Kingblind Downloads

Amazing collection of ultra rare Pixies videos
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Slowdive:: Rare and B-sides
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The Dropkick Murphys – Curse of a fallen soul
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Punk, Indie Acts Band Together To ‘Save CBGB’

Punk acts young, old and reunited have pledged their support for embattled New York club CBGB, which is fighting to renew a soon-to-expire lease and may be forced to close up shop entirely. Artists such as the Misfits, Thursday, Against Me, Liars, Dead Boys, Gorilla Biscuits and the Vandals will perform at a series of benefit concerts at the club in the coming weeks to raise funds for the effort. The Save CBGB fund is earmarked for the club’s legal fees as it lobbies its landlord, the Bowery Residents Committee (BRC), a not-for-profit organization that provides services and shelter to homeless and disabled New Yorkers. Additional artists set to appear include Living Colour, Flipper, Kid Dynamite, Bush Tetras, Chevelle, the Exit and World Inferno Friendship Society. Beyond the shows, acts such as the Bangles, Elvis Costello and Sting have donated memorabilia for a fundraising auction, and the E Street Band’s Steven Van Zandt has made efforts to personally negotiate with the BRC. Former Talking Heads vocalist David Byrne has also offered to assist in mediation. “CBGBs supports the BRC’s fight to help the homeless — we just want our lease renewed to keep this historic venue in its original place,” says CBGB owner Hilly Kristal. The conflict stems from a series of rent hikes. According to CBGB spokesperson Scott Goodstein, on several occasions the BRC raised the rent on CBGB’s home at 313 Bowery without properly informing the club, later bringing the issue to court in order to collect interest. The most recent dispute involves about $80,000 in back rent the BRC claims it is owed. In May, the committee cut off negotiations with Kristal to renew the lease on his space, which will terminate on Aug. 31, citing fire safety violations, among other problems. According to Goodstein, those charges are merely spin as the landlord looks to double its income from the property. If there were real safety hazards, “the city wouldn’t allow us to be open,” he adds. At deadline, a BRC spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment. Goodstein says the possibility of moving the club has been ruled out. “You can’t move the stage and the club that so many bands played on and were launched from,” he offers. “I mean, CBs is the Bowery. The only place that that type of New York energy could take place and be expressed in is the Bowery.” He adds that if the lease were renewed, “We’d be more than happy to turn all the money over from the ‘Save CBGBs’ account to [the BRC].” The homeless organization serves the community, he says, and artists would be happy to be given a chance to help those in need. “Musicians love doing that type of stuff,” he says.(By Jordan Heller Weissman, N.Y. Billboard)

Kingblind.com Presents:: Rock & Roll High School

Kingblind.com brings ROCK & ROLL HIGH SCHOOL to the West Coast. That’s right kids come hear DJ Kingblind and DJ Teenage Rampage Spin the best in Punk, Glam, Rock, Funk and Soul… All for free on Wednesday July 27th 2005 at The Bus Stop bar in Seattle, WA at 508 E. Pine St. (Capital Hill Neigborhood- Next to Bimbo’s) from 9pm till ??? CLICK TO VIEW FLYER

Kingblind Downloads

Rory Gallagher – Ancienne Gare De La Bastille 12-May-75
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Various Beatles Tracks
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AC/DC:: Bonfire
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Bob Mould, Body of Song (Album Review)

Aside from the distraction that being a one-time creative consultant for World Championship Wrestling brought him, Bob Mould has been trying to pin down his eclectic imagination for 20 years. Following the hardcore of Hüsker Dü and jangly power-pop of Sugar, his solo career has featured an on-off love affair with acoustic maturity and a hot and heavy fling with club culture. Perhaps aware that his last album, 2002′s Modulate, was a knob-twiddling experiment too far, Mould has drawn all his disparate passions together for his first release in three years. (Shine Your) Light Love Hope is a strange marriage between Ibizan euphoria and grunge wherein Mould borrows Cher’s vocoder, while Best Thing, a short, snarling riposte to an ex-lover, gives Mould his bite back after the queasy sincerity of Days of Rain. Perhaps only he could sound so at peace while exploring so many identities. (Review by: Betty Clarke UK)

Kingblind Downloads

Rolling Stones:: King Biscuit 1973
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Broadcast:: Goodbye Girl
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Dinosaur Jr, J Mascis, and J Mascis + The Fog: live audio & video
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TONS of live Arcade Fire shows
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BIG STAR ARE BACK!

