Photo by Aaron Richter

Good news for anyone who was looking forward to Dum Dum Girls’ recently canceled headlining run: the band will be back for a month-long tour in February, starting in San Francisco and winding down in Orlando. Dee Dee and company will also be playing a one-off show with Abe Vigoda at L.A.’s Echoplex on December 21 and delivering a new EP called He Gets Me High early next year. We’re into it. Check the dates and details below…

Dum Dum Girls live:
12/21 Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
2/16 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
2/17 TBA
2/18 San Diego, CA – Casbah
2/21 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
2/23 St. Louis, MO – Billiken Club
2/24 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
2/25 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
2/26 Toronto, ON – El Mocambo
2/27 Montreal, QC – Il Motore
3/1 Burlington, VT – Metronome
3/2 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
3/3 TBA
3/4 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
3/5 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
3/6 Washington, DC – Black Cat
3/8 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
3/9 TBA
3/10 Atlanta, GA – Earl
3/11 Jacksonville, FL – Jack Rabbits
3/12 Orlando, FL – Social

Superpitcher

Here’s what was on self-titled’s office stereo today…

The Artist/Album: Earth, A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Extraction (Southern Lord, 2010)

The Songs In a Few Sentences: While Kurt Cobain may have wrecked one Melvins album, his presence certainly didn’t hurt on a couple of Earth’s earliest recordings. Remastered and reissued from two separate releases (Extra-Capsular Extraction, Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars), “Divine and Bright” and “A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge, Part II” are what happens when a grunge icon is allowed to mumble his way through the stylized murk of a cowboy junkie/drone demigod. Here’s the thing, though: those songs aren’t the highlights on Earth’s new Southern Lord comp. That distinction goes to the tar pit trials of “Ouroboros Is Broken” and the marching order movements that drive “Geometry of Murder” right into Dante’s inferno.

By the way, the NSFW video below is from an incredibly rare Sub Pop release—a hand-numbered VHS tape of black and white visuals and vintage porn that was synced up to Earth’s sludgiest material.

—

The Artist/Album: Superpitcher, Kilimanjaro (Kompakt, 2010)

The Songs In a Few Sentences: The album Superpitcher first promised us in the spring is finally out, and it’s more than worth the wait that separates it from the producer’s last LP (2004’s Here Comes Love). While we’ll never quite get why “Black Magic” pairs mirror ball melodies with Rebolledo’s breathy lover-lay-down-isms (in Spanish, mind you), the rest of the record is a mercurial peek into the producer/singer’s lovelorn mind. So if you still crank such icy techno-pop classics as “Heroin” and our personal favorite, “Happiness,” the persistent piano-house lines of “Joanna” and creeping keys of “Who Stole the Sun” will more than satisfy your need for moonlit dance music. “Rabbits In a Hurry,” on the other hand, comes across like an X-rated LCD Soundsystem tune (complete with line “everybody’s always too drunk to fuck”) and “Country Boy” is a club-bound epic about Superpitcher’s haystack upbringing.

Definitely one of the strangest, and most delightful, electronic records of the year.

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The Artist/Album: Abe Vigoda, Crush (PPM, 2010)

The Songs In a Few Sentences: Reduce a band’s entire output to the term “tropical punk” and this is what happens: they buy a bunch of thrift shop synths and start sounding like a melodramatic gang of Cure-cribbing, mascara-smearing vampires. We’re into it. Very much so.

Photo by Emily Elsen

Read about the cold-wave inclinations of Crush here. And now, for the full-on stream…

Abe Vigoda – Crush by Bella Union

In a move that makes perfect sense given the recent rise of 4AD/Mute-indebted bands like Zola Jesus and Cold Cave, Abe Vigoda have added a steely synth-pop sheen to their new Crush album. Due out September 21 through No Age’s PPM imprint, it’s the first record to truly feature drummer Dane Chadwick, a beat-head who helped with a lot of the LP’s electronic elements.

“My favorite kind of music is instantly nostalgic and emotionally confusing,” singer Michael Vidal said in a press release, “And reverb has always been a big part of our sound. We were definitely inspired by cold wave and minimal wave stuff, as well as Arthur Russell.”

