popwreckoning

Sweden’s First Aid Kit has announced new US tour dates this fall. In September, sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg will support Bright Eyes on nine dates beginning the 7^th at The Norva in Norfolk, VA. The band will then return to the US again in November supporting fellow Swede Lykke Li on eight dates that kick off November 9^th at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA. First Aid Kit was recently in the Omaha studio of producer (and member of Bright Eyes) Mike Mogis working on their sophomore album; more information regarding the album coming soon.

First Aid Kit saw success last year with the release of their debut LP The Big Black & The Blue garnering praise from NPR’s All Songs Considered, Nylon, and SPIN (‘Breaking Out’ artist), among others. In the past year, the band has performed at SXSW, Austin City Limits festival, and the CMJ Music Marathon and released a Third Man Records Blue Series 7-inch, recorded with Jack White at his own Third Man Studios in Nashville, TN.

9/3 Norfolk, VA – The Norva

9/4 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

9/5 Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head

9/7 Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues

9/8 Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre

9/9 Birmingham, AL – Sloss Furnaces

9/11 Orlando, FL – House of Blues

9/13 New Orleans, LA – House of Blues

9/15 Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom

11/9 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater

11/11 Denver, CO – Ogden Theater

11/13 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

11/14 Chicago, IL – Vic Theater

11/15 Toronto, Ontario – Sound Academy

11/17 Montclair, NJ – Wellmont Theater

11/19 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel

11/20 Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theater

Check out First Aid Kit at www.thisisfirstaidkit.com

Lollapalooza is celebrating its 20th anniversary and as promised, the recently announced delivers some pretty hefty acts. 

Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Deadmau5 and A Perfect Circle will headline the annual event in Grant Park from August 5-7, 2011.

If you missed Death From Above 1979‘s Coachella reunion, Lolla gives fans another chance. There’s also many other classic acts such as The Cars to up and comers The Naked and Famous. You can see the rest of the announced lineup below:

Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Deadmau5, A Perfect Circle, Cee Lo Green, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley & Nas, the Cars, Ween, Bright Eyes, Arctic Monkeys, Big Audio Dynamite, Deftones, Beirut, Explosions in the Sky, Death From Above 1979, Ratatat, Crystal Castles, Flogging Molly, Atmosphere, Cold War Kids, Lykke Li, Cage the Elephant, OK GO, Local Natives, The Kills, White Lies, Portugal. The Man, Two Door Cinema Club, Ellie Goulding, Delta Spirit, Beats Antique, Mountain Goats, Sleigh Bells, Manchester Orchestra, Smith Westerns, Best Coast, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, The Drums, Black Lips, Fitz & the Tantrums, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, City and Colour, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, Cults, Noah and the Whale, Sam Adams, J. Roddy Walston and the Business, Tinie Tempah, Lissie, Dom, The Vaccines, Foster the People, Titus Andronicus, Mayer Hawthorne and the County, Chico Trujillo, The Naked and Famous, Phantogram, Rival Schools, Friendly Fires, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Reptar, Maps & Atlases, Fences, Tennis, An Horse, Young the Giant, Los Bunkers, Imelda May, Grouplove, Wye Oak, The Joy Formidable, Lord Huron, Disappears, Walk the Moon, Gold Motel, Iration, Ryan Leslie, Tab the Band, Skylar Grey, Christina Perri, Black Cards, The Pretty Reckless, Boy and Bear, Patrick Stump, Kids These Days, Young Man, The Kingston Springs, Lia Ices, The Chain Gang of 1974, Ximena Sarinana, Typhoon, Electric Touch, Kerli, Ruby Jane, Julia Easterlin, and DJ Mel.

On Perry’s Stage:

Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Kid Cudi, the Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, AfroJack, Modeselektor, Skrillex, Perryetty vs. Chris Cox, Chuckie, The Glitch MOb, Busy P, Joachim Garraud, Super Mash Bros., Jay Electronica, 12th Planet, Daedulus, Feed Me, JackMaster, Collie Buddz, Savoy, Kyle Lucas and Captain Midnite, Ana Tijouxana, Midnight Conspiracy, L1ght, and Lady D.

