You Can't Resist the Rural Pull: The Magnetic Fields Folk Around in 2010 with Winter Tour and New Album
Standard procedure dictates that once you conquer, you move on to unexplored territory. Stephen Merritt, along with his long-standing company who play as The Magnetic Fields, know this too well, and from this point forward will linger on one style no more! As we have previously reported, after successfully aping The Jesus and Mary Chain's sonic pop bliss with Distortion, the beloved band will release an altogether different side of their indie vision come the New Year. If anyone has the ability, the ingenuity, and the goddamned right to continually eff around with their effin' sounds it is The Magnetic Fields, who will take a sharp turn away from the distorted reality of Distortion and head into an entirely acoustic realm with Reality. Containing no electric instrumentation whatsoever, and using "untraditional percussion instruments, ranging from tabla to tree leaves," this may be the most rustic version of The Magnetic Fields you will ever hear, unless the band decide to dig up Francis Child himself for a winter solstice mummers play with a side of Morris dancers and Aran sweater giveaways. Available on January 26 through Nonesuch, The Magnetic Fields' eighth opus comes with the usual trimmings: complimentary mp3 downloads with purchase of LP or CD, free signed poster by Merritt for the first 250 orders through the Nonesuch store, and bedside renditions by the group to ailing fans (with legitimate doctor's notes only).
Procedure also states that when an album is released, it is customary to tour said album. Never one to stick a thorn in the consumer's paw, The Magnetic Fields will play North America this winter including one date in Montréal. The band's FIRST EVER SHOW in Montréal. What?!?! Apart from some ill-formed bias against "the Frencher sex," how is that even possible?
02.04.10 - Washington, DC - Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University
02.06.10 - Montreal, QC - Corona Theatre
02.08.10 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02.10.10 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
02.11.10 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
02.13.10 - Brooklyn, NY - Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM
02.21.10 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
02.22.10 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
02.23.10 - Seattle, WA - Town Hall
02.24.10 - Seattle, WA - Town Hall
02.27.10 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
03.01.10 - San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theatre
03.02.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Wilshire Ebell Theatre
03.04.10 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
03.05.10 - Bloomington, IN - Buskirk Chumley Theater
03.06.10 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
03.07.10 - Chicago, IL - Harris Theater, Millenium Park
03.10.10 - New York, NY - Town Hall
03.11.10 - New York, NY - Town Hall
03.22.10 - London, England - Barbican Hall
As I said, news of this tour comes mere weeks since we last wrote sweet somethings about Merritt's merits. In the spirit of repetition, here again is the tracklisting for Realism:
1. You Must Be Out of Your Mind
2. Interlude
3. We Are Having a Hootenanny
4. I Don’t Know What to Say
5. The Dolls’ Tea Party
6. Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree
7. Walk a Lonely Road
8. Always Already Gone
9. Seduced and Abandoned
10. Better Things
11. Painted Flower
12. The Dada Polka
13. From a Sinking Boat
RIP: Monty Stark of Stark Reality
From Stones Throw:
News comes today that Monty Stark of Stark Reality passed away in the early evening of Thanksgiving, November 26, 2009. Friend Dennis Sexton wrote, “Monty courageously battled Cancer on his own terms, seeking not to endure the pain of the usual therapy, but went his own way at Hospice of the Valley in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lived out his last several weeks.”Monty's group Stark Reality - with John Abercrombie, Phil Morrison, and Vinnie Johnson - released the 1970 album The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, a brilliant jazz/funk/psychedelic-rock fusion reinvention of 50's children music by songwriter Hoagy Carmichael.
Much could be said about the power of this rare record to inspire a diverse range of musicians, collectors, hip-hop producers and casual listeners over the years - but it might be summed up by Hoagy Carmichael's own reaction, from the album's original liner notes:
“This is children’s music!?…I say, ‘Stark mad,’” Carmichael wrote. “Monty’s voice?...somewhere between the filings on the edge of a pie pan, and the singing of a guru during one of his most exalted moments.”
The Appleseed Cast Sign with Graveface and Head Out on U.S. Tour; Hope You Liked Low Level Owl!
