Matt Sharp(previously of Weezer) andThe Rentals are in the final weeks of their ambitious 2009 project, “Songs About Time.”
The project begun on January 1, 2009 on the band’s website, www.therentals.com, and is made up of a new photo every day from two rolls that Sharp takes that day- one for use on the site, one that will be saved for inclusion in one of 365 special box sets available March 15, 2010. Every week there’s a new short film with original music score. And every three months, a new four-song EP, the latest of which is called The Future.
Though the EPs are available for download now, they are being remixed, mastered and sequenced to make up a 12-song full-length also available in 2010. It’s an incredible project that gives fans direct insight into the band’s creative process and non-fans will enjoy the stunning cinematography, photographs and music throughout.
She & Him, the astounding duo comprised of singer/actress Zooey Deschanel (She) and singer M.Ward (Him), has announced the follow-up to Volume One.
Volume Two promises to be “bigger, bolder and more beautiful.” Deschanel took care of the vocals, while musician extraordinare M. Ward took care of the instrumental arrangements. Still present are Ward’s signature guitar lines saturated with swelling phrases from the strings.
In addition to eleven original tracks, the duo has included two covers: “Ridin’ In My Car” by NRBQ and “Gonna Get Along Without You Now” by Skeeter Davis. The special treats don’t stop there as Omaha’s Tilly and the Wall adds guest vocals to first single “In the Sun.”
You can enjoy the pop sugary goodness March 23 on Merge.
Standing within the box that is the Kansas City music scene, Thieves seem to have gotten a little lost. Coming from nowhere, they’re suddenly everywhere, earning their role in a complicated and sometimes closed-minded blue collar music city. However, it is important to make it perfectly clear that sometimes being lost here isn’t always a bad thing. It seems to me that if anything, this group of guys finds itself ahead of the curve, leaving behind a scene three to five years behind the national trend, which hangs its hat on the fame of The Get Up Kids. While the godfathers of the modern emo movement have earned and deserve our praise, the time has come to reestablish and rebuild our struggling scene. I have little doubt that this could be the band to do it.
One would swear when spinning their new disc, Dividers, released Saturday, November 5 at the Record Bar, that the sounds spilling from the speakers surely must be a previously established, national act. While half the credit of this must go to the production values of Ryan Cork and The Punch at Premier studio in Lenexa, Kansas, the band’s polished, atmospheric tendencies offer entertainment by themselves.
Take “Swan Song,” Divider‘s opening cut, for example. Ticky-tack electronic drums skip down a path towards a haunting guitar and vocal combo that would make even Mars Voltaproud. Blended in a way that makes the band appear to be a united force, rather than a group of individuals caught up in guarding their images and defined roles, the album’s first track sets the tone for this epic, flowing journey into a musical conversation with Thieves. It’s pretty clear, they have something to say. They’re not just vocal and guitar solos. They are their message.
“In House. In Host,” the album’s second cut, it escalates the intensity of Divider a touch. With a fist pumping fury and an air raid feel, Thieves scream, “I try to fight it but the devil is breaking down the door,” over pounding drums and muted guitar. If for no other reason, this song’s ability to condition the listener to adopt the semblance and spirit of the song is breathtaking and worth the listen.
From power struggle to power ballet, the album’s third cut, “While You Were Sleeping,” is at its best if listened to through headphones. The listener’s ability to pick up every casual drum beat and urgent radio transmission is imperative. The calm piano introduction and soft vocals remind me of something one might find on The Virgin Suicide soundtrack alongside any number of Air tracks. I also find it without a doubt to be the strongest track on the album and one of the best local tracks of 2009.
Skipping over the very pretty musical track in “Transit,” Divider’s fifth and sixth tracks “Mecca” and “E. 130″ sport a very European style signature which cohesively constructs a sound that mixes the likes Radiohead’s quitar structures and vocal whails with The Postal Service’s electronic instrumentation. You can check it out for yourself, free of charge, by downloading the album here, until December 31, 2009.
Trust me, you should.
Track Listing:
01. Swan Song
02. In House. In Host
03. While You Were Sleeping
04. Transit
05. Mecca
06. E. 130
The artists on this year’s Pac Sun Tour are some of the hardest working musicians in the business, but they all found the time to speak with me. Here’s an interview with hip hop/punk/genre-infuser extraordinaire P.O.S. about the tour, his many projects and how he balances music with fatherhood.
Bethany, PopWreckoning: This tour is a bit of a change from what you normally do. You normally go out with the Rhymesayers. Why did you decide to go out with Pac Sun? P.O.S.: I decided to do this tour because it is always fun to play shows for different crowds that have never thought about me before. It is always fun to just be out and be on tour.
