Dancing About Architecture 01.27.09
Posted by Ian Wright on 01.27.2009
Silver Jews call it a day, Radiohead at the Grammys, Comp CD, Crystal Antlers new album, Bill Callahan, Mick Harvey quits the Bad Seeds and more.
The bit at the start
Hey, I'm tired. But there's some news that needs imparting to you.
So lets do it.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Casiotone for the painfully alone - Etiquette
Lovely lo-fi, indie pop.
You news, you lose
Bummer
David Berman posted the following on the Silver Jews forum last week. It makes me sad.
Hello, my friend.
Cassie and I went to the cave and it looks great. 58 degrees but the humidity makes it feel like 72.
I'm just going to play fifteen songs. My fifteen favorite ones.
A dollar per song. Plus Arnett Hollow. I don't
want to keep you underground for too long. Fall Creek Falls State Park State Lodge is great by the way.
Yes I cancelled the South American shows. I'll have to see the ABC Countries another way.
I guess I am moving over to another category. Screenwriting or Muckraking.
I've got to move on. Can't be like all the careerists doncha know.
I'm forty two and I know what to do.
I'm a writer, see?
Cassie is taking it the hardest. She's a fan and a player but she sees how happy i am with the decision.
I always said we would stop before we got bad. If I continue to record I might accidentally write the answer song to Shiny Happy People.
What, you thought I was going to hang on to the bitter end like Marybeth Hamilton?
love david
This is such shit news. I only got into the Joos in the last year or so but in that short time I've become enraptured with Dave Berman's way with a lyric, no one writes better single lines in songs than he does. At least I got to see them once, at ATP last May.
If you follow that link at the top of the story Berman goes into some rather revealing and interesting stuff about his relationship with his dad.
My father is a despicable man. My father is a sort of human molestor.
An exploiter. A scoundrel. A world historical motherfucking son of a bitch. (sorry grandma)
Ouch, but possibly well deserved after reading the post in full.
Aww, it's a Grammy.
Previously the only thing that I'd ever heard connecting Radiohead to the Grammy awards was an interview with either Ed O'Brien or Colin Greenwood where whichever one of them it was said that he took mushrooms and went to the ceremony.
Well come February 8th the boys from Oxford should probably lay off the psychoactive substances until after the world's second lamest music awards show is over because they'll be performing at the event in LA.
Thom and co will join the likes of Coldplay, Lil Wayne, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, the Jonas Brothers, and Katy Perry in performing so I can only hope that they'll be allowed to do their own thing and not be pressed into one of those hellish once-off special event pairings that the grammys are wont to try to get performers to agree to.
WASH AWAY WHAT WE CREATE.
The motivations of, in fact the just the … people behind the Free Yr Radio campaign maybe be suspect but they are doing a good thing by trying to raise funds for underground radio in the US.
In order to help do so today Free Yr Radio are releasing The Free Yr Radio 2008 Benefit Compilation featuring unreleased material by the likes of No Age and The Walkmen. It's on sale from Insound for the staggeringly low fee of 99 cents though they do ask that purchasers might maybe through in another dollar, but you don't have to.
Tracklisting:
01 !!!: "Must Be the Moon (Live at KEXP)"
02 Chairlift: "At My Side"
03 Yeasayer: "Final Path (Daytrotter Sessions)"
04 White Williams: "Blue Steel"
05 Dan Deacon: "Cave Birth"
06 No Age: "Padded Chair"
07 Mudhoney: "The Lucky Ones (Live)"
08 King Khan & Saba Lou: "Past and Gone"
09 The Secret Machines: "The Walls Are Starting to Crack (Live at KEXP)"
10 The Walkmen: "In the New Year (Live)"
11 Tokyo Police Club: "Your English Is Good (K-Os Remix)"
12 Jamie Lidell: "Rope of Sand (Live at Austin City Limits)"
Bye bye Mick
Well it's been a long ol' run but after 25 years of Birthday Parties, Boys Next Door and Bad Seeds Mick Harvey and Nick Cave have severed their longstanding working relationship. There'll be no farewell tour or gig, Harvey's final appearance with the bad seeds was at ATP Australia. In a statement Harvey, who has also released solo albums and scored films, said that a "variety of personal and professional reasons" are the cause of his departure but he will continue to work on the set of Bad Seeds reissues that are slated for a March (re)release.
The statement in full reads … "After 25 years I feel I am leaving the band as it experiences one of its many peaks; in very healthy condition, and with fantastic prospects for the future. I'm confident Nick will continue to be a creative force and that this is the right time to pass on my artistic and managerial role to what has become a tremendous group of people who can support him in his endeavours both musically and organisationally. It was a fantastic experience to finish my touring days in the band with the recent shows in Australia and the unique events that took place in conjunction with All Tomorrow's Parties, especially Mt. Buller, which was one of the many highlights of my involvement with the band throughout the years."
