Calling All Kids

Hey! Surprise! We've been working on booking a mammoth North American tour for the majority of the summer and it starts in less than two weeks!!! We're beyond stoked to play out and get to so many places for the first time ever, but like a lot of self-booked tours for new bands that not many people know about, it's got a lot of holes in it, and a ton of stuff that's working out very last minute. We're sending out the call to anyone who's interested and willing to work with us on a show to get in touch! Posted below are tentative dates, with specific areas we need help with shows in bold red letters. Haha.. All the TBAs (and there are a lot) are shows that are getting worked out right now. Swear!!! A revised list will post up before we leave, but if you can help us in any way, that would rule!!! Any alternative ideas to the routing we have here, etc is totally appreciated. Leave a comment with contact info or just hit us up at citycenternyc@gmail.com. Thank you so much! See you on the road...

City Center Fall Tour 2009
Thurs Sept 10: TBA.
Fri Sept 11: Europe Gyro, Kent Ohio. Not sure if any other bands are playing.
Sat Sept 12: Tank Space, New York City. w/ Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun, Shigeto.
Sun Sept 13: Cake Shop, New York City. w/ Desolation Wilderness, The Intelligence.
Mon Sept 14: Death by Audio, Brooklyn New York. w/ Calvin Johnson, Arrington, Desolation Wilderness, more?
Tues Sept 15: BROOKLYN SHOW HELP
Wed Sept 16: BALTIMORE SHOW HELP
Thur Sept 17: PHILADELPHIA SHOW HELP
Fri Sept 18: TBA New York City.
Sat Sept 19:TBA Michigan.
Mon Sept 21: CHICAGO/IOWA CITY SHOW HELP
Tues Sept 22: CHICAGO/IOWA CITY SHOW HELP
Wed Sept 23: CHICAGO SHOW HELP
Thur Sept 24: 810 Gallery Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Fri Sept 25: The Terrace, Madison, Wisconsin.
Sat Sept 26: ST PAUL/MINNESOTA SHOW HELP
Wed Sept 30: TBA Seattle/Vancouver.
Thurs Oct 1: TBA Seattle/Vancouver.
Fri Oct 2: House Show, Portland Oregon. w/ Calvin Johnson, White Rainbow.
Sat Oct 3: Northern, Olympia Washington.
Mon Oct 5:NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HELP
Tues Oct 6:MIDDLE CALIFORNIA/OAKLAND HELP
Wed Oct 7:OAKLAND/SF HELP
Fri Oct 9: TBA Los Angeles, California.
Sat Oct 10: TBA Claremont California.
Mon Oct 12: TBA Phoenix Arizona.
Tues Oct 13: TBA Tuscon Arizona.
Thurs Oct 15: House Show, Austin Texas.
Fri Oct 16: HOUSTON/DENTON/DALLAS SHOW HELP
Sat Oct 17: ANYWHERE BETWEEN TEXAS AND ST. LOUIS SHOW HELP
Sun Oct 18: Firebird, St Louis Missouri. w/ our boy Travis (not sure of his band name.)
Mon Oct 19: LEXINGTON/LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY SHOW HELP
Tues Oct 20: Nightlight, Chapel Hill North Carolina.
Wed Oct 21: Rachel's, Bloomington Indiana.
Thurs Oct 22:Firehouse, North Manchester Indiana.
Fri Oct 23: Doubting Thomas Gallery, Cleavland Ohio.
Sat Oct 24: TBA Detroit Michigan.

EXTRA CREDIT

Eleven days ago, my brother went to Japan for the first time in his life. This is a huge deal for him, because he is a Japanese Studies major at his school, and he has always been fascinated to the point of obsession with Japanese Culture. He also loves Japanese hardcore music, which I won't even pretend to talk about. He's kind enough to be constantly giving me records and CDs, but for some reason it's lost on me.

Anyway, today I was thinking about what his trip must be like, and I made this song that's kind of about it. One of the lines is "I've got a brother in the future" because he told me that Japan is like 11 or 12 hours ahead of us, so I keep telling people that he's in the future. I'm pretty sure everyone is sick of the joke, but come on - dude is living a time that hasn't even happened for us yet!! BUT IT HAS!!! OR IT IS?!?!

Hope the future rules, Zach.

City Center "Grasslands"

microglisten

We recently did an interview for a blog called Porch Of The Mystics, a really rad blog with interesting posts about music and culture leaning more towards the psychedelic end of the spectrum. One thing the blog does which I thought was a really great idea is post up a little mini-mix every Friday, just a few songs to capture a mood or a feel for that moment. I definitely started the summer strong posting up long, clunky mixes, but maybe the bite-size idea is easier to digest and take in overall? I loved the idea, so as with any idea that someone else has that I think is good, I appropriated it. Here's a miniature mix of a few songs from today to soak up the soft rain that's falling as the summer begins it's fade. Thanks P.O.T.M.!!!

