Apple and the Big Four Combine Revolutionary Ideas to Create a Revolution That Will Revolutionize the Concept of the Album, Name It After Shitty Tom Cruise Movie

By Nat Towsen on

Comrades, prepare to arms! The Revolution is finally coming! No, not a political revolution to overthrow the powers that be and redistribute the wealth amongst the people. Think bigger! Nope, not a cultural revolution to shock the status quo and replace xenophobia with new, abstract ideals. This is something important! Not even a revolution of the mind that will lift us from our bodies and take us to a state of post-human thought. Today, we speak of something much more important, a true revolution!

I am talking, brothers and sisters, about revolutionizing the album. The Financial Times reported last week that Apple (always leaders of the revolution -- didn’t you see their “Think Different” campaign?) has teamed up with the radicals at EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music, and Universal Music to create a new type of digital album, focused on “re-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music.” Remember how you used to do that? With your friends?

The album will be revolutionized by adding extra art, liner notes, lyrics, and... (cue the revolutionary anthem, probably a John Legend song) …interactive content. The project has been codenamed “Cocktail,”, so be sure to use that code word when you see others bearing the symbol of the revolution. There have also been revolutionary rumors of Apple releasing a Kindle-esque tablet-style e-book-reader that would also play music, so be sure to buy that too... if you want to stay on the forefront of the revolution!

Said Tom Cruise, communicating telepathically (he can do that, he’s OT7) from a Scientologist fortress at the center of the Earth, “The revolution will be thoroughly televised.”

Au Announces New EP, Goes on Tour, Celebrates the Magic of Vowels

By E. Nagurney on 08-04-2009

Vowels... where would we be without them? In a world without vowels, this sentence would look like a text message a 14-year-old frantically wrote in the middle of history class. Similarly, Au’s name would be pure silence. And I thought Women was hard enough to Google.

Thankfully, we live in a world rich with vowels, and to celebrate, Portland’s avant-folksters Au are releasing a new EP called Versions on October 8. The six-song EP follows up last year’s grammatically focused Verbs (TMT Review). If you’ve heard that record, some of the song titles on Versions should be familiar: the EP contains reworkings of Au tracks from Verbs and their self-titled debut (TMT Review), along with the completely new track “Ida Walked Away.” An MP3 of the the new song is available here.

Simply releasing a new EP isn’t going to be quite enough to get all that vowels-based excitement out of their system, though. To spread the mighty word of the vowel across the world, Au is doing an impressive amount of touring this fall: first, a short Midwest tour, then a European jaunt, and finally a huge U.S. tour. On this final part of the tour, they will be joined by downbeat anticon. crew WHY? (and I thought Au and Women were hard enough to Google). Hopefully, those WHY? guys learn a thing or two from Au’s love of the English language. A question mark in a proper name? Sounds like someone was sleeping in class.

Vrsns trcklst:

1. Ida Walked Away
2. RR vs. D
3. Are Animals
4. All Myself
5. Death
6. Boute (digital only)

Au fall tour:
08.29.09 - Nampa, ID - Flying M Coffee Garage
08.31.09 - Denver, CO - House Show
09.01.09 - Kansas City, MO - Pistol Social Club
09.02.09 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
09.08.09 - Oslo, Norway - Klubbscenen / Chateau Neuf
09.09.09 - Bergen, Norway - Phonofestivalen / Hinsides
09.10.09 - Stavanger, Norway - Numusic Festival
09.11.09 - Ramsgate, UK - Belgian Cafe
09.12.09 - Brighton, UK - The Freebutt
09.13.09 - Wiltshire, UK - End of the Road Festival
09.14.09 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell
09.15.09 - Manchester, UK - Islington Mill
09.16.09 - London, UK - Cafe Oto
09.17.09 - Nancy, France - Le Clou
09.18.09 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Theater Nikker
09.19.09 - Tilburg, Netherlands - Incubate Festival
09.20.09 - Dunkerque, France - Mon Inouie Symphonie Festival
09.29.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
10.01.09 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East %
10.02.09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church %
10.03.09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Assembly Room, William Pitt Union (free!) %
10.04.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Blind Pig %
10.05.09 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge %
10.06.09 - Madison, WI - UW Madison Terrace %
10.07.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock %
10.09.09 - Denver, CO - Bluebird %
10.10.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue %
10.13.09 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
10.15.09 - Seattle, WA - Jewelbox Theater
10.17.09 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall %#
10.20.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex %
10.23.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts %
10.24.09 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress %
10.26.09 - Denton, TX - Hailey’s %
10.28.09 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree %
10.29.09 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle %
10.30.09 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle %
10.31.09 - Atlanta, GA - Lenny’s %$*
11.02.09 - Orlando, FL - The Social %
11.03.09 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds %
11.04.09 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder %
11.06.09 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon %
11.07.09 - Houston, TX - Walter’s On Washington %
11.08.09 - Austin, TX - Venue TBA (Fun Fun Fun Fest After Party)
11.10.09 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Music Hall %
11.11.09 - St. Louis, MO - Freebird %

% Why?

# Mount Eerie

$ Islands

* Jemina Pearl

Wouldn’t It Be Nice… If Brian Wilson Toured Again?

By Kenny Bloggins on 08-04-2009

I had the privilege of seeing Brian Wilson speak. Yes, speak. He was the featured keynote speaker at the CMJ 2004 Music Marathon and Conference and discussed his decision to release the Smile sessions. Well, actually, Van Dyke Parks did almost all the talking and would then proceed to ask Brian "isn't that right?" There was something powerful and charming in his shyness, that this legendary savant still lived in his own sunshine-soaked world. I can only imagine that a full performance by the former Beach Boy is even more otherworldly.

Luckily for you, U.S. residents, Brian comes out of seclusion once more this fall to play some fuckin' rock shows. And they all happen to be at some random places, including Lake Tahoe, Kevin Smith's stomping ground of Red Bank, NJ, a ghoulish Halloween show in spooky Virginia Beach, and WVU in Morgantown, which is decidedly in the middle of nowhere

10.23.09 - Mount Pleasant, MI - Soaring Eagle Casino
10.24.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
10.26.09 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre
10.27.09 - Englewood, NJ - Bergen Performing Arts Center
10.29.09 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
10.31.09 - Virginia Beach, VA - Sandler Center for the Performing Arts
11.01.09 - Morgantown, WV - Creative Arts Center at WVU
11.03.09 - Concord, NH - The Capitol Center
11.04.09 - Providence, RI - Lupo's
11.06.09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Carnegie Music Hall
11.07.09 - Rochester, NY - Auditorium Theatre
11.08.09 - Westbury, NY - The Capitol One Bank Theatre
11.10.09 - Albany, NY - The Egg
11.11.09 - Wilkes-Barre, PA - Kirby Center
11.13.09 - Morristown, NJ - Community Theatre at Mayo
12.03.09 - Agoura Hills, CA - Canyon Club December
12.05.09 - Stateline, NV - Harrah's Lake Tahoe

Mos Def Almost Definitely Does Not Read Tiny Mix Tapes, So I Can Say Whatever I Want About Him and His Tourdates

By Nat Towsen on 08-03-2009

I met Mos Def once, and he was a really nice guy, which doesn’t matter, because there is pretty much no way he is reading this. Here are some facts about Mos Def you might not know:

- Mos Def tells all his friends that he’s really good at snowboarding, but, really, he only knows how to ski.
- Mos Def’s favorite of his own albums is The New Danger.
- While Mos Def was studying experimental theatre at New York University, he worked in the school’s Bobst Library, where he would frequently check out erotic novellas in other students’ names and then read them under his desk.
- Mos Def’s real name is Wilbur Doogan.
- Once, while making a guest appearance on Chappelle’s Show, Mos Def stole all the toilet paper from the Comedy Central bathroom because he had run out of toilet paper at home.
- Mos Def was in the movie The Italian Job.
- Mos Def once misread the subject line of an email from Chad Hugo as “New Breasts,” while the subject actually said “New Beats," and became momentarily excited. After the feeling of elation quickly faded, Mos Def contemplated the elusive nature of nowness.
- Mos Def is going to enter and exit one of the following shows on a gilded elephant:
08.05.09 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
08.08.09 - Newport, Rhode Island - George Wein's Jazz Festival
08.09.09 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
08.12.09 - Charlotte, NC - Amos' Southend
08.13.09 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm
08.14.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Tabernacle
08.15.09 - Miami, FL - Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts
08.17.09 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
08.18.09 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
08.19.09 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
08.21.09 - Denver, CO - TBA
08.22.09 - Park City, UT - Harry O's
08.24.09 - Edmonton, Alberta - Edmonton Events Center
08.25.09 - Calgary, Alberta - Flames Central
08.27.09 - Vancouver, British Columbia - The Vogue Theatre
08.28.09 - Seattle, WA - TBA
08.29.09 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
09.03.09 - San Francisco, CA - Davies Symphony Hall *
09.04.09 - Oakland, CA - The Paramount Theatre *
09.05.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Palladium *
09.09.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
09.11.09 - Providence, RI - Lupo's
09.12.09 - Governors Island, NY - Water Taxi Beach
09.16.09 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
10.03.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits

* Erykah Badu

O Praise The Lord! October Shall Bless Us with a Brand New Mountain Goats LP Full of The Scripture

By Jon Lorenz on 08-03-2009

Anyone familiar with John Darnielle's project The Mountain Goats will know that he has gone through plenty of changes since his beginning, from the days of lowest-fi folk-pop songs to his most recent slick, big-band recordings. Well, on October 6, Darnielle will take yet another step in his own storied history when he releases a record full of Bible lessons, with each song named after a certain passage in The Bible.

So, the first thing that must be asked of this change is: Will Bible sales go up from all the rabid indie kids, simply to read the passages that Darnielle is referencing? Probably! Secondly: Has Darnielle had some sort of religous awakening? Well, Darnielle already saw that one coming and preempted the backlash through his website, writing that "lots of people might want to be coy about answering that, that's never really been my style, so: no. It's not like that. It's not some heavy-narrative-distance deal either, though, and it's not a screed. It's twelve new songs: twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of."

Darnielle's 18th (?) album, The Life of the World to Come, was recorded at Electrical Audio with Brandon Eggleston, at Sonic Ranch with John Congleton, and at Baucom Road with Scott Solter, between April and June of this year. The band is made up of Jon Wurster and Peter Hughes, as well as Owen Pallett doing string arrangements and playing on select tracks. Anyone looking to take a sneak peak should visit the Mountain Goats website where you can download "Genesis 3:23."

Tracklisting:

1. 1 Samuel 15:23
2. Psalms 40:2
3. Genesis 3:23
4. Philippians 3:20-21
5. Hebrews 11:40
6. Genesis 30:3
7. Romans 10:9
8. 1 John 4:16
9. Matthew 25:21
10. Deuteronomy 2:10
11. Isaiah 45:23
12. Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace

RIP: Andy Parle, former drummer of Space

By Shane Mack on 08-03-2009

From NME:

Former Space drummer Andy Parle has died unexpectedly after collapsing in Liverpool on Saturday night (August 1).

Parle, 42, who co-founded the Liverpool band with vocalist Tommy Scott and guitarist Jamie Murphy in 1993, fell while crossing a road in Dingle, Liverpool at roughly 11:30pm (BST) on Saturday. [...]

The drummer played on a number of Space's biggest hits, including 'Female of the Species', 'Neighbourhood' and 'Me And You Versus the World'. He left the band in 1998.

Parle's former bandmate Dave 'Yorkie' Palmer said that the drummer had been "essential" to Space.

"It's the saddest, most tragic end you could have," he explained of Parle's death.

He added: "Space continued to have success after Andy left but the band changed and lost something which Andy had contributed. Even though we had another brilliant drummer there was something about Andy's style which was unique."

- Space official website

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