Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Trespassers William reveals The Natural Order Of Things
MySpaceIt’s one of those bits and bobs days. Let’s begin.
Seattle dreampop artisans Trespassers William, who appear to once again be down to the core membership of guitarist Matt Browne and singer-guitarist Anna-Lynne Williams, have released details about their next release. The Natural Order Of Things is a five-track EP which follows 2007’s The Noble House as the band’s second consecutive mini-album since their last full-length, 2006’s exquisite Having.
It’s difficult to say what sort of direction this new release will augur for the band – The Noble House was a significant departure from Having, abandoning the trademark sonic denseness of producer Dave Fridmann for a balance between sparer, folkier material more in line with their debut release Anchor and sprawling ambient/instrumental excursions. Couple that with the surprisingly loud and heavy (though in very relative terms) live performance I caught at SxSW last year and you’ve got an act whose only constant seems to be Williams’ beautifully mournful voice and the ability to surprise without becoming too unfamiliar. Am I excited to hear this new release? Yes, I’d say so.
The Natural Order Of Things is due out on the 25th of May via UK label Gizeh, and to pique interest, they’ve provided the lead track”Sparrow” for download. I’ve also provided a track from Having for those of you who haven’t heard it, which is unfortunately probably most of you.
MP3: Trespassers William – “Sparrow”
MP3: Trespassers William – “Safe Sound
Congratulations go out to Aquarium Drunkard, who has just released a tribute album to Paul McCartney’s 1971 solo record RAM with an impressive roster of Los Angeles-based talent including Earlimart and Radar Bros. The album is available to download for free, but listeners are encouraged to make a donation to Macca-approved charity No More Landmines.
It figures, but almost immediately following last week’s post anticipating the new record and tour from Ohbijou, word came down that the album release has been delayed and the previously-announced Spring tour – including the April 18 date at the Opera House – have been postponed. Details are still forthcoming, but until then savour “Black Ice”, as it’s all there’ll be for the time being.
Death Cab For Cutie have released a new video. Update: And this just in – the Death Cab is coming back to town for a show April 5 at the Sound Academy with Cold War Kids and Ra Ra Riot as support. Tickets $40.50, on sale Thursday.
Video: Death Cab For Cutie – “Grapevine Fires”
PopMatters interviews Mac McCaughan about matters Superchunk, Portastatic and Merge. Superchunk’s new Leaves in the Gutter EP is out April 7.
New York Magazine profiles The Mountain Goats and their fans.
Le Blogotheque filmed a Take-Away Show with Johnny Flynn in Buenos Aires.
NPR talks to Neko Case, whose Middle Cyclone is out today.
Halifax’s Dog Day will release their new album Concentration on April 21 – get a taste below. They play the The Drake Underground on March 14 as part of CMW.
MP3: Dog Day – “Rome”
Amos The Transparent will also be in town next week for CMW – look for them at Rancho Relaxo at 1AM on Friday night – and they’ll have a new release along with them. The My, What Big Teeth You Have… EP will be available at live shows through the Spring and Summer and receive proper distribution come Fall – you can hear a couple tracks at their MySpace.
Magnet speaks to Wheat’s Brendan Harney about the forthcoming reissue of Hope & Adams and Medeiros and new album White Ink, Black Ink.
Pulp (online UK magazine, not band) welcomes Woodpigeon to their, uh, boardroom? for a session. Available in video and downloadable audio forms.
Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste writes Drowned In Sound a letter about their forthcoming album Veckatimest, out May 26.
Justin Townes Earle – son of Steve, yes, but an accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right – releases his debut sophomore effort Midnight At The Movies today and has a date at the Horseshoe on April 22, tickets $12.50. Laundromatinee featured Earle in a session a little while back, and if you’ve got a van to sell, he’s looking.
MP3: Justin Townes Earle – “Mama’s Eyes”
MP3: Justin Townes Earle – “What I Mean To You”
Yes, they were here just a few weeks ago but The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are coming back again. Can they pack Lee’s Palace again, so soon? We’ll find out April 28 – tickets for that show are $10.
MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Everything With You”
Lady Sovereign has a date at Lee’s Palace on May 1, tickets $20.
Loney Dear, whose Dear John has grown on me some since I reviewed it in January, has scheduled a North American headlining tour for May and will be at the Rivoli in Toronto on May 8.
MP3: Loney Dear – “Airport Surroundings”
They’re calling it “Unwigged & Unplugged: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer”, but what it REALLY is is Spinal Tap. Only without the wigs. And costumes. And with Folksmen songs from A Mighty Wind. Okay, maybe it’s not really Spinal Tap. But it’s as close as you’re going to get anytime soon, and it’ll be happening at Massey Hall on May 21. Billboard has complete tour dates and details and Vanity Fair has an interview with the band… in character.
