CMJ » Derek Reed

Fleet Foxes, Walkmen @ Williamsburg Waterfront: September 24

Derek Reed — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:00:49 +0000

Fleet Foxes - Photo by Katherine Avery Briggs

Fall weather rolled into New York City last week, just in time for Fleet Foxes’ victory-lap visit to the city in support of sophomore hit Helplessness Blues. An outdoor set at the Williamsburg Waterfront—it was supposed to be the perfect setting for these kings of beardo-folk-rock’s autumnal tunes. But Saturday showed up with disappointment: New York was cloudy, muggy and more evocative of July’s heatpocalypse than the crisp pastoral scenes that fill the Foxes’ brilliant-to-date output.

Opening act the Walkmen stepped onto the stage around 6:30, the band members looking suave with their blazers, slacks and vintage guitars. Drawing material from its six studio albums, the group played a 10-song set for a receptive hometown crowd. Frontman Hamilton Leithauser is much more reserved and low-key in the flesh than his voice sounds on tape, and the rest of his band is as rhythmically tight as it is all-business. In fact, the set’s only stage antic happened when a bashful little boy in a white suit came out between songs to deliver the band members cans of Brooklyn Lager, drawing a massive awwww from the crowd. (He then retreated to the stage-right wing and played air-guitar for the rest of the set.)

Walkmen - Photo by Katherine Avery Briggs

The Walkmen held its own, but all during the set, the audience’s attention shifted back and forth between the band onstage and the sunset that was blazing, orange and gold, behind the Manhattan skyline on the river’s opposite bank. “That was just about the most perfect way to watch the Walkmen,” Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold would later remark. “Like a Woody Allen movie or something.”

When Fleet Foxes came on—wearing beards instead of blazers—the sun had set, and the video screen behind the stage changed to a scrolling bed of stars that was probably the best night sky New York has seen post-1900. Pecknold gave his nod to the Walkmen, and Fleet Foxes launched into the Helplessness Blues epic “The Plains/Bitter Dancer,” hitting the five-part intro harmonies with pitch-perfect clarity. For the set’s entirety, Pecknold’s voice was crisp and pure, cutting through the mix with a presence that you seldom hear at outdoor shows.

Fleet Foxes - Photo by Katherine Avery Briggs

Up next was “Mykonos,” which provided one of the more chills-inducing moments of the night when the crowd joined in at the song’s climax, belting, “You go wherever you go today.” Come to think of it, that might’ve been the concert’s most pleasant surprise: You might expect audience participation to spoil harmonies as pretty as Fleet Foxes’, but, Saturday night, it only added to the effect, turning the concert into something of a winsome, modern-day folk revival.

Fleet Foxes hit all of the now-canonical highlights—“Ragged Wood,” “Your Protector,” “Blue Ridge Mountains”—and played the new stuff with the added gusto that live performances bring. (The “Sunlight over me no matter what I do” line from “The Shrine/An Argument” never sounded so powerful.) The band members, loose in spirits with nothing left to prove to the faithful Williamsburg audience, joked about brunch and New York pizza between songs and tried, unsuccessfully, to get the attention of people watching from balconies on the high-rise apartments adjacent to the concert site.

The encore closed with—what else—”Helplessness Blues,” and, as the band walked off-stage, an Irish jig played over the main speakers while the words, “GOOD LUCK IN THE REST OF YOUR LIVES,” splashed across the stage’s backdrop. Right back at’cha, Fleet Foxes. Right back at’cha.

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Ganglians – Still Living

Derek Reed — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:00:25 +0000

Summer is winding down here in New York City. Temperatures are settling comfortably into the 80s, and July’s heatpocalypse is fading into distant memory as a new, equally dreadful prospect fills the minds of CMJ’s interns: the start of the fall school semester. But while the rest of us are mourning the season’s end, Sacramento quartet Ganglians has stepped into the void with Still Living, the group’s latest record and this summer’s final musical hurrah. The outfit’s pair of 2009 LPs established a rough-around-the-edges, weirdo-rock savoir, but from the swinging, sing-along kick-off of the new record’s opening track (“Drop The Act”), it’s clear that the group has traded in some of that spook-psychedelia for sunny, escapist, Wilson-bros vibes.

