Dancing About Architecture 04.22.08
Posted by Ian Wright on 04.22.2008
Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Cat Power, ACL, Pitchfork Fest, Reacord Store Day thoughts and Danny Federici R.I.P.
The bit at the start
How was record store day for you? My favourite record shop in Dublin (and I think the only one in the whole country to take part) threw themselves into the concept fully by marking Saturday with a 20% off everything sale that enabled me to finally pick up a bunch of records that I've been listening to in recent months that I didn't exactly acquire legitimately (By the way, if you've got a what? account the new Wolf Parade will apparently leak in the next 24 hours, or may have done so by the time this goes live, though considering that there's been a spate of fake leakings of the new Deathcab For Cutie album in the past week I wouldn't hold my breath) and in doing so I've been able to free up some space on my Zen (a smallish 2 gig model which means that I have to be selective about what I put on to it; the upside is that everything gets listened too) for some stuff I've not got around to yet or not paid enough attention to. I actually bought so much they threw in a free copy of he last RJD2 on white label, they're nice folks in there. But the whole idea seems to have been a great success. I've rarely seen the place so full
The shop also had a series of instore gigs throughout the day and I made the effort to get out of bed early-ish so I could catch Mumblin' Deaf Ro. His last album The Herring And The Brine is a fantastic collection of fingerpicking bluesy folk tunes and he was certainly worth making the effort to see. He even dedicated a song to me as I stood by him at the counter paying for my purchases and then serendipitously began my favourite song of his.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Pavement – Wowee Zowee
Less celebrated than it's predecessors. "Grounded": a little gem.
You news, you lose
Sad News
Last Thursday Danny Federici, long time keyboardist and accordionist with The E-Street band passed away in New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center following a 3 year battle with melanoma. Bruce Springsteen paid tribute to his long time band mate on his website writing, "Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much...we grew up together."
The pair began working together in the 60's and Federici was one of the founder members of Springsteen's "greatest bar band in the world" and has been a mainstay of the band ever since until he took time off last year to undergo cancer treatment. He made his final appearance with the band last month in Indianapolis.
Federici can be heard on loads of Springsteen classics throughout his career but personally I think he did his best work on 1978's Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
I steal much of my news from them so I may as well plug their festival.
Pitchfork's Festival takes place in Chicago's Union Park from July 18-20 and the initial lineup immediately made it worth the $65 for a 3-day pass (or $50 for a 2 day one, or one day for $30) but it got even better with the addition of 3 more bands to the lineup. Les Savy Fav, Spoon and The Dodos (whose latest album Visitor has been slowly worming it's ways into my affections of late) are joining the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Mission Of Burma and Fuck Buttons on the bill (unfortunately Vampire Weekend will also be there but they are after all the hip bad du jour). The current lineup, with more to be added looks like this:
Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties present "Don't Look Back"
Public Enemy performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Mission of Burma performing Vs.
+ one more to be announced
Saturday, July 19:
Animal Collective
Jarvis Cocker
!!!
Vampire Weekend
Dizzee Rascal
Fleet Foxes
Jay Reatard
No Age
Atlas Sound
Extra Golden
The Ruby Suns
A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Occidental Brothers Dance Band International
+ many more!
Sunday, July 20:
Spoon
Dinosaur Jr.
Spiritualized
M. Ward
Ghostface and Raekwon
Les Savy Fav
The Apples in Stereo
Boris
Dirty Projectors
Cut Copy
The Dodos
King Khan & His Shrines
El Guincho
Fuck Buttons
+ many more!
It's far more appealing than the Lollapalooza lineup anyways.
And for lessons on how not to book a good festival lineup.
Look to the organisers of Austin City Limits who announced this lineup last week. Taking place in Zilker Park from September 26-28 ACL managed to miss out on all the decent big hitters on tour this year with the following amongst the 125 acts performing …
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Spiritualized, Beck, Foo Fighters, Gnarls Barkley, N.E.R.D., David Byrne, Jamie Lidell, Man Man, Jenny Lewis, the Raconteurs, Band of Horses, Stars, M. Ward, Drive-By Truckers, CSS, Okkervil River, Iron & Wine, Hot Chip, Neko Case, John Fogerty, Roky Erickson, Vampire Weekend, the Black Keys, Del the Funky Homosapien, Silversun Pickups, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, the Swell Season, José González, Yeasayer, Octopus Project, Against Me!, Erykah Badu, MGMT, Manu Chao, Tegan and Sara, the Mars Volta, the Kills, Mates of State, Antibalas, Gogol Bordello, What Made Milwaukee Famous, and White Denim.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh, there's some good bands there but the only band on that list that would make me go "Holy Shit I can't wait to see them" are Okkervil River but considering that they live in Austin I imagine most of the potential attendees will have seen them plenty of times. Still it's your $170 or so. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings could kick all kinds of ass though, that broad has some set of pipes.
