Sound Bites

Buzzy Hat Trick: Friendly Fires, White Lies and Soft Pack Tour Together This Spring

When I saw this triple-bill announced via Bowery Presents RSS feed, my initial thought was "hey, this is just like those 'Brats' tours NME puts on in the UK." And wouldn't you know it, the UK music mag is actually behind this. It's a good idea that has taken surprisingly long to come to these shores: put three up-and-comers together for one big roadshow. One of whom I genuinely love, another of which I genuinely like, and the third... well color me curious.

We'll start backwards from how NME is presenting the lineup. Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity know I'm a huge fan of The Soft Pack ("formerly The Muslims," how many times will I have to write that?). I never got around to writing up their show at Union Pool on January 17, mainly because it turned into a giant, insane, drunken dance party (it was my birthday weekend) that took me three days to recover from. But it was easily the best show I'd seen them play (and I've seen them a lot) and I think they're ready for that next step. And it immediately me think the name-change is a non-issue. They played three new songs, all of which were really good. They're also reissuing their debut (my #6 of 2008) with thee extra songs, fleshing it out to proper album length. They're definitely the odd men out on this tour, as the other two are from the UK, slicker, more dance-y.

MP3: The Soft Pack - Parasites

Co-headliners Friendly Fires are quite good too, and have taken cues from Soulwax, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem as to the proper way to perform dance music in a live setting. (Seen 'em a couple times.) In their case, it involves two drum kits, plenty of agogo, awesomely spazzy dancing, and a dustbuster. Though there was too much previously-released material for it to make any of my 2008 Best-of lists, their self-titled debut is really, really good, and it's hard to argue with tracks like "Paris," "On Board" and their fantastic new single "Skeleton Boy":

MP3: Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Buy it)

As for White Lies, they are one of the hottest new bands in the UK right now, and as you can probably guess what they sound like just looking at this picture of them. Gothy club music, which as someone who owns his share of Sisters of Mercy records, is not necessarily a bad thing. More specifically they lie somewhere between Editors and The Killers which is not a place I'm exactly comfortable with... at least not in public. (They are better than The Whip who might also fit that description.) "To Lose My Life" is one of those guilty pleasure songs for me, one that you hear the first time and roll your eyes, but you would probably crank in my car if I had one. I will hold judgement till I see them.

MP3: White Lies - Lose My Life (Pre-order from Insound, get a free DVD)

The NME tour hits most major North American cities, including two nights at Bowery Ballroom, tickets are on sale now. Tour dates...

March 24 Washington, DC, Black Cat
March 25 Philadelphia, PA, First Unitarian Church
March 26 NYC, Bowery Ballroom
March 27 NYC, Bowery Ballroom
March 28 Boston, MA, Paradise Rock Club
March 30 Montreal, QUE, Les Saints
March 31 Toronto, ONT, Lee's Palace
April 01 Ann Arbor, MI, Blind Pig
April 02 Indianapolis, IN, Radio Radio
April 03 Chicago, IL, Double Door
April 04 Minneapolis, MN, Triple Rock Social Club
April 07 Seattle, WA, Neumo's
April 08 Vancouver, BC, Richard's on Richards
April 09 Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge
April 11 San Francisco, CA, Slims

Some videos after the jump....

Former Norwegian Royalty

The latest in the never-ending stream of cool new bands from Scandinavia is Norway's noisy janglers I Was the King. For all intents and purposes the duo of Frode Strømstad, who's a Norwegian indie gadabout and owner of Hype City Records) and Anne Lise Frøkedal (who also fronts her own excellent band, Harrys Gym).  The record was made in Brooklyn at the Ladybug Transistor's Marlborough Farms studio with big help from head Ladybug Gary Olsen and fellow Norwegian Emil Nikolaisen of Serena Maneesh. Sufjan Stevens, who is longtime pals with the Nikolaisen, helps out on a few tracks, as does Danielson.

The self-titled album's 15 tracks, only one of which makes it past three minutes, owe a lot to '60s psych pop, bands that loved '60s psych-pop (take your pick from Elephant 6), with a healthy dose of skwonky noise a la Broder Daniel, Dinosaur Jr. and Teenage Fanclub. The latter gets name-checked, punnily, on I Was the King's current single, "Norman Bleik":

MP3: I Was a King - Norman Bleik

MP3: I Was a King - Breath

Out now in Norway and other parts over there, I Was a King hits American shores April 7 via The Control Group (home of Figurines and El Perro del Mar) and the band is promising a U.S. tour this summer.

New Super Furry Animals album: No Ballads, Saxophone or Pedal Steel

The band that never rests, Super Furry Animals, have just announced details of their new album, which may not have a title yet but does have a track list and a release date. Whatever it ends up being called, SFA's ninth studio album will be released digitally on March 13 via the band's website, with physical versions out on Rough Trade on April 13 in the UK and a week later in the US.

With their last album, 2007's Hey Venus!, being SFA's shortest, most focused album in years, what can we expect from the new one? Says the press release: "Musically it's based around riffs and grooves we've been playing around with over the last few years. We have enough now for a whole album so even though it's still very melodic we thought we could leave off the acoustic ballads for the time being."

Not only will their not be any of their signature Bowie-esque ballads (think "Demons" or "Fire in My Heart") but also no "country rock," which has featured prominently on 00's-era SFA platters. "Daf [Leuan, drummer] has developed a pedal steel phobia. Which has confined the great Nashvillian instrument along with the Saxophone to the banned instrument directive of the SFA board. There's only one slow number, which isn't slow at all."

Cover art this time will be by both longtime SFA graphic designer Pete Fowler and Keiichi Tanaami who provided the "interesting" design for Hey Venus!. I don't know whether this is a collaboration between the two or more a "Pete gets the cover, Tanaami gets the inner sleeve" type of thing, we shall see.

Here's the track listing:
1. 'The very best of Neil Diamond'
2. White socks/Flip Flops.
3. Inaugural Trams.
4. Sounds Familiar.
5. Cardiff in the sun.
6. Where do you wanna go?
7. LLiwiau LLachar.
8. Mountain.
9. Moped eyes.
10. Inconvenience.
11. Crazy Naked Girls.
12. Earth.
13. Prick.

Nice to see what appears to be a Welsh track on there. We haven't had one of those on an album since their all-Welsh record Mwng in 1999.

In addition to the new album, the various members of the band stay busy on their own. Gruff has both solo albums and his Mercury Prize nominated Neon Neon collaboration with Boom Bip; keyboardist Cian Ciaran will finally be releasing a Acid Casuals album this year; and Daf and bassist Guto Pryce spend time in The Peth with actor Rhys Ifans, who if you haven't heard are pretty good:

MP3: The Peth - Let's Go Fucking Mental

Cats Still on Fire, Visiting Sweden

Finland's impeccably dressed Cats on Fire will always have a place in my easily-embarrassed heart as the first band to quote this blog onstage, at least while I was in the room. The band are back with their first album in two years, Our Temperance Movement, which will be released on March 11 in Europe and perhaps elsewhere. The record's first downloadable taster, "Letters from a Voyage to Sweden," has just been set forth upon the internet, and it's quite a catchy little number -- no surprise, really. The arrangement is especially nice, with arpeggiated 12-string acoustic guitars in the chorus, and glockenspiel near the end that gives it an Eggstone sort of vibe.

MP3: Cats on Fire - Letters from a Voyage to Sweden

You can get Cats on Fire's lovely 2007 album, The Province Complains, via indiepages.

New Fanfarlo | "I'm a Pilot"

 So London's Fanfarlo are just about set to release their debut album which, as you can see from the above cover image, is called Resevoir. The band recorded the album in October and November 2008 at Conneticuit's Tarquin Studios with producer Peter Katis, who has twiddled knobs for The National, Interpol, Frightened Rabbit and more. Actual release date and who, exactly, is releasing it seems to be up in the air at the moment but for those of us who've been waiting a long time for this long-player, these are minor quibbles. Soon.

Fanfarlo were kind enough to send along Resevoir's opening track, "I'm a Pilot," to share with you all. It's an old school album opener, the kind of waltzing, slow-stomper (literally) that builds and builds... leading surely into what will be the (gentle) pop explosion of Track 2. (Back in the days of vinyl dominance, Side One Track 2 and Side Two Track 1 were almost always singles.) And when all you can hear is this one, it's definitely a tease, but a lovely one:

MP3: Fanfarlo - I am a Pilot

While it's undetermined what Resevoir's first single is going to be, they went ahead and made a very cool video for "Harold T Wilkins":

 

In other Fanfarlo news: the recording process had a casualty, however, in the way of guitarist Mark, which is especially sad as he wrote most of the band's great blog posts on MySpace. Musical Differences really do exist I guess. On the plus side, Fanfarlo are coming back to the U.S. in March for SXSW (and first shows in this country since CMJ) and will hopefully make a pitstop in NYC for some shows. Tourdates (including UK/Europe) follow after the jump and after a couple more videos:

Rock on the Rocks: Seaport Ice This Friday

I have ice skated about three times in my life but am ready to brave ankle injuries if rock music is involved. The folks behind the Seaport Music Festival are booking bands at Seaport Ice for the next five Fridays, this week (1/30) being the first with the awesome dude explosion (broverload?) that is Neckbeard Telecaster, plus Grand Mal.

Seaport Ice is located right on Pier 17 where they do the Seaport shows in the summer. Shows are from 7-10 PM and you don't have to skate to watch, but it's gotta be more fun from the ice. It's $5 rink admission and $7 for skates. Weather this Friday is supposed to be in the 30s, so sounds like a cool (sorry) way to kick off the weekend.

Golden Triangle | Death by Audio | 1.23.2009

The stage was draped in toilet paper and the drummer had a sheet strapped to his head that made him look a bit like the Elephant Man, but judging from photos of past Golden Triangle shows this was fairly toned down as far as spectacle goes. But you don't really need much in that department when you've got two ladies up from shaking tambourines like no tomorrow and wailing on the mike. Sounding a bit like Brix-era Fall or We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Going to Use It or '60s girl group The What Four, Golden Triangle push all the right psych-garage-punk buttons for me. (Plus a very cute bassist.) Live, they stay just on the right side of chaos so that they never forget they're playing songs, but also allows for a finale that finds half the band on the floor. Not somewhere I'd personally like to end up at Death by Audio, but that's me.

 MP3: Golden Triangle - Prize Fighter

This is from their new EP on Kemado's vinyl-only imprint Mexican Summer. Like most of Golden Triangle's releases to date, it's super limited edition so get it while you can. Unlike their other releases, though, you can also get this one through Emusic.

The rest of the country (well, some of it) will get a chance to see these Brooklynites as they'll be hitting the road with King Khan & the Shrines in March... definitely a wild double-bill. Get there early. Tour dates:

Mar 9 Eckerd College ** St. Petersburg, Florida
Mar 10 Masquerade ** Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 12 Orange Peel ** Asheville, North Carolina
Mar 13 Exit In ** Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 14 Hi-Tone ** Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 15 One-Eyed Jacks ** New Orleans, Louisiana
Mar 16 Palladium Loft ** Dallas, Texas
Mar 17 The Warhol ** San Antonio, Texas
Mar 18 Club 1808 w/DarkMeat,StrangeBoys,Monotonix,ReverseXrays Austin, Texas
Mar 19 Mexican Summer Showcase @ Club 1808 w/Soft Pack, Crystal Stilts, Crystal Antlers, Vivian Girls Austin, Texas
Mar 21 Moose Lodge w/ many bands Austin, Texas
Mar 27 Don Pedros w/ the Weakends (FRANCE) brooklyn, New York

