Beirut's new EP and Natalie Portman charity collaboration

Beirut's Zach Condon is set to release a double disc package. Disc one is March of the Zapotec with 6 new tracks recently recorded in Mexico. Disc two is entitled Holland and features the track My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille.

Natalie Portman recently declared Beirut to be her "new favourite band", so when she was asked to curate the charity mix CD Big Change: Songs for FINCA, she asked Beirut first. You can listen to the track over at EW.

myspace.com/beruit

And not only is Natalie charitable, she has also come up with a brilliant plan to save the global economic crisis, endorsed by us here at RC:

New M.I.A. EP

The "in retirement" rapper has just released a new digital EP entitled How Many Votes Fix Mix with the Jay Z remix of Boyz as the main track, as well as tracks Shells and Far Far that both appear on the bonus disc of the newly released expanded version of Kala.

Shells (Slow) [mp3] (128kbps)



myspace.com/mia

Atlas Sound remixes Stereolab

Having just finished touring with Stereolab, Atlas Sound (aka Bradford Cox of Deerhunter) has released a 'Southern Baptist' remix of the track Neon Beanbag off Stereolab's new album Chemical Chords.

Neon Beanbag (Atlas Sound 'Southern Baptist' Remix) [mp3] (128kbps)



Stereolab will be touring Australia in January/February next year for the Laneway Festivals. Tour dates here.

myspace.com/stereolab
myspace.com/bradfordcox

Monkey: Journey to the West - new video and remix competition

A short film for Monkey Bee - the single from Journey to the West has made its debut.

Created and directed by Jamie Hewlett (the man behind Gorillaz and Tank Girl), Monkey Bee is a mixture of Chinese 1970’s spaghetti western, meets Korean horror movie, meet’s the much beloved original Monkey TV series.

Fans of Hewlett’s numerous Gorillaz videos should enjoy his first live action outing. Conjuring up images of legendary battles and adversity, we find Monkey trying to cross the volcano fields of Princess Iron Fan. Monkey needs her magic fan in order to cool the hot molten fields but the Princess refuses and an epic battle ensues, throwing first trained assassins and then a colossal army of volcano soldiers his way in a desperate attempt to thwart his journey.

Shot on 35mm film over three days in London, Monkey Bee stars members of the Journey to the West live opera cast. A team of modellers, animators, compositors and vfx artists have since worked for 8 weeks to combine the live action, animation and special effects, and deliver the first Monkey film:



A Monkey Bee video remix contest is also being held, with the makers of the film offering a trove of clips, backdrops, green screens and visuals straight from the editor's suite so you create create your own version of the Monkey Bee film. More details about the competition here.

monkeyjourneytothewest.com
Monkey youtube

Friendly Fires cover Lykke Li

Currently supporting Sweden's Lykke Li on her US tour, UK's new saviours of the indie dance scene Friendly Fires (who brought us the infectious tune Jump In The Pool) have released a cover of Lykke's I'm Good I'm Gone [mp3]


And if you missed it last week, here's a remix of Friendly Fires anthemic, blissed-out and brilliantly pop track Paris, featuring Au Revoir Simone on vocals. The track features on the new Paris 12" single, due out November 8th, which includes remixes by Kompakt Records’ Justus Köhncke and semi-mysterious producers Arto Mwambé.

Paris (Aeroplane Remix ft. Au Revoir Simone) [mp3]


You can download the original version here.



myspace.com/friendlyfires

In the studio with Deerhunter

Pitchfork.tv takes a look into the making of Deerhunter's just released album Microcastle, recorded at the Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn.

Part 1


Part 2 (features a picture of the male anatomy at the start, care of Microcastle contributor Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, so maybe a bit NSFW...)


myspace.com/deerhunter

M.I.A's 'Paper Planes' covered by Built To Spill

Recorded live in Rome. You can watch the full performance of Paper Planes here (sound and video quality not as good).

