Keith Fullerton Whitman adds 12-hour collection of pop deformations to SoundCloud; corporate America grinds to a halt as thousands of workers call in sick
Who knew all it would take to bring capitalism to its knees was 12 hours of new music from Keith Fullerton Whitman all at once? I don’t know about your neighborhood, but outside my window I can see two abandoned semi-trucks, several small fires, and an Arby’s in the process of being looted. All of this happened because apparently everyone called in sick today so they could listen to all 12 hours of Whitman’s Greatest Hits. With everyone at home faking coughs, industry just kind of… stopped.
Whitman, as opposed to literally every other human in the country, never calls in sick and is also possibly a machine (maybe a Voight-Kampff one, eh? eh?). He says he started working on these tracks back around 2003 when he began taking bits and pieces of pop songs from his youth and running them through a variety of processes and effects, making what he calls “automatic enhancements,” which sounds both awesome and an awful lot like a CSI: Miami joke. You can find the first 100 tracks on Whitman’s SoundCloud now. He says making them was a sort of therapy over the years, and that he feels the end results shine “a flashlight into the dark corners of each selection, revealing the ghosts lurking within,” the ghost part of which sounds pretty scary to me given the fact the electrical grid is clearly on its way out here and it’s getting dark now. Check out some of the songs over at the Chocolate Grinder.
Hopefully your experience of hearing these tracks in our new era is pleasant and not at all post-apocalyptic. For what it’s worth, though the tracks seem to sound uniformly excellent and the Arby’s near my house is still closed, so this whole “post-capitalist” thing has been kind of a mixed bag for me so far.
• Keith Fullerton Whitman: http://www.keithfullertonwhitman.com
Dirty Projectors to release 12-inch-long remix of “The Socialites.” Are they compensating for something?
If you’ve ever sat around idly listening to Dirty Projectors at some point and thought “Gee, this is cool stuff and all, but I’d really be sold if this band somehow sounded a little more like Hot Chip” (and I think it’s safe to say that we all have), I’ve got some sweet news for you! Dirty-Dave Longstreth and co. are finally giving us all what we really want: simpler, longer, more autotuned, and more repetitive versions of their songs without all that “compositionally adventurous” bullshit gumming up the works. Thank GOD!
Yup, the band has announced a collection of remixes of the track “The Socialites,” a track from from last year’s critically-acclaimed-by-someone-somewhere-but-not-by-us-that’s-for-goddamn-sure-motherfuckers Swing Lo Magellan LP. Three versions of the jam in question will be kicked out on May 13 by Domino, in both digital and “white label 12” vinyl” formats that will feature remixes from Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard, AlunaGeorge, and FaltyDL. But if, like me, you just cannot wait to be rocked, you can pre-order the thing now at the Domino site while you check out Goddard’s remix below. Ahhh, finally: now these are some drum beats you can set your watch to!
The Socialites (Remixes) 12-inch tracklist:
A. The Socialites (Joe Goddard Remix)
B1. The Socialites (AlunaGeorge Remix)
B2. The Socialites (Falty DL Remix)
Upcoming DP dates:
04.17.13 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall ^
04.18.13 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground ^
041.9.13 - Portsmouth, NY - Portsmouth Singer-Songwriter Festival
04.20.13 - Providence, RI - Brown University
05.10.13 - Napa, CA - Bottle Rock Festival
05.17-19.13 - Gulf Shores, AL - Hangout Festival
05.24-27.13 - George, WA - Sasquatch Festival
005.26.13 - Boston, MA - Boston Calling
06.06.13 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion #
06.07.13 - Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for the Performing Arts #
06.08-09.13 - New York, NY - Governors Ball
06.10.13 - Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheatre #
06.11.13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE #
06.12.13 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
06.13.13 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall (Early Show)
06.14.13 - Chicago, IL L-incoln Hall (Late Show)
06.14-6.16.13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
^ Delicate Steve
# The National
• Dirty Projectors: http://dirtyprojectors.net
• Domino: http://www.dominorecordco.us
The Music Tapes announce a Traveling Imaginary tour through magic and carnivals and dreams everywhere
You’ve just walked into a circus tent. Maybe it’s painted with cerulean and mint stripes, or maybe it’s stitched with tiny crescent moons. You wander between old-fashioned carnival games, then you notice cartoons projected onto a fabric screen. Rabbits wearing top hats picking flowers from clouds. Garden gnomes riding a ferris wheel. Reindeer ice skating between mountains made of candy. You hear the wobble of a singing saw, and when you follow the sound, you notice a smiling television. And the tallest metronome you’ve ever seen. And the tallest snowman you’ve ever seen.
Is this some dream from a surreal picture book?
Nope.
Just a Music Tapes show.
Last year, The Music Tapes released Mary’s Voice (TMT Review) and launched a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to fund their most elaborate tour yet. They’ve lined up their first string of nationwide dates as The Traveling Imaginary, and they’ll hop across the pond to tour Europe on June 24. Watch the trailer below to see what beautiful and fantastic surprises Julian Koster has in store for you:
Dates:
04.22.13 - Purchase, NY - The Stood Center at SUNY Purchase
04.25.13 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church (early show)
04.25.13 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church (late show)
05.01.13 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge (2 shows)
05.07.13 - Portland, OR - Mission Theatre (2 shows)
05.09.13 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project (2 shows)
05.12.13 - San Francisco, CA - TBA
05.14.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theatre (2 shows)
• The Music Tapes: http://www.theorbitinghumancircus.com
• Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com
More Speck Mountain, please: Chicago space rock outfit tours, inspires horrible hot chocolate metaphors
Chicago-based foursome Speck Mountain make music that Wikipedia says “can be described as space rock.” Sure, you could call it that, but that’s like saying the Dos Equis guy is a cool dude who sometimes drinks some kind of beer. NO. He is SO much more than that. (I refuse to hear that he is not real. Don’t even try to go there with me.) And this BAND is so much more than that. Space rock HA! Maybe if space rock was a giant, sweet, melancholy marshmallow floating in an endless sea of the warm, toasty Ovaltine of longing. Maybe THEN we could start talking about what it’s like to swaddle oneself in the music of Speck Mountain.
But why talk about music when you can listen to it, eh? That’s what the stereotypical Canadian version of the Dos Equis guy says. That guy’s fun; he knows how to party. And he owns even more flannel shirts than you. So take his wisdom. Absorb it. Listen to Speck Mountain’s new album Badwater in full via SoundCloud, soon to be released on Carrot Top Records. And whilst Speck Mountain are out, dallying along the country roads between say, charming rural hamlets Chicago and Brooklyn, why not venture into their spacey/psychy/ambienty world? They’re ringing in America’s Favorite Holiday (Record Store Day, duh) at Reckless Records in Chicago, venturing to all those cities people talk about moving to one day, and then wrapping their spring tour at a concert with Sharon Van Etten in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Dates:
04.20.13 - Chicago, IL - Reckless Records
04.27.13 - Brooklyn, NY - Cameo Gallery *
05.15.13 - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
05.17.13 - Olympia, WA - Le Voyeur
05.22.13 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
05.23.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Bar
05.25.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records
05.29.13 - Denver, CO - Merchants Mile High
06.03.13 - Chicago, IL - Millennium Park **
* Lazy Eyes & Modern Rivals
** Sharon Van Etten
• Speck Mountain: http://speckmountain.com
• Carrot Top: http://carrottoprecords.com
[Photo: Julia Stotz]
Chrissy Murderbot releases Greatest Hits ★★★★★, including America’s greatest Waffle House tribute
Somewhere in America (Chicago), lives a man unafraid to take chances, a man unafraid to make you sweat till you bleed, a man unafraid to write a tribute to the time “after the party,” during which one goes to the Waffle House. (It’s called “Waffle House,” the song.) That man is dance music DJ/producer Chrissy Murderbot, self-declared “purveyor of stupid party music.” He runs 17 labels (okay, maybe more like three: aptly named sleaze house label Sleazetone Records, juke label Loose Squares, and jungle label Dead Homies Recordings) and is on the verge of releasing a new album on Murder Channel Records.
