Pitchfork.tv: Beirut: One Week Only: Cheap Magic Inside: The Flying Club Cup
This week's "One Week Only" installment collects the short films created by director Vincent Moon and producer Chryde of La Blogothèque's "Take Away Show" for Beirut's 2007 album The Flying Club Cup. They follow Zach Condon and his band into corners of Brooklyn both strange and familiar and capture performances from the record in their unique and expressive style.
New Music: Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit: "Rain Dance" [ft. M.I.A.] / "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (Vampire Weekend cover) [Streams]
Vampire Weekend, Ruby Suns, Santogold and others with a taste for African music reportedly make appearances on the forthcoming full-length collaboration between mix-and-matching London dance producers Radioclit and Malawi-born, London-based singer Esau Mwamwaya (we don't have confirmed information yet on the record). Also apparently on hand is M.I.A., who drops some sing-songy verses about "water to clean and baptize me" on "leaked" Mwamwaya demo "Rain Dance". Mwamwaya's translucent vocals bounce over heavy, intricate, and slightly lascivious percussion, along with whistling noises and what sounds like a child's voice. Yes, you can probably dance to it. In the rain, even.
Also posted today to Mwamwaya's MySpace page is an interesting re-working of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (the original EP version is here), the B-side to VW's single. (via GorillavsBear)
["Rain Dance" apparently from a forthcoming LP on Ghettopop; "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" available now from iTunes]
Premiere: The Mountain Goats and Kaki King: "Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle" [MP3/Stream]
"The new Kaki King song is unbelievably good," John Darnielle wrote on his blog early this year. Soon after, the Mountain Goats were busy promoting their excellent Heretic Pride, while King hit the road in support of her latest, Dreaming of Revenge. But Georgia-born, New York-based King, an acoustic guitarist of the percussive and technically accomplished Michael Hedges or Leo Kottke sort, managed to get together with Darnielle in his home state of North Carolina to record the six-song Black Pear Tree EP.
"Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle", part of the fruits of the duo's Pear Tree labor, gives Darnielle some of the warmest, most revealing production in his career, with his bare piano chords, King's gently jazzy drumming, and the Mountain Goats man's exposed, confident vocal. When King's wispy voice comes in to join Darnielle's at the climax, the two sing, "When you came in, I could breathe again," backed only by King's chiming glockenspiel. "The song is sung from the point of view of Toad," Darnielle explains. Any princess who could resist such charms has probably eaten too many mushrooms.
MP3:> The Mountain Goats and Kaki King: "Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle"
[fromt the forthcoming Black Pear Tree EP]
Pitchfork.tv: The Bug [ft. Flow Dan and Killa P]: "Skeng" [Video Premiere]
All things in moderation appears to be the modus operandi of both the Bug's "Skeng" and its Anne-Marie Bergeron-directed video. The second single from London Zoo is full of low-end rumble and sharp-tongued lyricism by Killa P and Flowdan, both of East London's Roll Deep grime crew. Paradoxically enough, though, as Martin Clark noted in his The Month In: Grime/Dubstep column last year, "Skeng" is "comparatively constrained in the all-out, sonic assault department." The video is similarly austere, setting London producer Kevin Martin's spare rhythmic thunder to black-and-white images of the MCs rapping against a backdrop of the city skyline. Also, Flowdan is apparently a White Sox fan.
Pitchfork.tv page with embed code is here.
[from London Zoo; out now on Ninja Tune] ]
New Old Music: The Replacements: "Kiss Me on the Bus" (Demo) / "Photo" (Demo) / "Talent Show" (Demo) [Streams]
"There's never been a shortage of thirty and fortysomethings reminiscing about the 'Mats," Mark Richardson observes in his review of the first four Replacements albums' Rhino reissues. Much to my eternal non-cred, I'm not a part of that indiest of generations. That means I heard "Can't Hardly Wait" over the credits of a movie starring Ethan Embry (who?) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (who?), got obsessed with "Alex Chilton" thanks to streaming internet radio, and fell in love with "Kiss Me on the Bus" after the same profanity demon hellride to Des Moines that prompted me to download "Hell Greyhound Bus Ride" by Wesley Willis. It also means I knew the underachieving, beer-soaked Minnesota band's legend from books like Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life before I'd heard big chunks of their discography.
