Malcolm Middleton Gets Jiggy With It on Waxing Gibbous, Predicts Change of Direction

By Liz Louche on

Malcolm Middleton, one of Britain’s strongest frontrunners for the dubiously honorable
(depending on who you are, I guess) title of Gloomiest Songwriter in Indie Rock, is at it again. In 2007, the former Arab Strap frontman reached a certain level of notoriety in the UK after releasing “We’re All Going to Die”--certainly the most poignant Christmas song since Wham!’s 1986 hit “Last Christmas”—in response to the glossy pop numbers cranked out by X-Factor contestants. Last year, the Scotsman released Sleight of Heart, his fourth solo album, and now Middleton’s most recent, Waxing Gibbous has an American date set. The title is a fancy term for when the moon is nearly full, and the album is scheduled to hit stores August 11. It features guest performances from Malcolm’s pals King Creosote and the Pictish Trail, Jenny Reeve, and Barry from Mogwai. AND THERE’S A RAP PROMISED.

Which perhaps leads into Middleton’s statement that this will probably be his last solo effort for awhile. He’s looking to “do an instrumental acoustic guitar album, some electronic music, some collaborations, maybe start a new band, produce someone else etc etc,” according to a press release. Of course what this means in a very veiled but still totally transparent way that he wants to set up a novelty rap crew.* Perhaps Joaquin Phoenix is available?

Tracklisting:

1. Red Travellin' Socks
2. Kiss At The Station
3. Carry Me
4. Zero
5. Stop Doing Be Good
6. Don't Want To Sleep Tonight
7. Shadow
8. Ballad Of Fuck All
9. Box and Knife
10. Made Up Your Mind

*Of course this is what this means. I did not make it up. Unless for legal reasons I need to say I made it up, seeing as it’s not strictly true and all.

TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone Reveals Release Details on Solo Project Rain Machine

By E. Nagurney on 07-20-2009

For eons, humankind has battled the elements. If we’re not being destroyed by hurricanes, the blistering heat is destroying our crops and livelihood. There’s nothing us mere mortals can do about the weather, except pray to the almighty gods above for mercy. TV on the Radio guitarist/vocalist Kyp Malone has a plan to change all that. By constructing an elaborate, powerful weather-control device, Malone hopes to save millions of lives around the world. The “Rain Machine,” as Malone has dubbed it, will change the fate of mankind forever.

Something must have gone wrong in the lab, though. Malone’s creation seems to be less of an atmosphere-affecting super device and more of a solo album (TMT News). Instead of harnessing the mighty power of the atom, Malone harnesses 10 songs blending modern jazz, bluegrass, and guitar rock. Instead of constructing a shell of diamond (the only material capable of containing the device’s awesome might), Malone created music that he describes as “a nearly full spectrum of frequencies audible to the human ear, a reflection of a variety of emotions and situations real and imagined - some rhythm some rhyme.” Instead of contacting the world’s nations for proper implementation of the revolutionary new machine, Malone contacted ANTI- Records and secured a September 22 release date.

Those close to Malone could have probably predicted the outcome of his ambitious plan. All blueprints for the machine were basically just drawings of naked ladies riding lions, which Malone decided to use for the record’s sort of NSFW cover art.

Rain Machine tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Give Blood
3. New Last Name
4. Smiling Black Faces
5. Driftwood Heart
6. Hold you Holy
7. Desperate Bitch
8. Love Won't Save You
9. Free Ride
10. Leave the Lights On
11. Winter Song

New Pirate Bay will Become a Pay Site

By Brom on 07-20-2009

It has emerged that Global Gaming Factory (GGF), the new owners of The Pirate Bay, will charge users a monthly fee to access the site. This money will then be used to pay off copyright holders. The exact amount users will have to pay has not been decided on; however, by sharing more files on the network, you can reduce the amount you have to contribute, says Wayne Rosso, newly appointed by GGF to facilitate the model (and described by Torrent Freak as someone “who has previous experience with failing P2P services” -- lol!).

This will represent another victory for the labels in what has already been a good year in their war against file-sharing. Nevertheless, questions remain over whether The Pirate Bay will still continue to draw much traffic if users have to pay for it, and with plenty of other sites aiming to provide a similar service free-of-charge, one begins to question the sustainability of GGF’s model.

Holy Money, Holy Love: Holy $#!T! Michael Gira Working on Swans/Angels of Light Hybrid, Debuts New Material in NY with James Jackson Toth (Who Is Set to Embark on His Own Tour)

By Liz Louche on 07-17-2009

Over the past decade, Michael Gira’s output has shifted from the ultra-menacing noise rock of legendary New York band Swans to the more quietly eerie folk songs released both under his own name and under the Angels of Light moniker. Gira, whose early work generally messed up people’s hearing and made listeners vomit, now more closely resembles the just slightly creepy olde tyme traveling salesman or itinerant preacher with a deadly secret who I imagine to live somewhere in the dusty backroads of Nick Cave’s mind at all times.

And now, at last, these two very different sounds shall finally be united.

