Posted on 02 February 2010
Brooklyn duo Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller aka Sleigh Bells quickly went from the kids down the hall with the homespun, beat-distorted serrated-pop CD-R to a Band To Watch and the toast of CMJ ‘09 and, still without an album to their name, their 2010 is set to be even higher profile: They’ll be playing Coachella and per that headline, heading out on the road supporting surefire ticket movers Major Lazer and Yeasayer. Welcome to the party. About “finally” getting an album to their name, a MySpace post from October says they’re planning on “re-recording everything plus a bunch of new songs for an LP sometime later this year/early next year.” Clearly they won’t be hard to catch before that happens. All the MP3s you need to get up to speed are here, and all the reasons you need to see them live are listed here. Now pull out your calendar:
Continue reading Sleigh Bells Tour With Major Lazer, Yeasayer…
Posted on 01 February 2010
True it’s somewhat regional, as it was an honor bestowed by Elle Sweden. But still: Joanna Newsom watch yr back.
Posted on 01 February 2010
The other day we heard the first sounds from Peter Gabriels’ all orchestral indie rock covers LP, Scratch My Back, with his take on Arcade Fire’s “My Body Is A Cage.” True, we’ve turned a fine eye toward comprehensively covering this release. But for one, Scott’s a huge Genesis/Peter Gabriel nerd; for two, Peter Gabriel’s studio LPs come only once a decade; for three, that tracklist is ridiculous. And beyond all that, this version of “Flume” might just be the album’s highlight.
You know the story: In 2007 Justin Vernon holed up in a Wisconsin cabin writing For Emma, Forever Ago for the benefit, he presumed, of handfuls. Three years on, it’s taken him around the world and earned him honors, although I’m not sure what could equal hearing Peter Gabriel imbue one of your melodies with his all of his unmistakable Peter Gabrielness. It’s an extension of the For Emma story in that way, the idea of this young guy — the youngest on a tracklist full of legends heroes — who was singing to himself in the snow so recently now having his song sung by an icon. Another stanza in the poetry of Justin’s story. But the sound of this cover, like the sound of Bon Iver’s album, needs no external narrative to resonate, its breathtaking affect achieved in full upon hearing the painterly piano and tasteful brass over which Peter first bursts, widescreen, into that chorus. “Only love is all maroon.” But it’s not only love that’s all maroon — so is the heart of this cover album’s cover art. Fitting, somehow. You should hear it:
Continue reading Peter Gabriel Covers Bon Iver (Stereogum Premiere)…
Posted on 01 February 2010
Jamie Stewart’s bleak, evocative art-pop’s always had an element of catharsis, a figurative purging about it. As of today it also has an element of literal purging about it. Here he is talking about his (great) new album’s title track:
The title came from a night a literally being on my knees and speaking these words in a prayer to God. It is about the tension between feeling hopeless but also feeling as if spiritual love is possible and there for you if you want it. The drum programming is a result of 1,000 hours of tiny, tiny edits and ruminations. However, the lyrics in a rare, present instance came all at once in about five minutes.
What he doesn’t say is that the track’s synth-injected gothic bleep and thump was done primarily on a Nintendo DS. He also didn’t mention Xiu Xiu’s new full-time member Angela Seo, who is credited for the record with “piano, synth, and drum programming,” although that leaves out the very special skill she’s showcasing in the video for “Dear God, I Hate Myself”: self-induced vomiting. Meanwhile, true to another track’s title (”Chocolate Makes You Happy”), Jamie contentedly munches a Hershey’s by her side. Polarity in motion. Be warned. Now watch:
Continue reading New Xiu Xiu Video - “Dear God, I Hate Myself” (Stereogum Premiere)…
Posted on 01 February 2010
Are we all aware of how big Passion Pit is at this point? To put it in some context, they recently played a sold-out three-night run of shows at Terminal 5 in NYC. For those not from NYC, T5 if a 3,000-capacity midtown venue of last resort that has sound like the inside of a portapotty at a music festival (with sightlines to match) where you go to see Julian Casablancas because he’s “too big” for smaller rooms now. (To put Passion Pit’s success in further context, I’m pretty sure Julian didn’t sell out either of his shows there. Though he was pretty great.) Anyway, “Sleepyhead” was the jam of choice when Scott and I first encountered the band at the 140-capacity LES venue Pianos a year and a half ago. It’s so good that they held it over from their debut EP Chunk Of Change to their debut LP Manners, and then gave it a good video.
