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Austin, Texas-based concert promoters C3 Presents have announced the line-up for this year’s Lollapalooza, which will again take over Chicago’s Grant Park 2-4 August, 2013. Now in its eight year as a destination festival based in the Windy City, Lollapalooza began as a touring festival in 1991. Headliners for Friday, 2 August will be The Killers, the recently resurrected Nine Inch Nails (who played the festival way back in ’91), New Order and Queens…
New Orleans-based duo Generationals have released an advance single and accompanying video to promote their upcoming album, Heza, due 2 April via Polyvinyl…
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One of the most buzzed-about acts at this year’s just-wrapped South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas was Rhye, the Los Angeles-based collaboration between producers/vocalists/instrumentalists Robin Braun (Quadron, Boom Clap Bachelors) and Mike Milosh, who had previously released three albums on Quadron’s label Plug Research. Braun and Milosh first came together in 2010 and two singles, “Open” and “The Fall,” were released in 2012 under…
A short film about Wild Records titled 'Los Wild Ones' premiered at this years' SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas. It was selected as one of the final eight films to be showcased from over 900 submissions. Wild Records is an LA based independent record label formed in 2001 after owner Reb Kennedy and his wife travelled to LA from San Francisco on the strength of a flyer that promised "Mexican Rock & Roll". Kennedy was blown away by the energy…
SXSW has grown almost exponentially over past few years, to become a monster of a festival, dwarfing others by comparison with over 5,000 events. So, rather than try to cover everything we thought we'd slice through a sample of Friday (15th March) night's extensive programme to see what is available for the subculturally literate festival goer - and for those who couldn't afford the airfare but still like to dream. Friday Night at SXSW - Our Pick: The…
Hershey, Pennsylvania’s The Ocean Blue came of age as a band in the late 80s/early 90s and was one of the first American groups to channel the melancholy post-punk of British outfits The Smiths and New Order for U.S. teens weaned on college radio and MTV’s 120 Minutes. Their 1989 debut on Sire Records won critical acclaim when the band was barely out of high school, and they followed suit with the albums Cerulean (1991) and Beneath the Rhythm and…
New Jersey-based indie heavyweights Yo La Tengo have released their 13th album, Fade, on multiple formats (including deluxe vinyl) via longtime label Matador Records.The album, recorded with Tortoise’s John McEntire at Soma Studios in Chicago, finds the legendary trio (Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew) trading in psychedelic folk (opening track “Ohm” and midway point “I’ll Be Around”), strings-laden Americana (“Is That Enough”), jazzy indie…
Boise, Idaho’s Youth Lagoon (A.K.A. Trevor Powers) has announced the release of his sophomore album, Wondrous Bughouse, due 5 March worldwide via the Fat Possum label. Wondrous Bughouse follows the acclaimed 2010 debut The Year of Hibernation and was inspired by Powers "becoming more fascinated with the human psyche and where the spiritual meets the physical world." While advance tracks are not currently available, the album art is a wonderfully…
2012 was another banner year for new American music. The tracks below represent Stateside’s top picks by bands based in the U.S.A. Liars - “No. 1 Against the Rush”: Moody and minimalist synth-pop inspired by American football; great tune and NYC’s Liars certainly win points for originality. King Tuff - “Bad Thing”: Bubblegum garage pop from Detroit up-and-comers and another solid single for the venerable Sub Pop label. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti…
The Chicago label Bloodlust has re-issued Chris Connelly’s 2011 album Artificial Madness on translucent red vinyl. Originally available on CD via extreme metal imprint Relapse, the LP version of Artificial Madness preserves Orion Landau’s original album art, adapted for the new format by Philadelphia-based designer/artist Jonathan Canady. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland (where he handled vocals for dance-rock outfit Fini Tribe), Chris Connelly…
Influential indie label Saddle Creek has reissued Danse Macabre, the 2001 long player by Omaha, Nebraska synth-rock group The Faint. The original album, along with the six bonus tracks, was remastered by Ted Jensen at New York City’s Sterling Sound and was released on CD and vinyl formats, both packaged with extensive booklet and DVD extras. The DVD includes archival video footage, live projection clips and the "Agenda Suicide" music video. In its…
On 27 October the world lost a unique musical voice with the passing of Terry Callier. Born Terrence Orlando Callier on 24 May 1945, the singer cut his first record for the Chess label while still in high school before gravitating to folk music as a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the early 1960s. His debut album, The New Folk Sounds of Terry Callier, was recorded in 1964 but not released until 1968 by the Prestige label.…
Boston’s Dropkick Murphys have announced the 8 January release of a new album, Singed and Sealed in Blood, via Born and Bred Records. The LP is their second with producer Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Old Crow Medicine Show), was recorded at hometown studio Q Division and mixed by Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes). The band will be on tour in the US and Canada, beginning on 29 October, and will play a number of dates along the West Coast and throughout…
The Austin, Texas-based instrumental outfit Balmorhea, founded by Rob Lowe and Michael Muller in 2006, released their fifth LP, Stranger, on 2 October via Western Vinyl. The six-piece group, described by the New Yorker as "slow burning, wordless, and ambient Americana," is currently on a national tour, which kicked off with a hometown record release show at the Mohawk. Stranger presents an epic swirl of guitar loops, vibraphone, synthesizers, ukulele…
Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor has announced that his current band, How To Destroy Angels, has some new music to be released in the months ahead. In a letter posted on Reznor’s Facebook page, he writes: "Today's news is about my band How To Destroy Angels. I'm happy to announce we've formally partnered with Columbia Records for our next series of releases. The first of these will be available in November [2012] and it's called An Omen EP.…
Now in its eighth year headquartered in Chicago (with satellite festivals in Brooklyn, Toronto and Dallas), Riot Fest will take over the Congress Theater (14 September) and Humboldt Park (15-16 September) for three days of music, carnival rides and more. The Congress Theater bill is closest to the punk/hardcore origins of the festival, with a line-up consisting of The Offspring, neo-new wavers Neon Trees, Chicago legends Pegboy and hard rockers Dead…
L.A.-based weirdoes Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have just dropped the first video to promote their new album, Mature Themes, which was released this week in the States on the influential 4AD label. The clip (for first single “Only in My Dreams”) complements the band’s lo-fi approach to jangly, psychedelic pop by using an ancient VHS camera to capture the androgynous Ariel Pink being kicked out of a motel room, saving a hipster girl from certain…
Queens, NY-based Freelance Whales have announced that their sophomore album, "Diluvia", will be released on 9 October via Mom+Pop and Frenchkiss Records. The band has also announced a U.S. fall tour where tickets purchased online in advance will allow fans exclusive downloads of new music. The first single/music video from "Diluvia" pits gorgeous multi-layered pop reminiscent of Scottish darlings Belle & Sebastian against a psychedelic, Sci-Fi…
Veteran New York garage rockers The Fleshtones follow up last year’s "Brooklyn Sound Solution" with the "Quatro x Quatro EP", which was recorded last February while the band was on tour in Spain. To be released 21 August on limited-edition vinyl by the Yep Roclabel, "Quatro x Quatro" includes four songs recorded in Spanish and was co-produced by Jorge Muñoz-Cobo Gonzalez, longtime friend of the band and former member of the group Dr. Explosion. “The…
Ambient house duo Teengirl Fantasy have released a video and advance single to promote their sophomore album, "Tracer". The single, “End,” is an icy alternative to summer club jams that chills the senses and numbs the brain quite nicely. Teengirl Fantasy (musicians/programmers/producers Nick Weiss and Logan Takahashi) met while students at Oberlin College and bonded over a shared love of electronic music, specifically classic techno and house tracks.…