Dancing About Archtecture 01.09.07

Posted by Ian Wright on 01.09.2007

Arcade Fire (again, yeah, I know), The Blur Reunion, ATP, Jonny Greenwood, Wilco Side Projects and a ton of tour dates.

The bit at the start

Hey folks, after last weeks listastic column 7 days ago normal service is being resumed this week. Another year of blowing my wad about Radiohead, The Wrens, Arcade Fire and Joanna Newsom awaits and I'll be here every we, well, not every week, I submitted 43 columns (and one DVD review) last year which strikes me as a pretty good record considering that my free time became more and more scarce during 2006 compared to the other years that I've been here, hopefully I'll beat that this year, anyway, what was I saying?

Oh yeah.

Indie news, most weeks, right here on Tuesdays.

And we're off.

Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.

Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump



One of the most underrated albums of the 90's.

You news, you lose

Arrrgh, I don't want to do it again but there is no story more worthy of leading.

OK, after reading that headline guess what band I'm talking about, if you can't guess then welcome to your first edition of Dancing About Architecture.

There's been a ton of Arcade Fire news in the next few weeks. Win Butler announced late last week that ‘Black Mirror' would be the first single off of the upcoming Neon Bible. If you're so inclined you can listen to a streaming version of it in "Win's Scrapbook" on www.arcadefire.com. Like the other 2 songs from the album that I've heard I think that it's full of interesting musical ideas but nothing is perhaps as immediate the Funeral material.

Speaking of the new album the band announced via this video on You Tube that the album would be released in Europe on the 5th of March (this isn't strictly true as it'll be out in Germany/Ireland/any other country where the charts run Friday-Thursday on the 2nd) and, probably of more interest to the majority of people reading this, March 6th in North America. The tracklisting is as follows:

01 Black Mirror
02 Keep the Car Running
03 Neon Bible
04 Intervention
05 Black Wave/ Bad Vibrations
06 Ocean of Noise
07 The Well and the Lighthouse
08 (Antichrist Television Blues)
09 Windowsill
10 No Cars Go
11 My Body Is a Cage

Yes, "No Cars Go" is a new version of a song that originally appeared on the band's first EP.

The album will be out on Merge in the US and it's looking more and more likely that in Europe the band will licence the record to different labels in each country via their own Arcade Fire Music imprint but those details are expected to be known later this week.

As with Funeral artwork will be done by Tracy Maurice and you can see what it's likely to look like on neonbible.com.

There's also a whole bunch of tour dates which were announced on Sunday night (although they were supposed to be out on Monday morning, bad Pitchfork, bad), including 2 exorbitantly priced gigs in Dublin which are listed at the end of the column.

Not even a Radiohead story get the top spot.

But in fairness, it's a fairly tenuously connected Radiohead story.

Jonny Greenwood doesn't make many public statements. He certainly doesn't do many interviews but the Radiohead guitarist/lots of other things/BBC composer in residence does occasionally make posts on the band's blog. One of the posts that he made last year was regarding his newfound love of Reggae.

Someone important must have read it because on Match 6th Greenwood is curate a reggae compilation album out on Trojan Records. Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller, is the latest in Trojan's series of artist-curated releases.

Tracklisting:

01 Linval Thompson - "Dread Are the Controller"
02 Derrick Harriott - "Let Me Down Easy"
03 Marcia Aitken - "I'm Still in Love"
04 Gregory Isaacs - "Never Be Ungrateful"
05 Lee "Scratch" Perry - "Bionic Rats"
06 The Heptones - "Cool Rasta"
07 Scientist & Jammy & the Roots Radics - "Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker"
08 Lee "Scratch" Perry & the Upsetters - "Black Panta"
09 Junior Byles - "Fever"
10 Desmond Dekker & the Aces - "Beautiful and Dangerous"
11 Lloyd's All Stars - "Dread Dub (It Dread Out Deh version)"
12 Marcia Griffiths - "Gypsy Man"
13 Johnny Clarke & the Aggrovators - "A Ruffer Version"
14 The Jahlights - "Right Road to Dubland (Right Road to Zion dub)"
15 Junior Byles & Lee Perry - "Dreader Locks"
16 Delroy Wilson - "This Life Makes Me Wonder"
17 Scotty - "Clean Race"

Roger …

I spent much of the past 7 days listening to Wilco's Kicking Television live album. For the first time I realised just how wonderful a band they are, it was track 11 before I heard a track that I didn't absolutely love.

