Senator Al Franken to Attend the Future of Music Coalition’s Policy Summit

By Brom on

From October 4-6 in Washington D.C., various music industry nerds will come together to discuss riveting topics like "Ten Years after Napster," "Future of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act," and "Intellectual Property, Privacy & Network Rights." Making an appearance at this year's Future of Music Coalition’s Policy Summit will be everyone’s favorite liberal comedian/Senator: Al Franken. Whilst America rages in battles over health care reform, climate change, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Senator Franken has shown admirable courage in getting the country’s priorities straight. Sure, there may be 46 million Americans without health insurance and the country accounts for a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions, but are we really going to be concerned about that when online pirates are out of control, musicians aren’t fairly compensated for their labor, and copyright becomes a laughing stock?

The question on everyone’s lips should be: Does one of America’s most famous senators support the war on illegal file-sharing? The political debate in this country drastically needs to turn to these important issues, now.

(I'm just joking around, kids. Find more info about the Future of Music Coalition's Policy Summit here.)

RIP: Dean Turner of Magic Dirt

By Shane Mack on 08-24-2009

From The Australian:

Hundreds of fan tributes have appeared on Australian band Magic Dirt's website following the news of bass player Dean Turner's death from cancer.

The 37-year-old founding member of the Geelong had been suffering from the disease for more than a year and died on Friday.

Magic Dirt began their career in the early 1990s and went on to become a staple of the Australian touring and festival circuit with their guitar-driven punk pop.

The band, fronted by Adalita Srsen, had success with albums such as Friends in Danger and What Are Rockstars Doing Today. They had just begun an Australian tour at the time of Turner's death.

- Magic Dirt official website
- Magic Dirt MySpace
- Magic Dirt Wikipedia entry

David Sylvian Discovers Manafon; It Turns Out to Be a Welsh Village

By Swanderfish on 08-24-2009

If you're well into your 20s and it's only today when you realized the overtone of sarcasm in the uber-expensive Ten reissue that you got as a birthday present from your elder brother (36, landscape designer), well here's your chance to get even by purchasing him David Sylvian's highly conceptual deluxe-edition of Manafon, which should fit perfectly in his bookcase, right next to the never-opened Baudelaire bilinguas. If you feel like spending more and want me to tell you what to buy, you can either get a standard edition for yourself (that will look equally cool next to Crying Light) or, say, Fuck Yeah Fest Fest tickets. Choose wisely.

Despite the pretentious title, website, and wordy release notes full of abstract nouns used by grown-ups to write about minimalist art objects, the album sampler for David Sylvian's new album on SamadhiSound sounds promising. It's also said to be a “sister album” to Blemish (TMT Review), with Fennesz adding his two glitchy cents.

But it's a pity Mr. Sylvian doesn't seem to care about state parks.

Manafon tracklist:

1. Small Metal Gods
2. The Rabbit Skinner
3. Random Acts of Senseless Violence
4. The Greatest Living Englishman
5. 125 Spheres
6. Snow White in Appalachia
7. Emily Dickinson
8. The Department of Dead Letters
9. Manafon

Mario Speedwagon’s Under The Radar News Round Up: Daniel Johnston Goes On Tour in Support of New LP; Vic Chesnutt To Release New LP and Tour; J. Tillman Has A New LP Too

By Mario Speedwagon on 08-21-2009

- Daniel Johnston (pictured) will be heading out on tour this fall in the US and in Europe. His tour kicks off on September 3 in Portland, Oregon and ends November 11 in The Netherlands. According to his publicist, Is and Always Was, Johnston's first studio album in 7 years, is set for release in October this year. More details on the tour can be found at his official website.

- Vic Chesnutt will release his latest record, At The Cut on September 22 via Constellation Records. The new album features Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion. This will be his 16th record, since releasing his first record 19 years ago. He'll hit the road with Guy and Godspeed members in support of the record. The tour kicks off October 23 in Ottowa, Ontario and ends December 5 in Austin, TX at the Central Presbyterian Church. Details on the tour can be found at the Constellation site. And check out this “Chain” MP3 from the new LP.

- J. Tillman will unleash a new LP on September 22 called Year In The Kingdom. This is J. Tillman’s sixth album. As you know, he is also in Fleet Foxes and will be on tour with them for all of August and most of September. He will embark on his own tour in support of his new record in the fall.

BTW, I’ve been laughing at this all day: The Number To Heaven.

Photo: [Tim Broddin]

Pyramids and Nadja Collaborate on New LP, Because Sometimes the World Just Makes Sense

By E. Nagurney on 08-21-2009

Pyramids are a metal band whose sound is based on droning guitars and shoegaze textures. They are from Denton, Texas. Last year, they put out an acclaimed self-titled record (TMT Review) on Hydra Head. That particular album also possessed last year’s best album art, according to us.

Nadja are a metal duo (Aiden Baker and Leah Buckareff) whose sound is based on droning guitars and shoegaze textures. They are from Toronto, Canada. They have put out a number of albums on respected labels like Alien8 and Robotic Empire. None of their album covers are quite as good as that Pyramids one, but this one is pretty neat.

