As Yo La Tengo’s North American tour is well underway (with a gala performance taking place just a stone’s throw from the old Tube Bar just an hour or two away), the following shows have just been confirmed :
October 1 – Babylon Club, Ottawa, Canada
October 11 – Belly Up Aspen, Aspen, CO
October 12 – In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
In honor of this exciting announcement, I thought about posting a YouTube clip of Ira and Georgia performing at Waterfront Records in 1988, but you’re probably gonna get plenty of that sort of thing in Jersey City tonight.
So instead, here’s Dr. Gene Scott. Have a wild weekend!
The Matmos Paris France experience proved to be more graceful and elegant than the earthier and rocking Matmos London England experience. A bit like Paris versus London all over really. I guess the tone was set by the cultural palace that is the Centre Pompidou versus the garish red walls and velvet of Koko. But it was also the appearance on stage of the grand piano, its raised lid echoing the curves of the full sized classical harp. Both these instruments were missing from London.
The shows starts with Nate walking on to the powerful filmed imagery of the rose emerging from a cows uterus. The screen is massive (as is the stage) Disembodied plastic gloved hands manipulate both flower and body part. The song this accompanied, “Tract For Valerie Solonas”, ends with Martin playing a large inflated helium balloon. “YTTE” proves to be a crowd pleaser. “Roses and Teeth For Ludwig Wittgenstein” is propelled by Nate and Zeena using bunches of red roses as drumsticks. Petals fly into the air leaving the centre stage with a carpet of red. “Germs Burn For Darby Crash” starts with the unsettling footage of a cigarette burning Drews forearm and the gasp of his pain. An audience volunteer has his head shaved into a Mohawk with an amplified electric shaver by Martin. As the performance ends the audience calls for an encore. The house lights go up but people want more. After another song the band have to return to the stage to a standing ovation. Paris loves Matmos! And so do I. Both the London and Paris shows were stunning in their own right.
As most of the tri-state area checks and double-checks the PATH schedule in anticipation of Friday’s bound-to-be-epic (and only NY-area) Yo La Tengo show at the Loews Theater, More Cowbell has a review and pics of last night’s show at 9:30 Club in DC. Word on the street is that this Hoboken 3-some are alright!
*I did take photos at the Mogwai gig, but for some reason, WordPress is being odd and not letting me post them. It may be for the best, because, in what is becoming a habit of mine, they were really rubbish photos.
Anyways, the entire Matador Europe staff (me, Mike & Lucy), ex-Matadorian and super-publicist Sarah, and super Beggars radio lady Ruth all went to see Mogwai on Friday at the Royal Albert Hall. Now, this made me nervous for a couple of reasons – namely that we’d be going straight after work, which means I’d have to go to dinner with my aforementioned colleagues. Not that I don’t want to eat with them or anything, it’s just that my palette (when it comes to food) is, um, limited. The last time I went out to dinner with work people was last Christmas with Mike, Sarah, Patrick and Try Harder Records* supremo Alan English, and it was pretty excruciating because it was a very expensive French restaurant and I didn’t want to make a foodie faux-pas, what with me really only liking chicken and chips. I wasn’t actually a Matador Records employee at this stage either, so I was sure any display of weakness or lack of etiquette would eradicate any chance of a job I might have. I thought my best option was to order the Steak Tartare, thinking ‘Ah, steak with tartare sauce. I can just scrape the tartare sauce off, and no-one will be any the wiser, ho ho’. Some of you will be surprised to learn that Steak Tartare is actually raw meat mashed up into a kind of pudding. Not nearly as surprised as me. I nearly cried when I saw it. Summoning up all the courage I could muster, I told myself ‘You’re just going to have to eat it, or you’ll look like a tool’. Luckily Mike, by intuition (or by the look of poisoned anguish on my face) noticed that Steak Tartare may not be my thing, and shared some of his…I can’t remember what it was, but anything other than raw mashed-up meat was good enough for me. But obviously, I work here now, so that story had a happy ending – they obviously found my fear of food endearing.
Where was I? Oh yeah, having to go out to dinner with work people. Thankfully, we went somewhere that didn’t intimidate me too much (I was able to get sausages – phew) and had a lively discussion about Christian mythology and R Kelly.
Now, Matador don’t handle Mogwai’s records in Europe, so I can gush all I want about their awesomeness without being accused of nepotism. To begin with, the Royal Albert Hall is MASSIVE. MASSIVE. I’d never been before and it’s just…MASSIVE. It usually plays host to operas and orchestral stuff. We got in about 10 minutes from the end of Kid606**’s opening set, and it sounded remarkably like Jesu***. Does his new album all sound like that? It was very good, and considering the last two times I saw him he did 40 minutes of scorching noise and 1 hour of gabba respectively, it was nice to hear him kick back a little bit. 20 minutes later, the lights went off and Stuart came on to pluck the opening chords of ‘Christmas Steps’, one of many moments tonight where I thought ‘They’re doing this? Wicked, I can’t wait til it gets to the noise bit’. As a set, it was a perfect summation of Mogwai’s music – they did quiet stuff, they did the loud stuff, they did old and new stuff in equal measure. Hearing ‘Tracy’ live for the first time in aaaages was lovely, even more so when it transformed into ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’. It’s kind of useless to repeat the same things that everyone says about Mogwai (live or recorded), but they are so visceral live it’s untrue. During the closing ‘My Father, My King’ (oh yes) it was noise heaped upon noise, and when you think it can’t get any louder, someone steps on another pedal and it feels like they’re taking a drill to your eardrums (in a good way). ‘My Father, My King’ was so good, that when it was over it felt as if I hadn’t breathed for the previous half hour. Really, when Mogwai are good there’s not much that’s better than them. When they’re bad, they still fucking rule.
Because WordPress is having an off-day and not letting me link to things, here’s some further reading:
November 21, Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
November 22, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY
November 24, Majestic Theatre, Detroit, MI
November 25, Rivera Theater, Chicago, IL
November 26, Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, MO
November 28, Meridian, Houston, TX
November 29, Gypsy Ballroom, Dallas, TX
(Silversun Pickups play 1st on all dates, Dead Meadow 2nd)
Touring with Mason Jennings in support of her magnificent Matador debut, ‘Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars’, Jennifer O’Connor has the following free instore gig coming up :
Tuesday, September 26th at 7PM Criminal Records
466 Moreland Avenue
Atlanta, GA
In addition, there’s a post-show meet & greet par-tay happening tomorrow night at the Independent Bar, 3rd and Central, St. Petersberg, FL. If you’re an old friend of Jennifer’s, be sure to stop by. If you’re a new friend, you’re equally welcome to come ’round (except you might have to buy your own drink).
Mogwai’s contributions to the original score of Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” can be heard next week when the long awaited followup to “Requiem For A Dream” is screened at Austin’s Alamo South as part of the 2006 Fantastic Fest. Aronofsky will be on hand for a little Q and A, and prior to “The Fountain”, they’ll be showing René Laloux’s “Fantastic Planet”.
Mogwai headline Glasgow’s Barrowlands tomorrow night, and they’ll be at the Manchester Academy on Sunday.
Pat (drummer in Rogue Wave) has been dealing with kidney problems for quite some time (this is his second kidney transplant).
On September 30th 2006, Rogue Wave will host a benefit concert at The Independent in San Francisco to raise money for drummer Pat Spurgeon, who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant. The benefit concert will feature performances by Rogue Wave, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie,) Matthew Caws (Nada Surf,) Ryan Miller (Guster,) John Vanderslice, and other special guests. Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snickett) will MC the event.
