Jad Fair + Hifiklub + kptmichigan release a single-sided LP called Bird House, inform you that six goods make a great
By Caroline Rayner on Jan 12 2012
So Jad Fair — a founding member of the off-kilter punk group Half Japanese — has been around the block a time or two. You know, collaborating with the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, Mo Tucker, and John Zorn. No big deal. French artist Hifiklub and Germany’s kptmichigan have done their fair share of cool collaborations as well, including projects with Lee Ranaldo, Andrew W.K., and R. Stevie Moore. Recently, Jad Fair, Hifiklub, and kptmichigan all got together and recorded some music for Fair’s art exhibition at Le Dojo in Nice, France, and guess what — now they’re releasing a joint LP called Bird House.
Out January 24 on Joyful Noise Recordings, Bird House is limited to a one-time pressing of 300 hand-numbered 12-inch records — the first 45 copies pressed on translucent gold vinyl with black ink, and the next 255 pressed on translucent yellow vinyl with red ink. Side B of every copy features original Jad Fair screen-printed artwork. Do they want you to play this, or hang it from your ceiling as a decoration? Probably doesn’t matter; you can preorder copies here and stream “Let’s Win” at the Chocolate Grinder.
Bird House tracklisting:
01. Bird House
02. Let’s Win
03. Blue Skies
04. Entwine
05. You And I
• Jad Fair: http://www.jadfair.org
• Hifiklub: http://www.hifiklub.com
• kptmichigan: http://thekaptainslog.blogspot.com
• Joyful Noise: http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com
Grouper collaborates with The Bug, the mysterious disease inflicting the characters of Charles Burns’s graphic novel Black Hole, but, no, she’s actually collaborating with the dubby dance producer
By E. Nagurney on Jan 12 2012
Have you read Charles Burns’s comic book series Black Hole, collected in graphic novel form in 2005? You should, it’s good. Consider that a recommendation from this guy. Speaking of recommendations and obvious segways, Tiny Mix Tapes gave a vigorous recommendation to the music of Grouper (otherwise known as Liz Harris), whose album A I A (TMT Review) made it all the way to #6 on our recent year-end list. If you heeded our words of wisdom, you know that Harris’s music tends to skew toward ghostly, if not damn near almost silent. Hence why it’s kind of weird that Pitchfork reports that she’s working with London dance producer The Bug, whose 2008 album London Zoo (TMT Review) skewed as far away from silence as possible. By the way, “The Bug” was the name of the disease in Burns’s Black Hole and now everything has come full circle sothereyougo.
Details on the collaboration are sparse. I mean, really sparse. In fact, Pitchfork’s story comes from FACT noticing the following tweet from The Bug (who human beings in real life call Kevin Martin): “Spent the last two weeks writing sketches/demos for forthcoming collaboration between me and Grouper for the upcoming Ninja Tune Bug album.” And so ends all known information on the Grouper/The Bug collaboration.
It is worth noting that FACT has updated their story to mention that Martin also revealed through Twitter that he’s working with Jesu’s Justin Broadrick. Really, that could have been its own story, but, frankly, we don’t like you Justin Broadrick. Just playing, we like you fine! We just like Grouper a lot.
• Grouper: https://sites.google.com/site/yellowelectric/Grouper
• The Bug: http://www.myspace.com/thebuguk
Michael Pisaro announces a new album on Gravity Wave, so shut up about these reunions
By Jared Micah on Jan 11 2012
Alright, if you nerds are done pissing your panties over all these goddamned indie rock reunions (I can recall a time when indie rock was well-off enough to not give a fuck whether At the Drive-In was a band or not), then I’ll give you some news worthwhile (and I’d like to note that the fIREHOSE reunion is exempt from my criticisms of reunions). It has come to our attention that guitarist and composer Michael Pisaro, who has over 80 compositions under his belt, is prepping his next recording for release near the end of February. The 56-minute piece for guitar and electronics will be titled fields have ears (6) and will be available through Pisaro’s own label, Gravity Wave.
According to Pisaro, fields has had a long composition history, starting from a solo for classical guitar and sine tones that premiered in Munich in July 2010. Various subsequent performances took place over more than a year, and with each performance, a new version was created that incorporated recordings from the previous performances. The layering of the piece ended in December, and the final product is dense with its own history and other sounds that Pisaro associated with the history of the piece, such as radios, field recordings, and other compositions of his.
