Bon Iver to release new album

Bon Iver, who shot to recognition with both his last album and the way in which he had created it, is going to release a new album this year. It will be released on the 20th of June by Jagjaguwar in the US and by 4AD in the rest of the world. The album will be self-titled and will count ten tracks, most of which are named after places on the North American continent.

One of these places is Lisbon, OH. That place is especially well-known because of an illustrious tournament that was held in 1952. Among the contestants were a young Robert Kennedy (donning a The Honeymooners t-shirt), athlete Wilt Chamberlain, Joseph Heller, and many other great minds. So there was a real buzz before the tournament started, but when the sticks were dropped everyone was instantly quiet. It was fabulous to see all the different strategies. Sigmund Freud, for example, first picked the ones that seemed smaller as he believed in a latency period where the little sticks weren’t bonding with the other sticks yet. Kierkegaard, in a direct contrast, usually just picked one in a leap of faith. Anna Freud unfortunately lacked the confidence to do so, and she was ousted in the first round by Nabokov, who affectionately fondled them first before picking them up. Eventually the tournament was won by a Robert. K. Sterling, a Schnauzer who ever so elegantly just ate all the sticks in one fair swoop. Cary Grant protested, the Schnauzer growled, Grant fled, Robert K. Sterling followed, and Grant was last seen hanging from Lincoln’s nose.

The Knife working on new album

So, after Fever Ray and an opera based on the Evolution Theory The Knife are back working on proper studio material. The new album will, if all goes well, be born in 2012. Further details are still lacking though, but over the course of the year we assume more and more information will present itself. And if not they are a pretty stingy bunch, they are! You hear!

Though what the album is about is still being kept under wraps, there are people who think it is going to be thematically linked to an event I personally often reminisce about. I was sipping my cup of coffee one morning when I opened the newspaper and was shocked by the sudden appearance of a report stating Steve DuMere was missing. I had known DuMere since I beat his little niece in Monopoly as she landed on my hotels on Broadway. He was furious because he had crumpets in the oven but had failed to turn it on, forcing him to start with his dessert, who refused and instantaneously melted to reform a month later as a 70s pop band. When I gave him a slice of my pizza he became eternally grateful, and from that point on we met about twice a week for coffee and talk about the good of our nation’s heart and soul. I hadn’t seen him for ages, which had been eating at me since I had borrowed a vase and had only just succeeded in returning it as he had given me the receipt as well. Ever since I had felt sorry about it, but reading that he has been missing for months and with little hope of him returning I suddenly felt a bit more at ease. All in all, not a bad start to my day, I thought, as I put my coffee down and fell into a narcoleptic lapse.

News Items of the month of April

News items that were posted in the month of April. All in our house style.


Muziek Nieuws:

30 apr:
Bon Iver to release new album this year
The Knife working on new studio release

20 apr:
Washed Out to release debut in July
Motor City Drum Ensemble does DJ Kicks

13 apr:
TV on the Radio accompanies album with film
Handsome Furs announces new album

11 apr:
Patrick Wolf unveils details upcoming album
Memory Tapes announces second album

06 apr:
Danger Mouse makes homage to Italian scores
Cults give out details debut

05 apr:
Ladytron readies new album
Diamond Rings singer gets old band back together

03 apr:
Casiokids and of Montreal split 7"
Dutch festival news

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - 'Every Minute Alone' by WhoMadeWho

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.

Track: ‘Every Minute Alone’ by WhoMadeWho (listen here)
Average grade: 5.5

Anna: Melancholic voice? Check. Haunting bassline? Yes, please. Eerie beatscape? Amen. Profound sense of solitude? Don't mind if I do.
7.5/10

Craig: Ouch!!

I'm bored. This noise is predictable.
2/10

Ilse: This is Danish, it must be... Or Scandinavian atleast, I can totally hear it. Interesting that the more the song approaches its ending, I start liking the vocals less and less, while it's the other way round with the beat/bass. The latter has a rather dirty touch to it after about forty seconds in and this keeps on building and getting dirtier throughout the song, making it a nice bit of electro for a chilly summer night.
6.2/10

Linda: That is the most boring singing voice I have ever heard. And I say that having watched an episode of Britain's got Talent last week (alcohol might have been involved). I'll stick to The Silence this week (yay! Doctor Who is back! And dead! But back is more important!)
3.1/10

Stef: That is the most brilliant singing voice I have ever heard. Okay, not really, but I’m in the Anna camp that I like the melancholic voice. I like the fact that it starts rather sparse but the more he sings about the unravelling of his mental state the noise takes over until it finally takes over the entire song. I think the music enhances the lyrics that way. Add to that a beat to dance to in the mid-section and I’m hooked.
8.5/10

Washed Out to release album in July

 

Recently the band Washed Out has signed to Sub Pop. Via this label (and Domino worldwide) he will release an album on the 12^th of July. It will be called Within and Without and it will count nine tracks. The album has been recorded with Ben Allen and it will start with the song ‘Eyes be Closed’ and end with ‘A Dedication’.

