Gibson Guitars Under Investigation by U.S. Police for Using “Illegal Wood” to Manufacture their Instruments; Remains Unclear Whether or Not this “Illegal Wood” Was Norwegian in Source (In Other News, Stream that Version of “Norwegian Wood,” It’s All in Pan Flute) [NME]
Brooklyn’s Small Black to Release Two Singles Over the Next Couple Months; I Use Small News Story to Plug My Review of Small Black’s Debut EP, Our Recent Interview With Small Black, and to Take One More Moment to Say Small Black is a Really Awesome Band [Pitchfork]
Formerly Elusive MC DOOM up to Old Tricks, Never Showing Up to a Concert in L.A., and Having a Doppleganger Fill on a Laptop…Watch the Depressing Footage Here. Depressed? Well, Check Out Doom’s Madvilliany 2 Snippets, and Remember that Most Hip-Hop Sucks Live, Anyway [Prefix]
Stream New Track, “Press Corps” From Canadian Garage Duo/2009 Blog Darlings Japandroids, Which Sounds Lifted from You’re Living All Over Me, and Merits (Most of) they Hype This Band Has Gotten [The Tripwire]
Watch Video for Indie Rock Legends Polvo’s “Right the Relation,” off their Recent Reunion Album In Prism — I’m Fairly Sure This Entire Creepy, Montage Video Is All an Enormous Reference to the Made For TV Adaptation of Stephen King’s It…Don’t Ask Me Why [Pitchfork]
The Roots and David Byrne Joined Dirty Projectors on Stage during their Fourth NYC Show on Sunday Night; Brooklyn Vegan Posts Great Pictures of it Here – Did ?uestlove and David Byrne Get Along Amicably? (Yes, Probably, Both are Pretty Good Guys, and Nothing Brings Dudes Together Like a Mutual Love of Funk) [Brooklyn Vegan]
U2 Set to Headline England’s 2010 Glastonbury Festival, the Biggest Music Festival in the World; I Make Early Prediction: 2010 Glastonbury Festival Will Be Boring, In Light of U2’s Music Being Performed [NME]
Stream Track From Cameron Stallones’ (of L.A. Noisemakers Pocahaunted) Sideproject PLATOON, Which Sounds Like The Doors Covering the N.W.O.’s Entrance Music (Obscure Wrestling Reference; Get Down With It) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
compiled by Max Sebela
The Wrens (That “Legendary” Jersey Emo-Punk Band Who Have Managed Legendary Status By Only Releasing Three Records Over 20 Years) To Play 2002’s The Meadowlands From Start to Finish; Elsewhere, The Wrens Probably Aren’t Releasing Anything Until Like 2016 [Brooklyn Vegan]
As Much As I Don’t Like 50 Cent, The Album Cover to Before I Self Destruct Is Fucking Awesome, and Makes a Good Case For 50 Taking Up Arnold’s Role in the Next Train Wreck Terminator Sequel [Idolator]
Watch Bruce Springsteen Debut New Song, “Wrecking Ball” At Giants Stadium; Going Against All Odds, Springsteen Surprises Fans By Writing a Song About Life in New Jersey….WHAAAAA? [Spin]
Fatboy Slim Announces Sideproject With David Byrne, Martha Wainwright, and…Cyndi Lauper?; Here Lies Love (Apparenty A Concept Album About Former First Lady of the Phillipines…To Whom None of the Above Most Likely Have Any Connection, Especially Lauper) Released Sometime in 2010 [NME]
Stream Another New Devendra Banhart Song, “Angelika;” Sounds Like a Donovan Song, Suddenly Overtaken By Buena Vista Social Club, Which is Not As Awesome As It Sounds; What Will We Be Released October 27 [Pitchfork]
Kanye West’s and Lady’s Gaga’s Fame Kills Tour MAY Be Cancelled ALLEGEDLY Due to RUMORS that Kanye POSSIBLY Is Checking Into Rehab For HYPOTHETICAL Alcoholism; In Other News, This Is An Unsubstantiated Rumor [Prefix]
The Compact Disc Celebrates Its 27th Birthday; Like Many 27 Year Olds, The CD Will Be Mourning Its Seemingly Imminent Death By Looking At More Youthful Versions of Itself Online (Hopefully Via Lala…What a Great Service) [Idolator]
Stream Animal Collective’s Remix of Phoenix’s “Love Like a Sunset” – Tribal, Glitchy, Airy; How Does Animal Collective Manage To Make Every Song They Remix Sound Like ANY Animal Collective Song? [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch New Black Lips Video For 200 Million Thousand Cut “Let It Grow;” Starts Pretty Normal, Buffalo 66 Style…Ends With a Lot of Aliens, And Slightly Necrophilia-Centric Images [Stereogum]
The Hold Steady’s Franz Nicolay To Release a Collection of Short Stories, Entitled Complicated Gardening Techniques In January; I Make Vow To Report Any Hold Steady News No Matter How Seemingly Insignificant [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
September 13, 2009
Musicians On Music | Helen Buyniski at Bonnaroo
MUSICIANS ON MUSIC
Musicians On Music is a weekly feature in which we feature exactly that: musicians, both local and national, writing about music, the industry, other people’s music, or whatever they feel like writing. This week we feature Helen Buyniski, who toured the summer festivals with the Mickey Western Band and Lady Circus’s The Rusted Gun Saloon. Here, as the festival season ends, she details what that was like.
