Animal Collective at the Ottobar, and more!

Another weekend chock full of shows here in the city that reads. If you were one of the lucky ones that scored tickets to see Animal Collective at the Ottobar on Sunday, I'd suggest doing the right thing and bringing your mom. Old people sure do dig Animal Collective.

If you're not one of the 400 or so who got tickets, check back here for detailed coverage and drown your sorrows in some dusty folk acts Saturday evening. San Francisco's Papercuts will be headlining the Metro Gallery, with local support deriving from the always endearing Jana Hunter.

Papercuts were fantastic opening up for Beach House at their release show for Devotion last year, and are now armed with a new record. Fans of Beach House and Cass McCombs will likely gravitate towards the new LP, which has a much fuller feel than their last record. I will always recommend Jana Hunter, whose There's No Home finds its way into my late night playlist time and time again.

Like more country served with your folk? Try the Golden West tonight where John McCauley of Deer Tick and Caleb Stine serendade Hampden. Deer Tick have been riding the glory of their fantastic War Elephant for some time, but have a new LP dropping June 23rd called Born on Flag Day. Based off the first single released, the new one sounds just as promising.

Sample some goods of all that is going on this weekend...

Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon

Cotton Jones, formerly the Cotton Jones Basket Ride, just dropped their second full length. Paranoid Cocoon will provide you with hazy psych pop that does a body good.

This is the Cumberland, MD natives' first via Suicide Squeeze. The LP sounds something like if the Papercuts went back in time and recorded some psychadelic country tunes with Rodriguez. Overall, the album is a spacious and cohesive affair that won't disapoint.

Grab some free MP3's of a live Daytrotter session posted a few weeks ago right here. The session inlcudes three cuts from the album including my personal favorite "Up a Tree", and an unreleased track. The group is currently touring the country and will be at the Black Cat March 23rd and the Ottobar on March 30th.

It's A Show Review Spectacular!

I've seen 3 shows in the past week here in the city that reads, all of which have been pretty solid. Last Thursday I made my way down to the Gspot to catch a glimpse of homegrown Beach House before they tour nationally.

Opening act the Papercuts were a more than pleasant surprise, playing lots of new material that wasn't on their LP (but some can be found here). After a few minutes of figuring out how to turn their lighting on in the dark, Beach House poured out a beautiful hour long set. Full of pretty much everything you'd want to hear off the new album, they also dipped into a few old favorites including "Master of None" and "Apple Orchard". The sound quality was pretty awesome for a DIY artspace, as Alexandra Legrand's voice echoed off the concrete walls of the old textile mill with brilliant effect.

Man Man began their 3 month long world tour at the Ottobar Tuesday night, and all I can say is, you must go see this band. When they began setting up a massive xylophone and percussion instruments galore, I knew I was in for a treat. Man Man barreled through an hour and a half of stellar tunes that might be what Tom Waits would sound like after 7 vodka red bulls. The only words ever spoken to the crowd were "thank you" at the end of the encore. Lead singer, Honus Honus, probably made the wrong decision in life when choosing to play the keyboard, as he was all over the place throughout the entire show. In fact all members of the band played musical chairs with their instruments ranging from horns to cowbells, or whatever they could bang things on. It is unfathomable to think this band can keep this pace for 3 months around the world, but man did that look like fun.

I found myself back on N. Howard St. the following night to catch Born Ruffians and Cadence Weapon, both of which hail from Canada. There was a surprisingly low turnout for the show, as there was maybe a 1/4 of the amount of people there compared to the night before. Cadence Weapon still managed to give it his all, despite the lacking enthusiasm. I assumed more people in the area would have caught on to his glitchy beats and derisive flow. Born Ruffians have serious potential to make it big, and I'm pretty sure they're already well on their way. But seriously, dudes are young. The lead singer had the face of a 14 year old, but seemed confident and more than capable. The band appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, and will hopefully wow a few people down at SXSW next week.

21 Days Until My Speakers Are Devoted to Beach House

Baltimore's own Beach House will release their second LP titled Devotion on February 26th. The album will be released on Carpark Records in the US and on Bella Union in Europe and Australia. The dreamy dream pop duo has released a sample track from the album titled "Gila", and can be found here at their website.

The forthcoming album has already gotten plenty of hype due to their previous highly acclaimed self titled LP, and many folks who have been lucky enough to preview the new record have similar praise.

Beach House begin a 2 month North American tour 2 days after the release of Devotion in their hometown at GSpot. The Papercuts, who put out a stellar folkish rockish album titled Can't Go Back last year, will open for them throughout the tour. The roadtrip conveniently ends in D.C. on April 4th at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

The band also promises music videos involving fishbowls, sand boxes, and lit plastic. Hopefully the lit plastic isn't as creepy as that old SoundGarden video with the burning Barbie. That would be weird.