No Fun Fest Presents Film Showcase with Jim O'Rourke, Makino Takashi, C. Spencer Yeh, Robert Beatty, and More

By Jon Lorenz on

Carlos Giffoni's No Fun Fest is now in its sixth year and is still one of the most anticipated experimental music fests around. This year's fest includes such big names as Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Bastard Noise, Skullflower, Bardo Pond, Thrones, and so on (TMT News).

In addition to the audio extravaganza, you might want to catch this year's film showcase. The showcase, taking place on May 16, will feature artists who are also performing as part of No Fun Fest, including Jim O'Rourke and Makino Takashi; Robert Beatty (Hair Police, Three Legged Race) and Takeshi Murata; Sarah Lipstate (Noveller); Dominick Fernow (Prurient); C Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core); and Megan Ellis and Carlos Giffoni.

This event is part of Rhizome's New Silent Series at the New Museum. More information here.

No Fun 2009: Infinite Sound and Image:

Saturday, May 16th, 3pm at

the New Museum
235 Bowery

New York, NY

$6 Members, $8 General Public

Phosphorescent Gets Totally Baked with Willie in His Tour Bus and Gets Asked to Play His 76th Birthday Party

By Kat Gardiner on 04-29-2009

This past February, you may recall that folkie Phosphorescent released a heart-felt tribute album of Willie Nelson's more obscure songs, simply called To Willie (TMT Review) on Dead Oceans. Well, it got his muse's attention, as well as an invitation to play the red-braided stoner's birthday bash on Thursday, April 30 at 9 PM EST on his Sirius XM Channel, Willie's Place (Sirius 64, and XM 13).

Check out the radio spot by Willie and the sweet poem by Phosphorescent that recounts the internal and emotional events of what, where, and how the events took place in stanzas and verses.

RIP: John Weller, Father and Manager of Paul Weller

By Shane Mack on 04-29-2009

From Idolator:

John Weller, the longtime manager of his son Paul, passed away on April 22. The Wellers were partners in music since Paul was a young boy, with father buying son his first guitar when he was 12 and financing the Jam’s initial demo recordings in the mid-’70s. The Times Of London has a nice obit of Weller, who was a constant presence in his son’s long career and who actually threatened a flippant record executive with “You don’t speak to my son like that” at one time. Weller was 77.

- Times of London article: "John Weller: rock manager"
- Paul Weller official website
- Paul Weller Wikipedia entry

The 1990s Go On Tour; My Awkward Pubescent Teenage Years Open Select Shows

By Scott Lauer on 04-29-2009

The 1990s are set on a course to confuse the hell out of anyone who gets in their way. They name their band after a decade that brought us Tamagotchi and the Macarena. Then they go and make their music sound like 1970s punk rockers, like The Clash. Then, to really finish off the deal, the band cover subjects in their songs from modern times (crazy right?) like Scientology. Whatever man, whatever.

With that trip down memory lane out of the way, the 1990s are going on tour to promote their latest album Kicks, which was recently released on Rough Trade. The Glasgow trio will spend May and part of June in the sunny United States of America with a few detours in Canada. Do what you please with this information -- you may use it solve a time paradox, you might simply attend a show and have a great time. Who knows?

You might even find secret messages in the text. Messages written just for you:
05.27.09 – Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
05.28.09 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
05.29.09 – Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
05.30.09 – Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw
06.01.09 – Allson, MA - Great Scott
06.02.09 – Montreal, QC - Le Petit Campus
06.03.09 – Toronto, ONT - Horseshoe Tavern
06.05.09 – Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
06.06.09 - St Paul, MN - Turf Club
06.10.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumo's
06.11.09 – Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
06.13.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
06.14.09 - Costa Mesa, CA - Detroit Bar
06.15.09 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
06.16.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo

Dent May to Tour America; Tiny Tim Tip-Toeing in Grave

By Kid Midnight on 04-29-2009

Dent May, who most music fans recognize as the ukulele-toting front man of the band …And His Magnificent Ukulele (TMT Review), just recently completed a tour of the US of A with A.C. Newman and opened for Animal Collective in the UK, but now he's announced that, yes, he does want to steal Tiny Tim’s legacy as “the strange guy who plays a little guitar and sings with a slightly odd voice.” Oh, also, he’s going on tour or something. But as far as I’m concerned, the only guy who can get away with records based around the ukulele is Tiny Tim.

Since I'm here, though, I might as well give you the information about the tour, which represents May’s first headlining jaunt around the country and includes a date at the Sasquatch! festival in Washington. Dates:
05.15.09 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
05.16.09 - St. Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill
05.17.09 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon
05.19.09 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
05.20.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
05.21.09 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
05.22.09 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
05.23.09 - George, WA - Sasquatch
05.27.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
05.28.09 - Chicago, IL - Schubas

If you go to the Chicago show, be sure to pick me up a record so that I have something to burn when the winter nights get too cold and I have no way to express my anger about overly-twee musicians who can’t play anything but a guitar as big as my cock.

LONG LIVE TINY TIM! TIP-TOE THROUGH THE FUCKING TULIPS WITH ME!

Hey, It’s Been About a Year… Time for Another Fiery Furnaces Record (And Also for a Good Long Look in the Mirror, Mr. “I’m Going Back to School Soon, I Swear”!)

By Nobodaddy on 04-28-2009

Man, I don’t know about you, but by the time Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger released their EIGHTH album, I kinda thought that I’d be a little further along in life. I still remember skipping down to the record store as a youngster, happening upon an unassuming-yet-generally-rewarding Gallowbird’s Bark by a young Fiery Furnaces in the pop/rock rack, and plunking down some odd change and a few crumpled dollar bills from my paper route to purchase said record on the now-defunct medium of “Compact Disc.” My whole future was ahead of me, there were these guys called “republicans” in Washington, and hamburgers cost 35¢ each at the McDonald’s, which was right next door to this curious old building that said “Washington Mutual” on the front of it. Ahh, those were the salad days, I tell you...

Hey! Wait a minute! That wasn’t 17 years ago... come to think of it, that was only 6 freakin’ years ago when their debut came out! I forgot -- The Fiery Furnaces just tend to put our a record every 10 months or so. And this one, their newest studio effort I’m Going Away, is set to be released July 21 on Thrill Jockey Records. Described as an album of “70’s sunshine-glazed piano pop, filled with cascading note slides, head-nodding grooves and some of the sweetest melodies in their seemingly endless arsenal of musical ideas,” this new effort promises to sound, well, probably mostly like all of their other records; which is to say: nothing like any of their other records?

Um, anyway, the affair was produced by Matthew, with drums and percussion by the returning Robert D’Amico, plus bass and mixing by the returning Jason Loewenstein. As usual, song were written by Friedberger and Friedberger (save for the title track, which is traditional, natch). And hey, since its only 6 years later, we’ve all got some time on our hands before we really need to grow up and get our shit together, after all! I swear, by album #9, I’ll be somebody.

I’m Going Away tracklist:

1. I’m Going Away
2. Drive to Dallas
3. The End is Near
4. Charmaine Champagne
5. Cut the Cake
6. Even in the Rain
7. Staring at the Steeple
8. Ray Bouvier
9. Keep Me in the Dark
10. Lost At Sea
11. Cups and Punches
12. Take Me Round Again

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