Crush’s first single, “Throwing Shade,” is available after the jump along with the record’s cover art and tracklisting…

Crush:
1. Sequins
2. Dream Of My Love (Chasing After You)
3. Throwing Shade
4. Crush
5. November
6. Pure Violence
7. Repeating Angel
8. To Tears
9. Beverly Slope
10. We Have To Mask

Photos by Turkishomework

Each week we send Turkishomework out to capture a sliver of our city’s blurred-vision nightlife. Friday was her first run-in with our old friends Abe Vigoda…

[Photo by Andy Eisberg]

self-titled’s staff has decided to over-analyze 2008 a little early—sifting through our stacks before fall or winter’s big releases really hit. Presenting the premature Top 10 of associate editor Aaron Richter (picks from Andrew and Arye are on the way later this week) …

1. Jay Reatard, Singles 06–07 (In the Red)
Love the attitude. This dude could fart 50 amazing hooks in a minute if you gave him enough dairy.

ADD TO CART

2. The Virgins, The Virgins (Atlantic)
Great sugary pop in the vein of Elvis Costello and the Strokes. I’ve listened to this album more than any other. Plays perfect all the way through every time.

ADD TO CART

3. No Age, Nouns (Sub Pop)
I don’t listen to this record as much as I probably should, but it’s the only record on this list that legitimately makes me proud to be a fan of rock music. How cheesy is that?

ADD TO CART

4. Atlas Sound, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (Kranky)
Musician of the Year (so far) Bradford Cox clears up the fog of Deerhunter for this personal, intricate record. He’s so much better when you can actually hear everything that’s going on.

ADD TO CART

5. Hercules & Love Affair, Hercules & Love Affair (Mute/DFA)
Trannydiscosluttykinkyrockgaysex.

ADD TO CART

6. The War on Drugs, Wagonwheel Blues (Secretly Canadian)
My favorite “From the Stacks” find of the year. Sprinkle some Eno dust all over Don Henley and Animal Collective and you’re somewhere close.

ADD TO CART

7. Spiritualized, Songs in A&E (Universal/Spaceman/Fontana)
Dark, depressing and bleak, J. Spaceman sees the light and decides to write a powerfully moving album about what was nearly the end of his life. Deep!

ADD TO CART

8. Torche, Meanderthal (HydraHead)
Extreme music for pussies? I wouldn’t go that far (or would I…). But this record is easily the most palatable metal record I’ve heard in years. Probably because it sounds like the Foo Fighters jamming with Quicksand.

ADD TO CART

9. Abe Vigoda, Skeleton (PPM)
Not really a fan until I saw these LA kids (yes, kids) perform live. Now I’m hooked and left wondering how the hell they get their guitars to sound like steel drums.

ADD TO CART

10. Parts & Labor, Receivers (Jagjaguwar)
Like having your face smashed repeatedly into a brick wall for 40 minutes. This record is enormous, oppressive and simply awesome.

Photos by Emily Elsen

Before we get into our shots from Todd P’s marathon of a summer party, here are links to each of the bands along with an s/t-approved MP3.

Download audio file (01%20Dead%20City_Waste%20Wilderness.mp3)

Abe Vigoda, “Dead City/Waste Wilderness“

Download audio file (04%20Up%20with%20People.mp3)

Oneida, “Up With People“

Download audio file (High%20Places%20-%20Shared%20Islands.mp3)

High Places, “Shared Islands“

Download audio file (yummypigtails.mp3)

Ponytail, “Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)“

Download audio file (Vivian%20Girls%20-%20Tell%20The%20World.mp3)

Vivian Girls, “Tell the World“

Download audio file (02%20My%20Time%20Outside%20The%20Womb.mp3)

Titus Andronicus, “My Time Outside the Womb“

ABE VIGODA

VIVIAN GIRLS

PONYTAIL

TITUS ANDRONICUS

HIGH PLACES

ONEIDA

[Photo by Dan Monick]

In an interview with Paper Thin Walls way back when, Abe Vigoda guitarist/vocalist Juan Velazquez seemingly lost a few of the band’s Smell-related cool points by saying, “I don’t know if we sound anything like them but we’re all definitely Smashing Pumpkins geeks. Like I’m definitely psyched that ‘Cherub Rock’ is on Guitar Hero 3.”

While we could care less about Guitar Hero (self-titled towers lacks a Playstation), there’s a special place in our collective heart for Billy Corgan’s back catalog. That’s why we asked Velazquez to split the Pumpkins’ dense catalog into a MUST HAVE ALBUM, an INTERMEDIATE RECORD, and an ADVANCED LISTEN.

