Dancing About Architecture 01.16.07
Posted by Ian Wright on 01.16.2007
NEW MBV?, Dntel, Australian Festivals, Gruff Rhys, a new Sigur Ros album and me in liking Spencer Krug material shocker.
The bit at the start
Regular readers may be aware of the high esteem that I hold Spencer Krug in. For those not familiar with the name he's quite probably the busiest man in indie music at the minute as he's a member of Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown as well as a contributor to Frog Eyes and Islands (Yeah yeah, I know, "Oh Ian, you and your idiosyncratic Canadian indie bands" shut your cakeholes). Personally I think he's a brilliant songwriter and am completely in awe and just a tiny bit jealous of how he manages to be so prolific while producing material of such a high quality.
In addition to the above bands Krug is also involved in another project named Swan Lake along with Dan Bejar of Destroyer/The New Pornographers and Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes. Not being a big fan of either I'd held off buying it as I was busy listening to Shut Up I Am Dreaming over and over again.
I finally took the plunge yesterday and bought Beast Moans, The Swan Lake album
It's completely wonderful.
Seriously, it is; better than anything Bejar or Mercer has done elsewhere that I've heard and in "All Fires" it's got one of the best songs Krug has ever written. If you're looking for a completely nutso sounding record which is still rooted around brilliant songwriting then you really need to look no further.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
More than the token rap album I liked last year.
You news, you lose
I'm not wetting myself, but I might if it happens.
Ok, say you're a pretentious indie listening prick (like me). What could possibly be the best music news you could probably hear?
The answer (and they only possible correct one by the way), is the fact that there will, at some point in the future, be a new My Bloody Valentine album.
Well good news
Speaking in the latest issue of Magnet Magazine main MBVer Kevin Shields said that he does intend to one day record a follow up to 1991's Loveless. "I do feel that I will make another great record," said Shields. "We are 100% going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something. I'd feel really bad if I didn't make another record. Like, shit, people only got the first two chapters, but the last bit is the best bit. It's just that it's taken me such an oddly long time for that to happen."
Shields said that he didn't have any idea when the album would be released (remember it took about 4 millennia for them to record their last album) but dismissed the argument that the band were scared of trying to top what is generally regarded as one of the greatest albums ever made saying "A lot of people say the reason My Bloody Valentine didn't make another record is because we couldn't. That's mostly true, but not because we couldn't make another record, but because I never could be bothered to make another record unless I was really excited by it. And just by fate or whatever, that never happened. I'm quite optimistic about the future, even though experience has taught me that I'm probably just delusional."
So there you have it. I'm afraid that I'll have to take this with a pinch of salt as Shields spent a few years working on a follow up to Loveless with little to show for it until his label pulled the plug on finances and I won't really believe that it's happening until it leaks onto Oink. Someone commented on a message board I frequent today that it's a bit of a shame that the last album is so popular and I'd tend to agree on some level; if it was merely a cult album Shields would be forced to be a bit more productive whereas now I'd imagine he's getting a nice royalty cheque fairly regularly.
Well done Jimmy, now get cracking on that Postal Service follow up.
Jimmy Tamborello will release his first album as Dntel on the Sub Pop label in April. Entitled Dumb Luck the record will be typically guest heavy with only the opening title track not featuring the talents of some indie luminary (though some of them have less talbots going for them then others) with Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis and Grizzly Bear all lending Tamborello their voices (with nary more than a half promise of a remix of one of their future singles in return most likely).
Tracklisting:
01 Dumb Luck
02 To a Fault [ft. Grizzly Bear]
03 I'd Like to Know [ft. Lali Puna]
04 Roll On [ft. Jenny Lewis]
05 The Distance [ft. Arthur & Yu]
06 Rock My Boat [ft. Mia Doi Todd]
07 Natural Resources [ft. Fog]
08 Breakfast in Bed [ft. Conor Oberst]
09 Dreams [ft. Mystic Chords of Memory]
Aussie Aussie Aussie
So if you're antipodean and a tad underwhelmed at the lineup for the Big Day Out then perhaps the St. Jeromes Laneway Festival is a bit more up your street. Taking place in 3 cities over the course of 2 weekends the lineup (which you can see in full here) nearly makes me want to take a 20-hour flight and features amongst others Yo La Tengo, Camera Obscura, Peter Bjorn & John and loads more.
Dates:
Melbourne: Feb 24 &25
Brisbane: March 3
Sydney: March 4
I'm a minger, you're a minger too.
It's not just Canadian bands that you can class as "idiosyncratic", the Welsh can easily fit a number of their bands into that pigeonhole, none moreso than The SuperFurryAnimals (you need to say it in a Welsh accent for the full effect) whose SuperFurryAnimals acoustic bingo (it's exactly like it sounds) sets are wonderful bordering on the insane.
SFA frontman Gruff Rhys released his latest solo album on my side of the Atlantic recently. Entitled Candylion those of you living a few thousand miles west of me will have to wait until March 6th when it's released on Conor Oberst's Team Love label on CD and 4 sided Vinyl.
