Dancing About Architecture 8.11.09
Posted by Ian Wright on 08.11.2009
Final Fantasy’s new album and live report, new music from Thau with the Get Down Stay Down, hear No Age’s new EP for free, a new Guided By Voices collection, Paul Banks’ solo project and more.
The bit at the start
Good Tuesday to you. It's been a little bit of a slow news week what with seemingly everyone at Lollapalooza but I've hopefully dragged together a few interesting news items.
So yeah, lets get too it.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Tom Waits – Romeo Bleeding
Live collection recently issued on high quality vinyl.
You news, you lose
Finally releasing with Dominos.
Last Tuesday I went up to Belfast to see Final Fantasy play in the Empire Music Hall. It's been a long time since I've been in Belfast so I borrowed a Sat Nav unit to get help me find the venue. For some reason the fucking thing took a dislike to me and attempted to kill both I and my road trip buddy on numerous occasions. There were 2 times when it instructed me to turn into oncoming traffic and head the wrong way up a one way street, another when it told me to turn into a wall and then on the way home it took us through the flaggiest part of Belfast to get back on the Dublin road.
As for Pallett/Final Fantasy he was in typically brilliant live form. A lot of new material was played (he apologised for mostly playing songs that he wasn't bored of playing) much of which I was only hearing for the first time. It's good stuff, a lot more experimental and less poppy than on his first 2 albums, there's one song in particular that has an underlying keyboard motif that sounds like 8-bit video game music.
If you haven't seen him live of late though you're not going to have to wait too long to here his new material because it was announced today that album #3, entitled Heartland will be released on Domino Records in the first week of January.
It's not really worth noting but I'll note it anyway. In addition to Domino (this will be his first release on them) Pallett has also had music put out by the Blocks Recording Club, there's a certain motif to his label choices.
Get down and STAY DOWN.
Know Better Learn Faster is the upcoming second album from Thau with the get down stay down. It's produced by Tucker Martine who has previously worked with The Decemberists. It's got a pretty all star cast of guest appearances from the likes of Andrew Bird, Laura Veirs, tUnE-yArDs, as well as members of Blitzen Trapper and Horse Feathers.
It's out on Kill Rock Stars on October 13th.
Tracklisting:
01 The Clap
02 Cool Yourself
03 When We Swam
04 Know Better Learn Faster
05 Body
06 The Give
07 Good Bye Good Luck
08 Trouble Was For
09 Oh No
10 Fixed It!
11 Burn You Up
12 But What of the Strangers
13 Easy
Ouch.
If you were gearing up to play one of America's biggest festivals how would you prepare for it? Well if you were being sensible about it you probably wouldn't do it like No Age's Randy Randall who dislocated his shoulder in Milwaukee when he was playing the Turner Hall Ballroom as part of the triple header tour with Dan Deacon and Deerhunter. Towards the end of the gig Randall and Deerhunter main man Bradford Cox engaged in a dance off during while Dan Deacon was playing and Randall slipped and injured himself.
Despite the injury Randall managed to show up at Lollapalooza and play No Age's scheduled set, though he did get through it sitting down.
Randall wrote about the incident on the band's blog, you can read about it here.
And because this is 2009 obviously there was someone there to film the incident.
In happier No Age news their fortchcoming EP Losing Feeling, a collection of "loop and sample based material" is now streaming from the Sub Pop website here. It's out digitally and on vinyl on October 3rd.
GBV GBV GBV.
It goes without saying that Robert Pollard is one of the most prolific men in all of indie rock and rather unsurprisingly it's just been announced that he's releasing a new collection of material to go along with the solo records, Boston Spaceships album and whatever else he's got planned to release in 2009.
Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now is the third collection of GBV outtakes and demos following volumes 1 & 2 which were respectively released in 2000 and 2005. Like the previous 2 installments it's a 4 disc set with 100 songs on it. Many of the cuts are attributed to made up band names like Pithy May and Royal Canadian Mustard (GBV used to make up band names and then write songs that they think a band with that name might write) but disc 4 is made up acoustic tracks from peak period Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes era GBV. It's out on Guided By Voices Inc on Novmeber 3rd.
