Dan Deacon to release remix EP without asking us if that's okay

By Nobodaddy on

Dan Deacon to release remix EP without asking us if that's okay

Last spring, international tastemakers Tiny Mix Tapes introduced the world to a complete unknown named Dan Deacon with the release its chart-topping benefit compilation (which is still for sale): Tiny Mix Tapes Vol. 1: Darfur. As usual, this single act of intelligentistic visionaryism not only served to reinforce what good-writing “criticonsumers” TMT is consisting of, but it also gave Dan Deacon the platform he needed to launch his career in earnest (shortlived though it may turn out to be in this jerkwater business).

On the heels of his TMT-buzz, Deacon released the splendid Bromst (TMT Review), a high-minded concept album concerning his eternal debt to TMT and the various lengths to which he was prepared to go to repay it. Unsurprisingly, the album was a smash. But now, Deacon has strayed from his path of indentured servitude to this site and announced the forthcoming release of a new, non-TMT-related EP that will include remixes from several Bromst tracks.

On April 19, the British label Amazing Sounds is set to release the extremely limited Woof Woof EP. A scant 500 vinyl copies of this TMT Fame cash-in will be pressed, which will include the likes of Hudson Mohawke’s squiggly remix of the title track, as well as remixes from Allez-Allez and Luke Abbot. But while Deacon, against all advice from his managers, lawyers, tourmates, friends, family, and fanclub, has obviously made the critical mistake of releasing this new EP on a record label other than Tiny Mix Tapes, we here at TMT plan on taking the high road and supporting our prodigal son anyway. You go get ‘em, Dan (if that is your real name…)

Woof Woof EP:

01. Woof Woof (Original Mix)
02. Woof Woof (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
03. Build Voice (Allez-Allez Remix)
04. Surprise Stefani (Luke Abbott Remix)

• Dan Deacon: http://www.dandeacon.com

[Photo: Bratha]

OK Go leaves EMI in a YouTube announcement, completes transition to band 2.0

By Mike McHugh on 03-12-2010

Over the last few years, OK Go have found more success as a YouTube sensation than as an actual band. And all the while, longtime label EMI has provided little help in forging the band’s brave new multimedia world. As singer Damian Kulash recently wrote in a New York Times op-ed, EMI attempted to increase its streaming royalties from YouTube by preventing users from embedding the label’s videos on other websites. Kulash claims the policy has hamstrung the viralability of the band’s latest opus “This Too Shall Pass” and subsequently hindered CD and digital sales.

As a result, OK Go have parted ways with EMI and will release all future material, including a re-release of their new album Of the Color of Blue Sky, on their own Paracadute Recordings label. True to form, Kulash announced the split via YouTube and thanked EMI for their years of service to the band. But one would imagine EMI needs more than gracious goodbyes to console themselves after the recent rash of bad news the label has faced.

Meanwhile, between starting a new label and constructing a gargantuan Rube Goldberg machine, OK Go also found the time to schedule a two-month tour starting in April. Feel free to check it out if, you know, watching bands outside of the internet is your thing.

04.13.10 - Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room
04.14.10 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
04.16.10 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
04.17.10 - Chicago, IL - Metro
04.18.10 - St. Louis, MO - The Old Rock House
04.20.10 - Columbia, MO - Blue Note
04.21.10 - Indianapolis, IN - Earth House
04.22.10 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
04.23.10 - Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club
04.25.10 - Ithaca, NY - The Haunt
04.27.10 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
04.28.10 - New Haven, CT - Toad’s Place
04.30.10 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
05.02.10 - East Rutherford, NJ - Bamboozle
05.05.10 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
05.07.10 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
05.09.10 - Baltimore, MD - Ram’s Head Live
05.11.10 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theater
05.12.10 - Charlotte, NC - Visulite Theater
05.13.10 - Atlanta, GA - The Loft
05.14.10 - Tampa, FL - Crowbar
05.15.10 - Orlando, FL - Firestone Live
05.16.10 - Gulf Shores, AL - Hangout Festival
05.18.10 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
05.19.10 - Austin, TX - The Parish
05.21.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda
05.22.10 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
05.28.10 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
05.29.10 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch! Festival
06.11.10 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival

• OK Go: http://www.okgo.net

RIP: Micky Jones of Welsh band Man

By Shane Mack on 03-12-2010

From the BBC:

Guitarist and singer Micky Jones, one of the founders of Welsh prog rock band, Man, has died aged 63.

