Deerhunter announce their first tour of Australia

Deerhunter have just announced their first tour of Australia!:

"A massive, psych‐heavy, art‐damaged four piece, and one of the most inspired new bands we’ve heard in quite a while... not to mention their absolutely fucking insane live shows." – Pitchfork

Deerhunter began in 2001 with the ambition of fusing the lulling hypnotic states induced by ambient and minimalist music with the klang and propulsion of garage rock. Since then, the band has weathered chaotic line‐up changes, the death of a member and much discouragement, to emerge in the past two years as an unchallenged tenant of pop avantgarde, capturing listens the world wide.

The band creates songs in a psychophysical multitrack stream of‐consciousness rush but their most compelling asset is a penchant for unpredictability. No two performances are the same; rather the group's cerebral fingerprint shines through constantly morphing presentations.

Their live performances almost always leave audiences indoctrinated, having been referred to by Karen O of the yeah yeah yeah’s in NME as bordering on “a religious experience.”

Deerhunter have just completed a European tour where they played shows with Liars as well as festival slots at Pitchfork vs All Tomorrow’s Parties and Primavera.

Popfrenzy and triple j presents Deerhunter

Thursday, June 11 - SYDNEY
Manning Bar
Tickets through www.moshtix.com.au

Friday, June 12 - MELBOURNE
Corner Hotel
Tickets through www.cornerhotel.com

Saturday, June 13 - BRISBANE
The Zoo
'Tickets through http://zoo.oztix.com.au

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY APRIL 3

Deerhunter's "Microcastle" is out now through 4AD/Remote Control

Deerhunter on Myspace
Deerhunter on 4AD
Deerhunter Blog

Blue Roses live - Fly Session videos

Speaking of Blue Roses, check out these live videos for Fly Sessions:

Doubtful Comforts



Does Anyone Love Me Anymore



Blue Roses self-titled album comes out April 25 through XL/ Remote Control

1990s album Kicks out now

According to the band this record is influenced from everything from ‘Scary Monsters’/ ‘Golden Years’ – era Bowie, his work with Eno and Visconti to Jay-Z, Hall and Oates, the chops of Hot Chocolate and even the folk licks of Richard Thompson.

References include- Glasgow and girls, girls, girls, current, future, past and fictional, Mongolian Warlords, Bears, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Baader-Meinhoff and Scientology.

The album was recorded at Edwyn Collins’ West Heath yard studio in London and it was produced by Bernard Butler. As with the first album it’s all in all a ridiculously catchy dancefloor filling rock ‘n’ roll album that’s a perfect accompaniment to teenage kicks.

The Box [mp3]




Kicks is out now through Rough Trade/ Remote Control

Blue Roses - I Am Leaving mp3

Now we realize the words ethereal and angelic get bandied around relentlessly when describing a lot of solo female artists, but in the case of Yorkshire's Blue Roses a description more modest just wouldn't be doing her any justice.

Recently taking on the Blue Roses moniker, 20 year old Laura Groves is on the very cusp of releasing her self titled debut album and has offered us the beautifully delivered I Am Leaving in the meantime.

Named after a Tennessee Williams novel, Blue Roses' music is every bit as unique and enthralling as it's namesake.

A breath of fresh air from the twee sugary faff we've been hearing from her contemporaries, after one listen to I Am Leaving a sigh of relief is most likely to ensue.

I Am Leaving [mp3]

Blue Roses' debut self-titled album is out April 25 through XL/ Remote Control.

Lee Memorial - instore performance at Polyester this Friday

Lee Memorial's debut album The Lives Of Lee Memorial is released this week. To celebrate, the band will be appearing at Polyester Records, 288 Flinders Lane Melbourne at 6pm for an instore performance.

Free entry and all ages!

The Lives Of Lee Memorial is out now through Dot Dash.

Lee Memorial - new mp3, album out this Saturday

Lee Memorial's debut album 'The Lives Of Lee Memorial' hits the cd racks this Saturday.

FBi Album Of The Week
RTR Album Of The Week

The band played a gorgeous set at their Melbourne single launch of Berlin a fortnight ago. The new songs went down a treat with many a head nodding and foot tapping. A few wry smiles were also spotting in the audience as they watched accomplished musicians from numerous well known local outfits, come together in an all together different outfit - ex Sodastream Karl Smith fronting a ROCK band hollering Private Joseph Skelling, and guitarist Tom Lyngcoln (usually of Nation Blue) trying his best to restrain his usual onstage thrashing while still unleashing his subdued-by-comparison melodic pop hooks, and Laura McFarlane providing vocals from behind the drum kit.

Enjoy another mp3 from the album.
Long Days In Bed [mp3]

WARNING: this song will be stuck in your head for days on end

The Lives Of Lee Memorial is out now through Dot Dash

Wolf & Cub - the new album Science & Sorcery out April 18!

On the 18th of April Wolf & Cub will release their second album Science and Sorcery.

It’s more than two years since Wolf & Cub broke cover with their debut album Vessels. Those two years seemed to take on a momentum of their own. The album was released around the globe and the band found themselves playing in Japan, Europe, the UK and the USA and touring Australia with TV On The Radio, The Killers, Queens of the Stone Age, Wolfmother and Primal Scream.

At some point the brakes had to be applied, battered road cases stored away and thoughts focused on future sounds. Given the restlessness at the core of Wolf & Cub’s creativity there was never any chance things would be done the same way a second time. New influences, new gear, new ideas necessitate a new approach.

