Congrats to Darlene of Texas as she won the Duran Duran contest.
Don't forget to enter to win the Hall and Oates contest! Click here to enter!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
BEARDO Releases "USA For Affluence"
A Star Studded Exclusive Video On Pitchfork TV Today
Tim Harrington (Les Savy Fav) Gathers Moby, Andrew W.K., Fred Armisen, Carl Newman Etc.
For A “Cash For Christmas” Extravaganza
Pitchfork.tv: USA for Affluence [ft. Tim Harrington, Moby, Andrew W.K., Will Sheff, Fred Armisen, Carl Newman, and many more]: "BEARDO" Episode 5 - "Cash for Christmas" [Video/MP3] Written By & Featuring Seth Jabour (Les Savy Fav) On Guitar, Syd Butler (Les Savy Fav) On Bass Guitar, Chris TurcoOn Drums, And the elaborate piano track was laid by Ryan Pitchfork himself!
"BEARDO" Episode 5 - "Cash for Christmas"
Click Here To View "USA for Affluence"
| “In this extra special episode of "BEARDO", Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav brings together fellow musicians to raise awareness of the plight of the super rich during this difficult economic time. Featuring Andrew W.K., Fred Armisen (Trenchmouth), Moby, Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem, the New Pornographers' Carl Newman, Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses, The Make Up, Weird War), Amy Carlson (Third Watch/Law & Order) Okkervil River's Will Sheff, Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers, Ryan Schreiber (Pitchfork founder/president), Gavin McInnes (Street Carnage/ex-VICE), comedian Seth Herzog, plus members of Love as Laughter, Excepter, Cheeseburger, Panthers, some guy in a bright orange wig called Ronald Michael (It's really comedian John Roberts). The episode is a star studded spectacle and hopefully can provide a gentle smile and respite during the sometimes stressfull Holiday season.” A word from Tim, “I'm super excited for the Episode we posted today. It is a BEARDO end of the year BLOWOUT episode, available at both pitchfork.tv and on the newly launched BEARDO PODCAST"http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=300137345 |
The Fader Debuts Here We Go Magic's First Single "Tunnelvision"
Self-Titled Debut Out February 24th On Western Vinyl
"...His high-pitched voice recalls a young Graham Nash by way of Elliott Smith......has enough understated soul to give Conor Oberst a run for his money." – Rolling Stone
"Luke Temple has one of the most beautiful voices in pop music." – Sufjan Stevens
"Recalls Jeff Buckley's drama, M. Ward's atmospherics, and Feist's sense of play." – The Onion
"His voice alone is so damn good -- one of the prettiest voices in all of indie rock, hands down." – Ben Gibbard, Death Cab For Cutie
"a variety of romanticized and alienated imagery that's snatched straight from a time when squares were there to be looked at and made strange... Temple's various gifts amplify each other." – Pitchfork Media
"Mr. Temple isn't part of any particular school — not even that all-purpose new songwriters' catchall, freak-folk — and his private world is fascinating." – Jon Pareles, New York Times
| To date, Luke Temple has been unconfined by genre. His full-length debut Hold a Match for a Gasoline World presented heartfelt folk tunes and expansive pop numbers filtered through a unique outsider perspective. Last year's follow-up Snowbeast was an avant statement full of interwoven light and dark imagery recorded entirely in his Brooklyn bedroom. Developed over a two-month period of stream-of-consciousness recording in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Luke's self-titled debut under his new moniker Here We Go Magic is a remarkable departure from his signature singer-songwriter material. Luke recorded the album at home using analog synths, a cassette 4-track, and his trusty SM-57 mic, coloring the sound with warmth and creating textures you want to wrap yourself in. The album opens with the trance-inducing polyrhythms and gorgeous multi-layered vocals of "Only