What's New(s)?

Fiona Apple debuts new song

In the midst of her set last night at Portland's Newmark Theatre Fiona Apple was heckled by an unruly fan who derisively yelled "get healthy we want to see you in 10 years!" to which Apple retorted "I am healthy." Emboldened by the initial heckler, another audience member chimed in "you're a has-been." Apple's touring partner for the Idler Wheel tour Blake Mills came on stage as a distraught Apple asked for the house lights to come up and for the initial heckler to be removed. The house lights eventually went back as the band delivered the brief encore "Better Than Fine". An understandably upset Apple then apologized for the events of the evening declaring it "an historically stupid night."

Amidst all the chaos, Apple and company found time to deliver two new songs to the audience including the stunning piano ballad "I Want You to Love Me". Apple's vocals on the new track are less fragmented than much of the evocative Idler Wheel..., carrying an air of wistfulness as the piano jaunts along to a jagged guitar conclusion.  Ultimately, it's an unfortunate circumstance that such a beautiful song arose out of such an ugly situation.



  


Yo La Tengo release new track

Yo La Tengo's lush 2013 record Fade will soon be seeing the deluxe treatment and part of that effort involves the unveiling of the previously unreleased "Super Kiwi". Taking immediate flight with feedback and distortion, "Super Kiwi" gallops along on Georgia Hubley's unwavering drums while Ira Kaplan's vocals fight to rise above it all. The trio has plans to release the fuzz-laden cut on a 7" next month, which will be backed by a cover of the Beach Boys' "A Day in the Life of a Tree". 

Listen to the new track here, and look for the "Super Kiwi" 7" to drop 11/5 and the Fade reissue to be released 11/19, both via Matador.


Check back in Monday for more of the newest in new(s).

"This Lonely Morning"- Best Coast

Best Coast's scenic 2012 release The Only Place was focused on "forever" and how we ultimately spend our lives in between the lines and margins. We can hit the beach and catch a wave as "The Only Place" suggested or reach for the refuge of the bottle as "Last Year" proposed. New track "This Lonely Morning" spends it's time in waiting. Lead-singer Bethany Cosentino has described the upcoming EP Fade Away as "kind of it you took Crazy for You and the Only Place and created a baby out of them." Musically "This Lonely Morning" barrels down the middle of the pipeline, but the lyrics dial-in the approach of The Only Place. "I wait for you to call, but sometimes you don't call at all," Cosentino half-snarls over a 1-2 drum beat and jagged power-chord guitar part. Cosentino continues in the second verse, "the haze is on my mind, I'm running from myself this time" as the drums and guitars ramble on. She's bearing the brunt of "this lonely morning" before questioning why these thoughts are a recurring theme and why no matter who she's running from she can't escape. "These feelings never change" Cosentino bellows over the raucous bridge. "This Lonely Morning" may be focused on a moment, but it feels like forever.

  

Fade Away is available on 10/22 through Cosentino’s Jewel City imprint and you can listen to "This Lonely Morning" here.

What's New(s)?

Yoko Ono/Flaming Lips perform on "Letterman"

Yoko Ono has never been one to shy away from spectacle and last-night the 80-year-old artist brought that showmanship to the Late Show with David Letterman. Performing "Cheshire Cat Cry" from the latest Plastic Ono band offering Take Me to the Land of Hell, Ono was aided by son Sean Lennon and merry-pranksters the Flaming Lips, who provided the abrasively grooving beat. Flips frontman Wayne Coyne mostly stuck to the sideline, manipulating a bullhorn while Ono bleated away "stop the violence". Letterman summed up the piercing act afterwards quipping, "It's fun when you leave the theater humming the music from the show, isn't it?"

Take Me to the Land of Hell is available now through Chimera Music.

Kendrick Lamar throws shots at Drake (kind of)

 

One of the countless rappers Kendrick Lamar took aim at in the world-conquering "Control" was Drake, who along with a whole host of hip-hop artists Lamar promised to "murder" and make irrelevant. During an interview with Elliot Wilson to promote Nothing Was The Same, the Canadian-artist seemed nonplussed about the whole situation, saying "Kendrick is giving people moments, but are you listening to it now, at this point in time? Okay... It was real cool for a couple weeks". Now in brief clip from an upcoming BET cypher, Lamar is "covertly" sending shade Drake's way, rapping "Yeah, and nothing’s been the same since they dropped 'Control'/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes," he raps. "Ha-ha jokes on you, high-five, I’m bulletproof/ Your shit'll never penetrate/ Pin the tail on the donkey/ Boy you been a fake". This time out will Drake have "a reply for it"?

