New Video: Redd Kross, “Uglier”
Published on March 21st, 2013 in: Current Faves, Music, New Video, Video |
Photo © Arlie Carstens/Incase
Redd Kross has never followed fashion (that’d be a joke). Instead, they’ve always existed in some parallel, alternate universe, doing their own thang.
For proof of this phenomenon, check out this new video of them looking natty and rocking in Room 205, performing “Uglier” from their incandescent 2012 release, Researching The Blues (review).
For more Redd Kross, check out their website and go see them on tour! If you missed out on your chance to get Researching The Blues on vinyl, it’s back for a limited time from Merge Records.
Tour Dates:
Apr 3: The Earl; Atlanta GA
Apr 4: Kings Barcade; Raleigh NC
Apr 5: Black Cat; Washington DC
Apr 6: Santo’s Party House (early show) ; New York NY
Apr 7: Kung Fu Necktie; Philadelphia PA
Apr 10: Il Motore; Montreal QC
Apr 11: Horseshoe Tavern; Toronto ON
Apr 12: Lager House; Detroit, MI on sale March 20
Apr 13: Empty Bottle; Chicago IL
Apr 14: Cactus Club; Milwaukee WI
New Song/Video From Purling Hiss: “Mercury Retrograde”
Published on March 8th, 2013 in: Music, New Single, New Video, Video |Check out this meta-retro video from Purling Hiss, from their upcoming album Water On Mars (out on March 19 from Drag City). It manages to reference the ’90s referencing MTV Classic referencing actual videos from the 1970s.
For more of Purling Hiss (without the green-screened background) check them out on their upcoming tour.
Tour Dates:
4/4/13 – 285 Kent; Brooklyn, NY w/ Spacin’, AXIS:SOVA
4/5/13 – Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA w/ Spacin’, AXIS:SOVA
4/6/13 – Metro Gallery; Baltimore, MD w/ Spacin’, AXIS:SOVA
4/7/13 – Maxwell’s; Hoboken, NJ w/ AXIS:SOVA
4/9/13 – O’Briens Pub; Allston, MA w/ AXIS:SOVA
4/10/13 – BAR Nightclub; New Haven, CT
4/12/13 – Brillobox; Pittsburgh, PA w/ AXIS:SOVA
4/14/13 – The Garden Bowl; Detroit, MI w/ AXIS:SOVA
4/15/13 – Empty Bottle; Chicago, IL w/ Tee Pee, AXIS:SOVA
4/16/13 – 7th Street Entry; Minneapolis, MN
4/18/13 – Linnemans Riverwest Inn; Milwaukee, WI
4/19/13 – University of Wisconsin Madison; Madison, WI
4/20/13 – Mike N’ Molly’s; Champaign, IL
5/5/13 – Fluc; Vienna, Austria
5/6/13 – Culture Factory Club; Zagreb, Croatia
5/9/13 – Nuits Sonores Festival, Le Sonic; Lyon, France
5/11/13 – El Perro Club; Madrid, Spain
5/12/13 – Taina Fest; Porto, Portugal
5/13/13 – Bukowski; Donostia, Spain
5/15/13 – Nouveau Casino; Paris, France w/ Mikal Cronin
5/16/13 – Tufnell Park Dome; London, United Kingdom w/ White Fence, Mikal Cronin
5/20/13 – Undertone; Cardiff, United Kingdom
5/21/13 – The Green Door Store; Brighton, United Kingdom
5/22/13 – Madame Moustache Brussels, Belgium
5/23/13 – De Effenar; Eindhoven, Netherlands
5/24/13 – Muk; Giessen, Germany
5/25/13 – Die Friese; Bremen, Germany
5/26/13 – KB18; Copenhagen, Denmark
5/27/13 – Kuudes Linja; Helsinki, Finland
5/28/13 – Debaser Slussen; Stockholm, Sweden
5/30/13 – Marie-Antoinette; Berlin, Germany
New David Bowie Single/Video: “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”
Published on February 27th, 2013 in: Music, New Single, New Video, Video |
As if working on a new album for two years in secret wasn’t enough of a coup, now David Bowie has a new video for the song “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” featuring Tilda Swinton and models Andrej Pejic and Saskia de Brauw.
For fans of both Bowie and Swinton, this is fairly amazing, as their remarkably similar, androgynous looks have been the subject of endless Internet memes as well as the Tumblr blog Tilda Stardust, which seeks to prove that the two are the same person.
For those who follow fashion, the appearance of both Pejic and de Brauw is nearly as fascinating as the two are perhaps the biggest Bowie androgynes after Swinton herself.