Now there’s this alternate version, which is likely from the Chunk Of Change era, which we suspect the band (or its management) is deliberately “leaking.”The “fan” who is spreading it joined and created Vimeo and Coachella.com user accounts “ssarenofun” w/ in the past week and posted the video in both places. He’s made only one other Coachella forum post prior:
Continue reading Alternate Passion Pit Video - “Sleepyhead”…
Posted on 29 January 2010
On Monday we posted “Home,” a warped-sounding slow-builder from Oakland BTW Clipd Beaks’ To Realize. In that writeup, I mentioned speaking with vocalist Nick Berbeln about the collection’s Liars-esque lead track Blood” and the album’s seeming preoccupation with the apocalypse. This psychedelic climb up (and back down) a hill with the Grim Reaper and the accompanying bloody sacrifice/occupational shift does some talking, too. “Death Valley ‘10“?
Continue reading New Clipd Beaks Video - “Blood”…
Posted on 29 January 2010
Nick Cannon did a great job directing this Target commercial video.
Posted on 29 January 2010
Percussive BK outfit Lemonade are working shit out on their great, heavily rotated new five-track EP Pure Moods, the followup to last year’s self-titled full-length debut. The trio’s tracks hit the dancefloor from all angles, filtering a worldly rhythmic sense and digital peripherals through their Brooklyn-based lens. Front and center are Alex Pasternak’s ferocious drumset workouts and Callan Clendenin’s cutting vocals, defined by a bar-by-bar attention to tonal texture and left-field electronic filigree. Pure Moods is the right title for the set, catching a band cutting the clutter and homing in on their distinct strain of highly danceable, vaguely experimental post-punk. Steel drums ping off of the synths and polyrhythmic clatter in “Remain In Jah,” color the Caribbean lilt and stomp of opener “Banana Republic.” Clendenin’s melodies are etched with modal half-steps in the seven-and-a-half minute, shifty, digitally squiggled centerpiece “Underwater Sonics.” Closer “Sunsplash” is a quirk-encrusted equatorial beachfront love jam. Standout among standouts “Lifted,” the set’s second track and first free MP3, is another for lovers: The main riff is a trickling xylophone punctuated with sampled laughter and liquid squishes, and the hum of rolled steel drums, opened up by a phased synth and by Calen’s slow-jam come ons: “I said oh girl, where you going to … I see my whole life come together around you.” Pure mood, dudes.
Continue reading New Lemonade - “Lifted”…
Posted on 29 January 2010
On first listen, the shadowy “So Light Is Her Footfall” struck us as a perfect backdrop for some film noir. Four months later, its video directors agreed. This third look at the track flips the scene of Dunckel and Godin’s lonely hearts club jam, from black & white to Ed Banger banger. The transformation comes courtesy of countrymate and Ed Banger electro bro Breakbot (né Thibaut Berland). His list of previous remixes — Justice, Sebastien Tellier, Digitalism, Röyksopp among them — should give you a sense of what to expect, if not his label affiliation. It’s a remix, yes, but Breakbot’s seamlessly stitching Air’s vocals to that hand-clapped and funked-up French bloghaus vibe makes it sound like this is its original iteration. Listen:
Continue reading Breakbot Remixes Air (Stereogum Premiere)…
Posted on 28 January 2010
How do you followup singing the far-right leaning first section of “Das Deutschlandlied” at a German festival? “British musician Pete Doherty was fined on Wednesday for walking into a court with 13 wraps of heroin in his coat pocket.” But it was an accident!
