Let's Face It: No One Reads Books Anymore! Oh Wait, Spoon and Arcade Fire Fans Still Love Reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five Every Other Week, Don't They? Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records Gets Release Date
I guess some people do still read books, especially when there isn't a movie adaptation. And since there isn't yet a movie documenting Merge, one of the greatest indie labels today, it'll be in the best interest of you and your community to go seek out Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small.
John Cook, the author of Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, first saw Superchunk back in 1994 and has since followed members Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance and their famed Merge label. The book tells the story of Mac and Laura's evolution from being 20 year olds putting out records in their rented home in Durham, NC to now having 13 employees, an office, and putting out records by some of indie music's top names.
The book includes "photographs of] the life and times of the label and its bands, as well as concert memorabilia, record label art, and a link to a streaming Internet soundtrack for the book." So, if you can put down [Slaughterhouse Five for a few days, go out and buy Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records on September 15. Then you'll be able to spout all sorts of information about the early days of Arcade Fire and impress your friends at the lunch table! Yay!
RIP: Clark Sabine, from Statehood (featuring ex-Dismemberment Plan members)
From Statehood's MySpace:
We are deeply saddened to tell you that Clark passed away on Tuesday evening at a hospice in Arlington, VA. He was first diagnosed with melanoma in February of 2008, and after a series of surgeries and treatments, we thought he was in the clear. In the fall the cancer returned and spread to other parts of his body. Experimental treatments were in the works, but we needed chemotherapy to shrink some of the tumors before beginning this treatment. In May, we found out that the chemo was not working and that the condition was terminal. Clark was 33 years old.As a band, we had 10 songs in line for a second Statehood record, and we'll talk about where we go with that in weeks to come. While Clark was in hospice care, he did some additional tracking with our friends Nikhil and Jason, and we listened to newer recordings to sort out details in the songs. Music was insanely important to Clark, and it gave him comfort to keep working on songwriting until the end.
Playing in a band with Clark was extraordinary and something to look forward to week in and week out. Often at practice we'd be laughing until we couldn't breathe from Clark's wild sense of humor and adventure. Anyone who knew him, even in passing, knows exactly what we mean. To say that he will be missed is an absurd understatement.
Thank you to everyone who gave Clark and the band support through these trying times. We will come back with more information as soon as we have it.
- Statehood official website
- Statehood MySpace
- Stitches and Staples MySpace
Castanets Bring Their "Old, Weird, Kinda Creepy America" to New Album, Summer Tour
I first saw Castanets several years ago, in a preternaturally quiet little room on the opening afternoon of SXSW. Frontman Raymond Raposa effortlessly held sway over the audience, his voice rising above the steady whir of the cooling system, the backing band emitting unsettling country chords and creeping noise. It was spellbinding — and not just because my friend and I had driven 20 or so straight hours from Minneapolis to Austin and were barely managing to fight off collapse through an unholy combination of Sparks (the now sadly illegal caffeinated malt beverage), vodka, and enchiladas (although this did possibly play a very magical part in it.)
Over the years, Raposa and co. have continued to make some of the eeriest Americana this side of a noise band fronted by Faulkner, and they've done a darn good job of it. So it is with great excitement that I announce to you the upcoming release of Castanets’ latest, Texas Rose, the Thaw, and the Beasts, coming September 22 on Asthmatic Kitty. The band has some very special guests this time, rounded out by the likes of David J (Bauhaus), Jason Crane (Rocket from the Crypt), Pall Jenkins (Black Heart Procession), Andy Robillard (Gogogo Airheart), new Asthmatic Kitty artist DM Stith, Gabriel Sundy, Chris Cory, and frequent contributors Henry Nagle and Suzanna Waiche. Word is that the latest material has the expected experimental angle, alongside a little something known in pop music circles as “catchiness.”
Castanets are heading out on tour this summer, so you’ll be able to judge for yourself.
Texas Rose, the Thaw, and the Beasts tracklisting:
1. Rose
2. On Beginning
3. My Heart
4. Worn From The Fight (With Fireworks)
5. No Trouble
6. Thaw And The Beasts
7. We Kept Our Kitchen Clean And Our Dreaming Quiet
8. Down The Line, Love
9. Lucky Old Moon
10. Ignorance is Blues
11. Dance, Dance
Tourdates:
06.30.09 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage*
07.03.09 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's **
07.04.09 - Detroit, MI - Garden Bowl**
07.05.09 - Bloomington, IN -Russian Recording**
07.06.09 - Cleveland, OH - Skylab/The Shelf**
07.07.09 - Buffalo, NY - Soundlab**
07.08.09 - Boston, MA - Middle East**
07.10.09 - New York, NY - Cake Shop**
07.11.09 - New York, NY - Silent Barn**
07.13.09 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head**
07.14.09 - Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar**
07.15.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Nightlight**
07.16.09 - Charlotte, NC - Mileston**
07.17.09 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light**
07.19.09 - Nashville, TN - The Basement**
07.20.09 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree**
07.23.09 - Houston, TX - Rudyards**
07.24.09 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk**
07.25.09 - Lubbock, TX - Bash Riprock**
07.27.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts**
07.29.09 - San Diego, CA - Casbah**
07.30.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland**
07.31.09 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern**
08.01.09 - Santa Cruz, CA - Crepe Place**
08.03.09 - Portland, OR - Worksound**
* Explosions in the Sky, Constantines
** M.A. Turner
RIP: Charlie Mariano, jazz saxophonist
From Jazzwise (via The Daily Swarm):
The innovative saxophonist and reeds player Charlie Mariano passed away yesterday aged 85 in the German city of Cologne.Born in Boston, he earned his stripes playing in groups led by Stan Kenton, Shelly Manne, and later with Charles Mingus – performing on the classic album, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.