It was not even that long ago when, as I was reading a magazine while walking Allen K., my beagle, I came across an article, a dedication to Leopold Sirov. Now, a couple of days later, the magazine’s internet outlet had already been flooded by many angry letters stating that, on all accounts, Sirov should not have had a dedication, ehrm, dedicated to him. The dedication portrayed Sirov as a “modern thinker”, a man “whose critiques on humanity and the current state of city life have been indispensible for many and always spot on”. Reactions that followed were often petty, and raised minor issues like that he has never been published, that his thoughts were never recorded (written or otherwise), that he has never held a position of any status, that he never held any position at all, and that a man sitting on a park bench in Soho as his full time occupation should on all accounts not be heralded in such a manner. As, so continued that particular enviously squabbling letter, this sets a bad example for the next generation, who then will think they can be great by “not doing anything except spouting on about humanity and the current state of the city, which he has never seen as I’ve not once spotted him anywhere outside of his little park between Bleeker and Fifth.”

As you can see, these are all very much minor quibbles, jealous ramblings of people who feel that they have accomplished more and that they do have the training, the experience, and have had the successes to have a dedication being written about them. What they conveniently forget is that Sirov has carefully created his image as “The man on the park bench dressed in shabby attire and with an unkempt beard making him look like Meryl Streep in Angels in America.” Everyone always knew where to find him, which is a plus as people didn’t have to rely on appointments at fancy universities to get advice. And he was always willing to give advice to anyone and for free, only asking a bottle of scotch for his greater orations like “Why we should keep an eye on pigeons (as they are keeping an eye on us)” and the brilliant “Kids behaving badly and how to scare the shit out of them using pointy sticks and an aria from Il Trovatore (and preferably Stride la Vampa)”. That all this was never put to paper or never recorded is as unfortunate as it was probably deliberate, for living in the modern city means that everything changes so often that at the moment of publication it would already be outdated anyway. A stroke of genius only Sirov could think of, illustrating his firm grasp of the intricacies of modern life.

Motor City Drum Ensemble does DJ Kicks

Motor City Drum Ensemble will be the next in line to do a new series of DJ-Kicks, which will be released by the !K7 label. The German based producer has gathered a tracklist including classic House and bass heavy cuts. Some of the artists that will feature on this mix are Rick “Poppa” Howard, Mr. Fingers, Robert Hood, and he is also going to use one of his own tracks called ‘L.O.V.E.’. Motor City Drum Ensemble played SoulDrum earlier this year, and his set was very smooth and danceable and a good night out, so definitely looking forward to this.

One of the tracks is called ‘Can Your Love Find His Way’, and indeed the big question is, can love find his way? At least, that was the central thesis for Mauro DiPeriggio, who contended that love is not part of oneself, but that it comes from external forces which might or might not find their way and, if they do, might arrive five minutes too late due to a punctured bicycle. This, thus argued DiPeriggio, would account for why love is so hard to pin down and why an on paper perfect match might in reality not be so. DiPeriggio states that if two external pieces need to get to two people while only having a certain interval to do so, a lot can go wrong, especially with cab fares these days and some external pieces’ reluctance to take the subway between midnight and six in the morning.

The Human League has still got it, Baths has got it for some

Live Report - The Human Leageu & Baths live at Paradiso, 2011

Nothing says, Hey boy, you are in a transition phase, then first being surrounded by forty and fifty year old people who all seem to signify one way of how your future coul look like, and consequently being surrounded by hip young kids contorting their bodies in such a way that makes your own body say, Did I ever do that? Surely not. The former happened while watching The Human League doing their Credo tour, and the latter took place when fifteen minutes later young kid Baths played the upper room at the same venue. Two entirely different crowds and entirely different concerts of two bands who were spawned by an entirely different generation and an entirely different world situation. Surprisingly, non belonging to me, which doesn’t mean to say I cannot enjoy it.

The Human League, to do the mandatory history bit for the ones who forgot or the ones who never knew, are a band hailing from Sheffield and – gasp – the Seventies. Although, really, the Eighties, as that is when they had their greatest successes with, for example, the album Dare and their consequent hit ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ off of that album. Grunge set in during the Nineties, which knocked the well-being out of the band in every which way imaginable. But slowly they recovered, and even to such an extent that they are still touring the world as a six piece (including the three old time vocalists Philip Oakey, Joanne Catherall, and Susan Ann Sulley), and they are touring to support their recently released album Credo (which has already led to remixes by such names as Aeroplane and Villa).

Obviously, they have aged a bit. Oakey is 55, and you know it is not nice to unveil a woman’s age, but even they (even they!) have added a few years. No disqualification, but time simply does that, and not just to the band, but also to their audience. The crowd consists of people in their forties and fifties. There is indeed a batch out there who were born in the Seventies and Eighties and probably have never witnessed the band during their heyday, but their music has trickled down into their culture. The band has probably aged better in gay culture than in normative culture. This is not surprising, as there are a fair few elements in The Human League (both then and now) that can be considered as bearing characteristics also (not solely, mind you) belonging to queer culture.