Ganglians’ sound is more focused and charming than ever, which probably owes in part to producer Robby Moncrieff, who worked on another offbeat rock band’s coming-out party (Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca). But don’t worry; the fun police haven’t nixed all of these guys’ shenanigans. Plenty of studio quirks dot the record: the car alarms at the end of “Jungle,” mid-song studio chatter (”I’m just gonna riff around now”) and “Things To Know,” which sounds like My Morning Jacket teaming up with a barber shop quartet to write baby-making music.

But the meat of Still Living isn’t its quirks or vibes—it’s the songwriting itself, and since the album fills two LPs and almost an hour of play-time, it has a whole lot of that. “Jungle” is a primal, rhythmic strummer whose chorus harmonies sound like Fleet Foxes on a good day, and “Evil Weave” finds the band injecting a tenderly scintillating guitar solo into what’s otherwise a classic surf-rock jam.

It’s a fun act, but you could make the case that the record’s strongest songs aren’t the upbeat, road-trip-to-the-beach ones but the slower, more spacious ballads like “That’s What I Want” and “Sleep.” And it’s fitting. After all, summer’s almost done. How better to end it than by slowing things down?

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War On Drugs – Slave Ambient

Derek Reed — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:00:37 +0000

War On Drugs released its debut, Wagonwheel Blues, in 2008 and hasn’t come out with a record since. That’s because 2008 was also the year when the group, billed as the creative vehicle for frontman Adam Granduciel, lost three of its founding members, including Kurt Vile, a guy who’s doing quite well on his own right now. Since then, Granduciel has rebuilt the group as a trio and began working on material for a sophomore LP that reaches us this month in the form of Slave Ambient.

If you’re looking for what makes this record different from the first, look no further than the second word of its title. During the gap years, War On Drugs picked up a hazy ambiance that gives the band’s Americana backbone a reverberant feel. The songwriting is less guitar-based—with synth textures and leads popping up in places where you might expect a guitar solo—and much softer on the whole. “Best Night,” the shuffling opener, starts in media res, as if you’re being quietly ushered into something that’s already been unfolding for some time, and the record really doesn’t hit its stride until “Your Love Is Calling My Name,” which comes fourth in the lineup.

Slave Ambient is spacy on the surface, but the record is firmly grounded by nods to the American songwriting tradition. Granduciel’s singing strikes a balance between Dylan’s lazy croon and Springsteen’s anthemic everyman belt, and the harmonica parts on “I Was There” and “Baby Missles” sound enough like Nebraska to give you the creeps. To keep things from becoming xenophobic, “Come To The City,” the record’s centerpiece and probably its best track, skips over the pond to evoke U2’s stadium largesse for four and a half minutes.

Other than that and “Baby Missles,” Slave Ambient doesn’t have too many standout points, and its 47 minutes are padded with a heaping dose of instrumental transition and drone tracks. But while the record might have benefited from some more discrimination on the cutting room floor, it’s still a focused, complete record and a pleasurable listen.

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NewVillager – NewVillager

Derek Reed — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:00:15 +0000

When you attach the word “art” to the front of a band’s genre, that usually just means you’re at a loss to describe its sound. But if you listen to Brooklyn duo NewVillager’s self-titled debut and feel led to call it art-pop, don’t worry—it’s justified. The record is actually a 10-stage mythological story—five years in the making—whose cycle of birth, death and rebirth is supposed to be a metaphor for the artistic process (for example, “Cocoon House,” the first stage, describes an artistic idea’s inception). To incarnate the concept, the group put together a live-in installation at a Los Angeles gallery with 10 rooms spanning off of a central performance area. So yeah, using “art” to describe these guys ain’t no cop-out.

NewVillager is what TV On The Radio would sound like if it had tidier, more poppy sensibilities; and though the myth concept is interesting and almost even salient, the record doesn’t need a background or narrative in order to sound killer. Founding members Ben Bromley and Ross Simonini work with a backbone of soul-informed rock that’s splayed with a colorful palette of more interesting sounds: hand claps, breath sounds and delay-infused loops.

