Nada Surf Releasing New Record of Cover Songs, Doing Spring Tour withThree "Album" Shows

Nada Surf is setting themselves up for quite the busy spring with a new record of cover songs and a big spring tour covering the States and Europe.

The record, if i had a hi-fi includes songs from Kate Bush, Dwight Twilley, Depeche Mode, and the Moody Blues, as well as songs off the normal radar like "Evolution" from the Spainish band Mecromina and "Electrocution" by Bill Fox. There must be something in the Brooklyn water these days because they're also covering an Arthur Russell track, "Janine." About the choices, singer-guitarist Matthew Caws said, "We really just wanted to do it organically, whatever we felt like covering in the moment, rather than trying to sum up our influences or something.... The material came together spontaneously. We'd get together and kick ideas around and soon we had an A list, a B list, a C list.... ."

if i had a hi-fi will only be for sale intially at the shows on their Spring 2010 tour. At the tour's conclusion in May, the record will then be made available in stores and via iTunes.

The spring tour starts 3/25 in NYC with three "Album Shows" where they'll perform their three most recent albums Let Go, The Weight Is A Gift, and Lucky in full, along with songs from if i had a hi-fi, fan favorites, and b-sides. Tickets for most of the US shows will be available via the Nada Surf Fan Community site tomorrow (1/6) at 10 am (EST). (Note: You have to pre-register on this site.)

Nada Surf Spring 2010 Tour Dates

MARCH
25 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (full play of Let Go)
26 - Brooklyn, NY - Bell House (full play of The Weight is a Gift)
27 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg (full play of Lucky)
29 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
30 - Montreal, QC - Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour
31 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street

APRIL
01 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
02 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
13 - London, UK - ICA
15 - France - Printemps de Bourges Festival
17 - France - Strasbourg Artefact Festival
18 - Utrecht, Holland - Tivoli De Helling
19 - Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
20 - Cologne, Germany - Gloria
21 - Lausanne, Switzerland - D! Club
23 - Zurich, Switzerland - Abart
24 - Vienna, Austria - WUK
25 - Prague, Czech Republic - Lucerna Music Bar
26 - Berlin, Germany - Lido
27 - Hamburg, Germany - Knust
28 - Paris, France - Trabendo
29 - Madrid, Spain - Joy Eslava
30 - Murcia, Spain - Estrella Levante SOS 4.8 Festival

MAY
01 - Galicia, Spain - Villagarcia de arosa
15 - Longirod, Switzerland - Long'l'rock Festival
24 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
25 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
27 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
29 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom

Songs, Sun, and Lone Star Beer: SXSW 2009, Day 3

Intro, Day 1, Day 2 (day), Day 2 (night)

1. The Wrens
When I saw The Wrens were playing this year's SX, one of my travelmates knew of them so I asked him to describe their music. His exact words were “awesome and awesome-est.” Said travelmate and I don’t always agree on what constitutes “awesome” music (our common ground is Springsteen and Westerberg), so I wasn't sure what I'd find upon arriving to their noon set at the Hot Freaks day party this third day.

What I found was complete and utter awesome and awesome-est. Squared. To infinity.

Sometimes, hearing enough music that is just ok-not mind-blowing, not life-changing, but palpable-enough of that and you start to think "ok" is enough. You forget what it was like to hear music so good it scrambles your brains and all you do is grin like an idiot.

Go see The Wrens live and you'll recall all of this soon enough. What a glorious full-on aural assault of melodious noise.

(See more photos from the set here)

Give a Listen: Everyone Choose Sides-The Wrens

What could follow up such a thing? I needed some time to breathe so had a few beers then set out to catch my first SX music panel. Along the way, I caught two minutes of Bishop Allen...



and Viva Voce...
(See more photos from the set here)

2. Music Panel: The Sound and the Fury
SX has a ton of panels on all sorts of things music-related. But I thought "Sound and the Fury" looked pretty interesting if only for the roster (see below). Where else would you see Sylvain Sylvain, Matthew Caws, and Jonathan Poneman (one of the founders of the Sub Pop label) in the same place?

