Dancing About Architecture 12.18.07

Posted by Ian Wright on 12.18.2007

Final Fantasy, Robert Pollard, Los Campesinos!, Radiohead, The Rock n’ Roll hall of fame, Okkervil River, Beirut and more.

The bit at the start

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

Having seen Final Fantasy play for the 5th time on Tuesday I began to suspect that it might just be. Every other occasion that I've seen Owen Pallett play he's blown me away, somehow always managing to top the previous performance but Tuesday was probably the worst performance that I've ever seen from him. The big problem seemed to be that of tempo, everything seemed to be a little rushed and as a result the vocals felt as though they were chasing the loops.

My faith however was restored the following night when Pallett joined Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman on stage to provide string contributions to Lekman's songs. I'd heard about the collaboration the night before and had feared that Lekman would be overshadowed by his more famous guest but that was far from the case, Pallett blended into the background and it felt more like and to me it felt more like it was just some dude up there playing violin than some earth shattering joining of the somewhat wimpy looking indie titans.

Then on Thursday night (that's right, he played 3 nights in a row in Dublin last week) Pallett took to the stage again as the secret surprise special guest (who virtually everyone vaguely plugged in to the scene here knew about for at least 2 weeks beforehand) at the Girl Talk headlined Christmas party thrown by local magazine/promoters Foggy Notions. He looked far more comfortable playing to a couple of hundred people in a standing venue then he had to nearly a thousand in a seated location 2 days before and he seemed to approach the gig with a much greater sense of fun. The Tuesday gig saw Pallett trying out a new V.I lopping system and a number of new songs but his 30 minute set on Thursday saw him return to the tried and tested Boss RC-20 loopstation and he played a number of "the hits" which he'd omitted from the set 2 days before including "Song Song Song", "This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine" and "Peach Plum Pear".

So basically, the answer is no. Not when you're talking about something that good. He just had an off night last Tuesday.

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

Tap Tap - Lanzafame



Quirky acoustic goodness from Reading.

You news, you lose

Robert Pollard in putting out new material shocker.

Work-shy ex-Guided By Voices main man Robert Pollard hasn't had all that productive a year in 2007 having only released 3 solo albums this year (and he's got another 2 already prepped for a 2008 release) and another as part of The Takeovers.

Well the lazy motherfucker is getting off his ass and on February 12th The Takeovers (which also features Chris Slusarenko, The Decemberists' John Moen, Sam Coomes of Quasi and Brian Berg of 44 Long) will be releasing the Little Green Onion Man EP on Off records.

It's to be a limited release with only 950 CD and another 950 7" copies being made with 500 hand numbered copies being made available exclusively from the Off website.

Here's the tracklisting:

01 Little Green Onion Man
02 Rich Man's Girl
03 Wigstomper 07
04 Instigator

Even though they're basically a pastiche of better bands they're nice kids and good live.

Los Campesinos! have announced the release details of their probably sounding-a-hell-of-a-lot-like-Pavement-but-with-more-glockenspiel debut album. Hold On Now, Youngster … (What's with all the odd punctuation?) will be out in the UK on Wichita on February 25th and digitally released in North America on Arts & Crafts with a physical release to follow on April 1st.

That's about it …

…

! % #

eXcept' for_ This!

01 Death to Los Campesinos!
02 Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats
03 Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s)
04 Drop It Doe Eyes
05 My Year in Lists
06 Knee Deep at ATP
07 This Is How You Spell. "HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics"
08 We Are All Accelerated Readers
09 You! Me! Dancing!
10 ...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison
11 Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

The shortest and most pointless Radiohead news story I'll ever write.

The packaging for the physical release of In Rainbows will be paper but will come with stickers so you can convert any jewel case into a Radiohead album cover.

Wow.

One week I'll see a Radiohead story and not run it.

One day.

Even more pointless than the above Radiohead story ...

Is the Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame. The list of inductees for 2008 were announced last week with Madonna, Leonard Cohen, John Mellencamp, Dave Clark Five, and the Ventures joining … oh who cares?

In addition Little Walter will honoured and Gamble and Huff will be recognised for their knob twiddling.