Tracklisting:
CD1:
01 Mr. Inspection Table: "Building a Castle"
02 Explosion Topic: "Tired of Knocking"
03 The Sobbers: "Together/Apart"
04 Remington Ash: "Away With Driver"
05 Demon Gods of Anger: "Trash Truck"
06 Manners of Flash: "Dropping the Bomb"
07 Remington Ash: "What's So Safe About You?"
08 Limited Transplitter: "Troppers in the Town"
09 The Stools: "Gas"
10 C. C. Rip: "Watchin' 'Em Diggin' Up the Road"
11 Fate 1 Mile: "Coastal Town"
12 Watts: "Escape From Kama Loka"
13 Ben Franklin Air Bath: "The Annex"
14 Major Cockamamie: "Green Ivory Cross"
15 The Beautiful Orange Lemonade: "Janet Wait"
16 C. C. Rip: "Independent Productions"
17 Jubilant Toy Soldiers: "Thee White Flower"
18 Pilthy May: "Juggernaut Vs. Monolith"
19 The Perfect Noise Club: "Feels Good"
20 Video Bearhunt: "Candy Machine"
21 Dream Reaper: "Air and Also a World"
22 Gel Clay: "Back to the Navy"
23 The Governors: "Speak Like Men"
24 Kelsey Boo Flip: "Hi, I'm Kelsey"
25 Star of Hungry: "No Trash Allowed"
CD2:
01 The Flattering Lights: "Raphael Muzak"
02 Service of a Bullet: "Tear the Ticket in Half"
03 Search: "I'm an Acting Student"
04 The Sums: "I'll Come (And When It Does It's Mine)"
05 East Dayton Rock Co.: "Psychlophobia"
06 East Dayton Rock Co.: "Take Me Back"
07 Bruce Smitty Smith: "Sonny the Monster"
08 Pilthy May: "I Share a Rhythm"
09 The Sobbers: "Before My Eyes"
10 Gavin Speaks: "Freedom Rings"
11 Hoof: "Cochise"
12 The Tallywackers: "When's the Last Time"
13 Remington Ash: "That's Good"
14 Pig Lucy: "You Gotta Lotta Nerve"
15 Mother's Day Haircut: "Vagabond Lover"
16 Fate 1 Mile: "Banners"
17 Looker: "100 Colors"
18 Autobahn Damen: "Old Engine Driver"
19 Gel Clay: "Joe"
20 Cubscout Bowling Pins: "Axtual Sectivity"
21 The Working Girls: "Call Me"
22 Demon Gods of Anger: "Believe It"
23 Royal Canadien Mustard: "Class Clown Spots a UFO"
24 Remington Ash: "You You You"
25 10 Second Coma: "Dibble"
CD3:
01 Bird Shit Mosaic: "Night Ears"
02 The Sobbers: "Amnesia"
03 Blaine Hazel: "Fly Away (Tommy Sez)"
04 Jubilant Toy Soldiers: "Peace and Persecution"
05 The Constant Rushing Forward: "There Are Other Worlds"
06 Knuckles and MacDougal: "It's the Song"
07 Erotic Zip Codes: "One Drop"
08 Angel and the Alley Oops: "Mainstay"
09 John Shough: "Sixland"
10 Ghetto Tree: "How Bridges Fall"
11 Basic Switches: "A Kind of Love"
12 Naymoan Regas: "Bad Whiskey"
13 Curtis E. Flush: "Naked Believer (I Am)"
14 Heartless Microscopes: "Out of the House"
15 Equal in Coma: "Grow"
16 Psyclops: "Rough Tracks"
17 Gel Clay: "Nothing So Hard"
18 Bumble Gub: "Piss Along You Bird"
19 Gene Autrey's Psychic: "300 Birds (Quota)"
20 The CD's: "Fireking Says No Cheating"
21 Hearthrob Johnson Firestone: "Poison Shop"
22 The Worst Santini: "Trader Vic"
23 History of Well Hung Men: "Smothered in Hugs" (4 Track version)
24 Aerial Poop Show: "Dibble 2"
25 Kid Biscuit: "Huffman Prairie Flying Field"
CD4 (all tracks by Guided by Voices):
01 Pluto Is Polluted
02 Aquarian Hovercraft
03 Brand New Star
04 Sea-mint Robots
05 South Rat Observatory
06 The Cinnamon Flavored Skull
07 Porpoise Mitten (Was a Real Good Kitten)
08 Mr. Spoon
09 Hey Mr. Soundman
10 Oh Pie
11 Kotex Moon
12 Bingo Pool Hall of Blood
13 There Goes the King Again
14 Evil Vandalia/Mojo Crow Zenith
15 Cuddling Bozo's Octopus
16 I Shot a Jezebel
17 After the Quake (Let's Bake a Cake)
18 P Melts Everything
19 My Dad Is a Motorboat
20 Ugly Ba Ba
21 Hairspray Lies
22 Sawhorse With Big Blue Ears
23 Tough Skin River
24 Cruise
25 Alright
I went to see Guided By Voices tribute band in Dublin on Saturday night. It was pretty great.
