Issue 22, News
Jack White Embraces Pop-Up Craze
Brenna Ehrlich :: Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 2:30 pm
In the most recent issue of D+T, we covered the phenomenon of the pop-up store-a mushroom-like entity that’s been hitting New York City with a vengeance as of late. And now the novel shop is making an appearance overseas-Jack White’s Third Man Records will be opening an ephemeral establishment at London’s Shoreditch Church on Friday, October 30, until Halloween. If you’re lucky enough to live across the pond, you can pick up releases from the label, as well as The Dead Weather and The White Stripes gear.
Stuck stateside? Check out editor Alex Moore’s run-down of NYC pop-ups after the jump.
Events, Issue 22, Magazine
Neon Indian Play CMJ Tomorrow Plus the D+T Interview
Isaac Lekach :: Friday, October 23rd, 2009 3:00 pm
In the early months of 2009, Neon Indian found its way onto the blogosphere. The gushing synth swells of “6669 (I Don’t Know If You know)” captivated listeners with its psychedelic dance grooves and “Should Have Taken Acid with You” positively melted ears with its instrumental New Order-meets-Ariel Pink sounds. Shortly thereafter, “Deadbeat Summer” and “Terminally Chill” followed and received equal praise. In a matter of months, Neon Indian had become a buzz band.
What’s unique about this feat is that nobody actually knew who Neon Indian was. We knew one member was a guy, the other a girl. Their names, histories, ages, credit history—all a total mystery. MORE »
Events, Issue 22, Magazine
The XX at CMJ Plus the Death+Taxes Interview
Gray Hurlburt :: Friday, October 23rd, 2009 2:30 pm
On a scorched afternoon in early August I met with The xx, a young, soft-spoken bunch of Londoners who dress in mishmash black attire, at a retro diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. On account of the stifling weather, the allure of air conditioning and starchy food just seemed called for. I was hungover and tired, which, as it turns out, so were they.
When they came in through the glass door, bassist Oliver Sim had to duck his elongated body through the frame, and the rest followed in right behind. Together they looked like an adolescent combination of the Jesus & Mary Chain and Bauhaus. And like those rock stars, who could chronologically be their fathers, The xx already bore the physical strain of supporting a new album—replete with drooped shoulders and raccoon eyes. This brunch came after a long tour through Europe’s summer festival circuit, five shows in New York City (one the previous night with Friendly Fires), and two photo shoots that morning. MORE »
Issue 22, Magazine
Sufjan Stevens on His Orchestral Project, The BQE
Drew Fortune :: Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 4:50 pm
For a man who has never shied away from grand ambition, Sufjan Stevens’s latest project, The BQE, a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, appears to have gotten the better of him—a project with a scope and feeling too large to fully capture. A sprawling undertaking, incorporating an orchestra of over thirty people, companion comic book, 16mm cinematography and choreographed Hula –Hoopers, the two-year endeavor is finally being released as a dual CD/DVD package on Asthmatic Kitty. Upon release, Stevens, the man who famously announced plans to release an album for each of the fifty states, is finally ready to take a step away from the epic and learn to appreciate the modest. Call it Stevens’s Apocalypse Now or Fitzcarraldo, the project may have been a vision impossible to realize, but the Detroit native is not beaten and, like his hometown, is slowly learning to rebuild from the ground up.
Speaking with Stevens from his home in Brooklyn, the boy who grew up playing too many instruments is enjoying some much-needed downtime. MORE »
