RAIN MACHINE, IRAN, NEON INDIAN,FRENCH HORN REBELLION, CUBIC ZIRCONIA: LIVE AT GRASSLANDS
Thanks to our friends at Pop Gun Booking, I had a chance to escape my defeatist infused valentines day and check out Neon Indian,French Horn Rebellion and Cubic Zirconia at Grasslands Gallery in Brooklyn on Sunday night. While Valentines Day is always somewhat of a trap, the good folks at Grasslands and Pop Gun put together anything but a manufactured rip-off. Where else could $8.00 deliver a romantic view of the Manhattan skyline and a full nights lineup of amazing music. The Valentines dance party kicked off with an unexpected bearded v-day treat for me, TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, performing double duty with his bands Rain Machine and Iran, side by side friends Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, and Candles of Paradise. An exceedingly solid block of incredibly talented musicians for such an intimate space. While, I caught Malone perform before with TV on the Radio at Prospect Park, the bandshell’s sound system was no match for hearing Malone’s calm tenor literally in the shadow of his massive afro, about two feet in front of me. A serious treat (both his voice and man mane). The noisy indie rock band Iran and the even more experimental Rain Machine are an interesting foray for him, which I both find infinitely more interesting than TVOTR . Iran’s no-fi sound is a more lyric based project with a nod toward retro-indie bands like Pavement. At its core, this is really just cleverly disguised pop/folk-rock under a blanket of fuzzed out guitars and sonic atmosphere. Rain Machine leans more towards psychedelia and even suggests an affection for shoegaze. A more textured sound with lots of percussion, bells, sparingly strummed fuzzed out crunchy electric guitars, more cow bell and static raining down on Malones introspective lyrics. Check out more of IRAN HERE or RAIN MACHINE HERE. Which one is better? Its hard to decide. The party continued late into the night with overlapping DJ sets from Cubic Zirconia, Neon Indian and French Horn Rebellion, spinning a grab bag of Ace of Base, C& C Music Factory (whom even in this economy still seem to be flourishing) disco boogie and 80’s synth. While Cubic Zirconia’s set stood out because of Tiombe Lockhart taking her voice to the mic, the nights highlight for me, was definitely Neon Indian’s set. Some really sick infectious dance remixes from these guys that had the crowd sweating. Big ups to all the bands involved and Pop Gun for throwing a great party that brought the funk to save me from my funk and another v-day plagued by listless apathy. While you are here check out some Neon Indian remixes below:
DOWNLOAD: Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer (Afghan Raiders Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Neon Indian – Should Have Taken Acid with You (Future Rock remix)
DOWNLOAD: Neon Indian – Mind, Drips (LaundroMatinee.com session) (MP3)
Rain machine picture courtesy of Kyle Dean Reinford Photography
THE HAPPY HOLLOWS: DEATH TO VIVEK KEMP
New video from La art-rock trio, The Happy Hollows for their latest single, “Death To Vivek Kemp” off the EP Spells. The stop motion animation video, directed by Benjamin Hoste was hand animated frame by frame using markers and water colors, accentuated by a barrage of random shapes, paint splatter and a simple water color palate throughout, it is a nice compliment to the bands affectless post-punk and breezy California rock sound. Spells is available now courtesy of Autumn Tone Records and the band is currently on tour.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
2/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell
3/3 Washington, DC – Black Cat
3/4 Philadelphia, PA – The North Star
3/12 Los Angeles, CA – The Troubadour
3/13 Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
3/17 – 3/20 Austin, TX – SXSW
NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB: CHAOS
Discosalt Video of the Week 2/14/10: This weeks video comes from UK post-punk, new wave, pop band New Young Pony Club with the single “Chaos” off their forthcoming 2nd album The Optimist, which hits stores March 1st via Modular. A real marriage of dance and pop ethic, the video for “Chaos” features a simple but stylish performance by the band, directed by Jo Apps. The band will be on tour in the UK for most of March, but no news yet on whether the band will visit our side of the great pond this year.
The single “Chaos” was also given the remix treatment by Rory Phillips and will be featured on the single alongside other remixes by Melé and the Manic Street Preachers. You can check it out below:
| New Young Pony Club | “Chaos (Rory Phillips Remix)” | MP3 |
2010 ATP FESTIVAL NY:CURATED BY JIM JARMUSCH
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If you can look this far ahead into your calendar, Labor day weekend, September 3-5, ATP (All Tomorrow’s Parties) will host the third annual ATP Festival at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello, NY. Three days of unbelievable bands performing, with Sunday’s acts selected by indie director Jim Jarmusch.