The YouTube video of the week
Possibly the best thing that Paul Banks has done in years, from his forthcoming solo project.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Final Fantasy
08-12 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli
08-13 Paris, France - La Plage ^
08-14 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop Festival
08-15 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-16 Helsinki, Finland - Flow Festival
09-18 London, Ontario - Lola Festival
09-24 Victoria, British Columbia - Alix Goolden Hall #
09-25 Vancouver, British Columbia- St. Andrews-Wesley Church #
09-27 Edmonton, Alberta - McDougall United Church #
09-28 Calgary, Alberta - Knox United Church #
09-30 Regina, Saskatchewan - The Exchange #
10-01 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Amigo's #
10-02 Winnipeg, Manitoba - West End Cultural Centre #
11-04 Grand Rapids, MI - Ladies Literary Club *
11-05 Chicago, IL - Metro *
11-06 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon *
11-07 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Centre *
11-10 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
11-11 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *
11-14 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore *
11-15 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater *
11-18 Austin, TX - Antones *
11-19 Dallas TX - Granada Theater *
11-20 Nashville TN - Mercy Lounge *
11-21 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse *
11-23 Orlando, FL - The Social *
11-24 St. Augustine, FL - Café 11 *
11-27 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
11-28 Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts *
11-29 Boston MA - Wilbur Theatre *
12-01 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
12-02 Brooklyn, NY - Bell House *
^ with Oneida, Alexandra Tucker
# with Timber Timbre
* with the Mountain Goats
Sufjan Stevens
09-12 Monticello, NY - ATP New York
09-21 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *
09-22 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *
09-23 Ithaca, NY - Castaways *
09-24 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom *
09-25 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom *
09-26 Champaign, IL - The High Dive *
09-27 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar *
09-28 Madison, WI - The Majestic *
09-29 Bloomington, IN - Buskirk Chumley *
10-01 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Place *
10-02 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret *
10-03 Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall *
10-04 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
10-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
10-06 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
10-07 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
* with Cryptacize
Grizzly Bear/St. Vincent
10-31 London, England - Barbican Hall
11-01 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
11-02 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
11-04 Manchester, England - Cathedral
11-05 Leeds, England - Leeds Metropolitan University
11-06 Bristol, England - Anson Rooms
11-08 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal
11-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
11-10 Hamburg, Germany - Grunspan
11-11 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
11-12 Munich, Germany - Theaterfabrik
11-15 Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son
11-16 Vienna, Austria - WuK
11-17 Basel, Switzerland - Volkshaus
11-19 Cologne, Germany - Kulturkirche
11-20 The Hague, Netherlands - Crossing Border Festival
11-21 Paris, France - La Cigale
!!!
09-03 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
09-04 New York, NY - Terminal 5 (Warp20)
09-05 Washington, D.C., - Black Cat
09-26 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
09-27 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
09-29 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
09-30 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
10-02 Austin, TX - Emo's
10-03 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
11-17 Honolulu, HI - The Loft
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Clues – Clues
Department Of Eagles – In Ear Park
