Dancing About Architecture 02.17.09
Posted by Ian Wright on 02.17.2009
Thoughts on the new Dan Deacon album, Thom Yorke to work on the new Terminator flick, tragedy for Gang Gang Dance, Wavves and new music from Sonic Youth, Grizzly Bear, Iron And Wine, and more.
The bit at the start
The adjective most attached to Dan Deacon is probably "fun". And it's because he is. Dan Deacon's live shows are riotous affairs where sweaty tumults pile on top of each other to get close to a ring leader that has set up stall on the floor of whatever gig space he's playing in (or at least that's what his gigs have been like in recent years, he's put a band together now) with occasional party games and dance offs thrown in for good measure to, bizarre as it might sound, defuse the powder keg of over-excited humanity that he's whipped into a frenzy.
But read an interview with Deacon or any of his regular MySpace bulletins and you'll quickly cop to the fact that he's much much more then a novelty act with a table full of gadgets or a trouble-maker in chief for security at any venue he plays in. He's deeply thoughtful and considered when it comes to his music and given the chance more than willing to expound at length about his songs, let him go on long enough and you'll occasionally get the sense that he feels a little frustrated that people often think of him as a guy who flings ideas at a wall and gets kerrrazy results and don't give him credit for the amount of care that he takes with his compositions.
Bromst might just change that. It's unmistakably a Dan Deacon record with many of the hallmarks of Spiderman Of The Rings; ascending arpeggios, pitchshifted vocals, drums ecstatically kicking in out of nowhere, and songs underpinned by really warm single note synth sounds, are present and accounted for. In fact uncharitable folk might listen to "Baltihorse" and accuse Deacon of simply recycling the best ideas from "Wham City" and "The Crystal Cat" the two outstanding tracks from his last record. But if he there are points on Bromst where it seems like he's returning to old ground those songs seem to be a lot more focused and concise, far less sprawling then the earlier tunes, as if he's distilled what it was that he was trying to achieve in the past.
But there's new ideas and new directions too. "Wet Wings" begins with a female vocal sample that sounds like it was taken from a lament or an Irish air which as the song goes on is piled on top of itself over and over again and chopped up before things simmer back down again. And then there's "Slow With Horns/Run For Your Life" which, particularly on the piano section at the end of it, seems far more relaxed and contemplative than you might expect to hear. But there's also songs that combine elements of both Deacon classic redux and all-new. fresh as the daisies in spring, Dan. Album opener "Build Voice" for example, in part because the vocals aren't pitchshifted up by a couple of octaves but instead have the reverb cranked up on them for a spacey effect made me first think that I'd accidentally hit play on an album by fellow Monument Cityites Animal Collective. But after about 3:10 the drums kick in and there's no doubt about who it is that I'm listening to and the melding of the familiar and the new flourishes sounds fantastic.
And yeah, in case you were concerned, most of it sounds like it'll make for a bonkers good time live. Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Dent May – The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
Simply lovley. Lovely and clever. And simple. All those things.
You news, you lose
Damn damn, no dance.
If you were planning on catching Gang Gang Dance in Europe in the next couple of weeks, cancel your plans.
The unfortunate crew woke up in Amsterdam last Saturday to find that a fire in the club that they had played the previous nigh had destroyed all their gear that they had left there overnight.
The band announced the sad news in a MySpace blog post.
TOUR CANCELLED DUE TO FIRE.... hello all......very sad news from GGD camp today. We are in Amsterdam after having played the first of what was meant to be 14 shows in Europe and the England. Last nights show was really great and a big thank you to everyone that came out for it....we had a blast, but unfortunately our morning was a bit tragic. We stored our gear in the club last night and when we arrived there today to pick it up and head off to Brussels for tonights show, we were informed that an electrical fire had occurred in the very room where our stuff was stashed. We didnt really know the scope of how bad the fire was until we arrived on the scene to find every piece of equipment we own scattered out in the parking lot...melted, charred, and still smoldering. Most of our gear is way beyond repair and the small amount of stuff that looks as if it wasnt physically destroyed by the fire itself has all been doused by the firehoses. So we have been left with synths that are melted, a charred guitar, cases full of wet pedals and cables, drums that are nothing but the metal rims, amps that look as if they've been doused in tar...the list goes on. It is really devastating for us as our equipment is very specific and without it we cant do much of anything. Most of our memory cards for our samplers melted so we've lost a bunch of jams that we were really looking forward to playing for you all. While we did entertain the thought of just renting or borrowing a bunch of random gear and somehow continuing the tour and just improvising every night, it just doesn't seem like its going to work out. While it would be fun and we'd love to stick this out for everyone that was excited to see us, we feel like we came to perform a certain set of songs and if we cant do that then its probably best to just come back again when we have the necessary gear to do so. On top of that we are stuck here in Amsterdam until we are able to meet with the insurance company that is dealing with the fire, if we were to leave then we would risk losing out on the compensation that will be necessary for us to build our equipment back up.
As i said its all really devastating and we wish nothing more then to be in Brussels tonight (we were super excited about that show!) and to be able to continue on with our tour, but there is really no way for that to happen given the circumstances.
We are hoping to come back asap and make up for all this and we really want to thank everyone who bought tickets and everyone who was planning on coming out to the shows on this tour. It looked as if it was going to be one of our best yet thanks to y'all.......
See you when the smoke clears. peace and respect------GGD
That's utterly tragic for the band. It's not just a bunch of stuff, musicians get really attached to their equipment so to lose it all like that must have hit them hard.
Here's a list of the cancelled dates …
02-16 Leipzig, Germany - Schauspielhaus
02-17 Berlin, Germany - Volksbuhne
02-18 Germany, Heidelberg Karlstorbahnof
02-19 Dijon, France - Generiq Fesitval
02-20 Paris France - Point Ephemere
02-21 St Malo, France - Route du Rock
02-22 Tourcoing, France - Grand Mix
02-23 London, England - Rough Trade East (in-store)
02-25 Manchester, England - Roadhouse
02-26 London, England - Dingwalls
02-27 Bristol, England - Fleece
02-28 Brighton, England- Audio
Though some remain on the tour schedule.
03-04 New York, NY - Museum of Modern Art
04-18 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-30 Bergen, Norway, Bergenfest
05-30 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
Swept away by Wavves.
I saw Wavves last Wednesday. The live setup right now is just Nathan Williams on guitar and vocals with a drummer. Live it's a lot less scuzzed up than on record and the restrictions of the arrangements means that a ot of he bleepy bloopy stuff can't be played. It was good fun though. And goodness me "So Bored" is a helluva tune.
"So Bored" being the lead single from the soon to be released (March 17th) Wavvves (note the 3 ‘v's, as opposed to the similarly titled album from last year that simply had 2). However such is the buzz that surrounds Williams right now (it's just him on record) his label Fat Possum have released the album on iTunes already. They've also released a new single, "California Goths" b/w "Here's to the Sun", which can be bought from their own site.
The one with "vvv":
01 Rainbow Everywhere
02 Beach Demon
03 To the Dregs
04 Sun Opens My Eyes
05 Gun in the Sun
06 So Bored
07 Goth Girls
08 No Hope Kids
09 Weed Demon
10 California Goths
11 Summer Goth
12 Beach Goth
13 Killr Punx, Scary Demons
14 Surf Goth
More noise pop.
A whole bunch (I might even go so far to say a slew) of details about Sonic Youth's forthcoming debut release on the Matador label were announced last week. It's out on June 9, it's called The Eternal (but many of us knew that already). The band co-produced that album with Jon Agnello who they also worked with on final Geffen album Rather Ripped. This is also the first album to feature up till now touring member and ex-Pavement bassist Mark Ibold (nooooo I want my reunion).
There's a bunch more stuff going on but those are the important details.
June 9.
Or whenever it leaks.
Tracklisting:
01 Sacred Trickster
02 Anti-Orgasm
03 Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)
04 Antenna
05 What We Know
06 Calming The Snake
07 Poison Arrow
08 Malibu Gas Station
09 Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn
10 No Way
11 Walkin Blue
12 Massage The History
If Christian Bale is mean to Thom on set then I swear to fucking god I will hunt him down and butcher him
According to some slightly unlikely sounding reports from MTV Radiohead main man Thom Yorke is going to provide music for the soundtrack to the upcoming 4th terminator film. The story claims that director McG (shudder) is trying to pair Yorke up with Argentinean composer Gustavo Santaolalla, a prospect that the Argentinean seemed amenable to according to the hack film maker who said "We talked about Gustavo getting together with Thom Yorke from Radiohead, which I thought would be very interesting. And they may still do a couple of sounds for the movie."
But at this point the Radiohead camp have yet to respond.
Oh by the way, if you haven't seen this …
A story the copy of which simply lists the tracklisting for the new Iron and Wine rareties comp that Sub Pop are releasing under the title Around The Well on May 19. IT's on double CD and Triple Vinyl
Disc 1:
01 Dearest Forsaken
02 Morning
03 Loud as Hope
04 Peng! 33
05 Sacred Vision
06 Friends They Are Jewels
07 Hickory
08 Waitin' for a Superman
09 Swans and the Swimming
10 Call Your Boys
11 Such Great Heights
Disc 2:
01 Communion Cups & Someone's Coat
02 Belated Promise Ring
03 God Made the Automobile
04 Homeward, These Shoes
05 Love Vigilantes
06 Sinning Hands
07 No Moon
08 Serpent Charmer
09 Carried Home
10 Kingdom of the Animals
11 Arms of a Thief
12 The Trapeze Swinger
They're not that dangerous
Through the medium of Twitter Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste has been revealing details about the band's follow up to Yellow House. Veckatimest is what it's called, the dame out of Beach House is who is providing guest vocals.