Although Bowie has been declining various public appearances over the years (The Victoria & Albert Museum retrospective, the London Olympics Closing Ceremony), he’s clearly not been ignoring pop culture in his “increasingly reclusive” life. Not only does he include Swinton, Pejic, and de Brauw in the video, it’s directed by Flora Sigismondi, who is responsible for the decidedly Bowie- and Velvet Goldmine-influenced film The Runaways. (It’s all so meta!)
Intriguingly, Swinton doesn’t play Bowie in the video (that would be too easy), but Bowie’s wife. As they go grocery shopping together, she praises their “nice life” after he remarks that the people on the cover of a tabloid are “more exciting than anything we’ve got around here.” (For more self-referential material, check out the photo in the upper right corner of the fake tabloid.) The song’s commentary on celebrity, stars, and transformation is made manifest visually through some brilliant editing and costumes.
One can even imagine Bowie laughing at that Daily Mail article from last fall and that this video is his response. Clearly he’s pulled off the biggest transformation of his career and bested us all, yet again.
The Next Day comes out on March 12.
New Remixes, Videos From Parenthetical Girls
Published on February 26th, 2013 in: Music, New Video, Video |
It’s been just a week since the release of Parenthetical Girls‘ Privilege* album (review), but we want more! Luckily, there are two remixes and a video performance to help the greedy ones.
Los Campesinos! have transformed “Sympathy For Spastics” by adding a sprightly synth beat while amplifying and repeating the song’s original, already haunting piano track.
“Young Throats” has been tackled by YACHT, who have replaced the opening wave of keyboards—and most of the vocals and other instruments—with a sparse, robotic drumbeat and synths, while keeping the spine of the track intact.
The band also recorded a live performance of “Curtains” in this video on a decrepit, long-retired riverboat in the first of a four-part documentary video series.
Parenthetical Girls will begin their North American tour on March 6 at Holocene in Portland, OR. For more visit the new Privilege Abridged website or the Parenthetical Girls website.
New Single/Video: Suede, “It Starts And Ends With You”
Published on February 14th, 2013 in: Music, New Single, New Video, Upcoming Releases, Video |
It was only last month that Suede released a track from their upcoming album Bloodsports and now the official single and video are out.
It’s Suede, all right. Monochromatic, smoky, everyone looking dour. No longer the pretty young things (except for Richard Oakes, perhaps), but that’s not only fine, it’s preferable. We always loved the music the most, anyway. The song is also very much a Suede single, and actually improves towards the end when they sort of let loose. I’m looking forward to analyzing the lyrics to this and “Barriers” when the album is released.
Now who’s going to make an animated GIF of Brett Anderson’s slow clap? Because I need that in my life. Bloodsports is out on March 18.
New Video: Inside What The Brothers Sang with Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Published on February 11th, 2013 in: Music, New Video, Upcoming Releases |
Photo © Lindsay Rome
The much-anticipated What The Brothers Sang—Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s tribute album of Everly Brothers songs—will be out on February 19. In the meantime, enjoy this video of behind-the-scenes footage of the rehearsal and recording process. It provides a peek at the hard work and musicianship that went into the making of this album as well as the sheer amount of talent involved. Other artists on the album are Emmett Kelley, Dave Roe and Kenny Malone, with featured players Billy Contreras, John Mock, Dan Dugmore, Matt Sweeney, Pete Townsend, John Catchings, Bobby Wood, Joey Miskalin, Nils Frykdahl, Ian McAllister, Joey Baron, Dr. Chris Vivio, and Noah Tag. While you’re waiting for the release, you can pre-order the album from Drag City.
New Jesca Hoop Single/Video: “Ode To Banksy”
Published on January 30th, 2013 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, New Single, New Video |
The third single from Jesca Hoop‘s amazing The House That Jack Built album (review), is out now and there’s a video to go with it.
“I’ve been a fan of Banksy for ages,” explains Jesca. “This song is a splatter of inspirations that I have gathered from his pieces round the world. There are four or five specific pieces that inform the lyrics. I named the song ‘Ode To Banksy’ because, as a huge fan, I much prefer to keep the mystery of his identity alive . . . and while I was writing the song there were big press blasts to reveal his identity . . . which I ignored. I’ll keep him masked, thank you! This song is like pop art itself . . . for art’s sake. I am also a big a fan of Bobbie Gentry and her song ‘Ode to Billy Joe’ is a long time favorite of mine . . . the thought of the death of a great intrigue gave me a good excuse to write my own Ode.”
“Ode To Banksy”—with its catchy chorus and insistent guitar riffs—is another perfect example of the beautifully diverse talents of Ms. Hoop. If you haven’t yet heard The House That Jack Built, I highly recommend it.
Jesca Hoop will be supporting I Am Kloot on their February tour of the UK.