PW: I know you’ve been known to have a little animosity toward modern hip hop. What could be done to kind of change that view? P.O.S.: Nothing. I don’t complain about modern hip hop. I don’t complain about anything. I just make things that sound different and hopefully people will get that its different and something can be totally different or better or whatever.
PW: I love some of the samples that you find for your music. Like I think it is well known you have punk, but then you also have Japanese jazz. How do you come across stuff like that? P.O.S.: I’m a fan of music. I’m always looking for something to listen to and from there it goes. PW: Right. But it goes beyond just music. You reference pop culture like YouTube videos that are popular. Do you spend a lot of time on the internet? P.O.S.: I don’t really. I don’t spend that much time on the internet. I just kind of research bands I like and visuals that I like and go that way.
PW: More recently, you were up for an MTV Woodie award. Did that have any impact on you? P.O.S.: It’s cool to be nominated for something on a national level, but no real impact. I don’t really think about stuff like that.
PW: You used to produce under a different name and now you’ve started using your own name. Why the change? P.O.S.: I didn’t want anybody to find out the other producer was me. I just wanted to make beats as well as rap and if the beats were too crazy then I could blame it on somebody else.
PW: So why did you start using your own name? P.O.S.: Because I stopped caring.
PW: Now as a father, has that changed how you tour? P.O.S.: Being a father affects how I tour when it’s not a new record. When it is a new record, I tour just as much. That’s the hardest part about touring, but it’s my job. I got to work.
PW: You always seem to have a bajillion projects whether rap, hip hop, punk, whatever. What are some of the things that you’re working on now? P.O.S.: My band, Building Better Bombs, has a full-length coming and we also have dance record coming under the name Marijuana Death Squad and just more rap music.
PW: As its nearing the end of December, we’re reaching the end of the naught decade. Do you have a favorite musical memory of the last ten years? P.O.S.: Ten years is huge. I got to sing for NOFX at Warped tour this year. That was fun. PW: Is Warped tour one of your favorite tours? P.O.S.: No. It is fun, but I couldn’t do it all the time.
PW: I don’t want to take your time for too long and it is really loud, so we’ll end it here. Thank you. It was nice to meet you. P.O.S.: Good to meet you too.
The backstory of London, England’s the Big Pink is, shall we say, quite interesting. Robbie Furze (vocals/guitar) and Milo Cordell (programming/keyboards/synthesizer/vocals) first joined up to run a record label called Hatechannel. At the end of 2007, they got to the point where they wanted to make some noise of their own and see where it would lead. They’ve admitted that they originally wanted to be “the digital Velvet Underground” and “more Phil Spector than My Bloody Valentine“; these descriptions may give you some indication of what they sound like if you’ve never heard a tune of theirs. But their foundations in loving the Band (whose first album provided the band’s name – Furze’s parents were huge fans of Robbie Robertson‘s group) and soul legends like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding should not be dismissed. In fact, the duo now say they are more of a “soul band” than anything else; they are quick to dismiss the lazy “shoegaze” label that was applied to them almost immediately when they first appeared on the British music scene. They appeared at the Black Cat Saturday night with Long Beach indie rock band Crystal Antlers.
Because of the freak D.C. area snowstorm earlier and the deathly cold temperatures, I wasn’t sure how many people would actually be in attendance. Before the Friendly Fires / the xx show at the Paradise in Boston the night before, I chatted with some fellow English music fans who said the crowd for the Big Pink at that venue earlier in the week was small (around 100 people). So I wasn’t sure if Washington would make a good showing. When my friend and I arrived in our winter coats and stepped on the main stage floor at 10, my worries disappeared as I saw the crowd that had assembled and ready to receive the opening band (which, in my experience, isn’t always the case at a local show). Phew.
Crystal Antlers launched into a set of psychedelic but raucous numbers. The first question that came to mind when they started playing: do you like Procol Harum? (Their classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale” should jog your memory, if you ever listen to compilations with names like Songs of the Sixties.) If yes, you will like what organ player Cora Foxx brings to the table. Jonny Bell, the band’s singer/bassist, has a shouty style of vocal delivery that didn’t impress me much, but the audience was receptive and overall approved of the band’s sound, especially when they went for it, guitars flying and percussion crashing (drums by Kevin Stuart and all manners of other percussion by a very lively Damian Edwards). A good example of their style was “Tentacles,” the title track off their 2009 debut album.
When the crew began setting up the stage for the Big Pink, I spied strobe lights, big and small, being hauled out and carefully arranged. The last time I’d seen anything like it at the Cat was for White Lies last winter. In a ridiculous way, the Big Pink’s lights and fog far surpassed that of White Lies’s set-up in March. I think both the lights and fog detracted from the fantastic, but brief performance they put on for us. Furze stood center stage in a black muscle tank – note emphasis on the muscle. The boy is ripped. He was also sporting a Metallica tattoo on his right arm and multiple gold necklaces (with key pendants) around his neck that looked like they were stolen from the stylist’s trunk of the xx. Cordell stood behind his synthesizer, wearing a hoodie and looking completely content to let Furze take the limelight.
