Category Archives: Bands/Artists

New Tortoise Album Beacons of Ancestorship Details

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Contrary to the information that Pitchfork announced about an April release date in their Guide to 2009 releases listing April 21st for it, Tortoise’s new album titled Beacons of Ancestorship will be released on June 23rd! This was announced today in the Thrill Jockey forums as well as twitter.

Beacons of Ancestorship is taking Thrill 210 as its catalog number between Lithops Ye Viols! and Mountains Choral, is Tortoise’s first solo studio release since 2004’s It’s All Around You (excluding the compendium A Lazarus Taxon, and the album The Brave and the Bold which was a covers album done with Bonnie Prince Billy). Recent criticism of Tortoise is that they’ve been touring the same set since they introduced the It’s All Around You songs, and really haven’t been digging much further back in their catalog than T.N.T. Since the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary shows in December of 2007, Tortoise has been giving  new songs a workout on the road. Looking at the tracklist below, however, only “Prepare Your Coffin” is a recognizable title out of the working titles which included “Glowstick” and “Korg.” I guess we’ll see which of these tracks gained new titles on the record.

The release predictably will come out on CD and a limited pressing of vinyl, but according to this Pitchfork (who gets all the sweet scoops from Thrill Jockey!) there will be a series of  limited edition 5″ records following the release featuring new music!

Tracklist for Beacons of Ancestorship

01 High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In
02 Prepare Your Coffin
03 Northern Something
04 Gigantes
05 Penumbra
06 Yinxianghechengqi
07 The Fall Of Seven Diamonds Plus One
08 Minors
09 Monument Six One Thousand
10 de Chelly
11 Charteroak Foundation

Preview of New Cracker Album Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey; Relase Date 5/5/09

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As posted earlier here, Cracker has been working on a new album– their last studio album Greenland was released in 2006. The album titled Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey will be released on May 5th, 2009 on a new label 429 Records. 429 Records is “a unit of the Savoy Label Group (SLG). SLG is the North American unit of CME (Columbia Music Entertainment), the oldest music company in Japan.” According to Wikipedia, CME is not affiliated with SonyBMG, who own the U.S. label Columbia Records. I guess that is why this company operates as Savoy Label Group in the U.S. Either way, I’m sure Cracker got a better deal than they ended up with at Virgin.

According to the Press Release the first single will be “Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me” which will be added to whatever radio plays Cracker on April 7th. “Turn On” has been getting a workout on the road lately, and it is a pretty spirited rocker like the other tracks seem to be on the record, which was produced by one-time Sugar member David Barbe, which seems like a copasetic partnership. Other noted musicians joined the fold for Sunrise. In addition to Barbe’s production, Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers (who was also produced by Barbe) lends a hand on long-time live favorite “Friends” as well as Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows on “Darling One” and John Doe from X on “We All Shine A Light.”

Here is the tracklisting with links to archive.org when a song has been played:

  1. Yalla Yalla (Let’s Go) (Live 4/19/09 in Chicago)
  2. Show Me How This Thing Works (Live 2/7/09 in Dubuque)
  3. Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me (Live 2/7/09 in Dubuque)
  4. We All Shine A Light (w/ John Doe)
  5. Hand Me My Inhaler
  6. Friends (w/ Patterson Hood) (Live 2/7/09 in Dubuque)
  7. I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right
  8. Time Machine (Live 2/6/09 in Palatine, IL)
  9. Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
  10. Darling One (w/ Adam Duritz)(Live 10/20/08 in Vienna, Austria)
  11. Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey (Live 10/20/08 in Vienna, Austria)

Cracker has released two music videos to YouTube, one for “Hand Me My Inhaler” earlier, and one for “Yalla Yalla”:

Click Here to visit the 429 Records page with samples of the new album.

Upcoming Show: Lyrics Born @ The Picador in Iowa City – 4/15/09!

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Lyrics Born

Well, it looks like I don’t have to drive to Minneapolis on April 17th, as Lyrics Born will be stopping by Iowa City on his way from Madison to Minneapolis!

Lyrics Born along with Joyo Velarde and DJ D-Sharp will be playing the Picador in Iowa City on Wednesday, April 15th. A Wednesday night show will be a little rough for work the next day, and there isn’t much for seating at the Picador so it will be a standing night. Doors are at 9PM according to the Picador site and Ticketweb, and they are a very reasonable $15. Other acts to be announced.

Click Here to visit Lyrics Born’s Website

Click Here to visit the Picador website

Click Here to order tickets from TicketWeb

Don’t forget to download LB’s new song “Funky Hit Records” from his forthcoming album As U Were.

Free Download: New Lyrics Born! “Funky Hit Records” Upcoming Shows

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It doesn’t seem that long ago that Lyrics Born released his last album Everywhere At Once— in fact it was released just under a year ago! (4/22/08) Not one to rest on his laurels when there is inspiration– LB has been spending time in the studio working on the release of his next album to be titled As U Were to drop this fall.

