Serge Gainsbourg's Lolita-Esque Classic Histoire De Melody Nelson Released for the First Time in the U.S.

By Kat Gardiner on

On March 24, Histoire De Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg's classic collaboration with chic lover Jane Birkin and composer Jean-Claude Vannier, will be released in the United States on Light in the Attic, 38 years after it was originally released. Often considered the psychedelic pillow-talker's greatest work and clocking in at a little under 30 minutes, Melody Nelson is a compact, semi-autobiographical, Nabokovian concept album that follows the story of Serge hitting a young nymph named Melody (Birkin) with his car and getting lost in a deeply passionate French love affair with her, much like the love affair (and later marriage) he had with Birkin, 20 years his junior.

The reissue includes deluxe packaging inspired by the original release, as well as extensive liner notes, translations of interviews, and lyric sheets that you'll still be reading long after the needle has started spinning itself in silent circles.

For a preview, I highly recommend checking out Melody, the 1972 musical of the album filmed. In it, you follow Serge driving and hitting Jane; strutting around before rotating red hearts; walking with her in and out of hallways filled with two-dimensional stills of nudes from the 1600s; then minutes of Birkin hypnotizing you with a repetitive hippie-mating-dance movements in white thigh-highs on top of wicked guitar solos. Hot.

Histoire De Melody Nelson tracklisting

1. Melody
2. LA Ballade de Melody Nelson
3. La Valse do Melody
4. Ah! Melody
5. L' Hotel Particulier
6. En Melody
7. Cargo Culte

Attention All Members of the TMT Tote Society: Compose a List of Your 20 Favorite Songs from Merge Records and Perchance Win a Tote Bag!!!

By Mike McHugh on Feb 9 2009

Esteemed members of the venerable Tiny Mix Tapes Tote Society: As you well know, 2008 was a landmark year for toters the world over. Who could forget the night Orson Tagliacozzo set New York’s Spring Tote Week ablaze with his unctuous bricolage of pre-Jacobin debasement and post-Verhoeven dystrophy? And what of that enchanting Milanese afternoon when Howard Bacchiglione sent Totecon ’08 into hysterics with a deeply sexual yet staunchly antediluvian tote-isé on Tajik callipygia? Yet despite its myriad peaks, this sublime year, of course, was not free of tragedy’s snares… we’ll see you and your immaculate totes at the crossroads, Sherman de Montefeltro.

Many of you thought that once ’09 wrenched ’08 of her breath with time’s annual garrote, toteistry’s zenith was poised to pass into memory. Fie! Fie I cried on you then, and an even more furious fie I cry on you now! Behold: Merge Records has proposed a challenge to tote, t-shirt and mixtape lovers alike. In conjunction with their mammoth 20-year anniversary compilation SCORE!, Merge wants you, the tote-adoring consumer, to shoulder the task of curating your very own Merge compilation CD. Simply pick 20 of your favorite songs available from Merge’s digital store, put them in a list, post them on Merge’s Make Your Own SCORE! message board, and wait until March. A winner will be chosen at random, and along with the dubious honor of having their mix made available for sale in the Merge digital store, they will also be able to choose between either some pitiful, most likely rabies-laden t-shirt or this exquisite, penguin-bearing tote.

Your choice is simple, seasoned toter. I know not how the rest of you feel about this “indie-rock,” but I do know this: Were that sumptuous tote possessed by the Morningstar himself, I would hasten forthright to Abaddon to massage his loins until his demon seed gushed an unholy fountain upon all the damned. I know what I must do, and I trust you do as well. Semper Tote!

Pelican Sign to Southern Lord, Announce Tour

By Kid Midnight on Feb 9 2009

As announced to me personally through telepathy, instrumental metal band Pelican have left one respected indie-metal label and signed with a new respected indie-metal label. Pelican have up until this point released the bulk of their recordings through Hydra Head Records, including their amazing debut full-length Australasia and their most recent work City of Echoes. However, upon the release of their forthcoming EP (currently being recorded at Red Room studios in Seattle, WA), they will officially be under the Southern Lord label.

Guitarist Trevor De Brauw gives us a hint of what we can expect from the newest material: “The new material promises to be heavier, darker and very "riff-oriented." Well, butter me up and call me excited! I love riffs! The band further teases us that a “very special guest guitarist” who “has been very influential to the band” will be making an appearance on the EP. I’m betting that it’s a guy with a bunch of tattoos and some sort of interesting facial hair. That or Kevin Shields -- he’s everywhere these days.

In addition to the new label, Pelican are also heading out on a tour. Yay! The tour, alongside new label mates Wolves in the Throne Room (this is surely the best Wolf-related band name yet!), features a return to SXSW for the Southern Lord showcase. The band also assures us that, upon completion of the musical road-trip, the band will hunker down in their power cave and begin hammering out their fourth full-length.

