Music Under Fire

As releases are building up on our 2009 music calendar, we continue to find more of our favorite bands of yesteryear showing up at our door again. This time the Junior Boys are on our radar with their release of their album two-years in the works, Begone Dull Care, due out on April 7th (March 24th for their fellow Canadians) on Domino Records.

The album was named after Norman McLaren's (oscar winning animator and composer) short film named 'Begone Dull Care'. McLaren made his presence known back in the 1930s - 1940's with many of his short films (one which you can see below). Keep in mind these were done at the same time World War II was happening, Jackie Robinson played baseball. Roosevelt was president and Gone With The Wind hit theatres. Its easy to see McLaren was way ahead of his time, which makes it so fitting the Junior Boys were affected so much by his work, their album had been inspired by it.

MP3: Junior Boys - In The Morning (Hot Chip Remix) (buy)
MP3: Sally Shapiro - Jackie Junior (Junior Boys Remix) (buy)

From their latest track, "Parallel Lines", the synths are done just as well as we could imagine, the glibs of sputtering appregiated keyboards makes the song flow just as their old work did. Although we still have another three months to wait, surely this album shows much promise already.

You can check out the new song "Parallel Lines" streaming over at Domino Records.

Tracklist:
1. Parallel Lines
2. Work
3. Bits And Pieces
4. Dull To Pause
5. Hazel
6. Sneak A Picture
7. The Animator
8. What It's For

Video: Norman McLaren - Dots (1940)

While everyone else is sifting through Animal Collective this year, we've been following these guys for quite some time and its time we spread the wonderful news: Jeniferever's upcoming album Spring Tides will be released on April 13th, 2009! The band will be releasing their latest off of Monotremere Records with whom they signed on January 19th.

To accompany the album, German label Denovali Records will release both Spring Tides and Choose A Bright Morning on vinyl around the time of the official release of Spring Tides in April.

The Nangijala EP, which we wrote about in November, has preempted an even more elaborate orchestration for this album. Although we're still running high on the tracks laid down on Choose A Bright Morning with its strings, horns and mellow atmospheric rock, Spring Tides looks to be another excellent effort given the free track the band offered below. Keep updated with Jeniferever via their MySpace page.

MP3: Jeniferever - Green Meadow Island (buy)

From Silversun Pickups' latest on their MySpace post, it seems the band is quite confident with their new material. Having thrown in some string and horns, must haves for any album, the groups seems to be exploring their own inner depths of songwriting while they finish up orchestrating their newest album Swoon, SSPUs were one of our most anticipated choices for our Top 20 Artists To Look Forward To in 2009. (studio pictures below).

MP3: Silversun Pickups - Booksmart Devil (buy)

For those looking forward to this album a release date has now been set for April 14th. If you're reading this and have no idea who SSPUs are, its time you picked up Carnavas. Seems Brian Aubert is saying much of the same before he released his last album such as "We worked our asses off". We know you work your ass off, Brian, and we know it will be great... in the words of Aubert "only one thing is certain to us - we're standing on top of a mountain that is of our own making, and we're intent on enjoying the view from up here. " Swoon will be out on Dangerbird Records on 4/14/09!

in the making of our second full length album, we've been lucky enough to work with a lot of the same talented people that helped us out in carnavas. darren waterston is one of them, and he is the shit. he was instrumental in giving carnavas a visual to our sound, and not to mention he has become a dear friend to us. since we're on the topic of artwork, also returning is the very creative graphic designer sara cumings. she's the one that gives our name some class. because of her, fonts will never be the same to us again. with their combined artistry, we're confident that swoon, like carnavas, will be a breath of fresh air in the dying art form of album artwork.

tony hoffer is back in the studio mixing swoon. its great to have him back and we know the songs are in very good hands. he and dave cooley are working very hard to meet our mastering deadline at the end of this month. you couldn't even imagine how many knobs are turned and frequencies embellished to make us sound pretty. its getting close to the finish line and we all await with baited breath...

its been almost a year to the day when we entered our rehearsal space to start work on a new album. and even though it easily feels like that was just yesterday, living with swoon every single day for a whole year is the duality. we worked our asses off, tried to push the right buttons, tried not to blow up too many recording studios (that one time wasn't our fault). we tried to do something new and uncomfortable, yet have it be recognizable and reassuring. and throw in some strings and horns while we're at it. whether we reached our goal to get to the highest peak of our own proverbial mount everest, or whether we're balancing

precariously atop a heap of rubble which we've created - only one thing is certain to us - we're standing on top of a mountain that is of our own making, and we're intent on enjoying the view from up here.

