Dancing About Architecture Indie Music News 02.22.11
Posted by Ian Wright on 02.22.2011
Thoughts on the new Radiohead album, thoughts on Sleigh Bells live, Jeff Mangum to curate ATP, NJ ATP additions, a new Elbow album, two new Jim O’Rourke albums, the best stuff to happen in music in the last 6 and a bit years, and more!
The bit at the start.
Hello all, a few topics to cover here this week before the news so lets get right to it. I saw Sleigh Bells on Friday night and the word that best describes their set is "intense," they were loud as hell but I felt that the amount of stuff that they were playing that was tracked led to things feeling a little be sterile. Alexis Krauss is a star though, probably coolest school teacher ever.
Radiohead's new album "The King Of Limbs" was released to the internets a day early on Friday and to be honest I'm not especially taken with it. "Codex" has been getting a lot of love from people I know but I dunno, it's the strongest song on the record but I don't think it stacks up strongly to their body of earlier work. If I'd heard the album before I ordered the fancy dan deluxe package I don't think that I would have.
Finally, this is the last one of these that I'm ever going to do. I've been doing Dancing About Architecture since August 2004 and to be honest I'm bored of it, so I'm stopping. Cheers to Mitch and Melchor and Brandon and whoever else was an editor while I was around, and to people like Adam Tool and Dave Schilling who filled in for me from time to time. So watch as I slap on a fake grin and plough through this shit one final time.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
The Wrens – The Meadowlands
Yeah this one again, IT'S THE BEST ALBUM EVER.
You news, you lose
Jeff Mangum to curate ATP.
I suppose that it shouldn't be that big a surprise considering that he's appearing at the All Tomorrow's Parties event in New Jersey in September but it was announced last Wednesday that Jeff Mangum would curate one of this December's two UK ATP festivals which are taking place in Butlins Minehead. The other curator won't be announced for a few more weeks but Mangum's weekend will take place from December 2nd – 4th and tickets are on sale now. In total about 40 bands will play that weekend with the announced bands already grabbing a bit of attention Superchunk, the Olivia Tremor Control, Young Marble Giants, Tinariwen, the Apples in Stereo, the Magic Band, A Hawk and a Hacksaw and the Raincoats playing their 1979 self-titled debut in full.
Sharp observers will have probably noticed that quite a few of those bands have a Mangum connection. He was for a time in The Olivia Tremor Control, Robert Schneider of The Apples In Stereo produced both of Mangum' Neutral Milk Hotel albums and Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and a Hacksaw was also in NMH. Additionally Superchunk contains the two founders of Merge Records, who put out NMH's stuff.
Anyway, I have a chalet booked for this and I'm very excited.
Speaking of that Asbury Park ATP ...
A number of additional names were announced for the Portishead curated ATP I'll be your mirror event in Asbury Park NJ from September 30rd - October 2nd. Joining the already announced Bonnie "Prince" Billy, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Shellac, Chavez, Cults and The Album Leaf (as well as the curators of the festival) are Mogwai, Ultramagnetic MC's, the Horrors, Earth, the Pop Group, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, the Portishead side project Beak>, Anika, Foot Village, Oneida side project People of the North, DD/MM/YYYY, Also Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster and Harmonia will collaborate with Simeon of Silver Apples as Silver Qluster.
2 upcoming Jim O'Rourke records.
Jim O'Rourke (genius) has a couple of new collaborative albums out in the next few months. The first one, Plastic Palace Peoples, Vol.1 will be out on the 22nd of this month on Streamline/Drag City and sees O'Rourke combine with German Christoph Heemann on 3 length untitled pieces.
The second is out in Europe on April 11th and in the US on April 26th on an extremely limited run of 500 copies. One Bird Two Bird is a collaboration with Japanese noise god Merzbow and free-jazz Sax Swede Mats Gustafsson and is a studio session that the 3 of them did back in 2009. This isn't the first time that the 3 of them will have appeared on a release together, O'Rourke was a member of Sonic Youth on the SYR 8 release which also featured the other two.
New Elbow Album.
Build A Rocket Boys! will be Elbows follow up to 2008's The Seldom Seen Kid and will be release in the UK on March 7th on Fiction. In the US it will be released digitally the next day with a physical release coming on April 12th. Lead single "Neat Little Rows" will be out on February 27th.
The album was produced by band member Craig Potter and recorded at Blueprint studios in Manchester.
Tracklisting:
01 The Bird
02 Lippy Kids
03 With Love
04 Neat Little Rows
05 Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl
06 The Night Will Always Win
07 High Ideals
08 The River
09 Open Arms
10 The Birds (Reprise)
11 Dear Friends
Here's the video for "Neat Little Rows."
Before I go … The best *things in music* of the Dancing About Architecture era*
* that's from August 10th 2004 until now
Live Acts
5. The National
4. Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band
3. Dan Deacon
2. Arcade Fire
1. The Wrens
Albums
5. Joanna Newsom – The Ys
4. Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
3. Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
2. The National - Alligator
1. Arcade Fire – Funeral
Bands/Solo Acts, based on combination of quality, volume and consistency of material as well as live prowess
5.Joanna Newsom
4. Owen Pallett
3. Arcade Fire
2. The National
1. Deerhunter
Songs
1. Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
Everything else is in the ha'penny place.