At the tail end of 2001, The Appleseed Cast successively released two
albums and only two months apart. The mellow sounds of those albums,
Low Level Owl, Vols. I and II, their most critically acclaimed
releases to date, will be heard again starting in February of next
year, as The Appleseed Cast kick off a 26-date tour in Oklahoma. Combined, the two Low Level Owl albums are just shy of a two-hour
runtime, and The Appleseed Cast has announced they will be playing both albums,
in their entirety, back to back for their upcoming tour.
Also announced, a new live album will be available on the tour, being
the band's first release on Chicago-based Graveface Records. Labelmates Dreamend will be opening every show, and both bands will have full-length albums out in late 2010. And now for the
dates:
02.24.10 - Norman, OK - Opolis
02.25.10 - Ft. Worth, TX - Lola's
02.26.10 - Houston, TX - Rudyards
02.27.10 - Austin, TX - Mohawk
03.01.10 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
03.02.10 - Tucson, AZ - Plush
03.03.10 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
03.04.10 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
03.05.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo Plex
03.06.10 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
03.08.10 - Portland, OR - Berbati's
03.09.10 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore
03.10.10 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
03.11.10 - Spokane, WA - Empyrean Café
03.12.10 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
03.13.10 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
03.15.10 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
03.16.10 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
03.17.10 - Dekalb, IL - House Café
03.18.10 - Madison, WI - High Noon
03.19.10 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
03.20.10 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
03.21.10 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
RIP: Bob Keane, Del-Fi Records founder
From the Associated Press (via Billboard):
Del-Fi Records founder Bob Keane, who discovered rocker Ritchie Valens, has died in Los Angeles at age 87.Keane's son, Tom, tells the Los Angeles Times that his father died of renal failure Saturday at an assisted-living home in Hollywood.
Bob Keane founded the West Coast independent label Del-Fi in the 1950s.
In 1958, he discovered the 17-year-old Valens at a small concert and invited him to record in his home studio.
Their brief association led to Valens' hits "Come On, Let's Go," "Donna" and "La Bamba."
Valens was killed Feb. 3, 1959, in the Iowa plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
Blur to Release Documentary in January, No Further Plans to Work Together
Blur have been formally put on hold for a handful of years. And unlike certain other mid-decade phenomenons, they really haven't teased us with breakup after breakup after breakup. (I'm looking at you, Liam.) No indeed, after their demise, Blur members went on to promote new, cartoonish projects and generally kept their distance from each other. But as many of you may know, the boys of Blur decided they missed the old times and got a reunion tour going in the last year, playing shows all over England, while dutifully ignoring the United States. Whatever. I didn't want to see them anyway. (Yes I did.)
But although Blur has no plans to permanently reunite or record together again, they did put together a documentary that chronicles the band's beginnings and places special focus on the reunion tour. Titled No Distance Left to Run, the film is "a musing on Englishness and identity, and a portrait of friendship and resolution," according to Blur's label, Parlophone. From the looks of the trailer, I can mostly gather that many hugs, warm feelings, and ponies are afoot, as well as a stage dive here and a backstage peek there.
Arts Alliance Media plans to distribute No Distance next month in U.K. theaters, and we can expect the doc to make its worldwide rounds sometime after that.
Pavement Add More European Tour Dates! Hmm... If My Calculations Are Correct, This Means That They’ll Be Adding Some U.S. Dates Right... About... NOW?... I Mean... NOW!... OK... I Mean... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Attention, Great Britainers! Atención, Spaniards! Attenzione, Italians! Garde-Ã -vous, Frenchmen! Achtung, Germans! Pozor, Czech Republicans! Aandacht, Belgiumeers! Aird, hardass, oldschool Irishmen! Uh, and yeah, G’day, Australians!
In addition to the string of awesome festival dates and such that they’ve been slowly piecing together, Pavement has just announced that they’ll be coming to a theater near you (in a 2010 near you) to spread their decidedly American Gospel of slacking off; taking it real easy; keeping it “real loosey goosey;” vibing-out on jammy riffage; hiring a full-time aux. perc. player just because your real drummer can’t be relied on to keep time; singing about nothing in whatever key your voice feels like after smoking all of that pot; saying you’ll finish this or that song “some other time” but then just recording it anyway and putting it out; and, last but not least, becoming incredibly famous, respected, praised, acclaimed, and un-duplicate-able in the process.