Doesn't matter. If these demos from Rhino's next set of Replacements reissues tell us anything about this band, it's that their songs were sharp and tuneful enough to withstand not just the indignities of studio production, but also their own underdog mystique. Tim's "Kiss Me on the Bus" is considerably faster and rougher on this demo, cut in the summer of 1985 to see how well the band got along with ex-Ramone (and eventual Tim producer) Tommy Erdelyi, but the bittersweet modern kicks that made the song great were already there.
"Photo" could be familiar to some diehards as "P.O. Box (Empty as Your Heart)"; this work in progress comes from the band's first demo session without guitarist Bob Stinson, in summer 1986 ahead of Pleased to Meet Me, and despite thematic similarities to Let It Be's "Answering Machine" it sounds like it should've been on an album.
"Talent Show", stripped of the overproduction and ringing acoustic guitars of Don't Tell a Soul, takes on a renewed vitality. All of which makes even a person of my non-McCain age wonder whether that's just indigestion, or if the music is making me actually feel something. Better buy some beer just in case.
[the deluxe reissues of Tim, Pleased to Meet Me, Don't Tell a Soul, and All Shook Down are due 09/23/08 from Rhino]
Pitchfork.tv: Zach Hill (of Hella) [ft. No Age]: "Stoic Logic" [Video Premiere]
Better known as the drummer for Hella and Marnie Stern, Zach Hill goes it alone (well, plus some guests) on Astrological Straits. But here he's still banging out enough beats for a BoaDrum event. Far from the corpse-painted suburban wayfarer of his recent "Dark Art" clip, the Nate Boyce-directed video for "Stoic Logic" shows Hill assailing the drumset behind a colorfully kaleidoscopic miasma. I guess when your bass-heavy rhythms and clanging cymbals can fill the room with what if you squint and are really hungover could look like something out of a psychedelic Disney movie, who needs anyone else? OK, maybe just some barbed-wire guitars and vocals from Dean Spunt and Randy Randall of No Age.
Pitchfork.tv page with embed code is here.
[from Astrological Straits; out now on Ipecac]
Pitchfork.tv: Deerhoof: "The Tears and Music of Love" (Live in Tokyo) [Video Premiere]
That dirty, no-good, robbin' Maggie need not feel slighted, at least not by Deerhoof. The video for "The Tears and Music of Love", the first single from the unconventional San Francisco band's forthcoming Offend Maggie, is pretty much your straightforward live clip, shot and recorded in Tokyo this past June. In keeping with the arty rockers' rockin' artwork, you might expect each of the band members' faces to be blurred, their tops removed, their torsos muscular, one leg apiece posed inexplicably on a chair. You'd be wrong. Instead, it's frontwoman Satomi Matsuzaki's tough-to-discern coos and shrieks, along with the band's intricate unpredictability, that takes this ordinary guitars-bass-drums setting and makes it something fantastical. So Maggie, whether you're a baby Simpson, a former UK prime minister, or a Gyllenhaal, consider this your Friend Opportunity right here.
Pitchfork.tv page with embed code is here.
[from Offend Maggie; due 10/06/08 in the UK on ATP Recordings, in Australia on Spunk, and in Japan on P-Vine, and 10/07/08 in the U.S. and in Europe on Kill Rock Stars]
Video: The Hold Steady: "Sequestered in Memphis" (fan video)
Goodbye, sister disco. Watching this, I can't help by think about for Escort's "All Through the Night" and the brilliantly edited clip that wound up being one of last year's best videos. This one obviously pales in comparison but is still fun on its own. And on YouTube, the fan who put it together called it "Sequested in Muppets", which is a nice touch.
