By Brian Merchant

Cut Off Your Hands have stumbled upon something remarkable: if you take the New Wave sensibilities of the Cure and the propulsive rhythmic attack of Gang of Four, put them together into one upbeat, dance-happy stew, you get . . . precisely the same shit that every indie dance rock band has been making for the last eight years. I mean, maybe we should cut them a break since they're from way down in New Zealand, but this is some seriously generic stuff. Cliched lyrics, unimaginative synth lines - Cut Off Your Hands make the Black Kids seem like revolutionary innovators. Bottom Line: If you are the most diehard fan of dancy, upbeat indie rock ever, and have already listened to every single other album the genre ever produced, this album might not bore you. But it probably still will.

By Amelia Kreminski

"Country twang-infused" may read like a red warning label, but Kweller's Texan roots guided him well in writing and producing the album. From the whiskey-dripping, woeful prairie-wind vocalizations of "Gypsy Rose" to the Dixieland throw-back and ragtime-reminiscent saloon piano tunes of "Sawdust Man," Kweller delivers only the most delicious lemonade-stand refreshment to the parched genre of contemporary country. The songs on Changing Horses are still filled with Kweller trademarks - what other songwriter could compose such endearingly fumbling lyrics as "I'm like my grandma, short but I stand tall"? But between the addition of Kitt Kitterman's meandering pedal steel guitar and the foot-stomping, grass-chewing (cow-tipping?) rhythms and guitar riffs of the tunes, Kweller's usual style leans a little south. So just like the name of the last song, Kweller's album finds his musical style "Homeward Bound," and it's a trip that will make any Kweller fan make tracks for Texas as well.

By Matt Fink

Shrouded in mystery since their 2000 debut earned raves for its noise-encrusted experimental pop, Iran sounds like they are ready to step out from behind the curtain with Dissolver. Now six years since their last release, founder and main songwriter Aaron Aites has left San Francisco for Brooklyn and enlisted TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone to play guitars. With TVOTR's Dave Sitek producing, the quartet's previous lo-fi sprawl is cleaned up, lowering them from "Harry Pussy" to "Pavement" on the scale of buzzing feedback, though tangles of lead guitars and noisy detours ensure the mix doesn't become too austere.

By DJ Pangburn

Asobi Seksu like reverb and fuzz. By God they do! They are the living monument to shoegaze and dreampop, and no one can deny that they are quite deft at sniffing their way around sublime melodies. But what they lack is the conceptual and imaginative qualities of someone like M83's Anthony Gonzalez, who knows how to deconstruct and reconfigure the genre's sounds into something otherworldly. Asobi Seksu are, on the other hand, hamstrung by their delicate style. The band only really has two modes: lilting and melancholic, and usually both at the same time. It would be nice if Asobi Seksu could forge another path, like the musical equivalent of Bill Clinton's Third Way economic policy or Buddhism's spiritual, Middle Way. "Glacially" and "I Can't See" hint at some possible future directions, but the album as a whole is merely window dressing ...but it's damn good window dressing.

Polyvinyl recording artist, Asobi Seksu, are heading out on tour in support of their latest release, Hush.

The band's sugar-coated pop and shoegaze sensibility gained mucho attention five years ago with the release of their self-titled debut. Since then, they've shrunk to a duo (singer-keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist James Hanna) resulting in a less guitar-driven sound with a greater focus on the pulsating lushness found on Hush.

The band kicks off the tour March 2nd and cover most of the U.S. The complete dates are available after the jump.


