We're happy as clams to report that Papercuts (aka Jason Quever) is getting ready to release his sophomore effort, You Can Have What You Want, on April 16th on Gnomonsong Records. We loved his first album, Can't Go Back, and not just because one of us hails from SF, Jason Quever's city of choice. No, his music is so simple, beautiful and melancholic all at the same time that it's like the end of a sunny afternoon. And that, my friends, is our simile of the day!
Change of plans! My original column, "Shanon's Random Crap" is changing its name to "Shanon's Bottle of Whisky" (yes, that's the correct spelling for those of you who are ignorant). I suppose this is funnier since I'm Irish and I come from a long line of whisky drinkers. Have you ever watched a 70 year old woman order a $20 shot of single-malt at a restaurant as her starter drink? Well I have. Every time I have dinner with Gramma!
Anyway, I wanted to share something special with all of you - The season 2 premiere of Flight of the Conchords! It's been up for a while but I was reminded of it while reading this week's Time Out New York. The Hot Seat interview in this issue is with the New Zealand duo and it's pretty hilarious. Did you know that Bret McKenzie was an elf in the first Lord of the Rings? I did not!
Here's the premiere. Enjoy!!
The boys of Abe Vigoda are back -- sooner than we expected them. Fresh off the heals of last year's Skeleton, the band will release Reviver, an EP featuring five new songs on February 17th. Creepy music video and track listing below!
Reviver Track listing:
Don't Lie
House
Endless Sleeper
Wild Heart
The Reaper
There was a band called Irving, which we really liked. Alex Church from Irving made his side project, Dangerbird Records' Sea Wolf, his full-time gig. Since then, the Irving lads (minus Church) started a new band called Afternoons. Those in the L.A. area can find them at Spaceland on January 9th and 10th. - IL
Big news for Ghostbusters fanboys out there: Sony Pictures announced earlier today that the hotly anticipated Ghostbusters video game will be released on June 16th. In addition, the movie will be released on Blu-ray three days later. My big question is whether or not they're going to visually enhance the proton beams to maximize the hi-def experience. As is, the proton beams look pretty stupid. There'll also be a ton of special features, which include a "making of" featurette comprised of footage filmed in 1984 alongside deleted scenes and some sort of Slimer game. As for Ghostbusters III -- all I can say is that losing a Ghostbuster would be kind of like losing a Beatle, in particular Ringo Starr. With the way Bill Murray is partying these days, they'd better get to it. -SB
Either Idlewild needs money, or they reaaaaaaallllllyyyyy want to give their fans something new. We're not quite sure what the story is or how it works, but apparently Idlewild are putting their album up for pre-order, before it's even been recorded. Go to their website for details. Evidently, all pre-orders come with a limited edition CD that includes your name printed in the booklet and on some sort of "roll-call" on their website. There's more, it's zany ...again, we don't get it -- go check it out.Vintage Idlewild:
No offense Carson Daly, but we didn't know your show was still on the air. Perhaps congratulations are in order? Or at the very least a thank you ...Had it not been for Last Call or the Internet, we wouldn't now be enjoying the network television debut of a band we really like. Rock on Little Joy ...alright -- and you, as well, Carson. - IL
Label mates Human Highway & Cotton Jones just announced dates for their Spring tour. We've been feeling the Cotton Jones album here at D+T. It's called Paranoid Cocoon. Check out the tour dates after the jump!
TOUR DATES
3/11- Cleveland, Oh- Beachland Tavern*
3/13- De Kalb, IL- The House Café*
3/13 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern (Canadian Music Week)^
3/14 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
3/15 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar
3/16 - Norman, OK - Opolis **++##
3/17 - Denton, TX - Hailey's **++##
3/21 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
3/22 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
3/23 - Washington, DC - Black Cat Backstage
3/24 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
3/25 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
3/26- Brooklyn, NY- Union Hall*
Note: All dates Human Highway, The Magic, Cotton Jones unless noted
*Cotton Jones only
^ Human Highway only
++ with Efterklang
## with Peter Broderick
Singer/songwriter Andrew Bird is releasing a new record on January 20th called Noble Beast. Expect more of those heart-wrenching acoustic gems he's so good at writing. And, hey, if you're interested in hearing them now, you can here thanks to NPR's First Listen Series. The First Listen Series has also debuted music from Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Neil Young. Of course we tried to get an in-depth Q&A going with Andrew Bird to discuss Noble Beast, but Mr. Bigshot was "only doing cover stories." -SB
The new offering from communal Baltimore artist Dan Deacon is titled Bromst and is set to be released March 24th on Carpark Records. Universally loved as noisy dance pop's reigning king, Deacon experiments with acoustic instruments on the album, which compliments the quirky digital sound he's cultivated for the past five or so years. He's gone epic we tell you! He'll undoubtedly be touring, probably with sixty or so people, after the album's release. Of course, we'll let you know where he's hitting. -SB
No, no, we're not promoting a space shuttle launch. N.A.S.A. stands for North America /South America. It's the moniker American producer Squeak E. Clean (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Brazilian producer DJ Zegon have chosen to release their debut record under. The album, The Spirit of Apollo, will be released on February 17th on Anti. It features collaborations with Tom Waits, Karen O, Ol Dirty Bastard and David Byrne to name a few. The duo just announced their tour, which will take them around North America. Check out the dates after the jump! - IL
THUR 2/26 SAN DIEGO, CA Casbah
SAT 2/28 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Mezzanine (Noise Pop)
MON 3/2 PORTLAND, OR Holocene
TUE 3/3 SEATTLE, WA Nectar
FRI 3/6 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Triple Rock
SAT 3/7 CHICAGO, IL Abbey Pub
MON 3/9 TORONTO, ON El Macombo
TUE 3/10 MONTREAL, QC La Sala Rosa
WED 3/11 BOSTON, MA Harper's Ferry
THUR 3/12 NEW YORK, NY Le Poisson Rouge (LPR)
FRI 3/13 PHILADELPHIA, PA Barbary
SAT 3/14 WASHINGTON, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
Not to sound like a crazy housewife, hoarding coupons and waiting in line outside Mervin's doors, but there are a couple of great sales starting this Thursday, January 8th.
Those in NYC might want to visit Gargyle's showroom for their final end-of-season markdown sale. Discounts are up to eighty percent off. Location: 16A Orchard Street (Between Canal and Hester)
Ron Herman/Fred Segal in Los Angeles will have their merchandise marked down by fifty percent. Featuring brands like Band Of Outsiders, Patrik Ervell, etc. etc. Items go quickly and prices drop further with each passing day. Santa Monica Location: 500 Broadway (Near 5th Street). West Hollywood Location: 8100 Melrose Avenue (Near Crescent Heights).
I've been going through old records. Revisiting classics. And listening to new discs that come in the mail daily. Among the new ones, Antony & The Johnsons' The Crying Light, doesn't disappoint -- not even a little. Morrissey's Years Of Refusal is on deck. But this post is titled "Music Video Flashback," so let's get to that. A song called "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk," which starts with the lyric, "What a performance," doesn't really need an introduction. The song is from the album Nightlife, by Pet Shop Boys and was released in 1999. - IL
Matt Ward, ahem, M. Ward has a new record coming out on February 17th. It's called Hold Time. Here's the first video from it. The song is also called, "Hold Time." It's a beautiful song. The video is pretty neat too. Looks like something Fritz Lang would have made. Enjoy - IL
I remember seeing photos of Steve Jobs on various liveblogs as he took the stage to announce, among other things, the iPhone 3G at the WWDC in June of last year. I thought, Wow, dude looks great. He kind of looks like Ghandi. Hours later every gadget blog on earth was predicting his death (and, yes, I felt shallow).
Looking back on the photos (image search "skinny Steve Jobs") you see a bald man swimming in a turtle neck. Did that image necessitate a fanatical, media-induced obsession with the man's death? Evidently so. And the claims, suspicions and rumors that surrounded his death were not fostered in thin air. He survived a complicated variant of the Whipple surgical procedure during the summer of 2004 to correct his pancreatic cancer. Life expectancy after the Whipple is five years, and you lose about a sixth of your body weight. Nearly every major media news outlet published an online segment about the Whipple because Jobs is an icon.
At tomorrow's MacWorld (the last) Jobs won't be delivering the keynote, a presentation that would even excite a person who had no idea what an Apple computer is. Because of relentless media scrutiny (stocks were up four per cent), he announced he was suffering from a treatable hormone imbalance and would recover by Spring. Whether it's a ploy to halt rumor-mongering so everyone can get back to concentrating on his products is in abeyance, but two things are certain: If the man hits the stage next summer fifteen pounds heavier, he'll get a standing O to end all standing Os. Two, the shake-up at Apple is in full swing. - SB
Our favorite weekly periodicals had a slew of cover material to choose from this week with so many terrible events ringing in the new year, though they all seemed to settle on Israeli soldiers either firing some type of weapon or just standing around looking focussed. While Israel continues to launch a full-scale war on the terrorist organization Hamas, let's not forget Iraq is currently "improving ties" with Iran, which the Saudis are sure to be pumped about. To help matters over there, we're replacing the chic black lady who knew a lot about the Cold War and, evidently, not a whole lot else, with the nasty blonde woman who -- wait wasn't she supposed to fix healthcare? And hasn't the economy reached a point where we can all just pretend it doesn't exist?
That said, there is hope: I hear they're releasing a new Mac Mini tomorrow. - SB
