Moody, blacker than black slowcore folk superstar Boduf Songs, fresh from dropping How Shadows Chase the Balance (TMT Review) on the flawless Kranky label, will bring joy to all the girls and boys this fall in his first U.S. tour. (Since this is his first U.S. tour, try and be nice, ya'll!) The tour includes two New York shows and a shit-ton of art galleries. The jaunt across the upper Midwest and Northeast also includes some on-air playin' and spitballin' on Pittsburgh's low-power, but pretty darn good WPTS before his performance later that night on November 19.
If his live show bears any of the intensity of this recent work, do not drink before these shows, unless you want to leap off a bridge later that night. All shows with To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie.
In attempting to rid oneself of the painful loneliness and draining anxiety often associated with moderate-to-severe Agoraphobia, it is of utmost importance that one begin simply. One must devise a certain activity that possesses the, shall I say, “malleability” so as to have the preordained characteristic of growth from distractingly intense inward focus to full-fledged public display. Several potential treatment options were examined, including baking, writing, bed-making-and-unmaking-and-then-making-again, and bird watching. But, fascinatingly, months of field research have yielded compelling results when one particular treatment method is employed: the Indie Rock Project Method.
- STEP 1: Start a modest indie rock “bedroom project.” The “bedroom” aspect is key here. Give the project a name that signals your condition to outsiders who may initially confuse you for a glamour-seeking social gadabout like Kevin Barnes. Let us consider the name “Casiotone for the Painfully Alone” in our example.
- STEP 2: Make a new record. Start small, perhaps with an EP, perhaps with a compelling title such as Town Topic. This EP could consist of almost anything; the only goal here is creative focus of the mind. It could even consist of 13 instrumental pieces, bookended by two vocal tracks, with titles like “Ice Cream Truck” (a therapeutic story of criminal-minded kids who go joy-riding in a stolen ice cream truck, perhaps?) and “Green Cotton Sweater (version)” (featuring blown-out drum machine rhythms, clattering pianos, and systematic vintage amp therapy?).
If you find yourself progressing with the treatment more quickly than expected, consider working with one or more outside artists, like new filmmaker Laruel Nakadate, for example. Construct your new EP in collaboration with his or her medium. For instance, your Town Topic EP would also function as the original soundtrack to Nakadate’s debut film Stay The Same Never Change.
- STEP 3: Set up a small tour in support of your new EP/soundtrack. Don’t worry; you need not leave the U.S. on this tour, and it need not include more than 10 dates for the treatment to remain effective. Please note that this process will seem daunting at first, but consider the following: you have already put in so much work on the product that it would be simply foolish not to tour on it. Also consider that these nightly live recreations of a record that you produced in the comfort of your own home will provide some measure of relief as you travel farther and farther from your former prison. Please see FIGURE 1a. below for an example tour schedule.
FIGURE 1a: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone “Systematic Desensitization” Tour ’08:
Dylan Carlson, mastermind of drone demigods Earth and hero to that weird guy in your Russian Civ class who wears a hooded cloak on chilly days, ain’t afraid to pull a sacrilege or two for the sake of his art. Like his heroes Black Sabbath before him, Carlson loves sticking it to the Christian ascendancy, filling their nightmares with scores of Beelzebubs thrashing baby Jesus with skyscraper-sized hell guitars. Unfortunately, the moral majority has no idea who Dylan Carlson is and probably never will since Christians tend to avoid people in hooded cloaks who aren’t monks. Such is their nature, and Satan bless ‘em for it!
Like so many other doom metal artists, Carlson’s brand of blasphemy is more sacrilege for sacrilege’s sake, with the latest addition in this demonstration of desecration being the limited-edition deluxe “biblical” reissue of Earth’s early ’08 album The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull(TMT Review). What makes it so scriptural, you ask? According to the vile beasties at Southern Lord Records, the gold-colored, 180-gram records come in an “over the top bible-esque tripe gatefold jacket” with a faux leatherette cover and gold embossed lettering. You know, because only one version of the Bible has ever been published, and it is leather-bound and lined with gold-leaf. Dammit, Southern Lord, I know the Christian Bible isn’t exactly your thing, but you should at least realize that fake leather and gold embossing does not a Bible look-alike make. At least include some fan-fictionalized version of Acts of the Apostles or something!
