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Alternative News
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All Tomorrow's Parties is staging a two-day I'll Be Your Mirror festival in Tokyo on April 14 and 15. Day one will be curated by ATP themselves, and day two's line-up will be assembled by Jim O'Rourke.
As part of O'Rourke's contributions, he'll recreate his classic 1999 LP, Eureka, in its entirety. With a twelve-piece band. Shinji Aoyama undoubtedly approves.
The rest of the festivities, thus far announced, include O'Rourke's picks of Michel Rother performing music by Neu! and Harmonia, plus Australian improv minimalists The Necks and eternal provocateurs Borbetomagus, who'll play on the Sunday.
On Saturday April 14, ATP's assembled the the recently reunited Codeine, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Magic Band, the Drones, Factory Floor, and Nisennenmondai.
More details at the ATP website.
Jim O'Rourke to Curate Tokyo ATP, Recreate Eureka Live originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 12:00:41.
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The Shins' Port of Morrow, their first album in five years, is one of the most awaited albums of the year. With its March 20 release date looming ever closer, James Mercer and co have announced a fresh slate of tour dates.
The band, these days, includes Richard Swift on keys, Jessica Dobson of Deep Sea Diver on guitar, Yuuki Matthews ex-Crystal Skulls on bass, and Modest Mouse/Mister Heavenly drummer Joe Plummer behind the kit. They'll be playing through the US, with stops at Coachella and Sasquatch! on the slate.
Away They Did Run:
March 22-23: London, England - HMV Forum
March 25: Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg
March 26: Paris, France - Bataclan
March 28: Berlin, Germany - Kesselhaus
March 30: Stockholm, Sweden - Berns Salonger
April 13: Las Vegas, NV - Cosmopolitan
April 14: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 17: Honolulu, HI - Neil S. Blaisdell Center
April 18: Maui, HI - Castle Theatre
April 21: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 22: Santa Cruz, CA - Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
April 23: Davis, CA - Robert Mondavi Center
April 25: Reno, NV - Grand Sierra Resort & Casino
May 25: Bend, OR - Les Schwab Amphitheatre
May 26: George, WA - Sasquatch!
May 28: Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Garden Ampitheatre
May 29: Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Ampitheatre
May 31: Council Bluffs, IA - Harrah's Council Bluffs
June 4: St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
June 5: Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion
June 6: Detroit, MI - Fillmore Detroit
June 8: Cleveland, OH - Masonic Auditorium
June 9: Louisville, KY - Iroquois Ampitheatre
The Shins Announce Tour Dates for Port of Morrow originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 08:00:36.
About Alternative Music
If you haven't listened to Real Estate's "Green Aisles" today, just go ahead and do it. It'll make you feel better. Sure, listening to it in the height of summer/depths of winter would kill that whole mystical autumnal vibe both band and listeners recognize, but, good lord, what a jam! What jangle! What melancholy nostalgia for days/nights past!
"Green Aisles" was the best song on their second record Days, but the reason it was one of the the best LPs of 2011 was because of how seamlessly the whole thing hung together as an album. So, y'know, if you're going to listen to "Green Aisles," just give the whole thing a spin.
In other news: Real Estate are still touring behind Days. Touring far away lands —Turkey! Belgium! New Zealand!— and, now, their homeland. The New Jersey outfit have announced a run of shows through the American spring. Where support will come, on almost all of them, from Australian indie-pop romantics Twerps. That's, my friends, one night of quality, quality jangle.
Surrender Completely:
February 16: Istanbul, Turkey - Babylon
February 17: Manchester, England - The Deaf Institute
February 18: Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches
February 19: Leeds, England - Brudenell Social Club
February 20: London, England - Sebright Arms
February 21: London, England - Koko
February 22: Antwerp, Belgium - TRIX Centrum voor Muziek
February 23: Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
February 24: St. Gallen, Switzerland - Palace
March 9: Sydney, Australia - The Standard
March 10: Meredith, Australia - Golden Plains Festival
March 12: Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
March 13: Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo
March 15: Auckland, New Zealand - Kings Arms
March 16: Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House
March 17: Dunedin, New Zealand - Refuel
April 3: Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
April 4: Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
April 5: Richmond, VA - Strange Matter
April 6: Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
April 7: Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
April 8: Oxford, MS - Cats Purring Dude Ranch
April 9: Little Rock, AR - Rev Room
April 10: Dallas, TX - Club Dada
April 11: Austin, TX - The Mohawk
April 13: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 19: Mexico City, Mexico - Caradura
April 20: Seattle, WA - The Neptune
April 22: Indio, CA - Coachella
April 23: Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst Atrium
April 24: San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
April 25: Reno, NV - Holland Project
April 26: Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
April 27: Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
April 28: Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
April 29: St. Louis, MO - Plush
April 30: Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
May 1: Harrisburg, PA - Appalachian Brewing Co.
