New Elvis Box Set Makes Perfect Holiday Gift, Lovely Set of Coasters
By Liz Louche on 11-23-2009
Nothing says “The Holidays” quite like a box set with four discs of “career-spanning” classic rock-and-roll designed to appeal to an entire generation, and -- hopefully -- especially your weird Uncle Frank, whose name you drew in the family gift swap again and who doesn’t really seem to do anything beyond dozing in a corner at Christmas and making uncomfortable jokes that everyone tries to pretend they didn’t hear. But that’s selling the eminently marketable Mr. Elvis Presley -- the subject of said box set -- short. The point is that everybody loves Elvis, including people who are impossible to shop for. Well, that was trying to be the point.
Legacy Recordings is releasing Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight on December 8, in anticipation of Elvis’ 75th birthday in January. The 100 songs included in the box set include one of Presley’s very first recordings, “My Happiness,” which he paid almost $4 to make one year before signing with Sun Records. The collection closes with the 2002 Junkie XL remix of “A Little Less Conversation” that was a #1 track in 20 countries. It’s got ballads! It’s got gospel! It’s got an 80-page booklet with rare photos and an essay by journalist Billy Altman! If you’re looking for something a little more compact, the single-disc version of Elvis 75 hits stores January 3.
Akron/Family to Tour the American South Where They Hope to Avoid Being Constantly Confused with The Avett Brothers
By Nobodaddy on 11-23-2009
If the members of psych-folk hippie-jammers Akron/Family were ever to, say, accidentally witness some sort of horrible crime against humanity or something, the FBI’s Witness Protection Program could probably do a lot worse than sending those boys on a tour like this one. Trucker facial hair? Check. Flannel? Panchos? Check, check. And I assume at least one of them probably has an ironically confederate belt buckle on hand. If it weren’t for their knack for a little noise here and there, these guys could probably just settle into a decent gig playing Credence Clearwater-themed weddings for a living (and you know that those exist), never to be heard from again.
Heck, even a cursory toggle through this year’s Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free LP (TMT Review) would probably have many a ranch hand (okay, maybe “many an experimental ranch hand”) pledging to eat his ten-gallon hat if the crazy diamonds on that record were shining their crazy light out of that icky old New York City instead of the Black Mountain foothills where Rocky Raccoon was born. Hey, five or six years from now, if you walk into a roadhouse outside of Houston and there’s a house band playing who happens to be covering Animal Collective and CCR in equal measure, you might wanna give Akron/Family’s record label a call.
New dates!
02.17.10 - Greensboro, NC - Artiska Cafe
02.18.10 - Athens, GA - 40 - Watt Club
02.19.10 - Orlando, FL - Back Booth
02.20.10 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
02.21.10 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
02.23.10 - Houston, TX - Walter’s on Washington
02.24.10 - Austin, TX - The Parish
02.25.10 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
02.26.10 - Memphis, TN - Hi Tone
02.27.10 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In
02.28.10 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
03.03.10 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Interpol Reveals Details of a New Album, Acknowledges What Was Lacking in Our Love to Admire
By Rachel B on 11-23-2009
Could it be? Interpol are back? Apparently so, according to drummer Sam Fogarino. After futzing around with various solo projects (*cough*JulianPlenti*cough*) and short films (bassist Carlos D's thing), the members of Interpol are back with plans for a follow-up record to 2007's Our Love to Admire (TMT Review). Interpol reportedly spent last spring in NYC's Electric Lady Studio, where they put together what Fogarino dubs a return to their earlier release Turn on the Bright Lights and a step away from the their last LP, which you may recall took in its share of mixed reviews.
In an interview with Paste, Fogarino says "The new record falls back towards the first. In trying to move forward, there was an unspoken realization that you can't let go of your sonic-defining tag. There was an effort in Daniel [Kessler]'s guitar tone; he rediscovered it playing in his loft space for a year without anybody. The quality of that tone, played in a big room, is just beautiful. It creates an atmosphere ... That big wash of reverb? It's back."
