Best New Tracks
- Cymbals Eat Guitars: "Tunguska"
- Polvo: "Beggar's Bowl"
- Ganglians: "Valiant Brave"
- Discovery: "So Insane"
- Tiny Vipers: "Dreamer"
- 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"
Friday, June 26
MGMT to Open for Paul McCartney
Talking to the UK blogger Zoe Griffin earlier this month, Sir Paul McCartney had some nice things to say about Brooklyn synth-hippies MGMT: "I like MGMT. I'd like to work on some more dancey stuff with MGMT. But it has to happen organically ... We need to talk about it. I can't call them. If they called me, I'd say, 'How did you get my number?' But I'd do it."
Well, there's still no word on the McCartney/MGMT duet we all want to hear. ("The Shroom Is Mine"? "Neon Facepaint and Ivory"?) But MGMT won't necessarily need McCartney's phone number to talk to him. They can just holler at him backstage when they open for the man in Boston.
That's right: MGMT will open two shows for Macca, August 5-6 at Boston's Fenway Park.
Guess McCartney really does like those crazy kids, huh?
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 26, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.
Tags: Collaboration, MGMT, Paul McCartney
Echo Chamber: Black Francis
"The band needs to work with a film director, Quentin Tarantino or someone like that. It'd be like, 'Make some music for our film; you guys be the sound of the film'. Spread the word about the idea 'cos I think it's gonna work."
-- Black Francis wants the Pixies to be the new RZA. (via NME)
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 26, 2009 at 1:20 p.m.
Tags: Black Francis, Echo Chamber, Pixies
Download a New Fleet Foxes Song
Robin Pecknold takes to the BBC airwaves to perform new track "Blue Spotted Tail".
Homepage photo by Kathryn Yu
Fleet Foxes played Glastonbury's famed Pyramid Stage today, but before that, lead singer Robin Pecknold played a solo acoustic version of new song "Blue Spotted Tail" for the BBC. It's a haunting, Neil Young-style track that shouldn't disappoint fans of the year-end kings. Download here:
MP3:> Fleet Foxes: "Blue Spotted Tail" (Live on BBC 6 Music)
Posted by Ryan Dombal on June 26, 2009 at 1:15 p.m.
Tags: Audio, Fleet Foxes
Michael Jackson News and Reactions
Updates, remembrances, and more.
Michael Jackson's death continues to dominate the headlines, as the world struggles to come to terms with the loss of the King of Pop. Yesterday evening, we collected some thoughts from the artistic community. This morning, our managing editor Mark Richardson offered a tribute to Jackson's incomparable life and legacy. We've also compiled a selection of Jackson music and video highlights.
Here's a roundup of more notable news and reactions from around the web:
Islands' Nick Diamonds Spills About Vapours, His New Album
New album, new lineup, new sound.
Photo by Aliya Naumoff
Indie rock exhibitionist and Islands mastermind Nick Thorburn (aka Nick Diamonds) is a restless fellow. From the Unicorns to Th' Corn Gangg to Human Highway to Islands, the 27-year-old singer has cycled through bands, band mates, and styles like an ADD-addled whiz kid over the last decade. And the upheaval continues with the third Islands album, Vapours, due out September 22 on Anti-.
Recorded in New York City and produced by Diamonds and Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Trail of Dead), Vapours finds Diamonds reinventing Islands as a synth-y four-piece featuring original member (and fellow former Unicorn) Jamie Thompson, who was M.I.A. on the group's last album, the blown-out Arm's Way.
On a recent rainy Friday, Diamonds called us from his current Brooklyn neighborhood to talk about the record. "I'm actually right across the street from where Biggie grew up in Clinton Hill," he said. "He did not grow up in Bed-Stuy, despite popular belief." More fun facts-- and lots of details about the future of Islands-- after the jump:
Surprise Spoon EP Out Next Week
Stereogum is reporting a nice surprise from Merge: A brand new Spoon EP, coming out this Tuesday! Nice! Three brand new songs from one of the slickest, savviest indie bands working.
There's an Amazon page up for the EP, which seems to be titled Got Nuffin and will be out on CD and download formats. That's the cover above, and the tracklist, per Amazon, is below.
Merge isn't offering any more info at this time.
UPDATE: It's been confirmed.
Jarvis Cocker Enters MRI, Duets With Richard Hawley...for Science!
"The Music Instinct: Science and Song"-- a two-hour PBS special that premiered earlier this week-- aims to answer questions like, "Why do we get goosebumps when listening to music?" with interviews and experiments involving artists and scientists alike.
A couple of the participating musicians are British buddies Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley, who performed an acoustic version of the Pulp song "Born to Cry" for the show in order to "study cognition and the brain when performing music as a social activity." After playing the song, Jarvis "climbed inside a fMRI to see the physical affects playing a duet had on his brain." That's what we call commitment. According to "The Music Instinct" website, "When the Scan was analyzed it showed a measurable difference in brain activity when Cocker sang alone compared to when he sang with Hawley playing guitar. During the duet, Cocker's brain was more active in areas for phrasing and coordinating music as well as cognitive and emotional interaction."
You can watch the full duet here. Check your local PBS listings to see "The Music Instinct: Science and Song" in its entirety.
Posted by Ryan Dombal on June 26, 2009 at 10:50 a.m.
Tags: Collaboration, Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley, TV
Billy Corgan Hits Back at the Haters
"Shame on me for not being one of the sheeple!!"
Earlier this week, we ran a story called "Buy Billy Corgan Lunch!" about how you can win a charity auction to pay for lunch with the bald wonder. Apparently, we weren't the only ones a little surprised that the auction called for the winner-- not Corgan-- to pay for the meal. Billy himself was also taken off-guard.
And now Mr. Infinite Sadness is annoyed at all the negativity going on in the world and on the internet and how peace is all that matters and why he's not just "one of the sheeple" and how he's changing his website to reflect nothing but God's message and of love and good music and so on. He said so in a message sent out to fans yesterday, which was posted on SmashingPumpkins.com but since removed. He also made a thinly-veiled reference to Trent Reznor's vow to quit the internet and paid tribute to the late Sky Saxon of the Seeds.
You can read the full message after the jump.
In an effort to stay positive and everything, I'd like to remind you of Zwan's slept-on debut single, "Honestly", which holds up remarkably well. Killer dive bomb solo on that one.
Thursday, June 25
Artists React to Michael Jackson's Death
R.I.P. Michael Jackson
Rushed to hospital after going into cardiac arrest
UPDATE: According to TMZ, Michael Jackson is dead. The L.A. Times has confirmed it.
Jackson was 50 years old.
E! News reports that Michael Jackson was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital earlier today after going into cardiac arrest. Paramedics performed CPR in the ambulance. According to E! News, "His current condition is unknown." Jackson's father Joe Jackson confirmed to E! News that Jackson suffered a heart attack.
TMZ has a photo of the ambulance. A Jackson family member tells TMZ that Jackson is in "really bad shape"; his brothers are reportedly headed to the hospital. Also, Joe Jackson tells TMZ that Michael is "not doing well."
Yikes.
Stay tuned for a full tribute tomorrow on Pitchfork.
"ABC"
"Thriller" [excerpt]
"Billie Jean" on "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever" (1983)
Posted by Tom Breihan on June 25, 2009 at 4:35 p.m.
Tags: Michael Jackson, Obituary
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