November 3, 2009
Vampire Weekend's sold out show at the Art Theater of Long Beach followed a couple of secret-ish L.A. outings -- at the former site of Madame Wong's on Halloween (Ezra was dressed as Jon Gosselin, or a douchebag, or both) and at Hollenbeck Rec Center the following day -- but Koenig called last night the first "official" show of their California itinerary (and first "movie theater" gig). Local buzz band and recent Sub Pop signees Avi Buffalo (grab an MP3 below) were there to open things up, while Ice Cream Man stuck around afterward to make sure people went home with frozen treats. Between those bookmarks, VW dedicated "Horchata" to Lola's, the Mexican restaurant across the street, and stated a number of times that they dig California. Of course, the setlist included "California English," but the song was not performed. (UPDATE: Ezra was apparently too hoarse.) As far as new ones, they also did Contra's "White Sky," "Holiday," "Run," and "Cousins." Along with Andrew Youssef's terrific photos, check out the setlist and newly expanded tour itinerary.
Continue reading Vampire Weekend/Avi Buffalo @ Art Theater, Long Beach 11/2/09...
Posted at 5:27 PM by brandon in , , ,
Tags: Avi Buffalo | Vampire Weekend
latest by Nate
In addition to including Final Fantasy's justifiably hyperbolic promotional blurb when first posting on the excellently kinetic synth-pop of "Which Song," we added this bit from Ben Jacobs aka Max Tundra himself on the process and equipment used to achieve his tones:
The main technology behind this and all of my albums has been the Commodore Amiga 500 - bestselling home computer at the time - running a $1 public domain software tracker program. The sounds don't emerge from the Amiga itself however; the machine is used to control various synths, samplers and the like. I look at colums of numbers all day on the screen of a black and white television; these digits relate to pitches, durations and tones. A lot of the noises on my record are real; the cello, bass guitar, drums, piano, trumpet and others are all rehearsed and played by me, but sometimes I will use realistic fake versions of these noises. Each song is recorded in a different way; drumkits are recorded on mono cassette recorders twice, then stuck together on the left and right of a mix; string arrangements are planned and then layered up; each note of an electric guitar is sampled so that it can be sequenced in ways too complicated for my fat fingers to play at full speed. And then I have a cup of tea and sing my heart out.
It's worth mentioning this because a remix of a Max Tundra song is, by definition, a shattering of the laborious process that yielded a truly great track. That seems sad somehow! Luckily this remix is in good hands with Passion Pit, who know from putting synths to uplifting ends. The Boston boys wrap "Which Song" in syncopation and patches dialed to their "Little Secrets" presets, pitch-shifting their synths like elastic bands, ending with some cowbells and a glimmering fade out. It sounds like it could be a Manners track with less helium vocals and more of Max Tundra's, so -- for fans of Passion Pit and Max Tundra.
Continue reading Passion Pit Remix Max Tundra (Stereogum Premiere)...
Posted at 2:53 PM by amrit in ,
Tags: Max Tundra | Passion Pit
latest by makebeeleaves
November 2, 2009
You've heard a couple of tracks from Bishop Allen's third album Grr.... Now you can see one. The Brooklyn group's on tour right as we speak -- It'd be great if their live show included as many smiling flappers as they do in this chipper black and white "True Or False" clip. (Or any smiling flappers, really.) It was directed by Randy Bell with choreography by Andrea Delmonico. The song itself is sung by BA's Darbie Nowatka Rice while the guys -- now with more facial hair -- hold it down otherwise.
Continue reading New Bishop Allen Video - "True Or False" (Stereogum Premiere)...
Posted at 4:17 PM by brandon in ,
Tags: Bishop Allen
latest by Prince of Carrot Flowers
Nashville's Jake and Jamin Orrall, aka JEFF The Brotherhood, formerly of Be Your Own Pet, play a satisfyingly straightforward, minimal style of psychedelic rock 'n' roll that now and again reminds me of a cleaner-cut power-popping Misfits (it's in the vocals cadences). You get some of that in this Brad Holland-directed video for "U Got The Look." They recently did a number of dates with Ted Leo -- he's a fan, which makes sense -- and are set to do some shows with Shonen Knife. Heavy Days is out on their own Infinity Cat Recordings.
Continue reading New JEFF The Brotherhood Video - "U Got The Look"...
