Dancing About Architecture 10.21.08

Posted by Ian Wright on 10.21.2008

Radio albums, Mork Kozelek, No Age, Los Campesinos! and Times New Viking, Weezer, M. Ward and OH MA GAWD Jeff Mangum playing live and last week and more.

The bit at the start

So on Friday night I went to the Drowned In Sound "Shred Yr Face" tour in Dublin with Times New Viking, No Age and Los Campesinos!.

Despite the name of the tour my face is still in one piece though thanks to a certain punk two-piece from LA it was a close run thing at one point.

I arrived at the venue later than I'd planned to thanks to a couple of cars shunting into each other on the N4 and causing 20 minute tailback so when I made it into the venue at 8:10 Times New Viking were midway through their set (way too early for them, they went on as soon as the doors opened). It turns out that behind all the fuzz on their records they do have actual honest to God songs. Songs that are only OK to good. Midway through their set a friend leaned over to me to exclaim to me how "fucking brilliant" TNV were. I just don't see it myself.

Next up were the reason I was giving up my regular poker game, No Age. There's little that I think I need to say about Randy Randall and Dean Spunt other than I think that they actually are "fucking brilliant". OK fair enough, they use a lot of backing samples and the like but even so for only 2 guys they get a massive live sound what with Spunt hammering the hell out of his cymbals and Randall's furious guitar playing (the guy needs a tech to restring/retune his guitars for him though). By a country mile those 2 are my favourite band that I'd never heard of before 2008 and despite what "Kill Your Idols" argued about the like of Liars and Yeah Yeah Yeahs it's No Age that are the most obvious heirs apparent to Sonic Youth's aural boundary pushing throne to emerge this decade.

And then there was poor Los Campesinos!. To their credit they're the ones who picked the bill for the tour so they must have known what they were getting into but there aren't many bands that could follow what went on before them. They gave it loads though but despite their best efforts their music just seemed a little flimsy. The good songs off of their first album were good, most of the stuff from their forthcoming second album wasn't really. But they nearly pulled it off thanks to a raucous closing salvo of "You, Me, Dancing" and "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks" that culminated in most of the band sharing their mics with the crowd up the front which if nothing else ended proceedings on a high note.

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

Frightened Rabbit – Liver! Lung! FR!



Live collection from one of my favourite new bands.

You news, you lose

Maybe this time he'll find some of his god songs behind the sofa.

Let's face it. Weezer have lost it. And how.

It's almost sad to see considering just how perfect a pop tune they could produce at the height of their pomp back in the 90's.

So it's with massive indifference and no little trepidation that I convey the news that Rivers Cuomo's second set of demos, entitled Alone 2: The Home Recordings will be released via UMG on November 25th.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to weep in a darkened room whilst fondling a copy of the blue album and bemoan just how far the mighty have fallen.

Mmmmm, Ward.

OK so his album with Zooey Deschanel was perfectly fine and acceptable but the fact that I've not bothered to listen to it in months and months pretty much nails precisely how much regard I have for Volume 1. But the news that M. Ward is preparing his follow up to the wonderful Post War fills my heart with all the joys of springtime, even if it's now well into the autumn.

Coming on February 17th via Merge/4AD depending on where you live in the world Hold Time will feature guest appearances from Lucinda Williams, former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle, DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman, and Zooey Deschanel.

Tracklisting:

01 For Beginners
02 Never Had Nobody Like You
03 Jailbird
04 Hold Time
05 Rave On
06 To Save Me
07 One Hundred Million Years
08 Stars of Leo
09 Fisher of Men
10 Oh Lonesome Me
11 Epistemology
12 Blake's View
13 Shangri-La
14 Outro

Aside from the new solo album Ward is keeping busy with work already begun on the second She & Him record and the long touted collaboration between himself, Conor Oberst and Jim James of My Morning Jacket slated for 2010, just so long as James can go a week without seriously injuring himself.

Koz he can.

Probably one of the more overlooked talents in the American singer-songwriter oeuvre Mark Kozelek be it as a solo artist or as part of Sun Kill Moon and red House Painters.

But for his next release The Finally LP ol' Mark is taking a backseat on the songwriting front and including 8 covers of songs by the likes of Husker Du, Will Oldham, Low and others. Most of the tracks have appeared on previous comps but a few have never been released before. The album is out on December 9th from Kozelek's own Caldo Verde label.

01 Piano Song *
02 Finally [Kath Bloom cover]
03 New Partner [Will Oldham/Palace Music cover]
04 Send in The Clowns [Stephen Sondheim cover]
05 Lazy [Low cover]
06 Bedtime Lullaby [Jarond Gibbs/"Yo Gabba Gabba!" cover]
07 Celebrated Summer [Hüsker Dü cover] *
08 My Friend Bob [Dom Leone cover]
09 If You Want Blood [AC/DC cover] *
10 Gaping Mouth *

* previously unreleased

On the subject of covers albums, or rather of albums with covers on them.

Yesterday (well today as I'm writing it) volume 3 of BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge compilation was released. The 2 disc set collects 40 performances on annoying DJ Jo Whiley's weekdaily radio show, some of them are stripped down versions of her guests doing their own material. Some of semi-ironic covers of the pop smashes of whatever week whoever it was was in the studio.

Sound hellish? It probably is.