Magic Dirt Announce Freakscene Festival... and it's FREE!!!

MAGIC DIRT have teamed up with Victoria Rocks – Arts Victoria and the Lakes Entrance Summer Music Festival to create their own Freakscene Festival. Freakscene runs over the weekend of December 20 – 21.

The great news is that it’s all free. That’s right, no charge to get in. All you have to do is pack the car, head down the coast and fly your freak flag high!

Everything happens at the Lakes Entrance Recreation Reserve, right in the heart of the pretty Gippsland seaside town, just 3.5 – 4 hours drive from Melbourne.

Freakscene is a music festival… a short film festival… and a series of workshops for musicians.

The music festival takes place for the whole of Saturday with Magic Dirt headlining and curating the event, assembling their dream line-up on stage. It’s a sonic love-in for bands and fans alike, featuring some of Australia's finest artists, handpicked by Magic Dirt. Acts revealed so far are:

MAGIC DIRT
GARETH LIDDIARD (of THE DRONES)
THEREDSUNBAND | NATION BLUE
CRYSTAL THOMAS & THE FLOWERS OF EVIL | AMAYA LAUCIRICA
MIDNIGHT WOOLF | MODULAR LOUNGE | DANE CERTIFICATE
With more artists to be announced

For more details about the festival click here.

lakesmusicfest.com
myspace.com/magicdirt

Gary Numan touring Australia in March

Numanoids, the wait is finally over. The godfather of electro, Gary Numan, will be bringing his full UK light show and electrifying live performance to Australia playing songs from his entire career from Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon through to Pure and Jagged.

It will be only his second ever tour of Australia, his first being way back in May 1980, but as anyone who has seen him live recently will attest, it may be 30 years on but he's got more energy than bands half his age and he is still at his elemental and exploratory best, revitalised and recaptured, and importantly, rewriting his reborn future.

Earlier this year Numan celebrated his 30th year in music, marking the occassion by releasing a re-issue of pioneering electronic album Replicas, which features for the first time a complete earlier version of the Replicas album recorded in late 1978 and January 1979, along with the original B-sides and further out-takes, adding up to 27 tracks across the two CDs.

His pioneering sounds are still felt today inspiring Prodigy, Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins, as well as being sampled by artists as diverse as Basement Jaxx, Armand Van Helden and even the Sugababes. Fans of The Mighty Boosh may even have seen a few of his cameo appearances on the show.

Australian Tour
March 2009

Monday 2nd
BRISBANE - The Tivoli. 52 Costin Street, Fortitude Valley
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 or ticketek.com.au
Proudly supported by Time Off

Thursday 5th
SYDNEY - Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Road, Enmore
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 or ticketek.com.au
Proudly supported by Drum Media

Saturday 7th
MELBOURNE - The Forum, cnr Russell and Flinders Streets, Melbourne
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 or ticketek.com.au
Proudly supported by Inpress

Tickets for all shows on sale now, presented by Civil Society.

Cars


myspace.com/garynuman

St Helens Get Up

Melbourne's St Helens are the inevitable outcome of too many late nights out.

The members of St Helen can trace one degree of separation from Spider Vomit, Bird Blobs, Minimum Chips, Alpha Males and Kes, with occassional contributions from Love Of Diagrams and Panel Of Judges.

Originally formed to give voice to Jarrod Quarrell’s (The New Season, Lost Animal) world weary but ultimately victorious songs, it wasn't long before word spread of the band’s razor sharp guitar interplay, Jarrod and Hannah's bitter-sweet, intertwining vocals and the broken glass danger of their intense live performances. After only four gigs, St Helens were opening for one of New York’s hottest bands, Blonde Redhead.

St Helens have finished recording a new album for release in 2009, the first single from which is Get Up [mp3]


myspace.com/sthelens

New releases from Deerhunter, Lou Reed and Anni Rossi

Microcastle is a hazy and dream like gem from Bradford Cox and his band. The follow-up to Deerhunter’s critically lauded debut Cryptograms, Microcastle is in parts kraut, shoe-gazy, ambient and majestic. Featuring 12 tracks, the album also comes backed with 13 track bonus disc Weird Era Cont.

