Broken Bells, the hot new band featuring Danger Mouse and Shins frontman James Mercer, has announced their first full tour, and San Francisco’s own Morning Benders (pictured) has been selected to open for them. The boys of Morning Benders are currently on the road touring but will join Broken Bells in San Diego May 18. The tour will stop in San Francisco at the Regency Ballroom May 21.

One of the most iconic songs of the 2000s almost wasn’t: the White Stripes‘ “Seven Nation Army” was initially rejected by their labels as a single. Jack White recently told XFM presenter Steve Harris, “It’s a compelling idea, thinking about singles. Nobody knows. Record labels don’t know, artists don’t really know most of the time. I can think back to when ‘Elephant’ came out I wanted to put ‘Seven Nation Army’ out as a single. The label in England and the label in America both didn’t want to.”

We like Canadian duo Tegan & Sara‘s recent single “Alligator,” true story. It’s super effin’ cute. The gals are releasing a digital album of 17 remixes of the tune, which we find a little excessive, but check out this sweet remix by Toro y Moi. It’s the perfect amount cool added to Tegan & Sara’s quirk.

The Morning Benders – “Excuses”
From the album Big Echo (Rough Trade Records)

Bay Area band, The Morning benders pay homage to Phil Specotor in this collaborative Yours Truly performance

The Morning Benders
Big Echo
[Rough Trade]

Full disclosure: Berkeley’s indie pop sweethearts The Morning Benders warm my soul. With their sophomore release Big Echo the Morning Benders aim to impress with their restraint and maturity as opposed to the bubbling enthusiasm that made 2008′s Talking Through Tin Cans such an amazing debut. Don’t get us wrong, that vibrancy is totally still there, just more subtle and wrapped in a fuller sound. “All Day Day Light” is the perfect example of how everything is more three-dimensional, with a sound so tangible you can almost touch it. In “Promises” Chris Chu’s voice has never sounded better, and you can’t help but dig those sway-inducing chords. The album ends on the very high high of “Sleeping In”, a Wall-of-Sound-esque track that has that fantastic lull into a big finish of great guitar work. Big Echo is the proof that they could do what seemed impossible: The Morning Benders can indeed improve with age.

Find it at: Amazon

Head over to the web home of The Morning Benders right now and download the single“Promises”. It’s FREE! If this song is any indication of what is to come from their new album Big Echo (via Rough Trade 3/9) then we’re looking at an early nom to every best of 2010 list.

At first we were a bit skeptical about the partial lineup announcement for this year’s Outside Lands Festival, save for Pearl Jam. Then, the remaining bands were rolled out and a collective sigh could be heard around the bay.

The initial Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival lineup is:

Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Incubus, Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A, Jason Mraz, Ween, The Mars Volta, Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, TV on the Radio, Dead Weather, Atmosphere, Tom Jones, Silversun Pickups, The National, Q-Tip, Brett Dennen, Built To Spill, Mastodon, Raphael Saadiq, Calexico, Os Mutantes, Midnite, JJ Grey & Mofro, Kinky, Deerhunter, Lila Downs, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, The Dodos, Bettye, LaVette, Dengue Fever, Heartless Bastards, The Dirtbombs,, Lenka, Akron/Family, John Vanderslice, Matt and Kim, Portugal., The Man, The Morning Benders, The Duke Spirit, Zee Avi, Blind Pilot, SambaDa, Ryan Bingham,West Indian Girl, Extra Golden

Now watch this ridiculously clever video that has us nostalgic for Fraggle Rock.

- Article by Anna Gazdowicz.

If you hover long enough over at SF Gate the page peels back and reveals a partial list of this year’s 2009 Outside Lands lineup. It’s pretty sneaky for us so we’ll just post it here for you and save time: Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Incubus, Black Eyed Peas, Jason Mraz, M.I.A, Mars Volta, Thievery Corp, Modest Mouse, Ween. OMG. Any of these bands would be huge on their own. We personally have a slight obsession with Pearl Jam. Can you imagine Eddie Vedder warbling away under a canopy of Monterrey Pine?

