Oct 15, 2009

Githead may have started out as “that band with Wire guitarist Colin Newman,” but over the years they’ve grown out of such knee-jerk reactions. Newman is still ably joined by his wife, frequent co-hort, and ex-Minimal Compact member Malka Spigel on vox/bass though. Joining that songwriting core is Spigel’s bandmate, drummer Max Franken, and guitarist Robin Rimbaud (aka electronic musician Scanner).

On November 10th, the veteran quartet will put out their third LP, Landing, on the Swim imprint (which is spearheaded by Spigel and Newman). Above you can download or listen to the airy, yet propulsive title track. The rest of the full-length (and cover artwork for that matter) take on a loose ying-yang concept of weightlessness and falling: think ethereal, 4AD-like strafing runs, armed with post-punk artillery. Githead recorded most of Landing in analog fashion at Swim’s small London studio and Rotterdam’s Metropolis 22. The tracklisting is below. (via One Track Mind)

Landing:

01 Faster
02 Take Off
03 Before Tomorrow
04 Landing
05 Ride
06 Over the Limit
07 Lightswimmer
08 From My Perspective
09 Displacement & Time
10 Transmission Tower

Oct 15, 2009

Watch on YouTube

Some live video surfaced from London’s The Big Pink. Here the duo and some added live players blast through a pair of searing tracks from the flat-out great debut album, A Brief History of Love. Check out “Velvet” above and “Too Young to Love” here. The band’s touring Europe and the U.S. this fall.

Oct 15, 2009

Rock Island, IL’s Lissie Maurus (affectionately known by the stage name Lissie) creates music for the Heartland as well as the heart. (You know, the kind of music tailor-made for long nights wearing cut-off jean shorts, swigging Pabst Blue Ribbon until it coagulates in your stomach, drawing long drags from a Marlboro; all while playing catch with the faithful mutt by your side.) Welcome to Lissie’s world.

Her Daytrotter session from December of last year introduced the world to her “take no shit” moxy but now we get a slice of studio heaven in the towering “Little Lovin.’” The goosebump-inducing new cut is from Lissie’s forthcoming EP release, Why You Runnin,’ which comes out November 10th, via Fat Possum

The five-song release was produced by BFF Bill Reynolds, the bassist for Band of Horses, at Maurus’ current home in Ojai, CA, and at Echo Mountain Studio in Asheville, NC. Ed Harcourt also recorded the plaintive “Oh Mississippi” in London last fall. You can also peep the EP’s Cat Power-esque country cover, entitled “Wedding Bells,” over at her MySpace.

Lissie will be on tour in November, supporting Ray LaMontagne.

(via My Old Kentucky Blog)

Oct 15, 2009

The FADER just debuted the slick new single, “Walk On Water,” from the Brooklyn quintet Midnight Masses. The guest-heavy cut proves that even though TV on the Radio is on a recording/touring hiatus, its members remain extremely busy with side projects. Kyp Malone’s got Rain Machine; Dave Sitek is probably off manning the boards for the next big hot shit musician; Tunde Adebimpe recently MC’ed Manhattan’s Radio Happy Hour variety show; Jaleel Bunton and Gerard Smith both have a hand in “Walk On Water.”

Smith produced the haunting track and Bunton throws his rarely heard vox into the mix. The high profile collaborations are nothing new to Midnight though. They’ve shared studio/stage spaces with members of Here We Go Magic and Trail of Dead. The promising young group’s new EP Rapture Ready, I Gazed at the Body is produced entirely by Smith and will be out Nov 10th, on Collect.

Oct 14, 2009

Budapest, Hungary’s The Moog may have named their band after a utilitarian piece of analog equipment but they’re much livelier than a synthesizer. At times, their brand of dance-punk harkens back to The Ramones’ cretinous hop, so it seems natural that a fan favorite live cut is “Don’t Go.” The racuous ditty is currently only available to shrieking fans during live encores and the Japanese version of Moog’s sophomore album, Razzmatazz Orfeum.

We’re eager to debut the lively cut here in the States. Check out the rawk above. The group’s been hopping around the European tour circuit all summer long. A U.S. tour is coming sometime next year. As the band’s Myspace so boldy proclaims: “There is a Moog that never goes out.” Also, check out the fivesome’s theatrical music video for the crunchy Razzmatazz single, “When I See You.”

(Front page photography by Reggie Ige.)

Oct 14, 2009

Justin Vernon is taking a short hiatus as Bon Iver, after touring behind his unsettling debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, and the equally fascinating EP Blood Bank. The downloadable concert, at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theatre on October 11th, was Bon Iver’s “last show for the foreseeable future.” The set is too large to upload so instead, please enjoy hearing the dulcet tones of St. Vincent and Bon Iver on their New Moon track, “Roslyn.”

The whole haunting gig is currently available to stream and/or download right here, via 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

This break won’t be too long though. In the middle of the beautiful set—which included the Dark Was the Night charity comp cut “Brackett, WI”—Vernon assured fans: “This is our last show for an indefinite amount of time until…I don’t know, next year or something.” In the meantime, we can chew on his Volcano Choir side project.

Oct 14, 2009

Watch on YouTube

The Flaming Lips sorta got their groove back in 2009 with the dark and cavernous double album, Embryonic. The Oklahoma crew brought the new LP’s apocalyptic closing track, “Watching the Planets,” to The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien last night (October 13th), and flipped some whigs in the process. The performance included ‘yes’ and ‘no’ hand stickers, plenty of screaming and shakers, and some guy continually smashing the hell out of a huge light-up gong. (Even Conan jumped in on the latter once the band was done performing.)

It was simply amazing and made us pine for the song’s forthcoming NSFW music video. Conan: “Thank you so much Wayne!” My thoughts exactly. Catch more craziness when the band drops a man-sized plastic bubble on San Francisco’s Treasure Island Festival this Sunday (October 18th) and several dates in Europe. (via The Music Slut)