As the year winds down, our new music venture for the time being seems to be wrapping itself up slowly. That is, until we keep finding bands such as the emotion-driven LoveLikeFire. Aptly named for their firey persuasion put into each song, the San Francisco-based dream-poppers consist of Ann Yu, David Farrell, Ted Parker, and Robert Kissinger. Surely, in the months to come, the foursome has their minds set on bigger and better things with their upcoming album.

Following great reviews from their past two albums, LoveLikeFire have gained fans quickly after their 2006 Bed of Gold album and their 2007 album, An Ocean In The Air. Not surprisingly, fans were awaiting more music, and will be given just that.in the coming months.

As their website states, they have been taking it easy, now that their album has been recorded and the band looks forward to enjoying each other's company and recording a few covers. A few demos had been posted earlier this year back in May and the anticipation is growing with each day. One of their tracks on their MySpace is particularly stunning, titled "William".

A release date has not yet been set, but is expected to be released in the near future. In the meantime, LoveLikeFire will be playing with another one of MUF's favorite bands this year, Low vs Diamond, at The Independent in San Francisco on December 6th. We're looking forward to more LoveLikeFire in the near future!

MP3: LoveLikeFire - William (buy)

Official - http://www.lovelikefire.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/lovelikefire

We've been lucky enough to see the return of many of our favorite artists from 2006 recently, and that goes without the exception of Immoor. Once a lesser known one-man-band, Casey Immoor created his debut The Thievery of Your Own Things in his home studio. Composing an album filled with more arpeggiators, synths and sensible keyboarding than your average indie-electro artist, Immoor managed to shock the indie scene with a stellar self-made album worth of such mention for us to put it in our favorite albums list of 2006.

It wasn't long after the dust settled from his album release that we discovered he was trying to string together a series of shows and possibly a tour to leave California and get the word of his album on the road. But alas, producing his own album and pulling together a band to perform with is no easy task.

Two years later, we see pictures of Immoor and three other members who have made up the band you see above. Just as we anticipated, Immoor announced at the end of September that he is working on some new material to string together another album full of glamorous songs about robots, romance and boots of the concrete type.

If you have no idea who Immoor is and enjoy a well done indie electronica album, we highly recommend going back to check out The Thievery of Your Own Things and prep yourself for the new album. You can check it out on iTunes, listen to it on Last.fm.

MP3: Immoor - Unit 371 (buy)

From Immoor's official site:

IMMOOR is currently working on a new album!! Lots of new stuff being brewed right now, so keep your eyes out on this page and the IMMOOR myspace for some early tidbits before the album is due out.

Official - http://www.immoormusic.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/immoor

This begins yet another long saga for one of MUF's favorite bands as Band of Horses enter the studio and we just have to stick it out with updates on their progress until the day comes we can listen to it. We don't have any date the band has set, there is no name of the album, in fact, Ben Bridwell and his buddies are just entering the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. Their studio selection should come as no surprise, since the band has grown with the sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd through the years, who also just so happened to record here.

There's a small joke for your Band of Horses fans in their note below and it might seem odd, but could you imagine a record of theirs with more than 10 songs? Both Cease To Begin and Everything All the Time are 10 each. Really anything these guys touch turns to gold regardless of how many songs they make this time around, so in this case, the more the better.

MP3: Band of Horses - Detlef Schrempf (buy)

If you missed our review of their show at the TLA in Philly, you can check it out here as well as a video we shot of them performing a CCR cover of "Effigy".