Luckily, if queer culture has thought us anything it is how to throw a party, so if you borrow the characteristics for that you are sure it is going to be a show. During the gig there are multiple changes in dress (though Oakey’s not as outlandish as in the olden years, but the girls are not letting age get to them), Oakey has worked on his appearance mixing the masculine (the leather trench coat, the almost army like trousers, and the working man’s boots) with the feminine (lip gloss, a bit of make-up), and the girls are working it like diva’s. Especially Susan Ann Sulley is busting out some moves on high heels, and surely her behavior on stage as a diva is something that gays traditionally are drawn to (as in, general gay culture, not as in, every gay man on this planet). Because it has been argued that, when stigmatized or marginalized in society, for one’s self-invention one tries to create in oneself the belief of being sublime. This might all sound like a big bunch of mumbo jumbo to you, but with the audience tonight as it is, I thought it might go a little way to explain it.

Not that The Human League is gay or that it can only be adored when belonging to some sort of sub culture, therefore the band has churned out too many tunes in their heyday. The Credo singles like ‘Night People’ add some oomph and a bit more beat to it (am I suddenly in a rave one might wonder), but the band knows that there are also plenty of people who want to hear their older stuff. And so the band works their way through renditions of ‘The Lebanon’, ‘Mirror Man’, a theatrical performance of ‘Empire State Human’, ‘Fascination’, and maybe their biggest hit: ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’.

With older bands you always wonder whether they are A) dong it for the money, or B) doing it because they like to but secretly don’t cut it anymore. Luckily they still have a bit of oomph left in them. Oakey is hitting the notes both in high and low register and he still has quite a booming voice. The girls are working it and having fun and singing a bit, and then you’ve got the whole battle with the keytars going on and everything: they really went all out on this. Even hanging up a big screen up there where they show both silly animations and snippets from classic cinema. That they have gone all out, that they still have the skills to pull off good renditions of their rich back catalogue, and that they are visibly enjoying being on stage: it all leads to just a good night out and (thankfully) not just some old people who felt an old itch or had seen their bank account was getting low on funds. Hats off to them for just doing what they like, still doing it well, and still wanting to do it well and give the audience a good night. The tickets are (contrary to most “previously iconic bands”) decently priced to say the least, so it’s good bang for your buck it is, whether you are there just for nostalgia, just to see a band that is part of your cultural heritage but you missed during their heyday, or just because you want to see a good, professional band and have a good night out.

Now, at that point in the evening I felt pretty young, but by the time I got to the upper room of the venue where Baths is performing I can’t help but think of the song ‘Losing My Edge’ by those who ceased to be (and for those who have ceased to be). Baths is Will Wiesenfeld, who is at least three years younger than me if not more. He is still senior to the gathered crowd though. Before starting he muses out loud who have just come from The Human League downstairs, and he has a hard time containing a smile while saying he is curious to see what they think of it. Now, I am not a whateverosaurus just yet, so I know what is coming is glitchy, knob-twiddling electro that has nothing at all to do with the (synth) pop songs The Human League just churned out. However, there is no way for me not to feel like the geezer who in fact just came from The Human League downstairs.

To be frank (or to be delusional about it), this has never been my kind of thing. Even in years previous I have always left this glitch and that 8-bit genre for what it is. The gathered crowd, obviously, has not. Contorting and twisting their bodies in ways now unimaginable to me. They are dancing to the sudden stops, turns, and twists in Baths’ music. Experimental, yes, and Wiesenfeld obviously is trying to find just the right moment to stop and go and reverse. As one who has been a fervent and vocal supporter of the return of Disco and House, this doesn’t have a beat for me to dance to. My body is saying, Nah mate, you can’t move to this, but my eyes are seeing that indeed my body is speaking from his own limitations. These kids are grabbed by the music which makes them go in every which way their body takes them. Rarely have I felt as voyeuristic as during this.

So it begins. A transitional phase where I have left one part of my life behind and have not yet fully acquired the veteran status that I can go to gigs of bands who started out when I a was youngster and think, Blimey, I bought this record forty years ago. With that said, undoubtedly The Human League makes accessible music, and they have tons of tunes that transcend both generations and cultures (despite perhaps being rooted in one generation/culture more than the other). Not to mention that they can still put on a good show. I don’t quite see Baths ever transcending that much, but for the niche he is currently playing to he is providing that what for these kids is going on. And any time you have a crowd that size (and for a young band sizeable it was) and have them react physically to what you are doing, then you are making music, sometimes it is that simple.

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - 'What About Us' by Handsome Furs

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.


