Proving that they were not actually attempting to lock themselves in an amber of 2009, British sparse-poppers The xx are coming out with a new record. This new record is called Coexist and will be out September 11 through Young Turks. Due to the venn diagram of “Hyped Young Producer” and “Member of The xx” overlapping, the new album will be produced by The xx’s very own Jamie Smith. Or as some people tend to call him, Jamie xx.
Now that you’ve read that first paragraph, you’ve clearly noticed a mistake. Do you see it yet? Give it a bit.
That’s right, a band named The xx is putting out a new record called Coexist and totally resisted calling it Coexxist. This is the biggest missed opportunity since skate-punks No Use For a Name never put out an untitled record. Please, The xx, hire me to be, I don’t know, your advisor so you won’t make these mistakes again. I understand if you can’t get back to me until after summer, I know that you are playing a lot of dates basically everywhere. Those dates are at the bottom of this article. At this point in the paragraph, I am no longer directly talking to The xx.
The xx dates:
06.08.12 - Turin, Italy - Traffic Festival
06.09.12 - Porto, Portugal - Primavera Sound
06.15.12 - Aarthus, Denmark - Northside Festival
06.16.12 - Hultsfred, Sweden - Hultsfred Festival
06.22.12 - Scheesel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06.23.12 - Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival
06.27.12 - Haervic, Norway - Hove Festival
06.29.12 - Arras, France - Main Square Festival
06.30.12 - Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
07.04.12 - Tokyo, Japan - Liquid Room
07.07.12 - Gdynia, Poland - Heineken Open’er Festival
07.14.12 - Joensuu, Finland - Ilosaarirock Festival
07.23.12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre
07.25.12 - Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market
07.28.12 - Toronton, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
07.29.12 - Montreal, QC - Metrpolis Theatre
07.31.12 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
08.02.12 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
08.09.12 - Sibinek, Croatia - Terraneo Festival
08.10.12 - Budapest, Hungary - Sziget Festival
08.11.12 - St. Pere, France - La Route du Rock
08.18.12 - St. Polten, Austria - FM4 Frequency Festival
08.19.12 - Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08.31.12 - Laois, Ireland - Electric Picnic
09.07.12 - Isle of White, UK - Bestival
I can’t think of any bands or movies or books named for raccoons or porcupines or skunks. But foxes? Those devils have always been hip. Fleet Foxes, The Fox and the Hound, Fox in Socks, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and now Foxygen, the latest addition to Jagjaguwar’s roster. Foxygen consists of Sam France, who handles vocals, and Jonathan Rado, who plays guitar and keyboards, and together, these young guns bring us an off-the-wall sort of rock ‘n’ roll that’s a little Velvet Underground and a little Dr. Dog.
This summer, Foxygen will release their debut EP, Take the Kids Off Broadway, which The A.V. Club described as “simultaneously catchy and obscure, carefully composed and freewheeling, confusing and thrilling, like pop music with a free-jazz sensibility.” They’ve premiered the single, “Make It Known,” and the whole album is streaming on Foxygen’s Bandcamp page. Take the Kids Off Broadway will be out July 24 on vinyl and in digital formats. Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to make otters the next cool woodland critter. Space Otters? Otter Dream? Cool band names, ya???
Take the Kids Off Broadway tracklist:
01. Abandon My Toys
02. Make It Known
03. Take The Kids Off Broadway
04. Waitin’ 4 U
05. Teenage Alien Blues
06.Why Did I Get Married?
07. Middle School Dance (Song for Richard Swift)
Funny statistical coincidence: every fan of Baltimore-based drone-rockers Lower Dens wears jorts. Not necessarily all the time, not necessarily even frequently. Simply, every fan of Lower Dens does not not wear jeans that are also shorts. By even the most liberal definition of “jort-wearer,” each person who enjoys the music of Lower Dens can be defined as a jort-wearer. There is nothing in Lower Dens’ music that would suggest the enjoyment of jorts, nor do any of the members seem to be particularly fond of jorts. I am not counting the latter out, but I have no proof.
