I'M BAACK (with Coachella highlights and a new Stereolab track)
After a very long and unexpected absence (here and here), c4 is back on the Orphan blog. Did ya miss me!??!?!?!
Of course you did.
Here's what else you missed:
1. In an interview with NME.com David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) announced that he and Brian Eno have finished a new record which will be released before the end of 2008. He also alluded to the fact that a tour might be in the stars, so keep your ears peeled.
2. Coachella came and went. I didn't go, but from what I've seen so far, the highlights were totally:
Prince covering Radiohead (the video quality is poor, but the sound is the best of the 5 or 6 I found on youtube)
The Verve's performance of 'Bittersweet Symphony.' I can't believe how good it sounds.
If you went to Coachella and would like dispute either of these, feel free to get it all out in a comment.
3. Stereolab will release new material on 4ADat the end of the summer. The new record's called Chemical Chords and I scoured my feeds to find a track for you guys to preview. The scouring was not done in vain. Download a track from Chemical Chords: Stereolab - Three Women
4. Orphan Review contributor, miss Jessica (machinesaysno) has started an L.A. events blog. If you're looking for something to do, look no further. Just click here.
5. And finally, Orphan's own Fascinoma played an absolutely phenomenal set at the Silverlake Lounge last Tuesday. I feel sorry for you if you missed it, and am glad I didn't.
Final note: In the future, Orphan Review updates certainly won't be as few and far between as they have been lately, but make sure you subscribe to The Orphan Review via RSS so you don't miss a single one!
Mariee Sioux's debut LP came out last year and got a lot less hype than it deserved. Released by Grass Roots Record Co., it is a spiritual, poetic, and musically un-ordinary journey into the mind of the young Native American from California. Guest musicians on Faces in the Rocks include grammy-nominated, Native American flutist Gentle Thunder, and Sioux's father Gary Sobonya on mandolin. The Nevada City native recorded her debut LP "with the intent of aligning the magnificence of the human voice with the universe’s creative energy". She has toured with the likes of Brightblack Morning Light, and is currently on tour with Alela Diane. A single from the debut LP, 'Two Tongues at One Time,' was recently released rare 7” vinyl and is referred to as "a sonnet-filled homage to the ancestors who traversed the wild lands of America hundreds of years ago." The song is guilty of "reminding listeners of our vital ties to our past."
Keeping with the current trend of really spectacular, folk-esque, female musicians (Alela Diane, Marie Sioux, Fascinoma) The Orphan Review brings you a new favorite. Miss Basia Bulat is Ontario's own warbling nightingale, whose debut LP Oh, My Darling! was released in the U.S. through Rough Trade U.S.A. on February 5th of this year. It's an extremely musical recording totally packed with strings, and the Motown/Stax/Beatles/Beach Boys influenced composer is vocally reminiscent of a classier Kate Nash (my apologies for the trite comparison). Anyway, Basia Bulat is getting set to tour with Devotchka on their post-Coachella U.S. trek, which will unfortunately not stop in Los Angeles. Better luck next time, I guess. But it's kind of okay, because Bulat has (quite recently) recorded a session with (what might just be Orphan's favorite website ever, for obvious reasons) Daytrotter dot com. That the entire world can download for free. So that totally makes up for us Los Angelenos NOT getting a live taste of Basia Bulat. Right? And this video of Basia performing 'Snakes and Ladders' live in Brussels helps too huh? Pshhhtyah, right. Sorry dudes, but it's all I got.
Assuming some of you don't know: Hot Chip are those British electro kids that brought you that poppin little dance track, called 'Ready for the Floor,' that came out back in January and has been remixed by everyone under the sun (to the point where some of you probably haven't even heard the original version. Fix that now--you can listen and read).
Why it bears mentioning: I heard the song on the radio last night and realized how good it is--I even put it on a mix CD I made for a dude who listens mainly to metal. I TOTALLY love it. This morning I went to add it to my myspace profile, and what I found on Hot Chip's myspace page is quite frankly the best internet marketing campaign for an indie artist, ever. It was all aimed at promoting the album that was just released on February 12th, Made In The Dark. The major is now on a[n extremely well designed] Facebook App that hosts "The Hot Chip Triathalon." At midnight on March 31st, the winner of this trilogy of memory games will be whoever holds the highest score in the Facebook App. The prize: 2 round trip tickets to see the band in NYC on April 12th (airfare, hotels, etc.--but London to New York only--outlanders are ineligible). The fact that there are only 37 active users means that if you happen to be reading this and you live in the UK you really DO have a fighting chance.
The campaign also includes an official Hot Chip YouTube page and a link to download the new album's title track for free. You have to fill out a form first, but that form is actually your entry to win all formats of the album and & new single “Ready For The Floor” (released January 28th 2008). Read the Terms and Conditions.
I know, it's a lot to digest. Just make sure you chew your food, and wait at least 30 minutes to go swimming after you eat.
Nothing reeks of high school more than day-glo graffiti, awkward make-out parties, football games, boys obsessed with fornicating, cheerleaders, rollerskates, and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Nothing, that is, except for maybe the Teenagers MySpace page. The visuals included in this post are really only a tiny fraction of the serious gems that make up the collage I used to have inside my locker that treasure trove of all things pre-mature ejaculation. I hope the only reason it took me more than a minute to realize that these 3, certainly-over-25-year-old men CAN NOT BE SERIOUS, is that I didn't get much sleep last night. Truth is, their brand of 90's inspired synth-pop (sounds gross, I know...) is quirky--it's like a mock boy-band that does it WAY better than the real thing. They are talented dudes with a serious sense of humor so convincing that it probably goes unnoticed.
(how fitting is it that they got famous on myspace????)