That album, Greatest Hits ★★★★★, drops — when else — April 20. Don’t groan on me, gentle reader! It’s so perfect. This thing comes out as both a CD and digital release and features a bunch of REMIXES at the end. So basically, it’s like your EARS are going to an EAR Waffle House, and they just ordered up some kinda obscene Cap’n Crunch and Skittles EAR milkshake for dessert. It’s that sweet. Listen to previews of a bunch of the tracks below:
Greatest Hits ★★★★★ tracklisting:
01. Get Wet Baby
02. Slang It
03. Waffle House
04. What Should I Do
05. What You Are to Me
06. Pew Pew
07. Why
08. Pew Pew (Star Slinger RMX)
09. What Should I Do (Slick Shoota RMX)
10. Why (Cardopusher & Pacheko RMX)
11. What Should I Do (Pixelord RMX)
12. Get Wet Baby (DJ Fulltono RMX)
13. Slang It (Sidney Looper RMX)
14. Pew Pew (Makumba Sound RMX)
• Chrissy Murderbot: http://www.chrissymurderbot.com
• Murder Channel: http://mxcxhxcx.cocolog-nifty.com
Old Apparatus announce Compendium collection on Sullen Tone, would be totally happy to help you fix your toilet
Is your apparatus getting old, rusty, and unreliable? Here’s an easy, six-step DIY guide to building your very own new apparatus:
1. Release a series of acclaimed singles on Deep Medi (if possible, complete this step in 2011). One of them is allowed to be self-titled, but name the other one something pretty normal. Use a word that everyone knows the definition of, like Zebulon.
2. Start your own label, give it a cute name (e.g. Sullen Tone).
3. Put out a few EPs on your new label throughout a year that begins in “20” and ends in “12.” It’s important to get a good number of tracks under your belt (this will be important for later). These tracks can vary in style. Instrumental hip-hop, house, experimental electronic, and dubstep are all great! (Advanced tip: Try integrating elements of folky guitar for an added zest!)
4. Maintain an air of mystery.
5. Consult your Resident Advisor before selecting your favorite tracks from the first four EPs (Derren, Realise, Harem, Alfur) and put them all together in a Compendium.
6. Put the 10 tracks on your new Compendium into the largest kiln you can find until June 3, at which point you can release it on Sullen Tone Records (not before it’s cooled down though!). Be sure to check back periodically while it’s baking to make sure that everything is browning evenly.
Compendium tracklist:
01. Zimmer
02. Mernom
03. Derren
04. Dourado
05. Lingle
06. Cauliroot
07. Boxcat
08. Chicago
09. Octofish
10. Realise
• Old Apparatus: http://oldapparatus.org
• Sullen Tone: http://www.sullentone.com
Butterclock tours with Maria Minerva, does her best to make surrealists, cooks, and electro fans all happy
The name Butterclock is just weird. The word itself summons images of Dalí-lite kitchen tables covered in timepieces that would make Paula Deen’s mouth water. In actuality though, it’s the moniker for an electro-poppy music maker named Laura Clock, who has been active with bands like oOoOO for a bit now. This, oddly, makes more sense, but the lack of food-lubricant or minute-hand-relevant imagery in her music is a bit disappointing. What is not disappointing, however, are her beats. She has beats in spades. Another thing she has is an EP coming out on April 15 called First Prom. Apparently, Fantasy Music have already released it as a very limited CD but are releasing it again come April 15. It’s all very confusing. Check out “Holograms” from this already present but also impending EP below.
On a less confounded note, Butterclock is playing a series of shows with the superlative Maria Minerva. There’s only a few across the states, but if enough people show up perhaps she’ll bring her not-actually-artery-clogging or timekeeping-related synthesizer to a few more cities next time around.
First Prom tracklisting:
01. Crystal Eyes
02. Don’t
03. Holograms
04. Milky Words
05. Sorry Love
Dates:
04.16.13 - Chicago, IL - Reggies Live
04.18.13 - Brooklyn, NY - Cameo #
04.19.13 - Seattle, WA - Lo-Fi Performance
04.20.13 - San Francisco, CA - Public Works #
# Maria Minerva
• Butterclock: http://lauraclock.com
• Fantasy Music: http://fantasymusic.tumblr.com
Wu-Tang Clan announce new album A Better Tomorrow, while for fans this means a better “sometime in July”
Where does one even begin with a rap group as monumentally influential and legendary as the Wu-Tang Clan? Well, how about with their performance at Coachella this year, which succeeds the writing of this article? Assuming they can withstand the egotistical blow of not being the only worthwhile middle-aged rap group in attendance, the clan will be releasing their next and possibly final LP A Better Tomorrow on an as-yet unspecified date in July — about five and a half years after the release of 8 Diagrams.
More relevant in terms of history, the release will mark the 20th anniversary of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which is probably, like, my favorite Shaolin, eastern philosophy-referencing hip-hop album, ever. According to NME, last month Method Man talked about an “anniversary album” coming up, while Cappadonna confirmed in an interview with Radio.com that recording had indeed begun on a new LP. Shall we assume that the two are one in the same? Regardless, fan satiation seems like a likelihood.
— Especially so if the final product lives up to RZA’s standards. “There’s one last job Wu-Tang Clan must do,” he told The New York Times last fall. “… we need to, one time, completely, efficiently, properly represent our brand.”
Until July, then!
Dates:
04.14.13 - Indio, CA - Coachella
04.21.13 - Indio, CA - Coachella
05-26.13 - Paris, France - Le Zenith
06.13-16.13 -Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
07.05-06.13 - Des Moines, IA - 80/35 Festival
07.07.13 - Ottawa, ON - RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest
07.12-14.13 - Frauenfeld, Switzerland - Openair Frauenfeld
07.18.13 - Biarritz, France - Big Festival
07.25.13 - Manchester, UK - O2 Apollo
07.26.13 - London, UK - O2 Academy
• Wu-Tang Clan: http://www.wutang-corp.com
AMDISCS hosts live streaming event with LINGERIE, AyGeeTee, Infinity Frequencies, and Igor Maximilian
∜♡MDISCS: Futures Reserve Label (a.k.a. AMDISCS), a web-centric label that’s released music from the web-centric likes of C V L T S, Afrika Pseudobruitismus, DJ Baglady, ACTRESS PETS, and Luxury Elite, is one speedy and prolific enterprise. It boasts an incredibly fast-paced release schedule, publishes a torrent of found web images nearly everyday via Facebook, and maintains a blog that seeks to document sounds that sometimes aren’t even directly related to the label. My social media feeds can barely handle it all as it is, but AMDISCS apparently wants to get more music to you even faster.
To that end, AMDISCS — who earlier this year released the towering 73-track ∜♡MDISCS 2K13 compilation — is hosting its first live streaming event. Titled SOFT FREQUENCY Vol. I, the event will feature live performances by artists from around the globe, including LINGERIE from New York, Infinity Frequencies from Oceanside, CA, AyGeeTee from London, and Igor Maximilian from Moscow, all curated and produced by label head Rado Z. Each performance will switch between the artists and custom visuals by the likes of Jónó Mí Ló, Matthew Caron, and BreakbeatTiki, all in real-time, all in HD, all everyone united.
SOFT FREQUENCY Vol. 1 starts at 9 PM EST, on Wednesday, April 17. TMT has agreed to help host the stream (which is why our logo is on the fancy poster), so stay tuned for details. Meanwhile, like we did for the mighty #SPF420 fest, you can preview music from the artists below:
LINGERIE (US):
AyGeeTee (UK):
Infinity Frequencies (US):
Igor Maximilian (RUS):
• AMDISCS: http://www.amdiscs.com
MIDI Festival announces its perfectly average-sized first wave of artists
Change just one letter and you’ve got MINI Festival, which could mean a festival where only two or three bands play, or a festival that only accommodates two or three fans, or a festival that shrinks all bands and all fans down to the size of leprechauns.
As far as I know though, MIDI Festival will have tons of bands and tons of fans and no one will have to play instruments the size of Lucky Charms. According to Dummy Mag, MIDI has announced its first round of artists, which includes the likes of Mykki Blanco, Mount Kimbie, King Krule, AlunaGeorge, Christopher Owens, and The Horrors.
MIDI will take place July 26-28 in Hyères, France, and tickets are available here.
• MIDI Festival: http://midi-festival.com
![Laurel Halo - Behind the Green Door [EP]](http://www.tinymixtapes.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Album_Review_Content_Page_Art/1305/Behind.jpg)
![ZS - Grain [EP]](http://www.tinymixtapes.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Thumbnail/1304/zs grain.jpg)
