Criminally underrated indie-folk quintet The Acorn, just issued a neat stop-motion video for No Ghost's second track, "Restoration." The clip finds the fresh-faced group of Ottawans traveling into an enchanted forest with strange creatures and bright Japanese paper lanterns. It was directed by Exploding Motor Car (Winston Hacking and Brett Long) and shot on location at the Mataseje Family Farm (Beamsville, Ontario - Niagara Region).
Third album, No Ghost, is available digitally now and physically from Bella Union on September 7. The band is preparing for a North American trek, which begins mid-September and goes through October. (via AOL Spinner.)
Vancouver, BC psych-rock quintet Black Mountain visited Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. The scraggly group decided to unleash its hazy '70s keyboard rocker "Old Fangs" with plenty of drugged-out gusto. Nice choice.
Veteran indie-rockers Built to Spill have been around for quite some time and Doug Martsch and his merry men know it. The Boise, Idaho band pokes fun at its age for "Hindsight," the bittersweet and midtempo second track off seventh album, There Is No Enemy. Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Mr. Show) lensed the clip, which you can watch below or at Pitchfork.tv. Also, check out Odenkirk's backstory on the clip via the Bob and David site.
BtS will tour the States this fall. See tour dates here. There Is No Enemy is out now on Warner Bros.
Today, Los Angeles-via-San Francisco shoegaze quintet Film School released its fourth LP, Fission. It's availabe through Hi Speed Soul. To celebrate, we're giving away the ebullient opening cut, "Heart Full of Pentagons." The song heralds a more poppy approach for the veteran group. That's not all we're giving away today.
We've also got one CD or vinyl ready to be sent to one lucky fan. Just send an e-mail to media@undertheradarmag.com by September 8, using the subject heading: "Film School Contest." Please include your full name and desired album format (CD or vinyl). If you win, we'll ask for your mailing address.
Film School is also running a merch design contest, entitled "Animal of Fission." Arty fans of the group can send in their animal stripe designs for the upcoming tour with The Depreciation Guild. Fans will vote on their favorite designs and the band will pick three winners from the cream of the crop. Go here for contest rules and details.
The deadline for submissions is September 8. Voting ends September 10. Ten percent of all proceeds from the merch will be donated to Tony LaRussa's ARF, an organization that saves cats and dogs from being put down at shelters.
The War on Drugs' mini-album/EP, Future Weather, drops October 26 via Secretly Canadian (TBD in the U.K.). While you wait for the full-listen, check out the band's lead single, "Comin' Through." The tune continues Wagonwheel Blues' explorations of Americana. You can also see TWOD touring this fall at select dates in the Eastern U.S., including a September 9 gig at Raleigh, North Carolina's Hopscotch Festival. The Philly-based band is currently working on album #2.
Arcade Fire: "We Used to Wait" Video
The new music video for Arcade Fire's excellent single, "We Used to Wait," is an interactive film called "The Wilderness Downtown." The Google/HTML 5 clip takes its name from a lyric in the tune: "so when the lights cut out, I was lost, standing in the wilderness downtown." All you've got to do is enter in the street address of your childhood home and you're taken to a Google Street View trip through the suburbs. It's pretty awesome, and pretty much only works on Google Chrome and Safari. Go here to use it. Check out a full list of live dates at arcadefire.com.
Only a week after unveiling All Delighted People EP, Sufjan Stevens shook indie-folk fans to their very cores yesterday. The big news? A brand-new LP, entitled The Age of Adz. (Pre-order here.) That 11-song long-player streets October 12 via Asthmatic Kitty. Today you can stream or download The Age of Adz's fourth track, "I Walked," over at Stevens' Bandcamp (stream below). The five-minute, mid-tempo electro tune tempers the glitchy/dubby sounds of Enjoy Your Rabbit with a beautiful choral melody and Stevens' poignant lyrics about apocalyptic loss, suicide, and the all-consuming power of love. Deep topics... Check it out, Suf fans! His fall tour is quickly selling out. (Via P4k.)
Ducktails‘ Seinfeld-referencing BBQ strummer “Art Vandelay,” is already a Real Estatelive staple. Frontman Matt Mondanile, is also in that New Jersey band. This new cut will be on the B-side of Ducktails’ new Olde English Spelling Bee 7-inch single, with a rejiggered take featured on his third long-player for Woodsist, Ducktails III : Arcade Dynamics.