Get ready to take some notes, Europe, Australia, U.K.! This is how you achieve in our country. Just ask Barack Obama. I’m pretty sure that he was in a psych-stoner-indie-slack-off rock band back in the day too. Yeah. Definitely pretty sure
03.01.10 - Auckland, New Zealand - Town Hall
03.04.10 - Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
03.06.10 - Meredith, Australia - Supernatural Amphitheatre (Golden Plains Festival)
03.07.10 - Adelaide, Australia - Thebarton Theatre
03.08.10 - Perth, Australia - Metro City
03.10.10 - Brisbane, Australia - Tivoli
03.12.10 - Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
05.04.10 - Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
05.05.10 - Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland
05.07.10 - Paris, France - Le Zénith
05.08.10 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05.10.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.11.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.12.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.13.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.15.10 - Minehead, England - All Tomorrow’s Parties
05.18.10 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
05.19.10 - Berlin, Germany - Astra
05.20.10 - Prague, Czech Republic - Palac Akropolis
05.21.10 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
05.22.10 - Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
05.24.10 - Rome, Italy - Atlantico Live
05.25.10 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon
05.27.10 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
05.29.10 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch! Festival
09.21.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.22.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.23.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.24.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
Welcome Back, Turn-of-the-Century Minneapolis: Lifter Puller Reissued
Ah, 1999, what a year, right? Y2K was only a year away, Clinton was still in office, Korn and The Backstreet Boys fought for supremacy on TRL, Prince was partying like the year it was, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Championship, and, of course, Lifter Puller was still a band.
Don’t know who Lifter Puller was? Can’t understand how the Spurs won the Championship? Don’t worry, I’ll explain. The San Antonio Spurs won the Championship because the twin towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan were an unstoppable scoring machine and their seamless meshing on the court, along with the welcome aid and skills of -- oh... you were just interested in Lifter Puller? Okay. Lifter Puller were a rock band from Minneapolis who counted as members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler who would both eventually move to Brooklyn and form The Hold Steady. During their existence, the band released three LPs, an EP, and played a bunch of shows.
Their whole catalog has been pretty tough to find the last couple years because most of it is out of print, and the people who have it don’t really want to get rid of it. But the times are changing, my friends: the band has announced that not only will its entire catalog be reissued digitally for the first time via The Orchard, but two of the albums will receive “Deluxe Reissue” treatment. There will also be a new odds ‘n’ sods collection of singles, non-album tracks, and live material, plus a book, titled Lifter Puller vs. The End Of, which will contains lyrics, photos, and an oral history of the band.
What does this “Deluxe Reissue” business mean? Well, sophomore LP Half Dead & Dynamite will feature live tracks from a 1998 performance at Minneapolis venue 7th Street Entry; The Entertainment and Arts, the band’s only EP, will also feature bonus tracks from the 7th Street Entry show. Fiestas & Fiascos, Lifter Puller’s third and final album (and debut with Frenchkiss Records) will feature live tracks from a reunion show in 2003. Meanwhile, the new rarities collection, titled Slips Backwards, will feature 17 tracks of singles, non-album material, and two live songs from a 2000 performance in Washington D.C. All of the albums are available for download today, December 1.
NIN Done Touring, Having Garage Sale
After 20 years, NIN is done touring forever, at least
according to their website. It's not a claim to be scoffed at, considering a more recent announcement that a large portion of their touring gear is going up for sale at eBay. Stated in the post, "Hundreds of items will be listed over the next several weeks such as guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, and pedal boards." So if you're in the market for overpriced used instruments and random equipment, none of which will be autographed, you should keep your browser pointed here; as of this writing, there are 20 items -- all guitars -- up for auction.
While it might seem like a novel idea for communicating to the masses now that NIN is really, really done touring, this shouldn't come as a shock to the internet-savvy fans of the group. Trent and his collaborators seem to have a penchant for using technology in ways that are atypical, at least when
compared to other big names in the music industry. It's no secret that NIN are quite savvy themselves when it comes to e-trends. In fact Mr. Reznor could very likely be reading this right now.
P.S. I'm a big fan of Trent.