Asobi Seksu Tour Dates
Mar 02 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
Mar 03 Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
Mar 04 Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room at Crofoot Ballroom
Mar 05 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Mar 06 Bloomington, IL @ Illinois Wesleyan U.-Young
Mar 07 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Mar 10 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
Mar 11 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Mar 13 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Mar 14 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubador
Mar 15 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Mar 19 Austin, TX – SXSW @ Scoot Inn, 6pm
Mar 20 Austin, TX - SXSW: Polyvinyl showcase @ Habana Calle Patio 6, 1am
Mar 21 Austin, TX – SXSW: Filter Magazine party @ Cedar Street Courtyard, 2:30pm
Mar 22 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
Mar 23 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
Mar 24 Memphis, TN @ Young Avenue Deli
Mar 25 Atlanta, GA @ Eyedrum
Mar 26 Chapel HIll, NC @ Local 506
Mar 27 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar
Mar 28 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
Mar 29 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Mar 30 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
Apr 02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

By Amelia Kreminski

Mythomania is a psychological disease defined by pathological lying - the impulse to fabricate, to weave stories and fantasies that never happened but are realistic enough to almost convince you they did. Mythomania is the aptly titled new album from Cryptacize, a fusion of whimsical, chromatic indie pop melodies, spidery rhythms, upbeat guitars and the dreamy liquid texture of Nedelle Torrisi's ambient voice. It's a compilation of songs so happily bizarre you'll find yourself transported to the fantastical alternate realities of your quirkiest dreamlike states.

I'm sure we've all seen the Hulu ad, the one with Alec Baldwin where he finally seems to embrace his pop cultural identity as a sitcom star/spokesperson/dude who says crazy shit on talk shows. I never want to see Alec Baldwin in a movie ever again.

Anyway, Hulu is pretty great. Newsweek reported it's really giving YouTube an unexpected run for its money. It seems quality may actually begin trumping quantity on the Internet. If so, CBS really needs to get with the program.

The mega brand, which under its umbrella includes Showtime, CNet, ET, and Chow (whatever the hell that is), just released TV.com for the iPhone. The user-generated reviews are on the money: It's pretty wack. Oh yeah, I'd love to watch nineteen minutes of Beverly Hills 90210 on the go.

It's free, so I can't say don't waste your money. Just don't waste your time. And where the hell is our Hulu app? -SB

Here's lookin' at you

Dave Longstreth's band The Dirty Projectors will release their anticipated fifth album Bitte Orca on June 9th, 2009. It's their first album with NYC-based label Domino Records.

The most recent addition to the Dirty Projectors catalog appeared on Dark Was the Night, a benefit album released by 4AD. The song, "Knotty Pine," is a collaboration with David Byrne, and is fantastic. It definitely raised the bar for Bitte Orca.

The band will be touring Europe before the album's release, but if you're going to be in Texas for SXSW, make sure to catch them. The tour dates are listed after the jump.

Dirty Projectors Tour Dates
3/6 - Walker Arts Center - Minneapolis, MN
3/19 - SXSW - NPR Party @ The Parish
3/19 - SXSW - Windish Agency Showcase @ Emos Annex
3/20 - SXSW - TBA
3/21 - SXSW - TBA
3/24 - Rescue Rooms - Nottingham, UK
3/25 - Clwb Ifor Bach - Cardiff, UK
3/27 - Black Box - Belfast, Northern Ireland
3/38 - Crawdaddy - Dublin, Ireland
3/29 - ABC2 - Glasgow, Scotland
3/31 - Komedia - Brighton, UK
4/1 - Mint Lounge - Manchester, UK
4/2 - Scala - London, UK
4/3 - Arnolfini - Bristol, UK
4/4 - Taylor Johns House - Coventry, UK

It's gotta be a strange time for progressive political action organizations like MoveOn. They came up over the last decade in reaction to the utter dominance of the neo-conservative ideology, but this time their guy won. Instead of playing the underdog, they're now in the mainstream. It's like the class nerd getting voted prom queen--what happens now?

I've been pretty interested in this quandry so I've been keeping an eye on the emails coming through from MoveOn and watching to see how, exactly, they planned to move on. And I have to say, I'm extremely impressed. The cynical part of me thought that the win would deflate them--that it would rob them of their raison d'etre. But they're charging ahead like they've just caught an interception pass in the Superbowl, and they can't fucking believe they have the ball.