How do you prepare for a week spent under the stars, surrounded by Phish fans, mud, and eco-friendly bio-degradable plastic cups? You don’t. You buy a tent at the last minute and ignore reality until you’re under the fluorescent interrogation lights of a 24-hour WalMart in a Tennessee surburb at 4 a.m., five minutes away from the festival gates. You glance at the camping supplies piled miles high in the aisles, hike for what feels like hours to the bathroom in the back of the store. You come out and realize that despite your loathing of the great outdoors, you will be spending the next week sleeping in a tent.
In June, the Mickey Western Band and Lady Circus were invited to bring our show,“The Rusted Gun Saloon,” to the eighth-annual Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The Mickey Western Band supplied our dark gypsy-folk rock as the soundtrack to the Circus’ performance: a play of aerial acts, stilt- and fire-dances, beds of nails, displays of public drunkenness, and, of course, murder. Perfect for Bonnaroo, a festival characterized by its “peaceful vibe,” recurring appearances by jam band members, and general inescapable hippie associations.
The Mickey Western Band opened Thursday afternoon on the Solar Stage, an environmentally-friendly venue situated inside “Planet Roo.” Roo was the festival’s uber-green eco-enclave, anchored by a massive papier-mache hand grasping a wire globe and emerging from the earth like the avenging zombie limb of a PMS-ing Mother Nature. In keeping with the “green” theme, I wore a clump of silk roses in my hair, but following a sudden cloudburst two songs into our set, these and everything else on stage were soaked. I was able to shelter most of my equipment from the rain and avoid frying myself and my amp, but a wet-stringed violin sounds like cats being tortured and I couldn’t wait to stop playing. The rain confused Mickey so much he played one song twice, but the circus ladies in the audience kept the spectators dancing and watching even as the dance floor turned to mud. Several rounds of applause later, I ran offstage to try to dry off my violin with a number of other wet things. Success!
More on Musicians On Music | Helen Buyniski at Bonnaroo
August 12, 2009
Chris Frantz, Talking Heads
HOLY MUSICIAN, BATMAN…
My most enlightening, awe-struck moment of musical inspiration during my teenage years involved hearing “Psycho Killer” on the radio. Inarguably, the song is greatness at its purest. For me, Talking Heads’ abstract lyrics, minimal instrumental parts, and distinctive style changed my perspective on artistic intention, relaying the “less is more” mantra music teachers often preach. Pushing technical showmanship aside for a greater piece of music, drummer Chris Frantz was especially notable in taking this approach.
Talking Heads didn’t just have a rhythm section – they were a rhythm section. Their songs are like logical yet inventive collections of rhythmic cells played by each contributing instrument. Even David Byrne’s singing usually had a more rhythmic than melodic quality to it, often repeating the same note during verses. Their music was, however, especially enlivened by Frantz’s drum set. Frantz was the unwavering, steady backbone that fueled the Heads’ unrelenting energy. His beats were often basic, but quirky and a notable part of the band’s overall sound.