And so, in a move that makes an incredible amount of sense, Pyramids and Nadja have collaborated on a new LP, which is coming out October 27 on Hydra Head. The collective six members of the two groups play on all four of the record’s tracks, though with help from a pretty extensive guest list. Like most things involved with this project, all these guests make a certain amount of sense: Simon Raymonde of '80s legends Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil, Albin Julius of Austrian psych-rock project Der Blutharsch, Chris Simpson of '90s emo group Mineral, Colin Marston of tech-metal giants Dysrhythmia, and James Plotkin of black metal band Khanate, who produced the record. Assuming the world continues making sense at this rate, the album will likely contain lots of pretty drones, ambient textures, and long, dirge-like songs. Then again, maybe it’ll wind up sounding like a synth-pop record.

Pyramids With Nadja tracklisting:

1. Into the Silent Waves
2. Another War
3. The Sound of Ice and Grass
4. An Angel Was Heard to Cry Over the City of Rome

Elvira Called… She Wants Her House Band Back: The Horrors Hit the Long, Winding, Spoooo-key Road

By David Nadelle on 08-21-2009

Some say it was the constant presence of Wheaties next to the cases of Tru Blood on their backstage rider. Others claim bringing in author Craig Silvey, Portishead's Geoff Barrow, and video maverick Chris Cunningham to help produce their second album, Primary Colours, in turn produced an inspired, unexpectedly brilliant recording. Still more state that it is all just a natural part of the group puberty process, creating the perfect storm of nut fuzz and songwriting chops. Whatever the impetus, The Horrors have transformed themselves from an interesting but novel, neo-goth, Cramps-influenced act to something altogether different and better. True, the caretaker chic is still donned with all-too-knowing nonchalance and they still use nicknames stolen from "Munsters" stagehands (Spider Webb? Coffin Joe? Relatively Dour Pete?) but the quality of Primary Colours cannot be refuted.

The dark-hearted quintet get a big chance to convince the great unwashed and made-up of North America of their new-found powers starting September 15 in Boston during a live stretch which will see them travel from coast to coast to coast. Also included below are three NYC dates supporting Nine Inch Nails (at the behest of super-fan Trent Reznor) and a mausolean U.K. and European tour that Maiden would have trouble pulling off. You will notice that The Horrors are playing a gig on Halloween night but there are no shows on Elm Street or at a House on Haunted Hill or on a Friday the 13th or at The Last House on the Left or with Rosemary's Baby as support or Bride of Chucky as caterer? Bah, they have changed!

I wear black on the outside because black is how I feel on the inside of these cities and venues:
08.22.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
08.23.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall #
08.25.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 #
08.28.09 - Reading, England - Reading Festival
08.29.09 - Paris, France - Rock en Seine Festival
08.30.09 - Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
09.05.09 - London, England - Offset Festival
09.11.09 - Isle of Wight, England - Bestival
09.12.09 - Dorset, England - End of the Road Festival
09.15.09 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
09.06.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
09.07.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
09.18.09 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar, Club Stage
09.19.09 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
09.21.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09.22.09 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
09.24.09 - Houston, TX - Walter’s on Washington
09.25.09 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
09.26.09 - Austin, TX - Emo’s (outside)
09.28.09 - Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
09.29.09 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
09.30.09 - Costa Mesa, CA - The Detroit Bar
10.01.09 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater
10.02.09 - Pomona, CA - The Glass House
10.03.09 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
10.05.09 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
10.06.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s
10.07.09 - Vancouver, BC - Venue
10.10.09 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
10.11.09 - Chicago, IL - Double Door
10.12.09 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10.14.09 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Place
10.15.09 - Montreal, QC - Petit Campus
10.16.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
10.17.09 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s
10.31.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
11.01.09 - Ghent, Belgium - Minnemeers
11.02.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg, old room
11.03.09 - Nijmegen, Netherlands - Doornroosje
11.04.09 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli
11.06.09 - Cologne, Germany - Underground
11.07.09 - Hamburg, Germany - Uevel & Gefaehrlich
11.08.09 - Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall
11.09.09 - Copehagen, Denmark - Vega
11.10.09 - Berlin, Germany - Lido
11.12.09 - Munich, Germany - 59 to 1
11.13.09 - Vienna, Austria - Szene
11.15.09 - Lausanne, Switzerland - Le Romandie
11.16.09 - Zurich, Switzerland - Abart
11.18.09 - Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti
11.19.09 - Florence, Italy - Flog
11.20.09 - Ravenna, Italy - Bronson
11.21.09 - Turin, Italy - Spazio 211
11.23.09 - Toulouse, France - Le Phare
11.24.09 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
11.25.09 - Madrid, Spain - Joy Eslava
11.27.09 - Bordeaux, France - Theatre Barbey
11.28.09 - Nantes, France - Olympic
11.30.09 - Paris, France - Trabendo
12.05.09 - Minehead, England - All Tomorrow's Parties, Butlin's Holiday Camp
12.08.09 - Birmingham, England - LG Arena
12.09.09 - London, England - O2 Arena
12.11.09 - Bridlington, England - Bridlington Spa
12.12.09 - Manchester, England - Manchester Central
12.14.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - SECC

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