Akron/Family Spend the Holidays in Europe, Learn That “Thanksgiving” in French Really Means “Go Home, Silly Americans”
When I saw Akron/Family this summer during their U.S. tour, their singer, Miles Seaton, leaned down and told me just before their set started that he was really tired and all he wanted to do was take a bath and watch some HBO. Unfortunately for Seaton, he’s going to have to learn a few European languages if he wants to watch HBO during Akron/Family’s upcoming European tour. He might want to give French a try though; I’ve heard True Blood is even more risqué overseas than it is here.
Sur la route encore:
11.03.09 - Munich, Germany - Backstage
11.04.09 - Vienna, Austria - B72
11.05.09 - Prague, Czech Republic - Matrix
11.06.09 - Berlin, Germany - Privat Club
11.07.09 - Lübeck, Germany - White Houses Beach "Rolling Stone Weekender"
11.09.09 - Lille, France - Aeronef Club
11.10.09 - Le Havre, France - Cabaret Electric Club
11.12.09 - Lyon, France - Epiciere Moderne
11.13.09 - Paris, France - Point Ephemere
11.14.09 - Evreux, France - Abordage
11.15.09 - Clermont Ferrand, France - Coop de Mai Club
11.17.09 - London, UK - The Garage
11.18.09 - Cologne, Germany - Studio 672
11.19.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Botanique Orangerie
11.20.09 - The Hague, Holland - Nationaal Toneel Gebouw "Crossing Border"
12.10.09 - Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
12.11.09 - Meredith, Australia - Meredith Festival
12.12.09 - Sydney, Australia - Annandale Hotel
12.15.09 - Auckland, New Zealand - Kings Arms
12.16.09 - Wellington, New Zealand - TBA
Lil Wayne Releases New Mix Tape! And He (Thankfully) Doesn’t Play Guitar On It!
Lil Wayne, looking to recover from the guilty plea he made the other day (TMT News), has finally made the No Ceilings mix tape, which he and his posse have been chattering about for a long time, available to all his little Hot Boys the world over. I’ve been waiting a reeeeeal long time for this record to drop, because, as we know, Dedication 3 sucked, and Weezy hasn’t released an official mix tape (that was good) in too, too long of a time. He's also been playing the guitar a Lil Too Much, and if you hadn’t noticed, Lil Wayne may be one of the best rappers of all-time. But his guitar playing? Even worse than your little brother, and your little brother sucks pretty bad.
The new tape features Lil Wayne getting back to the rap game, rhyming over tracks by Jay-Z, Gucci Mane, Lady Gaga tour-mate Kid Cudi, and Fergie’s new band, The Black Eyed Peas. The whole thing is available for download at Nah Right, and I recommend that you download it. It’s going to be my party mix for Halloween -- can’t wait to dance around to some (kinda) new songs by Lil Wayne as I wear my New Orleans Nightmare costume!
Hey! Here’s the tracklist!
1. Swag Surfin'
2. Ice Cream Paint Job
3. D.O.A.
4. Interlude
5. Wasted
6. Watch My Shoes
7. Break Up [ft. Short Dawg & Gudda Gudda]
8. Banned From TV
9. Throw It in the Bag (Remix)
10. I Think I Love Her [ft. Tyga & Shanell]
11. Interlude #2 [ft. Shanell]
12. Wetter
13. I'm Good [ft. T-Streets]
14. Poke Her Face [ft. Jae Millz]
15. Run This Town
16. I Gotta Feeling
17. Outro
De Stijl Does Its Best to Embarrass Michael Yonkers, Releases Lost 1966 Recordings of Michael and the Mumbles with Cover Shot of Yonkers and His Buddy Holly Lovin' Mates
Michael Yonkers may be best known for his avant-garage classic Microminiature Love, but just like every other young musician in the 60s, he had a dorky high-school garage band too: Michael and The Mumbles.
