Friday, December 16th, 2005

Wake Me When It's Over

Brooklynvegan reports that Longwave have been given the heave-ho by RCA. It’s been a rough year for the band, their solid new album There’s A Fire kind of slipped under everyone’s radar and they had tour after tour pulled out from under them as the bands they were supporting cancelled for whatever reason. That, combined with the fact that they never quite turned into the second coming of The Strokes that I’m sure RCA was hoping for pretty much spelled the end of that relationship.

Happily, the band appears to be soldiering on – a note on their MySpace page wryly states that they’ll be maintaining the page themselves from now on (as opposed, I imagine, to a lowly RCA lackey), and there’s even a newly recorded, untitled song for your listening pleasure. However, I don’t know what’s up with the copious use of the “blink” tag. Jeff – if you’re reading this – c’mon. You know better than that.

There is Stereolab news, but I can’t quite decipher it. There’s a new album out on March 7 and I don’t think it has a title yet, though there is a tracklist. What I have determined definitively is that they are touring North America and there’s a date at the Phoenix in Toronto for March 14. Almost for sure.

Joey Burns of Calexico gives Billboard and Pitchfork a sneak preview of their new full-length Garden Ruin, out April 11. He promises “moodiness and ambience”, but also “some more electric, rockin’ numbers”. Assuming that they played some of this material when I saw them live last week, I will indeed testify that Mr Burns is not lying.

James Mercer of The Shins tells Chart that their third album, tenatively entitled Sleeping Lessons, could be out in July or August of next year.

The Mountain Goats wish everyone a merry Christmas with a gift of two unreleased tracks, circa We Shall All Be Healed.

Spoon’s Britt Daniel will be rocking the mic on an upcoming episode of Veronica Mars with a karaoke version of Elvis Costello’s “Veronica”.

Cat Power has a new website to promote her upcoming album, The Greatest, out January 24. And if you want more Cat Power things to click on, try the ad over there on the right. Give my sponsors a thrill.

Prefix presents the initial list of acts confirmed to play SxSW. God, has no one ever heard of line breaks? Donewaiting also has the 2006 edition of their SxSW blog up and running.

Pitchfork stirs the pot with their list of the worst releases of 2005. I have no comment except to say I’m with them 200% on the slagging of M83’s “Car Chase Terror!” – that track alone keeps Before The Dawn Heals Us from getting more than a cursory listen every now and again. Sure I could just skip the track, but the knowledge that it’s even in my CD player makes me uncomfortable. So so so bad. They’ve also gotten a variety of artists to submit their own year-end lists, just like Filter, who continue to update their lists.

np – Longwave / There’s A Fire

By : Frank Yang at 11:21 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. angryrobot says:

    Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that Longwave news. That’s definitely a pattern we can expect to see repeating over the next couple of years. Coincidentally, I just saw a Longwave video last night and I couldn’t help but get the feeling they were some contemporary version of Gin Blossoms — a fairly generic sounding pop/rock band that is somehow being marketed by a major as "college" or "indie."

  2. tyrone says:

    Too bad Pitchfork dissed out Ninja High School in their worst-of 2005 thingie.

  3. Elvis says:

    "Veronica" is one of the best songs. Ever.

  4. Todd says:

    Any tips for someone who’s looking to go to SXSW for the first time? How do you get into the "industry" shows that your generic pass won’t work for.

  5. SecretLayer says:

    hahah, i thoguht the same about the SXSW list. i found myself accidently restarting the same lines.

  6. Frank says:

    Todd – I think contacting the publication/label/whomever is putting on the day show and asking to be put on the list is usually about all you can do. I didn’t really try last year, but did get on a couple but those didn’t end up being checked. Sometimes you can sneak in, sometimes you’re SOL. A lot of day shows are free, though, so if you can’t get into a private party, there’s certainly something else going on at the same time that’s worth seeing. I found the best advice I got for SxSW is to always have a contingency plan and don’t get too married to the idea of seeing any one band. If you end up missing someone, don’t let it ruin your day, just keep moving.

  7. MC Steinberg says:

    CHECK ME OUT! IT’LL BE WORTH IT!
    http://mcsteinberg.blogspot

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