May 30: Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
June 26: Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
Real Estate Announce More Days Dates originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 12:00:41.
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Following the announcement of Coachella's 2012 lineup, Sasquatch! is the latest big-name festival to unveil their unending list of performing rockbands. At the top of the bill loom Grammy-approved beard-folk super-duperstars Bon Iver, newly-solo Third Man mogul Jack White, and everyone's favorite song-and-dance Scientologist, Beck.
For some extra PNW flavor, the liveshow version of the indie-celebrity-festooned sketch-comedy series Portlandia will hit the Sasquatch! stage. And series heroine Carrie Brownstein will also perform a high-profile set with her pretty-awesome-really rockband Wild Flag.
Elsewhere on the bill? Try: The Shins, Blitzen Trapper, Beirut, The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Cass McCombs, M. Ward, Feist, Metric, The Joy Formidable, St. Vincent, Tune-Yards, Purity Ring, Zola Jesus, Active Child, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Little Dragon, SBTRKT, STRFKR, Grouplove, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Spiritualized, Mark Lanegan Band, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, the Cave Singers, Shearwater, Gardens and Villa, Here We Go Magic, Dum Dum Girls, Craft Spells, I Break Horses, Lord Huron, Yellow Ostrich, and more and more and more.
Sasquatch! arrives, as always, for Memorial Day Weekend; taking over the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington from May 25-28. All manner of details at the Sasquatch! website.
Sasquatch! Announces 2012 Lineup originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 08:00:57.
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In a slight variation on that eternal music nerd's question —"what have you been listening to?"— that proved telling, a compadre recently asked of me "what have you been listening to this year?"
And, sure enough, I rattled off a list of the records that had ruled me 2012 thus far; that had soundtrack these six weeks of the Mayan apocalypse with audio rising head-and-shoulders above the soundfile rank-and-file.
For some, doing a 'best of the year' list after six weeks would seem comically absurd; but in the blogosphere six weeks is an eternity, roughly the length of an entire discovery/hype/backlash cycle.
And so I set about typing up a list. For the world to read. This list will grow and grow, over the next 10+ months, until it swells to something more like 50, but at the moment it's so slight, so specific, and so focused to as seem ascetically pure. Five albums. Just five. But what a five!
With Grimes (pictured!) sitting atop like a queen on her throne, here is the countdown in question. Read them and rejoice, anew, in the brand new: it's the Top 5 Albums of 2012 So Far...
Top 10 Tuesdays: 5 Best Albums of 2012 So Far originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 12:00:36.
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Name: Sophia KnappFrom: Brooklyn, New York
Story: Cliffie Swan leader Lights up solo-style
Sound: '70s singer-songwriter style
"Leaving people behind is never easy to do," carols Sophia Knapp. "Still you're moving along." The longtime leader of Brooklyn band Cliffie Swan (who, for their first two LPs, were known as Lights, pre-name-change) may not be leaving her band entirely behind, but her debut solo album sure finds her moving along.
Into the Waves, Knapp's first record under her own name, comes out February 28 on Drag City. It features a couple duets with beau Bill Callahan, and carries with it a warm, storytelling quality that never quite shone amidst Cliffie Swan's snarling psychedelic rock.
Here, there's chiming pianos, funky bass, analogue organs, dangling guitar lines, and washed-out disco strings. The tone of the whole lands somewhere between the Laurel Canyon sound and Fleetwood Mac's coked-out excesses. Things are routinely slow and sad, which gives Knapp's glorious voice a chance to shine, and her casual, conversational lyrics are filled with all kinds of sweet, suggestive details.
Cliffie Swan have been, in their life, a band existing outside of the blogosphere's buzz, and it's entirely possible Into the Waves eludes hyping on its release. But, to these ears, it's clearly one of the best albums of 2012 thus far.
- Listen: Sophia Knapp, "Close to Me"
- Visit: Sophia Knapp website
February 23: Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool
February 29: New York, NY - Sway
Photo © Bek Anderson
Introducing: Sophia Knapp originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 08:00:01.
