Sunday, January 24th, 2010
The Magnetic Fields cover Fiddler On The Roof
AmazonStephin Merritt is not a man generally given to performing other peoples’ songs. And while it’s a bit ironic, considering his songs are some of the most-covered in indie-dom, you can hardly blame him considering how ridiculously prolific he is with various bands in The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies and The Future Bible Heroes, to say nothing of his recent stage musical work. The man writes a lot of quality tunes and there’s only so much time in the day – why waste it on other peoples’ material?
When he does reinterpret someone else’s song, however, he picks his spots. Like his contribution to Knitting On The Roof, the 1999 tribute album to the Broadway classic, wherein he offers a ukulele-powered rendition of the show’s most famous song and makes it about a million times more dour in the process. His Reb Tevye is not a jolly sort, no. Of course, it’s also hard to imagine Merritt dancing around a barn or consorting with chickens so perhaps direct comparisons to Topol’s interpretation are misplaced.
The new Magnetic Fields album Realism is out this week and they play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 8. There are currently no major productions of Fiddler On The Roof running anywhere A touring production of Fiddler On The Roof is coming to Toronto in June and you can rent the movie pretty much anywhere. Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.
MP3: The Magnetic Fields – “If I Were A Rich Man”
Video: “If I Were A Rich Man” (from Fiddler On The Roof)
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
PolyvinylI’ve easily seen Asobi Seksu live more than a half-dozen times, so I think I can say with some authority that I know what you can expect from one of their shows. Yuki Chikudate will sing angelically in English and Japanese whilst laying down swirling synth lines and whipping her hair around, James Hanna will turn launch walls of heavily-effected, heavily-amplified guitar at the audience without making eye contact, the rhythm section will probably be different from the last time they were in town, strobes will blind everyone and the band will inevitably ask for the stage lights to be turned down to almost nothing. Asobi Seksu have their thing and they do it well.
Except with their last album, they decided to do something else entirely. After taking a slight step away from the shoegazing sturm und drang of their first couple records on last year’s Hush, they followed it up quickly and unexpectedly with a live album of sorts entitled Rewolf. Recorded at London’s Olympic Studios, it featured acoustic reworkings of old material and a cover that managed to make the already dreamy-sounding band even dreamier. More a sidebar than a reinvention, it certainly showcases a different side of the band.
And as such, it’ll certainly be a different sort of show when Asobi Seksu brings their acoustic aesthetic to the Drake Underground on February 1. Somehow I don’t think the strobe lights will quite fit, even when Chikudate is really going to work on the glockenspiel. Tickets for the performance are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, but courtesy of Collective Concerts I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Asobi Seksu” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, January 29.
There’s interviews with Chikudate at the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Bay-Guardian. Yeah, I think maybe the band was in San Francisco recently.
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Thursday” (acoustic)
MP3: Asobi Seksu – “Suzanne”
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Johnny MotoAdam Franklin’s resume is a long and impressive one – guitarist in Shake Appeal, leader of Swervedriver, principal of Toshack Highway, half of Magnetic Morning and title role in Adam Franklin & The Bolts Of Melody, with duties throughout all of them remaining consistent – craft guitar rock that ranges from the roaring to hypnotic and make it look effortless. And while technically Swervedriver’s reunion continues and anytime Sam Fogarino has a spare moment Magnetic Morning can be back in action, it’s as the last of these projects that currently has Franklin’s full attention.
Though his last solo album Spent Bullets came out just last March, he’s already completed a follow-up entitled I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years and set a May 18 release date for it. And while that’s a ways off yet, Franklin isn’t being idle – clearly that’s not in his nature. He’s currently on a North American tour that’ll surely feature material new and old and which stops in at the Drake Underground in Toronto on January 31. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, but courtesy of Collective Concerts (formerly the good folks at ATG and RMS, if you were wondering), I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away to the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be a Bolt Of Melody” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, January 29.
There’s feature articles on Franklin at The Georgia Straight, The San Francisco Examiner and The AV Club.
