By Josh Fenderman on Dec 17 2007
Nothing says holiday cheer like a severed, snarling deer head, which is why The New Pornographers chose such an image to grace the cover of their new Christmas EP, The Spirit of Giving, available now on iTunes.
The three-song EP kicks off with the Dan Bejar-helmed Challengers track, "The Spirit of Giving." In typical Bejar fashion, the lyrics are cryptic and only hint at any Christmasyness. And besides the title, the only overtly seasonal line is "Overcome with the holiday spirit/ Mark says the herald angels won't hear it."
Next up is the unreleased "Joseph, Who Understood," which opens with the great line, "Rumors are flyin' all over Galilee these days/ And Mary I'm tryin' to be cool." An A.C. Newman and Neko Case duet, the second song tells the story of the Immaculate Conception from Joseph's point of view. As the story goes, Joseph does turn out to be cool about the whole thing, but The New Pornographers have him telling his mysteriously pregnant bride, "You're asking me to believe too many things."
The final track is actually two cover songs, "Arms of Mary" by Iain Sutherland of The Sutherland Brothers and "Looking At A Baby" by The Collectors. As "Arms of Mary" gives way to "Looking At A Baby," the Pornos crank it up into one of their soaring closings à la "The Bleeding Heart Show." But without Case echoing A.C.'s lines during the climax, it's not nearly as powerful.
All in all, The Spirit of Giving is far from a Christmas miracle, but it's better than a lump of coal.
And there you go, readers. A review embedded in a news story.
When Satan Calls, You Answer; Underworld Reschedule Dates
By Joseph Coscarelli on Dec 14 2007
I like to picture Lucifer as a hybrid of Charles Nelson Reilly and Ann Coulter ruling over a sticky, wet-hot Floridian summer, constantly holding a frothy chocolate milkshake just beyond arm's length. The soundtrack is Saliva's 2001 album, Every Six Seconds. Vocally, the Devil is likely stuck between the cadence and intonation of Gilbert Gottfried and Fran Drescher, so when the Dark Lord called out to his soldiers in the brooding electro-pop twosome Underworld, they wisely obeyed. Initially, we were told that the group would be postponing their European tour in support of this year's Oblivion With Bells (TMT Review) due to "severe illness" within the band, just months after band member Rick Smith was injured by 30 anarchists armed with baseball bats and tear gas during a festival set by The Beastie Boys. I say, Satan's minions come in all forms.
As a result, the band's tourdates spanning Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium throughout October and November were canceled to allow time to "heal." Sure, dudes. But can you really blame them? If anyone wields enough power to get a tour canceled, it's the Big Bad Guy. But being the loyal servants they are, Underworld completed whatever dark tasks they were assigned and are back to treating their own faithful across the Atlantic. Don't forget to sacrifice that virgin blood or they might not show.
Tourdates:
I Know Literally Nothing About Exploding Star Orchestra But: They Are Touring And The Two Songs On Their MySpace Are Excellent
By Nat Towsen on Dec 14 2007
Sorry about this one guys. I really got nothing here. I’ve never heard of this band. I picked the news item from a list because I like their name. I’m not trying to be cute about my own laziness to write a story like how Joe B. or Scout Leader Kyle would, I genuinely can’t find much about them on the internet (they don’t even have a Wikipedia page!). Now it might seem like I’m stooping to insulting my fellow writers out of desperation, but the truth is that cranking out stories is fine for them. Joe lives in Boston, where nothing fun ever happens. And as for Kyle, I also wrote a lot of silly stories before I got pubes. Keep that imagination going, kid.
If you are a person who’s into any kind of thing, you should check out the two songs, “Stingray Part 2” and “Cosmic Tomes Part 2,” that are up on Exploding Star Orchestra’s MySpace. Apparently, they’re from an album these guys released in January called We Are All from Somewhere Else. The album consists of three parts that form a story, and the liner notes feature an impressive cast from the Chicago post-rock scene. Early next year, Thrill Jockey will be releasing Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra, an album featuring, uh... Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra.
Hey look! I do know something about them. I guess my headline contains a gross misuse of the word “literally.” Sorry, David Cross. Sorry, English.
Exploding Star Orchestra tourdates:
[Editor's note: Exploding Star Orchestra is an ensemble created by jazz musician Rob Mazurek (Tigersmilk, Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, Mandarin Movie). Bill Dixon is a trumpeter who co-founded the Jazz Composers Guild. Thanks for trying, Nat.]
By Hanky Panky on Dec 14 2007
Yo La Tengo han sido magnifico siempre y continuarán a ser en el futuro, no importa que ellos ponen en circulacion. En preparando para este cuento, yo escuchaba a sus octavo disco I can hear the heart beating as one lo cual he olvidado es tan bueno.
Se recomendo que lo escuchen si no lo eschuchan ya. Pero no van hacerlo, ¿no? Porque en general, Americanos no se hablan el Español, entonces, ustedes no comprenden ninguno de esto. Bueno, de todas maneras, Yo La Tengo van a ser en gira pronto.
Debajo son los fechas:
"Lo siento, no hablo español." Ahhhhh.
For the purely monolingual, here's something you can understand: Yo La Tengo have consistently been one of the most amazing husband-and-wife-based indie-rock bands since 1984, and yes, I say that keeping Viva Voce (which is Italian, not Spanish) well in mind. Fact is, the very name Yo La Tengo was inspired by baseball, and baseball embodies all that is the honest essence of America: junk food, drunk fat guys, and sports. Right?
So for those of you who missed the annual Yo La Tengo Hanukkah revelry, you best be prepared for another Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour.
"A little bit ‘Storytellers,’ a little bit ‘Unplugged’... it will feature the band playing an almost-acoustic set of songs from their entire catalog, with stories about their life as a band, and an encouraged back-and-forth with the audience," or so a good source says.
It all begins January 9 in a city near or, in my case, far from you. All dates with Kurt Wagner:
The Mars Volta Tour; Call For Tickets in the Next Five Minutes And We’ll Double The Length of Your Solos!
By 8bit on Dec 14 2007
I get songs stuck in my head all the time. Most of the time I don't even know the words, and I just end up mumbling along, probably sounding somewhat like Helen Keller in the middle of a giant tsunami. I concede that this is, in some respects, bad. But a major advantage of never truly knowing the words to a song is that I can mumble my way through just about any song, regardless of language.
Dungen - "Panda":
Vie yun batyn looooooon
langyun botyn heemmmm
shaneeen mi et om meeee
fo ault et cheen mae siiiiiner
P-Model - "ArtMania":
Oomp a da ya gutcha
atakya baka toyya
yomo kama tooma
The Mars Volta - "L'Via L'Viaquez":
L'via! Y commin my en da!
Twa peyido si cambo!
L'via! Si noco mi ensqure dar!
Una histerea di sime madre!
Sorry, I got carried away there. What was I getting at? Oh, yeah, The Mars Volta are touring next month to support their upcoming release The Bedroom of Goliath, which they promise will be "a thematically linked hole into which no self-indulgence will escape."
The album is actually called The Bedlam in Goliath, they didn't say that, and here are the dates:
