Matador to Release a CD of Prank Calls; Can’t Be Any More of a Joke Than Whatever Recent Matador Release You Were Disappointed With
By Joe B. on Dec 10 2007
At this point in your life, you’re probably either ready to buy a double album of prank calls or you’re not. No amount of art by Devendra Banhart or forewords by Neil Hamburger, Gerard Cosloy, and Neal Pollack will grease those steely, set-in-their-ways wheels. The fact remains that, for the past week and a half, I have been too busy quoting Earles & Jensen’s “My Friends Call Me Ditchweed, Don’t Ask, OK, Go Ahead and Ask” (MP3) to complete this story.
I can all but guarantee that this album will inspire a spat of drunken, horrible phone calls from the Matador-listening public. Kids: Prank phone calls -- like cooking eggs, heart surgery, Doors covers, and blogging -- are something best left in the hands of talented professionals. If you’re not sure whether or not you’re good at any of those things, you’re better off not wasting my time and yours.
Earles & Jensen's Just Farr A Laugh Vol. 1 and 2 will be released February 19, 2008. Check the Matablog for more info on the album.
The Super, Furry, And Welsh Animals Are Coming!
By Josh Fenderman on Dec 10 2007
Everybody's favorite easy-listening, techno, fuzz-rock, psychedelic, super, Welsh, freakout, furry, sunshine pop band will tour the states come January in support of their eighth full-length, Hey Venus!. That Super Furry Animals have been pumping out a signature brand of kitchen-sink pop for more than 10 years is impressive in itself, but even more so is that their collected output has maintained such a high quality level. Each SFA album, including the Welsh-only LP (Mwng), sounds exactly like an SFA album. Having much to do with the alternating bored-lounge-singer-croon/daydream-pop-falsetto of Gruff Ryhs -- who is distinctively super furry -- Super Furry Animals are one one of those bands that can completely eclipse influences and come out sounding like nothing else.
With all that said, however -- here's the real question on everyone's minds: Where exactly is Wales? Answer: It's the southwest corner of the island that makes up England.
Tourdates:
Warner/Chappell Music Launches New Digital Licensing Service for In Rainbows; Congratulates Itself On Use of Thinking Cap
By Heidi Vanderslice on Dec 10 2007
It's more than a little jarring to see "new digital licensing service" and "Warner" appear in the same sentence, but hey, who am I to question progress? And, of course, by "progress" I mean "acknowledging that the pace of technology will pick up no matter how hard record labels stamp their feet in protest." How am I going to write this piece when there's almost nothing to be snarky about? I'll guess I'll just resort to incredulous appreciation.
Warner/Chappell and Radiohead go way back, of course, and the new digital licensing service was founded on the untraditional approach taken by the band in its release of In Rainbows via their internet website, completely bypassing the need for a traditional label release. Instead of having to suck up to a record label in order to use any aspect from In Rainbows (lyrics, likeness, background filler for your next barn dance), all you'll have to do is go through Warner/Chappell and grab that sweet little set of licensing rights. It'll be faster, easier, and oh so fresh and clean.
Senior VP of European business and licensing affairs Jane Dyball promises that Radiohead will get a nice boost from the service's ease in "providing all their licensees with a new, highly flexible service."
Normally, I would go out with some sort of snide comment here, but uh... I should give you some good news today. So, um, go forth! Be merry! And if you'd like to own In Rainbows in the flesh, so to speak, you can get your mitts on a traditional release on New Year's Day from TBD/ATO in the U.S. and New Year's Eve from XL Recordings elsewhere. Meanwhile, the deadline for downloading In Rainbows from their website is today, but you can still order the "discbox" version (which has sold between 72,000 to 80,000, according to Radiohead) if you can afford it.
By Mr P on Dec 7 2007
The Stockhausen Foundation announced today that composer Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away on December 5 at his home in Kuerten, Germany. He was 79. Easily one of the most important composers of the 20th century, Stockhausen was most lauded for his groundbreaking experiments in electronic music (think Edgard Varèse, not Richard D. James), as well as in serial composition, relying on tape recordings and math and often in aleatory environments.
As I write this, I'm listening to Kontakte, one of Stockhausen's most acclaimed compositions. Composed in four channels, Stockhausen's idea for this composition was to control sound through its four main properties (pitch, intensity, duration, and timbre). Unlike the bulk of electronic avant-garde music nowadays, Stockhausen composed this piece for an actual live audience. Surrounding the audience with four loudspeakers and using a "rotation table," Stockhausen sent sounds throughout the venue sourced from both live and pre-recorded material. Despite not being able to experience the work as originally intended, the sounds are nonetheless chilling, unpredictable, and utterly penetrating. It quite literally shifted my paradigm when I first heard it.
One of Stockhausen's last major works was Helikopter-Streichquartett, which consisted of members of a string quartet performing on four separate helicopters, with both the quartet and the sound of the helicopters playing to an audience in a concert hall below. The last presentation of this performance was on June 17 earlier this year for the Stadt der Wissenschaft 2007 Festival in Germany.
Of course, these works were just two of over 300 works. Stockhausen's vast discography is a testament to his endurance and dedication to exploring the physical properties of sound, as well as audience reception, while attributing a sensibility to a culture that seemed so forward-thinking you'd call it "music of the future." But Stockhausen never bought that. As he famously put it: "What is modern today will be tradition tomorrow." And, of course, he was right. In and through his music, Stockhausen has directly and indirectly influenced not only the entirety of modern classical, electronic, and avant-garde traditions, but also everyone from Miles Davis and Jim O'Rourke to Björk and Paul McCartney (you can spot Stockhausen on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's).
To say we're now missing an important musician is an understatement. Stockhausen was a cultural blessing.
Oh My Oh My Oh Mucus, Sex Pistols Never Say Die (Except That One Guy… Ahem…)
By The Friz on Dec 7 2007
As I sit here, with undoubtedly the most viscous and opaque mucus on the terra firma of this green and slowly warming planet (if we are to believe some) filling the necessary pathways to my body, I wonder: is there a band that adequately represents my current dilemma?
I search for the obvious, The Mucus, to no success. The Runny Noses, nothing. The Phlegm-induced Fits Of Coughing And Hacking At Four In The Morning, not a one. And here’s me thinking that if I Google these hypothetical names with the word ‘band’ afterward, I’ll actually find a band to fit the name -- next time. (Edit: here’s Snot and Phelgm...enjoy...)
For now, The Sex Pistols will have to do. And they will do by celebrating (such a PR word) the 30th anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks by headlining Saturday night at the Isle of Wight Festival this June. Stick around and you might even see The Police close the next night.
06.14.08 - Isle of Wight, UK – Isle of Wight Festival
