Vampire Weekend Announce 2010 Shows to Coincide with The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s DVD Release... Oops, I Mean Their New Record... Oops, I Mean Your Life
Hey now, Vampire Weekend may not have been included in the who’s who hit list of bands on the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack (um, or were they? It all kinda runs together at this point, doesn’t it?), but they’ll be damned if they’re gonna let you forget just how comparable to Death Cab they are in the genial, hospitable, popular, friendly, adorable-ruffian-like-Fonzie-from-Happy-Days Department.
So without further ado, these happy-go-lucky ragamuffins are proud-as-punch to announce a round of tourdates supporting the release of their forthcoming album Contra, which drops January 12, 2010 on XL. The album’s first single, “Cousins,” is available digitally right now, and the 7-inch will be in stores on December 15. It’s probably about stuff that you can all like totally relate to and shit... you know, like having cousins. Stressful, right? Anyway, this year’s remaining dates appear below.
In other news, did I really need to qualify the name “Fonzie” up there as being “from Happy Days?" I mean, how stupid do I think you are, anyway?
11.23.09 - Sydney, Australia - Notes on Enmore
12.10.09 - Portland, OR, Crystal Ballroom
12.11.09 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
12.12.09 - La Jolla, CA - RIMAC Arena/UC San Diego
12.13.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheater
12.15.09 - Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater
01.12.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
01.17.10 - New York, NY - United Palace Theater
01.18.10 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
01.19.10 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
Future Islands Sign to Thrill Jockey, Prep New Album for Spring; We Hope This Helps Dan Deacon's Back Heal a Little Bit
I'm a New Yorker at heart, but I'll be the first to admit that Baltimore's DIY music fiddlings are slowly but surely catching up to the the Brooklyn music behemoth in reputation. Just look at Dan Deacon, Ponytail, Double Dagger, and practically the entire Whartscape lineup. Brooklyn's got nothing on that.
And now Baltimore's own fuzz n' buzz outfit Future Islands are staking their claim on the indie mainstream (wow, oxymoron). After receiving a slew of positive feedback for their 2008 release Wave Like Home (TMT Review), Future Islands are now newly signed to Thrill Jockey and are expected to release In Evening Air come spring 2010. And speaking of Brooklyn, be sure to stop by Death By Audio for Future Islands' record release show on December 17. The rest of their tourdates are below.
11.19.09 - Sheperdstown, WV - Blue Moon Saloon *
11.20.09 - Greenville, NC - Lucky's *
11.21.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *
11.22.09 - Asheville, NC - New French Bar *
11.23.09 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light *
11.24.09 - Charlotte, NC - The Milestone *
11.25.09 - Charleston, SC - Adolini's Pizza *
11.27.09 - Raleigh, NC - Berkeley Cafe *
11.28.09 - Baltimore, MD - Floristree *
12.03.09 - Greenville, NC - Tipsy Teapot
12.04.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave
12.05.09 - Wilmington, NC - Drifters ^
12.13.09 - Baltimore, MD - Jesus Camp %
12.17.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Death By Audio $
* Thank You
^ Lonnie Walker
% Javelin
$ Javelin, Jones, Moss of Aura
Ticketmaster Accused of Holding Back Tickets for Taylor Swift and Keith Urban Concerts
Another week, another Ticketmaster scandal. This time, the ticket giant is accused of holding back tickets for Taylor Swift and Keith Urban concerts and distributing them to fan clubs and other exclusive communities instead of putting them up for public sale. Specifically, thousands of tickets were dispersed to American Express and fan clubs for different concerts in Nashville, severely reducing the odds of an average fan being able to score tickets to the shows. Out of 13,300 seats for the Taylor Swift show, around 1,600 tickets were available to the general public when tickets went on sale, and 5,000 of the 13,300 tickets were held for American Express customers due in part to a deal the credit card company has with different artists. For Urban’s concert, 14,900 seats were available, but more than 10,400 tickets had already been sold before the public on-sale date, most of which went to Urban’s fan club and to American Express.
This issue has caught the attention of U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., who introduced the Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing Act (BOSS ACT!), in hopes of putting an end to absurd ticket holds. "When you have a highly desirable product with incredible demand, all kinds of shenanigans go on," Lefsetz said in an interview with WTVF-TV. "Listen, the whole business is smoke and mirrors. Because no one is policing them telling them to tell the truth."
