MGMT doesn’t like to play by the rules, so you’re going to have to play by theirs if you want to figure out what special game they are up to.
For six people in six cities, they’re getting a special experience. One has already passed, and today at 2:30 p.m. EST Philadelphia is getting a special location clue at whereismgmt.com.
Fans have an hour to show up and then two hours to complete the adventure.
MGMT’s game will also be played in Boston, Austin, San Francisco and Los Angeles on later dates on whereismgmt.com.
You must be 18 or older to participate. Good luck.
Gorillaz is a virtual band of cartoon apes. They’ve recorded hit songs and sold out animated concerts. If that doesn’t prove that they can pretty much do whatever they want, having Snoop Dogg welcome listeners on the opening track of their new album, Plastic Beach, does.
And then the National Orchestra for Arabic Music shows up on the next song, “White Flag,” and you stop asking these can they/can’t they questions.
Created in 1998 by Damon Albarn (that guy from Blur) and comic book-creator Jamie Hewlett as a kind of commentary on that year’s excess of pre-fab boy bands, Gorillaz took the idea of bands as caricatures and, ironically, created a group that has outlasted and outsold many of their human targets. Like their previous album, Demon Days, Plastic Beach blends dance-pop and hip-hop. This time around, that marriage is emphasized by the number and variety of contributors: Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Little Dragon, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Bobby Womack… and for kicks, a cameo from Bruce Willis in the video for the beat-driven first single “Stylo.”
“Superfast Jellyfish” gets silly with retro-rap from Gruff Ryhs and De La Soul and a chorus that sounds and reads like a commercial jingle for children’s sugary cereal. “Empire Ants” opens as a dreamy synth lullaby, transforming halfway through into hypnotic electric loops. “Glitter Freeze” jumps again into spastic rave synths broken up by featured artist Mark E. Smith’s prophetic-sounding spoken word and cackling.
Gorillaz – maybe because, in a sense, they don’t exist in the first place – always has a lot of room to play around with styles and guest artists. It’s hard to pigeon-hole them into a genre. Plastic Beach is sometimes a reinvention, sometimes more of the same. Compared to Demon Days, this album is heavier on rap but also heavier on electric dance anthems. It’s jam-packed (16 songs, well over an hour long) with such a mixture of music that it’s impossible to define by one or two tracks. We get “Sweepstakes,” pure rap from guest artist Mos Def set against a frustratingly distracting dance beat backdrop – the only song for me which just didn’t work. And then there’s “To Binge,” a sparkly love song that sounds (appropriately) like an afternoon at the beach.
Plastic Beach could be more cohesive. It could be shorter. But as usual, Gorillaz pushes the limit and gets away with it.
Track Listing:
1. Orchestral Intro (ft. Sinfonia ViVA)
2. Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (ft. Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
3. White Flag (ft. Kano, Bashy, and the National Orchestra for Arabic Music)
4. Rhinestone Eyes
5. Stylo (ft. Bobby Womack and Mos Def)
6. Superfast Jellyfish (ft. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)
7. Empire Ants (ft. Little Dragon)
8. Glitter Freeze (ft. Mark E. Smith)
9. Some Kind of Nature (ft. Lou Reed)
10. On Melancholy Hill
11. Broken
12. Sweepstakes (ft. Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13. Plastic Beach (ft. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
14. To Binge (ft. Little Dragon)
15. Cloud of Unknowing (ft. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16. Pirate Jet
Though it’s been awhile since the last the White Stripes show, as of March 16, fans will be able to enjoy the White Stripes live from the comfort of their living rooms.
The White Stripes are releasing their first-ever official live album of 16 songs recorded during their 2007 Canadian tour on both vinyl and CD (full track list below). This was the tour where they planned to perform in every province and territory in that nation. In addition to the live CD, they’re including a DVD release of their 10th anniversary show as well as a DVD of the Emmett Malloy documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights. The CD/DVD box set is officially released March 16 in various packages on whitestripes.com.
In celebration of the release, we’re giving away a copy of Under Great White Northern Lights DVD and the live CD. To win, correctly answer the following question by Monday, March 15 at 12 p.m. CDT: During their 2007 Canadian tour, the White Stripes set a world record by doing what in St. John’s, Newfoundland? We’ll pick one winner from the correct answers.
