Idolator: the vaselines

As rumored last night, The Vaselines and ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:00:00 EDT

As rumored last night, The Vaselines and Eric's Trip (and Les Thugs, too) have been added to the Sub Pop 20th anniversary party in Seattle July 12 and 13, and there's still "more to be added soon." Also, for those of you wondering where Tad is, there's also a news-to-me show featuring the Gutter Twins (Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli!) and the Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (Tad!!!) the night of July 12 at the Showbox. The show will be the Vaselines' first Stateside show ever, and some rabble-rouser in our comments is saying that they're going to play New York, too?! Oooh. Full lineup (including the roster for the Friday night comedy show) after the jump. [SubPop.com]

Saturday: Flight of the Conchords / The Vaselines / Iron & Wine / Low / Fleet Foxes / Mudhoney / The Fluid / The Helio Sequence / Eric's Trip / Seaweed / Pissed Jeans

Sunday: Green River / Wolf Parade / Beachwood Sparks / Les Thugs / Foals / No Age / Red Red Meat / Comets on Fire / Kinski / Grand Archives / The Ruby Suns

SP20 Comedy Show: Friday, July 11 @ the Moore Theatre
Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, and surprise guests

SP20 at The Showbox: Saturday, July 12
The Gutter Twins and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (feat. Tad Doyle)

Son Of A Gun! Vaselines Playing Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Party?

Maura Johnston — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:50:00 EDT

First the Green River reunion gets announced for the Sub Pop 20th-anniversary festival this July, and now Line Out is claiming that none other than the Vaselines, the Scottish twee outfit beloved of (and covered by) Kurt Cobain, will be playing as well? I think our pals out in Seattle said it best when they said "ALKSJFHPEORTYIASKDJFHAWOIEUTYASDKLFJHASKLDJF HASOIDRY;WFLKMNSD;OTYAXKVMNSADGASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Some anonymous Brooklyn Vegan reader is claiming that Eric's Trip is going to make an appearance as well, which will become a multiple-consonants-in-caps worthy rumor once someone steps up to claim it.) [Line Out / YouTube]

The Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files: Swirl 360's Failed Power-Pop Push

mjohnston — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:36:54 EDT

Welcome to a special edition of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, which normally looks at a song that was left by the airwaves' wayside—today, we're going to look at an album that didn't quite hit the world's pop-music sweet spot.

Artist: Swirl 360
Album: Ask Anybody, 1998
What happened: Swirl 360 was made up of a pair of pretty-boy brothers and a boatload of collaborators, and to hear them tell it, they were high on their label's priority list until corporate politics pushed them down the food chain. The album's one minor hit, the absurdly hooky "Hey Now Now," was penned by the folks who brought you Meredith Brooks' "Bitch"; the full-length can be yours for as low as a penny.
Why it should have been a hit: Rock critics like to throw around the term "perfect pop songs" a lot—heck, we've been guilty of that offense more times than we'd like to admit. The masterminds behind Ask Anybody decided to put that idea to the test, enlisting Fountains Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, The Posies' Ken Stringfellow, and The Vaselines' Eugene Kelly to pen some tracks. Did it work? Sort of. Of the four songs offered up by the critical heroes, we like the Schlesinger-written "Stick Around" the best; Stringfellow's contribution, "Ask Anybody," has some great moments, but its chorus teeters on the brink of WB themedom a bit too much for our liking.

~~Swirl 360 - Stick Around~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Swirl 360 - Ask Anybody~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Swirl 360 - I'll Take My Chances~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Swirl 360 - Slow (Be There)~~ [MP3, link expired]
Swirl 360 - Ask Anybody [Amazon]