Stream New Liars, “Scissor,” Which, For the First Two Minutes, Sounds Like Tom Waits Singing a Waltzed Cover of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and then Proceeds to Become a Speed Metal Track, Which is as Confusing, and Not Nearly as Great as It Should Be; Sisterworld Released March 9 [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Jeff Mangum, Indie Folk’s Howard Hughes, Emerges From Seclusion to Record Cover of Tall Dwarfs’ “Sign the Dotted Line” For a Chris Knox Charity Album (Stream 30-Second Sample); Mangum Most Likely Heavily Bearded, Pasty [Pitchfork]
Weezer Frontman Rivers Cuomo, Who Was in a Serious Bus Accident on Sunday, is Recovering Well; Elsewhere, Thousands of Bloggers Breathe Sigh of Relief After Making Slightly Morbid “Say it Ain’t So” Reference Toward the Accident Yesterday; I Instead Choose to Wonder Whether Any Muppets Will Visit Rivers in Hospital [Spin]
British Post-Punk Outfit The Horrors’ Primary Colours is Awarded NME’s Album of the Year, with The xx Taking Second Place; NME Stands Firm in Stance That Britain > U.S.A., Even Though U.S.A. > Britain in Revolutionary War [NME]
Apple Purchases Popular Streaming Media Site/Pitchfork’s Number One Main Squeeze Lala For $17 Million – All Who Purchased Music On Lala May Lose their Songs (But Not to Worry, It’s Mostly Just Copies of Owl City’s “Fireflies”) [Prefix]
Stream “The Old Graveyard” a Track From Gigi, a Canadian Duo Consisting of One of the Guys From No Kids, and Destroyer’s Producer – They Claim It’s Supposed to Sound Like Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound Stuff…I Think It Sounds Like an Olivia Tremor Control Cover Band, Which is a Good Thing; Debut LP Maintenant Released Early 2010 [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Wisconsin’s Eau Claire Memorial High School Jazz Band Announces Debut Album, A Decade With Duke; Released Today (And Cindy and Britney are So Excited that Justin Vernon is On the Album – He’s Like SUCH an Indie Heartthrob <333) [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
Supposed Dates For 2010 Daft Punk Tour Leak, Including a Stop in Yankees Stadium on August 15 – Dates are Not Yet Confirmed, But Will Most Likely Be Kept as Robots Have No Place For Scheduling Errors, and Most Likely Have Google Maps Stored in their Titanium Minds [NME]
Sunset Rubdown Frontman/Wolf Parade Co-Frontman/Swan Lake Co-Co-Frontman Spencer Krug Desires More Attention, Records Solo Under Pseudonym “Moonface;” Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums Released January 26 [Pitchfork]
All Tomorrow’s Parties Announce Initial “Don’t Look Back” Line-Up for ATP New York; Iggy & the Stooges Performing Raw Power From Cover to Cover; Remains to be Seen Whether or Not Mr. Pop Will Finally Promise on Walking Street as Cheetah; ATP New York Takes Place September 3, 2010 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Swedish Songstress Lykke Li Releases a Free Cover of the Shirelles’ classic, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” Stream It Here; Considering the Heartbreaking Pace of the Song, I’m Guessing Li Has Already Answered that Question With a Firm “No” [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Lily Allen (Who, Let’s Remember, “Quit” Music Due to Illegal Downloading (Allegedly (…At This Point, Pretty Sure She Didn’t Quit))) Says She’s Fine With People Buying Burned Copies of Her CDs, as Long as They Pay For Them; Elsewhere, Who Wants to Buy a “Copy” of Alright, Still? [NME]
Merge Reissues Neutral Milk Hotel’s Albums; Releases Two Videos of Jeff Mangum Playing Aeroplane’s “Two Headed Boy” and Avery Island’s “April 8th.” Warning: These Videos Made Me Cry Due to Intensity of Mangum’s Music and Memories. Maybe NSFW, if Your Co-Workers Are Likely to Call You Names [Youtube]
compiled by Max Sebela
Dan Deacon Went to the Hospital and Cancelled Shows Due to Extreme Pain in His Leg From Nonstop Touring; He’s Feeling Better, and Hopes to Reschedule All of His Shows. We’re Rootin’ For You Dan! C’mon, You Can Do It! [Pitchfork]
Watch Bob Dylan’s Video For Christmas in the Heart Cut “Must Be Santa,” In Which Dylan Adorns a Santa Hat and Resembles an Intoxicated Member of Twisted Sister…So, Uhh, Ring in the Holiday Cheer, the Bob Dylan Way, I Guess [Rolling Stone]