Produced by Chris Colonna (Bumblebeez) Science and Sorcery was recorded in Colonna’s studio in his hometown of Braidwood in the Southern tablelands of NSW. At what seemed like an unlikely fit at first with Chris’ hip hop cut & paste production style, there was some concern that this collaboration could go tragically wrong which would result in the band emerging as a 80’s derived synth pop outfit.

What scared the band now inspired them, taking them right out of comfort zones and creatively giving them the challenge they had been yearning for after spending so many months on the road.

Existing demos were built on, disassembled, reconstructed, sidelined, rediscovered and reassembled. New material was built from the ground up. During the early stages nothing was considered stable, everything had the possibility to change, evolve, disappear and be reborn. Through this process the body of work that constitutes Science & Sorcery eventually took form.

Joel captures the whole experience when he says; “We never attempted to alter the outcome, ‘our sound’ or the songs that make up the album, but there was a conscience effort to change the procedure that created the outcome. I’ll leave it up to others to decide if the sound has gone anywhere else, because I don’t know where it was before. It’s still Wolf & Cub, just another piece of the puzzle.”

Science And Sorcery

TRACKLISTING
1. Seven Sevens
2. What Are They Running
3. One To The Other
4. Master
5. Spider’s Web
6. Restless Sons
7. Hearts
8. The Loosest Of Gooses (Go On Your Own)
9. Blood
10. Burden

Science & Sorcery is out 18th April 2009 through Dot Dash.

Jeffrey Lewis - headline show dates and lectures

My god, Jeffrey Lewis is going to have to maintain a steady supply of Beroccas while he's on the country to keep up with the gigantic schedule of shows and lectures he has in store, sometimes with 3 appearances in the one day. Check it out:

Cult anti-folk troubadour and comic book artist JEFFREY LEWIS is coming all the way from New York to support DARREN HANLON on his national tour, play a few of his own shows and present a very special series of lectures on the comic (and now feature film) Watchmen.

Since his emergence at the forefront of the anti-folk movement in the late 90's, Jeff has performed and collaborated with the likes of Kimya Dawson, the Moldy Peaches and Steve Malkmus, winning fans the world over for wry, literate and often downright hilarious songs.

Performing solo on Darren's tour and at his own shows, Jeff will bring his unique mixture of acoustic punk songs to enchant you. Look out for impromptu comic book readings and hand drawn flip pad presentations within the set along with the odd poem or two.

Praise for the Watchmen lecture series:

'[The movie] does not even compare to the experience I had at [Jeff's] lecture... Warner Bros should have given Jeff a hundred million dollars instead. Where the movie didn't add a single thing to my experience of Watchmen, the lecture blew my mind and captured my attention and imagination." [Jason Levian of Floating World Comics, Oregon]

JEFFREY LEWIS
*supporting Darren Hanlon

Tue 24 Mar – Canberra, Tilleys Cafe*
Wed 25 Mar – Launceston, The Hub*
Thu 26 Mar – Hobart, The Republic*
Fri 27 Mar – Sydney, Petersham Town Hall*
Sat 28 Mar - Brisbane, The Avid Reader Watchmen Lecture
Sat 28 Mar - Brisbane, The Old Museum*
Sun 29 Mar - Pomona, The Majestic Theatre*
Tue 31 Mar - Brisbane, Troubadour HEADLINE SHOW
Thu 2 Apr - Armidale, The Armidale Club*
Fri 3 Apr - Newcastle, The Gallipoli Legions Club*
Sat 4 Apr - Nowra, The Tea Club Cafe*
Mon 6 Apr - Katoomba, Clarendon Guesthouse*
Tue 7 Apr - Sydney, Ariel Books Paddington 6pm Watchmen Lecture
Tue 7 Apr - Sydney, Hopetoun Hotel HEADLINE SHOW
Thu 9 Apr - Albury, Sodens*
Fri 10 Apr - Melbourne, Polyester Books Fitzroy Watchmen Lecture
Fri 10 Apr - Melbourne, The Thornbury Theatre*
Sat 11 Apr - Melbourne, Polyester Records Fitzroy INSTORE PERFORMANCE
Sat 11 Apr - Adelaide, Big Star Records 6pm Watchmen Lecture
Sat 11 Apr - Adelaide, Jive*
Sun 12 Apr - Freemantle, Mojos*
Mon 13 Apr - Perth, Quality Comics 5pm Watchmen Lecture
Mon 13 Apr - Perth, Devilles Pad*

Em Are I is out April 18.

www.TheJeffreyLewisSite.com

Department Of Eagles video - No One Does It Like You

Department Of Eagles have just released a video for their song 'No One Does It Like You'.

The clip was directed by Patrick Daughters (who has previous done videos for Feist, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beck, Interpol, The Shins and Depeche Mode) and New York based artist Marcel Dzarma.

Dzarma also designed the sets and costumes in this beautiful though slightly disquieting, surrealist dream of a clip.



The clip had its debut screening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York this week.

In Ear Park is out now through 4ad.

Sydney scores Jenny Lewis' only Australian headline show

Jenny Lewis arrives in the country this weekend to commence her run of V Festival shows. She will also be supporting Snow Patrol on their side shows.

However, if you want to see Jenny headline her own Australian show, there's only one city you can do it in and that's Sydney.

She will be playing Metro Theatre on Tue Apr 7. Tickets on sale here.

JENNY LEWIS - AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Sat 28 Mar – Sydney, V Festival
Sun 29 Mar – Gold Coast, V Festival
Mon 30 Mar – Sydney, Hordern Pavilion supporting Snow Patrol
Wed 1 Apr – Adelaide, Entertainment Centre supporting Snow Patrol
Thu 2 Apr – Melbourne, Palais Theatre supporting Snow Patrol
Sat 4 Apr – Melbourne, V Festival
Sun 5 Apr – Perth, V Festival
Tue 7 Apr - Sydney, Metro Theatre

Fancy Jarvis Cocker's undies?