The day after Obama's speech this week, MoveOn sent an email to mobilize the masses who volunteered for Obama during his campaign. Among other things, it said, "Wow. Did you see President Obama's speech? Last night he laid out a bold and ambitious agenda to totally transform our economy. As he said, 'it begins with energy.'" And then it proceeded to lay out an organizing strategy for fundraising and hassling Congress to support the President's proposals on energy.

MoveOn is basically serving as a massive organizing force for a sitting president, not just a candidate--a power Democrats haven't wielded in a long, long time. It's crazy--if the President says, "We're going this way," he's got a built-army to push legislators in that direction.

Yesterday MoveOn sent another email warning that lobbyists were lining up to "torpedo" the President's initiatives on health care, and they lined up to torpedo the lobbyists. They're collecting petition signatures with hundreds of thousands of names, which you can sign here, to support Obama's health care reform plans, and raising money hand over fist to make the reforms actually make it through this time. It's weird to see the underdog on top, but the more of these emails I see, the more comfortable I'm getting with it.
-AM

The Coen Brothers have joined the fight against clean coal.

They directed this ad for the Reality Coalition, criticizing the "merits" of clean coal, a technology the coal industry is trying to associate with wind, solar and water energy. Coal is filthy.

Like the majority of Barack Obama supporters who heard the President mention clean coal as part of America's future in his congressional address, I nearly shed a tear. But as long as there are ads like this, hopefully the lobbyists won't have the final say. -SB

Just like the beatniks who crawled into dilapidated tenements in the Lower East Side in the 1950s, claiming the area for an artistic awakening, DIY punks and underground artists crept around Williamsburg in the 1980s and once again transformed an innocuous corner of New York City into the hippest place to be. Brooklyn DIY, a documentary by Marcin Ramocki, captures the weirdly artistic, creative underground expression that spilled forth from the neighborhood of Williamsburg from 1987-2007. From Mike Ballou's paper-mache animal heads (seen in the photo) to Ken Butler's bicycle guitars, the film acts as an archive of the scene's most prominent participators. MoMA screened the world premiere of the movie February 25.

In an interview with The Guardian, polish-born director Ramocki said he wanted to make the movie (which was produced for $30,000, most of which was his own money) because "It'll be harder and harder to find these people - they move to Ohio, they change jobs." And as panic rises in the hearts of young hipsters trying - and sometimes failing - to beat gentrification away from the sacred neighborhood, many fear Ramocki's remark is right on target. So is the underground art scene migrating again, swimming through the subway tunnels of New York looking for another shabby neighborhood to inhabit? Perhaps. But as Ramocki reminds us in his Guardian interview, "There's no need to get too worked up about it. It's supposed to be fun." -AK

Lauded NYC duo, The Books, are prepping for their upcoming album by playing some select North American dates over the next few months.

The band's blend of acoustic pop and esoteric sound manipulation made contrarian hipsters go wild when they released Lost and Safe five years ago. Not much info is available on the follow-up but we'll keep you posted.

The show dates are available after the jump and, surprise surprise, they'll be playing at museums. -SB


Books Show Dates
3/7/09 Boston, MA - Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
3/11/09 Cincinnati, OH - MusicNow Festival - Memorial Hall
4/9/09 New York, NY - Miller Theatre at Columbia University
4/10/09 Boston, MA (Early Show) - Institute of Contemporary Art
4/10/09 Boston, MA (Late Show) - Institute of Contemporary Art
5/2/09 Kitchner, ONT - Open Ears Festival
5/3/09 Chicago, IL (Early Show) - Museum of Contemporary Art
5/3/09 Chicago, IL (Late Show) - Museum of Contemporary Art

Rockstar Games will release Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, the first GTA to make its way to Nintendo DS, on March 17th.

The trailer introduces us to Chinatown Wars protagonist Huang Lee and bits and pieces of his travails in Liberty City. The music is a collaboration b/w MF Doom and Ghostface, and the track itself will be released soon.

The trailer is rated M 17+ by the ESRB.

Original Jane's bassist Eric Avery, in an interview with Death+Taxes last year, told us how pissed the guys were when he refused to partake in the 1996 Jane's reunion. Guess they're happy now!

To accompany the '09 Jane's reunion, Rhino will release a box set, A Cabinet of Curiosities, on April 21st.

The box set is comprised of three CDs and one DVD which feature live performance, demos, out takes, and rarities.

Jane's Addiction is one of the greatest rock bands of all time and, as Trent Reznor mentioned in a recent blog post, almost single-handedly responsible for the launch of alternative music. It's a wonder it has taken this long for a big collection.

Sure, sometimes these collections can ramble on and on, like The Cure's awful Join The Dots, but we have faith in JA. -SB

Ornery hip-hop star, Eminem, has not had an easy way with the digitization of music sales, and especially with its champion, Apple.

Eminem has twice sued Apple, once in 2004 when an iPod commercial allegedly used his hit "Lose Yourself" without permission, and again in 2007 after he found his music was on sale in the iTunes store without his consent.

His current gripe is with his label, Universal Music, and where your ninety-nine cents go. The typical payout per song is as follows: Apple keeps about twenty-nine cents, the label is paid about seventy cents, and the label pays the artist about twenty cents.

Eminem and his lawyers are arguing that, since the labels accrue no manufacturing costs for distributing songs on iTunes, the deal is more like a licensing agreement as opposed to a sales agreement, and artists should be rewarded fifty per cent of sales, or about thirty-five cents per song.

In a recession, every penny counts! The lawsuit is currently in trial. But then again, when is Eminem not in court? -SB

After his swearing in about six weeks ago, President Obama has had some major victories, among them the executive order to close down Gitmo and the passage of Lilly Ledbetter's Fair Pay Act, which grants women the ability to fight for equal pay in the United States.

Barring Tuesday's inspirational congressional address, the last few weeks have been anemic for the President, his difficulties exacerbated by Tim Geithner's elusive bank bailout speech and his knack for appointing tax evaders to his cabinet after promising to eradicate "business as usual" in Washington.

Today, the President announced his economic stimulus package will result in a $1.75 trillion deficit throughout 2010. Yikes. But comparatively speaking, is it that bad? In 2008, the U.S. GDP was $14.3 trillion. So the expected deficit will be roughly 12% of our GDP. After World War II, the national deficit was 110% of our GDP, and our economy grew in leaps and bounds thereafter.

So far Iraq has cost U.S. taxpayers $800 billion, a little less than 50% of Obama's proposed national deficit. The stimulus package, which involves tax breaks, light-rail construction, weatherizing homes, and investment in environmental and medical technologies, guarantees job growth if deployed correctly. The war in Iraq has guaranteed nothing.

Today, Obama referred to the massive-spending plan as rebuilding the foundation of our country. To doubters, remember: We wastefully spent a lot of money, wrongly, destroying that foundation in the first place. The deficit is more or less the cost of practicality. -SB

Indie rock's resident guitar goddess is hitting the road this March in support of her Kill Rock Stars album, This Is It...

Stern, who is featured in the current issue of Death+Taxes, recently told us she had to travel 1850 miles to get to the SXSW festival from her native New York. Good thing she's making some stops along the way. Tour dates are available after the jump. -SB



Marnie Stern Tour Dates
Mar 5 - New York- NYU
Mar 10 - Philadelphia - Kung Fu Necktie
Mar 11 - DC - DC9
Mar 12 - Baltimore - Sonar
Mar 13 - Charlotte, SC - Snug Harbor
Mar 14 - Atlanta - 529
Mar 17 Dallas - Lounge on Elm Street
Mar 18 - Austin - KRS Showcase
Mar 21 - Tucson - Plush
Mar 24 - Phoenix - Rhythm Room
Mar 25 Los Angeles - The Echo
Mar 26 Visalia, Ca - The Cellar Door
Mar 27 San Francisco - Bottom Of The Hill

Ever wonder what happened to your favorite 1970s-era pre-punk revolutionary rock stars after the curtain closed on their scene? Did they go back to school? Open a diner? Pursue their lifelong dream of breeding show horses? Well, wonder no more about Peter Jordan, former bassist for the New York Dolls. No, he was not included in the Dolls' 2004 reunion show, a concert tragically followed by the death of original bassist Arthur Kane - nor was he involved in the making of Sylvain Sylvain and David Johansen's 2006 record, It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. These days, Peter Jordan is dabbling in door-opening - that's right, he's a doorman. He works at a building in midtown Manhattan, somewhere around Grand Central Station. So next time you're walking through a door that magically opens in front of you, take a closer look at your obliging host - you might want his autograph. -AK

This is the complete version of the video. It's a long one ...about eighteen minutes at that. I, for one, did not know Martin Scorsese directed it. Sure, he's no longer the same Michael found in this video. He's since gone off the deep end, that's no secret. But he'll always be BAD in my eyes. And by "bad," I mean, "good" of course. -IL

Atlanta garage rockers, The Black Lips, have released their hotly anticipated third album today, 200 Million Thousand.

If you want to check out the album before purchasing it all of the tracks are currently streaming on AOL Spinner.

Aside from their infectious pop tunes, the Lips are known for their racous live shows, which actually deserve the hype. Good news for willing participants: the tour kicks off Thursday. For all the dates, click here. -SB

Buy It From Insound

Lighting, sound, sanitation, sponsor booths -- music festivals are carbon-emitting tours de force, say nothing of however many gallons of gas are consumed by people getting there.

Bumbershoot is the carbon-neutral fest with a conscious, preaching the gospel of the three Rs: reuse, recycle, reduce. Also, the fest being centered in an urban center, as opposed to way out in the middle of nowhere, helps reduce its carbon footprint. Hey, if you want to drive five hours to get to Coachella, you deserve global warming.

Advance three-day passes are on sale now for the Seattle, WA festival, which takes place September 5th - 7th. If you'd like to read more about Bumbershoot's green initiatives, click here. -SB

Pre-order Enemy Mine, the upcoming album from indie super group Swan Lake, and you'll get a little treat: the whole album!

Enemy Mine will be available for pre-order from local record stores starting tomorrow, February 24th. In the event you pre-order, JagJaguwar will hook you up with a digital download of the entire album a month early. Not a bad deal. The record will be released in all its physical glory on March 24th. -SB

D+T Contributor Max Goldblatt directed this video for L.A.'s Obi Best. Well done! The song "Green and White Stripes" appears on the album Capades, which will be released tomorrow. Tour dates are scheduled nationally. Click here for more info. -IL

Will 2010 be the year the funny guys finally clean up at the Oscars? Judd Apatow has the insane-looking comendy Funny People coming out in July, and apparently Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Akiva Schaffer have a new project coming together called The Adventurer's Handbook. (Schaffer, who writes for SNL as one third of The Lonely Island crew with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone, directed 2007's Hot Rod.) Jonah Hill is reportedly the main force behind The Adventurer's Handbook, which he wrote with Max Winkler and Matt Spicer. Perhaps even more amazing than the return of Jason Schwartzman to a truly great-sounding movie is the fact that Jonah Hill sold the script to Universal for a million bucks. That's right--a million big ones. Our economy may be in the toilet, but this is still America--and damn if it doesn't feel good to cheer for this whole group of knucleheads getting rich by farting on each other's pillows. -AM

