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Wednesday, June 17

Boredoms to Play on Boat During Eclipse

Boredoms to Play on Boat During Eclipse

On July 7, 2007 (07/07/07), tranced-out Japanese freaks the Boredoms played a show in Brooklyn with 77 drummers. On August 8 of last year (08/08/08), they did the same thing in Los Angeles, only this time they had 88 drummers, while their buddies Gang Gang Dance lead 88 drummers at a simultaneous event in Brooklyn. Simply put: the Boredoms know how to make a show feel like an astral event. Even at a regular Boredoms show, watching them play can make you feel like one of the cavemen in 2001 discovering the alien monolith.

So if you've got 168,000 yen (or about $1,700) sitting around for a rainy day, you may want to blow it on what sounds like a pretty incredible show: Boredoms, along with Gang Gang Dance and others, performing on a boat, during a solar eclipse. OMG.

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Jay Reatard Planned Chris Knox Collab

Jay Reatard Planned Chris Knox Collab

As well wishers continue to voice their support for influential Tall Dwarfs punk rocker Chris Knox, who is currently recovering from a stroke he suffered last Thursday, disciple Jay Reatard has posted a tribute on his website. (Via the Daily Swarm.)

During an introductory meeting with Knox in New Zealand earlier this year, the two "made plans to tour together this upcoming year and to record a single together as well."

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New Release: Castanets: Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts

New Release: Castanets: <i>Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts</i>

Artist: Castanets
Album: Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts
Release Date: September 22
Label: Asthmatic Kitty

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The Dodos Ready New Album Time to Die

The Dodos Ready New Album <i>Time to Die</i>

Talking to Pitchfork last month, Dodos singer/guitarist Meric Long had this to say about the band's forthcoming album: "We have a whole new element in all the new songs right now-- an electric vibraphone. That's what's really standing out. It was something I wanted to incorporate a while ago when I heard about this company that made pick ups for vibraphones so you can actually plug it in and really fuck up the sound while retaining that organic element."

It's true; the strummy, stompy San Francisco duo are now a trio, with electric vibraphonist Keaton Snyder on board. And now we can tell you that the Dodos' third LP, the scarily titled Time to Die, is due September 15 from Frenchkiss. The band recorded Time to Die with Fleet Foxes/Shins producer Phil Ek, and according to Long, "This album sounds more like a band." We've got the tracklist below.

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Quasi Sign to Kill Rock Stars

Quasi Sign to Kill Rock Stars

Portland indie vets Quasi-- Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss, Elliott Smith cohort Sam Coomes, and Joanna Bolme of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks-- are all set to release their follow-up to 2006's When the Going Gets Dark, on October 27 via new label Kill Rock Stars. (They used to be on Touch and Go.)

The trio are set to play just three dates this summer, including a set at Spoon's SpoonX3 fest in Austin, Texas in July. Dates below:

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Modest Mouse Announce Tour

Without Johnny Marr, again Modest Mouse Announce Tour

Modest Mouse, still one of the indieverse's biggest bands, will hit the road again this summer. And once again, former Grandaddy (and current All Smiles) axe-wrecker Jim Fairchild will fill in for Johnny Marr, who is busy with other things. The trek will take them to a few festivals: Street Scene, Outside Lands, and Bumbershoot. Dates below.

Earlier today, we posted "Autumn Beds", a new song from Modest Mouse. The "Autumn Beds"/"Guilty Cocker Spaniels"" "Whale Song" 7" will hit independent record stores on June 20, Vinyl Saturday, and it'll go into wide release on June 23.

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Tuesday, June 16

News in Brief: Prince, Bob Bogle, Eric Copeland, Whitney Museum

News in Brief: Prince, Bob Bogle, Eric Copeland, Whitney Museum

-- Spin is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Best Movie (and Soundtrack) Ever Purple Rain with Purplish Rain, a song-by-song tribute to Prince's classic soundtrack album. Of Montreal cover "Computer Blue", Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings take on "Take Me With U", and Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers handle "When Doves Cry" with an assist from actual Purple Rain star Apollonia. The whole thing will go up for free download on Spin's website on June 23. And in the magazine's next issue, the cover story will be an oral history of the movie and the album.

-- The New York Times reports that Bob Bogle, lead guitarist for surf-guitar greats the Ventures, died on Sunday in Tacoma, Washington. He was 75.

-- On August 18, Paw Tracks will release Alien in a Garbage Dump, the awesomely titled new solo album from Black Dice member Eric Copeland.

-- This summer, a whole bunch of bands will play New York's Whitney Museum of American Art in connection with the retrospective "Dan Graham: Beyond". The Feelies will kick off the series with a rare acoustic show on June 26. In the next two months, Woods, Vivian Girls, Titus Andronicus, These Are Powers, and Abe Vigoda will all play the Whitney. Also, experimental heavyweight Glenn Branca will sit down with Graham for a conversation, and Japanther will play something called WhitneyKids Punk Rock!

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 16, 2009 at 5 p.m.

Tags: Album, Art, Black Dice, Cover, Dan Graham, Eric Copeland, Festival, Obituary, Prince, Purplish Rain, The Ventures

 

Os Mutantes Sign to Anti-

First LP in 35 years from tropicalia legends Os Mutantes Sign to Anti-

With Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Merle Haggard, and others on its roster, Anti- Records has damn near cornered the market on long-in-the-tooth eccentrics who continue to crank out awesomeness even though they've got nothing to prove. Well, those guys can now add another member to that club: Reconstituted Brazilian tropicalia legends Os Mutantes have signed with the label. On September 8, they'll release Haih, their first new album in 35 years.

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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Announce Tour With Cymbals Eat Guitars

Fuzzapalooza. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Announce Tour With Cymbals Eat Guitars
Photo by Pavla Kopecna

It'll be a veritable mini Best New Music fest when Brooklyn fuzz pop band the Pains of Being Pure at Heart (that record refuses to get old, btw) team up with epic indie rockers Cymbals Eat Guitars for a month-long North American tour starting September 5 in Boston. I've seen Pains a bunch over the last few months, and they only seem to get better (and louder!) every time, so this victory lap should be worth it. And based on this recently Forkcasted live CEG video, they aren't exactly fucking around, either.

Neither band is just sipping lemonade and wasting their summer indoors, though. They're hitting some festivals (like this one named after some supposedly cool website) and playing plenty of shows apart before getting together in the fall.

TPOBPAT and Cymbals Eat Guitars itineraries below:

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Mos Def's New Album Available as T-Shirt

Mos Def's New Album Available as T-Shirt

Here's a new one: Mos Def's BNM'ed new album The Ecstatic is available as a T-shirt. As in: You can buy a shirt that has The Ecstatic's Killer of Sheep-interpolating cover art on the front, its tracklist on the back, and a download code for the album on a hang tag.

Selling albums these days is hard! So the music/fasion company Invisible DJ, working with the fashion designer LnA, has come up with this idea called the Music Tee.

After a sampler that the Invisible DJ people curated, The Ecstatic is the first album available in the Music Tee format. Mos Def's Downtown Music labelmates Santigold and Miike Snow also have Music Tees on the way.

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 16, 2009 at 1:55 p.m.

Tags: Clothing, Mos Def

 

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