The Skygreen Leopards Release New Album, Promote General Leopard Awareness

By E. Nagurney on Jul 2 2009

If this whole musician thing doesn’t work out for War On Drugs guitarist Kurt Vile, he can always go work in supervillainy. I am sure Vile's a lovely man, but his name seems more suited to creating nuclear monstrosities and doing battle with Iron Man than it is to playing woozy rock. But until Vile grows a robotic crab arm through some experiment gone awry, the songwriter will be sticking with making some songs, which he’ll perform across the East Coast and California these next two months.

Then again, I’m not so sure Vile isn’t organizing an evil Indie Rock Legion of Doom. Aided by the bloodthirsty Violators on the first leg of the tour, Vile -- who recently signed with Matador (TMT News) and released a new album God Is Saying This To You... on Mexican Summer -- will recruit some of the most dreaded names in indie rock on various dates of this tour: Evil masterminds Sonic Youth! The ghostly Espers! International psych-rock bandits Dungen! Deadly falsetto warriors Built to Spill! Frightening times we live in.

The Indie Rock Legion of Doom vs. The Justice Venues of America:
07.02.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory *+
07.04.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Woodsist/Captured Tracks Fest *
07.05.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie (KRAAK Fest) *
07.17.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Bruars Falls *^&
07.18.09 - Boston, MA - Church (Homegrown Fest) *^
07.19.09 - Montague, MA - Montague Bookmill *^
07.23.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s @&
08.11.09 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head Club #
08.13.09 - Asheville, NC - Transfigurations * (Harvest Record Fest)
08.14.09 - New York, NY - Cakeshop
08.15.09 - Ridgewood, NY - Silent Barn
08.16.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Vox Populi
08.19.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Rittenhouse Square *
08.25.09 - Santa Ana, CA - Galaxy Theatre %
08.26.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour $
08.29.09 - Big Sur, CA - Kemado/Mexican Summer/Folk Yeah Festival $
08.30.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA $
09.01.09 - Portland, OR - TBD $

* Violators

+ Sonic Youth

^ Blues Control

& Coconuts

@ Tyvek

# Espers

% Built To Spill/Woods

$ Dungen/Woods

By Nobodaddy on Jul 2 2009

While Wisconson-based, snarky, smarmy, snarly folk-punk-alterna-blues troupe Violent Femmes impatiently waits their turn in the numbingly long line that currently sprawls outward from the “MID-'80s–MID-'90s BANDS WAITING TO REUNITE, TOUR, PLAY ALBUMS IN THEIR ENTIRETY AT FESTS, AND TALK/NOT TALK ABOUT RECORDING A NEW ALBUM TOGETHER” counter at the DMV or wherever, singer Gordon Gano has chosen to pass the interim time by releasing a new album... for the first time in some seven years (the Femmes must be getting close to the front of that line by now).

Due September 15 on the niche-market-elder-statesmen-loving Yep Roc label, the new album Under the Sun is credited to Gordon Gano & The Ryans and is apparently “a collaboration” between Gano and Bogmen leaders/scorers of tepid films (Fever Pitch, anyone?) Brendan & Billy Ryan. Take it away, glowing press release:

“The music that inspired his collaboration with the Ryan brothers spawned during fertile sessions in the café’s, bars and laundromats of New York City’s West Village [...] Brendan and Billy Ryan bring musicality and new color to Gordon’s visceral lyricism and signature adenoidal drawl. A filled-out next chapter to the music of the Femmes, Under the Sun is the music of a mature band, a band made of men not boys, men who have supplanted wonder for angst, controlled passion for reckless...” blah blah blah, bloop, bleep-bleep blah. You get the idea: it’s the best record ever. It’s for old people. Let’s move on to the details.

The whole shebang was largely recorded at the Carriage House in Stamford, CT and features Gordon “2G” Gano on vocals/guitar/violin. As for the Ryan brothers, Brendan handles keyboards/accordion/horn duties, while Billy tackles guitar/backing vocals. Other must assuredly competent-as-fuck but appositely low-profile contributors include Frank Black... whoops, I mean, Frank Ferrer (sorry to pique your interest like that) of Guns N' Roses and Psychedelic Furs on drums, and Lonnie Hillyer of Maggie’s Dream and Bernie Worrell on bass. Some real unit-movers, huh? Meanwhile, Phil Palazzolo (The New Pornographers, Neko Case) engineered and mixed the project. There is no tracklist as of yet, but rest assured, if we get our hands on one... uh, and if it’s a slow news day, we’ll go ahead and post one for you.