Live, Cordell and Furze are augmented by Leopold Ross (bass) and Akiko Matsuura (drums/vocals). One of the best moments of the night was when Furze and Ross went balls to the wall with their guitars, like in “At War with the Sun,” balanced oh so well with the wistful refrain of “Young hearts know nothing but say it all / celebrate no control / but it is enough to realize / and miss us when we’re gone / live for the words that we sung / and don’t let go.” Breathtaking. Furze slowed things down a bit with a cover of Otis Redding‘s “These Arms of Mine,” which showcased his amazing voice. The Big Pink’s far too brief set was punctuated by their latest single, the almost celebratory “Dominos,” fists a-flying in the crowd to the band’s rhythms. Bloody fantastic. Following the 2010 Shockwaves NME Awards Tour in the UK in February, the band will return to North America next year for a March-April tour – I highly recommend seeing them before they start filling bigger venues.
The Big Pink Set List:
Too Young to Love
Frisk
At War with the Sun
Velvet
Crystal Visions
Count Backwards to Ten
Tonight
These Arms of Mine (Otis Redding cover)
Dominos
Tour Dates:
Mar 10 – Great American Music Hall / San Francisco*
Mar 12 – Neumo’s / Seattle*
Mar 13 – Venue / Vancouver*
Mar 14 – Doug Fir / Portland*
Mar 18 – First Ave / Minneapolis*
Mar 19 – Turner Hall / Madison, WI*
Mar 20 – Metro / Chicago*
Mar 22 – Southgate House / Newport, KY*
Mar 23 – Grog Shop / Cleveland*
Mar 24 – Mod Club / Toronto*
Mar 26 – Cabaret / Montreal*
Mar 27 – Paradise / Boston*
Mar 28 – Maxwell’s / Hoboken*
Mar 30 – Webster Hall / New York City*
Mar 31 – Theatre of Living Arts / Philadelphia*
Apr 01 – Rams Head Live / Baltimore*
Apr 02 – Cat’s Cradle / Chapel Hill, NC*
Apr 03 – Masquerade / Atlanta*
Apr 05 – Club Downunder / Tallahassee*
Apr 07 – Warehouse Live Studio / Houston*
Apr 08 – Parish / Austin*
Apr 09 – Granada / Dallas*
Apr 10 – Bottleneck / Lawrence, KS*
Apr 11 – Bluebird / Denver*
Apr 12 – Urban Lounge / Salt Lake City*
Apr 14 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix*
Apr 15 – Casbah / San Diego*
* with A Place to Bury Strangers
Inu, a three-piece project from San Francisco-based producer Mikael “Count” Eldridge, guitarist Tim Hingston and cellist Zoe Keating, has created an entertaining, catchy and easy to listen to handful of electro-pop tracks on their first EP dubbed Monster. Count is best known as a top-tier music producer and has worked with such artists as DJ Shadow, New Order, Radiohead, Lyrics Born, Galactic and Halou. Hingston, originally from the east coast, has been dabbling in experimental music and finding new sounds his whole life. After bringing his guitar and bass skills to the west coast to play with the aforementioned Halou, he met Count and began collaborating on a variety of new projects. This is how Inu initially came to life. And it only got better when the, “one-woman orchestra,” Zoe Keating, jumped on board.
The experimental rock music is an interesting mix of electro-pop with a healthy dose of guitar, drums, bass, cello and pretty smooth vocals to top it all off. The EP boasts five songs that establish primarily catchy beats from the get-go and show off the band’s “retrofuturistic techno-wizardry” throughout. The EP’s first song “The Bailing,” is a friendly mix of trippy and relaxing, and although it isn’t fast-paced and in your face, it sets the tone for the remainder of the album. The following song “Stephen Colbert,” is nowhere near as humorous as the Comedy Central late night icon, but does come out of the gate with a peppy, consistent drum beat and some lyrics that may resonate with some citizens of Colbert Nation. Lead singer, Count, sings, “They think they can compete, but he’ll out talk them all. Truth in lying. Exposing liars,” voicing his opinion on the news industry and praising Colbert for his effect on the media.
Rounding out the EP is “Disarmed,” “A Crowded Place” and “Captured,” which are more reserved tunes in comparison to the totally upbeat “Stephen Colbert,” but that does not mean they are a letdown. What that does mean is that they have simpler lyrics and a mish-moshy slowed down vibe. All three of these tracks are filled with drums, bass and that oh-so familiar electro sound that the two opening songs had in common, but at this juncture, Inu starts to sound all the same to me.