But this isn't so much about Wilco as a couple of their members. John Stirrat and Pat Sansone have a side project named The Autumn Defence and they've got an album of the same name out on the 16th of this month on Stirrat's broadmoor label.

Tracklisting:

01 Canyon Arrow
02 Estate Remains
03 Where You Are
04 In the Winterlight
05 Feel You Now
06 We Would Never Die
07 City Bells
08 Spend Your Life
09 Criminal
10 This Will Fall Away
11 I Knew It All Along
12 About To Change
13 Simple Explanation

The pair are also embarking on a pretty extensive tour in support of the album:

02-08 St. Louis, MO - Duck Room
02-09 Columbia, MO - Mojo's
02-11 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
02-12 Austin, TX - Parish
02-14 Tucson, AZ - Plush
02-15 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
02-16 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
02-17 San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Hall
02-19 Eugene, OR - Sam Bond's
02-20 Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
02-21 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
02-23 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
02-24 Denver, CO - Soiled Dove
02-26 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
02-27 Champaign, IL - Canopy Club
02-28 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
03-01 Madison, WI - Cafe Monmartre
03-03 Chicago, IL - Park West
03-09 Nashville, TN - Slow Bar
03-10 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's
03-11 Meridian, MS - Opera House
03-13 Atlanta, GA - Earl
03-14 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
03-15 Vienna, VA - Jammin' Java
03-16 Philadelphia, PA - Northstar
03-17 Baltimore, MD - Fletcher's
03-19 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
03-20 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
03-21 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
03-22 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
03-23 Montreal, Quebec - Main Hall
03-24 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe


ATP, ATP, ATP.

I really need to sort out my music festival plans for the year. There's so many that I'm tempted to go to; Glastonbury, Primavera in Spain, The Electric Picnic here in Ireland that I really should decide which and get tickets/flights sorted.

One that's definitely high on my list is the fan curated ATP taking place near Bristol in May. The already impressive enough lineup featuring Built to Spill, the Notwist, Sparklehorse, Echo & the Bunnymen, Akron/Family, Do Make Say Think, Brightblack Morning Light, and Death Vessel got much better last week with Modest Mouse, Shellac, the Books, Apples in Stereo, Micah P. Hinson, and Youth Movie Soundtrack Strategies all joining the bill.

But it could still get much better as the current voting sees the likes of Pavement, Björk, Interpol, the Shins, Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, PJ Harvey, Iron & Wine, and Belle and Sebastian topping the fans wishlist poll however The Shins, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Sonic Youth, and Pavement (which should be obvious but the voting was fuelled by rumours that this whole thing was an excuse for them to reform) are unavailable; Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Ween, and Silver Jews have also ruled themselves out of the reckoning nonetheless it could be a hell of a lineup.

I guess it's not happening after all.

A few weeks ago I reported on speculation that Graham Coxon was set to rejoin Blur. However those rumours were scotched last week when Pitchfork reported that while Coxen did recently meet up with Blur bassist Alex James it was "just as friends and not to discuss business" and according to Coxon's management, "There are no plans for Blur to get together this year. Everyone's working on individual projects".

Well bugger.

If you can you should go to these gigs.

Arcade Fire

There's a good chance that US dates will be announced later in the week.

01-29 London, England - St John's Church, Smith Square
01-30 London, England - St John's Church, Smith Square
01-31 London, England - St John's Church, Smith Square
02-01 London, England - Porchester Hall
02-02 London, England - Porchester Hall
02-06 Montreal, Quebec - Ukrainian National Federation
02-07 Montreal, Quebec - Ukrainian National Federation
02-08 Montreal, Quebec - Ukrainian National Federation
02-09 Montreal, Quebec - Ukrainian National Federation
02-10 Montreal, Quebec - Ukrainian National Federation
02-13 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-14 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-15 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-16 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-17 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
03-05 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
03-06 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
03-08 Manchester, England - Apollo
03-09 Manchester, England - Apollo
03-11 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
03-12 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
03-14 London, England - Brixton Academy
03-15 London, England - Brixton Academy
03-19 Paris, France - Olympia
03-20 Paris, France - Olympia
03-23 Stockholm, Sweden - Circus
03-24 Oslo, Norway - Centrum Scene
03-25 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
03-27 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
03-28 Munich, Germany - Elserhalle
03-31 Lyon, France - Transbordeur
04-01 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
04-02 Utrecht, Netherlands - Vredenburg
04-04 Brussels, Belgium - Halles de Schaerbeek
04-05 Lille, France - L'Aeronef

