Category: Music

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Devo to play Winter Olympics

New Wave icons Devo will perform at the official 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

While the band have recently been putting finishing touches to a brand new album produced by Santigold, the band will take to the stage at Whistler Medal Plaza on February 22nd. Their performance will be broadcast live on NBC.

Speaking about the gig, singer Mark Mothersbaugh revealed;

“Now, more than ever before, it is time to disobey the mob and think for ourselves,” he explained, adding that the band are aiming “to remind people that biology is destiny, and De-evolution is real! We are back with inspirational tomes of truth and neuro-simpatico sonic nuggets for the entire world, not just our species!”

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Music News

Animal Collective film trailer

Animal Collective’s forthcoming ‘visual album’ premiered at the Sundance festival last night, but for those who missed it a trailer has appeared online.

The band, who received heaps of critical claim for last year’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and Fall Be Kind, have been working on the project for over 2 years with director Danny Perez. Speaking with nme.com band member Avey Tare reveals a little more;

“It’s kinda like a psychedelic film, it’s not like a narrative film or anything,” adding, “there are more cohesive moments in it, but then there are some that are a little more abstract.”

Check out the teaser trailer below:

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Music News

Sunny Day Real Estate UK show

Recently reformed Seattle emo veterans Sunny Day Real Estate have announced their first ever London date. The show will take place at Kentish Town’s Forum on 22nd April and is likely to form part of a larger European tour.

Having already played re-union shows across America last year, the band appear to be enjoying working together again after splitting up twice in the past. Bassist Nate Mendel (also of Foo Fighters) has revealed that this tour is also likely to be accompanied by new material.

Tickets for the London show go on sale this Friday at 10am.

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Music News Preview

The Plight announce UK tour

Leeds-based Punks The Plight are set to play a series of low-key dates across the UK this February. The band released their debut album, Winds of Osiris, last year to critical acclaim.

The Plight will play:

February

5 – Edinburgh, Bannermans
6 – Aberdeen, The Tunnels
7 – Glasgow, The Classic Grand
8 – Middleborough, Dr Browns
11– Southampton, Unit
13 – Bath, The Green Tavern
14 – London, Purple Turtle
15 – Exeter, Cavern
17– Leeds, Joseph Wells
18 – Peterborough, The Park
19 – Nottingham, Chameleon Arts Café
20 – Harrogate, Little Wonder

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Music News Preview

AWK on BSM

Big Scary Monsters have just announced the release of ‘I’m A Vagabond‘, the new single from Andrew W.K.. In characteristically awesome style, it will be released on square-shaped 7″ vinyl which is limited to 500 copies worldwide.

The release date is February 15th but expect these to sell out bloody quick! The single is backed by two b-sides and the first 100 copies that are pre-ordered on the BSM site come with a hand-written note from Andrew, including a link to download MP3s of the three tracks. As well as the 7″, there is a super limited edition t-shirt available and you can buy the two together for just £12 on BSM’s webstore.

Whilst you’re at it, follow Andrew WK on Twitter. There’s nothing better than his philosophical party musings.

Let’s all Party Hard –

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Live Reviews

Brand New – Live

Wembley Arena
23.01.10

Following a few travel and queuing traumas, I have to do a little almost-run to get into the arena in time for the majority of Glassjaw’s set. As is to be expected, the sound was massive and the band were clearly intent on being as loud as possible with their basslines booming out, guitar riffs jarring and Daryl Palumbo’s caterwauling being particularly frenetic. It was an odd mix of impassioned musical statement and complete nonchalance toward the crowd that bordered on rudeness.

Outside of the songs, I think the only two sentences uttered (somewhat reluctantly, it seemed) were “Hi, we’re Glassjaw” and “Brand New is up next.” Having said that, the band created a glorious racket that reminded the fans what they miss when Glassjaw aren’t around. Palumbo’s wide-eyed, eccentric on-stage antics may make him seem like a bit of a dick. But isn’t that what being a rock star is all about? The thoroughly enjoyable performance was also noteworthy for the amount of people who were audibly singing along. I mean, yeah they’re popular but who knew their cult status extended to Wembley-arena-sized singalongs?!

Brand New are similarly unpredictable in the live stakes. A stunning performance at Hammersmith Apollo almost 2 years ago. Lacklustre Reading and Leeds performances. How would they fare at Wembley? Would it be all new songs or would they deign to play selections from back in the day? Well, the setlist proved to be quite spectacular and well-advised with plenty of crowd favourites but a hefty amount of tracks from their (arguably best) album ‘The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me’. Opening with the largely instrumental ‘Welcome To Bangkok’ which has previously been used to close their sets, it provided the perfect intro and an intense build-up to get the crowd enthralled. And enthralled they were.

