Seemingly acting in defiance of a bone-crushing touring schedule (covering five different countries in five short days) Lindsey Jordan managed to find a spare six minutes during Snail Mail’s tour of Asia last October to record an epic version of ‘Pristine’ for MTV Asia’s ‘MTV Jammin’.
In other ‘The Tour That Never Ends Tour’ news, Lindsey and the gang will be visiting our friends in the Southern Hemisphere for shows across Australia and New Zealand early next month, details below.
Kurt Vile premiered a new song earlier today, “Timing Is Everything (And I’m Falling Behind)” and it’s exclusively available from Amazon Music. If you’re lucky enough to share your living space with an Alexa-enabled device, simply utter the phrase, “Alexa, play the new Kurt Vile song,” and VOILA, your life with be enriched thru the miracle of A-L-E-X-A. Kurt calls the song, “a candid snapshot of KV & the Violators ‘at home’; where we like it: sparse and jangly and as live as possible. Ok, fine, with some additional accoutrements (including a sick b bender overdub by Rob!). Jesse swells and chimes beautiful guitar as well. KV fingerpicks and sings. The lyrics are country blues. “Open the flood gates of a down pouring rain… in my brain.” Masterfully recorded in Athens, GA by our drummer Kyle somewhere inside a cluster of hazy band rehearsals on the roundabout way to a festival in Denver. Mixed by Peter Katis. This jam was one of many contenders for the last album, but we gonna start peeling em off for ya now instead.”
For once, the rumors are true (some of ’em, anyway). The “rejected” electronic album that Stephen Malkmus has been alluding to over the past year will see the light of day on March 15th. That said, ‘Groove Denied’ is not a plunge into EDM or glitch-city. In fact, there aren’t any purely instrumental tracks on the album. Every song is precisely that: a song, featuring Malkmus staples like an artfully askew melody and an oblique lyric. ‘Groove Denied’ is Stephen playing hooky from his customary way of going about things, jolting himself out of a comfy routine. As Malkmus commented recently in a recent video interview, “It’s kind of funny to mess with stuff you’re not supposed to mess with.”
The first taste of Stephen’s new groove can be sampled today, with the release of single “Viktor Borgia,” and its accompanying video. The title playfully merges the name of the comedian-pianist and the ruthless dynasty of Italo-Spanish nobles. . “Yes, I was thinking things like Pete Shelley’s ‘Homosapien’, the Human League, and DIY synth music circa 1982,” says Stephen, adding “and also about how in the New Wave Eighties, these suburban 18-and-over dance clubs were where all the freaks would meet – a sanctuary.”
Stephen will embark on a brief solo tour, sans Jicks, in May. The newly announced run of dates can be found below. A full bio, composed by Simon Reynolds can be found as well.
When Stephen Malkmus first arrived on the scene in the early Nineties, as frontman and prime creative force in Pavement, the area of music with which he was associated couldn’t really have been further from the techno-rave sounds of the day. Electronic dance music, then as now, was about posthuman precision, inorganic textures, and hyper-digital clarity. Whereas the lo-fi movement in underground rock championed a messthetic of sloppiness, rough edges, and raw warmth – a hundred exquisitely subtle shades of distortion and abrasion. “Imperfect sound forever” was the rallying cry for a micro-generation of slacker-minded dreamers and misfits.
Fast forward to the present and here comes Malkmus with a surprising new project that embraces the very digital tools and procedures he’d have once gone out of his way to avoid. Groove Denied – Stephen’s first solo album without his cohorts the Jicks since 2001 – was made using Ableton’s Live, a software sequencer and “digital audio workstation” that is the preferred tool of discerning techno producers and deejays worldwide. Instead of a human-powered rhythm section of electric bass and drums, Malkmus’s arsenal further includes drum machines, along with a host of plug-in FX and “soft synths” (digital simulations of vintage electronic hardware that inhabit your computer rather than take over your entire living room).
