Mario Speedwagon’s Under The Radar News Round Up: Dischord Records Reissues Gray Matter and Jawbox, Atlas Sound and Broadcast Tour, The Walkmen Tour, Treasure Island Lineup Announced
- Dischord Records has posted about some future releases on their site. In September, they will reissue Gray Matter’s 1984 release Food For Thought and their 1985 release Take It Back on vinyl. Both records will come with a download code, and Take It Back will include an additional four songs from the "Alive and Kicking" 7-inch from 1991. Dischord will also be partnering up with Desoto Records to reissue Jawbox’s 1994 jam For our Own Special Sweetheart.
- Atlas Sound and Broadcast will together be hitting the road this fall. Their tour kicks off in Atlanta, GA on October 15 at the Earl (they have good burgers and boiled peanuts, y’all) and ends November 7 in Denton, TX at Hailey’s. Both acts also have releases slated for October: Atlas Sound will release their new LP Logos on October 20 via Kranky, and Broadcast will release their currently untitled EP on Warp.
- The Walkmen are heading out on a small East Coast-ish tour this September. The band has dates planned in Boston, Northampton, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Asheville, Nashville, Birmingham, and New Orleans, with a few off dates in Morrison, CO (Monolith Fest), Austin, TX (ACL), and San Francisco, CA (I got nothin’.) They’ll also be playing the Guggenheim Museum’s “It Came From Brooklyn” concert series on August 14 with High Places. That name “It Came From Brooklyn” makes me think I’m going to see a hipster zombie movie where all the zombies look like this. They probably won’t eat you because they’re all raw vegans, so it would probably have a hint of Troll 2 (swap out zombies for goblins).
- The lineup for San Francisco’s 3rd annual Treasure Island Festival has been announced. Bands scheduled to play include The Flaming Lips, MGMT, The Decemberists, MSTRKRFT, Beirut, Girl Talk, Grizzly Bear, Brazilian Girls, Yo La Tengo, The Walkmen, Passion Pit, and tons more. The festival takes place October 17 and 18 on Treasure Island (duh). More information can be found at the official website.
Record Store Day? Fuck That! Jay Reatard Does Month-Long Record Store Tour! (And a Boring European Tour...)
The Tard's been busy as of late. Between talkin' shit (albeit possibly well-deserved shit) on his Twitter, prepping his forthcoming release Watch Me Fall on Matador, and ripping through a few 30-minute sets more intense than a rocket launch, Jay and his band felt it was time to give back to the kids. All ages of kids, by way of a series of in-store dates at various independent music retailers. Though, to be clear: these are in-stores done in addition to the club or venue gig the following night.
Indeed, this is his tour, and we at TMT think that this is a phenomenal idea.
If you find yourself on the West Coast this month, you have plans:
08.18.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Amoeba Music Hollywood
08.19.09 - Long Beach, CA - Fingerprints
08.20.09 - San Diego, CA - M-Theory
08.21.09 - Santa Cruz, CA - Streetlight Records
08.22.09 - San Francisco, CA - Amoeba Music
08.23.09 - Berkeley, CA - Amoeba Music
08.25.09 - Portland, OR - Jackpot Records
08.26.09 - Seattle, WA - Easy Street Records
08.27.09 - Seattle, WA - Sonic Boom Records
08.28.09 - Vancouver, BC - Zulu Records
And if you live in Europe, well... congratulations:
10.28.09 - Paris FR - Maroquinerie
10.29.09 - Koln DE - Luxor
10.30.09 - Munich DE - 59 to 1
10.31.09 - Berlin DE - Lido (club night)
11.01.09 - Copenhagen DK - Loppen
11.02.09 - Oslo NO - John Dee
11.03.09 - Malmo SE - Babel
11.04.09 - Hamburg DE - Logo
11.05.09 - Prague CZ - Matrix
11.06.09 - Vienna AT - B72
11.07.09 - Bologna IT - Covo
11.08.09 - Clermont-Ferrand FR - La Cooperative De Mai
11.09.09 - Brussels BE - Botanique Rotunde
11.10.09 - Birmingham UK - Bar Academy
11.11.09 - Glasgow UK - King Tuts
11.12.09 - Manchester UK - Roadhouse
11.13.09 - London UK - Underworld
11.14.09 - Bristol UK - Croft
11.15.09 - Liverpool UK - Masque
11.16.09 - Dublin IE - Whelans
Os Mutantes Announce North American Tour in Support of First Album in 35 Years; Kurt Cobain Comes Back to Life, Reunites Nirvana and Joins Tour
Os Mutantes is another one of those bands that you annoyingly find out through Kurt Cobain's posthumous praise. His name has been used so many times as a way to hype up underground bands that it's become more annoying than hearing Courtney Love's voice. In this case, Cobain once begged Os Mutantes to reunite and tour with Nirvana -- but who cares? No one needs the approval of a dead man to know that it's a big deal when Os Mutantes are touring and releasing a new record!