Things kick off with “Cocoon House” and its irresistible stomping, palm-muted grooves. Throughout NewVillager, a husky croon swaps limelight duties with a colorful falsetto (which sometimes has a subtle Auto-Tune effect added to it), and the two often team up for a layered effect that’s 90 percent of the reason for that earlier TVOTR comparison.

It’s always a pleasure when a concept album can stand on its own without the concept, and that’s what NewVillager is—a bunch of fun, carefully crafted songs, whether you’re talking about the climactic sing-along chorus of “Shot Big Horizon” or the tambourine and guitar riffing of “Upholder.” It’s anyone’s guess whether there’s anything to the system for creating art conceptualized here, but you know what they say: The proof’s in the pudding.

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Widowspeak – Widowspeak

Derek Reed — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:00:50 +0000

Widowspeak’s self-titled debut is a record that will pass right under your nose if you’re not careful. The female-fronted Brooklyn trio’s sound—a deceptively simple throwback to shoegaze and protopunk—doesn’t jump out and demand your undivided attention; and so, listening to the record, you’ll be tempted to check out and just let the songs roll by. But give in to that temptation and you’ll miss out on some cool subtleties that define this band.

The first of which is singer Molly Hamilton’s voice. These days, it seems a staple of the low-dB indie scene for bands to bury their singers beneath layers of reverb and processed effects. And that’s cool, sometimes, but Widowspeak doesn’t go that route. Hamilton’s smooth, whispering voice is left untouched, free to float above the band in pleasantly lazy, stretched-out phrases. Her singing holds everything together, whether these guys are waltzing through slow-burners like the hypnotic “Harsh Realm” or taking a relatively upbeat turn on “Hard Times.”

The second cool thing you’ll miss if you’re not listening is that there’s some killer guitar work going on here. Guitarist Robert Thomas strikes a near-perfect balance of staying tastefully in the pocket when needed but also jumping out front at opportune times with an offbeat surf vibe that sounds just enough like Television. (Need proof? Note the similarity between the verse riffs of “Nightcrawlers” and “Prove It”). “In The Pines” is a perfect example of that balance; on the verse, the guitars stick to whole notes and otherworldly, textured delay before busting into a sliding mid-range riff on the interludes.

Coincidentally, Widowspeak’s cover is a rather effective illustration of the band’s sound. On it, leopards and disembodied hands share space with dudes in leisure suits and that bronze Akkadian head thing that you’ll recognize from history class. The elements are all familiar, but pulled out of their usual context and painted together in soft tones, they create a dreamy landscape that’s just odd enough to invite you in for a closer look; and the record itself is a lot like that.

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Portugal. The Man’s Van/Trailer Stolen At Lollapalooza

Derek Reed — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:00:07 +0000

After playing a rain-soaked set at Lollapalooza last night, psych-rock outfit Portugal. The Man found out that its van and attached trailer of gear were stolen. The group has been trying to spread the word via Twitter, telling people in Chicago (and, by now, anywhere in the Midwest) to be on the lookout for a burgundy, 15-passenger Ford van (Alaska plates: FJH244) pulling a black trailer. Folks are retweeting to get the word out, and the band posted a couple of photos of the stolen vehicle, one of which is at the head of this post.

Stay trained to the band’s Twitter account and website for updates and a list of the stolen gear.

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Dear Students, CMJ Wants Interns. Sincerely, Current CMJ Intern

Derek Reed — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:03:35 +0000

As you might have already seen on our jobs page, CMJ is seeking interns in its New York City office for the fall semester. I’m writing this as a summer editorial intern on his last day in the office, asked by his editor to tell the people interested in filling his spot what it’s like to work here. Well sure, I’d be happy to.

As a CMJ intern, you’ll get the pleasure of seeing your name in lights on the website and being approached for autographs by attractive members of the opposite gender; and though that’s 90 percent of the reason I applied in the first place, I ended up enjoying my time at CMJ for different reasons. For one, when you work here, you won’t be going on coffee runs—that is, unless you’re in need of a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. You’ll spend the overwhelming majority of your day reporting and writing the news posts, reviews and features that you see on CMJ.com. I’ve come out of the experience with a better ability to hammer out a story on a dime and, not to mention, enough writing clips to bury potential future employers under an avalanche of 8×11 printouts.