They successful nominees will be inducted on March 10th in New York's Waldorf Hotel at presumably some sort of gala event where, get this, the inductees have to pay for their own tickets for.

What a crock.

I love the shit out of Okkervil River.

And they apparently love the shit out of their fans as they've given them a little present in the run up to Christmas.

Okk Riv songwriter Will Sheff posted the following on their message board last week …

Hello message board folks, I'm writing this from Brooklyn, having just gotten off the plane from London after our last show of the year yesterday. I'm writing to let you know of a surprise release we put together that's available on the Okkervil website right now. It's called "Golden Opportunities," and it's a kind of album of covers we recorded live on tour. Some of them were recorded on radio shows, some at live performances, some at people's apartments, and one of them was recorded in the stairway at our hotel in Muenster while the maid was angrily banging things around, with additional overdubs done onstage before the show in Berlin, and another overdub done in the bar in Hamburg attached to our venue there. These are all covers I worked up on the last tour whenever I had the occasion, with the eventual intention of putting them out somewhere for free. They all kind of have something to do with themselves and kind of to the "Stage Names" material. Anyway, you can get the album in a normal-resolution as well as a somewhat higher-resolution form for free on the website right now, as well as PDFs of the artwork and liner notes (in two color formats) that you can print. I just kind of wanted to do a release fast and for fun and give it to you guys for free.

Also, the only press I'm doing for this release is online interviews. Anyone who wants can send an email to [e-mail] and I'll choose from the questions and post an "interview" chosen from the questions on Friday.

Hope everyone's well, and happy holidays.

Will

Unfortunately if you're reading about this for the first time then you've missed the deadline for submitting questions to Sheff but you can read the interview on the news section of the band's website.

You can download the EP here, the artwork here, alternate artwork here and the artwork in black and white here.

Here's the tracklisting:

1. APRIL ANNE (John Phillips)
2. SIMON SMITH AND THE AMAZING DANCING BEAR (Randy Newman)
3. I WANT TO KNOW (Charles F. Olsen/Ed Sanders)
4. DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO (Jimmy Webb)
5. I CAME HERE TO SAY IM GOING AWAY (Serge Gainsbourg/Trans. by W. Sheff)
6. THE BLONDE IN THE BLEACHERS (Joni Mitchell)
7. ANTARCTICA STARTS HERE (John Cale)
8. LISTENING TO OTIS REDDING AT HOME DURING CHRISTMAS (Will Sheff)
9. SOLO (Sandy Denny)

The YouTube video of the week



If you can you should go to these gigs.

Radiohead

06-06 Dublin, Ireland - Malahide
06-07 Dublin, Ireland - Malahide
06-09 Paris, France - Bercy
06-10 Paris, France - Bercy
06-12 Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum
06-14 Nimes, France - Arenes
06-17 Milan, Italy - Civica Arena
06-18 Milan, Italy - Civica Arena
06-20 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival
06-22 Scheeßel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-24 London, England - Victoria Park
06-25 London, England - Victoria Park
06-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Glasgow Green
06-29 Manchester, England - Lancashire County Cricket Club
07-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Westerpark
07-03 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-04-05 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
07-06 Arras, France - Main Square Festival
07-08 Berlin, Germany – Wuhlheide

Built To Spill

02-22 Los Angeles, CA - Echo Plex
02-23 Los Angeles, CA - Echo Plex
02-24 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
02-25 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
02-27 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
02-28 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
03-01 Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater
03-02 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ
03-03 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
03-04 New Orleans, LA - Howlin' Wolf
03-05 Gainesville, FL - The Venue
03-06-09 South Florida Everglades, FL - Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation (Langerado Music Festival)
03-06 St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre
03-08 Jacksonville, FL - Free Bird Live
03-10 Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
03-11 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel
03-12 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
03-13 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
03-14 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
03-15 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
03-16 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
03-17 Kansas City, MO - Madrid Theatre
03-19 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
03-20 Flagstaff, AZ - Orpheum Theatre
03-21 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern

Jens Lekman

02-15 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
02-16 Berlin, Germany - Lido
02-18 Turin, Italy - El Barrio
02-19 Ravenna, Italy - Teatro Rasi
02-20 Geneva, Switzerland - PTR-Usine
02-21 St. Gallen, Switzerland - Palace
02-23 Munich, Germany - Atomic Café
02-24 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm
02-25 Njimegen, Netherlands - Doornroosje
02-26 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
02-27 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
02-28 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
02-29 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
03-01 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
03-02 Hamburg, Germany - Molotow
05-09-11 Rye, England - Camber Sand Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork) ^
05-16-18 Minehead, England - Butlin's Holiday Centre (Explosions in the Sky ATP)

* with the Clientele
^ with the Hold Steady, Of Montreal, Hot Chip, Man Man, Les Savy Fav, Black Lips, Caribou, Dirty Projectors, No Age, Los Campesinos!, Glass Candy, Deerhunter, A Place to Bury Strangers, Yeasayer, Redd Kross, Marissa Nadler, Sebadoh, Ween, Meat Puppets, the Black Angels, Fuck Buttons, Wooden Shjips, Pissed Jeans, Apse, Shit and Shine

Los Campesinos!

01-29 Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
01-30 Copenhagen, Denmark - Small Vega
01-31 Malmö, Sweden - Debaser
02-01 Gothenburg, Sweden - Pusterviksbaren
02-02 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser (Bluc Fritz's Corner)
02-03 Oslo, Norway - Garage
02-10 London, England - Astoria *
02-11 Dublin, Ireland - Village
02-12 Bedford, England - Esquire's
02-13 Birmingham, England - Academy
02-14 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tut's
02-16 Newcastle, England - Northumbria University
02-17 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
02-18 Manchester, England - Club Academy
02-19 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
02-20 Reading, England - Fez
02-21 Kingston upon Thames, England - The Works
02-23 Portsmouth, England - Wedgewood Rooms
05-09-11 Rye, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork) $

* with Les Savy Fav, Future of the Left, Cut Off Your Hands
$ with the Hold Steady, Of Montreal, Jens Lekman, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Hot Chip, Les Savy Fav, No Age, Yeasayer, A Place to Bury Strangers, Meat Puppets, Sebadoh, Ween, Marissa Nadler, Caribou, Glass Candy, Dirty Projectors, Redd Kross, the Black Angels, Shit and Shine, Pissed Jeans, Fuck Buttons, Apse

Liars/No Age co-headliner

01-25 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
01-26 Reno, NV - Club Underground
01-28 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
01-29 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market
01-30 Boise, ID - Neurolux
01-31 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
02-01 Denver, CO - Marquis Theater
02-02 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
02-04 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College
02-05 Chicago, IL - Metro
02-07 Buffalo, NY - Traif
02-08 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
02-09 Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw
02-10 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
02-12 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
02-13 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
02-14 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
02-16 Austin, TX - The Mohawk
02-17 Denton, TX - Hailey's
02-19 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
02-20 Tempe, AX - The Clubhouse
02-21 San Diego, CA - Casbah
02-22 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre

Explosions In The Sky

01-23 Brighton, England - Concorde 2 *
01-24 Bristol, England - Anson Rooms *
01-26 Dublin, Ireland - The Village *
01-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands *
01-29 Manchester, England - Academy 2 *
01-30 London, England - Astoria *
02-02 Athens, Greece - An Club *
02-11 Auckland, New Zealand - Kings Arms Tavern *
02-12 Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bathhouse *
02-14 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo *
02-15 Sydney, Australia - Manning Bar *
02-16 Melbourne, Australia - The Corner *
02-17 Perth, Australia - Perth International Arts Festival
03-14 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre #
03-15 San Diego, CA - SOMA #
03-17 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theatre #
03-21 San Francisco, CA - The Great American Music Hall #
03-22 San Francisco, CA - The Great American Music Hall #
03-24 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue #
03-25 Aspen, CO - Belly Up Tavern #
03-26 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre #
03-28 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre #
03-29 St. Louis, MO - Pageant Theatre #
03-30 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre #
04-01 Chicago, IL - Congress Theatre #
04-02 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College #
04-03 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom #
04-04 Buffalo, NY - Tralf Music Hall #
04-06 Farmingdale, NY - Crazy Donkey #
04-08 New York, NY - Terminal 5 #
04-09 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom #
04-11 Norfolk, VA - Norva #
04-13 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse #
05-04 Oslo, Norway - John Dee *
05-05 Stockholm, Sweden - Kagelbanan *
05-06 Malmo, Sweden - Debaser *
05-07 Copenhagen, Denmark - Lille Vega *
05-09 Berlin, Germany - Lido *
05-10 Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefaehrlich *
05-11 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royale (Les Nuits de Botanique) *
05-12 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso *
05-16-18 Minehead, England - Butlins Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties)
05-20 Paris, France - Elysee Montmartre *
05-21 Cologne, Germany - Kulturkirche *
05-22 Heidelberg, Germany - Karlstorbahnhof *
05-23 Munich, Germany - Feierwerk *
05-25 Vienna, Austria - Flex *
05-26 Bologna, Italy - Estragon Club *
05-27 Zurich, Switzerland - Abart *
05-28 Lausanne, Switzerland - Romandie *