MP3: Spinal Tap – “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight”
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
Review of Tindersticks' The Hungry Saw and giveaway
Richard DumasHow long have people been telling me to listen to Tindersticks? At least a couple years, probably longer – at one point a label rep was so sure the Nottingham-based band and I were kismet that they sent me copies of their last two studio albums – Can Our Love… and Waiting For The Moon – not out of any PR duty but because they simply felt I needed to hear them.
And I have listened, periodically spinning either of the two records and seeing the appeal more and more each time but never quite needing to hear them. Part of the problem, as I see it now, is that their sweeping, jazz- and r&b-accented, orchestrally-appointed world of desperate romance and melancholy isn’t the sort of place you can visit casually, you have to inhabit it. And I have more than enough downer music in my collection as is – something I realized when trying to put together a playlist for running a little while back. But I digress.
The arrival last Spring of their latest album and first in five years, The Hungry Saw, proved to be the kick in the ass I needed to revisit my unintentional but now not inconsiderable Tindersticks CD collection. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say that Saw is a more accessible entry point to their sound or if I’d already been conditioned enough by the other records, but things are now falling into place quite nicely for me with this band. It’s still unmistakeably Tindersticks – nothing with Stuart Staples’ distinctive croon could really be otherwise – but there’s a bit more sprightliness to the sound. Only a bit, the beautiful booziness and bleakness persists, but there’s enough to give the record a slightly brighter feel and to endow Staples’ delivery with a bit of coyness to temper its innate moroseness.
There’s still nothing here that might make it onto the exercise playlist, but if I need a soundtrack for moping, The Hungry Saw – and its compatriots – will be top of the stack. And considering how reverentially the band’s earliest works are spoken of, it’s possible that stack will be getting larger.
The band is embarking on a rare North American tour starting this week and will be at the Opera House in Toronto next Tuesday, March 10. And courtesy of Against The Grain, 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 Tindersticks” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest will close at midnight, March 6.
MP3:Tindersticks – “The Hungry Saw”
MySpace: Tindersticks
QRO, Music Snobbery and Metro talk to White Lies, whose debut To Lose My Life gets a North American release on March 10 and who play Lee’s Palace on March 31.
Virgin Music interviews Glasvegas. They have a sold-out show at the Mod Club on April 3.
Spin has excerpted a portion of their feature interview with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, who are playing the Kool Haus on May 4.
Clash gets a studio update from Twilight Sad frontman James Graham about how progress is coming on album number two. The band will be hitting the road with Mogwai this Spring and be at the Phoenix on May 4.
Scottish quintet My Latest Novel, who made an impression back in 2006 with their debut Wolves will return with a follow-up on May 18 in the form of Death And Entrances. Details at The Line Of Best Fit, sample via SxSW.
MP3: My Latest Novel – “Dragonhide”
NME reports that Manic Street Preachers have completed work on their new album – at last check entitled Journal For Plague Lovers – and are aiming for a mid-May release.
Also due out in May, the new album from Maximo Park – NME has the just-announced title of the record, and that name is Quicken The Heart.
Chart rounds up some recent quotes from Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, wherein he reveals he’s almost ready to hit the studio to record the follow-up to last year’s Dig Out Your Soul and that he does all his blogging via text message.
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
WikipediaI remember soliciting suggestions for Polaris Prize nominations back in 2006 and having more than a few people declare that Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings The Flood was their favourite Canadian release of the year. And it’d have been a slam dunk if only Neko Case was Canadian.
It’s understandable that people assume that the Virginian (the name of her first record wasn’t picked randomly, people) had Canuck roots – she moved to Vancouver for college and played in a number of local bands, most conspicuously as drummer in Maow. And she’s part of one of the most successful Canadian bands going – The New Pornographers – and her first backing band was The Sadies, with whom she still collaborates frequently. No, the girl is American through and through but Canada does love her so.
And the feeling is mutual – in 2001 she released the tour-only EP Canadian Amp, half of which consisted of covers of Canadian artists and one of whom was Neil Young. Now Young is one of the most oft-covered artists Canada has ever produced but Case selected a track that hasn’t been done to death – “Dreamin’ Man” from 1992’s Harvest Moon, a song which finds Neil at his simplest and loveliest – and she more than does it justice.
Case will release her new album Middle Cyclone this week and is touring to support, though both Toronto shows April 17 and 18 at Trinity-St Paul’s are sold out. Young also has a new album out on March 31 April 7, the automotive bailout-themed concept album Fork In The Road, and considering that its rush-release has pushed the Archives set on the back burner, it may be safe to say that this could be the least-anticipated Neil Young record ever. Those cities on his April Canadian tour may be right to be nervous about what they’re going to get. No one wants to say Greendale but they’re thinking it.