Posted at 11:00 AM by brandon in , ,
Tags: Be Your Own Pet | JEFF The Brotherhood
latest by gemstone
October 30, 2009
Regular readers of this blog know that our own Brandon Stosuy is a passionate metal fan. And in recent months we've seen an enthusiastic response to our occasional coverage of the genre. So starting today, in the form of this as-yet-untitled, flexibly scheduled column, Stereogum will be devoting space to the best new metal music, with Brandon as our guide. Happy Halloween...
A few years ago I thought it would be fun to put my metal writing in one spot, so I asked Pitchfork if they'd let me do a column. At that time I was a regular contributor to the site, but was getting tired of straight-up record reviews (which often seemed to be more about the writer than the band being discussed), so I decided to make the column a place for long-form interviews capped with short, basic introductions that situated the subjects in some kind of context. I didn't always stick to the plan at first (one time Peter Sotos, Mark Solotroff, and Kevin Drumm did capsule reviews for me in a bar in Chicago), but eventually the pattern emerged. The idea was that if I was covering a band, I clearly liked them, so no need to sell you on it. I also wanted to approach things honestly and to avoid some of the tongue-in-cheek or over-the-top hyperbole that can come with metal writing. I'd tried to drive that home in a piece I wrote for Slate about metal and hipsters in 2005: It was basically a joke on hipsters and a paeon to music I grew up loving in rural Southern, NJ, where all of my sister's boyfriends had bad teenage mustaches and Metallica shirts. The personal connection to the music is important to me: For instance, as uncool as it may seem, the column's name was clearly inspired by the Slayer album, but it was also a nod to a name my friend Alex proposed for his dog before he opted for the less flashy Nero. Anyhow, I launched Show No Mercy in June 2006 via an interview with Nachtmystium's Blake Judd...
Continue reading Haunting The Chapel: Introducing Stereogum's New Metal Column...
Posted at 5:23 PM by brandon in , ,
Tags: Drudkh | Gorgoroth | Grinning Death's Head | Hat | Immortal | Katatonia | Kyla | Liturgy | Malkuth | Mount Eerie | Portal | Way To End | Weapon | Wodensthrone | Yoga
latest by Richaod
When we posted "Fake Gold" from the Brooklyn Bee Gees/Hall & Oates-inflected lite-rock quartet Tigercity, I said it felt like the song was "about trying to stay fab in this shitty economy." Judging from the jets, jewelry, champagne, and ladies in this Michael Simses-directed video, the guys aren't having a problem maintaining the sheen -- especially bearded vocalist/keyboardist Bill Gillim -- even if it is faux. The song comes from the group's first full-length Ancient Lover, which comes out next week. And, speaking of shiny things, they head on tour with Neon Indian soon. For now, though, let's see where conspicuous consumption gets you.
Continue reading New Tigercity Video - "Fake Gold" (Stereogum Premiere)...
Posted at 12:02 PM by brandon in , ,
Tags: Tigercity
latest by Ryan
October 29, 2009
Philadelphia quartet Drink Up Buttercup's "Sosey & Dosey" had a manic '60s psychedelic carnival vibe to it. This remix of a newer song, "Even Think," by Andrew W.K. continues the party, but pushes it in a different, dancier direction. The calmer original appears on a new free (for an email address) two-song digital 45 marking the band's signing to Yep Roc. You can expect a full-length on Yep Roc in early 2010, but for now here's W.K.'s bumped-up, highly caffeinated (and glow stick-appropriate) take on the fuzzed-out pop anthem.
Continue reading Andrew WK Remixes Drink Up Buttercup (Stereogum Premiere)...
Posted at 12:31 PM by brandon in ,
Tags: Andrew W.K. | Drink Up Buttercup
latest by Mr_Blue_Angel_Dood
October 27, 2009
Three years ago, Midlake released The Trials Of Van Occupanther, a sweetly harmonized, intimately rocking sophomore album that took them far away from their native Denton, TX, placing them on big tours and year-end lists and the like. This third album's taken time, by design. As they told Jessica in their Progress Report, "We didn't know exactly what we wanted, but we know we didn't want to make the same album as last time. We could have made 10 albums with the amount of time we've spent, but that doesn't mean they'd be saying anything great." Instead they committed to 40-hour work weeks in order to move away from the last record's "Fleetwood Mac-y America" with a shift toward, at least in part, "British folk scene of late '60s stuff." The set finally has a release date -- 2/2 via Bella Union in the States, and the day before in the UK -- and an official title in The Courage Of Others. That's its art above, here's a tracklist and the first few dates of a tour that will take the quintet well through 2010:
Continue reading Midlake The Courage Of Others Revealed...
Posted at 2:01 PM by amrit in ,
Tags: Midlake
latest by grayflannelsuit
