Every Chinese New Year since 2006, Fucked Up have released a 12″ single inspired by the beasts of the Chinese Zodiac.
The latest single will be Year Of The Tiger, out February 7.
Listen to the four existing Zodiac singles via the widget above, and the new one on release date.
2006: Year of the Dog (Blocks Recording Club) buy
2008: Year of the Pig (What’s Your Rupture? and Matador) buy
2009: Year of the Rat (What’s Your Rupture?) buy
2010: Year of the Ox (Merge) buy
2012: Year of the Tiger (Matador) preorder
Clocking in between 10 and 20 minutes apiece, Fucked Up’s Zodiac singles contain their most ambitious work, along with numerous and surprising guest musicians, ranging from Zola Jesus and a Toronto string quartet on Year of the Ox to Jim Jarmusch and Austra’s Katie Stelmanis on Year of the Tiger.
Since 2006, Fucked Up have released a 12″ single on each Chinese New Year. Named after the beasts in the Chinese Zodiac, “Year Of The Tiger” is the latest in the series. The song is an progressive rock anthem featuring guest vocalists Jim Jarmusch, Annie-Claude Deschênes and Austra. It was produced by Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) during the sessions for last year’s critically acclaimed rock opera David Comes To Life. The 15-minute long track features the band’s well-known layers of guitar and roaring vocals, taken to a new level with the addition of piano, Jarmusch’s dark recitations and Deschênes’s gorgeous crescendos, in this menacing but uplifting story about the predation of predators.
The B-side “ONNO” is a 22-minute long palindromic drone. It explores new realms for the band, opening up new landscapes of space and hypnotic repetition.
Today we’re psyched to tell you that OLE-981 is the Matador Records & True Panther Sounds’ 2012 Intended Play Samplerhits shelves on January 14. This (insanely) budget-priced vinyl sampler showcases new tracks and now-classics from the Matador/True Panther syndicate circa 2011-2012, and much like the Cherry Red sampler from which this LP finds inspiration, is destined to rank at #1 on all music retail charts.
Revisit your favorites from 2011, and get a preview of 2012 from your friends at Matador Records and True
Panther Sounds for under two dollars!
1 THE YOUNG – Don’t Hustle For Love*
2 KURT VILE – Life’s A Beach
3 GIRLS – My Ma
4 CEREMONY – Hysteria*
5 TANLINES – TBA
6 LEE RANALDO – Off The Wall*
7 FUCKED UP – Into The Light
8 ESBEN & THE WITCH – Hexagons II
9 PERFUME GENIUS – All Waters*
10 COLD CAVE – Confetti (edit)
11 STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS – Polvo*
* unreleased
Pre-order it HERE or find it in your favorite vinyl retailer on 1/17)
If you weren’t lucky enough to see Fucked Up perform David Comes To Life in New York City last month (or if you can’t get to Toronto on Tuesday), OR if you were there and just don’t remember it very well, Pitchfork TV has your back.
Speaking of gift-giving, Fucked Up are playing “David Comes To Life” in its entirety in Toronto on Dec 20, and organizing a concert the next night with several Toronto bands; both shows are for charity. Details here. There will also be a split holiday 7″ with Sloan, hopefully available at these Toronto shows, limited to just 500, and benefitting the COUNTERfit Harm Reduction Program and the Barriere Lake Legal Defense Fund.
If you’re in New York, Fucked Up are playing the Brooklyn Night Bazaar December 16; tickets just $10 and available here.
In other news, you may have missed Fucked Up’s appearance on Canada’s George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight show earlier this month. Here they are being interviewed & performing “The Other Shoe”:
Or maybe you’re planning on going on the Bruise Cruise from Miami to The Bahamas Feb 10-13 2012? Damian is cruise director and you can find more info and a holiday gift exchange video with Fucked Up here:
Oh, what else, what else. Mmmm, did I mention MAYBE THE BEST THING FUCKED UP HAVE EVER RECORDED is coming out Feb 21? Year Of The Tiger (available for pre-order here or here is the latest in their annual zodiac-themed 12″s, and this one features Jim Jarmusch, Annie-Claude Deschênes, and Austra, but mainly 15 minuted of gorgeous epic crescendoing maximalism from our heroes (and that’s just the A-side).
In under a week, Fucked Up will be touring with the Foo Fighters in Australia. They return our hemisphere in February (2/10-13) to headline the second annual Bruise Cruise (for which Damian will also act as the Cruise Director)
Check out all the dates and details below.
