Indie Dispatches: James Murphy Stands Down, Goth is Back?, The Feelies, WILD FLAG & More…
WILD FLAG
Yes , it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke – Indie Dispatches has returned and is back in a regular fashion. And as predicted we did indeed forget a few of the notable items so far in 2011…
* The indie rock power couple in WAVVES and Best Coast went out on tour together (and were seen at the Satellite recently in L.A. checking out their buddies in DOM). Interestingly enough, Bethany’s Best Coast sales have far outstripped those of Nathan’s WAVVES… wonder if this is ever a source of tension.
* The New Goth Movement? It’s official… Zola Jesus led the charge, and now Esben & the Witch are close behind. With more to come!
* LCD Soundsystem operated under the classic mantra “live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse” with a week of life-affirming shows in NYC culminating in a 3 hour party Saturday night as the band’s last appearance on stage. From starting as the sound guy for Sub Pop’s Six Finger Satellite to bowing out with headlining show at Madison Square Garden… James Murphy, we salute you!
* Tennis released an album with arguably the worst looking sleeve you’ll see this year.
* Did The White Sea remix Britney?
* My Morning Jacket lined up a new album, Circuital, hitting stores May 31st.
* Did TV On the Radio leave the indie world behind, parting from 4AD internationally?
* The dulcet tones of Mike Berenyi from Lush were heard by millions as Seinking Ships had a pretty striking sync use on ABC’s hit show Private Practice.
* Avi Buffalo recorded a new 45 that is coming out shortly – great news!! Alas once again it looks to be enclosed in less than stellar jacket art.
* Underground super-group Middle Brother (with members of Dawes, Delta Spirit & Deer Tick) released an excellent album on Partisan, sounding as close to Crosby, Stills & Nash as you’ll hear this year (well, maybe until the new Fleet Foxes album)
* After almost 20 years, NJ’s favorite post-Velvet Underground popsters, The Feelies, recorded a new album Here Before that hits stores April 12 on Bar/None Records.
* Still wonder why we feel that there are too many bands and too many records? Just check out this list of forthcoming releases on Pitchfork…
* Adele put a further stamp on the recent intrusion of the independent label into major label’s chart domination (at least in the UK) as her second album 21, released on XL Recordings, raced to over 1.8 million sales in old blighty. That’s over 6 times platinum pop kids!!!!
* The latest installment of Record Store Day - scheduled for April 16 – announced their list of releases, including a bunch of stupidly limited items that you’ll undoubtedly see popping up on Ebay April 17.
* Former Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys has a new album, Hotel Shampoo, due on Wichita Recordings next month. This teaser video is plain awesome.
* Another one destined for the top 10 records of 2011 lists come December? The long awaited follow up to Bon Iver’s debut For Emma, Forever Ago.
* The 2 most exciting words of the first part of the year though? WILD. FLAG. Watch out, this one is going to be rad…
- Cool Hand Luke
01.13.11More Bits & Pieces: MySpace Spinning Out, Shazam Links with Spotify, Changing Guard of Tastemakers & more…
Murdoch's News Corp. Weighing Myspace Options
While the massively rumored layoffs at MySpace were officially announced this week, seeing a cut of almost 50% of the workforce, speculation continues as to the future of the site. Yesterday owner New Corp. made comments published on Bloomberg indicating that a sale, merger or spinout of the social network are all possibilities being considered. The latter could see the site continuing to receive funding from New Corp., with the opportunity for employees (that are left) to be eligible for shares in the company. Some reports following the layoffs this week, indicate a possible spinout is already in talks, with CEO Mike Jones and other executives plotting a scenario that would give them majority control… Good news for Spotify users, is a new deal that has two of Europe’s top technology start-ups partnering to allow music lovers access to Spotify directly through the Shazam mobile app. Users can listen to or buy tracks that they have tagged or found through the music discovery service… Is NPR a new kingmaker in music? Helping boost sales for artists such as Arcade Fire, Florence + the Machine and Vampire Weekend, the outlet is increasing seen as a path to breaking an act… Speaking of tastemakers, check out this compilation of recent Soundscan numbers for Pitchfork’s list of the Top 50 albums of 2010, and draw your own conclusions… And manager Blaze James has joined forces with Velvet Hammer Management, bringing along his longtime clients Coheed and Cambria and Sparta to join a roster that includes Deftones, Alice in Chains, System of a Down and others. Coheed and Cambria have just announced plans this spring to perform their debut album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, in its entirety in 22 cities across the US and in Toronto, Canada. The “Evening with” format will also feature a rare 30-40 minute acoustic set, as well as an extra set of songs from other albums. These dates are set to commemorate the band’s 10 year anniversary.
| Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Fortune’s Fool: Edgar Bronfman Jr., Warner Music and an Industry in Crisis hit the book shelves this week. Check out the 2-part interview on Wired.com with author Fred Goodman… The new “Facebook movie,” officially titled The Social Network, released a new trailer for the upcoming film that features an eerie background supplied by a choral rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” – you won’t find the film being promoted on Facebook, but it is part of Twitter’s newly launched Promoted Tweets… Fear not, if the lack of news regarding Spotify in the last few weeks has got you worried, CEO says the service is “growing healthily,” and the U.S. launch of the service is still on track for this year… Elsewhere, the NY Times has a profile of Pitchfork and its growth from a small bedroom website to indie music dominance, getting 30-million page views a month… Live Nation Entertainment held a presentation this week for investors and analysts detailing the company’s plans for the future and addressing the highly scrutinized struggle of the concert business this year… And Peter Jenner, former manager of acts such as Pink Floyd and The Clash, shares his thoughts on the economics of digital music and the inevitability of file-sharing…
| Posted in Reading Recap | 1 Comment »
Wednesday Bits & Pieces: WMG + MTV, eMusic Working on Cloud Service, Pitchfork’s New Blog Collective & More…
Warner Music Group brings in MTV Networks for ad-sales
Warner Music Group announced today its new partnership with MTV Networks, in which MTV will sell ads against the music group’s video content. The arrangement replaces a previous partnership between Warner and Outrigger, a smaller sales company. The most interesting part of the new deal is that MTV parent Viacom is still in court with Google, yet YouTube (owned by Google) is likely to account for a majority of the ads-sales by MTV. Make sense?… First week sales of Eminem’s Recovery came in at 741,000, making it the biggest release yet for 2010 and the biggest first week since 2008’s AC/DC album Black Ice… Pitchfork has announced it’s launching a sister site dubbed Altered Zones that will act as a blog collective of sorts with 14 different music blogs supplying content… The NY Times technology blog, Bits, has an article on cloud music companies to watch (spoiler, Apple and Google aren’t in there), but a surprise inclusion is eMusic. The piece reveals that the once indie-only subscription service that added both Sony and Warner Music catalogs to its service in the last 12 months, will soon also add Universal Music and is working on a cloud music service that could be introduced early next year… Expect a sold-out crowd at L.A.’s The Echo tomorrow night for the double-down and uber-indie bill featuring Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles. That latter recently recorded their new album with producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & the Machine, Klaxons) at the famed QOTSA studio Rancho De La Luna (check out “Sleep Forever” from the new album at Stereogum), while Dum Dum Girls, who recently released their debut full-length on Sub Pop, will head out on a North American tour with Vampire Weekend in August followed by a string of MGMT dates in Europe…
| Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Indie Dispatches: The Unstoppable Local Natives & The Shins New Album
Local Natives Building Momentum with Non-Stop Touring
One look at Local Natives upcoming tour schedule should leave little doubt that the LA five-piece are one the hardest working young bands out there. The group has always been a touring machine, but the list of forthcoming shows for the remainder of 2010 would make even a seasoned road warrior gasp in admiration. And showing that rewards are there for those who work, all their time on the road seems to be paying dividends. It was barely 15 months ago that Local Natives were playing SXSW for the first time, getting a Local who? response and a collective shrug of the shoulders from record labels; few suitors stepped-up with an offer to sign the band before they ultimately inked a deal with NY indie label French Kiss. Since then the group has become a global presence and have built a fan base the old-fashioned way, by touring, touring, touring. This summer sees them playing a host of A-list festivals worldwide – Oya, Glastonbury, Pitchfork, Reading, Leeds, Roskilde, Summer Sundae and Fuji Rock in Japan to name a few. This is all before setting off on North American dates that stretch from September 17th to October 28th. The opening show of the tour at the Henry Fonda Theater in their hometown sold-out in a matter of hours, requiring the addition of a second date (the sell-out nights also seem to have brought some bigger labels sniffing around). Whether or not the sales of their album Gorilla Manor are commensurate with their live business, there’s no disputing that Local Natives are rapidly turning into the indie rock version of The Little Engine That Could.
