Danger Mouse (DJ From Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (Megalomaniacal Frontman of The Shins) Team Up For New Band, Broken Bells; Debut Released Early Next Year [Pitchfork]
Whoa, British Post-Punk Legends Echo & The Bunnymen Are Playing New York’s Tiny Lower East Side Club the Mercury Lounge On October 17; Tickets On Sale Friday – It’s Sure to Be One Mopey Evening [Brooklyn Vegan]
Lil Wayne To Appear On Weezer Track, “Can’t Stop Partying,” Off Upcoming Raditude; A Copy Of Pinkerton Rests At My Feet, As Smashed and Broken As My Once Youthful Heart (See, Rivers? Melodrama is Still Awesome…Go Back to It) [Spin]
Stream Pivot Covering Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House Closer “Colorado” – It’s Uhh…Really Slow. Slower Than the Original. Which Was Also Really Slow [Stereogum]
Electro-Hip-Hop Artist RJD2 Announces Follow-Up to 2007s God Awful The Third Hand; The Colossus Released January 19 (And Apparently Be Largely Sample Based…And Will Hopefully Not Feature RJ Singing; That Was a Bad Idea) [Pitchfork]
Watch Dirty Projectors Debut New Song Jimmy Fallon; Then Watch Them Do An A Capella Jam Backstage For ?uestlove; ?uestlove Recorded the Thing And Gets Pretty Liberal With His Excitement Over the Performance (i.e. Camera Shaking) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream New Burial Track “Fostercare,” From Upcoming 5 Years of Hyperdub Compilation; Feel Uncomfortable, Ghostly, and Surreal, and Then Get Psyched, Because How Else Should a New Burial Track Sound [Youtube]
compiled by Max Sebela
Jay Reatard To Play Solely Free Record Store Shows on August Tour. (I Don’t Like That He’s Only Playing the West Coast, The Old Folks Don’t Like Him Period) [Pitchfork]
Yargh! One Third Of Us Be Pirates, Research Says [Tiny Mix Tapes]
Melted Barbie Dolls? I Love It. Watch Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Short Film Snakesweat [The Tripwire]
Panic! At the Disco Announces Two New Members [Rolling Stone]
The Soft Pack To Tour This Fall, Hit Bowery Ballroom October 2, and Now I Am “Beside Myself!” [NME]
Drake Gets His Own Sitcom: “about best buddies – and polar opposites – trying to make their way in the entertainment industry.” Original. [Idolator]
What Does It Sound Like When 7 Worlds Collide? Well, Two Parts Radiohead, One Part Wilco…Just Check Out This Supergroup [Stereogum]
Yes, We Know Who You Are. Check Out “Do You Know Who I Am,” The First Available Track From Echo & The Bunnymen’s New Album [Stereogum]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
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
August 15, 2008
Record Review: Siberia
Hidden Gem:
Echo and the Bunnymen
Siberia
2005 | Cooking Vinyl
A growing retrospective critical buzz has Echo and the Bunnymen as one of the finest alternative bands of the ‘80s. They had a unique sound which has been reworked by successful acts like Coldplay and Arcade Fire. Their music had a gloomy edge behind Ian McCullough’s yowling vocals and Will Seargent’s braded guitar lines, but always retained a kind of cool detachment. Unlike contemporaries like The Cure, they were never accused of being whiny. If they had a fault it was Ian McCullough’s ego, as oversized as his black greatcoat, or their regrettable sellout single: “Lips Like Sugar.” Like The Psychedelic Furs, they broke up after a low point of MTV pandering. Unlike the Furs, they pulled off the near-impossible: a commercially and critically successful comeback with Evergreen, containing a killer single, “Nothing Lasts Forever.” Siberia is merely the latest in a series of strong albums, but one which sees the Bunnypersons mildly selling out again, and doing it right. Discarding the abstract textures of their classic style, they borrow from their own descendants, adding a heavy dose of Britpop melodicism. A first listen to the single, “Stormy Weather,” will instantly confirm that this is nothing to complain about.
At the time of the band’s initial comeback, almost ten years ago, Ian McCullough still displayed a healthy amount of self-love. He boasted, unbelievably, that he was the best-preserved of the older stars. This mid-noughts album finds him in a more reflective mood, looking wistfully back on years past in “All Because of You Days,” “Parthenon Drive,” and “Everything Kills You.” Though a little worse for wear, McCullough has lost none of his detached, stylish outlook, and it serves him well here. We shake our head along with the singer, then straighten out our lapels and continue along the rain-glossed streets of Liverpool, bruised but unbroken. With relentless low-key hooks enlivening each song, McCullough’s introspectiveness gets the chance to descend into self-pity. In latter-day Echo, the poetic pretensions of “The Killing Moon” are almost completely gone. The guys no longer pose as art school gods, and also avoid any misguided attempts to “update” their sound or image. It is this comfortable maturity that makes Siberia the band’s most likable album, a grower that will reward a long stay on your playlist.
by Robin Mookerjee