BIG STAR have confirmed details of their first album in 27 years. Original members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens were joined in the studio by Posies frontmen Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, who have been part of the Big Star touring band since 1993, when they reformed for live shows. Now the new line-up have put together an album, ’In Space’, which will be released on September 26 by Rykodisc.
The tracklisting is:

* ’Dony’
* ’Lady Sweet’
* ’Best Chance We’ve Ever Had’
* ’Turn My Back On The Sun’
* ’Love Revolution’
* ’February’s Quiet’
* ’Mine Exclusively’
* ’A Whole New Thing’
* ’Aria Largo’
* ’Hung Up With Summer’
* ’Do You Wanna Make It’
* ’Makeover’
Big Star’s last release was the notoriously downbeat ‘Third/SisterLovers’ in 1978, recorded when the band was falling apart. Frontman Chilton and drummer Stephens revived the moniker after the likes of REM and Teenage Fanclub cited them as a massive influence.

Kingblind.com Giveaway: Iggy Pop Live at Ave. B DVD and 2 CD anthology

Kingblind.com is giving away 1 copy of the DVD, 1 copy of the 2cd anthology and 1 iggy tshirt. To the first people who can name the original bassist in The Stooges. Man this is soooo easy… Send entries to: KINGBLIND (AT) GMAIL.COM (YOU MUST HAVE IGGY POP IN THE SUBJECT LINE AND YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS IN BODY OF EMAIL.)
—-
“I get up in the morning, I look in the mirror, and I think, ‘Hey, you’re a pretty interesting guy.’”
– Iggy Pop
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VIRGIN/EMI TO RELEASE CAREER-SPANNING 2-CD IGGY POP ANTHOLOGY, A MILLION IN PRIZES AND 1999 CONCERT DVD, LIVE AT THE AVENUE B
Hollywood, California – May 2, 2005 – Iggy Pop has been kicking the world’s collective posterior since his first band, the Stooges, searched and destroyed its way to iconic heights in the late 1960s and ‘70s. On July 19, Virgin/EMI Music Catalog Marketing will release two new packages for one of rock music’s true heroes: A Million In Prizes: The Iggy Pop Anthology, a chronologically-sequenced 2-CD collection of Iggy’s most exciting recorded moments with the Stooges and as a solo artist, a career and label spanning 38-track set with key cuts from 1969 through 2003, and a never-before-released concert DVD, Iggy Pop: Live At The Avenue B. The film was recorded live in Belgium with a 6-camera shoot during Pop’s tour to support his 1999 album, Avenue B.

Iggy (or Mr. Pop, as the New York Times refers to him) lives in that rarefied zone inhabited by the true avatars of rock who struck its template in the 1960s and have thrived through the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and into the new century. It is not enough that the Stooges virtually single-handedly godfathered punk rock, garage rock and American heavy metal almost four decades ago, or that Iggy Pop went on to conquer Europe and Asia as a headlining phenomenon in the ’90s. His status today, filling stadiums (and hundreds of websites) around the world with his unparalleled energy, his nerve, and his charismatic “Lust For Life” illustrate that the specter of Iggy Pop is a universal rock force. The package for A Million In Prizes: The Iggy Pop Anthology includes essays by Lenny Kaye, rock journalist, guitarist (Patti Smith Group) and producer (Suzanne Vega, Soul Asylum, Kristin Hersh), and Danny Fields, the Stooges’ first A&R rep. at Elektra and onetime de facto manager. Also included are impressions of Iggy Pop contributed by some other world-famous personalities:

“When I first saw Iggy and the Stooges in this little club in New York, I didn’t know if I wanted to run, laugh, cover myself with a bearskin rug, clock the motherfucker, or kneel before him and stick a diamond in his belly button.” -Jim Carroll

“Some singers in bands can do about one tour where they wreck it like Iggy Pop and then they have to pull back from either sheer pain or good sense. Iggy never pulls back. He is, quite simply, the best. This is fact, not opinion.” – Henry Rollins

“I love Iggy! I love Iggy! I love Iggy! I love everything about Iggy. He created the look, the ambience, the confrontational oeuvre. Iggy has the best body in Rock & Roll.”
- Lou Reed

“As the Stones had Chuck Berry, so the loosely defined Punk movement looked to Jim. He has spawned as many testosterone driven outfits as anyone on this planet. And he still knocks 90% of them into a cocked hat.” – David Bowie

Kingblind’s Favorite Finds

BLOC PARTY BACK IN THE STUDIO
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New Weezer use Grim Reaper video for next music video
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The Strokes get more experimental on upcoming album
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* Belle and Sebastian’s Isobell Campbell and solo artist/sometime Queen of the Stone Age Mark Lanegan will release a collaborative album this fall.

