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The Brian Jonestown Massacre Ponders Who Killed Sgt. Pepper

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on November 17, 2009

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n12901847_35716171_4880 The Brian Jonestown Massacre Ponders Who Killed Sgt. Pepper

In what seems to be a suite of albums that namedrop the jams that Anton Newcombe loves (with the first being 2007’s My Bloody Underground), the Brian Jonestown Massacre is set to drop Who Killed Sgt. Pepper on New Year’s Day. And since Newcome is. always. on. fucking. MySpace. showing. us. the. dinner. he’s. cooking. and. other. random. and. often. stupid. shit., the tracklisting was made available for a brief time before it was retracted. Probably after a phone call from the manager. Be it as it may.

1. Tempo 116.7 (Reaching For Dangerous Levels Of Sobriety)
2. The Heavy Knife
3. Lets Go Fucking Mental (Melodica Mix)
4. White Music
5. This Is The First Of Your Last Warnings (Icelandic Version)
6. This Is The One Thing We Did Not Want To Have Happen
7. The One
8. Someplace Else Unknown
9. Detka! Detka! Detka!
10. Super Fucked
11. Our Time
12. Feel It (Of Course We Fucking Do)
13. Felt Tipped-Pen Pictures Of UFOs

Before the full length drops though, the BJM will release a new teaser EP that comes out next week called One EP. You can czech it courtesy of Cargo Records. Looking forward to hearing that, for sure. However, I currently have no predictions on whether Who Killed Sgt. Pepper will rule or not. This is the best of the streaming tracks I’ve listened to thus far, and I like it quite a bit. But some of the other tracks I’ve heard sound abysmal, and some were pretty decent. I dunno, what do you think? I’m certainly hoping for the best myself. I’m on your team, Anton.

POSSIBLY RELEVANT :::
The Brian Jonestown Massacre vs. The Decibel Tolls

[Photos + Video] The For Carnation – Art After Dark @ The Speed Museum, Louisville – 10.23.09

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on October 24, 2009

in Rockshows and Visual Aids

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[Photos + Video] The For Carnation - Art After Dark @ The Speed Museum, Louisville - 10.23.09

Though it should’ve been obvious, it didn’t dawn on me that a live performance by Slint/Tortoise/Crain/Shipping News rowdy crowd The For Carnation at a forward-thinking art celebration (The Speed Museum’s Art After Dark) wouldn’t exactly be a traditional band-plays-in-front-of-you type of gig. No dice on that. While it was odd at first, you realized shortly into the set how original and exciting such an unusual show is to experience. It’s what Pink Floyd tried to do with their theatrical five city tour for The Wall, except it wasn’t stupid. Regardless of how you felt about its execution, you’ll definitely remember it. After I reflected a bit on what they were doing, I really got into it.

So yes, The For Carnation performed live. But they did so remotely. The group members were stationed in different locales about the museum. The show that you saw happened in the Antiquity Gallery, and it was a video project of the band performing filtered through a pixelated mosaic.

forcarnation3 [Photos + Video] The For Carnation - Art After Dark @ The Speed Museum, Louisville - 10.23.09

You can’t tell from the photographic evidence, but if you looked closely within the pixels, each was some sort of image, though it was hard to make out what exactly they were. It was quite incredible, actually.

So here we find vocalist Brian McMahan next to the European art collections. Hey. I didn’t find the rest of the band, but I didn’t feel the need to go on an easter egg hunt either.

forcarnation [Photos + Video] The For Carnation - Art After Dark @ The Speed Museum, Louisville - 10.23.09

This show, as well as the entire event, was triumphant and groovy. I noticed other people were videotaping the performance. If anyone has access to other videos (and permission to share), please give me a shout. Have a taste with some video we shot:

The For Carnation plays at the sold-out Ten Years of ATP festival this December in Minehead with Tortoise, Shellac, Fuck Buttons, Deerhoof, The Melvins, Explosions in the Sky, Battles, Lightning Bolt, Sunn 0))), and a slew of other decidedly awesome acts. Get yr. passport notarized, yanks.