Pieces. " What follows is an album oozing with sounds maternal and subconscious...like floating in amniotic fluid, ripe, hiccup-y and desperate to emerge. Many of the songs pulse with infectious afro-beat and kraut-rock influenced grooves, calling to mind classic albums like Remain in Light and Graceland. In contrast, the instrumental tracks conjure mystical introspective landscapes reminiscent of Popol Vuh's unforgettable ambience. Despite the album's murky aquatic underpinnings it's hard to resist shakin what you got to ebullient blissed-out tracks like "Fangala" and "Tunnelvision." The album closes with "Everything's Big", a bleak commentary on weakness and fear birthed of opulence and gluttony. Luke's fragile tenor delivers this absurd carnival waltz with the fervor and abandon of a teetotaler under the influence, never breaking the spell of the album's mood of rejuvenation and release. Luke is joined by fellow Brooklynites Baptiste Ibar (bass) and Peter Hale (drums) for Here We Go Magic's psychoactive live incarnation. | |
Tracklisting
Only Pieces
Fangala
Ahab
Tunnelvision
Ghost List
I Just Want To See You Underwater
Babyohbabyijustcantstanditanymore
Nat's Alien
Everything's Big
RA RA RIOT CONFIRM 2009 TOUR DATES
"Gorgeous orchestral rock anthems that find sorrow and loss are inextricable from understanding joy"--ROLLING STONE Best Albums of 2008
With a still growing number of Best of 2008 lists under their collective belt, the young men and women of RA RA RIOT have confirmed a next round of touring, kicking off January 30, 2009 and including a UK run, a Paris one-off, appearances at the Langerado and Noise Pop festivals, and headline gigs including the El Rey in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, RA RA RIOT's debut full length The Rhumb Line (Barsuk) has begun surfacing on multiple Best of 2008 lists, including NPR's Listeners' Poll, ROLLING STONE's Best Albums ("Dying Is Fine" also placed on RS' Best Songs of 2008), as well as STEREOGUM, FILTER and more to come.
For a full list of next year's confirmed RA RA RIOT dates, see below.
1/22 - Bowery Ballroom (New York NY) Planned Parenthood Benefit with Regina Spektor (SOLD OUT)
1/30 - Colgate University (Hamilton, NY)
1/31 - Smith Opera House (Geneva, NY)
2/11 - Barfly (Birmingham)
2/12 - King Tuts (Glasgow)
2/14 - Academy 2 (Newcastle)
2/15- Night and Day (Manchester)
2/16 - Bodega (Nottingham)
2/17 - Borderline (London)
2/18 - La Fleche D'or (Paris)
2/21 - Richard's on Richards (Vancouver, BC)!@
2/24 - Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR)!@
2/25 - Neumos (Seattle, WA)!@
2/27 - The Independent (San Francisco, CA) (Noise Pop)!@
2/28 - El Rey Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)!@
3/1 - The Loft (San Diego, CA)!@
3/2 - Detroit Bar (Costa Mesa, CA) !@
3/8 - Langerado Music Festival (Miami, FL)
3/10 - The Parish @ HOB (New Orleans, LA)#
3/11 - Walter's on Washington (Houston, TX)#
3/12 - Cine El Rey (McAllen, TX)#
3/13 - The White Rabbit (San Antonio, TX)#
3/14 - Granada Theatre (Dallas, TX)#
3/16 - The Slowdown (Omaha, NE)#
3/18 - The Conservatory (Oklahoma City, OK)$
3/24 - The Cinemat (Bloomington, IN)$
3/26 - The Blind Pig (Ann Arbor, MI)$
! w/ Cut Off Your Hands
@ w/ Telekinesis
# w/ Tokyo Police Club
$ w/ Passion Pit
With a still growing number of Best of 2008 lists under their collective belt, the young men and women of RA RA RIOT have confirmed a next round of touring, kicking off January 30, 2009 and including a UK run, a Paris one-off, appearances at the Langerado and Noise Pop festivals, and headline gigs including the El Rey in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, RA RA RIOT's debut full length The Rhumb Line (Barsuk) has begun surfacing on multiple Best of 2008 lists, including NPR's Listeners' Poll, ROLLING STONE's Best Albums ("Dying Is Fine" also placed on RS' Best Songs of 2008), as well as STEREOGUM, FILTER and more to come.
For a full list of next year's confirmed RA RA RIOT dates, see below.