From the band:

Now we begin to also never start stopping again :-)

We're headed to historic Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama this week to officially start the jammering. You've more than likely heard many of the fantastic records birthed there, but just in case http://www.blogger.com/www.muscleshoalssound.org has a complete discography and awesome slide show available for your curious viewing pleasure.

We're extremely excited to get back at the business of recording songs. Here are a couple things I can safely say this album will include:

*More Than 10 Songs!!!!
*Songs written by all members of BoH (Ryan, Creighton, Bill, Tyler, and me)
*Christopher Wilson brand beautiful artwork
*Not The Funeral
*Music

So here we go. It's hard to say how long this will take to complete, so I'm not even gonna speculate for fear something will go terribly wrong. Thanks always to all of you who've supported us throughout this past year and beyond. We really love you.
xoboh

Kings of Leon's Only By The Night will be out tomorrow (9/23/08) and we can already tell you its their best work to date, despite their 3.8 rating from Pitchfork (you know how they love halting a band's momentum like a brick wall). At least it beats out any Louis XIV review I've ever read.

They've certainly drummed up a good amount of press for themselves, and its not going to dissapoint those pressing for a better, deeper album from the foursome. Afterall, you have to be a great band to put out a good album, and to be hand-picked touring partners of U2 and Bob Dylan says a lot as to where this band is headed, right?

You may have heard their first single "Sex On Fire"; the vocals of Caleb Followill are stunning, as they are in my favorite song from this album "Manhattan". But rather than rant on and on and on about these guys as so many have already done, there are quite a bit of well done write-ups on Only By The Night already. Here are a few reviews from fellow bloggers:

Culture Bully Swear I'm Not Paul Chewing Gum For The Ears The Score Magazine State Magazine Pitchfork Semifiction There Goes The Fear Count Me Out Audio Scribbler

That should do for now... looks like reviews are all over the place once again, which is par for the course for KOL.

MP3: Kings of Leon - Manhattan (buy)

Official - http://www.kingsofleon.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/kingsofleon

Update: We had previously posted the album would be out on October 20th from a message listed under one of The Shore's pictures on their site, until we had realized much sooner that it had been released digitally via an update on their MySpace page. If you would like to support The Shore, you can buy it on iTunes right now right here! We highly recommend "When Tomorrow Comes".

We can't add enough exclamation points into this post!!! The Shore have added two more songs onto their MySpace page and it looks as though they have an album name as well. So far The Shore have four new songs in total to listen to on their MySpace page. You can listen to them here.

Light Years will be out October 13th! 20th!

They also have a solo show coming up (below), so if you're out near L.A., and not in Philly like us, you'll be missing out if you don't catch them play. Stay tuned for more news...

MP3: The Shore - Coming Down [buy]


Upcoming Show:
Oct 19 2008 - 9:00PM - SPACELAND - LOS ANGELES, California

Nightmares on Wax have been one of MUFs favorite chill-out music dating way back to 1995's Smoker's Delight. Just as Justin Timberlake is to pop, Nightmares On Wax are to chillout... perhaps even that doesn't do the now 38-year-old Trip-hop mastermind George Evelyn justice.

Evelyn, whose fame quickly spread via the DJ Kicks complilations started back in 1995 (way before iPods) was a shoo-in given the perfected beats and organic chemistry each of his songs emulated so well. Nightmares on Wax has joined the realms of Kruder & Dorfmeister, DJ Cam, DJ Krush and so many more who have perfected this less popular genre of music over the course of the last 15 years.

Nightmares on Wax is set to release their CD on September 2nd in the US and Canada. The album is called thought so... and is absolutely top notch. The first single from their album is "195lbs". If you're not so sure you're ready to commit to it yet, you can preview it on iTunes, as it has already been digitally released, or hop on over to the Nightmares On Wax blog. The blog features a game where the album is played in the background for your listening enjoyment. You can play the game right here.