MP3 :::
The For Carnation – Emp. Man’s Blues

White Rainbow – New Clouds

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on October 22, 2009

in MP3 and Praise and Malaise

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krank137 White Rainbow - New Clouds

Effects pedals tweaker Adam Forkner, a.k.a. White Rainbow, has a lot going on for a relatively new artist. Besides touring Europe and supporting Deerhunter, dude also fist bumps Pauly Shore (see the Possibly Relevant links below). But what’s probably most relevant is that his new body of work for Kranky, New Clouds, is a funky, technicolor, rainbows-and-gumdrops psychedelic score for modern dance. Four songs, 60ish minutes long, and genre ambiguous, New Clouds is a beautiful and driving aural jaunt that, at the sake of sounding like a cheesedick, you just sorta get lost in. This is good vibes head music for folks who’s got, what Bad Brains called, that P.M.A. This album got my day started this morning.

I’ve tossed around the label “ambient music for people who don’t like ambient music” more than once, but it’s undeniably a good label for White Rainbow. There are no lyrics or verse/chorus actions (as you would expect from music often reviewed on this blog), but there’s lots of melody, lots of lush instrumentation, lots of texture, intricate rhythm, vague vocal chants, and a tension-and-release dynamic that makes New Clouds almost pop-oriented at times. If you haven’t peeped ol’ Rainbow yet, think of him as a shoegazey version of Growing that spent more time in the woods meditating, collecting cool threads, and partaking in the good peyote. And like Growing, who spent time frightening the Hot Chip fans on a supporting string of dates, White Rainbow also opens for a group infinitely inferior to him (Yacht… bleh) on a southeastern Asia vision quest. But hey, I can jive with whatever spreads his krautrock forest gospel.

New Clouds is a beautiful record, and surprisingly upbeat. Use it to get your day started. Or use it as the centerpiece in bong-rippin’ activities. New Clouds goes both ways. And it just dropped this week on Kranky. Go see about it.

For fans of: Belong, Growing, Cloudland Canyon

POSSIBLY RELEVANT :::
Most Psychedelic Times with White Rainbow, Pauly Shore, and the Hurdy Gurdy Bro
[Photos + Video] Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, and No Age with White Rainbow and More – 8.4.09 – Southgate House, Newport

MP3 :::
White Rainbow – All the Boogies in the World (excerpt)

High Times and Bedroom Surf

Published

Michael Hansen

on October 17, 2009

in MP3

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washed-out-high-times-art High Times and Bedroom Surf

…Cynicism can’t escape the chillness of Washed Out’s hazy electro rip-tide. His new EP High Times is sort of like an 80’s movie soundtrack á la M83 but instead of the bubblegum and popcorn of John Hughes we slide through nine tracks of Risky Business style seduction.

Producer Ernest Greene mashes the kind of retro-future synth touches common on Warp with sunny arpeggios and deep hip-hop bass. Only working on this project for two months, he’s already dropped the infectious, blog-approved Life of Leisure on Mexican Summer, a synth-pop EP drenched in beach coma ecstasy. On this follow-up, Greene rotates the vocals out more to make room for vaporous interludes that play like blissful alter-egos of those found on BoC’s Geodaggi. This cassette-only release is currently sold out (cue bummer), but allow these MP3’s to motivate you to stick around until we can get a restock.

The High Times cassette is currently being released in small runs by Mirror Tapes.

MP3 :::
Washed Out – Phone Call
Washed Out – Luck

Of All the Pigeons in New York

Published

Michael Hansen

on October 8, 2009

in MP3

. 0 Comments

lunettes

There are certain sounds synonymous with the Summer of Love, but what about the winter that followed? Bronx trio Pigeons have a decent guess in mind. Their account of classic psychedelia is a much colder affair than most’. Stringing together a bizarrely addictive mix of paranoia, mystery, and seduction, their new 7″ Lunettes is something I could only describe as psych-noir.

Warm tape-splintered reverb follows defeated guitar lines on “Lowest”. Singer Wednesday Knudsen positions herself amongst the debris as a writhing chanteuse, evoking Trish Keenan from Broadcast if she had been coached by David Lynch. The sedate hymn, “Tendress”, with drums set to the rowing beat of a ghost ship, furthers the groups fascinating tension between neurosis and delicacy. This little taste is a pre-curser to upcoming LP Si Faustine dropping on Olde English Spelling Bee in the near future, hopefully in time for Halloween. Highly Recommended.

Lunettes is available now on Soft Abuse.