Micro#1/Monday August 17/4:30pm, all the parks in Ann Arbor, Michigan
1.Mamas & Papas "No Salt On Her Tail"
2.Woods "To Clean"
3.The RFD "He Is Coming"
4.Lazy Smoke "Sarah Saturday" (Demo)
5.Eduardo Mateo "Tras De Ti"
6.The Hollies "Hey Carrie-Anne"
Total Running Time: 18min 8sec

Download here.

Pure Tones (Tonal Purity)

When I was in 4th grade how old was I then? Seven, eight, nine?
Pre-teen/pre-sex/pre-id/pre-most stuff priorities were different than they would be even a couple years later. By thirteen and fourteen the kids on the bus to freshman year of High School were already doin' it, smoking a pack a day, well over drinking Mad Dog 20/20 and talking about inhaling freon from their dad's heating and cooling business. I was always too scared for any of the above, or even to just buy the Metallica shirt and the British Knights and smoke the Marlboro reds like any self-respecting burnout peer of mine was doing. Months signified insurmountable change at those ages, and I guess at every age depending on some variables. At nine, before the maelstrom, the most important thing was getting permission to spend the night at each other's houses, and giddy terror over whatever horror movie was coming up and if we'd get to see it and if it was real or not, and always the radio on to some weird top 40 or late-night Quiet Storm R&B Detroit station, feeling time evaporate completely and not sure if I'd fallen asleep or just sat in the beanbag chair in still contemplation all night, mesmerized by the newness of everything and the soft MIDI keyboard tones that filled the basement.

Oppressive Heat

Our band equivalent of a significant other Silk Flowers are out now on tour, Chicago today and the west coast/northwest in the coming days. If you are in earshot of my voice and these venues, go see them play, they rule!!! Check out their blog here for more info.

Please Please Please Let Me Get Something Other Than What I Want

City Center "Grow Up (edit)"

OH SHIT

We played with Gang Gang Dance and Hex Message in Detroit on Friday night, and it was a fantastic time. Both bands killed it, and GGD is getting deeper into the percussive club murk than I ever imagined they would/could.
Hex Message (note brews littering the stage by each band member.)

and nothing else matters

This is a song I started in November of 2007 and finished tonight for some reason. It was named after a florist that was around the corner from the first place I lived in Brooklyn. Hilariously, Koen from Mountains has a song by the same name on his solo record, and eventually we were talking about it and realized we both named our songs after the same Greenpoint flower shop.

City Center "Sky Flowers"

Numerology

A friend of mine is of the mind that everyone even a little computer-savvy today suffers from some form of internet addiction, mild or otherwise. I think this is true, and I feel it personally everyday. Maybe 7 or 8 years ago when me and Juan would type on instant messenger we would go off on how funny it was to write "Where you? I home? U come out to show or no? Brb" etc, hyper truncated style. (The most amazing part of this was when we'd be talking late at night after being out drinking and one would type "Ahm drunkl" cause the "L" was so close to the "K".) Sometimes I feel like I just talk kind of foreshortened and hyper-abbreviated like that now, and I think it's a side-effect of said internet addiction, or just getting really used to that forum and super-imposing it onto the rest of life. Another symptom of this is a real strong affinity for numbered lists. Do you feel that too? Think about these four things and get back to me...

1.We're playing a show tonight
(Monday, August 3) in Ann Arbor. House party style.
Mike Hunchback & The Fantasy Band, Rippers, Bad Indians & us.
335 Ann Street, Ann Arbor Michigan. $5 suggested donation for touring bands. 10pm.

2.Rice yogurt fucking sucks!!!!

I got some today. Vanilla. I was super stoked cause coconut milk yogurt is amazing and I've been rocking the soy yogurt for years and been way into it, but damn, who doesn't love a change. And what kind of amazing change some rice yogurt would be, right?? Rice Dream is pretty good and rice milk is ok, and this company is called Rice Era or something, sounds pretty amazing. Fuck, I wanted to die at first bite. I also kept trying to like it because it cost $1.59. I couldn't do it. It tasted rancid as hell and the consistency/vibe/general aesthetic was too close to cum. I always get gross food over and over because I forget I don't like it, so I wanted to blog this nasty shit so I remember to never get it again. Avoid!!

3.Digging the new Zola Jesus record like a MF

New out on Sacred Bones, this is the best stuff I've heard from ZJ so far. Super hectic home-recorded gothy anxiety and release, totally crusty reverb sounds and fantastic female vocals. Equal parts strong songs and fucked up noise elements, but a great flow throughout the record. I know you're probably used to seeing a download link at the bottom of a post like this, but I don't really do it like that. Just go buy the fucking thing, or download it somewhere else and buy the LP. I don't really have an opinion about sharing music/the morality of it/etc, but this is just kind of a no-brainer. I think it's only on vinyl, the label keeps all their releases in print and they all look amazing, silk-screened... etc.. Too good for a blog!!! The sonic equivalent of taking a walk.

4.Which one is better?
City Center "Child (Version 1)"
City Center "Child (Version 2)"

Made this song tonight and two mixes. Which version is better?