After hearing the news last week that Texas Is The Reason is re-forming for a show here in New York next month, I got to thinking about all of the other emo bands I used to love. I had a 4-year period (1998-2002) where emo, or post-punk as we liked to call it, was pretty much the main (sub)genre of music I was listening to.

Since 2002, though, I really haven’t listened to a whole lot of emo. Most of my favorite bands broke up, and few of those that stayed together have put out much worth listening to. (Although, IMO, the Alkaline Trio have put out some decent stuff in recent years.)

So after a few years away from it, I figured now was as good a time as any go back and revisit some of my old emo favorites. To my ears, at least, they’ve held up amazingly well. Here are five of my favorite songs from that period.

Blueline Medic, “Making the Nouveau Riche” (from The Apology Wars)
Braid, “First Day Back” (from Frame and Canvas)
Cadillac Blindside, “Straightjacket Weather” (from These Liquid Lungs)
Get Up Kids, “One Year Later” (from Red Letter Day EP)
Mineral, “Gloria” (from The Power of Failing)

This year’s Merge Records CMJ showcase will be held at the Knitting Factory on Friday, November 3rd. No bands officially announced yet, but one can assume the lineup will include Portastatic, White Whale and recent signee The Brokedown, among others. Tickets went on sale at midnight.

I already have a ticket to see the Decemberists that night, but now plan on attending the Merge show. Partially because I really don’t like the idea of seeing the Decemberists in freaking Hammerstein Ballroom (capacity 5,500). But mainly because I can’t wait to finally catch The Brokedown.

I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has some spectacular news… It only took him 4 years, but apparently Damien Rice has finally finished his followup to O. The new album, entitled 9, comes out in Ireland in November. No word on a US release, but I can guarantee you I’ll be ordering directly from Eire.

The album’s first single, “9 Crimes”, is now streaming at 14th Floor Records.

Anyone worried that the lovely Lisa Hannigan might not be involved in the new album can rest easy. She pretty much makes this song. That’s her on the right. Seriously, Damien could put out an album of El DeBarge covers, and as long as Lisa was on it, it would pwn.

There’s a new challenger to MySpace in town, and it’s called Reverb Nation.

From what I’ve seen so far (it just launched this week), Reverb Nation is aiming to be a much more streamlined, easier to use, and just plain prettier version of MySpace aimed primarily at music. It also seems to be a lot more intuitive. For example, if you designate yourself a “fan” of a band, Reverb Nation will automatically tell you when that band is scheduled to tour in your area. That’s awesome.

You can also create a “playlist” of songs from bands’ pages, and exchange playlists with friends. That means no more having to go a band’s specific page – your friends can give you a direct link to a song they want you to hear. Another neat idea.

The site also offers “widgets” and other add-ons. Haven’t tried them yet.

These guys really seem to have some great ideas about how to improve upon the MySpace experience. Face it – while most of us use MySpace, very few of us like it. It’s ugly, it’s not intuitive, and it’s just a jumbled mess of information. Reverb Nation appears, on first impression, to solve a lot of these problems. It’s definitely a site worth watching.

(PS: I have no affiliation to Reverb Nation whatsoever.)

CMJ shows are popping up veeeeeery slowly. Mercury hasn’t announced any of its CMJ shows yet, and there’s still no word as to the Merge showcase or Sub Pop showcase. At least not that I’ve seen.

One piece of good news – La Rocca are set to play Pianos on Thursday, November 2nd. Tickets aren’t on sale yet.

Oh, and check out the band’s new video for “This Life”:

Tickets for Gob Iron’s (Jay Farrar and Anders Parker) short fall tour are now available for pre-sale. As mentioned here previously, the shows will feature solo sets from both Jay and Anders, and then a joint set featuring songs from the forthcoming Gob Iron album.

Tour dates:

11/3: The Parish -Austin, TX
11/5: Park West – Chicago, IL
11/7: Paradise – Boston, MA
11/8: Northsix – Brooklyn, NY
11/10: Black Cat – Washington, DC
11/11: Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
12/2: Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA
12/3: Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
12/4: Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
12/5: The Troubador – West Hollywood, CA

If you miss the pre-sale, regular tickets go on sale via Ticketweb next Thursday, 9/28.

Wow. Pre-sale tickets for the Texas Is The Reason reunion show sold out in 30 seconds. For those who got shut out, more tickets go one sale via Ticketmaster next Saturday, September 30th. It’s not listed on the website yet, but that’s the word from the band’s site.

Really looking forward to this show. I discovered them at about the exact time they broke up in 1997, and never got a chance to see them.

Some photos from Eric Bachmann’s show at Bowery Ballroom last night. For those scratching their heads, Eric is the main man behind Crooked Fingers, and long ago was the lead singer of Chapel Hill, NC’s Archers of Loaf. Eric is touring in support of his excellent new cd, To The Races.