On July 25, Gira is playing a solo set in Brooklyn with James Jackson Toth (a.k.a. Wooden Wand or Wand), a recent signee to Gira's Young God Records. Songs from both the Angels of Light and Swans catalogues are on the setlist for the night, as are some NEW songs Gira has been both working on and is expected to release as a Swans/Angels of Light hybrid.

Could a joint tour be far behind in support of this album that does not even exist yet? According to the man himself, “maybe.”
07.25.09 – Brooklyn, NY – Issue Project Room

Meanwhile, Toth has his own dates lined up, in support of the recently released Hard Knox (out now on Ecstatic Peace). And don't forget that he has an exclusive track on our TMT Darfur comp, too!

Wand tourdates:
07.22.09 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
07.23.09 - Fairmont, WV - River City Grill
07.24.09 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery @
07.25.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Issue Project Room
07.26.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall Studio
07.28.09 - Northampton, MA - Artifacts of the 20th Century
07.29.09 - Albany, NY - Valentine's
07.30.09 - Portland, ME - Apohadian Theatre
07.31.09 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
08.02.09 - Columbus, OH - Rhumba
08.03.09 - Bloomington, IN - Russian Recording
08.05.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
08.06.09 - Rock Island, IL- Daytrotter (session and show)
08.07.09 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
08.08.09 - Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dee's
08.09.09 - Montreal, QC - Green Room
08.11.09 - Washington, DC - Rock + Roll Hotel &
08.12.09 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle &
08.13.09 - Atlanta, GA - E.A.R.L. &
08.14.09 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree

@ Crazy Dreams Band

& Akron Family

[Photo: Anne Helmond]

According To A New Study, British Music Fans Still Prefer CDs To Downloading, Probably Also Still Love The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Roxette, And The Cranberries

By Annapocalypse on 07-17-2009

In a recent survey from two British research companies, The Leading Question and Music Alley, both concluded that UK music fans prefer buying CDs to downloading music. Straight from the source itself:

The Leading Question/Music Ally Speakerbox survey is the biggest face to face survey of UK music fans. The syndicated, proprietary project involves 1,000 face to face interviews with music fans aged 14-64 and a series of in depth focus groups which took place throughout the UK.

Of course, every study has multifarious factors that confound the results, but if this survey is a somewhat "accurate" portrayal of British music consumption, I have to ask: how can the Brits be so far behind the times? Despite the overwhelming growth of digital downloads, the survey found that:

- 73% of music fans are still happy buying CDs rather than downloading
- 66% of 14-18 year olds prefer CDs
- 59% of all music fans still listen to CDs every day
- CD burning is top of all sharing activities (23%), above bluetoothing (18%), filesharing single tracks (17%), and filesharing albums (13%)

Well, kudos to them for purchasing physicals, but I'd prefer to buy vinyl (sounds and looks better, more longterm investment, etc.) rather than waste my pounds on CDs and a new Sony Discman. Though, I guess I still can't find a vinyl copy of The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.

Zero 7 would have gotten away with new album Yeah Ghost in September, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.

By Josh Constine on 07-17-2009

Fire up the Mystery Machine, or at least burn some incense in your garage, because semi-spooky ambient pop duo Zero 7 are to release their new full-length Yeah Ghost September 8 in the U.S. Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns have hatched a plot to set the clocks back to 2004, a time when you couldn’t make out unless you were listening to their Garden State soundtrack hit “In The Waiting Line.” With soul/jazz artiste Eska Mtungwazi, folkster Martha Tilston, and electro-hopper Rowdy Superstar as their hired goons, Zero 7 hope to hypnotize more fans than their Grammy-nominated, but radio-absent 2006 LP The Garden did.

Their nefarious scheme begins with the free download of “Everything UP (Zisou)” from Stereogum . The terror continues at their official website, with the arachnid- and scorpion-infested video for the song’s remix by Joker and Ginz. Finally, Zero 7 will bring the chills to British auditoriums and European music festivals in the fall.

Will the gang foil Zero 7’s plan and place leaked copies of Yeah Ghost all over the torrentsphere? Find out next episode.

Yeah Ghost tracklisting:

1. Count Me Out
2. Mr. McGee
3. Swing
4. Everything Up (Zizou)
5. Pop Art Blue
6. Medicine Man
7. Ghost sYMbOL
8. Sleeper
9. Solastalgia
10. The Road
11. All Of Us

Tourdates:
08.07.09 - Sudwest, Portugal – Sudwest Festival
08.20.09 - Kiewit, Belgium – Pukkelpop Festival
09.04.09 - Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival
09.28.09 - Bristol, England - Colston Hall
09.29.09 - Oxford, England - Oxford Academy
09.30.09 - Norwich, England – University of East Anglia
10.01.09 - Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
10.03.09 - Sheffield, England - Plug
10.04.09 – Glasgow, Scotland - ABC 1
10.05.09 - Leeds, England - Leeds Academy
10.06.09 - Brighton, England - Dome
10.09.09 - London, England - Round House
10.11.09 - Preston, England - 53 Degrees
10.12.09 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Queens Hall
10.13.09 - Birmingham, England - Birmingham Town hall

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