Showing posts with label Headlights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Headlights. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mothers' Day Mixtape

My mother is a punk rocker. She went to concerts a lot when I was growing up. She was even in the "Somebody to Shove" music video by Soul Asylum when I was a kid (just an extra, but I still thought it was pretty cool). Instead of listening to children's music in the car, we listened to great late-80's / early-'90s music like EMF, Nirvana, Midnight Oil and Erasure to name a few of the ones I remember liking the most as a child. And so it is fitting that the mothers' day present she requested of me was a playlist / mixtape. Sorry it's a little late, mom. Here were her requirements:
~Ramones-fast
~No ballads, only exception one or two hooky high drama numbers
~No sensitive singer/songwriters; they've got to rock like they mean it
~No Britney - no exceptions (I like to annoy her by putting Britney Spears on the mix CDs I make for her)
~Released in the last year, unless it is absolutely the perfect choice between two songs
~Must make me want to get out of the car and dance

Here is what I came up with. They don't follow all the criteria perfectly, but I think I did pretty well. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments:
TV [mp3] - Headlights (iTunes / Amazon)

And I offer this last song separately because I feel like I've already put it on one of her mix CDs even though it's not on my list. But I'll throw it on just in case, because if it's not on there, that's a travesty. 

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

New song from Headlights + Tour w/ Anni Rossi

Here's the first single from Headlights upcoming album, Wildlife, due out October 6th. Also, tour dates below (some of which are with my former Arts High School classmate Anni Rossi, an awesome viola-player / singer-songwriter):

10/15 Iowa City, IA The Mill
10/16 Dekalb, IL The House
10/17 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle *#
10/21 Allston, MA Great Scott *#
10/22 - 10/23 New York, NY CMJ
10/24 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie *#
10/25 Washington, DC DC9 *#
10/26 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 *#
10/29 Birmingham, AL Bottletree #
10/30 Memphis, TN Hi Tone Cafe #
11/05 Denver, CO Hi Dive #%
11/06 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court #%
11/07 Boise, ID Neurolux #%
11/10 Portland, OR Berbati's Pan #%
11/12 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord #%
11/13 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland #%
11/18 Austin, TX Emo's #%
11/19 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves #

* = w/ The Shaky Hands
# = w/ Pomegranates
% = w/ Anni Rossi

Get Going [mp3]

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Headlights and Loney Dear @ The Cedar

Sunday night I had the pleasure of seeing a show with my co-writer Lise at the Cedar here in Minneapolis. The Cedar is a nice space and I think it's really cool that it's a nonprofit, though I wished that this show hadn't been a sit-down affair since Headlights' music is very danceable.

The show started rather late because apparently Headlights' van broke down on the way to the show. They seemed a little stressed about it still when they performed, but they managed to have fun nonetheless and I had a lot of fun watching them. They played a very upbeat set with a lot of energy (maybe it was adrenaline left over from rushing to the show) and danced around, which made me wish that I could get up and dance but the audience was pretty laid back and I didn't want to be the only one. As much as I prefer a too quiet audience to a too loud audience, I kind of wished this audience had more energy and had thrown the chairs to the side to dance. Or had at least been moving around in their chairs a little more. Oh well. Headlights played all my favorites, including an old favorite ("Put Us Back Together Right") that I had kind of forgotten about since their new album came out, so that was delightful. They seemed like really cool, chill people who seemed really grateful (and relieved) to be there and be performing for us.

Next up was Swedish band Loney Dear. I have to say, after the Headlights' dancing, high energy performance, Loney Dear seemed a little stiff. They still put on a good show though. Their music sounded really good and they masterfully played songs both calm and quiet (which sometimes started out without microphones) and full and fast. Frontman Emil Svanängen looks like a a big ol' teddy bear but he's got a memorable, powerful voice. And as for his band, you can tell these guys are all very talented musicians, despite the trouble they seemed to have keeping their guitars in tune, and they're very humble about it.
Airport Surroundings [mp3] - (iTunes)

More photos HERE.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Headlights on tour, new album in the Fall


Champaign, IL band Headlights is starting their month-long tour tonight. First stop, Appleton, WI. Headlights is also nearing completion on its third full-length album, due out in the Fall. Tour dates below:

03/31 Appleton, WI Lawrence Univ.
04/01 Beloit, WI C-Haus
04/02 Iowa City, IA Mission Creek Music Festival
04/03 Minneapolis, MN Nomad World Pub
04/04 Fargo, ND The Aquarium
04/06 Missoula, MT The Palace
04/07 Seattle, WA Nectar Lounge
04/08 Portland, OR Doug Fir
04/09 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
04/10 San Jose, CA Nickel City Arcade
04/12 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland
04/13 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
04/15 Denver, CO Hi-Dive
04/16 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Saloon
04/17 Urbana, IL Independent Media Center
04/18 Cincinnati, OH Southgate House
04/19 Pittsburgh, PA Brillobox
04/20 Charlottesville, VA Gravity Lounge
04/21 Washington, DC IOTA
04/22 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie
04/23 Cambridge, MA TT The Bears
04/24 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House
04/25 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern

Friday, February 13, 2009

Headlights

Em has posted them before, but as they are one of the many talented bands playing at SXSW this year, I think now is the perfect time to carve out a little post just for them. Headlights is a group that mixes homespun grew-up-on-the-farm innocence with humble indie pop influence. In fact, they even recorded in a farmhouse. Headlights incorporate that wonderful gentle boy/girl vocal sound with in a dash of electronica amongst the 60's-esque crunchy guitars that are perfect listening for on the road or while doing work, cause these songs truly elevate one's mood. Their last album, Some Racing, Some Stopping, is a bit of a departure from their more indie rock sound and contains some true catchy indie pop tunes, with Cherry Tulips being a favorite of mine. TJ Lipple remixed the version below for Polyvinyl's Remixes release and it suits the song quite well. It has certainly been played plenty on my itunes, so I suggest you check them out and their tour dates for March below.

And, of course, in case it wasn't apparent already, we got a Giveaway going on...


Tour Dates:
Mar 11 - Stonefly - Milwaukee, WI
Mar 12 - Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
Mar 13 - Southgate House - Cincinnati, OH
Mar 14 - Canopy Club - Urbana, IL
Mar 15 - Bluebird - St. Louis, MO
Mar 16 - Mojo's - Columbia, MO
Mar 17 - Lola's - Ft. Worth, TX

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Blah

I know I haven't updated in a while. I have been ill. I have also been working a lot (for example, I would've worked all weekend had I not been sick, but since I was sick I only worked Sunday instead). And I'm still not feeling all that well so I'm just going to post a few songs quick.

In light of my increasingly busy work schedule, I may not be able to update every day as I used to (I did start this blog while I was unemployed/temping in order to ease my boredom at places where I had nothing to do after all). I will do my best to update at least 3-4 times a week, though, which is more than lots of bloggers like me who aren't doing this for a living. And it's not like many of you probably read this blog more than that anyway.

Oh, and I feel like I should acknowledge the death of Heath Ledger. How very sad. So young and so talented.

VI [mp3] - The Decemberists - "The Tain" (iTunes)

Put Us Back Together Right [mp3] - Headlights - "Kill Them With Kindness" (iTunes)

Failsafe [mp3] - The New Pornographers - "Challengers" (iTunes)

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