Did You Know That Wire Had a New Album Out? Neither Did I! Do You Wanna Stream Their New Single For Free and Maybe See Them Live? Oh Boy, So Do I! Do You Think You’ll Want Kids Someday? Oh… I’m So Sorry I Asked
By Mike McHugh on 08-08-2008
If you’re UK punk rock royalty these days, apparently the only way to gain media exposure is to be a racist douchebag who orders your crew to beat up the lead singer of Bloc Party. Well, no longer! Today, we reward the just, the unwavering faithful, the crusty punk veterans with the blood of musical combat still wet upon their pockmarked skin. You know, the ones who are still putting out relevant material.
How can such a group exist, you ask? I have but one taut word for you: Wire. The artsy-fartsy foursome has a new album out called Object 47, a Fellini-ish sort of title celebrating the 47th object in the band’s discography. The record has been available in the U.S. since July 15, leaving me to ponder why Wire have only now released the album’s single, “One of Us,” as a free stream on their website. One would guess the underexposure of this record has something to do with the lack of an online single being made available in conjunction with the album’s drop. Then again, Wire have always released material with the attitude that they were doing the public a favor, not because they needed to. I guess releasing a free single late is about the most punk rock thing a band can do these days. Whatever, it’s still more punk than hate crime.
After a few scattered festival appearances in Europe, Wire will hop over to North America and grace us with a few dates. A TMT review of the new album is forthcoming, but I can grant you at least this tiny insight on the new record: Wire have remained steadfast in their commitment never to suck.
Read and Burn:
And lo! The clouds shall part! And they shall see Tricky, descending upon North America for his first tour of the continent in over five years
By Liz Louche on 08-08-2008
You know, I consider myself to be a fairly good-natured person. But just between you, me, and however many people read this website (and who are attracted by the headline), there is one thing/person I really, really dislike. That thing/person is Nostradamus. Think about it: he has been dead over 400 years, but the things he said in his time were so damn freaky that people still talk about him. They believe that he was able to see into the future. They believe in the scary things he predicted. And that is unnerving!
Take a look at Wikipedia or the first website you find when you Google ""Nostradamus 2008'" -judas" -- you will find all kinds of disturbing events that people think he predicted. What a downer that guy must've been, am I right? But there is one momentous event that dude did not predict, and this leads me to believe that perhaps -- just perhaps -- he might not have had the awesome powers of clairvoyance that so many people attribute to him. That event, of course, is the return of the Bristol scene's mighty trip-hop triumvirate in the Year of Our Lord 2008. It's true! Everyone knows about the new Portishead album, Massive Attack's performance at Glastonbury, and now, finally, we have the coming of the new Tricky album Knowle West Boy, a record so awesome that it deserves a more in-depth mention in its very own paragraph!
Knowle West Boy has already been released in the UK and is slated for release in the United States September 9 via Domino Records. It's being hailed as Tricky's best work in years, and to celebrate, he's playing shows in Europe, the UK, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and... for the first time in five years, the United States! The North American tour kicks off with an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman September 3, before descending upon selected cities. Get ready: the man's got a brand new backing band, and he's not afraid to use it!
John Wiese to Tour; I Don’t Care Because I Just Don’t “Get” that “Noise” “Stuff”
By mattborda on 08-08-2008
In my day, artists wrote songs.
I’ll never forget coming home from soccer practice in the second grade and hearing Live's “Lightning Crashes” for the first time. That was the song that brought my appreciation of popular music to a new level. It made me realize that just because something was popular, consumed en masse, it didn’t have to lack integrity and could still take bold and exciting chances. Throwing Copper came out at a very particular time in popular music, a time when people were ready and hungry for something new. I don’t think it would have fared as well if it had come out at any other time in music. But it was exciting to me, at only 9 years old, to be able to turn on the radio and be stimulated through pop.
Nowadays, all I hear is a bunch of noise. Like this “John Wiese” character. Just a bunch of squeals and bleeps and bloops, this guy. Did I miss something? Jeez. I mean, helloooooo, am I right? C’moooon. Seriously? Who does this guy think he is? What’s the deal here? You know what I’m talking about.
Hey, just kiddin' -- love this guy!
Solo Dates:
Sissy Spacek Dates:
08.15.08 - San Francisco, CA - Bay Area 51
10.06.08 - Las Vegas, NV - TBA
LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy plans DJ tour to showcase vintage disco; LSD Soundsystem to make people freak out and think they’re tasting music
By mattborda on 08-08-2008
LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Pat Mahoney have announced a three-month international tour that will find them playing DJ sets of classic underground disco.
The inspiration for the tour comes from the other side of the original disco era, the one that favored house parties, The Loft, and Manu Dibango over Studio 54 and “The Hustle.” Murphy says he wants to take away the associations of bell-bottoms and parties like those on That ’70s Show. The disco of his fancy is what he describes as “real liberation music for people who know where to go.”
“With [this tour] I can keep experimenting with remixes that we’re working on, I can keeping playing new stuff, and I can keep finding old records.”
Calling themselves Special Disco Version, Murphy and Mahoney think the time is now for a second disco revolution. The name stems from how labels used to mark dance mixes of pop songs. In other words, what we futurepeople call a “re-mix”.
Dates:
* Pat only
% James only
# featuring Tim Sweeney, Beats In Space and other special guests
