Crystal Antlers Sign to Touch and Go, Album to be Released Early 2009
By Evan Kaloudis on Aug 12 2008
Crystal Antlers are no longer free agents. The Long Beach-based psychedelic/punk/soul band has signed with Touch and Go records, according to an announcement from the label. A full-length album is in the works and is expected out in the first part of 2009, but before that, Touch and Go will be reissuing the Crystal Antlers EP (produced by The Mars Volta's Ikey Owens) on CD in October and pressing it to vinyl for the first time in November.
You can catch Crystal Antlers live now or with The Strange Boys and Fucked Up starting at the end of the month. Or, of course, you can buy a costly badge and see them at the CMJ Music Marathon.
Tourdates:
# Fucked Up
$ The Strange Boys
Blitzen the Reindeer, Trapper John, and Blitzen Trapper Tour the U.S., Blitzen and Trapper John Cancel Due to Their Both Being Fictional
By Nobodaddy on Aug 12 2008
Ah, Blitzen Trapper. Them ragtags will just jump at any old chance to hit the road for a few months and live out of a trunk, now won't they folks? But then again, I suppose this ol' yarn-spinner reckons that that makes some sense. Of all the bands that I ever knowd of, none are born to ramble like these guys is born to ramble. Their ramshackle, country-fried indie-rock jamboree music was dag-gone practically built to be packed into the back of them li'l wood-paneled station wagons, carted around these you-nited states on America's bluest of blue highways, setup at a wood-built campground amphitheater near you, and packed back up again after the band done-gets paid-in-full in moonshine and whole chickens until tomorrow night's hoedown. Yup. As long as they can spread their gospel of animal-love and barefoot mountain livin' across the land, you can bet yer best rooster's lucky blue foot that they'll keep rolling along like so many frontiersmen before them, mouth harps and all.
And yessiree, releasing a brand new album for Sub Pop offers these here fellas the perfect excuse to blow-off any games of lawn darts or community puppet shows that they may have had planned in favor of feelin' that wind on their face, taking pride of the bug splatters on their windshield as they drive all across this here wild mountain nation that they love so much. Sure, the womanfolk might be a tad upset by their leavin' and all, but with the rootin-tootin outdoorsy album FURR due September 23 and a handful of dates with their alpha-rambler Stephen Malkmus out on the ol' card table, well shucks, you couldn't stop these boys with all the pork loins in a Ponderosa Steak House... though I reckon they'll be eaten at plenty of them on the road, god bless 'em.
Freakin' Blitzen Country Trapper Jambaroo '08:
* Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
**Iron and Wine
Matthew Herbert to Release Album of Unwieldy Orchestrated Samples, Avant-Big-Band Beats, Protest Lyrics; Listeners to Shrug
By Petey V on Aug 11 2008
Looking for some political content and ’30s-jazz horns with your innovative listener-oriented house music? Well, has Matthew Herbert got the album for you! Longstanding house godhead (and rock press fav) Herbert is gearing up to release There's Me and There's You. The record is out October 28 on Berlin's Studio !K7 records, perhaps best known for distributing the DJ-Kicks compilation series. Following on the jazz-throwback motif of his 2001 LP Goodbye Swingtime, the album will incorporate big-band instrumentation that will require an 18-person orchestra for its subsequent tour (for which a small handful of dates have been scheduled), as well as political lyrics excoriating the 21st century's pattern of abuses of power.
The real key ingredient to Herbert's sound — dubiously touted as "sophisticated subversion" by the official press release — is his use of bizarre, grandly conceived samples. Sounds incorporated into There's Me and There's You's aural fabric will include, among many, many others: (1) The sound of protesters in Palestine being shot against the West Bank wall dividing Israeli and Palestinian territories; (2) vocal sounds taped inside a London McDonalds; (3) the sound, not only of several dozen condoms being dragged along the floor of the British Museum, but also an orchestrated ruckus in the British Museum's entrance hall which includes the sound of several people spraying Britney Spears' perfume brand Curious; and (4) the machine used to keep Herbert's own premature son alive after his birth. Well, erm, I guess the British Museum's floors produce a remarkably unique timbre, and Britney Spears demanded the use of highly four-to-the-floor conducive spray bottles circa Curious' 2004 launch. Either that, or Herbert just has a penchant for gratuitous conceptual spectacle.
There's Me and There's You tracklist:
TV On The Radio Dramatically Expand Tour in Support of Dear Science,; Ethno-Sectarian Violence Is Funny If You Think Really Hard About It
By Mango Starr on Aug 11 2008
- This, you already know: On September 23, TV On The Radio will release Dear Science,, the group's third full-length album. The follow-up to Return to Cookie Mountain (TMT Review), Dear Science, marks the band's second album for major label Interscope, though 4AD will release the album September 22 outside the U.S.
- This, you didn't already know: TV On The Radio have significantly expanded their upcoming U.S. tour, which effectively books the group all the way to November. Meaning: if you were hoping for TV On The Radio to play your Bar Mitzvah sometime soon, you can forget about it right now. Joining the band for a handful of dates will be Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, with The Dirtbombs taking over opening duties once they hit the East Coast.
TV On The Radio tourdates:
Long-Anticipated Documentary Beach Boys and The Satan to See Release in September
By Kid Midnight on Aug 11 2008
On September 30, I recommend moseying on down to your local Video Emporium and picking up a copy of the newly (and finally) re-released movie Beach Boys and The Satan, a documentary exploring some of the more dubious events and people of the 1960s. Originally released in 1997, the film has since been long out of print, and many a fan of The Beach Boys and ’60s-era pop culture patiently await the re-release date.
The film dives headfirst into the later history of “America’s Band,” exploring Dennis Wilson’s involvement and friendship with Charles Manson (who recently released an album from prison) and his “Manson Family” cult. The band’s history and development is illustrated with rare footage and interviews with band mastermind Brian Wilson. Furthermore, it attempts to offset the current image of the 1960s as a peaceful, loving, and almost heavenly place by comparing ’60s good guys The Beach Boys with some of its more colorful figures, like Anton LaVey and Kenneth Anger. The film goes on to explore the darker aspects of The Summer of Love and how those undercurrents affected even The Beach Boys. Definitely worth a watch.
Again, the film comes out September 30, will probably cost around $19.95, and comes fully recommended by Kid Midnight. This recommendation also carries with it the full backing and support of TMT editor Mr P, cause, well, he does whatever I do -- just like how little brothers always act.
