Burning Star Core and Family Battle Snake tour the very heart of the world
By Harold Shueberg on Jul 16 2010
I’m sure there’s at least a few of you readers out there who have at some point in your life asked yourself, probably while under the influence of one or multiple psychotics: what would be the result of a mutation between a star’s burning core and a battle snake? A reasonable question really, and one that will in fact be answered for those of you dwelling in the northeastern US, because starting, well, today, actually, C. Spencer Yeh’s spaced-out noise project Burning Star Core will be touring alongside Berlin-based noise group Family Battle Snake.
The duo are making a move tonight in Philly and calling it quits on the 25th at Dan Deacon’s Whartscape festival. Along the way, they’ll be playing with such notables as Bill Orcutt and Thurston Moore, as well as playing a collaborative set to the films of Frans Zwartjes. Sounds like the type of stuff reptilian/interstellar combinations are made of.
Space dates:
07.16.10 - Philadelphia, PA - Philadelphia Sound Forum at Vox Populi
07.17.10 - Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - Bard College
07.18.10 - Easthampton, MA - Flywheel
07.19.10 - Winooski, VT - The Monkey House
07.22.10 - Brooklyn, NY - 177 Livingston Triple Canopy #
07.24.10 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands $
07.25.10 - Baltimore, MD - Whartscape
08.21.10 - Chicago, IL - Neon Marshmallow Fest %
08.28.10 - New York, NY - The Knitting Factory %
09.09.10 - Chapel Hill, NC - Hopscotch Festival %
# presents “Double Features” - Kouligas+Yeh Duo play to films of Frans Zwartjes, w/ New Humans + TBA, Purple Haze + video by Gary War & Taylor Richardson
$ FBS only, with Bill Orcutt, Thurston Moore
% Burning Star Core only
• Burning Star Core: http://www.myspace.com/cspenceryeh
• Family Battle Snake: http://www.myspace.com/familybattlesnake
[Photo: Nebulagirl]
Time to bust out your boombox: Joan of Arc limited-edition cassette box set due in September
By Annapocalypse on Jul 16 2010
Remember those rectangle-shaped plastic things that you used to put inside those other rectangle-shaped plastic things with speakers, and then you pressed “play”? Well, if you long for the long-forgotten days of cassettes, it appears Chicago’s Joan of Arc have got you covered. The band announced recently their plans to release a cassette box set on September 14 via Joyful Noise Recordings. Not only does the box set include their entire discography (available on cassette for the first time ever), but the collection is packaged in a custom-built wooden box, which is screen-printed, hand-numbered, and limited to only 100 copies. Digital download codes will also be included for those that sold their Walkmans 15 years ago.
The following albums are included in the box set: Portable Model of How Memory Works, Live in Chicago, The Gap, So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness, In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust (TMT Review), Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain (TMT Review), Eventually, All at Once, Boo! Human (TMT Review), and Flowers. The box set is available for pre-order right here for only $49.
To celebrate, Joan of Arc will also play a pair of release shows:
08.20.10 - Indianapolis, IN - Melody Inn %
08.21.10 - Chicago, IL - Ronny’s &
% Marmoset, Jookabox, Abner Trio
& Abner Trio, Maximum Wage
• Joan of Arc: http://www.joanfrc.com
• Joyful Noise: http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com
Beach Fossils guitarist leaves band, Beach Fossils announces new guitarist: it’s you, dude!
By E. Nagurney on Jul 16 2010
Remember the 2001 Mark Wahlberg classic Rock Star? See, Marky Mark played an ordinary schmo working a day job, his only true joy lying in fronting a tribute act to his favorite fictional hair metal band. Then one day the hair metal band’s lead singer quits and Mark Wahlberg becomes the singer and all his dreams come true. It’s a total classic and, no, I haven’t actually seen it. But you can live it now, sort of!
Brooklyn slack-poppers Beach Fossils recently lost guitarist Sennott Burke, who has explained that he has “nothing but love for the band and everyone in it.” As for their new guitarist, it could be YOU. If you’re a Beach Fossils superfan that wants to be the Marky Mark to Burke’s fictional hair metal singer, send an email to beachfossils@gmail.com. Make it quick, though, as you’ve got to be ready to leave by Friday for the band’s show in Toledo, Ohio. While not specified, one would assume that this offer goes out only to those in the Brooklyn area. Maybe you can work something out, though.
