Dancing About Architecture 11.21.06
Posted by Ian Wright on 11.21.2006
ATP rules, Beirut, Explosions In The Sky and LCD Soundsystem.
The bit at the start
I trust I wasn't missed by anyone last week, if I was then that person has got some serious problems but I'm washing my hands of them. You can't account for crazy.
Occasionally when I skip a column I feel a little bit guilty about taking the week off but this time I frankly don't give a damn. Brian Berry pretty much echoed my opinions of the Riott festival in his review which went up on the site last week (thanks again for letting me crash dude). I had lots of fun at it but when I suggested to the friend that I was visiting in LA that we go up to it I didn't realise that it was 380 miles, you can't drive anywhere in Ireland for 380 miles without winding up in the ocean. Nonetheless the two seven hour car journeys that I embarked on in a couple of days were very enjoyable, the sight of vast, featureless, flat plains that stretched as far as the horizon was somewhat overwhelming and I feel that I got to taste some of the great American experience in the I5, were it not for the fact that I hate Kerouac I'd start making comparisons just about here. Nor have I read enough Steinbeck, and that would have been the 101 anyway.
One thing the trip did confirm is that I'm a massive geek. I was driving through LA on Monday and passed by a smallish building which was the headquarters of Asylum records, a couple of minutes later I went by the Sony BMG building, after that we arrived at the restaurant which we were planning to eat at. I sat down at the table and it was only then that I realised who was sitting at the table next to me.
Michael Stipe.
Care to guess which of the above 3 events caused me to giggle like a teenage girl meeting a boyband?
If your answer was "seeing the label where Tom Waits spent a decade or so at the beginning of his career" then you'd be right.
Later that night I went to see Damien Rice play at the El Ray theatre, I know I slammed the new record a little bit in my last column, and I stand by those comments, there's some wonderful stuff on it but the weaker material is very weak, but he can cut it live. It was probably the best gig I've seen of his in about 3 years.
Speaking of live acts, my God the Wrens are amazing. I know I've written that many times in various columns but it can't be said enough. The greatest band to ever come out of North America and arguably the most powerful and incendiary live act I've ever seen. If everything else about the trip had been bad then their show in the Troubadour would have more than made up for it.
But that was the week before last, what's been happening since then?
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Dinosaur Jr. - Bug
Worth getting if only for Freakscene, rest is also fantastic.
You news, you lose
The earth is not a cold dead place.
If there was perhaps one lowlight of the Riottt festival is was seeing Explosions In The Sky live for the first time. The Austin four piece should have blown me away as normally I can listen to them for hours but for some reason I was only able to get into them for one song of their set. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was operating on about 5 hours sleep in 48 but after so looking forward to finally getting to see them it was a bit of a let down.
At least I always have their albums to listen to. And next year there'll be a new addition to their discography when All of a sudden I miss everyone, their 3rd proper album is released on February 20th.
As is typical of EITS the number of tracks on the album are few (6) but their length more than makes up for it ("It's natural to be afraid" clocks in at 13 minutes).
Recorded in Pachyderm Studios in rural Minnesota by John Congelton of The Paper Chase the album will be their first in almost 4 years. Additionally the album will come with a second disc which features the album being remixed by various figures such as Four Tet, Jesu, Eluvium, Adem, Mountains and the Paper Chase.
The band have also announced a few dates but plan on adding more as the release date approaches.
Tracklisting:
01 The Birth and Death of the Day
02 Welcome, Ghosts
03 It's Natural to Be Afraid
04 What Do You Go Home To?
05 Catastrophe and the Cure
06 So Long, Lonesome
Bonus disc:
01 The Birth and Death of the Day (Jesu Mix)
02 Welcome, Ghosts (Adem Mix)
03 It's Natural to Be Afraid (The Paper Chase Mix)
04 What Do You Go Home To? (Mountains Mix)
05 Catastrophe and the Cure (Four Tet Mix)
06 So Long, Lonesome (Eluvium Mix)
Tourdates:
02-19 Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw
02-20 New York, NY - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts *
02-26 Brussels, Belgium - ABBox
03-01 London, England - KOKO
03-11 Sunrise, FL - Markham Park (Langerado Music Festival)
Oh, and here's the artwork:
Daft Punk ain't playing at your house no more are they James?
