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Tuesday, June 23

Senior Citizens Interview Fiery Furnaces, Bash Wilco, Dirty Projectors

Senior Citizens Interview Fiery Furnaces, Bash Wilco, Dirty Projectors

"Breakfast at Sulimay's", the Woodshop Films web series where three Philly diner habitues review new indie jams, is back! This time, they're giving their ridiculously quotable verdicts on new tracks from Yo La Tengo ("I could lay a number on this one! That's a humpin' song!"), Wilco ("11th release, they haven't learned much"), and Dirty Projectors ("Take a look at me. Do I look like I'm into Oriental music to you?"). Ann is totally dressing up for these things now, too! Though the pink in the hair might be a bit much, Ann.

Also, Joe Walker, the drummer-hating obvious star of the group, interviewed the Fiery Furnaces in a new video. In the clip, Joe reveals that he used to sing with a group who made a few novelty records and that he was an actor in the Army during World War II. Character development! He also sings to the group, reminisces with them about Johnny Mercer, and recommends that they try lobster rolls when they play Cape Cod.

Videos below.

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Arctic Monkeys Unleash Album Art, Dates

Arctic Monkeys Unleash Album Art, Dates

The story so far: Sheffield brat-pop upstarts Arctic Monkeys have a new album coming out, their third. It's due August 24 in the UK and August 25 in the U.S. via Domino, and it's called Humbug. The band worked with two producers for this one: Old collaborator James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco and new friend Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. And now we've got the album cover. It's that picture above, and the washed-out 70s-looking photo supports my theory that this will be the Monkeys' stoner-rock move. Intriguing!

Also, the Monkeys have added a few shows to their festival-packed touring schedule. In August, they'll play three small American club shows amidst all the big outdoor stages. Dates below.

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Beastie Boys Reveal Hot Sauce Details

Ill Communication and Hello Nasty reissues on the way Beastie Boys Reveal <i>Hot Sauce</i> Details

The Beastie Boys have sent an info-jammed email out to their supporters, laying out the next few months of activity. First, they'll continue with their project of reissuing their old albums. Ill Communication is out July 14, and Hello Nasty is due on August 25. Also, the New York trio will play an intimate show at Chicago's Congress Theatre on August 6, just two days before their headlining set at Lollapalooza. Also, according to the Beastie Boys newsletter, "The music industry is saved." We'll have to see about that one.

All that is great, but the part of the email that we care the most about is the part where they talk about their new album. And yes, they've got details. First off: There's been an amendment to the album's title. It'll now be called Hot Sauce Committee Part 1. Also, the LP is due for release on September 15. The tracklist is below.

UPDATE: The cover is now available. Check it out up top.

Thanks to Jeffrey Ryan for the heads up.

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Oxford Collapse Break Up

Oxford Collapse Break Up

Photo by David Needleman

Sub Pop announced yesterday on their website that Brooklyn trio Oxford Collapse are calling it quits. They will play two goodbye shows: July 17 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey with Frightened Rabbit and July 18 at Under the Tracks in Manhattan with CaUSE co-MOTION!, the Beets, and Rape Excape.

Oxford Collapse released four albums during their eight years as a band: two on Kanine (2004's Some Wilderness and 2005's A Good Ground) and two on Sub Pop (2006's Remember the Night Parties and 2008's Bits). They toured with Kaiser Chiefs, Frightened Rabbit, We Are Scientists, Constantines, and many others. They played the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival.

In a statement on the Sub Pop site, the band members wrote, "To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, 'what a long, strange, eye-opening, stomach-bursting, heart-breaking, bittersweet, educational, enlightening, mind-numbing, "why-are-we-doing-this-shit?" / "who-gets-to-do-this-shit?," absurd, amazing trip it's been.'"

Posted by Amy Phillips on June 23, 2009 at 7 a.m.

Tags: Breakup, Oxford Collapse

 

Monday, June 22

Crystal Castles Tangle With Security at Sonar Festival in Barcelona

Barcelona! Where bands bug out onstage! Crystal Castles Tangle With Security at Sonar Festival in Barcelona

Photo by Matthew Taplinger

It's hard to tell what's going on during a Crystal Castles show. The Toronto electro-punk duo has been known to keep a strobe light on full-blast the entire time they're onstage, and eventually it starts to make you see things. At one New York show, I could've sworn I saw singer Alice Glass bite off some unlucky audience member's face, but it turns out that didn't actually happen.

