Dancing About Architecture 5.27.08
Posted by Ian Wright on 05.27.2008
New releasese from Okkervil River, Sonic Youth, Iron And Wine, Brian Wilson and more.
The bit at the start
Once again I need to extend my thanks to Adam Tool for filling in for the second time in 3 weeks last week. As he noted I was away at ATP the weekend before last and at the time that I'd normally be preparing this column on Monday I, along with most of the rest of the plane was napping on the 45 minute flight home from Bristol. I don't think there's ever been more people asleep on a mid-afternoon short haul flight in history than there was on that one. Plenty of food for the Langoliers anyway (bonus points for anyone who gets that reference and why I made it).
On the subject of going to gigs.
You know when you're confronted with a giant cake? And it looks really delicious? There was probably loads of chocolate involved in making it, fudge too. Or strawberrys and cream if you're into some a little lighter and summery. And you eat the whole thing? Then you feel a little sick afterwards?
No?
Well congrats on never having issues with your weight.
I reckon that since the 7th of this month I've seen at least 32 different acts in 9 venues and 2 countries. I'd say that I need a break but June sees Bon Iver and Dan Deacon hit Dublin which are pretty much unmissable as far as I'm concerned as well and Evangelicals, The Dodos, Radiohead, Low, Bonnie Prince Billie and probably a whole bunch more that I've not mentioned. Can someone get sick of live music? In my case it appears not. That being said if the European Championships turn out to be good and mean that I stay in a few more evenings in June I won't be complaining too much.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Silver Jews – Bright Flight
"Tennesse" may contain the worst pun ever, still great though.
You news, you lose
Yay, great news.
How fast does Will Sheff write songs?
I dunno but it's pretty fast. Come September 9th, just 13 months after Okkervil River put out their last record Jagjaguar will release the band's 5th full length album.
The Stand Ins is said to be a companion piece to last year's The Stage Names and most of the songs that are set to appear on the new record most likely date from those sessions.
This isn't the first time that Okkervil River has done something like this. On each of their previous 2 albums Down The River Of Golden Dreams and Black Sheep Boy the band have subsequently issued off cuts from those records but this is the first time that the release will be an album, prior to that they'd put out EP's.
Starbucks. Still lame.
I used to have a much older girlfriend from New York. She worked in a coffee shop in her college days around the same time that Sonic Youth had a practice space in Green St. in the city and told me once that she used to regularly serve coffee to Thurston Moore and Kim Gordan. She didn't work in a Starbucks.
So I'm using this minor piece of personal history to condemn Sonic Youth for finally getting around to releasing the Starbucks exclusive compilation that they first announced last year. The sell outs, they don't even drink there (or at least they didn't 17 years ago, it's sketchy evidence but I'm going with it).
Nah not really. But in all seriousness in an age where independent record shops are struggling I wince a little whenever I walk into a place that isn't a specialist music shop and see using music as a loss leader. Then again the type of person that shops in record stores exclusively might not be the sort who'd be into best ofs and compilations normally.
Anyway if you're so inclined from June 10th you can buy Hits Are For Squares, a 15 track Sonic Youth comp where the songs have been selected by the likes of Eddie Vedder, Dave Eggers, David Cross, and Chloë Sevigny, Radiohead, Beck, the Flaming Lips, Mike Watt, Flea, Mike D, Gus Van Sant, and Diablo Cody as well as one new song.
Tracklisting:
01 Bull in the Heather [selected by Catherine Keener]
02 Sugar Kane [selected by Beck]
03 100% [selected by Mike D]
04 Kool Thing [selected by Radiohead]
05 Disappearer [selected by Portia de Rossi]
06 Stones [selected by Allison Anders]
07 Tuff Gnarl [selected by Dave Eggers and Mike Watt]
08 Teenage Riot [selected Eddie Vedder]
09 Shadow of a Doubt [selected by Michelle Williams]
10 Rain on Tin [selected by Flea]
11 Tom Violence [selected by Gus Van Sant]
12 Mary-Christ [selected by David Cross]
13 World Looks Red [selected by Chloë Sevigny]
14 Expressway to Yr Skull [selected by the Flaming Lips]
15 Slow Revolution [exclusive]
Someone had to be the lameo to pick "Teenage Riot" but I bet no one wanted it to be them. If I was Mike Watt I'd have picked "Providence".
New Iron And Wine EP.
I think the headline pretty much covers it. In the UK on June 2nd Trangressive records will issue a new three song EP for "Lovesong Of The Buzzard," a song from Sam Beam's last album. The EP will come with the non (normal) album tracks "The Arms Of A Thief" and "Serpent Charmer" which were included on the limited edition expanded version of The Shepherd's Dog.
Uh what?
3 songs?
One of which was on an album (actually all of them were on an album if you want to be pedantic).
How is this an EP and not a single?
Anyway it'll be there to buy if you're interested.
Keep Smiling.
Brian Wilson's Smile! could possibly have had the longest gestation period of any album in history yet Wilson obsessives are only going to have to wait 4 years for it's proper follow up.
The Lucky Old Son will drop on September 2nd on Capital on CD, deluxe CD/DVD, vinyl and digitally and according to the press release "a musical love letter from Southern California" and "an autobiographical travelogue of sorts." Wilson himself describes the album as an "interwoven series of 'rounds' with interspersed spoken word."
I'm sure it's going to be a hell of a lot more fun than Wilson describes it, it's a Brian Wilson album ferchrissakes.
In vaguely related news The Beach Boys: U.S. Singles Collection - The Capitol Years (1962-1965) will be out on June 10th.
Tracklisting:
01 That Lucky Old Sun
02 Morning Beat
03 That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
04 Good Kind of Love
05 Forever My Surfer Girl
06 That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
07 Live Let Live
08 Mexican Girl
09 That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
10 California Role
11 That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
12 Oxygen
13 Can't Wait Too Long (vocal excerpt)
14 Midnight's Another Day
15 Going Home
16 Southern California
Stupid Punctuation Ho!%
¡Forward, Russia! are set to release their second album Life Processes in North America on July 22nd. It's a concept album with "each song describing a particular facet of life," which doesn't sound like much of a concept.
Here's the tracklist:
01 Welcome to the Moment (The Rest of Your Life)
02 We Are Grey Matter
03 A Prospector Can Dream
04 Spring Is a Condition
05 Don't Reinvent What You Don't Understand
06 Some Buildings
07 Breaking Standing
08 Gravity & Heat
09 Fosbury in Discontent
10 A Shadow Is a Shadow Is a Shadow
11 Spanish Triangles
The YouTube video of the week
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Stars
06-07 Toronto, Ontario - Olympic Island
06-20 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Pantages Playhouse Theatre (Jazz Winnipeg Festival)
06-21 Vancouver, British Columbia - The Malkin Bowl (Stanley Park)
06-22 Calgary, Alberta - Virgin Festival
06-24 Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
06-25 Stockholm, Sweden - Accelerator Festival
06-27 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli de Helling
06-28 Cergy Pontoise, France - Furia Sound Festival
06-29 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
07-08 Ottawa, Ontario - Ottawa Bluesfest
08-24 San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands Festival)
08-25 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford Theatre
09-28 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Music Festival)
Frightened Rabbit
05-27 New York, NY - Pianos *
05-28 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop ^
05-29 Chicago, IL - Double Door ^
05-30 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon ^
05-31 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar ^
06-01 Chicago, IL - Do Division Festival
06-02 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar ^
06-04 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre ^
06-05 Austin, TX - The Mohawk ^
06-06 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington ^
06-07 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon ^
06-09 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree ^
06-10 Nashville, TN - Exit/In ^
06-11 Columbus, OH - The Basement ^
06-14 Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room !
06-15 Denver, CO - Hi Dive !
06-18 Seattle, WA - Nectar !
06-19 Portland, OR - Holocene !
06-21 San Francisco, CA - The Independent !
06-22 Los Angeles, CA - Roxy Theatre !
06-23 San Diego, CA - Casbah !
06-24 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room !
06-27 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
06-30 Washington, DC - Black Cat !