Early Bird tickets have already sold out, but you can now buy regular priced tickets for $215 while supplies last. VIP Passes and Travel Packages are also available. A limited number of
Single Day tickets will go on sale June 7. Go here to buy tickets.

Organizers are expecting over 240,000 people.

I’m just going to tell you right now, when you get the new Bright Eyes album, you need to take 47 minutes out of your day to do nothing else but listen. You like how I assume you’re going to get The People’s Key? It’s because it’s that good.

Seriously. Nothing against Conor Oberst‘s previous efforts, because they’re lovely, but just two songs into this record, I could already sense the awesome that was yet to come.

I was right.

Unlike the mopey acoustic folk that has pervaded Oberst’s career up until now, this record is incredibly infectious without taking itself too seriously. One in particular, “Shell Games” is so bouncy and sunny without being ridiculous. I can just picture the charming-but-not-overly-adorable music video that goes along with it with clever editing and bright colors. The last time Bright Eyes made me want to dance was, well… with Cassadega, but that was country. I wanted to swing dance to do a little jig. Now I actually want to dance, and not ironically.

While I’ll admit to waiting until the last minute to listen to this one, and I was half asleep when I turned it on, the stark spoken word opening woke me up to full attention. Oberst has taken some of the twang from previous albums, electronic and artificial instruments, pop hooks, brilliant lyrics, and put together a fantastic conceptual album.

With The People’s Key, Oberst hasn’t quite abandoned his old ways, but more or less turned up the volume. He’s created a more “finished” album without it being overdone. I don’t know what happened in the last four years, but whatever it is, Oberst has taken it all in and given it back to us in the form of an awesome multidimensional indie pop work of art.

Wait, I know what happened. Oberst grew up. I can hear it in the lyrics.

“Approximated Sunlight” is a beautiful and sleek ballad, “Haile Selassie” is a catchy pop hit, and the rest is just amazing. I’d rather not try and dwell on track by track, because you honestly have to hear this whole thing together. While the songs are great by themselves, hearing all of A People’s Key is an experience all its own.

I’d dare to say that it’s the best Bright Eyes album yet.

And it makes me really excited to see them at the Gorge in May for the Sasquatch Festival. Almost too excited.

Now I just have to make sure that you sat and listened to all 47 minutes of A People’s Key in one sitting. Did you?

Track Listing:

1. Firewall
2. Shell Games
3. Jejune Stars
4. Approximate Sunlight
5. Haile Selassie
6. A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)
7. Triple Spiral
8. Beginner’s Mind
9. Ladder Song
10. One For You, One For Me

Go to http://www.conoroberst.com/

Mad Rad, Das Racist and The Thermals brought the house down at the free Sasquatch Launch Party at the Showbox at the Market last night, where the lineup to the now four-day festival would be announced.

Put on by Livenation and Sasquatch creator Adam Zacks, the launch party was MC’d by Comedian Todd Barry, who kept the crowd entertained between sets with dry wit and some fake teaser headliners.

“If you love me now, you’ll love when I play a set between headliners Elvis Presley and the Beatles, and tickets are only $7!” Barry proclaimed sarcastically to the less-than-attentive crowd. But I guess that’s what you get when you have a free show.

After Mad Rad and Das Racist played their sets, the lineup was announced in a video like previous years, which was played twice over, most likely so people could get a second look because they were freaking out too much over the Flaming Lips.

So far the lineup includes:

Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists, Modest Mouse, the Foo Fighters, Robyn, Wilco, Flying Lotus, Bright Eyes, Flogging Molly, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Das Racist, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Iron & Wine, The Flaming Lips.Black Mountain, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the Head and the Heart, Mad Rad, the Moondoggies, Noah & The Whale, Sam Roberts Band, Secret Sisters, Twin Shadow, Wye Oak, Tig Notaro, Smith Westerns, Rival Schools, Foster the People, Alberta Cross, S. Carey, White Denim, Washed Out, Gold Panda, Dan Mangan, Axis of Awesome, The Globes, Cotton Jones, Jaill, Basia Bulat, Other Lives, The Bronx, White Arrows, Pepper Rabbit, Talkdemonic, Rebecca Gates and The Consortium, The Young Evils, Bassnectar, Pink Martini, Cold War Kids, Old 97′s, Ratatat, Wolf Parade, Chromeo, Guided By Voices, Yeasayer, Beach House, Local Natives, Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Mstrkrft, Trailer Park Boys, Sleigh Bells, Major Lazer, Skrillex, Fitz & The Tantrums, !!!, Archers of Loaf, Against Me!, The Thermals, Best Coast, CSS, Surfer Blood, Jenny & Johnny, Bonobo (DJ Set), City and Colour, Reggie Watts, K-Os, Gayngs, Tim Minchin, The Drums, The Radio Dept., Young the Giant, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten, Villagers, Stornoway, Aloe Blacc.

Tickets go on sale on Feb. 14th starting at $79.50 per day and $285 for three-day passes.

Go to http://sasquatchfestival.com/ for more information or to purchase tickets.

Omaha’s Bright Eyes has announced additional dates to its Spring Tour in support of seventh studio album, The People’s Key.

The dates added include two Missouri shows, an additional Cali date, an Iowa show just outside of Omaha, Idaho and a Washington show. They’re in bold below. All other tour dates, including a SXSW stop, and openers are also listed.

Dates are selling out fast. Details and tickets can be found at www.conoroberst.com.

The People’s Key is out on Saddle Creek on February 15.

Tour Dates:
3/2 Miami, FL Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theater *
3/3 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues *
3/4 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle *
3/5 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium *
3/6 Richmond, VA The National *
3/8 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^
3/9 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^ SOLD OUT
3/10 Boston, MA House Of Blues # SOLD OUT
3/11 Portland, ME State Theatre#
3/13 Toronto, ON Sound Academy#
3/14 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre # SOLD OUT
3/15 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre # SOLD OUT
3/16 Champaign, IL Foellinger Auditorium #
3/17 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium #
3/19 Austin, TX SXSW Ground Control Touring Showcase Auditorium Shores**
4/2 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre ^^
4/3 Milwaukee, WI The Riverside Theater @
4/3 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue @
4/5 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue @
4/8 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballro0m @
4/9 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom @
4/10 Arcata, CA Arcata Community Center +
4/12 Oakland, CA Fox Theater +
4/13 Pomona, CA Fox Theater ## + SOLD OUT
4/16 Indio, CA Coachella Festival SOLD OUT
4/28 George, WA Sasquatch Music Festival
6/1 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert House ##
6/3 Denver, CO Filmore Theatre ##
6/4 Council Bluffs, IA WestFair Amphitheater ##
6/6 St. Louis The Pageant %

* w/ Cursive
^ w/ Superchunk and WILD FLAG
# w/ Mynabirds
**w/ The Felice Brothers, Middle Brother and Man Man
@ w/ Titus Andonicus
^^ w/ Conduits
+ w/ Farmer Dave Scher
## w/ Jenny And Johnny
% w/ Dawes

The thought for this feature crossed my mind the other morning as I streamed the illegally uploaded Bright Eyes cuts from the upcoming Saddle Creek Records release The People’s Key. It just kinda hit me randomly how fantastic the Omaha, Nebraska based record label’s catalog is from start to finish. Seeing the talent this label has for scouting is as simple as it comes.

More difficult I found however was narrowing their catalog down to my ten favorite songs. They ended up looking something like this:

10. The Faint – I Disappear

If you can manage to listen to this song (and that bass line) without shaking your ass you’ve got more body control than I do. Every time I listen to it, I either have to skank or rush off to play Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. Fantastic song from a fantastic band.

9. Rural Alberta Advantage – In The Summertime

When PopWreckoning received the review copy of Hometowns I probably listened to this song 250 times. There is just something about the lyrics and the way they’re presented over a somewhat simple but strikingly beautiful orchestration of notes that seems to help this song grasp me with a white knuckle grip. It is simply beautiful.