Track Listing:
1. Let’s Shake Hands
2. Black Math
3. Little Ghost
4. Blue Orchid
5. The Union Forever
6. Ball and Biscuit
7. Icky Thump
8. I’m Slowly Turning Into You
9. Jolene
10. 300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues
11. We Are Going to Be Friends
12. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself
13. Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn
14. Fell In Love With a Girl
15. When I Hear My Name
16. Seven Nation Army
Don’t forget that Under Great White Northern Lights is screening at U.S. theaters beginning March 11, at midnight! Check here to find a showing near you. Can’t find one? Apply to host your own.
Cymbals Eat Guitars is now quite the formidable band. When I’m doing my usual trawling through British music magazine web sites, it’s great to see an American band get praised. Here’s an example: a couple months back, respectedFly Magazine brought the band into their London office to record songs for their FlyTV in the Courtyard series; not just any band gets invited to do these. Their profile has dramatically increased since the last time I saw them, in September 2009 at the Black Cat, opening for fellow New Yorkers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
At the time, they had a different line-up and amp problems plagued their set. Having been hand-picked by Wayne Coyne to support the Flaming Lips for a London residency last November and having played well-attended and well-received shows across the UK, Cymbals Eat Guitars already have some invaluable experience under their belts. Last Saturday night they played a sold-out show at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel in Washington. I don’t think the gravity of the event was lost on singer Joseph “Ferocious” D’Agostino, who sat cross-legged with guitar in lap prior to playing, as if gathering his thoughts and getting into the zone.
However, there were two opening bands, one of which I’ve missed twice before and the other I knew nothing about. You know you’re in for a unique experience when you see a banjo, a Korg, a xylophone, and a watering can filled with plastic drumsticks lined up on a stage. Collectively, Freelance Whales, a quintet from Queens, New York City, sound as if the masculine synth bits of Passion Pit and the mellowness of folky Fanfarlo has a love child. At times lead singer Judah Dadone sounds like Michael Angelakos but looks more like “the Big Bang Theory”‘s Johnny Galeckiwhen plugging away at his Korg or strumming a guitar or banjo.
Otherwordly synths may seem at odds with the folk music aesthetic but for Freelance Whales, it works. “Ghosting,” a highlight of their set, was described by Dadone as being about “sleepwalking to try and find your soul mate.” There’s quite a lot of industry buzz about this band, and it’s well-deserved: whether it’s masterful instrumentation or rich harmonies that ring your bell, there’s a lot to like about this band. Their self-released debut albumWeathervanes will be released on April 13 in America.
I didn’t know anything about Brooklyn-based Bear in Heaven going into this gig, so I was pleasantly surprised – and even a bit wowed! – by the trio’s eclectic mix of experimental, rock, and dance sounds. The band is definitely rocking the facial hair: drummer Joe Stickney has a beard that makes him look like a cross between George Carlin andJarvis Cocker, and the other two have mustaches. Memorably, leader Jon Philpot (vocals / synth / guitar) responded with a jovial “mustaches forever!” when crowd-goers went ape about their love of what was described by someone near me as “one fierce mustache.”
Based on their grungy lumberjack look, you would not expect such interesting music. I definitely was not expecting the sheer power of drumming from Stickney, which worked great as the backbeat for the experimental numbers (like the fabulous “Lovesick Teenagers”) as well as the more dancey ones (“Wholehearted Mess,” for one). Guitarist Adam Wills gets kudos for discussing his pedal set-up with the guitar heads down at the front.
In their current incarnation, Cymbals Eat Guitars appear tighter live, a more well-oiled machine, with little discussion between band members required to move from one song to the next. In addition to playing tracks from their critically received Why There Are Mountains, they also debuted several new songs, including one that required keyboardist Brian Hamilton to artfully balance a triangle to hang from his mike stand. The highlights for me were “Under a Hazy Sea” and a personal favorite, “Indiana” (described to me by new bassist Matt Whipple with “I like to think of it as ourSonic Youth song that becomes a Beatles song“). On most songs, D’Agostino looked blissfully lost in the music while wailing on his guitar but when singing, the emotions pour out of his body as easily as the sweat beads roll off his cheeks. Whipple is an asset, his backing vocals a welcome addition to the live Cymbals Eat Guitars sound. These are four guys who are still very young and have a lot of promise.
