Check out the track "Struggle With Yourself" from Grecian duo Keep Shelly in Athens. The song comes from the band's recent release, Campus Martius E.P., which dropped earlier this week via Planet Mu.
Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror from Mom+Pop on Vimeo.
Sleigh Bells have announced the follow up to one of my favorite albums last year. Watch the teaser for their sophomore record, Reign of Terror, via Stereogum.
After dropping by Jimmy Fallon to unload an exhilarating performance of "Midnight City", m83 stormed Webster Hall for the first of two NYC area shows. Comprised mostly of gems from the recent Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, Anthony Gonzalez and company launched through a palpitating set complete with dizzying lights and waves of sound that drenched the crowd. Morgan Kibby provided stunning vocals that matched Anthony's intensity and sent the crowd into pure bliss as layers of sonic textures pummeled over washed out dreamy harmonies. A spectacular rendition of "Teen Angst" came shortly after the expected "Intro" to kick start the evening, and other favorites such as "Kim & Jessie" and "We Own the Sky" sent tingles down spines. Just as the band seemed to be firing on all cylinders, an out of this world saxophone solo rocked through song of the year contender "Midnight City", which sent the audience into an absolute euphoric state. Aural landscapes are part of what makes m83's music so mind blowing, however seeing these monstrous tunes performed live it truly out of this world. Shortly following the fantastic "A Guitar and a Heart", the band returned for a brief encore that rocketed the crowd into the outer cosmos shattering any expectations and solidifying a triumphant moment in the band's career.
Setlist:
01 Intro
02 Teen Angst
03 Kim & Jessie
04 Reunion
05 Year One, One UFO
06 We Own the Sky
07 Steve McQueen
08 Wait
09 This Bright Flash
10 Claudia Lewis
11 Midnight City
12 A Guitar and a Heart
--
13 Skin of the Night
14 Couleurs
Less than twenty-four hours after the eviction of Zuccotti Park, rising punk acts Fucked Up and Titus Andronicus stormed Warsaw in Greenpoint, bringing their triple guitar fury to the people of Brooklyn. Before launching into the opening of their excellent debut, Patrick Stickles had a few words for last nights events and set a theme for the evening full of angst, power, and hope. The (almost) beardless leader of the New Jersey powerhouse preached his thoughts to an audience full of eager listeners who seemed to share similar sentiment regarding the recent incidents in Manhattan, as songs from the band's third album were explained before exploding live onstage. While the new tunes certainly were intriguing and leave much promise for what the band does next, cuts from The Monitor really struck with the heart of the crowd as the passion overpowered Sickles and at times even replaced his vocals. While the band's politically charged anthems seemed more than appropriate for the evening, the night truly belonged to Fucked Up. Despite recent rumors of the band's end, Pink Eye took to the stage with his child on his shoulders before ripping through the recent opus David Comes to Life in its entirety. The energy comprised by this band is nearly unmatched by most other acts today. Aggressive vocals, lightning drumming, and shredding guitar blasts make up the concept masterpiece that unfolded live before the crowd tonight and just like sitting down to listen to this record (although I doubt many people remain sitting while this thing plays), the idea can be daunting. However, Fucked Up play with such precision and comradory that the monumental album seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Aside from telling the audience to "give a thumbs up to anyone partaking in the protests", the onstage banter was kept to a minimal, allowing the brilliance of the band to shine through and through.
The reigning titans of Hip Hop are in the midst of their first joint tour in support of their recent classic Watch the Throne and dropped by the Meadowlands Saturday night for the first of four NYC-area shows. With no opening act, the lights went down at 9:00 before the two stars rose on two towering platforms on opposite ends of the arena and launched into "H.A.M.", the first taste from the Watch the Throne project. For this effort, the duo are keeping things minimal. The backing band is shrouded in darkness, Mr. West and Jay stick to their all black everything attire, and simple spotlights shown over minimal beams of light keeping all the attention on the hosts of the evening. For over two hours the two traded classics after classics in a non-stop attack of the biggest hip hop songs from the past decade. Such a presence and command over an audience was delivered in a way in which only these fellas are capable. Towards the middle of the evening, the champs broke things down and took a rest in the middle of the stage and swapped stories from the past while Hova weaved in a stellar "Hard Knock Life" into "Izzo". The two stuck to the classics, delivering what will soon be known as a legendary show as the audience seemed to only be more enthralled after each song. While Kanye kept thing fresh with recent favorites "Power", "Monster", and an ever impressive "Runaway", Jigga went old school with "Big Pimpin", "Nigga What, Nigga Who" and the epic stadium shaking "99 Problems". It was an evening of two friends trading tricks and showing off their skill with nothing but ease; this is them in the most simple of settings and natural talent running wild. The ultimate example of "less is more", these men are kings of the game, but on stage they keep it to best friends.
