Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Alec Ounsworth Releases Solo LP, But Who Will Clap Hands, Say Yeah?
Everybody knows clapping your hands and saying yeah isn’t a one-man job. You can clap hands or you can say yeah, but doing both at once? Preposterous. It took four men, under the guise of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, to properly clap hands and say yeah. Properly clapping and saying yeah must have been even harder than imagined, though, as CYHSY have been silent since the mixed reception of their 2007 album Some Loud Thunder (TMT Review).
Lead, um, Clapper Alec Ounsworth intends to break that silence, but all by his lonesome on his debut solo album Mo Beauty, out October 20 on ANTI-Records. Well, not entirely by his lonesome: Backing up Ounsworth are New Orleans music staples George Porter, Jr. (bass), Stanton Moore (drums), Robert Walter (keys), and Mark Sutton (baritone and pedal-steel guitars). Those guys seem like they’re capable of clapping and maybe even saying yeah. If not, they’ve got plenty of help on the album with appearances from New Orleans musicians Mark Mullins, Craig Klein, Greg Hicks, Washboard Chaz, Shannon Powell, John Boute, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, and Meschiya Lake.
That’s an awful lot of New Orleans. Makes sense, too: Ounsworth says that “New Orleans informed the spirit of the record, as it should.” But don’t get any big ideas that it’s a specifically New Orleans record, as Ounsworth also says “most of the songs weren’t written specifically for New Orleans.” Okay, so, some New Orleans, but not too much. Got it.
Mo Beauty, mo tracklists:
1. Modern Girl (...with scissors)
2. Bones in the Grave
3. Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (song for New Orleans)
4. That is not my Home (after Bruegel)
5. Idiots in the Rain
6. South Philadelphia (Drug Days)
7. What Fun.
8. Me and You, Watson
9. Obscene Queen Bee #2
10. When You've No Eyes
Rejoice! The Big Sur Festival Lineup Is Here, And It Doesn’t Contain Girl Talk, of Montreal, or Kings Of Leon Like Every Other Festival Does!
Is it just me, or are rock festivals getting incredibly predictable with their lineups each year? For example, the 2009 Lollapalooza lineup contains over 20 bands that I’ve seen already. Maybe I just spend too much money on shows, but either way, it’s hard to find a festival lineup these days that doesn’t recycle the same tired list of indie rock headliners and opening acts.
Luckily, the Big Sur Festival from Kemado, Mexican Summer, and (((folkYEAH!))) promises to feature bands that you will likely never find on the Lollapalooza main stage. These confirmed headliners include:
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Dungen
Farmer Dave Scher
Gang Gang Dance
Kurt Vile
Saviours
VietNam
Wooden Shjips
Woods
The festival goes down on Saturday, August 29. Tickets are $29 and available via Big Sur’s website. Take that, Perry Farrell!
The Strokes' Julian Casablancas to Release Solo Album Before Everyone Forgets Who He Is
Lookout Used Bins and... digital... used bins? Whatever! The Strokes' frontman Julian Casablancas has finally decided that he’d better stop slacking and release his own awkward, mediocre, not-quite-as-good-as-The-Strokes-were-together-even-though-it-sounds-an-awfully-lot-like-them solo album, in order to compete with the other erstwhile Strokes who have already released their own awkward, mediocre, not-quite-as-good-as-The-Strokes-were-together-even-though-it-sounds-an-awfully-lot-like-them solo albums throughout the past year or two.
As NME reports, the singer is currently finishing up work on a full-length record, to be released under his garish Christian name, with a release tentatively slated for the fall of this year. Casablancas -- who, since the last album from The Strokes, released “My Drive Thru” with Santigold and Pharrell Williams and collaborated with Danger Mouse on one the crappier tracks on the recent Dark Night Of The Soul album -- is the fourth Stroke to release a solo or side-project album, following two solo albums from Albert Hammond, Jr., one from Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fab Moretti's side project Little Joy. As for guitarist Nick Valensi, well, he must be running for office or something...
But back to Jules’ record! Set to include such NYC-cool sounding tracks as “River Of Brake Lights,” “Glass,” and “Ludlow St.,” the album, which will be titled Phrazes For The Young, was recorded in and out of various phone booths in Los Angeles, Nebraska and Casablancas' hometown of New York City. It was produced by Jason Lader, with additional production from Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis. A pretty absurd trailer video for the album, complete with ostentatious “MIDI Covers the Strokes” soundtrack (album preview?), can be viewed on Casablancas’ website.
But wait, there’s more! Casablancas is even set to get up from whatever leather couch that he’s usually sprawled on reading Henry Miller and play a "specials series" of U.S. dates, followed by a solo tour later in 2009. Stay tuned for all of those details, as well as a full tracklist, as well as anything else that might distract you from realizing that The Strokes were probably supposed to have finished tracking their forth album by now.
The Black Heart Procession File Orderly into America’s Heart with a Wonderfully Gloomy New Album
The Black Heart Procession really appeals to my inner goth. In my mind, it’s all visions of sunn 0)))-style robed figures walking single file and flagellating themselves in a Medieval attempt to prevent swine flu from taking over our cities, all while creating perfectly constructed melancholy indie chamber pop. Of course, the San Diego-based core members of Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel have been doing their thing since 1997, which is long enough to prove my conceptions untrue, but not long enough to make me stop hoping that maybe, just maybe, one day this will be their modus operandi.
Over the decade or so, The Black Heart Procession have released six full-length albums, including a collaboration with Dutch band Solbakken for the In the Fishtank series. And now, at last, there’s another album on the way. Six is the band’s next offering, available October 6 on Temporary Residence Ltd.
Aside from their recent confirmation to play Estrella Damm Primavera Club 2009), there is no word yet on tourdates or awesome band t-shirts (the rather Liars-ish album art leaves no doubt that these shirts are gonna be kickass), but you can get the tracklisting in all its kinda goth, totally beautiful glory below.
1. When You Finish Me
2. Wasteland
3. Witching Stone
4. Rats
5. Heaven And Hell
6. Drugs
7. All My Steps
8. Forget My Heart
9. Liar's Ink
10. Suicide
11. Back To The Underground
12. Last Chance
13. Iri Sulu
The Dodos Cook Up 3-Step Plan to Combat Time to Die Leak
The new Dodos album, Time to Die (TMT News), has escaped from captivity and made it out onto the internet -- two months before the original September 15 release date. Them’s the breaks, but Dodos aren’t taking it lying down. The jittery San Francisco folk trio have enacted a three-step plan to combat the leak. Roll the slides!
- Step 1: Set up a website where fans can listen to the album, download (in exchange for one shiny e-mail address) an MP3 of the track “Fables,” pre-order a physical copy of the record, and watch a video message from the band. All this because, as singer Meric Long puts it, they want you to “hear it and feel it.” I don’t know if I really want to “feel” an album called Time to Die. Sounds kind of scary, but whatever.
- Step 2: Bump the digital release date way up. On July 28, you can download the album exclusively from Amazon MP3. It’ll even be the Amazon Daily Deal that day, meaning it will be crazy cheap. If you’re not so down with Amazon, don’t worry: the record will be available at other digital music retailers the following week.
- Step 3: Swim in their new Uncle Scrooge-esque pool of money.
Maybe that last step is jumping the gun a bit, but let’s hope it comes to pass for The Dodos' sake. I mean, that would be pretty cool.
Guns N’ Roses Leaker Sentenced To House Arrest, Probation; Axl Rose States: “He’s No Longer Welcome In the Jungle.”
Blogger Kevin Cogill, who famously leaked nine tracks off recent GN'R album Chinese Democracy, has been sentenced by a federal judge to probationary discipline. The writer/fan/"thief" pled guilty to one count of misdemeanor copyright infringement, and now he’s got to pay the price for making others not pay the price.
In addition to a year of probation, Cogill will also face two months of house arrest and the dreaded task of recording a Public Service Announcement for the RIAA. Furthermore, the blogger must also let The Government regularly go through his personal hard-drive with a fine-toothed comb and pinky-swear that he totally didn’t steal anything lately.
But perhaps most heartbreaking for the lifelong GN'R fan is a promise from front-man Axl Rose who assured Cogill that “he would no longer be welcome in the jungle and that, even if he has the money, I will no longer have what he needs, disease or otherwise.”
The flamboyant singer continued: “I no longer want to watch [Cogill] bleed, nor is he going to.” The devastated music fan once again urged that he was only trying to help the band and in no way hoped to hurt them. However, Mr. Cogill’s promises appear to be falling on deaf ears as his permit to Paradise City will also be revoked in the coming weeks. Said Cogill, “The grass is green, the girls are pretty, but I guess I gotta do my time for a capital crime.”
Nine Inch Nails Final Tour, Plus Some Advice for Aspiring Musicians from Mr Reznor Himself
Nine Inch Nails have confirmed their final 10 dates before they go on indefinite hiatus. Pre-sales will begin July 17 with general sales available July 31.
As the band prepares to bow-out, Trent Reznor has given us his views on what it now takes to become a successful musician on the NIN messageboard. He gives some fairly candid opinions suggesting that, to achieve Coldplay-style mega-stardom, you need to be prepared to relinquish creative control and revenue streams to the major labels. However, for those wanting to make their own way through the pitfalls of the music industry, Reznor recommends utilizing the internet to its fullest extent. Whether it’s giving away your music as free MP3s, constantly updating your website with interesting content, or building your own online community, the only way forward, according to Reznor, is attempting to bend the internet to your will.
All in all, it’s good stuff, just a shame that the record labels seem to have failed to cotton on to this and are intent on pursuing ridiculous lawsuits and unable to adapt their business models, etc.
Nine Inch Nails wave goodbye:
08.22.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
08.23.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall #
08.25.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 #
08.26.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
08.28.09 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom %
08.29.09 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
09.02.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium %
09.03.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre %
09.05.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
09.06.09 - Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
# The Horrors
% Mew
Black Keys Drummer Starts Side Band Called Drummer; As a Result, Phil Collins Forced to Rename Autobiography to Douchebag
Jimi Hendrix could have just named himself Guitar and totally gotten away with it. Freddy Mercury could have ditched Queen and started a group called Good Voice without eliciting so much as a blush. Mick Jagger could’ve gone solo in the mid-60s as Very Skinny Man and still would’ve ended up a legend. But no, your heroes were all cowards. They macked the rep, but lacked the sack to call themselves exactly what they damn well were: extraordinary people who could penetrate the regular man’s soul through skillful manipulation of a common object. Instead, they cowered behind sobriquets and wasted their careers as “The Experience” or “The Stones” when they could have been caressed in the light of straightforward arrogance. In the end, only The Band had the brass to tell every other musician to fuck off right from the get go.
In such intimate company does The Black Keys’ skin-slapper Patrick Carney now find himself. Along with a few pals from bands like Teeth of the Hydra and The Six Parts Seven, Carney and company are Drummer, the band. Could this be a power play? Is Carney seeking what so many before him were too craven to pursue: worldwide domination over a particular instrument? Will he be percussion’s Galactus, devouring any who dare challenge his dominion? Probably not.
With the band’s cheekily titled debut Feel Good Together due to drop September 29, Drummer looks more like a band about friends having fun than some sinister musical coup. While I hold no ire towards bros being bros, I can’t help but be disappointed. I wanted war. I wanted bloodshed. Now I’ll just have to settle with an album and an October tour. Oh well, I guess some metaphorical battles were never meant to be fought.
10.08.09 - Brooklyn, NY – Southpaw #
10.09.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s #
10.10.09 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge #
10.11.09 - Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear’s #
10.12.09 - Washington, DC - DC9 #
10.13.09 - Baltimore, MD - The Ottobar #
10.14.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 #
10.15.09 - Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light #
10.16.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl #
10.17.09 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge #
10.19.09 - Louisville, KY - Skull Alley #
10.20.09 - Indianapolis, IN - Spin Nightclub #
10.21.09 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon #
10.22.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry #
10.23.09 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern #
10.24.09 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom # †
#with The Royal Bangs
† Other Girls
RIP: Dani Baquet-Long of Celer
From Celer's official website:
With great sadness I have to announce to you, our friends, that Dani passed away yesterday, July 8. On Tuesday morning I woke to find her unconscious, and not breathing. The medics were called, and she was revived, but fell directly into a coma and didn't wake up. She passed away yesterday at 3pm, with her family by her. All that is known to say why is that her heart stopped, for no foreseeable reason. The only relation is that her father died in the same way, of a cardiac arrest at the age of 29. She was 26.Right now I don't know how to express the loss and sadness I feel, knowing that someone so ultimately close to me, and such an inspiration and friend to so many other people in the world is gone. All I can say is that she won't be forgotten, or pushed aside only because she's gone. She'll always be with me, as my inspiration, my love, my everything. All I can say is I miss her, every second.