The list of the names of the songs on it are this …
01 Southern Point
02 Two Weeks
03 All We Ask
04 Fine for Now
05 Cheerleader
06 Dory
07 Ready, Able
08 About Face
09 Hold Still
10 While You Wait for the Others
11 I Live With You
12 Foreground
The YouTube video of the week
Because it was Valentine's day last weekend.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Wavves
02-17 Munich, Germany - Kafe Kult
02-18 Berlin, Germany - West Germany
02-19 Hamburg, Germany - Astra Stube
02-20 Kassel, Germany - Galerie Loyal
02-21 Utrecht, Netherlands - DBs
02-22 Trier, Germany - Ex Haus
02-24 Lyon, France - Ground Zero ^
02-25 Paris, France - La Mecanique
02-26 London, England - Barden's Boudoir #
02-27 Nottingham, England - The Chameleon $
02-28 Leeds, England - TBA $
03-01 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice N Sleazy $
03-02 Manchester, England - Bar Saki $
03-03 London, Englad - Skala ^
03-04 Cardiff, Wales - Buffalo Bar $
03-05 Brighton, England - Prince Albert $
03-06 London, England - Upset the Rhtyhm Party $
03-07 Gent, Belgium - KRAAK Festival
03-16 Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
03-18-21 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-22 Dallas, TX - Lounge on Elm Street
03-23 Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light
03-24 Chapel Hill, NC - Nightlight
03-25 Harrisonburg, VA - The Blue Nile
03-26 Baltimore, MD - The Zodiac
03-27 Philadelphia, PA - The Marvelous Music
03-28 New York, NY - Cake Shop
03-29 Brooklyn, NY - TBA
03-30 Rochester, NY - The Bug Jar
05-25 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival (Pitchfork stage)
* with Future Islands
^ with Women
# with Crystal Stilts
$ with Pens
Fever Ray
03-19 Oslo, Norway - Parkteatern
03-20 Malmö, Sweden - Babel
03-21 Göteborg, Sweden - Storan
03-22 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
03-24 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
03-26 Stockholm, Sweden - Kägelbanan
03-27 Umeå, Sweden - Umeå Open
03-28 Luleå, Sweden - Kulturens Hus
The National
03-08 St. Augustine, FL - Harvest of Hope Festival
05-21 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
05-22 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
05-23 Boston, MA - House of Blues
05-24 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
05-25 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
05-27 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
05-28 Raleigh, NC - Maymendi Concert Hall
05-29 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
Deerhunter
05-16 Minehead, England - All Tomorrow's Parties
05-18 London, England - Scala
05-19 Manchester, England - Deaf Institute
05-20 Glasgow, Scotland - Stereo
05-21 Belfast, Northern Ireland - The Black Box
05-22 Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
05-23 Liverpool, England - City Sound Festival
05-24 Leeds, England - Brudenell Social Room
05-25 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
05-26 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
05-27 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05-28 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
05-29 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
Throbbing Gristle
04-16 Brooklyn, NY - Masonic Temple (two sets)
04-19 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-21 Westwood, CA - U.C.L.A. (live soundtrack set only)
04-23 San Francisco, CA - Grand Regency Ballroom
04-25 Chicago, IL - Epiphany Episcopal (two sets)
Jamie Stewert of Xiu Xiu
04-02 Greenville, NC - The Spazzatorium
04-03 Norfolk, VA - The Boot
04-04 Richmond, VA - The Triple
04-05 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
04-06 Brooklyn, NY - Monkey Town
04-09 Durham, NH - The Stafford Room
04-10 Chicago, IL - Ronny's Bar
04-11 Grinnell, IA - Gardner Lounge (Grinnell College)
04-14 Seattle, WA - The Vera Project
04-15 Portland, OR - Backspace
04-17 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
04-18 Los Angeles, CA - Echo Curio
04-19 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture
04-21 Austin, TX - Salvage Vanguard Theater
04-23 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
04-24 St. Augustine, Florida - Cafe Eleven
04-25 Atlanta, GA – Wonderroot
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Handsome Furs – Face Control
The bit at the end
I'm a bit late as I just got in from a gig and it's now 1:30. So bye bye, back in 7.
I saw these guys last night. You should have a listen, it's magnificent, darkly tragic-comic and all sorts of great. Officially my favourite Norwegian band ever. Start with the Daniel Johnston cover and go from there.
