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Soundcheck ~ Orange County music news, OC concert announcements and more from Orange County Register critic Ben Wener.

Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas speaks out about his solo disc and month-long L.A. residency

November 6th, 2009, 11:33 am by DAVID HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

julian1More than three years have passed since New York band the Strokes released their third album, First Impressions of Earth. Since then, the question has loomed: When, if ever, will they return?

The group has given various answers, indicating they had begun recording a fourth disc in January, then later posting a message in July that they would spend the summer working toward an early 2010 release. Numerous delays have emerged lately, however, as most members of the quintet have devoted time to side projects.

Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. embarked on a solo career in 2006 with Yours to Keep and has since released another album, 2008’s ¿Cómo Te Llama? Drummer Fabrizio Moretti, meanwhile, teamed with Brazilian singer/guitarist Rodrigo Amarante to form Lucky Joy, which put out its self-titled debut in late 2008.

Even the Strokes’ bassist, Nikolai Fraiture, formed his own group, the cleverly titled Nickel Eye, which issued its first work, The Time of the Assassins, in January.

So it makes some sense that, after lending his modern crooner vocals to collaborations with various other artists — Santigold, Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, even Andy Samberg’s comedy troupe the Lonely Island — Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas would concoct his own solo record, Phrazes for the Young, which arrived Tuesday.

“I never wanted to do it,” Casablancas said during a phone interview Thursday, “but I feel like I was kind of forced a little, to be quite honest. The band wanted to go do their own thing, and that’s cool — I respect that they need to go do that. But I didn’t want to sit around.”

To promote the release, which Casablancas describes as “something between the Wailers and Thom Yorke,” the singer has undertaken a Friday-night residency this month at the rarely used Downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles.

Tickets for tonight’s set are sold out, and the Nov. 13 show is currently on sale via Ticketmaster. Tickets for the other dates (Nov. 20 and 27) will go on sale soon.

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Dropkick Murphys kick off fall tour with rousing Grove gig

November 5th, 2009, 7:30 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Peter Schelden strikes again, this time to review one of Boston’s finest …

How do you warm up a crowd for a punk rock show? How about traditional Gaelic vocal arrangement set to bodhran and bagpipes?

If the contrast of Irish folk and punk rock sounds absurd, you haven’t heard Dropkick Murphys‘ take on both.

These 13-year touring veterans kicked off their fall tour with a sold-out show Wednesday night at the Grove of Anaheim, and although there were some missteps — most notably the sloppy and incessant chorus of the drug anthem “Sunshine Highway” — the band sounded pretty solid as it began the first of 16 gigs this month.

As for the missteps, lead singer Al Barr preempted any criticism: “When you get the first show … you know we’re probably going to suck,” he told a cheering audience.

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Devo fiercer than ever in back-to-back nights at the Fonda

November 5th, 2009, 2:43 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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‘Tis definitely the season for artists performing albums in their entirety.

Just since Labor Day we’ve seen Trent Reznor tear through Nine Inch NailsThe Downward Spiral more than once while bidding farewell to the roadEcho & the Bunnymen poured themselves into Ocean Rain with symphonic backing at Nokia Theatre two weeks ago … the Decemberists ended their Hazards of Love tour with an animation-enhanced airing at UCLA … Phish covered the Stones’ Exile on Main St. in full on Halloween at Festival 8 in Indio … and now the Pixies are midway into a three-night stand at the Hollywood Palladium, where they’re doing Doolittle front to back at each show. (And that’s just on the West Coast — back east Bruce Springsteen capped a recent run at Giants Stadium by tackling Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the U.S.A. night after night.)

Of all these special events, the legendary eccentrics of Devo dusting off their first and third albums this week at the Music Box at the Fonda was probably the least momentous to most steady concert-goers.

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Pixies revive youthful stamina with ‘Doolittle’ at the Palladium

November 5th, 2009, 12:16 pm by DAVID HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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pixieslideAs exhibited during recent concerts from, among others, the Decemberists, Phish and this week’s two shows from Devo, playing an album in its entirety is currently fashionable — and Wednesday night at the Hollywood Palladium, one of alternative rock’s most influential acts, Pixies, added its name to that growing list with a full-blown 20th anniversary performance of the group’s 1989 breakthrough, Doolittle.

