Something about 57 people alone in their rooms singing in front of their laptops really sucks the energy out of “We Are The World,” but we can all agree that everyone’s hearts were definitely in the right place. Probably. “Thanks?” — Haiti.
Charlie Looker busily collaborates to myriad projects that flirt with abrasive, experimental, and/or extreme sounds around the city, but it’s BTW Extra Life that allows him space to fully express his singular blend of dexterous, classically inclined modal melodies, dense and winding composition, and a dark hued, metallic heaviness that hammers hard despite the band’s tendency to steer clear of guitar distortion. And the shit jams live, where Charlie coaxes a sort of controlled violence from his precise guitar playing and adenoidal vocals. In the waaaaay creepy Peaking Team-directed video for “Head Shrinker” he plays the title role, but instead of controlled violence from a guitar he’s coaxing from his psychotherapy patient discharge that’s both emotional and surreal. (Surreal = pulling gold coins from a gash in his belly.) I guess the video’s shifting between stark black & white and a fantasy masked sax player, or depiction of Charlie as a fastidious doctor with a quiet menace, sort of touches on that control/violence dichotomy in Extra Life’s music. But mostly it’s just super unsettling and probably the perfect look for Extra Life. Watch it:
Continue reading Extra Life - “Head Shrinker” Video (Stereogum Premiere)…
Brooklyn’s the Hundred In The Hands have been around for a minute — guitarist Jason Friedman was in the the Boggs, singer Eleanore Everdell did guest vocals for “Lover’s Day” from TV On The Radio’s Dear Science. Together the duo make tight, danceable post-punk, as on “Dressed In Dresden.” The “Dresden” single was originally out in 2009, but Warp just signed the Hundred In The Hands and commissioned a series of remixes for an upcoming EP. This one, from Maxime, uncoils the song a little, softens up the drums, and matches some bubbly synth to Everdell’s airy vocals. It’s not as pounding as the original — maybe Maxime sensed that there was more room to play around with the song if there was a bit more space to breathe.
Jannis Noy Makrigiannis’s Choir Of Young Believers landed here last summer with the billowing, widescreen orchestral pomp of Next Summer,” and extend the lifecycle of their This Is For The White In Your Eyes LP with a three-track release of “Claustrophobia.” It comes packing the album track alongside its remix by the Antlers’ Peter Silberman, and Sian Alice Group’s take on another album track, “Winter Love.” For COYB, Jannis’s tenor is a selling point as much as it is a point of reference (see: Robin Pecknold), and the Antlers’ redo of “Claustrophobia” preserves it wholesale save some minor outro manipulations, modifying the spacious original only to reflect its titular intent, clouding the air with warping synths and glitched beats. Makes sense.
Continue reading Choir Of Young Believers - “Claustrophobia (The Antlers Remix)”…
The semi-anonymous producer just threw some new, shortish tracks up on his MySpace page, including one that could make a great soundtrack for a Carnaval conga line. Zomby’ll bring the masks. Listen at MySpace. (via Fader)
“You can’t say ‘futuristic’ then be afraid of the future,” argues will.i.am. Oh yeah? What if you say “futuristic dystopian nightmare?” Then the future sounds pretty scary and dishertening and terrible, just like your new video.
They got together briefly for a set at a Joan of Arc variety show last month, but they now have a firm concert date of their own in July, with more shows planned. Jade Tree will re-release their 1998 anthology Analphabetapolothology in June. More info here.
Well before the lineup trickled its way out, the Sasquatch! site’s streaming player hosted a playlist stocked with tons of Pavement. So you’re not surprised that the band with the fat pockets will headline a night at the beautiful Gorge Ampitheatre this year — which puts Pavement’s festival confirmation status at pretty much every one but Bonnaroo at this point — along with Massive Attack and My Morning Jacket. The three-day festival runs over Memorial Day as always (Saturday 5/29 to Monday 5/31), and is bringing a ton of bands you might enjoy seeing, including: LCD Soundsystem, Dirty Projectors, Vampire Weekend, the xx, the Very Best, tUnE-yArDs, Girls, the New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Caribou, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Local Natives, Midlake, Nada Surf, the Hold Steady, Band Of Horses, Freelance Whales, Japandroids, She & Him, and Phantogram. Good showing, here’s an alphabetized lineup:
Continue reading Sasquatch! Lineup 2010…
Brandon spoke with lead Antler Peter Silberman about his graphic design day job and whether or not he’d worked around the sick. The answer was no, but he’d had relationships that included “staggeringly uneven amounts of taking care of another person,” experience that shows up strong in his music. Like their clip for “Two,” this video for Hospice stunner “Bear” follows the themes of the record. A woman with a load too heavy to carry, a black ball/tumor that drips tar, a despondent-looking Silberman trying to help: all further the dual tracks of guilt and illness-as-metaphor-as-illness that made his relationships a drag and Hospice a winner.
Continue reading The Antlers - “Bear” Video …
Andrew Bird covering “Shake It And Break It” must have brought back Squirrel Nut Zippers memories. Listen to it an 18 more Dixieland covers here. Nice Tom Waits impression, Louis Armstrong.
