The Tape

On a day in which we received new music from Neon Indian and Woods, we also got a new Here We Go Magic track and news of a new album, possibly the greatest news of all. Pigeons will be coming our way June 8th (same day as Suckers), with the release being the band’s first album with Secretly Canadian. Pigeons is a departure from Luke Temple’s solo work, with all five band members contributing to the new record. The result is a much more full sound, already evident with the first single “Collector.” The track features a much cleaner sound both from Temple’s voice and from the instruments being played. Harmonizing vocals play an integral role in this track, something I can’t wait to hear more of on the track. You can download “Collectors” either below or here at the Secretly Canadian site.

Pigeons
1. Hibernation
2. Collector
3. Casual
4. Surprise
5. Bottom Feeder
6. Moon
7. Old World United
8. F.F.A.P.
9. Land of Feeling
10. Vegetable or Native
11. Herbie I Love You, Now I Know

Here We Go Magic- Collector

Quinn Walker and friends have some exciting news. The band will be releasing their debut record, Wild Smile June 8th, on Frenchkiss Records. To accompany the news, the Brooklyn dudes are giving away a cover of the Raveonettes’ “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed).” I’ve never heard the Raveonettes version, but I’m really digging the version Suckers is doing. The record was recorded, produced and mixed in NYC by Chris Zane who does work with the Walkmen. The only track not produced by him is EP standout “It Gets Your Body Movin’”, which was produced by Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder. It seems like the band got together everybody who’s cool in Brooklyn to help them record the LP. If it sounds anything like their tremendous debut EP, I should have no problems. In some more exciting news, Suckers will be joining Local Natives on tour, who they’re now label mates with.

Here’s what one of the members of Suckers had to say about the Raveonettes cover: “The original version is super fuzzy, so our first instinct was NO FUZZ. We wanted to keep the poppy aspects of the original, but make as much of our own as we could… after messing around with it for a while, it turned into this weird 50’s kinda dark Doo-Wop thing that reminds me of Twin Peaks for some reason (which actually ended up working well with the subject matter on a completely different level).” Download the cover below, and check out the tracklist for Wild Smile as well.

Wild Smile
01 Save Your Love For Me
02 Black Sheep
03 Before Your Birthday Ends
04 You Can Keep Me Runnin’ Around
05 A Mind I Knew
06 Roman Candles
07 It Get Your Body Movin’
08 Martha
09 King of Snakes
10 2 Eyes 2 C
11 Loose Change

Suckers- Boys Who Rape (Raveonettes Cover)

Tomorrow, Acute Records will be releasing a compilation of sorts, composed of various tracks from the great Athens, Georgia band Method Actors. The record, entitled This Is Still It does a great job of summing up the duo’s all too short career. The band was one of the first early Athens bands to emerge on the scene, a group that included B-52s, R.E.M., Pylon and many others. This Is Still It is 19 tracks of sheer energy, with the band’s “let’s see how much we can do with only two dudes” style on display. With Vic Varney on guitar and vocals, and David Gamble on drums and vocals, their approach can be likened to a 1980s Japandroids. Download a couple of tracks below, and make sure to buy the record when it hits stores tomorrow.

This Is Still It
1. Do The Method
2. Can’t Act
3. Distortion
4. Privilege
5. Dancing Underneath
6. No Condition
7. She
8. You
9. E-Y-E
10. My Time
11. Rang-A-Tang
12. Bleeding
13. Notice
14. Ask Dana
15. 20×1
16. Commotion
17. Pigeons
18. Halloween
19. Hi-Hi-Whoopee

Method Actors- Do The Method

The Method Actors- Bleeding

Daniel Snaith and co. are gearing up for a pretty grueling world tour, with them making a stop in most North American cities. If they’re hitting your town, make sure to check out the show because they’re apparently a phenomenal live band. The tour is in support for Swim, the new album being released on April 20th. Make sure to check out the dates below, and download the first single off the record, “Odessa”, as well.

CARIBOU TOUR DATES
Apr 19 MANCHESTER - Deaf Institute
Apr 20 LONDON - Corsica Studios
Apr 21 AMSTERDAM - Paradiso
Apr 22 BRUSSELS - Beursschouwburg
Apr 23 PARIS - Le Point Ephemere
Apr 24 LAUSANNE - Le Romandie
Apr 25 ST. GALLEN - Palace
Apr 26 MILAN - Magnolia
Apr 27 MUNICH - Feierwerk
Apr 28 BERLIN - Berghain
Apr 29 HAMBURG - Prinzenbar
Apr 30 AARHUS - Pop Revo Festival
May 01 STOCKHOLM - Strand
May 03 TORONTO, ON - Phoenix
May 04 OTTAWA, ON - Babylon
May 05 MONTREAL, PQ - Tulipe
May 06 BOSTON, MA - Middle East Downstairs
May 07 BROOKLYN, NY - Music Hall
May 08 NEW YORK, NY - Bowery Ballroom
May 09 PHILADELPHIA, PA - First Unitarian
May 10 WASHINGTON, DC - RNR Hotel
May 11 CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Jefferson
May 12 CHAPEL HILL, NC - Cat’s Cradle
May 13 ATLANTA, GA - Earl
May 14 BATON ROUGE, LA - Spanish Moon
May 15 HOUSTON, TX - Warehouse Live Studio
May 16 AUSTIN, TX - Emo’s
May 18 PHOENIX, AZ - Clubhouse
May 19 LOS ANGELES, CA - El Rey
May 20 SAN DIEGO, CA - Casbah
May 21 MEXICO CITY, MX - Teatro Fru Fru
May 24 SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Independent
May 26 PORTLAND, OR - Hawthorne
May 28 VICTORIA, BC - Sugar
May 29 VANCOUVER, BC - Rickshaw
May 30 GEORGE, WA - Sasquatch
May 31 CALGARY, AB - Republik
Jun 01 EDMONTON, AB - Starlite
Jun 02 SASKATOON, SK - Amigo’s
Jun 03 WINNIPEG, MB - Royal Albert Arms
Jun 04 MINNEAPOLIS, MN - 7th St Entry
Jun 05 DAVENPORT, IA - Rock Island Brewing Co.
Jun 07 ST. LOUIS, MO - Firebird
Jun 08 LOUISVILLE, KY - Zanzabar
Jun 09 CLEVELAND, OH - Grog Shop
Jun 10 HAMILTON, ON - Casbah
Jun 11 HALIFAX, NS - Paragon

Caribou- Odessa

The wonderful Seattle band are finally getting some re-issues for their very hard to find LP’s. On July 13th, Hardly Art (the Sub Pop imprint) will be releasing a retrospective compilation called They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003 and eventually reissuing the band’s three studio albums – Ugly but Honest, You Should Be at Home Here and Songs about Leaving. This is some truly exciting news for anyone that’s ever been into the band. Check out the tracklist for the compilation below.

They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996 – 2003
1. Low Budget Slow Motion Soundtrack Song For the Leaving Scene
2. Die
3. The Color That Your Eyes Changed With the Color of Your Hair
4. One Night Stand
5. You Should Be Hated Here
6. Drunk with the Only Saints I Know
7. Phantom Fireworks
8. So You Wanna Be A Superhero
9. Brooke Daniels’ Tiny Broken Fingers
10. Ignorant Piece of Shit
11. Blessed Arms That Hold You Tight, Freezing Cold and Alone
12. Blue Champagne Glass
13. September Come Take This Heart Away
14. All Apologies and Smiles, Yours Truly, Ugly Valentine
15. Sympathy Bush
16. They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave

Fondo is the name of Vieux Farka Touré’s most recent album, which was released way back in May. I don’t know why I’m so late on this, but I’m glad I discovered this record nonetheless. Touré is the son of Ali Farka Touré, one of the most famous African musicians around today. Upon listening to the record, you can hear the influence his father had on him, both vocally and instrumentally. While Vieux was recording his debut record, his father was growing more and more ill with cancer, and offered his final recordings to Vieux’s album, which was his way of approving of his son’s musical path. Vieux takes dramatic steps forward with Fondo, showing off tremendous guitar playing with some really creative back up instruments accompanying nicely. I’m a big fan of the percussion on this record, especially the track “Aï Haïra” which fuses modern American drumming, with some African style hand drumming layered beneath. The percussion accents his voice beautifully, keeping the pace up while still having the vocals be clear and concise. Another favorite of mine is “Chérie Lé”, which begins with a Dirty Projector-esque guitar part, although Dave Longstreth’s guitar lines are heavily influenced by Touré, so it’s a bit awkward to relate his guitar parts to Longstreth’s.

Fondo is a fun sounding record, although I hesitate to use the word fun because I’m completely ignorant of what any of the lyrics mean. I highly recommend you track down this record and give it a listen, because it’s really great. Download a couple of tracks below.

Vieux Farka Touré- Aï Haïra

Vieux Farka Touré- Chérie Lé

Titus Andronicus have made “A More Perfect Union”, the raging first track from The Monitor, available for free download. With vocals vaguely resembling Craig Finn, this 7 minute track is fun, loud, and raucous. An old speech starts the track off, with the last words saying “We will live forever, or die by suicide.” This quote sort of sums up the balls to the wall energy the band produces on the new record. It doesn’t do the best job being a “Civil War” record, but when the music is this much fun, it really doesn’t matter. The bros are about to embark on a huge North American tour, so make sure to check ‘em out when they come to your city. Also make sure to buy The Monitor when it hits stores next week, and download a couple of tracks below.

Titus Andronicus- A More Perfect Union

The irony within the title of this record is quite tangible even after one listen. There is nothing hidden about These New Puritans, or this record. Everything is out in the open; it’s loud, epic, and really fucking good. Hidden is an evolution on a larger scale. Beat Pyramid was good, but this record is so much more. After the unnecessary “Time Xone” fades in and out, the aptly titled “We Want War” strongly enters. The track sounds as if it’s marching into battle, with the tribal drums accompanying a lurking synth and pitched down vocals. As the track progresses, the drums get more intense, and the vocals become more clear. This song’s intensity seems like an insane marker to base an entire record on, but These New Puritans somehow manage to maintain this level throughout the record. “We Want War” gracefully weaves in and out of its different sections, ebbing and flowing at just the right times. The next track, “Three - Thousand” starts off with a hip-hop sounding beat and a sampled knife noise. A piano enters the track, playing a creepy line that sounds like it was recorded on one of those tiny pianos. The vocals on this track are almost rapped, giving the song a really interesting feel.

The album progresses with “Hologram”, opening with an almost jazzy piano line. The track seems ridiculously out of place, but it’s such a nice track it really isn’t an important issue. “Hologram” never quite reaches the level of “We Want War”, but it flirts with us quite a few times. The restraint is an important part of this track because it really sets up the next one, “Attack Music.” “Attack Music” starts with some gun shot-esque sounding bass drum hits, before it gets into a bit of a dance-y feel accented by a bassoon or an oboe. Skip a track and we arrive at “Orion”, the record’s first single. The track seems to drag along, before the choir section hits and the drums start serving as an accent. “Orion” has a few too many parts for its own good, taking away from the track’s core idea, until the choir re-emerges. The choir parts are so well placed and accented with such perfect instruments, it’s hard to complain about the rest of the track. The album’s final track “5″, features some more wind instruments, with some percussive bells thrown in there for good measure. “5″ serves as the perfect closing track, cleaning up the ruckus created by the previous 10 tracks, while still keeping the listener engaged.

Hidden is the obvious next step for These New Puritans, because I don’t know if I would have been able to handle another Beat Pyramid. Hidden is loud at all the right times, but more importantly, it knows when to not be. A very good piece of work, These New Puritans have something to be very proud of with Hidden.

These New Puritans- Orion

In anticipation for his new record, Josiah Wolf is giving us another track from Jet Lag. “Master Cleanse (California)” is the second track on the record, following the already available “The Trailer And The Truck.” Master Cleanse floats along with hand claps, acoustic guitar, and sparse percussion, making room for Josiah’s delicate voice. The chorus features a couple of voices, singing what seems to be his reasoning for leaving California. The entire record comes out this Tuesday, courtesy of Anticon. The album is a wonderfully pleasant surprise, emerging as a beautiful collection of creative psych-folk tunes. Pre-order the record right here (LP or CD), and make sure to download the two tracks below.

Jet Lag
1. The Trailer And The Truck
2. Master Cleanse (California)
3. The Opposite Of Breathing
4. The New Car
5. Skull In The Ice
6. The Apart Meant
7. That Kind Of Man
8. Ohioho
9. Is The Body Hung
10. In The Seam
11. Gravity Defied
12. The One Sign

Josiah Wolf- The Trailer and the Truck

Josiah Wolf- Master Cleanse (California)

To call Have One On Me a colossal achievement would be an equally colossal understatement. In magnitude, content, structural complexity, and tonal eccentricity, Joanna has transgressed the bounds of what we have come to expect in an album. But then, what should we have expected from such a relentlessly ambitious and challenging artist. Indeed, her compelling previous work, plethora of accolades, and variety of associates and muses including the revolutionary composer Van Dyke Parks and beau Andy Samberg point to nothing but a brilliantly honed capacity for producing some of the most unique music around.

Joanna’s debut, The Milk Eyed Mender, is comprised of 12 songs, most of which utilize a more generic pop structure than her latest release, and none which exceed 6 minutes in length. Her sophmore venture halves the number of tracks present on the debut, yet without sacrificing any time or substance. With Ys, Joanna chooses meticulously arranged orchestral formats in lieu of the aforementioned pop structure, yielding five of the most esoteric songs to date, reminiscent of archaic middle aged minstrel music. Ys defied accessibility and got away with it, becoming one of the most beloved and eccentric albums of the past decade. Yet to me, it always lacked the excitement of its predecessor. I appreciated it for the boldness of its statement, and its pristine string arrangements, yet I found I couldn’t connect with its epic narrative as well as I could the strongly defined compositions of its predecessor. The brilliance of HOOM is that it can embody the melodic accuracy of Milk-Eyed and the ambiguous narrative quality of Ys inside the easily misused triple album format. In this way, HOOM showcases every quality of Joanna’s person without deterring her increasingly forward-thinking and ambitious career path. It seamlessly integrates new instrumentation without distracting us from the integral vocal/harp pairing that characterizes Joanna’s music and this sonic variety yields a very listenable and relatable album. With this gargantuan release, she sustains a completely precarious balance between every element that has and will define her as an artist. Thus, HOOM leaves no room for the tried and true “I liked her old stuff better” interpretation for it is as much her debut as her debut it self: a fully integrated masterpiece as collaged, miscellaneous, and all-encompassing as the album’s jumbled cover(above).

For Your Listening Pleasure…a cut from each of HOOM’s 3 sides:

Side 1: Joanna Newsom-Good Intentions Paving Company

Side 2: Joanna Newsom-You And Me, Bess

Side 3: Joanna Newsom-Soft As Chalk