Hello everyone, and welcome to the first daily Music News post in the history of AudioSuede! That’s right from now on, we’ll be giving you more news every day instead of dumping it all in one go on Monday. This means fewer news items all in one day, but just as many or possibly more overall as the week goes along. Weekly Playlists will still be a happy part of the schedule; scroll down to see and hear this week’s!
What’s going to fill the Monday slot you ask? Why, our newest addition to the staff, Chris Bosman, formerly of Pitchfork and also currently of Prefix and Racecar Brown! Leave a comment to welcome Chris to the team!
Also, one last bit of editorial business: Sorry about the intermittent down days the last few weeks; schedules have gotten out of hand. But not to worry; we’re back, and we’re ready to go.
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If you haven’t already heard, The Arcade Fire are set to stream an entire concert at Madison Square Garden on their YouTube Vevo page on August 5 at 10 pm EDT, mere days after the release of their reportedly epic new album The Suburbs (a review of which is guaranteed next week; you have my word). Now it’s been announced that batshit filmmaker Terry Gilliam (of 12 Monkeys, Brazil, and Monty Python fame, among other things) will be directing the concert feed. I expect to see significant amounts of cut-and-paste animation stringing together several minutes of nonsense bits making fun of Scotland Yard for no apparent reason. It’ll probably be a visual spectacle, though the plot and script will be highly underwhelming. All joking aside, while some people (like me) are making fun of the choice of using Gilliam to direct a concert stream, sometimes it takes a keen visual director to make a concert film exciting. Have you seen Dave Chapelle’s Block Party? Fantastic. Who directed it? Michel Gondry. So there’s plenty of possibility for this show, and I’ll be sure to watch it on the 5th.
-Christian Hagen
Back in March we reported that the universally underrated singer-songwriter Jonah Matranga (also known as Onelinedrawing and leader of Far, the latter of which released a reunion record earlier this year) was ho-humming about whether or not to sue Jennifer Lopez for appropriating without permission an icon that he’s used since the late 90s on her new album cover and promotion materials. Well that never materialized into anything, probably because the dude’s too busy a) constantly recording music and b) coming up with ridiculously ambitious ideas for his new music. It’s okay though because his latest endeavor is the most awesomest doozy yet: on his web site’s news page, he has announced that his next solo record, to be released in late 2010, will feature not just him, and no backing band, but instrumentation and back-up vocals from fans. That’s right – this isn’t no lame fan-directed video contest. Scroll down on that aforementioned news page and you’ll find an incredibly detailed list of what exactly Jonah’s looking for in each instrumentalist (any and all kinds are encouraged), from BPMs to styles and more. You don’t even need pro-gear to record your stuff; the man’s a skilled DIY player, so if he likes the riff or loop you come up with, he’ll figure out a way to incorporate it. If you don’t know Jonah, you’re probably thinking this is something that won’t pan out, but trust me. Dude is insane. Get excited for the end of 2010.
-Chris Polley
Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, one of today’s best and most intelligently evolving percussionists, has come out from behind the kit to record a solo album called Familial, out September 1 in the U.S. The record is being billed as a soft, solo acoustic release which, while it’s being produced by one of the most well-respected rock musicians in the world, isn’t necessarily inspiring news. How many times has a drummer, no matter how great, made a good solo album? Let alone a solo acoustic LP. Still, it’s a high-profile solo effort, and I’m sure we’ll all check it out when it finally drops at the end of next month.
