May 14, 2009

Animal Collective commenced their mostly sold-out U.S. spring tour with Grouper this week, and apparently NPR was in the house. AC’s concert at the 9:30 Club in our nation’s capital also sported a brand new track. The working title of the hazy chant-driven joint is “Blood.” Avey Tare and Panda Bear volley the vocal duties back and forth in the same way they did on this year’s amazing Merriweather Post Pavilion. After some OK remixes, it’s nice to wrap your ears around a new blissed-out track other than live staple “What Would I Want Sky.” The industrious fan community at Collected Animals managed to snag a fairly high-quality mp3 of “Blood.” Praise to the music nerds of the world. Enjoy! Animal Collective were featured in our Winter ‘09 mag. [GVB]

May 07, 2009

The material for the 2010 film God Help the Girl started rattling inside Stuart Murdoch’s mind while Belle &Sebastian toured for 2003’s Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Murdoch explained the new music/film project’s genesis story on the official God Help the Girl site earlier this year: “I was out for a run and I got this tune in my head and it occurred to me that it wasn’t a Belle & Sebastian song. I could hear female voices and strings, I could hear the whole thing, but I just couldn’t envisage myself singing it with the group.” Though Murdoch claims these new songs have very little to do with Belle, you can certainly hear the iconic Glaswegian band’s indie-pop stamp in God Help the Girl’s first single, “Come Monday Night” (out May 11th on Matador). The polished single’s music video recalls ‘60s girl groups and the quieter moments nestled into your favorite Hollywood musicals. Catherine Ireton’s voice is the clear powerhouse here. Karen Carpenter anyone? Likewise, she appears on most of the forthcoming soundtrack’s cuts. Unfortunately, the acting during the Gentle Ben-watching intro scene reminds you a little too much of college films. Small quibbles though, since these are singers first and foremost. It’s interesting the ladies are watching Gentle Ben because “Come Monday Night” has the kind of lived-in ethos that a cozy book/TV series about a boy and his bear would possess.

And boy is the singing phenomenal. God Help the Girl also features vocals by Asya, lead singer of the Seattle teenage indie band Smoosh, and Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy. A competition (shown here in this earlier clip) helped Murdoch choose the some of the other female voices that join Murdoch and various Belle & Sebastian alum. Murduch asked hopeful singers to add their own vocals to the demo recordings of Belle & Sebastian’s “Funny Little Frog” and “The Psychiatrist Is In” and post their results on the iMeem social networking site. This attracted roughly 400 entries. The contest victors included Brittany Stallings and Dina Bankole, as well as Celia Garcia and Alex Klobouk. The God Help the Girl soundtrack will be released in the U.S. on June 23rd (Matador) and on the 22nd in Europe (Rough Trade).

May 06, 2009

My Guilty Pleasure, the follow-up to Sally Shapiro’s Disco Romance, is out in late summer/early fall. And what a way to come back. First single “Miracle,” written and produced by Johan Agebjörn and Roger Gunnarsson, is out officially via Paper Bag Records on June 16 but you can hear Sally’s synth thunderstorm now. It starts with a diaristic spoken word in French before a thunderclap and then comes the rain. Beautiful stuff. Shapiro’s still got that Italo disco sound. According to her official site, Sally’s main songwriting partner, Johan Agebjörn, is keeping busy with various solo DJ gigs on the weekends. Under the Radar featured Shapiro in our Winter issue’s Most Anticipated Albums of ‘09 section. My Guilty Pleasure was under a working title then but it seems the duo’s hard work is starting to coalesce into a very dreamy project.

May 06, 2009

Nottingham, England’s The Soundcarriers started as an instrumental rock group with jazz leanings but after discovering the music of Can and early Pink Floyd, they’ve taken on a distinctly psychedelic edge. Their hazy new single, “Time Will Come,” drives that home. A high-in-the-mix jazzy drum kit builds around a stately piano figure before the full band lays into a distinctly downtempo lilt.That their debut ( Harmonium) shares its title with a 1992 Stereolab single may be no accident. It’s the first available track from Harmonium, which is set for release on May 25, via Melodic. It will be available on CD, double gatefold vinyl and digital download. Here’s a link to Harmonic’s pre-order site. You know the drill by now folks: the digital download is available now; physical copies will land on your doorstep two weeks prior to the release date. (www.thesoundcarriers.com)

May 06, 2009

Brooklyn’s Previously On Lost take fan fiction to a whole ‘nother level. Adam Schatz and Jeff Curtin have already recapped every episode of ABC’s Lost into bite-sized They Might Be Giants-like pop songs. Now they’ve tackled everything that’s happened to the survivors of Oceanic 815 up until last week’s episode. It’s hilarious, manic, and only reminds you of Weird Al sometimes. The duo is inviting Lost fans to make their own YouTube videos for “LOST in 2 Minutes,” plus the POL boys and Brooklyn Based will host a Season 5 finale party at Bell House on May 13th. Also, here’s an older YouTube clip of the twosome recreating the Oceanic plane crash of Oceanic 815 and performing “The Tale of Season 4 and the Oceanic Six” live at New York’s Knitting Factory. Lost into bite-sized They Might Be Giants-like pop songs. Now they’ve tackled everything that’s happened to the survivors of Oceanic 815 up until last week’s episode. It’s hilarious, manic, and only reminds you of Weird Al sometimes. The duo is inviting Lost fans to make their own YouTube videos for “LOST in 2 Minutes,” plus the POL boys and Brooklyn Based will host a Season 5 finale party at Bell House on May 13th. Also, here’s an older YouTube clip of the twosome recreating the Oceanic plane crash of Oceanic 815 and performing “The Tale of Season 4 and the Oceanic Six” live at New York’s Knitting Factory.

May 06, 2009

Here’s the second official remix of The Big Pink’s “Velvet” to surface on the interwebs in as many weeks. First it was Gang Gang Dance’s tribal jungle jam and now it’s Van Rivers & the Subliminal Kid turn. You may recally they’re the analog-loving duo behind some of the stark tones on Fever Ray’s self-titled debut. Their version of “Velvet” is equally haunting. You can equate it to the aural sensation of rocking back and forth in the hull of an empty ship. It’s much more ephemeral than Gang Gang Dance’s spastic electronic freakout. For reference sake, here’s the original music video for “Velvet.” The Big Pink was one of the bands featured in Under the Radar‘s Pleased to Meet You: New Artists 2009 special section in our Winter 2009 Issue.

May 05, 2009

Is 2009 the year of the Dirty Projector? All signs point to yes if memory serves us right. First there was “Knotty Pine,” that brilliant collaboration with David Byrne on the Dark Was the Night compilation, next came the sparkling pop single “Stillness Was the Move,” and in preparation for Bitte Orca‘s non-leak June 9th release here’s another David Byrne/Dirty Projectors track that didn’t make the cut for Dark Was the Night. “Ambulance Man” is one of those atypical avant-pop Projectors ballads and Byrne steals the show a little. It all unfurls into a slightly less captivating a capella outro. Not a bad companion piece, but you can clearly hear why “Knotty Pine” was picked over this one.