Hector alerted us to Kurt Vile’s recent solo session for Radio K a few weeks ago, and here’s the impressive results :

“Never Run Away”

“Wakin On A Pretty Daze”

studio versions of both songs are on the LP/CD/digital album ‘Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze’, in stores April 9 and available for preorder now from The Matador Store.

A fortnight ago, Chelsea Light Moving played a ridiculous number of Austin shows before and during SXSW in all manner of settings, none of ‘em more hospitable than the warehouse district’s Mellow Johnny’s bicycle emporium. Proprietor Lance Armstrong failed to make an appearance, but we’re told he was contacted mid-set for consultation on the shop’s “you break it, you bought it policy” (on the advice of our lawyers, we’re not showing the footage of Thurston breaking what was apparently a very expensive bike, but we’ll stress it was AN ACCIDENT). Thanks to KEXP for the footage.

“Burroughs”

“Alighted”

“Sleeping Where I Fall”

Chelsea Light Moving’s debut LP/CD/digital full length is out now and available from The Matador Store

If there’s one thing we know you, the Matablog faithful, hate more than anything else, it’s hyperbole. And yet here we are in the middle of SXSW, where hyperbole is the norm that inevitably leads to mediocre band after mediocre band being lauded as “killing it,” “slaying,” or “destroying it,” usually with hashtags involved. Clearly, mere hyperbole is no longer enough to separate the proverbial men from the boys, and in that spirit: Chelsea Light Moving will be literally murdering the audience this afternoon as part of their 1:30PM CDT performance at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop (400 Nueces St.), a performance which is free and open to the public and will also be broadcast live on KEXP (90.3FM in Seattle, and streaming on kexp.org).

Those of you at SXSW who are wondering why one would go to a show where the band is going to literally murder the audience should note that Chelsea Light Moving’s long-term plan is to literally turn Austin into a smoldering, bloody crater by the time they leave, so you’re pretty much screwed no matter what.

Chelsea Light Moving’s new self-titled album is, of course, available for purchase in many fine formats at our webstore. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see a margarita with my name on it.

(above : James and Ira, struggling gamely with Silver Convention’s “San Francisco Hustle”.  Photo courtesy WFMU)

Venerable WFMU, oft-hailed as the finest listener supported free-form station in the world (or alternately, “almost as good as WSOU”) is in the midst of their annual fundraising marathon. Though there’s prizes & premiums galore, your real reward is an astonishing amount of live and archived material the station makes available over the airwaves, online, and soon, via mental telepathy (this is only part of reason why they spent two weeks a year shaking you down).

Yo La Tengo’s vaunted covers-for-cash performances during the WFMU marathon are a 17 year tradition, as Ira Kaplan points out, and this Thursday at 9am EST, not even a concert tour of Germany will  stop Ira, Georgia, James and longtime associate Bruce Bennett from once again, murdering the classics (and perhaps the not-so-classic.)  This will mark the first time Yo La Tengo have done their covers-for-WFMU broadcast from a remote location (or if  you prefer, Berlin), and you’ll undoubtedly want to remember that for some kind of Matador Trivia Night we intend to hold in lieu of a company Xmas party later in the year (more on this later — it’s a sensitive subject).

In addition, A.C. Newman will throw himself into the entertainment firestorm that is Tom Scharpling’s “The Best Show On WFMU”, tomorrow night at 9pm EST.

Hello all. A pair of Twin Cities radio sessions is coming your way from our friend Kurt Vile, and you can listen to them no matter where you are through the magic of the internet. In just a few moments (around 1:45PM EST/12:45PM CST, to be not-very-exact), Mr. Vile will be live on the air on Radio K, which can be listened to at radiok.org or at 770AM or 110.7FM on the radio dial if you live in beautiful snowy Minneapolis.

(photo by Carlos van Hijfte)

…two whole weeks before release date (March 5).  Plenty of time to be sold on the self-titled album’s brilliance (or alternately, an opportunity several days in to turn off the computer and get some fresh air — you could probably use a meal, too).

Pre-order Chelsea Light Moving -s/t on LP or CD from The Matador Store

(photo from Saturday night’s Town Hall show by Taleen Dersdepanian, qromag.com)

Along their current two-set tour (Yo La Tengo opens for Yo La Tengo), Yo La Tengo have dropped into a handful of the nation’s finest non-commercial radio stations, proving that the radio sometimes doesn’t suck. Today they’re over at WNYC.

Head over to soundcheck.org at 2pm EST to catch them live on the web, then tune into WNYC (93.9 FM if you’re in the New York ara and Soundcheck.org elsewhere) at 9pm EST tonight.

Yo La Tengo ‘Fade‘ is out now… they’ve got two more dates on this tour (but promise they’ll be back out soon). See you there

2/15 DC @ 9:30 Club
2/16 NYC @ Town Hall

photo lifted from bradkelly‘s flickr

A more meditative take on the first song from ‘Fade’, as recorded recently at KCMP.

(photo by Laura Jane Brubaker)

Last month, Yo La Tengo played before a packed, rapturous house at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live as part of WXPN’s Free At Noon series. As is their custom, the good folks at WXPN have taken the recording of that show and turned it into a segment for their popular syndicated World Cafe program. The show airs today at 2:00PM EST, and can be enjoyed at the WXPN website, or on your local NPR affiliate as seen on World Cafe’s website, or listen to the audio stream on NPR’s site when it’s posted later today. If you live in Philadelphia, it’s a little less complicated: just tune in at 88.5FM.

P.S. Have you purchased Yo La Tengo’s majestic new album, Fade, yet? You really should.

(photo by Noah Kalina)

During his last jaunt across these United States, A.C. Newman swung by Philadelphia’s WXPN to record a session for the World Cafe program. The fruits of that session will finally be yours to enjoy today at 2:00PM EST. If you would like to partake of said fruits, click on over to the WXPN website, or check World Cafe’s website to see if one of the over 200 stations that airs the show is in your neck of the woods, OR listen to the audio stream on NPR’s site later in the day, OR if you live in the lovely city of Philadelphia you can tune in at 88.5FM.

Mr. Newman’s most recent album, Shut Down The Streets, is available for a variety of reasonable prices on a variety of equally reasonable formats on our webstore.