Besides that, you’ll get to rub shoulders with folks in the music industry, find out which labels have the nicest publicists (Sub Pop, I’m looking at you) and get your name on the guest list for concerts that you’d like to review. (Lucky you—the city’s fall concert lineup already has me salivating.) And you’ll get free music. Lots of free music.

Finally, as you probably already can tell from the fact that I was allowed to write this post like an absolute ham, you’ll get to work in a relaxed environment with some of the nicest people around. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the folks in the office, and I’ll definitely be dropping by throughout the school year to say hi (and also to scour the bin of advance releases).

If you’re into interning here, check out the jobs page for position descriptions, as well as the email addresses of the people to whom you should direct your applications. If you have any questions not answered by my exhaustive autobiography here, please get in touch with us.

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Bullion Signs To Young Turks, Announces U.S. Release Of LP

Derek Reed — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:00:20 +0000

Bullion, the digital composer who made a viral splash with his re-imagined version of Pet Sounds, has teamed up with Young Turks to release his heralded You Drive Me To Plastic LP in the U.S. The record has been out in the U.K. since April, but starting October 11, it will be available Stateside in LP and CD forms. Nathan Jenkins, the man behind the music, has released a string of EPs and singles during the past few years, but this is his first full-length for the project.

While you wait for October to get here, check out “Magic Was Ruler,” a groovy, sax-y cut from the record, below. Even farther below, you’ll find the tracklist for You Drive Me To Plastic

BULLION / Magic Was Ruler by Young Turks

Tracklist For You Drive Me To Plastic
01. Wrong Door In(tro)
02. Slight Jig In The Sky
03. Magic Was Ruler
04. Lol Express
05. Too Right
06. Spirit Mighty
07. Pressure To Dance
08. My Castle In England
09. Drive Me Out(ro)

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MTK Fest Canceled, E2NY’s Final Day Gets Rained Out

Derek Reed — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:00:42 +0000

This past Saturday wasn’t kind to the Hamptons “music scene.” First, news came that Music To Know festival, the two-day soiree that was supposed to take place on an abandoned airstrip in East Hampton this coming weekend, was cancelled because not enough people were ponying up the $195 for admission. “Despite our unique vision and arranging a world-class line-up, ticket sales were not adequate to allow the event to continue,” read a statement on the festival’s website. MTK had a solid lineup, with Vampire Weekend, Bright Eyes, Dawes and many others slated to play.

Not long after the cancellation was announced, woebegone ticket holders got some good news from Escape To New York festival, which was going down in nearby Southampton at that very moment. “So sad to hear that MTK Music Festival is cancelled,” the announcement from E2NY read. “We would like to invite all disappointed MTK ticket holders to join us this weekend for some great music and festival fun!” In a heartwarming gesture, E2NY said that MTK tickets would be honored for the third day of its own event, which was to include sets by Of Montreal and Mates Of State.

But before those MTK refugees could make the hours-long trip to their new mecca near the tip of Long Island, Mother Nature decided to downpour on their parade. Following heavy rains and flash flooding overnight on Saturday, the Shinnecock Indian Nation (on whose reservation the festival was being held) requested that E2NY call off the festival’s third day, fearing that the grounds wouldn’t be able to handle rowdy crowds of music fans and “glampers.”

E2NY’s statement about the cancellation gave some reason for hope, though. The first two nights went reportedly well, so the folks behind the event are planning on having a second go at it next year. We wish them the best of luck in their battle against New York’s apparent festival curse.

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Tic Tic Boom!

Derek Reed — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:00:45 +0000

Los Angeles quartet Tic Tic Boom! began five years ago, when singer Leilani Francisco and guitarist Mike DeLay started dating. “I wrote a song and brought it to him,” Francisco tells CMJ, “and the rest grew from there.”

The group plays a brand of hook-laced synthpop that casts live drums and guitars as conspicuously as it does sugary vocals and catchy synth loops. Francisco and DeLay released their second EP, Reason And Rhymes, earlier this year, and Francisco says an important turning point for the band came when they decided to self-produce that latest offering.