Poor Kitty.
Now that Chan Marshall has a (theoretically kick-ass but in reality kinda overwhelming) backing band with her all she needs to worry about is keeping her gorgeously rich voice in good nick. Unfortunately (and this is the sort of injury that can come from overuse, and she's been gigging a lot recently) she's been forced to cancel a few Cat Power shows this week due to problems with her vocal cords. The lady herself explained in a MySpace bulletin over the weekend …
yeah, phoenix ear nose and throat doctor said
i should take a week off of singing, if i want to
continue touring for the rest of this year,
also, if i don't want to risk ruining my vocal chords permanently, as
i have a callous on the right side of my vocal chords, and a hint of a
new one on the left.
to say yesterday was a very depressing and
upsetting day for me and my band is to say the
very least.
i sincerely apologize for any inconvenience
that this has imposed on anybody.
all i can do is apologize.
i would not wish the way that i felt yesterday
on anybody.
if you need gas money for all that long distance driving to last
night's phoenix show, maybe i can send you a western union wire for
all your gas,
or you could just pawn my c.d.
or throw it out
the window for that matter, how about that,
sound fair?
x
with love, frustration, feeling misunderstood
and unplugging myspace page,
yours,
chan human
In other words the following gigs have been shit canned …
In other Cat Power news there was a bit of a mix up with the crediting of one of the songs Marshall covered on Jukebox, her most recent covers album. One of the songs on the record is the late Jessie Mae Hemphill's "Lord, Help the Poor And Needy" and an issue has arisen over the way that Matador (Marshall's label) has credited the song. On the album's liner notes it reads, "Traditional, by Jessie Mae Hemphill, arranged by Chan Marshall, Public Domain." However according to SK Weekly the song is not Public Domain and Hemphill's estate are seeking royalties from Marshall. Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation founder Olga Wilhelmine Mathus told SF Weekly, "The money from that song should go to Jessie's estate and be divided up among her relatives, who, much like Jessie, are poor, elderly black people, many of whom are living off welfare."
Matador claim that the issue was resolved before the SF Weekly article went to press telling Pitchfork, We fixed the error within a week of being made aware of it, and before any royalties were due. The Matador production head compiled the songwriting and publishing credits on behalf of Chan, and she had absolutely nothing to do with the incorrect credit. We are longtime fans of Jessie Mae Hemphill-- hence her being mentioned in the credit for a song we believed was public domain-- and are in fact thrilled that her estate will receive royalties for Chan's interpretation of this song. The SF Weekly article, unfortunately, contains both misleading and inaccurate information that we hope will be retracted.
Dr. David Evans who is Hemhill's publisher has apparently been "in friendly contact with Matador Records, and things seem to be moving toward [the] licensing of the song."
So it appears that Matador made a genuine error and are making moves to remedy the situation and The Hemphill Foundation seem happy enough with how things are working out and in fact seem glad of the exposure that the story has thrown up and have said, "I think it's good that someone of Cat Power's visibility covers a song like this, as it makes it more accessible for the more mainstream audience," Mathus told SF Weekly. "A lot of folks were turned on to R.L. Burnside after Jon Spencer came out with a record on him, so perhaps this will turn more people on to Jessie's music, the music of the North Mississippi hill country, and the life and struggles of many of these artists."
Finally on the subject of Cat Power, I've no interest in Chan other than her musical output and the little crush that I'm harbouring for her; that is to say her personal circumstances don't and shouldn't really concern me. Does it make me a bad person to say that I much preferred the material she came up with when she was desperately unhappy and a little crazy to the stuff she's doing now that she's stable and happy?
YES!
