Music Under Fire

Vinyl is the word of the week. With jumpy EPs and Christmas albums aplenty, this week also boasts more vinyl than any other this year so far.

We're quite giddy about Harmonic 313's Dirtbox 12" from Mark Pritchard (above). Not only can you check out the sweet website, but the music is something enjoyably unique. Also in the electronic/remix front, Headlights have their remixes launching on vinyl.

Among other interesting vinyl include: Vampire Weekend's The Kids Don't Stand A Chance, Simon Bookish's Everything/ Everything and the Black Lips' We Did Not Know The Forest Spirit Made The Flowers.

Keep an eye out for Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek and his 10-track record. If that doesn't get you going, try Cat Power's EP or Paul Weller's session at the BBC.

MP3: Headlights - Cherry Tulips (TJ Lipple remix)
MP3: Harmonic 313 - Problem 7 (buy)
MP3: Cat Power - Living Proof (buy)
MP3: The Long Winters - Blue Diamonds (buy)

Avant - Avant (Official) (MySpace)
Backseat Goodbye - A Christmas EP (Official) (MySpace)
Black Lips - We Did Not Know The Forest Spirit Made The Flowers (green vinyl) (Official) (MySpace)
Busta Rhymes - B.O.M.B. (Official) (MySpace)
Cat Power - Dark End of the Street EP (Official) (MySpace)
Common - Universal Mind Control (Official) (MySpace)
Damned - So, Who's Paranoid? (Official) (MySpace)
DM Stith - Curtain Speeches (Official) (MySpace)
Fennesz - June (Official) (MySpace)
Flying Lotus - LA EP (Official) (MySpace)
Get Up Kids - Four Minute Mile (MySpace)
Harmonic 313 - Dirtbox 12" (Official) (MySpace)
Headlights - Remixes (Official) (MySpace)
Keak Da Sneak & San Quinn - Welcome To Scotland (Official) (MySpace)
Ken Block - Drift (Official) (MySpace)
Long Winters - Live at the Showbox DVD (Official) (MySpace)
Luv Lux - The Brave Kids In Color EP (Official) (MySpace)
Mark Kozelek - The Finally LP (Official) (MySpace)
Music Soulchild - On My Radio (Official) (MySpace)
Paul Weller - Weller at the BBC (Official) (MySpace)
Pavement - Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (Official) (MySpace)
Simon Bookish - Everything/ Everything (vinyl) (Official) (MySpace)
Soledad Brothers - Live LP (MySpace)
Stephen O'Malley - Keep An Eye Out (Official) (MySpace)
That Was Something - Down But Not Out (MySpace)
The Magnificents - Year of Explorers (Official) (MySpace)
The Maine - Holiday EP (MySpace)
The Real You - Better Now Than Never (MySpace)
Thomas Function - Nomad + 2 (MySpace)
Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand a Chance 7" (Official) (MySpace)
Welcome Wagon - Welcome To The Welcome Wagon (Official) (MySpace

This latest news about Beck completely flew under my radar, but if you're reading this you either a) enjoy listening to Beck b) like dropping hate comments about Beck or c) have no idea what he's been up to. I think that covers all of the bases anyway.

So here's the big news everyone seems to have been talking about for the last month - Beck is releasing a new album. Not doing it for you? The new album may be coming out as early as in the next 4-6 weeks (surprise!). According to several news sources, Beck's latest album has been kept secret for only so long after it was released last month that producer Danger Mouse (Cee-Lo, the Rapture, MF Doom, the Black Keys, Sparklehorse, the Good, the Bad & the Queen, and Ike Turner) would be involved with this album. The album's short-term notice was Beck's intention, and why not, it seems to be all the 'thing' these days to release on last minutes notice. It will have saved you much grief either way, since we've all been getting driven crazy with Weezer's Red Album or Coldplay's relentless string of news these days.

Oh, and according to Pitchfork, "the new Beck album will indeed feature contributions from Chan "Cat Power" Marshall" if that gets you all riled up.