[from Stay Positive; out now on Rough Trade in the UK and on Vagrant in the U.S.]
WTF: Liz Phair: Some Strange Record Promo Thingy About The Matrix
We mentioned this briefly in news yesterday, but it's strange enough to feature it again here. I'm not sure what this is, exactly, or who would have wasted money to film it, but the upshot seems to be that Liz Phair is having a laugh at her pop crossover moment by clumsily riffing on the songwriting/production team the Matrix, who worked with her on her self-titled album, and the film of the same name. If that's the case, some actual laughs would have been nice.
New Music: New Young Pony Club: "The Bomb (Villains Xplosive Remix)" [MP3]
As heard on last year's Fantastic Playroom, New Young Pony Club's "The Bomb" was a taut, energetic entry under dancefloor post-punk's latest marketing banner, new rave. But isn't a bomb supposed to explode? Los Angeles electro-house duo Villains bring London-based NYPC's little explosion to Justice, or at least the synth-thwomping house-as-rock of those †-worshipers' Parisian Ed Banger and Kitsuné peers. At the same time, the original's twitchy punk-funk guitars become a relentless, floaty pulse. NYPC singer Tahita Bulmer's get chopped up in the usual so-blggble-right-now way, as the programmed snares and handclaps send the track through a series of crests. "Come take a moment with your enemy," Bulmer sings, and although this remix doesn't reinvent the, er, bomb, perhaps it's time to stop worrying and love blasting the dancefloor back to the Daft Punk age.
MP3:> New Young Pony Club: "The Bomb (Villains Xplosive Remix)"
[original track from Fantastic Playroom; out now on Modular]
Forkcast Playlist
Other Recent Downloads
Fri: 09-05-08
- New Music: Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit: "Rain Dance" [ft. M.I.A.] / "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (Vampire Weekend cover) [Streams]
- Premiere: The Mountain Goats and Kaki King: "Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: The Bug [ft. Flow Dan and Killa P]: "Skeng" [Video Premiere]
- New Old Music: The Replacements: "Kiss Me on the Bus" (Demo) / "Photo" (Demo) / "Talent Show" (Demo) [Streams]
- Pitchfork.tv: Zach Hill (of Hella) [ft. No Age]: "Stoic Logic" [Video Premiere]
- Pitchfork.tv: Deerhoof: "The Tears and Music of Love" (Live in Tokyo) [Video Premiere]
- Video: The Hold Steady: "Sequestered in Memphis" (fan video)
- WTF: Liz Phair: Some Strange Record Promo Thingy About The Matrix
- New Music: New Young Pony Club: "The Bomb (Villains Xplosive Remix)" [MP3]
Thu: 09-04-08
- Pitchfork.tv: The Walkmen: "The Rat" (Life from Juan's Basement)
- Pitchfork.tv: Terry Lynn: "The System" [Video Premiere] (NSFW)
- New Music: Fuck Buttons: "Sweet Love For Planet Earth (Andrew Weatherall Mix)" [Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Sian Alice Group: "The Dusk Line" [Video Premiere]
- Premiere: Reefer [Islands' Nick Thorburn]: "May Baleen" [Stream]
- Video: Hot Chip: "Wrestlers"
- New Music: Lindstrøm: "Grand Ideas (Johan Agebjörn remix)" [Stream]
Wed: 09-03-08
- Pitchfork.tv: The Walkmen: "On the Water" (Live from Juan's Basement)
- Video: The National: "Fake Empire" (ad for Obama campaign)
- Pitchfork.tv: Bear in Heaven: "Fraternal Noon" [Video Premiere]
- New Music: Jessica Lea Mayfield (prod. by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys): "Kiss Me Again" [MP3/Stream]
- New Music: Marnie Stern: "Shea Stadium" [Stream]
- Video: Fleet Foxes / The Dodos: Live at the "Take Away Show"'s Soirée à Emporter
- Premiere: Sian Alice Group: "Murder (Brian DeGraw / Gang Gang Dance Remix)" [Stream]
Tue: 09-02-08
- Pitchfork.tv: The Walkmen: "In the New Year" (Live from Juan's Basement)
- Video: CSS: "Move"
- New Music: Fucked Up: "Twice Born" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Cat Power: "Space Oddity" (David Bowie cover; Lincoln ad)
- Video: Metallica: "The Day That Never Comes"
- New Music: Times New Viking: "Call & Respond" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Wilco and Fleet Foxes: "I Shall Be Released" (Bob Dylan cover; live in Spokane, Wash.)
