Dancing About Architecture Indie Music News 7.27.10
Posted by Ian Wright on 07.27.2010
Thoughts on the new Arcade Fire record, tragedy at the Love Parade, pigeons vs. The King Of Leon, new music from Grinderman and Les Savy Fav, and more.
The bit at the start
Good Tuesday to you all. The new Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs leaked last week and my initial impressions of it are really positive. It's a much better record than I thought it was going to be based on the dodgy rips of the tunes from it that have been floating around on the web for the last few months and it's a much, much better record than Neon Bible. Not really as anthemic as you'd expect from Arcade Fire but it's a record that sees the band genuinely stretch themselves in terms of their sonic palette. Good show Win and the other score of band members.
"City With No Children" is a bit of a stinker though.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
See above.
You news, you lose
My favourite story of the year.
Pigeons are horrible. Disgusting rat with wings motherfuckers. However last week in St. Louis a bunch of pigeons caused the early end of a King Of Leon gig at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre after only 3 songs. They managed this glorious feat by shitting all over the band.
As per the Riverfront Times after the incident the band's drummer Nathan Followill Tweeted, "So sorry St. Louis. We had to bail, pigeons shitting in [bassist] Jared [Followill]'s mouth. Too unsanitary to continue....Don't take it out on Jared, it's the fucking venue's fault. You may enjoy being shit on but we don't. Sorry for all who traveled many miles."
The paper went on to late elaborate on the details with a statement from the band:
An infestation of pigeons living in the rafters of the Verizon Amphitheatre in St. Louis, MO, forced the Kings of Leon to walk offstage after three songs last night. Even though opening bands The Postelles and The Stills came offstage complaining of getting riddled with large amounts of pigeon excrement, the Kings of Leon decided to carry on regardless. The band felt it would be unfair to the fans to cancel the show at that late moment.
"I'm surprised they stayed on for as many songs as they did," said Andy Mendelsohn of Vector Management. "Jared was hit several times during the first two songs. On the third song, when he was hit in the cheek and some of it landed near his mouth, they couldn't deal any longer. It's not only disgusting -- it's a toxic health hazard. They really tried to hang in there. We want to apologize to our fans in St. Louis and will come back as soon as we can."
When the band arrived earlier in the day, the venue warned management that there had been a significant pigeon infestation problem with summer shows over the years, but they were doing all they could to fix it.
"We couldn't believe what The Postelles and The Stills looked like after their sets," said Jared Followill. "We didn't want to cancel the show, so we went for it. We tried to play. It was ridiculous."
Yeah, it's nasty and all, but I'm sure it was just as bad for the support bands. Pigeons, I love you.
New music from Les Savy Fav.
Les Savy Fav's new record Root For Ruin will be out on the band's bassist Syd Butler's Frenchkiss label on September 14th, or a day before on Wichita if you live in the UK.
However in exchange for an e-mail address you can download lead single "Let's Get Out Of Here" now.
New Grinderman music.
Grinderman 2 is out on September 13th on Mute in the UK and the following day in the US on Anti.
A week before that "Heathen Child" will be released on limited edition coloured 12"`, but of you want you can listen to it below.
Wasn't really sure where to put this story, it's be far the most important thing I'm writing about this week but if I lead with it then things like birds shitting on terrible bands would look even more puerile and pointless. So I decided to get that out of the way and separate the silly story from tragic one as much as I can.
In Germany on Saturday 20 people were killed and 511 were injured at the Love Parade Festival near Duisberg. The deaths took place in the wide tunnel that served as an entrance to the festival when, according to reports the crowds panicked and stampeded when police attempted to close off the tunnel when the festival became overcrowded (it's been reported that 1.4 million people were there).
Emergency workers had difficulty in reaching the injured as the crowd had spilled out into the route set aside for them. The festival continued on after the tragedy with many of the revellers unaware of what had happened. This was done with police backing so as to prevent further panic. The organisers of the festival, which has been running almost annually since 1989, have since announced that the festival will not take place again.