Just like many of the young "garage" rock bands of 66, The Mumbles showed hints of the rock ‘n’ rollers of the day -- Buddy Holly, The Dave Clark Five, etc. And as evidenced by the cover, The Mumbles were a pretty normal 66 rock ‘n’ roll band, with their matching suit coats and slick, boyish haircuts. But fans of Microminiature Love won't be disappointed to find out that The Mumbles' self-titled still features some of the same "emotionally bleak themes, dissonant undercurrents, and recklessly wild performance" that made Microminiature Love what it is. According to De Stijl, this might just sound like a normal record from 66, but after repeat listens you will notice a "darkness beneath what some dullard might be deceived by as its crisp, winsome visage."
If you take a skip, hop, and a jump over to De Stijl's website, you can take a listen to a single track from the record.
A Sunny Day In Glasgow Swirl Across the U.S. on Fall Tour
If everything is feeling a little more hazy, like you stepped into some endless flashback sequence, it’s probably A Sunny Day In Glasgow’s fault. The ghostly Philadelphia dream-pop outfit is looking to bring a little more haze, a little more swirl to the United States on their Fall tour. Starting mid-November in Vermont, the tour heads through much of the Midwest and East Coast before touching down for a hometown show in mid-December. The trek is in support of the group’s recently released sophomore album, Ashes Grammar. Since TMT has not yet reviewed ASDIG’s new one, I’ll treat you to my own quick mini-review: it is really great. I give it about 18 little blue circles out of five little blue circles.
Also, just in time for Halloween, the band has recorded this cover of The Misfits’ “Hybrid Moments.” Somehow, I expected it to sound a little bit different.
A Sunny Day In Glasgow tourdates:
11.12.09 - Winooski, VT - The Monkey House
11.14.09 - New Haven, CT - ArtSpace
11.15.09 - Ithaca, NY - Wildfire Lounge
11.16.09 - Gambier, OH - Horn Gallery @ Kenyon College
11.17.09 - Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room
11.18.09 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
11.19.09 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
11.20.09 - Madison, WI - University of Wisconsin
11.21.09 - St. Paul, MN - Eclipse Records
11.22.09 - Iowa City, IA - Public Space One
11.23.09 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
11.24.09 - Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
11.25.09 - Dallas, TX - The Cavern
11.27.09 - Austin, TX - Ghost Room
11.29.09 - New Orleans, LA - AllWays Lounge
12.02.09 - Nashville, TN - Basement
12.03.09 - Atlanta, GA - 529
12.04.09 - Athens, GA - Secret Squirrel
12.06.09 - Savannah, GA - Sentient Bean
12.07.09 - Asheville, NC - Bobo Gallery
12.09.09 - Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
12.10.09 - Washington, DC - The Red & The Black
12.11.09 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
12.12.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
12.13.09 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
12.15.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
Proving To Be Anything But, Kurt Vile Extends Tour through December
The Mr P-sanctioned and approved Kurt Vile and his Violators seem to be digging this touring thang and have yet again extended their touring into December, tearing into the far-off lands of Europe and um, Brooklyn. Holy shit. I just realized that they're the opening act for Big Star at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple! Guess who has tickets to that?! This news story went from exciting to eXcITinG! And... the gloating has passed. Anyway, Vile's (outstanding) Matador debut Childish Prodigy (TMT Review) has won the hearts of grumpy ol' record collectors and snotty blogs alike, so the momentum could push this tour even further, don'tcha think? I will now begin my campaign for a Kurt Vile/Pavement show in a certain borough of New York City. Nothing ever happens here, anyway.
10.29.09 - Lubbock, TX - Bash Riprocks
10.30.09 - Austin, TX - Mohawk +
10.31.09 - Dallas, TX - Lounge on Elm Street
11.01.09 - Fayetteville, AR - Sang House
11.02.09 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe &
11.03.09 - Atlanta, GA - 529 &
11.04.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
11.05.09 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
11.17.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Europa
11.18.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Masonic Temple *
11.19.09 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
12.10.09 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Club @ Sidecar
12.11.09 - Madrid, Spain - Primavera Club @ Wurlitzer
12.12.09 - Den Haag, Netherlands - State X New Forms Festival
12.13.09 - Dublin, Ireland - The Twisted Pepper
12.14.09 - Manchester, UK - The Deaf Institute
12.15.09 - London, UK - The Lexington
12.16.09 - Paris, France - Le Scopitone
12.17.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Les Ateliers Claus
12.31.09 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre %
+ The Black Angels
* Big Star
& Lovvers
% The Black Keys
RIP: Chuck Biscuits , drummer for Black Flag, Danzig HOAX!!
Apparently this was a hoax! Apologies for any confusion.
From NPR:
Chuck Biscuits, the legendary punk and hard rock drummer, has died after a prolonged battle with throat cancer. He was 44 years old.Here is an obituary of the artist, written by James Greene Jr.
Biscuits was best known for his work with Black Flag and Danzig, but he also lent his talents to Run DMC, Social Distortion and The Circle Jerks.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Tour the British Empire Like It's 1919
With their latest gramophone recording in tow, It's Blitz! (TMT Review) (currently available to you via Sears Roebuck and Co. Fall Catalog, no. MUS-176-B), American flapper mainstay Karen O and her two gentlemen escorts in the popular new 'Jazz'- and 'Ragtime'-influenced Yeah Yeah Yeahs Traveling Music Company and Medicine Show are setting sail for a 14-date limited engagement exhibition of the United Kingdom and outlying British Sovereignty of Australia.
Departing the United States of America by clipper ship near the start of November, Captain and crew remain optimistic that the performance troupe, along with its personal and company effects, will arrive safely in Leeds, U.K. in time for their first engagement on the 29th of the aforementioned month. An expanded tour of the British Empire in full is likely to follow, likely to include stops in Burma, Sudan, the Falkland Islands, Fiji, North Borneo, Gibraltar, Nigeria, Barbados, Egypt, South Africa, Bermuda, Gambia, Uganda, Malta, Newfoundland, the Cayman Islands, Tuvalu, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, St. Helena, North Rhodesia, South Rhodedia, Ceylon, British Honduras, The Gold Coast, Swaziland, Basutoland, the South Sandwich Islands, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Trinidad, Granada, the Virgin Islands, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and -- weather permitting -- British Antarctica.
God save the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. May the sun never set upon their tour
11.29.09 - Leeds, UK - O2 Academy
11.30.09 - London, UK - Brixton Academy
12.01.09 - London, UK - Brixton Academy
12.03.09 - Newcastle, UK - Newcastle Academy
12.04.09 - Glasgow, UK - Academy
12.06.09 - Manchester, UK - Apollo
12.07.09 - Sheffield, UK - O2 Academy Sheffield
12.09.09 - Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Academy
12.10.09 - Bournemouth, UK - Opera House
12.11.09 - Minehead, UK - ATP: 10 Years of ATP Fest
12.30.09 - Tasmania, Australia - Falls Festival Marion Bay
12.31.09 - Lorne, Australia - Falls Festival
01.06.10 - Brisbane, Australia - Sunset Sounds Festival
01.10.10 - Busselton, Australia - Southbound Festival
Google Officially Announce New Music Search Capabilities
As we prepped you on last week (TMT News), Google announced the launch of a new search system yesterday, October 28, to assist in finding music to both purchase and stream. Now, every time you search for an artist, song, album title, or even lyric, the results will be displayed in a specific section that will include artwork and a link to stream the music through the new Google music player, powered by MySpace Music and Lala. Each song can only be played once through in full. Users can then purchase the song by clicking a “Buy” link or be directed to other music sites like Pandora, IMEEM, and Rhapsody.
While Yahoo has a similar music search partnership with Rhapsody, Google still holds 64.6% of the search market, with Yahoo coming in second at only 16%, according to Nielsen MegaView Search. Billboard spoke to several record label executives about Google’s new music search system, drawing positive feedback: “I think it’s amazing,” EMI Music senior VP of global digital marketing Syd Schwartz told Billboard. “Any situation where we can make the process of discovery and helping artist and audience find one another in better ways is something that's going to help the business.”
U.S. readers: expect the new search results over the next few days. Everyone else? Sorry, this is a U.S.-only deal for the time being.