With Merthyr Tydfil-born Jones, the band had four Top 40 UK albums from the late 1960s and toured across Europe and America, where admirers included Frank Zappa.

Friend and former colleague Phil Little said Jones had a “command of melody” and was “the most humble guy”.

Jones, who had been fighting a brain tumour, died at a care home in Swansea.
Mr Little, who played with Jones in the 1980s with the London-based The Flying Pigs, said Frank Zappa once described Jones as “one of the 10 best guitarists in the world”.

• Micky Jones: http://www.mickyjones.co.uk
• Micky Jones (MySpace): http://www.myspace.com/mickyjonesuk
• Man (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_(band)

New! Neu! Now! Official release date set for Neu! vinyl box set

By Erika H on 03-12-2010

It’s an old story. In 1971, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger broke from Kraftwerk and formed Neu!. In 2009, Kraftwerk released the long-awaited Catalogue box set (TMT report). And now on May 10, in keeping with the tradition of showing up Ralf Hütter, Neu! will release a vinyl box set of their own from Grönland Records.

So what’s in the box, Brad Pitt asks? No head involved (Paltrow’s or anyone else’s), just Neu!’s three studio albums (Neu! [1972], Neu! 2 [1973], Neu! ‘75), plus Neu! ‘86 and Neu ‘72. Previously unreleased, Neu! ‘86 includes recordings from 1985 and 1986 that were originally circulated as Neu! 4 by the late Klaus Dinger. This new version has been reworked by Michael Rother and freshened up by the addition of some of the duo’s newer studio recordings. Neu! ‘72 — also without official prior release — is an 18-minute live maxi-single (the ‘72 Live! in Düsseldorf album was another illegally released album courtesy of Dinger — via the Japanese label Captain Trip — in the mid-90s, further pissing Rother off).

In addition to the requisite vinyl, the box contains a sizable book (36 pages) with band photos by Anton Corbijn and Peter Lindbergh, a Neu! T-shirt, a Neu! logo stencil, and a download code for the whole set.

Huzzah for krautrock!

• Grönland Records: http://www.groenland.com

RIP: Johnny Alf, “Father of Bossa Nova”

By Shane Mack on 03-12-2010

From The New York Times:

Johnny Alf, an influential Brazilian songwriter, pianist and singer whose delicately swinging music was a precursor to the bossa nova, died on March 4 in Santo André, Brazil, just outside São Paulo. He was 80 and lived in São Paulo.

The cause was prostate cancer, said his manager, Nelson Valencia.

Though he was not widely known outside Brazil and enjoyed mass popularity only intermittently in his homeland, Mr. Alf, born Alfredo José da Silva, is highly regarded among Brazilian musicians and musicologists. The writer Ruy Castro, the author of several authoritative books on Brazilian popular music, has called him “the true father of the bossa nova.”

Mr. Alf was a contemporary of Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and others who would make the bossa nova a worldwide phenomenon, but he began his career earlier and spent the mid-1950s playing on what was known as Bottle Alley, a street in Copacabana full of bars and nightclubs. His younger admirers would sneak into those clubs to listen to him play and study his technique and improvisational style.

• Johnny Alf: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Alf

Government asks for public input on Anti-Piracy Plan, emails will go straight to Obama’s BlackBerry

By Deno on 03-12-2010

Too rare is the opportunity for us average Janes and Joes to tell the government they’re doing it wrong. Now, courtesy of Obama’s copyright czar Victoria Espinel, you can write an angry letter and help save your favorite torrent tracker or file-sharing forum at the same time. Espinel and her office recently issued a request for public comments on the US anti-piracy agenda, officially titled the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, or PRO-IP.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the czar isn’t giving us simple citizens carte blanche to say whatever we want. Comments must be formulated as responses to some carefully worded prompts about the “threats to public health and safety created by infringement” and the public’s “recommendations for improving… intellectual property enforcement.” The language in the request is at best leaning, and at worst loaded, so there might not seem to be a whole lot of room for disputing the fundamental necessity of copyright enforcement. That said, any input in the process is better than none, and TMT knows its readership possesses the intellectual acumen to turn crafty government lemons into politically critical lemonade.

Clearly Espinel’s attempt at transparent, participatory government is a bit of a mixed blessing. But it should provide some comfort to know that the DC-based digital rights advocacy organization Public Knowledge welcomed Espinel’s appointment late last year. Looks like we’ll have to wait and see whether any IP/copyright policies change in order to find out whether our voices (emails) have been heard (read). Just keep in mind, the deadline for comments on the PRO-IP act are due by 5 PM on March 24, so act fast.

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