Coz if you do, you can bid for them now on ebay.

No, the album recording budget hasn't scraped rockbottom, he's doing it for CHARITY thank you very much. It's all for NNLSDropin, who support destitute asylum seekers.

Who woulda picked Jarvis as a blue Y-fronts man?

At time of posting, we'd like to point out that Jarvis' UNDIES or pants as he'd probably call them, currently has the most bids and at just under AU$300 is fetching more than the intimate apparel of Alison Goldfrapp, Nick Cave, Fergie and Jordan.

Bidding on Jarvis' undies ends April 1, 7.04AM AEDST.

His album Further Complications is out May through Rough Trade.

The Horrors premier new album at London show

NME reports The Horrors premiered their new album at a London show at Bethnal Green's Rich Mix Cinema, earlier this week.

Their album Primary Colours will be released here on May 2 through XL.

We posted the mp3 and video of The Sea Within A Sea last week but if you're hungry for more, check out this track by track review on The Quietus.

The Veils - Where I Lead Me video

Here's the latest live video of The Veils acoustic in London.



Sun Gangs is out April 4.

Jack Peñate - Tonight's Today video

Just in!



Tonight's Today is out April 4.

M.I.A. to play Coachella

Mama Maya is going to be playing Coachella, according to Coachella's Twitter. It's going to be M.I.A.'s first performance since giving birth to her first son 'Ikhyd Edgar Arular Bronfman' as reported by Pitchfork and TMZ who found the birth docs.

Pitchfork explains the names -

"Edgar" and "Arular" are Ikyd's grandfathers' names. Yes, that would be Edgar Bronfman Jr., the guy who runs Warner Music Group and father of M.I.A.'s fiance Benjamin Bronfman, and Arular Pragasm, M.I.A.'s father, who is a controversial figure in British and Sri Lankan politics.

Maya had some words on her blog for the media types who were already preempting years of incorrect spelling Bronfman Jr is going to no doubt contend with for years to come:

BABY NAME!
MY BABY IS NOT CALLED ICKITT, PICKIT OR LICKIT THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL THE HOLLYWOOD PRESS. HES A BABY , HE DONT NEED PRESS!

I DIDNT RELEASE THE BABY NAME BECAUSE I DIDNT THINK IT WAS NEWS!!!!

BUT I WILL BE BACK WITH SOMETHING NEWS WORTHY SOON , TILL THEN GO PICK ON APPLE, SATCHEL AND MOON UNIT.

LOTS OF LOVE STICKIT!!

We are on Twitter!

Oh yes we are. See?



Just can't get enough of us? Follow us and make us feel *connected*.

The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea mp3

When a mysterious, unnamed counting down clock appeared on the Horrors Website, speculators and fans naturally assumed that this clock counted down to the release of new, never before heard Horrors material. On the 17th of March the band unveiled their first single ‘Sea Within A Sea’ from their upcoming album ‘Primary Colours’.

Drainpipes and amazing hair still intact, the band seem to have matured musically producing this 8 minute epic that swerves towards their influences in Joy Division and Kraftwerk. .In their track-by-track summary of the ‘Primary Colours’ NME described “Sea Within A Sea” as “An eight-minute Spacemen 3-meets-Neu! odyssey of ominous motorik rhythms, Faris’ mournful incantations and an expanding starfield of synths.” Phew! Now, we do realise that the Horrors may be the darlings of NME, but this ain’t no exaggeration! Check it out for yourself…

Sea Within A Sea [mp3]


www.thehorrors.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thehorrors

The Big Pink - Velvet

Who ever said jealousy was a bad thing?

The Big Pink started when label manager at Merock Records (Telepathe, Salem) Caleb Merock got a bit jealous of his bands going off and doing the rock star thing and decided to have a crack at it himself. Aren’t we lucky he did? The Big Pink essentially sound like electro kids brought up on a healthy diet of My Bloody Valentine and Jesus And Mary Chain, just take a listen to their single ‘Velvet”.

It’s a nice clash of swampy, dark atmospheric electro with a wall of guitar and soulful vocals thrown over the top.

Velvet [mp3]
Velvet single [iTunes]

And here's the video:

With the ink still drying on their 4AD signing, these guys have promised self produced album later this year.

http://www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink

Vampire Weekend perform White Sky

Well looks like Vampire Weekend's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon appearance was up on Youtube for about half a second before getting taken down is back up on Youtube in all it's glory, so catch it while you can:



And here's an mp3 of the band's perfomance of White Sky, complete with string section, as posted by the good ole folks at Stereogum

White Sky (live on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon) [mp3]

The Veils - The Letter video

Here's the new video for The Veils track The Letter that we posted the mp3 of last week.

Enjoy!

Vampire Weekend to perform new song on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Vampire Weekend are performing on Late Night with new host Jimmy Fallon tomorrow morning our time.

They have promised to perform "White Sky" which they have been performing live at shows but is as yet unreleased.

Here's hoping it won't be too long before it's up on YouTube.

1990s x 59

New clip for 59, from 1990s album Kicks out this weekend, Mar 21.

New video for The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea

The Horrors have signed to XL. Check out the video for The Horrors track 'Sea Within A Sea' from their forthcoming album Primary Colours out May 2.

