Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

Oh Noes! Here it is the last day of April, and "Internet Comics Month" failed to deliver the grandeur promised all those many days ago. In fact, it could be said to have ground to a screeching halt through a near willful lack of followthrough from one half of Duck & Cover. In my defense, if you were able to view our drafts folder, you would see that there are many, many writeups of many, many comic artists that were begun, walked away from, and never returned to. Good intentions, road to hell, broken promises, typical, etc. So. This is going to have to serve as a bit of a roundup, and for that, I do apologize. Each and everyone of these artists has something very cool to offer, and deserve much more attention than what they're about to receive. ::Cat And Girl:: Much as the title implies, it is about a cat and a girl. It is an "experimental meta narrative". It is also awesome. Cat and Girl had won my heart with Dorothy Gambrell's character's delightfu

After a brief discussion, Jamie and Dakin decided that April is officially Internet Comics Month at Duck & Cover. They're going to take the opportunity to share with you some of their favorites, as well as hopefully discover some new favorites. In any event, they hope that you enjoy what they have to share, and, should you have some suggestions of something that they would like, flick them an email at duckandcovermusic[at]gmail[dot]com. For the final comic of International Duck & Cover Music Web Comics Appreciation Month of the Year, here is " the most addictive comic on the web. " However, I have to say that this post doesn't have the gravitas it WOULD have had. So many people wrote/twittered/texted us to "do a thing on toothpaste for dinner!" that now it looks like we're doing it because of public demand. But we're not (of course, we will do other things for the public--I'm looking at you, jigglejuggz88). We're blogging about it bec

Chilirec is a new website that records songs off internet radio stations and records them for you so that you can listen to them again later. The beauty of it, though, is that the files aren't stored on your hard disk; they're stored on a virtual server so as not to chew up those precious few gigs of space you have left. Plus, since they're based in Sweden, they can hold on to the MP3s for you and not run the risk of being pestered by trolls from the RIAA. But this isn't just another Songza or Seeqpod ; if you want to listen to a track outside of Chilirec, you can click on it to download it to your desktop. Rock. It's not all utopian goodness, though. You're not able to choose your own radio station to record. While I can't find KEXP, I can find a couple of stations listed as "indie rock", so I'm starting there. What's more is that you can't listen to the station before you begin recording--you have to pick a station, record, and the

Apparently the world is running out of rice, according to an article via Reuters and a little snippet that I heard and may have half paid attention to yesterday on NPR. Per the article, Sam's Club/Wal-Mart, purveyors of poor, are limiting the number of bags that one may purchase. The article states that they are "limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice 'due to recent supply and demand trends.'" (Please note that healthy and NOT poison brown rice is not affected; at least as can be inferred from the above.) The article goes on to state that: "Sam's Club, the No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator, is limiting sales of the 20-pound (9 kg), bulk bags of rice to four bags per customer per visit, and is working with suppliers to ensure the products remain in stock." International issues aside (which were addressed in the NPR piece), it appears that the stateside problems may be stemming from fatties and poors hoarding. So you can only bu

Les Savy Fav The Hold Steady Whoah. My. God. Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party has always been a fantastic showcase of local and national talent, and great excuse to get boozy in the afternoon (like we need an excuse), and this year is no exception. Actually, this year seems surprisingly strong, in that my perception of the Block Party of years past has tended towards more big name NW acts. (Not that I'm complaining -- I've had the privilege of, literally, walking down the street from my house and seeing The Gossip, Built To Spill, Sleater Kinney, and Pretty Girls Make Graves, among many, many others.) This year's thus far confirmed lineup is absolutely boner inducing. It includes band du jour (or band du hier? I can't keep up.) Vampire Weekend, new Duck & Cover favorites the Dodos, damn-it's-about-time-people-figured-out-how-rad-she-is Kimya Dawson, and two of the hands down best ever live bands -- Les Savy Fav and The Hold Steady. And a "Surprise

All right, we were a bit cynical when My Bloody Valentine announced they were reuniting. But seriously, who wouldn't be understandably skeptical when a genre-defining band comes out of retirement to release a new album of old material? Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now because MBV is headlining one sweet Jesus of a line up. Get this: My Bloody Valentine Built to Spill performing Perfect From Now On Meat Puppets performing Meat Puppets II Thurston Moore performing Psychic Hearts Tortoise performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die Shellac Mogwai Polvo Fuck Buttons Autolux The Drones Low Wooden Shjips Edan with Dagha Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra This is the line-up for All Tomorrow's Parties, and if you're lucky (a. you're in Monticello, NY, and b. you're one of 3,000 who can get a ticket) then you get to experience this swoon-inducing festival. You can buy tickets to the parties here. Good luck. And if you make it, please tell us. Tell us it was

Don't mind the ass. It was just the first thing that popped up when I Googled "howdy". After over a year bringing you the most opinionated, poorly researched, and gushing reviews on the internet, Duck and Cover Music finally shuffled off the maternal shackles of a blog template. For the past few weeks I've worked on some new graphics and CSS to give D&C a more distinguished look. Want the tour? Of course you do. You'll find we've added a section just for videos. At the moment, it's a bit bare. We opted against moving all the video posts over because of the sheer number of you (we have literally tens of readers) who might possibly have bookmarked any one of our numerous video posts. So give it a few weeks. We wanted you to know about what we do when we're not blogging (not counting drinking, video games, and porn), so beneath the video link are two links to our other online entities: Last.FM and MOG. The observant members of our audience will also n

Huzzah! Today, being April 19, 2008, is the day that we celebrate the independent record store! While some of us may have forgotten what an amazing place a record store is, forsaking them for iTunes, eMusic, bittorrent downloading, or, god forbid, MySpace, today is a great opportunity to rediscover what joy may lurk in the New Arrivals bin, be they used or new. Perhaps you'd prefer to sift through new and used vinyl on the off chance that you may find a numbered and hand distressed Matmos 12" similar to the one that guy with the flipper arm stole from you? A world of discovery and wonder lurks in the shelves and stacks of your local record store, and you should go there today! (And then go back next week, and maybe even the week following!) Buy something new (that we haven't bothered to review yet) like the Dodos, Frightened Rabbit, Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down (LOVE HER!), Destroyer, Wye Oak, Man Man; or perhaps something old that is new again: Merge recently re

After a brief discussion, Jamie and Dakin decided that April is officially Internet Comics Month at Duck & Cover (although judging from the last two posts, Dakin has already forgotten this discussion). They're going to take the opportunity to share with you some of their favorites, as well as hopefully discover some new favorites. In any event, they hope that you enjoy what they have to share, and, should you have some suggestions of something that they would like, flick them an email at duckandcovermusic[at]gmail[dot]com. My good friend, and fellow web jockey, Pete introduced me to The Adventures of Dr. McNinja last year. We were working on the same PHP project for a government agency (that shall remain unnamed), and the thing was driving us mad. Or it was driving ME mad. Pete seemed to be on top of everything, which is why he told me to take a break and read this comic. After a few pages I understood why Pete was such a bizarre (but thoroughly likable) young man: this comic

Stumbling through some old cds long in storage, I stumbled across a Sigur Ros 2 disc set that, according to my itunes is ( ) Untitled #1 . One of these two discs was a dvd of video work -- two taken from the band's dreamy first release Aegetis Byrjun , and the third from the just then released ( ) . The first two songs, "Svefn-G-Englar" and "Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa" are stunning and heartbreaking, and the videos capture the spirit of the music (and Sigur Ros) very well. The third, a video by Floria Sigismondi (whom you may recall from the Marilyn Manson video for "Beautiful People") for the song "Untitled #1 (Vaka)" is very pretty as well, but a bit more bleak and conceptual. I mean, it's nice, but it won't break your heart, and it's not nearly as visually arresting, so what's the point, y'know? (Which makes me feel like a horrible person and a bad critic, because I really do like this video, just not nearly as much as

Somehow winter still has her claws in the Pacific Northwest. It's almost May, and we're forecast snow this coming weekend. Snow! (I'll spare you my usual tirade about what physically impossible acts may be performed on this particular part of the country, my own little corner of hell.) In any event, we were teased by 80 degrees over the past weekend, only to be thrust back into the 50s and below (with rain!) immediately after. Needless to say, it has not been happy times. I am on day three of a nonstop Neko Case marathon, and, while it is indeed comforting, Neko tends to be a little, dare we say, dark ? Sometimes you just need to take pause and make your own sunshine, or perhaps be steered to some on YouTube , as is certainly the case here. (Even though I firmly believe that YouTube is leading to the complete downfall of Western Civilization, and exposing the ugly underbelly of the American experience, I can sometimes forgive it. Times like this.) Back story? Dunno. Two fre

Just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that you can now visit Duck & Cover at our fancy new URL: www.duckandcovermusic.net. It make look the same. It may act the same. But the difference is gimonsterous. . . well, it is to us, anyway. However, keep checking back (thanks to those who do) because we're going to unleash a few changes in the coming weeks. We hope you like them. As you were.

