U2 has a new album on the horizon entitled No Line on the Horizon (no pun intended!) due out February 15. Listen to the first single, ‘Get On Your Boots’.
I practically begged for these for Christmas and Santa did not disappoint. But boy Apple sure did. These brand spanking new headphones from Apple boast ‘impressive’ sound isolation, two separate high performance drivers – a woofer and a tweeter – for rich, accurate sound and those handy dandy controls to manipulate the volume, terminate calls, etc. Priced at $79, my guess it was positioned to compete with the Bose In Ear set.
These headphones were so disappointing I took them back to the Apple store, hoping they were defective. Everything sounded tinny – like it was all tweeter and no woofer. I actually compared them to the $29 basic headphones and the cheap ones sounded better! After consulting with one of the ‘Geniuses’ who told me they were performing to ‘spec’, I promptly returned them.
Now I’m back to the $29 version and on the hunt for a new high performance headset that is iPhone compatible. Suggestions? Stay tuned.
Fleet Foxes performed on SNL this weekend. Here’s the clip of their first performance, ‘Mykonos’. Then check out the hilarious stolen SNL footage of Jorm dancing to Fleet Foxes during their rehearsal. There’s a bunch of these posted up on YouTube.
Yes…yes…YES! My favorite Swedish psyche rockers, The Soundtrack of Our Lives (T.S.O.O.L), are coming to the US and are scheduled to play The Independent March 15. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at 10AM. Led by singer Ebbot Lundberg, they are a combination of sixties rock giants like The Who and The Kinks, and psychedelic bands like Pink Floyd.
They are touring in support of their new double album, Communion, released last week. Clocking in at 24 songs, I’m still wading through it all. But don’t miss this opportunity to see Sweden’s most prolific rock band, worshiped by rock legend Robert Plant himself.
Artist: Animal Collective Album: Merriweather Post Pavillion File Under: Experimental Recommended if You Like: Grizzly Bear, Beach Boys, Yeasayer Featured Track: ‘My Girls’
Listen up boys and girls, this is important. Animal Collective is releasing their much anticipated, acclaimed and uber-hyped Merriweather Post Pavillion next week on January 20th. (Well, technically it’s already out – make that sold out – on vinyl. But if you’re like me, you’re not hip enough to own a turntable.) So mark your calendars and get ready. Because if you want to be anyone in the music world, with any sort of indie music cred, you need to own this album and worship it like the second coming of Christ. Animal Collective, deliver us from indie rock evil!
Okay, all kidding aside, this is a damn good album. And you should own it. It’s just a little hard to swallow all of this hype. Pitchfork gave the album a 9.6 for christ sakes! I didn’t know that was even possible. Are they really reinventing rock? Is their sound truly that innovative and unlike anything out there in the rock landscape? I don’t think so. My best summary of their sound is classic prog rock syncopation mixed with a little techno and sprinkled with a heap of Beach Boys Pet Sounds all over it.
Perhaps what’s most innovative and unique about them is that they don’t conform to one particular genre, which is refreshing and inspiring. And their music has a joyful, playful and ecstatic quality that makes you want to grab your friends, drop some E, tune in and trip out. (Is that album art moving or is it just my imagination? Whoa.)
Montreal’s Handsome Furs have a new album on the horizon! Their second effort, Face Control, is due out on Sub Pop Records 3/10.
The side project of Wolf Parade‘s guitarist and vocalist Dan Boeckner and his wife Alexei Perry, Handsome Fur’s Face Control ‘draws inspiration from Eastern Europe and re-maps Eastern Bloc surveillance state themes to contemporary life and the irony of our acceptance and embrace of self-monitoring, through blogs and facebooks and myspaces and credit/debit accounts and surveillance cameras and GPS devices.’ Confused? Just listen to this new track, ‘I’m Confused’. And if you haven’t already heard their debut album, Plague Park, do so now. It was one of my favorites for 2007.
Neko Case has a new album on the horizon, Middle Cyclone, due out March 3 on ANTI-. Now through February 3 you can download the first single “People Got A Lotta Nerve,” and help a great cause! Because for every blog that reposts the song and/or iLike user who adds it to their profile, Neko CaseandANTI– will make a cash donation to Best Friends Animal Society. Five dollars will be donated for every blog post and one dollar for every user of iLike that adds the song to his/her profile.
I’ve done my job, now go do yours. After you’ve properly ogled that hot album cover, of course. She does look like a man eater in that photo.
There’s been lots of speculation of a Pavement reunion tour of late, but this article from The Guardian UK yesterday seems to imply a reunion is imminent for 2009 and centered around both the band and their label, Matador Records, 20th anniversary this year. Makes a lot of sense. Apparently Coachella’s booking agent is all over it, but as of now, the festival has yet to promise a big enough guarantee.
the OCMD 