New year, new leaf. With the defunct now but a blip in the 2005 buzz bin, former frontman Devonte Hynes has set down some new paths-- including one that has him crossing Omaha s famed Road.
, Dev s already stirring up mayhem with the gentlemen from Michigan s Whirlwind Heat, as .
And he s still got that regrettable thing going on with Tom Vek and two dudes from Semifinalists. Almost by default, whatever else he s working on is going to be more high-minded, so perhaps it s appropriate that he s hooked up with hotshot Omaha producer to record his debut solo album under the moniker.
Mike Mogis is a dude, and this record is gonna be sweet, gushed Dev on his website, as long as I don t overdose on Jimmy Jones [sic] - so fast you ll freakkkkk!
!!!
! sandwiches and as long as I stay out of the local showgirls.
Faint kit-kicker will provide drums on the record, which hopes to release later this year-- and even played his part: Conor Oberst stopped by the studio, wrote Dev, to say hey and stuff which was cool.
Dev thanked Conor by stealing his internet signal.
Songs include Everyone Is Listening to Crunk ( probably the most personal song on the album ), Devil Tricks for a Bitch ( seriously, I m sorry for the horrible titles ), and an as-yet-untitled 12 minute song . Apparently there s even going to be cello on this record!
And pivot on over to Lightspeed Champion s to check out a short Wurlitzer ditty called REYSTRRIGSTE ODYSSEY , as well as the melodic (!) pop romp I Wish I Was a Camel , which wouldn t make a bad Super Furry Animals B-side. I can t believe I m saying that.
Just as 128 kbps mp3s desecrate the laborious masterstrokes of guru producers, YouTube just doesn t do a video like this any justice. But hey, for now, we re stuck with it, so deal.
buddy Justin Durel takes a cue from Victoria Legrand s opening line You always go to the parties, taking our Master of None on a vertiginous first-person flutter through some festive gathering.
Perhaps he or she is a participant in the celebratory proceedings? Or perhaps we re dealing with a ghost who s returned to bask in life s idle joys one last time?
While the set-up brings to mind Jonas Akerlund s bleary-eyed first-person protagonist/raging drunkard in the infamous Prodigy Smack My Bitch Up clip, the mood here is decidedly void of the chilly vindictiveness that seethes through that video.
Instead, Durel leads us on a warm, woozy waltz across the twilight dreamland that Beach House evoke and inhabit so well. Party on, dudes.
Like any quality vehicle, s debut has been tricked out to hit the streets.
Two bonus cuts have been added to the album s tracklisting for its U.S. release (January 30 on Capitol).
The 50 Cent-biting Nan You re a Window Shopper and a remix of Smile (which we assume is the same song mentioned ). Also, Capitol claims that the disc will be the first American full-length release ever to be packaged with U-MYX, software enabling listeners to create their own mixes of the album s tunes. Great, just what we needed-- more LDN mash-ups.
up for a slew of appearances, as well as dates across Japan and Europe, a February 2 gig on first-ever Discover and Download tour, the dates for which have yet to be on February 6. Plus Smile is on the soundtrack for Electronic Arts upcoming expansion pack, The Sims 2 Seasons, which is due next month. So get on perfecting that Allen look-alike Sim.
And, for the last time, please refrain from any and all (NSFW)!
What a week for Lady Sovereign! The ecstasy of victory, the agony of defeat.
Playboy bunnies, jelly donuts. Late night television. It all started Monday night, January 8, when Sov performed at San Francisco s Mezzanine club (a make-up show for when she was sick back in November).
However, this wasn t an ordinary performance. It was a battleground. Remember that guy in San Francisco who raised $10,000 to take Lady Sovereign on a ?
And remember how she after the date? Well, that guy brought a friend on the date. And that guy happens to be a rapper.
A rapper who calls himself . And who dresses up like a giant donut. Which he did at the Lady Sovereign show at the Mezzanine on Monday night.