* with Eluvium
# with Lichens

Yeasayer

12-15 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
01-16 Washington, DC - Black Cat Backstage *
01-17 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *
01-18 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
01-19 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon *
01-20 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington *
01-21 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater *
01-22 Austin, TX - Emo's Jr. *
01-24 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room *
01-25 San Diego, CA - The Casbah *
01-26 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo *
01-28 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
01-30 Portland, OR - Holocene *
01-31 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
02-02 Boise, ID - Neurolux *
02-03 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *
02-04 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive *
02-06 Omaha, NE - The Slowdown *
02-07 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry *
02-08 Chicago, IL - Schubas *
02-09 Toronto, Ontario - El Mocambo *
02-10 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *
02-12 Allston, MA - Great Scott *
02-14 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
02-15 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *
02-19 Nijmegen, Netherlands - Doornroosie
02-20 Brussels, Belgium - AB
02-21 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
02-22 St. Malo, France - Omnibus
02-23 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
02-25 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
02-26 Berlin, Germany - Lido
02-27 Gothenburg, Sweden - Pusterviksbaren
02-28 Olso, Norway - John Dee
02-29 Stockholm, Sweden - Klubb Spark at Debaser Medis
03-01 Malmo, Sweden - Debaser
03-05 Birmingham, England - Bar Academy
03-06 London, England - ICA
03-08 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tuts
03-09 Manchester, England - Night & Day
03-10 London, England - TBA
03-11 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
05-09-11 Camber, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork) #

* with MGMT
# with the Hold Steady, Jens Lekman, Black Lips, Hot Chip, Les Savy Fav, No Age, Of Montreal, Man Man, Los Campesinos!, Caribou, Glass Candy, Dirty Projectors, Redd Kross, Marissa Nadler, Deerhunter, Wooden Shjips, Meat Puppets, the Black Angels, Shit and Shine, Sebadoh, Ween, Pissed Jeans, Fuck Buttons, Apse, A Place to Bury Strangers

Okkervil River

02-02 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Empire
02-03 Edinburgh, Scotland - Cabaret Voltaire
02-05 London, England - Scala
02-07 Leuven, Belgium - Stuk
02-08 Paris, France - La Maronquinerie
02-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
02-10 Nijmegen, Netherlands - Doornroosje
02-23 Adelaide, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-24 Melbourne, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-26 Melbourne, Australia - Corner
02-27 Sydney, Australia - Manning Bar
02-29 Perth, Australia - Perth International Arts Festival
03-01 Brisbane, Australia - Laneway Festival
03-02 Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival
03-04 Auckland, New Zealand - Kings Arms
03-05 Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio

The bit at the end

If you're in Spain and love giving at your shoes good news. My Bloody Valentine are headlining Benacassim.

Good news for Euro Sunset Rubdown fans. I hear May for a tour.

Next week is Christmas day, so I'm not posting jack shit. However 2 weeks from now I'll be back with my top 10s for the year.

Semi permanent plug for my blog which this week featured further thoughts on Final Fantasy, Jens Lekman, more on Okkervil River and a cool Radiohead remix.