- New Music: The Present (Animal Collective producer Rusty Santos): "World I See" [MP3/Stream]
Fri: 08-29-08
- Video: Radiohead: The Santa Barbara Webcast (updated to include complete show)
- Pitchfork.tv: One Week Only: Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp
- Video: Crystal Castles: "Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs. Health)"
- Video: The Streets: "Everything Is Borrowed"
- Pitchfork.tv: Fiasco: "Oh You Horny Monster" [Video Premiere]
- Video: IFC News Independent Music Panel: "What Does Independent Music Mean in 2008?"
- New Old Music: Arthur Russell: "Close My Eyes" / "Eli" [Streams]
- Video: Dr. Dooom (aka Kool Keith): "R.I.P. Dr. Octagon"
- New Music: Stars: "Why I Want to Save You"
- New Old Music: Ike and Tina Turner / James Brown: Songs from More Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country [MP3s/Streams]
Thu: 08-28-08
- Video: Radiohead: Live Webcast from Santa Barbara, Calif.
- Pitchfork.tv: Plants and Animals: Live on "Don't Look Down"
- New Music: Lou Reed [ft. Antony Hegarty]: "Caroline Says, Pt. II" (Live) [MP3]
- On Repeat: High Places: "From Stardust to Sentience" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Adem: "Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye" (Leonard Cohen cover)
- Premiere: Benoît Pioulard: "Brown Bess" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Air France: "Collapsing at Your Doorstep"
Wed: 08-27-08
- Pitchfork.tv: The Walkmen: "In the New Year" [Video Premiere]
- Pitchfork.tv: Beach House: "Apple Orchard" (Live from Juan's Basement)
- On Repeat: Of Montreal: "Nonpareil of Favor" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Adventure: "Ultrazone" [Video Premiere]
- New Music: The Shortwave Set: "Now Til '69 (Aeroplane Remix)" [Stream]
- Video: Common [ft. Pharrell]: "Announcement"
- New Music: Jenny Lewis: "Acid Tongue" [Video/Stream]
- New Music: TV on the Radio: "Dancing Choose" [Stream]
Tue: 08-26-08
- Video: Radiohead: "Tell Me Why" (Neil Young cover; live at the Hollywood Bowl)
- Pitchfork.tv: Beach House: "Holy Dances" (Live from Juan's Basement)
- New Music: T.I. [ft. Rihanna]: "Live Your Life" [Stream]
- Video: My Bloody Valentine: "To Here Knows When" (Live at the Fuji Rock Festival)
- New Music: Beck [ft. Jay Reatard]: "Gamma Ray (Pocket Mix)" [MP3]
- Video: Bon Iver: "Blue Tulip" (Okkervil River cover)
- Video: Stereolab: "Neon Beanbag"
- Video: Kanye West: "Good Morning"
- Premiere: Attic Lights: "Wendy (The Vaselines Mix)" [Stream]
- New Music: Fake Blood: "Mars (Player Player's 95 Jump Mix)" [Stream]
Mon: 08-25-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Beach House: "Gila" [Live from "Juan's Basement"]
- New Music: 88-Keys [ft. Kanye West]: "Stay Up! Viagra" [MP3]
- New Music: Young Jeezy: "Don't You Know" [Stream]
