Sweden’s the Radio Dept. are an enigmatic band — and they like it that way. Despite a fervent Internet fan base and routine Hype Machine chart domination, the rough-edged dream-pop group doesn’t have a website and spent the three years leading up to 2010 album of the yearClinging to a Scheme in the studio keeping quiet, releasing the occasional single as planned album release dates came and went. This year, though, the Radio Dept. are ready to make some noise, releasing a two-disc career overview singles collection, playing Los Angeles for the first time in their 10-year history tonight and bringing their synthesizer assault to the Coachella Music Festival in April. I caught up with the band’s Johan Duncanson and Martin Larsson on Skype to discuss their marathon recording process, why it’s good to stay mysterious and collaborating with countryman Jens Lekman. Read the rest of this entry »
In addition to LA Font’s show at Bordello tomorrow, a few more worth your while this week: The Radio Dept. plays a sold-out gig at the El Rey, its first ever in L.A., on Wednesday; ’80s acolytes MINKS join Generationals, Black Apples and Shadow Shadow Shade on Thursday at the Satellite; and Ted Leo plays a free, solo session at the Mondrian SkyBar on Saturday. More dates, as always, on the ongoing show calendar; look for my pre-show interview with the Radio Dept. tomorrow.
Ted Leo – “Even Heroes Have To Die”:mp3 Generationals – “Greenleaf”:mp3 Radio Dept. – “The New Improved Hypocrisy”: mp3
Rawkblog pals/lo-fi heartthrobs LA Font played a few songs in bassist Greg Katz’s apartment for Little Videos over the holidays. All sound killer, though I’m sure the ladies would agree that the band’s much more handsome in person (they play Bordello with Gram Rabbit tomorrow night). Find three more songs over on Little Videos’ page and stream/download their free, ferocious debut album after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Sorry, Arcade Fire: party’s over. Radiohead will take its shot at the 2012 Album of the Year Grammy with The King of Limbs, the best band in the world’s eighth studio album and first since 2007′s game-changing In Rainbows. Like its predecessor, the new disc will arrive a week after today’s announcement, in “two versions – digital download (either MP3 or WAV) and a special, made to order deluxe edition featuring 2 clear 10″ vinyl records, a CD, a digital download and exclusive artwork all in a special ‘newspaper’ format” starting this Saturday. A standard retail edition will follow on March 28. Credit to the band for selling a digital edition in 320kpbs rather than 160 (for shame!) this time around.
No word on the tracklist, which could potentially include 2009 one-offs “Harry Patch” or “These Are My Twisted Words,” or the new songs (“Give Up the Ghost”) that frontman Thom Yorke’s been playing with Atoms for Peace. The band spent significant time in L.A. recording the album, which was produced as usual by Nigel Godrich. So: awesome. Now we’re just waiting for somebody to apologize for Wall of Ice. Here’s the pre-order link.
In the wake of Broadcast singer Trish Keenan’s untimely death, it’s reassuring to realize how influential the group was in the time they had. On sophomore album Celeste, U.K. act The Soundcarriers draw from the band’s space-age retro-future amalgam, pairing dispassionate psych harmonies with Krautrock grooves and coy pop hooks. “Last Broadcast” opens with a lockstep mission statement; elsewhere, “Step Outside” leans deeper into “Age of Aquarius”-era pop and the twinkling “Out of Place” offers an atmospheric ballad tied to Earth by resolutely busy percussion. It’s crisp, well-executed stuff — and, though unintended, a worthy tribute to a woman who helped make it possible.
I skipped the Grammys this year — this Netflix queue’s not going to watch itself — but, hey, Arcade Fire won Album of the Year! That it was for an album that pales in comparison to Funeral (or comparable albums from last year by the Radio Dept., Spoon, etc.) is beside the point. Before tomorrow’s onslaught of think-pieces: dudes won because Eminem and Gaga are scary, Katy Perry’s a cartoon and nobody’s ever actually listened to Lady Antebellum. They play guitars and write their own songs. In retrospect, pretty obvious, right?
On a broader note: there are essentially three tiers of music consumption right now: the dwindling radio-pop mainstream, the explosively expanding NPR-Twilight-Gossip Girl-Coachella demographic and the Internet-only Best New Music/blogosphere nerds. Tiers 1 and 2 have been on a massive collision course since Garden State: tonight, they crashed right into each other in a Hipster Runoff-shaped mushroom cloud. Make of it what you will. But: hey, more money for Merge Records to give to Destroyer!
(Also: I interviewed the band’s Richard Reed Parry at Canada’s Grammy party last week. Really nice guy.)
Above, Ezra Koenig, lead singer of critically acclaimed, chart-topping “indie rock band” Vampire Weekend, performing a purposefully amateurish version of Dave Matthews Band’s 1996 hit, “Crash Into Me.” For those who didn’t go to Jewish summer camp in the late ’90s, DMB (also referred to as “Dave,” as in, “Are you going to see Dave tonight? I’ll bring my hacky sack.”) merged folk-rock, jazz and traditional African influences into albums custom-designed to help college bros who could sort of play guitar get laid. That these albums, at least the ’90s ones, were actually awesome has long gone unnoticed among critics and hipster-types… until now. It’s 2011, 15 years since “Crash Into Me” was a hit, which is apparently long enough for it to undergo a Hall & Oates-esque cool-status turnaround.
Koenig’s cover’s a joke, but other imitators/homage-payers are more sincere: the chunky, horn-driven arrangements of Iron & Wine’s new album sound startlingly Dave-like at a times; L.A.’s Lord Huron plays long, uplifting jams impossible without serious hours logged listening to Under the Table and Dreaming; and even Deerhunter’s “He Would Have Laughed,” a tribute to late garage would-be icon Jay Reatard, evokes the central riff of the band’s “Satellite.” Listen closely, and you’ll hear the band’s influence in plenty of bands who wouldn’t be caught dead playing frat parties. Ironically or not, Dave Matthews Band’s cool-kid time has come: let me be the first to say I liked their earlier stuff better.
Sorry, Arcade Fire: party’s over. Radiohead will take its shot at the 2012 Album of the Year Grammy with The King of Limbs, the best band in the world’s eighth studio album and first since 2007′s game-changing In Rainbows. Like its predecessor, the new disc will arrive a week after today’s announcement, in “two versions – digital download (either MP3 or WAV) and a special, made to order deluxe edition featuring 2 clear 10″ vinyl records, a CD, a digital download and exclusive artwork all in a special ‘newspaper’ format” starting this Saturday. A standard retail edition will follow on March 28. Credit to the band for selling a digital edition in 320kpbs rather than 160 (for shame!) this time around.
In the wake of Broadcast singer Trish Keenan’s untimely death, it’s reassuring to realize how influential the group was in the time they had. On sophomore album Celeste, U.K. act The Soundcarriers draw from the band’s space-age retro-future amalgam, pairing dispassionate psych harmonies with Krautrock grooves and coy pop hooks. “Last Broadcast” opens with a lockstep mission statement; elsewhere, “Step Outside” leans deeper into “Age of Aquarius”-era pop and the twinkling “Out of Place” offers an atmospheric ballad tied to Earth by resolutely busy percussion. It’s crisp, well-executed stuff — and, though unintended, a worthy tribute to a woman who helped make it possible.