Reprise Records Retroactively Decides That Wilco’s Being There Isn’t Selling So Hot Anymore 13 Years After Its Initial Release and Drops Wilco All Over Again!!! OMG!!! Wait, But Then Nonesuch Releases It on Vinyl + CD + MP3 and Everyone Agrees All Over Again That Wilco Are “Edgy” and “Underdogs” and “Awesome” (The Word “Handsome” Is Still Rarely Used)
Remember Wilco’s second album? ...No? Oh man, that’s gonna make this story kinda difficult then, isn’t it? Hmm... okay, okay, it’s the one after A.M. that everyone says Wilco kinda “came into their own sound” on? A.K.A., it’s the one with “Misunderstood” on it, followed by all those songs that sound just like A.M.? Ah! See? NOW you know what I’m talking about! Aaaand, I proceed:
Wilco’s present hoity-toity label home, Nonesuch Records has just announced a reissue of this 19-track, double-album-sized love letter to charming and amusingly 90s-sounding alt-rock on every format that counts. That’s right, for $21, you can pick yourself up double vinyl, CD, AND MP3 sonic documents of such questionable Tweedy managerial decisions as: employing a full-time dobro player, NOT firing Ken Coomer sooner, and so on! Wow! Here’s the tracklist! Order now!
Side 1:
1. Misunderstood
2. Far, Far Away
3. Monday
4. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
5. Forget the Flowers
Side 2:
1. Red-Eyed and Blue
2. I Got You (At the End of the Century)
3. What's the World Got in Store
4. Hotel Arizona
5. Say You Miss Me
Side 3:
1. Sunken Treasure
2. Someday Soon
3. Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
4. Someone Else's Song
5. Kingpin
Side 4:
1. (Was I) In Your Dreams
2. Why Would You Wanna Live
3. The Lonely 1
4. Dreamer in My Dreams
John Lydon Discusses Public Image Limited Tour, New Material, and the Delicious Taste of 100% British Butter
It’s always a good day for music fans when John Lydon is in the news. Hell, it’s a good day for everybody, especially those of us who enjoy wacky stories on the internet. Most of the recent hype concerning the Sex Pistols/Public Image Limited vocalist has been as a result of his appearances on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, Judge Judy, and a now-notorious butter commercial. Apparently the butter commercial has both a) given Mr. Lydon the capital to mount several Public Image Limited tourdates in the U.K. (the first such dates in 17 years) as well as b) gotten him a lot of guff from people who think hawking butter isn’t punk rock. Which begs the question: is butter not punk rock? What would be? Margarine? Not putting anything on your toast? Because that’s not hardcore. It’s just boring.
So Lydon’s butter money is helping to finance the dates below. And if those dates sell well enough, Public Image Limited is seriously thinking about recording again. It’s truly the Circle of Life. When asked if the band would be playing the hits during their upcoming tour, Lydon said, “Don't be ridiculous! What do you think this is? The Beatles? She loves you yeah yeah yeah? No no no! You get what you're given and it'll be even better then.” Take that, butter haters
12.15.09 - Birmingham, England - O2 Academy
12.16.09 - Leeds, England - O2 Academy
12.18.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - O2 Academy
12.19.09 - Manchester, England – Manchester Academy
12.21.09 – London, England - Brixton Academy
12.22.09 - London, England - Electric Ballroom
12.23.09 - London, England - Electric Ballroom
Judge Rules in Favor of RIAA in Malicious Prosecution Lawsuit
In 2007, Tanya Andersen was exonerated in a lawsuit brought against her by the RIAA. The child labor-exploiting, baby-eating, SUV-driving music industry argued that the defendant had downloaded gangster rap over Kazaa, a P2P file-sharing application. She countersued in the same year, claiming that the RIAA had attempted to prosecute her maliciously.
Unfortunately for Ms. Andersen (and millions of internet users who hate child labor, eating babies, and SUVs), Judge Anna J. Brown has ruled that "the RIAA had sufficient legal justification to initially file suit against Andersen, saying that they could have ‘reasonably believed’ that she was responsible for sharing copyrighted tracks on a P2P network in 2004." Andersen originally claimed that the suit should never have been brought in the first place, saying there was no way of knowing who the person was "behind the computer when the MediaSentry investigator detected KaZaA user gotenkito's shared folder."
There's still a chance of the RIAA getting a kick in the nuts, with the court yet to decide on whether the organization's conduct was appropriate in attempting to secure the prosecution of Andersen.
