Beirut Cancel European Tour
By Mango Starr on Apr 3 2008
Zach Condon has announced the cancellation of Beirut's summer European tour. According to a post on Beirut's website, Condon explains how the cancellation is mainly due to "personal" reasons, which include... well, it's probably best if you just read it yourself in its entirety (see below). I can't really relate to Condon's sentiments in any meaningful way, but I can sure sympathize.
...A Letter from Zach
"It's with great regret that I have to tell all of you that Beirut is canceling their summer European shows. My reasons for doing this are many, a lot of them personal, but I still feel I need to provide something of an explanation.
The past two years have been a mindblowing experience. From the first indications that people were putting songs from Gulag up on their blogs to our incredible tour of Australia and New Zealand that we just completed, everything that has happened has been beyond anything I'd ever hoped could happen with the music I wrote and recorded in my bedroom. Once things started happening, I decided I wanted to do everything as big as possible. So, I set about putting together a large band, and giving that band a huge sound, and making the most spectacular records we possibly could.
"I know this can sound like an artist shithead kind of comment, but going through all that really does have its low points along with the highs. The responsibilities of gathering people around your vision, working with great people like those who work directly for the band and those at the label, wanting to insure that every show is as good as humanly possible so that every single person in the audience sees that we put in a real effort, all of that leads to a lot of issues in terms of doing right by people who have done you right.
"It's come time to change some things, reinvent some others, and come back at some point with a fresh perspective and batch of songs.
Please accept my apologies. I promise we'll be back, in some form."
...Here are the canceled tourdates:
Thanks Edwin!
By Papaya on Apr 3 2008
My cat is an asshole. He contributes absolutely nothing to the house. A true freeloader. He demands to be fed at least half a dozen times per day, and when I finally pour the food, he head-butts the bag so that food scatters into his water bowl. Then, he has the nerve to demand fresh water because of the floating food. He has a special blanket set up on the recliner that he knows he's supposed to sleep on, yet night after night he moves to the couch once I've gone to bed. When inside the house, he sits at the door meowing to go out; when outside, he meows to come in. When I try to walk anywhere in the house, he walks about six inches in front of me in a zig-zag pattern, making it impossible for me to go even a few feet without tripping. He spends the bulk of his waking hours sitting in the window sill staring blankly at the front yard. He prefers to do so with the window open and will pester me about opening it, like, right after I start to nap. Opposable thumbs, bitch.
It's really a lot like having a teenage son. He's got no job, no ambition, no respect for authority; just a sense of entitlement to the fruits of my labor. He has many qualities which one could only describe as "emo." He's been known to engage in highly objectionable behavior involving his testicles, often in the presence of guests. He comes and goes without notice, sometimes worrying me by staying out all night without so much as a phone call, just to let me know everything's okay. Clearly, I'm not asking a lot. Just a little help around the house every once in a while -- and, if it's not too much to ask, a little respect.
Also, Müm is touring:
By David Nadelle on Apr 3 2008
Beloved Belgian youth sleuth Tintin is a favorite of many emotionally stunted peeps. Forever getting into complex scrapes and head-spinning adventures that take him to exotic locales and remote climes (and on more than one occasion, The Moon) the wussy, blond, go-getting cub reporter is an enigma. He frequently meets fantastic characters, but instead of developing an awesome drug addiction or boning some grateful heiress, he chooses to hang around a perpetually drunken sea captain and his faithful companion Snowy, the Fox terrier.
Walking with my girlfriend downtown last week, I spotted someone who looked EXACTLY like one of the bumbling Thom(p)sons from Hergé's animated stories.
Me (excitedly): “Hey, that guy looks exaaactly like one of the Thom(p)sons!”
Her: “Oh, you mean Dupond and Dupont?”
Me: “What?”
Her: “Dupond and Dupont... from Tintin.”
Me: Yeah, I know Tintin... I live and breathe Tintin, beotch. But those gooves are called Thomson and Thompson.”
