Filed under: News of Note | Tags: MGMT, Passion Pit, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bright Eyes, She & Him, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, Monsters of Folk, Spaceman 3
Monsters of Folk played a great set at Greek Theater in L.A.
Indie rock’s Monsters of Folk played a rather monstrous set at the Greek Theater in L.A. this past Sunday, reports RS. The band burned through an impressive 35 songs in less than three hours. The group’s debut full length release dropped about a month ago and was the object of their promotional efforts at the show. The group’s lineup is equally impressive, consisting of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, She & Him’s M. Ward, and Bright Eyes’ Connor Oberst and Mike Mogis. Their set sampled material from each of the members’ other bands, which alternated with tracks from Monsters’ catalogue.
Stereogum gives us a look at another Passion Pit remix, this time of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Heads Will Roll”. While Karen O was busy at work on the soundtrack of Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, Passion Pit turned out a rather dark club rendering of the original, which you can get here.
Arcade Fire’s Richard Peer Parry will be debuting an orchestral piece on October 29th, reports Pitchfork. The piece, entitled “For Heart, Breath, and Orchestra”, will be performed by Parry, Nico Muhly, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Parry has announced that, “During the performance, many of the performers wear stethoscopes which enable them to play in sync with their own heartbeats.”
MGMT’s label has confirmed reports by the San Francisco Examiner regarding the title of their upcoming release, says Pitchfork. Little is known about the record, except its title, which is now confirmed to be Congratulations. The duo is reportedly recording in Malibu with Spaceman 3’s Peter “Sonic Boom” Kember. MGMT has been playing a few of the record’s tracks during their gigs this past summer. Check out the videos here.
– John Luposello
Filed under: Releases of the Week | Tags: Comes and Goes, Default, EMI Canada, MGMT, MySpace, Nickelback, TVT Records
Default put out a pretty bad album in a time when
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Default’s “All Over Me” MP3
WE GIVE IT: 8/20 Watts
Is it a coincidence that the winners of “Best New Group” at the 2002 Juno Awards sound exactly the same as the winners of “Best Group”? Nickelback, who built their mainstream success on paltry post-grunge paragons like “How You Remind Me” and “Someday” are all-but-forgotten today with shifting cultural tastes in music.
Nonetheless, despite their mainstream appeal, most people in the early ‘00s knew they were never good musicians, but accepted them regardless. The radio-rock trends leaned in their favor. Default has no such boon in the current music industry.
With lyrics that scream cliché as much as the boring instrumentation does, Comes and Goes has very little working in its favor. But apart from being one-dimensional and unoriginal, Default has even less to rely on in an age where bands like MGMT and Passion Pit dominate the airwaves. (more…)
Filed under: Releases of the Week | Tags: Chip Tha Ripper, Common, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, MGMT, Ratatat, The Blueprint 3
Kid Cudi's debut album lays claim to hip-hop record of the year status
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘n’ Nite” MP3
WE GIVE IT: 17/20 Watts
For those searching for some of the most original and self-sustaining music of 2009, perhaps Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of Day is your perfect match.
As much as Jay-Z has purported to further blur the lines between hip-hop and rock over the years, perhaps no one has hit the point so eloquently as Cudi has with this record. Astoundingly, he’s already passed up one of his mentors (Jay-Z) in terms of successfully merging different genres. The other (Kanye West), when he’s not making himself look like an ass at award shows, is putting out “experimental” hip-hop already dwarfed by this release.