Get schooled after the jump …

MUST HAVE ALBUM: Siamese Dream (Virgin, 1993)

This is one of my favorite albums of all time! The first time that I heard it i was in fifth grade and my friend in class showed me this record and mellon collie. This was the year that they won the MTV music video award for “Tonight Tonight”. I remember listening to it on my Discman every day and trying to figure out what Billy Corgan was saying. I had a later issue of the record that didnt come with the lyric sheet. Other than the nostalgia I have for the record, its actually totally stood the test of time for me, the way that other of their records haven’t. The guitar sound on every song is so insanely dense. The first track “Cherub Rock” is definitely one of the best on the record, and it starts out really quiet and clean and the out of nowhere comes in super full and rich and full of big muff distortion. If you listen closely you can hear so many guitar tracks on this song alone. Billy’s vocals are so great on the whole record, they are really layered with like one vocal track being really pretty and whispery and the other either being screamy or lower in pitch. Aside from all the dorky music tech type things about the record that are so good the songs are super catchy and dreamy!!! The track “Rocket” which was a lesser known single off the record is really exemplary of this, its slightly psychadelic and there is a beautiful steady guitar note and really great fills that weave in and out of the song. All in all this album is super cohesive and shows lots of sides of the band… and the music videos for the singles of this record are so great!!!!!!

Download audio file (01%20Cherub%20Rock.mp3)

START HERE: “Cherub Rock”

JUAN SAYS: Although it is the first track and a single off the record, it’s so GREAT—pop hooks drenched in distortion!!!!

INTERMEDIATE RECORD: Pisces Escariot (Virgin, 1994)

This is not an official record; it’s more of a b-sides compilation for Siamese Dream singles. It totally flows like a record, though, with the songs being similar to the Siamese Dream ones, only slightly more experimental and weird. The songs are just as heavy recording-wise but you get to hear a different side of the Pumpkins. For instance, there is a Stevie Nicks cover (“Landslide”) that’s actually great despite it being an acoustic track … which sometimes isn’t too forgiving on Billy’s “unique” voice. The other acoustic track on this is “Soothe,” which actually opens the compilation up. It sounds sappy and really embarrassing but when your in Junior High feeling all crazy and awkward, songs like this are a totally amazing and perfect accompaniment to your “pre-teen gloom.”

What’s really awesome about this record is the James Iha track, “Blew Away,” a really pretty—and in a way, cheesy—sort of soft glam-rock tune. There are some guitar effects on top of an acoustic, a mid-tempo beat, and Iha’s angelic voice. The longest track in the collection is a song called “Starla,” which is one of the best psych songs the Pumpkins have. It has a backwards guitar intro and whispered vocals and it ends in a incredibly long ending with lots of guitar effects and solos and white noise on top of this steady hard rock type beat and bassline … it’s AMAZING!!!!! Another cool thing is if you take the inside tray of the cd out there is a rad picture of the band in their “garage” days and James Iha is holding the coolest blue guitar!

Download audio file (03%20Plume.mp3)

START HERE: “Plume”

JUAN SAYS: Really great guitar tone—really thick and super angsty—and doomy lyrics!

ADVANCED LISTEN: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Virgin, 1995)

This might come as a surprise to Smashing Pumpkins fans, their best known album is also one of the most taxing to listen to. For starters, it’s a double record with over 24 songs. Lots of people I know think that this record could be shrunk down to one disc, which I can understand but don’t really agree with. There are lots of really amazing songs on this, from the hits to lots of really strange songs only a real fan would be really into. One song in particular, “We Only Come Out At Night,” seems to have some sort of old timey piano and a lyre of some sort. It’s totally pretty but offputting when people are expecting a ROCK ALBUM. There are lots of songs like this, including “Farewell and Goodnight,” the closing track that is really dreamy and has all the members singing at the end. It seems like many songs that would be considered B-sides made it onto the record, which turns lots of people off. This is not to say it’s not a great record though! Some of their best songs are on this album, such as “Bodies,” a song we have thought of covering many times. It’s so heavy and doomy but somehow at the same time has a hopeful element to it towards the end of the track which is completely amazing.

Download audio file (02%20Bodies.mp3)

START HERE: “Bodies”

JUAN SAYS: Awesome intro! It sounds like your stereo falling apart. Great song despite the ending lyrics … “love is suicide.” Hahaha.