For the first time on record, what you hear here is just Stephen and the Machine(s).
But Groove Denied is not a full-blown plunge into EDM or hiptronica, into the soundworlds of Deadmaus, Villalobos and Skee Mask. In fact, there aren’t any purely instrumental tracks on the album. Every song is precisely that: a song, featuring Malkmus staples like an artfully askew melody and an oblique lyric. But Groove Denied is Stephen playing hooky from his customary way of going about things, jolting himself out of a comfy routine. As Malkmus commented recently in a video interview, “It’s fun to mess with things that you’re not supposed to.”
This departure from the tried-and-tested stems back to earlier in this decade, when Malkmus spent a couple of years living in Berlin and was exposed to the city’s vibrant club scene Back in the Nineties, Stephen had given rave culture a wide berth, in part because of bad personal associations with the drug MDMA (he’d had “a really really bad trip” on Ecstasy in 1987, bizarrely on a visit to New York to see Miles Davis perform). But in Berlin, thanks to a younger deejay friend, Malkmus made forays into the city’s world-famous all-night party scene and became fascinated by techno. “The music can be great… you can zone out, dance, and focus on music – or just get wasted!”
It would not be entirely off-base, or an overly cute rock-historical reference, to describe Groove Denied as Stephen Malkmus’s Low. Although largely recorded in Oregon, the bulk of the album was written while he was living in Berlin. Updating his home studio with Ableton and teaching himself rudimentary Pro Tools, Malkmus “started fucking with effects and loops”. He compares the process of track-construction to the way his kids “used to make these girls on my iPhone – choosing hair colour, dresses, etc. That intuitive swipe and grab thing. Chop and move the waves. Apple computer scroll style of thinking.” It’s a very different way of making music to the feel-oriented way of coming up with chord progressions and rhythm grooves on a guitar alone or jamming with a band. And in fact, electric guitar – while it does feature on Groove Denied – is really “just color for the most part”.
Yet while the methodology behind Groove Denied is absolutely 21st Century, the reference points for the sound-palette hark back to the pre-digital era. “The electronic music side of the album, I wanted it to be sonically pre-Internet,” explains Stephen. “So the EQ-ing is a bit 1970’s, that sloppy DIY sequencing. And the influences are kinda 1981 post punk – actually quite British.” “A Bit Wilder”, one of the stand-out cuts, specifically recalls Cabaret Voltaire, its slack-stringed dank-with-reverb bass a dead ringer for the Stephen Mallinder sound. “Yes, I was thinking the Cabs – and Section 25, whose 1981 album Always Now I think is a serious underdog stoner album. That grey industrial Martin Hannett sound. But also all these cute DIY group that imitated The Cure back then – loners with 4-tracks tape recorders and dreams of “Killing An Arab”.” Malkmus says he was trying to conjure or reinhabit the “fan perspective” on things like Joy Division and the Cure – the sort of “getting it a bit wrong” that unintentionally brings something new into the world.
Groove Denied is frontloaded with this Cold Wave redux sound – a style we’ve never heard from Stephen Malkmus before. Opener “Belziger Faceplant”, for instance, features a most peculiar processed vocal that sounds withered and grotesque, like a deflated wrinkly balloon still lingering on in your house weeks after a party. “I envisioned ‘Belziger Faceplant’ as made by someone off their head after a night out in Friedrichshain,” says Malkmus, referring to a district of the former East Berlin now rife with techno clubs like the legendary Berghain. “Coming back at 5 AM, firing up the laptop in the morning light and trying to make a song, but the instruments are tripping over each other. You can’t even speak because of all the Ketamine or whatever!” Malkmus adds that he’s never tried K but “for some reason I imagine it like that”.
