The two reasons I purchased a Sonic Youth beach towel are:

1. I love Sonic Youth

2. I’m a total groupie idiot.

To celebrate the DVD release of Joy Division’s new documentary film, Peter Saville (the art director behind Joy Division’s graphic look and feel) has teamed up with Microsoft’s Zune to create the Limited Edition Joy Division 80G Zune Player. The Zune is a pretty awesome little machine that not only plays music, but also plays movies, radio, has wireless sharing, and a 3.2 inch widescreen—it’s aptly nicknamed, the “Pod killer”. This particular Zune is an über-collector’s item with the iconic Joy Division album artwork from Unknown Pleasures etched on the back. Only 500 of these gems were made, so good luck finding one. If you are one of the lucky 500 Joy Division fans/collector’s that get your mitts on one, you should listen to these three Joy Division songs in order, just because I say so: “Means To An End”, “Twenty Four Hours”, and Something Must Break”. If you really want to get weird, throw Grace Jones’ cover of “She’s Lost Control” in the mix, and dance like Ian would. $400 @ Zune.net

Yeah, we know the guys from Green Day (did I already explain that?) Either way, when the Foxboro Hot Tubs came to town (the band has all three members of Green Day in it) they called us (Kut U Up) and we got loose all day at Las Olas—drinking hearty margaritas to the point that the band’s manager politely asked us to stop influencing Billy Joe to get so shit-faced. So we went to sound check and kept influencing the band to get shit faced, which they did, and it was great. Midway through the set, I climbed on stage and started grabbing the band and kissing them. Mike Dirnt handed me his bass and I attempted to play it, but I couldn’t even manage a single note. It didn’t seem to matter that I couldn’t play that fucking thing to save my life, the crowd was going wild and we had the time of our life. The manager of the Belly Up was quoted as saying, “That was the wildest night I’ve ever seen here”—a heavy call, but a correct call.

So my friend and bandmate in Kut U Up is getting married, and we had to welcome him into this awesome club by getting him drunk, confused, and destroyed (just like marriage usually is) We decided to end Micah’s bachelor party at the Ladytron / Datarock show at the Belly Up on Saturday night, and I believe now that it was a wonderful decision. The good people at The Belly Up set aside the best seats in the house for us, and we sat in them for five seconds before hitting the dance floor with the ferocity of uncaged fighting cocks ready for battle. We love the belly up.
As for Ladytron, they were amazing. With Bulgarian beauty, Mira Aroyo fronting the band with her beautifully robotic vocals, they’re vibe emanates pure future sexuality and coolness beyond the realm of anything you’ve ever seen live. The crowd was very mellow, which was a direct contrast to myself and some of my friends who were out of our minds after cruising around all night in style on the Jones Soda bus, driven by our hero, Sweet Pussy Frank. Amid a sea of shoegazing statues, we were vibrating spastically to the music and annoying everyone in our vicinity. All in all, it was an amazing show, and from what I remember, one of the many “best nights ever” I’ve had in a long time.

Oh, for some reason we missed Datarock, we got stuck at Cheetah’s for a while before the show, it was ind of hard to leave.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Kut U Up reunion show this summer. Belly Up. July 30th.
Stay tuned …

Also playing, The Drowning Men and Get Yr Death On

Now that I have a hard copy of Wolf Parade’s new album, At Mount Zoomer, I can honestly say that it has grown on me like a flesh eating virus (not that I have one). So, when you work at a magazine, you get perks, we went over this earlier, but let me explain. I got a password to listen to the new Wolf Parade and I did, a lot. But for some reason, listening to that shit at work on your computer just doesn’t quite have the same effect at rocking out to that stuff in your car on the freeway. After getting the actual disc, I noticed that the record is much more layered than I previously thought. They have obviously been fiddling with some knobs of some very vintage keyboards, and no doubt been inhaling some glue or whippits. The backing synths and keys are spacey and tripped out, while the guitars take a slight backseat. Stand out tracks (they stand out because they sound more familiar to a Wolf Parade fan like myself) include, “Soldiers Gin” that sounds like an 80s W.P. having fun and getting weird with some toy synths, “Language” which sounds more like the W.P songs from the last album, and “California Dreamer”, a six minute organ driven ripper that keeps going and going while gaining intensity the whole time.
So here’s my final word, go get this disc immediately. Any fan of Wolf Parade will be happy after giving it a few listens. If you’re not a W.P. fan, you probably shouldn’t be reading this blog (that was the music snob coming out).
Love Chris Cote