8. The Good Life – Heartbroken & 7. Cursive – Rise Up! Rise Up!

In my humble opinion there is no one better at capturing dysfunction,  heartbreak and the all around angst than Tim Kasher. Though it was nearly impossible to narrow it down (hell, I could’ve just shoved the whole Album of the Year album on here and been pleased), Last.Fm claims these two songs to be the winners of my listening choices.

6. Bright Eyes – Easy/Lucky/Free

I think this song is a perfect example of how personal experience and relatability can alter the impact of a song. I listened to this song almost exclusively during the six week period in which I lost both my grandfather (who was also my best friend) and my mother. The line: “I never really dreamed of heaven much until we put him in the ground, but it’s all I’m doing now,” capsulized exactly what I was feeling and reminded me to keep it together.

5. Miles  Benjamin Anthony Robinson – The Sound

I think there are two types of people in the world: those who love this artist and those who have never heard of him. Seriously, I think that Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is without a doubt Saddle Creek’s most underrated artist. Listen to “The Sound” and give it a judge yourself.

4. Azure Ray – November

The line, “I was afraid to be alone, but now I’m scared that’s how I’d like to be…,” grabs me like few other songs have. To this day the cellos give me goosebumps. This song is as flawless as they come.

3. Maria Taylor – Song Beneath The Song

Maria Taylor (also of the above mentioned Azure Ray) has a way with words that I find difficult to find in female musicians. She doesn’t hide behind her sexuality in order to sell records. “Song Beneath The Song” is a splendid example of Taylor’s magical gift for words.

2. Bright Eyes - Lover I Don’t Have To Love

Conor Oberst is a lyrical genius. He captures situations, depicting them with his words in a way most author pine to be able to do. In my opinion, “Lover I Don’t Have To Love” is Oberst at his strongest.

1. Rilo Kiley – A better Son/Daughter

This says it all:

“And sometimes when you’re on
You’re really fuckin on
And your friends they sing along And they love you
But the lows are so extreme
That the good seems fuckin cheap
And it teases you for weeks in its absence.”

So what about you? What are your favorite Saddle Creek songs? What did I leave off the list that you would have added? What are your top ten?

With Conor Oberst‘s many side musical projects and activism efforts, the future of perhaps of the band that made him famous, Bright Eyes, has been a little questionable. Good news! Bright Eyes is still very much alive and in February 2011, Bright Eyes will release a new album.

On February 15, 2011, Bright Eyes will release its 7th studio album, The People’s Key, on Saddle Creek Records. The band has also confirmed two shows at Radio City Music Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Key players Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott return as Bright Eyes, but the guys are also joined by a rotating cast of musicians in the studio that include: Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead), Matt Maginn (Cursive), Carla Azar (Autolux), Clark Baechle (The Faint), Shane Aspegren (The Berg Sans Nipple), Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds) and Denny Brewer (Refried Ice Cream).

Live shows & on sale info:
March 9th New York, NY Radio City Music Hall*
June 23rd London, UK Royal Albert Hall#
*Pre-Sale Begins: December 1 at 12PM EST. Public On-Sale: December 4 at 10AM EST
# Pre-Sale Begins: December 1 at 12PM EST. Public On-Sale: Saturday, December 4 at 9AM

Tracklisting:
1 Firewall
2 Shell Games
3 Jejune Stars
4 Approximate Sunlight
5 Haile Selassie
6 A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)
7 Triple Spiral
8 Beginner’s Mind
9 Ladder Song
10 One For You, One For Me

Day 2 – Saturday

A full day off to enjoy the festival and beautiful weather? YES.

We didn’t plan on getting to ACL until 2:00 so Jason showed us around town.

Know the way to a girl’s heart? Take her to the most amazing grocery store she’s ever seen. Central Market in Austin is a place for food lovers, beer lovers, soda lovers, oh and especially cheese lovers. This place seriously has it all. They even had a Boulevard Brewery section!

Well and after you take her to Central Market, make sure you check out the highest point in Austin. It’s beautiful and overlooks the entire river, along with downtown.

Onward to Zilker Park for the fest!