Then there’s “Viktor Borgia,” a title that playfully merges the name of the comedian-pianist and the ruthless dynasty of Italo-Spanish nobles. With its stately melody and the almost-English-accented vocal, the coordinates here are early Human League or even Men Without Hats. “Yes, I was thinking things like Pete Shelley’s ‘Homosapien’, the Human League, and DIY synth music circa 1982. And also about how in the New Wave Eighties, these suburban 18-and-over dance clubs were where all the freaks would meet – a sanctuary.”
“Forget Your Place” features another eerily wobbled vocal a la “Belziger Faceplant” plus dub-style detonations of submarine sonar and nagging bleeps. Frankly, it sounds pretty darn wasted. “Like ‘Belgizer’, this is a pretty solid Ableton-based track – moving waves around, finding a trippy loop and throwing an echo on it,” explains Stephen, adding that “at times it feels almost childish, working with Ableton – like finger painting. But ‘Forget Your Place’ also makes me think about death – don’t ask me why!”
Alongside the early Eighties “minimal synth” and industrial influences, the other main palette of tone-colors audible on Groove Denied is closer both to Stephen’s comfort zone and to what his fans would expect from him: “warped psych,” as he terms it, that avant-garage tradition of dirty guitars and ramshackle grooves, except that in this case, it’s “one person pretending to be a band.” That illusion is pulled off magnificently on loose ‘n’ swinging tunes like “Come Get Me” and “Love the Door,” although the electronic element manifests still with the crisp and prim pitter of drum machine beats and a spume of Moog frothing all over “Door”. Then there’s “Rushing the Acid Frat”, whose title came from Stephen’s memories of a student fraternity at the University of Virginia that, unlike the typical beery bro frathouse, had a “Grateful Dead druggy tie-dye” vibe. Malkmus imagined “Rushing” as a “Louie Louie”-style shindig rumpus to soundtrack a “Star Wars bar scene in such a frat… It’s kinda 12-bar, but gigged with psych lyrics”.
As the album enters the homestretch, it returns to more familiar Malkmusian terrain, with a warmer, grittier sound. “I did frontload Groove Denied with the stuff that signals “80’s/cold,” he says. “That stuff excited me the most – and it sounded braver. If I had another year, it could have been all in that style.” Still, with the second half offering gorgeous tunes like the hazy-lazy ramble “Bossviscerate” and the glittering “Ocean of Revenge” – both graced with his signature style of odd-angled melodic beauty – who’s complaining? Mellow closer “Grown Nothing” feels like Malkmus easing back towards the sound of his recent album with the Jicks, Sparkle Hard. In fact, although it has been released after Sparkle, 70% of Groove Denied was completed before work on the Jicks record. Indeed, Malkmus’s explorations with sound-processing influenced that album, most notably with the unexpected appearance of Auto-Tune on a couple of tracks.
Groove Denied will shake up settled notions of what Malkmus is about and what he’s capable of, repositioning him in the scheme of things. But looking at it from a different angle, his engagement with state-of-art digital tech actually makes perfect sense. After all, Nineties lo-fi – the sound in which he and Pavement were initially vaunted as leaders and pioneers – was nothing if not insistently sonic – it was all about the grain of guitar textures, about gratuitously over-done treatments and ear-grabbing effects. Noise for noise’s sake. It’s just that it was looking to older modes and antiquated technology. From the Big Muff and the Cry Baby Wah pedal through to today’s deliberately distorted deployment of pitch-correction, there’s really an unbroken continuity: the creative misuse of technology, the aestheticization of mistakes and flaws, wrongness-as-rightness.
As Stephen tweeted recently on the subject of Auto-Tune’s omnipresence in contemporary music-making: “We long 4 transformation….and we humans fucking luv tools.”
Simon Reynolds, Jan 2019
(Tour Dates, New Shows sans Jicks In Bold, On Sale Friday Jan 25, 10am Local Time)
Today marks the 25th anniversary of Yo La Tengo’s “From A Motel 6” being released as a single thru the confusing maelstrom of the major label distribution system. It’s also Ira Kaplan’s birthday, and to celebrate both of these historic events we’re offering 25% off ‘Extra Painful’ and ‘There’s A Riot Going On’. Stream “From A Motel 6” and find your territory’s Matador Webstore
Kurt Vile and The Violators appear tonight on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (11:35 pm eastern, 10:35 central). In addition, a previously recorded session Kurt recorded for WXPN’s “World Cafe” airs today at 2pm eastern time.
