Indio, CA Coachella **SOLD OUT**
May 5  Portland, ME State Theatre
May 6  Burlington, VT Higher Ground
May 7  New Haven, CT Toads Place
May 8  Boston, MA House of Blues
May 11 New York, NY Webster Hall
May 12 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
May 13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
May 15 Durham, NC Duke Performances at Page Auditorium
May 16 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
May 17 Atlanta, GA Buckhead Theatre
May 22 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
May 24 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
Jonathan Richman supports 4/11
fIREHOSE supports 4/12, 4/16-4/18
Lee Ranaldo Band supports 5/5-5/22

A Very She & Him Christmas is a collection of holiday tunes from Zooey Deschanel (She) & M. Ward (Him). Inspired by seminal holiday albums by the likes of The Carpenters, Vince Guaraldi, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and more, She & Him have set out to create an intimate holiday recording of Christmas classics that helps bring new emotions out of old songs. Recorded in Los Angeles and NYC at various points in 2011, A Very She & Him Christmas sees the duo stepping back slightly from the layered, lush aesthetic of their critically acclaimed second album, Volume Two. On A Very She & Him Christmas, Deschanel and Ward let the songs speak for themselves, oftentimes recording them with just acoustic guitar and vocals. Consistent in everything are the elements that have made She & Him one of the most loved bands of the last few years—Deschanel’s soulful vocal delivery and Ward’s impressive guitar work, both sounding as timeless as ever.

The track listing for A Very She & Him Christmas is:

1. The Christmas Waltz
2. Christmas Day
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
4. I’ll Be Home for Christmas
5. Christmas Wish
6. Sleigh Ride
7. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
8. Silver Bells
9. Baby, It’s Cold Outside
10. Blue Christmas
11. Little Saint Nick
12. The Christmas Song

Previous releases by She & Him are available in the Merge store.

She & Him’s cover of “I Put a Spell on You” along with a live version of “Lingering Still” from Volume Two recorded live at The Current in Minneapolis is available on iTunes, Amazon and the Merge digital store now.

Set your DVRs now! Conan airs at 11PM EST on TBS.

M. Ward is playing a few solo tour dates this summer including a stop at the Newport Folk Festival. Full list below!

Volume Two is available on CD, LP and digital download in the Merge store, and you can find M. Ward, Zooey Deschanel and She & Him on twitter!

M. Ward on tour:
Jul 07 Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Folk Festival
Jul 11  Quebec City, QC Quebec City Summer Festival
Jul 31 Newport, RI Newport Folk Festival
Aug 11 Montclair, NJ Wellmont Theatre w/ Kurt Vile & the Violators
Aug 12 North Adams, MA  MASS MoCA
Aug 13 East Hampton, NY  Music to Know Festival

Visit Stereogum for the full track listing and an exclusive stream of She & Him’s cover of “Oh Boy.”

Matt & Zooey worked together on a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” for M. Ward’s 2009 album Hold Time, too. Watch the video below!

Both She & Him’s Volume Two and M. Ward’s Hold Time are available on CD, LP and digital download in the Merge store.

Click here to view the embedded video.

M. Ward recently visited KINK Portland’s Bing Lounge for an acoustic session! You can watch the entire set on KINK.FM now.

M. Ward on tour:
May 27 Barcelona, Spain Primavera Festival
June 10 Philadelphia, PA Mann Center for Performing Arts
June 11 Vienna, VA Filene Center @ Wolftrap
June 25 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
June 26 Davis, CA Mondavi Center
July 07 Winnipeg, MB Canada Winnipeg Folk
July 09 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Blues
July 11 Quebec City, QC Quebec City Summer Festival
July 31 Newport, RI Newport Folk Festival
Aug 11 Montclair, NJ Wellmont Theatre
Aug 13 East Hampton, NY Music to Know Festival

In addition to the Portland dates, M. Ward has dates with Bright Eyes, and Alison Kraus & Union Station in June, and visits to the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the Newport Folk Festival scheduled in July.