As the XL blog says "[eight] minutes long and taking in Neu!, gloomy post-punk, C86 indie and acid house ... we never knew the Horrors had it in them."

An "8 minute kraut-goth workout" indeed.



www.thehorrors.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thehorrors

The Breeders self release new EP

The Breeders are following up last year's Mountain Battles album with a self-released EP.

Entitled Fate To Fatal, it will be release April 21. It features 4 tracks including "The Last Time" (feat. guest vocals by Mark Lanegan), "Chances Are" (a Bob Marley cover and the title track "Fate To Fatal" which the band have shot a roller derby clip for.

The clip's not out yet but this making of is:



So why the self release? Kim Deal told Pitchfork:

It seems that now, more than at any other time in the past, we could put the music out ourselves - hand-screen some cool artwork ourselves, sell the EPs at our shows and on our website, as well as get them to traditional record stores and other online outlets. So we're just going to press up a thousand twelve-inch vinyls." (The Breeders remain signed to 4AD)

Those Deal sister sure like to keep themselves busy. The Breeders will also be playing and curating All Tomorrow's Parties in the UK in May.

Super Furry Animals onboard Inaugural Trams

Did you tune in for Super Furry Animals’ live performance of their new album this morning?

Did you check out their madly blogged “in the studio” epics recently? Hilarious verite footage of the truly unglamorous world of a band actually making an album... god bless the Furries for being so honest about it and themselves. Cos of course what really matters is the sounds that come out of it all and this Kraftwerkesque gem singing the praises of a newly completed public transport system in an un-named town in Germany, (really there just aren’t enough songs about this kind of thing are there?), could only come forth from Super Furry Animals. But wait, there is glamour to be had here… really…. coz Franz Ferdinand’s Nick McCarthy drops by to join in on vocals.

Inaugural Trams is off the upcoming album Dark Days/Light Years album which will of course be a total delight.

Inaugural Trams [mp3]

Camera Obscura - French Navy clip

Last week we blogged the fantastic new single by Camera Obscura, French Navy, from their forthcoming album My Maudlin Career.

Here's the new clip for it!

Wolf & Cub - Seven Sevens (Brother From Another Mother Remix)

Finally, over the weekend the planets aligned and the sacred codes were passed down and the new Wolf & Cub album was totally finished. It’s called Science & Sorcery, (although some of us here keep thinking it’s called Sword & Sorcery, but we will get it right by the time its out mid-April). Seven Sevens is on the album but the band just slipped us a remix that cranks up the darkly danceable side of their sound, so we thought you might like to take a listen.

Seven Sevens (Brother From Another Mother Remix) [mp3]


Science & Sorcery album now.
Buy from iTunes for an exclusive track. [iTunes]

Jessica Says I'll Set The Night Upon You

If she wasn’t so modest about it all we’d have to say 21 year old Jessica Venables is a precocious talent. She’s already been so in-demand, working with New Buffalo, Jens Lekman, Micah P. Hinson, Sly Hats and Luluc, and now has her own album We Need To Talk out this weekend. We’re hearing a lot of music on the o/s blogs that swims in the same deep blue water as Jessica Says and dare we say we’re thinking maybe she sounds better than pretty much all of it? Evidence? Well take a listen to I’ll Set The Night Upon, which sees Ms New Buffalo (aka Sally Seltmann) repay the favour by singing alongside Jessica.

I'll Set The Night Upon You (feat. New Buffalo) [mp3]

Oh and if you are in Melbourne and Sydney, you can check out the live shows
Thu 19 Mar – Melbourne, Empress
Fri 20 Mar – Melbourne, Yah Yah’s
Fri 10 Apr – Melbourne, The Toff *ALBUM LAUNCH w/ DJ Jens Lekman, Dick Diver and Darren Sylvester
Sat 25 Apr – Adelaide, The Metro Hotel *ALBUM LAUNCH w/ Megafauna and Fair Maiden
Fri 15 May - Sydney, Hopetoun *ALBUM LAUNCH w/ Hugo Race

We Need To Talk is out March 21 through Unstable Ape Records.

Talk To Me Peaches

Ok so the new album is gonna be called I Feel Cream, so I think we can safely say that Peaches is not about to go in to the “mature and introspective” phase of her career. Talk To Me is the first single and lets face it no one does this shit like Madam P, (though are we alone in noticing that plenty of prissy little pop stars are taking the Peaches thing and thinning it down and smearing it on their own sound?) But here’s where you get the pure stuff. Peaches produced it herself and on the album she’s bumping up against Simian MobileDiisco, Soulwax, Digitalism and Drums of Death). Excited? You should be!

Talk To Me [mp3]

Golden Silvers offer True Romance

Some folks are going to love this big time. The first single from Golden Silvers. It’s stylish and groove ladened and yes it hints at 80s synth pop but really it couldn’t have happened any other time but now. It’s produced by new wunderkid on the block Lexxx, who has worked with Crystal Castles and Esser and he’s absolutely “of the moment”.

True Romance (True No. 9 Blues) [mp3]

Check out the cool video for it too:


True Romance 7" is out April 18.

Getting the impression the album due April is going to be well worth checking out!

Jack Peñate on Tonight's Today

Whether or not you’ve heard Jack Penate before you really should check this out. It’s a different and bold sound from the guy (and more power to him cos his debut album went platinum so he could have easily just come through with more of the same). In fact NME have touted this as the “The first great single of 2009”. It’s the first taste of his yet to be named second album, it’s produced by Paul Epworth (Friendly Fires, Bloc Party) and the closest hint we can give ya about what it sounds like is kinda Peter Gabriel when he was a pop star back in the late 80s with mutating afrobeat guitars undulating in the mix.

Tonight's Today [mp3]

Tonight's Today is out April 4.

M.I.A. vs RyeRye

Super Mum Maya aka M.I.A. has turned up on a Rye Rye track 'Bang', which you can check out at Rye Rye's myspace.

Fucked Up - No Epiphany (No Age Remix)

Here's the No Age remix of Fucked Up's No Epiphany available on the No Epiphany 7".

No Epiphany (No Age Remix) mp3

No Epiphany is out now through Matador.

1990s - Stomp

1990s new album Kicks out March 21.

Jeffrey Lewis - To Be Objectified video

Jeffrey Lewis kicks off his tour here next week and has just released the video for To Be Objectified from his new album Em Are I.

This video is really, truly beautiful and encompasses the many facets of Jeffrey Lewis’ artistic life.

Directed by Jack Ferry, in the dogma of his $99 Music Videos project.



Jeffrey Lewis will be doing an extensive tour of Australia with Darren Hanlon kicking off next week.

Tue 24 Mar – Canberra, Tilleys Cafe
Wed 25 Mar – Launceston, The Hub
Thu 26 Mar – Hobart, The Republic
Fri 27 Mar – Sydney, Petersham Town Hall
Sat 28 Mar - Brisbane, The Old Museum
Sun 29 Mar - Pomona, The Majestic Theatre
Thu 2 Apr - Armidale, The Armidale Club
Fri 3 Apr - Newcastle, The Gallipoli Legions Club
Sat 4 Apr - Nowra, The Tea Club Cafe
Mon 6 Apr - Katoomba, Clarendon Guesthouse
Thu 9 Apr - Albury, Sodens
Fri 10 Apr - Melbourne, The Thornbury Theatre
Sat 11 Apr - Adelaide, Jive Bar
Sun 12 Apr - Freemantle, Mojos

Em Are I is out April 18.

Super Furry Animals perform new record in its entirety tomorrow morning!

Just a quick reminder that SFA will be unveiling their new record Dark Days/ Light Years to the world by playing it live, in its entirety and webcasting it on their website tomorrow morning Australian time:

So tune into http://superfurry.com/ :
Tue 17 Mar Australian time
7.00am Melbourne/ Sydney time
6.30am Adelaide time
6.00am Brisbane time
5.00am Perth time

You can listen to a sneak preview from the album now of:
Inaugural Trams [mp3]

The album is available to buy immediately as a download from the start of the gig on http://superfurry.com

The physical album is released in Australia April 11.

Ned Collette and Wirewalker

with
MICK TURNER (Dirty Three/Tren Brothers)
RAND & HOLLAND (Syd)
CUBA IS JAPAN

FRIDAY MARCH 27, THE THORNBURY THEATRE, Melbourne
859 High St Thornbury, Vic
www.thethornburytheatre.com
presented by Triple R

Ned Collette and the newly christened Wirewalker return to Melbourne to play a very special one off show at the magnificent Thornbury Theatre on Friday March 27th. The show marks their return from two tours of Europe and a sojourn in New Zealand, and will encompass extensively road tested new material along with a smattering of the old. The ravages of exile have done nothing to weary the strength of the band - in fact the opposite - while Collette's lyrical fancy now turns to themes of the divine, the oppressed, and the eternal migration of the collective human soul. A new track, "Another Goddamned Amusement Park" - a musing on the probability that much of the internet is turning into the same dreary stultifier of thought that television has long become - is currently being featured exclusively by Triple R in anticipation of the show. Work on album number three continues, so this will be their only appearance until its completion mid year. Joining them on the night will be Mick Turner - the inimitable guitarist of the Dirty Three, dark and eloquent Sydney folk favourites Rand & Holland in an all too rare trip south, and conceptual newcomers Cuba Is Japan.

Presale tickets are now avalable now from www.thethornburytheatre.com

Doors 7pm, music starts at 7.50pm. Main act onstage 10.30pm.

www.nedcollette.com
www.myspace.com/nedcollette

Snowman strip down and get tribal

A message from Snowman:

On the 5th of April 2009 SNOWMAN will be performing a set of non-electrified/tribal interpretations of their songs.

Also performing on the night will be Deradoorian (of New York band The Dirty Projectors) and Londons very brilliant Haunted Fucking.

Sunday April 5th
POST-APOCALYPSE
Cross Kings Basement
261 York Way, Kings Cross,
London.

to find out more, go here:
www.myspace.com/postapocalypsenight

That is all,
Snowman x

Here is Snowman getting tribal in Swimming With Sharks


www.thesnowmanempire.com
www.myspace.com/thesnowmanempire
www.last.fm/music/snowman

Introducing Broken Records

Broken Records Release Their Debut Album Until The Earth Begins To Part On 4AD On June 1st. The Album Title Track Will Be Released As A Single On May 11th.

“We’re trying to do something different. People forget that music doesn’t have to be just bass, guitar and drums. It can be just as loud and exciting with glockenspiel and trumpet” - Broken Records

“How Nirvana might sound had they formed in Belarus instead of Seattle” - Q, Jan 2009

Hotly-tipped Scottish seven-piece Broken Records release their debut album Until The Earth Begins To Part on June 1st 2009.

The group, who formed in Edinburgh at the end of 2006, have already been tipped for greatness by publications as diverse as NME, Q, The Word, The Sun, The Fly, News Of The World, Clash and Drowned in Sound. A series of three independently released singles released in 2008 led NME to call them “an incredible proposition – set to go stellar as soon as they decide on a lucky label to sign to”.

The album features ten tracks and was recorded in Monnow Valley studio in Monmouth with producer Ian Caple.

The tracklisting is:
Nearly Home
If The News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It
Until The Earth Begins To Part
A Promise
Thoughts On A Picture
If Eilert Loevborg Wrote A Song It Would Sound Like This
Wolves
Ghosts
A Good Reason
Slow Parade

If Eilert Loevborg Wrote A Song It Would Sound Like This [mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsedinburgh

The National - So Far Round The Bend from Dark Was The Night

For your downloading pleasure, from the brilliant Dark Was The Night compilation. If you haven't picked yourself up a copy yet, why the hell not? Get it already! Not only is an incredible collection of exclusive material from the likes of The National, David Byrne, Spoon, Sharon Jones etc, all proceeds go towards AIDs projects via the Red Hot Organisation.

So Far Round The Bend [mp3]

A Letter from The Veils

As we mentioned last month, The Veils very fine third album Sun Gangs is due out April 4.

"The Veils [are] purveyors of gothic Americana, inhabiting desert-stormy vistas that are just expansive enough to house the band's most valuable asset: Andrew's magnetic outsize persona." Pitchfork

Here's a taste of what it sounds like
The Letter [mp3]

The Letter is on the album Sun Gangs, available now [iTunes]

Jack White's got a new band

Jack White has a new band called Dead Weather. Jack plays drums and sings, Alison Mosshart (The Kills) is frontwoman, Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs/ Saboteurs) is on bass and Dean Fertita (Queens Of The Stone Age) is on guitar.

Dead Weather made their debut performance at the launch of Jack' Third Man Records in Nashville last week.

Dark Was The Night films - short films by Vincent Moon

The great Vincent Moon (the man behind those fantastic Take Away Shows) recently shot Dirty Projectors, the National and Yeasayer performing gorgeous renditions of their DWTN tunes - Pitchfork premiered all three clips this week.

The National - So Far Round The Bend


Yeasayer - Tightrope


Dirty Projectors - Knotty Pine

Anni Rossi live radio performance

Anni Rossi recently stepped in The Current studio for Minnesota Public Radio to perform 4 songs from her new album Rockwell.


Songs performed: "Machine," "Venice," "Ecology," and "Wheel Pusher".

You can listen to the set here:

Jarvis Cocker - notes on new album and facial hair

Jarvis Cocker has provided some details about his new album Further Complications due out in May:

- the new album has been recorded with Steve Albini at his Chicago studio Electrical Audio

- playing on the new record are Jarvis of course, plus Steve Mackey (bass), Ross Orton (drums), Simon Stafford (keyboards, backing vocals), Tim McCall (guitar), and Australian Martin Craft (guitar, occasional keyboards, backing vocals) plus some extra musicians including a harpist and 'heavenly choir'!

- he hasn't entirely 'gone rock' but during the course of touring his last record he discovered that, with this band, he COULD rock and so he’d be a fool not to (when the situation demanded it).

- the album tracklisting hasn't been finalised just yet but some of the pearler track titles floating around include Slush " song I wrote whilst aboard a ship that was sailing up the west coast of Greenland last year. I guess that slush will be the ultimate outcome of global warming", Caucasian Blues "is an attempt to understand the pain of a man whose Honda Goldwing has run out of petrol", I Never Said I Was Deep "the phrase that I would like carved on my tombstone", Girls Like I Too, The Night They Let Me Out Of The Home "portrays the difficulties of using public transport whilst on crutches", I Found Myself Looking For God "lists unlikely places one can look for spiritual enlightenment", Homewrecker!, Pilchard and Fuckingsong

& FINALLY – WHAT’S WITH THE BEARD?
Jarvis says "I grew it to keep my face warm in the Arctic & then I kind of got attached to it. (The amount of grey in it horrified me at first but now I think it acts as a handy reminder of my own mortality.)"

Lee Memorial bring Berlin to The Tote this Fri 13th

Lee Memorial started out as a ramshackle solo project of Karl Smith from Sodastream, but after enlisting the help of a brigade of unlikely cohorts from Ninety-Nine, The Nation Blue and Gaslight Radio, the project began to take on a life all its own.

Lee Memorial tumbled in and out of luck through 2008. They played sporadic live shows and chipped away at their album, all-the-while battling illness, relationship breakdowns, death, unhappy computers and the devastating effects of cheap shampoo. So now, after having shaken off last year’s blues, Lee Memorial return to the Tote on March 13 with their new record – the lives of lee memorial - tucked under their spindly little arms and a whole lot of nervous energy to burn.

Friday the 13th seemed a fitting date for this unlucky and accident-prone bunch to launch their new single, Belin. To celebrate making it this far, they’re giving away a free single to the first forty haircuts through the door; the rest get to buy themselves a beer.

Supports on the night will be Dot Dash labelmates St Helens, and Lakes.

Berlin single launch at The Tote, Melbourne
Lee Memorial 11.30- 12.30am
St Helens 10.15- 11pm
Lakes 9- 9.45pm

Berlin [mp3]

The Lives Of Lee Memorial is out through Dot Dash on March 28.

The Veils acoustic in London

The Veils are set to release their new album Sun Gangs next month.

To give you a taste of what's to come, here's a video of Finn Andrews performing acoustically at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London:


Sun Gangs is out April 4.

1990s - The Road video teaser for Kicks album

The 1990s brand new album Kicks is due out March 21.

Here's a sneak peek:

4ad @ sxsw and on your desktop

4ad are holding a showcase at SXSW and are giving away a widget with 5 tracks to stream/ download for free.