Fri, Dec 2 , 2011 , Melbourne , AU , AAMI Park (with Foo Fighters)
Sat, Dec 3 , 2011 , Melbourne , AU , AAMI Park (with Foo Fighters)
Mon, Dec 5 , 2011 , Adelaide , AU , Cricket Ground (with Foo Fighters)
Thu, Dec 8 , 2011 , Sydney , AU , Football Stadium (with Foo Fighters)
Fri, Dec 9, 2011, Brisbane, AU, Alhambra Lounge (FU headlining)
Sat, Dec 10 , 2011 , Gold Coast , AU , Metricon Stadium (with Foo Fighters)
Tue, Dec 13 , 2011 , Auckland , AU , Western Springs (with Foo Fighters)
Fri, Feb 10 – 13 2012 , Miami FL – Nassau Bahamas Bruise Cruise Festival (with King Khan & The Shrines, The Soft Pack, The Dirtbombs, Thee Oh Sees, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Mikal Cronin, The Togas and more)
Fucked Up’s whirlwind two days in New York commenced last night with a jaw-dropping performance of David Comes To Life at Le Poisson Rouge, and concludes with a reenactment of the very same album tonight at Warsaw. Sandwiched in-between is today’s live radio session on WNYC Soundcheck, which is sure to be required listening for both the unfortunates who didn’t get tickets for one of the shows AND the lucky ones who did. The show starts at 2:00PM EST and can be heard in NYC at 93.9FM or online at wnyc.org.
We don’t usually post reviews on the Matablog, but this one felt a little different. Thanks to the consistently fantastic UK newspaper The Stool Pigeon for taking reviewing to a whole new level.
Fucked Up play London tonight for Halloween, finish up in Europe and Scandinavia, then perform their incredible album David Comes To Life (buy it) in its entirety in New York City in a couple of weeks followed by dates in Australia and on a cruise:
October
Monday 31 – London, GB – Scala
November
Tuesday 01 – Hamburg, DE – Molotow
Wednesday 02 – Loppen, DK – Christiana
Thursday 03 – Nr Malmo, SE – Mejeriet
Friday 04 – Stockholm, SE – Debaser slussen
Monday 14 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge – David Comes To Life show IN THE ROUND w/Titus Andronicus
Tuesday 15 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw – David Comes To Life show w/Titus Andronicus
Monday 28 – Perth, AU – nib Stadium
December
Friday 02 - Melbourne, AU – AAMI Park
Saturday 03 – Melbourne, AU – AAMI Park
Monday 05 – Adelaide, AU – Cricket Ground
Thursday 08 – Sydney, AU – Football Stadium
Saturday 10 – Gold Coast, AU – Metricon Stadium
Tuesday 13 – Auckland, AU – Western Springs
February
Friday 10 – Miami, FL – Bruise Cruise Festival
What do you want for Halloween? Not a question often asked, but let Matador take the time to make sure you’re all getting what you want for this, the most special of holidays.
Burned retinas? Pulverised ear drums? Sweaty hugs? More fun than you can shake a (broom)stick at? Well, if thats the case we might be able to help you, as Fucked Up bring their festive fun to the UK this week, culminating in a special show at The Scala in London on October 31st. And if you can’t make the show? Well, the gift of a burnt eyeball is free to all, courtesy of the flyer below.
Along with the ever fantastic Fucked Up live show, we’ll also have competitions for the best (and worst) fancy dress, prizes and a photographer to document all the stupidity. Support comes from the excellent (and costumed!) Eagulls and Cold Pumas, both of whom are well worth turning up early for.
Happy Holidays?
Further Fucked Up tour dates include:
October
28th – Paris, Pitchfork Music Festival (France) Tickets
29th – Leeds, Nation Of Shopkeepers (UK)
30th – Manchester, Soundcontrol (UK) Tickets
31st – London, Scala (UK) Tickets **Halloween**
Fucked Up’s first-ever performance of David Comes To Life in its entirety is SOLD OUT. That’s at Le Poisson Rouge, on Monday, November 14, and the band will be playing in the round.
They have now added a second show on Tuesday, November 15 at Warsaw in Brooklyn, playing David Comes To Life – but not, sadly, in the round – not available there. However, Titus Andronicus will be supporting at both shows.
On Monday, November 14 in New York, for the first time ever, Fucked Up will be performing their critically acclaimed album DAVID COMES TO LIFE in its entirety. This will be the inaugural live performance for many of the 18 songs. In addition, the band will be performing in the round. As if that’s not enough, Titus Andronicus will be opening.