M. Ward

01-02 Fremantle, Australia - Fly by Night Club
01-04 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo
01-05 Sydney, Australia - The Metro
01-06 Sydney, Australia - Spiegeltent
01-07 Sydney, Australia - Spiegeltent
01-08 Sydney, Australia - Spiegeltent
01-10 Auckland, New Zealand - The Dogs Bollix
01-11 Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House
01-21 Park City, UT - Kimball Arts Center (Sundance Film Festival)
01-26 New York, NY - Town Hall
01-27 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club
01-29 Chicago, IL - Park West *
02-02 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre #
02-04 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's #

* with Freakwater
# with Victoria Williams

TV On The Radio

03-01 Providence, RI - Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
03-03 Montreal, Quebec - Olympia Theatre
03-04 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
03-06 Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre & Ballroom
03-08 Indianapolis, IN - Vogue Theater
03-09 Louisville, KY - Brown Theatre
03-10 Columbia, MO - Blue Note
03-12 Chicago, IL - Metro
03-13 Chicago, IL - Metro
03-17 Kansas City, MO - Harrah's Voodoo Lounge
03-19 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
03-20 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
03-23 Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
03-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
03-25 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
03-28 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
03-29 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
03-30 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
03-31 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
04-01 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
04-01 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Ballroom
04-05 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
04-06 Houston, TX - Meridian
04-09 Orlando, FL - Club at Firestone
04-10 Fort Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
04-12 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
04-13 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
04-17 Norfolk, VA - NorVA
04-18 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-19 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-21 Poughkeepsie, NY - Vassar College

The Shins

02-08 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
02-09 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
02-10 Chicago, IL - Congress Theater
02-11 St. Louis, MO - The Pagent
02-12 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
02-13 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall
02-15 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
02-16 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
02-20 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater
02-21 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
02-25 London, England - The Astoria

Sebadoh

02-26 San Diego, CA - Casbah
02-27 Costa Mesa, CA - Detroit Bar
02-28 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall (Noise Pop)
03-02 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
03-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
03-04 Seattle, WA - Neumos
03-06 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
03-08 Santa Cruz, CA - Attic
03-09 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
03-10 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
03-15 Phoenix, AZ - Clubhouse
03-16 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
03-17 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater
03-19 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
03-20 Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
03-21 Chicago, IL - Metro
03-22 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
03-23 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
03-24 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
03-29 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Night Club
03-30 Boston, MA - Paradise
03-31 New York, NY - Webster Hall
04-03 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-04 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
04-06 Louisville, KY - Headliners
04-07 Nashville, TN - Exit In
04-08 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
04-09 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar
04-10 Orlando, FL - Social
04-12 New Orleans, LA - TBA
04-13 Houston, TX - Walters on Washington
04-14 Austin, TX - Emo's
04-16 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress

Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks

01-05 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's *
01-06 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater #
01-07 San Diego, CA - Casbah #
01-09 Tucson, AZ - Plush #
01-10 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre #
01-11 Flagstaff, AZ - Orpheum Theatre #
01-12 Pomona, CA - Glass House #
01-13 Santa Barbara, CA - Soho #
01-14 Sacramento, CA - Harlow's #
01-16 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall #
01-17 Bellingham, WA - Nightlight #
01-18 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards #
01-19 Seattle, WA - Neumos #
01-20 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom #
02-10 New York, NY - Irving Plaza (PLUG Awards)
03-09 Sunrise, FL - Langerado Music Festival

* with St. Vincent
# with Entrance

… and you will know us by the trail of dead

02-12 Birmingham, England - Carling Academy
02-13 Dublin, Ireland - TBA
02-14 Glasgow, Scotland - Oran Mor
02-15 Manchester, England - University
02-17 Leeds, England - Cockpit
02-18 Bristol, England - Thekla Social
02-19 Oxford, England - Zodiac
02-20 London, England - Koko
02-22 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
02-23 Northampton, England - Roadmender
02-24 Liverpool, England - Carling Academy
02-25 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio
Some compilation called Neykell
Joanna Newsome – Mercury Lounge 22-06-04 bootleg

The bit at the end

Jesus that's a lot of tour dates, there has to be something that that you'd like to go to.

I've been carrying around the 3-disc Tom Waits boxset for 2 weeks now and not opened it. I just can't get the time to sit down and listen to it.