A New Sloan LP: Like A Giant Trophy Bestowed Upon Anyone With Ears
By C. Schell on 06-04-2008
Is everyone excited about the National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup finals? No? Me neither. But, speaking of things that are more beloved in Canadian than America, Sloan are coming out with a new LP. The 17-year-old Toronto-via-Halifax group have more than a couple hits in their homeland, but are all but ignored outside the safe confines of the Great White North. Think of them as the Canadian Weezer, just more evenly talented (all four members contribute GOOD songs, none of this "Thought I Knew"-type garbage) and better adjusted in the coconut than R. Cuomo (TMT Review).
The multi-instrumentalist lads of Sloan (Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland, Jay Ferguson, Andrew Scott) are releasing that new LP, Parallel Play (Yep Roc), June 10 on CD, vinyl, and digital download, their first since that 30-track, everlasting gobstopper of an album, Never Hear The End Of It. The new record's a simpler affair, with each member contributing three tracks, while he who occupies the drum stool the most, Andrew Scott, added one more to his total, rounding out a 13-track record that is a sonic extension of NHTEOI. Think of it as that album's younger, slimmer brother.
When it comes to Sloan, the LP is just half the prize. Live masters on the level of Robert Pollard (but sober), a Sloan show is an arena show on a club level, replete with sing-alongs and chanting, a raucous good time for sure. The boys are embarking on an East Coast tour (with a few homeland dates at the end) beginning June 14 in support of PP. You should do anything, including stepping over your own mother, to get tickets -- you will thank me later.
Parallel Play tracklist:
Bertelsmann Intensifies Talks to Sell Its Half of the Sony BMG Venture
By Heidi Vanderslice on 06-04-2008
Back in 2004, when the record industry was already having a few "issues," Sony and BMG decided to merge and become even more top-heavy in an effort to boost profits in an era when technology and nimble business models have proved to be the most successful.
Hang on. Something's not quite clicking there.
Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski, whose company heads up the "BMG" in "Sony BMG," hit the nail right on the head: "The good thing is, more people are listening to music than ever before. The bad thing is, it is not easy to monetize it."
People on the proverbial "inside" say that Bertelsmann has upped its talks with Sony about selling its half of the joint partnership and returning to more ho-hum investments like offset printing. Don't look now, but the two-headed monster could become significantly less threatening in a very short time, though it will still wear ugly three-piece suits and insist we listen to the new Evanescence album.
Mogwai Announce Tiny EP, Tiny UK Tour, Tiny Expectations for Fan Base Expansion
By Nobodaddy on 06-04-2008
If there's one thing that UK [ost-rock devotees Mogwai are good at, it's doing the same thing... over and over again... for an extended period of time... at varying dynamic levels.
As such, the boys of Mogwai announced last week that they will, you know, continue to do the same thing that they always do (and the same thing that most bands always do, by Jove) and -- wait for it, wait for it -- release some new instrumental post-rock material and then tour on it!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!
And the dynamic level this time around? Well, it takes the form of a new EP, titled Batcat, which is slated for release September 8 in the UK via the band's Rock Action label as a CD, 12-inch, and digital download. Same deal across the pond on September 9 via Matador. The EP's title track is taken from the forthcoming album, The Hawk Is Howling, which will see release September 22, while B-sides include two exclusive songs: the hopefully Nick Cage-inspired "Devil Rides" (featuring a guest vocal from Roky Erickson of 13th Floor Elevators) and the hopefully not-awful "Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend."
"So what's this shit gonna sound like?" you ask? Brace yourselves here: probably just like Mogwai.
And if all of this news isn't exciting enough for you Mogwai fans (and, incidentally enough, for you non-Mogwai fans too), guess what else the band is doing this summer and fall? I'll give you a hint: it involves a TOUR-van, TOUR-dates, and a TOUR-manager. Hmmmm...
Batcat EP tracklist:
1. Batcat
2. Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend
3. Devil Rides
Tourdates:
Einstürzende Neubauten Release New Album, Continue to Confuse the F@*% (Fuck) Out of People
By Liz Louche on 06-04-2008
Clang. Thud. Screech. Perhaps you would imagine a written interpretation of Einstürzende Neubauten's music to be characterized largely by onomatopoeia and repeated usage of that little stick man symbol that's on all of their merchandise. Perhaps you have better things to do and have never really thought about this. In any case, you would be wrong. Because, in reference to the latter statement, they are awesome and you should care. And in reference to the former statement, if you are in the business of reading music-related press releases and had just read the one for the latest Neubauten release, JEWELS, you would suddenly be very keyed in to the fact that EVERYTHING about Blixa Bargeld and company is totally, completely indecipherable.
From what I can glean, the German industrial music pioneers have a new album, entitled JEWELS, which will be released in the United States sometime this summer on the band's Potomak label. According to the press release, the band came up with the album's brief, concept-driven songs by drawing cards related to past Neubauten experiments in a game the band called DAVE, which was "like Tarot without rules." The JEWELS album was envisioned around the same time as 2007's Alles wieder offen. The only other thing I can tell you about their latest offering is that the press release is pretty much the promotional media equivalent of James Joyce's Ulysses. Ouch.
JEWELS tracklisting (with song lengths!):