As we were walking in the gates, Lucero’s distinct vocals were blaring over the crowds. We stopped for a minute to catch a song, then walked the distance of the park to the Budweiser stage where Gaslight Anthem were.

I absolutely love Gaslight Anthem, and this was no exception.

This is where I rant about how amazing Manchester Orchestra was: HOLY SHIT! I’ve seen them a total of 4 times now and each and every time they just get better. Opening with “Shout It Out” and even quoting friend/bandmate in Bad Books, Kevin Devine towards the end. The only set that I could actually stay for the whole time and loved every minute of it. Guitarist, Robert McDowell looked into the camera to say hi to his grandmother since the performance would be airing on the internet. Andy Hull then leaned into the mic, “guess what, Grandma? Robert’s drunk!”

Okay, you get the picture. They rocked it.

Walked over to see the end of Silversun Pickups, who were awesome, then on to the Austin Ventures Stage for the majority of the night.

Local Natives blew me away. I knew they were good, but I didn’t expect them to be this good. One of my favorite bands of the day.

The other favorite band of the day? Monsters of Folk, of course. I absolutely love Conor and have since the day I heard a Bright Eyes song way back when.

Opening with their single, “Say Please,” MoF immediately got the crowd involved. Throughout their set, members switched instruments and roles between every song. For their second song, Conor took over. “Soul Singer in a Session Band” moved the crowd in such a way that I haven’t seen in awhile. Beautiful.

Next – LCD Soundsystem! Once again, would have been much better at night instead of 6:30 in the evening. Even still, there was tons of dancing. A perfect warm-up for Deadmau5 who played directly after on the neighboring stage as the sun set.

On our way over to see headliner, M.I.A., Matt and Kim were shutting down their set. They were in the middle of a cover of Mario’s “Just A Friend.”

Halfway through M.I.A’s set (which she was super energized and awesome to see live), we decided to beat the rush out of the park and head back.

We then tried out 6th Street for a bit, which is a whole story on it’s own.

Read Day 1 here.

It’s old news that a lot of artists and bands aren’t too happy about SB1070. If for some reason you don’t know, SB1070 is the Arizona law aimed at curbing illegal immigration, but many so it’s just promoting racism and profiling.

Many artists such as Stars, Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst and Rage Against the Machine‘s Zach de la Rocha have banned together to boycott touring in the state until this law is repealed. They’ve joined forces with an organization called Sound Strike.

So if you’re a musician and you’re trying to promote a cause, the next logical step is to record songs about it to donate.

So here’s the new news. The first artist to come forth with a new tune is Bright Eyes‘ Conor Oberst (which, in our opinions might as well be Bright Eyes if it isn’t being labeled as “Monsters of Folk” or “Conor Oberst and the Mystical Valley Band” or “Conor Oberst and Insert-Collaboration-Project-Here.”).

The new tune is called “Coyote Song,” which is about two lovers separated by conditions out of their control such as…US-Mexico border laws. Oberst is also influenced by a similar law passed in a Fremont, Nebraska, a town near to his Omaha home.

Here’s an interview with behind-the-scenes footage from a video being filmed for the tune in El Paso, TX:

Conor Oberst for The Sound Strike from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

“Returning to the scene of the crime,” is how the Get Up Kids phrased it, but really the only injustice was that it had been a 3-year wait for that November 2008 show. Fortunately, since that first reunion show at the Record Bar, the band was kind enough to give the Kansas City metropolitan area a Lawrence and a North Kansas City show before ending their reunion with a two night stand where it all began. And since I saw them at the very first reunion show, it was only fitting that I would see them at their last.

There seemed to be some confusion about the show start time, so a lot of the crowd was still coming in during Louisville band Mansions set. “Talk Talk Talk” came early in the set and while listening to the biting lyrics, I was torn between loving the band for their passionate sound reminiscent of Manchester Orchestra or Brand New and hating them for being so passionate that my mood dropped as they struck some chords a little too close to heart for comfort. The ended the set with “The Worst Part,” another song with strong lyrics of a bit of a depressing nature. These guys are super talented, but I think as an opener, it was a bit hard to warm up to for some in the audience with their cold tone.