Nothing Ever Happened [mp3]


myspace.com/deerhunter


Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse is a recording of the recent live performance of Lou Reed's classic 1973 album in its entirety. With guests Antony (Antony & The Johnsons) and Sharon Jones, plus live versions of the Velvet Underground’s Sweet Jane and Candy Says.

Caroline Says, Pt. II. [mp3]


loureed.com


Afton is the debut 4AD release from 22 year old multi-instrumentalist Anni Rossi. From Minnesota via Los Angeles she is classically trained from a young age with the viola forming the centrepiece to her music. Currently working with Steve Albini (Pixies, Joanna Newsom, PJ Harvey) on her debut album due out next year, she can count artists like Electrelane and The Ting Tings among her admirers and has toured Europe and the US with both of them.

Wheelpusher [mp3]


myspace.com/annirossi

Wolf & Cub and Magic Dirt nominated for AIR awards

The nominees for the annual Australian Independent Record Awards have been announced. Adelaide's Wolf & Cub are up for best single/EP for psych-rock release One To The Other (produced by Bumbleez Christopher Colonna) while Magic Dirt are nominated for best hard rock/punk album for Girl. Winners will be announced November 24th at Melbourne's Corner Hotel.

Wolf & Cub have just started their national tour supporting The Vines. Dates and info here.

Wolf & Cub - One To The Other (Bumblebeez Remix) [mp3]


3 months of touring and Magic Dirt still haven't finished, with dates still be be played in SA, Tasmania and regional Victoria. Go here for dates and info. The band have put together a special tour EP that they'll be selling at the shows featuring a cover of the Hard Ons classic 'Suck n Swallow' and a duet with Adalita and Gareth Liddiard (The Drones) called 'Love Is The Armour'.

Magic Dirt - Romy

New Belles Will Ring track

Broader Than Broadway is the follow up to the hugely successful 2007 debut Mood Patterns by Blue Mountains outfit, Belles Will Ring. The new mini album harnesses their creative energy to shape a new record that illustrates the depth and breadth of what the band are capable of: lush multi-faceted ballads and straight forward rock songs, perfectly demonstrated on first single Priest Coats: [mp3]


As with Mood Patterns, the sprawling soundscapes on Broader Than Broadway were self-produced at Three Shades Green (aka the lounge room of lead vocalist Liam Judson's parents).

The introduction to Aidan Roberts (lead guitarist) sharing songwriting credits has consolidated the chemistry of Belles Will Ring, creating a diverse, refined and unified direction now as a 4 piece - originally a 6 piece on the band's conception. The band's songwriting and production capacity has greatly expanded in 2008 with the members individual side projects (Aidan with The Maple Trail, Ivan with Paper Scissors and Liam with The Late Night Sound and production work for The Lovetones and Sister Jane) marking progress and maturity for Belles Will Ring on this release and many more to follow.

Broader Than Broadway is out November 8th.

myspace.com/belleswillring

Ned Collete Band European Tour blog

Midway through their one month tour of Europe, Ned Collette Band have managed to find some ever elusive wi-fi, starting up a tour diary and uploading some pics.

"...every day is another frantic journey into the European abyss - driving, changing tyres, tolls, leaving amps behind in Germany, eating rubber disguised as mashed potatoes, almost getting married off to provincial 'junge frau' in deepest darkest backwoods German pubs, perfecting our 'blue steels' for band photos in front of old stuff, seeing good old pals and of course playing the rock musiques de Australie, oui? They love that shit here."

More over at their myspace.

Department of Eagles Daytrotter session

Department of Eagles now have a 5 track session up on Daytrotter, featuring 3 tracks for new album In Ear Park, as well as unreleased track 1997 and What Is Your Deal?.