So how has Cudi succeeded where his predecessors failed, and vaulted himself from mixtape hype-product to industry innovator? The key is in his supporting cast, and fearless experimentation. (more…)
Filed under: News of Note | Tags: All Tomorrow's Parties, Animal Collective, ATP, Beyonce, Bradford Cox, Cosmic Egg, Deerhunter, hiatus, Jim Carroll, Jim Carroll Band, John Cale, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Lou Reed, MGMT, MTV, Panda Bear, Pearl Jam, Ratatat, Sigur Ros, Stephen Colbert, Taylor Swift, The Flaming Lips, Tiesto, VMAs, Wolfmother, you belong to me
Kanye's drama queen antics rained on Taylor's parade
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Taylor Swift’s “You Belong to Me” MP3
When Taylor Swift won Female Video of the Year at last night’s VMAs for “You Belong to Me,” egomaniac Kanye West just had to have the last word. Interrupting her special moment, the rapper hopped on stage, grabbed the mic, and announced that Beyonce better deserved the award for “Single Ladies.” Cameras cut to Beyonce, who could be seen mouthing “Kaannyee” in as much surprise and disgust as the audience. Taylor was left speechless and was escorted off the stage. When Beyonce won Video of the Year later in the night, she invited Taylor back onstage. Kanye later insincerely apologized via his blog. His outburst has already led to parodies like this one. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: To Celebrate Kanye West's New Book, A Compilation of Genius Kanye-isms]
SPIN gives readers the best and worst of New York’s All Tomorrow’s Parties this past weekend. Participants included The Flaming Lips, Panda Bear, Animal Collective and Deerhunter, amongst many others. One of the most notable moments however, was not of the musical variety. Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox announced mid-set that the band will be going on hiatus, effective immediately, to work on other projects. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews The Flaming Lips' "Silver Trembling Hands"]
Wolfmother paid a visit to SPIN’s NYC office to chat with the magazine, and play a few songs, which were captured on video here. Among them were two older tracks, one off of the upcoming Cosmic Egg and a Neil Young cover. Some may recognize the band from the (500) Days of Summer and Spider-man 3 soundtracks, respectively. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews (500) Days of Summer OST]
Pitchfork and The New York Times reports that Jim Carroll died of a heart attack in his apartment on Friday. Carroll is most renowned for penning 1978 Basketball Diaries, but he was also a poet and musician as the frontman of the influential punk rock band, the Jim Carroll Band. He has worked with artists such as Lou Reed, Pearl Jam, and John Cale. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Beck Covers The Velvet Underground]
The Flaming Lips will appear on “The Colbert Report” this Wednesday, September 16, Pitchfork reports. The band will likely perform a song from their latest album, Embryonic, as well as chat with Stephen. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews The Flaming Lips' "Silver Trembling Hands"]
In a new interview with Eyeweekly.com, Andy Rourke, former bassist of The Smiths, stated that he was fired from the band by a note left on his car by Morrissey. Denying the claims, Morrissey said this wasn’t the first time Rourke has perpetuated this story. “It is a recurring comment whereby Andy confirms that his dismissal from The Smiths was made via a handwritten postcard from me telling Andy, ‘You have left The Smiths’,” Morrissey said. “If such a postcard ever existed, it is likely that an unfunny stunt was played on Andy by someone attempting Morrissey-scrawl — easily done.” Morrissey will kick off a fall European tour in October. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews (500) Days of Summer OST]
Pitchfork premieres the latest Tiesto track, which features Sigur Ros’ Jonsi Birgisson. The seven-and-a-half minute “Kaleidoscope” is off his forthcoming full-length album due to hit stores October 20. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews Jonsi and Alex's Riceboy Sleeps (Sigur Ros Side Project)]
According to Stereogum, Kid Cudi performed “Pursuit of Happiness” on the Late Show with David Letterman this past Friday night. Backed by snappily dressed backup singers, a string section and Ratatat, who appear on the album version of the song along with MGMT, the performance was a great success. Letterman praised it as having “a lot going on there” and endorsed the album. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: News of Note: Pitchfork Posts New Kid Cudi Song]
– 20 Watts Staff
Filed under: News of Note | Tags: accuradio, American Gangster, Converge, David Letterman, EMI, Fuck Yeah Fest, FYF, iTunes, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Kurt Vile, Massive Attack, MGMT, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Neon Indian, Nine Inch Nails, NME, No Age, Paul McCartney, Pitchfork, Radiohead, Ratatat, The Beatles, The Beatles: Rock Band, The Blueprint, The Blueprint 3, Thom Yorke, Torche, Trent Reznor
Kid Cudi releases new track "Pursuit of Happiness" featuring MGMT and Ratatat
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” MP3
