Dancing About Architecture 04.03.07
Posted by Ian Wright on 04.03.2007
Thoughts on the new Wilco and National albums, gear stealing assholes, a blow against DRM, festival news, YOU can open for Jarvis, Mighty Modest Mouse and everyone loves Bruce.
The bit at the start
After sorting out a few teething problems with Vista and various conflicts with Azeurus I finally managed to start exploiting my recently installed broadband connection on my new laptop properly and resumed stealing music (and The Larry Sanders Show) off the internet (if I really like it I'll buy it, if I don't then I probably wouldn't have wasted money on it anyway) last week. My real find was the complete My Bloody Valentine discography which meant that I spent all of Sunday afternoon and much of the time since then listening to a bunch of EPs which I'd never heard before.
I also snagged copies of upcoming albums from 2 bands that I'm a big fan of which I'd been really looking forward too, The National's Boxer and Wilco's Blue Sky Blue.
At this point I've only had a chance to listen to each album once so these are very initial thoughts. Boxer is very good, a worthy follow up to Alligator (which was my favourite album of 2005 if you don't count Arcade Fire's Funeral which was released in September 2004 in North America but didn't come out here till a few months later) and is definitely one of my 3 favourite albums of the year to date. It's a far more cohesive album in terms of sound and I know that I've said it before but I'm constantly in awe of Matt Berringer's phrasing.
Then there's the Wilco album. I love their last 2 albums but this just feels like a step back. It's got a really classic 70's sound and less of an experimental feel than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or A Ghost Is Born. I'm rather disappointed in it and it'll have to be a hell of a grower for it to make my top *insert arbitrary number possibly divisible by 10* albums of the year list come December.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Sonic Youth - Dirty
Career highpoint* from indie-noise-pop pioneers.
* Yeah, yeah, Daydream Nation/Goo, whatever.
The Dancing About Architecture MySpace band of the week.
Electro-folkish-pop-dance-whatever genius from a guy who, now armed with an international deal for his forthcoming third album, could be an indie-superstar by year's end.
Recommended song: Floating (and yeah I'm cheating here, I was a man)
You news, you lose
Pick me Jarv pick me.
Jarvis Cocker is forgoing the usual labelmate/management stablemate/buddy of the promoter route when it comes to picking support acts for his upcoming US tour and is inviting pretty much any band to apply to open for him.
Posting on his JarvSpace Cocker wrote, "Being upside-down can make all the blood rush to your head in an unpleasant way so I'll keep this quite short: we are playing in North America soon & need support bands for New York (2 shows), San Francisco, Seattle & Vancouver - do you think you could help? Same idea as the Europe shows - you recommend LOCAL bands that would be good for the job (preferably with a link to somewhere I can hear their music) & I'll do the rest. It worked a treat before - let's unleash the magic again!
G'day xx Jarvis"
I think it's a really cool idea. Cocker gets to pick someone he actually likes opening for him and some presumably unknown band gets to play to a wider audience. Were it not for the fact that I'd already closed the Firefox window with his blog post on it I'd give him 2 kudos points. But I have and I'm not bothered reopening it so I'll just have to give him kudos here.
Kudos Jarvis, kudos.
I just realised I don't know what kudos actually means, to google I shall go.
"is a singular Greek word meaning praise, but the same process may be happening to it. At present, kudo is an error, however."
So now I know.
"I take care of my kids."
"That's what you're supposed to do you dumb motherfucker."
If I've not quite ranted about DRM in the past I've certainly given plenty of column space to precisely how fucking dumb an idea I think it is. It does seem that finally the record industry is beginning to cotton on to that fact because it was announced on Monday that in future iTunes music store would soon begin selling DRM free music from acts whose records are released by EMI.
About time yes? Yes!
Kudos to Apple and EMI (Using the word "kudos" twice this week? Why yes I am) yes? Not quite.
These DRM free files will cost an extra $.30 but will be in a higher bitrate than is normally available on iTunes (which to my mind is just a sweetener to take the sting out of the ass reaming that iTunes customers are getting from the price hike). Standard bitrate and DRM encoded EMI music will continue to be available from iTunes.
Speaking about the development head apple picker Steve Jobs said, "We think our customers are going to love this and we expect to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year."
At present EMI are the only major label to jump on the no DRM bandwagon but many indie labels already sell DRM free music though a number of online retailers so presumably they'll go the same route on iTunes but it'll be interesting to see if they jack up the price as well.
Obviously this is a welcome development but I'm not in the habit of praising priests for not touching up little boys so you'll have to excuse me if I'm not singing Apple and EMI's praises over this.
So this is how my summer will end then?
Well, maybe ...