Friday, December 14 Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR *
Saturday, December 15 Moore Theatre, Seattle WA *
Sunday, December 16 Vogue, Vancouver BC *
Wednesday, December 19 First Avenue, Minneapolis MN *
Thursday, December 20 Sylvee, Madison WI *
Friday, December 21 Turner Hall Milwaukee WI *
Saturday, December 22 Rivera Theatre, Chicago IL *
Saturday, December 29 The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA !
Thursday, February 14 Higher Ground, Burlington VT +
Friday, February 15 Mtelus, Montreal QC +
Saturday, February 16 Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON + (SOLD OUT)
Sunday, February 17 Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON
Tuesday, February 19 Majestic Theatre, Detroit MI +
Wednesday, February 20 Taft Theatre, Cincinnati OH +
Thursday, February 21 The Vogue, Indianapolis IN +
Friday, February 22 Headliners Music Hall, Louisville NY +
Saturday, February 23 Castle Theatre, Bloomington IL +
Sunday, February 24 The Pageant, St. Louis MO +
Tuesday, February 26 The Slowdown, Omaha NE +
Wednesday, February 27 Truman, Kansas City MO +
Thursday, February 28 Ogden Theatre, Denver CO +
Friday, March 1 The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT +
Saturday, March 2 M3F Fest, Phoenix AZ
Sunday, March 3 House of Blues, Las Vegas NV +
Tuesday, March 5 Rialto Theatre, Tucson AZ +
Wednesday, March 6 Meow Wolf, Sante Fe NM +
Friday, March 8 Gruene Hall, New Braunfels TX +
Saturday, March 9 White Oak Music Hall, Houston TX +
Sunday, March 10 Civic Theatre, New Orleans LA +
Tuesday, March 12 The Beacham, Orlando FL +
Wednesday, March 13 Revolution Live, Ft. Lauderdale FL +
Friday, March 15 Saturn, Birmingham AL +
Saturday, March 16 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville TN +
Sunday, March 17 The National, Richmond VA +
Thursday, April 11 Hunter Lounge, Wellington NZ
Saturday, April 13 Powerstation, Auckland NZ
Monday, April 15 Enmore, Sydney AU &
Tuesday, April 16 Unibar, Wollongong AU &
Wednesday, April 17 ANU, Canberra AU &
Thursday, April 18 Bryon Bay Bluesfest, Byron Bay AU
Saturday, April 20 Bryon Bay Bluesfest, Byron Bay AU
Monday, April 22 The Forum, Melbourne AU &
Friday, April 26 Bendigo Autumn Music Festival, Bendigo AU
Saturday, April 27 The Gov, Adelaide AU &
Sunday, April 28 Rosemount Carpark, Perth AU &
*- with Jessica Pratt
! w/ The Feelies, Snail Mail
+ w/ The Sadies
& w/ RVG
(Made for Matador Records by The Mitcham Submarine)
Steve Gunn sings about the rhythms of life in terms of landscapes — overpasses, oceans and streets, from the perspective of characters that could step in for him but are likely based on folks he’s met along the way. It gives his songwriting a winding quality, enlivened by a dexterous-yet-mindful guitar style that has become Gunn’s own.
