Dancing About Architecture Indie Music News 03.09.10
Posted by Ian Wright on 03.09.2010
Mark Linkous dies, but his final album is out in the summer, also news on new albums from The National, LCD Soundsystem, Phosphorescent and Robert Pollard, live footage of the reformed Pavement and more.
The bit at the start
Hello everyone. I'm back after spending the last couple of weeks in New York and New Jersey (not covered in sludge thankfully). I had a great time and feel very refreshed after the trip. If there's one lesson I learned while I was over there it's that Irish people are complete pussies when it comes to snow. In January the whole country shut down because of a few inches over the course of a week. It snowed for 28 hours straight while I was away and people just got on with their business.
Anyway, lets start off with some news, and an album recommendation that I really wish I didn't have to write about.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider
Ordinarily I'd be glad to pimp this. Not this week.
You news, you lose
Mark Linkous RIP.
Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous took his own life over the weekend. It's a terrible shame, he was a wonderful musician and songwriter. Linkous began releasing music under the Sparklehorse name in 1996 with second album Good Morning Spider being my personal favourite of his releases.
He was also a prolific collaborator having worked with the likes of Radiohead and Polly Harvey. In 2004 he curated and produced the best of/covers compilation The Late Great Daniel Johnston which is where this, my favourite of his collaborations came from.
Just to clear up some rumours surrounding Linkous' passing. There were stories on the net floating around on Sunday that he shot himself in the face and then took 3 hours to die (a horrific echo of his overdose in the 90's when after not being found for 14 hours with his legs pinned underneath him he had to spend the following months in a wheelchair, at one point he was at risk of losing his legs). According to the NY Times Arts Beat blog while Linkous did shoot himself it was in the heart and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
It's been a bad run of months for indie rock deaths. As well as Linkous, his friend Vic Chesnut and Jay Reatard have all gone into the great unknown since Christmas.
Possibly slightly untrue Sparklehorse fact but based somewhat in reality. Much like Derek Zoolander Mark Linkous was the first man in his family who didn't go to work down a coal mine.
In somewhat related news.
You may remember that last year there was a bit of a spat over the release of the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch collaboration Dark Night Of The Soul. The album wasn't properly released due to a legal issue involving Danger Mouse and EMI which was believed to be over his breakthrough release, the Beatles/Jay-Z mashup collection The Grey Album however the artwork and a blank CD-R was made available. And then mysteriously the music, featuring the likes of the Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas, and Iggy Pop mysteriously leaked onto the internet. Convenient that.
However according to Danger Mouse the dispute has been resolved and the record will get a proper release this year. In an interview with BBC 6 Music he said, "The problems of last year are last year, so hopefully it will be out soon in June or something like that." A spokesman for EMI made similarly conciliatory noises telling the station, "We can confirm that EMI are working with Brian Burton AKA Danger Mouse again, and are delighted to be doing so. Further information on releases will follow shortly."
If you can't wait till the Summer for your next DM fix his collaboration with The Shins' James Mercer, Broken Bells is out next week.
New National album, holy shit, new National album.
High Violet is the name of the upcoming 5th album from The National. It's out on 4AD on May 10th in the UK and the following day in North America. The band will be performing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday and in an e-mail to their mailing list today the band advised that fans check out new website highviolet.com after the show airs "for something special."
New LCD Soundsystem album, holy shit, new LCD Soundsystem album.
It seems as though nearly all of my favourite acts of the last decade are releasing new albums this year. Amongst that number are LCD Soundsystem who's third album, which is yet to be titled, will be released by DFA/Parlophone in the UK on May 17th and DFA/Virgin the next day.
The album will contain 9 tracks and runs for about 65 minutes and according to main dude James Murphy the label is currently deciding between two songs "Drunk Girls" and "Change" to be the lead single.
Tracklisting:
Dance Yrself Clean
Drunk Girls
One Touch
All I Want
Change
Hit
Pow Pow
Somebody's Calling Me
What You Need
This one isn't for Willie.
After last year's Willie Nelson tribute album Phosphorescent will release their/his original material follow up to the wonderful Pride on May 11th via the Dead Oceans label. Here's To Taking It Easy is the first Phosphorescent album where Matthew Houck didn't play every instrument on the record but instead it was recorded by his 6-piece touring band at Brooklyn's Headgear studios by Alex Lipsen.
Tracklisting:
01 It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)
02 Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)
03 We'll Be Here Soon
04 The Mermaid Parade
05 I Don't Care if There's Cursing
06 Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)
07 Hej, Me I'm Light
08 Heaven, Sittin' Down
09 Los Angeles
Oh, artwork.
That crazy Bob Pollard, he never stops.
Unsurprisingly former Guided By Voices leader Robert Pollard has a couple of new releases slated to come out later in the year as well as the already out this year solo effort We All Got Out Of The Army. First up is a new Boston Spaceships EP called Camera Found The Ray Gun and it's out on March 23rd on Jackpot records on CD, download and a limited run of 500 vinyl copies.
Then on June 22nd another solo album Moses On A Snail will be released on Pollards own lable Guided By Voices Inc. The tracklistings are below.
