Dancing About Architecture Indie Music News Report 12.22.09

Posted by Ian Wright on 12.22.2009

Music from the Shins/Danger Mouse supergroup, a new record from A Silver Mount Zion or whatever they're called now, The Besnard Lakes are back (BABY!), Owen Pallett is now professionally Owen Pallett, get Spencer Krug's new EP for free and more.

The bit at the start

Hello all. Welcome to the final news content filled Dancing About Architecture of the year. In next couple of weeks I'll do some end of year stuff and oh yeah, there's that whole end of decade business to take care of at some point as well isn't there?

Well that's all in the future, but for now lets talk about the recent past, although given the time of year that's in it unsurprisingly the news is winding down a little so we shan't be chatting long.

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

Nodzzz - Nodzzz



Gentle noise pop. If noise pop can be gentle.

You news, you lose

James Mercer/Danger Mouse collaboration.

Broken Bells is the new collaboration between Shins frontman James Mercer and Danger Mouse. The pair have a self titled debut album due for release on Columbia on March 9th. However if you go to the band's website and download lead single "The High Road" by giving the band's web geeks your e-mail address.

Still holding out for a Godspeed reunion.

See this?



It's the cover for the new Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra album. Kollaps Tradixionales is out on Constellation records on February 16th. It's the band's first album since 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons in 2008. Yes, they've altered the name of the band again. They've also jettisoned 3 members.

Tracklisting:

01 There Is a Light
02 I Built Myself a Metal Bird
03 I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds
04 Kollapz Tradixional (Thee Olde Dirty Flag)
05 Collapse Traditional (For Darling)
06 Kollaps Tradicional (Bury 3 Dynamos)
07 'Piphany Rambler

More new album news.

The Besnard Lakes have been fairly quiet since their very good but a little overlooked … are the black horse album. However 2010 will see the release of their third album entitled The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night. The album will be preceded by a single "Albatross" on March 8th in the UK and a day later in the North America on Jagjaguar.

Tracklisting:

01 Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent; Pt. 1: The Ocean
02 Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent; Pt. 2: The Innocent
03 Chicago Train
04 Albatross
05 Glass Printer
06 Land of Living Skies; Pt. 1: The Land
07 Land of Living Skies; Pt. 2: The Living Skies
08 And This Is What We Call Progress
09 Light Up the Night
10 The Lonely Moan



Final Fantasy RIP.

Following his inking of a deal with Domino to put out third LP Heartland (out January 12th) one man chamber pop hurricane Final Fantasy now has the strongest distribution network of his career behind him. And because of that he has decided to retire the band name and go under his own name, Owen Pallett.

Pallett explains his reasoning in the following letter.

Friends,

I began playing solo violin shows in 2004. Although it was essentially a solo project, I named the band Final Fantasy, as the experience-- and the tone of the material-- was reminiscent of the hours and hours I had spent as an adolescent playing those epic JRPGs.

But the laws of trademark infringement exist for good reason, and so I am voluntarily retiring my band name. In the new year, my record Heartland is coming out, and it is my first to be released in many territories, including Japan. With this in mind, I feel it is in my own best interests to definitively distinguish my music from Square/Enix's games.

So, I am no longer playing shows as Final Fantasy. Subsequent releases, including Heartland, will be issued under my own name, Owen Pallett. Prior releases will sometime soon be re-packaged and re-issued.

I thank Square/Enix their kindness and support, and I thank you all for your understanding.

Salud!

Owen

Those Final Fantasy (the video game) soundtracks sell in massive quantities in Japan, who woulda thunk it?

Side effects may include Moonface.

Spencer Krug's new solo EP, Dreamland EP: Marimba and Shit-Drums, to be released under the Moonface monikor isn't out (on Jagjaguar) until January 26th but on the Moonface website you can get it now and decide how much you'd like to pay for it.

You can get the EP for free but Krug is accepting donations for it. All you have to do is enter an e-mail address and specify how much money you want to pay and within seconds you get a zip with a high-quality digital FLAC of the EP.

The YouTube video of the week

Possibly better than the Kermit LCD Soundsystem video.




If you can you should go to these gigs.

Midlake

01-05 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
01-06 Tallahassee, FL - The Engine Room
01-07 Orlando, FL - The Social
01-08 St. Augustine, FL - Café Eleven
01-09 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern
01-10 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
01-11 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Café
01-12 Little Rock, AR - The Rev Room
01-22 Newcastle, England - The Cluny
01-23 Leicester, England - The Musician
01-24 Cambridge, England - Junction2
01-25 Stoke, England - The Sugarmill
01-26 Southend, England - Chinnerys
01-27 Norwich, England - Arts Centre
01-28 London, England - Tabernacle
01-30 Liverpool, England - The Willamson Tunnels
02-02 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
02-03 Cologne, Germany - Luxor
02-04 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
02-05 Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio
02-06 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller Music Hall
02-07 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
02-09 Berlin, Germany - Lido
02-10 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
02-11 Brussels, Belgium - AB Box
02-12 Bristol, England - Anson Rooms
02-14 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar St.
02-15 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
02-16 Birmingham, England - Town Hall
02-17 Manchester, England - Academy
02-18 London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire
03-01 Tucson, AZ - Plush
03-02 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
03-03 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
03-04 San Francisco, CA - The Great American Music Hall
03-05 Arcata, CA - The Van Duzer Theatre
03-06 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
03-07 Bellingham, WA - The Nightlight
03-08 Vancouver, British Columbia - The Biltmore Cabaret
03-10 Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room
03-11 Denver, CO - The Bluebird Theater
03-12 Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon

Yo La Tengo

12-16 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya O-East !
12-17 Tokyo, Japan - Shinagawa Prince Stellar Ball
12-19 Taipei City, Taiwan - Legacy Taipei
01-22 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom *
01-23 Madison, WI - Barrymore Theatre *
01-24 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant *
01-26 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre *
01-27 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom *
01-28 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live *
01-29 Austin, TX - Antone's *
01-30 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre *
02-08 Auckland, New Zealand - Montecristo Room
02-09 Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House
02-11 Melbourne, Australia - Thornbury Theatre
02-12 Melbourne, Australia - The Forum
02-13 Hobart, Australia - Moorilla
02-16 Brisbane, Australia - Hi-Fi
02-17 Sydney, Australia - Basement
02-18 Sydney, Australia - Metro
02-19 Adelaide, Australia - Fowlers Live
02-20 Perth, Australia - Beck's Music Box
03-10 Valencia, Spain - Sala Mirror
03-11 Murcia, Spain - Auditorio Victor Villegas
03-13 Madrid, Spain - Sala Rivieria
03-14 Lisbon, Portugal - Aula Magna
03-15 Porto, Portugal - Casa Da Musica
03-16 Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Sala Capitol
03-18 Bilbao, Spain - Sala Rockstar
03-19 Barcelona, Spain - Sala Apolo

! with Yura Yura Teikoku
* with Times New Viking

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio
Los Campesinos! – Romance is boring.

The bit at the end

The new Los Campesinos! album, Romance Is Boring. There's a couple of minute long instrumentals that are fantastic but otherwise they seem to be doing it by the numbers. It's alright but I don't feel compelled to listen to it again.

This is an interesting little post … a breakdown of the sales of the some of the records on the pitchfork top 50.

I know I saw this every year about this time but I am sincere on the matter this time. BAH, humbug!

You can follow me on twitter, I'm endlessly fascinating.

Semi permanent plug for my blog the year and decade best of countdowns continue in earnest.