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- Das Racist: "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper. Remix)"
- DJ Kaos: "Love the Nite Away (Tiedye Mix)"
- YACHT: "Psychic City (Voodoo City)"
- Jay Reatard: "It Ain't Gonna Save Me"
- Mastodon: "Divinations"
- Free Energy: "Dream City"
- Julianna Barwick: "Bode"
- Bowerbirds: "Northern Lights"
- Grizzly Bear: "While You Wait For the Others"
- BBU: "Chi Don't Dance"
Friday, June 12
The Warp Box Set Sure Looks Pretty
Ooooooooooooh!
Back in March, we told you that the pioneering IDM/not-IDM label Warp Records would celebrate its 20th anniversary this year with a box set and parties around the globe. Well, now we know everything about the Warp20 (Box Set) except for the exact tracklist. But hoo boy, this thing is purty.
Warp started out as the home to experimental electronic types like Aphex Twin and Autechre, and those groups' cover art used to invariably depict crazy futuristic-looking space polygons. Well, Warp has kept that proud tradition alive with the design of the Warp20 box set, which looks incredible. The set will include five CDs, five 10" records, and a 192-page book.
Check below for more photos and more details on the set's contents.
Mount Eerie Preps "Black Metal" Album
The music Phil Elverum has made over the years hasn't been that far removed from that of, say, Xasthur. The man behind the Microphones and Mount Eerie shares a few predilections with underground black metal: creeped-out lo-fi atmospherics, otherworldly despair, the sense that we're dealing with a fragile loner desperate to keep the rest of the world out. Doesn't hurt that the man's last name sounds like some Lord of the Rings sub-species, either.
Last year, Elverum made the connection a little more concrete with his Black Wooden Ceiling Opening EP, the first release where he explicitly experimented with black metal dynamics. The result, especially the bottomlessly sad opener "Appetite", made for some one of the most hypnotically wracked music of Elverum's career.
On August 18, Elverum will blow that experiment out to album length when P.W. Elverum & Sun releases Mount Eerie's Wind's Poem, which is being touted as his "black metal album." Elverum recorded the album himself in various locations around his hometown of Anacortes, Washington. Nick Krgovich of No Kids dropped by to add some harmonies, but as with most Microphones/Mount Eerie releases, this is basically all Elverum here. That's the cover above, and the tracklist is below.
Thursday, June 11
News in Brief: The Apples In Stereo, MoMA, PBS, stellastarr*
-- Blindworm Guitars has created a special one-of-a-kind guitar for Apples in Stereo axe-slinger Robert Schneider. The instrument in question looks and sounds like Schneider's Danelectro DC-3, but it's made of wood and elephant bone, and it includes an inlaid Elephant 6 logo made out of meteorite dust. Elephant bone! Meteorite dust! It looks pretty awesome.
-- The New York punk scene of the 70s and 80s may be one of the most celebrated musical moments of all time, and now it's getting its own Music of Modern Art exhibit. "Looking at Music: Side 2", an exhibit devoted specifically to the intersection of music and art that the era produced, will run at MoMA June 10 - November 30. It includes artwork from the likes of Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, Raymond Pettibon, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. An accompanying film series will kick off in September.
-- "Austin City Limits" and "Soundstage", two PBS shows that routinely feature live music that doesn't necessarily involve banjos or Irish step-dancing, have just announced which performers they'll feature on their coming seasons. The next season of "Soundstage" starts on June 18, and Death Cab for Cutie, Billy Idol, and Fall Out Boy will all stop by. "Austin City Limits", meanwhile, will start its season on October 3. Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Beastie Boys, and Pearl Jam will make appearances.
-- After all these years, New York new wavers stellastarr* still have that ridiculous asterisk in their name. On July 7, the band will release Civilized, their third album, on Bloated Wife Records, their own questionably named imprint.
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 11, 2009 at 11:55 a.m.
Tags: Album, Art, Austin City Limits, PBS, Soundstage, stellastarr*, The Apples in Stereo
Devendra Banhart Remixes Oasis
Download the sufficiently freaky redo right now.
Photo by Lauren Dukoff
After pulling off an R-rated, tropicália-style cover of Oasis's "Don't Look Back in Anger" a few years ago, Devendra Banhart is airing out his Noel and Liam fan-dom once again. This time, he offers a trippy remix of the stomping kiss-off "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady" from the Manchester stalwarts' 2008 LP, Dig Out Your Soul. Pink Floyd-y synths ahoy.
You have to register to download the remix at Oasisinet. Or, there's also this thing called Google.
Monday, June 8
Pirate Party Gains EU Parliament Seat
Captain Morgan named President of Getthefuckouttahereistan
Sweden's Pirate Party-- which "wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected," according to its mission statement-- has won a seat in the European Parliament, according to the BBC.
While famed torrent search site the Pirate Bay is not officially associated with the Pirate Party, both entities share many of the same core beliefs-- and interest in the Pirate Party skyrocketed when the founders of the Pirate Bay were sentenced to a year in jail back in April. (The verdict is currently being appealed.)
