Nashville's Dead

Remember a loooong time ago when we talked about King Tuff and how much he rules and how he has another band called Happy Birthday and how they were having an album put out on SubPop early this year? Well, we just got the first single from the self-titled album, and it’s the only thing brightening our day right now.”Girls FM” makes you lust for poppy 70’s glam time in the best kind of way. There’s even a little underlying old-school Apples In Stereo vibe going on, sort of. Check it out below.

Happy Birthday – Girls FM [mp3]

Kyle Thomas and crew’s debut is out on March 16, just in time for SXSW.

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The Flying V never looked so good. Thanks for the tunes, Jay. You’ll be missed.

Jay Reatard – In Heaven [mp3]

We don’t typically post gossip, and we’d rather this be gossip than truth., but people are starting to claim that Jay passed either late last night or early this morning. One Nasvillian tweeted this earlier today…

We called up hellobent*** to see what he knew. Apparently, this morning he was with Liquor Store helping load gear when they received a phone call saying that Jay had died. He also said that after hearing about the time Liquor Store spent in Memphis [involving lots of cash, getting hit with disco balls, and drugs] He wasn’t too surprised by the call. We’ll keep you posted on this one…. Let’s hope this day doesn’t get any sadder.

And now, confirmation… from Consequence of Sound

According to The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis based newspaper, Jay Reatard has in fact died. He was 29-years old.

Memphis’ Goner Records is also confirming the death. A posting reads: “It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public.”

Sad day. Rest in Peace, Jay.

So those Columbo-sabes [See what we did there? They’re from Columbus, OH and they’re our kemo sabes…. Columbo-sabes! eh.] Times New Viking are crashing the party on February 1st at The Basement. That’s a pretty great way to bring in the shortest month of the year, right? Right. They’ll be doing a short stint of dates with Yo La Tengo, then hitting around the midwest, then off to Euro-land! Euro-Trip! We’re not sure who else is on the bill yet, but we’re just stoked that our crush, Beth, will be in our fair city. See you at the show!

Times New Viking – Born Again Revisited

** EDIT **

Heavy Cream’s been added to the show! Between that and the Season 6 premiere of LOST airing on Feb. 2nd [Groundhog’s Day, they totally did that on purpose] We’re officially super stoked for the first couple days of February.

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Photo by Bekah Cope

It’s no lie that we’ve got wet spots in our drawers for Natural Child, so it’s probably not a surprise when we say that their new cassette, Body Switchers [Infinity Cat], is some of the best rock and rolling shit to come out of Nashy in a while. That is, if you like rock and roll. If you don’t, maybe we should direct your attention this way [bebe had to wear butt-pads in high school, true story] Anyways, the cassette features 7 new songs [kind of just 6] that prove that Natural Child are more than just another scrappy group to rise from the mean streets. They’re a real rock band. One that can’t help but shell out riffs and put on a great show. That might be the thing that brings this new record full-circle: the way they translate to the live show. We can’t remember the last time we saw a band who was more stoked to play their songs than Natural Child, and they do it pretty effortlessly. It’s almost like it comes naturally to them. You know, like they aren’t trying to be anything, they’re just doing what they do and they can’t do anything but rock. And in a time where every band is trying to fuzz themselves to the moon and back or put everybody to sleep with their slo-fi, it’s nice to hear a band just rock, ya know?

We’re not the only ones at this point that are keeping our ears close, the boys have been written up by our fave-babe PopJew, featured on the WFMU blog, stolen the hearts of towns all across the northeast, and have got some big things lined up [including hitting up Todd P’s Monterrey festival after SXSW and doing a little Black Lip time in Memphis this April]

There’s a Body Switchers release show at The Springwater this weekend [Jan. 15th] at The Springwater with Daniel Pujol, Diarrhea Planet, State Champion, and Giving Up. Go and snag the newest shit!

:: Natural Child
:::: Daniel Pujol
:::::: Diarrhea Planet
:::::::: State Champion
:::::::::: Giving Up
@ Springwater
$5 – 21+ – 9PM

And, if you still don’t have it, pick up the 7″.

