Continuum’s Kraftwerk book is both smarter and cooler than you
By Liz Louche on Dec 13 2010
Looking for a little light holiday reading? Try this new book called Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop! It’s being released by Continuum (most well-known for its 33 1/3 series) and is now available in the United States. It includes original essays such as “Average White Band: Kraftwerk and the Politics of Race” and “Kraftwerk and the Image of the Modern.” Whooooooa! Can this book enroll in college classes for me and write my essays? Because I have a feeling its chances of getting into both Harvard and this top-secret Thanksgiving loft party DJed by M.I.A., Chloë Sevigny, and the reanimated corpse of Andy Warhol in Dumbo that my friend told me about are, like, astronomically better than mine.
Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop table of contents:
• Introduction: The (Ger)man Machines
• I. Music, Technology and Culture
1. Autobahn and Heimatklänge: Soundtracking the FRG
2. Kraftwerk and the Image of the Modern
3. Kraftwerk – The Decline of the Pop Star
4. Authentic Replicants: Brothers between Decades between Kraftwerk(s)
5. Kraftwerk: Technology and Composition
6. Kraftwerk: Playing the Machines
• II. Influences and Legacies
7. Europe Non- Stop: West Germany, Britain and the Rise of Synthpop 1975–81
8. Vorsprung durch Technik – Kraft werk and the British Fixation with Germany
9. ‘Dragged into the Dance’ – The Role of Kraftwerk in the Development of Electro- Funk
10. Average White Band: Kraftwerk and the Politics of Race
11. Trans-Europa Express: Tracing the Trance Machine
• Continuum: http://www.continuumbooks.com
• 33 1/3: http://33third.blogspot.com
Cloud Nothings announce early 2011 tourdates, because touring is just what great bands DO in January
By Nobodaddy on Dec 13 2010
Hey readers, can you even believe how great our devotion is to you? Even in mid-December when there’s nothing going on in the music scene because everyone’s checked out for the holidays, TMT continues to faithfully shit out paltry scraps of news like NO ONE else can. Oh, what’s that? Cleveland “lo-fi” party-jam act Cloud Nothings have like five or six shows planned for next year? SURE. I’LL REPORT THOSE RIGHT AWAY. (See? Dedication.)
Oh, and what’s this? The press release for this is somewhat hyperbolic and scattershot? NO PROBLEM. I’ll just cherry-pick the good stuff for our readers real quick so they can get back to their online holiday shopping a little bit faster! Let’s see… blah, blah blah, Cloud Nothings is Dylan Baldi, who recorded in his basement until he got a deal with Carpark. Something, something new self-titled album dropping on January 25 via Carpark… Chester Gwazda (Dan Deacon, Future Islands) producing. Yadda, yadda… songs are still super-catchy and -groovy, but not as lo-fi as before (this distinction is stressed a few times, by the way). Uh… anything else? Baldi played all instruments on the album, Cloud Nothings is an awesome band, etc, etc. Check out their dates below leading up to the album’s release.
Okay, looks like we’ve got a quality story here. Run ‘er up the flagpole, Squeo! And P, where the hell’s my X-mas bonus? Happy Holidays from Cloud Nothings and Tiny Mix Tapes, everybody. Ho ho ho!
Cloud Nothings tourdates:
12.17.10 - Akron, OH - Musica !
12.18.10 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland !
01.12.11 - Grantham, PA - Messiah College @
01.13.11 - Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox @
01.14.11 - Columbus, OH - The Basement @
01.15.11 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall $
01.17.11 - Toronto, ON - The Drake Hotel @
01.18.11 - Montreal, QC - Casa Del Popolo @
@ Oberhofer
$ Handsome Furs & Oberhofer
! Herzog
Cloud Nothings tracklisting:
01. Understand at All
02. Not Important
03. Should Have
04. Forget You All the Time
05. Nothing’s Wrong
06. Heartbeat
07. Rock
08. You’re Not That Good at Anything
09. Been Through
10. On the Radio
11. All the Time
• Cloud Nothings: http://www.myspace.com/cloudnothings
• Carpark: http://www.carparkrecords.com
New album from Parts & Labor out in March; bill in the mail, including delivery fees
By Erika H on Dec 10 2010
It’s funny in retrospect that months of waiting culminate in one night, or one afternoon: a big party, a graduation, getting married (not you, though — that’s totally lame). In Parts & Labor’s case, the last two years are coming together for 39 minutes. The noisy Brooklyn collective (which one again?) have announced the release date of their new full-length: March 8, on Jagjaguwar Records, their first since 2008’s Receivers (TMT Review). Despite being together almost a decade now, they call it a “career-defining statement” — which I guess means that until now they’ve been an amorphous foursome banging on drums and fumbling with keyboards. Finally the sum of their parts, perhaps?
Their fifth album, optimistically called Constant Future, was mixed and produced by Dave Fridmann, known for producing little-known acts like The Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse, Mogwai, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and MGMT’s Metanoia 10-inch. Just to make sure that nothing seems too sophisticated (with that wear-a-suit-to-work vibe), Parts & Labor traveled to Milwaukee to record the album in a former boxing ring. How off-kilter!
Constant Future tracklisting:
01. Fake Names
02. Outnumbered
03. Constant Future
04. A Thousand Roads
05. Rest
06. Pure Annihilation
07. Skin and Bones
08. Echo Chamber
09. Without a Seed
10. Bright White
11. Hurricane
12. Never Changer
• Parts & Labor: http://www.myspace.com/partsandlabor
• Jagjaguwar: http://www.jagjaguwar.com
Spotify’s US launch delayed again because the major labels are playing tough to get
By Kid Midnight on Dec 10 2010
Well, it looks like everybody in the US will have to wait until 2011 before they have a chance to access Spotify, the Swedish-based streaming music service, despite earlier promises of a 2010 launch. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has stated that the problems are due in part to licensing issues with The Major Labels and the music they control.
“There are a bunch of companies that say they want to do it this year,” Ek said on Tuesday, “But at the end of the day, you can only do so much that’s in your control. We believe in our model.” The CEO did not specify a time for US consumption.
If you’ve been living under a rock (everywhere but Europe) then you surely know about Spotify and its 750,000 paying subscribers all across Europe. Launched in 2008, the music service allows for unlimited streaming music all across your face and is praised by nerdy, hip, and Eastern Europeans for its “sleek interface and comprehensive catalog,” which may run as high as 10 million songs(!).
• Spotify: http://www.spotify.com