The YouTube video of the week
Odd Future on Fallon last week, kick ass.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Arcade Fire
04-09 Broomfield, CO - 1st Bank Center ^
04-11 Orem, UT - The UCCU Center ^
04-13 Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre ^
04-14 Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel ^
04-16 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-18 Santa Fe, NM - Santa Fe Convention Center
04-20 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Amphitheatre *
04-22 Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion *
04-24 Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion *
04-25 Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion *
04-27 Indianapolis, IN - The Lawn at White River State Park *
04-28 Memphis, TN - Orpheum Theatre
04-30 Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion #
05-03 Austin, TX - The Backyard %
05-04 The Woodlands, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion %
05-06 New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
06-09-12 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
06-17 Scheesel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-18 Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival
06-21 Zagreb, Croatia - T Mobile InMusic Festival
06-22 Burgenland, Austria - Festivalgelände Wiesen
06-26 Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Rock-A-Field Festival
06-30 London, England - Hyde Park
07-02 Arras, France - Main Square Festival
07-03 Belfort, France - Les Eurockeenes
07-05 Milan, Italy - Milano Jazzin' Festival
07-07 Novi Sad, Serbia - Exit Festival
07-09 Lucca, Italy - Lucca Summer Festival
07-15 Lisbon, Portugal - Super Bock Super Rock Festival
07-17 Bennicassim, Spain - Benicassim Festival
07-30 Moncton, New Brunswick - Magnetic Hill @
08-31 Manchester, England - MEN Arena
09-01 Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Castle
^ with Local Natives
* with the National
# with Okkevil River
% with Explosions in the Sky
@ with U2
Elbow
03-15 Glasgow, Scotland - SECC
03-16 Newcastle, England - Metro Radio Arena
03-17 Nottingham, England - Trent FM Arena
03-19 Sheffield, England - Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
03-20 Liverpool, England - Echo Arena
03-22 Birmingham, England - National Indoor Arena
03-23 Cardiff, Wales - International Arena
03-25 Manchester, England - MEN Arena
03-27 Brighton, England - Brighton Centre
03-28-29 London, England - O2 Arena
03-31 Dublin, Ireland - O2 Arena
04-16 Indio, CA - Coachella
06-17 Scheessel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-18 Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival
06-26 Roeser Luxembourg - Rock-A-Field
07-02 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
07-03 La Citadelle, France - Main Square Festival
07-14-17 Benicassim, Spain - Benicassim Festival
07-16 Meco, Portugal - Super Bock Super Rock Festival
Kurt Vile
03-01 Boston, MA - Newbury Comics (Newbury Street store)
03-02 Washington, DC - Red Onion Records and Books
03-02 Baltimore, MD - Sound Garden
03-04 Philadelphia, PA - AKA Music
03-08 Brooklyn, NY - Academy LPs *
03-08 New York, NY - Generation Records
03-08 New York, NY - Other Music
03-10 Ithaca, NY - Castaways #
03-11 Toronto, Ontario - The Great Hall (Canadian Music Fest) #
03-12 Kingston, Ontario - The Mansion
03-13 Burlington, VT - Monkey House
03-14 Milford, CT - Daniel Street
03-19 Austin, TX - Ground Control Showcase at Auditorium Shores (SXSW)
03-22 Brattleboro, MA - Headroom Stages #
03-23 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live #
03-24 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge #
03-25 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg #
03-26 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall #
03-28 Red Hook, NY - Bard College
03-29 Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Museum
03-30 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop #
03-31 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig #
04-01 Chicago, IL - Subterranean #
04-02 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry #
04-03 Iowa City, IA - The Mill
04-05 Gambier, OH - Kenyon College
04-06 Nashville, TN - The End
04-07 Atlanta, GA - The Earl #
04-08 Athens, GA - Melting Point #
04-09 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle #
04-10 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle #
04-21 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
04-22 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
04-23 Portland, OR - Bunk Bar
04-24 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
04-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Waldorf Hotel
05-11 Berlin, Germany - Festaal Kreuzberg $
05-15 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli
05-19-21 Liverpool, England - Liverpool Sound City
05-25-29 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
06-30-7-3 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
# with J Mascis
* with Northampton Wools
$ with Akron/Family
Lightning Bolt
03-31 Albany, NY - Valentine's
04-01 Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit's Soundlab
04-02 Ann Arbor, MI - Neutral Zone *
04-03 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
04-04 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
04-05 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
04-06 Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis
04-07 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
04-08 Boise, ID - The Shredder ~
04-09 Seattle, WA - Healthy Times Fun Club
04-10 Portland, OR - Holocene
04-12 Oakland, CA - The New Parish
04-13 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Shop ^
04-14 Visalia, CA - The Cellar Door #
04-17 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-18 Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
04-19 Santa Fe, NM - The VFM
04-21 Austin, TX - The Mohawk
04-22 Norman, OK - Opolis
04-23 St Louis, MO - The Luminary Centre for the Arts +
04-24 Louisville, KY - Cahoots
04-25 Oberlin, OH - Dionysus Disco
04-27 Brooklyn, NY - Club Exit
04-28 New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
04-29 Middletown, CT - Eclectic House
* with Wolf Eyes
~ with Wizard Rifle
^ with T.I.T.S., High Castle
# with Tokyo Death March
+ with Parts & Labor, Spelling Bee
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
The bit at the end
Bye folks, I won't see you next week.
Oh, thanks for reading.
You can follow me on twitter, I'm endlessly fascinating.
