I was starting to wonder why Jimmy Eat World, on its co-headlining tour with Paramore, was playing in remote outposts like Lubbock (I can say that; I lived there), El Paso and Bakersfield but hadn’t set up anything at home.

Alas, I spoke too soon. The group, touring on last year’s album Chase This Light, has a Phoenix date set for June 18 at Dodge Theatre (via Stateside Presents). No opening act has been announced. Tickets ($30) go on sale April 19 through Ticketmaster.

The band usually saves something special for the hometown crowd, like its marathon two-and-a-half-hour set it played in August at Mesa Arts Center prior to the release of Chase. I’m guessing this show, at the classy but sort-of-sterile Dodge Theatre, will be no different.

(Conflict alert: RZA performs at the Brickhouse the same night in support of his forthcoming Bobby Digital release.)

Don’t forget the deluxe edition of Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American comes out April 29.

• Jimmy Eat World | Lucky Denver Mint (live, from Sweetness CD single)

When I posted about Traindead last month, the Phoenix threesome was in the recording/producing/mixing process of a new EP. They posted demos on MySpace but then took them down until final versions were finished – and it appears it was worth our wait.

The band just posted a polished track, Rail, for everyone to enjoy. Mmmmm, reverb. The EP itself is off to the presses. Looking forward to its arrival.

• Traindead | Rail

ELSEWHERE: Yeah, I caved and finally made a Muxtape. It’s a scattered (and totally unsequenced) mix of songs I’ve been enjoying in 2008. Listen to it here.

The NPR All Songs Considered blog brought up a good topic recently: What’s your comfort-food music? What’s an album you can listen to when nothing else seems to work at the moment? It took me about a day to think about, and then I turned on Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American, and I had my answer.

I’m not going to get into a long spiel and defend this to elitists. But having spent most of my life in Phoenix/Tempe, I got to see Jimmy Eat World rise from small clubs (who remembers the Green Room?) to huge arenas. And cynical as I am, not one bit of me resents the group’s popularity or mainstream cachet. Let’s not forget this was a band that beat The System – dropped from Capitol, self-released a record, made Bleed American and then took off.

Bleed American holds everything a comfort record should have, everything a good record should have – charming hooks, memorable lyrics and an unpretentious approach to rock. Ironically (or not?), that sentiment is summed up in the record’s second song, A Praise Chorus, when singer Jim Adkins sings: “All I need is just to hear a song I know.” Yeah, maybe it’s cheesy, but that’s also what makes it genuine.

Like Clarity and Static Prevails before it, Bleed American (originally released in 2001) now is getting the reissue treatment, and it’s not some half-assed attempt at double dipping into sales. It’s a two-disc set, the second of which contains 18 tracks worth of B-sides, rarities and bonus songs (track list below). The original album is remastered for the release, due April 29.

I’ve gathered a few of the bonus tracks here and there – the group’s covers of Game of Pricks and Last Christmas – but a majority of the bonus material looks new to me. I had never even heard of the Good to Go EP until Thursday. (Oddly, I have two JEW 7-inches with B-sides not included on the reissue: Your House (demo) and A Praise Chorus (Radio 1 Session).)

So, snobs be damned, here’s to one of my favorite records in my collection.

• Jimmy Eat World | Game of Pricks (Guided By Voices cover, BBC Radio 1 session)

Tracklisting for Bleed American deluxe edition after the jump.

Continue reading Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American (deluxe edition) →

Last Wednesday I went to the Last Exit in Tempe with the selfish intentions of seeing Source Victoria and then taking off. But then The Via Maris kept me around for a song … and then two … then three … then the whole set.

It makes sense that singer Chad Sundin is a Valley native. The Via Maris’ music, like Calexico, expertly conveys the feelings of living in a desert metropolis, especially on the title track to the band’s first album The Wilderness Underneath: “Even though the air is dry, the ground is feeling softer now.”

As Serene Dominic of the Phoenix New Times put it: “Sundin has waged an internal tug-of-war between belonging to the desert he came from and feeling decidedly landlocked.” It’s a feeling not uncommon among a lot of young people in Phoenix – we envy a city like Los Angeles but wouldn’t dare move there.

As big as Phoenix has become, it’s still seeking an identity – socially, musically and all points in between. The Via Maris, an alternative to alt-country, follows the likes of Calexico and Giant Sand in helping us feel like we belong.

The group is releasing its second album, The Bicentennial, with a release show on April 11 at St. Augustine’s Church in Tempe (1735 S. College Ave.). It starts at 7:30; cover is $5. Nick Jaina (Portland, Ore.) and David Williams (Utah) also are performing.

• The Via Maris | The Better Year

(Thanks to Chad Sundin for providing a song from the new record to post.)

When my brother and I were hatching plans for Saturday’s show with Birdmonster (hey, look, a flyer!), we knew we wanted a third band (it has since turned into five). “Traindead,” was the first word out of my bro’s mouth. I knew he wouldn’t steer me wrong.