NPR, Chart and The National Post have interviews with Neko Case.
MP3: Neko Case – “Dreamin’ Man”
Video: Neil Young – “Dreamin’ Man” (live)
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Caleb BuyersMost people look forward to their time off, but Carl Newman seems averse to not working even for a moment. Immediately after touring The New Pornographers’ last album Challengers into the ground, he hopped back in the studio in his solo guise of AC Newman and turned out the rather fine Get Guilty.
And now, of course, he’s heading back on tour. With a touring band that’s maybe not quite as “super-” as the Pornographers but still pretty damn good – Jon Wurster, Shane Nelken, Miranda Brown, Shaun Brodie and Tara Szczygielski – Newman will be cruising the highways and byways of North America throughout March, including a March 11 stop at Lee’s Palace in Toronto. Update: Just confirmed – Nicole Atkins, who contributes vocals to the record, will be joining the band for a few east coast dates including the Toronto show!
And, courtesy of Against The Grain, I’ve got a couple pairs of passes to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to get guilty” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, March 7.
There’s interviews with Newman at The Santa Barbara Independent and Crawdaddy.
MP3: AC Newman – “There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve”
MP3: AC Newman – “Submarines Of Stockholm”
MySpace: AC Newman
Friday, February 27th, 2009
The Bird & The Bee's Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future review and giveaway
Autumn de WildeAsk yourself, “what is the smoothest record I’ve heard this year?” Now if the answer is anything except The Bird & The Bee’s new record Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, then you simply haven’t heard Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future. The sophomore effort from the duo of Inara George and Greg Kurstin is effortlessly stylish and slick, in the very best sense of the word, blending lounge, jazz, tropicalia and, most importantly, Bacharachian pop into a blend that’s unabashedly retro in spirit but still very contemporary. After all – true cool doesn’t go out of fashion.
The Bird – that’d be George – has the sort of gorgeous coo that was made to go with berets and huge sunglasses but most importantly, perfectly suited to the sort of divine melodies that you’ll find in tracks such as “My Love” and “Birthday”. The Bee – Kurstin, of course – surrounds that voice with the perfect musical shimmer and shine and vintage beats of the sort you might have gotten had modern computers existed in the ’60s. And together, they create the sort of tunes that’d perfectly soundtrack the act of driving a convertible down from the Hollywood Hills and straight into a downtown penthouse lounge. Don’t question the physics of such an act – if you’re cool enough, it’s no problem. Sure, it’s all decidedly saccharine and breezy, but when you look and sound this good, who needs depth? Just sit back and go with it.
Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future is the sort of record that, by rights, should probably only ever be played on a proper vintage turntable, and so to that end, courtesy of Toolshed Marketing, I’ve got two copies of Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future to give away in lovely double-LP form. If you’d like one of them, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to hear about The Bird & The Bee” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. The contest open to residents of North America and will close at midnight, March 6.
Culture Bully and The Seattle Times have interviews with The Bird & The Bee.
Video: The Bird & The Bee – “Love Letter To Japan”
Video: The Bird & The Bee – “Polite Dance Song”
MySpace: The Bird & The Bee
The Walker Art Center and Artinfo.com ask some questions of Dean & Britta in advance of their performances with screenings of Warhol’s 13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests. The DVD of the film will be out March 24.
Pitchfork talks to Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio. They play the Sound Academy on June 2.
Brendan Canning discusses revenue streams with Blurt.
Filter has a feature on Andrew Bird. He plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 3.
Exclaim talks to M Ward.
PitchforkTV has a video session with Alela Diane.
The release date for the new album from Wilco has narrowed from “Spring” to “June”.
Zach Condon talks to The AV Club about bringing Beirut to Mexico for the recording of March Of The Zapotec.
eye talks to Asobi Seksu about their decision to tone it down and go it as a duo on Hush. They play the El Mocambo next Tuesday, March 3. Bell supports.
Pitchfork gets a list of their favourite things from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.
PitchforkTV goes into the studio with Dinosaur Jr, who have just signed with Jagjaguwar and will release their new album this Summer.
The Daily Swarm talks to Bob Mould about his forthcoming autobiography and new album The Life & Times, due out April 7.
Tommy Stinson tells Billboard that the recent round of reissues may well close the book for good on The Replacements – a reunion does not appear to be in the cards. Magnet, in the meantime, lists of the Mats’ top five overrated and underrated songs.
NPR has a session and interview with Robyn Hitchcock. He’s at the Mod Club on April 16 with the Venus 3.
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