The YouTube video of the week
Love this tune
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Frightened Rabbit
07-25 London, England - Ben & Jerry's Sundae Festival
08-01 Brisbane, Australia - Splendour in the Grass
08-02 Melbourne, Australia - Hi Fi
08-03 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Factory Theatre
08-08 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-10 Ibiza, Spain - Ibiza Rocks
08-14 Rees-Haldern, Germany - Haldern Festival
08-15 Leicester, England - Summer Sundae
08-19 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08-20 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-21 Shifnal, England - V Festival
08-22 Chelmsford, England - V Festival
10-07 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market *
10-08 Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theatre
10-09 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *
10-10 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
10-13 Los Angeles, CA - Mayan Theatre *
10-14 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
10-15 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues *
10-16 Las Vegas, NV - Beauty Bar *
10-17 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse *
10-19 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom *
10-20 Austin, TX - Stubb's *
10-21 Houston, TX - Walter's *
10-23 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *
10-26 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club *
10-28 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom *
10-29 Boston, MA - Paradise *
10-30 New York, NY - Terminal 5 *
11-01 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
11-02 Pittsburgh, PA - Diesel *
11-03 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *
11-11 Vienna, Austria - B72
11-18 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
11-20 Bristol, England - Anson Rooms
11-21 Manchester, England - Academy 2
11-22 Newcastle, England - Northumbria University
11-24 Stoke, England - Sugarmill
11-25 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
11-26 Exeter, England - Phoenix Theatre
11-27 Brighton, England - Komedia
11-29 Leeds, England - The Cockpit
11-30 Wolverhampton, England - Slade Rooms
12-01 London, England - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
12-03 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland Ballroom
12-10 Minehead, England - ATP Festival
* with Plants and Animals
Jonsi
07-24 Vienna, Austria - Arena Open Air
08-01 Woodford, Australia - Splendour in the Grass
08-02 Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
08-04 Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
08-07 Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival
08-08 Tokyo, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08-13 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West
08-15 Helsinki, Finland - Flow Festival
08-17 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
08-19 Lausanne, Switzerland - For Noise Festival
08-20 Netherlands, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-21 Kiewit, Belgium - Pukkelpopp
08-27 Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Festival Xacobeo
08-28 Saint Cloud, France - Rock en Seine
08-29 Zurich, Switzerland - Openair
09-01 Bristol, England - Colston Hall
09-03 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival
09-05 Glasgow, Scotland - O2 Academy
09-06 Manchester, England - Academy
09-08 Leeds, England - O2 Academy
09-09 Birmingham, England - O2 Academy
09-11 Isle of Wight, England - Bestival
09-13 Bournemouth, England - O2 Academy
09-14 Brighton, England - Dome
09-17-18 Krakow, Poland - Sacrum Profanum Festival
10-15 San Diego, CA - 4th and B
10-17 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
10-19 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
10-21 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
10-22 Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
10-23 Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
10-25 Grand Prairie, TX - Verizon Theatre
10-26 Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall
10-27 Houston, TX - Verizon Music Theater
10-29 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Festival
10-30 Asheville, NC - Moogfest
10-31 Atlanta, Georgia - The Tabernacle
11-02 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
11-03 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
11-05 Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
11-06 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
11-08 Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club
11-10 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
11-23 Groningen, Netherlands - Oosterpoort
11-24 Eindhoven, Netherlands - Muziekgebouw
11-26 London, England - HMV Hammersmith Apollo
Greg Dulli
10-08 New Orleans, LA - DBA
10-12 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
10-13 Cincinnati, OH - 20th Century Theatre
10-14 Chicago, IL - Double Door
10-15 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10-16 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
10-18 Cambridge, MA - Brattle Theatre
10-19 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-20 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
10-22 Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox
10-23 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-27 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
10-28 Belfast, Ireland - Spring & Airbrake
10-29 Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
10-30 Cork, Ireland - Cyprus Avenue
11-02 Lisbon, Portugal - Santiage Alquimista
11-03 Porto, Portugal - Hard Club
11-04 Vigo, Spain - Teatro Salesianos
11-05 Madrid, Spain - Charada
11-06 Mondragon, Spain - Kulturate
11-07 Zaragoza, Spain - Lopez
11-09 Sevilla, Spain - Teatro Central
11-10 Barcelona, Spain - Sidecar
11-11 Palma, Spain - Teatre Lloseta
11-13 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
11-16 Los Angeles, CA - Troubador
11-17 San Francisco, CA - Café du Nord
11-18 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Café
11-20 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
Wavves
07-28 Copenhagen, Denmark - The Gun Club
07-29 Emmaboda, Sweden - Emmaboda Festival
07-31 Trondeim, Norway - Brukbar
08-02 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom !
08-06 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-07 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
08-12 San Diego, CA - Museum of Contemporary Art
08-13 Pomona, CA - The Glass House $
08-14 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan ^
08-16 Santa Barbara, CA - Soho
08-17 Santa Cruz, CA - Crepe Place
08-18 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
08-25 Seattle, WA - Neumos
08-26 Vancouver, British Columbia - Biltmore
08-27 Victoria, British Columbia - Sugar
08-30 Sacramento, CA - Sol Collective
08-31 Visalia, CA - Howie and Sons Pizza
09-04 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Fest
09-10 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe
09-11 St. Louis, MO - Billiken Club
09-14 Bloomington, IN - Rhinos
09-15 Columbus, OH - Skully's
09-16 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
09-17 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Nightclub
09-18 Waltham, MA - Brandeis University
09-20 Providence, RI - Met Cafe
09-24 Kingston, NY - 323 Wall Street
09-25 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
09-27 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
09-28 Greensboro, NC - Guilfor College
09-29 Charlotte, NC - Milestone
09-30 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn
10-01 Nashville, TN - Exit / In
10-02 Oxford, MS - Proud Larrys
10-20 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden #
! with Smith Westerns, Total Slacker
* with Harlem, Fergus and Geronimo
$ with Abe Vigoda, Crystal Antlers, the Growlers
^ with the Cool Kids
# with Phoenix and Dirty Projectors
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Perfume Genius – Learning
Best Coast – Crazy For You
The bit at the end
I saw So Cow last Saturday night, fresh off a month long US tour it's probably the best I've ever seen him/them. Brian Kelly is a fucking brilliant pop songwriter.
You can follow me on twitter, I'm endlessly fascinating.