For fans of: Broadcast, Pocahaunted, Religious Knives

MP3 :::
Pigeons – Tendress
Pigeons – Lowest

Indian Jewelry Makes Like Horseshit and Hits the Trail

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on September 26, 2009

in News and Rockshows

. 0 Comments

indianjewelry_new Indian Jewelry Makes Like Horseshit and Hits the Trail

Erika Thrasher’s got a lot to smile about, since Houston-based shamanistic noise psych troubadours Indian Jewelry start a healthy string of tour dates tonight in the most beautiful city’s that’s a bitch to bike, San Francisco. Not sure if this new tour means that a new album is in a the works, but this rather comprehensive jaunt is more than satisfactory in itself. I tried to bring Indian Jewelry to Louisville during this leg, but unfortunately they had to agree to the Cincy date (which is okay since the Art Damage Lodge is awesome). You’ve gotta see these dudes live. I’ll probably make the trip myself. They wear tunics, adorn the stage with animal skulls, tin foil, and a Texas state flag, blast flood-level strobe lights everywhere, and keep things evil at all times. The live show is epileptic madness. Plus, the group has solidified an impressive and eclectic collection of support dates, playing with everyone from Kurt Vile and Faust, to !!! and Celebration, to Sword Haven and Psychic Ills. Insane.

9/26 – San Francisco, CA – Independent
9/27 – Los Angeles, CA – The Troubadour
9/28 – Costa Mesa, CA – The Detroit Bar
9/29 – Phoenix, AZ – The Rhythm Room
9/30 – Tucson, AZ – Hotel Congress
10/02 – Lawrence, KS – The Replay Lounge
10/03 – Grinnell, IA – Grinnell College
10/04 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
10/05 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
10/06 – Detroit, MI – Museum of Contemporary Art
10/07 – Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class
10/08 – Poughkeepsie, NY – Vassar College
10/09 – New York, NY – Cake Shop
10/11 – New Haven, CT – Sundazed at Bar New Haven
10/13 – Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands
10/15 – Baltimore, MD – Load of Fun
10/16 – Gambier, OH – Horn Gallery at Kenyan College
10/17 – Cincinnati, OH – Art Damage Lodge
10/18 – Atlanta, GA – Eyedrum
10/19 – Mobile, AL – Alabama Music Box
10/22 – Austin, TX – Club DeVille
10/23 – Houston, TX – TBA

The boys and girls made a commercial advertising their “Live Music” tour. I think it captures their music well. Especially the clip of the Oregon Trail-style caravan fording the river.

MP3 :::
Indian Jewelry – Nonetheless

Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on September 24, 2009

in Praise and Malaise

. 0 Comments

WARPLP189-Packshot-480 Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age

Broadcast, in some ways, seem to have followed rather stridently along a solid trajectory. The group started as a quartet firmly planted in haunting ’60s vocal pop and garage ballads, augmented by lightly arranged vintage atomic age samples and Trish Keenan’s silky and distant vocals. The latter was, of course, the only thing that ever remained consistent, as Broadcast became more divergent through the years, ending with 2005’s glitchy, noisy, electronics-heavy and cosmically surreal Tender Buttons.

Perhaps it as simply a new direction or the influence of Julian House from The Focus Group on this latest effort, but Witch Cults of the Radio Age acts as the bridge between the organic retro-futuristic pop of Work and Non-Work and the more chaotic latter repertoire, with extra ornate instrumentation courtesy of House. This is a spooky, gorgeous record, and probably the most accessible effort from the “library music” camp (i.e. the Ghost Box/Mute/Warp family that both samples and draws inspiration from the classic BBC Radiophonic Workshop – see Barry 7’s Connectors and the Ghost Box site for additional reference).

With the exception of Keenan’s contributions that channel Margo Guryan and The United States of America, it’s hard to distinguish where Broadcast ends and The Focus Group begins, other than the weirdo samples that House is wont to incorporate into his instrumentals (including a slew of Conet Project snippets, which is major thumbs up). The collaboration is seamless and refreshing, and has added to an extremely strong addition to the nearly flawless curriculum vitae for both Broadcast and The Focus Group. I’m not sure if I feel this way because I’ve been listening to the same Broadcast catalog for four years and this disc is new, but Witch Cults of the Radio Age might just be my favorite Broadcast release thus far. Hence, I’m getting very excited for the full length due out on Warp some time next year.

No need to give Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age our normal rating or any of that jive. This is absolutely essential listening that earns its one billion smiling Donald Fagens. It’s total insanity.

You can purchase the digital release right now at Bleep, and/or grip the physical release on October 26. Get on it!

POSSIBLY RELATED :::
Praise Ye Jehova… Broadcast is Back in Action

MP3 :::
Files removed per request