There’s a facebook version of the game where you can log your hi-scores into our N.O.W. hi-scores table (play the game and submit your score). We may as well have a little competition.. The prize is a special N.O.W. goody bag from E.A.S.E. including:

- A signed test pressing of the new album on vinyl (or a CD copy if you want instead)
- N.O.W. Posters
- A N.O.W. T-Shirt
- A couple of recent DJ mixes on CD

The winner will be decided by whoever is top of the N.O.W. hi-score table by Monday 1st September at midday.

On top of all of that, you can also get a Free MP3! You can enter your email address on this page and you'll be sent a free MP3 just for signing up for the NOW newsletter.

MP3: Nightmares On Wax - Les Nuits (buy)

The Red Album, as it has justifiably been named, will now be released three weeks earlier, from the original date of June 24th to June 3rd. That's right, the quasi Village Peoplesque covered album will arrive much sooner than you think!

Why? Its simple, practically everything has leaked. And thanks to leaked albums, everyone knows what "Pork and Beans" is all about along with seven other leaked tracks from the much beloved (and hated) quatro.

So what's the verdict on this craziness that's tethered their fans in a love/hate relationship since the release of the Black Album (Make Believe) and their Green Album? Both were shot down by critics and the rebirth of Pinkerton or their ominous Blue Album have been all the talk since "Pork and Beans" arrived not more than a month ago. Now new tracks are listenable, downloadable and streamable all over the net, including Stereogum, which seems to have more avid haters than likers.

Have it how you will, but its time we all stop dwelling in the past and move on to something new. Even if you dislike their latest, one thing you have to love about Weezer is how they've still kept themselves grounded unlike other rock stars we know.

If you feel like throwing some playful banter around (we all do), then go to Album Six, the unofficial website all about the Red Album, where people are endlessly chatting about this Red cover you see above. If that is too much of a forum atmosphere for you, then just go to Weezer's website, where you'll find that Weezer just finished mastering their album yesterday (5/14/08). That's right, you've been listening to crappy, unmastered (and illegal) songs all along!

Don't be picky, order the album if you're a true Weezer fan who respects all of the creativity that went into this new album. Weezer will always be genius to me - there's always a few good tracks off of every album. I'll give my run-down of a few that may be overlooked on their last three albums:

"Keep Fishin" - from Maladroit
"Burndt Jamb" - from Maladroit
"Freak Me Out" - from Make Believe
"Perfect Situation" - from Make Believe
"Smile" - from Weezer (Green Album)

MP3: Weezer - Blast Off (buy)


What's your favorite Weezer song of all time?

Lots to talk about this week, so let’s get right to it. This week’s flagship album may just be Tokyo Police Club's Elephant Shell. Their album is absolutely top-notch and we give our highest recommendation.

A few surprises before we get into some of the more talked about groups. A Great Big Pile Of Leaves is offering their mellow, yet pulsating album The Firey Works free on their website. After one listen through, I already have a few favorites. If you’re looking for some wonderful shoegaze, we recommend Christopher Bissonnette’s In Between Words; truly beautiful music.

Some groups to pick out of this long list are the legendary Billy Bragg with his album Mr. Love & Justice. The Cinematic Orchestra, whose experimental intrumental music has made a name for themselves, has released their live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall. The Bees are featured in on a Split Ep with The Mother Hips. Even Blind Melon is somehow back this week with For My Friends introducing their new lead singer Travis Warren.

Cloud Cult is already becoming an indie favorite on the blogsphere garnering lots of attention from many critics, particularly Pitchfork who calls their latest Feel Good Ghosts "Insane genius…”. On the other end of the spectrum is the much-anticipated pop-punk album from Story of the Year, The Black Swan.

We’re not done yet! Make sure to check out Sleepercar’s album West Texas, a must-have for this year. And lastly, don’t forget that one of MUF’s favorite band’s from 2007 released their Impossible EP today. That’s right, we’re talking about the Shout Out Louds! Enjoy all of the new music this week!