Belle and Sebastian Hint at New Album
From Belle and Sebastian's official website:
[Thanks to Fausto Koerich for the tip!]
WFMU Needs Your Money Right Now; Seriously!
WFMU, one of the greatest radio stations out there, is in emergency mode as of yesterday. Code green! Just like everyone else in the world, WFMU is having a rough time in our crappy economy. The station's latest fundraiser came up short by $100k, and the lease on its transmitter has ended. And since the station is 100% listener-supported, it needs our help. In fact, WFMU has given its listeners 24 hours to send some cash. This 24-hour time period started yesterday at 7 PM, so time is extremely limited.
So, get out your credit cards, log in to your PayPal account, or just go sell a kidney, because WFMU needs you now more than ever. Click here or give them a call at 1-800-989-9368 and pledge anywhere from $15 to $3000. They'll make sure to repay you with some sweet WFMU swag and years of awesome weirdness.
Graham Lambkin Releases New Album, Book
To all those hardcore TMT fans out there wild applause], you probably already know how a lot of us here love Graham Lambkin (ex-Shadow Ring, Tart, Elklink, etc.). Last year, he released The Breadwinner ([TMT Review) with Jason Lescalleet, and the year before he self-released Salmon Run (TMT Review) on his own label, Kye. This year? Well, it looks like he's taking a stab at musique concrèe with another self-release, Softly Softly Copy Copy.
Featuring two 20-minute tracks, Softly Softly was described by Scott Foust (who recently released his own solid album, Jungle Fever) as "very disorienting, like a long exhausted train journey where you awake once in a while for a few minutes to a new, beautiful, and odd situation." Sound good to you? If so, make your way to Swill Radio and order a copy (FYI: Kye has a collection from Moniek Darge available too).
Meanwhile, Lambkin is also set to release a limited-edition book + CD. According to Penultimate Press, "'Dumb Answer to Miracles is the first official publication of writings by Graham Lambkin. Previously 20 copies of a signed private edition entitled Tomb of Speed were circulated amongst friends, collegues and mail order customers. This collection gathers all the Tomb of Speed writings, a handful of Lambkin's lyrics he wrote for the band Shadow Ring and many unpublished works." You can pre-order the book here. You know, IF YOU WANT TO.
[Artwork: Graham Lambkin]
New Lightspeed Champion Album Due Out Early 2010; Time to Start Guessing How Weird the Cover Art Is Going to Be the Second Time Around
This week, Dev Hynes from Lightspeed Champion announced the follow-up album to his 2008 debut, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge. The new album is happily titled Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You and is due out on Domino February 1. According to the press release, the new album contains 12 songs, two instrumental intermissions, and even one piano étude (which is “a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity” according to The Free Dictionary). None of that is really as important as the artwork, though. It’s time to start placing bets on if Hynes can top the ridiculousness of his 2008 album artwork. Maybe this time he’ll be holding a kitten and wearing a different-colored sweater. The possibilities are endless!
Tracklisting:
1. Dead Head Blues
2. Marlene
3. There’s Nothing Underwater
4. Intermission
5. Faculty of Fears
6. The Big Guns of Highsmith
7. Romart
8. I Don't Want to Wake Up Alone
9. Madame Van Damme
10. Smooth Day (At the Library)
11. Intermission 2
12. Sweetheart
13. Étude Op.3 ‘Goodnight Michalek’
14. Middle of the Dark
15. A Bridge and a Goodbye
It’s Almost 2010! Enjoy 704 Sweet Days of Listening to the New Clipd Beaks Album Before the Horror and Devastation of 2012
If you’re either (a) one of those extremely Type A people who really likes making lists/getting a ridiculously huge head start on things or (b) have heard any of the tracks for Clipd Beaks’ forthcoming album To Realize, you might want to start making your Top 10 Records of the Year list early. But like, 2010 early, because the album hits stores on January 26 via Lovepump United Records, home to HEALTH, AIDS Wolf, Indian Jewelry, and others. The Oakland-based group has previously released two fantastic albums of post-punk noise, and if you’ll give me a second, I’ll show you someone with two thumbs and a really big desire to put this record on loud and on repeat: this lady! I’m not alone, either — Time Out and Stereogum are also talking up these guys.
To Realize tracklisting:
1. Strangler
2. Blood
3. Broke Life
4. Visions
5. Home
6. Atoms
7. Dust
8. Desert Highway Music
9. Jamn
10. On One
11. Shot on a Horse