You can hear and download the tracks here.

myspace.com/deptofeagles

Future Of The Left announce East Coast tour

Fiery, brash and irreverent, Welsh trio, Future Of The Left have already torn up Australian stages once before in March 2008 off the back of their magnificent Curses album. Never ones to shy away from a rematch, Future Of The Left (the band are comprised of ex-Mclusky and Jarcrew members) are heading back to Australia for a lightning 3 shows in 3 nights to promote the release of their forthcoming live album, Last Night I Saved Her From Vampires. The album was recorded in August at two live shows - Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach and London Water Rats. It not only features tracks from feted debut album Curses but also four new ones - Drink Nike, Distant Jabs At A Soul, V.D.F.A and Cloak The Dagger. Click here for a full tracklisting.

Manchasm (LNISHFV live version) [mp3]


FOTL will also be releasing their sophomore studio album in 2009 which will include The Hope That House Built [mp3]


AUSTRALIA 2009 TOUR DATES
Tickets on sale Friday October 31

Melbourne
Friday January 9, 2009
The Corner Hotel
Tickets from cornerhotel.com or Ph: 9427 9198)
Presented by Beat & RRR

Sydney
Saturday January 10, 2009
The Annandale Hotel
Tickets from annandalehotel.com, Ph: (02) 9550 1078 or in person over the bar)
Presented by Drum Media

Brisbane
Sunday January 11, 2009
The Zoo
Tickets from thezoo.com.au, ph 1300 762 545, Rockinghorse, Skinnys, Butterbeats, Moshpit Music, Sunflower, Music Mania, Cosmic Music, Central Station Music, Cooly Hotel, Bombay Rock, Gooble, Warming, Kill The Music
Presented by Time Off

myspace.com/futureoftheleft

Introducing Aaron Thomas

Aaron Thomas was born in Tasmania and raised in Sydney. Aaron’s stepfather Lonnie Lee - who had numerous #1 hits in Australia during the early 60's - taught him to play the guitar and introduced him to a world of singing and performance.

Having moved to Europe and LA as a teenager where he performed solo shows, he now lives in Madrid. His new album Follow The Elephants has received wide acclaim in the Spanish and Portuguese music press, Aaron recently winning Spain’s most coveted music competition, Villa de Bilbao, taking out the prizes for Best National Band and Best Pop/Rock Ensemble. One of his recent concerts was broadcast in its entirety on the most popular music show on Spanish television.

Follow The Elephants is a collection of raw and honest material that speaks of the harshness that comes with being a stranger far from home, of the ups and downs of life in general and the frustration of big cities. Songs about relationships, family, distant friends and love.

Kill This City [mp3]


Follow The Elephants will be released in Australia on November 8th. Aaron will be returning to Australia to tour over Summer.

We Don't Care (Live at Los Conciertos de Radio 3)


myspace.com/aaronthomasband

The Long Blondes call it a day

,

Having released their sophomore album "Couples" back in April, UK's The Long Blondes have announced today that they have broken up. A statement on the band's website reads:

The main reason for this is that I suffered from a stroke in June and unfortunately I do not know when / if I will be well enough to play guitar again.

On behalf of the band I'd like to say a big thank you to anyone who ever came to one of our shows, bought one of our records or danced to one of our songs in a club. Thank you, if it wasn't for you the whole thing would have been pointless.

Finally on a personal note, thanks for all your well wishing messages.

Dorian xxx

Guilt


myspace.com/thelongblondes

Charge Group 'Escaping Mankind' tour

"A gorgeous, unequivocal piece of musical excellence." The Brag

Sydney quartet Charge Group take to the road through late October and November in support of their highly praised debut album Escaping Mankind.

Recorded by the band and producer Wayne Connolly over numerous session and in various locations, the album is distinctive for its lush instrumentation of strings, flutes and percussion. This - coupled with the unique vocals of singer Matt Blackman (ex-Purplene) - carries this brave and beautiful collection of tunes out of the traditional rock/pop arena and into an untouched, often desolate yet distinctly Australian sonic territory.

TOUR DATES

Thu Oct 30 - Brisbane, The Troubadour w/ Tragic/Athletic + Chalk and Cheese
Fri Oct 31 - Fremantle, Mojo's w/ Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke + Benedict Moleta Band + Apricot Rail
Sat Nov 1 - Perth, Hyde Park w/ The Tigers + The Leap Year
Thu Nov 6 - Melbourne, Northcote Social Club w/ Kes Band + Aleks & The Ramps
Fri Nov 7 - Sydney, Hopetoun w/ Pikelet (Melb) + The Dead Sea
Sat Nov 15 - Newcastle, Northern Star w/ The Understudy

Lunar Module (live @ Super-8 Diaries launch - Melbourne)


Vice'd [mp3]


Escaping Mankind is out now. The iTunes version of the album features a bonus instrumental version of Vice'd.

myspace.com/chargegroupmusic

Friendly Fires remixed

Friendly Fires' dancefloor favourite Paris has been remixed by Belgium's Aeroplane, who were recently in Australia and have remixed MGMT and Cut Copy. The original track is taken from Friendly Fires' self-titled album, which also features Jump In The Pool and On Board.

Paris (Aeroplane Remix)


You can download the mp3 at The Tripwire.

German techno producer Justus Köhncke has also remixed the single. Download it at The Fader.
Paris (Justus Köhncke Remix)


The UK trio recently performed Paris on Later With Jools Holland. They are currently touring the US with Lykke Li and will appear at CMJ as one of this year's 'must see' bands.

Paris (Live on Later With Jools Holland)


Paris (Official video)


myspace.com/friendlyfires

M.I.A. - Paper Planes remix and Pitchfork interview

M.I.A. took time out at the Diesel party last week to chat to Pitchfork about her pregnancy ("I got engaged first. Then I got pregnant, kids."), the accustations of her being a terrorist, her upcoming cover of Tom Waits' 'Way Down in the Hole', the success that came from the appearance of Paper Planes on the Pineapple Express trailer and her not so quiet "retirement".

Part 1


Part 2


Just released is the expanded version of M.I.A's latest album Kala, featuring 6 bonus tracks. Included on the bonus disc is the Paper Planes Afrikan Boy & Rye Rye remix. A protege of M.I.A, Rye Rye is an American rapper and the first signee to M.I.A.'s new music label N.E.E.T.

Paper Planes (Afrikan Boy & Rye Rye Remix) [mp3]




myspace.com/mia

Cloud Control mix it with Sulo

Blue Mountains indie-folk 4 piece Cloud Control have joined forces with Sulo aka Richard Tamplenizza (producer of ARIA nominated hip hop collective The Herd and member of Elefant Traks label/collective) to do a lush summer remix on the stand out Cloud Control EP track Into The Line.

The remix version transforms the already psychedelic dreamy track into a laid back, spacious, beat driven interpretation - using Alister Wright and Heidi Leffner's beautiful vocal harmonies with jazz piano and dub undertones to create the warmth of summer with a kailedoscope of pina coladas.

Into The Line (Sulo Remix) [mp3]


The remix will feature as part of the Death Cloud iTunes package available from November 3rd.

It's been a busy few weeks for Cloud Control. Today they have been announced as finalsts for the Qantas Spirit Of Youth Awards alongside My Disco and Catcall. The winners of the 07 and 06 awards were Dot Dash's Young & Restless and Wolf & Cub, both going on extensive national tours after their wins.

Cloud Control are currently on their Death Cloud Tour, playing in Melbourne this Saturday. They will also be supporting Little Red on their Uni Tour in Wollongong and Sydney next week.

DEATH CLOUD TOUR DATES
Sat 18 Oct – Melbourne, Northcote Social Club
Wed 22 Oct – Wollongong, Wollongong Uni Bar*
Thu 23 Oct – Sydney, Manning Bar*
Sat 26 Oct – Bondi, Beach Rd Hotel
Sat 1 Nov – Brisbane, The Troubadour

*Supporting Little Red

Death Cloud


myspace.com/cloudcontrol

Fucked Up and Moby do the Blitzkrieg Bop

Continuing their whirlwind few months (which includes an NME cover and fucking up MTV's bathroom), Fucked Up recently put on a free marathon 12 hour show in New York featuring a heap of guests. Having previously worked with many collaborators including Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), that guy from AFI and Nelly Furtado, Fucked Up continued their eclectic ways with guest appearances including Ezra of Vampire Weekend (like you've never seen him), Tim of Les Savy Fav, Vivian Girls, J. Mascis and Chris of Mind Eraser (aww, spoon). Moby also joined the band to perform a cover of Blitzkrieg Bop:


To give you a sense of how epic this show was, here's the setlist. Epic indeed.
View pics from the event here, here and here.

Fucked Up's new album The Chemistry Of Common Life has just been released. If you missed them before, here are a couple of tracks from the album:

Twice Born [mp3]


No Epiphany [mp3]

Albert Hammond, Jr. - Lillywhite Session

The Stokes' Albert Hammond, Jr. released his second solo album ¿Cómo Te Llama? a few months ago. Originally slated to tour Australia in August, the shows were unfortunately cancelled due do a throat infection. Which also coincided with his engagement to model Agyness Deyn. Hmmm...

As a small consolation, you can hear Albert and his merry men play a few tracks from the new album at NPR.

Setlist:
Miss Myrtle
GfC
Rocket
Victory at Monterey

GfC [mp3]


myspace.com/alberthammondjr

And speaking of Strokes offshoots, drummer Fabrizio Moretti has teamed up with Brazilian musician Rodrigo Amarante and LA native Binki Shapiro to form Little Joy. Their self-titled debut album is set for release early November. A little bit Strokes and a little bit Tropicaia... in our books that makes for a perfect summer record. You can download the first single Keep Me In Mind here.

myspace.com/littlejoymusic

Stereolab video interview

Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe sat down with Stereolab's Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier to discuss their new album Chemical Chords and the writing and recording processes behind making their albums.

Stereolab will be touring Australia in January/February 2009 for the Laneway Festivals. Tour dates after the vids.

Part 1


Part 2


LANEWAY FESTIVAL DATES
Sat 31 Jan - Brisbane
Sun 1 Feb - Melbourne
Fri 6 Feb - Perth
Sat 7 Feb - Adelaide
Sun 8 Feb - Sydney

myspace.com/stereolab

Keep Little Joy in mind

Little Joy are Fabrizio Moretti from The Strokes, Binki Shapiro and Brazilian musician Rodrigo Amarante.

The first single from their self-titled debut album is
Keep Me In Mind [mp3]


Moretti and Amarante first made a chance encounter at a Portuguese festival in Lisbon, where both had performed. A year later, Amarante traveled to the US to record with Devendra Banhart on his Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon album, meeting with Moretti on the off hours to humour the idea of working together on music that had no affiliation to their particular bands.

Binki Shapiro, musician and native of Los Angeles and firm favourite out on the blogs, was introduced to them and became a fast friend. Encouraging their musical pursuits, it was not long before she joined them to round out the band.

The self-titled album consists of songs Fabrizio had already stockpiled, and tracks Little Joy wrote together especially for this project whilst living together in a house in Echo Park.

Producer Noah Georgeson (Devendar Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Vetiver, Bert Jansch) came in to produce Little Joy, named after the cocktail lounge just down the street from their home.

The end result is a little bit Strokes and a little bit Tropicaia... in our books that makes for a perfect summer record.

Little Joy is due for release early November.

myspace.com/littlejoymusic