-Christian Hagen
Two adorable indie buzz bands (seriously, they’re all tiny like teacup poodles) are teaming up for one relatively big fall tour. Surfer Blood and The Drums, whose debut albums we’ve had the pleasure of reviewing on this site, are going to be co-headlining a string of dates in the US and the UK starting in September and ending in October. No doubt it will be a hot ticket for the hipster set, and I may use their stop in Minneapolis as an excuse to take my fiancee to the wonderfully renovated Varsity Theater. The tour dates are as follows:
09/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time
09/11 – Providence, RI @ Jerky’s Live Music Hall
09/12 – Washington, DC @ The 9:30 Club
09/13 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
09/15 – Atlanta, GA @ Loft
09/17 – Orlando, FL @ Social
09/18 – Miami, FL @ Grand Central
09/19 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
09/20 – Gainesville, FL @ Common Ground Coffeehouse
09/21 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
09/23 – Houston, TX @ Walter’s (The Drums ONLY)
09/24 – Dallas, TX @ Loft (The Drums ONLY)
09/25 – Austin, TX @ ND (The Drums ONLY)
09/27 – Phoenix, AZ @ Clubhouse
09/28 – Pomona, CA @ Glass House
09/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Music Box
10/01 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
10/03 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
10/04 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
10/05 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore
10/07 – Boise, ID @ Neurlox
10/08 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10/10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird
10/13 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity Theater
10/14 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/16 – Toronto, ON @ Mod Club (The Drums ONLY)
10/17 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala/Petit Campus/Motore (The Drums ONLY)
10/18 – Boston, MA @ Paradise (The Drums ONLY)
10/22 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Tragedy struck over the weekend at Germany’s Love Parade music festival. According to a report from Billboard, the techno music festival’s grounds– stationed in the German town of Duisburg– had become crowded, with thousands of people still waiting in the tunnel that served as entrance to the festival. When security tried to close off the grounds, people began surging towards the entrance. The BBC reports that 19 people died in the ensuing stampede, and over 340 were injured. Medical workers had trouble removing the injured from the area, as the small tunnel was swarmed with people. There is a criminal investigation being launched regarding the incident, which survivors blame on too small a venue and ignored warnings about overcrowding. Organizers of the festival have announced that it will be the last Love Parade.
-Chris Bosman
In my article last week on 90’s female singer-songwriters, I failed to mention the culminating event for these artists: Lilith Fair. I remember distinctly when Lilith Fair came to Milwaukee when I was in high school. I had a strong infatuation with Sarah McLachlan, and I almost went to the concert just to see her in person. Lilith Fair did very well back then, but it also got its fair share of hyper-sexist criticism. The original tour only lasted three summers (97-99), but Lilith was relaunched this year. Despite poor ticket sales and a whole host of headliners dropping out, Litith Fair 2010 is still going strong and it seems to be working to bring women together based on the ridiculous criticism it is receiving. Here is a comment made at the bottom of a positive article about the tour: “it’s not a focal point of feminine power, sorry – that’s an insult to the women who truly made a mark on this world, often at great personal expense.” It looks like Lilith Fair is right on the mark based on comments like these. It is rather ironic that women who have made pretty extreme sacrifices to become artists receive such criticism, especially at a time when women do not have a lot of positive role models to emulate in our popular culture. I say: Play On ladies, and tell the naysayers to Shove It!
-Daniel Wipert
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OMDs to come this week:
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And now, our Weekly Playlist!
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Chris P. – “Bucket Song” by Psalm One and “The Best of Times” by Sage Francis are two hip hop songs by emcees that a few years ago had promising burgeoning-on-big-success careers, but neither got catapulted the way many had hoped. They’re both still largely respected in the indie hip hop circuit, but I feel like there’s been little to no talk about either of their 2010 records this year. It’s too bad, because they’re both innovative in what they do, but never in a showy or overly poppy way, which is what’s keeping them from breaking out again methinks. These songs are aces nonetheless.
Chris B. - The Gaslight Anthem – “American Slang”
2008’s The ‘59 Sound is one of my favorite albums of the last decade. The new Gaslight Anthem wasn’t as cohesive or anthemic as that disc, but the opening title track is going to cause just as much fist-pumping as any other New Jersey song this side of Bruce Springsteen. With a simple but undeniable guitar hook and Brian Fallon’s typically powerful vocal performance, “American Slang” is triumphant and defeatist at the same time. I’m not entirely sure if I can listen to this song without wanting to stomp my foot or work in a steel mill.
Bon Iver, “Woods”
On For Emma, Forever Ago, Justin Vernon’s voice was alternately fragile and powerful, ornamenting his elaborate acoustic arrangements with falsetto swoons and swoops. “Woods”, from Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP, focused completely on that voice, but cleverly twisted its application. With Auto-Tune becoming so unpopular, Vernon made the bold choice to use almost nothing but Auto-Tune for “Woods”, which applied an otherworldly, haunting distance to the track, making his detached-from-society sentiments all the more tangible.