Phoenix tends to be littered with some bands that wish they were reared in Los Angeles or New York. It can result in horribly executed exercises in self-importance and pretension. Traindead is nothing of the sort. Despite having precious little material available so far – I believe they started recording in earnest last week – I’m pretty excited about what a finished product will sound like.

The trio reminds me of Portland’s Pinehurst Kids (circa 2000’s Viewmaster) – fuzzed-out guitars, throaty vocals and hungover lyrics (“tomorrow can’t seem to get here fast enough”). The key here is pacing. Nothing feels rushed, like on the aptly titled Slow Burner.

Give it a go and download more demos at Traindead’s MySpace page. Then come out and see ’em Saturday.

• Traindead | Slow Burner
• Traindead | Hello and Good Morning

SAY HELLO TO MY NEW BABY: I bought this Pioneer PL-518 from a nice man off Craigslist. He was the original owner and still had the instruction manual and a tonearm-balancing tool. My kind of guy.

He also was eager to get rid of vinyl (about a pile of 30 LPs and 200 45s), so I was happy to help lighten his load. For $80, I took the turntable and these records:

LPs
The Beatles: Meet the Beatles!
The Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

45s
The Rolling Stones: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction b/w The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
Prince: Delirious b/w Horny Toad (picture sleeve)
Prince: U Got the Look b/w Housequake (picture sleeve)
Ritchie Valens: Donna b/w La Bamba
Quiet Riot: Cum on Feel the Noize b/w Run for Cover

Great feature on Source Victoria and the band’s new record, The Fast Escape, in the latest Phoenix New Times. Read it here.

“The Fast Escape, however, is no political manifesto. It’s a beautiful narcotic that allows you, the lucky listener, to sail for the better part of an hour above (Brendan) Murphy’s roughhewn voice as it recounts the uncomfortable truths, the impossible personal entanglements, and even the marginalized discordant background noises of everyday life that make this music so compelling and universal.”

If you’re in the Valley, check out the band on Jan. 25 at the Last Exit in Tempe. Also, don’t forget, I’m putting on a show with Source Victoria and Birdmonster on March 8 at Angelo’s Lounge in Phoenix. $5 will get you through the door.

• Source Victoria | Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948

One of the nicest guys – and probably one of the most talented – you’ll meet is Jon Rauhouse, pedal-steel guru and touring member of Neko Case’s band. (Previously discussed here and a little bit here.)

Rauhouse, on the heels of his 2007 release Steel Guitar Heart Attack (Bloodshot), has picked up a Tempe date, Feb. 8 at Green, a vegetarian restaurant (unique choice).

Also, be sure to check out Rauhouse on Aquarium Drunkard’s fantastic series Off the Record in which artists select favorite places in their hometowns.

• Jon Rauhouse | Ballad of the Black Chihuahua (via Bloodshot)

I was wondering recently what’s a worse fate for a band: to be panned in a Pitchfork review or to not be reviewed at all. The album that got me thinking about this was the 2007 release from Jimmy Eat World, Chase This Light.

I may be biased when it comes to JEW because the band is from Arizona, and I’ve long enjoyed pretty much everything the group has done – including Chase This Light, thank you. I found it odd that Pitchfork didn’t exert any energy in reviewing Chase This Light when they seem to have reveled in taking potshots at JEW previously (3.0 for Futures and, criminally, a 3.5 for Clarity in what might be one of the most juvenile reviews Pitchfork has written). Now that I look, Pitchfork didn’t review Bleed American either, though hasn’t stopped the editorial vitriol: “Since Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American was grotesquely birthed upon our nation in 2001 … ” (from Game of Pricks track review).

So I guess my question is this: Did Chase This Light slip through the cracks or is Pitchfork trying to make some sort of statement by neglecting a review, like, “Please, this isn’t even worth our time.” The cynical side of me seems to think the latter.

That said, I hate to put too much stock in the value/influence of a Pitchfork review. Recently I cringed at their 2.8 review of Ryan Ferguson’s 2007 release Only Trying to Help, another album I quite enjoy (and talked about here). When I sent the review to my brother he brought up a point that’s worth noting: A low rating of a record by Pitchfork only seems to pique curiosity more. As E.J. from Loudersoft said in a forum where I posed the question: “If Pitchfork doesn’t like something, it’s as likely to generate interest as if they do.” It’s an interesting phenomenon, for sure.

Of course, the editorial minds at Pitchfork must know this, which is probably why they didn’t review Chase This Light. (Though, I have to say, nothing Pitchfork could have written would have gotten me as riled up as Idolator’s wordy rambling about the record.)

Anyway, on to the music. Open Bar Reception is a B-side from Chase This Light, one of those singles you get when you buy the album at a record store (ha, novel concept!).

• Jimmy Eat World | Open Bar Reception