Dancing About Architecture 4.29.08
Posted by Ian Wright on 04.29.2008
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, The Field vs. US immigration, ATP New York, Pitchfork Fest lineup finalised, new albums from Bonny Prince Billy and Dresden Dolls, and more.
The bit at the start
The Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip album leaked last week and the immediate first impression is that if you've heard the stuff that's gone to radio in the past year or so then you've heard the best stuff on the record. However that's only half true, if you've heard the stuff that's gone to radio in he past year you've heard the best of Dan Le Sac's contributions to the record because the glitchy, stuttering, catchy beats that were such a strong element of early singles "Thou Shalt Always Kill", "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" and the Radiohead sampling "A Letter From God To Man" don't feature nearly as much on the other songs on the pair's debut album.
Instead the more discrete but no worse sounds that he's constructed allow the focus to fall more on the words of Scroobius Pip. It's a good idea too as Pip's rhymes on the non-singles touch on some pretty heavy stuff. At times he addresses, with his slightly skewed but constantly moral world view isolation, child abuse, depression, suicide and it's aftermath, and our contemporary idea of what beauty is (and puts forth a compelling argument that if you want to find what beauty really is then look no further than Tommy Cooper dying on stage to rapturous applause). This guy has something to say and I don't think the dichotomy of putting those words to club friendly beats would have sat too well.
Pip is at his best when he allows his slamming past to shine though. He seems more comfortable when his flow comes across more like poetry rather then that of a more conventional MC and it's on songs like those, and in particular on "Magicians Assistant", is he most affecting and does he seem to have the most gravitas.
It's a super record, not the one that I thought they'd make but how it's turned out is a really pleasant surprise.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Mission Of Burma Vs.
Recently reissued. A magnificent and influential proto post-punk album.
You news, you lose
ATP ATP ATP NYC NYC NYC
Well not NYC as such. Upstate New York in fact.
However ATP are coming to the east coast of the US, Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, New York to be precise on the weekend of September 19-21.
The event is being curated by My Bloody Valentine. They'll be playing.
Let me repeat.
IT'S BEING CURATED BY MY MOTHERFUCKING BLOODY VALENTINE. THEY'LL BE PLAYING.
The shoegaze legends will be making their first US appeareance in 16 years and if that wasn't enough they've picked the following bands to play with them.
Built to Spill performing Perfect From Now On
Meat Puppets performing Meat Puppets II
Thurston Moore performing Psychic Hearts
Tortoise performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Shellac
Mogwai
Polvo
Fuck Buttons
Autolux
The Drones
Low
Wooden Shjips
Edan with Dagha
Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra.
Gemma Hayes
Tickets are limited to 3,000 and have been on sale since last Friday here.
With the exception of MBV were this festival being held over here I'd be a little critical of it because they're sort of trotting out some of the old regulars again but seeing as this is the first US ATP in years and the first time they've done the Eastern side of the country I'll give them a break. I imagine that there'll be many a trust fund cashed in to make it to this.
I steal much of my news from them so I may as well plug their festival Final Update.
Oh you lucky Chicagoans. The final additions to the lineup for the good-value-at-twice-the-price Pitchfork Music Festival were announced last week and the already stellar lineup somehow improved with the additions of Sebadoh (who I saw last week and enjoyed a great deal) who will perform Bubble And Squeak in it's entirety in conjunction with ATP's Don't Look Back Series, The Hold Steady, Elf Power, Bon Iver and Caribou.
Also added to the bill but who I'm not in a position to say are good or bad additions are Titus Andronicus, Icy Demons, Boban I Marko Markovic Orkestar, Times New Vikings, Health, High Places and Mahjongg.
So the final lineup now looks like
Friday, July 18:
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
Sebadoh performing Bubble and Scrape
Mission of Burma performing Vs.
Saturday, July 19:
Animal Collective
Jarvis Cocker
The Hold Steady
!!!