Photo by Bekah Cope

Those Turbo boys have been working hard since they’re latest album, Echo Kid, hit the streets. They’ve been across the way to the UK, in and around Puerto Rico, touring on the reg, and now they’ve got a new 7″ coming out with Cass Records. Not to mention you can’t pick up a magazine these days without catching a review of them. Just check the most recent MOJO [The one with Dave Grohl on the front. Bleh] The release show for the 7″ has found itself on that Feb. 20th show we told you about a while ago with Surfer Blood and Cy Barkley. Should be a killer time. The single features “Colt 45” and a demo version of “Broadzilla”, we’re really hoping that the first isn’t an AfroMan cover. I can’t believe we just linked to that.

COLT 45 7″ Release Show – Feb. 20th
:: Turbo Fruits
:::: Surfer Blood
:::::: Cy Barkley
:::::::: Holiday Shores
@ The End
$5 – 18+ – 9PM

Oh man, our Liquor Store babies must’ve had a little run-in while they were in Memphis. But they’ll be at Glenn Danzig’s tonight with Brainkiller and Scapegoat and Highest Power [along with Natural Child and Life Trap… your fave babes] The show starts early since it’s a school night, but come out and party. We’ll be keeping an eye out for an creepy-crawlin’ scumbags hovering around Liquor Store’s van…. or maybe we’ll just find some tires to pop and swindle some cash out of Mr. Reatard.

Man, it’s been a while, right? Well, the holidays are long gone and we’re not planning on tagging along on another tour for a little bit, so hopefully things will be a little more regular around here. Activia stylee. Check out what you got this week…

Tuesday January 12

:: Natural Child
:::: Liquor Store
:::::: Scapegoat
:::::::: Brainkiller
:::::::::: Highest Power
@ Glenn Danzig’s House
$5 – All Ages – 7PM

:: The Whole Fantastic World
:::: Velcro Stars
:::::: Hammertorch
:::::::: HP Witchcraft
::::::::: Kat Brock
:::::::::::: Bird Cloud
::::::::::::: The Avery Set
:::::::::::::: Homework
:::::::::::::::: Heartbeater
@ Exit/In
$FREE – 18+ – 8PM

Wednesday January 13

:: Mattie Grooves
:::: Nick Gianconia
::::: Vince Gill
::::::: Pete Wasner
::::::::: Jimmy Abegg
:::::::::::: Billy Thomas
$TBA – 21+ – 7PM

:: Toy Soldiers
:::: Evan P Donahue
:::::: Jordan Hull
:::::::: Birdcage
@ The End
$5 – 18+ – 9PM

Thursday January 14

:: Red Shephard
:::: Michael Ford Jr & The Apache Relay
:::::: Annie Williams
@ 12th & Porter
$5 – 18+ – 8PM

:: Brett Rosenberg & The Joiners
:::: Shotgun Lover
:::::: Josh Roberts
:::::::: Jump Back Jake
@ The Basement
$7 – 21+ – 8PM

Friday January 15

:: Natural Child
:::: Daniel Pujol
:::::: Diarrhea Planet
::::::: State Champion
::::::::: Giving Up
@ The Springwater
$5 – 21+ – 8PM

:: Jemina Pearl
:::: The Ettes
:::::: Daniel Pujol
@ The End
$5 – 18+ – 8PM

Saturday January 16

:: Evan P Donahue
:::: Kopecky Family Band
:::::: Harrison Hudson
@ Sweetbriar House
$TBA – All Ages – 9PM

:: Nite Nite
:::: The Worsties
:::::: DJ Ichabod
@ The End
$5 – 18+ – 9PM

:: Jeremy Lister
:::: Madi Diaz
::::: Natalie Prass
@ Exit/In
$5 – 18+ – 9PM

Sunday January 17

:: Let’s go to the Belcourt

We’re definitely most stoked about the show tonight at Glenn Danzig’s. See you at the shows, brah!