Personally, considering the recent disappointing run of albums I'm of the opinion that whoever is in the Bad Seeds but not in Grinderman should probably sever their working relationship with Cave as well.
Gloom gloom gloom.
Having ridded himself of the Smog (and (Smog)) monikers for his last album Bill Callahan is set to release his second album under his own name on April 14th on Drag City. It's called Sometimes I wish we were an eagle.
If you wanted to get loved by Pitchfork call your band Crystal Fuck Wolve$
Though Crystal Antlers get plenty of kudos with only having one of those words in their name. The LA band are set to release their debut album Tentacles on Touch And Go in April.
The follow up to the band's self titled EP sees original guitarist Errol Davis return to the band, which is so exciting I might just explode.
Here's the cover …
And here are the names of the songs on it:
01 Painless Sleep
02 Dust
03 Time Erased
04 Andrew
05 Vapor Trail
06 Tentacles
07 Until the Sun Dies (Part One)
08 Memorized
09 Glacier
10 Foot of the Mountain
11 Your Spears
12 Swollen Sky
13 Several Tongues
The YouTube video of the week
Arcade Fire covering Bruce Springsteen at an Obama inauguration party.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Animal Collective
01-20 New York, NY - Grand Ballroom
01-21 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
01-22 Chicago, IL - Metro
01-23 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
01-24 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
03-04 Oslo, Norway - Rockerfeller
03-05 Lund, Sweden - Mejeriet
03-06 Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio
03-08 Cologne, Germany - Gloria
03-09 Heidelberg, Germany - Karistorbahnof
03-10 Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son
03-11 Luzern, Switzerland - Konzerthaus Schurr
03-12 Florence, Italy - Viper Room
03-13 Rome, Italy - Teatro Studio
03-14 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
03-16 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
03-17 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-18 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
03-19 Lille, France - Aeronef
03-20 Nantes, France - L'Olympic
03-22 Bristol, England - Trinity Centre
03-23 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
03-24 London, England - The Forum
03-25 Leeds, England - TJ's Woodhouse Club
03-26 Liverpool, England - Static Gallery
03-27 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
03-28 Belfast, Ireland - Stiff Kitten
05-11 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
05-12 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
05-13 New York, NY - Terminal 5
05-14 Boston, MA - House of Blues
05-15 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
05-16 Toronto, Ontario - Sound Academy
05-18 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Hall
05-19 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom
05-20 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
05-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
05-25 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
05-26 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
05-27 Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Memorial Library
05-29 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
05-30 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
05-31 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater
06-01 Albuquerque, MN - Sunshine Theater
06-02 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theatre
06-04 Dallas, TX - House of Blues
06-05 Austin, TX - Stubbs
06-06 Oxford, MS - The Library
06-08 St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre
06-09 Fort Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
06-10 Orlando, FL - Club Firestone
09-12 Monticello, NY - All Tomorrow's Parties
Crystal Antlers
01-20 Los Angeles, CA - The Smell
01-26 London, England - Luminaire
01-27 London, England - Borderline
01-28 London, England - The Lexington
01-30 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice N' Sleazy
01-31 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Pavilion
02-01 Galway, Ireland - Róisín Dubh
02-02 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's Upstairs
02-03 Cork, Ireland - Quad
02-05 London, England - Bloomsbury Bowling Alley
02-06 Diksmuide, Belgium - 4AD
02-07 Hasselt, Belgium - Muziek-O-Droom
02-09 Munich, Germany - 59:01
02-10 Duisburg, Germany - Steinbruch
02-11 Hamburg, Germany - Hafenklang
02-12 Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen
02-13 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
02-14 Malmö, Sweden - Debaser
02-15 Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
02-16 Berlin, Germany - Magnet
02-17 Cologne, Germany - Sonic Ballroom
02-18 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie Club
02-19 Lille, France - L'Aeronef
02-20 Paris, France - La Flèche d'Or
02-26 Bologna, Italy - Locomotiv
02-27 Verona, Italy - Club Interzona
02-28 Florence, Italy - Flog
03-01 Vienna, Austria - Arena
03-02 Lausanne, Switzerland - Le Romandie
03-04 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
03-05 Groningen, Netherlands - Vera
03-06 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-07 Utrecht, Netherlands - Ekko
03-08 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rotown
03-10 London, England - White Heat
03-11 Sheffield, England - Harley
03-12 Manchester, England - Retro Bar
03-26 San Diego, CA - 4th and B Theatre *
03-27 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre *
04-21 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
04-22 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market *
04-23 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
04-28 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore *
05-29 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival (Pitchfork stage)
08-13 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Bruce Springsteen – Waiting On A Dream
Deerhunter – Microcastle
Beirut – His two new underwhelming EPs.
The bit at the end
I bought my ticket and flights for Primavera Sound last week. How terribly exciting.
