Dancing About Architecture 7.31.07
Posted by Ian Wright on 07.31.2007
Thoughts on the new Liars album, Deerhunter robbed, Band Of Horses, Devendra Banhart, Klaxons, Common and Trapped In The Closet redux.
The bit at the start
I started a blog last week at thrillpier.blogspot.com, partly so I could pull together all the stuff I do here and for another site I write for and partly so I could have somewhere to write about stuff that's not really suited to the format of this column. For the most part it'll be about music and football (Arsenal in particular). Anyway, here's a sample entry from Saturday about the new Liars album that does actually fit into this section of the column.
Possibly the worst thing about having a broadband connection and accounts with Oink and Demonoid is that album release dates cease to become important because I can grab anything I want as soon as it leaks. This often means that instead of buying something I've been waiting for the week that it comes out and taking it home to be played immediately I'll download something and not do anything with it for ages whilst I'm busy listening to other stuff.
Such is the case with the Liars 4th album which is due out sometime in the next month. It's been sitting on my harddrive for about 5 weeks and on my Zen for about 2 (which, considering that it's only a 2 gig one and thus prone to having stuff put on it and taken back off as required at least meant that I was planning on listening to it).
That plan came to fruition today when I went into town and I gave it the once over whilst I was passing Brown Thomas (see the "I'm not a plastic bag" post below), browsing Tower (picked up a Loose Fur album, my first as it happens, I've been on a real Tweedy/O'Rourke kick this past week) and looking for the 33 1/3 book on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (not available in Tower, nor in Hodges and Figgis though the kindly French [I assume] lady with the cool glasses behind the counter offered to order it in for me; is available, along with many other titles in the series in Waterstones, almost picked up the OK Computer, Daydream Nation and Loveless books while I was at it but decided against it as if I don't get through that Pullman Trilogy Patricia got me for my birthday by the time I go to her housewarming she'll probably gut me and I'm not the type to read multiple books at once).
Anyway, it's quite a bit different to Drums Not Dead, a bit more conventional in terms of song structure but only if you mean conventional in terms of Hail To The Thief being a return to conventional songwriting after Kid A/Amnesiac yet it still retains elements that make it a distinctly Liars album, that amazing drum sound, those demonic multitracked vocals; it's just way more punk than the last record. Initial impressions are positive, won't be getting deleted from the Zen for a while I think.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot DEMOS
How could "Venus Stop The Train"* not make the album?
* You might want to check out that blog I mentioned.
The Dancing About Architecture MySpace band of the week.
Annoyingly young Welsh Pavement devotees who are only the second band ever signed to Arts & Crafts not featuring a member of Broken Social Scene.
Recommended song: You Me Dancing.
You news, you lose
Deerhunted.
Deerhunter took a break from posting questionable content on their on their blog last week to get themselves mugged at gunpoint on Friday following a hometown gig in Atlanta. No one was hurt thankfully and on Saturday morning Bradford Cox posted the following on the band's blog and on their .
"We got a friendly homecoming surprise last night in Atlanta when Lockett and I got robbed at gunpoint after our show at Lenny's last night. We literally had just walked off the stage and I was pretty wasted. Lockett was trying to take care of me and get me home. He grabbed my guitar and my stuff and we walked to his car which was parked about a block away from Lenny's because it was so crowded. I heard a commotion behind us but like I said I was pretty out of it. I just opened the door to the car and collapsed in the passenger seat.
"Then I heard all this yelling and I hear this loud metallic banging on the window and look up and there is a gun in my face and a guy yelling 'get the fuck out the car man.' I stumbled out and see the other guy has Lockett with his arms spread on the roof of his car and is patting him down. Lockett was begging them to leave me alone. The guy put his gun up to my temple and said, 'give me EVERYTHING motherfucker I ain't fucking with you.'
"I just mumbled something and he put his hands in my pants and took everything I had. My cell phone, my wallet (empty except for credit / bank cards which Kristin immediately cancelled, and about 450 dollars in cash I had for my rent.) They also got all of Lockett's money. They even took my fucking Camel Ultralights and Orange Bic.
"All I can say is that I'm glad we are not dead. Or more specifically, I am REALLY glad they didn't hurt Lockett. He was just trying to help me get home and would not have even been there at that time otherwise."
Well that's pretty shit for them. If you feel like helping Bradford replenish his rent money you can buy a copy of the band's really rather good Cryptograms or go to one of their upcoming gigs listed at the bottom.
A band of horses goes "Doh, neigh, mee, fa …".
On the subject of bands taking a break from things Band Of Horses took a break from ranting about YouTube and having women write nasty blogs about them on MySpace over it to announce the tracklisting to the upcoming Cease To Begin (out October 9th on Sub Pop) and it is as follows …
01 Is There a Ghost
02 Ode to LRC
03 No One's Gonna Love You
04 Detlef Schrempf
05 The General Specific
06 Lamb on the Lam (in the city)
07 Islands on the Coast
08 Marry Song
09 Cigarettes, Wedding Bands
10 Window Blues
I saw an episode of Criminal Minds recently which used "The Funeral" as part of a montage near the end, worked quite well as it happens.
Cue pointless and directionless jam.
Also announcing album details in the past 7 days was freak folk king Devendra Banhart told the world the names of the songs that are going to be on Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (September 25th … XL) and aside from 4 of the songs the titles of tracks are quite conventional. We can only assume that all bar those 4 songs were penned for the upcoming Spice Girls album and that's why they've got such asinine titles … there can't possibly be any other reason. There's a couple of the songs up on his MySpace if you're so inclined.
Tracklisting:
01 Cristobal
02 So Long Old Bean
03 Samba Vexillographica
04 Seahorse
05 Bad Girl
06 Seaside
07 Shabop Shalom
08 Tonada Yanomaminista
09 Rosa
10 Saved
11 Lover
12 Carmencita
13 The Other Woman
14 Freely
15 Remember
16 My Dearest Friend
R. Kelly is a genius.
My initial reaction to seeing Trapped In The Closet at ATP last year was "I don't care how many 14 year olds he videotaped himself pissing on, he's forgiven" and I still stand by those comments.
Trapped … is being released on DVD on August 21st and it's going to come with 10 whole new chapters to add on to the original 12. And if you were wondering how Kelly's magnum opus could get any better then read on …
The new round of "Trapped" videos finds Kelly portraying an old man named Randolph, complete with a pot belly and a fake white beard that nearly falls off mid-scene, as well as a preacher in a gray Jheri-curl wig and garish orange suit. In one of the final chapters, Kelly's Sylvester character talks business with a "Sopranos"-esque mobster who is eating a giant plate of spaghetti.
Wow.
Ouch.
And making their proper debut in Dancing About Architecture this week (after last week's being mentioned as a nominee for the Mercury Prize) are Klaxons who had a wee bit of a mishap in France at the Garden Nef Party festival.
During the band's set Jamie Reynolds attempted to stage dive into the crowd and, according to the band's MySpace page "drastically misjudged the [approximately] 12' distance between the stage and the grass" and broke his leg.
Reynolds has had to have a three inch plate installed to hold his tibia in place (that'll be real fun at airports, it's a good thing that as a touring musician he doesn't need to travel the world to make a living. Oh wait) and the band have cancelled their tour of Australia this week (it's all a ruse, after Sly they don't want to get busted for HGH) but all other dates they've got pencilled in are still scheduled to go ahead.
Once in a while I'll cover urban music.
To do it twice in one week must be breaking all sorts of rules. Anyway, Common is releasing the follow up to Be "sometime" and possibly today if it doesn't get delayed again. The album features contributions from Lily Allen, J Dilla, D'Anelo and Kanye West.
Tracklisting:
01 Intro
02 Start the Show
03 The People
04 Drivin' Me Wild [ft. Lily Allen]
05 I Want You
06 Southside [ft. Kanye West]
07 Forever Begins
08 The Game
09 U, Black Maybe
10 So Far to Go [ft. D'Angelo]
11 Break My Heart
12 Misunderstood
The YouTube video of the week
Nice Vinyl Dave.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Deerhunter
08-25 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex (Fuck Yeah Fest IV)
08-30 Washington, DC - Black Cat Backstage
08-31 New York, NY - Seaport Music Festival *
09-01 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
09-06 Seattle, WA - Neumos !
09-08 Portland, OR - Doug Fir (Musicfest NW)
09-27 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn #
09-28 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge #
09-29 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (Adventures in Modern Music) #$
10-01 Urbana, IL - Canopy Club
10-02 Newport, KY - Southgate House
11-02 London, England - The Forum (ATP Presents Release the Bats)
* with Battles
! with Grizzly Bear
# with No Age
$ with Daniel Carter and Michael Reed, Sin Ropas with the films of Brent Green
Joanna Newsom
The final four gigs listed will see Newsom backed by a full orchestra.
08-17 Brecon Beacons, Wales - Green Man Festival
09-09 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
09-11 Hamburg, Germany - Kampnagel
09-12 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
09-13 Frankfurt, Germany - Dreikoenigs-Kirche
09-14 Prague, Czech Republic - Archa Theatre
09-16 Vienna, Austria - WUK
09-18 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
09-19 Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik
09-26 Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son
09-28 London, England - Royal Albert Hall
10-21 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
11-04 Grass Valley, CA - Music in the Mountains
11-09 Los Angeles, CA - Walt Disney Concert Hall
11-17 Atlanta, GA - Woodruff Arts Center Symphony Hall
Devendra Banhart
08-10 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-11 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-13 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
08-15 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
08-16 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08-17 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-19 Brecon Beacons Powys, Wales - Glanusk Park (Green Man Festival)
08-21 Paris, France - L'Europeen
08-23 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches
08-24 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-26 Reading, England Reading Festival
09-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
09-02 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival *
09-04 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
09-06 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theater *
09-07 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
09-10 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (Native American benefit) #
09-12 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium #
09-13 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall Theater #
09-15 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue #
09-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater #
09-18 Chicago, IL - Portage Theater !