Rarely do we break into regular programming around here to toot our own horn when it comes to something as crass as actual-record-sales, but this is kind of a special occasion. The new Yo La Tengo CD / 2 X LP / digital wacky-pack ‘I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass’ enters this week’s Billboard Top 200 at no. 66, making it the highest chart entry and best first-week seller of the band’s illustrious career.
Though I’d like congratulate Ira, Georgia and James on this commercial achievement, clearly, a big share of the credit is due to Matador’s hard working street team.
If you had any difficulty finding copies of Mastodon’s excellent ‘Blood Mountain’ last week, I sincerely apologize. We’re just doing our job.
If you’d like to join the celebration from the comfort of your own lonely hovel, we’re accepting video submissions at iamnotafraidofyouandiwillbeatyourass.com. This could be your big chance to become as big a global internet sensation as these guys.
Not since Mo Levy had John Lennon round to the barn for some beers has a record label been nearly as vault-plundering as Matador’s treatment of Pavement’s classic oeuvre. Well, I suppose Mystic and Cog Sinister come to mind, but as neither have blogs (or crack art deparments), I’ll leave them out of the discussion.
In the rich tradition of our mega-deluxxxe reissues of ‘Slanted & Enchanted’ and ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’, we’re pleased to announce the November 7 re-release of Pavement’s widely misunderstood 3rd album, ‘Wowee Zowee’, henceforth entitled, ‘Wowee Zowee : Sordid Sentinels Edition’
the full track listing :
Disc 1
01 We Dance
02 Rattled by the Rush
03 Black Out
04 Brinx Job
05 Grounded
06 Serpentine Pad
07 Motion Suggests Itself
08 Father to a Sister Of Thought
09 Extradition
10 Best Friend’s Arm
11 Grave Architecture
12 AT & T
13 Flux = Rad
14 Fight This Generation
15 Kennel District
16 Pueblo
17 Half a Canyon
18 Western Homes
19 Sordid [previously unreleased Wowee Zowee session outtake]
20 Brink of the Clouds [Rattled by the Rush b-side]
21 False Skorpion [Rattled by the Rush b-side]
22 Easily Fooled [Rattled by the Rush b-side]
23 Kris Kraft [Father to a Sister of Thought b-side]
24 Mussle Rock [Father to a Sister of Thought b-side]
25 Give It a Day [Pacific Trim EP]
26 Gangsters & Pranksters [Pacific Trim EP]
27 Saganaw [Pacific Trim EP]
28 I Love Perth [Pacific Trim EP]
29 Sentinel [previously unreleased Wowee Zowee session outtake]
Disc 2
01 Sensitive Euro Man [I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack]
02 Stray Fire [previously unreleased Wowee Zowee session outtake]
03 Fight This Generation [recorded March 3, 1994 at Hilversum, Holland]
04 Easily Fooled [recorded March 3, 1994 at Hilversum, Holland]
05 Soul Food [Wowee Zowee jam session w/Doug Easley on piano]
06 It’s a Hectic World [from Homage to Descendents tribute album]
07 Kris Kraft [BBC in-studio; Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995]
08 Golden Boys/Serpentine Pad [BBC in-studio; Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995]
09 Painted Soldiers [BBC in-studio; Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995]
10 I Love Perth [BBC in-studio; Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995]
11 Dancing With the Elders [from Medusa Cyclone/Pavement split 7"]
12 Half a Canyon [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
13 Best Friend’s Arm [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
14 Brink of the Clouds/Candylad [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
15 Unfair [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
16 Eaily Fooled [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
17 Heaven Is a Truck [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
18 Box Elder [live; Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994]
19 No More Kings [from Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks comp]
20 Painted Soldiers [from Kids in the Hall in Brain Candy soundtrack]
21 We Dance (alternate mix) [previously unreleased Wowee Zowee session outtake]
The sort of lavish, jaw-dropping packaging that you’ve come to expect from our previous Pavement reissues? We’re on it. Cryptic hints of a band reunion that may or may not occur this decade? You can get them somewhere else, we’re not trading in such conjecture. But there’s more than enough meat to chew on here, and I for one am looking forward to a nifty trip down memory lane to the day in 1996 when Larry Clark suggested (with a straight face) that Tom Surgal “should be put in jail” for the “Rattled By The Rush” video.