In the 1960s he travelled extensively around India and the Far East where he studied local musics and learned to play the oboe-like nagaswaram, which featured heavily in his work from the mid-1960s onwards. During the 70s Mariano became a founding member of the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble and also played with German bassist Eberhard Weber in his group Colours – performing on the acclaimed album Yellow Fields in 1975. Some of Mariano’s other key recordings include Boston All Stars in 1953, and Savannah Samurai in 1998 – showing the impressive multi-decade span of his career.
Mariano was for many years a highly respected educator at Berklee College of Music in Boston and also led his own successful ensembles, experimenting with east-meets-west fusion, of which he was a leading pioneer, and recording for the ECM label among others
- Charlie Mariano official website
- Charlie Mariano Wikipedia entry]
Dead Body Found During Bonnaroo Festival Cleanup
Among the items found during the massive cleanup after Bonnaroo were:
- 1,647 cell phones.
- 1,210 single shoes. 3 pair.
- 314 tins of Skoal (159 empty; 155 containing negligible amounts of pot).
- The Holy Grail. And the much-less-known Jesus-attributed relic Crown of Ragweed.
- Their dignity.
- The last remaining members of the lost mud tribe of Pleasedontpublishthatphotomyparentswillkillme.
- Hasselhoff!
- Gogol Bordello (they live here year round in a gypsy caravan on blocks).
- Cave wall drawings.
- 1 body. White. Male. Mid-20s.
Workers cleaning up after this year's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, held last weekend in Manchester, TN, discovered a body of a white male in his 20s in a single tent at approximately noon yesterday. According to Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves, there is no reason to suspect any foul play involved with the death of the still-unidentified man, who was alive at 3 PM on Monday afternoon. No missing persons reports have surfaced to aid with identification yet, but more should be revealed soon, as the body was moved to the medical examiner’s office in Nashville for an autopsy Tuesday afternoon.
Bonnaroo, like just about any mammoth festival, has a history of attendee deaths, but not a long one. In 2004 a 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman died while attending the festival and a year later a 32-year-old Huntsville, AB man died of an apparent methadone-related incident. Details are sketchy about the body found yesterday on the Planet Roo site, but all involved hope to have some answers regarding the man’s identity and cause of death sometime today.
The Mutants are Back! The Mutants are Back! Os Mutantes! Os Mutantes! Os Mutantes! Ahhhh!
Tropicália legends Os Mutantes are releasing a new album, Haih, September 8 on ANTI- Records. Not only is this their first full-fledged studio album in 35 years, it is also the first ever to be released to an international audience. Yow-zah! I wonder if these guys know what they're getting themselves into: Screaming music nerds everywhere! Sold out shows! Psychedelia fans who know no Portuguese, but do their best to sing along to the lyrics they've memorized based on pure phonetics! It'll be like ABBA reversed (or was that Ace of Base?). Word has it that Tom Zé and Jorge Ben are on a couple tracks, too. Double, triple extra sweet.
“Living the conception and birth of this album, as an individual, was the most intense experience," according to Sergio Dias, the brains behind the psycho-tropic beast, "for it was as if time has ceased to exist, and I was bouncing from life to life, decades through decades, revisiting myself as a 16-year-old boy playing guitar and feeling so free and, as any teenager, indestructible.” Sergio, you're not the only one who feels like a teenager right now. Mutant-mania, anyone?
Maple Leafers in Vancouver will be able to catch the pop masters on September 3 at The Commadore Ballroom and in Montreal at the Pop Montreal festival, which runs from September 30-October 4, and also features such acts as Faust, The Oh Sees, Tobacco, Destroyer, Wovenhand, The Butthole Surfers, Lou Barlow + The Missing Men, Dinosaur Jr., Matt & Kim, as well as others, both announced and unannounced.
Swedish Court Rules Judge Was Not Biased Against Pirate Bay (North Korea Would be Proud!)