Well, color me intrigued! The as-yet unnamed album will arrive via Capitol Records early next year.
Yo La Tengo Coming to Mid-America in January
By Aaron Norman on 11-23-2009
Squeezed between their international tourdates, Yo La Tengo will be stopping in America for [seven
shows->http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2009/11/16/yo-la-tengo-january-u-s-dates-and-ticket-details/] smack dab in the middle of their international trek, continuing their Popular Songs (TMT Review) tour. Every show listed has tickets priced at $20 or less, the kicker being that none of these tickets will have a surcharge or additional fees tagged on. Suck it, Ticketmaster!
Some real effort went into providing these arrangements. As such, tickets will be available at local record shops and/or directly from the venues; to view an interactive map of all the outlet locations click here
11.23.09 - Berlin, DE - Postbahnhof
11.25.09 - Katowice, PL - Hipnoza Club
11.26.09 - Vienna, AT - Arena
11.27.09 - Fribourg, CH - FRI-SON
11.28.09 - Florence, IT - Auditorium Flog
11.30.09 - Paris, FR - Le Bataclan
12.14.09 - Osaka, JP - Club Quattro
12.15.09 - Nagoya, JP - Club Quattro
12.17.09 - Tokyo, JP - Prince Stellar Ball
01.22.10 - Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
01.23.10 - Madison, WI - Barrymore Theatre
01.24.10 - St Louis, MO - The Pageant
01.26.10 - Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
01.28.10 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
01.29.10 - Austin, TX - Antone�s
01.30.10 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre
02.11.10 - Melbourne, AU - Thornbury Theatre
02.12.10 - Melbourne, AU - The Forum
02.13.10 - Hobart, AU - Moorilla
02.16.10 - Brisbane, AU - Hi-Fi
02.17.10 - Sydney, AU - Basement
02.18.10 - Sydney, AU - Metro
02.19.10 - Adelaide, AU - Fowlers Live
02.20.10 - Perth, AU - Beck�s Music Box
Ecstatic Sunshine Ready Yesterday’s Work, Push Back Today’s Work Until Tomorrow
By Jon Lorenz on 11-20-2009
A lot has changed for Ecstatic Sunshine over these past few years. Most significantly, founding member Dustin Wong (Ponytail) left the band, forcing other founding member Matthew Papich to shift their sound from guitar-duo battle to something more expansive. On the band's last record WAY -- just before Wong left the group -- the duo added third member Kieran Gillen on electronics. And now, on the the brand new Yesterday's Work, Ecstatic Sunshine are evolving yet again, with Papich having recruited Joe "White" Williams on drum machines and synthesizers.
According to a press release, Yesterday's Work's "sonic palette is much broader than previous guitar-centric releases; soft bouncy bass and crisp synthesizers balance and serve as counterpoint to Papich's loop-based guitar work. Think Berlin School and Penguin Cafe Orchestra, or a Harmonia record produced by Coxsone." Matthew Papich speaks about the record's influence:
Outside the record there are many sounds. Some of those sounds were moved, through memory, into the record. We would hear soft bass through the windows of a car, or listen to birds waking up before dawn, and learn to remember those sounds and later draw them out of synthesizers or guitars. In this way we could hear the record before it was made. It is like John Cage's ideas about incidental sound, except instead of composing with those sounds, we composed for them. The record is an homage to the Everyday. It is music that happens, and is heard, and then said.
Yesterday's Work will be released on HOSS, who also issued their "Turned On" 7-inch. It's due December 8 (just got pushed back from its original release date of November 24).
Yesterday's Work tracklisting:
1. Conch
2. Faceplant
3. Dunk
4. Over Easy
5. Sweet Spot
6. Because
7. Space Sick
8. Space Sicker
9. Soft Opening
10. Topless
[Photo: Sally Glass]