Camera Found the Ray Gun:
01 The Way Out
02 Rival GT
03 Pluto Is Polluted
04 Aquarian Hovercraft
Moses on a Snail:
01 The Weekly Crow
02 A Constant Strangle
03 Arrows and Balloons
04 Lie Like a Dog
05 Ice Cold War
06 Each Is Good in His Own House
07 How I've Been in Trouble
08 It's News
09 It's a Pleasure Being You
10 Big Time Wrestling
11 Teardrop Painballs
12 Moses on a Snail
The YouTube video of the week
Videos from Pavement's first gig back.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
The Flaming Lips
03-12 Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall *
03-13 Denton, TX - Hickory Street Stage/NX35 *
04-15 Charlottesville, VA - Charlottesville Pavillon *
04-17 Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid Hudson Civic Center *
04-18 Ithaca, NY - Barton Hall/Cornell University *
04-19 Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre *
04-21 Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside Theater *
04-22 Bloomington, IN - Indiana University Auditorium *
04-23 Kansas City, KS - Sandstone Amphitheatre *
04-29 West Palm Beach, FL - SunFest
05-15 Gulf Shores, AL - The Hangout Music Festival *
06-06 Houston, TX - Tinsley Park/Free Press Fest *
06-11 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music Festival *
07-03 Oxford, ME - Nateva Music & Arts Festival *
07-22 Lewiston, NY - Artpark *
07-26 New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage *
08-20-22 Brecon Beacons, Wales - Green Man Festival
09-10-12 Isle of Wight, England - Bestival
* with Stardeath and White Dwarfs
Pavement
02-20 Blois, France - The Velvet
02-21 St. Malo, France - La Route Du Rock Festival
02-26 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Slussen
03-04 Hamburg, Germany - Astra Stube
03-05 Berlin, Germany - NBI Club
03-07 Den Bosch, Netherlands - fabrIQ Den Bosch *
03-08 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Bitterzoet
03-09 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
03-10 Paris, France - Le Scopitone
03-11 Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - Teatro Municipal Pedro Munoz Seca
03-12 Granada, Spain - Centro Cultural
03-13 Barcelona, Spain - Sidecar
03-14 Mallorca, Spain - Teatre Lloseta
03-15 London, England - Bush Hall
03-17 Copenhagen, Denmark - Klub Shh at Din Nye Ven
03-25 Istanbul, Turkey - Indigo
04-14 Buffalo, NY - The Ninth Ward
04-15 Winooski, VT - The Monkey House
04-16 Montreal, Quebec - Petit Campus
04-17 Toronto, Ontario - El Mocambo
04-20 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
04-21 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs
04-22 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live Upstairs
04-23 Washington, DC - Black Cat
04-26 Chapel Hill, NC - Gerrard Hall
04-27 Asheville, NC - Forsythia Hall
04-28 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
04-29 Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
05-02 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ (Indoors)
05-03 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
05-05 La Jolla, CA - UCSD (The Loft)
05-08 Brookdale, CA - Historic Brookdale Lodge
05-09 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
05-11 Portland, OR - The Mission Theater
05-12 Vancouver, British Columbia - St. James Hall
05-14 Edmonton, Alberta - Brixx
05-15 Calgary, Alberta - Local 522
05-17 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
05-18 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
05-19 Denver, CO - The Bluebird Theater
05-21 Iowa City, IA - The Mill
05-23 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
05-25 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
05-26 Bloomington, IN - The Dome House
05-27 Fort Wayne, IN - The Brass Rail
05-28 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
08-12 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop Festival
* with Tiny Vipers, Karl Blau, Megafaun
The National
03-28 Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre (Big Ears Festival)
04-22 Richmond, VA - The National
04-23 Richmond, VA - The National
05-05 London, England - Electric Ballroom
05-06 London, England - Royal Albert Hall
05-07 Paris, France - Le Zenith *
05-09 Berlin, Germany - Astra
05-21 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
05-22 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern #
05-23 San Diego, CA - Spreckels Theatre #
05-26 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
05-27 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre #
05-29 Quincy, WA - Sasquatch Festival
06-02 Boston, MA - House of Blues %
06-03 Boston, MA - House of Blues %
06-04 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory %
06-05 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory %
06-06 Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall %
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall %
06-09 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall %
06-11-13 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06-16 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall %
07-27 Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park ^
* with Pavement
# with Ramona Falls
^ with Beach House
% with the Antlers Phosphorescent
03-03 New York, NY - Joe's Pub
03-11 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre *
03-12 New Orleans, LA - Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts *
03-13 Austin, TX - Hogg Memorial Auditorium *
03-14 Austin, TX - Hogg Memorial Auditorium *
03-16 Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theatre Grand Prairie *
03-17 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre *
03-19 St. Louis, MO - Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center *
03-20 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre *
03-21 Cleveland, OH - Playhouse Square at State Theatre *
03-23 Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre *
03-24 Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre *
03-26 Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace Theatre *
03-27 Columbus, OH - Ohio Theatre *
03-29 Buffalo, NY - UB Center for the Arts *
03-31 Baltimore, MD - Lyric Opera House *
04-01 Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre *
04-03 Providence, RI - Providence Performing Arts Center *
04-05 Albany, NY - The Egg at Hart Theatre *
04-06 Wallingford, CT - Oakdale Theatre *
04-07 Portland, ME - Merrill Auditorium at City Hall *
04-09 Durham, NC - Durham Performing Arts Center *
04-10 Atlanta, GA - Atlanta Civic Center Theatre *
04-11 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium *
04-13 Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall *
04-14 Miami Beach, FL - Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre *
04-15 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live *
* with David Gray
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
The Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
The bit at the end
That new Tallest Man On Earth record is pretty good.
Great weekend's gig going in store for me this week. Panda Bear on Friday and then Retribution Gospel Choir on Saturday.
Good to be back, see you all in a week.
You can follow me on twitter, I'm endlessly fascinating.