* The (International) Noise Conspiracy’s much-delayed sophomore album will finally be in stores in America. The band’s latest, Armed Love, was held up in the works for nearly a year as its label, American Recordings, shifted its corporate allegiances. The album, the first full-length from the socialist mod-rock Swedes since 2001’s A New Morning, Changing Weather, will make it onto shelves Oct. 4.

* Q and Not U’s members have decided to split. From the group: “After seven years, hundreds of shows, thousands of miles, 46 states, four continents, three albums, only one flat-tire and countless nicknames for Shawn Brackbill, Q and Not U is disbanding. With all of your support, we feel that we’ve reached all of our shared goals as Q and Not U and we’re ready to move on to other projects in life.

KINGBLIND WILL BE IN TEXAS NEXT WEEK SO THE POSTINGS WILL BE SLIM UNTIL WE GET BACK.. Thanks.

Son Volt:: Okemah And The Melody Of Riot (Album Review)

In 1998, Wilco collaborated with British singer/songwriter Billy Bragg to write music for a selection of lyrics penned by legendary folk icon Woody Guthrie as he gradually succumbed to Huntington’s Chorea in the 1960s. Their efforts resulted in Mermaid Avenue and 2000′s Mermaid Avenue Volume Two, exceptional, reverent tributes to Guthrie’s boundless spirit that wrapped his remarkable words in roots-rock sounds that were both contemporary and timeless. In 2005, Son Volt, the other and heretofore less heralded half of the Uncle Tupelo split, returns with its first album since 1998′s Wide Swing Tremolo, and manages to trump Wilco’s dual homages to Guthrie with their astonishing Okemah And The Melody Of Riot. Following his two ambitious if ultimately unsatisfying solo albums, frontman and principal songwriter Jay Farrar reformed Son Volt with an entirely new line-up—lead guitarist Brad Rice, bassist Andrew Duplantis, and drummer Dave Bryson—to record Okemah, certainly the first essential album either from Farrar or Son Volt since 1994′s Trace and arguably the finest work of Farrar’s post Uncle Tupelo career. Farrar evokes Guthrie as a muse even in the album’s title—Guthrie’s birthplace is Okemah, Oklahoma—but it’s in his passionate songwriting that he captures the soul and the sense of greater purpose that characterized Guthrie’s work. “The revolution will be televised,” Farrar promises on the blistering “Jet Pilot,” as loaded and furious a political protest anthem as has been written during George W. Bush’s second term so far, and he spends the album’s 11 other tracks (12, technically, with two different arrangements of “World Waits For You”) laying the groundwork for that revolution. He tackles matters of broad social unrest (calling out “madmen on both sides of the fence” on “Atmosphere”) and profound personal disquiet (offering an insightful autocritique on “World Waits for You” when he sings, “Find strength from the words/Of those that went before/Take what you need/But leave even more”) with equal gravity and aplomb. Okemah is heady stuff, to be sure, but it’s also one of the year’s best straight-up rock albums. In many ways, it sounds like the hard-rocking testament to the working class dissenters trapped in the red states (“Afterglow 61″ chronicles Farrar’s explorations of that famous stretch of highway through the Midwest and South) that Drive-By Truckers have never quite sustained for an entire album. The melody of riot (also from “Atmosphere”) of the title is an apt description of the sound in which the new Son Volt inspires Guthrie’s folk-hero sensibility. Guthrie once said of his guitar, “This machine kills fascists,” and if Farrar hasn’t yet turned Son Volt into such a deadly weapon, Okemah And The Melody Of Riot is nonetheless an album with the gut-check power to knock a grown man flat. (by: Jonathan Keefe)

Kingblind Downloads (MOVIE EDITION)