07-01 Cambridge, MA - TT the Bear's
* with Relay
^ with French Kicks
! with Oxford Collapse
Ted Leo
06-01 Chicago, IL - Do Division Festival
06-12 Toronto, Ontario - The Mod Club Theater
06-13 Toronto, Ontario - Dundas Square
06-16 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
06-19 Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center *
06-20 Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center *
06-21 Richmond, VA - Gallery 5
06-22 Washington, DC - Verizon Center *
06-24 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
06-25 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
06-26 Poughkeepsie, NY - Cunneen Hackett Theatre
06-27 Hartford, CT - New England Dodge Music Center *
06-28 Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center *
06-30 Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center *
07-17 New York, NY - Castle Clinton (Battery Park)
* with Pearl Jam
Tom Waits
06-17 Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum
06-18 Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum
06-20 El Paso, TX - Plaza Theatre
06-22 Houston, TX - Jones Hall
06-23 Dallas, TX - Palladium
06-25 Tulsa, OK - Brady Theatre
06-26 St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
06-28 Columbus, OH - Ohio Theatre
06-29 Knoxville, TN - Civic Theatre
07-01 Jacksonville, FL - Moran Theatre
07-02 Mobile, AL - Saenger Theatre
07-03 Birmingham, AL - Alabama Theatre
07-05 Atlanta, GA - Fox Theatre
07-12 San Sebastián, Spain - Auditorium Kursaal
07-14 Barcelona, Spain - Auditorium Forum
07-15 Barcelona, Spain - Auditorium Forum
07-17 Milan, Italy - Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
07-18 Milan, Italy - Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
07-19 Milan, Italy - Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
07-21 Prague, Czech Republic - KCP
07-22 Prague, Czech Republic - KCP
07-24 Paris, France - Grand Rex
07-25 Paris, France - Grand Rex
07-27 Edinburgh, Scotland - Playhouse
07-28 Edinburgh, Scotland - Playhouse
07-30 Dublin, Ireland - The Ratcellar at Phoenix Park
07-31 Dublin, Ireland - The Ratcellar at Phoenix Park
08-01 Dublin, Ireland - The Ratcellar at Phoenix Park
Spiritualized
05-19 Sheffield, England - The Plug
05-20 London, England - Koko
05-23 Athens, Greece - Gagarin Club
05-24 Bristol, England - Dot to Dot Festival
05-25 Nottingham, England - Dot to Dot Festival
05-26 London, England - Rough Trade (East) (in-store)
05-28 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
05-29 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Mandela Hall
05-30 Bologna, Italy - Estragon (Rocker Festival)
06-29 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
07-04 Kufstein, Austria - Transmission Festival
07-10 Lisbon, Portugal - Alive Festival
07-12 Liege, Belgium - Les Ardentes Festival
07-18 Benicassim, Spain - Benicassim Festival
07-20 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival) $
07-21 Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue
07-22 Nashville, TN - City Hall
07-23 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
07-25 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
07-27 New York, NY - Terminal 5
08-01 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
08-02 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
08-03 Montreal, Quebec - Parc Jean Drapeau (Osheaga)
08-06 Toronto, Ontario - Toronto Islands Park
08-09 Tokyo, Japan - Summersonic Festival
08-10 Osaka, Japan - Summersonic Festival
08-15 Glanusk Park, Wales - Green Man Festival
08-30 Argyll, Scotland - Connect Festival
09-06 Toronto, Ontario - Toronto Islands Park
09-17 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl !
09-20-21 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
09-27 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits)
10-09 Newcastle, England - Carling Academy
10-10 Leeds, England - Leeds University Union
10-11 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
10-13 Oxford, England - Academy
10-14 Portsmouth, England - Pyramid Centre
10-15 Birmingham, England - Birmingham Academy
10-16 London, England - Roundhouse
$ with Spoon, Dinosaur Jr., 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, HEALTH, High Places, Mahjongg, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International
! with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cat Power
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
The bit at the end
2 weeks off in the past month but I think it'll all be plain sailing for the foreseeable future. Once again thanks to Adam for the fill in. Check him out in the MMA zone.
Semi permanent plug for my blog. Of late I've been talking about the new Hold Steady album and a whole bunch of live performances.