MySpace: Adam Franklin
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Review of Editors’ In This Light And On This Evening
Kevin WestebergThe first thing to keep in mind when listening to Editors is that they’re patently ridiculous. Their grandiose, hyper-dramatic Brit-rock may not be as over-the-top absurd as, say, Muse, say, but it does trend along those same lines. Throw in frontman Tom Smith’s gift for crafting nonsensical lyrics and delivering them as with an earnest, clenched-teeth intensity, and if you’re able to reconcile that before sitting down for a listen – and I, despite my better judgment, find that I can – then you’re fine.
While their debut The Back Room was decidedly lean post-rock, the follow-up An End Has A Start took a more widescreen, anthemic approach, upping the ante in dynamics, sonic scope and melodramatics. Both records, however, were built firmly on a foundation of guitars and that makes their third record In This Light And On This Evening, with its massive banks of synthesiszers lifted from the goth and New Wave movements of the late ’70s and early ’80s and buffed to a 21st century sheen, something of a departure. But only something. As the title track and lead single “Papillon” prove, Editors can be just as visceral and thrilling pounding on plastic keys as wrangling guitar strings, but when they fall into a more ponderous, mid-tempo groove as they do on the second half of the record, the results are less engaging and their weak points aren’t sufficiently masked by their strengths.
Editors make easy critical targets for the reasons stated above and many others, and people generally aren’t shy about taking those shots. But they deserve credit for being good at what they do and yet be willing to completely screw with their formula – that the results aren’t an unqualified triumph almost makes the effort more noble. That said, they’d do well to bust out the guitars again for album number four. I think everyone will be happier that way.
PopMatters has an interview with guitarist Chris Urbanowicz while Flavorwire and Filter chat with drummer Ed Lay. In This Light And On This Evening was released in North America this week, three months after the UK release. It’s currently available to stream over at Spinner, but only the album itself – not the five bonus tracks which have been collectively dubbed Cuttings II and are supposed to be appended to the North America release. They play the Phoenix on February 16.
Video: Editors – “You Don’t Know Love”
Video: Editors – “Papillon”
Stream: Editors / In This Light And On This Evening
Another British recipient of a delayed release is Little Boots, whose debut Hands will be available over here domestically come March 2. She’s booked a much fuller North American tour than the one that brought her to Wrongbar in September and it includes a date at The Phoenix on April 30, with Dragonette supporting.
Video: Little Boots – “Remedy”
Video: Little Boots – “New In Town”
And if Under The Radar reports that the release dates for Laura Marling’s I Speak Because I Can have been moved around a bit from initial announcements, and will now be out in North America on April 6, a couple weeks after its March 22 UK release date. She plays Lee’s Palace on February 9. NME has had a listen and offers up some track-by-track impressions.
Paste declares Mumford & Sons one of their “best of what’s next”. They’re at Lee’s Palace on February 15 and their debut Sigh No More gets a North American release on March 15.
BBC6 gets Bernard Butler’s thoughts on the impending one-off Suede reunion, which he says he wasn’t asked to participate in. But probably would have said no anyways.
A pleasant surprise from Tuesday Guide yesterday, noting that Elbow’s glorious The Seldom Seen Kid Live At Abbey Road collaboration with the BBC Concert Orchestra – previously only available in the UK and thus as a PAL/Region-2 DVD – has been released in North America with an NTSC/Region-free DVD. Not cheap, but cheaper than buying the UK version and you can actually watch it here!
Video: Elbow – “Grounds For Divorce” (live at Abbey Road)
Paste talks with Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, whose new record The Winter Of Mixed Drinks is set for a March 9 release.
Mogwai Special Moves is a website dedicated to the forthcoming Mogwai live film Burning and a live MP3 of “2 Wrongs Make 1 Right” can be had in exchange for your email address. Prefix has details on the CD/DVD/3LP live album entitled, appropriately, Special Moves, coming out sometime this Spring.
Rolling Stone gathers up the latest bits and bobs of news from camp Radiohead, but not including this video interview with Ed O’Brien at Midem where he talks about the problems the band had whilst making In Rainbows.
The xx have released a new video from XX. They will be at the Phoenix on April 4 and the Kool Haus on April 20.