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) by:: Ed Wood
Often billed as the worst movie ever made, and not entirely undeserving of the title, this is a masterpiece of Ed Wood’s making. Bela Lugosi was cast in the role of “Ghoul Man” but passed away before filming really started. So what happens? The producer’s wife’s chiropractor (Mr. Reynold’s was the executive producer) takes over as “Ghoul Man” and holds his cape in front of his face THE ENTIRE MOVIE. Add to this numerous plot inconsistencies, horrid acting, and masses of stock footage – some of which we see several times and you have a terrible but funny movie. A highly advanced alien culture is determined to destroy Earth before our scientists discover a bomb which will explode sunlight, the description Eros gives of this is quite funny. In order to destroy our world, of several billion people, they raise three zombies from the dead.
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War Babies (1932) by:: Charles LaMont
In the sexphobic atmosphere of 21st Century America, especially in regard to “eroticised” childhood (of which there seems to be quite a hysteria going on, and has been since the 80s), I can certainly understand why these little movies make some individuals uncomfortable – but I don’t share this mindset. My only genuine qualm with this short is the fact that the jokes are forced and mostly unfunny and annoying. I laughed once, I’ll admit – when the boy offers Shirley an all-day sucker as incentive while he asks her to choose between him and a rival boy who is simultaneously vying for her affections. It’s also a great put-off that these children are made to act like adults; it strikes me as unnatural. Children are more interesting being children, which is why I am a lifelong fan of the Little Rascals. Hal Roach knew what he was doing and pumped out consistently priceless and timeless entertainment. The guys responsible for Baby Burlesks weren’t so skilled in that department.
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Reefer Madness (1938) by:: Louis J. Gasnier
Considered THE archetypal sensationalized anti-drug movie, but it’s really an exploitation film made to capitalize on the hot taboo subject of marijuana use. Like many exploitation films of the time, “Reefer Madness” tried to make a quick buck off of a forbidden subject while skirting the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930. The Code forbade the portrayal of immoral acts like drug use. (The illegal drug traffic must not be portrayed in such a way as to stimulate curiosity concerning the use of, or traffic in, such drugs; nor shall scenes be approved which show the use of illegal drugs, or their effects, in detail.) The film toured around the country for many years – often being re-edited and re-titled (“Tell Your Children”, “Dope Addict”, “Doped Youth”, “Love Madness”, “The Burning Question”). It was re-discovered in the early 1970s by NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and screened again as an example of the government’s demonization of marijuana. NORML may have been confused about the film’s sponsorship since one of the film’s distributors, Dwain Esper, testified to the Arizona Supreme Court that “Reefer Madness” was not a trashy exploitation film but was actually sponsored by the U.S. Government – a convincing lie, but a lie nonetheless. That being said, the film is still quick enjoyable since it dramatizes the “violent narcotic’s … soul destroying” effects on unwary teens, and their hedonistic exploits enroute to the bottom.
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If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

Are they truly the “It” band of 2005? These days, it takes a rather clever name, a ball of sound, and enough personnel to open up a Jack in the Box to skyrocket to stardom. It also doesn’t hurt if your album doesn’t suck. And according to TMT’s very own amneziak (and most of us confined at TMT HQ), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-released debut [TMT Review] is far from sucksville. But the question begs to be answered: Do they rock live? Well, we’re about to find out. The band has already dropped the knowledge (can I get away with saying that?) that they plan on hitting the road in September with The National, whose latest album also totally rocks in case you didn’t know. Sadly, those dates have yet to announced. However, the good news is a few warm up dates have been delivered, so get your pen and paper ready so you can write them down. Time to center your vacation on seeing CYHSY in such exotic ports of call as New York City or Brooklyn. Wait, did I mention New York City? Oh I did, didn’t I? Aw shucks. (via tiny mixed tapes)

Clap Your Hands Say Dates (with a P4k update!):

07.20.05 – Brooklyn, NY – Southpaw%
07.27.05 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge#
08.10.05 – New York, NY – Seaport Music Festival@
08.17.05 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church*
09.07.05 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw $
09.08.05 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse $
09.09.05 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom $
09.10.05 – Philadelphia, PA – The Khyber $
09.16.05 – Cambridge, MA – TT the Bear’s $
09.18.05 – Toronto, Ontario – Horseshoe Tavern $
09.23.05 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s $
09.24.05 – Minneapolia, MN – 400 Bar $
09.26.05 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive $
09.30.05 – Portland, OR – Dante’s $
10.01.05 – Seattle, WA – Neumo’s (KEXP Benefist Show) $
10.02.05 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Media Club $
10.05.05 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine $
10.06.05 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubador $

% w/ Dirty on Purpose, Dr. Dog, and Saints and Lovers
# w/ Portion Control
@ w/ Devotchka
* w/ Magnolia Electric Co.
$ w/ The National

KEXP 90.3FM Seattle: 3rd Annual BBQ

KEXP FM 90.3FM Seattle, WA present the 3rd Annual KEXP BBQ. It’s happening Sunday, July 17th starting at 3pm in the KEXP parking lot (113 Dexter Ave). Food to fill you up, and beer to wash it down. Along with live music from Crooked Fingers, Smoosh, and United State of Electronica. Plus a super secret special headliner… Well it’s not that secret.. It’s the GO TEAM!!! Cool!! for more info go to: KEXP.ORG

Kingblind’s Favorite Finds

Look who is replacing Howard Stern!
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Franz Ferdinand announce fall tour dates
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Live 8 Concert – 360 Panorama (Philly Concert)
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BRMC start touring in September
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Brian Wilson takes a shot at Madonna
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Bloc Party Send Message Of Hope To London
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Kingblind Download’s

Radiohead / 4.3.1995 + Interviews / Justin Herman Plaza (San Francisco, CA)
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Nine Inch Nails / 5.13.05 / Boston, Mass. – Orpheum / FLAC
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The Fall / 5.23.81 / SO36 Club, West Berlin / flac
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Beck / 8.26.95 / Reading Festival, UK / FLAC
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Foo Fighters:: In Your Honor (Album Review)

When Nirvana split (or rather, when Kurt Cobain blew his head off) the odds on Dave Grohl making it solo must have been pretty stiff. OK, he’d sung a so-so B-side (“Marigold”) and most people had a soft spot for the goofy drummer, but of the two remaining members, it seemed Krist Novoselic had the best chance of making it. But, ten years down the line, while Novoselic is a pilot and political activist (anyone remember Sweet 75 ?) Grohl is one of the biggest rock stars on the planet. Go, as the Americans say, figure. Over the course of four albums, his Foo Fighters have proved themselves supreme masters at repackaging Cobain’s angst and quiet-loud-quiet formula into a more enduring capsule. Whether Grohl suddenly got bored of this formula is unclear, but “In Your Honor” finds his band reaching for their own version of OutKast’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below”, with a two-sided double album. Ten helpings of rock, with ten acoustic side-orders to follow. There’s even a Norah Jones connection (the Blue Note jazzer duetted with Andre 3000, and she turns up here on the low-key bossa nova of “Virginia Moon”). But while OutKast’s imagination was outrageously unlimited in the extreme, Grohl’s mob remain fundamentally earthbound. For all its delusions of grandeur, “In Your Honor” sounds unerringly like you’d expect it to. Of the two, the rock side is actually the least fulfilling. Lead off single “Best Of You” is solid enough and the opening title track features Grohl at his most guttural, but much of the rest sounds like Foos-by-numbers. Maybe all those Probot side projects and guest appearances with QOTSA and Brian May have spread his talents a little thin, but nothing quite hits the spot under the skin like “My Hero” or “Everlong” did. It’s not lacking passion or hooks (the likes of “No Way Back” and “The Last Way Back” have plenty) just personality. On the whole it blurs into a bunch of riffs in search of a song. The acoustic set is the more memorable, even if, for all intents and purposes, it’s essentially a Dave Grohl solo record. Tastefully arranged and augmented by all manner of soft instrumentation the results are calming, melodic and occasionally affecting. Most touching of all is “Friend Of A Friend”, a beautiful lament for Cobain dating from 1992. More illuminating than the public outing of any number of private diaries, this is as close to the bone as any of us will get to living inside the stifling and cancerous post-”Nevermind” bubble. “He thinks he drinks too much because when he tells his two best friends, ‘I think I drink too much’, no one speaks,” sings Grohl in a voice full of regret, tenderness and tears. At such moments, “In Your Honor” seems a worthwhile exercise, and ultimately it brings to mind, not OutKast, but another ambitious double set: Husker Du’s “Warehouse Songs & Stories”. Like Bob Mould and Grant Hart’s excessive swansong, it is not the Foo’s finest moment, but for all its flaws and flab, this meandering record may just become one we all learn to love. (by Adam Webb)

Air Guitar Champs Sound Off

On July 14, a chosen few artistes from such exotic locales as Asheville, North Carolina and, er, Denver, will converge on West Hollywood’s Key Club for the final showdown—The 2005 US Air Guitar Championships. Contenders will take the stage, some with roadies, and blaze the necks of their invisible axes as Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption,” or anything by Yngwie, blares behind them. Contestants are judged on technical prowess, stage presence and “airness,” an inexplicable quality transcending mere air guitar. Last year’s champion, Brooklyn’s MiRi “Sonyk-Rok” Park, went on to play at the World Air Guitar Championships in northern Finland, and subsequently defeated her guru, for the second US win in this decade-long event. On a Late Night With Conan O’Brien appearance (available on www.airguitarusa.com), Park performed Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher,” and admitted to studying the song’s guitar tablature, to make sure her airy beast, a white Fender Stratocaster à la Wayne’s World, no less, would be up to the test. O’Brien was just happy to see a guitar neck that could actually bend like rubber. Anybody want to start an Air Drums competition?

