LOU REED @ SxSW

• Lou Reed has signed on for his very own Sirius satellite radio show.
• Santogold has proven that Julian Casablancas is still alive.
• Arcade Fire is not scoring the next Richard Kelly film.
• Leonard Cohen has launched his first tour in 15 years.
• Sony BMG is still bleeding money.
• As the rich keep getting richer and the rest of us blow our beer money on My Bloody Valentine tickets, all we can do is stare at this beautiful monstrosity.
• CBS has snatched CNET.
• Nice video, Pelican.
• Tilly & the Wall’s announced some new tour dates.
• Apparently the new Hold Steady album is awesome.
• Courtney Love has scrapped all of her Linda Perry sessions.
• Andrew Bird recently recorded some new jams at Wilco’s loft.
• Hot Chip will return to the road in the fall.
• D.C. area Radiohead fans would like to get in the ring with Mother Nature.
• This is why we still love Andrew WK.
• Metallica’s firming up their tour plans behind their as-yet-untitled 2008 album.

[Read more →]

Okay, so this one’s essentially an EP—an EP that spreads 31 minutes over just four tracks. And what an extended player it is, showing a fresh side of Four Tet that was first hinted at on his tantalizing “Tonto” remix. Easily one of his finest knob-twiddling efforts, the Battles track went from being a spastic piece of post-everything bliss to a total trance record. Not in the Oakie or Tiësto sense of the word; more like an excuse to plug in and fade the fuck out.

Ringer takes this heady dance music direction even further by funneling minimal techno through a cracked kaleidoscope lens. In other words, everything sounds alive, and in no way as cold or calculated as  Berlin’s post-Hawtin sound. The title track, for starters, is steeped in melancholy, a hypnotic groove, and eight sustained minutes of synth washes. The chunky drum loops at the denouement are the only sign of the Kieran Hebden we used to know—you know, the guy that didn’t play gigs with The Field and The Glimmers—and even they are quite muted.

In other news, “Ribbons” is driven by clinking, clattering cymbal hits, “Swimmer” is spacey in both senses of the word (as in the stars and actual roominess), and “Wing Body Wing” is full of playful, drunken percussion patterns and a persistent bass thump. Here’s hoping that Hebden turns all of this restless energy into an LP soon, effectively put the term “folktronica” to rest for good.

CUT COPY: Partying like it’s 1989

Text/Photos by Andrew Parks

Now that Black Kids have  been through a hype/backlash cycle without ever releasing an actual record, self-titled—consider us BK oblivious until tonight—can safely say everything you’ve heard lately is true. Namely the impossible to deny fact that they sound like, well, kids: inexperienced and sloppy, yet determined to entertain, with nothing but skeletons of songs peeking out from the post-punk/dance-rock din. One thing we don’t get is the Cure connection: the only thing s/t heard in Reggie Youngblood’s voice was a bit of Bloc Party at times.

As for Cut Copy, we love their LPs (including the recently released In Ghost Colours) and they put on one hell of a dance-or-die show. But there’s simply no escaping the trouble many of their tracks have in a live setting. While  singles like “Saturdays” and “Lights & Music” tantalize and thump one’s temples like the underground club anthems they aspire to be, other Cut Copy classics (the laser-guided melancholia of “Future,” especially) lose some of their edge onstage. Maybe it’s the lack of studio pyrotechnics or simply Studio B’s soundsystem. Either way, the band’s almost there in terms of truly crossing over, ala the almighty LCD Soundsystem. We’ll be watching them closely in the meantime.

Photos after the jump …

[Read more →]

PHARRELL WILLIAMS @ The Fader Fort, SxSW 2008

[Photo by Andrew Parks]

By Arye Dworken

Eight songs from Weezer’s forthcoming “Red Album” leaked all over the Internet this week. The most surprising thing about them? They don’t all completely suck. “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)” is an epic Queen-like arena rocker that features Rivers’ falsetto and a marching choir chanting lines like “I’m the baddest of the bad, I’m the best that you ever had.” The song is presumably about the singer himself which is kind of endearing when you consider he’s like, 5-foot-6. Maybe album No. 6 will be good enough to make up for “Beverly Hills” after all.

And incidentally, the genius of this band is that no one is sure anymore what is ironic and what is not.

[Read more →]

THE BLACK ANGELS: Drifters in the dark

[Photo by Briana Purser]

By Aaron Richter

As we all know by now, new releases hit record-store shelves and digital-download services each Tuesday. So every week self-titled presents a new release you’d be stupid not to own (Buy It), one worth checking out if you’re the curious type (Burn It) and something you might have heard about but probably should avoid (Skip It). Simple, ain’t it?

[Read more →]

ROCK IS DEAD, LONG LIVE ROCK

By Matt Siblo

Few figures within the punk rock spectrum provoke more intense fandom than John Reis, one of the key string-pullers behind Rocket from the Crypt, Drive like Jehu, Hot Snakes and Swami Records. While each of his bands have a distinct sound, they all sport an age-old swagger—a hybrid of greaser machismo and rock ‘n’ roll theatrics—that few underground acts have matched.

Reis’ latest project, The Night Marchers, finds him reinventing high-definition rock one again; this time with former Hot Snakes brethren (bassist Gar Wood, now ramping up the rhythm guitar; drummer Jason Kourkounis) and bassist Thomas Kitsos. Since the band’s delayed debut (See You in Magic, Vagrant/Swami) finally saw the light of day in late April, self-titled caught up with Reis to discuss the finer points of running a record label, the Turkish psychedelic scene of the 1970s and just how much money it would take to get him to reunite with his old bands. Consider our financial audit already in progress.

[Read more →]

NO AGE: Ready for their close up

[Photo by Andrew Parks]

By Aaron Richter

As we all know by now, new releases hit record-store shelves and digital-download services each Tuesday. So every week self-titled presents a new release you’d be stupid not to own (Buy It), one worth checking out if you’re the curious type (Burn It) and something you might have heard about but probably should avoid (Skip It). Simple, ain’t it?

[Read more →]

The view from the bathroom break line

Text/Photos by Aaron Richter

I’m 96-percent positive that I’m the last person in the world to see No Age live. The LA duo has been through New York, done the CMJ circuit and roughed it out at SXSW enough go-’rounds that most of my friends seem to need two hands to count the number of times they’ve seen the band live. And until tonight, my magic number was zero. So here’s a list of things I learned while seeing No Age for the first time: [Read more →]

Okay, it’s official: “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” is one hell of a candidate for song of the year. A whirlpool of drone-on distortion and cutting, cathartic vocals (the line “will we evolve?”—at least we think that’s what Benjamin John Power’s screaming—is a frightening call to arms), it’s easily the best thing Fuck Button’s done in their short time together. It’s also a fitting opening to the duo’s face-melting set, which didn’t change much between South by Southwest and last night’s Mercury Lounge show. Not that we cared with songs that are this full of life. Photos after the jump …

[Read more →]

If you’re wondering where today’s “Story of the Week” entry is, you’ll just have to wait until our massive Animal Collective interview drops tomorrow. For now, we’ve kept this Earth one up in honor of their New York show tomorrow and the pairs of tickets we have to give away. Want one? Hurry up and e-mail aparks@self-titledmag.com , then. Note: In the case of many people e-mailing at once, telling us what you dig (and don’t dig) about the site will help your chances of scoring a night with Dylan Carlson and friends.