Tuesday, June 2
News in Brief: The Black Heart Procession, Jack Peñate, Sax Ruins, Mother Hips
-- Witchy San Diego indie doomsters the Black Heart Procession are totally back! After the collapse of their former label, Touch and Go, they've signed with Temporary Residence. Black Heart Procession plan to release their first album for Temporary Residence in October, which they will follow with a world tour. If you're keeping track at home, the recently reunited B.H.P. precursor Three Mile Pilot have also signed with Temporary Residence, as have Pinback, the other band to spawn from Three Mile Pilot's breakup. So Temporary Residence is now officially the Cash Money of San Diego indie.
-- On August 18, XL will release Everything Is New, the sophomore album from London singer-songwriter Jack Peñate. Paul "Phones" Epworth serves as producer, as he does with seemingly every other album coming out of London these days.
-- Sax Ruins is supposedly a new band, but really it's just the Japanese noise-monster drummer Tatsuya Yoshida's long-running Ruins project. This time, though, he's teamed up with a sax player, . Logical, no? Ipecac will release Yawiquo, Sax Ruins' "debut", on July 28.
-- Cali psych weirdos Mother Hips have done what any self-respecting band of Cali psych weirdos should do: They've curated a Big Sur folk festival. The First Annual Mother Hips Family Hipnic goes down July 3-4 at Big Sur's Henry Miller Library. Little Wings, Moondoggies, Everest, and Citay, These United States, and, of course, the Mother Hips will take part.
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 2, 2009 at 10:50 a.m.
Tags: Album, Festival, Jack Penate, Mother Hips, Ruins, Sax Ruins, Signing, Temporary Residence, The Black Heart Procession
Monday, June 1
Will Cullen Hart Talks Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System Renaissance
"It's exciting because it feels just like it was before, I swear to God."
It's been a long time since we've heard anything from onetime Elephant Six staple Will Cullen Hart. The Olivia Tremor Control, Hart's best-known band, fell dormant in 2000, only reuniting for a couple of quick tours since then. And Circulatory System, his other band, hasn't released an album since their 2001 debut. But that's about to change.
On September 8 (pushed back from August 4), Cloud Recordings will release Signal Morning, Circulatory System's long-awaited sophomore album. (The digital release date has yet to be determined.) And as Entertainment Weekly reported, Hart is now recording new material with the Olivia Tremor Control.
We recently spoke with Hart about his Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System projects, his battle with multiple sclerosis, and Lil Wayne.
Thursday, May 28
News in Brief: Polyphonic Spree, Isaac Hayes, the Dandy Warhols, AthFest
-- For parents who want their infants to grow up to lead sparkly-robed chamber-pop cults: Polyphonic Spree frontman Tim DeLaughter has composed and performed all the music for the DVD art project Wee See, a sensory-stimulation project for babies. DeLaughter's music accompanies images by artist Rolyn Barthelman. Says DeLaughter: "Adults are as engaged as any baby we've shown it to." Bold prediction: Somebody, somewhere, will get stoned watching this thing.
-- Stax's recent reissues of Isaac Hayes' Black Moses and Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) whupped serious ass, so we're happy to report that the Stax folks will soon put out another re-release of a career highlight from the late soul genius. The remastered version of the 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul is due June 23. It'll include bonus tracks, rare photos, and liner notes from My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James.
-- The version of the Dandy Warhols' 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House that hit stores wasn't the one that the Portland drug-rockers wanted you to hear. The band had mixed another version of the album with engineer Russell Elavedo, but Capitol Records shelved it against the band's wishes. On July 14, the Dandys will release The Dandy Warhols ARE Sound, the Elavedo-mixed version of the album, on their own Beat the World label.
-- The annual AthFest goes down in clubs around Athens, Georgia June 25-28. The Black Lips, Dead Confederate, Those Darlins, Venice Is Sinking, and Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians will all play the festival's free outdoor stages.
Posted by Tom Breihan on May 28, 2009 at 2:50 p.m.
Tags: Album, Art, AthFest, DVD, Festival, Isaac Hayes, Reissue, The Dandy Warhols, The Polyphonic Spree
Magnolia Electric Co.'s Jason Molina Spills About New Album, Josephine
"When I walked out of the studio, I knew that we had done something important."
Photo by Will Claytor
It's been nearly three years since Fading Trails, the last proper album from rootsy Midwesterners Magnolia Electric Co. In the time since that album's release, frontman Jason Molina moved to London, and touring bassist Even Farrell died tragically in an Oakland apartment fire. But the band still soldiers on. On July 21, Secretly Canadian will release Josephine, Magnolia's spare song-cycle of a new album, which they recorded with engineer Steve Albini. (The cover and tracklist for Josephine, along with the band's summer tour itinerary, can be found at the end of this story.)
Pitchfork spoke with Molina about the process of recording Josephine and about the tidal wave of new material he's already recorded. (Update: Secretly Candadian shared the title track from the record, mp3 and stream after the jump.)
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