Music News 06/14/10

In 2005, after three solid LPs (Michigan, Seven Swans, and the most famousest Illinois) many people thought Sufjan Stevens would become the iconic indie musician of the 00s. But then he kinda fell off the face of the earth. Yeah, he signed some affecting (but not necessarily timeless) artists on his Asthmatic Kitty label, released a compilation of Christmas-themed b-sides and one-offs, and even composed a fancy orchestral piece inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, but even in this post-album day and age, albums still matter. And Stevens has left us high and dry since Illinois. I don’t think anyone blames him really, since that record (while I, being the odd one out, prefer Swans) was possibly the most ambitious and grandiose record of the 00s, but it still stings a little bit, especially when the man used to talk about how he was going to write a record for every single one of the United States. Five years later and I’m still waiting for Minnesota. Add to all this that last year he rather quietly but devastatingly told Paste that he “had lost faith in the album,” referring to his newest opus, and many people wondered if we’d ever see another proper LP from the man. Luckily, whether he’s just trying to get more people to buy High Violet or if he really is as excited as the rest of us, The National’s Bryce Dessner has gone on record saying his band has been helping the Sufster add instrumentation to his new masterwork and that while he’s working rather clandestinely on it by himself, they swear that what he’s creating is promising and going to “blow people’s minds.” Whoa. Check out Exclaim for more.

-Chris Polley

My new goal this summer is trying to figure out how to get my ass to the Rock the Bells festival.  It was announced last week that Lauryn Hill was added to the already stellar line-up and she will be performing her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in its entirety.  This album has sat in my top five favorites of all time since it came out in 1998.  After its huge success she fell into obscurity and only made rare and seemingly bizarre appearances.  Other performers on the bill include Snoop Dogg, who will be performing Doggystyle in its entirety (HOLY SHITBALLS!!!!), Minneapolis’s Brother Ali, a reunited A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One and Slick Rick.

-Felicia

For the lucky, curious, or somehow in-the-know ticketholders at a sold-out show at Dingwalls in Camden in London, who’d come to see a show with headliners billed as Venison, they got an unexpected (or maybe expected) shock: indie icons The Strokes reunited for their first live show in four years. The set list reads like a “Best Of” of the band’s short career, opening with “New York City Cops,” the song which famously appeared on the European release of their debut Is This It? but which was pulled in the U.S. version following the 9/11 attacks, and running through pretty much every fan favorite, with a heavy emphasis on their first and second albums. The gig was seen as a warm-up for their “official” first live return at Friday’s Isle of Wright Festival. Also interesting to note of the set? Not one new song was included from their upcoming album, which is slated for an early 2011 release. It still remains to be seen what direction the band will take on their new recordings, but it’s somehow refreshing just to know that they’re back and performing some of their old material again.

-Christian Hagen

The Eclipse soundtrack came out on June 2^nd, featuring a ton of great indie and rock artists.  The Twilight franchise is obviously held up by the gaggle of teen fangirls who caught the vampire obsession, but the magnitude of artists on the soundtracks also brings a different demographic and a bit of credibility to the franchise.  The soundtrack features two songs by Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley, Fanfarlo, The Bravery, Florence + the Machine, The Dead Weather and Metric.  And speaking of Metric, if you buy the new Eclipse soundtrack directly from their website as a digital download you get your choice of one of their albums at half off.

-Felicia

It was revealed this week on The Avalanches‘ forum pages that the band has indeed been working on a sophomore follow up to Since I Left You, and are apparently nearly finished. For those unfamiliar, The Avalanches’ first album was a completely sample-based masterpiece which (vaguely) tells the story of a boy chasing the girl he loves all over the world. Mostly it’s just a great dance album though. The forum admin stated that Ariel Pink had been called in to lay down some vocals, and after that the album would be done. While it may not be the most credible or encouraging source to receive the information, at this point any news is good news for The Avalanches. This report comes after a year or so of on and off comments by the band and those close to them that an album was in the works. The band themselves have stated that it would be a funkier and better party album than their debut, so if and when it does drop it will be a good year for indie keggers. Until that day I will be happy watching and re-watching the video for “Frontier Psychiatrist”.  link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8BWBn26bX0

-Cooper Foyt

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Here are the albums due for OMD reviews this week:

-Monday, June 14: LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening

-Friday, June 18: Love of Everything, Best In Tensions\