It's positively undeniable: these dudes are hilarious. Normally I wouldn't host a download for a song that came out as a single like two days ago, but The Teenagers offer a pretty good incentive to make the purchase. They released three different versions of the single, each version on a different color 7 inch vinyl: red, white, and blue (all super limited editions, of course, and rought five bucks each). The 7 inches feature 4 different versions of the title track (feat. tepr and delorean remixes as well as a cover by soko) and two B-sides ('Trouble' and 'Tiger'). Safe to say they've made it well worth the purchase (which can be made here), so I've got no qualms with offering up the MP3 to the loyal readers of the Orphan Review.
Alrigiht, I'll admit it. I've been lagging. I haven't been giving you ANY news, and now you're totally out of the current musical loop. I'm sorry. But if you haven't been lagging, then you've already had the chance to hear the new single from the Breeders, Bang On. And maybe you think it's really weird and un-breeders-like, and a sort of half assed attempt at a comeback, but maybe you've downloaded it already anyway. If you have, it's also possible that you know that the SEVERLY over-priced coachella ticket isn't the only place you can see them this year:
Because of the fact that all of this was news to me this morning when I woke up and (finally) decided to renew my subscription to the human race, I'm gonna pretend like it's news to you this afternooon. You are welcome.
Brand new, unreleased, unmastered Sparrow House track!
If you EVER read The Orphan Review, you know about my obsession with Jared Van Fleet (Voxtrot)'s solo project, Sparrow House. The first E.P. released under that name, Falls (2006) was totally out of this word and I am pleased to announce that a follow up is on the way. The artist writes,
"thanks to corduroy (every last thursday of the month at cake shop) for inviting me to play. i'll be playing a short set there this thursday around 11:30.
thanks also to everyone that has written and asked about new songs. i'm sorry, i've been digging a hole. television snow next winter. i'm too sick of it now. branches will be next, sooner than i thought.
here is a song for the way spring moves in, if you'd like to download it. turn up your ipod, it's not mastered.
new york is cold but i like where i'm living... see you soon
Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby?
I was on my way from one sad affair to another sad affair and the radio, which I've made a habit of listening to lately, managed to provide me with the perfect soundtrack. It was a Sonic Youth cover of the Carpenters song 'Superstar', which I guess comes up in that movie Juno, which I haven't seen, and until today, I hadn't even heard the song. It's awesome. Download it.
I guess there was a Carpenter's tribute album that came out in 1994 and this track is from it; which means I am like 14 years late on this one. Shocking.
M.I.A. and her paper plane bullshit kinda pisses me off. Holy Fuck would probably bug me too, but know this: together, M.I.A. and Holy Fuck become something kinda good.
Thanks for switching it up, guys.
That's all I'm gonna say about it because I'm way too tired to give you anything more than this. Deal with it.
I figure since J.B. is still unsigned (I think), it may be more appropriate to let him describe himself. From the Brother Bird page @ Virb.com:
"Brother Bird is JB (Jonathan Brokaw) making music with help from his friends [Cody Coffey {Regal Standard}, Doby Watson {Boo Hiss}, Austin Swearengin {Parsen}, and Matthew Hoppock {Manipulator Alligator} ]. Brother Bird is beautiful music about beautiful things and not-so-beautiful things still being important and having their own quality of beauty. Brother Bird is music that reflects the foreshadowing of a dark future with the backdrop of hope slivering down the back of a 7 headed snake with the acid-drenched claws of a vegetarian falcon at it's side."
Thanks to Virb.com for bringing me such great music. It's clear from the YouTube video (below) that this kid is pretty young, but in no way does his age seem to dictate his talent. I get a lot of bullshit requests for Orphan via the Virb.com page: This kid was one of the first, and still remains one of the best. I'd say, top 3. Something big's gonna happen here, mark my words.
I've been sitting on this for a while now... I heard about these guys like a month or two ago now, on Harmony in My Head, and truthfully the only thing that's kept me from posting this is the serious amount of verbage on their website that I've just been way too lazy to read. In all honesty, I still haven't read it--but I have been listening to their music for nearly two solid weeks and I've decided that I don't really care what the website is trying to tell me about the history of the band, or what the band thinks about giving music away for free. In fact, I'm entirely sick of that topic. Whatever.
Anyway...whether you decide to label them Post-Punk, Noise, or just fucking garbage (which most of you will do), The Instant Automatons sort of rule. The singer sounds like Mark E. Smith from The Fall (and he shares the same first name). They've got these rudimentary pre-casio sounding rhythm tracks that somehow manage to work with the totally off-beat, out of tune saxamaphone--also played by Mark. The way I hear it: The Fall meets Ariel Pink meets Suicide, with a whole lot less talent, less detailed synth tracks, and way cooler lyrics. If you're bored with your music, download their whole catalog--legal and gratis--on the Instant Automatons website.
NEW PORTISHEAD SONGS: 3 Tracks/1 Video from ATP 2007
So we weren't lying before, guys. Portishead really does have new stuff, and I'm totally stoked that I'm still on the URB mailing list, otherwise I wouldn't be able to throw it at you guys. That's right--see, my internet is down, like I've mentioned 20 times before, but for some reason I decided to check my email at the internet cafe (this post is costing me like 5 bucks) and found this GEM in my inbox.
To click or not to click? Well, here's the rundown on what you'll find there:
3 live Portishead tracks from All Tomorrow's Parties last weekend 1 live video and some wholly unuseful comments following each.
Welcome to the Orphan Blog, featuring music and culture reportage, sporadic essays, free associations and news from Orphan Headquarters. To contact us with tips/news/questions regarding this blog, please write us here.
----
If you are the copyright owner of any material posted on this blog and would like it removed, please contact us and we'll be happy to oblige.
[ Subscribe to this blog -
email | rss ]