• Michael Pisaro: http://www.timescraper.de/pisaro
• Gravity Wave: http://michaelpisaro.blogspot.com
Still Corners tour Europe even though it’s the dead of winter, god bless ‘em
By E. Nagurney on Jan 11 2012
It is the dead of winter, so do you even care about anything? If I know you (I do not), you’ve retreated into your corner of sloth for the next few months. No thoughts, no movement, no life. What do you care? It’s cold. Honestly, though, you’ll just take any excuse to rid your brain of all thoughts. Suits the season, you know! Jeez, this is a dark examination of your collective selves. Really, it need not be so bad. I mean, Still Corners are going on a European tour this winter.
Yes, while the rest of us are sinking slowly into our beds, the Sub Pop-signed, London-based dream pop act Still Corners will be touring through Europe. It’s admirable and it should give us all hope to not give up in the darkest, coldest months. Granted, some of us live in places where it’s unseasonably warm right now (I live in a place where it’s unseasonably warm right now), so there’s another reason not to give up hope. Couple that with the fact that Still Corners, who put out their debut full-length Creatures of an Hour (TMT Review) last year, will be on a European tour that begins in February and stretches into the first cracks of spring, and you have a veritable buffet of reasons to keep the ol’ brain working through the winter. Or you could sleep through it all. That’s okay, too.
Still Corners dates:
02.03.12 - Manchester, UK - Kraak Gallery
02.04.12 - Glasgow, UK - Captain’s Rest
02.06.12 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social
02.07.12 - Nottingham, UK - Bodega
02.08.12 - London, UK - Cargo
02.09.12 - Bristol, UK - Louisiana
02.10.12 - Brighton, UK - Hope
03.09.12 - Hamburg, Germany - Indra
03.10.12 - Berlin, Germany - Comet
03.11.12 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen
03.13.12 - Frankfurt, Germany - Silbergold
03.14.12 - Prague, Czech Republic - 007
03.15.12 - Vienna, Austria - B72
03.16.12 - Conegliano, Italy - Apartamento Hoffman
03.17.12 - Bologna, Italy - Covo Club
03.18.12 - Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti
03.20.12 - Milan, Italy - Rocket
03.21.12 - Düdingen, Switzerland - Bad Bonn
03.22.12 - Lyon, France - L’Epicerie Moderne (Femmes S’en Mêlent Festival)
03.23.12 - Arles, France - Le Cargo De Nuit (Femmes S’en Mêlent Festival)
03.24.12 - Clermont-Ferrand, France - Cooperative De Mai (Femmes S’en Mêlent Festival)
03.26.12 - Paris, France - Le Divan Du Monde
03.27.12 - Gent, Belgium - Charlatan
• Still Corners: http://stillcorners.tumblr.com
• Sub Pop: http://www.subpop.com
Venture capital firm KPC&B follows Ashton Kutcher’s lead and gives massive amount to SoundCloud
By Ryan A. Detwiler on Jan 11 2012
[Really thick visualization of a waveform playing an audio sample of a bunch of German people cheering and clapping]!
Why all the celebrating, you ask? Well, Billboard is reporting that Berlin-based SoundCloud, the widget of choice for many a music blogger, has just secured a new round of funding from everyone’s favorite venture capital behemoth, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The bros at KPC&B got wind of Ashton Kutcher’s interest in the site after his A-Grade Fund dropped an “undisclosed amount” onto the project and have since stepped up to the table with a cool $50 million of their own, bringing the internet venture’s valuation up to an estimated $200 million.
More than hopping on the Kutcher bandwagon, though, KPC&B were also pretty interested in the sound site’s growth to 5 million registered users since sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss launched it in August 2007. For the uninitiated, the site offers a range of services that help users record and/or upload music into a sound-based social media network. Sounds produced or included in a user’s profile can then be shared across other sites and social media properties. Additional storage space and customization are available to users who pay a yearly fee for their accounts.
KPC&B have a history of investing in internet startups that leave most of us scratching our heads as to how they actually make money, like the massively overvalued Groupon and free mobile apps like Shazam and Flipboard. What will the future hold, now that SoundCloud is on its way to an inevitable multi-billion dollar IPO? Only the future will tell, but if Ashton Kutcher’s involved, you know it’ll probably be annoyingly successful.
• SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com
• KPC&B: http://kpcb.com
• Ashton Kutcher: https://twitter.com/aplusk
