Mario Speedwagon’s Under The Radar News Roundup: Fischerspooner Still Exist, Mastodon Release Limited-Edition Set, Meat Puppets To Release New Album, Athens PopFest Cancelled
By Mario Speedwagon on 02-13-2009
Hey ya’ll. Today is a good day. It’s Friday. I ate some awesome Korean food. I’m going to see Dr. Dog and some of my friends' bands play. And today I found out that Neil Diamond has a Twitter. (I also follow MC Hammer and Chris Cornell.) Anyway, on to the news!
- May 5, 2009 marks the release of Fischerspooner’s LP Entertainment, four years after what's-it-called came out. Yo, it’s been a while. It was produced by Jeff Saltzman (The Killers, Sounds) and will be released on their label, FS Studios.
- Mastodon has created a special Deluxe Limited “Tunnel Book” Edition of their new LP Crack The Skye, due March 24 on Warner Bros. The set includes Crack The Skye on CD, a DVD documenting the making of the new record, a photo gallery, and track-by-track band commentary. You can pre-order the set at the band's website. Meanwhile, if you happen to live in Atlanta or near by, you can catch them at the Rock Fest, which also features Neurosis, High On Fire, Harvey Milk, Boris, and a bunch of other shit that will make your face melt off. While I only live an hour a way, I can’t go because my mom is in town. Ugh.
- The Meat Puppets will release their new album Sewn Together on May 12, 2009 via Megaforce Records. If you happen to be at SXSW next month, you can catch some new stuff at Stubbs on March 19.
- And finally, Athens PopFest 2009 has been cancelled. I heard they planned on taking a year off anyway, and it seems this would be the year to do it (gotta save some green, yo). So if you planned on packing your teddy-bear backpack and slipping on your argyle socks to head down to Athens this summer and rock out to some twee, don’t. But it will be back next year!
Till next week, chumps.
Times New Viking Hearts The Velvet Undergound
By Jon Lorenz on 02-13-2009
Times New Viking, leaders of the newest made-up genre, shit-gaze, will be paying tribute tomorrow (Saturday) to one of the genre's pioneers, The Velvet Undground. Most people may not think of the Velvet Underground as a shit-gaze band, but their first two records, along with maybe records by the Godz, were among the most poorly-recorded records of the ’60s. Why? Because you had people like Lou Reed messin' shit up behind the mixing board. Today? In Times New Viking's case, we have Matt Horsehit, or Mike "Rep."
Times New Viking will take the stage tomorrow night, February 14, at the Mershon Auditorium in Columbus's Wexner Center, as part of the closing party for the "Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms" exhibition. They will be joined by a few local legends, including C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) and Mike "Rep"(Mike "Rep" and the Quotas) to fill out the Velvets' sound. The night will kick off with fellow shit-gaze jammers Psychedelic Horseshit.
Anyone wanna be my valentine's date?
Plus Ça Change, Plus Tindersticks Announce North American Tourdates
By David Nadelle on 02-13-2009
A one-bedroom flat in Paris, 14th arrondisement. A man enters the apartment, sheds his skin, and looks at his face in the toaster. "Did we create toast in order to use this toaster or did toast create this toaster or did toast create God?" he asks. "No matter." He hovers over a bleached vulture's carcass and checks on the never-ending checkers game sitting atop an apple; rat droppings (black) are beating albino rat droppings (white) by a considerable margin. He sighs and looks solemnly at the paint-by-numbers portrait of a frowning widow that lies on the ground, doubling as a shoe tree. His vision moves 47 cm to the right and he sees his lover splayed out, holding a half-drained bottle of sleeping pills in her left tentacle. A stream of blood flows curiously from her mouth. She smiles then breaks into a loud laugh. "Les Sticks de Tinder are playing some shows in March and I cannot keep this silly smile off my face," she squeals. "Cut!” screams the director. "It is not 'Les Sticks de Tinder' it is 'Tindersticks!' And we simply cannot advance with this, this...this smiling!"