For the first time in years, there’s no band — just Gunn, his guitar and a meditation underscored by a video filmed on the streets of London. “Stonehurst Cowboy” muses on a father who knew how to tell a story, and who doubled as a guide through Gunn’s life. Entangled in one of his most indelible guitar melodies, he sings, “Teach us right all those steps / Before there’s nothing left, for all those cowboys in the world.”- Lars Gotrich, NPR
Earlier today, NPR Music premiered “Stonehurst Cowboy”, the second track from Steve Gunn’s incredible new album ‘The Unseen In Between’ (out January 18)
Steve Gunn on tour (new date in bold)
Thursday, January 3 Crowley Theater (Solo Show), Marfa TX
Thursday, January 31 Great Scott, Boston MA ^
Friday, February 1 Bowery Ballroom, New York NY ^
Saturday, February 2 Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA ^
Friday, February 8 The Casbah, San Diego CA ^
Saturday, February 9 Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles CA ^
Sunday, February 10 Moe’s Alley, Santa Cruz CA $
Tuesday, February 12 Aladdin Theater, Portland OR $
Wednesday, February 13 Tractor Tavern, Seattle WA $
Saturday, February 16 The Chapel, San Francisco CA #
Tuesday, March 12 Bitterzoet, Amsterdam NL
Wednesday, March 13 Paard, Den Haag NL
Thursday, March 14 Vera, Groningen NL
Friday, March 15 Nochtspeicher, Hamberg DE
Saturday, March 16 Radar, Aarhus DK
Monday, March 18 Folken, Stavanger NO
Wednesday, March 20 Revolver, Oslo NO
Thursday, March 21 Pustervik, Gothenburg SE
Friday, March 22 Loppen, Copenhagen DK
Saturday, March 23 Frannz Club, Berlin DE
Sunday, March 24 Archa Theatre, Prague CZ
Monday, March 25 UT Connewitz, Leipzig DE
Tuesday, March 26 Manufaktur, Schorndorf DE
Wednesday, March 27 Arena, Vienna AT
Saturday, March 30 Südpol, Luzern CH
Sunday, March 31 Rotefabrik, Zurich CH
Monday, April 1 Sonic, Lyon FR
Tuesday, April 2 Le Petit Bain, Paris FR
Wednesday, April 3 De Kreun, Kortrijk BE
Friday, April 5 Oslo, London UK
Saturday, April 6 Hare & Hounds, Birmingham UK
Sunday, April 7 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK
Monday, April 8 Deaf Institute, Manchester UK
^ w/ Meg Baird & Mary Lattimore
$ w/ Meg Baird
# w/ Sachiko Kanenobu
You may have recently heard about some new Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks dates for Europe, next June. Well here we are informing you again. Thanks, Ebbinghaus.
Tuesday, June 4 – De Casino – St. Niklaas BE
Wednesday, June 5 – Knust, Hamburg, DE
Friday, June 7 – Debaser, Stockholm, SE
Tuesday, June 11 – Parkteatret, Oslo, NO
Wednesday, June 12 – Bergenfest, Bergen, NO
Friday, June 14 – Lille Vega, Copenhagen, DK
Saturday, June 15 – Traumzeit Festival, Duisberg, DE
Tuesday, June 18 – De Kreun, Kortrijk, BE
Wednesday, June 19 – La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, FR
To coincide with their North American tour kicking off tonight, Iceage have unveiled the previously unreleased “Balm of Gilead”, a striking reminder of the band’s ability to create a confident anthem in a dark age. “Balm of Gilead” is part of a split 7” with tourmates Black Lips and will be available in physical form exclusively at the shows on this tour.
Iceage — Elias Bender Rønnenfelt (vocals, lyrics), Jakob Tvilling Pless (bass), Dan Kjær Nielsen (drums), and Johan Wieth (guitar) — will return to as a quartet on this North American run. Fans can expect a taste of new music on top of the band’s beloved catalog. Or alongside. The repertoire is up to them (as always)
Last night Interpol made a welcome return to the British airwaves, cutting through the ten o’clock ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ broadcast with a blistering rendition of ‘The Rover’
14 years have passed since Interpol’s first performance on BBC 2’s premier musical showcase, with not a beat missed inbetween. Check out footage from the live broadcsast below
In other news, Interpol will take part in a specially curated live ‘Ghost Session’ in conjunction with ARTE Films, in Paris tomorrow. The broadcast goes out at 19:30 CEST / 18:30 BST / 13:30 EDT and will be available to stream here.
Fresh from a headline slot at last weekend’s End of The Road festival in the UK, Yo La Tengo have announced a slate of new European dates for next year.
The band will cap-off these February dates at the newly minted EartH venue in Hackney, London, after an eight show pit-stop tour through Portugal, Spain and France.
Sunday, September 9 OctFest, New York NY
Tuesday, September 11 Columbus Theater, Providence RI
Wednesday, September 12 Kingston BSP, Kingston NY
Thursday, September 13 The Asbury, Buffalo NY
Friday, September 14 The Majestic, Detroit MI
Saturday, September 15 Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH
Monday, September 17 Delmar Hall, St. Louis MO
Tuesday, September 18 The Lyric, Oxford MI
Thursday, September 20 Granada Theater, Dallas TX
Friday, September 21 Paper Tiger, San Antonio TX
Saturday, September 22 White Oak Music Hall, Houston TX
Sunday, September 23 Mohawk, Austin TX
Monday, October 8th – Umeda Club Quattro – Osaka, Japan
Tuesday, October 9th – Club Quattro – Nagoya, Japan
Wednesday, October 10th – Tsutaya O-East – Tokyo, Japan Wednesday, February 6th – Teatro Capitolio – Lisbon, PT Thursday, February 7th – Hard Club – Porto, PT Friday, February 8th – Sala Capitol – Santiago de Compostela – ES Saturday, February 9th – Teatro Victoria Eugenia – San Sebastian, ES Monday, February 11th – Sala La Riviera – Madrid, ES Tuesday, February 12th – Oasis Club Teatro – Zaragoza, ES Wednesday, February 13th – Sala Apolo – Barcelona, ES Saturday, February 16th- L’Aeronef – Lille, FR Sunday, February 17th – EartH – Hackney, UK Monday, February 18th – EartH – Hackney, UK
Interpol are this month’s Q Magazine cover stars, and have teamed up with the publication to bring you a special collectors edition package.
Available to order today from the Matador UK & EU stores, is a bundle containing an alternative, special-run Q Magazine cover co-designed by the band, and a copy of the limited edition 7″ ‘All At Once’
This is a limited edition bundle and wont be available to purchase in any retail shop.
Interpol have confirmed 9 additional headlining dates early next year capped off with the previously announced show at Madison Square Garden on February 16. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am local time.
We’re less than a month away from the release of Interpol’s ‘Marauder’, and earlier today Beats One’s Zane Low premiered the album’s second single. “Number 10”, now available to download or stream via your preferred digital service.
Tuesday, July 10 Jefferson Theatre, Charlottesville VA =
Wednesday, July 11 Cat’s Cradle, Carrsboro NC =
Thursday, July 12 Orange Peel, Asheville NC =
Friday, July 13 Forecastle Festival, Louisville KY
Saturday, July 14 Signal, Chattanooga TN =
Sunday, July 15 Mill & Mine, Knoxville TN =
Tuesday, July 17 The Underground, Charlotte NC =
Friday, October 12th – Grünspan – Hamburg, DE
Saturday, October 13th – Pustervik – Gothenburg, SE
Sunday, October 14th – Rockefeller – Oslo, NO
Monday, October 15th – Bern – Stockholm, SE
Tuesday, October 16th – Vega – Copenhagen, DK
Thursday, October 18th – Huxleys – Berlin, DE
Friday, October 19th – Muffathalle – Munich, DE
Saturday, October 20th – X-Tra – Zurich, CH
Sunday, October 21st – Epicerie Moderne – Lyon, FR
Monday, October 22ns – Apolo – Barcelona, ES
Tuesday, October 23rd – Teatro Barceló – Madrid, ES
Thursday, October 25th – Lisboa Ao Vivo – Lisbon, PT
Friday, October 26th – Hard Club – Porto, PT
Sunday, October 28th – Rockschool Barbey – Bordeaux, FR
Monday, October 29th – La Cigale – Paris, FR
Tuesday, October 30th – Autumn Falls @ AB – Brussels, BE
Thursday, November 1st – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
Friday, November 2nd – Kantine – Köln, DE
Monday, November 5th – Concorde 2 – Brighton, UK
Tuesday, November 6th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK
Wednesday, November 7th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK
Thursday, November 8th – St Philips Gate – Bristol, UK
Friday, November 9th – The Crossing – Birmingham, UK
Saturday, November 10th – Albert Hall – Manchester, UK
Sunday, November 11th – 02 Academy – Leeds, UK
Tuesday, November 13th – 02 ABC – Glasgow, UK
Wednesday, November 14th – Vicar Street – Dublin, IR
Off the back of a very warmly received first ever full band headline show in London last week, Snail Mail announces a new batch of European tour dates for later in the year. Tickets are now onsale, full details can be found below.