Diss tracks and beef have been a big part of hip-hop since the very beginning, and have lead to stone-cold classic tracks (see "Takeover"), but in this digital era the flames of a feud are easier than ever to fan. If this leads to future awe-inspiring verses from either individual, I'm all for it, but if not hyped up fights like this become a distraction to the artists and do a tremendous disservice to hip-hop as a whole.



Kevin Shields gets conspiratorial 

 

Last time out the notoriously reclusive Kevin Shields (frontman of My Bloody Valentine) was bemoaning the band's stunning omission from the Mercury Awards decrying, "Our album's not a real album because it's independent. The corporate-ness has got to such a point where we've essentially been told that we don't exist. So, technically, that album doesn't exist. OK? It's not allowed to exist according to the Mercury prize... God help [whoever wins]... There are sinister forces at work."

Well now it seems Shields has found even more nefarious forces in the music industry, pulling the strings of an entire musical movement. In an interview with the Guardian, Shields claims the thrivent 90s Britpop was "massively pushed by the government." According to the Guardian, the MBV frontman had a less than thrilled reaction to the mention of the Cool Britannia movement, surmising "the 1990s wave of optimism and patriotism centered on the global successes of Britpop and bands like the Spice Girls". 

Listen to MBV's excellent "she found now" from their 20-years in the making LP mbv below.

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s).

"Bad Weather"- Starwalker

We still don't know much about the mysterious Starwalker project, other than the fact that it's a collaboration between Air's Jean-Benoît Duncke and Bardi Johansson, the driving force behind Icelandic band Bang Gang. There's no official release date for their as-of-now untitled debut EP, and the only audio is the five minutes of downcast electronic-pop provided by "Bad Weather". "Bad Weather" begins with a foreboding burble before Johansson's wistful voice temporarily parts the cloudy synth. A stark contrast continues in the lyrics, where Johansson resolves to be both the angel and the devil "in your eyes". Handclaps underscore the song, but suggest strife instead of assurance as sad clouds rain on Johansson's heart. Soon Johansson is swallowed up by a self-contained storm of piano chords and blaring electronic airhorn, his muted vocals attempt escape but soon embrace the inevitable. "Bad Weather" is a song resigned to the rain, staying in the shadows while longing for the light.

Starwalker's EP will be available through Prototype Recording, though as previously mentioned there's still no release date.

  

What's New(s)?

The Dead Weather planning new album

Jack White project The Dead Weather is set to release a new 7" entitled "Open Up (That's Enough)" backed by "Rough Detective" through White's Third Man Record subscription service. According to a press-release, the 7" (issued on yellow vinyl) is only available in physical form to Third Man Vault Subscribers, though both tracks will eventually be released digitally. This initial offering is part of the band's plan to periodically debut new two-song sets leading up to the 2015 release of their third LP, which promises to feature the singles along with "many more album-only tracks". 

2015 is a ways off, so while you wait enjoy the still great "Die By The Drop" from the band's sophomore release Sea of Cowards.

Vampire Weekend bassist announces new EP

The dust has hardly settled on Vampire Weekend's excellent 2013 release Modern Vampires of the City, but that's not stopping bassist Chris Baio from setting to work on a new EP. Entitled Mira, the dance/electronic EP follows up last year's Sunburn EP. The EP is out October 28 through Australian label Future Classic and to mark the announcement, Baio has released a sunny, island inflected remix of "Regular Town" by Sydney-band New Navy.

 

New Major Lazer

Continuing their dancehall dominance, Diplo's Major Lazer project has produced the arresting "Turn Around". For their latest world conquest, they've employed the services of duo Zeds Dead and dancehall legend Elephant Man (who previously collaborated with the group on "Wind Up" from Free the Universe). This new track sounds like downed powerlines slithering through a late-night beach party hosted by an alcohol soaked MC. In other words, its the sort of offering you'd expect from the Major. 

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s).

"Look"- Tyler the Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, & Earl Sweatshirt

"Look" announces itself in "typical" Odd Future fashion, Tyler delivering "it's the f****ng aaahhh" in his guttural yell before the beat screeches to a halt and he sarcastically promises to "tone it down". The screen comes down and the initial scene has been broadcast before. Tyler's "pissing inside your swimming pool", rocking paint jobs "flatter than Miley Cyrus' ass", and moonlighting as "the blackface of white America". Hodgy Beats doubles down on the oddly familiar over the precise drum strikes, copping to being "mentally crowded" and "spilling more than I drink". 

