LimeWire Music Blog

Jack White’s Third Man Records Sets Up Shop in New York

2009-07-09T18:11:23Z

Who says the days of the small, independent record store are over? Hell, Jack White is opening one devoted solely to his private label, Third Man Records, in New York. Okay, fine — the store will only be open for two days. But what a two days it shall be! On July 16 and 17, visitors to 131 Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side will be treated to a full selection of Third Man releases and merchandise. And, obvi, copies of White’s new band The Dead Weather’s debut album Horehound will be available for purchase, too. The album comes out July 14, only a few days before the pop-up shop opens.

The store’s appearance also coincides with The Dead Weather’s New York tour dates: They’re playing Terminal 5 the evenings of the 16th and 17th, too. The tour kicks off July 13 in Washington, DC. Ticket holders are advised to show up early, as New Jersey’s very own Screaming Females will be opening most shows. A full list of tour dates is under the cut.

7.13 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
7.14 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
7.16 - Terminal 5, New York, NY
7.18 - House of Blues, Boston, MA
7.19 - Ottawa Blues Festival (Rogers Stage), Ottawa, Canada
7.21 - Olympia De Montreal, Montreal, Canada
7.22 - Kool Haus, Toronto, Canada
7.24 - The Fillmore, Detroit, MI
7.25 - The LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH
7.27 - First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
7.28 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
7.29 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
7.30 - War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville, TN
8.17 - Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO
8.18 - The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT
8.20 - Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
8.22 - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Canada
8.23 - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Canada
8.25 - Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
8.27 - Glasshouse, Pomona, CA
8.29 - Street Scene, San Diego, CATickets
8.30 - Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
10.04 - Austin City Limits Music Festival, Austin, TX

New Atlas Sound Record Details

2009-07-09T17:15:55Z

Bradford Cox, multi-talented head of Deerhunter, is certainly a prolific character. Alongside his work with the Athens-based indie band, Cox has also kept busy with Atlas Sound, a far more introspective and atmospheric project. His 2008 debut, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, was a critical success across the board, and Cox intends to keep momentum with a new release on Kranky, Logos.

Slated for release on October 20th, the latest offering from Atlas Sound will feature collaborations by Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier and Animal Collective/Panda Bear’s Noah Lennox. Meanwhile, Cox claims the new record will be a departure from Let the Blind’s more inverted sound, featuring a far more spontaneous and open approach.

“My last album was a bedroom laptop type thing. Very introverted. Logos is an album that was recorded all over the world. It’s not about me,” says Cox in a recent press release regarding the record. “There are collaborations with other musicians. The lyrics are not autobiographical. The view is a lot more panoramic and less close-up. I became bored with introspection. ”

Even though it seems as if Cox is shedding what made Atlas Sound’s debut so remarkable, the results should nevertheless make for equally interesting listening. Click below the cut for the official tracklisting for Logos.

1. The Light That Failed
2. An Orchid
3. Walkabout [ft. Noah Lennox]
4. Criminals
5. Attic Lights
6. Shelia
7. Quick Canal [ft. Laetitia Sadier]
8. My Halo
9. Kid Klimax
10. Washington School
11. Logos

Trent Reznor’s Letter to a Young Musician

2009-07-09T16:38:38Z

Despite recently quitting the Internet or whatever, Trent Reznor seems still to be posting on the Nine Inch Nails fan forum. And this time, he has some advice for musicians just starting out. First, says the major-label alum:

Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) – your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.

Or, say, Nine Inch Nails in the ’90s? Uh, anyway — thanks for the vote of confidence, Trent. Then, he advises that those who aren’t interested in major-label success give their music away for free: “As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.” The next step, says Trent, is to do exactly what he’s been doing: “Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods.” Good plan, I guess, unless you’re so obscure that no one will buy such “scarce goods” should you even have the cash to manufacture them.

This, according to Trent, is the take-home: “The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT‘S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So… have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).”

‘Guitar Hero 5′ Goes Glam, Indie, Hardcore

2009-07-09T15:57:50Z

As Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band competition continues to rage, both games seem to be putting out new editions — complete with increasingly amped-up song collections — every other week. (In fact, when Guitar Hero 5 comes out September 1st, it will be only 10 months younger than its predecessor, Guitar Hero World Tour.) And while the songs featured on this year’s model have been slipping out slowly — gamers are already buzzing about The Rolling Stones‘ “Sympathy for the Devil,” Nirvana’s “Lithium” and The White Stripes‘ “Blue Orchid,” among others — Activision has finally made a big announcement about what will be included.

First of all, indie rock makes a surprisingly strong showing on the list: Hipsters can rock out with their plastic guitars out to Vampire Weekend’s “A-Punk,” Band of Horses‘ “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands” and Elliott Smith’s “L.A.” Hardcore is also mysteriously well represented, in tracks such as The Bronx’s “Six Days A Week” and Darkest Hour’s “Demon(s).” But the biggest — and most welcome — surprise, for me, was the inclusion of two glam classics, David Bowie’s “Fame” and a live version of “Lust for Life,” by Iggy Pop. Kind of makes me forget about the list’s more dubious inclusions, from Coldplay to John Mellencamp.

A full list of new track announcements is under the cut. Expect the rest of the game’s promised 85 songs to trickle out between now and the end of summer.

Band Of Horses - “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands”
Beastie Boys - “Gratitude”
Beck - “Gamma Ray”
Billy Squier - “Lonely Is The Night”
Blur - “Song 2″
Bob Dylan - “All Along The Watchtower”
Children Of Bodom - “Done With Everything, Die For Nothing”
Coldplay - “In My Place”
Darkest Hour - “Demon(s)”
David Bowie - “Fame”
Deep Purple - “Woman From Tokyo (’99 Remix)”
Elliott Smith - “L.A.”
Iggy Pop - “Lust For Life (Live)”
Jeff Beck - “Scatterbrain (Live)”
John Mellencamp - “Hurts So Good”
Kings Of Leon - “Sex On Fire”
Queens Of The Stone Age - “Make It Wit Chu”
Rose Hill Drive - “Sneak Out”
Santana - “No One To Depend On (Live)”
The Bronx - “Six Days A Week”
Thrice - “Deadbolt”
Tom Petty - “Runnin’ Down A Dream”
Vampire Weekend - “A-Punk”
Wolfmother - “Back Round”

Soulsavers’ Broken Features Mark Lanegan, Mike Patton, Gibby Haynes, and More

2009-07-09T15:45:02Z

Moody Brits Soulsavers have lined up some titanic vocal talent for their third album, Broken, set for a digital-only release on August 18th. As with their previous outing, Mark Lanegan will be taking the lion’s share of lead vocals, but in addition to the larger-than-life, deeper-than-a-well voice of the man who has fronted both The Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, there will be a few other guest yelpers you just might be familiar with. Namely, the Butthole Surfers’ head honcho Gibby Haynes, Spiritualized mainman Jason Pierce, and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle singer Mike Patton.

Soulsavers’ moody sound made a nice fit for Lanegan’s vocals the last time around too, but on Broken, with the balance shifting more towards rock than electronics, he and his fellow frontmen will sound all the more at home. But just in case you feel like the aforementioned names somehow aren’t quite enough to capture your attention, there’s one more Soulsavers surprise in the works. July 28th will see the release of a digital Soulsavers single featuring two non-album tracks — “Sunrise,” a Lanegan-penned tune sung by Bonnie Prince Billy himself, Will Oldham, and “You Will Miss Me When I Burn,” one of Oldham’s Palace-era tracks, performed in turn by Lanegan. Now that’s our idea of playing musical chairs.

Video: The Horrors - “Who Can Say”

2009-07-09T15:13:33Z

In perhaps one of the most necessary and welcome shifts in style, The Horrors metamorphosed from sloppy, obnoxious Cramps devotees to fuzzy, ethereal rockers in the vein of My Bloody Valentine and Lush. Primary Colours, the UK band’s latest offering, finds them completely reinventing themselves in this fashion, both a successful and impressive feat.

I am extremely grateful for this change in approach, as I found the band’s original style both tiresome and annoying. I can’t seem to get enough of The Horrors’ new sound, complete with sweeping guitar effects, more muddy production, and soaring choruses. With singles like the eight minute “Sea Within a Sea” and the punchy “Who Can Say” under their belts, it’s as is if Creation Records never dissolved. For those unfamiliar, click below for video of the latter, directed by Douglas Hart. Be sure to listen for the Shangri-las/Jay and the Americans interlude!

Sunset Rubdown at Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago 7/07/09

2009-07-09T14:28:39Z

Canadian bands have a penchant for participating in multiple side projects simultaneously, so it can get a bit confusing keeping track of all of them. Montreal band Wolf Parade consists of two lead singers, Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug. Some people have no idea there are two singers in the group, but that’s understandable since both of them share the same yelping intonation. Boeckner also plays in Handsome Furs with his wife, while heartthrob Krug’s main side project is Sunset Rubdown (he also contributes to Frog Eyes and Swan Lake). Boeckner: Furs and Wolf Parade. Krug: Wolf Parade and Rubdown. Got it?

Sunset Rubdown issued a couple of EPs before releasing their critically acclaimed full-length, Shut Up I’m Dreaming, in 2006. The equally successful Random Spirit Lover arrived the following year. Tonight’s setlist mainly drew from their latest album, the grower Dragonslayer. If anything, Krug is a storyteller. The new songs encompass memory and loss, conjuring narratives from a medieval period that are sometimes elegiac and sometimes joyful. Krug played keys and sang while the rest of the members played guitar, bass, percussion, and xylophone. When I saw them last October, they played an array of new songs from a still untitled album, so it’s nice to see they’ve finally pulled it together. Sunset opened with an oldie, “The Empty Threats of Little Lord,” from Shut Up. It started off slow until the guitar kicked in, and all of a sudden the venue began to rock. Logan Square has a tendency to create muddled sounds, so it’s not the best venue to see a show, but the band worked through it. Next, they played probably the best song off the new record, “Idiot Heart.” Female vocals infused with the twinkling xylophone, Krug’s distinct yelping, and emotional lyrics to generate an early highlight. The band played the synth fueled “The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life” from Spirit; a superfluous amount of “bada-dums” and “whoa ho hos” drove the song forward. During one of the many breaks in the set, Krug mentioned they recorded Dragonslayer here in Chicago. This was met with shouts of glee from the audience. After performing “Silver Moons,” there was a short lull because Krug had to tune his guitar. The rest of the band covered up playing an assorted mix of ambient music. “Spontaneous music for tuning a cheap guitar,” Krug remarked. The guitar gets tuned and the band announced they’re going to play a brand new song that’s not even on the new album. Krug prefaced it with, “This song is about having too much to drink and when your friends have to babysit you.”