Pelican March/April 2009 tour:
03.15.09 - Iowa City IA - The Picador *
03.16.09 - Kansas City, KS - Riot Room *
03.17.09 - Tulsa, OK - The Marquee *
03.18.09 - San Antonio, TX - Scout Bar * plus Tricky
03.19.09 - Little Rock, AR - Vino's **
03.20.09 - Austin, TX - Elmo's - SXSW
03.22.09 - Austin, TX - Red 7 **
03.25.09 - Tempe, AZ - The Sets **
03.26.09 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah **
03.27.09 - West Hollywood, CA - The Troubadour **
03.28.09 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's **
03.29.09 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre **
03.30.09 - Bellingham, WA - Nightlight **
03.31.09 - Seattle , WA - Neumo's **
04.02.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Club Vegas **
04.03.09 - Denver, CO - The Marquis Theatre **
04.05.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle **

* Tombs, Dredg

** Tombs, Wolves In The Throne Room

RIP: Tom Brumley, steel guitar player

By Shane Mack on Feb 9 2009

From the LA Times:

Tom Brumley, a legendary steel guitarist who contributed to the "Bakersfield sound" of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos in the 1960s before spending 10 years performing with Rick Nelson, has died. He was 73.

Brumley died Tuesday at Northeast Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, eight days after suffering a heart attack, said his wife, Rolene Brumley.

- Tom Brumley official website
- Tom Brumley Wikipedia entry

Women Add U.S. Tour; ATTENTION: Horny Guys, This Is Probably Not What You Think

By Scott Lauer on Feb 9 2009

Lo-fi psych sensation Women will be making a trek this spring to prove to the masses that they are indeed men -- that, and to show off tracks from their particularly solid debut LP Women (TMT Review). Although it's a blogger-happy song, “Black Rice” has still got to be one of the best tracks to come out of this millennium, and the rest of the album ain't too shabby either.

According to Jagjaguwar, Women’s label, the group will be setting out this spring to show off their awesomeness for crowds in the United States and Canada, with help from Abe Vigoda, Crystal Stilts, and Chad Van Gaalen. The dates with Chad Van Gaalen especially make sense, since he both recorded Women's album for them and has had Women members in his touring band.

Women tourdates:
02.13.09 - Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
02.14.09 - Glasgow, UK - Captain's Rest
02.15.09 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
02.16.09 - Manchester, UK - Night & Day Cafe
02.17.09 - London, UK - White Heat Mayfair @ Madam Jojo's
02.19.09 - Kortrijk, Belgium - De Kreun !
02.20.09 - Lille, France - L'Aeronef w. The War On Drugs
02.21.09 - St. Malo, France - La Route Du Rock Festival
02.22.09 - Paris, France - Maroquinerie
02.23.09 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
02.24.09 - Hannover, Germany - Ruby Tuesday @ Cafe Glocksee
02.26.09 - Berlin, Germany - Magnet Club
02.27.09 - Leipzig, Germany - NATO
03.01.09 - Lloseta-Mallorca, Spain - Teatre Lloseta
03.02.09 - Elche, Spain - Centre Cultural Escorxador
03.03.09 - London, UK - Scala
03.08.09 - Fargo, ND - Aquarium
03.09.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
03.10.09 - Mt. Vernon, IA - Cornell College
03.11.09 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
03.12.09 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
03.14.09 - New York, NY - Music Hall Of Williamsburg*
03.15.09 - Washington DC - DC9*
03.16.09 - Lexington, KY - Al's Bar*
03.17.09 - Jackson, MS - MS121 Milsaps*
03.18.09 - Houston, TX - Rudyard's*
03.19.09 - Austin, TX - SXSW
03.22.09 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada#
03.23.09 - Norman, OK - Opolis#
03.28.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland+
03.30.09 - Visalia, CA - The Cellar Door+
03.31.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill+
04.02.09 - Portland, OR - Holocene+
04.03.09 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey+
04.04.09 - Victoria, BC - Sugar+

! The Constantines

* Crystal Stilts

# Abe Vigoda

+ Chad Van Gaalen

Mario Speedwagon’s Under The Radar News Roundup: Ticketmaster Takes Over The World, 4AD Signs Some Bitches, Crystal Antlers To Release LP, Decemberists Debut New Album At SXSW

By Mario Speedwagon on Feb 6 2009

Hey ya’ll.

- Ticketmaster (ugh) and Live Nation are close to merging into one, big, corporate mess. The company will be called Live Nation Ticketmaster and would be a concert promoter and ticket supplier all-in-one kinda management company. One potential problem would be that, since the new company would be, like, some sort of superpower, they’d have to be under review by antitrust authorities. Ticketmaster sucks, by the way. The Boss thinks so too.

- 4AD signed a shit-ton of bands: the latest signings to the label are The Big Pink, Broken Records, and Camera Obscura.

- Crystal Antlers are going to be dropping their LP, Tentacles, via Touch and Go on April 7, 2009. I dug their EP, so I’m excited to hear it. Meanwhile, the band is currently on tour in Europe and has a few dates in the states afterwards with the Cold War Kids. Check it out.

- So, if you happen to be going to SXSW this March and also like The Decemberists (one of these two things apply to me; I’ll let you guess), you can check out a full performance of their latest album The Hazards of Love at the NPR showcase on March 18, 2009 at Stubbs. NPR will broadcast and webcast the entire concert, which will be anchored by Bob “All Songs Considered” Boilen, Carrie “Sleater-Kinney/NPR BLGGR” Brownstein, and David “KUT” Brown.

Yep, that’s it. Oh also, check this out. HILARIOUS.

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