Wham, Bam, Thank You, Hoboken: Thee Oh Sees Embark on Whirlwind Tour of These Here United States

By Liz Louche on

Extremely prolific San Francisco garage rockers Thee Oh Sees apparently take the same no-holds barred/no-city-unvisited approach to touring as they take to releasing records. Hot off the success of their recent album on In The Red, Help (TMT Review), the party-startin’ four-piece are gearing up for an epic series of tourdates across the U.S.A. Aside from our review, Help has been getting the thumbs-up from music critics and discerning '60s rock enthusiasts, so former Coachwhips mastermind John Dwyer and team are primed to tear up festivals like Portland’s Smmr Bmmr festival and Pop Montreal, as well as the dark, eternally beer-scented venues where their high-energy garage music sounds most at home.

I’m totally getting carpal tunnel from typing out all those dates and my late-night Red Bull is sadly losing its power, so I’m gonna keep this one — yes, like a track by Thee Oh Sees — short but sweet.

Dates:
08.19.09 - Eugene, OR - Sam Bond's *
08.20.09 - Seattle, WA - Funhouse *
08.21.09 - Portland, OR - Rotture/Smmr Bmmr Festival
08.22.09 - Arcata, CA - Arcata Theater Lounge *
09.22.09 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge **
09.23.09 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon **
09.25.09 - Memphis, TN - Gonerfest 6
09.26.09 - Bloomington, IL - Uncle Fester's **
09.27.09 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's Tavern **
09.29.09 - Ft. Wayne, IN - Brass Rail **
09.30.09 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick **
10.01.09 - Toronto, ON - Wrong Bar **
10.02.09 - Ottawa, ON - Babylon **
10.03.09 - Montreal, QC - Pop Montreal **
10.05.09 - Providence, RI - The Dark Lady **
10.06.09 - Allston, MA - Great Scotts **
10.07.09 - Middletown, CT - Wesleyan **
10.08.09 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge **
10.09.09 - Brooklyn, NY - The Bell House **
10.10.09 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's **
10.11.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Danger Danger Gallery **
10.12.09 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
10.13.09 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern
10.14.09 - Atlanta, GA - The EARL
10.15.09 - Mobile, AL - Alabama Music Box
10.16.09 - New Orleans, LA - Saturn
10.17.09 - Houston, TX - Mangos
10.18.09 - Austin, TX - Beerland
10.19.09 - Lubbock, TX - Bash Riprocks
10.21.09 - San Diego, CA - Bar Pink Elephant **
10.22.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo **
10.25.09 - San Francisco, CA - Budget Rock

* Sic Alps

** The Fresh & Onlys

Arrington de Dionyso Debuts New Band, Then Says “Fuck You, Guys – I’m Going Solo”

By Jon Lorenz on 08-11-2009

With a name like Arrington de Dionyso, you can only expect something extremely exotic, and the man always knows how to dish it up. If you've had your ear to the ground, you may have already heard about Arrington premiering his new Indonesian-influenced band, Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa, during the last month or so. The new group brings the same "hallucinogenic/ecstatic heavy grooves" as Dionyso's more famous band, Old Time Relijun, but with the "transcendent bliss of William Blake translated into Indonesian."

For most of us, it has been nearly impossible to hear this new band, unless you live in Portland or Olympia, but in November we will get to experience Arrington's Malaikat dan Singa when he releases their debut record, Malaikat dan Singa. The record was recorded with Karl Blau in four days at Olympia's Dub Narcotic Studio and will see release in November.

Dionyso recently told The Portland Mercury, "I'd like to think of the album as a stranger third kind of beast, because they are like Old Time Relijun songs in a sense, except I'm playing almost all of the instruments. A return to form you might say, the first version of OTR was established to work out my four-track tapes into a live setting."

Before the new record hits stores, Arrington will be setting off on a solo tour, "interchanging bass clarinet and throat-singing with homemade instruments and vocal modifiers," creating "a raga-influenced anthropological meditation; locating the tones between tones and the overtones within overtones." He'll be doing select dates with Calvin Johnson (K, Beat Happening) as he makes his way from Portland to New York.

