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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Cartoon!
Michael Carney
July 28, 2009
Just got this artist's rendition of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's Pitchfork Festival set. This comes courtesy of the nomadic industrial designer, Eleanor Sandford, who also graced the pages of the latest issue of SoM as our Random Fan.

Mike Gordon Announces September Tour + Starts and Ends My Acting Career
Mike McKinley
July 17, 2009
That's me gettin' busy on the ten-key (calculator).

Full tour at Mike Hyphen Gordon dot com.

GET BASSED - MIKE GORDON FALL TOUR 2009 from Phish on Vimeo.

Carrie Brownstein Blogging About Listening to Phish For the First Time
Mike McKinley
July 16, 2009
Great blog at NPR from former Sleater-Kinney guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein. She was challenged by one of her readers, Cameron Norbert, to dig into Phish after she posted a blog titled "Justify My Love" with the opening statement: No matter what I think about someone's taste in music, one thing I never cease to appreciate is a well-thought-out argument defending one's contrarian views." Cameron wrote this compelling statement about Phish:

Phish turned me on to My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, Django Reinhardt, The Talking Heads, plus many more. I could recommend any of those bands to you with no trouble, but mention the band that led me to them, and I'm laughed out of the room.

Just by reading the blog, the common misconception about Phish's music is revealed. It goes something like this: "I've never listened to them, but…"

There's a million reasons why to not like Phish without ever listening to Phish. I've heard them all. One fascinating thing with watching the progression of this blog is that Carrie mentions band after band that she's hearing while she's been digesting Phish. And it's all over the map -- everyone from the Minutemen to Beefheart to Malkmus. And classical music, too.

Phish's music is eclectic and one of a kind, and because of that, their fans, for the most part, are serious music fans. I wouldn't know Carrie Brownstein/Sleater-Kinney's music if it wasn't for a good friend of mine who I saw 50+ Phish shows with. He turned me onto them - in fact, his enthusiasm for the band was so contagious that I had to listen to them. Imagine that -- one Phish fan turns another one on to Sleater-Kinney? With Phish back out there touring, it's been a real eye opener to be reminded that Phish fans are everywhere, and despite what the perception is, chances are they're buying tickets to see all different kinds of bands play-- that's why they love Phish so much. They dig a lot of different sounds and styles and love the adventure that comes with it.

Also, after reading this, I've concluded that Carrie has to live it. It comes back to the point of all points - right, there's no seminal album to turn to with Phish, there's a massive catalog, there's thousands of hours of improvisation - yes, it's overwhelming. So Carrie, you can listen all you want, but there's still nothing like seeing them live. It's true. We're not making that up because we don't know where to point you to.

Nonetheless, Phish should invite her to a show (The Gorge is coming up!)

Buying My First Ever Phish CDs from Carrie Brownstein on Vimeo.

Update, 7/17 - NEW VIDEO

Monitor Mix Meets Portland Phish Heads from Carrie Brownstein on Vimeo.

Gathering of the Vibes: Win Tickets!
Mike McKinley
July 15, 2009
The winners have been picked, and this contest is now closed.

State of Mind wants you to have a blast at the Gathering of the Vibes. We have two tickets to give away and two ways to win them.

First ticket: Just fill out the form below and a winner will be selected randomly on Sunday night‚ July 19th.

Second ticket: Go to the State of Mind Facebook page (become a fan!) and leave a comment on our wall telling us who you're most excited about seeing at the Vibes. We'll select a winner at random on Sunday night, July 19th. Good luck, and get Jerry on it… Japandroids are now!
Michael Carney
July 13, 2009


Musical virtuosity is over-rated.

Japandroids are a Vancouver two-piece that try to sound like a five-piece. The result is a fuzzy, garage rock that shows you don't need to be a master of your instrument to write compelling music. Japandroids lyrics would most likely resonate with the mid-twenties male set as they almost always entail a sort of 'fuck responsibility and the future, let's get hammered and chase girls forever' ethos.



I hope to be seeing these guys at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago this weekend, although I am presented with a classic music festival dilemna--skip one one of my favorite bands (The Walkmen) or check out Japandroids simultaneous set?

Here's a video of them playing "The Boys Are Leaving Town" at Pianos in NYC the other night.



Go and buy the excellent Post-Nothing recently released on Polyvinyl Records.

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