Laetitia Sadier announces solo record that isn’t Stereolab/Monade — good for her
By Erika H on Jul 19 2010
There’s nothing better than having your name on something in big letters. Papa John felt it when he franchised his pizza; dumb kids feel it when they write their name in wet concrete for future generations of dumb kids. Laetitia Sadier hasn’t really had that privilege, except in the details on Stereolab liner notes or behind “Featuring…” (Atlas Sound’s “Quick Canal,” for example, or Mice Parade’s 2007 self-titled). The last time she tried to break free from Stereolab (if only superficially), the rupture was half-assed. The resulting band, Monade, was hardly a solo endeavor, as evinced by the fact that Sadier wasn’t exactly alone (hence the word “band”).
Now that Stereolab is on hiatus, Laetitia is going all the way and releasing her first truly solo album, The Trip, under her own name (that’s when you know it’s legit). Okay, so on this debut album, Laetitia’s not entirely alone – she worked with a few guests (Richard Swift, April March, Julien Gasc, and Emmanuel Mario) – but it seems a little cheap to nitpick. She wrote all but three songs on the album (two are covers of “By the Sea and “Un Soir, Un Chien,” by Wendy & Bonnie and Les Rita Mitsouko, respectively), and with that voice, how can you go wrong?
The Trip is out on September 21 from Drag City.
Tracklist:
01. One Million Year Trip
02. Fluid Sand
03. Our Interest Are the Same
04. The Natural Child
05. Statues Can Bend
06. By the Sea
07. Unfasten
08. Un Soir, Un Chien
09. Another Monster
10. Ceci Est le Coeur
11. Summertime
12. Release, Open Your Little Earthling Hands
• Laetitia Sadier: http://www.myspace.com/laetitiasadier
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com
Nic Endo, Alec Empire, and others excite goth nerds everywhere by contributing music to graphic novel-based film
By Erika H on Jul 19 2010
It’s always nice when artists of respectable indie stock do something nice for the kids, giving cool parents hope that their progeny might grow up to like decent music. Take Jarvis Cocker’s contribution to Fantastic Mr. Fox, for example. Maybe a kid starts by hearing Cocker as a puppet on the banjo, but ends up exploring 1990s Britpop at age 11.
Nic Endo, Alec Empire, and Atari Teenage Riot did a similar deed for the kiddies by writing the soundtrack to the forthcoming animated feature/”illustrated film” Godkiller. Okay, so maybe this isn’t exactly a family Disney flick. The movie, directed by Matt Pizzolo, was adapted from his own graphic novel, in which a teen goes on an epic, bloody quest to find a replacement heart for his moribund sister (of course, the setting is post-apocalyptic and seedy as all hell). YouTube users must affirm that they are 18 before they can even play the trailer. “The audio palette [Nic Endo and Alec Empire are] bringing to Godkiller is like Goblin’s Suspiria hammered into Gene Moore’s Carnival of Souls and strained through a filter of digitaldoomcore and riot beats,” Pizzolo claims, setting the bar pretty damn high.
In addition to Nic and Alec, there are voice performances from Lydia Lunch, A.F.I.’s Davey Havok, and Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack. It may just be me, but something about the whole thing makes me think that Korn should’ve been asked to help out.
• Godkiller: http://halo8.tv
Neon Indian announces fall tour, shows with Phoenix; it’s as if your 2009 summer rose from the grave all zombie-like
By E. Nagurney on Jul 19 2010
Back in the sweet summer of 2009, it was like everybody had a new carefree pop obsession every day. If you weren’t surfing the chillwaves with Neon Indian’s “Deadbeat Summer,” you were living some sort of super-smooth John Hughes fantasy with Phoenix’s “1901.” But those days are over, over I say! Being way into Neon Indian and Phoenix is so 2009; being into Ariel Pink is so 2010. If you want to return to the glory days of last year, there is only one real plan: go see Neon Indian open for Phoenix on a handful of tourdates this September. For added 2009 flavor, I recommend listening to “My Girls” on a loop during the drive to the show.
If you can’t make those five dates in which Neon Indian and Phoenix join forces, you may still be able to get the Neon Indian part of the bargain. Alan Palomo and crew will be going on tour for a few weeks in the fall, giving you plenty of opportunities to relive “The Year Chillwave Broke.” During some of those dates, they’ll be joined by either Chromeo or Dam-Funk, two fine purveyors of 80s-inflected synth funk.