Kingblind Download’s

Mogwai:: Live at the fillmore 2003
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Brian Eno:: Burning Airlines give you so much more
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Dj Spooky:: Dub Mix
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Frank Zappa Live (1976-10-24) – Boston Music Hall
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Sufjan Stevens:: Come On Feel the Illinoise (Album Review)

I expect the world of Sufjan Stevens – or at least the nation, anyway. In 2003, when he promised the good little indie rock boys and girls he’d be releasing an album for each one of the fifty states, he filled their dreams with star-spangled sugarplum fairies. Knowing we’d wait with bated breath as he unfurled a catalog of Pollardlike proportions, it was easy to carve a niche for himself – not for any gimmick, but because his music is simply that good. On my own personal map, I await tracks for each place I’ve lived – South Bend, Omaha, Kansas City and Chicago, the last of which feels ever-present on his second commemorative production, Come On Feel the Illinoise. Illinois (both the album and the state) is hard not to see through the eyes of Chicago. Its towering presence brings forth wonderful contrasts of industry, farmland, optimism, corruption and sprawling, impersonal masses. The perspective of such a big city is never lost on this work, always bringing forth assurances of innovation, and with it, decay. So much of Illinois feels magical, however, in much the same way as a large State Fair: there is commotion and wonder as the population is continually enchanted by progress, but to unknown purpose. With the grand coronation of “The Black Hawk War”, we hear Illinois is not as sleepy as Michigan, but at the same time, its purity is secretly lost. In an overarching statement on modern society, Stevens exposes the glossiness of Illinois’ exterior, which has burned out a little of its soul. As such, when the album does reflect on the remaining beauty found in pockets of towns and the wide eyes of children, it is even more inspiring. “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!” harnesses the joyful bustle of ethnic diversity found stretched across the greater metropolis, with an inviting feel akin to the sight of Ellis Island on sore eyes. And, as “Chicago” chants “All things go,” its majestic, swirling images of possibility and movement can leave you awestruck. Illinois, then, takes the presence of a child, always in a world of amazement. With the coupling of “Prairie Fire that Wanders About” and “The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders,” we’re treated to heavy-handed arrangements like that of a children’s choir brandishing sparklers in state pride; there is choreography to be learned, rounds to be sung and medleys to be melted into soft, waxy byproducts. It is charmingly false – a seeming symbol of the state itself. In contrast, the twangier, more rustic numbers give glimpses of falseness and authenticity. “Decatur” feels like a forced field trip to somewhere terminally boring, where the hyped sights and sounds of the country life do nothing but disappoint, while “Casimir Pulaski Day” is more down-to-earth but never hokey, sticking with the God-Loving, Red-Voting Midwesternness that requires capitalization of holy traditions. “”They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!!” caps off the rural trilogy with a slanted, dirt-of-the-earth stylistic shift, where hymn-inspired choruses cannot bury the foreboding evil. For every blank-faced innocent to innocuously dig through Illinois’ closets, there are decayed skeletons awaiting their inevitable approach. Even tones of religion found in tracks like “The Seer’s Tower” feel like propaganda or hopeless appeals for repentance and sacrifice, where death is desperately existential: “Still I go to the deepest grave,” it laments, “Where I go to sleep alone.” This is not the prayer of the blissfully heavenbound; it is the inevitable surrender of a lost soul. Perhaps this is why songs like “Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind” feel so invigorated by the prospect of science and industry: the fluorescent, the electric and the futuristic all hum and glow like the foretold miracles. Gentrification will save this sordid state, or so the promises say, and Sufjan Stevens will observe every steamrolling victory – all the while making witless liars out of false prophets as they smile, bid him good day, and welcome him as a neighbor. (Reviewed by Sarah Peters)

Homme Comes Clean On Oliveri Firing

Josh Homme has revealed for the first time why he fired longtime friend Nick Oliveri from Queens Of The Stone Age in 2004. Speaking to Zane Lowe tonight (July 6) on BBC Radio 1, Homme said he ordered Oliveri to leave the band after he independently confirmed Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend. “A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard,” Homme recalled. “I said, ‘If I ever find out that this is true, I can’t know you, man.’ Because music and my life are the same thing, there’s no rules until something massive happens. [Nick] was over here [in England] with [QOTSA vocalist Mark] Lanegan and something happened again, and he almost didn’t make it out of the country. That’s not music anymore.” Oliveri could not be reached for comment at deadline. Homme says he will reject pleas from QOTSA fans to give Oliveri a second chance. “They don’t understand what it’s like to just sit there and feel helpless,” he said. “When you have your chance to make your statement, which for me was firing Nick, that’s what I did.” Homme and Oliveri have frequently exchanged words via the media in recent months; Homme was also involved in a brawl over Oliveri’s firing last November in Los Angeles with Dwarves singer Blag Dahlia, a close friend of the former QOTSA bassist. “If you’re trying to be good about something and everybody else around you isn’t, what do you do?,” Homme said. “Do you fight fire with fire or sit there and burn?” Queens Of The Stone Age is in the midst of international touring in support of its latest Interscope album, “Lullabies To Paralyze.” A fall North American tour with Nine Inch Nails begins Sept. 16 in San Diego. (via billboard)