Break out the jorts, Lower Dens are going on tour! By the end of this month (prime jort season), the band will be out on the road, playing shows for a good solid month. If you’re too busy not wearing jorts, you probably didn’t know that Lower Dens just put out a new record on Ribbon Music called Nootropics. They did. It is very good. They will play songs from it on this tour, the one I was just talking about. By the way, remember that jorts exist.d
Lower Dens dates:
06.21.12 - Raleigh, NC - Kings Barcade *
06.22.12 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
06.23.12 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks *
06.24.12 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada *
06.25.12 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald’s *
06.26.12 - Austin, TX - The Parish *
06.28.12 - Phoenix, AZ - Sail Inn *
06.29.12 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room *
06.30.12 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
07.01.12 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
07.05.12 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios *
07.06.12 - Seattle, WA - Neumos *
07.07.12 - Vancouver, BC - The Media Club *
07.10.12 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
07.11.12 - Lawrence, KS - The Jackpot Saloon *
07.12.12 - St. Louis, MO - The Luminary Center for the Arts *
07.13.12 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
07.15.12 - Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival
07.16.12 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *
07.17.12 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace *
07.18.12 - Montreal, QC - Il Motore
07.19.12 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
07.20.12 - Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel *
Baltimore’s Tarantula Hill has beehives on the roof and a cozy recording studio/performance space with drawings and paintings hanging on the walls, shelves filled with knick-knacks, and a stuffed alligator hanging out near the rafters. Outside, a mosaic made of broken glass bottles, crayons, mirrors, stones, a pair of sunglasses, and a watch covers some of the gray bricks. Others bricks are painted pink, blue, yellow, and maroon.
Carly Ptak and Twig Harper of Nautical Almanac hang out at Tarantula Hill. In fact, they renovated the building themselves in 2001 and again in 2006 after a fire in order to host concerts, art shows, lectures, workshops, and movies. But it looks like Nautical Almanac are itchin’ to hit the road again, expecting to play some beautiful noise all across the US with the likes of Bill Orcutt, Outer Space, Future Blondes, and Ichi Ni San Shi. Check out the dates below.
No word yet on a new album (boo!), but be sure to check out Ptak’s recent solo album, Wonder Now, and then re-listen to their scorching discography. For starters: Nautical Almanac (Hanson), Rooting For The Microbes (Load), and Cover The Earth (HereSee). Or you can listen to some crackling, buzzing, rumbling, screeching, shattering, popping, and clicking right here:
Tourdates:
06.04.12 - Richmond VA - Strange Matter !
06.05.12 - Carrborro, NC - LadyBird Basement
06.06.12 - Asheville, NC - Izzy’s Coffee
06.07.12 - Atlanta, GA - The Never Forget House @
06.08.12 - New Orleans, LA - Saturn Bar
06.09.12 - Houston, TX - SuperHappyFunLand #
06.10.12 - Austin, TX - Frontier Bar $
06.11.12 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves %
06.12.12 - Albequerque, NM - Small Engine Gallery `
06.13.12 - Phoenix, AZ - Inner City Youth Center ^
06.15.12 - Los Angeles, CA - Club Ding A Ling &
06.16.12 - West Hollywood, CA - Dem Passwords
06.22.12 - San Francisco, CA - 1667 Bay Area 51 *
06.23.12 - San Francisco, CA - The Lab
06.24.12 - Oakland, CA - Terminal
06.28.12 - Salt Lake City - TBA
06.29.12 - Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis (
06.30.12 - Kansas City - TBA
07.02.12 - Columbia, MO - HairHole
07.03.12 - St. Louis, MO - Floating Laboratories
07.04.12 - Chicago, IL - Enemy
07.06.12 - Ann Arbor, MI - TBA
07.07.12 - Detroit, MI @ M.u.g. =
07.08.12 - Cleveland, OH - Black Cat Factory +
! Contortionist, Jazz Exotica, Champagne of Rats, Mutwawa, Floodbeast
@ Pony Bones, Polish Nails
# Future Blondes, Priest in Shit, RU 486, Glasgow Smile, How I Quit Crack
$ Venison Whirled, W.T.C., Ichi Ni San Shi
% Filth
` Father of the Flood, Marisa Demarco, Enemy Tones
^ Marshstepper, Sungsang, Abusive Consumer, Dismal Light
& Garbaj Kaetz, Judy Experience, DJS Don Bolles, Prickle, John Dust
* Bill Orcutt, Pod Blotz, Jealousy
( Nervous Future, Spellcaster
= Satan’s 1%ers, M.U.G. variations, D.J. Reggie Hamlin
+ Outer Space, Luigi Bbob Drake, Ghoulies
Somewhere up in Disco Heaven, the sassiest of the celestial storks have compiled their most dazzling sequins, their loopiest Quaaludes, and their wildest dreams to give birth to the Ultimate Electronic Music Collaboration: Giorgio Moroder + Daft Punk. That’s right, the robot-loving French duo have teamed up for a Very Special — so special it’s AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL — track with the legendary Italian disco producer Moroder.
