Interpol Reveals Details of a New Album, Acknowledges What Was Lacking in Our Love to Admire

By Jon Lorenz on Nov 20 2009

A lot has changed for Ecstatic Sunshine over these past few years. Most significantly, founding member Dustin Wong (Ponytail) left the band, forcing other founding member Matthew Papich to shift their sound from guitar-duo battle to something more expansive. On the band's last record WAY -- just before Wong left the group -- the duo added third member Kieran Gillen on electronics. And now, on the the brand new Yesterday's Work, Ecstatic Sunshine are evolving yet again, with Papich having recruited Joe "White" Williams on drum machines and synthesizers.

According to a press release, Yesterday's Work's "sonic palette is much broader than previous guitar-centric releases; soft bouncy bass and crisp synthesizers balance and serve as counterpoint to Papich's loop-based guitar work. Think Berlin School and Penguin Cafe Orchestra, or a Harmonia record produced by Coxsone." Matthew Papich speaks about the record's influence:

Outside the record there are many sounds. Some of those sounds were moved, through memory, into the record. We would hear soft bass through the windows of a car, or listen to birds waking up before dawn, and learn to remember those sounds and later draw them out of synthesizers or guitars. In this way we could hear the record before it was made. It is like John Cage's ideas about incidental sound, except instead of composing with those sounds, we composed for them. The record is an homage to the Everyday. It is music that happens, and is heard, and then said.

Yesterday's Work will be released on HOSS, who also issued their "Turned On" 7-inch. It's due December 8 (just got pushed back from its original release date of November 24).

Yesterday's Work tracklisting:

1. Conch
2. Faceplant
3. Dunk
4. Over Easy
5. Sweet Spot
6. Because
7. Space Sick
8. Space Sicker
9. Soft Opening
10. Topless

[Photo: Sally Glass]

By Mike McHugh on Nov 20 2009

Last week was a happier time for me. I went to the zoo and saw a grizzly bear take a huge dump. My hair was a shorter, more manageable length. I had more money. But a lot can change over a week. The bear and his discharge is but a memory, my hair has since grown to look too similar to the nest of a large bird, and the city has demanded 100 of my dollars for some bullshit traffic violation they claim to have caught on one of those bullshit little stoplight cameras. But even in a week so packed with disappointment as this one, there’s always room for another letdown.

To that end, I regret to inform you that the Method Man , Raekwon and Ghostface Killah collalbum that was originally set for a December 22 release has now been pushed back to 2010 . And just to kick ya’ll while you’re down, Redman’s upcoming record Reggie Noble 9 ½ has ditched its December 8 drop and joined the Wu in the indefinite wasteland of a 2010 release. Here’s hoping both projects have been bumped just to avoid being overlooked from the usual year-end roundups.