After visiting Salt Lake City in November and playing to a pretty decent sized crowd at The State Room, Fanfarlo is set to return later in the month on the 27th at the Urban Lounge. If you happened to miss them the first time (shame on you!), I would highly recommend you make the trip the second time around, as I’m sure you’ll be entertained to no end with their warm, summery pop sounds of trumpets, violins and acoustic guitars.
But for those who may be a little cash-strapped, the folks at Atlantic Records have been kind of enough to provide a pair of tickets for me to giveaway for the upcoming show. To win these tickets, just email me at theyellowstereo.blog@gmail.com with “I want to see Fanfarlo!” in the subject line with your full name in the body.
I’ll probably run this until the end of next week (no concrete date, but possibly on February 19th at midnight).
Saw this trailer over the weekend and was genuinely surprised to find out that this documentary about the very private songwriter — or most dubiously known as “the most miserable man in rock” — has been in the works for nearly ten years. Directed by Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara, the film seems to primarily focus on the period of Merritt’s time between the releases of 69 Love Songs (1999) and Distortion (2008).
From the many horror stories I’ve heard/read in regards to most interviews with The Magnetic Fields frontman — mostly due in part to his very oft-putting, dry sense of humor and the fact that most of the time he seems to generally not care at all — it’s particularly interesting to have the chance to see a more genuine and open side of the very odd songwriter.
All things considered, it seems to be a big year for Merritt, as The Magnetic Fields are currently touring in support of their recently released 9th studio album titled Realism, along with the announcement of a limited-edition vinyl boxset of 69 Love Songs. Check out the trailer below along with a random assortment of Magnetic Fields covers.
A couple of months ago, Jón Þór Birgisson (or better known as Jónsi), frontman of Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Rós, released an instrumental record/art collaboration with boyfriend/partner Alex Somers titled Riceboy Sleeps under the moniker of Jónsi & Alex. While newsworthy, the first single didn’t really do so much to satisfy any casual fan of Sigur Rós, and really just came off as nothing more than a throwaway artistic endeavor.
I suppose that project was just a warm-up for what would now be assumed as a proper solo record titled Go, which will be released on March 23 via XL. An MP3 of which had been made available on Jónsi’s website, and finds that familiar high-pitched falsetto now singing in English as opposed to the made-up Hopelandic language that we’ve become accustomed to. That being said, I still don’t know what the man is singing about.
From listening to the song, it seems to not drastically sway from the Sigur Rós formula, but still goes big and grandiose with it’s sound with strings and bird-chirp sounding flutes (whatever it is, I obviously don’t know my instruments too well). It’s could almost be overwhelming, as if slapping you in the face, but it works.
Here’s something for the local folks (it sounds so nice to actually say that now) as White Hinterland (chanteuse Casey Dienel from Portland, OR) will be making her way into town Saturday night; apparently, with a brand new batch of songs!
Things kick off at 8 pm over at Slowtrain; a free, all-ages show — meaning no excuses for not showing up! Hoping to possibly meet some of our readers, so definitely try to make it out tomorrow night. Should be a good time.
It definitely shows how much I’ve been keeping up with music lately, as only a couple of days ago I heard the self-titled track from Thao Nguyen’s follow-up to one of the better albums of 2008, We All Brave Bee Stings and All. The new record is titled Know Better Learn Faster and is due out on October 13 via Kill Rock Stars. According to Pitchfork, the album will feature a number of guests including Andrew Bird and Laura Veirs.
The aformentioned self-titled track is a wonderful sampling of what’s in store with the new record, as I want to say the track features what sounds like Andrew Bird-sounding violin riffs and whistling, though, I think it’s obvious that it’s actually Bird himself contributing to the track. All of this along with a great chorus, Thao’s guitar playing, and a pleasing build-up of an array of wonderful sounds equal a lovely song to kick off the beginnings of Fall.
I think it’s safe to say that Kings of Convenience haven’t exactly been the most prolific group, only releasing two full-length albums since 2001. I didn’t discover them myself until 2005’s Riot On an Empty Street, which is still such a great record to listen to, even if you’re reminded so when walking into any kind of cafe or coffee shop. For many, that was also the first time you heard the lovely vocals of Ms. Leslie Feist. Sure, the members haven’t been completely silent all these years, with Erlend Øye working on his many musical projects, though Eirik had been finishing up his education if I remember correctly.
