Kori Gardner, 1/2 of the sickly-sweet indie-pop duo Mates of State (which also features her husband Jason Hammel) has created a tour diary at Babble called “Band on the (Diaper) Run”, covering their experiences as a touring band with their two year old daughter Magnolia accompanying them. The entries are extremely cool, showing the steps the band’s crew, nanny, mother and father take in making sure the environment and experiences are as enjoyable as possible for the two year old. So far the band and family have played together with Madonna (who I’m sure enjoyed meeting their daughter), swam together in the fountain of youth in Iceland, headed to Australia, toured with Death Cab for Cutie (who are now Magnolia’s best friends) and enjoyed lots of rain and mashed peas in London. An awesome adventure for any two year old and I have to give much much credit for the care that the parents put into giving their child an awesome experience starting at such an early age. Watch their latest video for the track “Like U Crazy” over at our little brother-blog Tropics and Meridians and watch for the shout-out to their daughter, which is a regular easter egg throughout Mates of State’s songs and videos.

Read more: Band on the (Diaper) Run 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | Mates of State

I’ve gotten a few emails asking when we’re going to start posting music videos again, so I thought I’d go ahead and make an early announcement. Over the past week or so we’ve been soft launching the newest blog in our network, Tropics & Meridians. Bonus point if you catch the band reference in the title.

From now on, all of our indie music video posts will be carried on by those scurvy dogs over at Tropics & Meridians, so give them a visit or keep an eye on the footer for the latest posts from around our network.

See/Hear more: Tropics & Meridians

On January 27th, legendary indie music producer J. Robbins and partner Janet Morgan gave birth to their first child, a boy named Callum. As Callum began to grow, his parents began to notice that Cal was having difficulty reaching the development milestones a parent expects from a healthy child. Cal was having difficulties biting his toes, squeezing his parent’s fingers, or even rolling around on his own. After a recent pediatrician’s visit in September, J and Janet were given the news they feared the most, something was in fact wrong with their son. Cal was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy or Type 1 SMA. SMA affects the brain’s ability to communicate with the body’s voluntary muscles, used for such activities as crawling, walking, head and neck control, even breathing and swallowing. If Cal lives past his second birthday, he’ll never be able to walk on his own and will have to endure a lifetime of occupational therapy.

Many know J from his legendary presence in the punk, indie and hardcore scene since the early 80s, from performing in bands such as Government Issue, Jawbox and Burning Airlines or producing such bands as Jets to Brazil, Jawbreaker, The Dismemberment Plan and Against Me!, J has touched many lives in many different ways and now here’s a chance to give back. Being an independent music producer and the sole earner in the family, J’s single-payer insurance surely won’t be of as much help as one would hope, which brings me to independent record label Desoto Record’s drive to help benefit Callum. A (non tax-deductable) account has been created for Callum which you can donate to via PayPal (as well as major credit cards). All donations go directly to the Robbins family in order to continue Callum’s care and to help make the whole family’s life as comfortable as possible in this sad time.

Read more: Donate to the Robbins family to help care for Cal | JRobbins.net

Lift to Experience were a primal force in independent rock in the late 90s. Hailing from Texas and damn proud of it, Lift to Experience were shining bright with the release of their debut (concept) album “The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads” on England’s seminal Bella Union Records (run by ex-Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde). The album is a twisting tale of guitars, prophesizing the end of the world where Texas is the holy land (huh???). A pretty fitting tale from a man whose father was a pentecostal preacher who believed he could will things into being by just simply having faith. Unfortunately the band ceased to be shortly after the release of the single for “These are the days”, with no hopes of a reunion according to Bella Union. Singer/front man Josh Pearson is currently touring in support of his upcoming solo album, also on Bella Union.

Watch the video for “These are the days” by Lift to Experience after the jump..
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Not happy with just posting the previous Broadcast video we’re back to our favorite British noise-makers, this time with their video for “Papercuts” off of the infamous Warp DVD from several years back. From 2000, the video for “Papercuts” was directed by Barback and definitely scores as one of our top Broadcast tracks. Broadcast records for Duophic Records, Warp, and Tommy Boy. Enjoy.

“Papercuts” by Brodcast after the jump..

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We wouldn’t really know where to start with Stereolab. A Bunch of Nerds favorite, over their long long career, Stereolab has produced many amazing tracks which we could have posted, but, we had to choose one (don’t worry, the rest will come in future posts). For our first Stereolab video, we’ve decided to go with an older track and shoot, somewhat hard to find actually, but naturally up on YouTube. The song is title “Ping Pong” from the lab’s 1994 album “Mars Audiac Quintet”, which funnily enough was connected through licensing to Sub Pop, rather than Stereolab’s seminal Duophonic label. After the sad passing of co-vocalist Mary Hansen and more recently, the band being dropped from Elektra, Stereolab took some much needed rest to refocus, working on small tours and the member’s various side-projects.

Watch the video after the jump..

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Starting out in Maine during the early 90s, Rex was a powerhouse trio of experimental post-rockers (featuring ex-Codeine member Doug Scharin, also of HiM fame), releasing several critically-acclaimed albums, followed by tours with bands such as June of ’44, The Sea and Cake, Sebadoh and many others. Rex unfortunately hasn’t produced anything lately, but rumours are often present about a reunion being possible, we can only sit back and hope.

Watch the video for Rex’s “Jet” after the jump..

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Daedelus hails from Santa Monica, California, where he spends his days dreaming of new ways to weave the storylines of his thoughts into musical pieces of art which he spreads throughout the world. Often described as a musical romantic, Daedelus chops, splices and weaves various sound sources through his homebrew, circuit-bent machines and comes out with astounding releases pulling inspiration from decades long past and futures not yet experienced. A true gentleman artist, Daedelus’ music will take you on a journey, while the artist himself beats you at a few rounds of Wario Ware.

Watch the video for “Just Briefly” from Daedelus’ 2005 album “Exquisite Corpse” on Mush Records after the jump..

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isan have been releasing music together since 1996, recording various albums, singles and remixes in the past for many labels and artists (Depeche Mode, Figurine and Phasmid to name a few). The beauty behind isan is that they work the majority of their time apart, communicating primarily through email and post, uniting for the occasional live show or festival. isan now count Berlin super-label Morr Music as their spiritual home and have recently released their new album, “Plans Drawn in Pencil” on CD and 12″ vinyl.

Space out while watching the video for “Gunnera” produced by Mark Allon after the jump..

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The creator of the excellent Geometry Wars clone, Grid Wars, has been asked by Geometry Wars creator Bizarre Creations to remove all links for downloading Grid Wars from the creator’s site (whew, say that 3 times quickly). Although I admit, the clone DID hit a little too close to Bizarre’s home, it is a bit sad that a freeware tribute to an excellent game which isn’t even being sold commercially or sold on the same system has been shot down without an official version to replace it. Best wishes to the developer and here’s to hoping he comes out with some new shooters to replace Grid Wars, or at least get a job offer from Bizarre to help with the next version of Geometry Wars.

Sorry folks… I’ve had to remove the link to the download.

Email from BizarreCreations:
“We’re beginning to feel the effects of the Geometry Wars clones on our sales via Microsoft now and are beginning a process to begin to more robustly protect our copyright and intellectual property. Therefore, I’d like to ask you in an amicable fashion to stop infringing our IP and pull the game ‘Grid Wars’ from the internet for download. I hope you understand and are able to do this without us having to take further steps.”

Read more: Mark Incitti’s Blitz creations | Grid Wars review