The initial lineup for the 4th Electric Picnic taking place in Stradbally Co. Laois on August 31-September 2 was announced on Monday. It's not quite the stellar lineup of previous years (actually it seems to get worse every year) but there's a few good names on the bill thus far. The acts announced were:
The Beastie Boys
Iggy Pop And The Stooges
Modest Mouse
Bjork
Jarvis Cocker
The Jesus And Mary Chain
LCD Soundsystem
Primal Scream
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
Polyphonic Spree
Craig Armstrong
Soul II Soul
The Ideal Condition
Dublin Gospel Choir
Sonic Youth
Aim
The Go Team!
Ratatat
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Ladytron
Jamie Lidell
Damien Dempsey
Mr Scruff
The Magic Numbers
The Undertones
Fujiya & Miyagi
Horace Andy
Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain
Marlena Shaw
!!! (Chk, Chk, Chk)
A Trak
Josh Wink
Electrelane
Bonde do Role
Deerfhoof
Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid
Derek May
Hextatic
Derick Carter
The Glimmers
The Elecktrons
DJ Marky
Of those I wouldn't mind checking out The Beasties, Jarvis, JAMC, Modest Mouse, Deerhoof, Sonic Youth, !!! and a few others but there's no single act that has me salivating at the prospect of seeing them play. The only thing is that I'll be seeing a number of those bands at Primavera in the next couple of months and it requires a lot of scratch to buy one of those EP tickets. Festivals, well gig going in general is a pretty expensive business. I guess we'll see.
On the subject of festivals.
The insanely good value Pitchfork fest continues to look more appealing as a number of good acts were added to the bill in the past week including Stephen Malkmus, Battles, The New Pornographers and De La Soul. With 40 more acts yet to be announced (coughhackSlintdoingSpiderlandcough) the lineup currently looks like this:
Friday, July 13:
Sonic Youth performs Daydream Nation
Saturday, July 14:
Cat Power
Clipse
Iron and Wine
Girl Talk
Grizzly Bear
Battles
Professor Murder
Sunday, July 15:
New Pornographers
Stephen Malkmus
De La Soul
Of Montreal
Jamie Lidell
The Ponys
Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound
Usual spiel, tickets on sale now from ticketweb.com priced $15, $25, $35 or $50 depending on how many days you want to go.
Death to all gear thieves.
Dears guitarist Patrick Krief fell victim to one of any musicians' worst nightmares recently as scumbags broke into his Montreal rehearsal space and robbed pretty much all his musical equipment. Items stolen included a computer and a number of guitars but it was one particular item which has Krief especially distraught. In a post on his MySpace page he wrote, "the thing they took that I really want back most is my White Fender Stratocaster. I cried for hours about losing it. It has extreme sentimental value, and I don't know how I'll go on with out it. 16 people (friends and family) pitched in to buy me that guitar (of which I had been dreaming about my whole life) on my 18th birthday."
"I'm on a serious hunt for that guitar, I'm trying to gather some reward money, but I'm pretty broke right now...I can safely say that I'll give $1000 (my family has raised this ransom money) no questions asked to have it back."
"Keep in mind that these people might change minor details on the guitar, but the serial number is listed below."
This is the guitar in question:
On the off chance that anyone reading has any leads on the whereabouts of the guitar Krief can be contacted via his MySpace
The full list of nicked gear is below.
Fender Standard Stratocaster 1998
$1000 reward
serial #: Mz0198625
details : White, with white pick guard and maple neck. This guitar has 4 Black Graphite saddles and 2 regular. It has strap locks and a brown leather strap. The white plastic tip on the Whammy bar is cracked
Gibson SG special vintage
details: Dark wood grain un varnished (the back of the headstock was cracked and glued back and sanded. The mark is visible but slight
Epiphone Casino Tobacco burst
Zoo customs
details: 3 chrome humbuckers and a bigsby,black sparkle finish
-maple neck and ebony fretboard This guitar is completely unique, it says zoo customs on the headstock, and the headstock design is a shape that no other guitar has (kind of a warped rectangle)
Guitar Valleyarts Standard pro 0939
Fender Jazz Bass 1975 reissue
details: -natural finish many small dings and dents.
-maple neck with bound fingerboard and pearl block inlays.
-off white pickguard with vintage chrome pickup cover over neck pickup.
-upgraded with sadowsky pickups (stamped on casing), schaller tuners, badass bridge.
-likely in a modulus (reunion blues) gigbag Japan
IMAC 5.2 computer
serial#: W86380c4wh5
Kaser External Drive
serial # Y8FUN063250GB
Line 6 Guitar POD
serial#: Poda024037491900
Alesis Amp RA500
serial#: (21)a405010451000
Fender Mini practice amp
details: Hand held
Peavey 50 watt guitar amp
Traynor Amp head
details: Converted from a combo,mid 70's model w/slant control panel,model # yba4 bass master
-was converted from a combo so back panel has on 1 jack marked extension cab 8ohm and chassis has one rca jack.