This opener proved the band’s ability to command the Wembley arena crowd and it only got better from there. Tracks from new album ‘Daisy’, such as ‘Gasoline’, ‘At The Bottom’ and ‘Sink’ sounded particularly visceral but Brand New’s approach was characteristically full-on throughout the 90 minute set. Old-fashioned film was projected onto their plain white backdrop, some of which featured the fox from Daisy’s cover and some of which was actually rather sdisturbing and illustrated the new tracks rather well. ‘Devil And God’ tracks sounded insanely huge in this environment. Razor-edged guitars and yearning vocals made ‘Sowing Season (Yeah)’ close to perfection.

Older tracks went down a storm with mass singalongs only slightly thwarted by Jesse Lacey’s tendency to go off the rails melody-wise. ‘Jude Law…’, ‘Seventy Times Seven’ and ‘Sic Transit Gloria’ in particular were reeled off to a rapt audience who were positively beaming with delight. ‘Play Crack The Sky’ rounded off the evening’s proceedings (no encore necessary) and its acoustic simplicity was a very touching finish to what was surely the first great gig of the year and will probably go down in many people’s Top 5 of 2010.

Not the most chatty of bands, though very gracious of the audience’s reception tonight, at times it seemed like someone had put a gun to Brand New’s heads to make them play ‘The Hits’, so distorted were Jesse Lacey’s vocals at points during the likes of ‘Jude Law…’. But perhaps they just knew that’s what would be appropriate in such a setting. And they were rewarded with a rapturous response, quite deservedly so.

Winegums.

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Features

Crossfire – Albums of 2009

What a year for music 2009 proved to be. The recession didn’t stop the rock, it actually fueled it with more underground wonder than ever before. The psychedelics got stronger, the beats got darker and the hardcore raged harder than ever. The following end of year top 10’s were not easy to put together but this represents what releases were played heavily on the Crossfire Sound System from all of our writers throughout 2009. Enjoy.

Trotty P:

1. HEALTH – Get Color (City Slang)
2. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – The Century of Self (Superball)
3. Pissed Jeans – King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
4. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport (ATP Recordings)
5. A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head (Mute)
6. Ramona Falls – Intuit (Souterrain Transmissions)
7. The Thermals – Now We Can See (Kill Rockstars)
8. Sonic Youth – The Eternal (Matador)
9. Comanechi – A Crime of Love (Merok)
10. PJ Harvey & John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By (Island)

Tips for 2010

Warpaint
Musee Mecanique
Esben and the Witch

Winegums:

1. Thursday – Common Existence (Epitaph)
2. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing (Columbia)
3. Polar Bear Club – Chasing Hamburg (Bridge Nine)
4. The Ghost of A Thousand – New Hopes, New Demonstrations (Epitaph)
5. The Audition – Self Titled Album (Victory Records)
6. Brand New – Daisy (Interscope)
7. P.O.S. – Never Better (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
8. Say Anything – Say Anything (RCA Records)
9. Gallows – Grey Britain (Warner Bros.)
10. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)

Tips for 2010

Bad For Lazarus
We The Kings
So Many Dynamos

Abjekt:

1. P.O.S. – Never Better (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
2. Felt – Felt 3 – A Tribute To Rosie Perez (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
3. Mos Def – The Ecstatic (Downtown)
4. Every Time I Die – New Junk Asthetic (Epitaph)
5. DOOM – Born Like This (Lex Records)
6. Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement (Stones Throw)
7. Brother Ali – Us (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
8. Clipse – Till The Casket Drops (Columbia)
9. Doomtree – False Hopes XV (Doomtree Records)
10. Orelsan – Perdu D’Avance (7th Magnitude / 3ème Bureau)

Tips for 2010

Mount Kimbie
Tokimonsta
Dessa

Stanley

1. Zombie Nation – Zombielicious (UKW)
2. Memory Tapes – Seek Magic (Sincerely Yours)
3. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue (Warp)
4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino)
5. Clint Mansell – Moon (Black Records)
6. Bomb The Music Industry! – Scrambles (Quote Unquote)
7. First Aid Kit – Drunken Trees (Polydor)
8. Beak > – Beak > (Invada)
9. Huw M – Os Mewn Swn (Self-Released)
10. Peter Broderick – Ten Duets (Digitalis)

Top tips for 2010

First Aid Kit
Tim And Sam’s Tim And The Sam Band With Tim And Sam
Kavinsky

Zac:

1. Gallows – Grey Britain (Black Envelope)
2. The Shitty Limits – Beware The Limits (Boss Tuneage)
3. Darker My Love – ST – (Dangerbird)
4. Converge – (Epitaph)
5. The Hickey Underworld – ST (Naive)
6. Dead Confederate – Wrecking Ball – (Kartel)
7. The Ghost of A Thousand – New Hopes, New Demonstrations (Epitaph)
8. Mastodon – Crack The Skye (Reprise)
9. Alberta Cross – Broken Side of Time (Ark Recordings)
10.…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – The Century of Self (Superball)

Tips for 2010

Noisia
North Atlantic Oscillation
Chickenhawk
Foxy Shazam

Pete Craven

1. Wasted Time – Futility (La Familia)
2. Shitty Limits – Beware The Limits (Boss Tuneage / La Vida Es Un Mus)
3. Destino Final – Atrapados (La Vida Es Un Mus)
4. The Horror – Spoils of War (Grot)
5. Stupids – The Kids Don’t Like it (Boss Tuneage)
6. Burning Heads – Spread The Fire (Opposite)
7. T.V. Smith – Live at The NVA (Boss Tuneage)
8. Burnt Cross – Too Many Graves (Tadpole / Opiate)
9. Beginning of The End – If You’re Going thru Hell… (Active Rebellion)
10. Geriatric Unit – Permethrin Blues (Boss Tuneage / La Vida Es Un Mus)

Tips for 2010

Jovian
Threat Manifesto

Dee Massey:

1. Jack’s Mannequin – The Glass Passenger (Sire/Warner)
2. Brand New – Daisy (Interscope)
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)
4. The Get Up Kids – Something to Write Home About – 10th Anniversary Edition – (Vagrant)
5. The Lemonheads – Varshons (Cooking Vinyl)
6. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (Universal/Island)
7. Taking Back Sunday – New Again (Warner)
8. Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions (14th Floor Record)
9. Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Sony)
10. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love (4AD)

Tips for 2010

Cassette Kids
Wild Light

Tom Lindsey:

1. Shrinebuilder – Shrinebuilder (Neurot Recordings)
2. Mastodon – Crack The Skye (Reprise)
3. Outlaw Order – Dragging Down The Enforcer (Deep Six)
4. William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark (Anti-)
5. Doomriders – Darkness Come Alive (Deathwish Inc)
6. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (Sony Music)
7. Goatwhore – Carving Out The Eyes Of God (Metal Blade)
8. Venomous Concept – Poisoned Apple (Century Media)
9. Skeletonwitch – Breathing The Fire (Prosthetic Records)
10. Mariachi El Bronx – Mariachi El Bronx (Witchita)

Tips for 2010

The Devils Blood
Hang The Bastard
Arson Anthem

James Sherry:

1. Gallows – Grey Britain (Black Envelope)
2. Pissed Jeans – King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
3. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – The Century Of Self (Superball)
4. Them Crooked Vultures – S/T (Columbia)
5. The Shitty Limits – Beware The Limits (Boss Tuneage)
6. Converge – Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
7. Nirvana – Bleach Reissue/Reading 1992 CD (Sub Pop/Universal)
8. Darker My Love – 2 (Dangerbird)
9. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic (Warners)
10. The Lemonheads – Varshons (Cooking Vinyl)

MOOSE

1. She Keeps Bees – Nests (Names)
2. Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Columbia)
3. Miike Snow – Miike Snow (Columbia)
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (Warp)
5. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
6. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Drag City)
7. Regina Spektor – Far (Warner)
8. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead (Fat Cat)
9. Modest Mouse – No-One’s First and You’re Next (Epic)
10. Beirut – March of the Zapotec (Ba Da Bing)

Tip for 2010

She Keeps Bees

Get involved in writing alongside us this year when we relaunch the music zine as we are looking for 3 music writers who can review singles and albums in the Buzzchart and also cover live reviews and interviews. Send us some examples of your reviews and we will get back to you.

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The National ready new album and tour

Brooklyn based Indie rock group The National are set to release a brand new album this coming May. No other concrete details have emerged as of yet, but the record will be released through the band’s regular label 4AD.

A brief European tour will accompany the release, which will find the band playing the Royal Albert Hall on 6th May.

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Download announce first headliners

Download Festival has announced AC/DC as one of this year’s headliners as well as a string of other acts. Joining the Classic Rock giants will be the likes of supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots and Megadeth.

Download Festival takes place at Donington Park between June 11th and 13th. See website for full details.

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Manchester Orchestra lose drummer

In an exclusive interview with Absolute Punk, Jeremiah Edmond has revealed that he’ll be leaving Manchester Orchestra in order to concentrate on his record label responsibilities with Favorite Gentlemen.

He remains firm friends with all members but felt that it was time to concentrate on the label to bring it to the next level.

Manchester Orchestra – Shake It Out

Manchester Orchestra- Shake it out from Tommy514 on Vimeo.