- New Music: T.I. [ft. Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne]: "Swagger Like Us" [Stream]
- New Music: White Lies: "Death (Crystal Castles Remix)" [MP3]
Fri: 08-22-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Bradford Cox / Spoon / Jay Reatard: "Daytripping" at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival
- Video: No Age: "Goat Hurt"
- Video: John Legend [ft. André 3000]: "Green Light"
- New Music: Vampire Weekend: "Everywhere" (Fleetwood Mac cover) [MP3]
- New Music: The Donkeys: "Nice Train" [MP3/Stream]
- New Music: Taken By Trees: "Sweetness" / "The Sweetness of Air France" [Streams]
- New Music: The Big Pink: "Crystal Visions" [Stream]
- New Music: Hello Saferide: "Anna" [MP3]
Thu: 08-21-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Bradford Cox / Apples in Stereo / King Khan / The Dodos / High Places: "Daytripping" at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival
- Pitchfork.tv: DJ/rupture presents Baby Kites and Nokea: "Reef"
- New Music: Metallica: "The Day That Never Comes" [Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Shad: "The Old Prince Still Lives at Home" [Video Premiere]
- New Music: Horse Feathers: "Rude to Rile" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: My Brightest Diamond: "From the Top of the World" [Video Premiere]
- New Music: The Streets: "Everything Is Borrowed" [Stream]
- New Music: Lake: "Blue Ocean Blue" [MP3/Stream]
Wed: 08-20-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Bradford Cox / King Khan and the Shrines / HEALTH / Bon Iver / No Age: "Daytripping" at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival
- Video: Sigur Rós: "Inní mér syngur vitleysingur"
- Pitchfork.tv: YACHT: "Summer Song" [Video]
- New Music: Richard Swift: "Would You" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Stephen Emmer [ft. Lou Reed]: "Passengers"
- New Music: Department of Eagles: "No One Does It Like You" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: The Walkmen: "On the Water" (Live on Fox 5 News)
- New Music: KatJonBand: "Bad Apples" [MP3/Stream]
Tue: 08-19-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Public Enemy: Special Presentation: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Parts 2 and 3
- Video: Oasis: "Shock of the Lightning"
- New Music: TV on the Radio: "Golden Age" [Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: "Midnight Man" (live in studio) [Video Premiere]
- Premiere: Tussle: "Night of the Hunter (Prins Thomas Remix)" [MP3/Stream]
- New Music: Bloc Party: "Trojan Horse" [Stream]
- New Music: The Megaphonic Thrift: "Neues" [Stream]
Mon: 08-18-08
- Video: Carl Newman and Will Sheff: "Lost Coastlines" (acoustic)
- Pitchfork.tv: Public Enemy: Special Presentation: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Part 1 of 3)
- Video: Ra Ra Riot: "Dying Is Fine" (Live in Syracuse, N.Y.)