Kingblind Downloads

Pink Floyd:: Discography (PW: Dub)
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The Dresden Dolls:: S/T Album
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Coldplay:: Live at T in the Park (Back by Popular Demand)
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The Elliott Smith Tribute cd
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LIVE 8 CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS
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Kingblind’s favorite finds

Hot Snakes Disband
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Target will roll out a digital music subscription service.
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Musicians who participated in the Live 8 shows are seeing booming record sales.
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Together at last! Joy Division and Mongolian throat singing. (WTF!!??!!)
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CMJ Acts Announced!!

The CMJ Music Marathon has announced a preliminary list of acts for the festival. Complete up to the minute info can be found HERE The CMJ Music Marathon is September 14th-17th 2005 in NYC.

Here is the list so far: The Arcade Fire, Atmosphere, !!!, Dungen, Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Juan Maclean, John Vanderslice, Nouvelle Vague, Of Montreal, the Hold Steady, Against Me!, Mae, Wolf Parade, Blackalicious, Blowfly, Athlete, Lucero, Supersystem, Mary Timony, Tim Fite, Hot Chip, Devin Davis, Arctic Monkeys, Wolf Mother, Constantines, Colder, Why?, Cut Copy, the Oranges Band, Motion City Soundtrack, Copeland, the Honorary Title, Battles, Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic, Chad VanGaalen, Mu, Earth, Cranes, Alan Sparhawk, Kinski, the Morning After Girls, Annie, the Talk, People In Planes, Grand Buffet, Ida, the Wrens, the Giraffes, Nashville Pussy, Portastatic, Hella, the Epoxies, Marat, Cocorosie, Jessie Diamond and the Thousand, Urdog, Zzz, the Big Huge, Zeke, the Firebird Band, Big Business, Parts & Labor, Icarus Line, William Elliot Whitmore, Eric Bachmann, the Rosebuds, Elevator Action, the Rakes, Receiving End Of Sirens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Amusement Parks On Fire, Need New Body, Youth Group, the Gossip, the Kingsbury Manx, Rogue Wave, Robbers On High Street, Paybacks, Dr. Dog, Funeral For A Friend, Snatches of Pink, Limbeck, the Mae Shi, the Makers, Early Man, Alias, Her Space Holiday, Black Forest Black Sea, the Witnesses, Gore Gore Girls, Fruit Bats, Test-Icicles, Vaux, Sex Slaves, the Dix, Nightmare Of You, James Blunt, Denison Witmer, Jessica Dobson, Oxford Collapse, Saturday Looks Good To Me, XBXRX, Kind of Like Spitting, the Robot Ate Me, the Numbers, Goblin Cock, Jim Yoshi Pileup, Tenement Halls,Annie Hayden, Pony Up!, Mahjongg, A Gun Called Tension, Lion Fever, Prosaics, Das Oath, DDM, Swords, Pilot To Gunner, Talkdemonic, the Kingdom, the Comas, the Standard, American Princes, the Cities, Alternative Champs, Emperor X, Langhorne Slim, the Mobius Band, Subtitle, Hockey Night, the Dollylrots, the Reputation, Troubled Hubble, Bling Kong, Kind of Like Spitting, Bellini, Psychic Paramount, Sleeping People, Coptic Light, Maserati, Deadman, Jeff Klein, B.C. Camplight, Levy, Without Gravity, the Sammies, Queenadreena, Pit Er Pat, Head of Femur, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Cameron McGill, Catfish Haven, Le Concorde, Dirty Perfect, Billy Nayer Show, Channels, Edie Sedgwick, Voicst, Singapore Sling, Maktub, Dirty On Purpose, Face Tomorrow, Enablers, Blood and Time, Grails, the Soviettes, Dressy Bessy, Head of Femur, World/Inferno Friendship Society, the Heavenly States, the King of France, 8-bit, the Blue Van, the Plastic Constellations, Walking Concert, Cary Brothers, Man Man, Daughters, TSAR, Kaki King, and the Navigators.

Calexico Cooking Up New Album.

