Dancing About Architecture Indie Music News 1.12.10
Posted by Ian Wright on 01.12.2010
Hear the new Vampire Weekend album in full, a new album from The Wrens, a Pavement best of, who won't be winning Oscars, Elvis Costello Live, Liars remixes, new music from The Besnard Lakes and Dirty Projecters, and more!
The bit at the start
Happy new week to you.
In lieu of copy by me that you might not care about the opening to this weeks column takes the form of a stream of the new Vampire Weekend album Contra.
Enjoy, or don't, up to you.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – The Road: Original Score
Haunting and beautiful. Wonderfully compliments the bleakest film in years.
You news, you lose
I'll believe it when I hear it.
So my all time favourite band ever is New Jersey 4-piece The Wrens. I'm sure anyone who has been reading these columns for any length of time probably knows this. And it's been a long, long time since they released last album The Meadowlands but there may be light at the end of the tunnel for those hanging on for new music from them.
Over the past week or so the band have (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) posted 3 lengthy status updates to catch people up on what they've been doing with themselves and what their immediate plans are. The bad news is that they haven't started recording their new album yet, nor has Charles Bissell written any songs for it. Never fear though, Kevin Whelan has written 100 songs in the last seven years AND recording properly is due to start …
dun dun DUNNNNNNN!!!!
this Wednesday.
The band also reckon that they'll be finished the record in June.
Which I'm not too sure about, they have been "starting the record soon" for a while now.
But we'll see. Fingers crossed though.
New free music of the week: 1
The Besnard Lakes are releasing the follow up to their excellent second album ... are the Black Horse in the coming months. You can listen to the excellent first single from the album "Albatross" here.
The inevitable best of compilation.
So I'm sure you're aware by now that Pavement are getting back together this year. And unsurprisingly the band are putting out a greatest hits compilation to mark the event. The 23 track Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement will be out on double LP and CD on March 9th in North America via Matador and on Domino the previous day in the UK. Those release dates will also see the release of the entire Pavement Matador catalogue on low priced vinyl (the 180gm deluxe vinyl editions will still beavailabe though, never fear).
The tracklisting for the compilation hasn't been announced yet but that's because Matador are running a competition involving entrants predicting what it will be with prizes like a trip to New York to see the band play in Central Park and your predicted version of the tracklisting pressed up just specially for you if you're the winner. There's more details of the competition here.
Oh, and this is just a rumour mind, but possibly of interest if you live around Chicago. There's a lot of talking going around that Pavement will headline the Pitchfork Festival this year.
New free music of the week: 2
New music from Dirty Projectors.
Wasted Oscar buzz.
Last year Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs worked on the score to Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are and Brian Eno's composed the music for Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. Even if it they were just stunt-casting you would have thought that given their profiles one or both would be in with a shout of an Academy Award nomination. However Rolling Stone are reporting that neither are eligible for nomination.
Eno's disqualification is straightforward, he simply never applied to have his work considered for nomination. According to a PR for the film, "Eno simply felt that he didn't have time to submit the required paperwork and submit to the type of publicity campaign necessary."
However even if Eno had the time there is still a chance that he would be ineligible for consideration as the score featured older composition of his and the Oscar rulebook states that, "[S]cores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible." This is the reason that Jonny Greenwood's marvellous (I'm listening to it as I type) score for There Will Be Blood wasn't eligible for nomination.
That thing about "more than one composer" is likely the thing to torpedo Karen O's chances as she collaborated with Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, the other two members of her regular band and Carter Burwell.
There was some positive news on the little gold dildo front for O however insofar that she has been named on the shortlist of potential nominees in the Best Original Song category.
Elvis live. No, the other one.
Live at Hollywood High is the upcoming second instalment in a series of Elvis Costello live albums, to be released today. The album is a recording of a 1978 Elvis Costello & The Attractions at the Hollywood High School Auditorium. The set features material from This Year's Model, My Aim Is TrueArmed Forces
Liars remixes
The new Liars album Sisterworld will be released on March 9th via Mute and it was announced this week that there was also going to be an expanded version of the album released in addition to the normal version which will contain a bonus disc featuring "remixes and reinterpretations" by the likes of Thom Yorke, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, Bradford Cox, Melvins, Suicide's Alan Vega, Throbbing Gristle offshoot Chris & Cosey, and Blonde Redhead.
The first single from the record is called "Neck Snap" and will be released digitally on February 16th. However you can listen to it here
The YouTube video of the week
A live version of one of the stand out numbers from the new Owen Pallett album.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Liars
04-10 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre *
04-14 Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel *
04-15 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
04-16 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
04-17 Boston, MA - Paradise *
04-18 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
04-27 San Francisco, CA - Slim's *
04-29 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre *
04-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - TBA *
05-01 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
* with Fol Chen
Of Montreal/James Husband
01-25 Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head
01-26 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
01-27 Boston, MA - Paradise
01-28 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
01-29 Norfolk, VA - Norva
01-30 Richmond, VA - The National
02-04 Athens, GA - 40 Watt
02-05 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
02-06 Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
Tortoise
02-11 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall *
02-12 Nashville, TN - Exit In *
02-13 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree *
02-14 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
02-15 Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle *
02-16 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
02-17 Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre *
02-18 Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace *
02-19 Ann Arbor, MI - The Blind Pig *
02-20 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall #
* with Disappears
# with Robert A.A. Lowe
The Fiery Furnaces
01-21 Newport, KY - Southgate House
01-22 Indianapolis, IN - Radio Radio
01-23 St. Louis, MO - Old Rock House
01-24 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
01-26 Little Rock, AR - Revolution Music Room
01-27 Dallas, TX - Lounge on Elm Street
01-28 Austin, TX - The Parish
01-29 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington
01-30 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
02-02 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
02-04 Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle
02-06 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
02-17 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
02-18 Paris, France - Trabendo
02-19 St. Malo, France - L'Omnibus (La Route du Rock Festival)
02-20 Bordeaux, France - L'Espace Satrie
02-22 Barcelona, Spain - Razz 3
02-23 Madrid, Spain - Moby Dick
02-24 Valencia, Spain - Wah Wah
02-26 Lisbon, Portugal - Santiago Alquimister
02-28 Istanbul, Turkey - Indigo
05-15-17 Minehead, UK - Pavement ATP Festival
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood soundtrack
The bit at the end
As I said earlier, The Road is fucking bleak. And doesn't have the redemptive feature of the amazing prose of the novel (obviously). All the same, it's worth seeing. Do not bring a date.
You can follow me on twitter, I'm endlessly fascinating.
