Dancing About Architecture 08.22.06
Posted by Ian Wright on 08.22.2006
Interpol jump ship, Malkmus dances, Information on Beck, Pumpkins in the studio, The Mars Volta get pissed on, The Arctic Monkeys, Tom Waits and much more.
The bit at the start
No time for talk, there is news this week, and lots of it, some of it not even covered by Jamie already and most of it interesting.
ON WITH THE NEWS
oh, but first this
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
So good Warners paid for it twice.
You news, you lose
You sold out! You sold out!
Pitchfork reported last week that Interpol are close to agreeing a deal to leave their long time label Matador and sign with Capital Records. Presumably this is because bassist Carlos D. has already ploughed his way through all the US indie-chick tail available to him and wants to move on to more mainstream audiences. It's worth noting that Interpol's management also handles Capital mainstays Coldplay.
I'm by no means an indie zealot, after all many of my favourite acts such Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Jeff Buckley spent/have spent their entire careers on major labels but to some degree I wonder if this move is necessary for Interpol. They're already very popular and with MySpace/blogs/the ability to get word of mouth stuff spread faster than ever the need for a major labels marketing muscle isn't entirely needed. I'd also worry that signing with a major would lead to them toning down their sound and making it a bit more palatable.
However that marketing muscle could be the thing that really pushes them onto the next level of popularity. And they've certainly been smart about it, 2 good albums released on a indie, both well received, both I imagine sold well (it's not indicative of a global trend but Antics went #1 upon it's first week of release here) so they were in a position where they didn't NEED to jump labels. This presumably means that they've been given assurances about creative control.
All these big indie bands signing with majors, is anyone else reminded of the rush to sign up everything that moved in the wake of Nirvana in the early 90's?
I bet you look good on the Pavement.
It seems like every indie act imaginable is getting the remix treatment these days. Generally the results have been pretty varied (that Boards Of Canada remix on Beck's Guerito is pretty phenomenal) and now it's the turn of ex-Pavement main man Stephen Malkmus.
Next week Domino UK will release a remix EP entitled Kindling For The Master which features 4 clubbed up remixes of the song which was originally released on last year's Face The Truth.
Tracklist:
A1 Kindling for the Master (Emperor Machine Remix - Vocal)
B1 Kindling for the Master (Major Swellings Remix - Vocal)
C1 Kindling for the Master (Hot Chip Remix)
D1 Kindling for the Master (Polmo Polpo Remix)
Smiling politely.
Good news for people who steadfastly believe that Billy Corgan hasn't lost it completely and it was only the choice of collaborators that caused the problems in his recent releases (those people are, of course, ignoring that fact that he's a massive control freak who has a reputation for not taking input from other musicians), the following message was posted on the band's website last week:
"The Smashing Pumpkins are currently in the recording studio with legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, The Darkness), at work on their first new album since 1999."
As yet there isn't any word on who is actually in Smashing Pumpkins right now aside from Corgan but one would imagine that Jimmy Chamberlain will be hitting things with sticks on it.
I really can't a guy who has worked with Queen and The Darkness suiting the Pumpkins sound, but I guess we'll see.
By the way, there's a rumour going around that The Darkness have been dropped. GOOD!!!
Hello??? YOU GUYS SUCK!!!
Ever wanted to tell The Arctic Monkeys what you think of them? Well now you have the opportunity. The band has extended an invitation to their fans (and presumably to their detractors as well) via fansite the riot van to leave them phone messages.
It's pretty simple, you dial a number, enter a number, enter another number and leave a "SHORT, CLEAR, and WELL THOUGHT OUT" message for the band. Swearing is allowed, so that's nice.
What's the point? Well the band will apparently post their favourite messages on the site and the people who left them will win prize packs (actually now that I've read that my opinion on this idea has changed completely, it seems like a pretty good way to give something back to the fans).
Aww shit
I should have read this story in full before I started typing, the closing date for this was August 21st. Well I've typed it out now. Just reread it and change it to the past tense.
Piss Off Omar
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (the silliest newspaper name in the world except for the New Orleans Times-Picayune; seriously, what the fuck?) is reporting that during The Mars Volta's performance at the KNDD sponsored Endfest 15 in Seattle the band were pelted with urine (or presumably, some sort of container filled with it).
30 minutes into the Mars Volta's set at the festival (which had already been hampered by Modest Mouse cancelling and Snow Patrol not making it due to the terrorist thing, although that last one may have been a boon) Omar Rodruiguez-Lopez smashed his guitar into his amp and stormed offstage. Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala then said that the show was over and finish the set by saying, "I will pay $100-1,000 to somebody to find the person that's throwing urine up here. I will give you free merchandise and a lifetime supply [of tickets] to a Mars Volta show. Find that person and kick his ass for me, bring me his head-- and we'll be friends!"
It's on YouTube apparently but I'm in dial-up hell so I can't see it.
Oh yeah, apparently there were technical problems which pissed them off too, but that's nowhere near as entertaining.
This is for the children.
If Tim O'Sullivan ever gets the 411 100 greatest albums feature finished you'll learn precisely how much I love Tom Waits. Until then you'll just have to take my word for it and believe me when I say that I'm deliriously happy at the news that Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards, a three-CD set of new and rare Waits material will be released on the Anti label on November 21.
3 CD??? Holy Shit!!!
The 54-track collection will come with a 94-page booklet and features waltzes, blues songs, celtic ballads and lullabies (a Radiohead cover perhaps?) amongst other things. According to Waits, "Orphans [contains] rough and tender tunes. Rumbas about mermaids, shuffles about train wrecks, tarantellas about insects, madrigals about drowning. Scared, mean, orphaned songs of rapture and melancholy. Songs that grew up hard. Songs of dubious origin rescued from cruel fate and now left wanting only to be cared for. Show that you are not afraid and take them home. They don't bite, they just need attention."
God I love that man, maybe even in a gay way.
A number of the tracks were originally recorded for film and theatre and some are covers by other acts including The Ramones, Daniel Johnston (go see the film), Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, Leadbelly, Jack Kerouac, and Charles Bukowski. As is standard with the great man Waits produced the album himself along with his wife and long-time collaborator Kathleen Brennan.
Tracklist:
Disc One: Brawlers
01 Lie to Me
02 LowDown
03 2:19
04 Fish in the Jailhouse
05 Bottom of the World
06 Lucinda
07 Ain't Goin' Down to the Well
08 Lord I've Been Changed
09 Puttin' on the Dog
10 Road to Peace
11 All the Time
12 The Return of Jackie and Judy
13 Walk Away
14 Sea of Love
15 Buzz Fledderjohn
16 Rains on Me
Disc Two: Bawlers
01 Bend Down the Branches
02 You Can Never Hold Back Spring
03 Long Way Home
04 Widow's Grove
05 Little Drop of Poison
06 Shiny Things
07 World Keeps Turning
08 Tell It to Me
09 Never Let Go
10 Fannin Street
11 Little Man
12 It's Over
13 If I Have to Go
14 Goodnight Irene
15 The Fall of Troy
16 Take Care of All My Children
17 Down There By the Train
18 Danny Says
19 Jayne's Blue Wish
20 Young at Heart
Disc Three: Bastards
01 What Keeps Mankind Alive
02 Children's Story
03 Heigh Ho
04 Army Ants
05 Books of Moses
06 Bone Chain
07 Two Sisters
08 First Kiss
09 Dog Door
10 Redrum
11 Nirvana
12 Home I'll Never Be
13 Poor Little Lamb
14 Altar Boy
15 The Pontiac
16 Spidey's Wild Ride
17 King Kong
18 On the Road
Beck In Black Part 2.
Information (geddit?) continues to leak on the upcoming Beck album entitled ahem The Information. Well I say leak, I mean is released by the record company in little pieces so the media has something new to say about it each week.
It's out on October 3rd and as I already said last week blah blah Nigel Godrich blah blah DVD blah blah design your own cover. Anyway, new stuff, here's the tracklist:
01 Elevator Music
02 Think I'm in Love
03 Cell Phone's Dead
04 Nausea
05 Soldier Jane
06 Strange Apparition
07 Dark Star
08 Movie Theme
09 We Dance Alone
10 No Complaints
11 1000 BPM
12 Motorcade
13 The Information
14 New Round
15 Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton
If you can you should go to these gigs.
The National.
No Irish date, boo to you Messers Berrenger, Dessler and the other brothers.
09-08 Perrpignan, France - Perpignan Festival
10-05 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards *+
10-06 Seattle, WA - Neumos *+
10-09 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *+
10-10 San Diego, CA - Casbah *+
10-11 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *+
10-12 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall *+
10-13 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall *+
10-14 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
10-26 Washington, DC - Black Cat
* with Mobius Band
+ with Baby Dayliner
Islands
"I'm not an asshole" Nick Diamonds has exclaimed. When you're as good live as he is then you can get away with it but for the sake of the rest of the band that had better be true as they're embarking on a pretty mammoth tour.