1/22 - Bowery Ballroom (New York NY) Planned Parenthood Benefit with Regina Spektor (SOLD OUT)
1/30 - Colgate University (Hamilton, NY)
1/31 - Smith Opera House (Geneva, NY)
2/11 - Barfly (Birmingham)
2/12 - King Tuts (Glasgow)
2/14 - Academy 2 (Newcastle)
2/15- Night and Day (Manchester)
2/16 - Bodega (Nottingham)
2/17 - Borderline (London)
2/18 - La Fleche D'or (Paris)
2/21 - Richard's on Richards (Vancouver, BC)!@
2/24 - Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR)!@
2/25 - Neumos (Seattle, WA)!@
2/27 - The Independent (San Francisco, CA) (Noise Pop)!@
2/28 - El Rey Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)!@
3/1 - The Loft (San Diego, CA)!@
3/2 - Detroit Bar (Costa Mesa, CA) !@
3/8 - Langerado Music Festival (Miami, FL)
3/10 - The Parish @ HOB (New Orleans, LA)#
3/11 - Walter's on Washington (Houston, TX)#
3/12 - Cine El Rey (McAllen, TX)#
3/13 - The White Rabbit (San Antonio, TX)#
3/14 - Granada Theatre (Dallas, TX)#
3/16 - The Slowdown (Omaha, NE)#
3/18 - The Conservatory (Oklahoma City, OK)$
3/24 - The Cinemat (Bloomington, IN)$
3/26 - The Blind Pig (Ann Arbor, MI)$
! w/ Cut Off Your Hands
@ w/ Telekinesis
# w/ Tokyo Police Club
$ w/ Passion Pit
MONKEY: JOURNEY TO THE WEST
"A rare non-terrible pop-classical crossover"--NEW YORK
"Breathtaking... effortless integration of different traditions"--TIME
"A triumph of creativity"--THE HUFFINGTON POST
January 13 will see the U.S. digital release of two distinctive remixes--one by Diplo and one by Kwes--of "Monkey Bee," a track from MONKEY: JOURNEY TO THE WEST (XL Recordings), the acclaimed album based on the Mandarin Opera reinterpreted by GORILLAZ creators Damon Albarn (music) and Jamie Hewlett (visuals).
Additionally MONKEY: JOURNEY TO THE WEST was recently given an ultra deluxe treatment by UK-based Vinyl Factory. Limited to 2000 copies worldwide, each signed and numbered package comes in a hand-made, black cloth-bound gold-foiled box containing four exclusive Jamie Hewlett giclee art prints on Somerset archival paper, each stamped and numbered, one signed and dated. Housed in a red, gold-foiled folio; a cloth-bound hardback 84-page art book; two super-heavyweight 200-gram vinyl LPs featuring six bonus tracks not on the commercial release, and more. Additionally every purchase of the Box Set includes a digital version of the album. Further information can be found at http://www.vinylfactory.co.uk/shop/monkey_le/index.php.
MONKEY: JOURNEY TO THE WEST was first staged June 28, 2007 in the UK at the inaugural Manchester International Festival, when world-renowned theatre, opera and film director Chen Shi-Zheng enlisted Albarn and Hewlett to provide unique, modern musical and visual interpretations of the themes and characters of this most beloved work of Chinese folklore. The result was a new stage show for the 21st century that recast an ancient Chinese legend as a dazzling spectacle involving nearly 40 Chinese circus acrobats, martial artists and singers, and an orchestra of both Western and traditional Chinese instruments. MONKEY has since played to sold-out houses across Europe, made its U.S. debut at the 2008 Spoleto Festival USA, played at London's famed Royal Opera House, and is in the midst of an extended London run in a specially built tented theater adjacent to the O2 Arena.
NYC Based Supergroup Gramercy Arms Add New Dates For The New Year!
Written and recorded at Crib Notes, Gramercy Arms’ studio in NYC, the song is a lovely and bittersweet collaboration between the two critically acclaimed artists, and featuresMascott’s Kendall Jane Meade on lead vocal. Meade’s vocals are an ideal match to the sublime power pop production of Gramercy Arms.
An instant classic, This Christmastime was featured on the show Grey’s Anatomy.
Gramercy Arms is a real live New York Supergroup!
BBC:
“But despite all the cooks, the broth still tastes pretty sweet. Gramercy Arms' self-titled album is pleasing, varied, and above all, perfectly timed. With its breezy, cloud-watching ambience, it's the perfect album to take the edge of the summer's heat. With its charming use of hand-claps, smile-spreading choruses, and bah-bahing backing vocals, it might even provide a timely tonic for credit crunch worries.”