To help spread the buzz, LB has made available for FREE the old school stylee track “Funky Hit Records.”  “Funky Hit Records” is a tribute to classic 80’s style hip hop– a different direction than the production of his last two albums using only beats and scratches to propel the track from Trackademicks. A fun track with trademark tongue-in-cheek bravado from the man LB. The song has a video produced by Justin– the guy who handles all of the on-line activity for the Lyrics Born camp including the LBTV videos.

In other news, Lyrics Born is making a quick jump to the Midwest in April with Joyo Velarde and DJ D-Sharp. They’ll be at The Majestic in Madison, WI on April 14th, and Trocadero’s in Minneapolis on Friday, April 17th! I’ll be at the Minneapolis show, of course!

Apr 8 2009 9:00P
The Nightlight Lounge – Bellingham, WA Bellingham, Washington
Apr 10 2009 8:00P
Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR Portland, Oregon
Apr 11 2009 8:00P
McDonald Theatre – Eugene, OR w/ The Roots Eugene, Oregon
Apr 14 2009 9:00P
Majestic Theatre Madison, Wisconsin
Apr 17 2009 8:00P
Trocadero’s – Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 18 2009 8:00P
Palace of Fine Arts – San Francisco, CA – Adam Theis with special guest Lyrics Born San Francisco,

Click Here to download “Funky Hit Records” from the forthcoming As U Were.
Click Here to visit Lyrics Born’s website
Click Here to visit the LBTV YouTube Channel with the video for “Funky Hit Records” as well as a bunch of other videos.

(Almost) Free Download: John Coltrane – The Ultimate Blue Train $1.99 at Amazon

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Today Amazon.com has a sale on the 1997 remaster of John Coltrane’s only Blue Note album Blue Train. The story goes that before Coltrane signed to Prestige as a solo artist (he was already recording on Prestige as part of Miles Davis’s band) he had a meeting with label head Alfred Lion in late 1956 or early 1957 where Lion gave Coltrane an advance to sign with Blue Note. Coltrane would sign with Prestige, but still felt obligated to come over to Blue Note and record one album.

This album, of course, is the essential Blue Train (Blue Note 53428). Amazon.com has the 1997 remaster with two alternate takes available for $1.99 for a limited time, so if you don’t already have this remaster or album I highly recommend it!

Upcoming Show: Mountains at The Picador in Iowa City 4/24/09

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The duo of Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp known as Mountains are one of the new generation of Thrill Jockey bands. The band’s new album on Thrill Jockey is their third album since 2005– the first two released on the their own label, Apestaartje.

Mountains synth-plus-guitars sound is typically compared to Brian Eno or Fennesz and their 2009 release Choral is a collection of ambient tracks that seem to build by layer and utilizing spare melody structure. The delay and echo of the pieces also remind me of Michael Brook.

According to their PR, Mountains love to sculpt their sound in front of a live audience and we will be able to experience that here in Eastern Iowa when they perform at The Picador in Iowa City on Friday, April 24th.

At this point, the show is not listed on the Picador calendar, so I don’t have any more details.  I’ll try to update this page as I get more information.

Click Here to visit the Choral page at Thrill Jockey and listen to high-quality streaming tracks from the album.

New David Sylvian Release Manafon Announced

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From David Sylvian’s label Samadhi Sound we hear about an upcoming release from David Sylvian titled Manafon. According to the release, this album is a “powerfully bold, uncompromising work.” The sessions for this album were apparently recorded in December, 2007 and included Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Keith Rowe, Christian Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, and others.

Based on that list of contributors, it seems that this release might be a Free Jazz influenced record if David relied on the strengths of Parker, Tilbury and Rowe. Fennesz  worked with David on “A Fire in the Forest” from Blemish as well as frequent Sylvian collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto and has worked with Keith Rowe, too. Otomo also worked with Keith Rowe previously. So, this lineup seems to have a lot of synergies. Considering the heavy improvisational slant to these players it would be a shame to not tour this lineup– so maybe they’ll tour?

The name “Manafon” likely comes from the Welsh village of the same name. Poet R.S. Thomas studied the Welsh language and published his first three volumes of poetry while working as the rector there.

That animal on the art on the Manafon website is likely a White Stag, which in Celtic mythology is the guide between worlds. Additionally the White Stag is the symbol for the Welsh god Luga.

It’s hard to guess what all of these poorly-researched clues mean for the new release from Mr. Sylvian. I’ll keep everyone updated as I get more facts.

Update: Manafon comes out on 9/14: CLICK HERE to read my article on it.

New Tortoise on Record Store Day Special Release

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Cover by Crosshair

Cover by Posttypography

Cover by Posttypography

In celebration of National Record Store Day, Thrill Jockey is getting in on the action by releasing a very limited edition (900 copies) LP (really more of an EP) called Records Toreism which will be blessed with catalog number Thrill 12.30. [Note: Thrill 12.29 was the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Trey Told ‘Em MegaMix]

Thrill Jockey is using the occasion to showcase some of their newest acts as well as include a new track from Tortoise’s upcoming release (now pushed to June) and a Trans Am track. Here are the tracks as Thrill Jockey calls them:

A
1. Mountains “Windows”
This is a new song that does not appear any place else. It was recorded with love for the record store.

