Okkervil River to Play as Roky Erickson’s Backing Band on New Album, True Love Cast Out All Evil; I Struggle to Make Meaningful Connection With Roky Erickson Outside of the First Four Minutes of High Fidelity; I Question My Own Dedication to “The Pop Canon” [Pitchfork]
Mysterious Drawing of a Small Man Hanging Out Under Woman’s Dress Somehow Indicates Joanna Newsom May or May Not Have a Record Coming Out on February 23rd; My Last Sentence Remains Almost Impossible to Decipher (But I Hope It Is True) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
MySpace Music Announces Track List For Almost Alice, Which is an Album of Quasi-Christian Angst Pop Inspired by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Designed to Be Sold in the 15 Remaining Hot Topic Franchises That Haven’t Yet Fired All Their Employees; Owl City, All Time Low, and 3Oh!3, and Avril Lavigne All Appear On It [Myspace]
Stream the Jangly “Can’t Explain,” From Swedish Euro-Mope-Pop Band Shout Out Louds…Come to Eureka-Type Realization That “Euro-Mope-Pop” Best Abbreviates to “Europe”…Get Psyched on Your Own Stream of Consciousness. Work, Shout Out Louds’ First Album Since 2007, Released February 23 [Spin]
Julian Casablancas Says Strokes Are Working Day and Night on New Album; Prefers “Ramen Noodle Soup” to “Diner Food;” Wears “T-Shirts;” Elsewhere, New York Magazine Publishes Senselessly Banal Article About Julian Casablancas [New York Magazine]
Stream “Cranberry,” the First Single off New Zealand Psych-Pop Outfit The Ruby Suns’ Upcoming LP Fight Softly, Which is Deliriously Tribal and Oscillating, and Really Quite Good. No Joke. [Pitchfork]
Stream “End Times,” the Title Track off Eels’ Upcoming Album End Times (Released Next Tuesday), Which Made Me Feel Terribly, Terribly Sad, is Beautifully Written, and Sounds As If It Could Only Have Been Performed By a Heavily Bearded Version of Mark Everett [Stereogum]
M.I.A. Drops a Possible Taste of Her New Album, Called “There’s Space for Ol Dat I See,” That is Absolutely Awful [Gorilla vs. Bear]
compiled by Max Sebela
There are a few bands from the 90s that haven’t maintained their “promise of influence” all that well (I use scare quotes here, because I realize that this concept, a promise of influence, is a load of bullshit. A band’s lasting success is mostly reliant on the bands that “promise influence” immediately after them. Sorry, Television, that’s mostly why you’re important). Liz Phair, Archers of Loaf, and Walt Mink are a few of these bands. But one of the most striking bands whose arsenal is never drawn from is the Dismemberment Plan. Bands inspired by the Dismemberment Plan (which is indicated by crystal clear vocals, noodling, shifts in song structure, and blips. Lotsa blips) are few and far between. The closest thing I could think of is Yeasayer – but that’s more Floyd and the Flaming Lips, than it is Travis Morrison and Co.
The preceding paragraph is just a lead up to say, rather oafishly: “So..uhh…isn’t it cool? This band CAVES totally sounds kind of like the Dismemberment Plan. They uhh…even sing about science and shit. Not many bands do that I guess…yeah.”
CAVES just got to Brooklyn from San Francisco a few months ago. They’ll be releasing an album, A Year of Magic (for beginners) sometime this year, and are releasing an EP, Face the Wall in April (which you can check out here). Stream “Face the Wall” below…it sounds kind of like the Dismemberment Plan. Yeah!