The Guardian (UK):
The buzz: “Oh, Gramercy - we’re in love!”
The truth: Imagine the Byrds paying tribute to the Velvet
Underground
Featuring current and former members of Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan Wasser of Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and The Dambuilders leader Dave Darby.
Featuring current and former members of Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan Wasser of Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and The Damnbuilders lead Dave Darby
Their debut album features guest performances by none other than comedienne Sarah Silverman, Lloyd Cole, Chris Brokaw and Joan Wasser as well as present and former members of Nada Surf, The Pernice Brothers, Dead Air, Shudder To Think and more.
LISTEN HERE!
Drawing from this pool of talented NYC luminaries, the band celebrates the US online release of their album today Gramercy Arms and will be in all US relatilers on March 3rd
This summery blast of power pop was recorded earlier this year in a wintry New York City. Clocking in at a concise 30 minutes, ‘Gramercy Arms’ was named after an imposing Art Deco apartment block at East 22nd Street. The album is a celebration of New York in all its dirty - beautiful splendor. A slice of West Coast pop with East Coast sensibilities.
The album features a wide range of guest performances including the unexpected backing vocals of comedian Sarah Silverman on ‘Looking At The Sun’. Sarah had worked with Gramercy Arms members Rainy Orteca (Joan As Police Woman, Dead Air) and Dave Derby (The Dambuilders) before, on music for her television show, the Sarah Silverman Program.
2009 Tour Dates:
January 14th - Pianos with with Doug Gillard (ex Guided by Voices) - New York, NY
February 5th - Living Room with Mary Kate O’Neill - New York, NY
February 6th - TT the Bears with Mary Kate O’Neill and The Honors - Boston, MA
February 7th - The 11's with Mary Kate O’Neill- Northampton, MA
| Reveal artist Gramercy Arms and NYC-based folk-pop chanteuseMascott will release the single This Christmastime on UK label Reveal Records. Written and recorded at Crib Notes, Gramercy Arms’ studio in NYC, the song is a lovely and bittersweet collaboration between the two critically acclaimed artists, and features Mascott’s Kendall Jane Meade on lead vocal. Described as “honey-voiced” by Rolling Stone, Meade’s vocals are an ideal match to the sublime power pop production of Gramercy Arms, recently described by the Guardian as "an East Coast band dreaming of LA freeways and Bel Air pool parties.” An instant classic, This Christmastime was featured on the US show Grey’s Anatomy, and is well overdue for a proper UK release. |
Alaska in Winter’s sophomore release Holiday garners RAVES!
Pitchfork - 7.8 “Holiday would be a fine album at any moment, but it seems especially timely right now. Let's take a quick inventory: The contours are stark and sleek, and it burns with a weirdly cold heat. The production is elaborate in a streamlined way, the melodies infectious. A sentimental digi-crooner is orbited by hums and blips, as if rendering your voice and music robotic gives you carte blanche to be messily human, even maudlin. Sound familiar? Suddenly, and just in time for the holidays, it's as if indie pop fans immune to the charms of Kanye West have an 808's and Heartbreak of their very own.
Spin - Artist of the Day “Globetrotting, laptop-totting electro-nerd melds experiences on excellent new album...”
:What? Not only is Alaska in Winter more deserving of the title "maverick" than its eponymous state's governor, the electronic project is also far more versed in foreign policy. Dance Party in the Balkans, the group's 2007 debut, married robotic cadence with traditional Eastern European tones, fleshed out by dramatic strings and emotive vocals from frontman/Grand Poobah Brandon Bethancourt. This month's follow-up, Holiday, takes a trip to Berlin -- and in AIW's Germany, life is a cabaret.”
All Music Guide: “An artist who uses autotune, cheap-sounding rhythm machines, and multi-part song formats as profligately as {Brandon Bethancourt} does is just begging you to hate him. So it's pleasantly frustrating, on the second {Alaska in Winter} album, to find it so utterly impossible to do so.”
Download DJ set- A mix of electro hits and underground gems from the Berlin scene Track listing below!
Live VIDEOS!
What’s in this DJ set!?
