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Showing posts from November, 2013

Singles: Yeh/Lee/Marhaug, Wax Idols, The Notwist, El Ten, Kid 606, Cokegoat

C Spencer Yeh / Okkyung Lee / Lasse Marhaug : "Ophelia Gimme Shelter" (via Enabler PR) Wax Idols : "Schadenfreude (THE-DRUM Remix)" (via Black Book /Force Field PR) The Notwist : "Close to the Glass" (via Sub Pop) El Ten : "Nova Scotia" (via Force Field PR) Kid 606 : "Cute Never Dies" (via Kinsman and Meng PR) Kid606 "Cute Never Dies" [Official Music Video] from Cristina T. Bercovitz on Vimeo . Cokegoat : "Buried in the City" (via Earsplit PR/ Revolver ) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Shopping For Records: Sunn O))) & Ulver's Terrestrials

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Word of 2014 releases is starting to roll in.  The first notice of next year's treasure trove arrived yesterday in the form of Terrestrials , a collaborative effort from SunnO))) and Ulver that will be released in February.  Other than reissues, I think this will be the first new album SunnO)))'s released since 2009's Monoliths & Dimensions , which I still consider one of the best albums the zero-zero decade had to offer.  You can read my review of that album here .  Word of the release comes to you from Earsplit PR, so give it a read.   SUNN O))) & ULVER: Collaborative Work Entitled Terrestrials Due For February 2014 Release Via Southern Lord SUNN O)))'s most recent studio album, 2009's Monoliths and Dimensions , and ULVER's 2013 album, Messe I.X-VI.X , found both evolving and longstanding groups venturing into the world of acoustic arrangement and contemporary orchestration. Besides arriving at this seeming parallel in vision, the pair'

Singles: Oikos, Teengirl Fantasy, Monogamy Party, Post-Ape, Obits

Oikos : "Perdition (Austral Road)" feat. Ann Deveria (courtesy of Oikos) Teengirl Fantasy : "Nun" (via  Force Field PR) Monogamy Party : "Crimes" (via Good to Die Records/ Brooklyn Vegan ) MONOGAMY PARTY // CRIMES from Emily Denton on Vimeo . Post-Ape: "The World Is Over" (via Sure Shot PR) Obits: "Operation Bikini" (via Sup Pop/ Stereogum ) Obits - "Operation Bikini" from stereogum on Vimeo . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

C. Spencer Yeh/Okkyung Lee/Lasse Marhaug: "The Mermen of Poetry"

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Back in September, I posted a teaser from an experimental collaboration called Wake Up Awesome , which was brought to fruition by artists C. Spencer Yeh , Okkyung Lee and Lasse Marhaug .  A full track surfaced today called "The Mermen of Poetry" and it more than demonstrates the extent to which its performers are working within the non-confines of free form discordance and improvisation.  Patterns emerge, but quickly fade beneath an exchange of electronic sounds, heavy breathing (and implied slobbering) and cello strings rubbed raw of melody.  The track is below. For release info, click here .  Info and links were provided by Enabler PR. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Califone: "Frosted Tips" (Video)

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Califone released a video for the single "Frosted Tips," a new track culled from their recently released album, Stitches .  The song has a jubilant tone to it despite the fact that the line "watching the new world die" is its most discernible lyric, icy guitar strums and tom-driven percussion flank occasional horn blasts and string sections.  There's a glory to it somehow.  The video depicts the tenants of an apartment building in all their various states of living, either celebrating, struggling, playing, contemplating, enjoying their time or having sex (that last bit makes the video unsuitable for the cubicle, by the way).  You can watch the video below. Also, here's a review of Califone's 2009 release, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers .  All info is courtesy of Dead Oceans. NSFW Califone Video for "Frosted Tips" New North American Tour Dates Announced Califone has shared a new video for their single, "Frosted Tips"

Lou Reed (1942-2013)

And, what would there be without Lou Reed ? For the last seven days since hearing of Reed's passing, I've felt compelled (as I'm sure many of you, or the one of you, reading this have been) to keep his albums a constant in my day-to-day listening: White Light/White Heat, Loaded, Lou Reed, Berlin, Sally Can't Dance, Metal Machine Music, Rock N' Roll Animal, Street Hassle ...etc.  It's been all Lou. And, as I've been listening to Lou, I've also been revisiting Lou as a written entity.  It must be said that the best criticism I've read has been about Lou Reed or The Velvet Underground which I will attribute (romantically to a fault possibly) to the fact that they've both consistently challenged the conventional pop world and what was supposed to be its off-kilter antithesis.  Flipping through the pages of Clinton Heylin 's All Yesterday's Parties: The Velvet Undergound in Print: 1966-71 , I found this very succinct and passionate exc

Shopping For Records: Zombi Reissues...

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As an early birthday gift, my brother bought us tickets to see Goblin play at the Troc on December 12th. Opening that show will be Zombi , whose first three albums are being reissued by Relapse Records in January of 2014: Cosmos, Surface to Air and Spirit Animal . Pre-orders can be made below. All info comes courtesy of Relapse Records.  ZOMBI: Announce Deluxe Vinyl Reissues On Tour 11/30 - 12/14 with Goblin In celebration of their recently announced tour with Italian soundtrack kings Goblin, Relapse Records will be reissuing three long out-of-print LPs from Pittsburgh, PA's progressive wizards, ZOMBI. The groups now classic albums, Cosmos, Surface to Air , and Spirit Animal will each be available on deluxe vinyl on January 7, 2014 and can be pre-ordered from Relapse Mailorder HERE .  Their 2004 Relapse debut Cosmos will be reissued as a double LP for th