“We took a good chunk of time off from the band,” she says, during which DeLay went through a certification program for audio engineering at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. “We both felt like it was important to be able to take creative control through the ability to self produce.” It was at school that DeLay met bassist Matt Gurgol, who, along with drummer Morrison Nichols, make up the rest of Tic Tic Boom!’s live band.

Tic Tic Boom! by Tic Tic Boom!

After DeLay graduated, he and Francisco moved to a musician-populated apartment complex next to the 101 freeway, where they began to furnish themselves a studio and record the songs that would become Reasons And Rhymes. The two still live and record there today. “Because of our proximity to the freeway we are able to make as much noise as we want any hour of the day,” Francisco says. “It’s a cool environment because we are surrounded by like-minded artists who are all working in music.”

The choice to go it alone in the studio hasn’t come without its challenges. Having started from scratch, the Delay and Francisco had to buy their studio equipment piece by piece, as the money came in, and wait to record each further track of Reason And Rhymes until they had the right gear for it. They’ve also had issues with crashing computers and hard drives along the way. Still, they say, the effort is worth it. “We definitely plan to continue self-producing,” Francisco says.

Since releasing Reason And Rhymes, Tic Tic Boom! has signed a deal with boutique publisher Zoomania Music, got added to Pandora, and had songs picked up by programs on Showtime and MTV. The band has recorded acoustic versions of some Reasons And Rhymes songs, and is working on a third EP that should come out in early 2012. After that, look for the quartet to make a trip to Austin for SXSW and spend as much time as the can touring elsewhere in the lower 48.

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Horrors – Skying

Derek Reed — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:00:32 +0000

It’s always been easy to naysay the Horrors. All it took was a quick look: the origins as a flavor-of-the-week London garage band, the debut album that showed just enough promise to stir up some hype but not enough to indicate that the hype would be satisfied, the gothy-looking band members who dressed like they had just lost out to Johnny Depp for the role of Edward Scissorhands. These were all red flags that the band could fizzle out after a short stint in the limelight. But then there was Primary Colours, a sophomore effort that proved suspicion wasn’t the right way to look at it. The record added spooky synths and a dab of maturity to the band’s sound, giving reason to believe that the Horrors might just be here to stay. And now, two years later, comes Skying, the group’s third and most accessible record to date.

In some ways, the new album sustains the upward trajectory that the last one established. The group’s sound continues to morph, trading most of the remaining signs of its garage-rock origins for a borderline Brit-pop feel, with synths turned all the way to 11. Probably the biggest statement of the band members’ growing maturity is that, having taken their former producer’s advice to go it alone while recording their next release, they’ve decided to self-produce Skying in an East London studio that they built themselves.

Hearing the final product, it’s clear that the process must’ve freed the group up to experiment with some fun new sounds, which are heard all throughout Skying. There’s a beefed up percussion section, with shakers and tambourines thrown in alongside the drumkit, and those periodically surfacing horn arrangements are definitely a welcome addition, but the coolest new gadget in the Horrors’ arsenal has to be the guitar-controlled synth that guitarist Joshua Hayward built for himself (hear it on “Monica Gems”).

Skying is swimming with interesting sounds, but it falls a tad short in the songwriting department. It’s not that the record has any glaring flaws. It doesn’t (except for maybe “I Can See Through You”), but neither does it have many standout highs. “Changing The Rain” and “Dive In” both have great melodies on their choruses, and slow-grooving stadium anthem “Still Life” hits all of the marks with its driving bass and powerful, floating chorus; but elsewhere on the album, you won’t find much that will stick in your head after a complete listen. On Skying, the group has definitely matured, jettisoning much of the divisiveness that marked its brash origins, but it feels like some of the edginess that first made the Horrors notable might’ve been discarded with it.

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Rustie Announces Debut On Warp

Derek Reed — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:00:40 +0000

Warp has announced that it will release the debut full-length record of Glasgow-based electro producer Rustie October 10. Called Glass Swords, the album was recorded over the past two years and is described as being “epic and alien,” featuring lots of jittery melodies and production U-turns.