Like the variety of perspectives Faulkner offered in his classic novel, artists' views of the music biz are filtered through their particular experiences. Without denying the difficulties facing the recorded music market, and the economy as a whole, there are opportunities for intrepid musicians to find fans and make a career out of their creativity. The artists and execs on this panel bring unique histories to their current work, and they'll share their thoughts about furthering their goals in this challenging era. But maybe we'll leave Faulkner's themes of incest and despair out of this panel.

-Moderator: Karen Glauber Pres, Hits Magazine
-Lynn Barstow, Program Dir, Emmis Austin Radio/KGSR/KROX
-Matthew Caws, Nada Surf
-Karen Glauber, Pres, Hits Magazine
-Matthew Hales, Aqualung
-Mikel Jollett, The Airborne Toxic Event
-Jordan Kurland, Owner, Zeitgeist Artist Management LTD
-Anya Marina, Performer, Anya Marina
-Jonathan Poneman, Sub Pop Records
-Sylvain Sylvain, New York Dolls

(More photos from the panel discussion here)

There were some pretty funny quotes. Sylvain Sylvain on being a cult artist: "You get laid a lot." He also talked about taking a job as a cabbie in the lean years so he could make music on the side. "I got robbed three times, once by a woman." And Matthew Caws: "We'd rather play a packed closet than a half-empty living room." (Gotta love Matthew Caws.)

3. The Henry Clay People
Playing the last of their 98786876 shows at this year's SX at Red Eyed Fly, the HCP boys were ready to cut loose.



HCP are consistent in putting on a great musical performance, even a few drinks in (well here, it was more "a lot of drinks in"). The obvious closeness of the band collectively, and of the brothers Siara as family, make for an entertaining stage show; that friendliness amongst them exudes into the audience when they play. Combine that with their excellent musicial abilities and damn catchy songs, and you've got a great can't-miss band. I see great things on the horizon for HCP.







And I couldn't get a proper shot of drummer Mike Hopkins the whole show, so he was nice enough to pose for me after. I've always said I'm too east coast to live on the west coast, but damn, if all the boys are as handsome as Hopkins, I may just have to reconsider...

(More photos from the show here)

Give a Listen: You Can Be Timeless-The Henry Clay People

After HCP, I caught up with the travelmates at the SPIN day party at Stubbs for a few minutes of Glasvegas. "Daddy's Gone" is a lovely, rather hymn-like song that really does hold up live...



Give a Listen: Daddy_s_Gone-Glasvegas

And then I headed over to Maggie Maes for the only performance at SX of The Takeover UK, who were headlining the Sonicbirds party. Out of Pittsburgh, PA, Takeover's excellent take on powerful indie Brit-pop is worth a listen (debut is called Running with the Wasters). Their energetic live show should not be missed.



My travelmate John did a great writeup on the show here




(See more photos from the set here)

Give a Listen: Ah La La-The Takeover UK

"Rock and Roll Spring Break," or My First Time at SXSW (Day 4)

DAY 4

1. Longwave
When I was heading to Mario Martelloli the night before, I ran into a couple of Longwave members on the street (and recognized the lead singer who looks like the Chris Martin of Coldplay but with cooler hair). I’d raved about what I saw at Emo’s and asked if they were doing any other day shows, and they told me about their kicking off the Filter showcase at Cedar Street’s Courtyard. I think I spent more time at Cedar Street than any other venue my whole trip because of that tip.

John already knew about Longwave and was heading there too, so with some coffee fuel in hand, we raced up to the Cedar Street Courtyard. Talk about great jangly guitar-driven power pop. John coined their sound best, “a great wall of sound that still manages an underlying melody to come through.” The lead guitar that has this cool synthesizer-like sound and the lead singer’s voice has this ethereal sound, adding up to this amazing sound. If the whole of their record sounds like this, it should be fantastic.

Download:Sirens in the Deep Sea-Longwave.mp3 (MP3)


2.Rogue Wave
John and I raced back over for Billy Bragg's set (John, having seen him at SX a year or two prior called it a must see, and hell it's Billy Bragg, of course he was right) during the Utne Reader Showcase. We got lucky as Rogue Wave was hitting the stage beforehand.

