Dancing About Architecture 07.07.09

Posted by Ian Wright on 07.07.2009

Michael Jackson (like you expected him to not feature), new albums from Lou Barlow, The Apples In Stereo, Boston Spaceships, a free MP3 from a Sigur Ros side project and more.

The bit at the start

Hello all. Another Tuesday in another week full of MJ stories and the law talkin' dudes haven't even got seriously involved yet. Those wills are going to cause some serious trouble.

In the past week or so I've seen a number of Jackson related things online, some interesting, some nice and some not so I'm going to start off this week with one of each.

First the interesting …

Footage of MJ recording the vocals of "We Are The World".



Then the nice. Thisis a thread on a sound engineering forum where a couple of people who worked with Michael Jackson over the years told a few storyies about him and how he worked in the studio.

Finally the not nice. The tributes to Jackson have for the most part been very cloying and some might feel that they do gloss over the more unsettling aspects of his later life. This is not one of those pieces, personally I think the concluding sections of it are a little off in their tone these things have not really been widely discussed in the aftermath of Jackson's death.

Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.

Godspeed you black emperor! – F#A#∞


If listening to on vinyl remember the unending locked groove.

You news, you lose

New Lou.

It's not Dinosaur Jr., it's not Sebadoh, it's just plain old Lou Barlow. Goodnight Unknown is the second album that Barlow will release under his own name. Produced by Andrew Murdock (whose dubious sounding CV includes credits with Godsmack and Avenger Sevenfold) the albums will be released by Merge on October 6th and features guest spots from Lisa Germano and Dale Crover of The Melvins.

Tracklisting:

01 Sharing
02 Goodnight Unknown
03 Too Much Freedom
04 Faith in Your Heartbeat
05 The One I Call
06 The Right
07 Gravitate
08 I'm Thinking...
09 One Machine, One Long Fight
10 Praise
11 Take Advantage
12 Modesty
13 Don't Apologize
14 One Note Tone

Orbiting Boston.

Some things can always be relied upon to come around at regular intervals. Amongst those are new albums from or involving ex-Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard.

The latest of these is album #3 from Boston Spaceships, the band featuring Pollard and John Moen of The Decemberists on drums. Zero to 99 is out on October 6th on Guided By Voices, Inc. and has guest spots on it from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Sam Coomes of Quasi.

Tracklisting:

01 Pluto the Skate
02 How Wrong You Are
03 Radical Amazement
04 Found Obstruction Rock n' Rolls (We're the Ones Who Believe in Love)
05 Question Girl All Right
06 Let It Rest for a Little While
07 Trashed Aircraft Baby
08 Psycho Is a Bad Boy
09 Godless
10 Meddle
11 Go Inside
12 Mr. Ghost Town
13 Return to Your Ship
14 Exploding Anthills
15 The Comedian
16 A Good Circuitry Soldier

Free legal download.

Riceboy sleeps is the forthcoming album from Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós and Alex Somers. It'll be on record shop shelves on July 21st. Before that though the duo are giving away a free download of "Boy 1904" from their website.

Apples, 2 of them.

#1 Hits Explosion is the best of album from The Apples In Stereo. The collection spans the entire career of Robert Schneider and his band and will be out on Yep Rock on September 1st.

Tracklisting:

01 Energy
02 Go!
03 Strawberryfire
04 Tidal Wave
05 Please
06 The Rainbow
07 Seems So
08 Same Old Drag
09 The Bird That You Can't See
10 Shine a Light
11 20 Cases Suggestive Of...
12 Ruby
13 Signal in the Sky
14 Can You Feel It?
15 Winter Must Be Cold
16 Sun Is Out

The YouTube video of the week

New Wavves video.



If you can you should go to these gigs.