Yorkville PA amplifier
details: Carpet casing
Suzuki Omnichord
serial #: 073291
Roland Xp-10 Keyboard
details: The display is slightly defective
M-Audio
details : 66 key Midi controller
All the guitars were taken with their respective cases
they also took our oil heater, just to make sure the broken window keeps the room nice and cold.
I really feel for the guy. I'm hugely attached to all my instruments and equipment and if I ever caught someone trying to rip me off the resulting rampage wouldn't be a very pretty sight. If any in Montreal is reading this please keep an eye out.
Underground goes mainstream, again.
Is it down to the OC? I dunno but following the Shins debut placing at #1 and Arcade Fire at #2 in the billboard charts in recent months Modest Mouse grabbed the unwieldy sounding title of top selling indie rock album in its first week of release of the year with an impressive sales haul of 129,000 copies of We were dead before the ship even sank, their 5th album which means they currently have the #1 album in the US. Well, at least until the new charts are released later today. That's almost double the sales of Neon Bible and a few thousand more than Wincing The Night Away.
So congratulations you grumpy bastard, and stop cutting yourself on stage.
I love the boss.
I really do. My early musical development was pretty much shaped by my father's Springteen collection and I spent the best part of 3 years from the ages of 8-11 listening to the live 75-85 boxset (a recent buy, beg ... album) constantly.
And I'm not the only one that loves me some Bruce gauging by the influence that Springsteen has obviously had on a number of recently released indie albums and that fact is also backed up by the lineup for "The Music Of Bruce Springsteen" concert taking place in Carnegie Hall on Thursday in aid of The United Jewish Appeal-Federation's Music For Youth program which aims to fund music education for underprivileged kids.
The bill includes performances from The Hold Steady, M. Ward, Juliana Hatfield, Steve Earle, Ronnie Spector (with Jesse Malin), Badly Drawn Boy, Josh Ritter, Elysian Fields, North Mississippi Allstars, Pete Yorn and more. Fortunately The Killers are going to be nowhere near the event.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
04-10 Providence, RI - Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel *
04-11 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Night Club *
04-12 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground *
04-13 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis *
04-14 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus *
04-15 Buffalo, NY - The Town Ballroom *
04-17 Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom *
04-18 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse *
04-19 Athens, GA - 40 Watt *
04-20 Jacksonville, FL - Freebird *
04-21 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone *
04-22 Fort Lauderdale, FL - Revolution *
04-24 New Orleans, LA - Republic *
04-26 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live *
04-27 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre *
04-28 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ *
04-30 Kansas City, MO - VooDoo Lounge
05-01 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
05-02 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
05-03 Indianapolis, IN - Vogue Theater
05-21 Melbourne, Australia - Hi Fi Bar
05-22 Melbourne, Australia - Hi Fi Bar
05-23 Sidney, Australia - Enmore
05-24 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo
05-25 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo
07-04 Lisbon, Portugal - Superbock Super Rock
07-06 Cluses, France - Festival Musique En Stock
07-07 Evereux, France - Festival L Rock Dan Tous Ses Etats
07-08 Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik
07-10 Dusseldorf, Germany - Zakk
07-11 Copenhagen, Denmark - Copenhagen Jazz Festival
07-13 Dour, Belgium - Dour Festival
07-14 Southwold, England - Latitude Festival
07-15 Glasgow, Scotland - Indian Summer Festival
07-17 Munich, Germany - Muffahalle
07-18 Florence, Italy - Arrezo Wave Festival
07-20 Carhaix, France - Carhaix Festival Les Vieilles Charrues
07-21 Angoulême, France - Angoulême Festival Garden Nef Party
07-22 Benicássim, Spain - Benicássim Festival
07-25 Nyon, Switzerland - Paleo Festival
07-29 Mt. Fuji, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival
08-01 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic
* with Elvis Perkins in Dearland
The Hold Steady
04-13 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Motel Mazaique Festival
04-14 Berlin, Germany - Knaack
04-15 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
04-18 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 3
04-19 Madrid, Spain - Moby Dick
05-12 Harrisburg, PA - Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Co.
05-13 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
05-14 Newport, KY - Southgate House
05-15 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
05-16 Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection
05-17 Milwaukee, WI - Miramar
05-18 Madison, WI - Orpheum Stage Door
05-20 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
05-22 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
05-23 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
05-24 Boise, ID - Neurolux
05-26 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch! Festival)
05-28 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
05-30 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
05-31 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
06-02 Phoenix, AZ - Brick House
06-16 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes
The bit at the end
I'm thinking of moving to Canada for a year. I speak no French
