Archive for the News Category

The Cool Kids release two new tracks in anticipation of new mixtape

Posted in Audio, Downloads, Music News with tags , , , , , , , on Friday, May 1, 2009 by Erik Burg

The indie friendly hip-hop stars Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish have been busy since their stellar Bake Sale EP release in 2008. With the release of the That’s Stupid Mixtape the same year in conjunction with a tour, and now they’re working on their second studio album When Fish Ride Bicycles slated for release later this year. But they’ve got another project ready to drop this week. The Gone Fishing Mixtape will be released Monday May 4th on Cake Recordings.

gone-fishing

The tape was produced and performed along side their long time friend Don Cannon, and the two singles that they leaked today display some of their best work to date. “Champions” shows some of the Cool Kids most interesting production to date, adding tons of fuzzed out and over the top bass lines to the usual snare kicks that they’ve perfected by now. I absolutely love this track, the way that the chorus bangs is absolutely unreal. Maybe it’s not quite as smooth as some of their other material and a little bit more of what some people would call “mainstream” but it’s still awesome. The other single, “Popcorn” is a lot more in line with their other material. Some really good samples and some really smooth vocals. It’s always a good mix for Mikey and Chuck.

The Cool Kids – “Champions”

The Cool Kids – “Popcorn”

So grab the MP3s and check their blog Monday to download the whole Gone Fishing Mixtape!

Cave In ends hiatus and prepares 2009 EP for release

Posted in Music News with tags , , , , , on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Ryan Buege

An official statement from Cave In reads:

“After 3 1/2 long years, Cave In has decided to end its hiatus. Please join us for an EP release show at Great Scott’s (1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston MA) on Sunday, July 19th @ 9PM. Also playing will be our friends Disappearer and Phantom Glue. Copies of the Planets Of Old limited 12″ (recorded by Adam Taylor, Alex Hartman & Johnny Northrup @ Camp St. Studio) from Hydra Head Records will be available that night.

We hope to see your lovely selves.

Steve, Adam, J.R., Caleb
CAVE IN”

Hell yes! I knew it would be long (seriously, this band sounds too awesome live to be separated forever). The visionary indie/space/hardcore/roc/metal legends are back and it’s good to see that J.R. Connors is in the saddle for the ride.

Expect a preoder of Planets Of Old to be up on Hydra Head’s online store any time now..

Sonic Youth & Yeah Yeah Yeahs plan separate summer tours to pass through First Avenue

Posted in Concert Dates with tags , , , , , , , , , on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Really, we all know that I don’t need to do anything more for this post than list the dates for these two separate summertime shows that our friends at First Avenue booked this week. I can guarantee these will sell out in no time, because anyone who wants to see these bands live definitely knows how rare these Minnesota visits are for the longtime indie rock gods in Sonic Youth (on July 21) and the constantly rising star of Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (on May 30). Tickets for both shows will be available this Saturday, May 2nd. Pay attention to first-ave.com for the link or just drop by their box office!

May 30, 2009
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
First Avenue in Minneapolis, MN
Doors @ 6 / All Ages

July 21, 2009
Sonic Youth
First Avenue in Minneapolis, MN
Doors @ 7 / 18+

Non-Minnesota residents, keep reading! All of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sonic Youth shows that are booked so far are listed after the link… Continue reading

My life has been sucked away

Posted in Audio, Concert Dates, Downloads, Music News, Video with tags , , , , , , , , , , on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Erik Burg

Okay so I have been and will continue to be basically incommunicato for the next week. 18 credits the week before finals and 30 a week at work will do that to you. The music world, sadly, goes on without me. But here is a round-up of various ongoing over the past few days.

1. Calvin Harris remixes Passion Pits new single “The Reeling”

2. White Denim released a new track entitled “Mirrored and Reverse”

White Denim – “Mirrored and Reverse”

3. Phoenix gets remixed twice. Once by Classixx another adding a Dub. They play this tour date (be there): 06/23 Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity

Phoenix – “1901 (Ivan Beck Dub)”

4. I have to give two presentations now. Hope you enjoy! See you in a week!

Apparently Clipse aren’t bullshittin’…

Posted in Music News with tags , , on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 by Tim Althaus

brothers-thortonMalice & Pusha T aren’t kidding when they talk about birds, pies, or any coke reference for that matter. Apparently the ex-manager for Clipse has been indicted on charges of leading a $10 million drug ring. According to the article at HipHop DX, Anthony Gonzalez has been running the drug ring mostly out of his club Encore Lounge in Virginia.

The article goes on to say that Gonzalez has pushed over a ton of marijuana and one hundred pounds of cocaine since 2003. Even though his operation is out of Virginia, his operation has supposedly reached as far as South America. The indictment on the individuals involved claims that,  “the people that were involved put themselves in the position of music producers, rappers, entrepreneurs, club owners, clothing designers and other legitimate occupations to conceal their real identity”.

Gonzalez was the manager for the Brothers Thornton up until 2006. Clipse has still not publicly commented on the issue. They are currently managed by Steven Victor.

