Stars: They’re Just Like Us! The Clientele Release New Album, Hang Out in Jane Austen-y Cottages

By Liz Louche on

I imagine The Clientele as some sort of mystery band — the sort of music you hear drifting toward you on a lazy summer breeze in that just slightly magical time as the sun sets, before the moon rises. Dusk, many would say -- although, clearly The Clientele would call it “the gloaming.” It’s hard for me to imagine a few normal-looking dudes and one lady sitting around hashing out what kind of drum beat to play when and who owes how much on the rent money for their practice space. So thank God there are Merge Records press releases to make that vital connection between sordid everyday reality and mystical fan hypothesis for me.

Check this out! Sure, the band formed in suburban Hampshire, England several years ago, and practiced in a thatched cottage. Sure, the singer is named Alasdair (MacLean’s the surname), and rumor has it that early on in their career, the group nailed down their stance on Surrealist poetry (pro), versus their collective stance on blues-style solos and aggro shouting (con). I hear what you’re saying. This band sounds like it’s populated by the lovable pre-war British creatures of The Wind in the Willows. But trust me — they do things that aren’t 100% bucolic and Albion sometimes.

Things like... releasing albums! The Clientele have three full-lengths under their belt so far, as well as their debut collection of early 7-inch singles entitled Suburban Light. They also contributed a track to the Sandra Bullock/Keanu Reeves time travel weepie The Lake House. And now they have a new album due October 6 on Merge, Bonfires on the Heath, which sounds like pretty much the most delightful foray into Wuthering Heights territory this side of Kate Bush.

The band is performing later this summer at Merge’s anniversary showcase in New York.
07.19.09 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg

Tracklisting:

1. I Wonder Who We Are
2. Bonfires On The Heath
3. Harvest Time
4. Never Anyone But You
5. Jennifer & Julia
6. Sketch
7. Tonight
8. Share the Night
9. I Know I'll See Your Face
10. Never Saw Them Before
11. Graven Wood
12. Walking in the Park

Jack’s Mannequin, The Fray, Pepper, Oh My! Mile High Festival Delivers The Worst Lineup of The Summer Season

By Annapocalypse on Jul 1 2009

They were up against some stiff competition, but it looks like the Mile High Festival, taking place in Colorado’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on July 18 and 19, takes the cake for the worst lineup of any 2009 summer festival. Or maybe of all-time?

Let’s examine the recently announced lineup for evidence:

Saturday, July 18: TOOL, Widespread Panic, Incubus, Ben Harper & Relentless7, G. Love and Special Sauce, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, The Black Keys, Ani DiFranco, Matt Nathanson, Galactic, Paolo Nutini, Gomez, The Greyboy Allstars, Railroad Earth, India.Arie, Lyrics Born, Rocco DeLuca and The Burden, needtobreathe, Band of Heathens, Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam, The Northern Way (formerly Set Forth), Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real, Early Pearl .

Sunday, July 19: Widespread Panic, The Fray, Thievery Corporation, 3OH!3, Gov’t Mule, Gogol Bordello, John Butler, Devotchka, Buddy Guy, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Pepper, The Wailers, Matisayhu, Jack’s Mannequin, Guster, Mat Kearney, Dead Confederate, Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons, Erin McCarley, Paper Bird, Honeyhoney, Joe Pug, Electric Touch.

At least The Black Keys, Lyrics Born, and, uh, Tool will balance out some of the hippy favorites.

Tickets for the festival are on sale now, including single-day passes, two-day packages, and VIP ticket options (I hear Brandon Boyd will personally smoke you out if you get a VIP pass). Buy tickets online or at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Box Office. Visit the Mile High Festival website for complete details.

The Twilight Sad to Release New LP in September Despite Ongoing Depression

By Brom on Jul 1 2009

Forget the Night Ahead, The Twilight Sad’s sophomore effort, will be out via the Fat Cat label on September 22. The band’s frontman, James Graham, describes the record as “definitely rougher around the edges than the first one. It's not a flat, technically polished album. It's very rough but melodic at the same time. We didn't want to make an album that sounded too produced. This album is more raw than the first one, but again it's still developed.”

On listening to “Reflection of the Television” (download available here) and “I Became a Prostitute,” two tracks from the new LP, Graham’s comments would seem to hold true. Personally I can’t honestly say I’m excited by this change in direction for the Glaswegians, especially since I thought Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters was brilliant, but we’ll see when the album finally comes out.

Tracklisting for Forget the Night Ahead is as follows:

1. Reflection of the Television
2. I Became a Prostitute
3. Seven Years of Letters
4. Made to Disappear
5. Scissors
6. The Room
7. That Birthday Present
8. Floorboards Under the Bed
9. Interrupted
10. The Neighbours Can't Breathe
11. At the Burnside

The band will also be appearing at the Monolith Festival and Musicfest Northwest in September:
09.13.09 – Morrison, CO - Monolith Festival
09.17.09 – Portland, OR - Musicfest Northwest

Whoa! Swine Flu Infects Jens Lekman, Puts Him Under Quarantine at Sweden Home

By Kat Gardiner on Jul 1 2009

From his Jens Lekman's blog:

I picked home one last souvenir from South America, it's called the H1N1 virus. Wrongfully known as the Swineflue.

I was crossing the Atlantic when things started getting really bad, the fever was hallucinogenic and shaking me like a leaf and I grabbed the sleeve of the Air France steward. "I'm not feeling well, I should see a doctor" I said and the reply came as a brilliant mix of death anxiety and french rudeness: "Uh, yes... Terminal D... go there maybe... when we land". After that the stewards and stewardesses took long detours. A ring of empty seats formed around me. Peoples eyes were kind but determined, they read "Poor you, I really wish you all the best but if you come near me or my kid I will have to stab you with this plastic fork". I got up and went to the bathroom where I fainted.

Now I'm in quarantine for ten days. I can see the summer through my window and it's just perfect. Summer is always best through a window.

Aw. That's sweet. Get well soon, Jens. We're with you with in interweb spirit.

Just don't cough on me.

Shake Your Butt, Europe! (Not Too Hard!) Pixies to Do Doolittle on Tour This Fall

By Nobodaddy on Jul 1 2009

Ah, Pixies. For as much as they hate one another, you gotta love how painfully apparent it is that they love money just a little bit more. Already set to drop the half-assed-cash-grab Minotaur box set this fall — which seems to be little more than their discography stuffed in a box (there’s a few pictures, but I mean, come on! Have you seen the band? There’s a reason they never put their faces on a lunch box, kids...) — it has now been confirmed that the Pixies will continue their “no apologies, all nostalgia” vibe when they tour Europe in October, by playing 1989's classic Doolittle in its rocky entirety.

Yes, the band has promised to play every song from this landmark record, along with all the associated B-sides. Why? Well, unofficially, probably because it’s easy and they don’t have to talk to each other as much this way. But, uh, officially speaking, it’s probably because Doolittle turns 20 this year. "We wanted to do something special for Doolittle's 20th anniversary,” Frank Black said in a statement, “and we thought this was a good opportunity to play all of the songs from that album, something we don't normally do at a regular gig." So there you have it. Get ready for all of the “hope everything is alright” chants and “Cookie, I think you’re tame” sing-a-longs you can handle! Aw, who am I kidding? I can’t wait to hear “Dead” live...

Dateslittle:
10.01.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
10.02.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
10.04.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - SECC
10.06.09 - London, England - Brixton Academy
10.07.09 - London, England - Brixton Academy
10.08.09 - London, England - Brixton Academy
10.09.09 - London, England - Brixton Academy
10.11.09 - Frankfurt, Germany - Jahrhunderhalle
10.13.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Heineken Music Hall
10.14.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
10.15.09 - Paris, France - Zenith

The Pirate Bay Sold for $7.8 Million (Maybe)

By Jay on Jun 30 2009

Earlier today, Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X announced in a press release that they are in the process of acquiring The Pirate Bay, the irreverent file-sharing giant whose recent "spectrial" resulted in guilty verdicts for all four co-founders. After several weeks of cat-and-mouse (including accusations from The Pirate Bay that the judge was biased due to an association with copyright lobbyists, a threat from co-founder Peter Sunde to sue Sweden for human rights violations only days ago, and the launch of The Video Bay, TPB's answer to YouTube), the controversial legal feud -- and, indeed, The Pirate Bay as we know it -- seems to be coming to an end.

What this means, exactly, is still very unclear, as ambiguous and somewhat contradictory statements come trickling in from Global Gaming Factory X and The Pirate Bay. Writes TPB in a recent blog post:

If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That's the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to. And -- you can now not only share files but shares with people. Everybody can indeed be the owner of The Pirate Bay now. That's awesome and will take the heat of [sic] us.

Meanwhile, CEO Hans Pandeya says that "[GGF] would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get
paid for content that is downloaded via the site."

Completion of the acquisition is expected for August 2009, "subject to GGF obtaining financing for" it.

More details are sure to be made available throughout the week. Stay tuned.

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