However if you live a few hundred miles East of me you've got plenty of opportunity to see Rhys live over the next few months as he's playing a ton of solo shows (dates at the end of the column).
Is there a hopelandish dictionary?
If you're a fan of impossibly beautiful music then I'm about to make your day because Sigur Ros are in the process of recording the follow up to 2005's Takk. Writing on the band's website bassist Georg Holm said that they "don't know exactly where the album is heading yet" I'll be happy enough if they stick to what they've been doing for the past few records.
Holms wrote, "We have finished recording a few songs but some more things need to be done... We are really just experimenting at this stage. Some of the songs we recorded are old songs, which we had written a while ago... We decided it was time they were recorded."
The band expect to finish recording by the end of the year and there is a possibility that the album will be out late in 2007, which would be nice.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
The Hold Steady
01-18 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix *
01-19 Asbury Park, NJ - Stone Pony (Brookdale Public Radio benefit) #
02-08 Hamburg, Germany - Molotov
02-10 Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Paradiso
02-11 Paris, France - Maroquinerie
02-13 Manchester, England - Night & Day (Club Fandango)
02-14 Glasgow, Scotland - Cathouse
02-15 London, England - Hoxton Bar and Grill
02-16 London, England - KOKO (Club NME) ^
02-17 London, England - Borderline
02-18 London, England - Borderline
03-09-11 Sunrise, FL - Markham Park (Langerado Music Festival)
* with Looker
# with the Churchills
^ with Cold War Kids
Gruff Rhys
01-27 Bologna, Italy - Il Covo
02-25 Aberystwyth, Wales - Y Drwm
02-26 Newport, Wales - Riverfront
03-01 Brighton, England - Komedia
03-02 London, England - Queen Elizabeth Hall
03-03 Reading, England - South Street
03-04 Brecon, Wales - Theatre Brycheiniog
03-06 Birmingham, England - Glee Club
03-07 Northampton, England - Deco
03-12 Cambridge, England - Junction Theatre
03-13 Norwich, England - Arts Theatre
03-31 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
04-19 Treorchy, Wales - Parc and Dare
04-20 Narberth, Wales - Queens Hall
04-22 Sheffield, England - Memorial Hall
04-23 Newcastle, England - Cluny
04-24 Leeds, England - Hebden Bridge Picture House
04-25 Liverpool, England - Philharmonic Hall
04-27 Aberdeen, Scotland - Lemon Tree
04-28 Glasgow, Scotland - Renfrew Ferry
04-29 Edinburgh, Scotland - Liquid Rooms
04-30 Bergen, Norway Bergenfest
The Rapture
01-25 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone *
01-26 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar *
01-27 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade *
01-29 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *
01-30 Charlottesville, VA - Starr Hill Music Hall *
01-31 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall *
02-02 Cincinnati, OH - 20th Century Theatre *
02-03 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theatre *
02-05 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave *
02-06 Indianapolis, IN - Birdy's *
02-07 Columbus, OH - The Basement *
02-09 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *
02-10 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street *
02-22 Paris, France - La Cigale
02-23 Lyon, France - Ninkasi
02-24 Dijon, France - La Vapeur (Eurokeennes Winter)
02-25 Mulhouse, France - Le Noumatrouff (Eurokeennes Winter)
02-26 Lille, France - Grand Mix
02-28 London, England - Astoria
03-02 Manchester, England - Academy
03-03 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
03-04 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
03-05 Leeds, England - Met University
03-07 Bristol, England - Academy
03-08 Portsmouth, England - Pyramid
03-09 Coventry, England - Coliseum
03-10 Middlesbrough, England - Empire
03-31 Sydney, Australia - Centennial Park (V Festival)
04-01 Gold Coast, Australia - Avica Resort (V Festival)
* with Under the Influence of Giants
Animal Collective
05-14 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
05-15 Newport, KY - Southgate House
05-16 Lexington, KY - The Dame
05-17 Chicago, IL - Metro
05-18 Iowa City, IA - Picador
05-19 Omaha, NE - Sokol
05-21 Denver, CO - Cervantes
05-22 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
05-24 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
05-25 Marfa, TX - The Marfa Ballroom
05-26 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
05-27 Austin, TX - Antone's
05-29 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
Bright Eyes
02-25 Chicago, IL - Metro
02-27 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
02-28 Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre
03-02 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
03-03 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
03-05 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03-07 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey
03-08 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey
03-09 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
03-10 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
03-11 Seattle, WA Showbox
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Arcade Fire Ocean Of Noise (the album is almost half leaked now, surely the full leak is only a couple of weeks away at most. By the way, I'm loving the delayed guitar on the songs I've heard so far.)
Yo La Tengo I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass.
The bit at the end
I have 2 club DJing engagements in the next 5 weeks or so.
I have never done it before, I have never sought to do it before. But they fell into my lap and I'm doing it.
I'm all excited.
I wonder how quick I can clear a dance floor without resorting to Wolf Eyes.
