popwreckoning

The Appleseed Cast has signed to the Chicago independent label Graveface Records, home to Black Moth Super Rainbow and Monster Movie, and many more.

Beginning on February 24th 2010, in Norman, OK, The Appleseed Cast will embark a 26 date tour, playing their two classic albums, Low Level Owl 1 and 2 back-to-back, each in its entirety. The band will have a new live album available for sale on this tour, their first for the imprint Graveface.

The Appleseed Cast’s sprawling two-disc masterpiece Low Level Owl 1 and 2 released in 2001 found a band shedding its restraints, bucking genre qualifiers and offering up something newly experimental, truly unique and utterly epic. There was little in the band’s spiky and emotional 1998 debut The End of the Ring Wars to indicate what was to come, and just barely a whiff of the ambient soundscapes, and seemingly insurmountable slow-building waves of sound-that-would-be on its 2000 follow-up Mare Vitalis. But since that discernable shift in mood and scope, The Appleseed Cast has continued to nurture and cultivate what was planted back in 2001 with each of their three subsequent releases – Two Conversations, Peregrine and Sagarmatha.

Through the years, The Appleseed Cast has shape-shifted itself as slowly and naturally as a sand dune to become one of the most staid and sonically rewarding bands on the circuit today, an achievement that has earned them throngs of fans the world over. But certainly, the band who have drawn deserved comparisons to such stalwarts as Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Spiritualized and Radiohead, began their ever-unpredictable journey into the musical wilds with the astounding wailing crescendos, heartbreaking murmuring guitar tones and gentle ambient rustlings of Low Level Owl, which will continue to stand as one of the cornerstones of the genre, acting as foundation for all the bricks that follow.

See The Appleseed Cast perform Low Level Owl 1 and 2 this Spring:

Feb 24 – Opolis / Norman, OK
Feb 25 – Lola’s / Denton, TX
Feb 26 – Rudyards / Houston, TX
Feb 27- Mohawk / Austin, TX
Mar 1 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix, AZ
Mar 2 – Plush / Tucson, AZ
Mar 3 – Casbah / San Diego, CA
Mar 4 – Glasshouse / Pomona, CA
Mar 5 – Echo Plex / Los Angeles, CA
Mar 6 – Bottom of the Hill / San Francisco, CA
Mar 8 – Berbati’s / Portland, OR
Mar 9 – Biltmore / Vancouver, BC
Mar 10 – Chop Suey / Seattle, WA
Mar 11 – Empyrean Cafe / Spokane, WA
Mar 12 – Kilby Court / Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 13 – Hi Dive / Denver, CO
Mar 15 – Waiting Room / Omaha, NE
Mar 16 – Triple Rock / Minneapolis, MN
Mar 17 – House Cafe / Dekalb, IL
Mar 18 – High Noon / Madison, WI
Mar 19 – Bottom Lounge / Chicago, IL
Mar 20 – Off Broadway / St. Louis, MO
Mar 21 – Record Bar / Kansas City, MO

Label mates Dreamend round out the bill, opening all of the shows on this tour. Dreamend features Ryan Graveface, the owner of the Graveface label and member of Black Moth Super Rainbow. Dreamend’s latest album Long Forgotten Friend is out now on Graveface. Both The Appleseed Cast and Dreamend will have new full-length releases out via Graveface in late 2010.

The Appleseed Cast: website | myspace

Day Two of Treasure Island saw more rock and less DJ’s which made the crowd significantly larger and happier.

If you haven’t heard of Vampire Weekend then you’ve probably been under a rock for the last year.  Due to a brilliant marketing plan and not much else, this band has catapulted onto the cover of Spin and performed on “Saturday Night Live” straight out of college.  After listening to their entire set, I can safely say that they have no memorable melodies, just a clean image and a great gimmick.  Truthfully they came off more like a teacher singing nursery rhymes than a rock band playing to 10,000.

On a side note I think it should be a rule that V-Necks and cardigans have no place in rock and roll unless you’re Jimmy Page.  What happened to rock bands that would beat you down and steal your girlfriend?

The Kills came out boozing and smoking and burned through their 45 minute set.  Even if you don’t understand what Allison Mosshart is saying, you’ll believe it because she puts everything she has into her performance.  Don’t let this two-piece fool you, they will pummel you and leave you wondering what happened to your innocence.

Okkervil River provided the most energetic set of the afternoon and frontman Will Sheff knows how to work a crowd.   With such diverse songwriting and musicanship, this band won’t be Austin’s best kept secret for much longer.

Fleet Foxes sound like every great band in your parents record collection and they have the look to match.   With the addition of J Tillman on drums their 3 part harmonies are what dreams are made of.

Spiritualized brought their near epic arrangements that either make you cry or make you wonder if someone slipped something into your Kool-Aid.  After a long hiatus, Jason Pierce hasn’t lost a step and the new material sounded great.

Tegan and Sara’s sound translated well to the festival setting since everyone in the audience adored them.  They’re in the midst of writing a new album so they stuck to their released material which had the crowd in the palm of their hand throughout.

The Raconteurs are better than your favorite rock band (unless they’re QOTSA), just make it easy on yourself and come to grips with it.  You may ask why but the answers are simple; they dress better, play guitar better and write better songs.  The two headed songwriting monster that is Jack White and Brendan Benson are backed by an air tight rhythm section in Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler and they play straight up no frills rock and roll. White seemed more interested in playing the keys rather than guitar which allowed their set to dynamically breath.  They leaned heavily on their new album The Consolers of the Lonely and found time to fit in a couple guitar solos…remember those?