Earlier this year, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ long-time imprint Touch and Go ceased producing new records. Then in September, we told you the indie punks had inked a deal with Matador. Well, now they’ve posted the first preview track from the new partnership. It’s the jangly and angular “Even Heroes Have to Die,” a undeniably catchy punk track from the Pharmacists’ forthcoming album, The Brutalist Bricks. The trio’s sixth LP will drop in CD, LP, and digital outlets on March 9th. Go here for upcoming tour dates. (via Matablog)
Fucked Up
“Neat Parts” MP3
Nov 29, 2009
Last month, we reported about Matador‘s plans to release a new Fucked Up singles compilation called Couple Tracks. Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2008 will include two CDs or LPs of super rare songs, divided into one disc of The Hard Stuff and one of The Fun Stuff. It drops January 26th but you can hear the 7” version of “Neat Parts” now. The track was originally the B-side of the “Triumph of Life” 7″. (Peter Bower, 2006) (via Matablog)
Lindstrøm
“Little Drummer Boy” MP3
Nov 29, 2009
“Tis’ the season” for forty-minute space disco versions of Katherine K. Davis’ “Little Drummer Boy.” Yes, the ambient-disco artist Hans-Peter Lindstrøm recorded a behemoth take on the Christmas classic for his collaborative LP with singer Christabelle (aka Solale), Real Life Is No Cool.
The song is exclusively available through Rough Trade’s Album Clubsite, or at stores as a bonus CD when you purchase Real Life. Only Rough Trade will have the LP on sale on November 30th. It drops in the U.K. January 18th and on January 19th in the U.S. via Smalltown Supersound. We’ve got a five-minute preview of Lindstrøm’s epic re-imagining of “Little Drummer Boy” available above. (via P4K)
Fever Ray keeps reinstating her position as the Music Video Artist of 2009 with anotherjaw-droppingAVclip. This time we get some visual goodness from Jens Klevje and Fabian Svensson-directed video. The “suburbia as hell” theme continues on “Keep the Streets Empty For Me,” a black-and-white clip from Knife singer Karin Dreijer Andersson’s debut solo LP. The moody short features a chic homeless gal wandering through a deserted neighborhood. Here’s what the Swedish directors had to say about the beautiful visuals:
“Fever Ray and the song ‘Keep the Streets Empty For Me’ struck us immediately with its fateful sound and images of abandoned suburbia begun to grow in front of our eyes. We wanted to continue the journey that started in the former videos and our ambition was to catch the feeling in a very direct and true way and create a video where dream and reality intertwine.” The directorial pair run the visual bureau Conjunction in the south of Sweden.
If music is about recapturing lost youth, who better to feed our feelings of arrested development than The Muppets? In a new video, the puppet musicians cover Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” giving Wayne and Garth a run for their satirical money.
Califone‘s new Super 8 video for single “Funeral Singers” is fairly minimal and quite lo-fi. It primarily shows random snippets of Super 8 film juxtaposed with crisp footage of the band getting their acoustic stylee on. Also, be sure to check out the behind the scenes photo gallery for the self-directed film shoot. at the band’s MySpace.
In related news, Califone leader Tim Rutili directed a feature film earlier this year, which, like the band’s new LP, is dubbed All My Friends Are Funeral Singers. On tour, the group’s been playing a live soundtrack along with the video. Check out both when Califone hits the West Coast.
Califone:
12-03 Seattle, WA - Husky Union * 12-04 Vancouver, British Columbia - Rickshaw Theater * 12-05 Portland, OR - The Mission Theater * 12-07 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall * 12-09 Los Angeles, CA - Hammer Museum *
* All My Friends Are Funeral Singers film performance
The Middle East
“The Darkest Side” MP3
Nov 20, 2009
Despite their choice of name, The Middle East is an enchanting indie-folk septet from Townsville, Australia. For those that don’t know (me), Townsville is a coastal city located in the far northeast of Queensland, near the Great Barrier Reef. The group’s Arcade Fire-esque style made waves here in the U.S. when their intricate choral anthem “Blood” started getting serious airplay at Santa Monica College’s KCRW, in L.A.
Last month they released their EP, The Recordings of The Middle East in physical and digital formats here in the U.S.. Originally, it was only available from the band and the Australian indie Spunk Records. Check out the quietly engaging chamber acoustic “The Darkest Side” above.
Also, the fantastically animated video for “Blood” is below for the viewing. The stop-motion fantasy world was directed by Greedy Hen. In related news, the group’s touring “the land down under” a ton. Support dates for Cat Power and Grizzly Bear are coming up in January. Check out the tracklisting for the EP and the embedded clip below:
Recordings of The Middle East EP:
01 The Darkest Side 02 Lonely 03 Blood 04 Fool’s Gold 05 Beleriand
“Blood”:
The Big Pink
“Sweet Dreams” (Beyoncé cover) MP3
Nov 20, 2009
Earlier this week Solange Knowles took it upon herself to cover the Dirty Projectors’ “Stillnes Is the Move.” Now we get the opposite here: a indie band covering a pop artist. The destructive London noise-pop duo known as The Big Pink grab ahold of Beyoncé‘s “Sweet Dreams” for BBC’s Radio 1. Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze just released their excellent debut, A Brief History of Love on 4AD. They keep up their usual ‘80s fetish on this slow-burning treatment of the booty-shaking original. The vocal performance never really goes anywhere and basically saps all the energy out of the original. Maybe that’s the point, because these lyrics aren’t exactly sunshine and rainbows. (via BBC)
Earlier this year, 
Last month, we 
“Tis’ the season” for forty-minute space disco versions of Katherine K. Davis’ 
Earlier this week 
