Dancing About Architecture 10.09.07

Posted by Ian Wright on 10.09.2007

In Rainbows, Animal Collective, ATP vs. Pitchfork, Blur reunion, Montreal supergroups, Dan Deacon, Big Day Out

The bit at the start

Wouldn't you know it? The very same week that I was in a car crash (I'm OK, they're OK, back and neck are a bit stiff) and decide that I'd be better off having a lie down rather than sitting at a desk for a few hours putting a column together Radiohead announce that they're going to release their new album in a little more than a week (tomorrow by the time you read this).

By this point you probably know the details, expensive discbox for the hardcore fans, pay what you like downloadable version for everyone else. It's a novel idea and where I am the non-music media have latched on to the story firmly and for the past week in newspapers and on current affairs radio programmes have been full of stories about the death of conventional record labels and "new paradigm", that lovely phrase that people who don't know anything about, what they're talking has cropped up a few times. If I listened harder I probably would have noticed "pro-active" crop up as well.

To all those people I can only say this …

"Stop spouting such absolute horseshit".

The physical version of the album will be in record shops early next year (I've heard the week of January 14th be mentioned) and who do you think will be the people ensuring that the record is on the shelves?

I'll give you a clue, it won't be Thom, Jonny, Ed, Colin and Phil.

It's one thing for the band to put the album out online and do a limited mail order run with the discbox but when it comes to placing CD's in the shops it's simply not worth their time and effort to set up the distribution channels themselves when there's plenty of labels who already have the infrastructure in place to do so. Make no mistake, there will be label involvement with the January release, the only question is if it'll be one of the majors or a super-indie doing the distribution on a global level or if it'll be a series of smaller labels doing things on a territory by territory basis.

So no, they haven't changed the record industry. What they've actually done, and it's far less revolutionary then people have been making out is control the leaking of the album online (and yes, found a way to get paid for it; there is the discbox factor but I'd argue that that's to placate/exploit the hardcore fanbase and I think that those fans would have bought it anyway if it showed up in record shops on the same day as the CD release, as a guy who tries to buy his new music on vinyl where possible I certainly would have), as I wrote above things seem to be heading towards January physical release and it's not unusual for a leak to happen 3 months prior to the release date and surprise surprise October is 3 months before January.

The effect of this whole affair is that they've suckered parts of the media that would never have covered them into giving them loads of free publicity. They're smart cookies that way, how much free-press did they get in 2001 when they did the advertising-free tent tour?

As for the big question, and really it's the only one that matters, will the album be any good? I saw them twice last year and some of the new songs are exceptionally good, "Videotape" and "Bodysnatchers" could be as good as anything that they've ever done. There's only a day to go and then we'll find out if the record is worth the frenzy the media whipped itself into.

Onto the news.

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

Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam



I used to hate these guys but this is outstanding.

You news, you lose

For the title of world's undisputed most indie.

Camber Sands, UK
May 9-11
Pitchfork vs. ATP

That's right the first of next May's 2 ATP festivals will be curated by the folks at Pitchforkmedia.com. 35 bands performing over the weekend with the forkers choosing about half the bands playing while ATP themselves choose the other (about) half.

As is always the way with such things only a few performers were announced at the launch and at present the lineup looks like this …

Chosen by Pitchfork:

Of Montreal
Man Man
Los Campesinos!
Caribou
Glass Candy
Dirty Projectors

Chosen by ATP:

Sebadoh
Ween
Pissed Jeans
Fuck Buttons
Apse

…

but I'm sure it'll get much better in the coming months. This edition of ATP takes place at the festival's original home of Camber Sands but there is another festival taking place in the new site of Butlin's Minehead the curator of which is set to be announced soon. Maybe if you go find a mirror, stare at it and say "Kevin Shields" 3 times you'll help my wildest dream come true (it does seem on the cards, ATP have been after him for years and there are the MBV reformation at Coachella rumours).

Tickets are available to buy from ATP's website now.

Blur get back together for lunch.

The following appeared on Blur's website last Thursday:

"In light of recent press speculation, blur.co.uk would like to confirm that Alex, Damon, Dave and Graham met for an enjoyable lunch on Monday, but there are currently no other music plans for Blur."

Well shit. Can't say I'm shocked though, Graham's solo career is going reasonably OK, he gets to play guitar hero (not the game, being an actual one), Damon's got millions of projects in the works, Alex is a gentleman farmer and Dave, well aside from standing in local elections he doesn't seem to be up to much. Give a couple more years when they'll be able to command serious money for the reunion tour.

Follow the clues OR Jesus this whole Montreal thing is really incestuous.

Calling Clues a Montreal supergroup might be pushing things a bit far but when you throw in the names of bands like Arcade Fire and The Unicorns then it's easy to see how people might lose the run of themselves. However the Arcade Fire involvement is limited the Brendan Reed.

"Who?" You might ask, "and what dozen instruments does he play in Win & Regine's travelling circus of freaks and oddities?". Well the simple answer is "these days nothing." Reed was a member of the band before the Arcade Fire EP was released but if you've investigated the pre-EP stuff he did feature in some of the early demos that have been floating around the web for the past couple of years.

Also involved (and, no offence to Reed but I love that Unicorns album, more excitingly) is Alden Penner, who was one of The Unicorns and had been thought to have left Montreal and moved to Australia following the dissolution of the band. Bethany Or (of Shaghai Triad who I'm utterly unfamiliar with) rounds off the trio.

Clues have an album ready to go apparently and this week posted an album sampler MP3 online, lots of lo-fi indie pop and some of it sounds quite good so I reckon they could be a band worth keeping an ear out for in the coming year. You can listen to it

Bummer, I had to cancel my appearance at a Dan Deacon show due to exhaustion recently too.

Though when I can't make it to the gig it still goes ahead, when he can't then it's off.

Citing the aforementioned exhaustion Mr. Deacon has been forced to cancel 3 dates this week in St. Louis, Grinnell and Kansas City however at present his other "shitload" of tour dates are all still scheduled to go ahead. In fact here's a list of them …

10-16 Brooklyn, NY - Silent Barn
10-17 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (Windish Agency CMJ showcase) $
10-19 Bennington, VT - Bennington College Student Center
10-20 Alfred, NY - Knight Club (Alfred University)
10-21 Baltimore, MD - Depot (DJ set)
10-27 Malaga, Spain - Teatro Cervantes
10-30 New York, NY - Judson Church %
10-31 Baltimore, MD - Spooky Haunted House
12-03 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice and Sleazy
12-04 Edinburgh, Scotland - Cabaret Voltaire
12-05 Manchester, England - Ruby Lounge
12-06 Liverpool, England - Barfly
12-07 London, England - The Dome
12-08 Paris, France - Transmusicales Festival
12-14 Brussels, Belgium - VK
12-15 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
12-20 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
12-21 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound
01-26 Chicago, IL - Metro (two shows) *

* with Girl Talk
# with White Williams
@ with Tay Zonday
$ with Deerhunter, No Age
% with Chromeo

It's a Big Day Out.

The dates and first batch of bands were announced for Australia and New Zealands' Big Day Out travelling festival last week and the lineup kinda sorta makes me wish that I lived in the southern hemisphere (the upside for the locals is that I could help them deal with the pain of having an underperforming Rugby Union side) with Arcade Fire, Björk, Rage Against the Machine, LCD Soundsystem, Battles, Dizzee Rascal, the Clean, Billy Bragg and others featuring on the lineup.

As is the fashion with BDO there will also be a number of sideshows on non-festival days where certain bands play full rather than festival length sets. Arcade Fire are already tipped to feature in some of those.

Big Days Out:

01-18 Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Stadium
01-20 Gold Coast, Australia - Parklands
01-25 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Showgrounds
01-28 Melbourne, Australia - Flemington Racecourse
02-01 Adelaide, Australia - Adelaide Showground
02-03 Perth, Australia - Claremont Showgrounds

Bwah ha ha ha ha haha hahahahaha.