In an interview for Pitchfork last week, James Mercer announced his next project will be a fourth album from his main combo, The Shins. Since the band have fulfilled their initial Sub Pop record deal, the two million dollar question is, which label is in line to release the album? Will it be the Seattle indie in some new-model arrangement? Or will Mercer follow the path of former label-mates Band of Horses and bring The Shins to Columbia Records – also the current home for his Broken Bells project with Dangermouse? There’s always the possibility of another label stepping up with an offer too good to turn down, but Mercer & co. are also in a position to go it alone and turn their backs on the traditional label system. With the three prior Shins releases selling in massive quantities (both Oh Inverted World and Wincing the Night Away received gold certifications) and Mercer currently riding high with Broken Bells, to say the album is highly anticipated is an understatement.
-Cool Hand Luke
| Posted in Indie Dispatches | No Comments »
Indie Dispatches: Omissions, Additions & What’s Moving this Summer
Avi Buffalo's Debut Album Out this Week Ahead of Big Summer Dates
In our 2010 indie chart busting wrap up last week, there was of course a notable omission – the sophomore album by Vampire Weekend that was released in January on XL Recordings. Not only did the New York band crack the top five, they debuted at the #1 spot, which is quite an achievement for any label in the current climate let alone one of the world’s true independents. But XL is on a roll this year. Did you realize the xx album from The xx, on XL (now that’s a tongue twister) in a very stealth fashion has sold over 100,000 copies domestically? Not bad for a release that has barely blipped on the radar of most mainstream media. As with Vampire Weekend, a lot of blog mentions and a hefty dose of love from Pitchfork can go a long way, but such attention is not a guarantee of success. Looking at sales for some of the other blog favorites such as Neon Indian and UK buzzy acts Hot Chip and The Big Pink, they have all ambled along a similar sales plateau recently in spite of a significant blog presence. In all, that makes the sales for The xx even more impressive. The London trio is sure to spread the gospel even wider coming off a much talked-about dusk slot at Coachella and more upcoming US dates, including two sold-out shows in Los Angeles and appearances at the upcoming Sasquatch and Bonnaroo festivals. Also expect many to come out for support act Phantogram on the West Coast dates, as the highly rated Brooklyn duo are turning heads right now with their album Eyelid Movies on Barsuk Records and current tour with The Antlers.
One band that has a slew of high profile live dates ahead of them is Long Beach teen sensations Avi Buffalo. Coming off a recent runs with both Japandroids and Rogue Wave, the summer will see them sharing the stage with everyone from Modest Mouse and Sub Pop label-mates Blitzen Trapper to My Morning Jacket. Avi Buffalo’s self-titled debut album is out this week and has already garnered a 9/10 rating in Britain’s NME magazine.