On September 8, Os Mutantes will release their first album in 35 years, Haih or Amortecedor, on ANTI-. The band's leader Sergio Dias said "Living the conception and birth of this album, as an individual, was the most intense experience, 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."
Dias and the gang have been prepped and are now ready to bring the tropicália to a stage near you. In support of Haih or Amortecedor, Os Mutantes will start their North American tour in LA, hit up a couple festivals (including Seattle's Bumbershoot), and wrap up a nearly two-month tour in Austin, TX. Dias says of their live performance, "It is the best thing possible. When we were playing at the Pitchfork festival it was like looking at yourself when you were a kid trying to mumble the words to ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ in English and not understanding the words. There weren't many Brazilians there but the kids were singing our songs in Portuguese. Playing with this band live is amazing. I can not describe anything better other than maybe going into space. It keeps me young."
Here are the dates:
08.28.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echoplex
08.29.09 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
09.01.09 - Redway, CA - Mateel Community Center
09.02.09 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
09.03.09 - Vancouver, BC - The Commodore Ballroom
09.04.09 - Bellingham, WA - The Nightlight
09.05.09 - Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
09.19.09 - Yosemite, CA - Symbiosis Fest
09.24.09 - Denver, CO - Cervantes
09.25.09 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
09.26.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Ctr
09.30.09 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
10.04.09 - Boston, MA - Sommerville Theater
10.08.09 - New York, NY - Webster Theater
10.09.09 - Pittsburgh, PN - Mr. Smalls
10.10.09 - Columbus, OH - Capitol Theater
10.11.09 - Lexington, KY - WRFL Fest
10.13.09 - Tampa, FL - Skipper's
10.14.09 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
10.16.09 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
10.17.09 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's
10.18.09 - Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
Flight of The Conchords Told You They Were Freaky, They Told You, They Told You, They Told You! Now They’re Gonna Have to Go and Make an Album About It! Look What You Made Them Do!
If Flight of the Conchords told you that they’re freaky once, then they’ve told you that they’re freaky a thousand times. But no matter how much they say it, they can’t seem to get it through that thick dome of yours. So, the New Zealand comedy duo are going to have to do what any New Zealand comedy duo would do in this situation: make an album and title it I Told You I Was Freaky. That ought to finally hammer the point home. And who’s going to look like the biggest fool? You, that’s who!
Fear the embarrassment? You can try to make them change their mind, but you’ve only got until October 20 to do so. Maybe if you can’t get through to them, you can talk to someone at Sub Pop, the fine record label that’s putting out the new record. You know, the same label that put out last year’s self-titled debut (TMT Review), which just happened to be nominated for last year’s Best Comedy Album Grammy.
But maybe it'll all blow over, right? I hear you thinking to yourself, “I mean, these songs were already released on iTunes, nobody’ll want the album.” Wrong again! Along with the previously released iTunes singles, I Told You I Was Freaky contains three unreleased songs from the second season of the band’s HBO TV series.
Man, you really should have just believed them when they said they were freaky. Now look what you've done, jerkoff.
I Told You I Was Freaky tracklist:
1. Hurt Feelings
2. Sugalumps
3. We're Both in Love With a Sexy Lady
4. I Told You I Was Freaky
5. Demon Woman
6. Rambling Through the Avenues of Time
7. Fashion Is Danger
8. Petrov, Yelyena and Me
9. Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor)
10. You Don't Have to Be a Prostitute
11. Friends
12. Carol Brown
13. Angels
múm Slate New Album for September Release, Tour Extensively, Would Really Prefer You Didn’t Mention the Abysmal State of the Icelandic Economy
Remember last fall when America’s blustery free market finally swirled up into a 20-story tornado of economic irresponsibility and came whirling through the trailer park that is the US of A? Remember how it mangled all of our fiscal futures into indiscernible balls of molten VHS tapes and wet pillow shams, until at long last a Barack Obama-shaped sun peeked from behind the clouds and gave us all a wink, harkening us to take solace in the dawning of his radiant new day?
If you happen to be Icelandic, your memory of the current worldwide financial fiasco probably doesn’t jibe that well with my own. Iceland’s economic meltdown cost the nation over 75% of its fucking 2007 GDP, an event more akin to a meteor decimating the gated community across town than the twister that dusted up your grandpappy’s hitchin’ post. But what about Iceland’s throng of messianic political leaders who sailed swiftly to the rescue on the zephyr of hope and change? Fat chance! Iceland’s fearless leaders got the hell out while the getting the hell out was good. Christ, our elected officials won’t even bow out somewhat gracefully after getting caught red-handed blowing hard earned tax dollars on Argentine tug jobs. Anyways, by my humble estimation, things have to be seriously fucked up in Iceland right now. Real talk.
It was within such tumult that those serene old softies in müm found themselves recording their upcoming album Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know. While Iceland melted, müm remained decidedly cool, addressing their native soil’s burgeoning apocalypse with their established brand of itchy tranquility. The record, their latest since 2007’s Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (TMT Review ), was recorded primarily in the Icelandic countryside as well as the rural grandeur of Finland and Estonia, where I’m sure the band saw all sorts of super stuff in nature that helped keep their minds off the horrible, horrible state of their nation’s basic infrastructure. In an even greater effort to stay the hell away from home, müm will be on tour consistently from August to November while Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know is slated for release September 22. Good luck out there, müm, and don’t get captured by insolvency
08.14.09 – Leicester, UK – Summer Sundae Festival
08.15.09 – Edinburgh, UK - Studio 24
08.17.09 - Cardiff, UK - National Museum of Wales
08.18 09 – Norwhich, UK - Norwich Art Center
08.25.09 – Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg
08.26.09 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Exit 07
08.27.09 – Munich, Germany - Atomic Cafe
08.28.09 – Dresden, Germany - Beatpol (formerly Star Club)
08.30.09 – Katowice, Poland - Nowamuzyka Festival
09.01.09 – Brussels, Holland - Botanique
09.02.09 – Lucerne, Switzerland - Südpol
09.03.09 – Winterthur, Switzerland - Salzhaus
09.04.09 – Vlieland, Holland - The Great Wide Open Festival
09.05.09 – Berlin, Germany - Lido
09.06 09 – Hamburg, Germany - Knust
09.07.09 – Köln, Germany - Gebaeude 9
09.08.09 – Paris, France - Maroquinierie
09.09.09 - Strassbourg, France - La Laiterie
09.10.09 – Lille, France - Radar Festival
09.11.09 – Stavanger, Norway - Numusic Festival
09.19.09 – Kawasaki, Japan - Taico Club Festival
10.21.09 - Somerville, MA - The Somerville Theatre
10.22.09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10.23.09 - Washington DC - Black Cat
10.24.09 – New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
10.26.09 - Montreal, Quebec - Le National
10.27.09 - Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre
10.28.09 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
10.29.09 - Minneapolis, MN - McGuire Theater
11.01.09 - Calgary, AB - Marquee Room
11.02.09 - Vancouver, BC - Richards on Richards
11.03.09 - Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market
11.04.09 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
11.05.09 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
11.06.09 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
11.07.09 - Santa Ana, CA - Yost Theatre
One in Three Is a Music Pirate; You Should Be Ashamed of Yourselves!
Market research conducted by Interpret, based on the downloading habits of 64 million respondents, indicates that one-third of the group are music pirates. Around 24 million (36%) said they had downloaded music illegally in the last three months. The study also showed that “9% of music pirates have bought a full album online in the past three months. Downloading individual songs is even more popular in this group, with 16% indicating that they paid to download an individual song recently.”
This correspondent is utterly disgusted at these pilfering thieves -- many of whom, no doubt, are lazy college students with nothing better to do than leech off hard-working music executives. My dad (a record label manager) couldn’t afford a planned swimming pool extension to our mansion in rural England because of declining company revenues. Thanks to greedy online pirates, this correspondent can no longer hold his highly anticipated summer pool party where bikini-clad girls and illegal narcotics were going to be the highlight of an otherwise boring holiday in Walberswick, Suffolk.
Sonic Youth Announce West Coast Fall Dates, Coco Hailey Gordon Moore Announces “B@ck-2-Sk00l H0use P@rty @ My H0use” on Facebook
If there’s one thing that the guys (and grrrls) in Sonic Youth are good at, it’s, well, playing guitars, I guess. But, if there are two things that they’re good at, well, then the second thing must be touring with fucking class. So you say that New York City starts to get a little chilly and dark around the end of September? No problem! You just pack up your band and head out on a “West Coast Tour” that’s just over a week long and includes plenty of R&R and one of those easy, breezy Austin City Limits shows. Ahhh. Genius.
I can just picture it: Their new record, The Eternal (TMT Review), blaring its sunny, good vibes out of the Sony ghetto blaster; Lee and Thurston shakin’ the sandy water out of their shaggy, endless-summer hairdos on the beach as they beat pair after pair of hotshot kids who dare to take them on; Kim Gordon lovingly preparing delicious, macrobiotic meals on the sand for the boys and sipping sweetened iced tea in her sultry and seductive Bay Watch one-piece; ummm... that fourth guy, you know, what’s his name? Doin’ what he does?? Yeah. All that stuff! It’s good to be the Youth, man.
Oh, by the way, if there are THREE things that they’re good at, the third is definitely doing The Swim. Take a good look, there, Coco.
Sonic Youth Endless Summer Tour:
09.25.09 - Pomona, CA - Fox Theatre
09.26.09 - Santa Barbara, CA - Arlington Theatre
09.28.09 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
09.29.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
10.01.09 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
10.02.09 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
10.04.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits
I Can Kinda See It Now: Fuck Buttons Set to Release Tarot Sport in October For Divinatory Purposes
I had never even seen a shooting star before. 25 years of rotations, passes through comets' paths, and travel, and to my memory I had never witnessed burning debris scratch across the night sky.
Anyway, Fuck Buttons have confirmed October 20 as the release date for their newest album, Tarot Sport (ATP Recordings). The duo of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power (both great names, to be sure) have "[continued] to refine, craft, explore and develop the experimental aesthetic of last year's critically acclaimed debut album, Street Horrrsing," says the press release. And, according to Power, "I think it sounds a lot thicker than our previous work -- our brains kind of went into meltdown."
But what about me? What are my thoughts on the album? How do I feel? What might I have to say about the album? Stare into this blank space for awhile (roughly one minute), and you'll find out:
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The single "Surf Solar" will be released September 14, with U.S. dates soon to be announced.
1. Surf Solar
2. Rough Steez
3. The Lisbon Maru
4. Olympians
5. Phantom Limb
6. Space Mountain
7. Flight Of The Feathered Serpent
El Perro Del Mar Proves Pop Is Not Love on New LP, Thus Pop Will Not Tear Us Apart, Only Pop Cannot Break Your Heart, and The Hounds of Pop Are Not Calling
Since going "from the valley to the stars" (TMT Review) on her second LP, El Perro Del Mar (a.k.a. Swedish songwriter Sarah Assbring) has made an incredible discovery: pop, as it turns out, is not love. Assbring discovered this fact while writing songs for her third album, all of which happened to deal with the concept of doomed love. So, all these new songs were love songs, but they were also pop songs. Which might suggest that pop is actually love, albeit the doomed kind? But no! As it turns out, Assbring discovered that love is deeper than a pop song, leaving her with the conclusion (and title of her new record) that Love Is Not Pop.
If love really is not pop, then, man, that brings forward a lot of new facts about pop. Did you know that pop is not all you need? Or that pop triangles are really quite ordinary? Pop, surprisingly, is considerably less simple than love, not to mention that there’s an awful lot wrong with pop. Have you ever fallen in pop with someone you should have fallen in love with?
Regardless of whether pop and love are really one and the same, apparently the old El Perro Del Mar is not the new El Perro Del Mar. Ms. Assbring is making an effort to break from her previous style, as the new record possesses a darker outlook and a sound she describes as “mysteriously groovy.” Such a “mysteriously groovy” sound is the product of her collaboration with producer Rasmus Hägg, half of Balaeric pop duo Studio. Studio’s work is pretty “mysteriously groovy” itself, so the description of Love Is Not Pop, due October 20 via The Control Group, is likely accurate.