Andrew Bird

07-10 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre %
07-11 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre ^
07-13 Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Garden ^
07-14 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^
07-16 Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion !
07-17 Redmond, WA - Marymoor Amphitheatre #
07-18 Portland, OR - Edgefield #
07-19 Portland, OR - Edgefield #
07-26 Olympic Valley, CA - Squaw Valley Ski Resort
08-07 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-09 Ledbury, England - Big Chill Festival
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08-14 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-15 Haldern, Denmark - Haldern Pop Festival
08-16 St. Malo, France - Route du Rock
08-18 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Watt
08-19 Goningen, Netherlands - Oosterpoort
08-20 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08-22 Powys, Wales - Green Man Festival
08-23 Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Festival
09-19 Madison, WI - Forward Music Festival
09-29 Indianapolis, IN - The Murat Theatre *
09-30 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note *
10-02 Austin, TX - ACL Festival
10-03 New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's Uptown *
10-05 Birmingham, AL - Workplay Soundstage *
10-07 Carrboro, NC - The Cat's Cradle *
10-08 Carrboro, NC - The Cat's Cradle *
10-09 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel *
10-10 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium *
10-12 Charleston, SC - The Music Farm *
10-13 Knoxville, TN - The Bijou Theater *
10-14 Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's *
10-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater $
10-17 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *
10-18 Kalamazoo, MI - State Theatre *
10-19 Columbus, OH - The Southern Theatre *
10-21 Buffalo, NY - Asbury Hall at Babeville *
10-24 South Portland, ME - S. Portland High School Auditorium *
10-25 Philadelphia, PA - The Electric Factory *
10-26 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground *
10-27 Providence, RI - Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel *
10-28 Washington, DC - The 930 Club *
11-10 London, England - Union Chapel
11-13 Paris, France - Casino de Paris

% with Heartless Bastards, Ra Ra Riot
^ with Death Cab for Cutie
! with the Portland Cello Project
# with the Decemberists
* with St. Vincent
$ with Dosh

St. Vincent

07-05 London, England - Wireless Festival
07-06 Bristol, England - Thekla #
07-08 London, England - ICA #
07-11 Naas, Ireland - Oxegen Festival
07-13 Manchester, England - Night & Day #
07-14 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice & Sleazy's #
08-01 Jersey City, NJ - All Points West Festival
09-29 Indianapolis, IN - The Murat Theatre *
09-30 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note *
10-02 Austin, TX - ACL Festival
10-03 New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's Uptown *
10-05 Birmingham, AL - Workplay Soundstage *
10-07 Carrboro, NC - The Cat's Cradle *
10-08 Carrboro, NC - The Cat's Cradle *
10-09 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel *
10-10 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium *
10-12 Charleston, SC - The Music Farm *
10-13 Knoxville, TN - The Bijou Theater *
10-14 Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's *
10-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater $
10-17 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *
10-18 Kalamazoo, MI - State Theatre *
10-19 Columbus, OH - The Southern Theatre *
10-21 Buffalo, NY - Asbury Hall at Babeville *
10-24 South Portland, ME - S. Portland High School Auditorium *
10-25 Philadelphia, PA - The Electric Factory *
10-26 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground *
10-27 Providence, RI - Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel *
10-28 Washington, DC - The 930 Club *


# with Blue Roses
* with Andrew Bird

Dinosaur Jr./Lou Barlow + the Missingmen

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
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

Frightened Rabbit

07-17 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's !
07-18 Brooklyn, NY - Siren Festival
07-19 Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Festival
07-21 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
07-22 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern
07-23 Montreal, Quebec - Les Saints
07-24 Providence, RI - Jerky's
07-25 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
08-18 Edinburgh, Scotland - Queens Hall
08-29 Kelso, Scotland - Rock at the Racecourse
09-12 Morrison, CO - Monolith Festival
09-14 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge ^*
09-15 Boise, ID - Neurolux ^*
09-16 Seattle, WA - Neumo's ^*
09-17 Portland, OR - Dante's (Musicfest NW) ^*
09-18 San Francisco, CA - The Independent ^*
09-20 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory ^*
09-22 Tucson, AZ - Plush ^*
09-24 Austin, TX - Mohawk ^*
09-26 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree ^*
09-27 Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade ^*
09-28 Tallahassee, FL. - Club Downunder ^*
09-29 Orlando, FL - The Social ^*
! with Oxford Collapse
^ with The Twilight Sad
* with We Were Promised Jetpacks

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio

The bit at the end

Back next week. Take care.

Semi permanent plug for my blog.