MUSIC

Local singer/songwriter Meredith Bragg, he of angel voice and sonic doodads, performs at a holiday showcase with Addieville, The Boxelders, Charlie Harrison, and Astra Via (a group featuring Olivia Mancini and Jarrett Nicolay) 8 p.m. at Iota. $10.

UM

Wow, tonight's kind of rough. Christmas movies at AFI. No movies at American City Diner. But it's Hanukkah! Real talk: Latkes with mushy insides are awful; shredded and slightly crispy is the way to go.

2010 Tamworth Country Music Festival: Holy Keith Urban do Australians love them some country music! Don’t believe us? Check out the Web site for this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival. According to these folks, their event is “[p]ossibly the biggest party in the whole of Australia…a mighty, large beast” which “almost doubles” the population of its host town, bringing in “more than $40 million to the local economy.” It seems like just about any band with even the vaguest hint of a twang can play—provided, of course, that the artists can get themselves to Tamworth, New South Wales. Basically, it’s a very South by Southwest. For country music. In Australia. Except there’s a rodeo.

And you won’t have to spring for a $600 pass if you want to have the option of going to every event. Nope, the honchos who run this thing have opted to make you pay for each individual show. Although we’re not sure which pay scheme would be the better bargain, we will say that the quaintness of traveling to a little place in Australia trumps the quaintness of traveling to Austin. 'Course, we do live in Texas...

2010 Noise Pop Festival: We here at Festival Watch are very stoked about the forthcoming Four Tet album (click here for a preview). And we are generally stoked about the city of San Francisco—even though our special lady’s brother has now moved from his North Beach digs that used to grant us a roof-top panorama that stretched from the Golden Gate Bridge to downtown. (We mean, shit, there are still Amoeba Records locations.) Anyway. In late February, the awesomeness of both Four Tet and San Francisco will be united under the auspices of the 2010 Noise Pop Festival. From Feb. 23 to March 1, various venues in that city will host the likes of that former member of Fridge, Atlas Sound, John Vanderslice, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and some band called Magnetic Fields. We’d like to think we could scrape together the dough for plane fare and the $150 that it’d run us for a festival badge. But then we’d have to write two Festival Watches a week for the next six weeks. And we don’t think that’s going to happen.

2010 Sasquatch! Music Festival: According to its Web site, the 2009 Sasquatch! Music Festival is, for the first time, offering its would-be attendees a chance to secure “a special discounted 3-day festival pass.” Like their colleagues over at Lollapalooza, the honchos in charge here are hoping that the lack of an official line-up announcement, with the exception of headliner Pavement, won’t interfere with the desire of festivalgoers to slap down $183.20. If they’re right, and you’re ready to make a relatively blind commitment, you have until the end of December to do so. If you’d rather wait to see who’s going to populate the Gorge Amphitheater over this coming Memorial Day weekend, you can follow developments through the festival’s Twitter feed.

There are some killer new arrivals over at Red Onion Records and Books. First off, there's the reissue on vinyl (!) of the Raincoats' classic debut album. The store has also got in new pressings from Folkways, the new Atlas Sound LP (pictured) as well as Cedric Brooks, Albert Ayler, Arthur Russell, Sun Ra, Wilco, and a killer soul-funk comp.

Used vinyl list after the jump.

rock:

neil young: self-titled

neil young: decade

allman brothers: at the fillmore

allman brothers: beginnings

black sabbath: self-titled

rolling stones: flowers

beach boys: surfs up

beach boys: wild honey/20/20 (2LP)

beach boys: summer days...

the beatles: rubber soul

the beatles: let it be

the beatles: love songs (2LP with book)

the beatles: in the beginning

the beatles: rarities

jefferson airplane: takes off (later pressing)

jefferson airplane: surrealistic pillow (later pressing)

dr. john: night tripper

glencoe: spirit of

grand funk railroad: live album (2LP, german pressing)

lou reed: take no prisoners (2LP, live)

bruce springsteen: born to run/the river/born in the usa/greetings from asbury park

rory gallagher: tattoo

family: fearless

family: music in a dolls house

family: entertainment (uk)

the paupers: ellis island (amazing cheap psych album)

leonard cohen: death of a ladies man

chris farlowe: greatest hits (uk, rolling stones related)

dusty springfield: a brand new me

dusty springfield: cameo

dusty springfield: see all her faces (uk)

lesley gore: girl talk

the byrds: untitled

the band: the last waltz

the doors: self-titled (gold label, vg+)

pink floyd: nice pair (piper at the gates of dawn)

pink floyd: atom heart mother

pink floyd: ummagumma

king crimson: discipline/beat/in the court of the crimson king/three of a perfect pair/red/lizard

del shannon: one thousand six hundred...