M. Ward on tour:
May 3 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/ The Corin Tucker Band
May 4 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/ David Bazan
May 5 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/ Doug Martsch
Jun 10 Philadelphia, PA Mann Center w/ Bright Eyes
Jun 11 Vienna, VA Wolftrap w/ Bright Eyes
Jun 25 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre w/ Alison Krauss & Union Station
Jun 26 Davis, CA Mondavi Center w/ Alison Krauss & Union Station
Jul 07 Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Folk Festival
Jul 31 Newport, RI Newport Folk Festival

As always, you can find new albums from all of these artists and more in our handy Merge store.

Free Merge 2010 digital sampler track listing:
1. Radar Brothers – Horses Warriors (from The Illustrated Garden)
2. Let’s Wrestle – I Won’t Lie to You (from In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s)
3. Destroyer – The Very Modern Dance (from Streethawk: A Seduction)
4. Shout Out Louds – Fall Hard (from Work)
5. Spoon – Written in Reverse (from Transference)
6. Lou Barlow – Don’t Apologize (from Goodnight Unknown)
7. She & Him – Thieves (from Volume Two)
8. Superchunk – Learned to Surf (from Leaves in the Gutter)
9. Alec Bathgate – Glide (from Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox)
10. The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are (from Bonfires on the Heath)
11. Caribou – Odessa (from Swim)
12. The Clean – In the Dreamlife U Need a Rubber Soul (from Mister Pop)
13. Wye Oak – I Hope You Die (from My Neighbor / My Creator)
14. Lambchop – Give It (from Live at XX Merge)

Oakley Hall’s “All the Way Down” from their Merge debut, I’ll Follow You was included in New York Magazine‘s Brooklyn Top 40! Listen to the song and order I’ll Follow You on CD, LP and digital download in the Merge store.

M. Ward

Since 1975, Austin City Limits has presented viewing audiences with live concerts from many of the world’s most acclaimed, accomplished, and pioneering talent. From living legends to pop stars to up-and-comers, musicians and songwriters representing nearly every genre of music have blessed the Austin City Limits stage at KLRU in Austin, TX, with their talent. The list is staggering: Ray Charles, B.B. King, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Fats Domino, Loretta Lynn, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, Spoon, the Flaming Lips, Emmylou Harris, Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Wilco…and now M. Ward!

You can now listen to the entire M. Ward concert recorded at the 9:30 Club  July 30th by NPR!

Visit NPR Music to listen to the show!

all photos by Brian Vetter

M. Ward visited KEXP while he was in Austin for SXSW this year! The session is now available as an MP3 download and part of the KEXP Live Performances Podcast!

M. Ward at KEXP

M. Ward on tour:
04.27.2009 Toronto, ON The Phoenix
04.28.2009 Montreal, QC Le National
05.15.2009 Visalia, CA Fox Theater
05.16.2009 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
05.22.2009 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre
05.23.2009 George, WA Sasquatch Music Festival
07.23.2009 Salt Lake City, UT Twilight Concert Series FREE!
07.27.2009 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club
07.28.2009 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom
07.30.2009 Washington, 9:30 Club
08.01.2009 New York, NY Central Park Summerstage FREE!

emusic has made a pretty cool Merge hub with Mac & Laura’s “underrated” Merge favorites, Merge classics, “shoulda-been classics” and more. Visit the Merge hub and download a few releases you may not have heard yet.

The video is now available for your viewing pleasure, and you can download a free MP3 of “Rave On”, too!