Urb reports that Moroder told a reporter at the International Music Summit in (where else?) Ibiza that he had recently recorded what he calls a “rap” for Daft Punk’s latest, as-yet release-date-less album. For said “rap,” Moroder was asked to go into the studio and start talking about his life. Moroder was like, “Yeah, cool, I can handle that.” (Not an actual quote.) But then when he walked into the studio it was CRAZY because there were just tons and tons of microphones everywhere, microphones of random and intriguing vintages, microphones from the 1960s up until today. Moroder was like, “Umm, WHAT.” (Again, not an actual quote. Probably everything Giorgio Moroder says is charming and continental and has handclaps layered beneath it.) So then an engineer told him that “the mic they would use would depend on what decade of his life he was speaking about. When Moroder asked if anyone would know the difference, the engineer replied ‘They will know.’” Because, of course they will. They’re French disco robots from the future.
And hence today’s world became a little bit more glittery. It’s a beautiful story, isn’t it? And there’s a happy ending, too, despite the album’s current lack of a release date or a name or any more concrete details for those of us aren’t sure we can live another day without hearing said track. Okay, cue the montage where everyone hugs each other and life is better than ever. Because apparently, Chic’s Nile Rodgers has also been working with Daft Punk. Also, so has a unicorn with a multi-colored horn that lights up in rhythm with the beat. THE END.
Well la dee da. Look who’s getting some benefit out of their generally reluctant acceptance of 21st-century technology — the music industry, that’s who. You might recall a few news headlines from this past January alluding to the fact that overall album sales in the US actually increased in 2011, for the first time since 2004. As a deeper look at the facts indicates, the increase wasn’t due to a miraculous and widespread epiphany concerning the supposed immorality of illegal file sharing, nor was it due to the ongoing resurgence of vinyl records; nope, as you might expect, living in a culture where screens of various types are basically an extra human appendage, the increase can be attributed primarily to the rise in digital album sales, which increased 19.5% in 2011 to a record 103.1 million. Digital albums accounted for 50.3% of all album sales last year, making it the first time that their physical counterparts were overtaken as the majority.
That was in the US. It was only a matter of time before our friends across the pond took a break from their chimney-sweeping to join in on the trend. According to CMU, for the first quarter of 2012, digital music sales accounted for 55.5% of recorded music income in the UK, making it the first time for them that revenue from digital sales outperformed that of their physical siblings. To be sure, CD sales, both in the UK and the US, have continued to decline, but the increase in digital sales is marked, as Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of the BPI, the organization representing British major and independent record labels, points out: “This is a significant milestone in the evolution of the music business. UK record labels have embraced digital to their core, supporting innovation and licensing more new online and mobile services than any other country. As a result, the industry’s prospects for growth look brighter than for several years.”
Taylor then added: “We will need to see this trend repeated for several quarters to say we have turned the corner – demand for physical CDs remains strong in the UK, especially in Q4. However, the creativity, investment and digital expertise of the British music industry point the way forward for growth in the UK economy.” That’s an unusually optimistic reaction for a large-scale music organization. Can’t we just stick to trillion-dollar lawsuits and ominous predictions about the death of the music industry? This is making me uncomfortable.
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