Fiona Apple played her first official show in seven years at Stubb’s during SXSW, and I’m proud to say I was there and she was just amazing. She played this new track, “Every Single Night” at that show, and I remember it very well; the song will be a part of her highly anticipated new album The Idler Wheel, which hits stores brick-and-mortar and digital on June 19th. Listen below.
Tomorrow is every vinyl addict’s favorite day – Record Store Day. Think of it as Black Friday for wax. There are many awesome releases this year – you can check out the full list here. Show up early, fight the crowds! Throw elbows! And if you don’t get what you want, buy something anyway and scalp it on eBay like a BOSS. Here are some records I’m thinking about picking up.
Arcade Fire – Sprawl II
Beach House – Lazuli B/W Equal Mind
Garbage – Blood For Poppies
JEFF the Brotherhood – Upstairs at United Volume 3
Katy Perry – Part of Me (Thin White Duke Remix)
M83 – Mirror
Mclusky – Mclusky Do Dallas Reissue
Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come Reissue
Tallest Man On Earth – King of Spain
The Black Keys – El Camino
The Clash – London Calling 2012
The Flaming Lips – And Heavy Fwends
White Stripes – Hand Springs/Red Death at 6:14
Crosses – Option/Telepathy
Find a participating store nearest you and support your local record shops! What special releases are you picking up?
Longtime readers will know I am a devoted Ringo Deathstarr supporter. They are far and away my favorite Austin band, and their debut album Colour Trip was one of my picks for the Best of 2011. They recently toured with a little band called the Smashing Pumpkins, and are currently hard at work writing songs for their next album and planning to tour the world and visit even more places than previously.
But they need our help. The group must gather funds to record their second album, and they have set up a Pledge Music page for donations. The page has only been up two days, and the group has already accumulated 62% of their goal! You can help Ringo Deathstarr by visiting the page; additionally, the band has lined up some pretty sweet rewards for big spenders. While you’re donating, listen to a few of my favorites from Colour Trip.
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Great awesome fantastic news everyone! My favoritest band in the whole universe has announced a new album release! In fact, they’ve announced THREE new album releases! So yeah, basically, I’m freaking out over here. Uno!, Dos!, and Tre! will drop September 25th, November 13th, and January 15th, respectively. The band has stated they are at “the most prolific and creative time” in their careers, and that every new song “has the power and energy that represents Green Day on all emotional levels.” Get more in-depth, fanboy style, via this link.
Man, oh man, I’m kind of glad I didn’t make 2012 the year I finally journeyed to Indio, because I came oh so very close to doing so. I mean, the lineup for Coachella this year is FANTASTIC, but now that they’ve has released the set times, I can see that too much of a good thing makes for some difficult decisions for the desert dwellers this year. At least they get two weekends to catch what they missed. Peep the set times below, and stare in awe at just how many hypothetical heartbreaks you would have to make.
The lineup for Lollapalooza 2012 has been revealed, and while the headliners aren’t mind-blowing, the meat of the festival is promising overall. That’s not to say the main people don’t rock; I wouldn’t mind crossing the Chili Peppers and Black Sabbath off the list, and the Black Keys are so hot right now. There’s not a bad band here, and there’s enough variety here to please even the most jaded music lover. From hyped buzz bands to festival mainstays to popular artists, C3 has put together a brilliant little shindig for Chicago in August. Now if they would only do this for ACL.
Seminal post-hardcore band At the Drive In reunited and played their first show in 11 years right here in Austin, and I heard the whole thing. I didn’t get tickets to the intimate 400-capacity show, but I joined about 100 alley rats behind the venue, who were holding their own private party amongst dumpsters and barbed wire, moshing and singing along to every word. The moment when the band finished their last song and hopped in the van to make their getaway was straight out of A Hard Days Night with the addition of several camera phones. It was incredible. And now there’s videos of the actual show, which looks like it was exactly how I imagined. Can’t wait for Thursday, when I’ll be making the trek to Marfa to watch these guys in an even smaller venue.
Another “One Armed Scissor” with cooler editing, but worse sound. I thought these guys hated crowd surfing…