Quick one this …
The following is set to be released in coming months …
My Bloody Valentine - 4CD + DVD Complete Box [4CD+DVD] [Limited Release]
Description
Japan-only complete box set from My Bloody Valentine commemorating the band's upcoming performance at the Fuji Rock Festival 2008. Includes the album's "Isn't Anything," "Loveless," EP collection, and unreleased recordings collection (w/ 16-page booklet featuring liner notes from Everett True). Each album features cardboard sleeve case. Also includes bonus DVD with music videos for the songs "You Made Me Realise," "Swallow," "Feed Me With Your Kiss," "Only Shallow," "To Heart Knows When," and "Soon." *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.
Radiohead best of DVD.
Not satisfied with putting out the unsanctioned (but at least they'll be seeing money out of it) CD/Vinyl best in the coming months Parlophone/EMI are all set to release a Radiohead DVD. Radiohead: The Best Of collects 21 of the band's videos that have been shot by the likes of Grant Gee, Michael Gondry, Sophie Muller and Jonathan Glazer amongst others.
It'll be out on my side of the world on June 2nd and the following day in North America.
Tracklisting:
01 Creep
02 Anyone Can Play Guitar
03 Pop Is Dead
04 Stop Whispering
05 My Iron Lung
06 High and Dry (UK version)
07 High and Dry (US version)
08 Fake Plastic Trees
09 Just
10 Street Spirit (Fade Out)
11 Paranoid Android
12 Karma Police
13 No Surprises
14 Pyramid Song
15 Knives Out
16 I Might Be Wrong
17 Push Pulk / Spinning Plates
18 There There
19 Go to Sleep
20 Sit Down Stand Up
21 2+2=5 (Live at Belfort Festival)
The YouTube video of the week
There was a whole lot of Tom Waits love in the 411forums last week. Here's one of the best things that was posted.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Islands
04-17 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
04-18 Champaign, IL - IMC
04-19 Madison, WI - Club 770
04-21 Denver, CO - Bluebird
04-22 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
04-24 Los Angeles, CA - UCLA
04-26 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
04-30 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone
05-01 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
05-22 Washington, DC - Black Cat
05-23 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
05-24 New York, NY - Webster Hall
05-25 Boston, MA - Middle East
05-27 Ottawa, Ontario - Babylon
05-28 Montreal, Quebec - Le National
05-29 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix
05-30 London, Ontario - Call the Office
05-31 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight
06-01 Detroit, MI - Crofoot
06-02 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
06-03 Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
06-04 Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
06-05 Winnipeg, Manitoba - West End Cultural Centre
06-06 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Amigo's
06-07 Edmonton, Alberta - Starlite
06-08 Calgary, Alberta - Warehouse
06-10 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club
06-12 Seattle, WA - Neumos
06-13 Portland, OR - Hawthorne
06-14 Eugene, OR - U of O Grad Fest
06-16 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's
06-17 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
06-19 San Diego, CA - Epicentre
06-20 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
06-21 Phoenix, AZ - Clubhouse
06-23 Austin, TX - Emo's
06-24 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
06-25 Houston, TX - Walter's
06-26 Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's Cafe
06-27 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
06-28 Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
White Rabbits + Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
05-20 Chicago, IL - Schubas
05-21 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
05-23 Spokane, WA - Caterina Winery
05-24 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
05-27 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
05-28 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
05-29 Las Vegas, NV - Beauty Bar
05-30 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
05-31 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
06-02 St. Louis, MO - The Bluebird
06-04 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
06-05 Washington, DC - Black Cat
White Rabbits
04-28 Manchester, England - Night & Day Café
04-29 London, England - The Borderline
04-30 Nottingham, England - Bodega Social
05-01 Bristol, England - Thekla
05-02 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice'n'Sleazy
05-03 Leeds, England - The Faversham
05-04 Birmingham, England - Academy
05-06 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05-08 Munich, Germany - Kleine Elserhalle *
05-09 Dresden, Germany - Starclub *
05-11 Frankfurt, Germany - Baschkapp *
05-12 Berlin, Germany - Lido *
05-13 Hamburg, Germany - U&G *
05-14 Haldern, Germany - Saal Tepferdt *
05-19 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
05-25 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch!)