A pretty odd looking bunch for a rock band, kind of like, Wide World of Rockstars: one young guy, two old biker guys like you’d find in a dive bar, and an indie hipster. Rogue Wave’s sound is....a quiet hootenanny. It’s not alt-country or a singer-songwriter sound, but more of a nice Americana sound with a definitive rock edge and a fantastic slide guitar (along with fiddles, the slide guitar is another instrument that just kills me and seems to add something special to a song). It's like sadness with a hint of redemption, where you know the night will suck but if you can just make it till dawn, you'll be ok. Which works because Rogue Wave's music is much like that too.

And how cute is this? She was wandering around and dancing throughout the set.


Oh! And Nada Surf's lead singer Matthew Caws jumped up and shared lead vocals with Zach Rogue for one song. When I saw Nada Surf a few weeks later at DC's 930 Club and Caws, a super-approachable guy, was wandering through the place after, I made it a point to tell him how much I enjoyed his song. It really brought Rogue Wave's sound to this whole other level with both voices.

I had trouble finding a proper download so I give you this, a good review of Rogue Wave's recent San Fran show, and this:



3.Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg, always the leftist. But it definitely agrees with him, he's aged really well. Armed with an electric guitar and fevered opinions, Bragg remains a confident force who stands strong and proud, year in and year out. "Wavering" has never been an issue for Bragg in terms of his politics or his live show.

A wee bit blurry but...this will teach me to start drinking so early in the day



He played a lot off of his new record, "Love and Justice," some stuff off his Woody Gutherie covers with Wilco (including a great version of "Ain't Got No Home")...and is one really funny mofo. Highlights include, "American football is bollocks. The rest of the world calls American football "runny, runny, hurry, hurry, stand around 20 minutes for the adverts," and in reference to a previous SX that he played, he stated a great thing about it was the rare things that one gets to see...like "Phil Ochs in a Nudie suit standing around on upper Congress (Avenue)."

He then brought up fellow Brit and NME-Best-New-Musician winner, Kate Nash for a few songs. They wound up doing "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" by the Shangri-Las, which was awesome. Her voice is pure blue-eyed soul, for sure.

(Version below from a few days later in NYC)


Bragg didn't do "A New England" this set, which is how I discovered Bragg freshman year of undergrad, so I was a bit bummed. But overall, he sounded great, his live show and his preaching from his pulpit (read: stage) sound as always.

Download:Billy Bragg-I Keep Faith.mp3 (MP3 from his Conan O'Brien appearance)

And I got free jeans! (Of course, now I feel guilty given that the Nau company giving a pair away if you tried them on there went under not 1.5 months later. Booooo). For what it's worth, the jeans are sweet, and now they're really cheap so go buy yourself a pair...

4.Kate Nash
We got word that Billy Bragg was going to perform a few more songs with Kate Nash at her set that closed the Filter showcase back over at Cedar Street Courtyard, so we ran back after Billy Bragg's set ended. And waited....and waited...and after 1.25 hours, she came on (thank goodness for strong legs and beer within reach heh). As you can see, we weren't alone...

Photo from the artist's perch (the right photo), thanks to the ATE kids for the shot


Kate Nash armed with an acoustic and a keyboard, and was fantastic. This was the first I'd heard her but I was apparently the only one like that as there were a ton of Brits around me shouting her on. Her lyrics, they're like mini-plays and her enunciation of words is quirky and interesting (listen, you'll hear what I mean). I liked it so much I made it a point to pick up her record before I left Austin.



Billy Bragg joined her about 20 minutes in. "So through the wonder of Youtube, they'd discovered a mutual love of the Shangri-las" (When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V"), and they launched into another version of "Give Him a Great Big Kiss," to much crowd excitement.



I caught Kate Nash's regular show at DC's 930 club a few weeks back and honestly? If she ever does her and an acoustic, go, without fail. But with a full band, with her songs so lyric-centric and subtle, you need the quiet of a place like the Cedar Street Courtyard, not some stupid fucking rock club...At the 930, it was tough to hear her and the nuances which totally make her songs hit home over the talkers in the crowd and the venue's size, and 930 typically has excellent sound. She's best seen in a really, really small place. If you do, however, you will be knocked out, trust me. She may be a wee one, but the girl has a powerful presence.

And did I mention Bragg and Nash did "A New England" as their closer at SX? Yup. And it was just fantastic.

Download: A New England-Kate Nash and Billy Bragg.mp3 (MP3)

Download: Foundations-Kate Nash.mp3 (MP3)

Day 4 PM, coming up...