De La Soul to release new album with Nike tomorrow

Posted in Music News with tags , , , on Monday, April 27, 2009 by Tim Althaus

de-la-soul2According to an article over at HipHop DX, De La Soul will be releasing their first full album in five years partnering with Nike to release Are You In? The Hip-Hop pioneers will be releasing the 44-minute workout album tomorrow (April 28th) via Nike’s label SportMusic. Apparently the folks over at Nike promote creativity and meshing of minds. The guys in De La said that’s the main reason why they chose Nike’s SportMusic to release their album instead of a major or independent label.

I can assure you that this is going to be one workout album that you are going to want to have on your iPod. In addition to this album, the article mentioned that De La is in the lab working on another full length, as well as touring Australia & Europe. You can pick up Are You In? on iTunes tomorrow 4/28/2009.

DOOM serves up some “Microwave Mayonaisse”

Posted in News with tags , , , on Monday, April 27, 2009 by Tim Althaus

Here is an awesome, yet very inexpensive video for DOOM’s song “Microwave Mayonaisse” off of Born Like This. The video is directed by Dallas Penn. Make sure you go out and get the new DOOM album if you haven’t, it’s pretty fucking killer.

Xasthur’s All Reflections Drained LP prepared for May release

Posted in Music News with tags , , , , on Friday, April 24, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Xasthur

Underground ambient US black metal entity Xasthur has finished putting together the All Reflections Drained LP that has been recorded throughout 2007 and 2008 (with M.H. as guest vocalist), and Hydrahead is now prepared to release the album on May 26th in 2xLP, 2xCD, and even as a cassette tape. As with all Hydrahead releases, the packaging is looking very impressive for the vinyl with cover art from Tim Lehi and photography by Faith Coloccia – the 2xCD is encased in a DVD style digipack and features a second disc of bonus material, including alternate versions, unreleased material, and several covers. Knowing how reclusive Xasthur’s Malefic (Scott Connor) is, I didn’t expect that we’d get to hear much from the release before Hydrahead officially sent it out, but thankfully there has been some media uploaded from the release. If you’re in the mood for new Xasthur, head over to the newly launched, HH-run MySpace Preview page for the release here to listen to all but two songs from the All Reflections Drained!

1. Dirge Forsaken (5:38) – LISTEN
2. Maze Of Oppression (5:12) – LISTEN
3. Achieve Emptiness Part II (4:56) – LISTEN
4. Masquerade Of Incisions (15:30)
5. Damage Your Soul (4:50) – LISTEN
6. Inner Sanctum Surveillance (6:58) – LISTEN
7. Obfuscated In Oblivion (5:22) – LISTEN>
8. All Reflections Drained (7:44)

Of Montreal debut two new songs, continue covers rampage

Posted in Audio, Music News, Video with tags , , , , , , on Thursday, April 23, 2009 by Erik Burg

kevin-barnes Of Montreal continue their romp through the world of covers. Though my favorite to this point is either “Day Man” from It’s Always Sunny or “Melody Day” by Caribou, this cut of The Beatles White Album classic “I’m So Tired” is pretty great. 

 

Check out their entire cover archive at You Ain’t No Picasso

Performed in-studio for 90.7 WFUV, Kevin Barnes and friends strip the song down just a little bit but build to an ending that’s just as sentimental as the original song. I’ve been a huge fan of nearly all OM’s acoustic studio tracks in this nature (including the awesome tracks they did for The Current here in Minneapolis). Barnes’ unique voice and styling has a way of shining even more than on record in this format which is pleasing to note, along with his awesome scarf-glasses combo which he probably has patented by now. 

And if you missed it earlier in the week, Of Montreal played a few new tracks at the Music Hall of Williamsburg as well. It’s live, so yeah the audio isn’t perfect, but what is for certain is that OM hasn’t missed a beat since Skeletal Lamping. The tracks are little bit more rock-ish than anything they’ve done to this point, but it all seems a natural progression if you listen to their last two or three albums. They can do no wrong for me, especially after seeing them on their off-the-wall tour this fall. Enjoy!

Of Montreal – “Like a Tourist”

Of Montreal – “Conquet Coquet”

FREE show: Andrew Broder, Mountains, Frail By Design @ U of M’s the Whole tomorrow

Posted in Concert Dates with tags , , , , , , on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Andrew Broder

University of Minnesota’s Spring Jam is going on all weekend, and besides being the first major celebration of drinking around campus for the spring, the event usually is the first major free music event in the city, as well. Unofficially, the festivities kick off tomorrow when NYC’s acoustic experimentalists in Mountains descend into the Whole at U of M’s Coffman Union for a free gig with Minneapolis-based ambient/experimental musician Andrew Broder of Fog and Madison ambient post-rockers in Frail By Design (featuring bass skills from good friend and fellow U student Dan Jin). All three acts will be supporting new releases; Frail By Design just released their Time Traveler EP, Mountains third full length Choral came out in February, and Broder is having one of the most prolific years imaginable, so far self-releasing 9 albums of his solo experimentations for free download via a personal online directory (including one called Spirals that was uploaded yesterday!). If unconventional rock  is your sort of thing, or even if you just want to start your Spring Jam a bit early, come down to the Whole to lose yourself in some ethereal, unorthodox jams from a superb collection of up-and-coming acts. For the price of FREE, this is a concert you can’t afford to miss.

University of Minnesota
The Whole Music Club
Thursday, April 23, 2009
8pm – FREE