MP3: Sleepercar – A Broken Promise (buy)
MP3: A Great Big Pile of Leaves – Users Guide To A Coloring Book (buy)
MP3: Tokyo Police Club – In A Cave (buy)

A Great Big Pile of Leaves - The Fiery Works II (Official) (MySpace) (free downloads I II)
A Little Affair - Find Your Light (MySpace)
Amelia - A Long, Lovely List of Repairs (Official) (MySpace)
Ashlee Simpson - Bittersweet World (Official)
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold (Official) (MySpace)
Barry Adamson - Back to the Cat (Official) (MySpace)
Beans - Thorns (MySpace)
Beat Union - Disconnected (MySpace)
Ben Reynolds - Two Wings (Official)
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice (Official) (MySpace)
Black Francis - SVN FNGRS (Official) (MySpace)
Black Tambourine - Complete Recordings (Official) (MySpace)
Blank Dogs - On Two Sides (Official) (MySpace)
Blind Melon - For My Friends (Official) (MySpace)
Blues Control - Puff (Official) (MySpace)
Boredoms - Super Roots (MySpace)
Cancer Bats - Hail Destroyer (Official) (MySpace)
Christopher Bissonnette - In Between Words (Official) (MySpace)
Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (Official) (MySpace)
Colour Revolt - Plunder, Beg and Curse (Official) (MySpace)
Dead Raven Choir - Cask Strength Black Metal (Official) (MySpace)
Dr. Dog - We All Belong (Official) (MySpace)
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (Official) (MySpace)
Eliot Lipp - The Outside (Official) (MySpace)
Elvis Costello - Momofuku (Official)
Fancey - Schmancey (Official) (MySpace)
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords (Official) (MySpace)
Foot Village - Friendship Nation (Official) (MySpace)
Goldfinger - Hello Destiny (Official) (MySpace)
Gossip - Live in Liverpool (MySpace)
Grouper - Wide (Official)
Guillemots - Red (Official) (MySpace)
In the Audience - Natural Satellites EP (MySpace)
Jack Rose - Kensington Blues (Official) (MySpace)
Jim Noir - Jim Noir (Official) (MySpace)
Lyrics Born - Everywhere At Once (Official) (MySpace)
Monotonix - Body Language EP (Official) (MySpace)
Naked on the Vague - The Blood Pressure Sessions (MySpace)
Negative Space - Storylines (Official) (MySpace)
Neva Dinova - You May Already Be Dreaming (MySpace)
Night Marchers - See You In Magic (Official) (MySpace)
Phil Vassar - Prayer Of A Common Man (Official) (MySpace)
Prodigy - H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 (Official)
Religious Knives - It's After Dark (Official) (MySpace)
Santogold - Creator L.E.S. Artistes (MySpace)
Sarandon - Kill Twee Pop! (Official) (MySpace)
Scritti Politti - Early (MySpace)
Shout Out Louds - Impossible EP (Official) (MySpace)
Sleepercar - West Texas (MySpace)
Sonic Youth - J'Accuse Ted Hughes (Official) (MySpace)
Story of the Year - The Black Swan (Official) (MySpace)
The Bees / The Mother Hips - Split EP (Official)
The Cinematic Orchestra - Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Official) (MySpace)
The Death Set - Worldwide (Official) (MySpace)
The Jealous Girlfriends - The Jealous Girlfriends' (Official) (MySpace)
The Muslims - The Muslims (MySpace)
The Old Haunts - Poisonous Times (Official) (MySpace)
The Plastic Constellations - We Appreciate You (Official) (MySpace)
The Song Corporation - Pirates! (Official) (MySpace)
The White Tie Affair - Walk This Way (Official) (MySpace)
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell (Official) (MySpace)
Torche - Meanderthal (Official) (MySpace)
Trentemoller - Miss You (Official) (MySpace)
Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad (Official) (MySpace)
Wildlife - Six (MySpace)
Wye Oak - If Children (Official) (MySpace)
Young Knives - Superabundance (Official) (MySpace)

If you haven't heard by now, Coldplay's new album will be called Viva la Vida. Does it sound like a horrible album name? Of course it does. Most English-speaking fans would have no clue what it means at first glance. First impressions are everything, and despite the likability of Coldplay, this may be the worst album name I've heard all year. Mind you, I'm not a Coldplay hater, like the million others out there, but the band would have been wiser choosing their alternate album name "Death And All His Friends", but even that doesn't click.