Arizona-based rock act Calexico is at work on its next studio album, which should be out in the spring of 2006 via Touch & Go. “We did some work here in Tucson earlier this summer,” group member Joey Burns said. “We’ll probably meet up again in August when we get back from doing European festivals.” The group worked with producer J.D. Foster, who has worked with everyone from Dwight Yoakam and Marc Ribot to Nancy Sinatra and Alejandro Escovedo. Tracks being eyed for the set include “Bisbee Blue,” “All Systems Red,” “Deep Down” and “Lucky Dime.” “The songs have that moodiness and ambience, but there’s also some more electric, rockin’ numbers,” Burns says of the new material, some of which Calexico will unveil during a spate of summer shows, which begin July 14 in New York. The as-yet-untitled album will be the follow-up to 2003′s “Feast of Wire,” which debuted at a career-best No. 23 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart. An EP, “Convict Pool,” was issued last year, led by a cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or.” “That cover worked out really well for us,” Burns says. “We were playing that song and covering it all last summer while [Love leader] Arthur [Lee] was touring with the Love reunion. We just kept missing each other, but we kept hearing reports of people who had seen him. We never ran into him. If he’s still living in Los Angeles, I’m sure we’ll cross paths at some point.” In between the new Calexico album and a previously reported collaborative EP with Iron & Wine, Burns and drummer John Convertino have also contributed to singer/songwriter Neko Case’s upcoming Anti- album.

Here are Calexico’s tour dates:

July 14: New York (Castle Clinton/Battery Park)
July 16: Ottawa, Ontario (Cisco Systems Bluesfest)
July 17: Quebec City, Quebec (Festival D’Ete International)
July 20: Antwerp, Belgium (Rivierenhof)
July 21: Duisburg, Germany (World Games Plaza)
July 22: Lorrach, Germany (Marktplatz)
July 23: Jacetano, Spain (El Pireneus del Sur Festival)
July 27: Berlin (Popdeurope Festival)
July 28: Wien, Austria (Jazzfest)
July 29: Nurenberg, Germany (Bardentreffen)
July 30: Feldkirch, Austria (Poolbar Festival)
July 31: Roseto, Italy (Soundlab Festival)
Aug. 2: Alberobello, Italy (Experimenta Festival)
Aug. 3: Pula, Croatia (Open Air)
Aug. 5: Creete, Greece (Amphitheatre)
(Via Billboard)

Kingblind Downloads (Shuffle Edition)

Teenage Fanclub:: All in my mind
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Dinosaur Jr:: Freak Scene
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Killing Joke:: Pandemonium
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Snow Machine:: Camel Lights
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Amon Tobin:: The Lighthouse
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The Dears:: Who Are You, Defenders Of The Universe
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Kingblind Download’s

Paul McCartney 2005-07-02 Live8, Hyde Park, London (BBC Radio 2 FM) (FLAC)
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Pink Floyd 2005-07-02 Live 8, Hyde Park, London, UK (BBC DVB-S source) (PAL)
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U2 2005-07-02 Live8, Hyde Park, London (BBC Radio 2 FM) (FLAC)
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The Who 2005-07-02 Live 8, Hyde Park, London, UK (BBC Radio 2 FM) (FLAC)
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Kingblind’s Favorite Finds

Ash move to NYC to record new album

New Pornographers envy Broken Social Scene’s interchangeable lineup, address touring without Neko Case

Darkness announce release date of new album

Search on a band – shows the musical constellation they belong to.

Watch Live 8 LIVE online

Watch LIVE 8 Online LIVE by CLICKING HERE
Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.
On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic. 8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make the trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become the generation that made poverty history. But they’ll only do it if enough people tell them to. That’s why we’re staging LIVE 8. 10 concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, 2 billion viewers, and 1 message… To get those 8 men, in that 1 room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of extreme poverty. We don’t want your money – we want you! For complete Live 8 info CLICK HERE.

R&B crooner Luther Vandross dead at 54

Legendary R&B artist Luther Vandross, whose smooth, silky voice gave soul to songs about life, love and relationships, died Friday. Vandross’ songs and emotionally charged ballads carry a signature sound. During his four-decade career, Vandross sold more than 25 million copies, each one of his 14 albums achieving either platinum or multi-platinum status. (via cnn)

Kingblind Downloads

The Who:: Live in Fillmore East, 22/10/1969
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Prince:: The Love Sexy Tour Rehearsals ´88
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Joy Division:: Les Bains Douches Dec 18 1979
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Covering the beatles:: Various Artist
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Kingblind’s Favorite Finds

Sigur Ros complete ‘rock n’ roll’ album
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Death Cab for Cutie discuss new album
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DEVA!! It’s the female Devo cover band.
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Nike apologized for their Minor Threat ad.
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Check out the new trailer for King Kong,
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