Posted on 01 May 2009
Titus Andronicus, New Jersey, Shakespeare, and the bearded crowd’s answer to Bright Eyes, turn in an energetic black and white performance video for longtime signature song “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s ‘Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus.’” The title’s weighty, yes, and Patrick Stickles makes deep-dude eyes (in the accompanying thumbnail, he’s clearly watching those melting wings with trepidation). The lyrics, though, remain enjoyably pop-existential, much like getting drunk with the high school debate team (after stealing whiskey from Daedalus’s stash, natch). Stickles wants us to know “God sent [him] a vision of the future in a dream on a Saturday night” and that he sees “no reason to celebrate” because “when [he] saw it [he] wept like a child,” but he could really be singing about anything because the track’s Pogues-esque bar bounce remains its biggest hook.
Continue reading New Titus Andronicus Video - “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s ‘Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus’”…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Elisa Ambrogio and the hardworking Pete Nolan have released more CD-R’s, 7″’s, and etc. than even the most diehard Magik Markers fan could count without resorting to a cheat sheet, but 2007’s Lee Ranaldo-produced BOSS is marked as the second official studio album, which makes the forthcoming Scott Colburn-produced Balf Quarry number three. Colbern has an interesting resume that includes work with Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Sun City Girls, Climax Golden Twins, Mudhoney, etc., and to his (and the band’s) credit, these 10 tracks remain as noisy and ramshackle as you’ve come to expect from the duo even as they pick up where BOSS left off, i.e. writing songs with more discernible structures. As always, Ambriogio remains one of the most compelling front people (and interview subjects) in underground rock, so on this one, pay attention to her words, then sink back into her guitars and Nolan’s drums.
Continue reading New Magik Markers - “Don’t Talk In Your Sleep”…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Scott and I emailed about this a couple of times before realizing holy shit the host is Paul de Leeuw. As in the Paul de Leeuw who is definitely your boyfriend. I won’t pretend to understand his local cultural mores, but when the Dutch TV personality did his incredibly intimate duet with a child it was hard not to watch it and think “not okay, Dutch TV personality.” Later I was told his passionate kissing and rubbing were acceptable by Dutch standards of behavior, so, fair enough? On the other hand, even with the language barrier Paul’s intro to Antony’s performance of “One Dove” seems somewhat heartwarming and innocently amusing (cute sisters requesting “You Are My Sister”). Sororital love needs no translation; other sorts are lost in it. Antony is game for the sisterly request, but not before delivering a typically on-point live TV performance, here of “One Dove.” It’s up to par, although I’m hoping the next in his endless parade of TV appearances is a sample of the Matthew Herbert-engineered electro reworkings of The Crying Light material he surprised us with at Coachella. Because they were very good.
Continue reading Antony & The Johnsons’ Performance Of “One Dove” For Dutch TV Does Not Make Us Feel Uncomfortable…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Swedish minimal techno crossover Axel Willner, aka The Field, is returning with his second proper full-length, the six-song Beatles nodding Yesterday & Today. While that title’s not as beautifully dramatic as From Here We Go Sublime, it does include a collaboration with Battles drummer John Stanier on the title track, so there’s that. There’s also be plenty of beauty to be found elsewhere. Like on lead epic, “The More That I Do,” which has that familiar driving, crystalline sound: Clipped vocal loops and sharp percussion float through a shimmering, pulsing, densely-layered backdrop until it thins out toward the spare steel-drum finale. Take a listen while you look at the more clearly minimalist Yesterday album art.
Continue reading New Field - “The More That I Do”…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Despite the comparisons (blame the one sheet), Olympia’s Gun Outfit sound much more like Some Velvet Sidewalk (or, really, King Kong) than Dinosaur: Their straight-ahead, bass-free punk-inflected rock is definitely old-school in spirit, which is maybe why folks are fond of referencing SST, but the fit’s not quite right. The trio’s debut, out now on Dean Spunt’s PPM label, is a batch of 11 spare, intense compositions that immediately conjure the Pacific Northwest. When not digging into their streamlined hooks — live, the guitar interplay comes off especially intricate, and even catchier — the band members hold down day jobs: Drummer Reuben Storey is employed at a record store, guitarist/vocalist Dylan Sharp teaches English in Turkey, and guitarist/vocalist Caroline Keith holds down a government job, but one she can’t really talk about in print, so we decided to instead focus on the job she had prior to it at a horse farm, where she fed and led stallions from the barn to the pasture. As she put it, “I had to quit the horse farm because I was afraid for my life but it was the best job I ever did have. Like heaven on earth but with a fear that intensified exponentially. Horses sense those feelings and that put me at a disadvantage. They aren’t forgiving animals. They’re herd and prey animals.” So, in this shitty economy, a day job daydream.
We already posted Dim Light’s “In The Dark.” To keep with today’s theme, you’ll find the collection’s “Work Experience” after the conversations about just that.
Continue reading Quit Your Day Job: Gun Outfit…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Lewis & Clarke mastermind and La Société Expéditionnaire label proprietor Lou Rogai has assembled a new EP to follow up 2007’s excellent Blasts Of Holy Birth. “Petrified Forest” opens the Light Time 12″ with Lewis & Clarke’s familiar, hypnotic mountain folk, setting reedy vocals against spare and elegant guitars, gradually swooning into a near seven-minute piece full of strings and woodsy imagery. In and of itself the track brings an organic, meditative ebb and flow, but we’re told that it actually joins the title track on the EP’s Side A for a single piece of transitional music. Songs for getting lost into.
Continue reading New Lewis & Clarke - “Petrified Forest”…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Wyatt Cenac visited Sweden to see if it’s the Socialist nightmare Glenn Beck keeps telling us it is. After a tour of Robyn’s crib he learned the ugly truth: Sweden’s pop stars live like America’s reality show stars. Watch here.
Posted on 22 April 2009
Incorporating a few releases with relatively bigger labels into his extensive discography of limited-edition 12″’s, 7″’s, etc., Brooklyn BTW Blank Dogs is quite literally getting easier to watch. See, for instance, the forthcoming In The Red-imprinted Under And Under which includes 20 new lo-fi hits (15 on the CD) and also finds Mr. Blank Dogs opening up his bedroom and collaborating with outside musicians like Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls on his murky new wave. As you’ll note via the above image, he’s also removed the mask, but thankfully, the submerged melodies remain just as shadowy. As do his responses to our questions about Under’s “Tin Birds,” the immediately catchy song that premiered in this week’s Drop: Listen for clues. Under And Under is out 5/26 via In The Red.
This time through, we also offered the chance to win an Audio-Technica Turntable plus Passion Pit’s Manners on vinyl and a limited-edition Manners poster.
Continue reading The ‘Gum Drop LXXXV: Hear New Blank Dogs, Win A Turntable & Passion Pit Prize Pack…
Posted on 22 April 2009
Natasha Khan’s presented up her song of the year contender in various states of dress, from Karate Kid and La Russoed to stripped and lo-fi. Each has been a good look for “Daniel,” although this straight-no-chaser take for Jools Holland is a reminder that this one would stand on its own independent of savvy alternate arrangements or nostalgia kitsch; great song, great voice, great performance. She’s coming to NYC soon and we are psyched — I’ve laid out her tour dates because you’ll probably want them in four minutes.
Continue reading Bat For Lashes Brings “Daniel” To Jools Holland…
Posted on 22 April 2009
On the heels of the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP, Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound is offering up free Virtual 7″ No. 7, this time an upbeat “Springtime Instrumental” gives way to the seasonal-affective “Time Warp.” Add to your collection at Blogspot.