09-03 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival
09-17 Avenches, Switzerland - Festival Rock Oz'Arènes
09-27 Ottawa, Ontario - Capital City
09-28 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight
09-29 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
09-30 London, Ontario - Call the Office
10-08 Boston, MA - Middle East
10-09 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-10 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
10-11 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
10-13 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-14 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
10-15 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
10-16 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks
10-27 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-28 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11-06 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
11-07 Portland, OR - Disjecta
11-08 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
11-09 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-10 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
11-11 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
11-13 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
11-14 Denver, CO - Rock Island
11-15 Lawrence, MS - Bottleneck
11-16 Oklahoma City, OK - TBA
11-17 Denton, TX - Hailey's
11-18 Austin, TX - Emo's
11-19 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
11-20 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
11-21 Columbus, OH - Little Brother's
11-22 Buffalo, NY - TBA 09-03 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival
09-17 Avenches, Switzerland - Festival Rock Oz'Arènes
09-27 Ottawa, Ontario - Capital City
09-28 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight
09-29 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
09-30 London, Ontario - Call the Office
10-08 Boston, MA - Middle East
10-09 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-10 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
10-11 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
10-13 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-14 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
10-15 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
10-16 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks
10-27 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-28 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11-06 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
11-07 Portland, OR - Disjecta
11-08 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
11-09 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-10 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
11-11 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
11-13 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
11-14 Denver, CO - Rock Island
11-15 Lawrence, MS - Bottleneck
11-16 Oklahoma City, OK - TBA
11-17 Denton, TX - Hailey's
11-18 Austin, TX - Emo's
11-19 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
11-20 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
11-21 Columbus, OH - Little Brother's
11-22 Buffalo, NY - TBA 09-03 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival
09-17 Avenches, Switzerland - Festival Rock Oz'Arènes
09-27 Ottawa, Ontario - Capital City
09-28 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight
09-29 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
09-30 London, Ontario - Call the Office
10-08 Boston, MA - Middle East
10-09 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-10 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
10-11 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
10-13 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-14 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
10-15 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
10-16 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks
10-27 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-28 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11-06 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
11-07 Portland, OR - Disjecta
11-08 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
11-09 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-10 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
11-11 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
11-13 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
11-14 Denver, CO - Rock Island
11-15 Lawrence, MS - Bottleneck
11-16 Oklahoma City, OK - TBA
11-17 Denton, TX - Hailey's
11-18 Austin, TX - Emo's
11-19 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
11-20 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
11-21 Columbus, OH - Little Brother's
11-22 Buffalo, NY TBA
TV On The Radio
08-14 Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg
08-16 Cannes, France - Pantiero
08-17 Avenches, Switzerland - Rock Oz Arenes
08-18 Hasselt-Kiewit, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08-20 Erfurt, Germany - Highfield Festival
08-21 Nuremberg, Germany - K4
08-22 Munich, Germany - Zenith *
08-23 Berlin, Germany - Arena *
08-25 Paris, France - Rock en Seine
08-26 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-27 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-29 Vienna, Austria - Arena Festival
08-30 Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik
09-01 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
09-02 Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti
09-03 Bologna, Italy - Estragon
09-14 New Orleans, LA - Republic
09-15 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
09-16 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits)
09-17 Austin, TX - Emo's
09-19 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
09-24 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
09-25 San Diego, CA - Soma
09-26 Pomona, CA - Glass House
09-27 Santa Barbara, CA - Soho Restaurant & Music Club
09-29 Sacramento, CA - Library
09-30 Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheater
10-02 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
10-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
10-04 Seattle, WA - Showbox
10-07 Fargo, ND - Playmakers
10-08 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-09 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-10 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall
10-12 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
10-13 Montreal, Quebec - Le National
10-14 Boston, MA - Paradise
10-17 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-18 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-20 Baltimore, MD - Sonar Lounge
10-21 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
* with Massive Attack
Nouvelle Vague
09-03 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
09-05 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Nightclub
09-06 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
09-07 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore Auditorium
09-08 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
09-10 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
09-11 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
09-13 Chicago, IL - Metro
09-14 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club
09-15 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda
09-16 Boston, MA - Paradise
09-17 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live
09-19 New York, NY - Webster Hall
09-20 Washington, DC - Embassy of France
09-21 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
09-22 Orlando, FL - The Social
09-23 Miami, FL - Studio A
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Ninja High School Young Adults Against Suicide
Fugazi Red Medicine
The bit at the end
Snakes On A Plane is the greatest thing ever, make sure you see it in the cinema while it's hot because I've got a feeling that after the initial rush is over it won't stand up as well as other b-movie classics. Or maybe I'm wrong.
I've had an amazingly shit week, I even envy Eric S. his health problems (OMGLOLZ3YEAROLD411REFERENCE).
The football season is back, my life has meaning again.