Tom of course, had the last laugh. He wasn’t the one who directed “Bully”.
When Chan Marshall swung through town to play at Irving Plaza, she made a visit to the AOL offices to talk up all things Cat Power and lay down some tracks for an upcoming Interface.
Our boy Dodge at My Old Kentucky Blog has a sneak preview.
Yes, we know the bulletin board’s down. I received 2,428 automated emails about it between 7:34 PM and 12:19 AM Eastern tonight. One is generated every time someone tries to view a forum or post. If nothing else, it shows how popular our BB is.
We have notified our server admin and hope to be back up tomorrow morning. Nothing is likely to happen tonight (or this morning for those of you in time zones further east).
Sure. We get some letters. A lot of letters. Like this classic one. But, this latest might take the cake. Why? Because it’s not restraining order worthy nor is it demanding money back in exchange for returning some downloads. No, the stars have aligned for this Mr. Tough and this one band (who he seems to own more than one album from):
Dear (Matador)
Hi. I am a citizen of Glagow in Scotland, and my name (as you may see) is Michael Tough. Interestingly, Yo La Tengo’s latest single release in the UK is entitled Mr. Tough. I have been aware of Yo La Tengo since I bought their single Danelectro (version 2 of which is on the playlist for my funeral – when it comes), and have purchased a couple of albums since, namely Prisoners Of Love and the current I Am Not Afraid Of You….
I tried to purchase the single Mr. Tough, but none of the major or independent stores in Glasgow had it listed, leading me to believe it is only available as a download. Would this be correct?
The point I am trying to get round to, though, is this; would there be any promotional material available for the current single? It is not every day that a record is realeased with one’s name as its title, and this ‘novelty’ holds an appeal. I saw some cover art for the single on a couple of download sites, but am reluctant to print and copy it on to a t-shirt, for example, for copyright reasons. As I now have the song on hard copy twice (once on the album and once, ironically, from a free new-release compilation CD given away by HMV when I bought the album) I see less need to buy the single if indeed it is available on hard copy.
If there might be any promo items with the Mr. Tough text and imagery that are lying around the office and looking for a home with a real Mr. Tough (by name only, and not so much by nature to be honest) then I would be happy to provide that home and very appreciative. In the offchance that you could please help me in my quest, may I provide a postal address upon request at a later time? Thankyou for taking the time to read this essentially begging letter, and I hope it doesn’t bother you .
Yours
Mr. Michael Tough
We have since learned he has a cousin Ronnie. Can someone get this guy onto that helicopter?
In February, Yordy unveiled the FoxFaith logo at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, bringing the normally skeptical crowd to its feet. Seeing the label on the big screen formalized the commitment from Fox, Yordy said.
Three years earlier, the idea of launching a Christian label at Fox was considered a joke, but Yordy said the use of humor helped win the convention-goers’ trust this time around.
“The approach we took was … ‘At Fox, you may know us for our quality family programming,’ ” Yordy said he told the audience, against a backdrop of video clips from Paris Hilton’s “The Simple Life” and the reality show “Temptation Island.”
“The room just died laughing,” he said. “I said to them, ‘That is exactly what you expect from Fox. But that is not what we at FoxFaith are”
FoxFaith’s biggest splash came in July at the International Christian Retail Show in Denver, the largest annual gathering of Christian retailers in the nation.
Inside a massive white tent across from the Denver Convention Center, a studio-sponsored event had all the earmarks of a Hollywood fete: a lavish buffet, an exclusive movie preview of 20th Century Fox’s upcoming family-friendly horse drama “Flicka” and acrobats from Cirque du Soleil. Because it was a Christian convention, no alcohol was served and the performers’ costumes were inspected to ensure demure necklines.
Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan is being interviewed on WNYC’s “Soundcheck” at this very moment by John Schaefer.
Earlier in the program, a researcher from the University of Leicester was asked to characterize the typical Yo La Tengo fan. He presumed that he or she would be highly educated, not particuarly highly-paid, and most curiously, not a pet owner.
Surely you don’t need an excuse to read Blabbermouth.net several times a day?
Producer Bob Rock recently told Reuters that he feels “20 years younger” after his split with METALLICA, whose albums he had produced since 1991.
The Canadian producer parted company with the metal titan earlier this year and is now devoting his energies to other artists and a return to his own recording career.
According to the 52-year-old Rock, “My life is now about my wife and kids, and recording other bands.”
Rock first teamed with METALLICA for its self-titled 1991 album (aka “The Black Album”). The Elektra set debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 281 weeks. Rock helmed METALLICA’s subsequent albums, through 2003’s “St. Anger”.
A behind-the-scenes look at that tumultuous project was featured in the following year’s unflinching documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster”. A petition that some 1,500 fans signed subsequently was posted online calling for METALLICA to dump Rock, claiming he had too much influence on the band’s sound.
“The criticism was hurtful for my kids, who read it and don’t understand the circumstances,” Rock says. “Sometimes, even with a great coach, a team keeps losing. You have to get new blood in there.”
First up, I’ve got to apologize for these pictures. Between myself and Mike, we managed to make concert photos look like surveillance footage. I’ve seen clearer photos of the Loch Ness monster. Mike did get this photo of Martin wearing a rather lovely cushion/hat afterwards, though.
Second up (is that a term?), I must apologize for the lack of Haswell/Hecker noize action. You may remember a few weeks ago I did a post extolling the virtues of Russell Haswell and Florian Hecker, whom I thought were supporting Matmos at the Koko show. Well, they weren’t. Sorry. It had nothing to do with me or the men of Matmos. Haswell/Hecker are performing as support for Sunn 0))) and Burning Star Core at this year’s Frieze festival, though, and I’ll be there, so you can berate me in person if it makes you feel better.
Anyways, on to Matmos. They do occupy that strange area of performance where it seems equally appropriate that they play seated venues or club spaces. Although I had my reservations, Koko turned out to be perfect – a very theatrical venue that normally plays host to indie rock and A-list celebrity pop shows decked out in chairs for a show by a band who bridge the muscal gap between…well, everything, really.
Current collaboroator Zeena Parkins did a couple of pieces on her own first, and she is now my favourite working harpist (screw you Newsom). Eschewing any normal sounds you might hear emanating from a harp, Parkins instead built loops of buzzing string drone, and blasting waves of noise by attacking her instrument with what looked like a pumice stone. It was very different from what I’d heard from her in the past, and I’d love to see a full set from her. Like NOW.
Zeena returned to the stage about 15 minutes later and began reading from Valerie Solanis’ ‘S.C.U.M’ Manifesto. And then on came Martin and Drew, aided by Nate Boyce and began to build a room-rattling take on ‘Tract For Valerie Solanis’ – I really cannot emphasise enough just how powerful the bass was last night (you know when you can feel it in your teeth?). Nate’s visuals for this involved the bizarre sight of a rose slowly opening out of a cow’s uterus, which was as funny and disturbing as the song itself. They proceeded to charge through a fairly dance-heavy set (maybe cause it was a seated show), and I was ecstatic to hear them do ‘YTTE’ from ‘The Civil War’, replete with all sorts of abstract harp strums from Ms Parkins. ‘Rag For William S Burroughs’ was denser and shorter than it’s album incarnation, and ‘Steam And Sequins For Larry Levan’ climaxed with all four performers hammering away on bongos and triangle for maximum disco action, coupled with Nate’s epilepsy-inducing visuals – I didn’t see, but surely someone must have been dancing on the bar. Surely.