As if you needed any further incentive to get your hands on the forthcoming debut LP – we’re giving away a signed ‘Lush’ test pressing to one lucky fan who pre-orders the record through our webstore.
Iceage take no issue with switching up their sound from project to project. While many of us would have been more than happy to hear a second act accompaniment to the rasping ‘You’re Nothing’ or a freewheeling ‘Plowing..’ Part 2, it’s with style and conviction that the band ceaselessly provide us with yet a new way of experiencing their world.
‘Beyondless’ is a record steeped in the miasma of old wrongs and new mistakes, hung on a scaffold of Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s most accomplished lyric writing to date. The title is a nod to the immortal Irish playwright – Samuel Beckett – whose bleak nuance and tendency to laugh directly into the abyss are appropriately mirrored in Rønnenfelt’s post-structuralist written reflections.
‘Beyondless’ is released today, buy it or stream it here
Iceage are in the middle of a short stretch of EU shows, before taking on a mammoth two month trip across North America:
Iceage have released a new video for their track ‘The Day the music dies’ – shot on location in Detroit -Directed produced by Iceage & Graeme Flegenheimer
The band will be kicking off their EU leg of dates on May 2nd in Copenhagen, two days before the official release of ‘Beyondless’, before heading to the US for a grand headline tour later in the month
Today Iceage have birthed us a new track from their forthcoming long player ‘Beyondless’ – out May 4th. The new track ‘Take It All’ presents the group at their sidewinding best ripping a pleading and sincere groove out of a skeletal easy march beat.
There’s also news of more tour dates to add to the already extensive mid year run, seeing the band return to Europe for more gigs in September following on from their month and a half long Stateside soujourn through May and June.