Shout Out Louds Announce Third LP; You Guys Can Stop Shouting So Much, We’re Indoors
Anthemic Swedish rockers Shout Out Louds have been awfully quiet the last couple of years for a band called, well, Shout Out Louds. Since the release of their 2007 Merge LP Our Ill Wills (TMT Review), there’s been nary a peep from them. Well that’s stopping right now, since the group has a new record that they feel the need to just... shout out loud about. Here ends the “shout pun” portion of this news story.
Work, the band’s third LP, will be out on February 23 via Merge Records. Shout Out Louds singer Alec Olenius explains that the record’s title comes from the double-meaning of "work" as “the process of creating something and almost working yourself to death” and "that something ‘does work,’ to reach a goal.” The title was also inspired by a song off Songs for Drella, an album by two guys a lot of people like a whole lot: Lou Reed and John Cale. Another guy a lot of people like a whole lot is Phil Ek, who produced Work in Seattle’s Bear Creek Studio. Phil Ek; what can’t he do? Not produce scores of indie rock records, that’s what.
DFA Re-Release Pylon's Second Album Chomp; Michael Stipe Wakes Up Dancing
Many bands' careers can be linked to the help of a name check by certain rock stars. Many bands have had great success due to the fact that Kurt Cobain mentioned them in his journal or were lucky enough to make his top 50 list. In the case of Pylon, they had R.E.M. and The B-52's helping out their hometown (Athens, GA) chums by throwing their name around a bit in interviews and such.
Two years ago, DFA reissued the group's 1980 debut LP Gyrate (TMT Review), bringing the group back into the limelight for a while. Enough people must have bought Gyrate that the label decided it would be a worthy venture to release Pylon's second LP, Chomp, originally released in 1983.
Chomp continues the story of Pylon, following the same herky-jerky rhythms and art-punk guitar numbers that drew people to Gyrate. Of course, DFA threw in a few extra goodies, including "the 7” version of ‘Crazy,’ a ‘male version’ of ‘Yo-Yo,’ on which Briscoe merely guest stars, Pylon’s own frenzied, frenetic remix of ‘Gyrate,’ and the rarely heard single ‘Four Minutes,’ an ineffably beautiful pastiche of homemade and seemingly found noise." Just to make sure you know this is a new version, DFA has decided to call the whole thing Chomp More. (The label did the same thing when they reissued their first LP, calling it Gyrate Plus.)
Chomp More is available now, so head over to that DFA webstore and get yourself a copy.
Chomp tracklisting:
1. K
2. Yo-Yo
3. Beep
4. Italian Movie Theme
5. Crazy
6. M-Train
7. Buzz
8. No Clocks
9. Reptiles
10. Spider
11. Gyrate
12. Altitude
13. Crazy (Single version)
14. Yo-Yo (Male version)
15. Gyrate (Pylon mix)
16. Four Minutes
Kemado Records Cleverly Opens Their Own Record Shop During CMJ Week; Komodo Dragon Shop Planned for 2010
Kemado Records, the smallish indie record label based in NYC, is gearing up to open its very own record store in Brooklyn, called Co-Op 87. Kemado, along with its imprint Mexican Summer, decided to launch Co-Op 87 right smack in the middle of CMJ week, what with the entire music industry being in town to consume various alcoholic beverages and peep through the watering holes' windows hoping to catch the "next big thing."
Kemado's owners apparently have quite the thing for vinyl, and they figure, what could be better than to share their love with the entirety of Brooklyn? That said, Co-Op 87 is mostly comprised of indie and local band vinyl, along with a smattering of CDs and cassette tapes (a.k.a. the new vinyl -- did you hear the '90s are back?). Kemado has also fitted their new store with a hybrid analog-digital recording studio which they plan to rent out to local bands in need. So far, Kemado has utilized their new recording space by doing the local bands a solid and recording their daytime CMJ showcases. Not too shabby.
According to Andres Santo Domingo, one of Kemado's founders, "The plan is to use the studio as often as possible and keep the store open maybe three days a week. It's not going to be anything like a traditional record store."
Kemado is home to to some small but powerful indie rockers, including The Sword, Langhorne Slim, Cheeseburger, and Elefant. Check out a recent New York Times feature on the storefront here.