Eric Bachmann, “Carrboro Woman” (from To The Races) [BUY]
You can also stream the album courtesy of Aversion.com.

I’ve seen Eric live 4 times now, and each time has been different. One was a full-band mainly acoustic set (Village Underground), one was a full band, powerful electric set (Irving Plaza), one was Eric alone with a guitar (Rothko), and last night was Eric with a couple of supporting multi-instrumentalists. I haven’t been disappointed yet. Eric writes some of the most starkly beautiful music I’ve heard over the last few years, and the power of his music comes across on stage regardless of the instrumentation. He could probably show up with a guitar and a kazoo and make it work.

Eric is touring through the end of the month, so do yourself a favor and check him out if he comes to your town. Richard Buckner is opening (with Doug Gillard on guitar), so be sure to get there early as long as you’re not bi-polar. Holy crap is that guy depressing. Talented guy, though.

Head over to Minnesota Public Radio’s website to check out an in-studio performance that Birdmonster did on Monday. Love this band.

And start getting used to seeing the letters MPR around here. Now that WOXY is gone, I think I’ve found my new source for internet radio. It’s not WOXY, but as of next month, it will have WOXY’s DJ Princess.

Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that legendary 80′s punk/reggae act Bad Brains are reuniting with lead singer HR for two shows at CBGBs next month. Tickets are $40 each, and go on sale this Sunday.

And the world rejoices.

Full story here.

Maybe now someone can get Jim Norton his own show.

Sorry I’m late on this today… work. Not a huge list of stuff, but a few interesting things.

Tickets for Lucero’s show at the Bowery, on Sunday, 11/12, are finally on sale. Still no Robert Pollard for the next night, though.

Recent Astralwerks signees The Little Ones have been added as
openers for two of the three Gomez shows at Bowery. Tickets are still available. They’re also a redonkulous** $27 a pop. I don’t particularly like Gomez, and I certainly don’t like them $27 worth. Nor am I paying $27 to see the Little Ones for 35 minutes. I’ll have to hold out hope that they add a Pianos show or something.

Buckcherry is playing the Bowery on Thursday, October 26th. Remember Buckcherry? They were the band that was supposed to be the “next Guns n’ Roses”. Then they were the band whose lead singer was going to be chosen by Velvet Revolver as their lead singer. Now they’re just a crappy band that’s being sued for allegedly coercing an underage girl to get naked in a music video by giving her alcohol. Rock and roll. This may be the first ever Bowery show where women in the audience flash.

Oh, and finally, that not-so-super-secret Killers show at Bowery Webster Hall this Friday still isn’t sold out as I write this. Granted, it went on sale a little over an hour ago, but still… Maybe their audience is primarily Jewish? (Friday night’s a Jewish holiday.) Doubtful. Anyway, if you’re into self-torture, go buy yourself a ticket.

** = I’ve stolen my new favorite word from Jax. I hope she doesn’t mind.

Just randomly noticed that there are about 18 minutes of a live Clem Snide in-store show up on YouTube. Awesome. Check it out:

Part One

Part Two

Word comes from AOL’s music blog, Musically Left, But Always Right, that Rogue Wave’s drummer, Pat Spurgeon, is in pretty bad shape and is seeking help to obtain a kidney transplant. The band is hosting a benefit concert in San Francisco and will also be taking donations for Pat online. The details are on the band’s MySpace page:

Rogue Wave Benefit

On September 30th 2006, San Francisco band Rogue Wave will host a benefit concert at The Independent to raise money for their drummer Pat Spurgeon, who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

The benefit concert will feature performances by Rogue Wave, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie,) Matthew Caws (Nada Surf,) Ryan Miller (Guster,) John Vanderslice, and other special guests. Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snickett) will MC the event.

Pat was born with one kidney and it failed. He had his first transplant in 1993, which served him well until now. After 13 years, it has started to deteriorate. He has been on dialysis since April and is hoping desperately to find a donor. Some of their friends have gotten tested to see if they are a match, but Pat has yet to hear good news. Provided he finds a donor, there will be an enormous amount of costs that both Pat and his donor will incur.

In a logical world, medical insurance would cover his donor’s and his expenses after the procedure, but it does not; so he and his family must carry the financial burden. The expenses can be huge. We are trying to raise money for costs like: donor’s travel, care, bills, lost work wages, etc., as well as Pat’s expenses, care, bills, etc. while he is in recovery.

If you cannot attend the show, we encourage you to donate whatever you can by visiting www.roguewavemusic.com

Thank you for your love and continued support,
Rogue Wave
(Zach, Pat, Gram, Evan)

9/30/06
The Independent
628 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Doors: 8:30pm; Show: 9:00pm
Tickets available now on www.ticketweb.com