Gauzy close-ups of Bradford Cox paint the heartbreak of “Helicopter,”‘ a track from the Halcyon Digest LP coming 9/28 via 4AD. Click on Halycon Digest’s Dennis Cooper text to load the film.
The band debuted this song on BBC 6Music a few months back. Here’s that in portable form:
You guys love lists, and we love to start our holiday weekend early, so thanks VH1 for putting together this 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time countdown. (Spoiler Alert: No Wavves…) You should compare it to VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists Of Rock & Roll from 1998 (back when VH1 was VH-1) to see some of the overlaps/differences. For starters: The Top 5 “Rock” vs “Of All Time” is the same group, except for Jimi Hendrix who’s been pushed to No. 6. It’ll also give you an idea of how VH1 defines rock & roll. And how much it sucks to be the Eagles. Trivia: Which artist has drunkenly crashed his car the most times? Highest ranked artist to be pelted with plastic bottles? Did Biggie beat Tupac? Which version of Journey made it? But it’s not all about long-suffering has-beens: I, for one, am happy for Def Leppard. It’s worth noting the top 5 are in alphabetical order (reverse alphabetical order for our purposes); you’ll have to tune in next week for the full reveal. The rest are ranked.
Pavement are no strangers to cool contests, but this latest one definitely beats roaming around IKEA with Bob Nastanovich (no offense Bob/Sweden). Pavement will perform on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 9/23 and one lucky fan will be joining the band on guitar. To enter, upload a video of yourself covering one of the songs listed below by Wednesday 9/8 at 4:35 AM ET. You also have to live in the continental United States, since the winner will be flown out to NY for the occasion. A “panel of qualified judges” will pick five finalists; then we (the Internet) will vote on the winner.
Sad news: Oberhofer will be Big Ugly Yellow Couch’s last session for a while. Their place in Brooklyn, where each session was shot, burned down this summer. They’re in a new apartment, and they were able to save both the couch and their digital archive of previous couch sessions. But it’ll probably take a little time before they’re up and running again. I look forward to seeing a singed, ashy couch behind whatever band films next.
Anyway, we brought you Oberhofer’s “Don’tneedya” a couple weeks back. This session’s a different sound for the band (no echo, no atmosphere-creating samples), but it’s still a good one. The band played tracks from their “o0O0o0O0o” and “Away Frm U” 7-inches (“Away Frm U” keeps the whistle solo), as well as a cover of Beach Boys’s “Be True To Your School.” Watch:
Land Of Talk’s “Quarry Hymns” video is beautifully shot, in black and white, with a single dancer moving in slow motion. There are a few ominous moments that cut through the gracefulness of the video. Because it’s new, and the trailer is new, it made me think of Darren Arononfsky’s upcoming film Black Swan, though “Quarry Hymns” is a much less dramatic soundtrack. The video was directed by Joseph Yarmush.
This video for The Valusia EP’s “Sea Talk” was directed by Jacqueline Castel, who also did the video for “Night.” Like last time, Nika Rosa Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, aka one of Sterogum’s 40 Best New Bands Of 2010, stars. Castel noted the “Night” video’s apocalyptic tone was partially “the product 1980s futurism via nightmares, Cocteau, and the work of pornographer Rinse Dream.” She says this one was “inspired by the acts of sleepwalkers, caught in their own separate, solitary dream reality, locked into cycles of actions every night.” It’s like she’s reading my diary. (And you might also want to think Poltergeist.) Watch at NME.
The Valusia EP is out 10/12 via Sacred Bones.
A group of Radiohead fans used cheap Flip cameras to record the band’s Aug 23, 2009 show in Prague. Radiohead approved of the DIY concert film, and even provided the filmmakers with the soundboard recordings of the set. Now the concert film, simply called Prague DVD, is available for free download (though the site keeps going down from the overload). It’s in many formats (DVD, iPhone/iPad, PAL/NTSC, etc). And you can watch segments of the set via Youtube. Watch “The National Anthem” and a very sloppy “The Bends,” below, and download the whole thing here.
When I posted Say God’s “Hoofprints On The Ceiling Of My Mind” I reiterated my respect for Daniel Higgs, talked about the influence he had on me as a youngster (via Lungfish), and his excellent solo material (that crusty combo of long-neck banjo, jew’s harp, noise, organ drone, bird songs, art, alchemy, his personal Gospel/life philosophy), etc. This time I can cut to the chase: Clairaudience Fellowship is Higgs’ gorgeous, expansively hushed (and not surprisingly devotional, profound) vinyl-only collaboration with Baltimore underground noise mainstay/Tarantula Hill community builder Twig Harper (see Scheme, Mini-Systems, especially Nautical Almanac). Harper explains the title (“Clairaudience: to hear beyond physical vibration. Fellowship: in a communal or collaborative way”) and the collection:
Our love for Das Racist’s dadaist dipthongs, pithy wit raps, and punched-up Amitabh Bachchan-referencing rhyme schemes conclusively established in a love letter to the Shut Up, Dude mixtape (and bowling also), news of its powered-by-Diplo sequel Sit Down, Man’s imminent arrival is a highly exciting prospect. Plus, it features production from Chairlift and Class of 2010 freshmen Teengirl Fantasy, among others from the Stereogum tag set. There’s a trailer and everything, which is below, but in the interim we have the video for Shut Up’s “Who’s That? Brooown!” to fall back on, an 8-bit video game styled adventure that follows the DR crew on a mission not far from a Saturday in their real lives, starting a day in Queens and bouncing around the greater Williamsburg, BKLYN/QNZ area on a mission to track down their own hype man/spirit guru Dapwell. And other things, too, probably.
Today Apple introduced iTunes 10 featuring Ping, a sort of social network based around your iTunes plays. According to Gizmodo:
