Prefix

These New Puritans: These New Puritans Give Details for New Album, Hidden

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:36:42 -0500

Hidden is the second album from These New Puritans, and while it promises to build on their percussive and minimalist 2008 debut, Beat Pyramid, Hidden also features a battery of new instruments and effects. Sure, they've added six-foot Japanese Taiko drums, a thirteen-piece brass and woodwind arrangement, and a children's choir, but most of all you should listen for the sound of a hammer hitting a melon--they swear it's in there.

These New Puritans meticulously charted the arty and angular territory of post-punk on their debut, but the band claims Hidden is a yet more precise and craftsmanlike effort. As though the sounds on Beat Pyramid were loose and baggy.

These New Puritans' own Jack Barnett produced Hidden with the help of Graham Sutton (of Bark Psychosis). The album comes out Feb. 2 on Domino Records.

Bobby Birdman: "Weighty Weight" (Video)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:34:52 -0500

If you guessed Bobby Birdman is a stage name, you’d be right. Bobby Birdman, aka Robert Von Kieswetter, cites an eclectic group of musicians as influences on his MySpace page, whose sounds are allowed to breathe through his music in a refreshing way. In the video for “Weighty Weight,” a scratchy, slow-motion clip of a skateboarder on a beach boardwalk looks more like a figure skater caught in the wrong environment. Birdman’s profile wobbles in time with the song that sounds caught somewhere between acoustics of the Microphones slowed to half-speed and Damon Albarn’s vocals circa The Good, the Bad and the Queen. [Via: Fader]

Eminem: Eminem Set to Star in 3D Movie "Shady Talez"

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:14:48 -0500

Nearly six months after his mildly entertaining comeback opus Relapse --- and with a sequel looming, according to many reports --- Em has announced his involvement in a new film, the predictably horror-oriented Shady Talez. In addition to a starring role in the movie, the Detroit rapper will produce it, despite being a big-screen novist; in 2006, he was cast in a remake of Have Gun - Will Travel, but the project never surfaced, presumably because of Em's then-crippling battle with prescription pill addiction. (He's sober now, as he continues to remind us with numbing frequency.) [NME]

Dragonette: "Easy" (Buffetlibre Remix) (MP3)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:58:21 -0500

Barcelona's Buffetlibre is definitely one of the few producers who consistently does the enormous, bombastic club-banger right, but he decides to do a much gentler, dreamier rework of Dragonette's "Easy." The track's bright synths and neon bass almost sound French House-ish, even. Is Buffetlibre having an identity crisis perhaps, or is he just thrown off by the fact that Martina Sorbara sounds oddly like Shakira on this track? [Popjustice]

The Bravery: "Slow Poison" (Video)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:50:33 -0500

It seems fitting the Bravery’s videos are typically more interesting than their music. As if created to prove the band’s style-trumps-substance theory, the Ryan Honey- and Orion Tait-directed video features a lost astronaut at an interstellar Studio 54 searching for an angel, which lead vocalist Sam Endicott describes as a “sexy space cyber solaris siren.” The clip has the look and feel of a Peter Max painting and is fairly entertaining if you’re in the mood for nostalgia. At best the song sounds like a Strokes b-side, though you can't help but wonder if the entire crew wasn’t scribbling notes from Starship’s “We Built This City (On Rock ‘n’ Roll)” before they started this project. “Slow Poison” is the lead single from the Bravery’s upcoming full-length Stir the Blood, scheduled to be released Dec. 1. The album will feature a remixed version of their hit song, “An Honest Mistake.” [Via: Spinner]

Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus: Miley Cyrus Has Never Heard A Jay-Z Song

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:55:17 -0500

In a stunningly self-destructive backstage interview, Miley Cyrus claimed she does not listen to pop music and has never heard anything by Jay-Z. Considering she makes her money from sugary, Top 40 hits and that her single “Party in the U.S.A.” is about how a Jay-Z track is her personal fave, this statement is a little unbelievable. Cyrus’ explanation is even less solid:

Honestly, I picked that song because I needed something to go with my clothing line [with Max Azria]. I didn't write it [and] I didn't expect it to be popular, originally…[“Party in the U.S.A.”] is not even my style of music.

So what exactly is Cyrus’ style? The reporter asked if she might consider covering her father Billy Ray’s country hit “Achy Breaky Heart,” but the sixteen-year-old singer poo-pooed that suggestion, too. Maybe she’s still hung up on her old favorite band Radiohead. Miley covering “Treefingers” FTW! [MTV]

The Smith Westerns: "Imagine Pt. 3" (Live at Showpaper Benefit) (Video)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:51:53 -0500

Here's a clip of up-and-coming garage-glammers the Smith Westerns saying on video what most of us have known for so long: that McDonald's is a delicious and effective laxative. Oh, and the charmingly flippant quartet also gives a quick, exuberant performance of "Imagine Pt. 3" from their eponymous debut.

M.I.A.: M.I.A. Working on Kala Follow-Up with Diplo, Switch

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:34:53 -0500

Even though M.I.A. hit us all up with some bamboo bombast since 2007, from getting pregnant, to being nominated for a Grammy, and just generally being M.I.A. it definitely doesn't feel like she's disappeared at all.

That's why it felt like sort of a treat when Diplo revealed in an interview with Pedestiran.tv, that he and producer Switch are already at work with M.I.A. on her next album. "Been in the studio with M.I.A. working on her new record. It's like Gucci Mane meets Animal Collective. I think there are a couple of people [producing], but we're going to finish it off, me and Switch. We've done like four tracks already," said Diplo.

Just set aside the sonic ramifications of that idea, and consider for a moment; will song titles include "Back to the Leaf Trap House," or "My Kitchen Girls"? Cross your fingers and pray.

[Pitchfork]

The Dandy Warhols: Dandy Warhols Perform Christmas, Italian Style for Northwest Fans

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:58:15 -0500

For this year’s incarnation of their annual holiday show, the Dandy Warhols have decided to celebrate Natale, the Italian version of Jesus’ birthday, rather than Christmas. Seems like an offhand choice, since the band is from Portland, OR and half of the members are of Dutch descent, but Dandys art director Sean Gothman explained the choice on the band’s blog:

[Italy’s] holiday season is comparable in length to the common American holiday season, but with its baked eel and lumps of coal and mash-ups with what we think of as Halloween traditions – La Befana the Epiphany witch, children in costumes going from door to door for treats – it seems a hell of a lot more festive than a fat man whipping flying deer to bring you an iPhone, doesn’t it?

Baked eel? Thanks very much, but I think I’ll stick with gingerbread men for the time being.

The Dandy Warhols' Prestazioni Di Natale tour dates:

12.11.10 Seattle, WA: Neumos

12.12.10 Porland, OR: Wonder Ballroom

12.13.10 Portland, OR: Wonder Ballroom

Grizzly Bear: Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor On 'Twilight,' Hova, and Terrible Records

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:27:04 -0500

Grizzly Bear producer/multi-instrumentalist/singer Chris Taylor opened up to Pitchfork yesterday about many of the mysteries surrounding his Brooklyn quartet. He explained the infamous Jay-Z/Beyoncé appearance at Grizzly Bear’s Williamsburg Waterfront show last August, which was apparently all thanks to B’s little sis Solange, who’s friendly with the band. Taylor then talked about his new label, Terrible Records, and how he won’t go solo because he has only been able to write one song in his twenty-eight years of life. He also discussed Grizzly Bear’s decision to provide a song for the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack, even though he's never read the books or watched the entire first film:

Initially, it was like, "What?!" But Thom Yorke did it, and we like him. It's like: "If dad does it, it's OK, right?" Radiohead are like parents of good modern rock 'n' roll in certain ways. They paved that path. They've always maintained such a classy vibe environmentally, musically, and as just polite, down-to-earth people. They're really something to look up to and it's comforting to know that bands like that can make great music and it can be well received and they can set a precedent.

Aww, how cute. They're like Radiohead's annoying little brothers, always taggin' along. That soundtrack, by the way, also features St. Vincent, Bon Iver, and Death Cab For Cutie, and was released last month. [Pitchfork]