joni mitchell: blue

various artists: not so quiet on the eastern front (2LP, with inner sleeve and book)

various artists: rat music for rat people

various artists: eastern front

various artists: permanent wave

black flag: everything went black (2LP, first pressing with band's name airbrushed)

whipping boy: the sound of no hands clapping (rare 1st LP by CA band produced by klaus flouride)

faith: subject to change

jawbreaker: bivouac

shudder to think: get your goat

halfoff: the truth

meat puppets: huevos

bad manners: klass

the smiths: strangeways here we come

let's active: every dog has his day

new model army: ghost of cain

the clash: this is radio clash 12:

the clash: self-titled (us)

the clash: sandinista

the clash: give em' enough rope

depeche mode: broken frame

depeche mode: black celebration

depeche mode: catching up...

kraftwerk: trans-europe express

kraftwerk: autobahn

the specials: more specials

the specials: ghost town 12"

devo: are you experienced 12"

devo: freedom of choice

dead end kids: breakout (with poster!)

cocteau twins: blue bell knoll

cocteau twins: treasure

sex pistols: never mind the bollocks...

blondie: tide is high 12" (german)

specimen: batastrophe

redd kross: neurotica

the replacements: i will dare 12"

the replacements: let it be

the replacements: hootenanny

new york dolls: self-titled

alan vega: saturn strip

insect surfers: sonar safari (local new wave)

calculated x: self-titled (private press new wave)

julee cruise: floating into the night (produced by angelo badlamenti and david lynch)

au pairs: playing with a different sex

rem: dead letter office/green/fables of the reconstruction/document

talking heads: and she was 12"/remain in light/speaking in tongues/naked/little creatures

the police: syncronicity/regatta de blanc/outlandos d'amour

janes addiction: nothings shocking

grateful dead: in the dark

grateful dead: workingman's dead

george harrison: cloud nine

neil young: hawks & doves

blues image: open

sunkilmoon: tiny cities (mark kozelek doing modest mouse)

elvis costello: secret, profane & sugarcane

ryan adams & the cardinals: cardinology

jazz:

billie holiday: broadcast vol. 3 (esp)

jelly roll morton: 1938/1940

david matthews & whirlwind: shoogie wanna boogie

paul humphrey/shelly manne/willie bobo/louie bellson: drum session

gabor szabo: macho

lenny white: venusian summer

k. & j.j.: israel

ramsey lewis: funky serenity/upendo ni pamoja (2LP)

charles kynard: your mama don't dance (mainstream)

larry willis: inner crisis

richard groove holmes: six million dollar man

jimmy smith: black smith

junior mance: touch of

jack mcduff: fourth dimension

ray bryant: in the cut

mike longo: awakening (mainstream)

richard groove holmes: american pie

richard groove holmes: onsaya joy

pete yellin: dance of allegra (mainstream)

night blooming jazzmen: freedom jazz dance (mainstream)

george duke: save the country

eric kloss: essence

lonnie smith: mama wailer

johnny hammond smith: what's going on

funk/soul:

mandre: m3000

free movement: i've found someone

soul children: best of two worlds

purifys: pure sound of...

smokey robinson & miracles: anthology (3LP)

4 tops: best of (2LP)

jackie wilson: story (2LP)

solaris: self-titled

marz: make it right

marvin gaye: what's going on (later pressing)

marvin gaye: here my dear

various artists: lost soul vol. 1

black ivory: baby, won't you...

smokey robinson & miracle: one dozen roses

4 tops: nature planned it

mary wells: greatest hits

peggy scott & jo jo benson: lover's heaven

little anthony & the imperials: on a new street

esquires: get on up and get away

timmy thomas: why can't we live together

isley brothers: very best of (early tracks)

gloria lynne: dynamite!

big j: in 3-D

michael jackson: thriller

michael jackson: off the wall

Kurt Vile: "Overnight Religion"
Philadelphia songwriter and mega-producer Daniel Lanois are privy to the same secret: If you take the music of the baby-boomers and run it through a ton of effects, it sounds cool again. Hey, don't laugh, it worked for Bob Dylan on Oh, Mercy. And it works for Kurt Vile, too. A little bit of reverb and delay goes a long way here, turning the strummy "Overnight Religion," into something spacey and meditative. And probably at only a fraction of what Peter Gabriel had to pay, too.

Beastie Boys f. Nas: "Too Many Rappers"
Yeah, the Beastie Boys are old, but at least they aren't pretending otherwise. "Oh my god/ just look at me/ grandpa been rapping since '83," raps Mike D Ad-Rock on this new track, apparently debuted at this year's Bonnaroo festival. But where the Beastie Boys used to be bratty, here they're just sounding cranky–about contemporary rappers, holograms, and Wolf Blitzer. Ad-Rock, again, lays out the group's beef in articulate and unambiguous language. "All you crap rappers/ you're rapping like crap.

Free Energy: "Free Energy"
A big curve ball from DFA, the label who, up until this point at least, mainly concentrated on producing and releasing post-punk and retro-disco records. From the sound this song, though, Free Energy's influences predate all that club junk by at least ten years. The finger prints of Thin Lizzy, Big Star, and Shoes–bands that have never been closer than a thousand yards to a remix–are all over this. There is, however, still some cowbell going on.