After a brief discussion, Jamie and Dakin decided that April is officially Internet Comics Month at Duck & Cover. They're going to take the opportunity to share with you some of their favorites, as well as hopefully discover some new favorites. In any event, they hope that you enjoy what they have to share, and, should you have some suggestions of something that they would like, flick them an email at duckandcovermusic[at]gmail[dot]com. Kristy vs the Zombie Army was one of those rare finds while compulsively clicking "stumble" while on a very tedious web contract with a government agency. The contract in question is beside the point, but consisted of six hours-a-day of copy-and-paste. During this time, I searched, surfed, and stumbled my across the internet, and can safely say I've seen every page. I even made it to the end . Yet before I did, I found Kristy chainsawing her way Ash-style through an army of beady-eyed zombies. The comic follows a relatively linea

After a brief discussion, Jamie and Dakin decided that April is officially Internet Comics Month at Duck & Cover. They're going to take the opportunity to share with you some of their favorites, as well as hopefully discover some new favorites. In any event, they hope that you enjoy what they have to share, and, should you have some suggestions of something that they would like, flick them an email at duckandcovermusic[at]gmail[dot]com. If you like manga comics filled with katana blades, nunchucks, throwing stars, and blood gushing from severed limbs, then you should not visit White Ninja Comics . He's not a ninja in the classical wait-three-days-in-a-pit-for-the-perfect-kill sense. No, he's a modern ninja filled with anxieties and prone to bad decisions: like tasting a freshly picked scab. Ninja's bizarre antics throughout the strip range from hilarious to psychopathic (read: more hilarious). White Ninja Comics is one of those internet success stories that make som

After a brief discussion, Jamie and Dakin decided that April is officially Internet Comics Month at Duck & Cover. They're going to take the opportunity to share with you some of their favorites, as well as hopefully discover some new favorites. In any event, they hope that you enjoy what they have to share, and, should you have some suggestions of something that they would like, flick them an email at duckandcovermusic[at]gmail[dot]com. In the Edward Albee play Zoo Story , something has happened at the zoo. We learn this because a man (Jerry) has approached another man on a park bench (Peter) and told him as much. (Among other things -- other very personal and inappropriate things-- and, by and large, it is far from any conversation that we've had or would care to have on a park bench.) In any event, something, something awful, happened at the zoo, and we never learn just what that thing was. In the flash game Fruit Mystery (developed by Australian Brett Graham) something

After a brief discussion, Jamie and I decided that April is officially Internet Comics Month at Duck & Cover. We're going to take the opportunity to share with you some of our favorites, as well as hopefully discover some new favorites. In any event, we hope that you enjoy what we have to share, and, should you have some suggestions of something that we would like, flick us an email at duckandcovermusic[at]gmail[dot]com. Before leaving Honolulu I found myself spending a lot of time drinking away the sad and surfing the internet (much, um, much like now, in Seattle, but I, uh, wear pants instead of shorts[?]), and I happened to stumble across The Fart Party, an autobiographical comic written and drawn by Julia Wertz. The Fart Party manages to come across as both remarkably vulgar and deeply touching. (I'm reminded of the later work of R. Crumb, but I know next to nothing about comic art, and I did just see a retrospective, so likely I'm just full of it.) Wertz presents

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The cartoons that Nicholas Gurewitch draws are like the sideshow freaks at a carnival: never an attraction for the main audience, but odd and poignant enough to have a strong cult following. While there is more on offer at the PBF website , I have only trawled the comics. Kinda creepy, mostly hilarious, it's currently replaced White Ninja as my favorite web comic. I know--you never thought it would happen. . . or maybe you never cared. Most likely the latter. Many thanks to Phil, the super seeper, for the recommendation.