The Avalanches – rumour, new album in 2012
It has been more than a decade since the critically acclaimed Australian group The Avalanches put out there seminal 2001 release Since I Left You. This is a group that samples thousands of records to pieces together a surprisingly coherent sound and craft it into a song. Dubbed “plunderphonics” as music style, only because it’s too easy to call it electronic-turntable-mixy-stuff that sounds almost orchestral.
Both Metacritic and LastFM have said there is an album planned for this year but looking at their website and the FB page, there is little mention of another cut coming soon. Unfortunately this ongoing rumour is likely not even news worthy, The Avs have been known to hype a new release, starting as far back as 2005. It just might be the longest lasting ‘string-along’ in music right now, something akin to when Axle Rose promised another G’n’R album. When Chinese Democracy finally did hit, it felt old and one couldn’t help but think that the reason Axle took so long to release it was because it wasn’t worthy. Skepticism aside, Paste Magazine did speak with the band in December, 2011 and said to have dropped some possible album names: On a Saturday, Friday Night Fever, or Hi! However, the article equally mentioned that there is no timeline for the release and, “knowing The Avalanches, it could very well be a while.”
*They do have some free downloads of more recent singles so check out their myspace page. http://www.myspace.com/theavalanches
At The Drive In - Now operational
The chatter is brewing that At The Drive In are getting back together after 11 years. A group that seemed to destroy the idea that hardcore music couldn’t be accessible, was at one moment forcing music lovers to rethink their White Zombie t-shirts, then suddenly closed up shop and moved on to other things (Mars Volta). Spin Magazine reported that a seldom used ATDI twitter account made the announcement January 9th. “ATTENTION ! To whom it may concern: AT THE DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS …NOW…OPERATIONAL.” The tweet seemed to translate the excitement quite literally.
Watch for more news (and noise!) in 2012
Young Statues - Album release
On November 8th, the same day that Brit pop sensation Noel Gallagher will release his much anticipated solo record, said to be the answer to his brother Liam’s earlier release from which an oasis of bad blood (and puns) has been germinating, a subtle band of rockers called Young Statues (Run for Cover records) will release their self-titled debut. The Philadelphia/New Jersey natives have been simmering their sound together since 2010 and are poised to bring back the clean power chords and wondering high notes that were the anthems of college dorms everywhere just a decade ago. Based on their two-song bandcamp.com pre-releases, they manage to carry the energy of punk rock without the distortion pedals and tired gag lyrics. Clean cut front man Carmen Cirignano isn’t however without a good sense of humour. “Legendary mullet,” he tweeted facetiously in late October linking to a picture of a young Jaromir Jagr sporting 80’s Iron Maiden hair. With a few dates planned in NYC and NJ, followed by seven shows in the UK in November, YS are planning to bring Noel a little American hospitality and hopefully draw some of the mainstream hype into the gutters of indie rock.
http://soundcloud.com/cfj-live-recordings/young-statues
http://soundcloud.com/popradiator/favorites
Real Estate (the Band, not the market)
There is something to be said about young bands that allude the allure of mainstream radio and go in a direction that seems to belong to the social network generation. When else would it be possible to find a niche of listeners that want more then verse&chorus licks and come out with ambient cinematic folk pop that takes a few listens to unearth its brilliance. New Jersey’s Real Estate have a new album coming this month and according to tinymixtapes.com is for anyone who loves summer and “barbecues on the beach.” Categorized as surf-pop, Real Estate have a far more nebulous sound, and come off as a lot more mature then other bands in the genre (see Dirty Gold, Beach Fossils and We Are Tees). Their sound could almost appeal to the 60’s baby boomers as it lingers just long enough to make it impossible for any mass radio play, yet catchy enough for your mom to ask you to burn her a CD.
Check out the new album Days on October 18th on Domino Records (Arctic Monkeys, Stephen Malkmus, Animal Collective, etc).
Sorry God Smack…
http://lejournaldemontreal.canoe.ca/journaldemontreal/
chroniques/nathalieelgrablylevy/archives/2011/05/20110505-071312.html
I hope I didn’t miss the point of this article but I have to take objection to at least two main points:
“Quand l’art ne permet pas de mettre du beurre sur les épinards”
Art is not about making money. Since when is a painting or a piece of music ‘good’ just because it’s been sold? I hate the band God Smack but they sold lots of albums. Liberal economics, by its very nature, presupposes that the market knows what people want. But unless everything is allowed to get its moment in the spotlight then how will we know if it will be in demand? One could not predict how an imposing iron Calder statue would become a great piece of so many cityscapes.
“Il n’existe que deux raisons pour lesquelles un artiste vit dans la misère.”
Spoken like a person that has never had an artistic thought in her life; people that have an innate or learned drive to produce something for artistic means, do so because they want to, not because they want to make money. Surely this sound naïve, and of course there are artists that are driven by money, but at the core of any artistic drive is the need, almost the necessity, to create something.
When the state fosters an environment that allows people to be creative the benefits are hard to quantify but it has been shown that people are more inclined to participate in cultural events if they are exposed to them. The state should play a role in keeping culture and art at the center of our community.
The Shins, new album, Port of Morrow
The best thing to come out of Albuquerque, New Mexico are set to release their fourth full-length in March 2012. James Mercer is the only surviving member since the hiatus he threw down after the completion their last tour in 2009. Unlike the reshuffling of certain bands where removing some key parts did not go over so well (John Frusciante, RHCP), Mercer is the chicken-and-the-mash-potatoes that is The Shins. It still remains to be seen if the fresh insight of his new band mates takes Mercer into a direction his loyal fans will come to actually appreciate, something his Broken Bells side project did not do, receiving only lukewarm reviews. It’s hard not to expect a great record based on Mercer’s sheer song writing talents, but it has been argued that a musician’s creativity starts to run dry after 10 years – The Shins first album Oh, Inverted World, was released in 2001.
Listen to the first single on their website, theshins.com
Nickelback…yeah, it hurts.
There are some bands that seem to be in vogue for just a moment, and when their 15 minutes is over, they end up being a reference point for mockery. Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice, and Right Said Fred could fall into this unfortunate category. However, no other band has suffered as much negative association, and kept on rocking, as Alberta’s Nickelback. The most recent one-two punch is one part scientific, and one part democratic.
Spin has reported that a dating website shows Nickelback to be a turnoff. “Telling a potential partner you’re really into Nickelback is sexual kryptonite,” writes the Spin staffer. In a separate PR snafu, Rolling Stone is reporting that a petition has been started in Detroit to stop Nickelback from playing the Lions Vs. Packers half-time show. The petitions states “Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?” This is not just the grievances of a few angry fans, there are already 20,000+ signatures. ”Does anyone even like Nickelback?” reads the petition, sounding like a high school playground discussion.
Nickelback have a new album coming out November 21st, maybe with this release they will win over all the neigh sayers proving once and for all, radio friendly stadium rock didn’t die with the 80’s.
The Breakup, Sonic Youth
Sid and Nancy, Kurt and Courtney, maybe even Sonny and Cher, these are the rock and roll couples we rely on for ongoing (even posthumous) celeb gossip. Sonic Youth fans can take solace in that Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are not deceased, however, their 26 year marriage is no more. According to Pitchfork, in spite of the most famous couple in noise-rock having decided to end their relationship, they will fulfill five dates in south America this November. After that there are no further shows planned.
Consider the magnitude of this divorce on the music world. There have been three decades of music from Sonic Youth where they produced some incredible songs. SY recorded six albums in the 80’s keeping the kids from badly teased hair and cut-off leather vests. Re-listen to Teenaged Riot remembering that at the time GnR and Poison were on heavy rotation. In the 90’s they steered a generation away from Stone Temple Pilots and allowed Nirvana to remain edgy. The Dirty album was a Gen X dream, saving the cohort from dying of ‘Grunge’ and ‘Alternative’. The new millennium saw them ease off the noise pedal and proved that if they wanted to, they could make catchy melodies without sounding typical or surrendering to digital clarity. Incinerate is arguably one of the best songs they ever wrote.
Having to accept that bands (and couples) break up sometimes doesn’t mean we can’t relive the past with any of their 17 studio albums (seriously, I had no idea there were 17 albums, plus tonnes of live and side recordings). However, if you want to forget the past and move on, Thurston is always pushing music forward with his latest solo release Demolished Thoughts – touring in Europe at the end of November. All the best to both band members – thanks for the rock.
Check the 1998 Index Magazine Interview: http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/kim_gordon_thurston_moore.shtml
15 Years Later
A recent BBC Live Recording of Belle and Sebastian reminded me why I was always fond of the Scottish natives, yet for some mundane reason I had never dove in all the way. On the live album there is the song Like Dylan in the Movies, but not knowing their discography well enough I did not know when it was written. Stumbling on a recent Guardian article happened to close the gap for me. Writer Malcolm Jack recounts his hate-to-love relationship with the band and reminds us that not only did B&S make great tracks that slowly take over your mind and drive a compulsion to want more, but that there is something inherently ‘Glasgow’ about their sound. Much like how certain movements peg locations (think 90’s Halifax pop explosion or Berlin tech sounds) B&S have the mystic that captures Scotland so well. The song was originally on the 1996 album If You’re Feeling Sinister.
MTL Punk - movie of the week.
Attending the first screening of the MTL Punk documentary was like watching a class reunion for the aging rockers. Silver hair and reading glasses seemed to work well with leather jackets and freshly pressed Ramones t-shirts, but the average age of the crowd didn’t translate into a passive viewing experience. The film was great and portrayed a moment of Montreal music history in a small but vibrate scene in the late 70’s. Following the film a panel discussion with the film makers and ex-band members from the 222’s, The Normals and others, is where the punk rock ‘attitude’ came out quite literally. The first question form the crowd was “where are the French bands and why were they not in the film?” The movie is a 50/50 mix of interviews in French and English and the FIFA Art festival chose the Cinemateque Quebecoise to showcase the film, naturally the French crowd had questions. The answer was harsh in spite of it being delivered with only an undertone of bitterness. Film makers, Érik Cimon and Alain Cliché explained that the French media wanted very little to do with this film, it was the English media that showed the most interest in the project – noting that Canal D did eventually agree to buy the film and show it in June 2011. They equally explained that any attempt to get information about punk bands from Quebec city was met with resistance in so far as people did not want to share information or make any conscious efforts.
Having two guys from Quebec City say something like that struck a cord and the door was open for confrontation. It was still very civil but a semi linguistic debate, typical everyday in la belle province, was ignited. Suddenly, a large sturdy man, no hair on his head, dawning a well loved leather jacket took the stage, grabbed a mic and waited until he could speak. The MC said “you may identify yourself and make a comment if you’d like,” rather politely. With a serious look he explained in French that his band was not allowed to play at Club 364 back in the day because they didn’t want a French band playing. He followed to say that the scene was limited because the club owners were not open to the French scene; he then dropped the mic on the floor and took his seat back in the crowd. It was only momentarily awkward but it felt like a genuine moment only a good documentary could dig up.