Extremely Authentic Scottish Emo Band The Twilight Sad Robbed at Gun Point While on Tour…Robbers Most Likely Confused Band With Frightened Rabbit, as that Band Sounds Identical to Twilight Sad, But Are Probably Asking For Some Petty Theft (That’s Right Frightened Rabbit Frontman Scott Hutchison, I’m Calling You Out) [Stereogum]
Former Neutral Milk Hotel Multi-Instrumentalist Julian Koster is Willing to Come to Your House and Sing Christmas Songs…With a Saw (I’m Ever So Tempted to Call them “Sawngs,” But That Sounds More Like a Gucci Mane Thing Than a Whimsical Holiday Treat) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Spin Puts up Sweet Photos From the First Stateside Cranberries Reunion Show; I Wonder If I’m Strangely Fascinated With the Cranberries, or Just Really Appreciate Yodeling [Spin]
Jack White Announces Plan to Produce An Album for Reigning “Queen of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson (You Know, I Got to Thinking About It, and I Don’t Think She’s a Real Queen) [NME]
Bjork Writing Song About Moomins, Moomin Ancestry, and General Moomin Culture (Hopefully Loaded With Moomin Hi-Jinks…You Are Right to Be Confused as to What Moomins Are) [Pitchfork]
Stream Girls Playing a Bunch of Songs in Dallas, Finally Realize Band Called “Girls” Features Not a Single Female Performer, Look to Friends For Confirmation of the Humor in This, Realize You Are Mind Bendingly Unobservant [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream New Song From New York’s Own (Via New Jersey) Real Estate, “Dumb Luck,” Whjich is As Excellent a Song as Any Other Real Estate Track (I Have No Joke Here. Real Estate is a Great Band) [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Because When I Think Modest Mouse, I Think New Orleans Honky Tonk (Stream Modest Mouse’s New Single “Perpetual Motion Machine” To Understand) [Spin]
Stream Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold Covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Two Headed Boy” [Chocolate Bobka]
Post-Punk Legends Mission of Burma Announce New LP The Sound, The Speed, The Light; Released October 6 [Matablog]
Last Night May Have Been Blur’s Last Reunion Show (Blur Needs to Stop Making Reunited/Broken Up Headlines…They’re Like the Brett Farvre of Music) [Prefix]
Lady Gaga Makes Chart History, Scoring Three Number One Singles Off One Album; Joins Fellow History Makers Avril Lavigne (Ha!) and Ace of Base (Ha Ha!) [Billboard]
Christian Screamo Outfit Confide Make What May Possibly Be the Most Ridiculous Cover/Video of 2009 Thus Far (Spoiler: It’s a Postal Service Cover) [Idolator]
According to Billy Corgan, Billy Corgan Has Earned Right to Keep Using The Smashing Pumpkins Name Sans Any Other Original Pumpkins, Because All Other Members Irrelevant [NME]
Weezer Covers Lady Gaga and MGMT…Begins Set With Shout Of “Let’s Get Our Groove On”…Starting to Look Like a State Fair Headliner. [The Tripwire]
Chicago Producer/Musician/Artiste Jim O’Roure Announces New LP The Visitor; Released September 8 [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
June 12, 2009
Okkervil River | “So Come Back, I Am Waiting”
ART OF SONG
Okkervil River
“So Come Back, I Am Waiting”
Black Sheep Boy
2005 | Jagjaguwar
I have always likened Will Sheff’s particular genius to that of Bruce Springsteen and Jeff Mangum. At their best, these artists’ compositions and performances seem so deeply organic and inalterable that its hard to conceive of them having been written. In their songs, there is such an incredible and inextricable confluence of emotion, dynamic, and lyric that they seem like some ancient earthen documents, like discoveries rather than efforts; they seem not artisanal but divined, delivered.
“So Come Back, I Am Waiting” is the thematic and emotional culmination of Okkervil River’s masterful Black Sheep Boy, and it is flawless, in composition and performance. Birthed as a whispered dirge, it naturally and effortlessly develops into an anthemic, cloud-parting, breathtakingly grandiose statement of purpose. Okkervil River’s performance is inimitable – admittedly scrappy, but possessed of a maniacal frenzy that ultimately crescendos into magisterial grace. It is, simply, the sound of musicians, mid-performance, stumbling into greatness.
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The Dodos Are Ready To Do It Again [Pitchfork]
compiled by Elana Jacobs
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Datarock Track Pays Tribute to Talking Heads [SPIN]
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compiled by Elana Jacobs