Video: The xx – “VCR”
PitchforkTV takes The Big Pink up onto a Manhattan rooftop and makes them play for their cameras… or else. They can expect a less acrophobic environment when they play The Mod Club on March 24.
Disorder interviews The High Wire. Their new record The Sleep Tape is out in March.
Los Campesinos! have put out a video for the title track of their new record Romance Is Boring, out next Tuesday.
Video: Los Campesinos! – “Romance Is Boring”
Baeble Music is streaming video of a complete Camera Obscura concert from the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn last November.
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
The Radio Dept. promise new record for March. Seriously. They mean it.
MySpaceIt’s not the firm, 100% release date that you’d want to see before getting excited, but this update from The Radio Dept. declaring that their third record Clinging To A Scheme – constantly rescheduled and delayed since September 2008 – will be available on CD and LP via Labrador in March is the most official thing we’ve seen yet.
Past target dates have come from their label and they’ve had to backpedal on each one, but this one comes from the band, and they’ve sealed it with a stream of a new song, album art and even a tracklisting! It seems the 2008 single “Freddie & The Trojan Horse” didn’t end up making the cut but their entire 2009 output – “David” – did. Either way, I’m allowing myself to hope this time the record will finally become reality and it somehow is worth the almost four-year wait since Pet Grief and year and a half delay from its originally-promised date. And I won’t hold my breath for live dates.
Update: Aaaaand they manage to push it back yet again. But the official new release date is April 20 in North America, April 21 in Europe. EXCITED.
MP3: The Radio Dept. – “David”
And keeping on the theme of reclusive Swedes finally getting into sharing, jj have let slip not only some images of themselves, but a couple new songs via a free digital single – one of which will also appear on their forthcoming album No. 3, out March 9. They’ll be at the Phoenix on April 4, on stage for all to see. Unless they turn off the lights. Which they probably will.
MP3: jj – “Let Go”
MP3: jj – “My Way”
The Line Of Best Fit interviews Philip Ekstrom of The Mary Onettes.
The Raveonettes have made a video for the cryptically-titled new single from In And Out Of Control, “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)”. I think there might be a message here; I’m not sure.
Video: The Raveonettes – “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)”
The Varsity chats with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth.
NOW has words with J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. They’ve got an in-store at Sonic Boom tonight at 6:30 – be there early with an item of canned food for admission – and a sold-out show at the Phoenix afterward. eye also has an interview with Lou Barlow in the context of solo artist and opener for himself tonight.
Paste talks to Ted Leo, who is preparing his next record with The Pharmacists in The Brutalist Bricks, due out March 9.
Scout Niblett has set a March 17 date at the Horseshoe as part of a Spring tour in support of her new record The Calcination of Scout Niblett, out next week. Tickets for the show are $11.50 in advance.
MP3: Scout Niblett – “The Calcination Of Scout Niblett”
Last week I mentioned the release next week of El May, the debut album from Lara Meyerratken – well an MP3 from the album is now available to grab.
MP3: El May – “Don’t You”
Matablog has announced the next New Pornographers record will be entitled Together and be out May 4. And yes, both Dan and Neko are on board again.
Canadian Press gets some information from Amy Millan about the new Broken Social Scene record, including the fact that all of she, Emily Haines and Leslie Feist are appearing on the album and one track will feature all three singing together. It was reported that the album would be out in May, in time for their big Spinner Canada is streaming Basia Bulat’s new album Heart Of My Own – it’s in stores next Tuesday.
Stream: Basia Bulat / Heart Of My Own
The Hidden Cameras have rolled out a new video from Origin: Orphan.
Video: The Hidden Cameras – “Underage”
Via MySpace blog, Oh No Forest Fires have offered more explanation for their decision to disband, revealed that their doubling their recorded legacy with a second (mini) album that will be made available for free when it’s ready, offered a first track from said album to download (below), and announced that this Saturday’s final show at the Horseshoe will also be a benefit fundraiser for Haiti, with all proceeds from the $7 cover going to Partners In Health to assist the disaster-ridden country.
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “Spontaneous Changes In Isolated Systems (Song For Bobby)”
SubPop is giving away a big-ass MP3 mix of their Winter 2010 releases. Go get.
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