Rustie—who during the past few years has carved out a place for himself in the lively U.K electronic scene with a string of EPs, 12-inches and remixes for the likes of Jamie Lidell and Nicki Minaj—celebrates the announcement with a teaser video for his upcoming record’s opening track. The video doesn’t tell you much about the record or the song, but it does tell you one thing: Rustie, much like Björk, loves crystals. Check out the video and the tracklist for Glass Swords below.

Tracklist For Glass Swords
01. Glass Swords
02. Flash Back
03. Surph
04. Hover Traps
05. City Star
06. Globes
07. Ultra Thizz
08. Death Mountain
09. Cry Flames
10. After Light
11. Ice Tunnels
12. All Nite
13. Crystal Echo

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War On Drugs Announces Massive Tour

Derek Reed — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:30:01 +0000

Photo by Graham Tolbert

It’s still a few weeks before Philly-based ambient rock trio the War On Drugs drops its second full-length on Secretly Canadian, but in the meantime, the group has announced a massive, 53-date tour that will keep it busy through the end of fall. Kicking off with a release party for Slave Ambient in Philadelphia August 18 (two days after the record’s official release), the tour winds through the northern U.S. and Canada before skipping over the Atlantic for a European leg in September. After a month overseas, the group will head back to the U.S. to hit the West Coast and Midwest before wrapping up the tour with a show in Baltimore. It’s a marathon if we’ve ever seen one, so these guys had better be getting ready for some long hours in the van. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why the video for “Baby Missles” had so much road-trip imagery in it:

Slave Ambient will be available on CD and LP, but for all of you truly hardcore audiophiles, the album is also being released as a cassette. On its own, that’s pretty awesome, but if you need further reason to dust off your tape deck, know that the plastic-and-gears version of the record has a b-side that casts some of the ambient textures found on the album proper as their own tracks. Check out the tracklist for that b-side, as well as the dates for War On Drugs’ upcoming tour, below.

Tracklist For Slave Ambient Cassette B-Side:
01. No Returns
02. Snake Tongues
03. Song For Alice
04. Don’t Fear The Ghost [Demo]
05. Real History
06. Future Blues

Tour Dates For War On Drugs:
08/18 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s *
08/19 – Brooklyn, NY – Cameo Gallery *#
08/20 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge #
08/21 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall *#
08/23 – Montreal, QC – Casa Del Popolo *#
08/24 – Toronto, ON – Drake Hotel *#
08/25 – Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig *
08/26 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s *
08/27 – Milwaukee, WI – Club Garibaldi *
08/28 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry *
08/30 – St. Louis, MO – Billiken Club at St. Louis University *
08/31 – Lexington, KY – Cosmic Charlie’s *
09/01 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café *
09/02 – Washington, DC – Red Palace *
09/08 – Lisbon, PT – Terraza Hotel Regency
09/09 – San Sebastian, SP – Club Victoria Eugenia
09/11 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
09/12 – Tilburg, NL – Incubate Festival
09/13 – London, UK – Lexington
09/14 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
09/15 – Sheffield, UK – The Harley
09/16 – Brighton, UK – Green Door Store
09/17 – Brussels, BE – AB Club
09/19 – Berlin, DE – NBI Club
09/20 – Coppenhagen, DK – Loppen
09/21 – Stockholm, Se – Lilla Hotelbaren
09/22 – Malmo, SE – Debaser
09/23 – Hamburg, DE – Reeperbahn Festival
09/24 – Cologne, DE – King Georg
09/25 – Venlo, NL – Perron 55
09/26 – Paris, FR – Point FMR
10/11 – Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade ^
10/12 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle %^
10/13 – Atlanta, GA – The EARL %^
10/14 – Pensacola, FL – DeLuna Festival
10/17 – Dallas, TX – Bryant Street Tavern %^
10/18 – Austin, TX – Emo’s %^
10/20 – Tucson, AZ – Plush %^
10/21 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar %^
10/22 – Los Angeles, CA – Satellite %^
10/23 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent %^
10/25 – Portland, OR – Bunk Bar %^
10/26 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern %^
10/27 – Spokane, WA – A Club %^
10/28 – Nampa, ID – Flying M %^
10/29 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court %^
10/30 – Denver, CO – Hi Dive %^
11/01 – Lawrence, KS – Jackpot %^
11/02 – Columbia, MO – Mojo’s %^
11/03 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop %^
11/04 – Cincinnati, OH – Mayday Northside %^
11/05 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern %^
11/06 – Baltimore, MD – Talking Head %^
* With Caveman
# With Porcelain Raft
% With Purling Hiss
^ With Carter Tanton

