Youth Group, the Australian four-piece who released their third full-length, The Night Is Ours, this past April, will have barely had time to rest from their three-month North American stint before they’ll head back across the ocean to support emo heroes the Get Up Kids on their 2009 Fall Reunion tour. The fun kicks off in Denver on September 15, after which the two groups (plus Boston trio Pretty & Nice as the first opener) travel through Seattle , Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas, and Omaha before finishing up together in Iowa City, IA . Youth Group will then continue eastward, headlining shows in Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Hoboken (with more dates TBA).

Though The Night Is Ours is an album fully comprised of impressively memorable, melodic rock songs, it’s live that the band’s musicianship and tight playing truly becomes more pronounced. Toby Martin’s voice, even clearer and more emotional in person, is complemented by the controlled layers of sound his bandmates put down behind him. There’s a lushness that, even in the sparser, simpler songs, remains, and helps to give Youth Group’s music an even greater resonance.

To celebrate the new tour dates, Youth Group have decided to release “Two Sides,” off The Night Is Ours.

Download “Two Sides” (mp3) here.
Watch the 80s-party-themed video for “Two Sides” here.

YOUTH GROUP FALL 2009 US TOUR DATES

w/the Get Up Kids
Sep 15 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
Sep 16 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
Sep 18 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Sep 21 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Sep 23 Pomona, CA @ Glass House
Sep 24 Hollywood, CA @ Avalon
Sep 25 San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
Sep 26 Las Vegas, CA @ House of Blues
Sep 27 Tempe, AZ @ Clubhouse
Sep 29 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
Sep 30 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
Oct 01 Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
Oct 02 Omaha, NB @ Slowdown
Oct 03 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador

Headlining
Oct 06 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
Oct 07 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
Oct 09 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe
Oct 14 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s

http://www.myspace.com/youthgroupmusic

Ivy League; March 24, 2009

Download “Get Out,” off Melodia, here

It was the cover of Rolling Stone, on September 19, 2002, that first introduced the Vines to America. “Meet the Vines,” it announced. “Rock is Back.”

Six years later, the same thing could still be said. In an age of synths, ornate string arrangements, and electronic embellishments, the Vines continue to play straight-forward, no frills rock & roll on Melodia, their fourth full-length, which comes out March 24. Singer and guitarist Craig Nicholls snarls and scowls his way through tracks like “Braindead,” “Scream,” and “Get Out,” the hook-driven opener, like only a man who’s known the crowd-fueled, fist-pumping energy of a packed concert hall can. These are songs that ignite, full of the unabashedly snotty garage-rock-meets-post-grunge glory that sent the Vines’ stunning debut, Highly Evolved, rocketing up the charts.

There’s nothing superfluous about Melodia: few of the album’s 14 tracks go beyond the two-and-a-half-minute mark. These are tight, tuneful songs – loud and fast rock & roll, pure and simple, the kind that propelled the Vines into international acclaim. Bassist Brad Heald’s aggressive bass lines drive songs like “Manger,” while it’s the swagger in Nicholls’ voice alone that brings life to “Merrygoround” and “He’s A Rocker.” But these tracks are tempered by the more introspective pieces, written by a man who’s clearly been as inspired by Brian Wilson, John Lennon, and Ray Davies as he has Kurt Cobain. “Kara Jayne,” for example, is a pretty, harmony-filled love song, and “A Girl I Knew,” in which he sings, “There are things I couldn’t say/There are times I feel ashamed/Marriage was a thing we had/Hurt so much that it made me mad,” shows a man unafraid express emotion and admit to his own mistakes.

Melodia is a record by a band who’ve seen a lot since they broke into the public’s consciousness, and it’s a record that reflects those changes without forgetting what won them so many fans in the first place. Even as Nicholls now copes with the Asperger’s Syndrome he was diagnosed with in 2004, which has unfortunately deteriorated enough that as of late last year, all touring had to be cancelled, the songs on Melodia ring as a testament to the band’s talent and focus, and most of all, their dedication to making the kind of rock & roll that sticks to your ribs and stays in your head long past the actual notes have stopped ringing.

Download “Get Out”

Black Lips are at Black Cat in DC on Thursday, March 5th. We’ll be there, you should too. Their new album 200 Million Thousand is by far their best - Spin compares it to everyone from Lil Wayne to the Troggs.  If you need more to get you excited watch them get exiled from India.

We here at Cozy would like to wish a happy 25th birthday to one of our own, Chris Marrow. He has been delivering his talents behind the camera and in the editing lab to bring our audience his fresh perspective and style. Keep up with his work in the media section weekly.

Love,
The entire Cozy family

CHUCK ANDERSON: Wandering Off Into Space

Check out the new book of works from Chuck Anderson before you find it on the coffee table of that girl you don’t like that is always skeezing it up at Sushirama and used to try and get with your friend Kyle, only because he grew out a kneckbeard and buys all of his skinny jeans from Urban Outshitters.   Ugh, I hate that bitch…

www.nopattern.com

I think it’s time for conservatives to put away their rifles, close up their Bibles, and throw out their hang in there kitty! posters. Admit it. Grandpa is getting his ass kicked. And not only by arugula huffing Manhattan elitists, but by your old neighbor, your young neigbor, and even the idiot down the street whose voting rights should’ve been revoked after 2004. But maybe a tiny percentage of Obama’s impending victory will be attributed to the huge amount of support he’s garnered from the design community. From Marc Jacobs and Diane von Furstenberg designing tote bags (yes, tote bags) for his official store, to the already iconic Shepard Fairey poster that captures Obama’s scholarly elegance with all the wit and panache of a WPA poster. But all these endorsements make sense because, let’s face it, artists are all athiests, communists, or live in Northern Virginia (which means you’re both and also like to eat babies).

It would make sense that sooner or later, a design-based social[ist] networking site like Design For Obama would pop up. You can a) submit a poster, or you can b) look at other posters and score, print and distribute them as necessary. There’s a few that get an A for effort, but many of the entries are clever and well-crafted, and some are just really fucking cool:

So go and submit something. Those commie bastards are depending on you.

Check out ENVY ON THE COAST’S new video for ‘Mirrors’

Each member of this band is as unique as the end result, creating an unexplainable chemistry.  And, what the fuck!?  They can actually pull this shit off live, imagine that.

Ladies of the World

Only twelve will wear these.  The rest of us can look…