Feel Like Taking You Home

Brendan Benson didn't get deserved exposure much until he teamed up with Jack White in the Raconteurs. Something about the project didn't quite click for me and I was unimpressed with their performance last year at Lollapalooza - I wanted to like them much more than I did. Being a fan of Benson's earlier solo work, I knew there was much more to him than that.

Enter his new solo album My Old, Familiar Friend, officially released August 18. Thanks to online music hotspot NPR, you can stream the whole thing now!


UPDATE: Pre-order the album from newburycomics.com and as always they'll throw in an autographed booklet.

From a Great Height

Way2Poppy and I had a hell of a time at Lollapalooza this past Friday where we saw Mates of State and Radiohead, who were both exceptional. Raconteurs were just ok - I have to say I was a bit disappointed.

Radiohead epitomizes modern rock sophistication. They are entirely professional, utterly passionate crowd-pleasers. Check out their setlist:

15 Step
Airbag
There, There
All I Need
Nude
Weird Fishes
The Gloaming
The National Anthem
Faust Arp
No Surprises
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Reckoner
Lucky
The Bends
Everything In Its Right Place
Fake Plastic Trees
Bodysnatchers
Videotape
Paranoid Android
Dollars & Cents
House of Cards
Optimistic
2 + 2 = 5
Idioteque

I'm partial to their poppier Bends / OK Computer era so I was particularly thrilled to hear those two albums fairly well represented. With their performances of Fake Plastic Trees and Paranoid Android, Radiohead solidified their status with me as one of the best bands of my generation. I have a whole new respect for them. Oh, and their light show was easily the best I've ever seen.

This was my third time seeing Mates of State and with each show, they keep getting bigger and bigger yet their sound remains grounded as simple, catchy-as-hell tunes. The songs from the new album sounded especially great and I can't wait to see them a fourth time when presented with the opportunity.

I took some mobile shots of our time there but they were terrible. See Lollapalooza's official photos to get a good sense of what went down. Those were the only shows we ended up seeing. I would've loved to see Wilco, but we chose to see them sing during the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley on Sunday instead!

Setlists
Photos

Friday I'm In Love

Happy Friday.

As you can probably tell, I'm partial to iTunes. I find most everything about iTunes quite comparable to the joy of perusing every single rack in a record store during my youth. But I have to admit that Amazon.com is kicking some ass with great deals, especially their Friday 5 - 5 albums each priced at $5. Remember, these are DRM-free MP3s and the deal is good through the weekend. Full-length Raconteurs, Fleetwood Mac, 5 bucks?! Nice.

Take This Moment to Decide

Lollapalooza has released its requisite grid schedule that allows you to make the most of your August 1-3 in My Kind of Town. If I had tickets, here would be my highlights:

Friday:
Rogue Wave
Mates of State
The Raconteurs
Radiohead

Saturday:
Dr. Dog
Okkervil River
Broken Social Scene
Wilco

Sunday:
Office
The Weakerthans
Iron & Wine
Love & Rockets

Friday, by far, looks to be the strongest. Hmm, single-day pass?

Well Here We Go Again

Brendan Benson, Jack White, Patrick Keeler, and Jack Lawrence, collectively known as The Raconteurs, are releasing their new album next week. Why are you just hearing about this? Well, the kicker ... they just finished it a couple weeks ago!

"The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised," the Jack White-featuring band says. "We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it's availability, reception or perception."

If only all our favorite bands took this approach. Consolers will be available at your favorite retailers, including iTunes and Amazon.com. The Raconteurs official site will also offer a download of the full album as well.

When You Speak to Me It's a Song

The Raconteurs get all jokey and let out some tidbits on their new album in the process. NME.com has it all.

Jack: "If I was to ever take a drug for pleasure, I would want that drug to be aspirin for all the headaches I get from second hand acidophilus powder and flax seed smoke."

Sell It to the Crowd that Has Gathered Around

The Raconteurs are already well on their way to completing their second album. In the meantime, Jack White will be releasing the next White Stripes album in June and Brendan Benson indicates a new album is on the way as well. Now that I'd be excited to hear. Until then, hisspace will do just fine. Visit The Raconteurs at theirspace. As for the White Stripes, well, read the cool blogs for more info.