Caves – “Face the Wall”
by Max Sebela
Stream Joy Orbison’s New EP, The Shrew Would Have Cushioned the Blow, Which Mostly Consists of the Same Drum Beat Playing For Eight to Twelve Minutes, Before Your Neurological System Completely Shuts Down, Rendering the Rest of the EP to a Indeterminable Quality [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream Two Unreleased Songs From Sweden’s JJ, Neither of Which Feature Samples of Dudes Taking Hits From Bongs, Thus Fulfilling The Album Cover of n° 2, Fans Pleased With the Music, But Noticeably Not Baked [Gorilla vs. Bear]
British Pop Duo Goldfrapp Announce New Album, Head First, Which Prominently Features an Enormous Disembodied Head, Thus Making Album Title Appropriate and Well Executed [Idolator]
Pavement Set to Headline Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago; Readers of Pitchfork Think to Selves “That is So Pitchfork, Pavement is So Reminiscent of Pavement” [Consequence of Sound]
Download New Dirty Projectors 7-Inch, Acending Melody, Because No One of Any Influence Will Respect You if You Don’t [Spin]
Stream All of Spoon’s Upcoming Album, Transference (But I Can Save You a Little Bit of Time: It Sounds Like 70s Rock and Roll, and Features Heavy Amounts of Funk, With a Dude Throatily Whinin — It Sounds Like Spoon…You Get It) [NPR]
Los Angeles Glitz-Disco (Glitzco?) Band Music Go Music Announce Debut Album Expressions, Which, If Anything Like “Warm in the Shadows,” Will Define Enormous, Sweaty Periods of Your Life [NME]
Mute Set to Reissue a Bunch of Buzzcock Albums; Williamsburg Crusty Punks Psyched, But Unable to Express This Due to Years of Heroin Abuse and Hearing Loss Caused By Heavy Listening to the Buzzcocks [Pitchfork]
New M.I.A. Album This Summer. Get Psyched. [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Announce Fourth Full-Length, I Learned the Hard Way, Released May 4th (And From the Look of the Cover, There are Far More “Dap-Kings” Than I’ve Ever Seen Before…I’m Not So Sure Those Men are Actually Kings at All) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch New Animal Collective Video For Merriweather Highlight “Brothersport,” Which Features a Shit Ton of Paint, a Shit Ton of Children, Some Tribal Stuff, and Fingerpainting; Elsewhere, Animal Collective Has Managed to Make All Bizarre Imagery Cliché; They Should Release a Video in Which They Just Play a Fucking Song, Smiling at the Camera [Youtube]
Stream Solid (Read: Boring) Best Coast Single “Up All Night” Off the Upcoming Jeans Wilder/Best Coast Split 7-Inch; Released January 18 (But Limited to Like 350 Copies, So Don’t Expect to Pick That One Up Anytime Soon) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Two Choices For Celebrating Elvis Presley’s Would-Be 75th Birthday: Stream Lightspeed Champion’s Fanboy Cover of “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise” or Fry Up a Ham and Peanut Butter Sandwich and Lay Comatose on a Solid Gold Toilet for 6-9 Hours, Understanding How It Felt to be King [Spin]
Watch Vampire Weekend Do MTV Unplugged, Which Has Apparently Been Reduced to an Exclusive Series of Web Videos (Though, Vampire Weekend Still Look Super Night Out at the Polo Grounds Chic [MTV]
New Jersey Emo Band The Wrens Claim That They Will Actually Release an Album this Year, After Claiming to Release an Album Last Year, after Claiming to Release an Album the Year Before That, after Five Years Had Passed Since Their Previous Album; Elsewhere, Charles Bissel is a LIAR, and I am Crying [Pitchfork]
Stream 78-Minute Exclusive Four Tet Mix Much Love to the Plastic People…Dance By Yourself. Feel Ashamed. Invite Someone Over. Dance Together. Fall in Love. [Four Tet]
Blonde Redhead Providing the Score t the Dungeons and Dragons Documentary The Dungeon Masters, Which is Set For Release This February, and Looks Hilarious, Featuring a Woman Painted Completely in Dark-Gray Paint…Elsewhere, I Used to Play D&D. Deal With It. [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
Midwestern Literary-Alcoholic Emo Band Cursive to Tour With Midwestern Macabre-Alcoholic Emo Band Alkaline Trio, Which Heavily Appeals to the 15-Year Old Bukowski Reader in All of Us; Hit New York on March 12 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream Dreamy, Slightly Tribal Track “Icarus” From Portland’s White Hinterland, Which Features a Healthy Amount of Off-Putting “Oooh Oooh Oooh”-s; Kairos Due Out March 9 on Dead Oceans [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Billy Corgan Launches New Label Imprint In Order to Release New Tracks From Punk Legends the Germs, Seemingly the Most Authentic Thing Corgan Has Done In Years; Elsewhere, Corgan is Apparently Dating Jessica Simpson. Not to Criticize Other People’s Relationships, But From Repeatedly Viewing Re-runs of Her and Nick Lachey’s Newlyweds on MTV, I’m Moderately Sure Simpson is Incapable of Feeling Real Emotion, and May Lack Perpetual Consciousness…One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Billy [Spin]