Vampire Weekend
Dizzee Rascal
Fleet Foxes
Caribou
Jay Reatard
Titus Andronicus
No Age
Atlas Sound
Extra Golden
Elf Power
The Ruby Suns
Icy Demons
A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Occidental Brothers Dance Band International
Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar
Sunday, July 20:
Spoon
Dinosaur Jr.
Spiritualized
M. Ward
Ghostface and Raekwon
Les Savy Fav
The Apples in Stereo
Boris
Dirty Projectors
Times New Viking
Cut Copy
Bon Iver
The Dodos
King Khan & His Shrines
El Guincho
Fuck Buttons
HEALTH
High Places
Mahjongg
The 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).
There can't be any fields in American Cities.
Take it from me, there are certain US Immigration officials who are complete arseholes.
Or you can take it from Axel Willner (a.k.a. The Field) whose touring band fell afoul of US immigration and they, along with their equipment, were barred from entering the US last week causing the cancellation of Willner's short, 7 date, US and Canada west coast tour.
"I'm truly sad to inform that my West Coast tour has been cancelled," explained Willner. "My band didn't get into the country and I feel that I can't perform as interesting as I need to without them. Hopefully we'll be back on the East Coast pretty soon without any problems and do the new set up that I hope people will appreciate. My biggest apology goes out to all the people that were looking forward as much as us to attend the shows that were planned. Next time."
It's a shame and all but I'm surprised that one needs a band when your thing is laptop minimalist techno (though laptop minimalist techno that's exceptionally well done all the same).
Yay Virginia.
No, Viginia is the forthcoming collection of off cuts, b-sides, compilation tunes and fresh material from The Dresden Dolls. The album is said to serve as a companion piece to 2006's Yes Virginia. It'll be out on May 20th on Roadrunner Records.
Tracklisting:
01 Dear Jenny
02 Night Reconnaissance
03 MouseAndTheModel (demo)
04 Ultima Esperanza
05 Gardener (previously unreleased take from the Yes, Virginia sessions)
06 Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner
07 Sorry Bunch
08 Pretty in Pink
09 The Kill (previously unreleased take from the Yes, Virginia sessions)
10 The Sheep Song
11 Boston (previously unreleased take from the Yes, Virginia sessions)
In other related news Amanda Palmer has a number of solo shows booked for New England in the next couple of months which she'll squeeze in between DD dates over the summer.
Bonny wee lad.
Hey, Bonny "Prince" Billy is putting out a new album next month on Drag City. The album doesn't have a release date or tracklist yet, well I'm sure they do but the label hasn't announced it yet, but it will be called Lie Down In The Light and will contain a song called "So Everyone" a demo of which can be heard at the label's site.
This will be the proper follow up to 2006's The Letting Go but between then and now Oldham has put out a live album, a collection of demos and a covers record.