Thanks to Eric Fourman for the news tip.
Grizzly Bear and Beach House: Benzodiazepines Tour 2K9
Are you sick of going to rock shows where everything’s all kinds of loud? Are you tired of getting “slam-danced” out of your cozy spot in front of the stage by punk-ass motherfuckers who are too busy flailing, spilling sticky drinks, and dry-dumping to the beat of the bong water-bubbling bass that’s spilling out of the way-too-hot P.A. and punching you in the stomach until you're nauseous and dehydrated to notice that, well, you were kinda standing there first? Heck, are you sick and tired of “standing” at shows in the first place?
Don’t worry. Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear and Baltimore’s Beach House got your back. That’s right, two of the haziest, wooziest, dreamiest, prettiest acts in indie rock are teaming up this summer and fall to offer the most relaxing tandem tour since Graham Russell teamed up with Russell Hitchcock.
Swirl and swoon as Grizzly Bear play unimposingly mid-tempoed hits off of their recent Vekatimiest (TMT Review). Fawn and fizz as Beach House breeze through a few nonchalant numbers from last year’s critically acclaimed Devotion (TMT Review). Meet a few people, take a few pills, and make up your OWN words to describe your physical reactions to their songs: maybe you’ll “swizz” with friends to the “swaultry thicktitude”... or perhaps you’d like to “schwobble” through the “croomy blue galauziness”? You know, it’s your own thing; do whatever! Uh, just don’t drive to the shows, maybe.
Oh, and be sure to check out Grizzly Bear on The Late Show With David Letterman this Thursday to see what you’re in for from the headliners. In the mean time, check out the bands’ individual dates for this summer and fall, and start planning your fall show-going excursions now. It’s not as easy as you’d think to find yourself a good horse-tranks dealer.
Grizzly Bear and Beach House:
08.30.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Waterfront - Jelly Pool Party
09.26.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
09.27.09 - Chicago, IL - Metro
09.28.09 - Chicago, IL - Metro
09.30.09 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10.01.09 - Columbia, MO - Blue Note
10.05.09 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
10.06.09 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVA
10.07.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
10.08.09 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
10.20.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium
10.21.09 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
Grizzly Bear:
07.19.09 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
08.07.09 - Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic
08.09.09 - Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic
08.13.09 - Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08.14.09 - Goteborg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08.15.09 - Rees-Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop
08.16.09 - St. Malo, France - La Route du Rock Festival
08.18.09 - London, England - Koko
08.20.09 - Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08.21.09 - Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Paradise
08.22.09 - Glanusk, Wales - Green Man Festival
10.03.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
10.14.09 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theatre
10.15.09 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
10.16.09 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
10.18.09 - San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
11.01.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
11.02.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
11.04.09 - Manchester, England - Cathedral
11.05.09 - Leeds, England - Leeds Metropolitan University
11.06.09 - Bristol, England - Anson Rooms
11.08.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal
11.09.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
11.10.09 - Hamburg, Germany - Grunspan
11.11.09 - Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
11.12.09 - Munich, Germany - Theaterfabrik
11.15.09 - Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son
11.16.09 - Vienna, Austria - WuK
11.17.09 - Basel, Switzerland - Volkshaus
11.19.09 - Koln, Germany - Kulturkirche
11.21.09 - Paris, France - La Cigale
11.24.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Lille Vega
Beach House:
08.07.09 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
09.19.09 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
09.20.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
09.22.09 - Anacortes, WA - Dept. of Safety
09.23.09 - Bellingham, WA - The Nightlife
09.24.09 - Victoria, British Columbia - Rifflandia
EMI’s New Cost-Cutting Measure: Refusing to Sell Music to Mom & Pop Stores!
We all know that times are tough for record labels thanks to declining CD sales and the slowness and/or refusal to adapt to online file-sharing. Consequently, you would expect that music executives would try to cling on to any kind of business they could possibly get.
Which is why EMI has taken the innovative (and surprising step) of refusing to sell music to mom and pop stores. The reason for this flash of inspiration? To help reduce costs and encourage customers to buy music at one-stops rather than independent retailers (even though the likes of Wal-Mart are stocking catalog less and less).
One can’t help but feel this is another vindictive move against stores that have the cheek to sell albums promoted and marketed by musicians themselves (see the Kill the Record Labels DVD release), who have got better things to do than suffocate under a major label’s control.
