Apr 23, 2018

Radiohead has been touring South America this month and this past Friday at the Soundhearts Festival in Rio De Janeiro, this absolutely enchanting acoustic rendition of “True Love Waits” was captured from the crowd. It’s the first time Yorke has played the acoustic version live in 15 years. The video quality obviously isn’t great but listening to Thom float through this one, with the occasional sly grin as the audience sings along, is sublime. Check it out:

Apr 20, 2018

Wow, what a great and pleasantly surprising collaboration between Mitski and Xiu Xiu. Their new track “Between the Breaths” will be featured on the soundtrack to the promising looking How to Talk to Girls at Parties, which comes out in May. The nearly seven-minute song takes all kinds of unusual turns. Check it out:

Apr 19, 2018

Juan’s Basement, the video series of performances and interviews has returned after a ten-year hiatus. Frankie Cosmos was one of the first featured guests and you can check out the full performance of their new album Vessel here:

0:56 Caramelize 4:37 Apathy 7:02 As Often as I Can 8:12 This Stuff 10:16 Jesse 13:09 Duet 15:49 Accommodate 17:27 I’m Fried 19:14 Hereby 20:30 Ballad of R & J 22:30 Ur Up 23:27 Being Alive 25:55 Bus Bus Train Train 27:27 My Phone 28:15 Cafeteria 31:24 The End 33:05 Juan Puns 33:37 Same Thing 35:18 Vessel

Apr 18, 2018

Parquet Courts is coming back with a new album Wide Awake! on May 18th – Oh joy. The firebrands were missed and it’s good to see them picking up where they left off and keeping it punk with their performance of “Normalization” from the upcoming album at KEXP in February.

Apr 16, 2018

There always seems to be another obscure and amazing Will Oldham recording surfacing. Today it came in the announcement on Drag City that Oldham’s 1995 material was now available to stream. One of the recordings is the Steve Albini produced Viva Last Blues, which finds Oldham in great company.

The beautiful and transporting album was recorded at Bates Brothers Recording in Hueytown, Alabama, near Birmingham where Oldham lived at the time. Here’s some background from Drag City: “The Bates’ ample supply of beautifully-maintained keyboards made inviting Liam Hayes to the session a no-brainer. Oldham spoke with Britt Walford about playing drums but eventually, Walford formally balked. Instead, Will was encouraged by brother Paul Oldham to ask Jason Loewenstein to come drum. Loewenstein (of Sparkalepsy and Sebadoh) was living in Louisville at the time. Ned Oldham played the bass. Bryan Rich played “lead guitar”; questions still get asked about where said guitar was leading. Oldham has said that Stevie Wonder’s Music Of My Mind and Cat Stevens’ Catch Bull At Four were sonic influences, though such influence is hardly notable in the final product. Albini did some significant maintenance work on the 2” tape machines at the Bates studio in order to get things properly up and running. The record was titled Viva Last Blues, in partial tribute to the movies of Russ Meyer. The “last” aspect had to do with Oldham feeling like he was coming to the end of a certain trajectory of discovery.”

Apr 13, 2018

Producer Guillermo S. Herren has been making complex and captivating electronic beats as Prefuse 73 for years. Herren has resurfaced to announce his first solo album in three years, Sacrifices, set for release on May 25 via Lex Records. “Basisnskitarian” (someone who only listens to William Basinski?) is the first single from the new album and is challenging and rewarding, in classic Prefuse 73 form.

Here’s some context for the new album: “Following a detour into fractured, kaleidoscopic hip-hop on recent releases, Herren has become increasingly interested in injecting a sense of space into his characteristically complex productions. The resultant 17-track collection is akin to watching an old photograph deteriorate in one’s hands, as otherwise dense beats dissipate into airy expanses of emotionally resonant electronics. Its effect is not unlike attempting to recall a murky memory of a dream of Herren’s earliest works, imbibed with the subtlety of modern minimalism....Sacrifices presents new terrain for the enigmatic Herren, a reinvigorated progenitor unafraid to swap his trademark freneticism for patient sonic pointillism, casting his penchant for beat making in an atmospheric new light.”

Welcome back Prefuse 73.

Apr 12, 2018

Fleet Foxes just released their video for “If You Need To, Keep Time on Me” from last year’s gracefully woven Crack-Up. The gorgeous Rorschach symmetry of the fluidly moving art moves perfectly with the lovely ballad. If you need a moment of peace right now, watch and listen: