Out Today : Perfume Genius - 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately'
The eagerly anticipated new album from Perfume Genius, 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately' is available today via all streaming services, as well as on LP and CD.At 5pm eastern today, Perfume Genius will be discussing and performing material from 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately' on the premiere episode of Pitchfork's new Listening Club series.
stream / purchase 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately'
Perfume Genius Online
Website
VIDEO : Muzz - "Bad Feeling" (acoustic)
Leading up to the June 5th release of their self-titled, debut album, 'Muzz', the new project of Paul Banks (Interpol), Josh Kaufman (producer/multi-instrumentalist and one third of Bonny Light Horseman), and Matt Barrick (drummer of Jonathan Fire*Eater andThe Walkmen), release their first-ever live recording - a performance of “Bad Feeling.” For the video, the trio play from the cities where they’re currently staying home - Banks in Edinburgh, Kaufman in Brooklyn, and Barrick in Philadelphia. Using the available resources in their respective residences, the stripped-down performance can be seen above. The studio version of "Bad Feeling" can be found on 'Muzz', available via all digital services and on LP and CD.
(photo : Driley S)
preorder / presave 'Muzz'
steam/download "Red Western Sky"
Muzz Online :
website
Out Today : Car Seat Headrest - 'Making A Door Less Open'
The long-awaited new album from Car Seat Headrest, 'Making A Door Less Open' is available today from all streaming services and can be purchased on the still surviving, if not entirely thriving LP and CD formats (track listings below).
Digital Tracklist
01 Weightlifters
02 Can’t Cool Me Down
03 Deadlines (Hostile)
04 Hollywood
05 Hymn (Remix)
06 Martin
07 Deadlines (Thoughtful)
08 What’s With You Lately
09 Life Worth Missing
10 There Must Be More Than Blood
11 Famous
Vinyl Track List
A01 Weightlifters
A02 Can’t Cool Me Down
A03 Hollywood
A04 There Must Be More Than Blood
B05 Hymn
B06 Deadlines
B07 Martin
B08 What’s With You Lately
B09 Life Worth Missing
B10 Famous
CD Track List
01 Weightlifters
02 Can’t Cool Me Down
03 Hollywood
04 Martin
05 Hymn (Remix)
06 There Must Be More Than Blood
07 Deadlines
08 What’s With You Lately
09 Life Worth Missing
10 Famous
11 Deadlines (Alternate Acoustic) [Bonus Track]
12 Hollywood (Acoustic) [Bonus Track]
stream / purchase 'Making A Door Less Open'
Car Seat Headrest Online :
Car Seat Headrest at Matador
Yo La Tengo - ' Electr-o-pura' 25th Anniversary Reissue ; Lucy Dacus Covering "Tom Courtenay"
(photo : Michael Lavine)Matador's Revisionist History series -- as vexing for some as it is lucrative for others -- continues this week with a 25th anniversary reissue of Yo La Tengo's 1995 masterpiece, the Roger Moutenot co-produced 'Electr-o-pura', now available in a double LP edition for the first time.
The 7th studio Yo La Tengo studio album and the follow-up to 'Painful', 'Electr-o-pura' remains one of the most beloved works in Ira, Georgia and James' catalog, and showed a stylistic range that at time was already bordering on the-very-difficult-keep-up-with (fast forward to 2020 and we'll just say "impossible"). From the single "Tom Courtenay", to the woozy & beautiful "Pablo & Andrea", to the climatic 9 minute, 18 second blowout of "Blue Line Swinger", this album was nothing short of monumental in an era that wasn't short for competition.
A while back, labelmate Lucy Dacus mentioned to us that 'Electr-o-pura' was released on her birthday. We asked if she'd like to write a few words on the subject ; she's done just that and recorded a cover of "Tom Courtenay" as well.
I was born on May 2, 1995, the day that 'Electr-o-pura' came out.
Fourteen years later, I started high school and made a new friend who wore a leather jacket and boots, who expressed confident opinions about music that I had never heard. I devoured every recommendation they gave me in an effort to align my tastes. I wanted to be cool, or at least not uncool. I found out about The Stooges, Philip Glass, and Sonic Youth through my effort to win their approval. I loved it all, and my parents hated every new discovery. Cool was loud.
One day my friend brought me a stack of CDs, all Yo La Tengo, and told me to take them home, listen to them, burn them, and return them. I did what I was told. I liked those records from the start, and more with every listen. I’d lay in bed listening to one of their records, pause the song I was listening to when I got too tired, then push play upon waking.
I remember my confusion upon listening to Electr-o-pura for the first time. I referenced the tracklist on the back of the CD so I could learn titles, but the printed song durations didn’t match up to what I was hearing. I wondered if there was some manufacturing error and I wasn’t hearing the songs I was supposed to hear. “Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)” is listed as lasting just over three minutes when it’s actually 6:42. “Blue Line Swinger” says it’s 3:15, but actually clocks in at 9:18. I know now from looking into it that Yo La Tengo intentionally misprinted the times, trying to combat short attention spans, hoping they would trick people into giving those long songs a chance. It tricked me, though I’m a sucker for long songs anyways. It’s interesting to think about how this move couldn’t be pulled today in a world of digitized music. And if people had short attention spans then, how short are they now? All to say, I liked that they were playful.
What kept me coming back to Yo La Tengo was their understanding of moods. I listened to bands that knew anger, bands that knew sadness, but I didn’t know of any other bands that could express a full life’s range of moods the way they can. From song to song, the music was anxious, celebratory, sorrowful, content, confused, etc. And even when they got loud or dissonant, it never felt hostile. The sounds could be harsh, even ugly, but they were joyful. Some songs could make me cry, but they were gentle, not malevolent. I was taking on someone else’s tastes, and in the process, discovering my own.
Tom Courtenay was the first Yo La Tengo song I learned on guitar. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew who Julie Christie was and loved the line, “As the music swells somehow stronger from adversity / our hero finds his inner peace.” I didn’t know what the needle had to do with anything, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was like any good poem, leaving space for me, between images. Now, I think the song may be about obsession with media, equating the allure of the movies and movie stars to drug addiction. Who knows, that’s just my take.
Eventually when Matador asked to sign me, the fact that Yo La Tengo is on their roster was a major component of my decision. They’ve been putting out great albums every couple of years for over three decades, experimenting and exploring with what seems to be an uncompromised creativity. That is worth celebrating, especially now, when any opportunity for celebration is a blessing. Happy 25th birthday to Electr-o-pura, and thanks for the music, Yo La Tengo.
- Lucy Dacus
Tracklist
01 Decora
02 Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)
03 The Hour Grows Late
04 Tom Courtenay
05 False Ending
06 Pablo And Andrea
07 Paul Is Dead
08 False Alarm
09 The Ballad Of Red Buckets
10 Don’t Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2
11 (Straight Down To The) Bitter End
12 My Heart’s Reflection
13 Attack On Love
14 Blue Line Swinger
stream / purchase 'Electr-o-pura'
Yo La Tengo online:
Official Site
Anniversary releases for Chavez' 'Gone Glimmering', Bailter Space's 'Wammo', and Mary Timony's 'Mountains' will be announced later this year. For more info : Matador Revisionist History.
Algiers - Live On KEXP From Home
On Tuesday, Algiers' Franklin Fisher and Ryan Mahan performed a set for KEXP's "Live From Home" series.
stream/purchase 'There Is No Year'
Algiers Online :
There Is No Year
Website
Perfume Genius - "On The Floor" (Initial Talk Remix)
(Photo by Camille Vivier, Illustrated by Andrew JS)
Last month Perfume Genius released the single, “On The Floor,” off of his forthcoming album, 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately'. Today, he drops a remix of the track from Tokyo-based producer, Initial Talk, noted for remix work for Dua Lipa, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga and is known for infusing early MTV-era 80’s sounds into his work. Here, “On The Floor” is reimagined into a dance club track that falls somewhere between Prince and Pet Shop Boys.
stream / download "On The Floor" (Intial Talk remix)
presave / preorder 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately'
Perfume Genius Online
Website