For anyone who missed it, The National performed a new track called Terrible Love on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and, predictably, the song is a stunner.
High Violet comes out May 11, so hurry up and get here already, May 11. (Also, Stereogum has the album’s cover art.)
There’s nothing comforting about music videos depicting plane crashes. The Catherine Wheel video for Waydown (1995) always spooked me – that smiling stewardess seriously gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Now, enter RJD2 and his new video for the song A Spaceship for Now, from his new album The Colossus. It’s slightly more abstract and cinematic than Waydown, but no less unnerving. In it, a stewardess – another one wearing an eerie smile (not to mention a gas mask) – attempts to rebuild a plane from the wreckage in what looks like a post-apocalyptic, seaside setting. (Sound familiar?)
Remember: RJD2 arrives in Phoenix on April 4 – presumably by van – to play the Rhythm Room with Busdriver and Happy Chichester. Tickets are $15.
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RJD2: Let There Be Horns (video)
RJD2 (feat. Blueprint): Wherever
New/old RJD2: Find You Out
I Used to Love H.E.R.: RJD2
Mayer Hawthorne has been everywhere since the release of his 2009 debut A Strange Arrangement. And he’s expanding his reach with another huge tour this spring, including a leg with Passion Pit. Too bad the tour skips Phoenix, even though we saw him in October open for Ghostface.
To help stoke another round of buzz, Hawthorne has released a new video for the slow jam I Wish It Would Rain, in which our brokenhearted leading man laments lost love whilst being shadowed by that oh-so sad rain cloud amid sunny skies.
Stones Throw is also unveiling a 7-inch at its March 17 “45 Live” party at SXSW in which Hawthorne and James Pants cover each other with Hawthorne taking on Thin Moon and Pants returning the favor on Green Eyed Love. The label has made Hawthorne’s cover available as a download.
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Mayer Hawthorne on NPR’s World Cafe
Mayer Hawthorne: Green Eyed Love (video, remix)
Mayer Hawthorne: Maybe So, Maybe No (video)
Guru, one-half of the highly influential hip-hop duo Gang Starr and a man who possesses one of the most recognizable voices in the game, is reportedly in a coma after suffering cardiac arrest. Roots drummer ?uestlove tweeted that Guru’s partner, DJ Premier, confirmed the reports on Sirius on Sunday night. Guru is scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday.
Here’s hoping for a full and speedy recovery. Think positive thoughts for a true hip-hop icon.
Video for the classic Gang Starr track Mass Appeal is below:
As my friend Casey pointed out, there’s quite a dilemma brewing on the Valley concert schedule.
On April 19, Frightened Rabbit, Japandroids (previous post) and Beach House are all slated to play at separate venues. It’s rare this happens in Phoenix, save for in March and April, when bands criss-cross through our state on their way to and from SXSW and Coachella.
Granted, it’s a nice problem to have, but, like Casey, I’m pretty torn on this one – for different reasons. I’m not a huge Beach House fan, so I’ve tossed that one out immediately. Frightened Rabbit – an absolute favorite of this site and household – seems like a no-brainer, but I did see them three times in the past year or so, and I’ve yet to see Japandroids, whose debut Post-Nothing crept into heavy rotation last year (and, despite Casey’s argument, contains more than one good song). Not to mention, up-and-coming Sub Pop signee Avi Buffalo is opening for Japandroids. What’s a man to do??
At this point, I’m leaning toward Frightened Rabbit for a few reasons: For starters, it’s two days after my wife’s birthday and she’ll be front and center, for sure, and who would ditch his wife on her birthday weekend? Second, the band will be armed with new material from their March 9 release of The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Lastly, they’re playing The Clubhouse, a bigger venue than ones I’ve seen them play previously, and I’m interested to see how the songs carry.
Sigh. Decisions.
In the meantime, here’s a new FR video for the song Nothing Like You, the second video the band has released in advance of the new record.
After the December release of a video for the single Ghost Clock off their new album Shutter Release, the New York-by-way-of-Arizona brothers of Lymbyc Systym have a new video for the song Bedroom Anthem, probably my favorite song off their sophomore full-length.
The track – whose video takes a nostalgic trip through a box of photos – is brief (2:35) but quickly builds steam before riding out with a beautiful flourish of horns that leaves you wanting more.
Shutter Release is available through Mush Records.
RELATED:
Q&A with Lymbyc Systym
Lymbyc Systym: Ghost Clock (video)
I knew it would be a daunting task to catch up on e-mails/music/etc. after our two-week trip to Thailand (which was amazing, of course). But I certainly didn’t expect the process to be delayed by surgery for gallbladder removal (had a stone stuck in there) over the weekend, which started with curiously excruciating abdominal pain on Friday evening and ended with me leaving the hospital on Sunday afternoon with one less organ.
I’m on the mend now and have a shaved stomach with four incisions, a sore right shoulder (“referred” pain) and a prescription for Oxycodone for my troubles. That’s not to mention our poor little cat Otis, who had to have a piece of foam he chewed/swallowed removed from his intestine on Monday. Good times!
Anyway, it’s all left me napping multiple times throughout the day and laying around with the laptop as I try to catch up (finished Season 1 of Mad Men and got a good start on James Swanson’s Manhunt). One of the first orders of business in posting is to get this new Meanest Man Contest video in front of your eyes.
This track, Partially Smart, has been around for a couple years as part of an EP by the same name on RCRD LBL, but the video is a tie-in to a web comedy series called Txt M3 B1tch, created by the director of the video (John Irwin).
Like most endeavors MMC undertakes – whether it’s curating a book soundtrack or, just recently, creating a mix of country classics in other languages – Eric Steuer (aka Eriksolo) and Noah Blumberg (aka Quarterbar) again prove themselves to be culturally relevant and refined in this humorous send-up/dis of the scenester lifestyle we all love to hate.
For anyone who didn’t take to RJD2’s attempts at singing on The Third Hand (and many people didn’t), you’ll probably be relieved to hear the vocals-free Let There Be Horns, a cut that recalls some of the better tracks from RJ’s beat-heavy debut Deadringer.
Not to mention, the video for the song follows a day in the life of a cubicle-bound, chemically imbalanced minotaur, who’s having a bit of a rough day.
Pick up RJ’s new album The Colossus on Jan. 19 and don’t forget he’ll be at Rhythm Room on April 4 with Busdriver and Happy Chichester. (Buy tickets.)
RELATED:
RJD2 (feat. Blueprint): Wherever
New/old RJD2: Find You Out
I Used to Love H.E.R.: RJD2
ALSO: I’m leaving for Thailand for 16 days with my wife and her parents, who are from there. Other than the 15-hour flight between L.A. and Taipei (and the ensuing three-hour layover and three-hour flight to Bangkok), I’m beyond excited. The thought of boarding a plane for 15 hours seems surreal to me at this point, but I figure it’s great training for The Amazing Race. Anyway, Frequent contributor and all-around awesome guy Jason Woodbury will keep the blog fresh in my stead.
On Tuesday, I’m supposed to talk with brothers Mike and Jared Bell of Lymbyc Systym for a Q&A I’ll post on this site in advance of their Jan. 13 show at Sail Inn in Tempe.
The stop is part of a West Coast tour to support the Arizona-bred duo’s 2009 album Shutter Release (Mush Records), a wonderful collection of evocative soundscapes that has convinced me there is indeed a certain allure to a wordless record.
The first single, Ghost Clock, now has a video, directed by Jeff Kolar, who spins a modern sort of Noah’s Ark tale.
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Modified memories: Jared Bell (Lymbyc Systym)
I Used to Love H.E.R.: Mike Bell (Lymbyc Systym)