Dancing About Architecture 6.30.09
Posted by Ian Wright on 06.30.2009
Pixies to celebrate Doolittle's anniversary, Jay Bennett, Blur's reunion gigs, own Elliott Smith's car and new albums from members of Pavement and Bon Iver.
The bit at the start
Hi, 3 weeks in a row. I'm sick still. Blood test results due back on Wednesday. I'm way too young for arthritis.
Anyway, Michael Jackson died, you probably heard. I really liked "I want you back", REALLY liked it. Enough so in fact to say that it's probably the second greatest pop song of all time.
Must be awful to peak at 11 years of age.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Is taking a week off.
You news, you lose
Oh this might be good.
20 years ago Pixies released Doolittle. The album features songs like "Gouge Away", "Here Comes Your Man", "Debaser", my personal favourite Pixies song "Hey" and it's widely felt to be the band's finest album. To mark that occasion the band will be embarking on a European tour where they'll play every song from the album plus all associated b-sides
Talking about the tour Black Francis said, "We wanted to do something special for Doolittle's 20th anniversary, and we thought this was a good opportunity to play all of the songs from that album, something we don't normally do at a regular gig."
The tour kicks off in Dublin Olympia theatre on October 1st, tickets are a bit on the expensive side so I'm not sure if I'll be there or not but I and everyone else who might like to go to any of the dates have until Friday when tickets go on sale to make up their mind, probably until about 9:02 that morning.
Jay Bennett.
As covered here a few weeks ago former Wilco member Jay Bennett passed away on May 24. It emerged in the past week that the Champaign, Illinois County Coroner Duane Northrup has ruled that Bennett died of an overdose of the painkiller fentanyl. The AP have been reporting that "the drug is found in patches commonly prescribed to treat chromic pain." Around the time of his death Bennett had been talking about requiring hip replacement surgery.
Police are treating Bennett's death as an accident.
Blur live reunion album.
Following up from a number of small warm up gigs Blur returned to the big stage on Sunday night to play the final night of the Glastonbury festival. I wasn't there and due to playing my own much, much smaller gig that night I missed the coverage on TV but I understand that they were very good.
This Thursday and Friday they're playing London's Hyde Park and both gigs will be recorded for release on limited edition CD as well as MP3. The CD's will come with photos from the gig as well as a download of the MP3 version.
Living in or around Austin? In the market for some quality German engineering to drive around in? Fancy owning an odd piece of indie rock memorabilia? Well why not take a shot at owning Elliott Smith's car.
Smith's sister is selling his 1999 VW Passat on Craigslist for $4,000. Proceeds from the sale will go to aid the SIMS Foundation which is an Austin nonprofit that provides local musicians with mental health and addiction recovery services.
Took you long enough.
The Real Feel is the new record by ex-Pavement singer/guitarist Scott Kannberg a.k.a. Spiral Stairs that Matador will be putting out on October 20th.
Following the Pavement break up in 1999 Kannberg released a couple of albums with his new band the Preston School Of Industry but this is his first album under his own name/pseudonym.
In making the album Kannberg drafted in assistance from a number of collaborators including Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew and members of Preston School Of Industry and The Posies (the album was also produced by The Posies' Jon Auer).
You can download "Maltese Terrier" from the album here.
Bon Iver side project.
Volcano Choir is a new band featuring Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and members of Collections of Colonies of Bees. Speaking to Pitchfork in May Vernon said, "We started collaborating three years ago and just this year we started to realize we had nine or 10 tracks almost done. I sing on it, but there aren't a lot of lyrics-- it's definitely more on the experimental side of things."
The resulting album Unmap will be released in September (22nd in the North America, the day before in the UK) via Jagjaguar which is also home to Vernon's main gig.
Tracklisting:
01 Husks and Shells
02 Seeplymouth
03 Island, IS
04 Dote
05 And Gather
06 Mbira in the Morass
07 Cool Knowledge
08 Still
09 Youlogy
The YouTube video of the week
Over the weekend in London Paul McCartney joined Neil Young on stage for a Beatles cover.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Pixies – Doolittle anniversary tour
10-01 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
10-02 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
10-04 Glasgow, Scotland - SECC
10-06 London, England - Brixton Academy
10-07 London, England - Brixton Academy
10-08 London, England - Brixton Academy
10-09 London, England - Brixton Academy
10-11 Frankfurt, Germany - Jahrhunderhalle
10-13 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Heineken Music Hall
10-14 Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
10-15 Paris, France - Zenith
Dinosaur Jr.
06-30 Zagreb, Croatia - Boogaloo
07-04 Halifax, Nova Scotia - Halifax V-Festival
07-25 Yuzawa-Machi, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival
08-14 Wellfleet, MA - Wellfleet Beachcomber
08-16 New York, NY - Central Park SummerStage
09-30 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre *
10-01 Montreal, QUE - Pop Montreal Festival *
10-02 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *
10-03 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *
10-04 Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights *
10-07 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place *
10-08-09 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
10-09 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts *
10-10 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *
10-11 Pontiac, MI - The Crofoot *
10-13 Madison, WI - The Majestic Theatre *
10-14 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant *
10-15 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre *
10-16 Louisville, KY - Headliner's Music Hall *
10-17 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse *
10-26 Kansas City, MO - The Beaumont Club *
10-27 Omaha, NE - Slowdown *
10-29 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
10-30 Fort Collins, CO - Aggie Theatre *
10-31 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
11-03 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre *
11-04 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern *
11-06 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
11-07 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *
11-10 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
11-11 Victoria, British Columbia - Sugar Nightclub
11-13 Edmonton, Alberta - The Starlite Room
11-14 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall Ballroom
11-16 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Odeon Events Centre
11-17 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Pyramid Cabaret
11-18 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11-19 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom
11-20 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
* with Lou Barlow and the Missingmen
Bon Iver
06-30 London, England - Hyde Park (Serpentine Sessions)
07-09 Salt Lake City, UT - Twilight Concert Series !
07-11 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
07-14 Santa Barbara, CA - Granada Theatre %
07-16 Fresno, CA - Tower Theatre %
07-18 Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery %
07-25 Dorset, England - Camp Bestival
08-07 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival 2009
08-14 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-15 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop
08-16 Leicester, United Kingdom - Summer Sundae
08-20 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08-21 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands 2009
08-22 Powys, United Kingdom - Green Man Festival
09-19 Omaha, NE - Slowdown
09-24 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
09-25 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
10-03 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
! with Jenny Lewis
% Justin Vernon solo, with the Indigo Girls
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