Track: ‘What About Us’ by Handsome Furs (listen here)
Average grade: 6.4

Ilse: I adore Wolf Parade and related projects and have very much enjoyed Dan Boeckner and wifey's albums so far. This new track features some dark synth sounds, making you feel you're in some sinister, shady disco (possibly in Eastern Europe, as that is apparently the inspiration for the new album). The odd thing about it though is that the song takes a turn after about 3 minutes, and it almost seems as if you're listening to two different tracks in one, or that it's at least divided into two separate parts. Not necessarily a bad thing, I'm just wondering why they didn't break it down into different songs then? However, as it's not utterly and immensely distracting, I'm starting to anticipate the album carefully jubilantly, and I hope it will be better than Wolf Parade's last album, which I can't remember playing after that first (and only) time.
7.3

Anna: I find the musical part of the song to be tedious, a lazy sounding beatscape, but I do love his voice, full of angst and passion. He is undoubtedly much better with guitars than he is with keyboards, so take note, mister.
5/10

Linda: It's a good thing their live comedy road show (which does include a lot of music and very flexible and unexpected dance moves) is as brilliant as it is, 'cause when it comes to music Dan Boeckner seems to need Spencer Krug's input to create a great song. Seriously, go see them - I believe they're touring Europe next month.
5.2/10

Craig: Hard-hitting 80s industrial beats have been appealing to me more and more lately. It's quite dramatic and has a seriousness to it that makes you question why you're dancing so emphatically. I feel like I'm celebrating a break-up or something.
6.8/10

Stef: I like the simplicity and the insistency of the beat and the urgency of the vocals of Boeckner. That seems to work well together. The second part it mellows out a bit. I do like Boeckner’s voice though, and like Linda said, catch them live, it is well worth the few pounds you have to part with me thinks.
7.5/10

On First Listen – Holy Ghost! by Holy Ghost!

On First Listen is not an album review, but simply a sort of stream of consciousness (albeit edited) report of what we were thinking whilst listening to this album for the first time. So don't take it too seriously, and don't see it as our final and definite opinion or something.

Oh my, now these kids seem booming. If you are an avid follower of this blog (or even so much as a sporadic one), then you’ll know we love Holy Ghost!. We have been raving about them since the get go, interviewed the guys last year, and this year the DFA signed duo will release their debut. So lets see if the album has us in a rapture on first listen as much as the singles and remixes had! If you want to listen “on the read”, then check this stream for the album.

The first song is ‘Do It Again’, which was released as a single not too long ago. It has a catchy, though quite simple beat, and it struts forward. It is very listenable. That is, I don’t think this is just for aficionados, but I think  that people not actually living in underground NY clubs might find this a gateway into this kind of world. No wonder they have been signed to the Hilfiger Denim campaign then.

‘Wait and See’ is a “new” song, as in, it has not been released prior to this album (to my knowledge). Love the start with the three layers of instruments introducing their catchy line separately. It seems rather more up-tempo than the previous song, which seemed a bit mid-tempo. Love the duo of the beat and the synth sounds when he is not singing, that’s stellar. “The problems with me are in you”, he, fun line. At the end they’ve got that “oh-oh-ho-oh-ho” thing going on, which I can imagine never fails to elicit a response live.

Third on the tracklist is ‘Hold My Breath’. Now, for the people who have paid attention recently, this track is out there in three versions! It’s on the Wolfram album as well, though in a different cut, and it is on the Wolfram yet again, but then with Shally Shapiro! This is probably the most disco and the slickest version of them all. It is amazing how these guys can craft those simple yet catchy structures with consistency, getting the beat and the synth working. With such a framework you put yourself in a good position. That bit with the lines “Take some money from the joint account” is insane instrumentally speaking.

‘Say My Name’ is another “oldie”. What jumps out looking at the tracklist is that the previously released songs never follow each other and are spread across the album. That is a good move I think, because I do feel that some albums suffered from a poor track order last year. ‘Say My Name’ spreads the disco sentiment with a chorus of “Hold on, hold on, even though you know you shouldn’t”. It has a nice down tempo – up-tempo variation.

‘Jam for Jerry’, again, is catchiness personified. Every song on this album is just so easy on the ears. Paradoxically, this song feels full of life. I say paradoxically, because in actual fact this is a song in honour of their late friend Jerry Fuchs (who in a tragic incident fell down an elevator shaft). Which has got Holy Ghost! feeling they have done something half wrong, and their inability to right both that feeling and the situation is a thriving force on this song. Thankfully they didn’t go into ballad mode for this.

Probably the oldest song is placed sixth. ‘Hold On’ saw the light of day for the very first time in 2007, and it is one of the survivors. It is a slightly slower paced song with a very identifiable introductory sound. It doesn’t sound as slick as some of the newer songs, which is a nice change of pace. “Why do the good things happen in the past”, I really like that line. It isn’t so much about the lyrics as it is about the overall feel this album conveys, but sometimes you can find nice lines like that  in there, which makes listening all the more worthwhile. I think the echoes at the end are a new touch.

