It's an indisputable fact that the way in which we experience music has changed a lot over the last few years. The whys and hows have been much discussed. (As an aside, Mark Fisher's love letter to collective listening is worth a read.) However attempts to stem the tide or challenge newly established ways of experiencing music have been few and far between. So to hear about an audio-visual sculpture of The xx's debut album xx is very exciting indeed.
Created by acclaimed music video director Saam Farahmand, the installation will incorporate film, light and sound to provide a unique experience for each visitor. Saam explains that "it shares sensibilities with art installations but it should not be considered in this context - it is in essence a physical music video, a looping shrine to the album that you cannot compress, send or turn off."
xx: a sculpture of the album by Saam Farahmand The Vinyl Factory, 51 Poland Street, London W1F 7LZ 8th-12th January 2010 Free Entry
Alessio Natalizia (Banjo Or Freakout) and Sam Willis (of superb podcasters Allez-Allez) have signed to Kompakt records, continuing the Cologne label's entree into noise/techno pop, after a year with BIG releases by Matías Aguayo and The Field, whose Leave It Walls remixed. Very exciting, listen to more at their myspace. The -jams part of their myspace name is pretty telling – the tracks up there, Burnt Sienna and Gaberdine are more sketched grooves than formed songs, but they burst with ideas and a really quite interesting. An album is expected in the first half of 2010, and live shows from February onwards. Expect more gushing soon.
Baltimore hypnagogic folk pop band Beach House will play over here in February after their utterly wonderful third LP 'Teen Dream' is released on Bella Union in January. The dates, venues and so on are below along with Norway, which is already a classic song – believe us when we say that you will want to be at these gigs. Keep your eyes on www.dummymag.com, there's a full feature on this amazing band on the way.
Wednesday 10 February – Glasgow – King Tuts (£9)
Thursday 11 February – Manchester – Islington Mill (£9)
Friday 12 February – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club (£9)
Saturday 13 February – Dublin – Whelans (18 euro)
Sunday 14 February – Belfast – Speakeasy (£9)
Tuesday 16 February – Cardiff – Arts Centre (£5)
Wednesday 17 February – London – Bush Hall (£10)
They will also be over to play with Grizzly Bear, a band with whom they have already collaborated. Those dates are below.
Monday 8 March – Newcastle – The Sage (with Grizzly Bear)
Tuesday 9 March – Edinburgh – Queen's Hall (with Grizzly Bear)
Thursday 11 March – Brighton – The Corn Exchange (with Grizzly Bear)
Friday 12 March – Coventry – Warwick Arts Centre (with Grizzly Bear)
Saturday 13 March – London – The Roundhouse (with Grizzly Bear)
Sunday 14 March – London – The Roundhouse (with Grizzly Bear)
Air and LCD Soundsystem are both playing the Spanish electronic music festival, now held in both A Coruna and Barcelona. Air play Barcelona on Friday June the 18th and A Coruña, Saturday June the 19th; LCD play A Coruña on Thursday June the 17th and Barcelona, Friday June the 18th.
Titus Andronicus, histrionic crypto-celtic rock n roll band on Merok, have recorded an album that sounds actually excellent which is based vaguely around the concept of the American Civil War. Even its title, 'The Monitor', is a presumed Civil War reference. Singer Patrick Stickles said this – “It doesn't take place in olden times, nor does it necessarily feature any characters that participated in that conflict. Really, it is a record about how the conflicts that led our nation into that great calamity remain unresolved, and the effect that this ongoing division has on our personal relationships and our behavior and how they're all out to get us (or maybe not?) and yadda yadda yadda.”
What we've heard sounds heroic, a quality that ironed over their debut's less-than-awesome bits. Artwork (coming later) is by Double Dagger, and The Monitor was recorded this past August by producer and engineer Kevin McMahon at his studio - Marcata Recording - in New Paltz, NY. Read the tracklisting below and pick out the Civil War references (zero marks for Four Score and Seven, the lead single). Released 9 March 2010, the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads – see track 10.
