Yeasayer have a new album, Odd Blood, coming next year (2/19) on Secretly Canadian. If you’re curious what to expect you check out a Premature Evaluation of the record.

Yeasayer return to Madison on Wednesday, April 28th for a gig at the Majestic Theatre.

Tickets: $13 Advance / $15 Day of Show
On Sale: – Friday, December 18th

MP3: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”
Video: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”

Continuing the steady stream of great music coming out of Milwaukee, allow us to introduce you to Surgeons in Heat, who recently released “I Wanna Get Up” as a pay-what-you want download via their website. It’s not often that I’m sold on a band after one song, but these guys bucked that trend with this straight ahead rocker. They have plenty of upcoming tour dates scheduled, we’re definitely hoping to hear more from these guys in a live setting.

MP3: Surgeons in Heat – “I Wanna Get Up”

File The Clientele’s Bonfires on the Heath under albums I need to check out as soon as possible. The Clientele has eluded me live for years now, I’m hoping this is the year I get to make up for all the missed opportunities.

The Clientele will play the High Noon Saloon in Madison on Tuesday, March 16th.

Tickets: $10 in advance / $12 day of show
Ages: 18+

Myspace: The Clientele
MP3: The Clientele – “I Wonder Who We Are”

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists return to Madison for a High Noon Saloon show on Sunday, March 14th at 8pm. Look for Leo’s upcoming record, his Matador debut, The Brutalist Bricks, coming in 2010. Take a listen to “Even Hero’s Have To Die” at Stereogum.

Tickets: $13 in advance / $15 day of show
Ages: 18+
On Sale: Friday, December 18

I know it’s old news around these parts that Jail (now Jaill) has signed to Sub Pop, but now it’s official via the Sub Pop blog. Congrats guys! Catch Jaill at Club Garibaldi supporting the Dutchess and the Duke on Saturday, December 19th.

For the remainder of 2009 we will be featuring albums that meant a lot to us this decade. I have really enjoyed spending quality time with my record collection and not just what is new and current. One thing this collection will not be is all-encompassing. We will be deliberately leaving out some of the universal favorites (Kid A, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Funeral, etc) because you’ll see them everywhere, and the last thing we want to do is state the obvious.

Instead, this collection will very much an outlet for us to share/discuss our favorites over the past 10 years with a focus on albums that we feel have been overlooked in the lists we’ve seen roll out this far.

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The Black Keys | Thickfreakness (2003)

Discovering the Black Keys was a personal treasure of the decade. My friend Justin gave me a burned copy of Thickfreakness and I became a fan on first listen. I soon picked up its predecessor, The Big Come Up, and, while I could argue that album should be the focus of this post, I have to tip my hat to the album that made me a fan of the band.

Thickfreakness arrived in the wake of The White Stripes climb to the top of indie rock charts behind White Blood Cells. Some were quick to write off the Black Keys as a clone to the already popular White Stripes, mostly out of the fact that they too were a duo and that both bands drew influence, at least guitar-wise, from blues music. Those quick to toss aside the Black Keys failed to connect with the slow, blues drawl of front man Dan Auerbach, whose vocals continue to carry the torch of a traditional blues genre that is slowly starting to slip into the ether.

Over the years the band has put out some albums that I’ve loved and some that I’ve loved a lot less. Without fail, whenever I’m in the mood for some music from the Black Keys, Thickfreakness is the album I turn to for my fix.

Best Live Show I Saw: Mad Planet, Milwaukee (2004) | With Radiohead in Chicago (2006)
Best Tracks: “Hard Work,” “Set You Free,” “Have Love Will Travel,“Hold Me In Your Arms”
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Buy: The Black Keys – Thickfreakness

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