Flaming Lips to Perform Dark Side of the Moon on New Year's Eve in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Blow Raspberries at Rest of Nation
Ooh! Ooh! Guys, I've TOTALLY been to Oklahoma City and the Cox Convention Center, where The Flaming Lips are going to play Pink Floyd's magnum opus Dark Side of the Moon on New Year's Eve! I'm so glad I left love notes all over the place for Wayne Coyne, because, man, I just knew that place was special, even though I was attending the American Choral Directors' Association National Conference for work and actually had no idea the Lips were coming and uh... okay, I can't keep that one going. But still! Oklahoma City is going to be the absolute jam for both closeted hipsters and lovers of classic rock, a nice truce considering OK City receives more visits from Journey and AC/DC than can possibly be healthy.
Those of us stuck in places like New York and can only see dumb ol' Patti Smith and the Detroit Cobras on New Year's Eve can be comforted by a Dark Side of the Moon joint release sometime next year from the Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs (TMT News). Pitchfork points out a good preview of Pink Flaming Floyd here on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, on which they covered Dark Side's ending track, “Eclipse.”
Ted Leo Announces Brutal New LP, Considers Ripping A Swine In Half To Celebrate, Rips Soy-Based Swine Substitute In Half Instead
Ted Leo, patron saint of hooky guitar-pop, has the worst luck with labels. The guy released three LPs on legendary pop-punk label Lookout Records, then the label got in all kinds of legal trouble. Jumping over to legendary Chicago punk label Touch and Go probably seemed like a stable move, until that label went belly up. Jeez! Thankfully, the man has once again found himself in the employ of a legendary label, that being Matador this time around. Which is great and all, but, um, please don’t kill Matador, Ted.
Even if Leo does turn out to be the record label reaper the third time around, he’ll at least be able to put out his new record, The Brutalist Bricks, out on Matador. The new collection will be available on CD, LP, and digital formats on March 9. Do you like yellow and/or bees? Then check out the album’s cover. Do you like songs? Then check out “Even Heroes Have To Die,” the first released song from the record. Do you like seeing Leo’s shining visage in real life? Then good news: he’s touring in December
12.02.09 – Philadelphia PA – First Unitarian Church
12.03.09 – Washington DC – The Black Cat
12.05.09 – Cambridge MA – Middle East
12.06.09 – New York NY – Bowery Ballroom (sold out)
12.10.09 – Madrid, Spain – Primavera Club ‘09
12.11.09 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Club ‘09
12.12.09 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Club ‘09
12.14.09 – Brighton, UK – Engine Room (with Dillinger Four + Hard Skin) *
12.15.09 - Canterbury, UK – Bramleys *
12.16.09 – London, UK – Brixton Windmill *
12.17.09 – Kingston, UK – New Slang *
12.18.09 – London, UK – Grosvenor (with Wat Tyler) *
* solo dates
Tom Waits Reissues Special Vinyl Edition of Orphans, Talks Spider Romance
In the few years I’ve been writing for this website, my love of musicians who look/sound like olde-tyme drifters has been well-documented. If an artist sings about hard-livin’ and seems like they could’ve spent several years traveling with the circus through the backroads of Depression-era America, I’m into it. So you can imagine my delight when I heard about this new limited-edition vinyl release of Tom Waits’ Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards.
Scheduled for a December 8 release on ANTI-, this reworking of the 2006 collection of covers, rarities, and new tracks will feature 62 tracks over seven LPs on 180-gram vinyl. There’s also a fancy new booklet plus six tracks more than on the previously released version of Orphans. Robert Christgau deemed the album “definitive,” and fans agreed; the original Orphans was one of Waits’ best-selling releases. New offerings on the vinyl edition include covers of Fats Waller’s "Crazy ‘Bout My Baby" and Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht's "Canon Song.”
In other Waits news, the two-disc collection Glitter and Doom Live was just released on vinyl and CD. The first disc holds the live tracks recorded while on tour in Europe and the U.S., annnnd the second disc “holds nearly 40 minutes of Waits' quixotic ruminations on topics ranging from romantic spiders to injured vultures.” Alllllright! (Now that I think about it, I honestly really would like to hear Tom Waits’ thoughts on romantic spiders.)
This winter, Waits will also be appearing on the silver screen in Terry Gilliam’s upcoming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, alongside Johnny Depp, Christopher Plummer, Jude Law, and the late Heath Ledger, as well as in The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington.