Perhaps a lot of what Coldplay has been up to doesn't 'click' per se, but that seems to be what they're going for. Rolling Stone sat down and got a sneak peek of the album with Chris Martin and the band as well as an explanation of the reason the album name was chosen and most importantly, what the album sounds like:

Singer Chris Martin chose it after seeing the phrase, which means “long live life,” on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured polio, a broken spine, and chronic pain for decades. “She went through a lot of shit, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said ‘Viva la Vida,’” says Martin. “I just loved the boldness of it.”

Martin's boldness in name choosing falls right in line this time around since the birth of his two children who have since been named Apple and Moses. Says Martin to Rolling Stone:

“I’ve been through this before, naming something or someone and everyone saying that ‘That’s a terrible name’. But then saying, ‘Well, fuck you, that’s what it’s called, and I’ll be proved to be right eventually’. So when Viva la Vida came along, I was kind of annoyed because I’m going to have to try and convince everybody of this, but it just felt right.”

Besides the name of the album, Rolling Stone reports influences like that of The Doobie Brothers in one song and Afro-pop influences in another. RS reports that many of the lyrics are "darker, dealing with recurring themes of death and loneliness" and that Martins vocals go beyond his traditionally light-footed singing style.

Here is the description of some of the more likely songs to be accepted to Coldplay's tedious track selection for the new album. The band had reported last year on their Official Site that VLV will most likely be only a 10-track album only because they wanted it all to fit together and couldn't include everything. Here are the details:

"Violet Hill": One of the strongest of the new songs, the band is considering giving it away as a special promotion in coming weeks and then leaving it off the album. Opening with a jagged distorted guitar riff, the song announces a new template: The stalking, bluesy beat fits nicely with Martin's earthy vocals and plaintive lyrics: "If you love me, won't you let me know?"

"42": The fact that the band is considering this song as the album's first real single underlines how far they're willing to a stray from their formula: It's an elaborate three-part piece, with swirling pianos, strings and beat loops that build to an uptempo climax, with some seriously stoner lyrics: "Those who are dead are not dead/They're just living in my head."

"Yes": Here, Martin's vocals take center stage like never before: Sounding more aggressive and strong than ever, they sit on top of an irresistible North African string-and-tablas arrangement and ache more convincingly than all the lilting falsetto in the world: "If you'd only, if you'd only
say 'Yes'/I'm just so tired of this loneliness." It's the band's freshest song since "Parachutes."

"Death and All His Friends": A straight-up rock tune with a riff that sounds ripped from the Doobie Brothers, piano, and, in the last section, flute.

"Cemetaries of London": Notice the thematic pattern emerging from the title and lyrics? This one, with an electro loop and hand claps, doesn't sound as glum as its title portends.

"Life in Technicolor": Acoustic-guitar driven and jangly, this is one of the few tracks that seems built from the Coldplay template of songs like "Don?t Panic," only a bit more, well, panicked: "Baby it's a violent world," Martin sings.

"Chinese Sleep Chant": Opening with a jagged guitar riff, the song quickly settles into a propulsive dance-track loop with low-mixed, angelic vocals.

"Strawberry Swing": This is one of several potential album cuts with Afro-pop and high-life influences: Here, distortion-free finger-picked guitars which sound straight out of Mali mix with a heavy bassline and psychedelic synths. "My Mum comes from Zimbabwe, so I spent a lot of time there," says Martin. "I used to work in a studio where people played that."

"Reign of Love": A lovely layered composition of piano, bass and organ that backs fairytale lyrics.

MP3: Coldplay - Parachutes

Visit Coldplay on their Official Site or preview them on iTunes.