What's New(s)?

tUne-yArDs debuts "Wait for a Minute"

Last month Merrill Garbus, better known to the music world as tUnE-yArDs, released the infectious stutterer "Water Fountain" as the first taste of her third LP Nikki Nack. Today she's followed up that sunny crowd-chant with the far-more subdued "Wait for a Minute". Garbus rides muted drum-machine beats and curving synthesizers with a soft coo for most of the tracks runtime, only once breaking into her battering-ram shout. When she mentions a "haze" you understand exactly what she's talking about.

Nikki Nack is out May 6 in the U.S. through 4AD.

 

Queens of the Stone Age stay up late in "Smooth Sailing" video

What if Bill Murray just drank his nights away and hung-out in malls while he was in Japan during Lost in Translation and never met Scarlett Johansson? That's roughly what you get in Queens of the Stone Age's video for the molten-hot "Smooth Sailing", albeit with more cocaine and public beatings. Throughout the clip, QOTSA-frontman Josh Homme wanders through dark locales with business-people and aggressively drinks with them at every turn. Like Lost in Translation there's also plenty of karaoke to be found, though it's surrounded by ties on heads and bottle-smashing. Everyone seems to lose their mind by the time the clip is up, looking at ease as a body is being buried. They're all "in flagrante."

Queens of the Stone Age have added a series of U.S. shows that you can find below along with "Smooth Sailing".

Tour Dates:

4/12 Indio, CA - Coachella
4/15 Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium
4/19 Indio, CA - Coachella Valley
5/6 St. Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins Auditorium
5/7 Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside Theater
5/9 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
5/13 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
5/14 Tulsa, OK - Brady Theater
5/16 Gulf Shores, AL - Hangout Music Festival
5/17 Gulf Shores, AL - Hangout Music Festival
5/18 Gulf Shores, AL - Hangout Music Festival

Bikini Kill unearth "Girl Soldier"

As previously mentioned on the blog, riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill are in the midst of a reissue series that started last winter with the re-release of the group's self-titled debut EP. Next week the series continues with Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, a 12" that was originally split with British riot grrrl group Huggy Bear. For the upcoming reissue, Bikini Kill has taken their half of split and added 7 previously unheard tracks to the equation. Today they shared one of those unreleased tunes, "Child Soldier". A stagnant calamity the group played early in its career, the track moves at a snail's pace with feedback and Kathleen Hanna's lacerating screams blocking it in at every turn.

You can read an interview with Bikini Kill bassist Kathi Wilcox through Rookie and find "Child Soldier". 

Check back tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

What's New(s)?

Broken Bells announce tour

 
In anticipation of their upcoming After the Disco LP, Broken Bells (the Shins James Mercer and Danger Mouse) have announced a 2014 tour for the month of March. The 10-leg run begins in Minneapolis and wraps up in New Orleans on March 12, leaving open the possibility of an appearance at the 2014 SXSW Festival in Austin. For the entirety of the tour, electronic-pop duo Au Revoir Simone will be opening. After the dates, check out the group's mysterious After the Disco short film which features music (potentially from the new album) and stars Anton Yelchin of Charlie Bartlett fame and actress Kate Mara from House of Cards (as if James Mercer didn't already get enough Spacey comparisons).

Tour Dates:
2/28 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
3/1 Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre
3/3 Toronto, Ontario - Danforth Music Hall
3/4 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
3/5 Boston, MA - House of Blues
3/7 New York, NY - Webster Hall
3/8 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero Theatre
3/9 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
3/11 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
3/12 New Orleans, LA - Civic Theatre


 




 
Queens of the Stone Age release interactive video

If the mammoth 15-minute animated video for Queens of the Stone Age's ...Like Clockwork weren't enough, the group has outdone themselves with an interactive feature for the brooding "The Vampyre of Time and Memory" directed by Kii Arens and Jason Trucco. Accompanied by surreal imagery of evil maids and dead animals, the pitch-black video airlifts the group into a house of horrors where every turn is controlled by the viewer.
 The interactive version can be checked out here, and if it's slow to respond you can check out the "regular version" below. In other Queens of the Stone Age news, the band will be releasing a live three-song EP entitled ...Like Cologne tomorrow on Spotify, featuring recordings from a recent stint in the German city.

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s), and visit the AllFreshSounds Twitter account for additional news updates.

What's New(s)?

Queens of the Stone Age throw shots at Jigga

Though it's hard to imagine them inspiring a "Takeover" like response, Queens of the Stone Age had some less than kind things to say about "the God MC" in light of their recent performance at the Jay curated Made in America Festival. In an interview with the CBC 2's "Strombo Show" frontman Josh Homme referred to Jay Z as a "kook", saying "He has his security frisking the bands on the way in." When the festival security asked to look through his own bag, Homme threatened not to play, intonating "no one's ever done that." Apparently the band was also given a bottle of Jay Z's champagne, which they later broke tagging it as nothing more than "a marketing tool". Listen at around the 1:56:00 and 2:16:00 marks for QOTSA's commentary on the incident, where Homme also wonders aloud "people never say anything bad about Jay Z do they?", not unless your Lil Wayne or Nas.


  




Beck debuts "Gimme"

Rounding out this summer's trilogy of stand-alone singles, Beck has released "Gimme" to follow-up previous entries "Defriended" and "I Won't Be Long". According to NPR affiliate WXPN, none of the songs will feature on his forthcoming full length LP or his rumored acoustic album. "Gimme" tows the line between the two, feature an organic gamelan like sound before rapidly mutating into mechanical pitch-shifting vocals. The song is now available as a 12'' on Beck's website backed by a 30 minute extended mix B-side.

James Blake teams up with Chance the Rapper

James Blake's original "Life Round Here" distinctively recalled the "rainy days" he detailed in the overcast number; a dour keyboard providing the cloud coverage and Blake's cascading digital voice supplying the downpour. The song appeared before the RZA feature "Take A Fall For Me" on the excellent sophomore release Overgrown. Since then, Blake has logged studio time with Drake, Kanye West, and now Chicago upstart Chance the Rapper. Before debuting the remix on BBC 1 Radio, Blake fittingly called from Trent, England standing in the rain shooting a video with Chance for the new version. When asked by DJ Zane Lowe how the collabo came about, Blake spotlighted Chance's SXSW performance and said "I never really felt the track was finished, even when it went on the album, I just felt there was this space". Chance fills in that space with a dizzying verse that scurries through "roundabouts" and chips in for another round. The exuberant touchdown Blake dejectedly referenced is reinvigorated by Chance's own take on the Ickey Shuffle. 

Look for the video to appear in a future edition of "What's New(s)?" which is said to feature everything from "Somalia Pirates to Chevy Impalas."