The Pirate Bay has lost its change for retrial. Now, let’s get this straight… the sentencing judge who ruled against The Pirate Bay in their recent court case is apparently not biased, even though he’s a member of several groups that lobby for the rights of copyright holders. The ruling by a Swedish court means the four men convicted of operating the file-sharing site are unable to have the case against them thrown out.
Seriously, this sounds like a justice system delivered by those freedom-lovin’ North Koreans. The Swedish court’s argument was that the judge in question, Thomas Norstrom, “joined the associations to keep abreast of copyright issues and that it found no evidence of bias.” Unfortunately for the founders of The Pirate Bay, this throws a real spanner into their appeal since they were going to base it on Norstrom’s connections to these lobby groups.
I’m no expert on the rule of law in Sweden, but surely it must have occurred to somebody that there was a serious conflict of interest in this particular case. Kim Jong-il salutes you Sweden!
RIP: Bob Bogle, Lead Guitarist and Co-Founder of The Ventures
From Rolling Stone:
Bob Bogle, lead guitarist and co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band the Ventures, passed away on June 14th, the band’s Don Wilson told their native Tacoma, Washington’s News Tribune. Bogle, who suffered from non-Hodgkin lymphoma for the past several years, became ill this weekend and was taken to the hospital, where he died at the age of 75.Bogle and Wilson were construction workers who moonlighted as musicians when they formed the Ventures in 1958, and two years later their classic rendition of the instrumental “Walk, Don’t Run” catapulted the surf-rock band up the charts. They went on to have hits with “Telstar,” “Perfidia” and “Hawaii Five-O,” releasing more than 40 albums and charting in the Top 40 with 17 of them, according to AllMusic. Overall, the band sold more than 100 million records, News Tribune reports.
- The Ventures official website
- The Ventures Wikipedia entry
HEALTH Announce New Fall Tour, Maintain Tough Guy Noise-Rock Status by Touring with The Crips
Remember when I told you last month that HEALTH recorded parts of their new album, Get Color, in a not-so-great part of Los Angeles? Well it turns out that The Crips recorded a guest appearance on the album, quickly became fast BFF’s with HEALTH, and decided to join them on their upcoming fall tour. I’m not sure what instruments or musical talents The Crips possess, but I’m pretty much terrified to ask them, so let’s just leave it at that. Get Color is due September 8 on Lovepump United.
Tourdates:
06.18.09 - Toronto, Ontario - NXNE Festival
06.19.09 - Toronto, Ontario - NXNE Festival
06.20.09 - Brooklyn, NY - New York Night Train Happening ^
06.26.09 - Calgary, Alberta - Sled Island Festival
06.27.09 - Calgary, Alberta - Sled Island Festival
07.26.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Jelly NYC Pool Party
08.06.09 - Kutna Hora, Czech Republic - Creepy Teepee Festival
08.07.09 - Myslowice, Poland - Off Festival
08.08.09 - Berlin, Germany - Berlin Festival
08.14.09 - Hamburg, Germany - Dockville Festival
08.15.09 - Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop Festival
08.17.09 - Nuremberg, Germany - K4 @
08.19.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Bolsjefabrikken
08.21.09 - Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08.22.09 - Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08.24.09 - London, England - Koko #
09.09.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour *
09.10.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
09.11.09 - Portland, OR - Time-Based Art Festival *
09.12.09 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project *
09.13.09 - Morrison, CO - Monolith Festival *
09.17.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry *
09.18.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
09.19.09 - Toronto, Ontario - Wrong Bar *
09.20.09 - Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *
09.21.09 - Providence, RI - Club Hell *
09.22.09 - Allston, MA - Harper's Ferry *
09.24.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
09.25.09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
09.26.09 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar *
09.27.09 - Washington, DC - Sonic Circuits Festival *
^ Awesome Color
* Pictureplane
@ Crystal Antlers
# Deerhunter
Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon Criticizes Radiohead's In Rainbows Model but Wishes She Had Come Up
There’s nothing quite like an indie spat! In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Kim Gordon described Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want-cos-we’re-so-good-and-are-better-than-you online model for In Rainbows (TMT Review) as “a marketing ploy” and “It seemed really community-oriented, but it wasn’t catered towards their musician brothers and sisters, who don’t sell as many records as them. It makes everyone else look bad for not offering their music for whatever.”
Ms. Gordon went on to say “It was a good marketing ploy and I wish I’d thought of it! But we’re not in that position either. We might not have been able to put out a record for another couple of years if we’d done it ourselves: It’s a lot of work. And it takes away from the actual making music.”
Dunno ‘bout you but all I could think when reading this was “WHAAAA! WHAAAA! WHAAAAA! WHAAAAA! WHAAAA! WHAAAA! WHAAAAA! WHAAAA! WHAAAAA! WHAAAAA!”
![of] the life and times of the label and its bands, as well as concert memorabilia, record label art, and a link to a streaming Internet soundtrack for the book." So, if you can put down [Slaughterhouse Five](http://www.squishedfrog.com/images/asshole.jpg){kind=link}