When not selling his ass to Nike James Murphy has been hard at work on the second LCD Soundsystem record which is out on March 20th on Capital/DFA. It's entitled Sound Of Silver and that's about al we know about it. But if it's anything like it's predecessor then it'll only be worth getting when it's re-released with a second disc a few month after the initial release.
Tracklisting:
01 Get Innocuous
02 Time to Get Away
03 North American Scum
04 Someone Great
05 All My Friends
06 Us v. Them
07 Watch the Tapes
08 Sound of Silver
09 New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
There's also a few European dates scheduled for around then.
03-07 Birmingham, England - Birmingham Academy
03-08 Leeds, England - Metropolitan University
03-09 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
03-10 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
03-11 Norwich, England - UEA
03-13 Bristol, England - Bristol Academy
03-14 London, England - Astoria
03-15 London, England - Astoria
03-16 Brussels, Belgium - AB Main Hall
03-17 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg Max
03-19 Cologne, Germany - Stollwerck
03-20 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
03-21 Munich, Germany - Kleine Elserhalle
03-22 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
03-24 Toulouse, France - Salle de Tournefeuille
03-26 Barcelona, Spain - Razzamatazz
03-27 Paris, France - Bataclan
ATP ATP ATP.
I love the concept of the ATP festivals, you get a significant indie artist or band (coughhackandthatarseholeGallocough) to pick a bunch of bands that they like and invite them to play.
How could things be improved?
Well if you got me to curate it for a start. And now I sort of can.
The second spring ATP of 2007 will be curated, in part, by the fans who attend it. Taking place between May 18-20 in Butlins Minehead in Somerset half the acts performing will be selected by the fans. When festivalgoers purchase tickets they will be given directions to a website where they can list the ten bands that they would most like to see play. The festival organisers will then tally all the votes and list the acts in order of popularity. The bands at the top of the list will receive invitations first which means that earlier votes have more impact then later ones. If these bands agree to play ten they will form half of the festival's lineup. The other half will be chosen by ATP itself, at present they have announced that Built to Spill, the Notwist, Sparklehorse, Echo & the Bunnymen, Akron/Family, Do Make Say Think, Brightblack Morning Light, and Death Vessel will be playing.
Voting begins on Friday and if you don't think I'll be nominating a certain group of approaching middle aged New Jersey indie rockers then you've never read this column before. The rules in full are:
"Some things to keep in mind.
The resort has a capacity of less than 6,000. Please bear this in mind when making your choices. You can ask for someone like Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, but they will inevitably be considerably more expensive than the whole line-up put together, thus wasting one of your choices.
We are unable to raise the dead.
Just because a band is at the top of the list does not mean they will play. They have to be available and have to want to do it.
If you put a band that is taking a hiatus or has broken up several years ago, please consider that you might be wasting a vote. You might not be, so you are welcome to take a chance, but an artist has to want to.
You cannot vote for the same band twice.
You cannot vote twice.
If you are the one that has bought the apartment and you feel you have a right to then take all the votes, please bear in mind you will have to share your weekend with people who did not get a chance to vote because of you.
Any attempt to manipulate the voting system will be taken very seriously by ATP and could lead to your votes being disqualified. Play fair. Choose wisely."
So remember, they can't raise the dead so no voting for a Holly/Moon/Lennon/Hendrix/Entwhistle jam band.
Before all that is the little matter of the Dirty Three curated Atp taking place next April, already announced for that is Dirty Three, Low, Nick Cave's new band Grinderman, Bill Callahan [formerly Smog], Shannon Wright, Papa M, the Drones, Faun Fables, Devastations, A Silver Mount Zion and Magnolia Electric Co.
How are the Israeli's involved?
I am at this very minute listening to Beirut's "Gulag Orkestar", I picked it up when I was in LA on the recommendation of a friend. To say that I'm a bit taken with it would be putting it mildly. This is the fifth time I've listened to it in 3 days, it's absolutely marvellous.
Unfortunately Beirut had to cancel the remaining dates of their tour last week when Zach Condon (main Beiruter) fell ill due to "extreme exhaustion" which led to him being hospitalised in Paris.
A representative of Beirut's US label Ba Da Bing! Issues a statement saying, "This was an extremely difficult decision to make and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out."