More on Chris Frantz, Talking Heads
Psych-Rockers Dr. Dog Signs to ANTI-; Announce Tour, New LP in 2010 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Swedish Twee-Cutie El Perro Del Mar Announces Third Album, Love Is Not Pop; Released October 20 [Brooklyn Vegan]
The Perfect Gift For That Friend Who Has Everything: MC Hammer’s Parachute Pants Are Being Auctioned Off [Idolator]
Echo and the Bunnymen Tour, Announce New Album The Fountain; Released October 12 [NME]
David Byrne Calls Out U2 For The High Cost of Their New Stage…In Their Defense, U2 Really Thought They Were Finally Going To Own Their Own Claw Game, And Just Ran With It [Spin]
Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke Says Bloc Party May Never Record Another Album; After 2008’s Intimacy, I Say Good Call [NME]
Pearl Jam Has Scattered Pieces of Their New Album’s Artwork, Backspacer, Around The Internet; Artwork Not Worth A Scavenger Hunt, Nor Really Worth Viewing [Stereogum]
Bruce Springsteen To Play Entirety of the Legendary Born To Run In Chicago On September 20 – Everyone Way Psyched [Prefix]
Marilyn Manson Threatens To Kill All Music Journalists Who Publish Falsities About Him. In Related News, Marilyn Manson Actually Found To Be Over 4,000 Years Old (I Dare You, Marilyn) [NME]
Deerhunter Frontman Bradford Cox’s Solo Project Atlas Sound Announce Tour With Broadcast; New Atlas Sound LP, Logos, Released October 20 [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Judge Grants Juror Glastonbury Leave [NME]
Yeasayer to Tour North America, Hit New York on 8/13 [Prefix]
Timbaland to Score, Zac Efron to Star in Cowell’s Rendition of Saturday Night Fever [NME]
Bicycle Film Festival Kicks Off w/ FREE Show Featuring Jon Spencer Blues Explosion & The Teenagers [Brooklyn Vegan]
Hip-Hop Artists Sick of “Old Ass Jay-Z Hating” on Auto-Tune [Prefix]
Built to Spill to Release New LP in October [Pitchfork]
Paul McCartney Waiting for a Phone Call from MGMT [NME]
Radiohead Selling Second In Rainbows CD [Pitchfork]
“Zack Morris” Performs “Zack Attack” Backed by The Roots [Videogum]
More Big Acts Cutting Ticket Prices [NME]
Stop Laughing At, Start Feeling Bad About Michaels’s Faceplant [The Tripwire]
compiled by Elana Jacobs & Erin Sheehy
Citysol 2009 @ Stuyvesant Cove Features Shilpa Ray, Love Like Deloreans, Shwervon!, and More [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream Byrne’s Benefit EP and See Him at Bonnaroo [Stereogum]
The Antlers Sign to Frenchkiss [Pitchfork]
Radiohead Post-In Rainbows Recording Studio Rendezvous [Prefix]
Black Eyed Peas Buzz – “Imma Be” [Idolator]
Strokes Members Playing Tribute to Dylan at Mercury Lounge [The Tripwire]
Celebrate Brooklyn with Bikes! [Brooklyn Vegan]
Yoko Ono Will Judge Your Haiku [NME]
Thinkindie.com is Your Local Record Store, Online [Pitchfork]
compiled by Elana Jacobs
Weekly Review
This week, unlike last, there didn’t seem to be any particular headline hogs. (Clever pun, huh?) No, Wilco’s camel on the cover was talked about just as much as Coldplay’s growing copyright calamity, “Dirty Projectors” appeared in print just as many times as “David Byrne,” and Coyne was referenced just as often as Coxon. There was the crazy Connecticut campus shooting, which probably deserved even more attention than it was given – our condolences go out to Ms. Justin-Jinnich and all of her family and friends – but otherwise, things seemed to be pretty calm on the music-news front. Maybe everyone has been on their best behavior in anticipation of today, that day when we celebrate the women who have always told us to eat our vegetables, clean up our rooms, mind our manners, and…
knock you out?
Yup, even L.L. listens to his mama. Happy Mother’s Day, moms!
by Elana Jacobs
