Archive: March, 2008

1MM: Anti-Pop Consortium Reunion @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar, 3.22.08

March 28th, 2008 | File Under: 1MM, Media | One comment

Beans … smiling? Maybe this reunion ain’t a bad idea after all.

Photos by Sarah Maxwell

We’ve had some server problems the past couple days (apparently you people still can’t get enough of our Dan the Automator/Mike Patton interview), but everything’s looking mighty fine now so expect a slew of posts today starting with the following shots from last Saturday’s Anti-Pop Consortium reunion at the Knitting Factory’s tiny “Tap Bar.”

The word on the street is the boys killed it, so be sure to check out one of the following sporadic shows if you want a solid preview of the quartet’s in-progress LP:

4/14 Brussels, Belgium – Domino Festival
4/19 Bourges, France – Le Printemps de Bourges
5/9 Lyon, France – Les Nuits Sonores
5/23 London, England – Brixton Academy *
5/26 Mancheter, England – Academy *
5/27 Glasgow, Scotland – ABC 1 *
6/19-21 Barcelona, Spain – Sonar Festival

* with Public Enemy, Dr. Octagon, Edan, MC Dagha

More photos after the jump of course …

Posted in: 1MM, Media

SOUNDTRACKS OF OUR LIVES: Németh

March 25th, 2008 | File Under: Features | One comment

Story by Stefan Németh

Photo by Gerald Zahn

My personal approach to film music is it’s often better to have less sound than too much. Film scores can have their own life, but they always have to serve the story in the movie first. This means I prefer to keep the sound as minimal as possible most of the time. A few notes or a single sound can often be much more pleasant for me, because it does not interpret the optical input too much. The audience has to bring it all together and a little blank space or mystery in a scene leaves it open to the individual how to see things.

So it is with the ambience sounds, the “real world,” which I try to bring into the music in a slightly modified and processed form. This is the link to the recordings done on location. And it is often the starting point for music in the common sense. It makes it possible to find a logical relation between music, sound design and recordings on location.

Németh talks about his favorite film soundtracks after the jump …

Posted in: Features

THE SELF-TITLED INTERVIEW: Efrim Menuck

March 25th, 2008 | File Under: The S/T Interview | 3 comments

Words by Aaron Richter

Efrim Menuck will be heard. As the guitarist and vocalist of his group, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band (originally formed in 1999 as a side project to the legendary Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Menuck will release his fifth LP, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, which contains four lengthy, sweeping songs that showcase the Canadian troupe at its most jarring and abrasive. In the face of desperate times, 13 Blues is a sprawling, in-your-face rock record bubbling with vital commentary that refuses to be ignored. Even the seemingly inoffensive twelve seconds-long tracks of noise that begin the album are somewhat of a clever “fuck you” to iPod-toting casual listeners, according to Menuck.

Here the musician speaks with self-titled about 13 Blues’ social, personal and political themes, losing his record collection and why he thinks the members of Radiohead are just a bunch of “con men.”

Posted in: The S/T Interview

SxSW Spotlight: Fatal Flying Guilloteens

March 24th, 2008 | File Under: SXSW 2008 | Leave A Comment

The Artist: Houston-based anti-heroes with a penchant for stage-diving and mic-swallowing.

Their Latest Release: Quantum Fucking (French Kiss, 2007)

The Showcase: French Kiss @ The Mohawk, 3.12.08

The Set in a Sentence: A blues hammer to the head that left a few bruises and a lot of spilled beer.

And a Letter Grade: A

Photos after the jump …

Posted in: SXSW 2008

BUY IT, BURN IT, SKIP IT: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Excepter, The B-52’s

March 24th, 2008 | File Under: Buy It, Burn It, Skip It, Reviews | Leave A Comment

SILVER MT. ZION: & the Tra-La-La Band, bitches

[Photo by Mark Slutsky]

By Aaron Richter

As you all certainly 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?