Also, video:

Ida Maria | Mercury Lounge + Union Hall | 1.15.2008 + 1.16.2008

Ida Maria's songs are little vignettes and she's a total method actor. On songs like "Louie" and "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked," she's brimming with infectious joy; but with "Drive Away My Heart" and "Stella" she's accessing some dark memories and ripping her guts out on stage for all to see.. And on "Queen of the World" it's joyously drunken until things get a little too soused and the melancholy sets in. But whichever mood the song's in she lives it. By the end of her 30-minute set each night she was soaking wet (via a water bottle), lipstick-smeared and emotionally drained. The sets may seem short on paper, but we were joking after the Mercury Lounge show that if she did any more she might die. You know, for her art.

Last time Ida played NYC, during CMJ 2007, there was a crowd of about 15 but that was before she'd officially released anything. This time, with her debut Fortress Round My Heart already a hit in the UK, both shows were way sold out -- I don't think I'd seen Mercury Lounge that packed since the Arctic Monkeys. This was probably, technically, the better show of the two. The crowd was amped, and Ida wore a gold flapper dress and burned like a sparkler until dousing herself with water for the big "Oh My God" finale and everybody I talked to left kind of blown away. "Stella" was especially great.

For the Union Hall show, she wore flannel and corduroy which suits her better, and she was just as intense but her voice was totally shot, singing at least an octave lower than the night before and leaving a lot of the singing (especially the choruses) to the guitarist and bassist of her pro backing band. She also broke a string two songs in and didn't have a second guitar at the ready so she went the total lead singer route for the rest of the show, which isn't a bad thing. The string incident also gave us an extra song -- a solo performance of b-side "Going to Hell." Union Hall has an intimacy that Mercury doesn't so there was definitely more of a "connection" with the audience which made up for some of the other shortcomings.

MP3: Ida Maria - Going to hell (demo)

I also shot video of "Queen of the World":

I left my camera's memory card at home for the Mercury Lounge show but you can see photos  and read reviews at Brooklyn Vegan, Music Snobbery, and the NY Times. Ida's coming back to the States for SXSW which will hopefully include a tour that hits more than just NYC and LA. It should give her time to rest up her voice too so when she's back in March she'll hit us with full force -- which might be more than we're ready for.

Be Seeing You

I was never a Prisoner obsessive (though I've always wanted to visit the Hotel Portmeirion), but I always thought Patrick McGoohan was one of the cool ones. He was always great guest star on Columbo, too, for which he won two Emmys. He was 80.

If you're never seen The Prisoner, one of the great mindf*%$s ever made, you can watch the entire series (all 17 episodes) online at AMC TV's website. As you may have heard, AMC is remaking the series and will air this year. Before you start booing and hissing, they've got a good track record with Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and it stars Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan... maybe they won't screw it up entirely.

MP3: The Times - I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape

 

Shameless Plugging (Not the Same Old Show on Your Radio)

 

Put a microphone in front of me and I become a total ham. (Preferably prosciutto cotto, but any good ham will do.) I talked on real radio and "internet" radio in the last week, and if interested you can hear them. I don't sound entirely stupid.

My old pals Blog Fresh Radio are doing an official show for the Hype Machine's Blog Zeitgeist 2008 which, over the course of this week, will count down the 50 most blogged-about albums of last year. Part One is up now and you can hear me yap on about the Metronomy record. As a former producer of the program, I gotta say it's the best-sounding show I've heard them do (that includes the SXSW show that I did), and other blogs involved included Chromewaves, The Music Slut, The Modern Age, Song by Toad, and more. Anyway, here's the first part:

Meanwhile, I also got interviewed (as a Brooklyn Vegan writer) by NPR's Weekend America for a segment about what I thought might be big, musically, in 2009. It's an interesting segment, in that they go from source to source...from a radio DJ to Gossip Girl music supervisor Alex Patsavas (who I interviewed once) to me to a record store clerk. Anyway, check it out if so inclined...