all of my old friends aren't so friendly

new video for "laughing with a mouth of blood," my favorite track of my 9th favorite album of 2009, st. vincent's actor. funny stuff, highlighted by guest appearances from SNL's fred armisen and sleater-kinney's carrie brownstein. oh carrie, how i miss thee!


St. Vincent - "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood"

st. vincent | MySpace Music Videos

have one on joanna newsom

drag city just can't help teasing the hell out of joanna newsom fans these days. first we get new track '81,' than some archetypically busy cover art for her new album. now, best of all, they're previewing another new track called "good intentions paving company," seven minutes of piano-driven awesome that already rank among some of newsom's best work.

you can hear it streaming at drag city's website above but since their site has a tendency to crash at inconvenient times, you can also check out the track over at we listen for you where's its being offered for download for the time being.

either way, it's essential listening. the rest of have one on me comes out on feb 23.

so close, yet so far away...

all of the fire

i've really taken a shine lately to the output from terrible records, the up-and-coming indie label started by grizzly bear's chris taylor. i'm all about the upcoming debut ep from class actress (out next week) and i'm also starting to really dig this stuff from taylor's fellow brooklynites acrylics. taylor produced the duo's debut EP all of the fire, which has a warm, fleetwood mac by way of camera obscura feel that sounds just about as good as you think (read: very).

the EP is available on 10" vinyl here and you can preview the title track off of it below. you can also check out the nicely nostalgic music video for "molly's vertigo," a non-fire bonus track.

all of the fire

marchin' in

Lo-Fi-Fnk Marchin In from Mattias Erik Johansson on Vimeo

i don't know how i missed that lo-fi-fnk were from sweden. kind of goes a long way to explaining their awesomeness though. anyway, they just released a new single and here is the video for it. sonic goodness naturally ensues

tonight is going to be the night

high hopes for high places if this new track from their forthcoming sophomore album is any indication. has a very languid danceability that works for their sound.

on giving up (via thrill jockey)

high places vs. mankind is out apr. 6.

first impressions: hot chip - one life stand

*this first impression comes courtesy of the band in question, who are currently streaming the album in its entirety on their myspace.

on their breakthrough sophomore album the warning, hot chip became defined by two signature singles: the ferocious, party-starting "fuck you" to naysayers that was "over and over" and the tender disco ballad "and i was a boy from school." both singles are stellar in their own way, and i'm willing to bet no hot chip fan likes the two equally. the band tried to cater to fans of the former on 2008's made in the dark, which gave us the similarly mischievous "shake a fist" and "ready for the floor" among others. however, these numbers seemed to exist in direct dichotomy to softer moments like the title track and the sinead-baiting "in the privacy of our love." the different numbers were quite good individually but failed to really gel into a solid whole like the warning's songs did. perhaps as a result of that, alexis, joe and the gang swing the other way with one life stand, which will certainly appeal more to fans of their "school" days. yes, they seem to really want to give us laid back this time around. however, it now comes at the cost of the floor-filling pop numbers of their last two efforts.

more notes after the jump...


couple of things upon initial listens:

• the album kicks off with the best opening track of hot chip's career. "thieves in the knight" packs a propulsive punch with synth and guitar lines that reminds me more than a little of moroder-era sparks. meanwhile, the wistful lyrics successfully convey the tone of the whole album in one fell swoop ("happiness is what we all want")
• the band makes good use of strings on this album, lending "hand me down your love" and "i feel better" a certain epic melancholy that i really enjoy
• speaking of "i feel better," easy pick for the next single, and arguably a better choice than the title track was, managing to ape "la isla bonita" and incorporate auto-tune to surprisingly awesome effect.
• these guys still can't seem to successfully sequence an album. whereas made in the dark faded softly into the night with a cluster of momentum killing slow-dances, this one stashes the same kind of cluster right in the middle of the album, immediately halting the excellent pace of the first half. it also places an unfair stigma on the soulful "alley cats" which would have become an easy album highlight with more careful placement.
• "we have love" is a wacky jam that would have been right at home on the last album but feels a little out of place here.
• i actually don't mind "keep quiet" as a lot of people seem to. have to get their prince jones in there somewhere, and its a fitting nod to their early work.
  