Sebastien Tellier- Divine (Danger Remix)
Sebastien Tellier- Divine (Night Facilities Rework)
Royksopp- What Else Is There (Thin White Duke Remix)
Justice- D.A.N.C.E.(Ean Golden EDP Edit)
Unknown- Unknown Remix
Kris Menace/Lifelike- Discopolis [Chris Lake Mix]
Anoraak- Night Drive With You
Marc Romboy & Stephan Bodzin- Callisto
Antjes Sampler- Titel 3
Booka Shade- In White Rooms
Unknown- Unknown Mix
Alter Ego- Jolly Joker (SuperMayer Remix)
Audiosex- G-String - Original Mix
Red Robbin And Jakob Hilden- Snapdragon
Unknown VA- Unknown
Booka Shade- Charlotte (Dubfire Remix)
Unfound [VA]- Void
Oaxia (a small sample of) - Not Sure
Voigt & Voigt- Vision 3
Press loves Alaska In Winter
Pitchfork:
"....far-flung variety of forms into chilly, beat-oriented, downtempo hymns: amorous Balkan strings, the melismatic vocal tapestries of classical Arabian music (often so gently vocoder-kissed as to sound more spectral than robotic), icily splintered piano loops (which are actually played live), skittering hip-hop percussion (ditto), and soaringly simple indie pop melodies obscured in an atmospheric haze."
URB:
"Sounds like: Ratatat meets robotic Balkan natives.
| WHO: Alaska In Winter began when art student, Brandon Bethancourt spent a semester writing and recording music in an isolated cabin on the south coast of Alaska. Upon arrival back in New Mexico, he teamed up with Zach Condon of Beirut, Heather Trost of A Hawk And A Hacksaw and other friends, and thus began work on the album Dance Party In The Balkans. This debut release was released by Milan Records in July 2007 in the US after a release in the UK by Regular Beat a few months earlier. After his critically acclaimed debut release, Bethancourt decided to quit his job, move out of his house and relocate to Berlin, Germany – a city he had been to before and had always dreamed of living in. He has spent the past 6 months writing and recording this upcoming release Holiday and begins his tour of Europe in late September. Holiday will be released on Milan Records on November 18, 2008. Bethancourt takes much of his influence from his early years of growing up in the American South West, immersed in the musical low-rider culture of Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as a slight Arabian influence on the part of his parents and their Byzantine church music. He combines these traditional sounds with programmed beats and use of the vocoder among other new technologies and techniques. Because Bethancourt is the sole member of Alaska in Winter and does not read or write music, he uses multi-track recording to build his musical layers, using a variety of techniques. “For Holiday, I recorded everything in my living room on a laptop and an old micro cassette tape recorder and used a German ghetto blaster as my monitor speakers. The only things I brought with me to Europe were my Powerbook laptop, an effects processor, a small midi keyboard, a microphone, and the hand held micro cassette tape recorder,” he explains. “Because I didn't actually have any instruments with me (aside from the elements I recorded before I came to Europe), the album turned out very electronic, very synthy as those were the only tools I had.” In comparing how Holiday differs from Dance Party in the Balkans, Bethancourt explains, “I've definitely been influenced by Berlin on this album - much more electronic than the last, heavily based on synths, bass, and dancier drums and with hints of minimal house elements creeping in ever so slightly. Even within the album itself I can hear a progression of the Berlin electronic music scene influencing me more and more with the amount of time I spent here. The Berlin techno parties and all night dance marathons were big inspirations for me. |
HOT CHIP WITH ROBERT WYATT AND GEESE" EP RELEASED THROUGH LIMITED EDITION CD ON JANUARY 27 ON ASTRALWERKS
Despite their feverish schedule this year which took in numerous side projects, solo records, countless dancefloor-igniting remixes, production duties and, of course relentless touring (which culminated in their triumphal homecoming shows at Brixton Academy in November) that indefatigable, delightfully off-kilter five-headed electro pop colossus known as Hot Chip have somehow found the time to assemble a lovingly put together little present for their fans. And not only that, but they have managed to rope in the services of none other than the godfather of the experimental psych-prog world, Robert Wyatt and kindred mischievous electronic spirits Geese to help out as well.