M. Ward’s new album, Hold Time, is available on CD, LP and digital download in the Merge store.

Upcoming tour dates in full:
April 17 Indio, CA @ Coachella
April 18 Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
April 19 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
April 20 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
April 22 Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
April 23 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
April 24 Milwaukee, WIK @ Pabst Theater
April 25 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
April 26 Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
April 27 Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Theatre
April 28 Montreal, QC @ Le National
May 16 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
May 18 Visalia, CA @ Fox Theatre
May 22 Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theater
May 23 George, WA @ Sasquatch Music Festival
July 23 Salt Lake City, UT @ Twilight Concert Series*
July 27 Athens, GA @40 Watt
July 28 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
July 30 Washington, DC @ 930 Club
August 1 New York, NY @ Summerstage*

photo by Jason Quigley

M. Ward performed a few songs at OPB Music while he was at home for a few days in between tour dates!
The session is now up on their website. You can give it a listen at OPBMusic.org.

Tour Dates:
04.17.2009 Indio, CA Coachella
04.18.2009 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
04.19.2009 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
04.20.2009 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
04.22.2009 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
04.23.2009 Omaha, NE Slowdown
04.24.2009 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theatre
04.25.2009 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
04.26.2009 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
04.27.2009 Toronto, ON The Phoenix
04.28.2009 Montreal, QC Le National
05.15.2009 Visalia, CA Fox Theater
05.16.2009 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
05.22.2009 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre
05.23.2009 George, WA Sasquatch Music Festival
08.01.2009 New York, NY Central Park Summerstage

This poster could be yours! Dodge at My Old Kentucky Blog is giving away this poster and a few others, all designed by Nate Duvall, today! Check My Old Kentucky Blog for details on how to win!

M. Ward Tour Dates:
04.17.2009 Indio, CA Coachella
04.18.2009 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
04.19.2009 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
04.20.2009 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
04.22.2009 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
04.23.2009 Omaha, NE Slowdown
04.24.2009 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theatre
04.25.2009 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
04.26.2009 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
04.27.2009 Toronto, ON The Phoenix
04.28.2009 Montreal, QC Le National
05.15.2009 Visalia, CA Fox Theater
05.16.2009 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
05.22.2009 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre
05.23.2009 George, WA Sasquatch Music Festival
08.01.2009 New York, NY Central Park Summerstage

M. Ward and his band with special guests Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and Carla
from Autolux performing “To Save Me” from Hold Time.  Get your copy of Hold Time on CD, LP and digital in the Merge store.

Get your copy of M. Ward’s new album, Hold Time, on CD, LP and digital in the Merge store!

WRXP in NYC is hosting M. Ward on Matt Pinfield in the Mornings tomorrow at 9:30am! You can listen to the live stream from their website.

NPR Music will be hosting a live chat with M. Ward after a solo in-studio performance at 7pm EST tomorrow! Submit questions to him here!

Also, The New York Times had a great piece on the Hold Time release on Sunday!

There is plenty more news coming down the line! Check MergeRecords.com for updates!

You can now download track two from Hold Time to your computer!

Never Had Nobody Like You [mp3]

Hold Time is now available for preorder from our website!

Hold Time comes out February 17! Check MergeRecords.com for preorder information!

My favorite new songs of 2008 by artists that i hadn’t heard before 2008:
Becky Stark – “Ocean and Ground”
Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal”
T-Pain – “I Can’t Believe It”

Jim James & M. Ward at St. David’s Church from Texas Music Matters at KUT on Vimeo.

If that isn’t enough to dispel your mid-week desperation, check out M. Ward’s recent performance & interview with Rhonda Garner at Sugar Hill Studios for KPFT Houston’s The Radio Sessions at Sugar Hill. You can download the MP3′s: Part 1 and Part 2.

Enjoy!
Christina

M. Ward will perform live on KEXP at 1pm PST; 4pm PST. He’ll be joined by a special guest vocalist! If you can’t listen at work, catch the streaming archive.

The Broken West are coming to the end of yet another tour. Don’t worry, though, those crazy boys can’t stay home for long! They did a few dates with Fountains of Wayne who gave them a shout on their Onion tour diary.