Though R.E.M. covering Editors, is semi intriguing in a "what's worse, modern era R.E.M. or any era Editors" sort of way.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:

01 Duffy: "Mercy"
02 The Ting Tings: "Standing in the Way of Control" [Gossip cover]
03 Dizzee Rascal: "That's Not My Name" [The Ting Tings cover]
04 Sam Sparro: "American Boy" [Estelle cover]
05 Pendulum: "Violet Hill" [Coldplay cover]
06 The Streets: "Blinded by the Lights"
07 McFly: "I Kissed a Girl" [Katy Perry cover]
08 The Kooks: "Shine On"
09 Newton Faulkner: "Foundations" [Kate Nash cover]
10 Panic at the Disco: "Nine in the Afternoon"
11 Girls Aloud: "With Every Heartbeat" [Robyn/Kleerup cover]
12 The Feeling: "Work" [Kelly Rowland cover]
13 The Hoosiers: "LoveStoned" [Justin Timberlake cover]
14 The Wombats: "Moving to New York"
15 Paramore: "Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)" [Kaiser Chiefs cover]
16 Elliot Minor: "Rule the World" [Take That cover]
17 Ida Maria: "Sweet About Me" [Gabriella Cilmi cover]
18 R.E.M.: "Munich" [Editors cover]
19 Glasvegas: "Daddy's Gone"
20 Foo Fighters: "Keep the Car Running" [Arcade Fire cover]

Disc 2:

01 The Script: "Lose Yourself" [Eminem cover]
02 Adele: "Chasing Pavements"
03 Elbow: "One Day Like This"
04 Scouting for Girls: "Elvis Ain't Dead"
05 Guillemots: "Black and Gold" [Sam Sparro cover]
06 Lupe Fiasco: "Superstar"
07 Ironik: "Stay With Me"
08 Kate Nash: "Fluorescent Adolescent" [Arctic Monkeys cover]
09 Goldfrapp: "It's Not Over Yet" [Grace cover]
10 The Pigeon Detectives: "Ready for the Floor" [Hot Chip cover]
11 Kasabian: "LSF"
12 Athlete: "Wires"
13 The Zutons: "Beautiful" [Christina Aguilera cover]
14 The Automatic: "Love in This Club" [Usher cover]
15 Santogold: "Hometown Glory" [Adele cover]
16 Alphabeat: "10,000 Nights"
17 Bat for Lashes: "Sweet Dreams" [Eurythmics cover]
18 Ne-Yo: "Closer"
19 Rihanna: "Hate That I Love You"
20 Estelle: "American Boy"

Another radio comp.

This time it's from the people at WFUV in Fordham University (which is in New York apparently) who release their 11th compilation of on-air sessions. But the difference between this one and the previously mentioned BBC one is that this one has some actual good bands on it, playing their own songs (one would presume unironically). It's out today and you can order it from the station website

These are the songs that are on it.

01 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: "100 Days, 100 Nights"
02 A3: "Woke Up This Morning"
03 Amos Lee: "Listen"
04 Sheryl Crow: "Love Is Free"
05 The Subdudes: "Poor Man's Paradise"
06 KT Tunstall: "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
07 Iron & Wine: "Resurrection Fern"
08 Regina Spektor: "Summer in the City"
09 Aimee Mann: "Borrowing Time"
10 Joe Henry: "Time Is a Lion"
11 Jesca Hoop: "Out the Backdoor"
12 The Black Keys: "Strange Times"
13 The Hold Steady: "Stay Positive"
14 Gary Louris: "Omaha Nights"
15 Nada Surf: "Weightless"
16 Bell X1: "Rocky Took a Lover"
17 Stars: "Midnight Coward"
18 Sia: "Little Black Sandals"
19 Sinead O'Connor: "Something Beautiful"

The YouTube video of the week

The return of the Magnum, part 2. This time Jeff played one of his own songs.



If you can you should go to these gigs.

The Constantines

11-27 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlite Room
11-28 London, Ontario - Call the Office
11-29 Peterborough, Ontario - Montreal House
12-04 Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit's Soundlab *
12-05 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's Place *
12-06 Danbury, CT - Heirloom Arts Centre *
12-07 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
12-09 Baltimore, MD - Bedrock *
12-11 Pittsburgh, PA - Thunderbird Cafe #
12-12 Columbus, OH - The Summit #
12-13 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle #
12-14 Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room #
12-19 Hamilton, Ontario - Wentworth Room

* with Tim Fite
# with Obits

Titus Andronicus

10-22 Cincinnati, OH - Gypsy Hut
10-23 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10-25 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
10-27 San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
10-29 Pomona, CA - Pomona College
10-30 San Diego, CA - Casbah *
10-31 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress *
11-02 Norman, OK - The Opolis *
11-03 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note *
11-04 Bloomington, IN - Buskirk-Chumley Theater *
11-05 Pittsburgh, PA - Diesel *
11-09 New York, NY - Santos Party House
11-11 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church ^
11-13 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle ^
11-14 Athens, GA - 40 Watt ^
11-15 Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light ^
11-16 St. Louis, MO - Gargoyle Club ^
11-17 Madison, WI - University of Madison ^
11-18 Chicago, IL - Reggies Rock Club ^
12-02 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
12-04 San Francisco, CA - TBA

$ with the So So Glos
* with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
^ with No Age

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio

The bit at the end

Radiohead apparently sold 3 million copies of In Rainbows. This whole pick your own price thing seems to have paid off.

I'm off next week as I'm going to New York tomorrow (or is it today? I dunno. I'm flying on Tuesday anyways). Maybe there'll be someone filling in for me next week. Or maybe there won't. We shall see.

Semi permanent plug for my blog. Football talk, some gig reviews, a song from the FR live set, new material from Sunset Rubdown and more.