Then Domo Genesis enters the arena and the reset button may as well be hit for a second time. Since his Under the Influence release, I've been fervently insisting Domo is on a steady ascension to the upper echelon in the OF crew and "Look" continues the climb. Domo's long been pigeonholed as the resident "weed rapper", but here he's surprisingly sober rattling off the opener "live from the gutter, young stunner, trumps what you n****s blundered, I uppercut by the bundle, n**** take a number," with devastating dexterity. He's out for blood and Earl's lusting for it in the finale. Earl's unnerving calm disappears in the fog of the glitchy backbeat as he opts to "chalk out n****s". The minor details of a Sweatshirt verse continue to deliver major damage, in this case the close-up image of his "thumb sticking to that pump grip". "Sticking to the script" is a misnomer; they're rewriting their own mythology one page at a time.

The debut MellowHigh album (Hodgy, Domo, and Left Brain) is being teased for a Halloween release, no word yet if "Look" will make the final cut.

  

 I'm 'bout my butter, never let them suckers te me under  

Concert Revue- Nine Inch Nails at the Sprint Center

(Photo Brian Davidson/Special to the Star/KC Star)


In my review for Nine Inch Nails' restless comeback album Hesitation Marks, I noted Trent Reznor spent much of the album's run-time turning down the heat on past towering infernos, "until only a flickering blue pilot light is left". The band's searing two-hour set at the Sprint Center last night danced between the tiny shimmer of a lighter and a raging fire threatening everything in sight.

Jittery "Copy of A" opened up the night and Reznor was instantly caught up in his own groove, hurling across the stage like a feral animal. Follow-up "1,000,000" smashed the opener into the "pieces of pieces of pieces" the squiggly song could only suggest, Reznor delivering the numb "I feel a million miles away, I don't feel anything at all" with half-clenched teeth. Pretty Hate Machine warhorse "Terrible Lie" further escalated the aural onslaught. Every off-kilter guitar riff unleashed added an additional black eye to an already bruised body.

Akin to the new LP, much of the show's downtime was unexpected. "March of the Pigs" central question "doesn't that make you feel better?"' became the eye of the storm, prolonged by Reznor and company. The piano traipsing along teased a respite that never arrived. Similarly, the skittish beat sequencing of "Find My Way" was oddly comforting in a live context. Surrounded by so much terror, Reznor's "Children's Prayer" subversion provided genuine tranquility. Elsewhere, the ambient washes following "Running" drowned out the entire crowd. Soon enough though the audience was cast onto the rocky shore by the seething interrogation "where the f*** were you?" of "Somewhat Deranged". 

But the brief intermissions of frailty were no match for the night's muscular numbers; tracks intent on obliteration. Before the show, I heard someone yell what sounded like "cyber raptor" and that vivid imagine of a mechanical killing machine is ideal for the NIN discography. Backed by shadows, "Hand That Feeds" rose to its feet and stomped the audience into the ground with its indelible hook. "All Time Low" retained its rabid dog on a last leg status; flailing about without ever breaking the cage that contained it. "Disappointed"s scattered beams of light were right at home accompanying a fragmented mind that's spent the last two decades attempting to piece everything together. And "Head Like A Hole" (which elicited the throatiest roar of the night) continued its dominance, heralding the apocalypse which the audience relished with delight.

The two songs that achieved equilibrium between the ragers and the growers are all too familiar to fans of the band. Bathed in purple, Reznor was quietly seeing red with "Piggy". The "soothing" ambient whispers of the track were shouted down by the punishing drum beat and skyward reaching guitar solos. Then there was "Hurt" drawing the black curtain on the funeral procession. It was the least surprising moment of the night and still the most satisfying. Long since it was wrestled away from Reznor by Johnny Cash, he continues to imbue it with the same hopeless isolation an entire generation identified with nearly 20 years ago. When the whispering guitars find their voice, it's the sound of man shedding his mortal coil.

When I was about 10, I remember having long shoots attached to my fingers and jokingly dubbing them "Nine Inch Nails" to my cousins. I had no idea who the band was; to me they were just a name. The apparent unease that crept over my cousins told me all I needed to know. The mere mention of the name clued me in this wasn't a band that traded in comfort. Anyone that promises "the only that's real" rarely does. 

Setlist:
1. "Copy of A"
2. "1,000,000"
3. "Terrible Lie"
4. "March of the Pigs" 
5. "Piggy"
6. "All Time Low"
7. "Disappointed"
8. "Came Back Haunted"
9. "Find My Way"
10. "Into the Void" (First time since 2007)
11. "The Frail" (Tour debut)
12. "The Wretched" (Tour debut)
13. "Survivalism"
14. "Running"
15. "A Warm Place"
16. "Somewhat Damaged"
17. "Wish"
18. "Burn" (Tour debut)
19. "The Hand That Feeds"
20. "Head Like A Hole"

21. "Even Deeper"
22. "Various Methods of Escape" (Live debut)
23. "While I'm Still Here"
24. "Black Noise"
25. "Hurt"

"Disappointed