Kayo Dot to Release New LP on Hydra Head, Dates with Earth
By Mango Starr on Apr 16 2008
Kayo Dot, featuring Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya, are set to release a new album, Blue Lambency Downward, out May 6 on Hydra Head Records. As a professional journalist, I would describe their music as caliginous, crepuscular, dismal, sepulchral, and tenebrous. But it can also be anomalous, errant, and freakish. Here, take a listen for yourself. Who knows... maybe you'll describe their music as "awesome" on a blog or something. But you should probably let me handle the descriptions and just stick to the listening. Wouldn't want you to addle yourself. (You probably don't even know what that means.)
Blue Lambency Downward tracklisting:
1. Blue Lambency Downward
2. Clelia Walking
3. Right Hand is the One I Want
4. The Sow Submits
5. The Awkward Wind Wheel
6. The Useless Ladder
7. Symmetrical Arizona
Kayo Dot tourdates:
05.04.08 - Washington D.C. - Rock and Roll Hotel ^
05.05.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s ^
05.06.08 - New York, NY - The Knitting Factory ^
05.25.08 - TBA, France - TBA $
05.26.08 - Paris, France - Main d’Oeuvres $
05.27.08 - TBA, Switzerland - TBA $
05.28.08 - Luzerne, Switzerland - Treibhaus $
05.29.08 - Namur, Belgium - Belvedere $
05.30.08 - Luxembourg - Dqliq $
05.31.08 - Munster, Germany - Gleis 22 $
06.01.08 - TBA, Benelux - TBA
06.02.08 - Berlin, Germany - Cassiopeia
06.03.08 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Lades Kaelder
06.04.08 - Dresden, Germany - Az Conni
06.05.08 - Prague, CZ -Chateau Rouge
06.06.08 - Munich, Germany - Feierwerk
06.07.08 - Frankfurt, Germany - Elfer
06.08.08 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Worm
^ Earth
$ Gregor Samsa
Meg Baird of Espers Is Doing A Solo Tour for the Soul (Don’t You Like It When TMT Headlines & Stories Have Less Sarcasm And More Introspective Thought?)
By Scout Leader Kyle on Apr 16 2008
Sarcasm is a fickle thing, fellow TMT readers. Some of us are good at it, and some of us think we're good at it. Most people think that sarcasm is tough to write, but I think it's tough to read! Let's face it, it's both hard to dish out and hard to take in. You never know what to believe when a TMT writer admits they find the new Mariah Carey single playing in their heads on a daily basis or when Hanky Panky says the Sub Pop 20th anniversary fest will be "mediocre" (TMT News). You also probably don't really know what we think of Mr P. A lot of the time we talk about how big of an asshole he is, and we barely focus on how incredible of a guy he is and how his grammar skills rock. This also begs another question: why do we spend so much time writing about him? No one else does this except for us. I think we all just want to bone him but are too afraid to admit it. [Ready for a bonin' anytime, cutie. -- Editor]
Writing about Meg Baird of the Espers can be just as fickle. You ever have that feeling when you just don't know much about a subject or a particular person and you end up just winging it? Yeah, I feel that way a lot! I don't typically "wing it" in the traditional sense (I do research and fact-checking), but with a low-key musician like Meg Baird, you can't really say much of anything. Except that she plays dope folk music, has an album called Dear Companion, plays in Espers, and is touring. That's all you really need to know about her, and I'd like to think that if you haven't heard of Meg Baird you'll go look her up on MySpace and see if she's your cup of tea. If she is, then you can visit her at the following shows:
Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival in July, Baby
By Hanky Panky on Apr 16 2008
I don't know if Sub Pop has ever organized a festival before, which may be why the up-and-coming Sub Pop music and comedy festival is shaping up to be the worst festival ever announced. Titled the SP20 Festival, they've already missed the mark, because titling it SPF 20 would have been much wittier. Indeed, SP20 Festival isn't witty at all and thus fails to market itself by name and name alone.
