Friday February 3, 2012
The Year: 1997
The Album: Mogwai,
Young Team
Who it Influenced: Explosions in the Sky, Efterklang, The Twilight Sad, Fuck Buttons, generations of post-rockers
There's no singing. Well, almost not. There's zany song titles. And there's huge, building crescendos and dramatic dynamic shifts from quiet-to-loud; with dudes stomping on effects pedals and reaching for catharsis amidst songs sprawling on for a dozen-odd minutes.
It is, indeed, a Mogwai album. But, as their first,
Young Team is treated with an unyielding reverence by all those who fell under its spell; standing, both in its contemporary day and 15 years later, as one of the definitive examples of
post-rock, back when that term carried cachet.
I tend to think that 1999's
Come On Die Young is the far superior LP; catching the young Scottish outfit whilst still on their ascent, yet refining their ideas into experiments more yielding and interesting, and carrying with it a greater edge.
But I understand why the world —beyond the simple fact that it was their debut— tends to prize
Young Team as Mogwai's definitive disc. After all, if the appeal of this band is hearing them go from really, really quiet to really, really loud, then "King Herod" and "Mogwai Fear Satan" is that idea reduced to the simple essential.
Thursday February 2, 2012
The ever-busy Toro y Moi believes firmly in keeping the releases coming. "The music industry is moving so fast, it's a business move to keep putting things things out, to keep your name out there," ol' Chazwick Bundick told me
in an interview last year.
True to such spirit, Bundick has a new release on the cards, in follow up to a 2011 that gave the world
Underneath the Pine and the
Freaking Out EP.
It's called
June 2009, and, as its title suggests, it's a collection of home-recordings from June of 2009, catching Bundick working at his still-fledgling project. The set will be released by Carpark on April 24, both as single CD and as 5x7" box-set.
You can source a new/old track, "Pontoon," from the
Toro y Moi blog, which shows the more muggy, folkie sound Bundick was working through long before he went disco.
Toro y Moi is also currently on tour through Asia through February, P.S....
Everyone's Here:
February 4: Melbourne, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 5: Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 8: Sydney, Australia - Manning Bar
February 9: Melbourne, Australia - Hi Fi Bar & Ballroom
February 10: Adelaide, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 11: Perth, Australia - Laneway Festival
February 12: Singapore, Singapore - Laneway Festival
February 14: Taipei, Taiwan - The Wall Livehouse
February 15: Manila, Philippines - Hard Rock Cafe
February 16: Busan, South Korea - Interplay
February 17: Seoul, South Korea - V Hall
February 19: Tokyo, Japan - Yebisu Garden Hall
Thursday February 2, 2012
The always-immense Primavera Sound has announced the full lineup for its 2012 festival. And, as always, it's mind-alteringly long and a work of impressive curatorial taste.
This year's bill finds appearances from —but not limited to— the following alt entities: The Afghan Whigs, Archers of Loaf, Atlas Sound, Beach House, Beirut, Björk, Black Lips, Bleached, Christina Rosenvinge, Codeine, The Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, Demdike Stare, Dirty Beaches, Dirty Three, Dominant Legs, The Drums, Father John Misty, Franz Ferdinand, Girls, Girls Names, Grimes, Hype Williams, I Break Horses, Iceage, James Ferraro, Japandroids, Jeff Mangum, Jeremy Jay, Joshua T. Pearson, Kings of Convenience, Kleenex Girl Wonder, Laura Marling, Lee Ranaldo, Lower Dens, Main, Mazzy Star, Melvins, Michael Gira, Milagres, Mudhoney, Neon Indian, The Olivia Tremor Control, Peter Wolf Crier, The Pop Group, The Rapture, Richard Hawley, Rufus Wainwright, Saint Etienne, Sandro Perri, Sharon Van Etten, Shellac, Spiritualized, Tall Firs, Thee Oh Sees, Veronic Falls, the War On Drugs, Washed Out, Wavves, The Wedding Present, The XX, and Yo La Tengo.
Primavera takes over Barcelona's Parc del Fòrum from May 30 to June 3, this year. And, as always, stands as one of the landmark indie festivals of the year.
Wednesday February 1, 2012
Jack White has been involved in a
lot of records over the years, but he's never made a solo LP. Now, with the demise of his popular rock'n'roll duo The White Stripes, White —Third Man czar, Raconteur,
Dead Weatherman, Black Belles svengali, etc— has gone out on his lonesome.
"I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name," White offers, in a press-release heralding the arrival of
Blunderbuss. White's wackily-titled solo debut is out April 24 via Third Man/Columbia.
At the
Jack White website, you can listen to the lead single "Love Interruption" for free, order its imminent seven-inch version, and grow used to the idea of John Anthony Gillis standing at the front of a stage minus a Meg at the back.