During the first of three sold-out dates at the landmark venue, Doolittle’s everlasting awesomeness was once again an unstoppable force, emanating from the band’s exuberantly youthful performance. It seemed to possess the audience with sing-shouting, foot-stomping enthusiasm, evoking a nostalgic unity between the band and its fans as these old friends, together after years of hiatus (they played scattered dates in 2004-07), celebrated one of the most viscerally mind-blowing releases in rock history.

This is the album that landed Pixies a deal with Elektra Records and helped elevate them to an international level of stardom, which subsequently exposed audiences to its predecessor, Surfer Rosa. Doolittle’s signature flirtation with surrealism — translated lyrically and musically through quiet-to-loud dynamics peppered with the unrelenting screams of frontman Black Francis and the guitar riffs of Joey Santiago — is arguably the embodiment of Pixies’ legacy in rock.

It is the kind of masterpiece that separates Pixies, giants of their genre, from the rest of those attempting full album run-throughs.

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New shows: U2, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, more Lady Gaga

November 5th, 2009, 1:54 am by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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We start this week with things we already know but are now going on sale — chiefly, U2 at Angel Stadium on June 6.

That 360° Tour second-leg stop, the band’s first stadium appearance in Orange County (wrong: Zoo TV played there in ‘92), was announced the day after last month’s massive Rose Bowl show, the love-it-or-loathe-it response to which suggests not all U2 fans are so thrilled that Bono & Co. have returned to playing enormous spaces.

Regardless, tickets go on sale Monday, Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. There will be an opening act, to be named later.

Meanwhile, local dates of Bon Jovi’s previously discussed 2010-11 outing, The Circle World Tour — Feb. 26 at Honda Center and March 4 at Staples Center — both go on sale Nov. 16 at 10 a.m.

John Mayer may be dropping Battle Studies, his fourth studio album (and first in three years), on Nov. 17 — but his tour behind it, kicking off Feb. 8 in Charleston, S.C., won’t arrive in Southern California until March 25, at Staples Center. Michael Franti + Spearhead, finally catching fire in the mainstream via “Say Hey,” will open.

Tickets are likely to go on sale Nov. 21, though an American Express card-holder pre-sale runs Nov. 16-20. Also visit Mayer’s official site before Nov. 10 to pre-order the new album and gain access to an exclusive pre-sale that allows you to purchase up to 12 tickets.

Lady Gaga is just mega right now — two Nokia Theatre shows sold out, so she’s added a third, Dec. 23. As with the other nghts, Kid Cudi opens. Tickets, $19.75-$79.75, are on sale now.

Also at Nokia Theatre: A Wonder Winter’s Night Presents Stevie’s 14th Annual House Full of Toys Beneift Concert, which is a really wordy way of telling you Stevie Wonder is playing Dec. 12 with several special guests — including Jonas Brothers. (Maybe this time Joe — is it Joe? Nick? Tito? I couldn’t care less — will remember the words to “Superstition.”) Tickets, $45.25-$149.75, go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.

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Silversun Pickups, Dandy Warhols revive the ’90s at LA 101

November 4th, 2009, 12:26 pm by ANGELA POTTER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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silversunslideSilversun Pickups celebrated a triumphant return to Los Angeles Tuesday night, basking in the warmth of a crowd that was clearly head over heels for L.A.’s newest local darlings to have broken big on a national scale.

The nearly sold-out crowd at Gibson Amphitheatre, on hand for LA Weekly’s first LA 101 show (a replacement of sorts for  its usual Detour festival), was on its feet as soon as the lights dimmed — and didn’t sit down until the final distorted notes faded out. Mid-set, “The Royal We” built to such a frenetic level that the crowd didn’t want to stop clapping when the song was over. So frontman Brian Aubert just took it all in, then seized the moment to send some love right back to the crowd.

“Forgive us if it’s a little cheeseball,” he said, “but we’ve been waiting so long to say these three little words: Hello, Los Angeles!”

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