‘It’s Not Over’ is another new one, and the first few seconds already work towards a slight release. Sounds a bit deeper -- if you can call it that -- with the beat a bit lower and more resonating. The vocals, though, sound very 80s on this song. This is the first song in which I notice a guitar to be honest, and it does a little solo. Percussion in the end sounds a bit heavier as well.

Oh my, a song that starts vocals only, quelle surprise! After that it goes real 80s for a moment. The song seemingly narrates about someone who is always on the run or running and can’t find peace or a moment’s rest. The song, by the way, is called ‘Slow Motion’, and you’ll hear those words repeated plenty of times during the song.

‘Static on the Wire’ was the focal point of the EP carrying the same name, an EP which was released last year. I believe it features a bit of John MacLean guitar this one. Love the – what are they? – tom-toms I think. Perhaps the song with the most layers on it.

Oh my, what an ending with none other than Michael McDonald! Well, everyone knew it was coming, as the lads themselves seem proud to have someone of his stature singing on the album. Starts off with some angelic voices as if to announce McDonald’s coming. Nice little beat to get moving to as well.

Sometimes you become enthusiastic about a band to only find that they’ve used up all of their good songs for their first singles. Or you get enthusiastic just to find that the tracklisting is really dodgy. This, though, is absolutely everything I expected of this band and more. On first listen this is just a great, great album, and I can see them becoming huge big time. The sound is just there, the tunes are there, and these guys take what they are doing seriously. It always remains to be seen how an album holds up over repeated listens (and longer), but listening it for the first time I have a hard time curbing my enthusiasm.

TV on the Radio releases sort of clip/film for the new album

By now probably you have either heard the new album or you are patiently waiting to get your hands on a physical copy. Opinions range wildly (and surely we will come with a sort of opinion ourselves in the near future), and in the mean time TV on the Radio has picked up the camera to come with a sort of film to accompany the release. The film lasts nearly an hour and is made by friends of the band who know how to direct (don’t forget that Tunde Adebimpe has also had a few acting jobs). According to the text below the video this works as a visual re-imagining of the album. You can see for yourself if it indeed works like that via this link.

Long it was thought there was a tenth shade of light, but this theory has finally been disproved as research showed that the only people who were able to see this illusive tenth shade of light were amateur divers who had been fans of the Karzinski Brothers. The Karzinski Brothers were the famous diving couple that coined the Lupowski dive, one in which the landing doesn’t take place in the water, which was highly common at that time. The dive was highly regarded by critics but was banned a few years later because so many unskilled divers started to attempt it, resulting in so much skull damage it was deemed inappropriate for official matches, and therefore less desirable for divers in general to attempt.

New Handsome Furs album coming

The band Handsome Furs will release a new album in the near future. The near future being the 28^th of June, as that is when Sound Kapital will come out. It will do so via Sub Pop. It will follow their 2009 release Face Control, and with an eye on the tracklist I do assume that Sound Kapital is a play on Das Kapital. Though, admittedly, that is just a hunch, but some of the tracks are called ‘Serve the People’, ‘What About Us’, ‘Cheap Music’, and ‘Memories of the Future’.

In a report that was published a few months ago Dr. Laupenbach states that one of the reason many people feel depressed is because of memories of the future. He states that, Indeed, memories of the futures have left people in want. They think, my car is not a flying car, they think this is not my fully automatic beautiful house, and this is not my river that is flowing beneath my house to make it run on water energy. This was promised to me by the sci-fi books and movies and futurism studies. I let the days go by knowing that one day in my lifetime this would be part of my world. Instead, what do we have, 500 rubbish channels on television and a queue at the airline desk because the one thing that can fly (the aeroplane) has been overbooked.

Patrick Wolf has announced details new album

Patrick Wolf is going the unpronounceable route with his new album called Lupercalia. This album will be released on the 30^th of May via Hideout Recordings and Mercury. There will be eleven tracks on the album, including ‘This City’, for which a clip was released a while ago. On the album Patrick Wolf will play quite a bundle of instruments himself, and he also took on production duties.

One of the tracks on the album is called ‘The Falcons’. The Falcons were an illustrious group that fought for the rights of human kind. They started out helping people who were in need. Sort of like superheroes except for that they didn’t have any powers, just a large storage space where they could practice. However, the group peaked in popularity when they started to employ social media to cover their rescue attempts. More people started to get to know about their noble deeds, and with the extra funding this garnered it seemed like they could actually change the world.

However, because of the larger public demand and because people started to except hourly twitter updates The Falcons started to spent more time on the internet than on actually rescuing people. But if they didn’t rescue people, they wouldn’t have anything to report at all! Aye, there lay the conundrum. In an attempt to stay on twitter and not lose their popularity they started to report about rescues that never took place, which was easy enough to find out as there has never been such a thing as a Rhinoceros the size of Manhattan, and if there ever had been one it certainly didn’t get stuck in the pool of the Mrs. Crabbopowitz.