Note that M Ward is released in Australia through the very fine Spunk! Records

Copy to code below to get your own 4ad widget
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Super Furry Animals unveil entire new record in gig webcast

At 7.00am AEDST (Melbourne/ Sydney time that is) on Tue March 17, Super Furry Animals will be performing their entire new studio album Dark Days/ Light Years in its entirety, in a special gig webcast.

SFA, Tune in to superfurry.com to see it all unfold, as it is filmed in conjunction with MusicBox, Cardiff and graduate filmmakers from Central St Martins College, London.

You can buy the new album immediately from the start of the webcast from superfurry.com on MP3 download.

Album tracklisting as follows

1. Crazy Naked Girls
2. Mt
3. Moped Eyes
4. Inaugural Trams
5. Inconvenience
6. Cardiff In The Sun
7. The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
8. Helium Hearts
9. White Socks / Flip Flops
10. Where Do You Wanna Go?
11. Lliwiau Llachar
12. Pric

Dark Days/Light Years is out on April 11.

www.roughtraderecords.com

New Camera Obscura track French Navy

Here is French Navy, the opening track on Camera Obscura's new album My Maudlin Career due out April 18.

French Navy [mp3]

French Navy will be released as a single on April 11.

http://www.camera-obscura.net/
http://www.myspace.com/cameraobscuraband

St Vincent delivers unto us The Strangers

St Vincent, aka Annie Clarke, has unveiled the first track The Strangers from her new album Actor, due out May 2.

Two years ago, Annie Clark’s recorded debut as St. Vincent, Marry Me, gave immediate notice that a dizzying new talent had emerged from the flatlands of Texas. Actor, St. Vincent’s beguiling, sophisticated new record, takes that debut’s ambition as its starting point and never looks back. The arrangements are more masterful, the songwriting grander, the performances ever more confident and inspired.

A sneak peek:

right click here to download THE STRANGERS

Copy this code to embed the widget:
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Dark Was The Night comes alive!

For those of you lucky enough to be on the right side of the globe at the right time, the Dark Was The Night live concert has been announced for Radio City Music Hall in NYC, Sunday May 3.

Performing will be:
David Byrne
Dirty Projectors
Feist
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
My Brightest Diamond
The National
and more to be announced

For more details including where to buy tickets, go to http://darkwasthenight.com/

Condo Fucks - Straight Outta Connecticut

Many years ago, in a town called New London, in Connecticut, one band reigned supreme.

Condo Fucks.

Here is their story, the story of a scene, of dreams fulfilled and those unrealized.

Georgia Condo. Kid Condo. James McNew.

Fuckbook is out March 21.

Jeffrey Lewis rolls out new single and tour dates

Part folkie, part indie-rocker, part comic book artist, how does indigenous New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis do it?

After a 2008 spent almost entirely on the road, including support tours with some of the most respected artists around (Jarvis Cocker, The Cribs, Stephen Malkmus and The Mountain Goats, to name but a few!), as well as with artistic and literary projects all over the map (an illustrated rhyming history of Communism, lectures on the comic book Watchmen, blogs for the New York Times, even an illustrated biography of Barack Obama), Jeffrey somehow managed to find the time to record his best album yet.

'Em Are I by Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard is Jeff's fifth full-length for Rough Trade, and represents the first time that all of the greatest elements of his previous recordings have formed a fully cohesive and amazing whole.

With lyrics straight from the heart and melancholic finger-picked guitar, Roll Bus Roll is the first single from the album.

Roll Bus Roll [mp3]

Jeffrey Lewis will be doing an extensive tour of Australia with Darren Hanlon in March/April.

Tue 24 Mar – Canberra, Tilleys Cafe
Wed 25 Mar – Launceston, The Hub
Thu 26 Mar – Hobart, The Republic
Fri 27 Mar – Sydney, Petersham Town Hall
Sat 28 Mar - Brisbane, The Old Museum
Sun 29 Mar - Pomona, The Majestic Theatre
Thu 2 Apr - Armidale, The Armidale Club
Fri 3 Apr - Newcastle, The Gallipoli Legions Club
Sat 4 Apr - Nowra, The Tea Club Cafe
Mon 6 Apr - Katoomba, Clarendon Guesthouse
Thu 9 Apr - Albury, Sodens
Fri 10 Apr - Melbourne, The Thornbury Theatre
Sat 11 Apr - Adelaide, Jive Bar
Sun 12 Apr - Freemantle, Mojos

'Em Are I is due out late April.

myspace.com/jefflewisband

Preview Sonic Youth's 'The Eternal'

Sonic Youth's 16th album, The Eternal, is due out early June. Recorded in November and December of last year, the first few snippets of the tracks can now be heard here:



[mp3]

Elvis Perkins - 'Shampoo' live at Gold Room Sessions

Brought to you by the same people that give us DUMBO sessions comes Gold Room Sessions.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland performed the track Shampoo for the session. It features on their self-titled album due out early April.


Shampoo (album version) [mp3]

St. Vincent talks Actor

Yesterday we posted some live videos of St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, performing tracks from her upcoming new album, Actor. Last week Pitchfork chatted to Clark about the inspirations for the new album which, as it turns out, range from Disney classics to Aerosmith. The interview's now up and you can read it here.

New video from Future Of The Left

Late last year, Welsh trio Future Of The Left released an mp3 of The Hope That House Built, the first single from their as yet untitled sophomore album due out later this year. A few months on and now comes the video:


The single is due out March 21 on 7".

And while you wait in anticipation for the new album, you can satiate yourself with their recently released live album Last Night I Saved Her From Vampires, featuring 19 tracks recorded at 2 shows back in August.