Despite a disappointing score on the sacrilege scale, the rest of this package seems pretty cool. Bob Weston of Shellac remastered the audio specifically for vinyl, and the inside pages include art and photographs from dragon and skull painter extraordinaire Arik Roper . The deluxe vinyl release also includes a bonus track, “Junkyard Priest,” and if the rest of the album is any indication, this song will most likely rock considerably. Get this album for the music, not the blasphemy.
Make no mistake, our usual morning routine at TMTHQ consists of quickly rifling off and posting a couple of stories of the "Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse Both OD While Entwined in Blindfolded 69" or "Mildly Interesting Band to Tour" variety before quickly stepping out to sit around, wolf down a couple of these fucking atrocious things, and brag about our previous nights' fabricated conquests (in reality, a quick ass or nut grope in the lineup at the bar). However, if we get a real news nibble, then it's all hands on deck and noses to the grindstone until we hunt-and-peck type ourselves a story that is invariably dull and formulaic (this writer's specialty!). But at least they are timely! For example, if we get a hot tip that Radar Bros. have announced a few December U.S. dates, then it is our sworn duty to crank something out for our readers' enjoyment hasta pronto!
'Tis true. The Radar Bros. have announced some U.S. dates after they complete their current European tour, currently underway and continuing November 11 in the land of chocolate and schwingen, Switzerland. The band now consists of elder bro Jim Putnam alongside two new male siblings: Brian Hussey (bass, vocals) and Stevie Treichel (drums). The Brothers are touring in support of their latest album, Auditorium (TMT Review), released at the beginning of 2008 by matron-like label Merge. 11.11.08 - Zürich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik 11.12.08 - Toulouse, France - Le Cri de la Mouette 11.13.08 - Castellón, Spain - Teatre Principal, Tanned Tin Festival 11.15.08 - Don Benito, Spain - Rincon Pio Sound 11.16.08 - Lisbon, Portugal - Lounge 11.17.08 - Zaragoza, Spain - La Lata de Bombillas 11.18.08 - Grenoble, France - Eve 11.19.08 - Dijon, Spain - Deep Inside 11.20.08 - Nantes, France - Live Factory 11.22.08 - Rennes, France - Bar 1929 11.23.08 - Paris, France - Le Bellevilloise 11.24.08 - Brighton, England - Komedia # 11.25.08 - London, England - Metro 11.26.08 - Brimingham, England - Bar Academy 11.27.08 - Manchester, England - The Dulcimer 12.06.08 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 12.07.08 - Washington, DC - Black Cat, Backstage 12.08.08 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge 12.09.08 - Cambridge, MA - The Middle East, Upstairs 12.10.08 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall 12.11.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's 12.12.08 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head
Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice but was banned from her own country for more than 30 years under apartheid, died after collapsing on stage in Italy. She was 76.
In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world - jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon - and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela.
"Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us," Mandela said in a statement.
A friend of mine once wrote that his first experience seeing Six Organs of Admittance live caused him to believe in things that were obviously untrue. He was convinced, for example, his apartment had a fourth dimension, and he was ready to take a hammer to the bathroom to discover it. This only scratches the surface concerning the mystical power of Six Organs' incandescent, Eastern-tinged, enveloping psychedelic modal noodling. It's barely conceivable what some would do to grip the rarest of Ben Chasny's repertoire. Lucky for us, RTZ curates some of the rarest and some of the best on one priced-to-own brain-burner.
The double disc (or three LP) set collects coveted, rare material, including "Resurrection" from the 6OA/Charlambadies split, one of Chasny's first recordings that was limited to 33 copies (dating back to ’99), and some choice live performances. Totally spiritual. It's like finding the arc of the covenant or some shizz.
RTZ drops January 20, 2009 courtesy of Drag City. No tracklist has yet been released, but it's not like you need a tracklist to know that you're going to pick this up.