Then comes the issue of music... and comedy. Granted, the general theme of "so and so art and music festival" is getting old and rarely has anything to do with art beyond a couple large-scale sculptures put in the middle of the festival ground featuring misting hoses to be utilized by sweaty freak-fans on the verge of heatstroke, but comedy seems an unlikely coupling for a music festival. Nevertheless, Sub Pop will give it a go, featuring label unknowns Eugene Mirman, Patton Oswalt, and label friend and fan Todd Barry. Where's Chris Rock? Where's Jon Stewart?
While past Sub Pop artists are the things of legend, a few mainstay individuals such as Kurt Cobain and Jeremy Enigk could not be secured for the SP20 lineup -- a disappointment to be sure -- but this has not left SP high and dry. With more cataloged artists than you can shake a stick at (what the hell does that mean anyway?), the lineup appears to be weak and growing weaker, with Beachwood Sparks, Comets on Fire, Fleet Foxes, Flight of the Conchords, The Fluid, Foals, Grand Archives, Green River, The Helio Sequence, Iron & Wine, Kinski, Low, Mudhoney, No Age, Pissed Jeans, Red Red Meat, The Ruby Suns, Seaweed, and Wolf Parade, with more to be announced in the coming months.
Inside the offices, SP will be arranging a series of re-releases, starting with Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (May 22) and a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club.
Ticket information (bear with me): Discounted $30 single-day or $50 two-day passes to the SP20 Festival go on sale Saturday April 26, at noon, if you feel the need to be anal-retentively prompt. Otherwise, ticket prices will increase to $35 single-day or $60 two-day passes on May 10. Tickets for the SP20 Comedy Show are $20 and go on sale April 26 at noon. All ticket proceeds will go toward an assortment of "beneficiaries" deemed worthy by Sub Pop and participating festival artists -- don't ask.
SP20 Festival:
SINGER Plan Lengthy Spring Jaunt; Robert Lowe Releases Gyromancy
By Paulb on Apr 15 2008
Drag City quartet SINGER has mapped out an unusually busy spring tour to promote the release of last month's gloriously mouthy Unhistories. The LP, a clear mishmash of four able-bodied young musical minds, relies heavily on the vocal ranges of its members rather than their unique powers of instrumentation. The group is also ably backed by the ferociously talented Todd Rittman (U.S. Maple), so the instrumentation aspect of the LP does anything but whimper in the corner. It's not entirely clear how long SINGER plan on staying around, but you'll have plenty of opportunities to see if the new relationship is fruitful.
SINGER's founding member Robert AA Lowe (Lichens, 90 Day Men) has also recently released a new LP entitled Gyromancy (Thrill Jockey) with Rose Lazar, a book/3-inch CD bundle in the tradition of Daniel AIU Higgs' Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot. Thrill Jockey gushes: "Gyromancy looks at future past, neo antiquity, ritual magic, and patterning. The book represents a dream walk through nature and all of its influences. Repetition of imagery keeps you aware of the cyclical patterns that nature presents us with. We get caught up in these patterns without noticing them, to the point that you have to stop and take a harder look. Gyromancy is an attempt at taking a harder look."
You can purchase Gyromancy here, or spend $2 more to get a hand-crafted, limited-to-100 edition here.
Tour Galore:
* Enon
& Cloudland Canyon
Sunset Rubdown To Last Until Sunrise
By Mango Starr on Apr 15 2008
I stood at the window, looking out across the beach and the ocean, watching as the sun approached the horizon. On this small Mediterranean island, no one but my loving husband was around to see my full nudity, unless one counted the birds that occasionally flew past my view of the sunset. There was a lone boat passing slowly by in the distance, its single sail raised high into the sky, but even if anyone on the boat thought to look toward the small abode, I doubted that even binoculars would allow me to be seen behind the window in the dim room.
I was physically and mentally exhausted. Our sunset-to-sunrise sexathon was nearing its end, yet despite the rawness I felt between my legs, my body still craved more, still yearned for that one final climax. And, given how my husband's manhood was lengthening against my back as his arms enveloped me with love and security, I knew that he felt the same.
Sunset Rubdown tourdates:
