I didn’t get to see Bowerbirds a couple weeks back at Rhythm Room, so I’ll have to settle by living vicariously through Pitchfork, which offers up this clip of the band performing one of the great songs of 2009 at its festival this year.
Northern Lights certainly isn’t a bring-the-house-down festival-ish kind of jam, but it is big and gorgeous and probably best enjoyed under a big sky (preferably not among a swarm of sweaty/skinny hipsters, however).
RJD2 came out of hiding today with a pretty massive update on his doings, the highlight of which is the creation of his own label, RJ’s Electrical Connections.
In the process, RJ says he’s acquired his first three releases – Deadringer, Since We Last Spoke, The Horror EP – for the label and just this week he digitally released three albums of B-sides/rarities he previously put out on the Bustown Pride label. Your Face or Your Kneecaps, In Rare Form and Things Go Better: Instrumentals are now yours for the taking at eMusic, etc.
Also, RJ says he’s going to release a box set in October “commemorating close to 10 years in the game” and that he’s finished his new album.
Really, it’s a lot to digest. But the good folks at The Orchard offered me a track from Your Face or Your Kneecaps to share while you sort out all the good news.
While I’d heard of Throw Me the Statue, I really had no plans on hunting down the Seattle band’s new album Creaturesque
Something in Hi-Fi Goon just struck me right away. It is only one second short of that magical 2:42 mark. More likely, though, it’s the song’s flawless hooks and splendid pacing. Strains of Built to Spill’s perfectly messy melodies are readily apparent – another plus in my book – but that’s probably not a surprise considering longtime BtS producer Phil Ek oversaw Creaturesque, too. You’ll have a difficult time getting this one out of your head.
As luck would have it, Throw Me the Statue is playing Modified in Phoenix on Sept. 14 with the Brunettes and Nurses. Tickets are $10.
After tributes to Christina Ricci
Nobody is saying who this round’s lucky lady is, but Rhymesayers is offering some clues in the form of a blurred-out photo and fans are taking their guesses at Facebook. One thing appears to be clear: Aesop Rock handles production for the album, whose release date also seems to be shrouded in mystery. Will the suspense ever end?
Rhymesayers was kind enough to offer up an mp3 from the album, a track called Protagonists.
We all have our favorite summer songs, but if there was such a thing as a perfect video for summer, this new one for Mayer Hawthorne’s Maybe So, Maybe No is probably it. The Mayer strolls around the streets of Los Angeles, digging record crates and chillin’ with skaters and street performers (Rob Dyrdek makes a cameo).
Hawthorne’s A Strange Arrangement comes out Sept. 8 and he’s coming to town on Oct. 14.
Related:
Incoming: Mayer Hawthorne, Oct. 14
Mayer Hawthorne: Maybe So, Maybe No
Mayer Hawthorne: Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out
I’m still not sure if I enjoy the Julian Plenti album Julian Plenti Is … Skyscraper on its own merits or because (and I’m guessing I’m not alone here) it simply pulls on my Interpol heartstrings. For as much as I’ve listened to Interpol frontman Paul Banks’ solo album the past couple of weeks, I’ve been equally drawn back to the Interpol catalog (well, Antics, mostly … oh, how I love C’mere).
By my feeble way of thinking, it’s difficult to hear Banks’ unique voice and think anything other than Interpol. Pitchfork seemed to sum it up rather plainly and directly: “While Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper is not as strong or as exciting as Interpol’s first two records, it is certainly a step up from their third, and makes a good case for Banks’ individual strengths within and without the band.”
The video for Games for Days, featuring Metric’s Emily Haines, is below:
Matador Records has released a second mp3 from the Cave Singers’ forthcoming album Welcome Joy (due out Aug. 18).
The track is At the Cut – the first song released was Beach House – and it’s one of the (many) highlights off an album that didn’t take very long to impress me. At the Cut is a pulsating stomper that infuses the band’s bearded folk with burning blues-style heat.
The Seattle trio is coming to Modified on Sept. 29 (the same night as the Bon Iver show in Mesa). Check the Matablog for full Cave Singers tour dates.
Kidz in the Hall, who likely never will return to Arizona, return with Flickin’, the first single off their forthcoming album, Land of Make Believe, due out Oct. 13 on Duck Down Records.
You can drop a buck and show some support by picking up the Flickin’ single on iTunes.
I’m embarrassed to admit it’s been almost two months since Weiss, an A&R man disguised as one of my favorite bloggers, sent out an e-mail to promote The Slow Twilight, the new release from 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers – a collaboration between Zilla Rocca and Fresh Cherries From Yakima’s Douglas Martin. (You may remember Zilla and Douglas as past contributors to the I Used to Love H.E.R. series, both of them loyal Wu-Tang devotees.)
Why embarrassed? Because after one spin of The Slow Twilight – available as a free download at Zilla’s Clap Cowards – it’s evident I’ve slept on one of the more enticing hip-hop releases of the year (and here I’ve been complaining about what a slow year for hip-hop it’s been). As I let my thoughts fully form on the album, I point you in the direction of Zilla’s insights on the creation of The Slow Twilight, a creative and technological marvel birthed by two talented dudes who have never met. (I can tell you this: No Resolution is an absolute banger.)
Check the video for Weak Stomach below:
Already a bit of a cult hero in his native England, Frank Turner has a chance to make inroads in the U.S. when he releases new album, Poetry of the Deed, on Sept. 8 on Epitaph. Hey, don’t blame me – I tried telling you before.
Turner, who will be opening for The Gaslight Anthem on a fall tour, is a folk-punk hellraiser, a dangerous man with an acoustic guitar. His candid and honest observations inspire spirited (sometimes drunken) singalongs: “I’m bored of this town, I’m bored of this scene, I’m bored of these fuckers, yeah” (This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the One of Me).
On The Road, the first single from Poetry of the Deed, Turner finds strange comfort in a life on the run – “Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free.”
That said, Turner will be in Tempe at the Sets on Nov. 10 as part of the Revival Tour, featuring Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Jim Ward (Sparta) and Joey Cape (Lagwagon). Tickets ($15) for the show – a Psyko Steve production – will be available at TicketWeb on Saturday.
Related:
Frank Turner: Reasons Not to Be an Idiot (video)
Frank Turner: Campfire Punkrock EP