The stand-out song in this small sampling is definitely “Stephen Colbert,” and it is surrounded by an “interesting sound” that sounds eerily similar throughout. If you are looking for something different, and a lot of it at once, check out the Monster EP. It’s not bad; it’s interesting, entertaining, but at the end of the day, most of it is a consistent, easy to listen to collection of songs.
If you would like to download Inu’s first track “The Bailing,” head to http://www.inumusic.com/ before Dec. 15 and give it a listen on your own. As of now, Inu has finished their debut album and it is set for an early 2010 release.
Track Listing:
01. The Bailing
02. Stephen Colbert
03. Disarmed
04. A Crowded Place
05. Captured
Princeton will play a special Chanukkah themed show in LA on Dec. 12 with guests Parson Red Heads. The show will feature surprise collaborations and eight hand-picked Chanukkah gifts to be given out to audience members over the course of the evening.
The show will also serve as a homecoming show for the band, who have just recently wrapped up a three-month tour supporting Ra Ra Riot, Art Brut and OK GO.
In addition to the show announcement, the band just released a new video for “Calypso Gold,” which you can view here:
Devon, England rockers Muse have announced a short, six-date tour of America next spring. The band released their latest album The Resistance in September to rave reviews around the world. They recently finished a sold-out arena tour in the UK with openers the Big Pink.
Tour Dates:
Feb 27 – Gwinnett Center / Atlanta
Mar 01 – Patriot Center / Fairfax, VA
Mar 05 – Madison Square Garden / New York City
Mar 06 – Banknorth Garden / Boston
Mar 13 – Palace Of Auburn Hills / Detroit
Apr 15 – E Center / Salt Lake City
For the first time ever, Cloud Cult is issuing its first two records on a national level. 2003′s They Live on the Sun and 2004′s Aurora Borealis have been remixed, remastered and bonus tracks have been added.
The albums were originally the band’s homemade recordings at singer Craig Minowa‘s family farm. He wrote them based on his self-enforced seclusion after his son unexpectedly passed away. Despite the lo-fi local release, the band’s music quickly got them national attention and they even overtook Radiohead on college radio charts.
Now the albums are being released nationally in special green packaging: 100 percent recycled, printed with soy ink and mastered with wind energy power. In addition to the packaging, the band has planted a thousand trees to absorb pollutants from the release and touring.
Listen to a few of the tracks here and if you like what you hear, buy the double disc here.
Track Listings: They Live on the Sun
01. On the Sun
02. Moon’s Thoughts
03. Turtle Shell
04. It
05. Da Dum
06. Man on the Moon
07. I’m Not Gone
08. Time
09. Radio Fodder
10. It’s Gay
11. Best Friend
12. Shortenin’ Bread
13. Took You For Granted
14. Back Again P.ii
15. Your Love Will Live Forever
16. Sleeping Days P.ii
Aurora Borealis
01. Breakfast With My Shadow
02. Alone at a Party in a Ghost Town
03. All Together Alone
04. Chandeliers
05. And It’s Good
06. Grappling Hook
07. Northern Lights
08. The Sparks and Spaces Between Your Cells
09. Lights Inside My Head
10. Beautiful Boy
On December 3rd, Rihanna took the stage at Hammerstein Ballroom for Myspace Music’s “THE RELEASE” concert series, and PopWreckoning was there to check it out. Fans started lining up for tickets to the free all-ages show at 7 a.m. Despite the extreme lack of organization at the venue, which resulted in a near-riot as doors opened, we got the perfect spot in the second row, house stage left. Instead of an opener, a DJ (sadly, we didn’t get his name) filled the air and the long wait with tracks that seemed to please the whole, incredibly diverse crowd.
When the time came, the band and backup singers took the stage clad in black from head to toe and Rihanna emerged from below. The stage was set as a post-modern wasteland, strewn with discarded televisions and metallic mannequins, and Rihanna navigated it in spike heels. She opened the show with “Wait Your Turn,” and followed up with her current single, “Russian Roulette,” both tracks off her newly released album Rated R. One thing to be said about this new album is that its’ darkness is inversely proportional to the lightness evoked from “Umbrella,” the song that brought Rihanna into the limelight with its positive message and catchy beats.
She continued the set with hits “Live Your Life,” “Please Don’t Stop the Music,” “Disturbia” and “Run This Town,” running seamlessly one into the next. Rihanna is a true entertainer. Her voice is strong and clear and she doesn’t miss a beat. Even better, she seemed genuinely grateful to have such an adoring fanbase, and made plenty of contact with the lucky fans in the front row. Sadly though, the show ended short about forty minutes in. Umbrellas popped open one by one throughout the crowd as she belted out the chorus of the closer, reminding us that true friendship stands the test of time.
One thing is clear: regardless of the unfortunate nature of the past year spent in the spotlight, Rihanna hasn’t buckled under the pressure.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
“Songs About Time.”
