Pitchfork

After dropping 2004's superlatively well-received ONoffON, left-of-center punk's elder statesmen Mission of Burma are poised to hit us with dat new shit once again. The Obliterati, their second full-length since reuniting, arrives May 9 via Matador Records.

As if NEW Mission of Burma weren't exciting enough, the boys have planned something extra-special for the vinyl fetishists among us: a pre-release 12" singles club. Pop on over to the Matador website right now and you get it all: a different 12" single in the mail each week, featuring a track from The Obliterati, for eight straight weeks! What's more, act now and Matador will throw in a CD version of each single, to arrive three weeks after the respective 12". That's right, eight twelve-inch singles and eight CD singles for one low, low price. And did we mention that each 12" has a unique vinyl etching from artist Shepard Fairey on one side? Insanity!

Pitchfork caught up with Burma's Clint Conley to get the skinny on the 12" parade and The Obliterati.

"It's one thing to come out with a record after God only knows, 30 or 40 years," Conley joked. "That's obviously kind of a 'story', so we don't really have that wind at our backs this time around. We were all challenged to think of, 'Well, what can we do to kind of stoke some excitement or get people cranked up about this?'" And nothing stokes and cranks these days quite like the vinyl.

So what can folks expect from The Obliterati? "With Mission of Burma, it's hard to get a unified message because there are three songwriters, there are three pretty distinct personalities-- three and a half really when you throw in [producer Bob] Weston," Conley admitted.

"To me, [the album is] scary-sounding. I think Weston did a really great job. It just gets up to a level that, I don't know, scares me."

With songwriting split among the triumvirate, Conley couldn't vouch for the approach of fellow-Burmese Roger Miller and Peter Prescott, but had this to say about his own:

"For me in particular, I noticed my songwriting getting more elemental, less melodic. I spent a couple of years working on my solo project Consonant, which was more about melody, about songs, and rich chording, and I just found myself writing more elemental, more basic sort of punk music."

He continued, "I feel like my songs are punkier in a good way. There's less melodic line in the vocal parts--it's more sort of pattern singing--I don't know how you'd describe it. [It's] less melodic. But still, you know, [there are] some sweet moments for the pop part."

Consonant, Conley tells us, is on hiatus for the time being.

Here's that scary tracklist for The Obliterati. Eight of these 14 tunes will be cut into 12" vinyl for the club. But which ones? We ain't sayin':

01 2wice
02 Spider's Web
03 Donna Sumeria
04 Let Yourself Go
05 1001 Pleasant Dreams
06 Good, Not Great
07 13
08 Man in Decline
09 Careening With Conviction
10 Birthday
11 The Mute Speaks Out
12 Is This Where?
13 Period
14 Nancy Reagan's Head

In other Mission of Burma news, the trio recently joined the free file-sharing orgy that is the Live Music Archive, where fans may post and share live recordings of participating bands. Burma also plan to tour sporadically in support of Obliterati, as they did for ONoffON, although for now their schedule only holds a New York gig, an appearance at the Dinosaur Jr.-curated date of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, and a Roger Miller collaboration show with avant-garde drummer William Hooker. Scope it:

02-04 New York, NY - Pianos (William Hooker with Roger Miller of MoB)
02-10 New York, NY - The Bowery Ballroom *
05-19 East Sussex, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties) #

* with Battles
# with Dinosaur Jr., Dead Meadow, Broken Social Scene, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Lilys, The Bevis Frond, Eater, The Magik Markers, Tracy + the Plastics, Herman Düne, Mt. Eerie

Finally, the boys will also join Dungen, The Kills, and fellow punk legends DKT/MC5 at the Campari Rock Festival in Brazil this August, precise date to be announced. "We're just really psyched about that," reported Conley about playing Brazil. "So we're all going down to get matching thongs later this week...it's not going to be a pretty picture!"

Forget The Obliterati, that's a scary thought.

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