Full Coverage (Vol. 1: MGMT)

Sunny Pittsburgh, PA has succumb to cloudy skies and thunderstorms in the past couple of days. No complaints here. It might impede my walk down to the Hop House for Monday karaoke and free pool night. But, dammit, it's been long overdue for some good ol' spring showers and cloud cover.

Let us rejoice in the rain and pay homage to the cloud cover with a new feature here on PSoV.

* * * * *

We'll start off with MGMT. Just about two weeks ago, they finally released their second record, Congratulations, on Columbia Records. MGMT is currently three dates deep in their summer tour of North America--check them out in a city near you.

We can never get enough of Oracular Spectacular, however. I present to you three covers of singles from their eclectic debut.

Time To Pretend - Jónsi
Kids - The Ooks of Hazzard
Electric Feel - Katy Perry
Closer (Nine Inch Nails cover) - MGMT

"I wanna fuck you like a dinosaur!!"

'Any asshole can chase a skirt, art takes discipline.'

The weekend is upon us for some. It's a relaxing Saturday for many. Me? I have to go to work. It has been an enterprising week of both fun and toil. Decided to allow myself to be kicked out of bed early this morning. No simple task after the pool hall, drinks, and karaoke of the evening past.

A few more strolls on the guitar are being worked out. New material to come soon, I promise.

My Bukowski has been left to collect dust over the last week. I keep taking it down to the donut shop, intent on enjoying a little reading. No, I just end up bullshitting with Bruce or getting distracted with the annoying hand-tapping and beat-boxing antics of the one young attendant. Yesterday was more of the same. Bruce and I got caught up in some sci-fi marathon on television. After an engaging episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I wondered what I was still doing there--my book still in the Barnes & Noble bag.

A few days back, I had forgotten it entirely when I made my way out to Niko's Coffee. A perfect opportunity to crunch out a few chapters had passed. Fortunately, I found me a CP (City Paper) to occupy my time. News Of The Weird entries have been a staple in my obsession lists of the past five years. This was a funny one:

'Crimestopper: In Frisco, Texas, in January, boutique owner Marian Chadwick, who was about to be robbed at gunpoint by a hooded intruder, pointed her finger at him and said: "In the name of Jesus, you get out of my store. I bind you by the power of the Holy Spirit." The man appeared stunned, then turned and walked out empty-handed, cursing. [Dallas Morning News, 1-14-10]'

Other notable news: St. Vincent is playing Diesel in Pittsburgh tomorrow evening. CP printed a neat little interview with Annie as their music feature. I've never seen her live, for as many appearances she makes in Pittsburgh as she has, surprisingly. I really enjoyed her last record.

A few new things of interest:

Tom Gabel of Against Me! is staying hopeful about the band's release of White Crosses to come in June. They're back on the road, look for updates on Gabel's blog I Feel Sick To My Stomach.

Broken Social Scene's Forgiveness Rock Record, co-produced by Tortoise's John McEntire, is due out May 4th. After five years removed from the biz as the full collective (three solo 'BSS Presents...' records have seen the light of day in that time), they're ready to crunch out some more of those jammy, post-rock inflected anthems. The new track is buzzing in my latest iTunes playlist.

World Sick - Broken Social Scene
Angel Echoes - Four Tet
Written In Reverse - Spoon
No Being Disgusting - Screaming Females
It's Automatic - The Go Find
Go Do - Jónsi
Brothers - Hot Chip
Love More - Sharon van Etten