|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
Super Furry Animals have been studying at the Radiohead School of Web Promotion and have decided to do a live video webcast of the band playing all of the songs on it's new album, Dark Days / Light Years, on Monday March 16th.
The show begins at 8pm GMT on March 16th and the band will play the new album in it's entirety.
Almost no festival compares to Coachella for pre-festival speculation and rumors. The dedicated Coachella community tirelessly comes up with a side-by-side comparison of wish lists and rumor mills, so why should Coachella 2009 be any different? Consequence of Sound is tracking the "confirmed acts," although nothing official has been announced, as well as the Coachella Forum. Some of the big confirmed names include Fleet Foxes, No Age, and The Hold Steady, rumors include Animal Collective and the Replacements (maybe one of this year's big reunions?)
Watch in real time as the fascination and wonder of what's to come plays out:
Arcade Fire have launched a new film thing called Miroir Noir, shot by Take Away Shows founder Vincent Moon and directed by Vincent Morisset, who's worked with Arcade Fire in the past.
The film is about the making of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible in full: the album, the tour, the videos ... the everything. Buy the DVD (to be released sometime next year) and you get an instant download version.
Aesop Rock is offering a free download to give you a more festive holiday season. You can always hang the digital goods on your favorite holiday decoration, a tree, etc. Whatever you celebrate. I find that MP3's go over really well on a stick.
Titled "Aesop Rock and Jeremy Fish Present - Ghosts of The Barbary Coast," it's being offered by the Definitive Jux online store. The package comes in a combination of music, artwork, and QuickTime slideshow/video containing the art of Jeremy Fish. It's artwork inspired by San Francisco's history of hoodlums, harlots, and heroes. The music is both a full version and instrumental version of Aesop Rock's song Tomorrow Morning.
Don't forget to enter Free Download under the box that says "Enter Coupon Here" (because they don't tell you that upfront).
Also up in the store is Chin Chin's smoothed out Jamiroquai-like funk attack with the Go There With You EP. It's a preliminary item to 2009's The Flashing The Fancing release.
Leave to the venerable indie label 4AD to top off 2008 with one of the coolest gifts they could give: a free sampler of this year's best music from 4AD bands, available for free as a stream, or it will cost you the price of an email for the download. It's better than the Jelly of the Month Club (the gift that keeps on giving).
"2008 has been a hugely successful year for 4AD.
To celebrate, we want to give you, the discernable music fan, an early festive treat.
We've brought together highlights from the year's releases for a
special digital 4AD sampler."
TV On the Radio, Stereolab, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Bon Iver, The Breeders, and more.
The Cold War may be over, but the Cold War Kids are definitely right now, recently performing on NPR's World Cafe show with David Dye. Feel the throbbing vibe build up in songs like Mexican Dogs, as they build up an energy intensity that's hard to find these days.
Are they too yesterday for you? The band talks about immediate blog love bestowed on the band, quickly followed by blog backlash; their new(ish) album Loyalty to Loyalty; and how to jump into character while writing songs.
The interview from September talks about politics, existentialism, and the influence that these things have on the band. They try to convey these ideas in their music without being too over the top. How do you create post-punk, bluesy indie pop while being intellectual without being a stereotype? Act like the Cold War Kids.
Cold War Kids Set List
"I've Seen Enough"
"Mexican Dogs"
"Something Is Not Right With Me"
"Every Man I Fall For"
LISTEN: Cold War Kids Live on NPR's World Cafe
LISTEN: Cold War Kids Interview on Day To Day (from September)
In a combination blog post/guest editorial/song launch, Suzanne Vega has previewed her new song "Daddy Is White" via the New York Times. It's a rough but interesting demo, decidedly lo-fi, complete with reverbed vocals. It's plain, clean and neat.
She waxes on the notion of tribes (somebody's been reading Seth Godin's book "Tribes," I'll bet) and how it ties in to her identity, being 'raised in a half-Puerto Rican family' and learning that her birth-father was 'English-Scottish-Irish.'
"If your daddy is white,
You must be white too.
When you look into the mirror
what comes looking back at you?"
Interesting concept, in the dawning of our post-racism age.
After a recent swing through Minneapolis, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter stopped by the Radio K studio to play some music and talk some talk with Radio K DJ Jenny.
He talks about his like of minimal, repetitive techno from Kompakt; compares the album Microcastle to the album Cryptograms; and how he dropped out of high school.
He picks music from Panda Bear with Ponytail, The Field, Arthur Russell, and The Red Crayola.
Of Montreal were in Austin recently, at radio station KUT for a performance of the song "Triphallus To Punctuate" from Skeletal Lamping as well as "Nowhere Man" by the Beatles and "Instant Karma" by John Lennon.
Of Montreal on KUT
In a trilogy of videos, Volker Bertelmann (a.k.a. Hauschka) lays out the idea of the prepared piano as it happens on his latest album, Ferndorf. The videos are part of a free podcast available on iTunes. He also plays live with cellists Insa Schirmer and Donja Djember, who played on Ferndorf.
From Fat-Cat:
"In the second podcast, we are
given a guided tour of his prepared piano, which utilises an assortment
of found objects to create percussive sounds and layered tones.
Part three is a stunning live performance with cellists Insa Schirmer and Donja Djember (who both played on his last album, Ferndorf), and perfectly demonstrates Haushka's inventive and extraordinarily textured compositions."
.