Here are the dates:
08.21.09 - Rochester, WA - Helsing Junction Sleepover+
08.29.09 - Portland, OR - East End
08.30.09 - Boise, ID - Visual Arts Collective
09.02.09 - Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis
09.03.09 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
09.04.09 - St. Paul, MN - The Turf Club
09.05.09 - Iowa City, IA - Public Space One
09.06.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagle's Nest
09.07.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
09.08.09 - Detroit, MI - Magic Theatre Center
09.10.09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Morning Glory*
09.11.09 - New York City, NY - Market Hotel
09.12.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Danger Danger Gallery*
09.14.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Death By Audio^
09.15.09 - New York City, NY - Bowery Poetry Club*
09.18.09 – Providence, RI - AS220#

* Calvin Johnson

^ Desolation Wilderness, Calvin Johnson

+ Karl Blau, LAKE, Angelo Spencer

# Chain and The Gang

In a Typically German Style, Kraftwerk to Release Eight Remastered Albums Under the Title 12345678 The Catalogue

By Brom on 08-11-2009

You can’t really get more German than with an album title like 12345678 The Catalogue. "Acht Remastered Alben" ("Eight Remastered Albums," according to Google Translate) would probably run fairly close. "Ändern der Welt der Musik ein effizientes Album zu einer Zeit" ("Changing the world of music one efficient album at a time" – thanks again Google) would also be a contender. As you can see, coming up with German album titles is serious business.

You know what's also serious business? Kraftwerk. The completely serious group will be releasing eight remastered albums on October 5, showcasing their ordered, consistent, umm German approach to electronic music. The albums to be reissued are: Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europe Express (1977), The Man Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Techno Pop (1986), The Mix (1991), and Tour De France (2003).

Of course it would have been far more efficient to just click on this link to find out this information, but whoever gave a damn about that.

EMI Receives Half A Trillion Dollars Through Parent Company; Meanwhile, I Had Ramen For Lunch Again Today

By Annapocalypse on 08-11-2009

Today, while I ate Ramen for the third day in a row and Febreezed the same pair of jeans I’ve been wearing for two weeks straight because I’m too poor to spend my quarters on laundry, I found out that EMI, the gigantic British music conglomerate, received $495 billion in equity from a deal with their parent company, Terra Firma, to refinance their $4.3 billion debt.

Wow, EMI, it must be really nice to have other companies and their investors relieve you of your debt. On that note, any loyal TMT readers want to front some money for my outstanding student loans? I’ll make you a mean cup of noodles in return.

Jaguar Love Loves Fat Possum, Fat Possum Signs Jaguar Love as a Sign of Mutual Affection

By E. Nagurney on 08-11-2009

Remember the heyday of 2003? The Blood Brothers had just put out their breakthrough record, Burn, Piano Island, Burn, and Fat Possum was still exclusively putting out records from Mississippi blues musicians. At the time, the two worlds couldn’t seem farther apart. But time goes by, bands break up, labels start signing bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Wavves, and the two worlds come closer together. So close that Fat Possum ends up signing Jaguar Love, the current band of former Blood Brothers Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato.

At the moment, the band is preparing to enter the studio with producer John Goodmason, who worked on the final two Blood Brothers records, to record the group’s Fat Possum debut. The Take Me to the Sea (TMT Review) follow-up should be out sometime in early 2010. Whitney and Votolato currently have 18 songs written for the new record, 10 or 11 of which should make it onto the album. The duo plan to release the rest of the songs via online channels, giveaways, and bonus tracks.

Sufjan Stevens Continues to Do Everything in the World Other Than Put Out a New Record, Schedules Fall Tour as a Middle Finger to You and Me

By Nobodaddy on 08-10-2009

Dear Sufjan:

On behalf of everyone everywhere, please stop stalling and make another “U.S. state” record. Everyone is waiting, man. Seriously. The live show is cool, and another U.S. tour scheduled for this fall is a really nice gesture and all... but you’re totally pissing everyone off here. I don’t care how handsome and non-threatening you are; you can’t just wink and smile and tour and smile and Christmas-album and b-side-comp and pray and BQE-box-set and smile and another-Christmas-album your way out of this thing here, dude. So once again, please-and-thank-you: stop fucking stalling. Get to work.

Respectfully Yours,

Everyone everywhere

P.S. Seriously, get to work.

Tourdates:
09.12.09 - Monticello, NY - ATP New York
09.21.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
09.22.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
09.23.09 - Ithaca, NY - Castaways
09.24.09 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
09.25.09 - Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
09.26.09 - Champaign, IL - The High Dive
09.27.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
09.28.09 - Madison, WI - The Majestic
09.29.09 - Bloomington, IN - Buskirk Chumley
10.01.09 - Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Place
10.02.09 - Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret
10.03.09 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hal
10.04.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10.05.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10.06.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
10.07.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg

P.P.S. Have you gotten to work yet?

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