'The Monitor' track listing: 1) A More Perfect Union 2) Titus Andronicus Forever 3) No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future 4) Richard II 5) A Pot In Which To Piss 6) Four Score And Seven 7) Theme From “Cheers” 8) To Old Friends And New 9) …And Ever 10) The Battle Of Hampton Roads
Ewan Pearson, celebrated and clever Berlin DJ/producer, has put together a mix for Kompakt called 'We Are Proud Of Our Choices.' Seen as his Fabric 35 mix was pretty much astounding, we're excited – as usual, the mix looks wonderfully diverse, with Lemonade and Little Dragon as well as techno stalwarts like Luisine and Pearson's homeboy Al Usher. Tracklisting below, a short interview over at RA.
Tracklist 01. Lemonade - Bliss Out (Gold Panda Remix) / Pitch And Hold - We Have Come To Bless Dave Smith 02. A Ldric - Birds On Tree 03. Rmnvn - Uno 04. Lusine - Cirrus 05. Wah Chu Ku - T Times Too 06. Yukihiro Fukotomi / Foog - Open Our Eyes 07. Neville Watson - Full Flight 08. Taron-Trekka - Shiroi 09. Hot Natured - Equilibrium 10. DXR - Faderpushing Sunday 11. Yosa - Margaret 12. Gregor Tresher - The Life Wire (Petar Dundov Variation) 13. Xenia Beliayeva - Analog Effekt 14. Chris Fortier - Sunday Is A Travel Day (Ink & Needle's Skybed Remix) 15. Al Usher - Silverhum (John Talabot's Wilderness Remix) 16. B.D.I. - City & Industry (World Balloon Dub Mix) 17. Little Dragon - Fortune (World Of Apples' Cosmic Edit) 18. Bot'ox - Blue Steel
Rerelease fever, and late 80s fever, continues with the announcement that Domino will be sending out double CD editions of ‘Today’, ‘This Is Our Music’ and ’On Fire’ by Boston dream pop band Galaxie 500 (1987-1991). ‘Today’ features ‘Uncollected’ (rarities from the band’s entier career, from pre-’Today’ demos to out-takes from the last recording sessions), ‘On Fire’ comes with all collected ‘Peel Sessions’ and ‘This Is Our Music’ comes complete with ‘Copenhagen’, a live recording of the band’s last ever European show. Happily, the albums are also available on heavy-weight vinyl. Full tracklisting after a Peel Session of Flowers.
'Today' + 'Uncollected'
‘Today’ 1 Flowers (4:26) 2 Pictures (3:23) 3 Parking Lot (2:52) 4 Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste (6:47) 5 Temperature’s Rising (5:05) 6 Oblivious (3:18) 7 It’s Getting Late (3:29) 8 Instrumental (3:01) 9 Tugboat (3:53) bonus track: 10 King of Spain (4:33)
‘Uncollected’ 1 Cheese and Onions (3:05) 2 Them (3:42) 3 Final Day (2:54) 4 Blue Thunder (w/sax) (3:46) 5 Maracas Song (3:52) 6 Crazy (1:54) 7 Jerome (2:46) 8 Song in 3 (3:25) 9 Oblivious (3:21) 10 I Can’t Believe It’s Me (3:56) 11 Walking Song (2:50) 12 The Other Side (4:55) 13 On the Floor (2:48) 14 Rain/ Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste(8:51)
'On Fire' and 'Peel Sessions'
‘On Fire’ 1 Blue Thunder (3:45) 2 Tell Me (3:50) 3 Snowstorm (5:10) 4 Strange (3:16) 5 When will You Come Home (5:21) 6 Decomposing Trees (4:05) 7 Another Day (3:41) 8 Leave the Planet (2:40) 9 Plastic Bird (3:15) 10 Isn’t it a Pity (5:10) bonus tracks: 11 Victory Garden (2:48) 12 Ceremony (5:55) 13 Cold Night (2:36) video track: When Will You Come Home
‘Peel Sessions’ 1 Submission (Sex Pistols) 2 Final Day (Young Marble Giants) 3 When Will You Come Home 4 Moonshot (Buffy Sainte Marie) 5 Flowers 6 Blue Thunder 7 Decomposing Trees 8 Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste (Jonathan Richman)
'This Is Our Music' and 'Copenhagen'
‘This Is Our Music’ 1 Fourth of July (5:35) 2 Hearing Voices (3:34) 3 Spook (4:35) 4 Summertime (5:59) 5 Way Up High (4:03) 6 Listen, the Snow is Falling (7:47) 7 Sorry (4:15) 8 Melt Away (4:35) 9 King of Spain, Part Two (5:07) bonus track: 10 Here She Comes Now (5:57)
‘Copenhagen’ 1 Decomposing Trees (4:50) 2 Fourth of July (5:01) 3 Summertime (6:42) 4 Sorry (4:30) 5 When Will You Come Home (5:31) 6 Spook (4:54) 7 Listen, the Snow is Falling (8:19) 8 Here She Comes Now (5:38) 9 Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste (7:52)
Two fave bands of ours, Egyptian Hip Hop and Is Tropical, are touring together. The dates follow.