2. Tortoise “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In”
This is a new song. It will also appear on their new album in June. Released early with love for the record store.

AA
1. Double Dagger “Stagger Lee”
This is a new song that does not appear any place else. It was recorded with love for the record store.

2. White Hills “Eye to Eye”
“Eye To Eye” was previously released on Abstractions & Mutations, a limited edition CD-R release put together for a tour in September of 2007. Released for the first time on LP with love for the record store.

3. Trans Am Featuring Tim Soete “Wounded Monkey”
This is an unreleased song recorded and mixed March 28, 2005 at MAINZ in Auckland, New Zealand. Tim Soete (from The Fucking Champs) on lead guitar and lead vocals. Released with love for the record store.

The covers (shown above) are meant to portray the alternate possible futures of record stores– one is if we don’t continue to shop the local indie store, and the other is the optimistic future afforded us from spending money not at Best Buy, but at our favorite Indie store. The covers will be handmade, and hand printed by Crosshair.

Of course, yours truly is drooling over this release. The trick is going to be to figure out which stores will carry this. Neither indie store in Iowa City is participating in Record Store Day on April 18th. However, two stores in Dubuque are, so maybe a trip to my old stomping grounds and the store that I spent many a Tuesday over lunch Moondog Records (known as Co-Op Records back then…)

Click Here for Record Store Day Information

Click Here for the post on the Thrill Jockey boards about Records Toreism

This is Why My Next Camera is the Canon 5D MkII

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If you’ve been following my blog for any amount of time you’ve seen the live shooting I’ve been doing for three years now. In 2006 I was shooting a Canon Rebel 300D, I upgraded to the XTi soon after, and last year I moved to the Canon 450D aka XSi. Each of these moves gave me more features and resolution (of course) while allowing me to maintain my lenses. The XSi also gave me live view, which has been very handy in crowd situations as my 6’1″ body plus my arm gives me about 7 foot of reach, and I was very happy with the pictures I have taken so far. Of course, late last year Canon announced the upgrade to the already-amazing and amazingly-priced Canon 5D. With a full-frame sensor like its big brother 1D and new mind-boggling resolution of 21.1 Megapixel and much-improved low-light abilities provided by the DiGiC 4 CCD and processor it is the next move I’d like to make for all of my shooting needs. The full-frame sensor will help me take full advantage of the lenses I have and really open up some possibilities, I think.

But it is the High Definition video capability that really knocks it out of the park. I don’t have a video camera today– much to the chagrin of anyone who knows me and my gadgets– and I shouldn’t justify buying a $2700 camera by saying I’m going to use it for video, but one look at the video below is enough to make it compelling!

My friend Chad forwarded me this today, and I felt I needed to post on it. This is footage shot on 2/25 in Melbourne, Australia of Nine Inch Nails. NIN might not be everyone’s cup o’ tea, but damn, look at how absolutely GORGEOUS this footage is!


NIN: Burn Live from on stage, Melbourne 2.25.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

And, in case you’re feeling *very* giving:

Free Download: Phish Live at Hampton 2009

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In celebration of Phish’s reunion shows– Phish is generously offering 256Kbps mixed, soundboard recordings of their upcoming three-night run at the legendary Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA for free download. From their press release:

In celebration of Phish’s first shows in over four years, we’re thrilled to be able to offer fans free, high-quality downloads of the band’s sold-out March 6th, 7th and 8th concerts at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia at LivePhish.com.

Each show will be professionally multi-tracked and mixed onsite and within 24 hours, 256kbps MP3s will be made available for free for a limited time at LivePhish.com. Fans who wish to download higher quality versions may purchase FLAC downloads. The shows will also be available on CD. Both are available for pre-order now. Register at LivePhish.com to receive an email when the free MP3s are available.
“We really wanted to show our gratitude to all the Phish fans for their support and the overwhelming response they’ve had to these shows. It’s going to be an amazing celebration and we only wish everybody could be there,” said Trey Anastasio.

Hampton Coliseum is notable in Phish’s history as being the location for the shows on November 20 & 21, 1998 that was the basis for the six-disc box set Hampton Comes Alive. Hampton Coliseum has been a favorite stop for Phish and these upcoming shows on March 6th, 7th, and 8th mark the 13th, 14th, and 15th time Phish will have played there.

These upcoming shows are also where Phish is looking to legally block the sale of bootleg products like unauthorized “lot shirts” and other paraphernalia with Phish tie-ins. An interesting move considering how ingrained in the jamband scene the lot scene sales have become. Certainly Phish is entitled to defend their very valuable trademark and image– especially since the future of the band seems unclear, and licensing of products in addition to the sale of recordings would be the only way the band could continue to profit if they don’t continue to tour.

Update: Apparently Phish is in it for the long haul and have plans to record a new album with a focus on their proggy side!

Click Here to pre-order the three shows in mp3 format.