In List of People Least Likely to Produce Proto-Punk Pioneers Devo, Santigold Ranks Fairly High, Right Below Hank Williams the First (Who is Dead, In Case You Didn’t Hear About It); Yes, This Headline Implies That is Happening [NME]
Stream WHY?’s Yoni Wolf Doing a Stripped Down Daytrotter Session, Featuring Three Tracks off Last Year’s Eskimo Snow, Which Should Not Be Consumed By Anyone Feeling Even Moderately Melancholy/Still Disappointed They Didn’t Get That PS3 Slim for Christmas [Daytrotter]
Thom Yorke, Tunde Adebimpe, Bradford Cox, and More to Remix Liars’ Upcoming Sisterworld on a Bonus Disc to Be Released With the Album. This is Cool. [Pitchfork]
Xiu Xiu Continues Possible Melodramatic Self-Parody With Release of Upcoming Dear God, I Hate Myself, By Packaging it With Homemade Chocolate (Ooh! Lovely!) and “Xiu Xiu for Life” T-shirts Printed in Real Blood (Ooh!…Bitter Irony…?) [Prefix]
Watch New RJd2 Video for “Let There Be Horns,” Which Stars a Minotaur. This is Also Cool. [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Stream “Four Score and Seven,” the First Track Available off Titus Andronicus’s Sophomore Effort The Monitor, Which, as You May Already Know, is Entirely Based on the Civil War, and Therefore is Too Intrinsically Awesome to Warrant a Joke [Myspace]
Stream “Back to the Sun” and “Girlfriend Swap” From Fucked Up and Marvelous Darlings Side Project, Roommates, Which, Considering the Source Bands, is Really Fucking Happy [Gorilla vs. Bear]
What Do Black Hammers, What I’d Guess the Drummer from Staind Looks Like, Basketball, and a Ton of Rorschach Tests Have in Common? Jay Z’s Video For “On To the Next One” Attempts to Provide a Vague Explanation [Idolator]
Stream All of Vampire Weekend’s Sophomore Release Contra, More than a Full Week Before Its January 12th Release Date; Feel Genuinely Moved By It, Grow To Hate Yourself Over That Sensation, Purchase a Timeshare in Cape Cod to Deal With the Conflict [Myspace]
UK Charity, Warchild, Announces Tracklist for David Bowie Tribute Album, Which Features Vivian Girls Doing “John I’m Only Dancing” and A Place to Bury Strangers Covering, “Suffragette City,” Neither of Which I’d Expect to Have Ever Actually Listened to David Bowie, But Most Likely Enjoyed His Frequent Appearances on Wes Anderson Soundtracks [NME]
Kanye West Announces That He is Currently Working on a New Album, Likens Self to “Kobe on the Court,” Meaning that He Will Most Likely Hog the Microphone, and Purposefully Alienate Anyone Else He is Surrounded With in Attempt to Inflate His Already Massive Ego (Which, Weirdly, Already Sounds Exactly Like Kanye) [Kanyeuniversecity]
Joanna Newsom Announces U.S. Tour Dates; Is Playing Grand Rapids, Michigan, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia Instead of New York; Harp Enthusiasts Disappointed, But Few In Number, and Therefore Lack Impact [Pitchfork]
Unicorns/Islands Frontman Nick Thorburn and Man Man’s Honus Honus Announce New Collaboration, Claiming it Will Be “Doom-Wop,” Which is Officially My Favorite Invented Genre (Sorry, Piss-Wave, You’ve Been Bested) [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
December 30, 2009
Hidden Gems
HIDDEN GEMS
Piglet | Lavaland
Honest question: how many people outside of Chicago have heard this band? Among my Chicago friends, who still take math-rock seriously (obligatory reference to Noumenon, who will finally release their debut EP in two months, and coined the term “party-math”), Lavaland has maintained something of a revelatory status, indisputable for its finger tapping and bat-shit time signatures. For those of us outside Chicagoland, Piglet is one of the only easy steps in to Chicago math: blistering in its technicality, but approachable enough to share a couple Old Styles in the back of the house show.
by Max Sebela
Bustin’ Melonz | Watch Ya Seeds Pop Out
This album is available for download on plenty of blogs, but it’s hard to find out much about Brooklyn’s Bustin’ Melonz, who sorta dropped off the map after 1994’s Watch Ya Seeds Pop Out. The production is simple and scrappy, as is the MC’ing, but the album’s full of these cool understated moments, like when the beat drops out just for a second under “Walkin on air in my Airwalks./ People talk when I walk through the streets of New York” in “Don’t Big Up.” With its staticky skits between songs and its minimal jazz riffs, Watch Ya Seeds Pop Out sounds like something you’d play on the stoop when the sidewalk’s steaming and you can’t wait to hear that Italian Ice cart jangling down the block.
by Erin Sheehy
More on Hidden Gems
News is as slow as the circulation in our extremities in this weather. Instead of scouring blogs for news, sit down by the fire, and read the New Yorker’s profile on Vampire Weekend, the Ivy League’s finest output in the last 15 years (take that Mark Zuckerberg. You may own our web, but you will never own our hearts).
Elsewhere, R.I.P., Vic Chestnut. You’ll be missed.
by Max Sebela