Here are the details so far:
Friday– Dont Look Back day: a day of bands playing beloved albums (Iggy and the Stooges do Raw Power, Sleep do Holy Mountain, Mudhoney do Superfuzz Bigmuff + early singles, the Scientists do Blood Red River)
Saturday– Sonic Youth, Explosions in the Sky, the Breeders, Fuck Buttons, the Books, Papa M, and Apse.
Sunday (Jim Jarmusch’s picks)- Raekwon, Girls, Fucked Up, Vivian Girls, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Wooden Shjips, and the Black Angels.
All three days will also feature DJs and Cinema presented by Criterion.
Full 3 day Festival Tickets are priced at $250 + booking fee for the weekend.
Friday day tickets are priced at $110 + booking fee.
Saturday day tickets are priced at $120 + booking fee.
Sunday day tickets will be available in March.
need a way to get there? Weekend and day Bus travel is available between Brooklyn or Manhattan. Just click here to buy!
Also noted that accommodation at Kutshers are on sale now with only 6 person rooms still available. Alternatively rooms for groups of 3 or 4 are available at the nearby Raleigh hotel where rooms are priced at $150 + room tax per person. Get the full spectrum of information at atpfestival.com.
AVETT BROTHERS SIGN ONTO BONNAROO
The Avett Brothers, folk-rock real life brothers from North Carolina have signed on to play Bonnaroo Music festival this year. You can check out the bands video announcement HERE or take a peek at the rest of the Bonnaroo band line-up HERE.
If you don’t make it down to the festival, you can always catch the Avett Brothers on tour all this Spring (see below for dates) or pick up their critically acclaimed I and Love and You , which is out now on Columbia Records.
Avett Brothers 2010 US Tour Dates
2/24 Athens, OH Ohio University – Athens
2/26 Ithaca, NY State Theatre
2/27 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
2/28 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian room @ Murat Centre
3/02 Columbia, MO Missouri Theatre
3/03 Midwest City, OK Rose State PAC
3/05 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
3/06 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theatre
3/07 Chicago, IL House of Blues
3/09 Ann Arbor, MI Michigan Theater
YEASAYER’S ODD BLOOD OUT TOMORROW
Ive had the latest Yeasayer singles “O.N.E.” and “Ambling Alp” on heavy rotation lately. Their new Sophmore album, the highly anticipated Odd Blood, officially comes out tomorrow and is a solid follow up to their breakthrough first album All Hour Cymbals…maybe even better. On Odd Blood, the psych-experimental dance party continues but this album just feels a bit bigger, uber catchy, lushly layered rhythmic textures and some infectious leg droppin’ 80’s throwback tracks like “Ambling Alp”. There is a good mix of space age electro beats, subtle tropicalia and some disco breakdowns, even a poppier ballad, “Madder Red”, that would make Mr. Mister weep. The album in its entirety is a lot to take in on first listen; this is a complex album that deserve some more marinading. Be sure to check back with Discosalt again for a more detailed Album Review in the coming weeks.
Until you get your hands on a copy of this EP, you can stream the album in its entirety from their MySpace page.
And, if you dig the album artwork, it was designed by Brooklyn based artist Benjamin Phelan. Check out the rest of his work here.
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS: IN YOUR HEART
Discosalt Video of the Week 2/7/10: These go to 11. This weeks video of the week for “In Your Heart” comes from Brooklyn’s volume knob maximalist trio A Place to Bury Strangers off their appropriately titled sophomore album Exploding Head. While the album came out last fall, it’s worth revisiting. An obvious nod to My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain,and Echo and the Bunnymen, Exploding Head’s “In Your Heart”, sounds most like Joy Division. With its bitter lyrics, reverb drenched guitar hooks and synthier 80s drum machine beats, it’s dark, loud, reckless and makes us believe the hype that maybe they are New York City’s “loudest band”. The video, directed by Adam Grabarnick, cinematographer Marcos Durian and produced by Sara Laffer manages to capture a snapshot of the band live, a throwback to New Yorks grittier new wave basement clubs only louder, where volume and thrashing through a sweat soaked crowd can get you as f%#ed as the booze.