One further reminder – the band’s ‘Opening Nights’ residency shows kick off TONIGHT in Brooklyn, NY
Thursday, March 22nd – Kinfolk, Brooklyn NY
Friday, March 23rd – Kinfolk, Brooklyn NY
Saturday, March 24th – Babycastles, Brooklyn NY
Sunday, March 25th – Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn NY
Thursday, March 29th – Golddiggers, Los Angeles CA
Friday, March 30th – Golddiggers, Los Angeles CA
Saturday, March 31st – Golddiggers, Los Angeles CA
Tuesday, April 3rd – Metro, Kyoto JP
Friday, April 6th – Duo, Tokyo JP
Sunday, April 8th – Vacant, Tokyo JP
Saturday, May 5 – Bitterzoet, Amsterdam NE
Sunday, May 6 – Le Botanique, Bruxelles BE
Monday, May 7 – Petit Bain, Paris FR
Tuesday, May 8 – Scala, London UK
Thursday, May 10 – Nordic Museum, Seattle WA
Wednesday, May 16 – Bowery Ballroom, New York NY
Thursday, May 17 – First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia PA
Friday, May 18 – Union Stage, Washington DC
Saturday, May 19 – The Camel, Richmond VA
Sunday, May 20 – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro NC
Monday, May 21 – Mercy Lounge, Nashville TN
Tuesday, May 22 – The Earl, Atlanta GA
Wednesday, May 23 – Saturn, Birmingham AL
Thursday, May 24 – Santos, New Orleans LA
Friday, May 25 – Rockefeller’s, Houston TX
Saturday, May 26 – Club Dada, Dallas TX
Sunday, May 27 – Barracuda, Austin TX
Tuesday, June 5 – The Casbah, San Diego CA *
Wednesday, June 6 – The Regent Theater, Los Angeles CA *
Thursday, June 7 – Don Quixote’s International Music Hall, Felton CA *
Friday, June 8 – Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA *
Saturday, June 9 – Huichica Music Festival, Sonoma CA
Monday, June 11 – Mississippi Studios, Portland OR *
Tuesday, June 12 – The Astoria, Vancouver BC*
Thursday, June 14 – The Bartlett, Spokane WA *
Friday, June 15 – The Rialto, Bozeman MT *
Saturday, June 16 – Kilby Court, Salt Lake City UT *
Sunday, June 17 – Bluebird Theater, Denver CO *
Monday, June 18 – Waiting Room, Omaha NE *
Tuesday, June 19 – 7th St Entry, Minneapolis MN *
Wednesday, June 20 – Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI *
Friday, June 22 – El Club, Detroit MI *
Saturday, June 23 – Lee’s Palace, Toronto ON *
Sunday, June 24 – The 27 Club, Ottawa ON *
Monday, June 25 – La Sala Rossa, Montreal QC *
Tuesday, June 26 – 3S Artspace, Portsmouth NH *
Wednesday, June 27 – The Sinclair, Boston MA *
Thursday, June 28 – Market Hotel, Brooklyn NY * Thursday, July 12 – Bankito Festival, Lake Bank HU Thursday August 30 – Sounddrive Festival, Gdansk PL Friday August 31 – Off The Radar Festival, Hamburg DE Monday September 3 – Hare And Hounds, Birmingham UK Tuesday September 4 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK Thursday September 6 – The Great Eastern, Glasgow UK Friday September 7 – Workmans Club, Dublin IE Saturday September 8 – Clwb iFor Bach, Cardiff UK Sunday September 9 – Gorilla, Manchester UK Monday September 10 – The Haunt, Brighton UK Tuesday September 11 – Rotown, Rotterdam NL Wednesday September 12 – Blue Shell, Cologne DE Thursday September 13 – Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg DE Friday September 14 – Leffingeleuren Festival, Leffinge BE Saturday September 15 – Bi Nuu, Berlin DE Friday September 21 – Studenterhuset, Ålborg DK Monday September 24 – Tavastia, Helsinki FI Tuesday September 25 – John Dee, Oslo NO Wednesday September 26 – Debaser, Stockholm SE Thursday September 27 – Pustervik, Göteborg SE Friday September 28 – Kansas City, Odense DK Friday October 26 – Hard Club, Porto PT Saturday October 27 – Jameson Urban Routes Festival, Lisbon PT Sunday October 28 – Sala X, Sevilla ES Monday October 29 – El Sol, Madrid ES Tuesday October 30 – Le [2], Barcelona ES Friday November 3 – Rote Fabrik, Zurich CH
Yo La Tengo’s woozily captivatating new studio album ‘There’s a Riot Going On’ is released worldwide today. This new record has been hailed by many as the band performing at their best – moving between sonic pastures equally familiar and unfamiliar to anyone who has kept up with them over their dazzling career
The band have been keeping busy – just last night announcing Japanese dates for October:
Monday, October 8th – Umeda Club Quattro – Osaka, Japan
Tuesday, October 9th – Club Quattro – Nagoya, Japan
Wednesday, October 10th – Tsutaya O-East – Tokyo, Japan