And challenged Sov to a rap battle. Sov was not having it. Apparently, she spit on, poured Red Bull on, and eventually kicked out the man in the donut costume.
However, the crowd was on Jelly Donut s side, bombarding her with chants of BATTLE JELLY DONUT! and pieces of paper with an image of a donut on them (provided by the man himself, of course). We still don t really understand why she turned him down.
It s a great publicity stunt! Look at the Decemberists: what would have happened if they said no to Stephen Colbert?
Kanye, Gnarls, Girl Talk Take on Jackie Chan, China
Lupe Fiasco and Spank Rock vs.
Supergirls What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas most of the time, but not in the case of , which-- according to its -- is a funky and internationally fresh concert event taking place February 13 and 14 at the Las Vegas Aladdin Hotel and Casino s Theatre of the Arts. will broadcast the event in mainland China with the purpose of getting the biggest names in music from China and the United States [to] converge on one stage in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year (apparently the world s most celebrated holiday ). The first night is dedicated to the Chinese artists, which include Jackie Chan (!
), A-mei, Mayday, Zhang Zhen Yue, Shin Band, and SupergirlsTM. On the second night, Kanye West, Gnarls Barkley, Lupe Fiasco, Spank Rock, Girl Talk, Tigra, and Berko will take the stage.
Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse must be pumped to be part of an event staged in the mythical world of legendary China [with] a spectacular blend of live music, dance, and dazzling special effects.
Bets are being placed now as to what their costumes will be, and odds are four to one on a Mulan theme. There s something in the water in Sunderland, something that helps the English city s bands churn out tight, punchy guitar-pop in earnest. And and just love that Sunderland water: they drink it straight up, mix it with their tea and Tang, bathe in it, water their plants with it, and guzzle it every night before bed.
Perhaps it was a chance meeting by the water cooler, then, that led the Futureheads to ask Field Music s Dave Brewis to record some demos for the love-hounds. The Futureheads are working on new songs, Brewis told BBC 6 Music s recently (thanks to for the heads up), and I know how to use the studio, so they asked me to record them. It s just demos and stuff, just ideas-- cause they ve got loads of them.
Field Music aren t exactly short on ideas either. Their sophomore LP, Tones of Town, is packed with them. , the Memphis Industries-stamped disc arrives January 22 in the UK and February 20 in the U.
S. You can already hear quite a few of its jams -- including latest single A House Is Not a Home , right below. The new video for the tune has our Field Music lads invading a young couple s dwelling space; it s quite funny in a silly sort of way that only our cousins across the pond seem capable of pulling off:
There s nothing wrong with this piano ought to be some sort of catchphrase, methinks.
The A House Is Not a Home 7 /digital single, backed with non-album track Logic , hits UK shoppes on January 14.
And since Field Music s Dave Brewis knows how to use a studio, it should come as no surprise that he s got a side-project going right now. Thus far, this Brewis brother s has only one demo and 22 MySpace friends, but we suspect both numbers will explode very soon: that demo, Rockist Part 1 , builds a rhythm from what sounds like vowel-pronunciation exercises (Bobby McFerrin would be proud) and should more than appease fans of Field Music s streamlined pop.
Finally, Field Music hit the roads of Europe at the end of this month. are masters of self-promotion, backstage during their appearance on Late Night With Conan O Brien , by a gorilla-suited Tool while opening for the band on tour, and releasing in their video tour diary on their . So what next?
That s right, the band announced their most recent effort to promote the excellent -- -- via their : You can collect diamonds to get pieces of a key to gain entrance to Blood Mountain...
Keep an eye out for the special cheat codes that you can enter in the game. They re available on Mastodon flyers that are being handed out across the country.
I ve played the game-- it seems the only controls are the keyboard arrows and space bar-- and I have a bone to pick: the thing is hard!
I didn t get five game inches until I was eaten by dogs or I fell down some hole or, even worse, the game got all glitchy on me. There s potential there, but Mastodon need to get their tech department on the case ASAP.