LEMONADE: LIFTED
New video for the single “Lifted” off the Brooklyn based percussive art trio Lemonade’s new EP Pure Moods out March 9 on True Panther. Conceived and shot by Aaron Brown, Anthony Mathile, Ash Smith and edited by Matt Egan, the video blends Lemonades psychedelic tropicalia (is that a word) with some nostalgic home video like footage of a bunch of urban kids exploring the great outdoors… maybe shot in upstate New York?
WU-TANG VS. THE BEATLES: ENTER THE MAGICAL MYSTERY CHAMBERS
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Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles: Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers
This new mash up of the Beatles & Wu-Tang Clan isn’t really strictly a blend of Magical Mystery Tour with Enter the 36 Chambers, nor is it necessarily a combination of actual Beatles material. Most of the loops and samples sound like they’re taken from a reggae Beatles cover band, whatever the Dread Zeppelin of Beatles might be, or taken from Big Band arrangements of Beatles hits. Without working from the actual source material, the album suffers from the first time curiosity of the whole “How’d they do it?” thing. That said, all the songs are buffered with radio news clips of Beatlemania at it’s highest, clips of teenage girls camped outside of the Beatles’ hotel or interviews with the band at the time. These clips make what can be a tedious listen (27 songs here people) entertaining, and for every lackluster track or failed mash in the mashing up process, there’s a fit that is near perfect. Check the obvious mash up of “Got Your Money” and “You Never Give Me Your Money,” or especially “Uzi (Pinky Ring),” which flips through the dial of Beatles greatest hits with the change of Wu narrator, and as we know, any one of these songs can have a LOT of Wu narrators. Worth a listen to check the archival interview stuff overlaid over the music, and for the occasional home run combo.
It’s a free download now from Tea Set Records, check it out HERE or check out a sample below:
Play Wu-Tang Clan x The Beatles – C.R.E.A.M.
– John Whitaker
STEVE AOKI: I’M IN THE HOUSE
Steve Aoki, aka Kid Millionaire, celebrity DJ and founder of Dim Mak Records, counts leading indie rock bands such as Gossip, Bloc Party, and Battles among its stable of signees. On his new album, Aoki is in the House with another red carpet of all stars from MSTRKRFT, Crookers, LMFAO, the Bloody Beetroots, Pase Rock and Boys Noize. He just released his new single “I’m in the House”, today which you can preview by just clicking here, mouse over the title, get out your light sticks and click play.
Or you can check out Aoki’s slightly obnoxious new video for “I’m in the House” below. Slightly suspicious…Zuper Blahq looks a lot like Will I Am in disguise. And just in case you weren’t sure where Aoki is again? or who is in there with him… no worries, he is going tell you enough times that it’s burned into the recesses of your brain. Oh yeah, he’s in the house. Got it. Good. Subtlety is not Aoki’s forte but who cares, he is still going to get your leg droppin’. Let us know what you think.
EFTERKLANG: MODERN DRIFT
Discosalt Video of the Week 2/1/10: This weeks video of the week comes from the native Copenhagen band Efterklang. Saying the band’s name may make you feel like you have a speech impediment, but the new single “Modern Drift” off the bands new album Magic Chairs, can only aid your soul. Directed by Kristian Leth, the video combines the beauty of nature with the bands drifting tranquil beats and catchy hooks. Its like a much better version of Marty Stouffer’s Wild America… but with some nudity and rollercoasters.
Modern Drift by Efterklang from Rumraket on Vimeo.
DAVID BOWIE: SPACE ODDITY (ORIGINAL DEMO)
If the media monkeys and their junky junkies invite you to their plastic pantomime… throw their invites away. Just thought everyone could use a little Bowie break to space out to today.
Here’s the original demo of David Bowies Space Oddity, from the Sound & Vision box set:
THE XX: VCR
Discosalt Video of the Week 1/25/10: The xx’s debut album “xx.” seemed to top just about everyone’s top albums of 2009. Now, the band has released a new video for “VCR” off “xx.”, directed by Marcus Söderlund. Check it out:
The xx – VCR from satelite on Vimeo.
BEACH HOUSE: SILVER SOUL
New Video from the much talked about new Beach House album Teen Dream. The Maryland indie dream pop duo officially releases Teen Dream on Sub Pop this week with a DVD containing videos for each song on the album. Check out the fifth video released through gorillavsbear for the song “Silver Soul” below directed by Beach House’s singer, Victoria Legrand:
Beach House “Silver Soul” from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.