Tour Dates:
Feb. 12 – GLASGOW, Oran Mor
Feb. 13 – LEEDS, Irish Centre
Feb. 14 – MANCHESTER, The Ritz
Feb. 15 – MANCHESTER, The Ritz
Feb. 18 – NOTTINGHAM, Albert Hall
Feb. 19 – LONDON, Barbican
Feb. 21 – BRIGHTON, St Bartholomew’s Church
Feb. 22 – CAMBRIDGE, Junction
Feb. 23 – BRISTOL, Trinity
Feb. 24 – COVENTRY, Warwick Arts Centre
New Single/Video, Upcoming Album: Adam Ant, “Cool Zombie”
Published on January 17th, 2013 in: Music, New Single, New Video, Video |
In case you hadn’t heard, Adam Ant has been touring the UK and the US throughout the last couple of years. He’s also got a new album ready to drop on January 21 in the UK. The first single, “Cool Zombie,” was released November 21 along with the accompanying video.
If you’re an Adam Ant fan, you probably know this already. Inevitably, though, there has been and will be a lot of chatter along the lines of, “Adam Ant is still around? I thought he was crazy and/or dead.”
It would be impossible to try and sum up all that’s transpired over the past decade or so regarding Adam’s musical career—not to mention his mental, emotional, and legal struggles&mdsh;in a few paragraphs. The man has been to hell and back and to brush it off as merely a rough patch would be incredibly disrespectful.
If you’ve not seen or heard Adam in a while, you might cringe at this song and video. But get over it (and yourself) because it’s actually a good song. I didn’t think it was that catchy when I first heard it, but when I found it stuck in my head for a few days, I changed my mind.
No, he doesn’t look the same as he did 20 years ago. Yes, he’s gone bald and gained some weight. Check out some of the YouTube clips of his recent live performances, though, and you’ll quickly figure out that he’s the same fantastic performer he’s always been, albeit a little older and wiser.
The new, long-anticipated and much-delayed album, Adam Ant is The BlueBlack Hussar In Marrying The Gunners Daughter, will be out next Monday. You can pre-order it on Amazon.co.uk. You can also order the single on iTunes. Check out Adam’s Facebook page for links to articles, videos, and other goodies.
New Atoms For Peace single/video: “Judge Jury and Executioner”
Published on January 14th, 2013 in: Music, New Single, New Video, Video |By J Howell
The new Atoms For Peace single, “Judge Jury and Executioner” isn’t a radical departure for Thom Yorke—think three-quarters of the way between the mostly-electronica of The Eraser and the partial electronica of recent-vintage Radiohead. Recognizable as the work of Yorke and longtime producer Nigel Godrich within seconds, “Judge Jury and Executioner” is hypnotic, somewhat cold and compelling. The track may not surprise longtime fans, but it is likely to please. Yorke’s voice, layered and reverberated as a background instrument itself throughout, is simultaneously familiar and slightly unsettling.
“Judge Jury and Executioner” is available for download now at the Atoms For Peace website and iTunes, and a 12” single with the non-album B-side “S.A.D.” is available for pre-order as well, to be released March 19. Atoms For Peace’s debut album, Amok, is available February 26.
A Man Lost In Time: Bowie Returns With New Single, Album
Published on January 8th, 2013 in: Music, New Music Tuesday, New Single, New Video, Video |By Cait Brennan
It came like a bolt of lightning in the dead of night: news of a new David Bowie album, his first in a decade, announced with no advance notice in the wee hours of his 66th birthday. The Next Day, Bowie’s 30th studio album, produced by Tony Visconti (!), will be released March 8 in Australia, March 11 in most of the rest of the world and March 12th in the US, with a new single, “Where Are We Now?” available on iTunes now.
Watch the full video on Vimeo.
After health issues sidelined Bowie in 2004, fans have been hoping against hope that the singular rock and roll icon would one day return to music, but there was scant evidence it would ever happen. His suitably theatrical return sent social media into a frenzy, putting him atop Twitter’s trending topics within minutes. Radio stations around the world scrambled to play the track first, with BBC 6Music earning honors as the World Premiere play, edging BBC Radio 2 by a few short minutes.
“Where Are We Now?” is a meditative ballad of “a man lost in time, walking the dead,” recalling in both lyrical geography and atmosphere his Berlin trilogy, coupled with a sound reminiscent of his most recent albums Reality and Heathen. The track is accompanied by a hearteningly weird video filled with expressionist imagery and the Thin White Duke himself transformed into a tiny malformed creature with two heads, one of which is a girl.
Henceforth, Christmas is officially moved to January 8.
The album is available for pre-order via iTunes in both standard and deluxe editions (the latter featuring three bonus tracks). Visit davidbowie.com/the-next-day for the latest.