Watching the first season of ‘A Bit of Fry and Laurie’ and listening to composer Carl Stalling this weekend was a perfect setup for going to see Matmos – they’re all artists who apply all their academic enthusiasm to bending high-culture (Fry & Laurie: literature & language, Stalling: orchestral composition, Matmos: music concrete) into inappropriate, populist and occasionally silly shapes without forfeiting any of their fierce intelligence. This is even more apparent for Matmos live – it’s usually about halfway through the gig when after being blindsided by the music itself, I start to think ‘Hang on, how the hell are they doing this?’. And apparently, it involves sticking metal tubes into dry ice.
In conclusion, it was a fun and baffling night out.
About two years ago, I fell deeply in love with The Wire. You can’t even describe it in words. Sordid twists on corruption, taciturn civil servants and then…that drug experiment with all those drugs. So, why not start a whole blog dedicated to understanding it. Well, someone already beat me to the punch. Behold….the Heaven and Here blog. (you’ll recognize some contributors including the editor of world-class b-ball blog… Free Darko.)
Say what you want about Kiss’ Paul Stanley, but he can never be accused of not knowing where his contributions measure against rock’s other legends. From Billboard’s Gary Graff :
Stanley confirms that one of the ideas being discussed is a traveling version of the orchestral shows Kiss played in 2003 in Australia, which resulted in the “Kiss Symphony” CD and DVD releases.
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” says Stanley, who welcomed his second son, Colin, with wife Erin on Sept. 6. “Anything’s possible, but we’re far away from conforming or committing to something like that. I’ll let you know when it’s true.”
New Kiss music is another matter, however. Stanley says as far as he’s concerned, trying to make a new album in the shadow of Kiss’ classic repertoire is, at the very least, a challenge. “The fact is, [fans] may tolerate the new songs, but it’s the old ones you want to hear,” he notes. “I think Jimmy Page and Robert Plant found that out. The [Rolling] Stones certainly know it. The Who certainly know it. So unless you’re willing to go into the studio accepting that how your album will be received will never match your expectations, I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.”
In the history of motion pictures, there is no shortage of lost classics. Be it Erich Von Stroheim’s “Greed,” or Orson Welles’ original cut of “The Magnificent Ambersons,” coulda, shoulda, woulda been masterpieces have slipped through the cracks of time for as long as movies existed. But for the year, no lost classic has been so lost, or so classic as the 3rd episode of the Early Man demolition derby. Metal fans, fans of crashing cars, and especially fans of crashing cars while listening to metal have been walking around with an Early Man shaped hole in their hearts, seemingly destined to wait in cruel anticipation forever.
The wait is over my friends.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to present the electrifying conclusion to the Early Man car-wrecking saga. Once thought lost for all time, a print was discovered behind some stuff in our office. It is presented here, in sumptuous streaming video, for your viewing pleasure.
(poster art from an LA show that was rescheduled, designed by Francesca Montanari)
Cat Power and The Memphis Rhythm Band are hitting my adopted hometown of Austin, TX for this weekend’s sprawling Austin City Limits Festival (Cat Power on Friday, The New Pornographers on Sunday. Not appearing : Color Me Badd) with an addition show at Stubbs’ Barbecue Sunday evening.
And like they say during the daily casualty briefings, “but wait, there’s more.” Chan and the Memphis Rhythm Band will be taping a studio performance for PBS’ “Austin City Limits” this coming Monday (September 18) at 8pm. A limited number of tickets are being made available to the public this Friday at noon at the studios of KLRU.
KLRU is located on the University of Texas campus at the corner of Dean Keeton and Guadalupe. Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. There is a limit of two tickets per person. Please note that Austin City Limits cannot guarantee admission, even if you hold a ticket, probably because they’re smart and would like to avoid liability.