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There's a ferociously melodramatic tenor to Extra Life's manic, menacing, chin/head-scratching music that seems indebted to opera, or any kind of ancient theater from a less cynical, digitally-intimate era. Charlie Looker sings as if projecting to the cheap seats up the back, hefting his voice and tightening his diaphragm as his band's bizarre medieval-math-rock ricochets madly.
"Righteous Seed" —the first taste from the third Extra Life LP, Dream Seeds, due out April 10— is suitably Looker-ish; a galloping, gathering storm of fragrant prog stirred up towards deliriously over-the-top peaks, delivered with such hysterical theatricality that most listeners will instantly bristle upon hearing it (which is, in some ways, surely the point).
"I'm by your side if you need to cry!" Looker wails, amidst a nasty song —all sludgy bass and whipped percussion— filled with religious terrors, grotesque visions, and this quality that makes me think of malicious gossip taking on a life of its own. The Extra Life leader (a former member of Dirty Projectors and homie o' Owen Pallett) calls Dream Seeds an album-long study in the "harrowing yet transformative nightmares" of children, with Maurice Sendak's Outside Over There seemingly looming as spiritual influence.
Extra Life, "Righteous Seed"
Free Music Monday: Extra Life "Righteous Seed" originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 16:00:41.
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Black Dice have long been peers with Animal Collective, and, way back when, they felt like they were more primed for a breakout than the bros from Baltimore; Black Dice's 2002 LP Beaches & Canyons scoring some of that budding blog buzz long before it was recognized as tangible force.
Now, the thought seems funny: with Animal Collective now headlining festivals and bothering the Billboard charts, whilst Black Dice have become very much a cult band; their records growing gnarlier, stranger, and more provocative over time.
"Pigs" stands as the first taste of the April-due Mr. Impossible, Black Dice's forthcoming sixth album, and first since 2009's Repo. And it keeps with the weirdo vibes that've been raining since Black Dice broke with DFA after 2005's Broken Ear Record.
With vocals cut up into unrecognizable half-syllables and plunderphonic grunts, "Pigs" heaves with jerky, convulsive, spasmodic rhythms, creating a cacophonous clangour that sounds simultaneously joyous and menacing. If this is the 'single,' Mr. Impossible promises to be a none-too-friendly listen, all but cementing Black Dice's cult status for good.
Black Dice, "Pigs"
Photo © Barbara Soto
Free Music Monday: Black Dice "Pigs" originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 14:00:50.
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In a high-concept PR prank that rivaled that time when Akron/Family intentionally leaked experimental versions of their S/T II LP, Brooklyn psych-synth outfit Bear in Heaven are in the midst of streaming their forthcoming album, I Love You, It's Cool via their website.
Only, it's being streamed but the once, slowed down to roughly 400,000% the speed; so that the album plays a single time —as some pained drone— between December and its April 3 release.
"The Reflection of You," the first non-slowed-down listen to the follow-up to 2009's Beast Rest Forth Mouth, shows they've been applying pitch-shifting to their jams, too. "There's nothing left between us, so dance with me" Jon Philpot croons; each "dance with me" repeated with draining-away emotion, his voice slowed down, and dragged/drugged out with each recurring apperance.
Lyrically and musically, "The Reflection of You" makes plentiful references to the dancefloor; in a way that's both oblique and genuine. "If you can dance with me/I think you will like my moves," Philpot sings, "if you get next to me/I will have nothing left to prove."
Bear in Heaven, "The Reflection of You"
Photo © Shawn Brackbill
Free Music Monday: Bear in Heaven "The Reflection of You" originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 12:00:49.
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Given it's pretty much impossible to listen to Black Marble and not think of Joy Division, let's just say it up front: yes, this sounds like Joy Division.
The duo —boasting Ty Kube, formerly of shouty, dayglo-electro rave-up Team Robespierre— roll out with stark synth figures, the metronomic clunk of a rudimentary drum-machine, and suitably Hook-ian bass ringing out loud and proud.
It's a study in aching, moaning, human emotions set against robotic rhythms; but there's a sense of decay present in every note, in every syllable, and every waft of odious air. Black Marble employ once-futuristic tools of space-age sound, but as if they've dug them, half-decomposed, from the dung pile; and, yes, that's two stench metaphors in one paragraph.
"Pretender" is the perfect introduction to Black Marble's gothed-out, nocturnal underworld. And, in turn, it serves as the opening track —the lure-in— on Weight Against the Door, the EP they've just put out on Hardly Art.
Black Marble, "Pretender"
Photo © Ashley Leahy
Free Music Monday: Black Marble "Pretender" originally appeared on About.com Alternative Music on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 10:00:47.