TEST PRESSING: Download New and Old DJ Mixes From The Time and Space Machine, Andrew Weatherall and Greg Wilson
Posted on November 29, 2009
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The Time and Space Machine
If you’re like us and already back to work after an all-too-brief holiday weekend, then you probably don’t want to waste any time sifting through songs on iTunes. That’s why we rounded up a handful of genre-jumping DJ mixes: a 16-year-old (!) BBC Essential set from Andrew Weatherall, a black light-optional peek at the psych crate of The Time and Space Machine, and 120 minutes of glitter ball jams—created for a ’silent disco’ installation at Tate Liverpool—from the legendary Greg Wilson.
Check the tracklists and download/stream options after the jump… Read more
1MM: Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. Battle for Indie-Rock Supremacy, While Cold Cave Thrills (Even If No One Really Cares at All)
Posted on November 22, 2009
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Words and Photos by Aaron Richter
If there ever were a totally bunk opening slot in indie-rock history, prepping a crowd for the guitar onslaught of Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth probably takes it. Even more so when your band performs New Ordery dance music behind three synthesizers—not a guitar in sight—as was the case Saturday night at Terminal 5 for relatively recent Matador signee Cold Cave. Crushed in a corner of the stage, the trio—heads bobbing in A Night at the Roxbury nods—pulsed through its moody tracks, which (a truly wretched track about a “brittle, little life” aside) were quite thrilling to hear pumped through the venue’s monster system and, performed live, took on a noisier, industrial edge.
Dinosaur Jr. plowed out its usual cochlea-obliterating routine, yet we can’t help but feel that Mascis, Barlow and Murph were much better as a reunited band before they started writing new songs. Oh well. Sonic Youth caught the slack and tugged hard. Although much of the set spanned The Eternal (which plays much better live than the Youth’s previous two efforts—Kim even has a new dance-around “Kool Thing” in “Sacred Trickster”), the group dipped into Daydream Nation, Sister and Evol, for a chilling turn through “Shadow of a Doubt.” One can only imagine they’ll be hitting Goo (absent Saturday night) during this week’s Music Hall of Williamsburg shows. Check out pics and Sonic Youth’s setlist after the jump.
LISTENING STATION: Bok Bok Breaks Down London’s Bassline Movement, One Dubplate At a Time
Posted on November 21, 2009
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As psyched as we are to finally see Joker paint the Big Apple purple, there’s two other reasons to roll up to Trouble & Bass early this weekend: Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990—resident DJs of London’s wildly popular Night Slugs party, and a favorite of labels like Mad Decent and Dirty Bird—are also spinning their own potent bassline mix of dubstep, house, garage and grime.
A perfect pairing for the speaker-flexing platters of the T&B crew, in other words. Or as Bok Bok said in an interview with FACT magazine, “We want London to turn their back on noisy cocaine music and rediscover getting really loose and wild to raw, dutty bass music. We’re trying to strip away all the pretenses and just let people get raw in a club and really have fun with club music…a new sound, a whole new variety of club music. We want everyone to be bass-heads!”
Here are five gateway drug favorites from Bok Bok’s current crate, along with a couple mixes from the past year.
PRIMER: Stephen Brodsky Contemplates the Entire Cave In Catalog, Including That One Bloated RCA Record and Our Favorite Metal Album of All Time
Posted on November 19, 2009
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Forget Master of Puppets and the ever-evolving D&D discs of Mastodon for a minute. If there’s one metal record we reach for on a regular basis, it’s Cave In’s first proper full-length, the decade-old Until Your Heart Stops. A dizzying array of chord-climbing riffs, speaker-rattling vocals and traumatic time changes—not to mention the anvil-dropping rhythm section of drummer J.R. Conners and bassist Caleb Scofield—it’s a prime example of masochistic pop music, catchy but chaotic stuff that wouldn’t sound out of place while driving your car off a cliff.
In fact, it’s so chaotic that the band often claims they can’t play certain parts anymore. They’ll get a chance to tonight, as Cave In continues its post-hiatus run of rare shows at the Knitting Factory’s new Brooklyn location. We recently caught up with frontman Stephen Brodsky and asked him to give us a run through of the band’s overwhelming back catalog, from the totally ’90s hardcore of their first 7-inch to the $250,000 RCA tossed out the window while Cave In created the most bloated record of their career.
While you read, be sure to grab our playlist of crucial Cave In cuts from the past 13 years.
RECORDING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: From the Field Paintings of Samuel Palmer to the Earth-Body Art of Ana Mendieta, The Clientele Breaks Down the ‘Blair Witch’ Bent of Bonfires on the Heath
Posted on November 18, 2009
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[Photo by Andy Willsher]
Recording Under the Influence is a recurring self-titled feature where we ask artists to ignore their musical inspirations for a minute and share what really went into the making of a particular record. In this week’s installment, The Clientele’s frontman, Alasdair MacLean, reveals the rather haunting roots of their fifth full-length record, Bonfires on the Heath (Merge). And what do you know? All of the album’s woozy nature walk imagery suddenly makes sense. Read more
SUPPORT THIS: Liturgy Set (Le) Poisson Rouge Ablaze With Brooklyn-Bred Black Metal
Posted on November 17, 2009
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The Artist: Yet another indication that the Big Apple finally has a burgeoning ‘metal scene’.
Their Latest Release: Renihilation (20 Buck Spin)
Who They Opened For: Rwake and Shrinebuiler @ (Le) Poisson Rouge, 11.15.09
Why They Should Be Headlining Art-Damaged Metal Shows: Read more
PEEP SHOW: Watch White Rabbits Cover ‘Instant Karma’ At San Fran Show With Spoon’s Britt Daniel
Posted on November 16, 2009
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In the spirit of their It’s Frightening sessions, White Rabbits and Spoon’s Britt Daniel recently nailed a live cover of “Instant Karma.” Check the San Fran clip after the jump, along with a couple of special Yahoo performances. Read more
Hot Chip Readies ‘One Life Stand’ Release, Announces Brief North American Tour With The xx
Posted on November 16, 2009
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While self-titled’s still not sure what to think of Hot Chip’s fourth album (One Life Stand, due out on Astralwerks February 9), we’re happy to hear the band’s started making tour plans for this spring. Tickets for the following stops—featuring support slot sets from The xx—go on sale next Monday, November 23: Read more
LONG PLAYER OF THE DAY: Various Artists, Forge Your Own Chains (Now-Again)
Posted on November 15, 2009
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The Reason(s) We Can’t Stop Listening: Read more
A QUICK TALK WITH MICK BARR ABOUT … His Long-Lost Black-Metal LP, 45-Minute Guitar Solos, and Just How Killer the New Krallice Album Is
Posted on November 13, 2009
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Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
Mick Barr hates doing interviews. We absolutely had to hunt the guy down after hearing the new Krallice disc (Dimensional Bleedthrough, out now on Profound Lore), though. A brilliant piece of psychedelic black-metal, it—like Liturgy’s Renihilation LP—proves you don’t have to come from the land of ice and snow (i.e. Norway) to make truly essential grim-and-bear-it tracks. In fact, Brooklyn’s concrete jungle will do. Here’s why, as seconded by tonight’s Blackened Music bill at Union Pool (Liturgy is also playing LPR with the stoner-metal supergroup Shrinebuilder on Sunday night)… Read more
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