Thursday, October 16, 2008

White Denim - New Album Set to Expose!

Who knew all these stars were closet White Denim fans???

While rumors of White Denim's debut US full-length Exposion have hinted at a November release date through Transmission Entertainment, White Denim's very own website is now stating that we should expect it this month!

If you head over to White Denim's official website, you'll discover that their old site is currently receiving major cosmetic surgery. What you'll also find is a mailing list subscription box with the potential to "inundate you with music, video, drawrings, and more... Signing up will get you in line to purchase White Denim's first U.S. full-length album, to be released this month through whitedenimmusic.com." Sounds awesome.

Sign up for yourself:

Handsome Furs - Studio Q Performance

Big thanks to James at Snakes Got A Blog for finding this video. A month ago I got a hold of two new tracks that are record-bound for the Handsome Furs highly anticipated sophomore effort, Face Control. These new tunes, which were showcased on CBC Radio's Studio Q with Jian Ghomeshi, include "Legal Tender" and "Thy Will Be Done". On Monday, Qtv posted the performance of "Legal Tender", along with a short interview of the happily married rockers, Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry. The interview touches on the issues of mixing work and play, and also the "insulting" mislabel of Handsome Furs as a side-project. Sadly, the video cuts off before the performance of the band's second new song, "Thy Will Be Done." Fortunately, however, I've posted the songs below for those of you who haven't had the delight of hearing these new gems. It's worth a watch.



Studio Q performance:

MP3: Handsome Furs - "Legal Tender"
MP3: Handsome Furs - "Thy Will Be Done"

Monday, October 13, 2008

Department of Eagles - In Ear Park

Another Solid Release from Daniel Rossen and Fred Nicolaus

With a slight departure from Department of Eagles' first full length, The Whitey on the Moon UK (aka The Cold Nose), the boys released their second album last Tuesday on 4AD. The result, In Ear Park, is a beautifully textured landscape of sounds reminiscent of Yellow House. It's not hard to believe that DOE could somehow be influenced and/or sound a little like Grizzly Bear - in fact, the remaining three members of Grizzly Bear actually served as backup instrumentation during the recording of In Ear Park. Nevertheless, the folksy experimental space pop is quite an enjoyable listen. I especially love the LP's second track, "No One Does It Like You".

Take a listen for yourself:

MP3: Department of Eagles - "No One Does It Like You"

If you like what you hear, go buy a copy of In Ear Park at InSound, here.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Eagles of Death Metal - "Wannabe In LA"

The Dow isn't the only thing that's dropping this month...

Premiering this week, the video for Eagles of Death Metal's first Heart On single, "Wannabe In LA". The highly anticipated album has the first sounds of yet another quality release from Boots Electric and Baby Duck. If you'd like a copy of the single for your own listening pleasure, head on over to the band's MySpace page and download a free copy of the "Wannabe In LA" single for yourself.


To listen to the track directly, here you go:

MP3:
Eagles of Death Metal - "Wannabe In LA"

Monday, October 6, 2008

Spoon Music Video - "Operation in Progress"

I came across this Spoon relic on YouTube today - a video of "Operation in Progress". Sadly, this song never made it onto a Spoon studio release, apparently because lead singer Britt Daniel always felt like it was too weak of a track. Instead, the song wound up the '97 compilation Rock and Roll Free-for-All: Vol. 2.

The video is quite comical - it looks like it was made with a handycam for a public access television show, and the band (which is only comprised of Britt, drummer Jim Eno, and bassist Josh Zarbo) looks so incredibly young. What grabbed my attention most was Britt's glasses (which can be seen on the cover art of Telephono) and his guitar. From the Telephono-era up until around '99, Britt sported an electrified acoustic guitar. It really gave the band a fuzzed-out, dirty sound. This video documents the acoustic guitar in action, and actually looks a little silly in my opinion because I don't associate the sound with the instrument. Nevertheless, it's a great song and a great video. Check it out:



If you want the track for yourself, Britt Daniel has personally allowed the downloading and sharing of this song through the Spoon Yahoo! group. Below are two different versions of "Operation in Progress" - one was recorded in '96 and ended up on the compilation (vide supra), and another version was recorded in '00 in an attempt to release a better version on Girls Can Tell - but like I said before, it didn't make the cut.

MP3:
Spoon - "Operation in Progress" - 1996
MP3:
Spoon - "Operation in Progress" - 2000

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Spoon to contribute to Breathe Easy Benefit

Dandy Warhols host supergroup collaboration to raise money
for Breathe Easy conservation initiative

Resident Oregonians the Dandy Warhols have been working on a collaborative record for over a year, hoping to eventually sell the album to raise money for The Three Rivers Land Conservancy. Recorded at the Warhols' own studio the Odditorium, the 12-song LP will be available starting October 21, 2008 under the moniker Breathe Easy, and it is reported that 100% of the profits will be contributed to the conservation initiative. The project includes the talents of of artists like Spoon, the Kooks, the Raveonettes, the Black Angels, J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Saul Williams, Midnight Movies, David J (Love and Rockets), Vietnam, Spindrift, The Bravery, and of course the Dandy Warhols.

The Three Rivers Land Conservancy is a non-profit organization that works to conserve and preserve land by the Clackamas, Tualatin, and lower Willamette Rivers against urbanization. The Dandy Warhols and the Three Rivers Land Conservancy believe that conserving land and protecting against errant urbanization creates stronger healthier communities now and for future generations. Through consumer purchases, and corporate contributions the initial goal is to save 10,000 acres of Oregon's natural habitat.

Pretty cool stuff. Head over to the Breathe Easy MySpace page for more details, and check out this video if you're interested:

Breathe Easy Trailer from World's Fair on Vimeo.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Return of King Biscuit Time!!!

Steve Mason announces new King Biscuit Material

Posted in mid-September at King Biscuit Time's MySpace page, Steve Mason had this to say about a new KBT song:
So, i will be releasing a new track, called " I LET HER IN " on a new label called TENTRACKS in October/November. TENTRACKS is a music subscription site run by the people who bring you the brilliant free music and arts paper, [The Skinny]. I think my track will be on the first batch of 10 tracks that are going out. It's a great song that has been up here before in unfinished form.

The TENTRACKS website is coming soon, its going to be an amazing project with a lot of very high quality music of all genres.
I'm not sure if this means a new album will soon follow, or if he's just releasing this one track along with a group of nine others from various artists. Nevertheless, I'm always up for a new KBT song. And if you remember how the demo for "I Let Her In" sounded when it was originally posted nearly 2 years ago, the wait for October will be well worth it.

For a little taste of KBT, have a listen:

MP3:
King Biscuit Time - "Izzum"
MP3:
King Biscuit Time - "Kwangchow"
MP3:
King Biscuit Time - "Paperhead"

Purchase a copy of Black Gold here if you like what you hear.