Thanks to Prefix Magazine for this great capture of one of our favorite performances from SXSW this year. We were right in the mix of things – certainly a night to remember, check it out for yourself:

Spank Rock & Amanda Blank (SXSW 2007)

Unreleated: YACHT will be opening for LCD Soundsystem on their upcoming tour, we’ll be catching them when they swing through town.

Here are the Wisconsin concerts (and one in Chicago) we recommend you take in this week. Check them out below and let us know which ones you’ll be attending or ones you think should really make our list.

5/1 – The Robot Ate Me/Pale Young Gentleman – Cafe Montmartre, Madison
5/3 – Electric 6 – The Annex, Madison
5/3 – Jose Gonzalez – The Terrace, Madison
5/3 – Parts & Labor/Adult – Stonefly, Milwaukee
5/3 – Colin Hay – Miramar Theater, Milwaukee
5/5 – Norah Jones – Riverside Theater, Milwaukee
5/6 – LCD Soundsystem – The Metro, Chicago
5/6 – Electric 6 – Mad Planet, Milwaukee

+++++Please remember you can always find a list of upcoming shows in Milwaukee and Madison by visiting our shows page +++++

Having sorely missed Ted Leo & The Pharmacist recent stop in Madison that was supremely well received I was fortunate enough to be in Chicago when our paths crossed at the Metro.

Touring behind Living With The Living, Ted marched the near capacity crowd through an hour and a half’s worth of music. Being this was an early show (ending at 10PM) he joked near the end about how great that actually was for both audience and band, stating you have the best of both worlds of being able to go out or get some well deserved rest. I’m guessing I’m one of the few who went with the latter, as the performance itself was abounding with energy, sweat and moxie.

The last time I saw Ted was in this same city in a park for the Pitchfork Music Festival. It was outdoors and hot as hell. Ted had a nice microphone induced blood spot on his head that day and it was about as perfect of a rock show you could ask for at a music festival. We got that same rock and roll performance (sans the blood spot) last night at the Metro and, if anything, witnessed a more established and well-defined group on stage.

Not feeling those Living With The Living tracks yet? I’ll admit I wasn’t too high on them myself, but revisiting the album right now, after last nights show there are definitely some new favorites, which is exactly one of the things I wanted to take away from the show.

Check out this video for “Who Do You Love” as recorded for the DL:

Myspace: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
MP3: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – The Sons Of Cain
MP3: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Bomb.Repeat.Bomb
Video: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Bomb.Repeat.Bomb

Full day today as I get ready to head to Chicago for the next five days. Today, check out a “blast from the past” mp3. It was sometime in 2000, or perhaps early 2001, that my friend Justin gave me a mix CD he’d made featuring all sorts of great stuff that I’d heard for the first time (Daft Punk/The Herbaliser). The first track on that mix was “People Power In The Disco Hour,” a keyboard and beat driven number featured on Clinton’s Disco and the Halfway to Discontent.

Clinton consists of the duo behind Cornershop, Ben Ayres and Tjinder Singh, and that track in particular soundtracked many summer nights – most of them not sober. Seeing that the weekend is right around the corner, perhaps you can find an appropriate outlet to drop this track into your rotation.

“….Lean on the horn, there’s dobule parking on the dancefloor.”

Buy: Amazon (Used for $0.77!)
Myspace: Cornershop
MP3: Clinton – People Power In The Disco Hour

Three pretty great shows going on tonight in Madison, which one(s) are you attending?

4/26 – Ben Kweller – Orpheum Theatre, Madison
4/26 – Joseph Arthur – High Noon Saloon, Madison
4/26 – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – UW Club 770, Madison

Update: Don’t forget about The Postmarks at Cafe Montmartre tonight as well!

You heard the new White Stripes single yet? We like.

Also: Checking in on Bright Eyes after the already famous tour kick off show in Milwaukee, Erik sent us a report from the Minneapolis show which sounds like it tour is progressing smoothly.

We were anxious to check out Jona Bechtolt’s latest incarnation as YACHT. We enjoyed The Blow, just like just about everyone else, especially the song “Parentheses.”

The cover art for YACHT’s upcoming record, I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real, along with the title had me expecting songs about dragons, warlocks and alchemy. Thankfully, that’s not the case. Instead, the album is full of infectious and danceable grooves. Bechtolt isn’t navigating uncharted waters with this album, instead he’s made a record that is as complete as it is fun.

It was a tough decision deciding what track to hit you with, I settled for “I Believe In You” – a chugging bass line and hand claps yield a Flaming Lips-esque mantra.

Completely unrelated to the track below, but is anyone else hearing a strong similarity between the track “Platinum” and LCD Soundsystem’s “Get Innocuous?”

I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real will be released on May 15th.

Update: Check out Marathonpacks for a different track.

Buy: Insound
Myspace: YACHT
MP3: YACHT – I Believe In You
MoB: The Blow – Parentheses