Choir of Young Believers Unleash Their Depressing Brand of Nordic Chamber Pop on North America in Person Starting TOMORROW
By Sarah Gagnon on 10-16-2009
Believe it. Starting tomorrow, 26-year-old Danish front man Jannis Noya Makrigiannis will take his Choir of Young Believers from Copenhagen to Canada, where the Nordic chamber indie rockers begin their 10-day North American tour, going from Vancouver down the West Coast to LA, then returning Atlantic-side to play multiple shows in New York City (for the CMJ festival), and finally finishing in Chicago. This past spring, Makrigiannis performed in the U.S. as a duo with cellist Ceciele Trier, but has doubled up this time around to perform as a quartet on the following dates:
10.17.09 – Vancouver, BC – Media Club
10.18.09 – Seattle, WA – The Tractor Tavern
10.19.09 – Portland, OR – Holocene
10.20.09 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Shop
10.21.09 – Santa Monica, CA – KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” Session
10.21.09 – Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland
10.22.09 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge
10.22.09 – New York, NY – Piano's
10.23.09 – New York, NY – Cutting Room Studios (KEXP Session)
10.24.09 – New York, NY – Living Room
10.25.09 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
10.26.09 – Chicago, IL – Schuba's
If you’re only acquainted with the anthemic “Action/Reaction,” a peppy track steeped in sunny chord progressions, you might want to familiarize yourself with the rest of This Is for the White in Your Eyes, the band’s blue-tinged 2009 debut, so you can mentally and emotionally prepare for the melancholy makings of Makrigiannis’ brain. The album unfolds like a cathedral: precisely designed, achingly beautiful, echoing in the cavernous recesses of the soul — with the reverb to prove it. But, like my metaphorical structure, it’s also dark and full of shadows, save for where windows let the light in. This choir is singing less hymnal hallelujahs and more you-done-me-wrongs. “Wintertime Love,” for example, features both the most mournful cello I can remember and the saddest collective string section of all time. Based on the steady solemnity of this song, this “wintertime love” who is “hiding the tears above” must have really wreaked some havoc on his heart. I wonder if Makrigiannis will cry on stage during this one. Guess there’s only one way to find out.
FCC Chief Endorses “Net Neutrality”
By Brom on 10-16-2009
Barack Obama campaigned for “network neutrality” during his Presidential campaign in 2008, and on September 21 Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (who was appointed by Obama), spoke in favor of "more aggressive action to keep online traffic moving freely, proposing two new government policies to prevent telecommunications companies from restricting websites and other services on the Internet."
The new rules would enshrine net neutrality into the agency’s policy and relate to all forms of internet access, including wireless connections on mobile devices and over fibre-optic lines.
Genachowski said in a speech to the Brookings Institution that “The rise of serious challenges to the free and open Internet puts us at a crossroads. We could see the Internet's doors shut to entrepreneurs, the spirit of innovation stifled, a full and free flow of information compromised. Or we could take steps to preserve Internet openness, helping ensure a future of opportunity, innovation and a vibrant marketplace.”
Telecommunications companies, however, oppose net neutrality because they believe it will impact on their ability to keep networks “running smoothly.”
BBC Four To Air Krautrock documentary; Julian Cope Sets Aside 50 Copies of Krautrocksampler To Throw At His Television
By Jon Lorenz on 10-16-2009
When Julian Cope first put together his definitive Krautrock book, Krautrocksampler, it was to organize and make sense of all the great German music that was lazily lumped in with all the other "prog" crap that people despised. Since then, Krautrock has become something much more established and celebrated the world over. Case in point: 14 years after the release of Cope's book, a documentary about the music we call Krautrock will be shown on BBC Four, aptly titled Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany.
Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany will feature interviews with some of the genre's most important characters, including members of Neu!, Kraftwerk, Can, Faust, and Cluster. Unfortunately, that is about all I can tell you, because I'm an American, and I'm apparently not allowed to watch the documentary's trailer because of YouTube's country copyright restrictions. Bullshit! If you're lucky enough to not be an American, you can go check out that trailer here. If you are an American, all I can say is "sorry" and provide you a story about the documentary here.
But not all is lost: thankfully, anyone with an internet connection (including Americans!) will be able to find the documentary on BBC Four's website for up to 7 days after the last broadcast.
Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany airs October 23.
Flaming Lips to Release Reinterpretation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon… AND WE’VE GOT THE EXCLUSIVE TRACKLIST!
By Mr P on 10-16-2009
At their "secret" MySpace show last night (TMT News), The Flaming Lips revealed that they've already completed their follow-up to Embryonic (TMT Review): a complete reinterpretation of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Why am I not shocked? According to the LA Times blog, the Lips recorded the album with Stardeath and the White Dwarfs (TMT Review), a band that includes Coyne's nephew Dennis, and also invited Henry Rollins and Peaches to guest. Says Coyne:
I think our audience would forgive us for going out in the further regions of whatever we could think of. But I don’t think we’d be worthy of being forgiven if we didn’t do that. They’re giving us the freedom, the encouragement, the money and the time to say, ‘Go somewhere where no other band could go, and come back and tell us what it was like.’
The Flaming Lips' Dark Side of the Moon will likely be an iTunes-only release, according to the LA Times. (Sorry Winamp fans.) Here's the EXCLUSIVE tracklist:
1. Speak to Me
2. Breathe
3. On the Run
4. Time
5. The Great Gig in the Sky
6. Money
7. Us and Them
8. Any Colour You Like
9. Brain Damage
10. Eclipse
Annie’s Long-Delayed Sophomore LP Don’t Stop Gets Release Date
By E. Nagurney on 10-16-2009
Poor Annie. All she wants to do is release her second album, Don’t Stop. And feel her own heartbeat and chew some gum and hate your band and stuff like that. But, mainly, she wants to finally follow up Anniemal (TMT Review), her 2004 debut album. Unfortunately for her, that’s not what the folks at Island, her old label, wanted to do at all. Hence, Don’t Stop has been stuck in limbo for the past year or so.
Thanks to the good folks at Oslo-based label Smalltown Supertown, Don’t Stop will be escaping from that limbo soon. Real soon -- in fact, as in November 17 soon. According to Annie, the new record is “both immediately listenable and utterly beguiling,” along with “mainstream and underground, all at once.” Sounds confusing, but a good kind of confusing. Guess we’ll unravel these mysteries next month on the 17th.
Don’t Stop tracklist:
1. Hey Annie
2. My Love Is Better
3. Bad Times
4. Don't Stop
5. I Don't Like Your Band
6. Songs Remind Me of You
7. Marie Cherie
8. Take You Home
9. The Breakfast Song
10. Loco
11. When the Night
