Hipsters unite, come align for the big fight to rock for you

Well I've been back in New York for a few days now and I've been so busy that I haven't been able to post anything until today. My cousins and I went out last night to celebrate Jeazette's 24th birthday. We went to this place called Star 64 and danced to some old school hip hop, reggae, and r&b. It was a blast. We got home at 5:30 though, and had to get up early for church, so I'm way tired.

So lets discuss the Pumpkins reunion that is rumored to happen at this year's Coachella festival. It would be SO amazing for me and tons of other Pumpkins fans if Billy, D'arcy, James and Jimmy were rocking out on stage together again, playing favorites like Cherub Rock, I Am One, and Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Billy, you still owe me a live performance of Mayonaise). Even though I consider myself very fortunate to have seen the Pumpkins at all while they were together, I never saw a show with all four original members on stage (the first time sans, Jimmy, the second, without D'arcy). Has enough time passed by to heal all the bad blood between those four people? Jimmy is down for the reunion, which is great because I think few drummers could even attempt to fill his spot. The man is like a machine on those things. But what about James and D'arcy. James seems happy doing his thing in New York, and no one has heard much from D'arcy ever since she left the band. I guess all we can do is wait and see if the rumors are really true, and if so, which Pumpkins decide to come back to the patch (haha, get it, Pumpkin patch....). To read more about my Pumpkins love go here and here and here.

Friday, I watched She Wants Revenge perform on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. I always like watching the live performances from Morning Becomes eclectic because host Nic Harcourt always does short Q and A's with the band in between sets. It's a good way to find out about newer bands that you don't know a lot of stuff about. Anyway, singer Justin Warfield said something really interesting about the kind of music he wanted to make. He mentioned Depeche Mode as an influence, and said that even if you took away all the synths out of DM songs, and just played the songs acoustically, they'd still be really great, really powerful songs. And it's very true. Justin said that he wanted She Wants Revenge songs to be just as meaningful to people, even when stripped down to the core. Nic Harcourt also asks the band about being compared to Interpol, Editors, and bands of the like. It's so funny because, I recently commented on a mistake that NME made on their website, where they put up a picture of Bloc Party with an article on Test Icicles. Besides the total ridiculousness of calling Test Icicles a "non boring Bloc Party," I think a lot of journalists are lazy and tend to use one band to describe every other band in a genre.

To watch She Wants Revenge's performance on Morning Becomes eclectic, go here.

In the LJ Test Icicles community, someone posted pictures from a recent show they went to. The Test Icicles are currently headlining a tour with Damn Arms and Help! She Can't Swim. I'd never heard of Damn Arms or Help! She Can't Swim, but since they're on tour with Test Icicles, I decided that I should give them both a listen.

Damn Arms are a new wave indie act from Melbourne, Australia. The group is made up of former members of Snap! Crakk! and they recently released an EP called Patterns. To listen to some tracks from the EP, visit the band's myspace page.

Help! She Can't Swim is a band that I wish I had heard of a long time ago. Their sound is definitely a perfect fit for touring with Test Icicles, as some of their songs express that sort of frantic and explosive vibe that many Test Icicles songs have. HSCS have a fantastic singers in Lisa Francais and Tom Denny, who sing as well as they wail. I hope they make it around to the states at some point. They have a few songs on their myspace page, but you can listen to two of them below.

Help! She Can't Swim- Knit 1 Pearl 1
Help! She Can't Swim- Little Boy On High Building

And if you haven't listened to Test-Icicles you should, because they're amazing. Check out a couple of songs here. Circle, Square, Triangle is one of my faves. Test-Icicles will be on tour in the states this spring, so you should go out to see them if they're in a town near you.

March 2- Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)
March 3- Northstar (Philadelphia, PA)
March 4- Sonar (Baltimore, MD)
March 6- Nuemo's (Seattle, WA)
March 8- Lola's Room (Portland, OR)
March 9- Popscene (San Francisco, CA)
March 10- Spaceland (Los Angeles, CA)
March 11- Casbah (San Diego, CA)
March 13- Triple Rock Social Club (Minnepolis, MN)
March 14- Logan Sqaure Auditorium (Chicago, IL)
March 16- SXSW (Austin, TX)
March 17- SXSW (Austin, TX)
March 18- SXSW (Austin, TX)