- Video: My Morning Jacket: "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2"
- Pitchfork.tv: The Death Set: "Intermission" [Video Premiere]
- Premiere: Fennesz: "Hunting High and Low" (A-Ha cover) [Stream]
- Video: Arcade Fire: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" (fan video ft. the Rock-afire Explosion)
- New Music: Squarepusher: "Delta -v" [Stream]
- New Old Music: Rodriguez: "Sugar Man" [MP3/Stream]
Fri: 08-15-08
- Pitchfork.tv: One Week Only: Reformat the Planet
- Pitchfork.tv: sBACH: "Untitled (Track 2)" [Video Premiere]
- New Old Music: Lupe Fiasco [prod. by Kanye West]: "Birds & the Bees" [MP3]
- New Music: The Cure: "Without You" [Stream]
- Video: Beach House: "Heart of Chambers" (Black Cab Session)
- Premiere: Peter Bjorn and John: "Inland Empire" [MP3/Stream]
- New Music: Los Campesinos!: "How I Taught Myself to Scream" [MP3/Stream]
- New Music: Oasis: "The Shock of the Lightning" [MP3]
Thu: 08-14-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Bowerbirds: "In Our Talons" [Video]
- New Music: Glen Campbell: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (Green Day cover) [Stream]
- Video: Fujiya & Miyagi: "Knickerbocker"
- New Music: The Verve: "Sit and Wonder" [Stream]
- Video: Black Mountain: "Wucan"
- New Music: Oasis: "Falling Down" [Stream]
- Video: Los Campesinos!: "Death to Los Campesinos!" (Live on "The Take-Away Show")
- New Music: Michael Zapruder: "Ads for Feelings" [MP3/Video]
Wed: 08-13-08
- Pitchfork.tv: King Khan / Gnarls Barkley: "Daytripping" / "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
- New Music: Curtis Vodka: Krudmart Mixtape August 08 (Curtis Vodka's Get Down Tonight Mix)
- New Music: The New Year: "The Company I Can Get" [MP3]
- New Music: Roman IV: "Neues Testament" [Stream]
- On Repeat: Madonna: "Into the Groove (Sidechains Remix)" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: The Cure: "The Perfect Boy"
- New Music: Re-Up Gang [ft. Joss Stone]: "Celebrate" [Stream]
- Download: Manu Chao: "Politik Kills (Prince Fatty Remix)" [MP3]
Tue: 08-12-08
- Pitchfork.tv: King Khan and BBQ Show: Live at Cake Shop
- Pitchfork.tv: The War on Drugs: "A Needle in Your Eye #16" [Video Premiere]
- New Music: Okkervil River: "Lost Coastlines" [MP3/Stream]
- New Music: James Lavino [ft. Colin Greenwood of Radiohead and Lee and Tyler Sargent of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah] : Woodpecker OST [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Calexico: "Two Silver Trees" [Video Premiere]
- Premiere: Marnie Stern: "Transformer" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Metronomy: "Heartbreaker" [Video]
- New Music: Jay-Z [prod. by Kanye West]: "Jockin' Jay-Z" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Kanye West: "Champion"
Mon: 08-11-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Abe Vigoda: Live on "Don't Look Down"
- Video: Grizzly Bear: "Fine for Now" (new song; live at All Points West)
- New Music: Franz Ferdinand: "Lucid Dreams" [Stream]
- Video: Mogwai: "Batcat"
- Video: Isaac Hayes: Various Songs
- New Music: Burger/Voigt: "Wand Aus Klang" [Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Santogold: "Lights Out" [Video]
- Video: Okkervil River: "Lost Coastlines" (acoustic version; live in Norway)
- New Music: Simon Bookish: "Dumb Terminal" [MP3/Stream]
Fri: 08-08-08
- Pitchfork.tv: The Smiths / Cut Copy: One Week Only: The Queen Is Dead: A Classic Under Review / Interview
- Premiere: The Juan MacLean: "The Simple Life (Marcus Worgull Remix)" [Stream]
- New Music: I'm From Barcelona: "Music Killed Me" [MP3] / "Paper Planes" [Video]
- Video: Lykke Li: "Hanging High" (acoustic version; live in Norway)
- New Music: caUSE co-MOTION!: "I Lie Awake" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Conor Oberst: "Souled Out!!!"
- New Music: Muscles: "The Lake (Jokers of the Scene Remix)" [MP3/Stream]
Thu: 08-07-08
- Pitchfork.tv: Cut Copy / Radiohead: Live at Studio B, Part 2 / "House of Cards"
- Video: Ladytron: "Runaway"
- New Music: Lykke Li: "Little Bit (Loving Hand Remix)" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Truckasauras: "Fak!!!" [Video Premiere]
- Video: Be Your Own Pet: "Becky"
- Video: Jay-Z and Kanye West: "Jockin' Jay-Z" (Live at Madison Square Garden)
- Video: T.I.: "Whatever You Like"
- New Music: Man/Miracle: "Pushing and Shoving" [MP3/Stream]