Memory Tapes announces new album

 

It has been quite a while since we at IKRS interviews Memory Tapes, and during that interview he already mentioned a second album. It has been quite the wait since then, but now his sophomore effort has officially gotten a release date. This is the 5^th of July, and it will be released through Carpark. “It” being Player Piano, for that is what the album is called. The debut of this band was one of my personal favourite albums of that year, and I still occasionally pet the blue vinyl which is the pleasant occupant of a part of my home.

One of the tracks is called ‘Today is Our Life’. This line also featured in a press communiqué, when everyone was told that today, indeed, was our life, whereas yesterday we collectively had lived the life of Ria Mendelbaum. And from her great thanks to the people who learned something (especially repairing a sparkplug, because my God, that Ford Escort had been in a dormant state for years now). Also thanks to the person who won the lottery, that was much appreciated. Less thanks to the person who suddenly appeared on Fifth Avenue through the NY Sewage system. And to Barry Dosenbach I’ve only got one thing to say, you (censored as part of our quest to make this communiqué enjoyable for everyone).

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - Our Favourite LCD Soundsystem Tracks!

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.

This week, as a token of appreciation for the band LCD Soundsystem who called it quits not too long ago, we asked our contributors for their favourite LCD track, if they had any! See the results below!

Ilse: It was a tough choice, but I ultimately decided to go with 'Losing My Edge'. Musically, I love how the sound keeps on building up, how it's structured and its great energetic beat(s). Of course the song's ultimate strength is in its lyrics and autobiographical content, as James Murphy satirizing his feelings from back when he was a DJ: the fear of 'not being cool anymore'. As the music world is ever evolving, and musos get older seeing themselves losing their 'coolness' to younger generations, the feelings (and the somewhat ridiculous nature of those feelings) this song represents has a timeless quality to it. I also think it's great that the track goes two ways, balancing between feeling superior and feeling afraid: the fear of the 'kids coming up from behind', but also the respect our 'narrator' shows for these 'better looking people with better ideas and more talent'. ('And they're actually really, really nice.') So apart, from that it's a great track to dance to, it's also great to listen to James Murphy's name- and placedropping, and take this song in as if it were a story. Whether or not LCD Soundsystem is ever going to tour or produce albums again; at least I'm proud I can say of this band/musical era: I was there, I was there.

Anna: My favourite LCS Soundsystem song is Franz Ferdinand's cover of All My Friends - so you can say that I never had any attachment to them. Never really got the appeal; their beats and melodies don't hold my attention and Murphy's enunciation is definitely not my ears' favourite thing. On the plus side, their lyrics can be witty.

I understand why their fans are distressed right now, I would be as well in a similar situation. Turn that frown upside down, there shall be a reunion.

Craig: This is an embarrassing predicament indeed:

The only thing I've ever heard by LCD Soundsystem is some 20-minute Nike exercise mix (link is to a sample -ed) they recorded. It was 'high-energy,' I guess.

I'm going to check out the footage of their last show now...

Linda: Someone Great
I don't know why, but this track - a bit of a odd one out for LCD Sounsystem - has always been my favourite of them (and one of the few instances on which I actually completely agree with Pitchfork). Luckily, I've never suffered a loss like the one in the song, but it still manages to get to me, which is weird in a way as songs that you can relate to should have more of an impact. But then again, maybe it is the sheer quality of James Murphy and friends that make this track so good.

Stef: Well, this column shows the popularity of LCD Soundsystem. Not as big as they thought they were, however I still am of the opinion they have a cultural significance, whether it is as bearer or voyeur or in another capacity. My favourite track (though admittedly this is subject to change) has got to be ‘Tribulations’. I perhaps even first heard it as the Lindstrom remix, but since then I’ve grown to love the original as well. I just love the line: “Everybody makes mistakes / but it seems that it are always mine that just keep on stinging”. That in addition to the ridiculous dance potential make this my favourite track of this band who daringly called it quits a few weeks ago.

IKRS Radio Show - 23rd of March

And another Episode of IKRS Radio Show by our London Based friends, and I mean, who else could’ve made this episode? It starts with some information on DNA (what would this kid study, huh?), and where else will you be getting that packaged along with some great music again?This episode you can listen to stuff like The Kills, Erland and the Carnival, Fleet Foxes, and Architecture in Helsinki, so check it out!

Ikrs 23rd March by Ikrs on Mixcloud

Danger Mouse creates homage to Italian scores

Danger Mouse is keeping himself busy. With Daniele Luppi he has made an homage to Italian film music. This homage has taken the shape of a fifteen track album that will be released on the 17^th of May by Capitol. The music features some musicians who have actually played for Ennio Morricone (the master of the film score), and further aid will be provided by Jack White and Norah Jones.

