popwreckoning

Fresh off SXSW performances, Brooklyn duo Acrylics is heading out on a North America tour. They’ll be performing with Junip, featuring Jose Gonzalez.

Photo Credit: Kyle Dean Reinford

The band is touring behind the release of their debut record, Lives and Treasure. The album features a guest performance from Chairlift‘s Caroline Polachek. You can stream and download “Sparrow Song” featuring Polachek below.

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Find more from from Acrylics here.

Acrylics Tour Dates w/ Junip:
Wed – 4/20 – Toronto ON – Lees Palace
Thu – 4/21 – Cleveland Heights OH – Grog Shop
Fri – 4/22 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Blind Pig
Sat – 4/23 – Chicago IL – Empty Bottle
Sun – 4/24 – Evanston IL – SPACE
Mon- 4/25 – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
Thu – 4/28 – Denver – CO- Larimer Lounge
Fri – 4/29 – Salt Lake City UT – The State Room
Sun – 5/01 – Spokane WA- The Empyrean
Mon- 5/02 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
Tue- 5/03 – Vancouver, BC – The Rio Theatre
Wed – 5/04 – Portland, OR -Wonder Ballroom
Fri – 5/06 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
Sat- 5/07 – Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
Sun- 5/08 – Tucson, AZ – Plush
Tue- 5/10 – Austin, TX – The Mohawk
Wed- 5/11 – Houston, TX – Mink
Thu- 5/12 – New Orleans, LA – Republic
Sat- 5/14 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
Sun – 5/15 – Columbus, OH – Wexner Center
Mon- 5/16 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
Tue- 5/17 – Carrboro, NC – Cats Cradle
Wed – 5/18 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe
Thurs – 5/19 – New York City, NY – Bowery Ballroom
Sat- 5/21 – South Burlington. VT – HG Showcase Lounge
Sun- 5/22 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
* (Acrylics Only)

In this day and age, anyone with a computer can write, record and produce music. This doesn’t mean that everyone should or can do it well. An example of when this more accessible method is used for good is Glasser’s debut full-length, Ring. Ring is roughly 40 minutes of what I can only describe as a Frankenstein hybrid of electronic, folk and tribal music far more beautiful than the one you might have read about in Mary Shelley’s classic work.

Glasser, or Cameron Mesirow, ignores the usual structure of songs by using layered electronic instruments and beats combined with haunting vocals to tell a story. They’re interestingly deep songs that aren’t like too many you’ve heard before. This story is told through the actual music just as much as it is through the lyrics, meaning that when you’ve finished listening to this album, what you’ve created in your mind is totally original from what the person before you created.

The stride Glasser takes in Ring is steady and true until the end when you listen to “Treasury of We,” which brings a lighter, almost happier (this isn’t to say that the rest of the album is depressing) sound than its companions bring. This in no way ruins the experience of this album, but more than likely shows the inexperience of the artist which is nothing that should be overly criticized.

While Cameron Mesirow doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel with Ring, that’s more than acceptable. She didn’t need to, which is exhibited smoothly and enjoyably in Ring. If you’re a fan of the vocals of Wild Beasts or Chairlift and enjoy experimental, yet well-arranged electronic music, then this album is a definite must-listen.

Glasser’s Ring is released by True Panther on September 28. Tour dates and more from Glasser are available here. You can also download the first single, “Home,” below by choosing to right-click and save as:

. “Home”

Tracklisting:
1. Apply
2. Home
3. Glad
4. Plane Temp
5. T
6. Tremel
7. Mirrorage
8. Treasure Of We
9. Clamour

Check out Holy Ghost!‘s new video for “I Know, I Hear”, one of the four tracks from their Static on the Wire EP released earlier this year. It features Caroline Polachek of Chairlift.

Holy Ghost!: website | myspace | Friendly Fires / Holy Ghost! – 12” Split Single| Interview with: Alex Frankel of Holy Ghost! | @ U Street Music Hall | @ 9:30 Club

While Friday’s staggering lineup kept spirits pumped despite the slosh, Saturday’s sun was a fresh start with bikini tops and fedoras aplenty. We started the day off proper by discovering the backstage VIP Media area, as well as the VIP bathrooms and VIP booze. Kicking ourselves for not discovering this music Mecca when the monsoon hit the day before, we didn’t hesitate to take shade when invited to enjoy a refreshing Grey Goose with Mr. Kool Keith himself. Wrapped in a silvery-sequined-babushka and sporting a deer-in-headlights vibe, Kool Keith, Dr. Octagon, and all of his multiple personalities of dysfunction and smut, mingled backstage with Ice-T who made a special appearance during Keith’s set.  Adrian Grenier chilled out back there before his set with The Honey Brothers, as well as members of My Bloody Valentine…and all their kids.

Lured by the sounds of sweet St. Vincent, we ditched backstage and caught Annie Clark making beautiful noise. It seems as if only she can make distortion seem elegant. Then we moved on to Chairlift, a band which has unfortunately ended up being a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. While I really like their debut, I couldn’t help but feel kind of silly as tweens, in their braided headbands and high-waisted stonewashed short shorts, bum rushed the stage. Maybe it was the iPod commercial (look what happened to Santigold after her Coors commercial) or maybe it’s the fact that there are lots of bands, past and present, making dream pop with a synthesizer and a Brooklyn-based siren doing it a lot better, but I lost interest after the third song and headed over to the Main Stage for My Bloody Valentine, with a brief stop off to check out Neko Case.

I can only describe My Bloody Valentine’s set as a music geek’s wet dream. If you didn’t do your homework, you just won’t get it and I think it’s safe to say many Tool fans played hooky that day. There’s a certain danger to the music. It’s challenging, both physically and mentally. It’s deafening, ear bleeding, soundscape is an almost violent experience, yet there’s something thrilling in the sheer destruction of the sound, something refreshing in the utter obliteration that the music promises.

Crystal Castles hands down stole the night for me. Everyone showed up to see Alice Glass and Ethan Kath blow the big top off All Points West including John Norris and the MTV crew who were broadcasting from the side of the stage. Dear Alice & Ethan: please don’t do a beer commercial no matter what Norris and his ridiculous turquoise skinny jeans tease you with. Wielding a strobe as her weapon of choice, Alice fired and screeched from the top of gigantic booming speakers and revelers gave over to the piercing thrash of electronica’s reigning king and queen. Worship I did.

Educated by Tool as a teen and never having seen them live, I was hungry for a peek at Maynard James Keenan’s mug and wanted to feel the Undertow. Unfortunately, the notoriously private troupe denied photo privileges and Maynard remained cloaked in shadow throughout the entire set. While I understand that graphics and visual art play a large part in the band’s schema, there was definitely an element of disappointment. We came to Jersey to see you, not a video of a stone baby melt into some sort of unidentified arthropod. We rode the subway for an hour and a half, took the stank PATH train, a shuttle, and then walked 1.5 miles in the sulfur-simmering mud to see you.  You. There’s nothing wrong with giving fans what they want. You wanna rock about transcendence? Show Your Bones, like Karen O.

Photos: Dese’Rae Stage