You know him as the brains behind Angels And Airwaves, I know him as semi-gay, lanky, ex-truck driver, who used to sing songs about masturbating. He has seen me naked many, oh so many times. My wiener has told him good night (you can read all about it in the book, someday), and I’ve done some of the most disgusting things to myself in front of him—weird. Anyway, Tom is my friend, so I really don’t care what you say about him, seriously, say whatever you want, everybody’s already said everything about him and he really doesn’t care, even when you say he’s gay and has sexual relations with dogs (he’s said that about himself). Here is an interview that is short, lame, and not rally pertaining to anything. But it’s always fun to hear what comments he has for me today.

Cotescube: What do you think of the massive emo fallout that’s going in Mexico—As in, heavy metal kids bashing emo kids just for being emo?

Thomas Delonge: Metal kids were always pissed at people who could read, and who looked good in fitted clothes

Why “Mod Life” when you “My Space”?

Why “Myspace” when you “Don’t Wipe”?

When was the last time you talked to Mark Hoppus? What did you talk about?

Three years ago—Kissing, loving, band breaking up.

Are you happy you’ve stopped wearing those terrible big, baggy, khaki Dickies mega shorts, and have started wearing adult pants?

Have you ever started a trend? Oh, well you wouldn’t understand.

How much nudity, if any, goes on while touring with Angels And Airwaves?

37.8% of all bus rides end up in nudity.

Do you miss seeing pre-pubescent tits in the crowd?

Maybe, is this a trick question about your sister?

I know you are very political, so tell me this, who will be the next president?

Obama for your Mamma.

What’s Bono’s real name?

Paul Hewson.

What should I name my first child?

Paul Hewson.

Do you miss me?

I do, quite often.

I may be a bit late on this one. I’ve seen this disc on the shelf at Lou’s Records and I walked by it three times. I don’t know why I didn’t just buy it the first time I saw it. The first album by Tapes ‘N Tapes was good enough. That one was called The Loon, and while it didn’t blow my ass away, it was pretty decent. The band’s latest, Walk It Off, however, did blow me away, so I’m recommending it with bravado. If you’re a Wolf Parade fan and you’re on the verge of death waiting for the new album to drop, go get Walk It Off—it’s not Wolf Parade, but pretty damn close, and really damn good.

One time I saw Jeff Buckley play in the parking lot at Lou’s Records. No fucking joke here, it was really Jeff Buckley with his whole band playing the entire Grace album—I was one of eight people in the crowd, so eat that. Since then, I’ve seen some great bands in the parking lot at Lou’s, last week I walked up and watched The Night Marchers rip through a tight set of all new material. Fronted by the legendary Speedo (John Reis) and backed by three guys who know how to rock well. On guitar you get Gar Wood (Hot Snakes), hitting the skins is drummer Jason Kourkounis (Hot Snakes, Mule, Delta 72), and riding the bass strings is Tommy Kitsos (CPC Gangbangs)—a veritable supergroup. The album, See You In Magic is packed with 13 great rock tracks in the vein of Hot Snakes and RFTC, with the best track being a slower ditty called “You’ve Got Nerve”.

Check this band out ASAP, you’ll love them, I promise.

The long awaited new album by one of the world’s greatest rock bands is almost here, but of course, my post as editor in chief of Transworld SURF allows me a few wonderful privileges—one being pre-released music from great labels like Sub Pop. So I’ve been listening to the new Wolf Parade album and at first, I was a tad under whelmed. Of course my expectations were through the roof, and after the long wait, I was ready to be destroyed by the band’s genius, and right off the bat, I wasn’t. But wait, now that I’ve given the album a few goes, it’s growing on me, and usually albums that do that become embedded in my skull. I can say that the new album is more subdued than Apologies, but it has an intensity that comes from a different place. The band admittedly threw out a bunch of songs that they said “sounded too much like songs they’ve already done,” which is hard to swallow for fanatic fans who wanted another batch of songs in the vein of “Modern World” and “You Are A Runner”—but you can’t argue with a band trying to progress. So that being said, this album may not replace Apologies To The Queen Mary, but little by little, it might just stand next to it on your list of favorites. It just sucks that you have to wait another month to hear it. Release date is June 17, so it’s gonna be a while. In the meantime, get Foals Antidotes and No Age Nouns.