Mastodon will begin their United States/United Kingdom/United Arab Emirates tour January 26 in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida.
band last year, but she hasn t forsaken her first love: her band . in February.
The pair, still riding on August s release , have lined up a series of West Coast tour dates, set to kick off tomorrow, January 11, at Seattle s Crocodile Cafe. its next album, and are also in the process of signing to in the UK. Check out a demo version of the brand new song Recorder by clicking on the link below.
Director takes the video for I Still Remember -- s decidedly unaggressive first U.S. single-- to the trains.
Lyrically, the song s a trip down memory lane, but visually, it s all boxcars, band members in multiple outfits, and Kele Okereke s oh-so-sincere looks into the camera, treated to a heavy blanket of fuzzy focus. Matt Tong s may have forced them to put an end to their tour with Panic! At the Disco, but Bloc Party are emo through and through.
As , will release A Weekend in the City on February 6, and the band begin their world tour January 25.
Believe it or not, it s been nearly four years since we ve heard so much as a whimper from , but that doesn t mean the veteran Chicago jazz-inflected pop quartet has slowed down.
Cakers and spent the last few years focusing on individual pursuits-- each released a solo record in 2005 (Who s Your New Professor and Wilderness, respectively, both on ).
Drummer , meanwhile, has concentrated on his work with Tortoise, while also recording up a storm at his Soma Studios. And traded the bass for a palette and paintbrush, turning out a pretty sweet of oil paintings last year.
Now the fire, wind, earth, and heart of the Sea and Cake (water is lame, man) have reunited at last, and by their powers combined, nearly completed work on album number seven.
Pitchfork caught up with Sea and Cake captain Sam Prekop yesterday for a chat about recording the latest LP at a rock n roll boot camp, his photography book, his electronic record with McEntire, and the fine art of the album cover.
We re almost done with the as-yet-untitled record, reported Prekop. We have one more song to mix, and then the sequencing.
It should see the light of day in May, and like all previous Sea and Cake full lengths, bear the Thrill Jockey stamp.
That s not the only continuing trend here: like the six Sea and Cake LPs before it, number seven will contain exactly 10 tracks (including Scribble On and What Tonight Is )-- which was far from Prekop s intention.
I was very anxious to make a record that had more than ten songs, he said.
[But] this one has ten, too, which I didn t think was going to happen, because we had actually prepared 15. But for whatever reason, five of them didn t make it. If we felt that we could have pulled off more than ten, we would have, or if it felt right.
It could be a thing where we just know that ten, that s it, that makes the best record, you can t get further than that. with s Simone Pace, the band was recording the follow-up to 2004 s , but still wholly undecided about all those silly logistical things we Pitchfork newsies love to report: an album name, song titles, a release date, and the like. Perhaps they resolved to make up their minds when the ball dropped, or perhaps they re just damned savvy marketers, but the art-rock trio has at last revealed all.
On April 10, will release Blonde Redhead s seventh album, 23, which we sure hope has nothing to do with that forthcoming Joel Schumacher-directed, Jim Carrey-starring . But hmm, wait a minute..
.23 times four (as in 4AD) times seven (seventh album) plus 23 minus one (um, just because) equals..
.666!!
!!
Holy smokes, we ve got ourselves a conspiracy.
And we haven t even considered the numeric significance of folks like 23 s co-mixers Rich Costey and Alan Moulder, nor that of Mr. Chris Coady, who recorded the Blonde Redhead-produced affair at New York s .
And it wouldn t be a Blonde Redhead marketing blitz/occult conspiracy without the North American tour, which kicks off in mid-March at .
But wait: if Kazu and the Pace brothers rock precisely four SXSW showcases/parties (a reasonable number for a band of their stature), that means they ll play exactly 23 shows on this tour!!!
Hot Jesus, somebody call Dan Brown already. Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently?
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