being a "boy from school" fan myself, i tend to instantly lean towards this outing more than dark. that could easily change but while nothing stands out as loudly and clearly this time, the whole sounds like more than the sum of its parts. nevertheless, i still feel like hot chip have yet to really make the warning-worthy masterpiece that their frequent moments of brilliance since then seem to hint at. while still incredibly enjoyable, one has to wonder four albums in if they'll ever get there again.

chapterhouse reunion!

full story over at xlr8r. no dates yet though (c'mon philly!) am i the only one really excited for this? i was a total shoegazer back in the day. now i just need my curve reunion...

phoenix x memory tapes

meant to get this up yesterday but forgot. dayve hawk is at it again! apparently this remix will feature on a new 1901 ep (because, you know, phoenix haven't had nearly enough exposure in the past year) that will also include a remix by animal collective. i'm inclined to say whoa on that one, but given their subpar yeah yeah yeahs remix last year, i think i'll refrain for now.

anyway, the memory tapes version is solid as usual and makes me reinvested in the song.

get it here via memory tapes's blog.

first impressions: the knife - tomorrow, in a year

*gratitude for this first impression review can be attributed to the dreijer siblings themselves, who are streaming their latest opus over at the knife website RIGHT NOW!

whoooo boy, and i remember a time when silent shout was a tough sell for a lot of people. even for the knife, this is about as far from kansas as one can get. to be fair, one can't evaluate tomorrow, in a year in the same context as previous knife efforts, it being the soundtrack to an opera and all. in that respect, i feel like i'll never get the full picture of this music without the accompanying visual aspect. nevertheless, i'm finding it to be an alternately fascinating and frustrating listen that earns my immediate admiration but may take longer to earn my love.

couple of things that struck me right off the bat after the jump...



ok, here we go:

• it's better to know going in that the knife's only noticeable vocal contribution here (though it could be karin on the bonus version of "annie's box" as well) is the track everyone already knows, the epic "colouring of pigeons," and it's near the end of the album. additionally, "pigeons" is the first and one of the only songs to actually sound knifey on first listen. unsurprisingly, it remains a highlight.
• a good portion of the electronics on the first half of the record recall early fennesz. not a bad thing, but definitely unexpected.
• the eight and a half minute "intermission" of ambient nature sounds undoubtedly works thematically given the darwin inspiration but feels like an overlong palette cleanser. guess you have to see the performance to appreciate it.
• "seeds" would fit in quite nicely on the new four tet album.
• the other album highlight, "the height of summer," is a dead ringer for "heartbeats." could be a bone to fans, i guess?
• having a hard time discerning where mt. sims and planningtorock are chiming in throughout this. exactly how significant were their contributions?
  
• for it being an opera, there's a lot less actual singing than i was expecting. again, i'm curious to know how this translates live.

these are about all of the thoughts i can muster as the moment. needless to say, after the the recent accessibility of fever ray, this is less a case of the pendulum swinging the other way than in a completely different room. i'm committed to spending more time with this record as i think it merits it and will reward repeat listens as all previous knife work has. still, i feel that i'm missing something without the full theatrical experience to accompany it. here's hoping the production crosses the pond sometime soon.

tomorrow, in a year is out digitally next week and physically on march 1.

lali puna remembers

lali puna is finally releasing a follow-up to 2004's faking the books on morr music. it's called our inventions and will feature yellow magic orchestra's yukihiro takahashi.

i kind of forgot how much i was into these guys (six years is a long time to be away) until i listened to new track "remember." it's synthy, slinky, and altogether groovy.

hear it now:

remember

look for the rest of the album on april 6.