Bah, even the lamest turd of a screenplay deserves a soundtrack, but I doubt moody scene makers Tindersticks would want to save this garbage. However, if anyone could transform the above into box office gold, they surely could. Cinematically speaking, the reborn Tindersticks do it better than most. In the past they have contributed the soundtracks to two Claire Denis films, Nénette et Boni and Trouble Every Day. In the present they have contributed the soundtracks to two Claire Denis films, 35 Rhums and White Material, both of which may be released widely this year. We are keeping our fingers crossed that both the films and their accompanying soundtrack albums do. Until it is possible to pick up either of these sure-fire hits, you may get the rare chance to see the band play live. Being the continental types that they are, Tindersticks are now playing some shows in Europe but will set sail for America at the beginning of March to play, sadly, only nine metropolitan areas. The core trio of David Boulter, Neil Fraser, and Stuart A. Staples will be assisted by Terry Edwards (brass), Dan McKinna (bass), Andrew Nice (cello), and probably Thomas Belhom (drums), who is missing the European shows due to illness. Tindesticks latest album is The Hungry Saw, which was released in September by Constellation.
Tout sweet!
02.13.09 - Lisbon, Portugal - Coliseum
02.14.09 - Porto, Portugal - Casa da Musica
02.16.09 - Malaga, Spain - Teatro Cervantes
02.18.09 - Istanbul, Turkey - CRR Concert Hall
02.20.09 - Thessaloniki, Greece - Principal Club
02.21.09 - Athens, Greece - Badminton
03.04.09 - Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live
03.05.09 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03.06.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Masonic Temple
03.07.09 - Boston, MA - SomervilleTheatre
03.09.09 - Montréal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
03.10.09 - Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
03.12.09 - Chicago, IL - Epiphany Episcopal Church
03.13.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
03.15.09 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
No Date for Valentine’s Day Yet? Matt Pinfield Wants You!
By Annapocalypse on 02-13-2009
Every year around Valentine’s Day, singles join together across the country to commiserate their pain of not having a significant other with which to share Hallmark’s biggest manufactured holiday. If you’re one of those singles, Matt Pinfield -- former host of MTV's 120 Minutes -- wants you to know that he feels your pain. In fact, he feels your pain so much that he’s willing to go on a special Valentine’s Day date with you!
Time Out New York is running a “Dating in NYC” feature right now, where you can choose from a list of “Hot NY singles” and solicit them for a date. Basically, it’s a giant list of random New Yorkers who are lonely and have nothing better to do than, uh, date other random people from the internet. But, if you happen to like historical movies, eating out, and the arts, then Matt Pinfield may just be the man for you! Although, I think I just found the perfect man for me. Sorry, Matt!
Give the Gift of Music You Can All Agree On; Go See Meg Baird
By Kat Gardiner on 02-13-2009
Don't know what to get your girlfriend for Valentine's Day? Have you been searching for that perfect musical gift that they would truly love and won't drive you insane like that new Sara Bareilles song? Good news for you; Meg Baird is going on tour. With her debut album Dear Companion released in 2007, Baird, dreamy and talented, seems to have proved old Ricky Nelson wrong -- you can please everyone. More famous for being a lead vocalist of psyche-shoegazing band Espers, Baird's solo music seems to almost channel John Fahey and Nick Drake, producing less pure psychedelia and more ethereal vocals than she does with her band. In fact, I have yet to find anyone who likes singer/songwriters and who hasn't been pleased with her (especially among the ladies). Listen to "The Waltz of the Tennis Players" and you'll know what I'm talking about. Oh, and did I mention she's not Norah Jones, yet?
Here are her tourdates (with James Blackshaw):
03.02.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie
03.03.09 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
03.04.09 - New York City, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
03.05.09 - Boston, MA - Brattle Theatre
03.07.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Issue Project Room
03.08.09 - New Haven, CT - BAR