The YouTube video of the week
Dresden Dolls covering NMH.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Wolf Parade
07-07 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
07-08 Chicago, IL - House of Blues
07-09 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
07-12 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
07-13 Seattle, WA - Marymoor Park (Sub Pop Anniversary Party)
07-15 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
07-17 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
07-18 Hollywood, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
07-19 Hollywood, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
07-20 San Diego, CA - Cane's
07-21 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
07-24 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
07-25 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
07-26 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
07-28 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
07-29 Raleigh, NC - Disco Rodeo
07-30 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
07-31 New York, NY - Terminal 5
08-02 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
08-09 Toronto, Ontario Koolhaus
Sigur Ros
06-05 Guadalajara, Mexico - Teatro Degollado
06-07 Tepoztlán, Mexico - Festival La Colmena
06-08 Tijuana, Mexico - Multiculti
06-14 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
06-20 Tuttingen, Germany - Southside Festival
06-22 Bremen, Germany - Hurricane Festival
07-05 Werchter, Germany - Rock Werchter
07-06 Arras, France - Main Square Festival
07-08 Vienna, Austria - Arena Vienna
07-11 Florence, Italy - Guardino di Boboli
07-12 Rome, Italy - Cavea Auditorium
07-13 Milan, Italy - Arena Civica
07-19 Suffolk, England - Latitude Festival
08-07 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08-08 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-19 Prague, Czech Republic - Arena HC Sparta Praha
08-20 Warsaw, Poland - Palladium
08-27 Moscow, Russia - B1
08-29 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival
08-31 Inveraray, Scotland - Hydro Connect Festival
Boris
04-29 Oslo, Norway - John Dee *
04-30 Stockholm, Sweden - Kagelbanan Sodra Teatrn *
05-02 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia *
05-03 Turku, Finland - Klubi
05-06 Leipzig, Germany - UT Connewitz *
05-07 Berlin, Germany - Magnet Club *
05-08 Wroclaw, Poland - Firlej *
05-09 Prague, Czech Republic - Palace Akropolis *
05-10 Budapest, Hungary - A38 ^
05-11 Vienna, Austria - Szene *
05-12 Munich, Germany - Feiewerk *
05-13 Innsburck, Austria - PMK *
05-14 Milan, Italy - Garage *
05-15 Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti Club *
05-16 Ravenna, Italy - Bronson *
05-18 Winterthur, Switzerland - Salzhaus *
05-19 Stuttgart, Germany - Club Schocken *
05-20 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique *
05-21 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino *
05-22 Nantes, France - Olympic *
05-23 Poitiers, France - Le Confort Moderne *
05-24 Toulouse, France - Vents du Sud *
05-26 Porto, Portugal - Porto Rio *
05-27 Lisbon, Portugal - Zedobois *
05-29 Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum (Primavera Sound)
05-30 Clermont, France - La Cooperative de Mai *
05-31 Dudingen, Switzerland - Kilbi Festival
06-24 San Diego, CA - Casbah !
06-25 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse !
06-27 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves !
06-28 Austin, TX - The Mohawk !
06-29 San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit !
07-01 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon !
07-02 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds !
07-03 Orlando, FL - The Social !
07-05 Atlanta, GA - The Earl !
07-06 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle !
07-08 Washington, DC - Black Cat !
07-09 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church !
07-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall !
07-11 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East !
07-12 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rosa !
07-13 Ottawa, Ontario - Barrymore !
07-14 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace !
07-15 Buffalo, NY - Tralf !
07-16 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop !
07-17 Pittsburgh, PA - Diesel !
07-18 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall !
07-19 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall !
07-20 Chicago, IL - Union Park ^
07-22 Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room !
07-23 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre !
07-25 Denver, CO - Marquis Theater !
07-26 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge !
07-29 Seattle, WA - Neumo's !
* with Growing
! with Torche, Wolves in the Throne Room
^ with Spoon, Dinosaur Jr., Spiritualized, M. Ward, Ghostface and Raekwon, Les Savy Fav, The Apples in Stereo, Dirty Projectors, Cut Copy, Dodos, King Khan & the Shrines, El Guincho, Fuck Buttons
Beck
06-25 Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
06-27 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
06-28 St. Gallen, Switzerland - St. Gallen Festival
06-30 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
07-04 London, England - Hyde Park (O2 Wireless Festival)
07-06 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
07-07 Paris, France - Olympia
07-09 Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
08-22 San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands Festival)
08-30 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
09-20 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl ^
09-27 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Festival)
^ with Spoon, MGMT
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Have A Nice Life Deathconcious
Animal Collective Water Curses
The bit at the end
Word of advice if it wasn't immediately obvious. Never try to hit on the same woman as a semi-famous touring indie rock star. Especially if they've played a fantastic gig hours before. You will lose. Not that it's a competition. But you won't even get a cock block in.
I'm playing solo support to Man Man in 2 weeks. Does anyone have 30 minutes worth of music that I could borrow and call my own? Quality not that important.
Semi permanent plug for my blog. Sebadoh live, material from the Le Sac vs. Pip album and other things.