Pitchfork posts new Kid Cudi song “Pursuit of Happiness” featuring indie gods MGMT and Ratatat. The single will be the third off his upcoming album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, to be released September 15, 2009. The single alludes to his search for weed (Cudi’s drug of choice) as the pursuit of happiness — a theme highlighted nicely by MGMT and Ratatat’s synthpop beat. Catch a live performance of “Pursuit of Happiness on tonight’s “The Late Night Show With David Letterman.” [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Editor's Pick #71: Cudi Gets Psychedelic]
Rolling Stone reported the change of release dates for Jay-Z’s new album The Blueprint 3 from its planned Friday drop date to today, a more conventional Tuesday release. While the move means the album no longer drops on the eighth anniversary of the first Blueprint, it should assure Jay the top spot on Billboard’s albums chart. The album is his first release since 2007’s American Gangster. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews Jay-Z's Blueprint 3, Editor's Pick #168: Jay-Z Endorses Indie Rock]
RS also reported that Nine Inch Nails has changed the date of its final show to September 10. The band was due to end its performing career on Sunday, September 6, at Los Angeles’ Echoplex, but after frontman Trent Reznor’s short illness, the final concert will now be Thursday at L.A.’s Wiltern. Over the last few weeks, the band has also performed shows in New York and Chicago on its “Wave Goodbye” tour. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Editor's Pick #147: Alice in Chains' "A Looking in View", Trent Reznor Announces Final Nine Inch Nails Tour Dates]
Paul McCartney told NME.com that he would like The Beatles’ catalogue available for download. According to McCartney, record label EMI is to blame for the band’s inaccessibility on the Internet. “We were having problems with iTunes — well not iTunes, EMI was the problem — with downloading which we’d like to do because that’s how a lot of people get their music,” McCartney said. The Beatles: Rock Band drops tomorrow, so this problem will be partially solved for players who can download songs from the Rock Band website. Rock Band developers Harmonix have plans to offer more Beatles albums and tracks for download in the future. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: McCartney and MGMT, Beatles and iTunes Fail to Reach Agreement]
In other Beatles news, web radio heavyweight AccuRadio announced today that it will begin broadcasting a series of Beatles-themed channels tomorrow to celebrate the release of the Beatles’ remastered collection. The channels will include “Beatles Plus” — more or less all Beatles’, all the time — as well as the obviously named “Just Covers” and the intriguing “Beatles and Friends,” which claims to contexualize the remastered catalog with other bands and songs from the time. AccuRadio’s apparently endless roster of free niche radio stations also includes such appetizing options as “Sea and Sand,” “Canadian Pop” and “Hiptronica” — whatever that means, we’re into it. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Beatles Rooftop Performance, Beatles Rock Band Trailer]
Neon Indian, whose debut LP drops October 13, has announced the dates for his upcoming world tour. Unfortunately, he will not be stopping in Syracuse, but you can catch him in NYC at the Music Hall of Williamsburgon October 24. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Interviews Neon Indian]
Kurt Vile, after losing his job as a forklift operator, didn’t have much recourse but to pursue music full-time. Former lead guitarist of The War on Drugs, Vile released the albums Constant Hitmaker and God Is Saying This to You in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Now he’s hard at work on his Matador Records debut and has just released the album’s lead track “Hunchback.” Supposedly more of a rocker than the rest of the album, “Hunchback” follows a Youngian thread. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Yo La Tengo’s Popular Songs (Matador Records)]
British trip-hoppers, Massive Attack sat down with the magazine for a little Q&A about their career, the upcoming Splitting the Atom EP and their next full-length effort, set for February. Also included with the interview was the scenic, Thom Yorke-esque number “Bullet Proof Love,” which will be featured on Splitting the Atom, out next month. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Radiohead's "These Are My Twisted Words"]
No Age, Converge and Torche tore up Saturday’s FYF Fest in Los Angeles. Mixing genres from metal to hardcore to punk, the festival, formerly known as Fuck Yeah Fest, aims to raise awareness for the California state parks system. SPIN has pictures of the mayhem as it unfolded this weekend. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Free NYC Dirty Projectors Show on July 19th]
– 20 Watts Staff
Filed under: Industry News | Tags: Beck The Velvet Underground & Nico Covers, Devendra Banhart, MGMT
Beck's Record Club Project is uninspiring thus far
Last month, Beck announced on his Web site that he would be starting a new Internet project. The collaborative project, entitled The Record Club, planned to pair artists such as MGMT and Devendra Banhart to re-record classic albums in one day without practicing beforehand. Once the Web site was ready, The Record Club would release one track a week beginning with The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Cool plan, right?
Not so much. The idea is interesting in theory, but it doesn’t really work in practice. The Record Club is already four tracks into the Underground album — you can see some cuts on Vimeo — and so far, it’s just uninspiring.
To quote Juno MacGuff: “It’s just noise.”