Posted in: Buy It, Burn It, Skip It, Reviews

A Place to Bury Strangers & Holy Fuck @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 3.23.08

March 23rd, 2008 | File Under: Reviews | One comment

Text/Photos by Aaron Richter

You know you’ve got something great going on when you can upstage a band as great as Holy Fuck. Brooklyn-based trio A Place To Bury Strangers did just that—on this final stop in the two bands’ recent tour together—by cranking their amps to an uncomfortably high volume, so loud we couldn’t look away for a second. Which isn’t to say that Holy Fuck gobbled a dick. Strangers were just so damn good. Sorry we don’t have any photos but the place was just packed for them, obstructing any chance of a decent shot.

Also of note: Someone who looked exactly like Bob Balaban was taking photos of Holy Fuck on his cell phone, Broseph to our right with a puka-shell necklace nodded off after a strong hit of pot, and Asian Broseph to our left was selling baggies of white stuff (we’re guessing Elmer’s Glue) out of his satchel. Full review after the jump …

Posted in: Reviews

SxSW Spotlight: Thurston Moore’s Lou Reed Tribute

March 22nd, 2008 | File Under: SXSW 2008 | Leave A Comment

The Artist: The underground’s greatest living guitar god.

Their Latest Release: Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace, 2007)

The Showcase: Lou Reed Tribute @ The FADER Fort, 3.13.08

The Set in a Sentence: One of the only signs of life in a rather stale paean to one of rock’s reigning nihilists.

And a Letter Grade: A-

Photos after the jump …

Posted in: SXSW 2008

SxSW Spotlight: Pissed Jeans

March 22nd, 2008 | File Under: SXSW 2008 | One comment

The Artist: Philly’s finest sludge merchants.

Their Latest Release: Hope For Men (Sub Pop, 2007)

The Showcase: Sub Pop @ Bourbon Rocks, 3.14.08

Their Set in a Sentence: David Yow for a Y2K world as led by a guitarist that builds quite a fence of barbed wire chords despite looking like a teddy bear.

And a Letter Grade: A

Photos after the jump …

Posted in: SXSW 2008

THE S/T SCOOP: Liam Howlett of The Prodigy Reveals New Record Details

March 20th, 2008 | File Under: News, The S/T Scoop | 8 comments

Well, sorta. Here’s what the Prodigy mastermind said to say about the still-unfinished affair during a lengthy interview, the entirety of which will be posted here soon:

I’ve got the album title, which I can’t tell you. I’ve got the song titles, which I can’t tell you. I mean, I want to talk to you about it but it’s not the time yet. Anyway, it’s pretty all over the place, with the one similarity being that they will all be played live. It’s a more exciting sounding record than the last one. Some would say it was more of a solo project, which we needed to do at the time. This is definitely more of an album getting us back towards [where we were at the beginning].

Howlett also had a lot of nice things to say about the UK’s current dubstep trend, as well as Justice, whom he called “really exciting. When you’re dealing with Justice, you’re dealing with quality. It’s not just immature. It’s sick.” A Prodigy album possibly influenced by Justice and dubstep? Who knows? Whatever happens, Howlett hopes to have the record done and ready for a 2008 release.

Oh, by the way: The Prodigy would have played SxSW this year … had they finished the damn disc.

Posted in: News, The S/T Scoop

SxSW Spotlight: …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

March 20th, 2008 | File Under: SXSW 2008 | One comment

The Artist: Hometown heroes now split between Austin and Brooklyn; currently busy working on a new album in Texas with no label to pay their bills. (Interscope dropped Trail last year.)

Their Latest Release: So Divided (Interscope, 2006)

The Showcase: “The Showdown,” presented by Village Voice Media @ La Zona Rosa, 3.14.08

Their Set in a Sentence: A couple new cuts that suggest the next album’s gonna be gnarly as fuck; lots of catalog-skimming classics to please the fans that stuck with Trail through their poor sales record; and not too much chaos theorizing considering the band’s reputation for destroying their equipment and each other. (Said frontman Conrad Keely, “This is a relaxing afternoon show, so don’t expect us to break anything.”)

And a Letter Grade: B+

Photos after the jump …

Posted in: SXSW 2008

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