09-19 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater !
09-21 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall !
09-22 Montreal, Quebec - Le National !
09-23 Burlington, VT - Davis Center Grand Ballroom at University of Vermont !
09-25 Boston, MA - Roxy Ballroom !
09-27 New York, NY - Grand Ballroom !
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts !
10-01 Washington, DC - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue !
10-04 Nashville, TN - City Hall $
10-06 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater $
10-07 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa $
10-09 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater (Native American benefit) %
10-10 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater %
10-12 Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theater %
10-13 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre %
* with Noah Georgeson
# with Rio En Medio
! with Matteah Baim
$ with Jana Hunter
% with Hecuba
Final Fantasy
08-10 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-11 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-13 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
08-15 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
08-16 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08-17 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-19 Brecon Beacons Powys, Wales - Glanusk Park (Green Man Festival)
08-21 Paris, France - L'Europeen
08-23 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches
08-24 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-26 Reading, England Reading Festival
09-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
09-02 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival *
09-04 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
09-06 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theater *
09-07 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
09-10 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (Native American benefit) #
09-12 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium #
09-13 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall Theater #
09-15 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue #
09-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater #
09-18 Chicago, IL - Portage Theater !
09-19 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater !
09-21 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall !
09-22 Montreal, Quebec - Le National !
09-23 Burlington, VT - Davis Center Grand Ballroom at University of Vermont !
09-25 Boston, MA - Roxy Ballroom !
09-27 New York, NY - Grand Ballroom !
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts !
10-01 Washington, DC - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue !
10-04 Nashville, TN - City Hall $
10-06 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater $
10-07 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa $
10-09 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater (Native American benefit) %
10-10 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater %
10-12 Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theater %
10-13 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre %
* with Noah Georgeson
# with Rio En Medio
! with Matteah Baim
$ with Jana Hunter
% with Hecuba
Okkervil River
08-30 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
08-31 Phoenix, AZ - The Brickhouse
09-03 San Diego, CA - Casbah *
09-04 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
09-05 San Francisco, CA - Independent *
09-08 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan (MusicFest NW) *
09-09 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards *
09-10 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
09-13 Denver, CO - Marquee Theater *
09-14 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room *
09-15 Iowa City, IA - Picador *
09-17 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre *
09-18 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *
09-19 Urbana, IL - The Canopy Club (Pygmalion Festival) *
09-21 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace *
09-22 Hamilton, Ontario - Pepper Jack's Café *
09-23 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *
09-24 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground *
09-25 Boston, MA - Middle East *
09-26 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street *
09-28 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *
09-30 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel *
10-02 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *
10-03 Athens, GA - 40 Watt *
10-04 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder *
10-06 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington *
11-06 Colchester, England - Arts Centre
11-07 Nottingham, England - The Social
11-08 Newcastle, England - Newcastle University
11-09 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice N Sleazy
11-10 Manchester, England - Roadhouse
12-04 Brighton, England - Pressure Point
12-05 Liverpool, England - Academy
12-06 Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
12-07 Leeds, England - Brudenell Social Club
12-08 Cardiff, England - Barfly
12-09 London, England - Luminaire
* with Damien Jurado
Wilco
08-14 Duluth, MN - Bayfront Festival Park #
08-15 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Burton Cummings Theatre #
08-17 Calgary, Alberta - Jubilee Auditorium #
08-18 Edmonton, Alberta - Jubilee Auditorium #
08-20 Vancouver, British Columbia - Malkin Bowl #
08-21 Seattle, WA - Marymoor Park #
08-22 Troutdale, OR - Edgefield #
08-24 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre #
08-26 Santa Barbara, CA - County Bowl #
08-27 San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theater #
08-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre #
09-01 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium #
09-02 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium #
09-11 Madison, WI - Overture Hall *
09-12 Chicago, IL - Pritzker Pavilion *
09-13 Southaven, MS - Snowden Grove Amphitheatre *
09-14 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom *
09-16 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
09-18 Little Rock, AR - Robinson Auditorium *
09-19 Columbia, MO - 9th Street Summerfest *
09-21 Louisville, KY - Louisville Slugger Field *
10-26-28 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience
# with Richard Swift
* with Dr. Dog
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover
The bit at the end
Over in the sports zone we're running the top 50 footballers in the world countdown all this week. I contribute so it must be great.