Dates:
07.25.10 - San Francisco, CA - All Shook Down Festival
07.30.10 - Boston, MA - House of Blues !
07.31.10 - Montreal, QC - Metropolis !
08.14.10 - New York, NY - The Beach @ Governor’s Island
09.19.10 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl *
09.21.10 - San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theatre *
09.22.10 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl Concert Theater *
09.23.10 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Rail Event Center *
09.26.10 - Vancouver, BC - PNE Forum *
09.27.10 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
09.29.10 - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
10.01.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda
10.02.10 - Tucscon, AZ - Club Congress
10.05.10 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
10.09.10 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt
10.11.10 - Chicago, IL - Metro
10.12.10 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace
10.14.10 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues !
* Phoenix
! Chromeo
# Dam-Funk
• Neon Indian: http://www.myspace.com/neonindian
• Phoenix: http://wearephoenix.com
Burning Star Core and Family Battle Snake tour the very heart of the world
By Harold Shueberg on Jul 16 2010
I’m sure there’s at least a few of you readers out there who have at some point in your life asked yourself, probably while under the influence of one or multiple psychotics: what would be the result of a mutation between a star’s burning core and a battle snake? A reasonable question really, and one that will in fact be answered for those of you dwelling in the northeastern US, because starting, well, today, actually, C. Spencer Yeh’s spaced-out noise project Burning Star Core will be touring alongside Berlin-based noise group Family Battle Snake.
The duo are making a move tonight in Philly and calling it quits on the 25th at Dan Deacon’s Whartscape festival. Along the way, they’ll be playing with such notables as Bill Orcutt and Thurston Moore, as well as playing a collaborative set to the films of Frans Zwartjes. Sounds like the type of stuff reptilian/interstellar combinations are made of.
Space dates:
07.16.10 - Philadelphia, PA - Philadelphia Sound Forum at Vox Populi
07.17.10 - Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - Bard College
07.18.10 - Easthampton, MA - Flywheel
07.19.10 - Winooski, VT - The Monkey House
07.22.10 - Brooklyn, NY - 177 Livingston Triple Canopy #
07.24.10 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands $
07.25.10 - Baltimore, MD - Whartscape
08.21.10 - Chicago, IL - Neon Marshmallow Fest %
08.28.10 - New York, NY - The Knitting Factory %
09.09.10 - Chapel Hill, NC - Hopscotch Festival %
# presents “Double Features” - Kouligas+Yeh Duo play to films of Frans Zwartjes, w/ New Humans + TBA, Purple Haze + video by Gary War & Taylor Richardson
$ FBS only, with Bill Orcutt, Thurston Moore
% Burning Star Core only
• Burning Star Core: http://www.myspace.com/cspenceryeh
• Family Battle Snake: http://www.myspace.com/familybattlesnake
[Photo: Nebulagirl]
Time to bust out your boombox: Joan of Arc limited-edition cassette box set due in September
By Annapocalypse on Jul 16 2010
Remember those rectangle-shaped plastic things that you used to put inside those other rectangle-shaped plastic things with speakers, and then you pressed “play”? Well, if you long for the long-forgotten days of cassettes, it appears Chicago’s Joan of Arc have got you covered. The band announced recently their plans to release a cassette box set on September 14 via Joyful Noise Recordings. Not only does the box set include their entire discography (available on cassette for the first time ever), but the collection is packaged in a custom-built wooden box, which is screen-printed, hand-numbered, and limited to only 100 copies. Digital download codes will also be included for those that sold their Walkmans 15 years ago.
The following albums are included in the box set: Portable Model of How Memory Works, Live in Chicago, The Gap, So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness, In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust (TMT Review), Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain (TMT Review), Eventually, All at Once, Boo! Human (TMT Review), and Flowers. The box set is available for pre-order right here for only $49.
To celebrate, Joan of Arc will also play a pair of release shows:
08.20.10 - Indianapolis, IN - Melody Inn %
08.21.10 - Chicago, IL - Ronny’s &
% Marmoset, Jookabox, Abner Trio
& Abner Trio, Maximum Wage
• Joan of Arc: http://www.joanfrc.com
• Joyful Noise: http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com