The event happens at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan. Buy tickets here.
Always partying the hardest and touring the furthest, Fucked Up and Kurt Vile (along with the Violators) both head for warmer climates with tours south of the equator this winter. It’ll be Kurt’s first time ever to Australia and New Zealand, whilst Fucked Up aren’t strangers to the land down under – though they may be strangers to some of the 50,000 capacity stadiums they’ll be playing whilst supporting the Foo Fighters.
Tenacious D also support on the FF tour, meaning Matador’s favourite frenemy of 2011 (friend/enemy) will be sharing the stage too. We can only assume that hilarity will ensue.
Those all important dates:
Kurt Vile and The Violators
Thu-Dec-01 – Auckland, NZ Kings Arms Tavern
Sat-Dec-03 -Perth, AUS The Bakery
Sun-Dec-04 -Melbourne, AUS Corner Hotel
Tue-Dec-06 – Sydney, AUS Oxford Art Factory
Thu-Dec-08 – Brisbane, AUS Woodland
Fri-Dec-09 – Meredith, AUS Meredith Music Festival
Fucked Up (all dates supporting Foo Fighters)
Nov 28 – Perth NIB Stadium
Dec 2 – Melbourne AAMI Park
Dec 3 – Melbourne AAMI Park
Dec 5 – Adelaide Cricket Groud
Dec 8 – Sydney Football Stadium
Dec 10 – Gold Cost Metricon Stadium
Dec 13 – Auckland Western Springs
Both acst still have US tour dates left, check Kurt’s here and Fucked Up’s here.
Hey NYC’ers. Don’t forget to join us this weekend for the Webster Hall rock block of Fucked Up (Saturday night) AND Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks (Sunday night).
Saturday, September 24 – Fucked Up at Webster Hall (with Wavves). Tix here.
Sunday, September 25 – Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks at Webster (playing their first NYC show off the release of Mirror Traffic). Tix here.
Get those tickets before they’re gone and we’ll see you at the shows!
Currently lazing on a beach in Spain, Fucked Up are at the end of their latest European tour, which only means one thing – they’re back on the road again soon. You might have already seen some dates floating around the interweb, but they’ll be joining Wavves for a string of dates in North America (Damian and Jonah also feature on the new Wavves EP) in late September around their own headline dates.
After that they make their way back to Europe for another set of dates, including a festive treat for those in London.
A full list of upcoming dates are below, with more dates further afield looming on the horizon. Stay tuned.
North America:
09-22 Montreal, Quebec – Pop Montreal
09-23 Boston, MA – Royale %
09-24 New York, NY – Webster Hall %
09-25 Washington, DC – Black Cat %
09-26 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theatre %
09-27 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 %
09-28 Columbus, OH – Outland Live %
09-29 Chicago, IL – Logan Square Auditorium %
09-30 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick %
10-02 Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom %
10-22 Halifax, Nova Scotia – Halifax Pop Explosion (two shows)
% shows with Wavves
Europe:
October
28th – Paris, Pitchfork Music Festival (France) Tickets
29th – Leeds, Nation Of Shopkeepers (UK)
30th – Manchester, Soundcontrol (UK) Tickets
31st – London, Scala (UK) Tickets **Halloween**
You might remember a few weeks ago we decided we wanted more fan-mail to offer up Fucked Up goodies in exchange for a bit of participation with UK fans who went to buy David Comes To Life in any independent record store. All they had to do was find one of the 5 character postcards, create something associated to the story of the album and send it to our London office.
After some careful deliberation (sleepless nights and a game of paper-rock-scissors), we whittled it down to a winner and a runner up. And the winners is…
(pausing for effect, in true awards style) Bob Alderdice, for this amazing 5-postcard, 3 dimensional creation which blew us away, well done Bob – you truly surpassed our expectations!
Taking the runner up spot is Graham from Brighton, for the following postcard:
Well done to both, we’ll be in touch to arrange your prizes – and for the rest of you? Better luck next time (though we’ll still appreciate any other cool post).
Following on from last week’s blog post, we have finally resolved the problem on the delay of orders with Sandbag getting orders of the Fucked Up BEGN 7″s out to UK and European customers. A message we received today from Sandbag follows.
Once again, we’ve sorry for this and are making changes to make sure this can’t happen again.
Sandbag is nearly 10 years old as a company and has been very fortunate to be involved with very many excellent projects. These projects have ranged from enabling Oxfam and the Make Poverty History coalition to raise awareness and millions of pounds to help those that really need it, through to ethically manufacturing merchandise for the likes of Adele and The xx. For several years now, Sandbag has helped the Buy Now Get Early team deliver some amazing music around the world.
