[UPDATED] Pavement Reunion Show Sells Out in Two Minutes, Second Four Shows Added
By Mr P on Sep 18 2009
UPDATE: There are now a total of four Pavement shows set -- all at the same place, from September 21-24. Okay? Okay!
According to Matador's Matablog, the Pavement reunion show announced yesterday sold out in roughly two minutes. What's a band to do? Easy -- add another show, that's what! And that's exactly what they have done: Pavement have added another show for the next day, September 22, at the same venue, New York's Central Park Summerstage.
Tickets are on sale now, so get 'em quick, because they're not going to last. Maybe a third show will be slated once these tickets sell out?
Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar Team Up for Kerouac Documentary Soundtrack and Honorary Concerts
By Annapocalypse on Sep 18 2009
If I had to guess, I’d assume that Ben Gibbard’s favorite Jack Kerouac book is the classic On The Road... but I'd be wrong! It seems that Gibbard has a soft spot for Kerouac’s 1962 novel, The Big Sur, as does Son Volt’s Jay Farrar. To celebrate their love for the book (and Kerouac’s legacy), the two recently collaborated on the upcoming Kerouac documentary, One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur, composing 12 original songs with lyrics based on the prose of Big Sur. The film is directed by Curt Worden and features appearances from such writers and musicians as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sam Shepard, Patti Smith, and Tom Waits. Both the album and the documentary are set to be released on October 20. Pre-orders of the box set (also containing the novel and a 24-page book on the documentary) and the CD/DVD package will ship two weeks prior to the release date via the film’s website.
But wait, there’s more! It seems Gibbard and Farrar love Kerouac so much that they’re willing to hop across the country a few times this fall (coinciding with the 40th anniversary of his death on October 21, 1969) to perform material from their soundtrack. Performing alongside the two will be Nick Harmer (Death Cab For Cutie), Mark Spencer (Son Volt), and Jon Wurster (Superchunk, Bob Mould, The Mountain Goats)
10.23.09 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
10.24.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo’s 365 Club
10.26.09 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
10.28.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
Hmmm, Something Naughty, Eh? “Sex is Like Snow; You Never Know How Many…” Oh Sorry! This Story Is About a Pastels and Tenniscoats Album, Not a Pasties and Teninchpenisthroats Album!
By David Nadelle on Sep 18 2009
Don't you love it when the man least likely becomes a hero? Few would have bet on Stephen Pastel (né McRobbie) to influence legions of spotty-faced followers when he started playing music as The Pastels back in the early 1980s but, as any scamdicapper will tell you as he pockets the deed to your house, betting is a suckers game. Copycatting being the sincerest form of flattery and all that aside, The Pastels gave up the ghost of the embarrassingly clique-y C86 scene shortly after 1986 and have released a string of idiosyncratically brilliant, frustratingly infrequent albums that have managed to simultaneously rub the brain muscle and tug the love muscle since. Recovering indie gamblers will fight the urge to jump back in the fray with news that the original high-rolling exploration team of Pastel and Katrina Mitchell will return with a new album not in the murky "near future" but in the eyeball-singeing "near now." Next week, in fact!
For their latest record Pastel and Mitchell have recorded with their Japanese spiritual muso-twins, Saya and Takashi Ueno, a.k.a. Tenniscoats, and frequent doppelgangers like Norman Blake and Gerard Love (Teenage Fanclub), Bill Wells, and Tom Crossley (International Airport). Two Sunsets will be available on September 22 in North America via the Pastels-navigated arm of Domino Records, Geographic, and is a, not the, follow up to their most recent album, a soundtrack to The Last Great Wilderness (issued in 2003). This inspired Tenniscoats/Pastels collaboration is already out in the U.K., as is the first single, "Vivid Youth," which features the double duos' heart-touched version of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s "About You" on the B-side.
As far as a new exclusively Pastels record is concerned, there is no firm news on that front as yet besides the fact that there is indeed one in the works. Patience, patience... good always wins out and comes to those who wait. When it does come you can bet the farm on it wiping the floor with the current crop of overhyped crap shooters.
Two Suns tracklisting:
1. Tokyo Glasgow
2. Two Sunsets
3. Song for a Friend
4. Vivid Youth
5. Yomigaeru
6. Modesty Piece
7. About You
8. Boats
9. Hikoki
10. Sodane
11. Mou Mou Rainbow
12. Start Slowly So We Sound Like a Loch
One is the loneliest number of upcoming Pastels shows:
11.27.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
Vampire Weekend to Release Contra, Yippity Skippity.
By Swanderfish on Sep 17 2009
Bloody hindsight – it’s always 20-20. Remember all those ads with this girl? Right from the start, it was apparent she wasn't there to secretly tempt me with a new, revolutionary polo collection (my specialty store of choice varies from free market to flea market). A Wii remake of a NES classic would be more desirable, but the buzzing keyword was in her look: not doe-eyed, but rather "preppy" – the somewhat derogative adjective for one particular act. NME tried to hype up the big revelation, but to no avail.
So here’s the straight recap: Vampire Weekend’s new album drops on January 12, 2010 via XL recordings.
Next time, I’m gonna play "wheel of fortune" hosted by NME (“S O P _ O _ O _ _ S _ _ _ P”). I’ll do my Very Best.
Contra tracklist:
1. Horchata
2. White Sky
3. Holiday
4. California English
5. Taxi Cab
6. Run
7. Cousins
8. Giving Up The Gun
9. Diplomat’s Son
10. I Think Ur A Contra
Chad VanGaalen Gives Out Free EP and Plans Canadian Tour (Can You Say Pretentious?)
By Matt Lundy on Sep 17 2009
Chad VanGaalen is like a younger, Canadian version of Robert Pollard. Behind a relentless work ethic, all the guy needs is some shitty recording equipment to pump out his falsetto-laced brand of folk-pop. When I spoke to Chad back in March, he said that he didn’t start actively listening to music until his late high school days, and that his time was wrapped up in drawing and animation. Then, of course, he bought a four-track recorder and started writing a boatload of catchy songs. Fresh off the debut album of his instrumental/electronic side project Black Mold, Chad has reached back into the Soft Airplane (TMT Review) vault to offer up a free digital EP of B-sides from that recording time.
You can download the EP at the Soft Airplane website. Better yet, you can catch Chad VanGaalen in the coming weeks when he does a primarily West Coast tour of Canada.
Tourdates:
09.19.09 - Toronto, ON - The Church of the Redeemer
10.08.09 - Regina, SK - The Exchange
10.09.09 - Winnipeg, MB - The Park Theatre
10.10.09 - Saskatoon, SK - Broadway Theatre
10.14.09 - Victoria, BC - Alix Goolden Performance Hall
10.15.09 - Vancouver, BC - The Rio
10.16.09 - Kelowna, BC - Habitat
10.18.09 - Edmonton, AB - Myer Horowitz Theatre