Mar 07 London Word Festival London
Mar 26 The Luminaire London
Apr 11 The Westhill Hall Brighton
Apr 12 Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham
Apr 13 Cambridge Junction Oxford
Apr 15 Anson Rooms Bristol
Apr 16 Brighton Corn Exchange Brighton
Apr 18 Cafe Oto London

March 13 – Boise, ID – Neurolux – w/ Guidance Counselor
March 14 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court – w/ Guidance Counselor, Future of Ghost
March 16 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive – w/ Parenthetical Girls, No Kids, Guidance Counselor
March 18 – Austin, TX – SXSW @ The Radio Room – 9pm – My Old Kentucky Blog showcase
March 19 – Austin, TX – SXSW
March 20 – Austin, TX – SXSW
March 21 – Austin, TX – SXSW
March 22 – Oklahoma City, OK – Conservatory w/ Guidance Counselor
March 24 – Phoenix, AZ – Rhythm Room w/ Guidance Counselor
March 25 – Los Angeles, CA – Echo w/ Marnie Stern
March 26 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place w/ Guidance Counselor
March 28 – San Francisco, CA – Hemlock w/ Guidance Counselor, Grand Lake
April 3 – Portland, OR – Lewis and Clark w/ Church
April 9 – Vancouver, BC – The Media Club w/ Kuroma
April 10 – Seattle, WA – The Vera Project w/ Kuroma
April 13 – Fargo, ND – The Aquarium w/ Kuroma, MSHVB
April 14 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry w/ Kuroma
April 15 – Sioux Falls, SD – Nuttys w/ Kuroma
April 16 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudville Mews w/ Kuroma
April 17 – Chicago, IL – Av-Aerie w/ Kuroma
April 18 – Toronto, ON – Sneaky Dee’s w/ Kuroma
April 19 – Montreal, QC – Il Motore w/ Kuroma
April 21 – New York, NY – The Mercury Lounge w/ Kuroma
April 22 – Brooklyn, NY – Union Hall w/ Kuroma, Mancino
April 24 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 w/ Kuroma
April 25 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn w/ Kuroma, Tealights
April 26 – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Café w/ Kuroma
April 27 – Kansas City, MO – Czar bar w/ Kuroma, Thee Water Mocassins
April 29 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive w/ Kuroma
April 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge w/ Kuroma
May 2 – Portland, OR – Holocene w/ Kuroma

The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs record will be made available on April 14th. It's called It's Blitz. And "Zero," the synth-heavy single, has been getting loads of airplay. If you haven't heard it yet, click here to do so. Also, a bizarre video teaser was released today. Watching it makes me fear for my life. Like seven days from now the terrifying girl from The Ring is going to find me and kill me. Yes, it's very film-school noir. See below if you dare. -IL

Slumdog swept and Hugh Jackman nailed his hosting duties. We didn't exactly have the patience to watch the entire event, but were told that nothing really topped Hugh's opening number. Check it out below. -IL

Bagadry, Nigeria: former slave port, future home of a slavery-themed historical park and Jackson 5 memorabilia museum. Do those two vacation destinations really belong in the same sentence? Marlon Jackson thinks so. Apparently the memorial of a typical transatlantic slave ship, the mass grave, and the recreation of the path Nigerian slaves walked scream for some peppy Jackson 5 tunes (and holograms!). But they also scream for relaxing massages, verdant golf courses and five-star hotels - the luxury resort side of this slavery-themed historical park/resort.

Tasteless? Insulting? Some think so. Toyin Falola, University of Texas history professor said of the project, "It is not appropriate from a cultural or historical point of view. Those who are looking for money care about money and no other thing," while writer C Don Adinuba remarked, "This plan is morally reprehensible, it's like dancing on the graves of dead people and telling them you're honouring them." Supporters of the project say the resort will attract many African American tourists looking to trace their ancestry, and will bring in money and jobs for the Nigerian people. Let's all hope that comes true, after the $3.4 billion American contractors reported were being spent to build it. - AK