Once again, here’s a few things to keep in mind this year.

1. Where comfortable shoes. You’ll be walking like a modern day John Muir.
2. Bring water and ibuprofen. The booze, dust + smoke, and noise will drain your life.
3. Start light, but bring something warm to wear. It’s August in SF, anywhere else it’s smoldering like a Vietnamese clay pot. Not here.
4. Pick your bands and map out a plan of attack early. There’s no way you’re going to see everything. Just plan out your must sees.
5. Don’t even try to meet someone by the soundboard or entry gate. You’ll never find them. Just show up together.
6. Don’t smoke pot if you’re inclined to have bad trips.

- Article by Anna Gazdowicz.

We sit down with Chris Chu, guitarist and lead vocalist for the Berkeley-based band, The Morning Benders.

My book is open in my lap (Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself to Live, in case you were wondering), but I’m not reading it. Currently, my brain can be occupied by only two things: 1) That I am en route to Austin for my very first SXSW music festival experience and I am unbelievably excited, and 2) my BART train to SFO from Berkeley was delayed 30 minutes and is moving impossibly slow, and there’s a good chance I’m going to miss my damn flight. I have to stop myself from checking my cell phone every five minutes to determine whether or not I’m actually going to make it. After rushing through check-in and somehow being blessed with a ridiculously short line at security, I arrive at my gate just in the nick of time to board. I sit between two really unfriendly frat dudes talking about how excited they are for the Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, and the rest is history.

Actually, no, the rest is not history. This is only the beginning of my first SXSW journey, which I am hoping to chronicle here at the Owl from now until when I leave at the crack of dawn on Sunday, March 22nd. I’m armed with camera, comfy shoes, and courageous spirit. And sunscreen.

My first official event at SXSW was the 2009 Bay Area Takeover, presented by our friends at the Bay Bridged and Tricycle Records. It was a perfect way to kick off SXSW for yours truly – some familiar bands and familiar faces at an excellent venue in downtown Austin (the Beauty Bar), to help me ease into such a crazy journey. The Takeover was very well-attended, the performances were all great, and most importantly, the event truly represented some of the best bands that the Bay Area has to offer and brought them to a forefront of the national indie music scene.

The Red Verse

Sholi

The Heavenly States

The Morning Benders

Other Thursday highlights:

Annie and the Beekeepers (Thru Windows/Canon Records party): A charming alt-country band, fronted by crisp, lovely vocals and augmented by lush cello and upright bass. The band’s songs are sweet and well-written, and their lively cover of an Aretha Franklin song (though I can’t, for the life of me, remember which tune) was particularly engaging.

Annie and the Beekeepers

Joe Pug (Thru Windows/Canon Records party): It’s a shame that more people don’t yet know about Joe Pug. His Dylan-esque prowess is extremely addictive and admirable, and his songs will simultaneously break and warm your heart. His performance at Fado Irish Pub was simply a joy – I couldn’t believe there weren’t more people there, singing along to “Hymn #101″ right beside me. Check him out now, if you haven’t already.

Joe Pug

Stay tuned for Friday and Saturday!

A pat ourselves on the back moment. We jumped on the Morning Benders train before you did. But that means nothing. And, you’d probably disagree anyway. So, truce. Here’s the deal, the Berkeley lads are experiencing what many of us never will – a rapid rise to: “Can you sign my t-shirt” status. It won’t be long before you’re using that last bit of credit on your overused plastic card to see them at some over-priced, way too crowded venue. Thankfully, that time isn’t now, because you can see them co-headlining Slim’s this Friday with the Submarines. And, because we love you so much (let’s put that whole “we were first” spat behind us) here’s a free download of Your Dark Side off their new EP Grain of Salt.

‘Battle of the Bands’ sounds so dangerous, doesn’t it? Bands fight to the death (not really) in a ‘Mad Max-like’ setting (again, not really) with nothing but their instruments. Read the full story