Tracklist:
1. Gotta Get Smart
2. Change of Heart
3. L Is for Love
4. Let Me In
5. Heavenly Arms
6. It Is Something (To Have Wept)
7. A Better Love
8. L Is for Love (Low Motion Disco's additional love remix) [bonus track]
9. Change of Heart (J Rintamäki remix) [bonus track]
10. Let Me In (Nhessingtons remix) [bonus track]
Ooooo... OOIOO Drops New Album on Thrill Jockey in Late October!
At what point exactly does the indie world’s mewling cabal of critics and blogadeers start to judge an established musician’s “side project” outside the context of the artist’s primary undertaking? After they release two albums? Maybe three? Does a person have to go all Gorillaz and cram his or her new band with so many guest collaborators and multimedia distractions that it becomes more of an overblown PowerPoint presentation than a band? Does a side project need to come equipped with a single equal to or better than “Genius of Love” if it has any hope of getting recognized on its own merits? Is such a feat even possible (Making a song better than “Genius of Love,” mind you, not the other thing...)?
Take OOIOO , for instance. For a side project to receive extensive critical consideration that hasn’t been distilled in the juices of that artist’s flagship act is difficult enough, but if your new band happens to be an offshoot of the inimitable Boredoms, you’re basically boned from the get-go. The full discography of Boredoms side projects goes on and on for days, leaving little hope that they’ll all receive the critical consideration they deserve. However, OOIOO stands among the chosen few (along with Hanatarash and Z-Rock Hawaii) as a Boredoms side project that has successfully flown from the nest and developed a dedicated following, one that doesn’t consider the group to be just another Boredoms sideshow act.
How did Yoshimi and company manage to pull it off, you ask? Fuck if I know, it’s probably because they’re just a really good band or something. I think I’ve done enough hackneyed over-analysis for one news article, so let’s quit fucking around and get down to business. OOIOO, comprised of Yoshimi P-we of Boredoms fame and three other extremely capable ladies, have slated their much-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s Taiga (TMT's 19th favorite album of '06!) for a late October release on Thrill Jockey . Titled Arminico Hewa (defined by the band as “air in a harmonious state”) the album finds our heroes OOIOO up to their same old psychedelic but surprisingly well-grounded tricks. Or not. I haven’t listened to the record yet. And neither have you. But now you know it’s coming out, so there. We’re equals now.
Tracklisting:
1. SOL
2. Uda Hah
3. Irorun
4. Konjo
5. Ulda
6. Polacca
7. Kipepeo
8. O O I A H
9. Nin Na Yama
10. Hewa Hewa
11. Agacim
12. Orokai
13. Honki Ponki
So Sayeth The Doom-Sayers: sunn 0))) Expand Tour, Terrify Southern States
Listen closely, children: the end is upon us and the black lords ride ever closer -- well, if you live on the East Coast, that is, and consider sunn 0))) black lords. More to the point, and what I really mean to say, is that sunn 0))) have announced the third wave of their “Live Aktions on American Soil” tour in support of their newest album, Monoliths & Dimensions (TMT Review).
The band will move across the Eastern seaboard and then plunder its way through the Southern states, pulverizing all ears that stand in its way. The metal maestros will be backed by label mates Eagle Twin, who are positively psyched to let you know that they will be touring in support of their newly released album The Unkindness of Crows.
sunn 0))) will also be playing a very special show in Brooklyn, at a massive Masonic Temple, where the spirit of Cthulu will be summoned. The Dark Lord will then spread his anger and fire across our landscape, burning everyone in his sight and promising death to all humans, besides for Southern Lord label mates Earth and Pelican, who are reportedly both excited to witness any and all burnings
08.05.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s *
08.06.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumo's $
08.08.09 - San Francisco, CA - Independent
08.09.09 - Brookdale, CA - Historic Brookdale Lodge
08.11.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Center for the Arts
08.13.09 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
08.14.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Avalon Theatre
09.17.09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr Small's
09.19.09 - Providence, RI - AS220 Broad Street Studio
09.20.09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
09.22.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Masonic Temple*
09.23.09 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
09.24.09 - Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
09.25.09 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel^
09.26.09 - Atlanta, GA - Legends Banquet & Special Event Center
09.27.09 - Athens, GA - Seney-Stovall Chapel
09.28.09 - Athens, GA - Seney-Stovall Chapel
09.30.09 - Nashvillle, TN - Mercy Lounge