- Cool Hand Luke
| Posted in Indie Dispatches, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Indie Dispatches: Coachella Music Preview & Record Store Day
Band of Skulls set to rock Coachella this Saturday
It’s that time of the year again, when music fans and industry folks alike make the trek to Indio California to sit by the pool, and sip… err, we mean, visit the Empire Polo Fields for three days of the Coachella Festival. And despite the recession and the absence of single-day tickets, we hear the mega-festival has already sold out. As always, it looks to be a great weekend with a solid lineup, but going beyond the big acts like Muse, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke and Faith No More, there is a healthy line-up of more underground but equally exciting artists to check out… Friday highlights include Brooklyn’s Sleigh Bells, who are odds-on for a “most likely to…” status in 2010, and Deer Tick who count NBC’s news anchor and indie tastemaker Brian Williams‘ as a fan… Looking to Saturday, Sub Pop’s Beach House have converted a lot of fans this year with their new album Teen Dream, while Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit should be the perfect summery pop-soundtrack for basking in the afternoon sunshine. From the West Coast, the Pitchfork-approved Girls and the odd-named-but-great-sounding Portugal the Man, who recently signed to Atlantic Records, are both worth a look, while the must-see for the day could be the UK’s Band of Skulls. Expect LCD Soundsystem to wow crowds in the desert, after wowing crowds with surprise shows in NYC last week, and keep an eye on The xx, who are fast-becoming the subject of obsession by music fans on both coast. Finally before escaping the desert, a must-see on Sunday’s dance card list includes: Australia’s The Middle East, who are rolling off a huge SXSW buzz, Sigur Ros singer/guitarist Jonsi, and Local Natives, who are one of the hardest working bands in L.A… Get Coachella set-times here.
If a trip to the desert is not in your future, don’t forget April 17th is the annual Record Store Day. A visit to support your local music emporium should always be a weekly event, but this Saturday is twice as exciting with a cool selection of limited edition items available. Just like a sample-sale event, record geeks will be out in full-force when the doors open, elbowing and jockeying their way to nab a copy of the limited Sonic Youth LPs, the Bon Iver 7″ and that Pavement compilation… Happy shopping!
- Cool Hand Luke
| Posted in Indie Dispatches, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Indie Dispatches: L.A. gets Waved Out & Dangerbird’s Signing Spree
Dangerbird Records Signs Manchester's Delphic
The balmy Los Angeles weather had a whole stack of music fans and industry folk checking out bands on the rise, eating bacon-wrapped hot dogs and generally hanging out in historic Echo Park for the recent inaugural Waved Out Festival at the Echo/Echoplex. Kudos to the folks at Spaceland, who with help from Aquarium Drunkard put on the eastside event that was full of good vibes and from what we’re told is the first of what will be a series of similar affairs coming in 2010. Think of a mini-version of NY’s Siren Festival. The ‘one admission’ ticket across the two venues encouraged people to check out acts that they otherwise might have not investigated. This included local up-and-comers Gamblehouse and Atlanta’s The Coathangers, who came out with classic Pacific Northwest 90’s Riot grrrl rock swagger. The surprise of the day was San Francisco’s psychedelic Moon Duo – the two-piece is buzzing after some Pitchfork love for their recent SXSW shows. The all-day event was topped off with sets from Best Coast, the nom de plume of L.A. local Bethany Cosentino who has over 20k digital downloads and more than a couple premier indie labels in pursuit, followed by one of this year’s most-talked about acts at SXSW, Surfer Blood. The latter played to a packed room, including a heavy contingent of top brass from Warner Bros. Records. Their release Astrocoast has sold over 20k on Kanine Records, and many are wondering if they will be the next act from the indie to be launched onto a major label following Chairlift’s promotion to Columbia Records…
More from the indie label front as Dangerbird Records continues their signing spree. After recently announcing the addition of both Minus the Bear and Hot Hot Heat to their expanding roster, this week they added more international flavor by signing Manchester’s Delphic. The combo’s new album Acolyte debuted in the UK top 10 earlier this year and will see a June release in the states.
- Cool Hand Luke
| Posted in Indie Dispatches, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
| Posted in Indie Dispatches, Uncategorized | No Comments »