Tourdates:
07.16.10 - Toledo, OH - Mickey Finn’s Pub
07.17.10 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom
07.19.10 - Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
07.23.10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
07.24.10 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
07.26.10 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
07.27.10 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
07.29.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
07.30.10 - San Diego, CA - Bar Pink Elephant
08.01.10 - Phoenix, AZ - The Rhythm Room *
08.03.10 - Dallas, TX - The Loft *
08.04.10 - Austin, TX - Emo’s Outside *
08.06.10 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
08.07.10 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle *
08.08.10 - Washington, DC - The Black Cat *
08.09.10 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick $ %
08.10.10 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop $ %
08.11.10 - Toronto, ON - Wrong Bar $ %
08.12.10 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa $ %
08.15.10 - Allston, MA - Great Scott $ %
08.16.10 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas $ %
08.17.10 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar $ %
08.18.10 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 $
08.19.10 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light $
08.20.10 - Nashville, TN - Exit In $
08.21.10 - Charlotte, NC - The Milestone
* Here We Go Magic
$ Warpaint
% Javelin
• Beach Fossils: http://www.myspace.com/beachfossils
Arab Strap’s first albums to be reissued, as if we weren’t all depressed enough already
By E. Nagurney on Jul 16 2010
When Scotland’s Arab Strap named their career-capping 2006 compilation Ten Years of Tears, they weren’t trying for irony. Those guys really did have a decade-long career of sad, defeated-sounding indie rock. Their niche has since been covered by countrymen in mope like Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad, but Arab Strap’s particular brand of downtrodden music won’t be forgotten. Chemikal Underground is taking measures to ensure that Arab Strap’s glorious sadness isn’t lost to the new generation of depressives, namely by reissuing the band’s first two albums: 1996’s The Week Never Starts Around Here and 1998’s Philophobia. The pair of reissues will be available on August 17, complete with bonus discs featuring Peel Sessions and live tracks. These reissues also mark the first time these records will be available in digital format, bringing the unshakable feeling of despair and desperation and whiskey into the future!
The Week Never Starts Round Here reissue tracklist:
Disc 1:
01. Coming Down
02. The Clearing
03. Driving
04. Gourmet
05. I Work in a Saloon
06. Wasting
07. General Plea to a Girlfriend
08. The First Big Weekend
09. Kate Moss
10. Little Girls
11. Phone Me Tonight
12. Blood
13. Deeper
Disc 2:
01. The Smell of Outdoor Cooking (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
02. Soaps (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
03. I Saw You (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
04. The First Big Peel Thing (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
05. Intro (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
06. General Plea to a Girlfriend (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
07. The Clearing (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
08. Kate Moss (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
09. Gilded (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
10. Driving (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
11. I Work in a Saloon (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
12. Phone Me Tonight (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
13. Blood (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
14. The First Big Weekend (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
Philophobia reissue tracklist:
Disc 1:
01. Packs of Three
02. Soaps
03. Here We Go
04. New Birds
05. One Day, After School
06. Islands
07. The Night Before the Funeral
08. Not Quite a Yes
09. Piglet
10. Afterwards
11. My Favourite Muse
12. I Would’ve Liked Me a Lot Last Night
13. The First Time You’re Unfaithful
Disc 2:
01. Packs of Three (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
02. Piglet (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
03. The Night Before the Funeral (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
04. Blood (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
05. Girls of Summer (live at T in the Park - 1998)
06. New Birds (live at T in the Park - 1998)
07. Here We Go (live at T in the Park - 1998)
08. Soaps (live at T in the Park - 1998)
09. Afterwards (live at T in the Park - 1998)
10. I Would’ve Like Me a Lot Last Night (live at T in the Park - 1998)
• Arab Strap: http://www.myspace.com/arabstrapmusic
• Chemikal Underground: http://www.chemikal.co.uk
Vampire Weekend’s Contra cover model is suing for $2 million; Ezra Koenig sells vintage boat shoe collection to pay her off
By Annapocalypse on Jul 16 2010
The doe-eyed prepster on the cover of Vampire Weekend’s latest album, Contra (TMT Review), is about to knock the boat shoes right off the band’s feet. The model, whose real name is Kristen Kennis and who claims she took the photo in 1983, is suing the band over the use of her image, claiming that someone forged her signature on the photo release consent form.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday with the L.A. County Superior Court, Kennis alleges that the band obtained a “photographic release” from a photographer named Tod Brody, however her signature on the release is forged. Kennis blames Vampire Weekend for not verifying the authenticity of the release and is suing them for over $2 million.
In related news, Ezra Koenig was recently seen in Brooklyn, selling off his collection of Afro pop LPs. Bummer, dude.
• Vampire Weekend: http://www.vampireweekend.com
