Brightest Young Things

Sure its Tuesday night and whatnot but Iota has a kick-ass pop show on tonight and you should go.
OK?
It will feature Love Language (whom you may have seen last during the awesome BYT Inaugural spectacular) AND Headlights who produced one of my favorite songs of 2008.
Things are bound to get pretty cute.
How cute?

Here is Libby telling you a little something about Love Language:

The first time I heard The Love Language's song Lalita, below, I was in a car full of my best friends and my best dog, driving past cornfields set blaze orange in the setting sun en route to Bethany Beach. Needless to say we put the song on repeat until the sky was dark.... Sorry to wax and wane romantic, but I'm going to freak the fuck out when I hear this on Tuesday night- hands up in the air, sing-screaming, possibly with drunken tears of joy streaming down my face... a beautiful sight for all.

Look at how they rocked the BYT Inauguration party

The Love Language "Sparxxx"

And then here is a rerun of the interview I did with Headlights a little whiles back:

One of the best things about running a (sort-of-official seeming) music site is that when you hear a song, you have every right to email whoever you want to email (record labels, publicists, bands themselves) and get as many more songs from that artist as you wish, as part of "research".

Which brings us to this song, and Headlights:

When several weeks a go I first gently laid my picky eardrums on "Cherry Tulips" by The Headlights I loved it so much in all its layered harmony, bouncy chorus, perfect-3-minute pop song way, that I decided I could not wait till the 19th of February, when their album "Some Racing, Some Stopping" officially comes out to hear the rest of it so I emailed Polyvinyl (the home of other favorites such as Of Montreal, Aloha and Matt Pond PA) and demanded (or asked very nicely for)

a. an interview
b. a special preview listening party for me and for you
and
c. their firstborn children.

They kindly declined my third request, but went along with the first, two, and just in time before the album drops AND before the band takes Iota (with the equally awesome Evangelicals we're interviewing later this week)

So, I bring you, me, Tristan Wright, and two keyboards on fire, on everything from fame, picking favorites and the games bands play in tour vans:

BYT: Hi! How is everything going? Tristan Wright:you know, stayin' wild. (it's for broz.) BYT:What is the worst thing about email interviews? TW:font? margins? man, there's a lot. just kidding.email interviews are nice because the first thing that flies out of your mouth can be deleted. however, it's hard to tell if you are coming off as you hope or if you are coming off like an asshole. BYT:Now, for the uninitiated, Headlights have been compared to Stars, Broken Social Scene...Canadians in general. What would you compare yourself to, if anything/anyone? TW: any other band that's full of liberals who expect the one of the richest governments in the world to pay for health care. BYT: You meet a stranger in a bar, and you say "i am in a band" and they say "oh yeah" and you say "YEAH!" and they say "What Kind of a Band"? and you answer..... TW:you know when you're at the grocery store and you are squeezing all the grapefruits and finally after, like, 15 of them you finally find that jam grapefruit? it's like that, but, you know, music.

BYT: So, the album is coming out tomorrow and the buzz is building, building, BUILDING. How do you expect your life to change? If at all.
TW: i expect to start living in a van again. it's almost as boring as it sounds except for this awesome game we play. i don't know if i should even tell you about it. that shit is for the future.

BYT: Do you want to be famous? And how famous is too famous?
TW:no. seriously. no. fame is for guys like , i don't know. . . man. brett michaels? i can't be in that club. i'd stab my own face off. we just want to make songs. it seems that we could make a modest living without anyone ever really knowing it, which is fine by us.

BYT: You all have known each other since high school, right? How long has it been?
TW:erin and i have known each other since middle school and we have all been playing in bands in champaign since the late 90's. we met nick on tour and john about three years ago.

BYT: How well do you all still get along?
TW: pretty well. we love each other. and ratatouille. the movie.

You did a monster 72 date tour a little while back, and now you're about to embark on the road with the Evangelicals.
So, lets talk about the road for a bit. What do you travel in?
TW: a van. unless we're traveling over water, then. . . AN AMPHIBIOUS VAN.

BYT: How do you keep yourself entertained: what are you planning to read, listen to, what van games do you play?
TW: ok, it's super awesome. we play this futuristic game where you have to guess a grocery store item just by knowing it's first letter. i know it sounds hard, but actually anyone can play, even little kids. a lot of reading gets done too.

BYT: Have you been in DC before? What are your plans while there, any sights to see, people to hug?
TW: we will hug jared. and we would eat at the tropicana but we won't be near there. also we hear DC is TOTALLY the place to drink the blood of the working class. so you know we're going to hit that shit up. for real.

BYT: You better. But then, it is time to come home. Which is in Urbana...tell us WHY stay there? TW:BECAUSE that is where we live. no big cities. except for nick, who is a big city. small town rent and what not. also we all have jobs that let us go on tour whenever we need to. also, moving blows as much as root canals. BYT:Most people that go to Illinois go to Chicago(unless they go to school in Urbana, I guess), what are the little known, but well-loved attractions of your hometown? TW:curtis apple orchard and little porgy's bbq. BYT: Will you ever move? (please say no) TW:remember when you were in middle school and everyone went to the dances? and you were just sitting there by the wall, minding your own beeswax when all of a sudden there's, like, four girls asking you to dance? well, champaign is like the wall: we've been here a while, and it's cool and all, and we're totally comfortable with it, but one of these days we're gonna have to dance.

BYT: And now, a little about the album....Cherry Tulips is emerging as the obvious single...which others are your favorite sort-of sleeper hits and why ( I personally love Market Girl and April 2nd as well)

TW:good choices. those songs are clearly the shit. but picking songs among your own songs- that's like choosing a favorite child. we must preach equality.

BYT: Ok then, we'll just pick a few for you and sprinkle them throughout here. You've released a pile of EPs before, so you had plenty of material to pick from, was it hard to narrow things down to just 10 tracks?
TW:well, not really. we recorded these songs while we wrote them. we had about 14 and just narrowed it a bit to make it more cohesive as a whole.

BYT: When you look back at it now, is it everything you hoped it would be? If you were this wise then, what would you have changed?
TW: ya, we feel really lucky that we get to do this with our lives. at least for now. the strange thing is trying to notice how things progress. it's kind of like watching your hair grow. nothing seems to change much and then all of a sudden you turn around and all this stuff has happened and you have long hair.

BYT:Is there something you wish I asked you about (and then ask yourself. and answer)
TW:
q: what color is all of your hair?
a: brown, man.

BYT: And finally, a message for the budding fanbase????????
TW:grow little flower, grow

want more:
befriend them on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/headlights
+
http://www.myspace.com/thelovelanguage
and
catch them live tonight @ Iota. 12 dollars. Well spent.