For those that pay attention to the lyrics of Kevin Devine, he too has lyrics that are biting commentaries and often downer-sounding self-reflections, but unlike Mansions, his set had a different feeling. Instead of falling deeper into a whirlpool of sadness, Kevin made me happy and simply impressed. There are two reasons for that. Usually, I do focus on his lyrics and his voice because it is hard not to. He presses his face up against the microphone for some of the softer verses, but when he steps away from microphone and yells a chorus or a line or even a ba-da-da-dah-da, all eyes are on his face, which has veins enlarged into a map of his energetic passion for the piece. I’ve heard him compared to Conor Oberst, but I would be bold enough to say that Kevin might have more to offer, at least in his live show, than the Bright Eyes frontman. This time, thanks to a gentleman next to me calling out, “When will we see you on Guitar Hero?” I watched his hands racing on the instrument. Damn, was he good, and maybe he should be on the game. I felt alive just watching him play the arpeggiated riffs. And this brings me to the other reason why his set was uplifting: he has fantastic audience interaction. “The question on the floor is when will I be on Guitar Hero. I would love to be on Guitar Hero. I work for that every day,” said Kevin. “I’m just not that good.” At another point he bent down close to two little boys in the front row and asked, “You don’t have ear plugs? Will you be ok? It is going to get loud.” So modest and sweet. He isn’t only a great performer, but a great person. What a package in an artist these days! I was so happy with him and his set, which featured tunes such as “Brother’s Blood,” “Fickle Friend,” “Cotton Crush,” “No Time Flat,” a Nirvana cover and more, that I could have left the show then. Although, what a poor Kansas City citizen I would be if I left before one of our biggest acts?

Last time I saw the Get Up Kids in this venue, they played “Something to Write Home About” in order. During the encore, they played a few other fan favorites. Now tonight was not a rehash of that same show. While the set was heavy with those songs as they started the night with “Holiday,” they interspersed songs from other albums throughout it such as a new song from the forthcoming album, “Walking on a Wire,” “Martyr Me” and the rounded out the night with their cover of The Cure‘s “Close to Me.”  They even jammed a bit before “Martyr Me.” Check it out:

One of my favorite moments of the set was during “Out of Reach” when the crowd came in with the “Oh oh ohs” and guitarist Jim Suptic and bassist Rob Pope exchanged a look of “OMG.” I wasn’t sure at first if they were impressed by how boisterous the crowd’s singing was or if they were shocked by how off we were. Turns out it was the latter. “How many girls were singing on that?” asked singer Matt Pryor. He shook his head as the girls yelled back. “That was a choir of dudes. Really out of tune dudes.”

Another set highlight was when Suptic took the vocal reigns and grabbed an acoustic guitar for “Campfire Kansas,” which of course held a special meaning for the Kansas City crowd. While he was singing, Pryor went over to the aforementioned kids in the front row and invited the two boys on stage to play tambourine. It made a sweet song extra adorable. However, the boys must have rocked so hard on that acoustic number, that it blew out all their equipment. When the rest of the band came back the only thing left working were the microphones. The Record Bar employees debated how to fix the problem when sparks came flying out of an amp and throwing the breaker just resulted in the same problem. Suptic and Pryor bantered about how this was or was not fitting for the final night of the tour and then they tried to get drummer Ryan Pope to jam out for the audience. Pope seemed hesitant, so it opener Kevin Devine to the rescue. With a beat from Pope and some extra help from Suptic, Devine graced the audience with an amazing and strange rap. Yes, Kevin Devine raps. And it is wonderful.

The Get Up Kids mentioned that Kansas City seems to have a love/hate relationship with them. I’m glad to be on the side that loves them and I’m glad that they are finally just doing their own thing and not worrying how people choose to embrace them.

Oh, and reuniting must have felt so good that the band promises we’ll see another show in 2010 after the new! record comes out. Now that’s something to write home about.

Get Up Kids: website | myspace | @ record bar | @ blender theater | under cover pt. 1 | under cover pt. 2