This story makes me laugh harder than Eric Cartman at the sight of a little person. A couple of weeks ago Animal Collective played the Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia and last Friday week Sean Agnew of R5 Productions who put on the show received an angry e-mail from a mother of one of the people who attended the gig. Agnew forwarded the mail on to pitchfork (who are curating ATP in May don'tcha know?) who duly posted the e-mail. It read:

You should be brought up on charges for what went down Saturday night, is this an underground cult you are running with Animal Collective?

My daughter and her friends were terrified, no security, no police, not even a show, music playing backwards and men trying to lure them away, only one door to exit out and no cab would come pick them up
because the location they gave did not exist, no one ever heard of the Polaris club or the address.

What kind of scheme are you running.....

I will find someone to listen and have your organization investigated, you endangered several young adults on Saturday night.

I hope your child never goes thru what hell you put ours thru,
I hope you rot in hell, or is that were your from!

The number of "(sic)"s that I could put in that are unreal. Agnew responded to the crank concerned mother that there were 12 R5 employees, one police officer 2 "uniformed and armed licensed state security officers" on duty at the venue which has 3 exits and had plenty of Taxi's outside before concluding with "We are not a cult and you have horrible grammar. Good luck on your journey with your child."

That guy is my new hero.

The YouTube video of the week



The National covering The Boss.

If you can you should go to these gigs.

Sunset Rubdown

10-09 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
10-10 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #
10-11 Washington, DC - Black Cat #
10-12 Raleigh, NC - Local 506 #
10-13 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn #
10-15 New Orleans, LA - Spanish Moon #
10-16 Austin, TX - Emo's #
10-18 Tucson, AZ - Plush #
10-19 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre #
10-21 San Francisco, CA - Independent #
10-23 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
10-24 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe #
10-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club #
10-26 Victoria, British Columbia - Logan's #
10-28 Calgary, Alberta - Broken City
10-29 Edmonton, Alberta - Velvet Underground
10-30 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Amigos
10-31 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Royal Albert Arms
11-01 Fargo, ND - Aquarium
11-02 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
11-03 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle

* with Black Mountain, Lightning Dust, Oakley Hall
# with Johnny and the Moon

Justice

10-09 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater *
10-10 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine *
10-11 Portland, OR - Holocene
10-12 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
10-13 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
10-16 Minneapolis, MN - Foundation Nightclub
10-17 Chicago, IL - Metro *
10-18 Toronto, Ontario - Republik *
10-19 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis (two shows) *
10-20 New York, NY - Terminal 5 *
10-21 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom *
10-22 New York, NY - Terminal 5 *
10-25 London, England - Koko (Electric Proms)
10-26 Amiens, France - Picardie Moov' Festival (DJ set)
10-27 Reims, France - Electricity Festival
10-31 Nantes, France - L'Olympic
11-01 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
11-02 Nancy, France - L'Autre Canal
11-03 Clermont Ferrand, France - La Cooperative
11-08 Lyon, France - Le Transbordeur
11-09 Paris, France - Zenith (Festival des Inrocks)
11-10 Gent, Belgium - I Love Techno Festival
11-15 Tolouse, France - Le Phare
11-16 Bordeaux, France - Parc des Expos
11-17 Cean, France - Nordik Impact Festival
11-23 Lille, France - Zenith
11-24 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
12-02 Leeds, England - Leeds University #
12-03 London, England - Brixton Academy #
12-04 Manchester, England - Academy #
12-05 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy #
12-07 Birmingham, England - Academy #
12-08 Nottingham, England - Rock City #
12-12 Milan, Italy - Magazzini Generali
12-13 Bologna, Italy - Estragon
12-14 Turin, Italy - Hiroshima
12-15 Rome, Italy - Piper

* with Midnight Juggernauts
# with CSS

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

The bit at the end

Despite my minor incapacitation I did see a couple of gigs last week. Los Campesinos! Were pretty good, they had a really charming enthusiasm about them which meant that I enjoyed the gig a lot more than if they'd been a bunch of gloomy indie kids. I also saw Handsome Furs on Friday and they were excellent.

That whole beonlineb thing was a bit of a bust wasn't it?

1 day, I can't fucking wait.

Semi permanent plug for my blog. There be MP3's from cool bands there.