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[Wacth] Wet Nuns - "Broken Teeth" (Official Video)
Still feeling a little worse for wear after a heavy weekend? We've all been there and I'm currently in that horrible place right now. This video should help wake you the eff up though. It's for a track we posted a week ago from Wet Nuns and it's a rip roaring slug titled "Broken Teeth", with a video that portrays all the energy of the track so damn well. The reason it does that is it uses live clips of the band performing, cut together with some awesome looking animation. Check it out above and wake the hell up!
Their new EP Broken Teeth is set to be released on the 18th of February.
[News] James Blake Announces UK Tour Dates
After announcing a large amount of US dates around the time this year's Coachella Festival takes place I was extremely happy to see this email arrive in the inbox. James Blake has announced just a handful of dates set for April in the UK. Rejoice.
He already has a date at London for the 26th of this month. It sold out in minutes though, naturally, but today lets fans get a little more excited as he'll play at London's Heaven on the 9th of April, the day after his new album Overgrown is released. He will then play dates in Manchester and Glasgow, on the 10th and 11th respectively. See you at the Manchester show!
Just last week we got to enjoy a new track from James titled "Retrograde" and the video dropped yesterday. It is quite simply stunning and was directed by Martin de Thurah. Check it out at the top.
James Blake UK tour dates:
26/02 - ICA, London (SOLD OUT)
09/04 - Heaven, London
10/04 - Academy 2, Manchester
11/04 - The Arches, Glasgow
[Listen] The Virgins - "Flashbacks, Memories and Dreams"
It's been a long time since The Virgins released their self-titled debut, four years, eight months, and four days to be exact, and now they're back with a new album and a lead single to accompany it. The sophomore release, titled Strike Gently, is due out on March 12th on Cult Records, and with it comes "Flashbacks, Memories and Dreams".
As a big fan of their first album, it makes me happy to say that "Flashbacks, Memories and Dreams" is fantastic from start to finish. It's groovy, energetic, and refined, bringing a unique attitude yet not hitting you over the head with it. After a near five-year absence, The Virgins quickly reclaim their status of being really fucking cool. Stream the song below, or head here to download it for free.
[News] James Blake Details New LP, Stream Lead Single
Just last week, James Blake announced that his sophomore album, the follow-up to his impressive 2011 self-titled debut, was to be released later this year. Today, though, he slipped some exciting information into the blogosphere, announcing that the album will be titled Overgrown and is set to release on April 8th.
Blake also announced that later today, the lead single from the album, titled "Retrograde", will premiere on BBC Radio 1. We will post the radio stream once its available, but in the meantime you can stream a live concert recording of the song below. As well, after the jump, you can check out all the dates for Blake's upcoming North American tour.
UPDATE: You can now stream the radio rip of the single, which premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show, below. The song starts at around 1:09, after some charming banter between Blake and Lowe.
Just last week, James Blake announced that his sophomore album, the follow-up to his impressive 2011 self-titled debut, was to be released later this year. Today, though, he slipped some exciting information into the blogosphere, announcing that the album will be titled Overgrown and is set to release on April 8th.
Blake also announced that later today, the lead single from the album, titled "Retrograde", will premiere on BBC Radio 1. We will post the radio stream once its available, but in the meantime you can stream a live concert recording of the song below. As well, after the jump, you can check out all the dates for Blake's upcoming North American tour.
UPDATE: You can now stream the radio rip of the single, which premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show, below. The song starts at around 1:09, after some charming banter between Blake and Lowe.
James Blake 2013 Tour Dates:
02/26 – London, UK @ ICA
04/14 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
04/16 – San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
04/17 – San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
04/18 – Santa Cruz CA @ Rio Theatre
04/21 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
04/23 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
04/24 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
04/25 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
04/27 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
04/28 – Denver. CO @ Ogden Theatre
05/01 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
05/02 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
05/03 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
05/04 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
05/06 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
05/08 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues Boston
05/09 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
05/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
05/12 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
05/13 – Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle
05/24 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
05/29 – Madrid, ES @ Sala Capital
[News] Fitz and The Tantrums Announce Sophomore LP, Titled 'More Than Just a Dream'
On May 7th, Fitz and The Tantrums will follow-up their explosive soul debut Pickin' Up the Pieces with a sophomore effort entitled More Than Just a Dream. The album, the band's debut with new label Elektra Records, serves as an experiment for the Los Angeles outfit, who have taken the experience as a chance to expand their sound.