"This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and travelling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion."
Condon's brother Ryan also had something to say about his brother's illness "Having downed a bottle of rancid French wine on the Ile-De-La-Cite (Perrin was threatening to jump in the Séine in honor of his Parisian amour) Zach began to quote Flaubert from memory. Flaubert was not welcome that beautiful night in the city of lights. Violins and accordions were consecrated in piss and vinegar before Jim Morrison's grave. 'Jim Morrison was a shaman!' Paul cried. A lone French orphan draped in purple rags wept for all our American sins.
"The next morning Zach got lost in the Louvre. 'Cubism is a farce,' he whispered to a overweight Dutch tourist. Under the English Channel, en route to London, Zach noted the relative comfort of being 'chunneled'. In a dank Soho apothecary he sought a remedy for exhaustion and aversion to French bedbugs. The apothecary tried vainly to quote Prince Charles recent royal address to the greater public of Britain: 'In light of having seen my wife unrobed and wigless in the disingenuous florescent light of a cheap hotel room, I do apologize to the nation and myself for unquestioning faith in her eternal beauty. She is old and ugly and so am I.' That is funny Zach dourly noted, but it does not help me at all not one bloody bit. 'I must return to New Mexico to decompress.' Parliament was eerily quiet. One cannot argue with the plain truth."
None of that may have happened though.
Anyway, if you've got tickets for any of the following gigs then bad luck.
11-16 Providence, RI - Leung Gallery
11-17 Oswego, NY - SUNY Oswego
11-18 Bennington, VT - Bennington College
11-19 Boston, MA - Middle East
11-21 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
11-22 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Mastodon
The Prog Metallers it's OK to like are on the road with Tool at the moment. One of the guys in my band is going to the Dublin gig. He's ridiculously excited.
11-22 Dublin, Ireland - The Point *
11-24 Manchester, England - Arena *
11-25 Glasgow, Scotland - SECC *
11-27 London, England - Wembley Arena *
11-30 Cardiff, Wales - Arena *
12-01 Nottingham, England - Arena *
12-03 Oberhausen, Germany - Arena *
12-04 Leipzig, Germany - Arena *
12-05 Stuttgart, Germany - Porsche Arena *
12-07 Lyon, France - Halle TG *
12-08 Nantes, France - Zenith *
12-10 Paris, France - Zenith *
12-12 Mannheim, Germany - Maimarkthalle *
12-13 Zurich, Switzerland - Hallenstadium *
12-16 Athens, Greece - Olympic Fencing Hall *
01-26 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room #
01-27 Orlando, FL - House of Blues #
01-28 St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing #
01-30 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar #
01-31 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club #
02-01 Knoxville, TN - Blue Cat's #
02-02 Nashville, TN - Rocketown #
02-03 St. Louis, MO - Pop's #
02-05 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue #
02-07 Grand Rapids, MI - The Orbit Room #
02-08 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall #
02-09 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater #
02-10 Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom #
02-11 Providence, RI - Lupo's #
02-13 Allentown, PA - Crocodile Rock #
02-14 Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall #
02-15 Albany, NY - Northern Lights #
02-16 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place #
02-17 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
02-18 Norfolk, VA - NorVa #
* with Tool
# with Priestess, Converge
My Morning Jacket
11-21 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre *
11-22 Louisville, KY - Louisville Gardens *
11-24 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater #
11-25 Indianapolis, IN - Clowes Memorial Hall #
11-27 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
11-28 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
11-30 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom #
12-01 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory #
12-02 Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom #
12-04 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues #
12-05 Champaign, IL - Foellinger Auditorium #
12-29 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
12-30 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
12-31 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
01-02 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
01-03 Phoenix, AZ - Marquee
01-05 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
01-06 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theater
01-08 Seattle, WA - The Moore Theater
01-09 Portland, OR - The Crystal Ballroom
01-11 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
01-12 Denver, CO - Ogden
01-13 Denver, CO - Ogden
* with Wax Fang
# with the Slip
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Beirut Gulag Orkestar
Neutral Milk Hotel On Avery Island
The bit at the end
I saw the Flaming Lips on Saturday night, they made me fall in love with being alive.
I upset a few people by saying mean things about the Damien Rice record, I find this funny seeing as I'm a fan.
