Kurt Vile (the man/myth/legend behind the stunning Smoke Ring For My Halo, out today on all popular formats), Ted Leo (star of Reginald Van Voorst’s Broadway musical The Brutalist Bricks), and A.C. Newman (inspiration for the character “Carl Newman” from the motion picture Moves: The Rise & Rise Of The New Pornographers) will all be joining Tom on the air tonight. We really don’t know what’s going to happen, but if it’s anything like last week’s show with Ted and Carl, it’ll be must-listen radio, plus you can get cool prizes for pledging money (including a signed Smoke Ring test pressing and the already-infamous “Rated GG” 7″ single). WFMU can be found at 91.1FM on your NY/NJ radio dial, or at wfmu.org.
Finally, lest you think we’re done talking about Kurt on his release day, please note that in addition to lending his talents to WFMU, Mr. Vile will be playing not once, not twice, but thrice at some of New York’s finest recordmongers this evening: 5PM at Academy Records in Williamsburg (with Thurston Moore & Bill Nace’s Northampton Wools), 7PM at Generation Records, and 9PM at Other Music. Who loves ya, indie retail?
Lest you think Matador Records is quite done twisting arms on behalf of WFMU‘s annual Marathon, THINK AGAIN. Not only are Ted Leo and A.C. Newman returning to Tom Scharpling’s “The Best Show On WFMU” for a second consecutive appearance next Tuesday, March 8th at 9pm, but Yo La Tengo will make their annual visit to the free-form station’s Jersey City studios tonight on Psue Braun‘s program (9pm eastern).
In what should be the greatest fund raising effort to hit the region since…..well, since this, Yo La Tengo will take your requests for covers, but not without an appropriate donation on your part to America’s no. 1, 100% listener supported radio station. Unlike the rest of WFMU’s sprawling schedule, this program will not be archived for later use on your iPhone, iPad, etc. so if you don’t tune in…you must have a pretty exciting Friday night planned.
As a former WFMU dj, I’ve long stressed to my colleagues the importance of the station’s unfocused, pretentious programming huge cultural contributions to the tri-state area and during Matador’s early years, it was actually mandatory for staffers (and recording artists) to contribute 10% of their annual income to the listener supported broadcaster.
Sadly, a state court ruled a few years ago that this arrangement was highly illegal — particularly as Matador refused to match the donations. However, just because we can no longer strong-arm our workforce into handing over money, that doesn’t preclude us strongly advising (HINT, HINT) that if certain self-styled “musical geniuses” don’t play ball with our friends in Jersey City, their recording careers might hang in the balance.
So with no prodding whatsoever from Matador ownership, Ted Leo and A.C. Newman will be appearing tonight on Tom Scharpling’s “The Best Show On WFMU” as part of WFMU’s premium-tastic annual cash-grab. We hope you can tune in. And if you can’t, we hope you won’t mind that we’ve already sent the station your credit card details.
Our man, Carl Newman (A.C. Newman, The New Pornographers Maestro) wrote a 20 second theme song for the new NBC show, “Perfect Couples” that officially premieres tonight at 8:30pm between “The Office” and “Community”.
If there’s one night for you to watch TV, this is it. TV is good.
A.C. Newman has composed and performed the theme song for the new NBC primetime series Perfect Couples. It’s a pretty genius song too – at least the 19 seconds we can hear. Click on the above link for the trailer. Preview aired yesterday; show premieres January as part of NBC’s three-hour Thursday comedy block, leading into “The Office.”
We love “Amplified“, ABC News’s online music show with World News Sunday anchor Dan Harris. Smart, candid interviews with good bands, juiced up with lotsa good music and video. Dan delayed his current Iraq trip (apparently Iraqis say “hello” – in English – to mean “goodbye” – and no one knows why) to yap with AC Newman and Kathryn Calder at Lollapalooza. There are at least two things that even I didn’t know in this interview.
And you look very surprised from this vantage point. Tomorrow (July 7), AC Newman’s ‘Live From Montreal’, recording this past March 12 at the Sainte-Catherine Apple Store, will be available exclusively from the iTunes Music Store. Here’s the tracklisting :
1. There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve
2. Miracle Drug
3. Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer
4. Prophets
5. Secretarial
6. The Heartbreak Rides
7. The Palace at 4 A.M.
8. All Of My Days And All Of My Days Off
9. The Changeling (Get Guilty)
10. Submarines of Stockholm
A.C. Newman — joined by Nicole Atkins — will be the featured musical guest tonight on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman“. Several members of the Matador staff are attending, mostly to make sure Jon Wurster doesn’t say anything audible about Paul Schaffer’s stint on “A Year At The Top”. Dave’s other guests tonight : Zac Efron and ESPN’s MIke Greenburg & Mike Golic.
photo by forklift, taken at the Bellhouse in Brooklyn
A.C. Newman recently recorded a swooningly romantic take on A-Ha’s “Take On Me” for a Valentine’s Day compilation. It’s available on iTunes and we highly recommend you get it:
A.C. Newman’s tour resumes on Tuesday in Ithaca and then heads down the East Coast through Atlanta and then back through the Mid-West:
Tue 3/10 Ithaca NY Castaways with Dent May
Wed 3/11 Toronto ON Lee’s Palace with Dent May
Thu 3/12 Montreal QC Il Motore with Dent May
Fri 3/13 Richmond VA Providence RI Club Hell with Dent May
Sat 3/14 Boston MA Paradise with Dent May
Sun 3/15 New York NY Bowery Ballroom with Dent May
Tue 3/17 Philadelphia PA Johnny Brenda’s with The Broken West
Wed 3/18 Washington DC Black Cat with The Broken West
Thu 3/19 Carrboro NC Cat’s Cradle with The Broken West
Fri 3/20 Atlanta GA The Earl with The Broken West
Sat 3/21 Nashville TN Mercy Lounge with The Broken West
Sun 3/22 St. Louis MO Blueberry Hill with The Broken West
Tue 3/24 Minneapolis MN 400 Bar with The Broken West
Wed 3/25 Chicago IL Logan Square Auditorium with The Broken West
Thu 3/26 Pontiac MI The Pike Room at Crofoot with The Broken West
Fri 3/27 Cleveland OH The Grog Shop with The Broken West, David Martel
Sat 3/28 Pittsburgh PA Andy Warhol Museum with The Broken West
Sun 3/29 Brooklyn NY The Bell House with The Broken West
The sharp-eared among you heard him perform on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic last Thursday. He will also be performing sessions on Sirius XMU, the World Cafe and KCMP The Current in upcoming weeks. Keep your eyes on this space for more details.
By Jeremy P. Goldstein on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Our favorite Canadian songsmith, A.C. Newman, and his gang of traveling minstrels will light up the airwaves and the interweb tomorrow by performing live on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic program. Tune in online or if in the greater Southern California region at 89.9 FM at 11:15 AM PST/2:15 PM PST to catch the session live in all its glory.
A.C. Newman and band are set to bring rollicking live renditions of Get Guilty‘s finest as well as some trademark charm to Terre T’s Cherry Blossom Clinic this Saturday, January 31 at 3PM EST.
WFMU can be found on the radio dial at 91.1 FM (NYC/East Central NJ) and on WXHD, 90.1 fm (Hudson Valley, Lower Catskills, Western NJ) and as always, online. If you miss it, the performance and interview will be archived over at WFMU.org.
A.C. Newman recorded several tracks from his upcoming album Get Guilty at a studio in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood last Monday, and we filmed it. Click the video above to see the first one, “Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer” via Pitchfork.tv.
Don’t miss A.C. Newman at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, New York, on January 20 at 7 PM.
Yet another shining example of bringing together fine music and comedy.
A.C. Newman joined (far left) Dave Hill, host of the Dave Hill Explosion, Carl Arnheiter (in elf hat), and Brett Gelman (as many New Yorkers know as “Little Bit o’Luck” which can’t be easy when he’s at the deli) as special musical guest at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater last night. Carl sang “Get Guilty” and “Drink to Me, Babe, Then” and then gets interviewed about his Canadianness, the burning question being Triumph or Rush, and which of Carl’s two bands brings him most pleasure. This is all after the audience gets assaulted by party poppers, flying chocolates, a midget wrestling Dave with nunchucks, and a song and dance by Mr. Hill. It was certainly a night of holiday cheer and man love.
Hey listening parties are great and everything, but Carl & friends will be hitting the road in support of the forthcoming ‘Get Guilty’ (LP/CD/download), with the following dates just announced :
February
20-Vancouver @ Biltmore Cabaret
21-Seattle @ Neumo’s
22-Portland @ Doug Fir
23-Sacramento @ Harlow’s
24-San Diego @ Casbah
26-LA @ Troubador
27-Santa Barbara @ SOhO Restaurant and Music Club
28-SF @ The Independent (Noisepop)
March
1-Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s
10-Ithaca, NY @ Castaways
11-Toronto @ Lee’s Palace
13-Providence @ Club Hell
14-Boston @ Paradise
15-NY @ Bowery Ballroom
17-Philadelphia @ Johnny Brenda’s
18-Washington DC @ Black Cat
20-Atlanta @ The Earl
21-Nashville @ Mercy Lounge
24-Minneapolis @ 400 Bar
25-Chicago @ Logan Square Auditorium
26-Pontiac @ The Pike Room at The Crofoot
28-Pittsburgh @ Andy Warhol Museum
29-Brooklyn @ The Bell House
Our spring Intended Play label download sampler was a huge hit, so we’re doing it again. Just like before, you get a track from one of each of our current and upcoming releases. Seven of the tracks have not been released on MP3 yet, and four of those are from albums that haven’t been released yet. The sampler this time is a bit more varied musically, from A.C. Newman’s jewel-like pop songscapes to the majestic neo-punk of Fucked Up to the gorgeous female vocals of Jennifer O’Connor to a track from Lou Reed’s painstaking, thoughtful, first-ever performance of his controversial classic album ‘Berlin.’ We also introduce an unreleased song from Pavement’s ‘Brighten The Corner’ sessions, due out on the deluxe edition of that album in November.
Click on the link to get a zipped file of all 13 tracks plus front and back artwork, and burn it yourself (or just listen to it digitally). And support the bands and the label… if you like the track, click on the album title link below to buy (or preorder) the album (or more individual tracks) directly from us.
1. A.C. Newman There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve (from Get Guilty, due out January 20)
2. Belle and Sebastian The State I Am In (BBC Version) (from The BBC Sessions, due out November 18)
3. Jennifer O’Connor Here With Me (from Here With Me, released August 19)
4. Shearwater The Snow Leopard (Remastered) from Rook, released June 3)
5. Lou Reed Caroline Says, Pt. II (Live) (from Berlin: Live At St. Ann’s Warehouse, due out November 4)
6. Mogwai The Sun Smells Too Loud (from The Hawk Is Howling, released September 23)
7. Fucked Up No Epiphany (from The Chemistry Of Common Life, released October 7)
8. Jay Reatard An Ugly Death (from Matador Singles ’08, released October 7)
9. Jaguar Love Humans Evolve Into Skyscrapers (from Take Me To The Sea, released August 19)
10. Pavement Cataracts (from Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed., due out December 9)
11. Brightblack Morning Light Oppressions Each (from Motion To Rejoin, released September 23)
12. Times New Viking Call & Respond (from the Stay Awake EP, released October 14)
13. Condo Fucks What’cha Gonna Do About It? (from Fuckbook, due out March 2009)
We’re pleased to confirm — after other outlets have done so, natch — a January 20, 2008 release date for the LP/CD/digital album ‘Get Guilty’, the 2nd full-length from A.C Newman, the Vancouver-to-Brooklyn transplant best known to most of us as the primary mind & voice behind The New Pornographers. The first A.C. Newman album, 2004′s ‘The Slow Wonder’ was awfully well received but we’re confident ‘Get Guilty’ raises the bar on Carl Newman’s songwriting prowess even higher. We’re talking about a guy we already consider to be one of his generation’s most accomplished pop composers, and suffice to say we consider ourselves crazy lucky he’s got more skills & ideas than can be confined in one project.
We’re a couple of weeks off from making an MP3 available, however said legal leakage will be part of Matador’s upcoming Fall 2008 Intended Play digital sampler (more news on that to follow).
‘Get Guilty’ (OLE 834-1,2) was recorded during ’08 at Brooklyn’s Seaside Lounge with Phil Palazzo. . Along with the dozen or so other players Carl roped into this affair, the album also features cameos from Jon Wurster (Superchunk), Mates Of State and Nicole Atkins.
Much of the ‘Get Guilty’ contents will receive their live debut on November 15, when A.C. Newman takes to the stage of The Bell House (Brooklyn).