The M. Ward & Norah Jones mega-tour came to War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro, NC on Tuesday night, and a few Merge staffers were in attendance. Norah came out and sang the first song of Matt’s set, One Life Away from 2005′s Transistor Radio. Matt joined Norah for a few songs at the end of her set including the Dolly Parton parts of the duet Creepin’ In from her 2004 release, Feels Like Home.

Her fans were very gracious, and if the rousing applause is any indication, many are now M. Ward fans!

Full M. Ward setlist:
one life away
it hurts me too (Elmore James)
chinese translation
carolina
he gives us all his love (Randy Newman Cover)
rag
fuel for fire
oh lonesome me (Don Gibson cover)

Christina (Norah Jones Parking Lot!)

One of our favorite comedians and friends, Jon Wurster, shuffled the contents of his ipod for The Onion’s Random Rules feature. Mac & M. Ward have participated in the past.

And if you missed Ronald Thomas Clontle on EMusic, check it out here!

The last time M. Ward was in Chicago, he visited WXRT for a guest DJ set on The Eclectic Company with host Nicholas Tremulis. Listen to Matt’s mad record-spinning skillz live tonight at 10 pm CST!

M. Ward is making the rounds at Sundance this year, helping to promote his work on the soundtrack/score for Martin Hynes’ The Go Getter. Over the weekend he stopped by the Wholphin party-condo to kick some ass in foosball and later performed a duet with Zooey Deschanel, one of the stars of the film, at the Celcius Lounge.

The folks over at the Wholphin Blog have the SCOOP.

-martin

Recently, we came across an interview in Exclaim Magazine with Oasis’ Noel Gallagher where he recounts his first encounter with
M. Ward’s music . . .

Exclaim: What are your current fixations?
Noel: Well I’m really into the Kasabian album, but I’ve just got an album in New York by a guy called M. Ward, it’s called Post-War. Fookin’ hell man. I’ve never heard this guy before, and I was doing a photo shoot, as us rock stars generally do, and some guy was playing it in the background. I was like, “What’s that fookin’ music?” And he’s like, [adopts American accent] “Dude, it’s M. Ward.” One of the best albums I’ve ever heard actually.

Thanks, Noel. We couldn’t agree more.

Full interview here. Audio (!!!) here!.

Spread the love!
Christina

Enjoy!
Christina

Listen & Watch!

First up, M. Ward will visit his friends at KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic for a live session + interview. Airing Live Today at 11:15 PST/2:15 EST.

Next, Lambchop will be perform at KEXP in Seattle today at Noon PST/3pm EST. Listen Live. And if you miss it, you can find the streaming archives here.

And much later tonight, M. Ward and his kick-ass band will be on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight at 12:35 am EST.

For those non-NPR junkies out there, Bob Edwards was the host of NPR’s Morning Edition for 25 years before moving to the satellite radio world.

The show will be broadcast today (9/27) at 10am EST, 8pm EST and tomorrow (9/28) morning at 7am EST.

Christina

M. Ward gets the Backstage Pass treatment on MTVU this week. Check out the interview, live footage, and Matt’s answers to fan questions here.

Also, as part of MTVU’s Spankin’ Free Music Week, the track Chinese Translation, from M. Ward’s latest CD Post-War, will be available for download, FREE, all day on Wednesday – 9/27/06. Just click here for your free download.

Spread the word.

-martin

On Tuesday night we, along with 600 hundred or so of our closest friends, were treated to an evening of music that holds no equal in recent memory. The Cat’s Cradle was packed to the gills for a mini-Mergefest: Portastatic; Lambchop and M. Ward. I doubt I could ever muster the words to aptly describe the awe, excitement and pride I felt as I watched these three bands put on performances that simply had my mind, my body, my heart and my soul reeling. It was one of those nights you never forget. One of those nights that helps remind me why I do what I do.