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Moonface – Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped

Derek Reed — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:00:38 +0000

Chances are, you’re already privy to the situation: Wolf Parade is officially done, and frontman Spencer Krug has turned his ever-changing attention to his Moonface project, which he explained in a press release “is not a band” but “any solo collaborative projects I’m involved in from now until whenever.” Last winter, Krug hunkered down in his Montreal home to record an LP based around percussive vibraphone jams; but when those ideas just wouldn’t come, he ended up writing music on an old double manual organ. Even that plan didn’t play out completely. Krug wanted a record of “lush keyboard drones,” but he had “a little dude who lives inside [him] that loves pop music,” who made him work some hooks and catchy chord progressions into the songs’ webbing.

And so we have Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped, an odd little album whose title all but sums up the epic tale of its origins as well as its sound. For five songs and 37 minutes, Krug plays with drones like he’d planned, but also in the mix are a bunch of distorted, upper-register organ leads and some miscellaneous bleeps and bloops. Sprinkled drum loops give the songs a percussive backbone, but rhythmic duties are shared almost equally by the chorus of constantly oscillating organ arpeggios.

To hear Krug tell it, the “little dude” inside him turned what was supposed to be an experimental record into a stable of bona fide Top 40 hits in the waiting, but don’t expect any of these songs to get played on the radio. Well, except for maybe “Fast Peter,” the most immediate—and probably best—of the five. It’s an upbeat, heartfelt number that communicates themes of distance and innocent, long-suffering love in an “All My Friends” sort of way (not to mention that the “Won’t you win the race” refrain is probably the record’s most touching moment).

Elsewhere on the record, Krug indulges himself by milking arpeggios, low-pitched organ pads and repeated chord progressions for all they’re worth on songs that unfold slowly over the course of six to eight minutes. It’s “dense,” Krug said of the album, “but in a satisfying way, I hope, like eating a small, heavy piece of cheesecake.” It’s hard to describe it any better than that.

Krug won’t make any new fans with Organ Music, but that’s not what he’s trying to do here, anyway. He’s just having himself some fun—or, as he put it, “lurching toward” his musical ideas “impulsively.”

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Hank Williams III Announces Fall Tour And LP Trio

Derek Reed — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:30:17 +0000

Hank Williams III, grandson and son of the respective country legends who share his name, is set to hit the road this fall after the release of his three—yes, three—upcoming albums on September 6. The LPs are stories themselves and further evidence that Hank3 just can’t be contained by one genre. There’s Ghost To A Ghost/Guttertown, a 41-track country double album (on which Tom Waits guests), Attention Deficit Domination, a crunching, doom-rock exhibition, and finally, the speed metal Cattle Callin, which inaugurates what Williams calls the “Cattle Core” genre.

On the fall tour (for which more dates will reportedly be announced), the shows will last two-and-a-half to three hours and will include three different sets. First will be a more traditional country set, followed by a Hellbilly one. From there, Hank3 will continue to descend into that rabbit hole of genre crossing with a third set by his new doom metal band, Attention Deficit Domination. Check out the dates for Hank3′s fall tour below.

Tour Dates For Hank3:
09/05 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
09/07 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues
09/08 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar
09/09 – Ft. Worth, TX – The Rail Club
09/10 – Ft. Worth, TX – The Rail Club
09/12 – Corpus Christi, TX – House Of Rock
09/13 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
09/15 – San Antonio, TX – Backstage Live
09/16 – Dallas, TX – Trees
09/17 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre
09/19 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
09/20 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
09/21 – San Diego, CA – House Of Blues
09/23 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy
09/24 – San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom
09/25 – Reno, NV – Knitting Factory
09/29 – Bend, OR – The Domino Room At Midtown
09/30 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theatre
10/01 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
10/03 – Seattle, WA – Showbox At The Market
10/04 – Missoula, MT – Wilma Theatre
10/06 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre

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