Tour Dates
Mar 10 – Pilot Light / Knoxville, TN
Mar 11 – Ear / Atlanta
Mar 12 – Harvest Of Hope Festival / St. Augustine, FL
Mar 13 – Will’s Pub / Orlando
Mar 14 – Engine Room / Tallahassee
Mar 16 – Mango’s / Houston
Mar 17-21 – South by Southwest / Austin
Mar 22 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix
Mar 23 – Casbah / San Diego
Mar 24 – Echo / Los Angeles
Mar 25 – Bottom Of The Hill / San Francisco
Mar 28 – Crocodile Café / Seattle
Mar 29 – Biltmore Cabaret / Vancouver
Mar 31 – Kilby Court / Salt Lake City
Apr 01 – Hi Dive / Denver
Apr 02 – Replay Lounge / Lawrence, KS
Apr 03 – Turf Club / St. Paul
Apr 04 – Schuba’s / Chicago
Apr 06 – El Mocambo Club / Toronto
Apr 07 – Il Motore / Montreal
Apr 08 – Middle East / Boston
I have a love/hate relationship with BBCRadio1 evening show host Zane Lowe. He often gets on my nerves because he likes to shout. A lot. I chalk this up to the fact that he has the privilege of talking to rock stars on a regular basis, and should I ever get a cushy job like that, I would probably be overexcited and shouty as well. However, I digress. It’s thanks to Lowe’s regular choosing of the “Hottest Record in the World” (at 7:30 PM GMT most evenings Monday through Thursday) that I get to hear some of the most hotly-tipped songs before their official release. And here is a prime example of his good taste – PopWreckoning favorites Friendly Fires covering Holy Ghost!‘s now classic “Hold On,” which was chosen as a “Hottest Record” for February 4.
I’ve done research in the blogosphere and heard quite a bit about the backstory of this single from interviews the BBC did last month with Friendly Fires‘s Ed Macfarlane (vocals / bass / synths). What I’ve gathered is that the two acts ran into each other last summer at the dance music festival Calvi on the Rocks in Corsica. It’s unclear which parties were inebriated but Holy Ghost!‘s Alex Frankel made the suggestion of recording covers of each other’s songs. Macfarlane, a self-admitted fanatic of Holy Ghost!‘s work, concurred. Further, Macfarlane told a BBC 6music news reporter that he spent so much time and effort remixingPhoenix‘s “Fences” that given the choice, his preference with respect to Holy Ghost! was to do “a proper reinterpretation” of one of their songs rather than simply a remix.
You may wonder, “if they talked about doing this last summer, why is it taking so long for it to be released?” Further in the folklore is that Friendly Fires, so enthused about the project, got their cover finished quickly. However, Holy Ghost!‘s recording of their track was riddled by bad luck. Word on the street is that their already recorded session tapes and vocal tracks vanished, and they suffered a hard drive meltdown. It should also be noted that there was further delay caused by the untimely death of !!!/LCD Soundsystem drummer Jerry Fuchs. (Incidentally, the “On Board” track is one of the last recordings Fuchs played on.)
If you’ve listened to Friendly Fires‘s “Paris” as many times as I have, the intro to their cover of Holy Ghost!’s “Hold on” should sound welcome as an old friend. The pronounced bass line, as well as winning cowbell and agogô – hallmarks of tracks by this XL Recordings act – make this cover memorably different than the original. The disco dancefloor vibe and the short-sounding lyrics have gone, replaced by in-your-face percussion (thanks to surely one of music’s hardest-working drummers, Jack Savidge) and sexy as hell lead vocals. Edd Gibson‘s guitar riffs three-quarters of the way in are also a totally appreciated addition.
DFA Records duo Holy Ghost! decided they wanted to put their own stamp on the Friendly Fires‘s boisterous singalong “On Board.” (You may recall hearing the original on commercials for the Wii Fit and Gran Turismo 5.) Their take features, as should be expected from them, a disco sensibility; however, it also comes complete with angelic female voices credited as “the DFA Celestial Choir,” lending a vocal richness not present in the original. The lead vocal is more intelligible as well. (Sorry Ed Mac, but if someone hadn’t told me the lyrics included “without your own defiling / you’d backwards circle right above our heads“, I never would have guessed). I also really dig the tacking-on of the catchy, repeated “Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” squarely in the middle of the track.
Because of the mutual admiration Friendly Fires and Holy Ghost! have for each other, I think it’s safe to say that should these two dance music acts ever decide to go on tour together, that would make for one hell of a bill.
The “Hold On” / “On Board” double-A-sided single will be released on 12″ vinyl and digitally on March 8 by XL Recordings. Check out the original versions of both below (Holy Ghost! don’t have a promo video for “Hold On” so only audio is available for that one.)
