Besides the awesome J.U.S.T.I.C.E. and Daft Punk,

I like to YELLE!!!!

 Yrock Internacional - Saturdays - 5-7pm

We all have worked quite a few shows promoting Y-Rock on XPN over the years. Concerts, movies, street festivals, you name it. However, my day on Saturday at Festival Pier for the annual Jammn’ on The River was by far one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had.

The day started off normally - we set up the tent and hung up our Y-Rock signs around noon. Then the gates opened and we signed people up to win tickets for The Roots Picnic. However, by 10 pm that evening fellow dj Andre and I would be dancing on stage with The Flaming Lips - dressed up, of course, as Iron Man. How did this happen, you ask? I’m still trying to figure that out, but check out this pic …

Andre deserves much of the credit for our Iron Man experience. He actually challenged various band members to rock paper scissor showdowns, too, but I’ll let him discuss that in another post.

We danced on stage for the entire show as The Flaming Lips rocked out and shot confetti in to the crowd. If you attended the concert, you know that there was also one other “unique” thing that happened involving four young women who danced on stage during a song. I won’t get in to that, either!

But what I WILL say is that The Flaming Lips are both a great band and a great group of guys. I ended the night by giving Wayne Coyne a big hug after the show, thinking about the day I had and how badly I probably danced in front of thousands of people. In the end, though, the dancing wasn’t the point, nor the confetti, inflatable Santa Claus, nor Iron Man … it was all about the communal experience and interaction the band shared with the fans - that’s what made it special, unique, and such an extraordinary day. Jam on.

Just had a good chuckle over Weezer’s new video for Pork and Beans. As if Rivers’ cowboy mustache wasn’t enough, the video features =w= teaming up with a whole bunch of internet sensations including my fav…TAY ZONDAY!

UPDATE: Now we find out if the new Weezer CD will blend…

XPN’s Artist To Watch for May is an old friend of the Y-Rock world: Santogold aka Santi White. I’ve been a fan of her work for a long time. Back in 2003, Y100 ran a local band contest to pick a group to play the side stage at Lollapalooza. White’s old band Stiffed was one of the finalists, and though they didn’t win, I thought they should have and was really impressed by their ska-influenced hyper-punk rock. I dug their EP Sex Sells and their final release, 2005’s Burned Again. Santi visited the old Y100Rocks.com bunker 3.0 and recorded a really cool little acoustic session at the time, with Philly icon Chuck Treese on makeshift percussion. In fact, here is a treat for you: Stiffed - A Day With Andrew (live at Y100Rocks.com)

Last year, White resurfaced under the name Santogold. First on Mark Ronson’s awesome Version record, covering The Jam’s “Pretty Green.” Then the blogs starting hyping her new solo career, as she collaborated with Spank Rock, another artist with Philly roots. Her long-awaited debut landed in stores this week and it’s damn good. Santi jumps with ease from Strokes-ish guitar anthems (”L.E.S. Artistes”) to dub reggae (”Shove It”) to New Wave melodies (”Lights Out”). “Creator” draws obvious comparisons to M.I.A. (and ended up in a beer ad last month) while “You’ll Find A Way” and “Say Aha” defy classification. Santogold truly lives up to the hype and is one of the most energizing new releases in 2008. And it’s good to see Philly (via Brooklyn) represented nationally with such a unique talent.

Santogold will be a part of the Roots Picnic at Festival Pier in Philadelphia on June 7.

Would any of you good people care to win one of the year’s best electronic albums, before you can buy it?

This Saturday, April 26, I’ll be giving away copies of the new Portishead album Third throughout my 8pm-midnight shift (including The Circuit) online and on HD Radio. You can listen in and contact me during my shift via phone, IM, or email. You can also respond to me here, I’ll be picking names randomly all night.Check it out, and good luck. Oh, in the meantime, let me explain to you just how good this album is…

We’re at the B-52’s show at the Electric Factory.  So far, we’ve seen three people with beehive hairdos and two people wearing glitter suits (and none of them were in the band!).  If you’re on your way to the show, don’t forget to stop by the Y-Rock booth to sign up and win tickets to see DEVO and The Hold Steady this summer!!

Love,
Eric, Liam and Mary (and the B-52’s)

On Wednesday night, as part of NBC Universal’s corporate “Green is Universal” campaign (obviously instituted by Jack Donaghy and Greenzo!), Radiohead taped a performance of House of Cards for Conan O’Brien’s show at their London studio. Why didn’t they fly to NY to perform? For Eco-Friendly reasons which Thom Yorke explains here:

And like Conan said - Radiohead was the first musical guest on his show way back in 1993. Wanna see that performance too…

WOW! Not sure what was worse back then, Conan’s delivery or Thom Yorke’s hair!

Could this be…the actual new “Red” album artwork??  It is very much like Blue and Green, with just the four members gracing the cover, but what’s with the get ups?  Esp. Rivers?  Yippie yi yo!

Just wanted to put a note out there that I will be interviewing Tally Hall today on the air before their show w/ The Republic Tigers. 

 They just re-released their album Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum on April 1 and we’ll be talking about that among other things.

 So tune in around 5:30 pm tonight for this live interview!!

 Plus - I’m giving away Lou Reed tickets! WOO HOO!!

 Casey

The Onion’s AV Club recently posted a list of “20 respectable rock and rap acts that peaked with their debut albums“.  Bands mentioned include Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Rage Against The Machine, The Strokes, Marshall Crenshaw and more.  This got me to thinking what other groups either hit the scene with their best material, or left the scene with their best material.

One of the best examples of a group quite literally falling apart after their near-immaculate debut is The Stone Roses.  Their self-titled debut album came out in 1989, then the Roses took a break.  A long break.  For a band that was touted (mostly by themselves) as the greatest band in history, the Manchester quartet disappeared until the 1994 release of the aptly-titled Second Coming.  While that album wasn’t met with the ferver as their debut, fans have since come to see it as a great album, just not as great as their debut.

On the other side of the spectrum is Neutral Milk Hotel.  Their most beloved album (and one of the most critically acclaimed albums in recent history), In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, featured complex lyrics, passionate vocals and superb arrangements.  Later the same year it’s released, however, leader Robert Magnum announced that the band was on an indefinite hiatus.

Are there any more bands that you can think of that peaked after their debuts?  What about bands whose magnus opus was also their swan song?  And what of bands who have gotten more and more adventurous after their debut (think Hot Chip, The Replacements and The White Stripes)?

E-mail me at eric@yrockonxpn.org, and I might just focus on this phenomenon during an upcoming show.