Portastatic kicked things off in high form with Mac and Margaret doing stripped down versions of songs old and new alike. But soon they were joined onstage by a revolving cast of musicians that seemed to turn each successive song into it’s own little universe. M. Ward finished the night off with an incredibly rocking set that had my jaw on the floor. I had the same reaction the first time I saw Matt onstage, alone with his guitar, 4 years ago. This time the tenor and energy was completely different, but no less engaging, as he and his stunning band ripped and roared through a set that seemed to leave the crowd exhausted but elated, wringing every ounce of energy from the room.

Both Portastatic and M. Ward were stunning and either set on their own would have been in the top 5 shows I’ve seen all year. But the main purpose of my post here today is to try to tell you about Lambchop, whose performance on this night was so powerful that I almost found myself moved to tears…

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You almost never know what you are going to get in a Lambchop performance. How many people are going to be onstage? (I’ve seen performances with anywhere from 5 to 18 band members) Will it swing you like an R&B revival, or sooth you like a lullaby? Will Kurt Wagner actually stand up at some point (I’ve seen this happen exactly twice in 13 years)? The one constant always seems to be the quality of the performance. On this cool September evening in Carrboro, NC they managed to exceed already high expectations.

Tuesday’s performance featured 8 Choppers, with the Tosca String Quartet bringing the total number of musicians on the crowded Cat’s Cradle stage to 12. The thing that always amazes about Lambchop is that all those people can blend so seamlessly together, presenting layer upon layer of sound that draws you in as you try to enjoy every intricate nuance, every flourish. Playing a healthy dose of songs from Damaged, as well as digging into the treasure chest for a few golden nuggets, the band was tight and on point all night long. The Tosca String Quartet added a dimension that we don’t always get here in the States but that European audiences have probably grown spoiled by. I know I could get spoiled by it in a hurry.

All in all I can’t recall a more powerful night of live music in my recent experience.

Lambchop is heading through the northeast this weekend with shows tonight in Boston (Paradise Club), tomorrow night in Montreal (Le National) and Sunday night in Toronto (Mod Club).

Portastatic ends their stint opening for M. Ward with shows tonight in Denton, TX (Haileys) and tomorrow night in Austin (The Parrish), while M. Ward heads westward on the final leg his tour.

Me? I’m off to see Richard Buckner / Eric Bachmann tonight, and will probably get blown away all over again.

If you have the chance to check out any of these shows in the next week or so, I couldn’t recommend them more.

Lambchop tour dates HERE.

M. Ward tour dates HERE.

Portastatic tour dates HERE

Richard Buckner tour dates HERE.

White Whale tour dates HERE.

-martin

(photo courtesy of Enid Valu)

I had the great good fortune to travel to Chicago last weekend (September 8-10) and catch almost all of the Touch and Go Records 25th Anniversary celebration, hosted by The Hideout (at their Tenth anniversary block party) in a huge parking lot usually occupied by the City of Chicago’s Garbage Trucks. Touch & Go has been a business partner, a mentor and a friend with Merge for as long as we’ve been a label, and it’s hard to imagine where we’d be without their influence.

Friday night’s set was supposedly amazing with Girls Against Boys performing the whole Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby album, and reportedly great sets from Ted Leo, Supersystem, Shipping News and !!!, but alas I was across town at Chicago’s beautiful Metro catching an incendiary set from Merge’s own M. Ward! There will be time enough to write about how phenomenal M. Ward is live and how fantastic his current backing band is after next week’s show at the Cat’s Cradle. I’ll also have to devote a post to all the great places we ate in Chicago like Irazu, a place so good, M. Ward asked me to bring him two burritos from there for after his show…but right now I’m talking about Touch and Go.

(CONTINUED: (FOR MORE ABOUT TOUCH and GO’s 25th ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND CLICK ON JUMP TO PERMALINK BELOW)
Simply said the Touch and Go 25th Anniversary celebration was the best organized music festival I’ve ever attended. The level of planning for this three day event was superb. Each band was on and off the stage at their scheduled time; there was a surfeit of food and drink vendors with decent prices and fast friendly service (and one who astutely served hot apple cider to a chilled and damp Sunday evening crowd); AND there were virtually no lines at the Porta-Potties. You tell me what music festival can boast any one of those bragging rights?