One of my personal favourite Italian films is by an underrated director Guiseppi Montonini. His masterpiece is entitled The Violin Cried Tears of Basil. The plot is described as follows: “The young, charming, but down on his luck (and money!) Dino is in love with the beautiful Bella. To woo his muse he wants to serenade her on the most beautiful violin: that of maestro Paolo DiMaria. He steals the violin, switching it with a bag of sand approximately the same weight. DiMaria is at first fooled, but when the bag of sand fails to hit C during the crescendo he cries wolf. A wolf enters the screen and bites DiMaria, who in pain succumbs into an aria of Carmen. The police starts a proper manhunt, but both Dino and the violin seem to have disappeared. Bella is grief stricken.

Ten years later Dino returns. He poses as the violin, and DiMaria is fooled especially when he does succeed in hitting the C duringthe crescendo. However, problems arise when the violin returns posing as Dino. DiMaria takes no notice, but Bella becomes suspicious when the violin is unable to satisfy her sexually. When the violin fails to make a salad Bella is sure. To wallow in her sorrow she goes to a concert, where she sees DiMaria play Dino like a violin. In a particularly moving scene Bella stands up, yells Dino, mi amor! Dino, recognizing her voice, bites DiMaria, runs towards Bella, and both elope to France where he is kidnapped by highwaymen mistaking him for a Stradivarius and sold during auction.

Cults to release debut end of May

 

The duo of Cults has released details for their debut album, which will be self-titled. The album consists of 11 tracks and will be released by Columbia. They will do this on the 31^st of May. Just a week or so before that day Cults will perform in Amsterdam as part of the London Calling festival.

One of the eleven tracks is titled ‘Never Saw The Point’, and there once was this chap over at 21^st Street, and he never saw the point, which was awful because not only didn’t he know what he wanted to do and what it was all about, but it was also exhausting listening to him talk about it as he just went on and on and on and on and on and on and he wouldn’t pause for nothing unless he ran out of things to say at which point everyone was just so happy they would immediately erupt in joyous celebration with what little energy they still had because it is just so exhausting if you have to listen to someone who just doesn’t pause which is just tiring on everyone’s ear and at one point you are losing the plot and you are thinking – What? How did we get here?, until you realise he is talking about grandma’s buns, at which point you are so at a los of context you misinterpret everything and are thinking about something quite unsavoury and distasteful.

Ladytron readies new album

 

The band Ladytron is gearing up for a September release of their new album. The specific date they are eyeing is the 12^th of September and it will be released via Nettwerk. The album, which is called Gravity the Seducer, is co-produced by Barny Barnicott. The band will be touring Europe in May and June, but Dutch dates have yet to be announced as far as I know.

Roger Inpowitz thought, Well, if everyone is so drawn upon gravity, surely if I induce myself with the right extract of this substance people would be automatically drawn to me as well!  So Inpowitz embarked on a quest for he wanted to duplicate the effect of gravity. At first this went wrong in the sense that he extracted the gravity wrongly, and when he injected it in his body people were not drawn to him, but he simply constantly fell down. The next attempt though he found the magic formula, he cried, Eureka, I found the magic formula, and he injected a tiny bit in himself as a test. And it did work, albeit only with squirrels and lesser rated rodents (which in turn had the adverse effect that the people he wanted to draw to him stayed away from him even further. It did give him added stature in the scientific world (and beyond!) though, and it earned him the nicknames The Newton of the North, Northern Newty, and The Pied Piper of All Ugly Crawly Things). To also attract people, he thought, Hey, if I up the doses I will probably attract larger beings. He extracted more gravity, upped the doses, before he knew it the earth had rolled over on top and was now gravitating towards him. He couldn’t hold the earth, he and the earth fell down the galaxy, and now we all have higher electricity bills because sunlight is much more infrequent.

Singer Diamond Rings re-forms old group

 

John O’Regan, the main man behind Diamond Rings, has regrouped with his old band members from The D’Urbervilles. They will start playing again under a new guise, namely Matters. The first single, entitled ‘Get In Or Get Out’ will be released through O’Regan’s own label Hype Lighter. The band is aiming for an album release this fall.

Upon reading the title of the first single I had to immediately think of a passage using a phrase vaguely similar to it’s name. The phrase was Get it or, or get out, and I chanced upon it in a work of philosopher Lord Andrey Dozonev entitled Circular Motions and the Conclusions that can be Drawn From Them. The following is the excerpt that entails this particular phrase.

A wife told her husband to get it or get out. The husband, who was a professor by trade, came into his class frustrated and tired (couches, by default, aren’t as comfortable as beds), and when a student failed to answer a question on quantum theory he said, Get it, or get out. The student came home, put on some Brahms, his gay boyfriend (using the added “gay” to emphasise behaviour one often terms gay as opposed to straight behaviour or, in the case of playing Brahms, being-a-snobbish-git-who-doesn’t-know-much-about-classical-music-but-likes-the-idea-of-himself-listening-to-it behaviour), the boyfriend said, I want to put on Pokerface, to which his boyfriend replied, referring to Brahms, Either get it, or get out. The boyfriend went into the bedroom, saw a mouse, he got it and threw it out. The mouse, needing a couple of blocks to regain his composure, re-emerged on Fifth Avenue to walk into the professor’s house where he stumbled upon his wife. She let out a shriek, stumbled over the kitchen stool, hurt her elbow, and had to walk with a cast for fourteen days. What I’m saying is, don’t buy cantaloupes to early in Spring, they tend to be squishy.

