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Tuesday, June 23

Sunny Day Real Estate Reunite!

Tour and reissues set for fall Sunny Day Real Estate Reunite!

Seattle proto-emo heroes Sunny Day Real Estate have broken up twice, in 1995 and 2001. But they're back together again for a North American reunion tour, and this time, all four original members are on board.

After the band's 1995 breakup, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith joined Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters. When Sunny Day got back together in 1997, Goldsmith rejoined, but Mendel remained a Foo. This time, though, Mendel is back in the fold.

In a statement from Sub Pop, Mendel said, "I wasn't around for the second version of the band that recorded the third and fourth albums, so I've always had a feeling of unfinished business there. We had all these outsized ideas back then, 'Everyone's going to learn a new instrument,' and 'Let's do a rock opera,' but before we could get anywhere with them, the band broke up. We left behind all these weird and beautiful songs, though, and they've stuck with me all this time. I'm really happy that we get a chance to play them together again."

The reunion tour kicks off September 17 in Vancouver, and yes, they will play California. To celebrate, on September 15, Sub Pop will reissue the band's two original-lineup albums: the stone classic 1994 debut Diary (one of the best-selling albums in Sub Pop history) and the 1995 follow-up LP2 (better known as The Pink Album). The reissues will include bonus tracks and new liner notes. This is going to rule.

Dates below.

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Listen to Primavera Sets on WFMU

Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, Vaselines, Jesus Lizard, Saint Etienne, more Listen to Primavera Sets on WFMU

Weren't able to make it to the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona last month? (Apparently it was quite dramatic.) New Jersey freeform radio station WFMU broadcast live from the fest, letting the rest of the world hear what was going down on the Pitchfork stage and beyond.

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Echo Chamber: Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth

Echo Chamber: Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth

"[Greg Ginn] was in some documentary recently, where they managed to interview him. And he was soooo stoney. He was on another plane. And it felt like this kind of… not to draw a Stephen Dedalus thing, but I would've loved to be there with him in that kind of moment, responding to it. [Dirty Projectors' former label] Dead Oceans made an effort to get in touch with him, to get his approval, also from a pragmatic, copyright approach. He was just out. Not available."

-- Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth, on the Black Flag mastermind and Rise Above cover subject. (via the Beta Blog)

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 23, 2009 at 11:55 a.m.

Tags: black flag, Dave Longstreth, Dirty Projectors, Echo Chamber

 

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

 

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