And for those music pirates out there, Andy Falkous has this to say:

"Oh, and by the way, the next person, male or female, who accosts me at a show, incredulous at our lack of success then tells me that they illegally downloaded all of our music gets punched squarely in the tits. No exceptions. Be a feckless, short-sighted fucking thief all you like but self-righteous hypocrites with no sense of the absurd are valid, vapid targets."

Bless them. More at their blog.

Micachu's golden new single

Micachu is 21-year-old Mica Levi, an unassuming five foot one figure who creates tunes that somehow perfectly define these sometimes scary, often overwhelming, but always exciting times.

Jewellery is Micachu’s debut long-player and is a teeny, but visionary, peek at the infinite maelstrom of musical carnage that hurtles through her brain 24-hours-a-day.

Golden Phone is the first single from the album. A fuzz-fest of disintegrating electronics mashed up with poppy synth beats. [mp3]

Over the past year Micachu has:

- released an avidly received mixtape that moulded concrete grime and ruff-neck hip hop to avant-electronics
- composed a Nuevo-classical epic for the London Philharmonic Orchestra on the personal request of revered conductor Marc Anthony Turnage
- formed a band, The Shapes (aka Raisa Khan on keys and Marc Pell on drums), midway through recording the album, adding a whole new dimension to proceedings and helping to channel the mind-boggling waves of creativity that swell from her scruffily curled head

Jewellery is due out late March through Rough Trade/Remote Control.

myspace.com/micayomusic

St. Vincent previews tracks from new album Actor

Last week we announced details of St. Vincent's new album Actor. Now comes your first taste of the album with St. Vincent previewing a couple of the tracks from the album at her NoisePop performance. First up, album opener The Strangers


Marrow


Releasing her debut album Marry Me on Beggars Banquet, last year's reshuffling of Beggars Group will see Actor released through 4AD (TV On The Radio, Scott Walker, Deerhunter) in early April.

Fucked Up feature on Pitchfork

Head over to Pitchfork to check out an interview with Canada's hardcore supremos Fucked Up and find out some interesting facts you may not have known about the band.

Pitchfork: Do you remember the first time you played New York?

Mike Haliechuk: It was in a womens' bookstore called Jane Doe Books, now closed. There were maybe 30 or 40 people there, and then we rushed to play an Adult Swim party at the Knitting Factory.

Jonah Falco: Three bands played: our tourmates, Punch You in the Face and Fourteen or Fight, and us. The whole thing was decorated with papier-mâché of Adult Swim and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" characters, and there was a big spread of food. This is why there was...

Damien Abraham: A huge food fight! In the top floor of the Knitting Factory was...

MH: The Rapture and Danger Mouse.

DA: But Danger Mouse played on our floor. It was pre-Grey Album, so Danger Mouse was obviously known, but it wasn't like...Danger Mouse! They threw us out of the venue, with a case that I just put in the car, having no idea what it was. We stopped and [realized] it was a turntable, a Tech 12 turntable. It might have been Danger Mouse's turntable, and it might not have been. But now it's mine.

Deerhunter previews new songs at NoisePop

Bradford Cox and co recently performed at NoisePop where they played a tracks from their latest album Microcastle, as well as brand new tracks and some old favourites from their 2006 album Cryptograms. The full set, clocking in at almost an hour, was captured by Wolfgang Vault.

It Hugs Back on Channelbee TV

It Hugs Back members Matt, Jack, Paul and Dimitri recently dropped in to the UK's Channelbee to chat about the new upcoming album Inside Your Guitar (due out early April) and how the band formed.



Their new single from the album is Now + Again, which we blogged about yesterday.

Jessica Says dances about architecture

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

Jessica Says (21 year old Melbourne singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentatlist Jessica Venables), will be the first guest on the launch episode of Dancing About Architecture, a new music panel TV show that starts tonight at 9:30pm on Melbourne's C31.

Each episode of Dancing will culminate with a triumphant live performance in the "one-mic challenge" (which does exactly what it says on the label). And the best part? It's all going live-to-air! Jessica Says' will be performing the track His Mother's Ring from her debut album We Need To Talk, out March 21

Dancing will be hosted creator, Clem Bastow, and her co-panellists Tim Finney and Mia Timpano, produced by Renegade Films (the team behind RocKwiz). They'll be, well, dancing about architecture: talking about music. Whether it's the latest or the greatest, from CDs to DVDs and MP3s, music blogs to boutique 7" labels, Dancing wants to talk about it - and tell you all about it. The show will demonstrate that music criticism is much more than a buying guide: it is an art, and one that you will quickly grow to love.

Free Hugs, Now + Again

Since forming back in 2006, Kent’s It Hugs Back have been quietly winning over the discerning populace with their dreamy indie-pop gems. Three years on, the four-piece are finally ready to unleash their debut album Inside Your Guitar, due out April 4th.

Having joined 4AD early last year they have been carefully honing their live shows through extensive touring, released the charmingly artworked single Work Day (currently soundtracking the Sundance Film Festival television coverage) and made idiosyncratic music videos with former Aardman animators.

As with previous single Work Day, Now + Again is lifted from Inside Your Guitar and is yet another great catchy guitar-driven track clocking in at just over two minutes, showcasing Matt Simms’ softly-spoken vocals masked by layers of feedback and fuzz. The single is backed by new song Both Arms and will be available on limited edition 7” vinyl.

Now + Again [mp3]


myspace.com/ithugsback

Koolism 'Jam Hot' video

From Koolism's new album The 'Umu, due out later this year.