With all of Sunset’s albums, a lot of their songs are intertwined from one record to another, as heard on new song “You Go On Ahead” (Trumpet Trumpet II). The other trumpet song is on Spirit. I like how the songs continue and flow from one to the next. On Dragonslayer, the last song acts as a bookend to the first one. Halfway through their set, the band once again hit technical difficulties, this time a snare drum needed replacing. “You guys are really nice,” Krug gushed to the crowd as more spontaneous ambient music played. Sunset played the energetic and melodic “The Mending of the Gown” from Spirit and then ended on the 10-minute epic song on Dragonslayer, “Dragon’s Lair.” The song went through many choruses and bridges and finally ended with frenzied instrumentation. The band walked offstage for a few minutes and came back to perform two more songs.

For the first encore, Krug stated he didn’t think they’d have enough hands to play what was “Nightingale/December” from the new record, but they apparently figured it out. Luckily for us, the song sounded great with crashing drums and a lot of noise. The crowd baited Krug and company to play one more song. “You’ve guys been really sweet, but this has been the length of a feature film.” It looked like they weren’t going to perform another but then segued into perpetual closer (and one of my all time faves,) “Us Ones In Between” from Shut Up. Despite the momentum breaking technical difficulties, Sunset put on a great show that at times bordered on operatic tendencies. The last couple of songs were especially grand in scope and demonstrated how far the band has come and hinted how far it could go. The venue wasn’t as packed as it could’ve been, but hopefully soon the band and the new record will be on more people’s radars.

images by Raphael Gendron-Martin

Daily Pulp - 7/8

2009-07-08T21:45:47Z

Parlez-vous français? Metallica will release a live DVD in France in October
Mutt Lange is producing Maroon 5’s next album
Cool collabo: Nas and Damien Marley are working on an album
Odd collabo: Roisin Murphy, Sinead O’Connor and Micachu appear on a new version of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman”
A remastered version of MGMT’s Time to Pretend is going to be released

image via MySpace

How to Celebrate Mandela Day

2009-07-08T20:31:12Z

You may already know that Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday, coming up on July 18th, will be celebrated as Mandela Day in honor of both the global hero’s accomplishments and his power to inspire a new generation of world-changers. What you may be wondering is “What can I do to observe Mandela Day?” Glad you asked. Everything leads up to a big blowout on the 18th at Radio City Music Hall, where Mandela will be honored by performances from an all-star cast including Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Wyclef Jean, Alicia Keys, T-Pain — we hear President Mandela is rocking “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” as his ringtone these days — and many more.

But if you don’t want to wait that long to get in on the Mandela mania, you can start to get in the spirit by making a move to Vanderbilt Hall in New York’s Grand Central Station, where there’ll be an eye-popping installation in place July 9-22 (7:30 am-7:30 pm) that pays tribute to the South African superman’s life and legacy. It focuses around six sections, each defined by a single word (act, listen, lead, unite, learn, speak) seen in 3-D. You can experience stories about Mandela’s fight for change, inspirational messages from some of his most momentous speeches, and stunning images from his life, and you’ll discover information about how to move forward into the future to continue making the kind of postive change to which the man has become a monument.

Album review: West Indian Girl - ‘We Believe’ (Origami)

2009-07-08T19:18:51Z

Los Angeles’ West Indian Girl have been mining a territory normally reserved for crusty stoners since their formation in 2002. With a sound woven together with elements of psychedelia and electronica, they’ve typically cast a wide net when fishing for new musical ideas. With news of co-singer Mariqueen Maadig’s engagement to Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor, the time seems right for this collection filled with various odds and ends. Released through their local record shop’s label, Origami Records, We Believe is a spirited collection of B-sides, unreleased remixes, and one Beatles cover (a downtempo rendition of “Eight Days A Week”) that hardly sounds like a throwaway project. The title track is a blissful morsel of deep, squelchy sounds and harmonies that sounds like Jane’s Addiction jamming with Yes. With its equally spaced-out, bottom-heavy vibe, “Miles From Dub” (Cry On Cue Remix) is equally as gorgeous and fluid. The track washes effortlessly in and out of your consciousness and is perfect for any late-night DJ mix. Though I’m not sure if it’s by design, several of the remixes improve on the original versions, as heard on the Lime Chillout Remix of “Sofia.” Originally found on the band’s last album, 2007’s 4th & Wall, a slower, stripped-down groove and a little vocal noodling surprisingly transforms a good song into a great one.