Crazy Zany Radio Sunday - 'Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)' by YACHT

Every week our contributors will voice their opinion concerning one song, it’s a simple as that! The more the merrier, so people are always welcome to join in, just leave a note, eh.

Track: ‘Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)’ by YACHT (listen here)

Average grade: 6.5

Craig: I am a big fan of YACHT.  I'd call them pop music for conspiracy theorist philosophers who like to get wasted and dance.  This song has the synth beat and off-kilter lyrics I expect, but for some reason I'm feeling a little cool on it upon first examination.  This is the kind of band to listen to multiple times before fully appreciating them, though, so I'm going to have to go with the benefit of the doubt on this one.  Dance, dance!
7/10

Anna: My general opinion of YACHT is meh, and this song has done absolutely nothing to change it. Casual electropop without a spark to be seen or heard for miles. They put on an energetic live show though, if that helps.

2/10

Linda: I LOVE YACHT! And you would too if you'd seen them live! It's like the OK Go treadmill video but better and not a video nor with OK Go or treadmills (because honestly, who ever wants to come close to one of those monsters?)! The LCD Soundsystem likeliness in this song is almost ironic as that band have just waved goodbye to the music bizz with an over 3 hour long farewell gig. So run, YACHT, run! There's a void to be filled!

9.1/10

Stef: Something basically all DFA bands are a master at is stealing/incorporating other sounds/influences (depending which side of the fence you are on), and this song is no exception. I like that kind of alluding/mixing to be honest, and it sure beats out the roof the roof the roof is on fire /we don’t need no water let the motherfucker burn. I think this one is more clever. Also it is a fun song that really fits into the YACHT aesthetic. And I agree with everyone who has said positive stuff about their live show.

8/10

Casiokids and of Montreal team up for 7” split

Record Store Day is looming again (it will be held on the 16^th of April), and with that as the reason the bands of Montreal and Casiokids have decided to make a split 7”. of Montreal, the band led by Kevin Barnes, have covered ‘Expecting to Fly’ by Buffalo Springfield. Casiokids have come up with a new track with the name of ‘London Zoo’. It will be released by Splendour. Casiokids opened for of Montreal during the latter’s European tour a few years ago.

The track by Casiokids is called London Zoo, and let me tell you what happened the last time I went to London Zoo. I went there and – well, I’m sure you saw it on the news that day. Or read it in the papers the day after – but I went there, and I sat down on a park bench later. And along comes this guy with at home a wife, two daughters, two cats, two parakeets; you know the type. I told him, you know, I’ve been to this zoo before, to study how we exist between animals and animals and humans and animals and humans and humans. But I guess it was unfair, for all the animals are in different pads anyhow. And I’ve come to the conclusion that, you see, your parakeets are interchangeable with your daughters are interchangeable with your two televisions are interchangeable with your two cats are interchangeable with any other prop in your apartment. I pulled a knife on him. I dropped the knife. He picked up the knife. I charged into the knife. It was on the news, I’m sure it must’ve been.

Dutch Festival News

Oh yes, some Dutch festival news here now! Straight up stuff, so if you don’t like actual news stuff move along. But just thought I would quickly update everyone on my personal favourite festival De Affaire (as in, walking distance, sleeping in my own bed, and free of charge) and on the Incubate Festival in Tilburg.

Lets start with the latter. Incubate has announced that one of the guests of the festival (that will kick off on the 11^th of September) will be Ted Nugent. In a BBQ “Meat and Greet” (which is limited to fifty people only) Nugent will present his book Kill it and Grill it, which was released in 2002. Some of the artists that have already been announced are Megafaun, Joan of Arc, Library Tapes, and some seventeen others. In a related festival on the 7^th of April (called Incubated) a trio of artists will perform at Paradox in Tilburg. These artists are Eklin, Sightings, and John Maus. The latter is known for his collaborations with Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and Panda Bear.

As far as De Affaire goes, the festival as part of the 4-Daagse has announced its first names. There are seven of them, most notably Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and avant-garde duo The Books (who I personally can’t listen to on repeat, but an interesting booking it certainly is). Other names are Avi Buffalo,  The Black Atlantic, C.W. Stoneking, and Eskmo. Last year the festival had an eclectic and fun line-up with names like Pantha du Prince, Toro Y Moi, Dum Dum Girls, The Morning Benders, Los Campesinos!, FM Belfast, and The Hundred in the Hands, to name my personal favorites of the festival. And the weather was great (as opposed to the year before, OMG) and the atmosphere was amazing, so definitely looking forward to that again.