LOCH LOMOND to support The Decemberists | 3 September 2008
As reported by news sources here and there our dearest LOCH LOMOND has been announced as Fall tour support for The Decemberists!
Loch Lomond live in the Galaxy Barn, Pickathon 2008 from Dave Allen on Vimeo.
JAMES PANTS is Everywhere | 4 June 2008
On May 27, 2008 James Pants released his debut full-length Welcome on Stones Throw Records.
The world will never be the same…
Like so many great American heroes, the story of Pants starts with shopping, DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, and prom. Years later, step by inauspicious step, James Pants’ idiosyncratic, 80’s idiomatic, and freshly fantastic sound has taken over the galaxy.
Featured on MySpace:
Featured on iTunes:
And, after being featured on YouTube, the hits on his Cosmic Rapp video gained a 1, from 11,000 to 111,000:
And all of this not to mention that Welcome was the No. 1 most added on the CMJ RPM charts! Fresh off a tour with Jamie Lidell and onto Europe in July, we wonder where will the mad Pants takeover end?!
LAURA GIBSON performs on new NPR series | 12 May 2008
“In a perfect world…” so begins a recent NPR article, “musicians would come to your home for a private performance, or they’d show up at your office and play at your desk, easing you through the workday.” Well, utopia is now. Laura Gibson after performing over an allegedly “blathering bar-crowd” in Austin was kindly requested by NPR’s All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen to perform in a diametrically antithetical setting. Thus she kicked off what will hopefully be a continuing series of “Tiny Desk Concerts.” Check out the performance here.
All of this leads us to reflect. From the drunken cacophony of a Texan music hall to a corner office space in what was voted the most trusted news source in the US [citation needed], the songs shine like winter snow under a bright dawn, just as they always have.
MUSÉE MÉCANIQUE on the long winding road | 2 April 2008
In the basement of a small Victorian home on the banks of the Willamette river, new-baroque quintet Musée Mécanique have packed a van with a minor orchestra’s worth of keyboards and creaky folk sound makers to go do what no one does better across America.
From the west to the east and back again, tracing a network of highways half as ornate as their arrangements and under spring-time skies one fifth as lush, Musée Mécanique performs with the mystique, innovation, and befuddling precision of the wayward orchestrion by whose namesake they’ve titled their debut album.
Mark you datebook for a memorable evening.
WYE OAK talks to THESE UNITED STATES | 21 March 2008
Splice Today, with it’s self-described purpose “to provoke, irritate, delight and confuse readers who are bored or dissatisfied with current online journalism” has provided at least one of those sentiments, namely delight, in a recent dual interview with Wye Oak and These United States. The candid and conversational exchanges between Wye Oak’s Andy Stack and TheseUS’s Jesse Elliott range from the mutating mechanics of record distribution, trials and triumphs of touring, chest-hair inducing Pontiak shows, whether we love or hate the ubiquitous Big Brother Blogosphere, the lurch and tumble of shopping labels, and that Pontiak just may save humanity.
The interview is refreshingly both illuminating and funny, likely because in replacement of the orthodox stock-question-laconic-answer format, the insights develop themselves in the very same dialogue style that made Plato so famous way back when. Regardless of Invisible City love and affiliation, we’d pass this on to anyone who wants a peek at what makes modern music tick.
Check it out here, and don’t miss the chance to pick Wye Oak’s or These United States’s brains yourself!
Dates: Wye Oak / These United States
THESE UNITED STATES is a radio star | 11 March 2008
Nationally respected twin taste-making titans of radiowaves, NPR and KEXP have now both given These United States’ “First Sight” the prestigious distinction of being song of the day! Cheers!
In the apt words of NPR’s Claire Blaustein:
First Sight begins unassumingly, with a minimalist approach that offers few hints of the verbal flood to follow: a bevy of images, all delivered with the same gentle intensity… The melody continues to move, neither sitting stagnantly in the background nor overwhelming the riptides of ideas. It’s easy, then, to follow the song’s progression of instant passion to love, all the way to the point where ‘generations would follow the course that we’d charted. From that sofa across, I couldn’t wait to get started.’
Better yet, let First Sight speak for itself and be your own song of the day!
Get back to lovin' THESE UNITED STATES | 18 February 2008
On March 4th, with fellow DC homers known as Federal Reserve as their arsenal, These United States will count down to midnight and raise glasses and guitars in celebration of A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden officially released on United Interests. Not only does this soirée coincide with the 3rd day of the 3rd month in the year of our lord, but will inaugurate a 33 day tour with 33 different backing bands for each night, creating a unique one-of-a-kind experience for all involved in each and every nook of this fine union.
Come break a bottle of champagne over their car on March 3rd in the name of fair weather and high adventures on this ambitious trek!
LAURA GIBSON to Support Colin Meloy on US Tour | 1 February 2008
Posterboy of Portland’s new-chantey scene, Colin Meloy, is sailing solo this April with a cargo bin full of his tour-only EP in which he Sings Sam Cooke. On that very same record Laura Gibson helps sing soul legend Sam Cooke, too, and will be doing so right alongside Colin Meloy, after singing her own songs, all throughout our United States.
Reminiscent of how Chris Funk’s solo-tour as Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble included members of Point Juncture, WA and had Horse Feathers for nightly support, Portland’s music community exhibits yet again: it’s a big city sound with a small-town feel. The constant cross pollination must be part and parcel to why we’re blown away without end by the records that come out of there, of which Laura Gibson’s hushed heart-string grabbing If You Come To Greet Me is a shining paragon.
You can stay for Colin, but come out to see Laura Gibson from sea to shining sea.
WYE OAK gets Forkcasted | 16 January 2008
Whilst on the road sharing the musical love with clubs, radios, and colleges, Wye Oak has come to the attention of Chicago’s eminent 1.5 million unique visitors per month online music publication, Pitchfork Media. Cherished or loathed for its elitism, its influence is as indisputable as it is infamous. But, we can all at least agree that Warning, the first single from Merge re-released If Children, deserves nothing less than the spotlight on the Forkcast short-list.
From Pitchfork:
Warning is a wonderfully simple song, but Wasner’s way with the guitar—not unlike like Medicine’s Brad Laner—makes it feel compelling, even pressing. The ragged jangle that accompanies Wasner’s vocal out of the lead break, the smeared canvas of feedback squall behind the verses, both offset Wasner perfectly…
You can find the full post here, and don’t forget music sounds much better in person!
WYE OAK signs to Merge Records | 3 January 2008
Decided to eat healthy, quit smoking, or read more? While sipping mimosas on New Year’s eve we’re wont to give into flights of self-edifying optimism. And with those wide imaginative eyes sparkling like the ball in Times Square, we look forward into those hopeful ambitions for 2008. While most of us would feel accomplished simply to start jogging once a week, there are those individuals among us that have a mind about them for something bigger.
North Carolina’s eminent independent power-house label Merge Records now proudly boasts the inception of Wye Oak into their notable roster. Saddled up next to the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel, Robert Pollard, and the Arcade Fire, Baltimore’s breakout duo is set for exciting new horizons, fresh beginnings, and other New Year’s themed idioms.
As far as “fresh beginnings” are concerned, Merge will re-release debut full length If Children on April 8th, 2008. More details can be found on their website. But, first things first, Wye Oak is kicking off a smattering of US shows this Saturday at Union Hall in Brooklyn, NY.
Champagne all around!