When frontman Michael Fitzpatrick spoke to RollingStone recently, he said that he and the band had "obviously grown a lot as a band and as people. We wanted to show people that this band was more than a 'retro band.' We'd all gotten a little bit tired of that one moniker that kept getting applied to us. To me, obviously, there was obviously a lot of Motown, retro-soul influence to (the first record), but there was just as much Eighties influence, indie-rock influence, new-wave and hip-hop all mixed in. That first record was that kind of hybrid, and on this record, we just wanted to push it even more forward and take even more chances, and it just required a lot of experimentation."
The result was 40 demos in 30 days, a ridiculous number by any musician's standard. Fitz and co. have narrowed that number down to include tracks like "Out of My League" (a blend of vintage organs and Eighties drum machine) and "Merry Go Round" (described as the album's emotional centerpiece). For now, we can't hear the fruits of the band's labor, but that time will come soon enough. Stay tuned!
[Album Stream] Darwin Deez - 'Songs For Imaginative People'
Darwin Deez, applying the most subtle of tactics, has snuck up nearly out of nowhere (save for an album announcement last November) with his sophomore album Songs For Imaginative People. With the LP set to release next Tuesday, the Darwin-led outfit is giving us the chance to stream the whole thing prior to its release. Listen to all ten tracks from the "rockier and wordier" album below, and hit the jump to read a track-by-track guide written by Darwin Deez himself.
Songs For Imaginative People is out on February 12th.
(via NME)
Darwin Deez, applying the most subtle of tactics, has snuck up nearly out of nowhere (save for an album announcement last November) with his sophomore album Songs For Imaginative People. With the LP set to release next Tuesday, the Darwin-led outfit is giving us the chance to stream the whole thing prior to its release. Listen to all ten tracks from the "rockier and wordier" album below, and hit the jump to read a track-by-track guide written by Darwin Deez himself.
Songs For Imaginative People is out on February 12th.
(via NME)
Anthem for existentialists. Samples Autechre. '(800) HUMAN' is kind of a big 'what if' - what if before we got here we were all just bored disembodied spirits - angels - wasting away, watching the heavenly equivalent of lame infomercials, one of which was for the corporeal experience of humanity, and so we took the bait, and then once we got to earth we forgot how we got here (an inevitable part of the 'fine print' of birth), why we came here, and couldn't remember anything but the melody used on that commercial? That's the song. Sometimes life depresses you and makes you want to waste away and watch TV. Even for angels. But the song is a prayer for deliverance from the existential inauthenticity of that kind of laziness and submission. Plus, the ooh-melody at the end of the song is depicted on the cover. And it is the same basic melody of the chorus. So if the chorus is the jingle to the infomercial for humanity, then the ooh-melody is "how the jingle goes". See what I did there?
A true story about a wild child I once met and fell for. Guitar solo inspired by Q and not U's song 'Fever Sleeves'. I've been holding onto that bit of inspiration for 10 years.
A new original 80s banger about romance gone stale. Features an awesome shred solo. It's time to bring those back to indie rock if you ask me. When I started on this album I thought I would need to hire someone else to do these guitar solos for me. I ended up spending so much time practicing them that I was able to do them myself. Classic Aries, classic me... I love to do everything myself. That's why I am a solo artist.
An icy cruiser about being dissed by my ex at a party. I shared this song with a friend on the way home from a wedding after he got dissed by a girl there. Coincidentally she was wearing a blue dress.
This song extols the virtues of slackerdom. In the year I took to compose this album I also did some spectacular slacking off. I wrote this song for myself and also my neighbor Breigh who was only working part-time at the time and feeling creatively stifled. Now she's full-time and fully stressed. Breigh and her husband did the layout for the album.
This is a song for my Australian lover, Alice, and also for my friends Rani (Australian) and Meg (American) who keep in close touch via Skype and Facebook. I wrote this early on in the album process. I found it nice to revisit the classic inspiration of "writing a song for someone" which had been absent from my approach for just long enough.
This one's about the desperation I went through at the end of a dying romance. The title refers to the doppler effect as experienced in light waves, specifically light from distant stars. As a light source moves away from you, the frequency of the light is decreased. Just like the pitch of a siren or car horn as it passed you. This observable astronomical phenomenon is the basis of the big bang theory. Wasn't trying to be esoteric here, I thought we all learned this stuff in high school science class.
Another song of solidarity with existentialists. 'God is dead' is not about atheism vs theists. Actually if you go back to the quote in context, the next page in gay science is about radical new horizon of freedom that results. Sadness and mourning part of it too though, hence the b-section vibe.
A song about hope and despair in the modern world. An homage to my 6 years at angelica kitchen where I worked as an expeditor and a server. I seriously considered volunteering at a local jail but wrote this song instead. I am a dreamer and I live through fantasy. Sometimes I feel like I'm not getting anywhere in life and on top of that my heart is broken or breaking but I never stop believing that happiness is possible and that happiness is easy if you can figure it out. Kind of spiritual.
An old friend who suddenly seemed like more inspired this song. Subconsciously I felt like a carpetbagger moving to Asheville to take advantage of its awesomeness, not needing a job outside of music, hanging with young adults and relaxing in the mountainous beauty. Again with the fantasies.
[News] Vampire Weekend Detail New Album, 'Modern Vampires of the City'
Using methods wholly different from the usual press release format, Vampire Weekend took to the New York Times classified section to detail their upcoming third album. The band tweeted early yesterday morning, simply saying, "NYT classifieds...", and for those dedicated enough would have found this simply entry in the "Notices & Lost and Found" section: "Modern Vampires of the City, May 7, 2013". It has been confirmed that the previously unnamed LP will be titled Modern Vampires of the City, with a firm release date of May 7th. Check out the classified ad below.
On top of detailing the album, the New York outfit have announced a North American tour, which includes stops at both SXSW and Coachella. Check out their tour schedule, along with the tracklisting for Modern Vampires of the City, after the jump.
Using methods wholly different from the usual press release format, Vampire Weekend took to the New York Times classified section to detail their upcoming third album. The band tweeted early yesterday morning, simply saying, "NYT classifieds...", and for those dedicated enough would have found this simply entry in the "Notices & Lost and Found" section: "Modern Vampires of the City, May 7, 2013". It has been confirmed that the previously unnamed LP will be titled Modern Vampires of the City, with a firm release date of May 7th. Check out the classified ad below.
On top of detailing the album, the New York outfit have announced a North American tour, which includes stops at both SXSW and Coachella. Check out their tour schedule, along with the tracklisting for Modern Vampires of the City, after the jump.
Modern Vampires of the City Tracklist:
01 Obvious Bicycle
02 Unbelievers
03 Step
04 Diane Young
05 Don't Lie
06 Hannah Hunt
07 Everlasting Arms
08 Finger Back
09 Worship You
10 Ya Hey
11 Hudson
12 Young Lion
Vampire Weekend 2013 Tour Dates:
03-13-16 Austin, TX - SXSW
04-12 Las Vegas, NV - The Cosmopolitan *
04-14 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-16 Davis, CA - Freeborn Hall at UC Davis *
04-17 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater *
04-21 Indio, CA - Coachella
05-08 London, England - The Troxy
05-10 Paris, France - Casino De Paris
05-15 Boston, MA - Agganis Arena
05-16 Toronto, Ontario - Sony Centre
05-17 Detroit, MI - The Fillmore Detroit
05-19 Kansas City, MO - Midland Theater
05-20 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^
05-21 Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Garden Amphitheater
05-23 Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium
* with Tanlines
^ with Of Monsters And Men
[Listen] Thumpers - "Big Heat"
I absolutely loved Thumpers last track "Dancing's Done" with all of its layered guitars trailing into the distance. So I was happy yesterday to the the London-duo let loose the B-side to that track and it goes by the name "Big Heat". They released their single yesterday on paradYse/Kissability so if you like it, head over to Thumpers.co for details along with some live dates for the band. It's more than a little bit good.