Chcago was slightly overcast and threatening rain on Saturday and people could have stayed home, but with the promise of a Big Black reunion and the return of David Yow to the stage with his pre-Jesus Lizard band, Scratch Acid, the crowds poured into Wabansia Avenue throughout the day and grew to 7,000 strong before it was all over. From the very first hushed notes of The New Year to an absolutely bone-crushing set by Shellac to the final horn blasts from Calexico, Saturday and Sunday were days for music fans to celebrate just how influential and important Touch & Go is; how vital they are today and how much of today’s “underground” music AND “alternative” rock music, would not exist without the roadmap they laid out so long ago. I could write for days about how great every band I saw was and how much love and respect flowed from the stage as each band thanked Corey Rusk for bringing great music to people since 1981. But mere words can’t do justice to the whole event. So in my longwinded way, I will try to keep the rest short…

The biggest musical highlight of the weekend for me was The Ex whose late afternoon set on Saturday, underneath a steel grey Chicago sky with the Sears Tower looming in the background, was a perfect representation of everything that Touch & Go stands for. Adjectives fail here, but The Ex’s breathtaking performance was by turns abrasive, confrontational, mature, political, youthful, sweet, punk-rock, artistic and tuneful. Other highlights for me were The New Year’s hushed set to start things off on Saturday morning; The Black Heart Procession (whose brooding music was enhanced by the early evening storm clouds rolling away from the city as the temperature dropped); Coco Rosie (who were the biggest surprise for me since I’d not been a great fan of their records); Pinback (the only band to give a shout out across the parking lot to the soundchecking band on the other stgage when Rob Crow yelled “Hey Calexico, we’re looking forward to it!”); and Calexico’s final tribute to not only Touch and Go, but to the city of Chicago – where they were the last of thirty bands to proclaim from the stage that Touch and Go was “The Best Record Label on The Planet.” I may cede this honor to Touch and Go for now (and Man or Astroman claimed “best in the galaxy” honors for T&G, but couldn’t definitively give them “best in the universe” status), but I like to think that Merge is closing in on them…

Seriously, thank you for EVERYTHING Touch and Go.
Love,
-Paul C.

M. Ward stopped by WNYC in New York today for an interview on Soundcheck with host John Schaefer.

You can listen to the interview here.

-martin

Our friends from KEXP are broadcasting live from Chicago this weekend! M. Ward will be dropping by today at 11am PST/1pm CST/2pm EST. Listen live at KEXP

ETA: M. Ward’s performance was great! Listen to the streaming archive HERE.

Be sure to check out who else they have dropping in this weekend, too. I heard Catfish Haven this morning and they were very loud and energetic for 9am!

Christina

Directed By: Joel Trussell & Eric Johnson
Animators: Gene Blakefield & Darin Bendall

-martin

Fridays are the best because you get to reflect on the crazy things that have happened that week. Like this week, for instance! I thought I was going to be left on the side of the road on the way to a lunch meeting, received a free plane ticket for being a “good consumer,” and then I talked to a non-believer. I’m still thinking about a funny way to write about this, but let’s just say our bands need more Myspace friends. If you’d like to help out a good cause, please go visit their pages and add them. They deserve it, you know? Here are a few quick links:
Spoon, Destroyer, White Whale, Camera Obscura, The Rosebuds, Arcade Fire, and M. Ward.

We appreciate your support.
Lindsey K.

Lambchop gets a track review From Damaged on Pitchfork.

(Actually, “Paperback Bible” was originally comissioned by NPR as a companion piece for an audio-documentary on radio swap-shops, produced by Dan Collison And Elizabeth Meister as part of their Heartland Chronicles series. The piece aired on All Things Considered on April 14th, 2006. You can listen to it HERE.)

-martin