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Pitchfork Carnage

Well, carnage might be a bit strong, but the first casualty just went down, with Bonde Do Role's singer taking a nasty dive while crowd surfing and shattering her elbow. Ah, but kids, the show must go on.....the band kept playing as she was carted off in an ambulance and members of CSS took over vocal duties for the last bit of the set. As it stands at the moment CSS is tearing up their own set to a ridiculously large crowd at the Biz3 stage and I'm already on my fifth beer. I tremble at the thought of the next 10 or so hours....

Camera Obcura Show Cancelled, Reschuduled for Monday

Due to the insidius power outages that are preying on our fair city this weekend, The Camera Obscura show Friday at the Logan Square Auditorium was cancelled.  Fret not, gentle readers.....looks like the show has been rescheduled for Monday at The Empty Bottle. Tickets from the Logan Square show will be honored, and there are still tickets available at the Bottle's website.  Doors are at (gulp) 6:30pm and depending which side of the Bottle's website you care to look at, the show is either at 7:00pm or 8:30pm. 

The Time Has Come

95 and sunny.  Pitchfork.  Hell yes.

Thanks, Uncle Pitchfork! Office Played Chicago Cultural Center

Leaving the office to go to Office?  Uh, right.  Anyway, as a part of the Pitchfork Music Festval's week long festivities, Office played a 45 minute set at noon today at the Chicago Cultural Center.  The place was packed, and the sound was surprisingly good.  The week-long series of free lunchtime shows concludes tomorrow with a tribute to Curtis Mayfield, featuring memebers of Baby Teeth, Poi Dog Pondering, and more.  Info Here

Meanwhile, here is a track from Office to get you through Friday afternoon.  Check out their myspace here.

Download "Possibilities" by Office (MP3)

Live Preview: I Need Sleep Tomorrow at Subterranean

Full disclosure:  I don't know a damn thing about this band.  Their MySpace profile is prone to one word answers like "toy" and when I visit their official website a herd of post-apocalyptic warthogs blink at me menacingly.  But hey, I like plenty of people I barely know, so I gave their music a listen and I'm glad I did.  They play a edgy version of madcap pop.....a little Syd Barrett, a little David Byrne, all thrown in with a punk-rock sense of urgency.  The result comes off pretty well, and my suspicion is that it will  make for a live show that is entertaining as hell.  They play tomorrow night (Thursday) at Subterranean, and will also be making an appearance at the Midwest Music Summit on August 11th in Indianapolis.

Check out their myspace page here or listen to a few tracks below.

Download "Oh Invisible" by I Need Sleep (MP3)
Download "Pervert Like Herbert" by I Need Sleep (MP3)

Sonic Youth Playing Double Door Saturday August 5th

Chicago's Double Door , an intimate venue with a storied past of "surprise" shows by huge bands, may be pulling off another coup.  Rumor has it that Sonic Youth will be playing there the night of Saturday August 5th after Lollapalooza.  Tickets?  Sorry, kids.  This one's guest list only.

We'll be serving up more details as they become available....

UPDATE: Looks like tickets are being given away by WXRT and Bud Light.  When is the last time XRT actually played Sonic Youth on the air? 

UPDATE: Feist is opening the show. Dee-amn.  This is getting ridiculous.

UPDATE: OK....so it looks like you go to www.wxrt.com, sign up for their "VIP Club" i.e. agree to get bombarded with junk mail.....and then enter by filling out a nifty little Sonic Youth quiz.  They're giving away 150 pairs of tickets.  Here at The Ghost we're all in favor of cheating, so you can find the answers to the quiz under the "Continue Reading" link below.

"Snocap" Allows Bands to Sell Downloads Direct From Their MySpace Page

Technology marches on.....and with it comes more and more options for DIY-minded musicians.  Case in point:  A  company called Snocap  , ironically enough founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, allows you to embed your own iTunes-like download store on to your MySpace page. (the interface can be added to any webpage, but MySpace is the obvious place to start for most musicians) The artist is able to choose the price, format, and level of DRM.   The potential here is massive, although it's hard to see MySpace allowing that to stand for very long now that Rupert Murdoch has sucked it in to his evil empire.  The Format is the first band I've seen making use of the technology, but I'd have to guess this is going to spread like wildfire.  Check out their MySpace page HERE to check it out. 

Thanks to the invaluable Hypebot for the tip.  This site is defnitely a daily must-read for anyone involved in the music business.

Buy This Now: New Silversun Pickups Out Today

Today marks the release of one of the best records I've heard this year, "Carnavas" by Silversun Pickups.  Last year's Pikul EP was enough to have me heavily anticipating the full length debut, and it certainly was worth the wait.  From beginning to end this album is fantastic.....a fuzzy, snarling soundscape surrounding undeniably melodious songwriting.  The band gets compared a lot to Smashing Pumpkins, but other than a few guitar parts, that stems largely from their ability to harness that haunting whisper-to-scream dynamic.  Singer Brian Aubert's voice beats anything Corgan ever belted out, and Carnavas is better than anything that the Pumpkins ever recorded, with the possible exception of Gish.  It's never a good idea to say such things after listening to an album for only a few weeks, but this is certainly bound to be a contender for my favorite album of the year.  Pick up the album at iTunes here ,  check out their official website here , and their myspace here .  Meanwhile, take a listen to a couple tracks below. 

Silversun Pickups play August 13th at Schuba's .

Download "Dream at Tempo 119" from Carnavas (MP3)

Download "Lazy Eye" from Carnavas (MP3)

Secret Machines Playing Darkroom

Word has it that The Secret Machines will be playing a Lollapalooza afterparty at Darkroom on Friday August 4th with Chicago's Walking Bicycles .  No info on tickets yet.

UPDATE: Advance tickets are 15 bucks, and you can get em HERE