So now that you know all of that, what could this one possibly sound like? He's gone from singer /songwrite to mellow/folk on us in his earliest works, delivered an Alt rock pleaser with Odelay!, delivered my favorite album, Midnight Vultures, with a bit if a electro-influence, then went completely over the edge with The Information, which he let buyers make their own album cover via a sticker package. Below is a quote from MTV and from the sounds of it, the new album will sound a bit like, eh... Midnight Vultures? I do hope so...

The as-yet-untitled album contains 10 new songs,…a tightly assembled group…that range in lyrical tone from introspection and social commentary to off-the-cuff wordplay and lighthearted humor…Musically, the album’s ten tracks vacillate between economy and experimentation, hybrid and pop classicism.

He will be touring come June, so you can bet his album will be out before then. His tour will be along side a few of our favorites, MGMT, Cold War Kids and Spoon!

MP3: Beck - Ghettochip Malfunction (Hell Yes remixed by 8-Bit) (buy)

Beck Tour Dates:
06-25 Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
06-27 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
06-28 St. Gallen, Switzerland - St. Gallen Festival
06-30 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
07-01 Southampton, England - Guildhall
07-02 Manchester, England - Apollo
07-04 London, England - Hyde Park (O2 Wireless Festival)
07-06 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
07-07 Paris, France - Olympia
07-09 Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
07-10 Lisbon, Portugal - Super Bock Super Rock Festival
08-22 San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands Festival)
08-24 Bend, OR - Les Schwab Amphitheater *
08-30 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
09-20 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl ^
09-27 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Festival)

* with Cold War Kids
^ with Spoon, MGMT

Its all about the power these days, regardless if it comes in elf or cat form. But really none of what I'm telling you right now would make much sense if you weren't familiar with either party to begin with. Let's take a quick crash course...

Cat Power, whose umpteenth album Jukebox, Charlyn 'Chan' Marshall's second covers album, was released mid-January, has been a controversial one this year. While critics such as Filter, Prefix Magazine and Rolling Stone have been raving about this album, other notables such as Pitchfork, Blender and Spin were just a few who were not as impressed. Her vocals play the killer here - there's no one out there who comes close to her smooth-sounding pipes.

Once every review, good or bad, is churned out, Cat Power can be expected to turn up on many 'best of' lists at the end of this year. She's a solid artist with a lot of background and experience, thus has put that all behind Jukebox, and it shows. Let's also not forget the large amount of publicity she's recieved. It says a lot when your album is being sold in Target.

MP3: Cat Power - New York (buy)
MP3: Cat Power - Metal Heart (buy)

But really for me , I prefer the crew left out of the spotlight this year so far. I'm talking about Elf Power, from Athens, Georgia. "Odd name" you're probably thinking. Yes, odd, but 'no' to the other question you may be pondering. They did not copy their name from Cat Power. In fact, Elf Power's first release was a year earlier than CP's Dear Sir (1995). Curse of Yoth-Bal-Tzar was released back in 1994 on cassette. The chance of them being aware of each other is not even a reality.

Elf Power consists of seven musicians, with Andrew Rieger with the vocals in the forefront. Their latest album In A Cave, released just this past week on Tusday, leans more towards a folk/rock approach. Songs such as "Quiver and Quake" and "Softly Through The Void" are pleasantly upbeat, melodic and would perfectly compliment a tall glass of lemonade in the summer. Trust me on this.

MP3: Elf Power - An Old Familiar Scene (buy)
MP3: Elf Power - Spiral Stairs (buy)
MP3: Elf Power - Midnight Crawls Out (buy)

Elf Power takes the advantage for me and I urge you to check them out. Whether everyone may either truly enjoy Cat Power, or just use the chic name as an indie music name-drop, we will all know the truth. The power of the Elf reigns this time around.

Visit Elf Power on MySpace then pop on over to Cat Power on MySpace to listen to some samples.