Spacelab Collective

120 Minutes Returns to MTV This Saturday Night

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One of the few classic shows in MTV's storied past of tv show creation was 120 Minutes. A veritable who's who of the alternative world of the 1990's, 120 Minutes not only made Sunday night less of a drag, but also turned the alternative nation on to cool new bands (not to mention it was followed by the ultra-cool Liquid Television, an animated and artistically adventurous precursor to Adult Swim).

It's hard to imagine in today's world of all access to all kinds of music of all kinds, given the internet, but back then 120 minutes was a good way to check in on up and coming bands in a media landscape that really only supported the biggest of big acts. The only other way to find good alt bands was college radio, CMJ or word of mouth. Alternative emerged because it was an alternative to the dominant mainstream, something emerging from the post-punk world and was something we uncovered one piece at a time. We never had a show on a major TV network that connected the dots like that before.

So now, MTV is bringin' that beat back ... 120 Minutes officially re-debuts on Saturday, July 30th with the title 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield. Check out teh preview above and hope for the best. It'll be interesting to see how the show plays out now that we can find any music we want in the internet-based modern world.

East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys Forms New Band

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The legend of punk / post-punk band the Dead Kennedys is an epic one. Southern California punk scene circa late-70s and early 80's, frontman Jello Biafra with his larger than life persona ... and East Bay Ray. Now East Bay Ray is back.

He has a new band called East Bay Ray and The Killer Smiles, and they're offering up a new album titled none other than "East Bay Ray and The Killer Smiles" on Sept. 13 on MVD Audio.

"While Skip and I were touring in the DKs, we started writing a batch of new songs and wanted to record them. And then Paul Leary, who the DKs used to play with in warehouses back in the day, took a liking to the project and he ended up producing it."

East Bay Ray and The Killer Smiles Track List
1 Raising the Stakes
2 Lipstick Cherry Red
3 You're Such A Fake
4 Area 51
5 The Heart Is Something
6 It's Broken
7 I'm A User
8 The Runner
9 The Last Time You Failed    
10 Safe and Sound
11 The Hardest Part
12 16 Tons

 

Rdio Set to Roll Out Unlimited Listening Plan

Rdio is going to launch a  new subscription plan called “Unlimited Family” that lets the entire fam have access to the streaming music service Rdio at a discounted price, according to various reports online.

"Last night, Rdio CEO Drew Lerner let slip that in addition to their current line up of plans, they will launch an “Unlimited Family” plan that lets users “share an account with multiple people at a discounted rate,” according to TechCrunch.

Rdio's “Unlimited Family” subscription plan will allow users to share accounts, although until the official word comes from Rdio, how the plan works is anybody's guess. I guess we have family plans for mobile phone services, so it was only a matter of time until other web services picked up on the same vibe. It begs the question though ... do Mom and Dad get to peep at what the kids are listening to? Most kids would balk at the idea of their listening habits being that open, so we'll have to see how Rdio rolls this out.

They recently launched a Rdio Windows desktop app and are currently working the Rdio iPad app through approval.

Rdio runs at a cost of $9.99 for mobile and Web access, while Web access only will cost $4.99 per month, and it features both streaming and offline listening. The Rdio name is a combination of the words radio and audio, pronounced r-dee-o.

Brian Jonestown Massacre Gets Singles Collection Double Album in August

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I think this what you might call a Brian Jonestown Massacre flashback.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre will go double prime time with a new 2 CD set titled The Singles Collection on a releasee date of Aug. 30, with songs remastered from the vinyl originals. The songs are alternate takes, with versions different from any versions from the  album releases. Also included is your very own Brian Jonestown Massacre 24-page book with the entire original art.

The Singles Collection (1992-2011) features song versions only available on 7" singles before this, with songs like “Convertible,” “Their Majesties 2nd Request (Enrique's Dream),”  “Illuminomi” and “There’s A War Going On.”  Also included are the Acid tracks for “Thoughts of You” and “Never Ever” from 1993.

Brian Jonestown Massacre The Singles Collection (1992-2011) Track List
DISC ONE
1) She Made Me
2) Evergreen
3) Convertible 
4) Their Majesties 2nd Request (Enrique's Dream)
5) Hide & Seek
6) Methodrone (Live at the Compound)  
7) Cold To The Touch
8) Anemone
9) Never Ever 
10) Feelers
11) Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth

DISC TWO
1) This Is Why You Love Me
2) Lantern
3)  Malela
4) If Love Is The Drug Then I Want To OD
5) When Jokers Attack
6) Prozac vs Heroin
7) Nailing Honey To The Bee
8) Illuminomi
9) There’s A War Going On
10) Thoughts Of You by Acid
11) Never Ever by Acid

Panda Bear Puts Together Limited Edition Tomboy Box Set

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Panda Bear of Animal Collective released his Tomboy album and singles series over the past year to much acclaim, and now it's going to be immortalized in: the Tomboy Box Set.

On Oct. 31, it will get the full-on vinyl treatment, two LPs with a 16 page book and a limited release of 5000 copies, according to report in Pitchfork. Can anyone say eBay?

The Tomboy singles series was intended to lead up to the release of the full length album. Some of the singles were released by Animal Collective's own label Paw Tracks, while others were released by other labels. Tomboy was mixed by Sonic Boom, who you might remember as Peter Kember from Spaceman 3. It was the follow up to his Person Pitch solo album in 2007.