I knew the duo had finally started working on a new album last year, but now we’ve got concrete details regarding the long-awaited record, which is officially titled Declaration of Dependence. Even an MP3 has made its way on the internet, which I discovered over on Taylor’s blog Music for Kids… called “Mrs Cold”.
Now, initially hearing this song I was reminded of the recent disappointment of many lead-singles from some of my favorite bands, and I must admit that it did have an affect on this one as well. It didn’t do anything for me, but KoC songs as a whole never standout individually, and work best in succession. You really have to take a moment and let the song soak in for it to really shine. Realizing this, I can accept this single for what it is: a slow moving, relaxing song where the acoustic guitar/violin flourishes makes me want to sit under a beach umbrella while listening to the crashing waves of some nearby ocean.
Expect Declaration of Dependence to hit shelves on October 20th. I couldn’t be happier to finally hear this album after so many years. Let’s just hope it lives up to expectations.
Didn’t think I would miss any news on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, as I think I’ve talked them up here on TYS more than any other band this year. I think it’s no secret to anyone now how good their debut album is, so no need to harp on any of that I hope. Now, with the band being constantly on tour since the beginning of the year, I wasn’t expecting to hear any new songs, but a brand new EP? I couldn’t be more excited about this news!
I remember talking to Kip while at SXSW and he mentioned a new single that was supposed to be released on Slumberland, a song which I imagine has become a staple at their live shows called “Falling Over” — a video of which I recorded during one of their many sets in Austin. It seems to have made its way onto the four-song EP which is titled Higher Than the Stars, which will be out on the aformentioned Slumberland on September 22nd.
Pitchfork premiered an exclusive stream of the title track, and it finds the group ditching their trademark distorted guitar-pop for…uh…shimmering guitar-pop. Kips blissful vocals sound better than ever, and this just proves how much better the band has become over a short period of time.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart seem to have been on a never-ending tour since early February in support of their self-titled debut, which is still one of my absolute favorites so far this year. If you happened to miss them the first go around (shame on you!), fear not, as it’s just been announced that the band will be playing a slew of additional tour dates all the way through October. This time around, they’ll be accompanied by both The Depreciation Guild (drummer Kurt Feldman’s band) and Cymbals Eat Guitars.
Over the years, it’s difficult to say where I stand on the many different projects of Spencer Krug. Though, If there’s one thing we can all pretty much agree upon, is that he’s without a doubt one of the hardest working people currently working in music right now. Whether it’s juggling the many different musical projects he involves himself with (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake), or that he seems to be constantly on tour 24/7 — it’s all very admirable, regardless.
Unlike a majority of people I know, who absolutely worship the ground that Spencer walks on, I’ve been a bit lukewarm (until recently) in response to many of his upcoming projects, including the third full-length titled Dragonslayer from Sunset Rubdown that is due out next week on Jagjaguwar.
Now, I loved Shut Up I Am Dreaming when first heard it in 2006. It was, for lack of a better term, epic. Many of the tracks felt like they were building to something; to the point where I actually felt rewarded as a listener. It’s something that I felt was completely missing and devoid of with the band’s follow-up, Random Spirit Lover. It wasn’t until very recently that I gave it another shot due to the chagrin of a friend of mine. Apparently, I wasn’t listening to it correctly, but I still don’t think it’s as great as people make it out to be.
The sole reason I decided to give that album another shot, has been due to how much I’ve been enjoying Dragonslayer the past month or so. Accessibility is very important to a record’s success in my opinion, and this has been to be Sunset Rubdown’s most accessible release to date. Krug has gone on to say how it’s been their most honest record, and it definitely shows; as this direct approach of playing live in studio is just as fulfilling and exploding with creativity as opposed to the use of studio tricks and tools with Random Spirit Lover.
If you needed any more convincing, you wouldn’t need to look much further than listening to the very first three tracks of this album (you can stream it over on NPR). Despite the bitterness and overall roughness that seems to permeate these tunes, at the very core lies some pretty solid pop hooks and sensibility. And those female backing vocals? Come on now! Hearing such a small, added detail like that is almost like a revelation to me. It brings some much needed depth to the table and sort of acts as a balance to Krug’s vocals, which can tend to get out of control quite easily.
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