Friendly Fires - “On Board”
Holy Ghost! - “Hold On”
Track Listing
1. Friendly Fires – Hold On
2. Friendly Fires – Hold On (instrumental)
3. Holy Ghost! – On Board
4. Holy Ghost! – On Board (instrumental)
5. Holy Ghost! – On Board (dub – on download version only)
The psychedelic rockers behind “Kids,” “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel” have been working on their sophomore release and today, you can finally hear the first single off the forthcoming albumCongratulations (I use single lightly since the band said they didn’t want “singles” off this record).
It’s only March, and this year just keeps getting better and better musically. The newest Murder by Deathalbum, Good Morning, Magpie is debuting in early April, and is sure to top the charts as one of the best indie-folk albums of the year. Defying current musical stereotypes and redefining what true Americana and Folk really are, the newest addition to the MBD discography will be sure to keep you enthralled for quite some time.
Although it is not a concept album, Good Morning, Magpie instead captures the eternal struggle between light and dark, containing some of the darkest and brightest material that MBD has even produced. Mostly written in two weeks in the Appalachian Mountains by Adam Turla, MBD’s singer, guitarist, and songwriter, the lyrics themselves are powerful, haunting, intense, heartfelt, genuine, impactful, and incredibly passionate. They are though provoking but combined with the wonderful instrumentals, the journey through the darkness and into the light is a beautiful change from the average trendy sound that we have come to expect from most modern music.
With Turla’s vocals lacing themselves among a potent blend of strings, drums, keys, and bass, comes a new breed of American rock. All elements of their sound are more than ordinary, working together to create the uniquely amazing sound that is MBD. The cello adds an ambiance full of passion and power, the drums are almost DCI worthy for their superb marching sound, and the bass line crawls across your skin with it’s own growl of rumbling low tones, and accompanied by the Johnny Cash-esque sound of Turla’s own melodic voice.
The album opens with the mellow “Kentucky Bourbon” and continued on through the slightly addictive lyrics of “On the Dark Streets Below,” a personal favorite of mine. With the horn line addition, it sets off the track, giving it an almost swing feel à la Brian Setzer. The title track “Good Morning, Magpie” holds a few charms of its own before blending into “You Don’t Miss Twice.” Up next is the superbly unique “Foxglove,” the most catchy and instrumentally diverse track on the album, and the best track on the album in my opinion. Finishing off the album is “White Noise” and “Day” both masterpieces of this new and innovative genre and finishing off the album just as good as it started.
You can be sure that this is not another mass produced album that will sit amongst the shelves of your local chain record store, but instead a gem that will stand out for years to come. Be sure to pick up this album when it hits shelves on April 6th, and catch the band at a venue near you in the upcoming months during their current US tour. Grab some friends and a bottle of whiskey, and let this superb version of homegrown Americana Folk rock take you on a whole new unique journey through the battle between darkness and light.
Track Listing:
1. Kentucky Bourbon
2. As Long as There Is Whiskey in the World
3. On the Dark Streets Below
4. King of the Gutters, Prince of the Dogs
5. Piece by Piece
6. Good Morning, Magpie
7. You Don t Miss Twice
8. Yes
9. Foxglove
10. White Noise
11. The Day
PopWreckoning got to see Alkaline Trio rock out at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas on Friday, February 26, the same week that they released their 7 albumThis Addiction. The show was sold out, so the trio got to play for a full house. The show opened up with The Dear and Departed followed by Cursive, who was just in Lawrence months before.
Alkaline Trio played a majority of their songs off of the new album, but played enough of their older songs to keep the crowd excited. For their album having just been released on that Tuesday, there were lots of people singing along to their newer songs.
Below are several photos by Mike Goehringthat capture the sweet action that is Alkaline Trio:
After debuting their new single “Rules Don’t Stop,” on BBC Radio on February 24, We Are Scientists kept on delivering the goods when the video for “Rules” landed on the band’s YouTube account Monday morning.
This wasn’t the first time that people saw of the first video off their new albumBarbara, out June 14, as it was on rotation on MTV UK this weekend. But this was the first that those of us from the United States got to see it.
Strongly 80s-influenced, this new video has absolutely no resemblance to any of We Are Scientists’ previous videos, which included being chased by a man in a bear suit, intense boxing matches, and wrangling up pomeranians in the wild west. But with how short and simple “Rules Don’t Stop” is, it’s equally as entertaining.
The CD and vinyl single for “Rules Don’t Stop” will be released on April 5th.
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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
I have a love/hate relationship with 