Need some more Beach House? Stream their new album “Teen Dream” in full on NPR HERE.
NEON INDIAN: PSYCHIC CHASMS
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Neon Indian: Psychic Chasms
Label: Lefse Records
Release Date: October 13, 2009
For all of our collective 80’s obsession, I get the sneaking suspicion that dance music in the Regan era, underground and mainstream wasn’t as rad as we romanticize it to be.
All the various and scattered-to-the-stars special bits from the 80’s have been successfully salvaged though by Alan Palomo, aka Neon Indian. Synths, Keytars, Lasers, Phazers and drum machine sounds all make their way onto the lo-fi cheesy chic Psychic Chasms. The 8-bit blip pop slices are of questionable origin but you can’t help but listen to “Terminally Chill”, “Should Have Taken Acid With You”, “Local Joke” and most every other song on here without hearing traces of Hall & Oates, Billy Ocean, George Michael and other 80’s offenders but it works.
The reason it works beyond the trendiness of the gimmick, is because it comes from a different place emotionally. Psychic Chasms and its creator Neon Indian, on paper may seem like a shallow, kitschy cash grab but on record, Palomo is genuinely spilling his guts, crying his eyes out, contemplating self-destruction and coming to terms with it all.
Like any great pop album, for the “Certificate of Authenticity,” all you have to do is pull a deep cut like “6699 (I don’t know if you know)” and really listen. Moody. Atmospheric. Boards of Canada-ish.
For every “6699” however, there is a colorful “Should Have Taken Acid With You” or the phenomenally upbeat and deceptively cheerful ‘Deadbeat Summer”. Both are a blast of Day-Glo sunshine but Summer is well, more summery and Acid has that back-to-school regretfulness written all over it. Even so, all the bits of Spring, Summer and Fall on this album are welcome and in the dead of winter, two things remain true. 1) A little sunshine goes a long way and 2) A cheesy sweater will still keep you warm.
Thanks for both, Neon Indian.
-Casey Bowers
SURFER BLOOD: ASTRO COAST
[rating:4]
Surfer Blood: Astro Coast
Label: Kanine Record
Release Date: January 19,2010
I have a tendency to review “guitar bands” because that’s what I generally listen to and love. With a name like Surfer Blood, I had a preconceived notion that the West Palm Beach, Florida band, would summon Dick Dale style guitar and brutally aggressive HEALTH drums. In other words, Laurel Canyon’s answer to Japandroids.
Well, I was half right. Astro Coast, the debut album from Surfer Blood , released on Kanine Records this month , definitely has a laid back California vibe and that big surf rock/spy soundtrack hollow body tone and textures feel you might expect, but not right off the bat. Track names “Harmonix” and “Neighbour Riffs” suggest these West Palm Beach lads know their way around the neck and listening to only the first 5 seconds of the first 3 songs makes it crystal. Stylistically, some gratuitous Pavement influence rears it’s pretty head on the massively fun opening track “Floating Vibes” but by the album’s close , the band manages to channel a slew of influences from the British Invasion (think The Who & The Kinks), Brian Wilson, The Cars, Weezer (pre-Green album), The Shins, Band Of Horses and countless others not so apparent (Creeper Lagoon, anyone?) For a guitar band in 2010, this is without a doubt, a good quality. The track “Swim “is an obvious single with big wave power chords and sun kissed vocals but “Take It Easy” stands out as having the most beauty, brains and personality on the record . Doing afro-pop tinged indie rock as good as Vampire Weekend, and letting you know what Broken Bells might have sounded like if Mercer revisited Oh, Inverted World style production, the sunny mid tempo number shifts, shimmies and takes a seat in all the right places. For a band that has only been together slightly longer than The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast is both promising and surprising. With any luck, these guys will at least survive to be the musical guests on O’Brien’s new show in the Fall (fingers crossed).
-Casey Bowers
GRIZZLY BEAR COVERS HOT CHIP
One of my favorite bands, Grizzly Bear, whose album Veckatimest topped my “Top 10 Albums of 2009”, just released a cover of Hot Chip’s “Boy From School”. If you are fan of either band, it’s worth checking out. Just click on the link below.
"you have punk rock, you have rock, you have blues, you have soul, it’s all disco.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUOsztgBE-I
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