Also try:
STREAM: Panda Bear - Tomboy (full album)

Panda Bear Tomboy Box Set Track List
LP 1
01 You Can Count on Me
02 Tomboy
03 Slow Motion
04 Surfer’s Hymn
05 Last Night at the Jetty
06 Drone

LP 2
01 The Preakness
02 Alsatian Darn
03 Scheherazade
04 Friendship Bracelet
05 Afterburner
06 Benfica

LP 3 (Single Mixes)
01 Drone
02 Tomboy
03 Last Night at the Jetty
04 Surfer’s Hymn
05 Scheherazade
06 Benfica
07 Slow Motion
08 Friendship Bracelet
09 Alsatian Darn
10 Bullseye
11 You Can Count on Me

LP 4
01 Alsatian Darn (Instrumental)
02 Slow Motion (Instrumental)
03 Friendship Bracelet (Instrumental)
04 Drone (Instrumental)
05 Last Night at the Jetty (Instrumental)
06 You Can Count on Me (A Cappella)
07 Alsatian Darn (A Cappella)
08 Slow Motion (A Cappella)
09 Afterburner (A Cappella)
10 Drone (A Cappella)

Decemberists' Colin Meloy and Wife Team Up On New Book 'Wildwood'

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That so sounds like the title of a book the that Colin Meloy would write. It's a full extension of the Colin Meloy brand, even if there isn't a "Colin Meloy brand."

Wildwood is a book about walking in the woods. It's an adventure book. Check out the video above to hear Colin and his wife Carson Ellis talk about the influences of the book.

"I wanted to take a moment and personally alert you to the thing that will be consuming my days and evenings in the forthcoming months: namely, a book that Carson Ellis, Illustratrix and Decemberists Art-Slave,  and I have been cooking up for nigh on 12 years. That book is called WILDWOOD," said Colin in a statement.

"Carson and I will be galavanting around the country this fall to do talks and readings, so we expect to see all your brilliant, shining faces basked in that autumnal light (as refracted through the UV-coated glass of one of your fine, local bookstores)."

Loney Dear Goes Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Loney Dear, the musical project of one Emil Svanangen, has a new album ready for release this Fall on Polyvinyl Records. It's titled Hall Music, and features Emil in an orchestral mood. After his last tour in support of the album Dear John, Emil went home to Sweden and began rewriting existing material to play with a variety of Swedish orchestras.

After all of the time rewriting, rehearsing and playing the previous material, he got to thinking about all of the new things that could be done ... enter the new Hall Music album. You can preview the song "My Heart" Download "My Heart" in exchange for a mailing list sign-up, or you can watch the video above, whaich is an alternate solo piano version of the same song.

Also try:
New Loney Dear Video for Airport Surroundings: Lots of Driving

Loney Dear: Hall Music Track List
01 Name
02 My heart
03 Loney Blues
04 Calm down
05 Maria, is that you
06 D major
07 Largo
08 Young hearts
09 Durmoll
10 I dreamed about you
11 What have I become?

Metric to Release Fantasies Flashbacks, a Crowdsourced Remix Album

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Metric released the album Fantasies back in 2009. It was the follow-up to 2005's Live It Out, an album that put the band on the map. Now Metric have brought Fantasies back with the remix album Fantasies Flashbacks, a crowdsourced compilation of fan-created remixes of the songs from Fantasies.

Metric will release Fantasies Flashbacks as a limited-edition vinyl box set, with the proceeds going to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Fantasies Flashbacks is due out on Oct. 11 on 10 7" vinyl singles, a pre-loaded digital music player and download versions.

VIDEO: Emily Haines Talks About the New Metric Album Fantasies

Metric self-released their last album, Fantasies, on their own.  They worked their way up the food chain the hard way (but better way), and own a bigger stake of their future as a result. It's hard work, but it can work out for the best in the long run. They essentially createdtheir own label, with Mom + Pop as a distributor.

Black Moth Super Rainbow Reform With New Music

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The newly reformed Black Moth Super Rainbow have a new take on life with a new line up that includes Tobacco, Seven Fields of Aphelion, Ryan Graveface and Iffernaut. They've re-released their classic album Dandelion Gum as the expanded package titled Dandelion Gum Extra Flavor Deluxe Reissue, with new songs added to total a huuuge 31 songs. The newly-added material includes 14 other tracks that were recorded at the same time as the Dandelion Gum sessions, five of which have never been released before.

Check out their classic song "Sun Lips."

The best news is that the new Black Moth Super Rainbow is working on a new album, tentatively titled Psychic Love Damage. There's a tour in the works for September.

Okkervil River and the Future of Their 'Your Past Life as a Blast' 7" Single

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Okkervil River have a new 7" single coming out towards the end of the Summer for the song “Your Past Life as a Blast,” with the b-side “Gold Faces.” It will be third single from their album I Am Very Far. They've also just announced new shows for their tour.

"The goal was to push my brain to places it didn't want to go. The idea was to not have any idea – to keep myself confused about what I was doing," said Will Sheff about how he went about the creation of I Am Very Far.

He took the band into the studio with about 30 songs, and proceeded to narrow it down to a short list of 18 songs before delivering a final cut of 11 songs for the album. Okkervil River went through a number of high intensity recording sessions which focused on a few songs at atime, to give a sense of variation in sound and approach.

Also try:
MP3: Okkervil River - "Wake and Be Fine"
VIDEO: Okkervil River - "Wake and Be Fine" (directed by Daniel Gibbs)