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As the Cowboy notes in The Big Lebowski, "Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes... The bar eats you." With that said, here is to eating the bar. Hopefully I, along with all my friends, will pass this thing and move onto the next stage of whatever life has in store for us.
Good luck everyone and to my loyal readers, I'll be a little busy for the next few days so it might be a little slow around here. I promise to make it up to you when I get back.
Grizzly Bear debuted a new song called "Two Weeks" on Letterman last night. It's ridiculous how good these guys are. Watch the video for proof.
Here is a preview of what's sure to be another great album from the Walkmen. You & Me is due out on August 19th.
Dr. Dog - Fate
I'm getting ready to take the bar exam next week so I don't have a ton of time to devote to writing reviews at the moment. I've decided I should probably spend my time studying for this thing. That being said, it's safe to say it would be negligence on my part if I didn't tell you to pick up Dr. Dog's new album Fate as soon as possible. See, to be guilty of negligence I have to owe you a duty, breach the duty, causation must exist and finally you would have to be damaged in some way. In this case, I feel I have a duty to my faithful readers when a great new record comes out so we have our first element. Then, if I didn't tell you about this one I would obviously be breaching that duty. As far as causation goes, well... you need cause-in-fact as well as proximate causation. In the case of cause-in-fact we'd analyze this with the "but for" test. As in, you would not have been "injured" but for my failure to tell you about this great record. Proximate cause is a limitation on my liability to you and deals with the harms that fall within the risks of my behavior. Since you guys read my blog, not telling you about such a great record and the subsequent injury would clearly fall within this realm of foreseeability. Finally, the all important damage. If you don't check out this record you will be really missing out. So with that being said you should pick up Fate if you haven't already because there's some really beautiful stuff on this record. OK, it's back to the books to check and make sure I didn't explain negligence incorrectly!
I shared an OMD cover from Parenthetical Girls with you all a few weeks ago and now I have a track off their new album Entanglements for you as well. I must admit, I wasn't all that familiar with the band prior to the aforementioned OMD cover but ever since then I've been anxiously waiting the record. Entanglements will be released on September 9th via Tomlab. If the song below is any indication it's going to be ridiculously good.
More than a few different sites have already posted about the amazing new camera-less video Radiohead has released for "House of Cards". Yes, by camera-less I mean they didn't use any cameras to film the video. If you haven't seen the video yet I strongly recommend watching it as well as the "making of" video that's posted after the jump in order to understand just exactly how it was created.
Menomena drummer Danny Seim is getting ready to release his ninth album of lo-fi electronic material courtesy of his Lackthereof side project. Being a big fan of Menomena this is an obvious addition to the list of things I can't wait to hear. The album is called Your Anchor and will be out July 22nd on Barsuk Records. You can hear one of the tracks off the album below.
Albert Hammond, Jr. - ¿Cómo Te Llama?
Whether it's his sense of style, the way he wears his guitar or the bands he lists as influences, it's clear that Albert could moonlight as a historian of pop culture. As you may have read elsewhere, this album is built on Albert's affinity for bands like The Kinks, Neil Young and The Clash. Upon completion, ¿Cómo Te Llama? goes a long way towards honoring and, at the same time, putting Albert's own touch on the sounds remiscient of those bands.
What's most striking to me about this record is how it differs from Yours To Keep. Where Yours To Keep seemed to keep a common feeling of breezy SoCal sounds from one song to the next, ¿Cómo Te Llama? showcases Albert and his bands ability to do whatever they want. And do it well. Whether it's the 50s-era rock of the perfectly crafted "You Won't Be Fooled By This", the Rocksteady vibe of "Borrowed Time", or the Peter Gunn-ey à la Henry Mancini bass riff of "Victory In Monterey", it's clear Albert and his supporting cast aren't a bunch of one trick ponies. That being said, the best moments are those that strike me as being the most, if this makes sense, uniquely Albert. Tracks like the stellar first single "GfC" or "Miss Myrtle" don't feel like they would fit anywhere but on one of his records. These tracks harness the energy and dedication with which Albert has approached his first two solo albums and at the same time do the most to showcase who he is as a budding songwriter.
With that, I think it's safe to say that after listening to ¿Cómo Te Llama? Albert has undeniably avoided the feared "sophomore slump". In fact, I'd say he's made quite a leap forward.
In case you're curious as to just exactly what it is the guys are sitting around in the video, it's called a dreamachine. I was first introduced to the hypnagogic powers of the dreamachine by the boys of Uno Moss.
Here is the first single off Dr. Dog's upcoming release Fate. I absolutely can't wait for this record. It'll be out July 22nd on Park the Van in case you've been sleeping under a rock and didn't know.
In preparation for the release of the deluxe version of Fancy Footwork, Chromeo hit Jimmy Kimmel's outdoor stage a week or so ago to perform the title track from the album. Not only was it a great performance but it looks like the duo is doing their best to keep a few of the Simply Irresistible girls employed in today's less than stellar economy. That combined with their homage to the video for Money for Nothing with their "Bonafide Lovin" video show the guys are doing their best to carry the torch for some of the '80s most iconic stars. Check out the video below.
Finally, the deluxe version of the album includes several remixes by the likes of MSTRKRFT, Crookers, Yuksek and several others. You can hear Yuksek's remix of the aforementioned "Bonafide Lovin" below and if you like what you hear, pre-order a copy to show your support for the electrofunk masters. I'm sure David would appreciate the help while he tries to pay for that Ph.D. in French Literature from Columbia!
For those of interested in hearing what Albert Hammond, Jr.'s been up to since Yours To Keep head over to his MySpace page and stream his new album, ¿Cómo Te Llama?, due July 8th. If you like what you hear you can pre-order an autographed copy of the album at Newbury Comics.
Also, make sure to check out this New York magazine article featuring summer playlists/muxtapes from a number of great artists including Albert's here.
I'm usually not big on posting fan-shot concert videos but this is far too good to pass up regardless of the quality. Here is Neil Young covering the Beatles classic "A Day In The Life" from his recent show at Malahide Castle in Dublin.