Thurs 28th Jan - Start The Bus, Bristol * ~ (FREE ENTRY) Fri 29th Jan - Bungalow & Bears Sheffield ~ (FREE ENTRY) Fri 29th Jan - Soundcontrol, Manchester * Sat 30th Jan - Stealth Vs Rescued, Nottingham * ~ Thurs 4th Feb - Stag's Head, London * Fri 5th Feb - Kraak Gallery, Manchester * ~ Sat 6th Feb - A Nation Of Shopkeepers, Leeds * ~ (FREE ENTRY) Sun 7th Feb - Captains Rest, Glasgow * ~ Mon 8th Feb - Mojo, Liverpool ~ Fri 19th Feb - Bungalow & Bears, Sheffield * (FREE ENTRY) Sat 20th Feb - Evol @ Korova, Liverpool *
Gypo Rap Hit Club and Zarcorp (Late Of The Pier's label) will be releasing EHH's first 7" in February. Rad Pitt, inevitably, is below.
Head HERE to view the video to their new track, Chasing The Tear (tear as in paper, not cry). It's pretty amazing, and at least in the top five motorik tracks Geoff Barrow has produced in the last year.
Amazing – Adult Swim, Rockstar Games and Timbaland have got together to offer a brilliant mixtape of ATL trap remixed by artists like HEALTH, Salem, Flying Lotus, Memory Cassettes and Dabrye. The widget is below, follow this link to download. 1. Young Jeezy – I Got This (El-P remix) 2. Rich Kids – Patna Dem (Mad Decent Patna’s remix by DJA) 3. Dem Getaway Boyz – Imma G (Memory Tapes remix) 4. Good Time Guys – Is That You God? (Dabrye remix) 5. Young Dro – Take Off (Michna remix) 6. Cee-Lo – Hello Miss (Armani XXXChange remix) 7. Lil Jon feat. Kee – Give It All You Got (Danger Beach remix) 8. Gucci Mane – Photoshoot (Flying Lotus remix) 9. Gorilla Zoe – Lost (Starkey remix) 10. Shawty Lo – Dey Know (Prefuse 73 remix) 11. Kollosus – Breakin’ Bread (Phaseone remix) 12. Pill – Lookin’ (Chris Devoe remix) 13. B.o.B. – Satellite (Hudson Mohawke remix) 14. Playboy Tre- Sideways (SALEM Drag Chop remix) 15. OJ Da Juiceman feat. Gucci Mane – Good Night (HEALTH remix) 16. Lil Jon feat. Kee – Give It All You Got (Drums of Death remix) 17. Hollyweerd – Have You Ever Made Love to a Weerdo? (Dam-Funk remix)
Our hero, Dayve Hawk, aka Memory Tapes aka Weird Tapes aka Memory Cassette, is playing over here in January. LP 'Seek Magic' and the 'Calls and Response' EP should make everyone doing glofi tape balaerica shut up and start something new, because he really is the last word. Head hereto download an ace remix, go and buy 'Seek Magic' and tickets for either his Luminaire or Corner date, depending on what's nearest you. Support is from the fun if overrated Fitness Club Fiasco.
January 16 The Corner, Manchester 20 Luminaire (w/ Fitness Club Fiasco), London
Kompakt will be bringing out their next edition of Pop Ambient, the series that celebrates ambient pop from a techno POV, on the 18th January 2010. The usual suspekts are there – Voigt, Koze and Dettinger – and, as last year's indicated, the emphasis is growing on the "pop", with Jurgen Paape reworking his schlager-led Ofterschwang from the last Total LP, and both popnoname and Thomas Fehlman of the Orb chipping in. If, like me, you've always had a bit too much going on to really "get into" the ambient techno that your friends keep on telling you about, this is a fine place to start. Tracklisting below, Voigt's sublime GAS from 1998 below.
01 “The Sound Of One Lip Kissing” Marsen Jules 02 “Lest You Forget” Brock Van Wey/BVDUB 03 “Shildergasse” Triola 04 “Zither Und Horn” Wolfgang Voigt 05 “Clouds Across Face” Andrew Thomas 06 “Glen Coe” The Orb 07 “Blue Items” Mikkel Metal 08 “Bodenweich” DJ Koze 09 “864M” Jürgen Paape 10 “Therefore” Dettinger 11 “In The Wind” Thomas Fehlmann 12 “Deutz Air” Popnoname 13 “Will You Know Where To Find Me” Brock Van Wey/BV
Real Gold know how to throw a party. And with DJ Pioneer, Jamie xx, Golden Silvers and more lined up, this will be one special Saturday night. Go and blow some streamers in their faces.
Real Gold’s 3rd Birthday Saturday 12 December Offerclass LTD Warehouse 73-75 Shacklewell Lane, London E8 2EB 9pm - 4am, £5 before midnight, £8 after
I love a good cover. Just this year, Aeroplane's remix/cover of Friendly Fires and The xx's cover of Florence covering Candi Staton weren't just great covers - they were two of the records of the summer.
So it's very exciting news that Friendly Fires are going to be covering one of their favourite bands, Holy Ghost! What's more, the NYC duo will be returning the favour for a split 7" coming out next year. Lovely stuff.
Xiu Xiu, one of my personal faves from the decade, are BACK with an ALBUM due in mid-February and some tour dates in support. Jamie Stewart is joined by Greg Saunier and John Dieterich of Deerhoof, Ches Smith and Angela Seo. The album is called 'Dear God I Hate Myself', the dates are below. More as we get it.
UK Tour Dates:
Saturday 20th February - Dublin, Whelans Sunday 21st February - Glasgow, Nice 'n' Sleazy Monday 22nd February - Edinburgh, Electric Circus Tuesday 23rd February - Manchester, Islington Mill Wednesday 24th February - Sheffield, The Harley Thursday 25th February - Cardiff, Cardiff Arts Institute Friday 26th February - London, The Luminaire Saturday 27th February - Brighton, Freebutt Sunday 28th February - Coventry, Taylor John's House
Owen Pallett's Final Fantasy is giving away a fairly decent track from 'Heartland', his new album on Domino. It's called Free Lewis. It's a pretty and nice song, Heartland is out on January 18th.
Chanced across this surprisingly beautiful, Steve Reich-backed video shot at the Vinyl Factory pressing plant, documenting the production of a record. Quite lovely.
Hot Chip's One Life Stand, the title song from their new LP, is on their myspace now. However irritated I'm getting about this whole drip-drip-drip of news, it's a fairly wonderful song. Vinyl Factory are releasing 100 copies of the song "very soon", on a one-sided 12", like it's a "white label," as in it's "highly covetable" and also "slightly obsolete". Watch our video interview from earlier this year below. The album is out on February 1st 2010.