At a show this weekend in Spain, though, Glass was the cause of some onstage carnage, according to NME. (Apparently, Spanish festivals are where North American bands go to lose their shit these days.) Early Sunday morning, the group were playing a set at Barcelona's Sónar Festival. When sound problems got to be too much for Alice Glass, she started violently pulling apart her band's drumkit and throwing it at security guards. Then, when security attempted to restrain her, someone-- either Glass or bandmate Ethan Kath-- threw a punch at a guard.

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Rhino Releases L.A. Nuggets Box Set

Rhino Releases L.A. Nuggets Box Set

Rhino's stellar series of Nuggets sets exists to rescue all the hundreds and hundreds of unappreciated bits of punked-up garage-rock weirdness that the 60s left behind. And you'd never believe how much of this stuff there is. On September 22, Rhino will release the latest entry in this series, Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968. It's four CDs dedicated entirely to snarly fuzz-bombs created in L.A. during a four-year period. On paper, that's an incredibly specific set of specifications, but the Rhino folks have still rounded up 101 songs that fit the bill.

The set, which includes an info-packed coffee table book, includes everyone from Time-Life staples like the Doors and Sonny & Cher to relatively unheralded but awesomely named groups like the W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band, London Phogg, and the Everpresent Fullness. Pitchfork heroes like the Beach Boys, Captain Beefheart, Love, and Lee Hazlewood also make appearances. The set also includes three previously unreleased tracks, including one from Tim Buckley.

Tracklist below:

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Echo Chamber: Death Cab's Chris Walla

Echo Chamber: Death Cab's Chris Walla

"I barely knew who Perez Hilton was before this morning, but now I wanna punch him too."

-- Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, unlikely ally of the Black Eyed Peas. (via @Jumex)

Posted by Amy Phillips on June 22, 2009 at 3:30 p.m.

Tags: Chris Walla, Death Cab for Cutie, Echo Chamber

 

Watch Jack White's New Band Right Now! Live on "From the Basement"!

The Dead Weather, streaming "From the Basement"! Watch Jack White's New Band Right Now! Live on "From the Basement"!

UPDATE: It's Over! Hope you enjoyed it. We'll keep you posted if the performance is archived.

At 4 p.m. Eastern time today-- that's right now, pretty much-- Jack White's new band the Dead Weather will play their first European show. "From the Basement", Nigel Godrich's web TV show, is hosting the performance, and we've got it here for you as well. Enjoy!

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 22, 2009 at 3 p.m.

Tags: The Dead Weather, TV, video

 

A Sunny Day in Glasgow Announce Second Album

Ashes Grammar, due September A Sunny Day in Glasgow Announce Second Album

Scribble Mural Comic Journal, the debut album from A Sunny Day in Glasgow, established the Philly dream-pop crew as one of the few psych-pop bands willing to do more than play around in the shadow of Loveless. The album's 13 tracks went in at least 13 different directions, from the muffled jangle of "A Mundane Phonecall to Jack Parsons" to the glimmering soft-focus Orb-isms of "5:15 Train".

On September 15, the band will return with a new album called Ashes Grammar, due via Mis Ojos Discos. And while we haven't heard the thing yet, we do know that it opens with an homage to the composer Arvo Pärt, so we're thinking they're not done pushing boundaries.

The album is the result of, among other things, band members Ben Daniels and Josh Meakim renting a cavernous New Jersey dance studio and using it to play around with sounds.

The cover is above, and the tracklist is below.

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T.V. Eye: June 22-28

T.V. Eye: June 22-28

Live music on T.V. this week:

Monday, June 22:

NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Sonic Youth, the Roots (house band)
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Juan Maclean
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Iggy Pop and the Brighton Port Authority
NBC: Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien: Pete Yorn
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Black Kids (rerun)

Tuesday, June 23:

NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Iggy Pop and the Brighton Port Authority, the Roots (house band)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: MSTRKRFT with John Legend
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Crocodiles
NBC: Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien: Elvis Costello

Wednesday, June 24:

NBC: Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien: Wilco
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: St. Vincent
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Bat for Lashes
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: The Roots
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Ida Maria
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Femi Kuti
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Bettye Lavette

Thursday, June 25:

NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Dinosaur Jr., the Roots (house band)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Bat for Lashes

Friday, June 26:

NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Grizzly Bear, the Roots (house band)
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Phoenix, David Cross
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Regina Spektor
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Chairlift
NBC: Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien: Snoop Dogg, Adele

Saturday, June 27:

PBS: Austin City Limits: Crowded House (rerun)
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Kings of Leon (rerun)

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 22, 2009 at 1:45 p.m.

Tags: TV Eye

 

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