We have hundreds of thousands of customers every year and we do our utmost to look after each and every one in the manner that has established our reputation as a company that looks after the fans.
Unfortunately, in rare instances, things sometimes go wrong. Prophetically, something did go wrong with the Buy Early Get Now – Fucked Up campaign.
Very simply, human error led to many customers not receiving the products that they had paid for. We have now shipped these orders and apologise for the delay in Buy Early Get Now customers getting their music.
Several of Matador’s finest will be playing festivals on opposite sides of the country this weekend, and three of them will also be available to non-festivalgoers through the magic of Mr. Marconi’s marvelous invention (and also the Internet).
UPDATE: Thurston Moore has sadly had to cancel his KEXP session today.
At 8:00PM EDT/5:00PM PDT, Fucked Up will play a live set on Seattle’s KEXP before taking the stage at the Capitol Hill Block Party. The set can be heard at 90.3 on Seattleites’ FM dials, and at KEXP.org for the web-savvy.
Tomorrow, Ted Leo And The Pharmacists will be bringing the noise to WXPN’s XPoNentional Music Festival in the lovely (and incredibly hot) city of Philadelphia. Their 5:15PM EDT/2:15PM PDT set will be broadcast on XPN for those of you unfortunate enough not to experience it live. Tune in (hopefully from somewhere with lower temperatures and/or air-conditioning) at 88.5FM in Philly, or at XPN.org.
It has now been several weeks since we released the latest, greatest Fucked Up album David Comes To Life, but for some of you in Europe who bought the “Buy Early Get Now” option we know you’re still waiting for your bonus 7″s to reach you, which we’re really very sorry about.
There’s different factors which have affected the delivery time of these reaching you, a later than expected shipping from the US manufacturer to our European distributor (Sandbag) meant we were a few days off missing the June 28th release date, which was followed by an internal error at Sandbag where they mistakenly shipped out one of the 7″s individually, followed by the rest of the (three) 7″s in another shipment. We’ve been told by Sandbag that all orders have now shipped (on July 13th/14th) but that before they can claim the items were lost in the post (by Royal Mail) they have to allow 7 days.
This means: your records have been posted and should be on their way to you, hopefully you’ll be enjoying them right now. But, if you still haven’t received your packages by tomorrow you can get in touch with Sandbag directly (orders@sandbag.uk.com) to pass on your details so they can make a claim with Royal Mail. Some people on the Fucked Up Facebook group are reporting that they have started to receive their records, so they are (slowly) getting out there.
We’re very sorry for all the hassle this has caused and are looking to put it right in every way we can.
The four singles and 7 songs comprising the introduction and epilogue to David Comes To Life are out today for lucky participants in our Buy Early Get Now promotion.
The first 6 songs comprise an “Act 0″ to the play and introduce the setting and the characters, as laid out below. And the final one-sided 7″, “Octavio Made The Bomb,” forms the conclusion to the opera.
We’ll be laying out ways for the rest of you to get hold of this music later in the year.
OLE-960A “Byrdesdale Garden City” turned paradise into a factory
OLE-960B “Into The Light” pleasure on the edge of a knife
OLE-961A “Do All Words Can Do” David Eliade
OLE-961B “What Would You Do (For Veronica)?” Veronica Boisson
OLE-962A “Remember Me (That’s All I Ask)” Vivian Benson
OLE-962B “What They Didn’t Know” Octavio St. Laurent
OLE-963 (one-sided) “Octavio Made The Bomb” He was the one all along
Scott Cudmore directs the first video from Fucked Up’s David Comes To Life. His “Queen Of Hearts” is a spectacular reimagining of the song, shot on film in a remote schoolhouse in northern Ontario. Watch it in HD and full screen for best results.
Fucked Up start their East Coast tour this Thursday in New York, heading down to Atlanta and then back up through Chicago. West Coast follows starting July 22. Then Canada in August with Foo Fighters, and back to Europe for the rest of the month.
June:
Thursday – 23 – New York, NY – Terminal 5 – with Dinosaur Jr. and OFF!