Her: Yeah, to English idiots. In French, the language that the stories were originally written in, those “gooves,” as you call them, are called Dupond and Dupont.
Ah yes, being the clueless xenophobe that I am, I conveniently forgot that each country calls the two mustachioed, bowler-hatted bumblers something different (i.e.: Hernández and Fernández, Schultze and Schulze, Tik and Tak).
Me (conceding): “Oh yeah....”
Right about now you might be asking why on Earth am I blathering about goofy-looking twin detectives from a comic that no one reads when I should be dithering on about the spectacular-looking pop couple The Rosebuds that everybody loves. You would be right to be curious. So, to afford you some closure on this anecdote -- yeah, The Rosebuds? I like ’em fine, but my girlfriend liked them back in the ’80s when they were called The Thompson Twins.
The shape-shifting duo of Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard will bring to the live forum their latest album, the Merge-released elec-retro master class Night of the Furies, their hooky debut album The Rosebuds Make Out, their melancholic gloom of a second album Birds Make Good Neighbors, and hopefully some new tunes of unspecified orientation when they play a string of dates beginning late April. The tour includes shows at many of the usual suspected haunts, including one night in Kentucky and one show at the “My Old Kentucky Blog” concert... in Indianapolis. Nope, I don't get it either. Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles, here are the dates!
04.28.08 - Lexington, KY - The Dame
04.29.08 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean
04.30.08 - Indianapolis, IN - My Old Kentucky Blog Concert
05.01.08 - Columbia, MO - Mojo’s
05.02.08 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry’s
05.03.08 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
05.04.08 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
05.06.08 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
05.07.08 - Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
05.08.08 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
05.09.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
05.10.08 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
05.11.08 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
05.13.08 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
05.14.08 - Portland, ME - TBD
05.15.08 - Montréal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
05.16.08 - Toronto, Ontario - Lee’s Palace
05.17.08 - Buffalo, NY - Tralf Music Hall
05.18.08 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small’s Theatre
By Shane Mack on Apr 2 2008
From Grönland Records:
"We are very sad to report the death of Klaus Dinger, who died suddenly of heart failiure four days before his 62nd birthday on March 20th 2008.
Dinger formed Neu! with Micheal Rother in 1971, releasing three seminal albums: Neu!, Neu 2! and Neu 75!
His landmark drumming style on these records, a propulsive almost surf-like repetitious groove defined the term 'motorik' and has had a profound influence on a huge range of artists such as Primal Scream, Stereolab, Wilco, David Bowie, The Boredoms and Four Tet.
He later formed La Dusseldorf, selling over a million copies in the 70s and 80s.
The burial took place amongst a private circle of family and friends. He will be greatly missed."
- Official website
- Wikipedia entry
- Grönland Records
- YouTube: Kraftwerk - "Heavy Metal Kids"(live)
- YouTube: Neu performing "Hero" (live)
- YouTube: La Düsseldorf
Labels Seek $2.5 Million in Damages from The Pirate Bay; “Record companies can go screw themselves,” says The Pirate Bay
By Mango Starr on Apr 2 2008
Back in January, The Pirate Bay's founders were accused of being accessories to copyright infringement by studios and labels, including Warner, MGM, Sony BMG, Columbia Pictures, and 20th Century Fox (TMT News). And now -- surprise, surprise -- The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) wanna piece too, a $2.5 million one, for the sharing of 24 albums, 9 movies, and 4 video games. Serious shit? Wouldn't appear to be, according to co-founder Gottfried Svartholm Warg's responses in Sweden's The Local:
- Response 1: "Record companies can go screw themselves."
- Response 2: "We mostly laughed at [the claim]."
- Response 3: "It doesn't appear if the record companies have much of a strategy at all."
- Response 4: "[The IFPI's] numbers are pure fantasy."
- Response 5: "As usual, we're not too concerned."
Frankly, I'd just pay the $2.5 million. Life's too short to stand for anything.