Setlist:
01 H.A.M.
02 Who Gon Stop Me
03 Otis
04 Welcome To The Jungle
05 Gotta Have It
06 Where I'm From
07 Nigga What, Nigga Who
08 Can't Tell Me Nothing
09 Jesus Walks
10 Diamonds From Sierra Leone
11 Public Service Announcement
12 U Don't Know
13 Run This Town
14 Monster
15 Power
16 Murder To Excellence
17 New Day
18 Hard Knock Life
19 Izzo
20 Good Life
21 Empire State of Mind
22 Runaway
23 Heartless
24 Stronger
25 On To The Next One
26 Dirt off Your Shoulder
27 Touch The Sky
28 All of the Lights
29 Big Pimpin'
30 Gold Digger
31 99 Problems
32 No Church in The Wild
33 Lift Off
34 Niggas In Paris
--
35 Encore
36 Made In America
37 Why I Love You
Real Estate's new album, Days, is officially out and much like recent releases from Crystal Castles and Titus Andronicus, makes their first album almost obsolete. The warm and breezy guitars outshines their debut record in almost every way and fully captures their effortlessly cool mindset. Check out the video for "It's Real" above [via Pitchfork].
Mazzy Star will release their first single in 15 years next week. Naturally, the internet has beat them to the punch. "Common Burn" was apparently leaked on Spotify (check here) earlier today and someone ripped a stellar copy. The single, backed with "Lay Myself Down", officially drops 10/31 and will be followed by a vinyl release on 11/8.
"Phoenix are the subject of a new documentary, From a Mess to the Masses, about their 2009-2010 tour in support of their breakout album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. It was directed by Antoine Wagner, who also directed the video for their 2009 single "Lisztomania", and Francisco Soriano."
Retro-pop duo Tennis drop this excellent cover of the classic Zombies track "Tell Her No".
“We’ve spent the last several months writing and preparing for what we hope will keep us busy all winter. We will be announcing a Forest Family release in the next couple of weeks as well as tour dates to make up for the Vaccines tour cancellations. Also, we are excited to announce the existence of our next album (produced by our new friend Patrick Carney) coming out early next year. In the meantime, we made this cover of the Zombies “Tell Her No.” It’s been a long time favorite of ours and is the best use of a lone-clap we’ve ever heard.”
By now, you must have heard that the American rendition of I'll Be Your Mirror invaded Asbury Park, NJ this past weekend. For 3 days the decaying Convention Hall and accompanying Paramount Theatre and Asbury Lanes played host to a rare appearance by Jeff Mangum and the East Coast return of Portishead with tons of other great acts spread out over the course of the weekend. Shellac took to the stage Friday evening for a pummeling performance of heavy jarring guitar and witty banter. Saturday saw Battles rock through heavy hitting tunes mostly from their latest effort Gloss Drop playing with such precision and ease and sneaking in trimmed renditions of "Atlas" and "Tonto" to accompany newer favorites "Ice Cream" and "My Machines". Deerhoof blasted through noise-pop tracks early on Sunday and Public Enemy gave a weekend highlight performance ripping though Fear of a Black Planet and other greatest hits before Portishead closed out the Convention Hall Sunday evening.
While there were numerous fantastic shows throughout the festival, the weekend sincerely belonged to the headliners. As the lights descended on the declining Paramount Theatre a shadow moved across the stage and a hush fell over the crowd. An orange glow illuminated the legend in the flesh, Jeff Mangum, as he sat center stage, surrounded by four guitars, and gently dove into what would be a magical evening. As nearly every number from the infamous Aeroplane Over the Sea and several tracks from the also excellent On Avery Island rang out over the crowd, the audience watched along silently still in supreme wonder that this event was actually taking place. Mangum hardly spoke as he delivered stunning renditions of such highly regarded songs many thought would never be heard again. As main set closer "Holland, 1945" came to a close, Jeff quickly set down his guitar and exited off stage. He shortly returned for a request of "Naomi" and final number "Engine" and the left again into darkness leaving a crowd of people in utter bliss.
English gloom and doom trip-hop pioneers Portishead, took to the stage Saturday night to a glowing P projected behind the group before they ripped through an unbelievable performance the Eastern seaboard had been anxiously awaiting since the late '90s. After two tracks from 2008's remarkable Third, Dummy opener "Mysterons" sent the crowd into a frenzy as the band went on to unleash stunning renditions of classic numbers "Sour Times" "Glory Box" and a breathtaking intimate version of "Wandering Star" all of which were fit between Third sensations "Magic Doors" and "The Rip". Perhaps it was initial reaction to actually seeing Portishead, but Saturday's out of this world set could not be matched on Sunday despite the inclusion of recent highlight "Chase the Tear" and a ridiculous "Machine Gun" featuring the one and only Chuck D of Public Enemy spitting verses from "Black Steal in the Hour of Chaos". After years of staying out of the spotlight and earning a reputation of being a reserved performer, Beth Gibbons capped off Saturday's spectacle by diving into a crowd of adoring fans.
Jeff Mangum Set List (Friday):
01 "Oh Comely"
02 "Two-Headed Boy, Pt. 2"
03 "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"
04 "Song Against Sex"
05 "Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone"
06 "Ghost"
07 "True Love Will Find You In The End" (Daniel Johnston Cover)
08 "Two-Headed Boy"
09 "Baby For Pree"
10 "The King Of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1"
11 "The King Of Carrot Flowers, Pts. 2 & 3"
12 "Holland, 1945"
--
13 "Naomi"
14 "Engine"