Friday – 24 – Boston, MA – Royale Nightclub – with JEFF The Brotherhood, iceage
Sunday – 26 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church – with JEFF The Brotherhood
Monday – 27 – Washington, DC – Rock And Roll Hotel – with JEFF The Brotherhood
Tuesday – 28 – Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade – with JEFF The Brotherhood
Wednesday – 29 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl – with JEFF The Brotherhood
Thursday – 30 – Nashville TN – Exit/In – with JEFF The Brotherhood
July:
Friday – 01 – St Louis, MO – Firebird – with JEFF The Brotherhood
Saturday – 02 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall – with JEFF The Brotherhood
Sunday – 03 – London, ON – Call The Office
Friday – 22 – Seattle, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party
Saturday – 23 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
Monday – 25 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
Tuesday – 26 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
Wednesday – 27 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah
Saturday – 30 – Montreal, QC – Osheaga Festival
August:
Tuesday – 09 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Center – with Foo Fighters
Wednesday – 10 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre – with Foo Fighters
Saturday – 13 – Sweden, Gothenburg – Way Out West
Sunday – 14 – Denmark, Aarhus – Voxhall
Monday – 15 – Germany, Hamburg – Hafenklang – Headline
Tuesday – 16 – Germany, Berlin – SO36 w/ OFF
Wednesday – 17 – Germany, Munich – 59 to 1 w/ OFF
Thursday – 18 – Germany, Weisbaden – Schlachthof w/ OFF
Friday – 19 Germany, Cologne – Underground w/ OFF
Saturday – 20 – Belgium, Hasselt – Pukkelpop – Club Tent
Sunday – 21- Switzerland, Geneva – Usine
Monday – 22 – Italy, Milan – Magnolia
Tuesday – 23 – Russia, Moscow – Flacken Design Centre
Wednesday – 24 – UK, Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms
Thursday – 25 – UK – London, XOYO w/ OFF
Friday – 26 – UK – Leeds, Leeds Festival – NME Stage
Saturday – 27 – Finland, Jyvaskyla – Luttakko Liekeissa
Sunday – 28 – UK, Reading – Reading Festival – NME Stage
Fucked Up @ NXNE, footage courtesy NOW Magazine. Calling the assembled throng in Dundas Sq. a sea of humanity would be a slight exaggeration. A giant lake, however, might be accurate enough for our purposes.
We’re pleased to report Fucked Up will be playing some additional summertime dates in support of their June 7 monster of an LP, David Comes To Life. New dates highlighted below.
Touring kicks off on June 16th with shows at NXNE (including an early show w/ Descendents & OFF!). And a reminder to those of you in the NYC area, the band play Terminal 5 a week from tomorrow (Thurs, June 23) supporting Dino Jr. See you there!
I’m sure you’re all fully aware that this week sees the release of the third studio album by Fucked Up, David Comes To Life. The album is a tale of love and loss, destruction and redemption, following the story of the protagonist David and his love for Veronica. Five main characters appear in the narrative, each with their own part to play.
In keeping with the love affair of David and Veronica, Matador are running a competition in the UK to win some Fucked Up goodies*, compiled with love by the band. We are asking you to write/draw/create something inspired by love. Five different ‘character’ designs have been distributed across the UK’s best independent record stores – 1000 of each. If you find a postcard, make your creation on the left, be it a poem, illustration, story etc (include which store you picked it up from and an email for yourself at the bottom), then post it back to Matador at the address below. The band will judge the entries and the winner will receive a signed, framed poster from the band, plus a goody bag of swag that we can steal from the band’s Big Cartel. The store you found your postcard in will also receive a signed, framed David Comes To Life poster, so everyone’s happy. Including me, as I love getting post. Not enough people write love letters with a pen and paper anymore, right?
Send your entries to Matador at the address below:
DAVID COMES TO LIFE
MATADOR RECORDS
17-19 ALMA ROAD
LONDON
SW18 1AA
Remember to add your email address and your chosen record store, otherwise we can’t get your prizes to you.
The participating stores:
ACTION RECORDS – PRESTON
AMULET – (MAILORDER)
AVALANCHE – EDINBURGH
BANQUET – KINGSTON
BOOMKAT – (MAILORDER)
CRASH – LEEDS
DRIFT – TOTNES
HEAD – BIRMINGHAM
JUMBO – LEEDS
MONORAIL – GLASGOW
NORMAN RECORDS – (MAILORDER)
ONE UP – ABERDEEN
PICCADILLY RECORDS – MANCHESTER
RESIDENT – BRIGHTON
RISE – BRISTOL
ROUGH TRADE EAST – LONDON
ROUGH TRADE WEST – LONDON
ROUNDER – BRIGHTON
SISTER RAY – LONDON
SPILLERS – CARDIFF