The point of re-recording a song is to add something, or make it better than the original. That’s not happening and on top of that, the production quality is very low. The music sounds choppy and it’s hard to understand what’s going on.
Then again Beck is known for his revolutionary approach to music. Perhaps his intent in covering these albums will become apparent with more listening — and Beck does know how to cover a song. It will be interesting to see which album he chooses next.
—Ashley Collman
Filed under: Features | Tags: Beatles, Blind Melon, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Discovery, Elliot Smith, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lykke Li, M83, MGMT, Passion Pit, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, The Wallflowers
Hate DJing for your parents?
I just got back from a two-day getaway trip to UpState New York with my parents. It sucked, but I’m not going to get into that. However, it reminded me of an annoying occurrence that happens every time I share a car with my parents for a prolonged period—choosing music.
Every time, my mom or my dad asks me to put in my iPod, which is filled with tons of music I love, cherish and worship. To them, a lot of my music is challenging, repetitive and just plain obnoxious. Music is one of the many generational divides we face with our parents, but there are ways to pick music that all sides can enjoy. Keep in mind, this method doesn’t last forever, and you’ll get tired of it, but it helps. All parents are different, but the following tips apply to even the most conservative music lovers.
1) Avoid songs/bands/genres that are repetitive
This means no house music, techno, or Top 40 music. My parents hate hearing the same notes repeated over and over again. It drives them crazy, which is understandable. It’s not like you’re parents want to pull the car over and have a full-out dance party.
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Flaming Lips, Karen O, MGMT, Weird German Mathematician
Flaming Lips
According to a Stereogum Q+A with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Karen O, MGMT and Weird German Mathematician will appear on the new album Embryonic. That’s an awesome combination. I don’t care how old these guys are–they keep finding ways to remain edgy and hot. I’m looking forward to the album set to release sometime in September.
–Jett Wells
Filed under: Editor Picks, Features | Tags: Girl Talk, HEALTH, MGMT, Ra Ra Riot, We Are Scientists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Girl Talk
That HEALTH show was so nuts it got me thinking about my entire concert-watching career. What are the craziest, most intense shows I’ve ever been to? I’m not talking about music quality, but just energy. I’ve been going to shows since I was 13-years-old, so the list should be credible.
1) Girl Talk
-Greg Gillis’ show at Cornell last Spring was absolutely insane, mostly because the crowd was more violent and electric than I’ve ever seen before. I nearly got into a fist fight with a guy because the crowd was so intense. Girl Talk is famous for it’s live performances, and the Cornell show lived up to his reputation. It was so intense, it was uncomfortable, but the crowd moved like one body. It was a religious experience, musically.
2) HEALTH
-HEALTH makes the cut because it’s still so fresh in my mind. I had never sweated so much in my life–mostly because The Market Hotel has zero AC. This show’s intensity was more about the band than the crowd even though I jumped into the mosh pit like a mad man. John Famiglietti is the craziest bassist I’ve ever seen perform live. He looks animalistic and possessed as he bends his body all the while keeping a straight face with maddening eyes.
3) Ra Ra Riot
-This is coming from a homer, but seeing Ra Ra Riot never gets old. Their energy isn’t so much intense, but is energetic and full of life. It’s not a threatening kind of crazy show, but the kind of crazy show that compells you to dance your ass off even though you’re bumping into everyone around you. It’s so upbeat and soulful,and yet it still manages to rock hard.
Honorable Notables: We Are Scientists, MGMT and Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Editor’s Note about MGMT concert in Boston: The crowd was full of blitzed 16-year-old girls high on LSD and X. This one girl high on something started stroking my hair. Yeah, it was one of those shows.
–Jett Wells
This story on SPIN.com says McCartney would be open to the idea of working with MGMT. Yeah well, who wouldn’t?! I would like to believe this is a serious idea for him, but McCartney is just jerking our chains. McCartney would work with Wale and Passion Pit if there was enough money in it.
But let’s just entertain the idea of McCartney and MGMT playing music together. That would be fucking awesome, hands down. Would it work? Probably not, but it’s a fun idea to dream about.
The funniest part of this story is that McCartney won’t call MGMT; they would have to call him. Hmmmmm. If those are the circumstances, then this won’t happen. I don’t think MGMT is losing sleeping over working with McCartney. I’m not sure anyone is.
–Jett Wells, Reviews Editor