Long recognised as one of the pioneers of avant-jazz rock (as recently as this year by Domino Records infact, who have just re released his back catalogue), from his beginnings as a member of Soft Machine and through his collaborations with Scritti Politti and Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt brings his quietly magical touch to 3 songs personally chosen from Hot Chip's 2008 album "Made in the Dark". The result - as recorded at Gallery Studios earlier this year - are several mutations of songs that are as delicate and whimsical as they are adventurous and distinctive, be it the quixotic cornet and jew's harp on "Made in the Dark", or Wyatt's singular vocals and whistling on "Whistle for Will", or the lush added effects and atypical arrangements on "We're Looking for a Lot of Love".
Meanwhile, Hot Chip's old friends and collaborators Geese (aka Emma and Vince from The Elysian Quartet) also lent a hand, reworking the new, Robert Wyatt- assisted "We're Looking…" while completely overhauling "One Pure Thought" from a straight-ahead floor shaker into something stranger, dreamier, but no less lovely. All in all, a deliciously unpredictable collaboration made in quirk-pop heaven.
The EP will be available January 27 at select indie record shops (visit www.thinkindie.com to find a store near you). Fans can download 2 tracks from the EP on from HotChip.co.uk on December 19, thus providing a stimulus that is musical and financial for us all.
Lastly, congratulation is in order for Hot Chip, as they picked up their first Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording for the track "Ready For The Floor." The Annual Grammy Awards will be announced live on on Feb. 8, 2009 (8 - 11:30 p.m. ET/PT) on CBS.
CD TRACKLISTING: - AVAILABLE FROM INDIE RETAILERS 27th JANUARY
1. Made in the Dark (with Robert Wyatt)
2. Whistle for Will (with Robert Wyatt)
3. We're Looking for a Lot of Love (with Robert Wyatt and Geese)
4. One Pure Thought (remixed by Geese)
Long recognised as one of the pioneers of avant-jazz rock (as recently as this year by Domino Records infact, who have just re released his back catalogue), from his beginnings as a member of Soft Machine and through his collaborations with Scritti Politti and Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt brings his quietly magical touch to 3 songs personally chosen from Hot Chip's 2008 album "Made in the Dark". The result - as recorded at Gallery Studios earlier this year - are several mutations of songs that are as delicate and whimsical as they are adventurous and distinctive, be it the quixotic cornet and jew's harp on "Made in the Dark", or Wyatt's singular vocals and whistling on "Whistle for Will", or the lush added effects and atypical arrangements on "We're Looking for a Lot of Love".
Meanwhile, Hot Chip's old friends and collaborators Geese (aka Emma and Vince from The Elysian Quartet) also lent a hand, reworking the new, Robert Wyatt- assisted "We're Looking…" while completely overhauling "One Pure Thought" from a straight-ahead floor shaker into something stranger, dreamier, but no less lovely. All in all, a deliciously unpredictable collaboration made in quirk-pop heaven.
The EP will be available January 27 at select indie record shops (visit www.thinkindie.com to find a store near you). Fans can download 2 tracks from the EP on from HotChip.co.uk on December 19, thus providing a stimulus that is musical and financial for us all.
Lastly, congratulation is in order for Hot Chip, as they picked up their first Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording for the track "Ready For The Floor." The Annual Grammy Awards will be announced live on on Feb. 8, 2009 (8 - 11:30 p.m. ET/PT) on CBS.
CD TRACKLISTING: - AVAILABLE FROM INDIE RETAILERS 27th JANUARY
1. Made in the Dark (with Robert Wyatt)
2. Whistle for Will (with Robert Wyatt)
3. We're Looking for a Lot of Love (with Robert Wyatt and Geese)
4. One Pure Thought (remixed by Geese)
Fujiya & Miyagi Announce 2009 US Winter Tour
Fujiya & Miyagi Debut Video For "Sore Thumb" Lightbulbs Out Now On Deaf, Dumb + Blind Recordings
New York Times: “They confirm their allegiance to Krautrock bands like Neu! with an array of sparse but danceable beats. The effect is a bit like the band: glib but canny, and oozing style.”
Pitchfork Media : “F&M have also kept up their interest in some of life's finer things: motorik pulses, retro-futurist electronics, fake Japanese accents. And, OK, this Lightbulbs track doesn't always keep its things in the dark: "Vanilla, strawberry, knickerbocker, glory," Best sings, as the instruments make like metronomes. Just like that old krautrock highway where you never run out of road, they'll never run out of things to sing about.”
Spin Magazine (3 Stars) : “Breathily hissing his vowels and snapping his tongue at hard consonants, David Best scours the thesaurus to describe a litany of paranoid chess players, doting husbands, and other obsessives who, like Fujiya & Miyagi, exist in impenetrably personal universes governed by meticulous passion.”
URB Magazine (3 1/2 Stars): “The gist rubbing between F&M’s music and lyrics makes “Stella Artois and beef burger” (“Goosebumps”) expansive and sensual.”
Under The Radar Magazine 8/10 : “Fujiya and Miyagi remain situated somewhere between rock band and electronic dance act and, are perfecting a sound that is uniquely their own, regardless of what influence is visible on their sleeve at any given time.”
Paste Magazine (81%) : “Lightbulbs shows the same attention to sonic detail as its predecessor, but the four also love words as much as objects.”
| Imagine that Fujiya & Miyagi are mask-wearing technicians dissecting music, keen to magnify particles of sound to create a pulsing antidote to the ordinary. They speak in tongues, using language as a rhythm, picking words that sound good, rhyming ‘jigsaws’ with ‘carnivores’. Their songs are incisive snapshots of real lives that make household appliances sound threatening. They are steeped in vintage music from evocative krautrock to deep soul, with wafts of early Human League synth, Floydian Englishness and the throbbing groove of Tom Tom Club, all filtered for modern times. In total, Fujiya & Miyagi don’t really sound like anything. Instead, they sound like everything condensed into perfectly arranged three minute chunks of infectious pop music, a strange hybrid of James Brown on Valium and Wire gone pop. Or maybe Serge Gainsbourg with a PhD in electronics backed by David Byrne’s Eno-produced scratchy guitar mixed by MF Doom. It’s Darwinism gone mad. Formed in 2000 as an electronic duo of David Best (guitars and vocals) and Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming), they released Electro Karaoke In The Negative Style two years later, a minimal electronic set it hangs eerily on Best’s distinctive whispered vocal. Adding bass player Matt Hainsby in 2004, they released a series of ten inch EPs that took them to the hearts of fanzineland. Gathered together these parables of personal injury, both physical and mental, made up three quarters of the well-received (Pitchfork, NME, MOJO, etc) album Transparent Things in 2006. Named after a Nabokov brain dump on the relationship between the past and the present. It sums them up. A Regal seven-inch, “Uh”, further concentrated their sound. A set of vocal ticks, a funky bass and a storyline about a relationship as prickly as two porcupines, it made small talk sound sinister over an infectious groove. It was the perfect set up for their second US Album, Light Bulbs – imagine 11 classic ideas clicking on above your head, now with real drums in places, courtesy of Lee Adams, and the picture is complete. Fujiya & Miyagi stay away from lyrical themes that have been done to death. Using old synths to punctuate their beautifully-observed anecdotes on romantic triumphs and disasters, heroes and villains and the world at large, their rhythms palpitate to produce modern symphonies like no-one else. Light Bulbs is a journey littered with fragmented images, anecdotes from the sublime to the ridiculous, blurry stories that you feel you shouldn’t have overheard. Each track an aural contamination set to itch your inner ear every waking moment. | |
US 2009 Winter Tour
2/11 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis MN
2/12 - Bottom Lounge - Chicago IL
2/13 - Magic Stick - Detroit MI
2/14 - Alfred University Knight Club - Alfred NY
2/15 - Paradise - Boston MA
2/17 - LPR - New York NY
2/18 - The Trocardero - Philadelphia PA
2/19 - 9:30 Club - Washington DC
2/20 - Cats Cradle - Carrboro NC
2/21 - 40 Watt Club - Athens GA
2/23 - Back Booth - Orlando FL
2/24 - Club Downunder - Tallahassee FL
2/25 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge LA
2/27 - Emos Alternative Lounge - Austin TX
2/28 - Palladum Loft - Dallas X
3/2 - Rhythm Room - Phoenix AZ
3/3 - Echoplex - Los Angeles CA
3/5 - The Independent - San Francisco CA
3/6 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland OR
3/7 - Neumos - Seattle WA
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