* with Guillemots, Loney Dear
Silver Jews
05-07 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
05-08 Leeds, England - City Varities Music Hall
05-09 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
05-10 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Black Box
05-11 Dundalk, Ireland - Spirit Store
05-14 Cork, Ireland - Cyprus Avenue
05-15 Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dubh
05-16 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
05-18 Minehead, England - Butlins Holiday Resort (Explosions in the Sky ATP)
05-20 Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik *
05-21 Berlin, Germany - Columbia Club *
05-22 Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik *
05-23 St. Gallen, Switzerland - Palace Theatre *
05-25 Paris, France - Point Ephemere *
05-27 Manchester, England - The Dancehouse Theatre *
05-28 Liverpool, England - The Zanzibar Club
05-29 London, England - Indig02 *
05-30-31 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
* with Monotonix
Magnetic Fields
06-22 Barcelona, Spain - Auditori del Forum
06-23 Madrid, Spain - Teatro Lope de Vega
06-25 Malaga, Spain - Teatro Cervantes
06-26 Lisbon, Portugal - Aula Magna
06-28 Gothenburg, Sweden - Lorensbergsteatern
06-29 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus
07-08 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
07-09 London, England - Cadogan Hall
07-10 London, England - Cadogan Hall
Stars Of The Lid
04-14 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex *
04-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
04-17 Portland, OR - Holocene (Wordless Music Series) *
04-18 Seattle, WA - Triple Door *
04-21 Minneapolis, MN - Southern Theater (Wordless Music Series) *
04-22 Champaign, IL - Staerkel Planetarium *
04-23 Grinnell, IA - Sebring-Lewis Concert Hall *
04-24 Louisville, KY - 9:30 Listening Room *
04-25 Pittsburgh, PA - Warhol Museum *
04-26 Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theater *
04-27 London, Ontario - Museum London *
04-28 Toronto, Ontario - Music Gallery *
04-29 Montreal, Quebec - Memorial Masonic Temple *
05-01 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts *
05-02 New York, NY - Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church (Wordless Music Series)
05-03 Philadelphia, PA - St. Mary's Episcopal Church *
05-04 Washington, DC - Iota Club & Café *
05-05 Asheville, NC - Fine Arts Theatre *
05-07 Austin, TX - Ritz Theatre *
05-08 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
05-17 Minehead, England - Butlins Holiday Centre (Explosions in the Sky ATP)
05-19 Bristol, England - Cube Microplex Cinema
05-20 London, England - St Giles-in-the-Fields Church
05-21 Birmingham, England - Hare & Hounds
05-22 Glasgow, Scotland - Stereo
05-23 Aberdeen, Scotland - The Tunnels
05-24 Newcastle, England - Church of St. Thomas the Martyr
05-25 Leeds, England - Holy Trinity Church
* with Christopher Willits
The Field
04-25 Saratoga Springs, NY - Skidmore College *
04-27 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
04-30 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
05-01 Portland, OR - Holocene
05-02 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
05-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Open Studios
05-18 Minehead, England - Butlins Holiday Centre (Explosions in the Sky ATP)
05-31 Montreal, Quebec - Mutek (live band) ^
06-13 Athens, Greece - Synch Festival
06-19-21 Barcelona, Spain - Sonar Festival
07-05 Stevenage, England - Wild in the Country Festival
07-25 Oulu, Finland - Qstock
08-09 London, England - Victoria Park (Field Day)
* with Ghostface
^ with Carl Craig, Chloe, Nôze, Kode9, Quiet Village
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Walt Mink – El Producto
Why? – A Sampler that a friend of mine made as I've only heard Alopecia.
The bit at the end
Heavy-ish week of gigging coming up. On Wednesday I'll be seeing Sebadoh "classic" for the first time and then on Saturday I'll be pulling double duty with a Phosphorescent early show then off to see Why?. I'd be going out to see Jape preview material from his forthcoming album tonight (Monday) except I've got family coming over. Damn family.
With the release of PES and MarioKart I finally relented and bought a WII last week. So much fun. Thanks for your years of service PS2, here's your gold watch.
Semi permanent plug for my blog. The usual bullshit about football, more Tom Waits videos, a song from the forthcoming Scarlet Johansson album and more.
I think it's just me, but...well...I really like the Vampire Weekend album. I'm well aware it's a group of college twats fooling around with music, but I see promise. They'll get better, anyway.
Posted By: Jimmy (Guest) on April 22, 2008 at 11:00 AM
