ApSci

ApSci is a now Bronx-based duo comprised of Raphael Lamotta and his Filipinio-Australian wife Dana Diaz-Tutaan. They have been performing together since 1998 and signed to the San Francisco-based underground hip-hop label Quannum Projects in 2004.



A classically-trained singer with theater background, Diaz-Tutaan toured Australia with Blackalicious in 2004 and, in 2006, was asked to play the lead role in Here Lies Love, a musical collaboration with David Byrne & Fat Boy Slim. ApSci's new album ~ Best Crisis Ever ~ is out October 13th, 2009.

ApSci plays MonkeyTown on Friday night. Expect a visual-explosion accompaniment on the BIG screens.

Have a Vampire Weekend?

The oxford-clad quatro have officially announced their upcoming album ~ Contra ~ will be released state-side January 12th, 2010. These guys had the market cornered on all things kitchy-Columbia University-prep. I see they've widened there nets for all-things-nostalgic for the rest of the white people born in the 1980's. Perhaps an homage to all things sitting-in-front-of-a-television is to be expected.


Is there no stopping them? Let's just see if they get their instruments on that Fraggle Rock movie I keep hearing about.


Click for a free download of their new single Horchata.

Ringo mutha-fucka, what's happenin?

Lorne Greene was a Canadian. He was known to fellow Canadians as "The Voice of Doom," an epithet he acquired as the chief radio announcer for CBC radio from 1939 to 1942, the height of Canada's darkest days of WWII. He would later become a Canadian pioneer figure in early Hollywood.

Greene is best known for playing the patriarchal character Ben Cartwright on the long-running western Bonanza (1959-73). Throughout the 70's Greene was also popular as the spokesman for Alpo Beef Chunks dog food commercials. Weeks before this death in 1987, he had signed on for a revival of Bonzana. Bummer... no reprisal.

In 1964, Greene had a #1 single on the charts ~ although which charts is still in question ~ with the western ballad Ringo. Growing up I had this 45 on my jukebox in the basement. I swear I could play the best pool of my life while serenaded by "The Canadian Voice of Doom."

I meant to put this up about a month ago. Well fuck me.

Or dagger me, rather.

Major Lazer "Pon De Floor" from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

Click on this ~ link ~ for more videos from this director.



As for daggering, its origins lay in breaking Jamaican dicks. Observe.



Major Lazer is at Terminal 5 on Saturday night. I'll be there.

Woah, Soulsaver has a new album. Epic.

Soulsavers are an English production and remix team comprised of Rich Machin and Ian Glover. They have a downtempo electronica sound with influences of rock, gospel, soul, and country. Giddy. Up.

Although formed in 2000, they just released only their third album, Broken, on August 17th, 2009. Mark Lanegan is featured as the main vocalist with contributions from Mike Patton (of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk), Jason Pierce ( of Spiritualized and Spaceman 3), and Gibbby Haynes ( of Butthole Surfers).


From the aforementioned Broken... the all instrumental track Wise Blood:


The non-album single Sunrise was written by Lanegan and sung by Will Oldham, aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which preceded the album's release on August 3rd, 2009.



And now for some perdy Will Oldham moving pencil scratches...

Top Spits

Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, has just blown the top off the auto-tune's precipice. Under the collaborative Volcano Choir he's just released a new album ~ Unmap ~ and it starts with the hateful application, but with time the chimes and drums give resonance and validity to the fad.

It unfolds itself with tidal wave rhythms of said tune, but choir, chimes and blanketed sheets of vocal bliss with encouraging yes-please ambiance makes it a portrait worth appraisal. Sounding much better than the original version of The Woods he put out last year.

Volcano Choir; the one that's good like wine, just give it time:



The Woods. Sans choir. Don't listen too long. Seriously. Just making a point.



Thanks for the lead, DNUGG.

Port O'Brien

The new album ~ Threadbare ~ will be out in the US next Tues. Oct. 6th. They just completed a live show in Seattle and will spend 2 nights in NYC : 10/14 at Mercury Lounge. 10/16 @ Union Hall.

Port O'Brien. They lost a brother of the band earlier this year... very resonant in the album. Heavy.

My girlfriend is famous.

Featured today on Planet.com is none other than the beautiful Joy Merrifield. As she readies to embark on another Icelandic adventure, Joyous leaves us with the hopes of up-to-the-second happenings and have-to's in the tundratic oasis of pixies and sprites.


Bravo!



Iceland Airwaves Festival.

A touched family

There is something spectacularly refreshing about Jason Trachtenburg. And his family. Here's a get to know you interview from 2005. Just to get things rolling. . .



Okay, so perhaps you just watched the first 1:28 to get an idea of what the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are all about. In that first 90 seconds, Jason mentions their inception to slideshows as a medium for a musical act and their first song ~ Mountain Trip to Old Japan. Well here it is:



They did a buncha buncha touring in the US, Canada and Europe and have recorded and released two albums: Vintage Slide Collections From Seattle, Vol. 1 (2001) and Adventures in Middle America, Vol. 2 (2005).

The ~ now 15 year old ~ daughter, Rachel, began a morning show in 2007. It's a bit of an infotainment-puppet vessel for tweens with a green thumb for environmental and social issues. And it's still a family affair:



Rachel's morning show has now evolved into Rachel Trachtenburg’s Homemade World alongside her parents and various other actors. She released an album of the same name in 2009. Simultaneously to working on Rachel's show, she and the family have been quite outspoken on her political views here in New York City.

Rachel went downtown in October and November of 2008 to speak out against Mayor Bloomberg extending his term limits. Here, The Players defend her position after Rachel addressed a public hearing at City Hall.



I think she means it. This is from a few days after speaking at city hall:



On January 30, 2009, Rachel and her parents went back to City Hall to speak out against horse carriage drivers, whom she claims, mistreat their horses. Rachel performed a song about horses on her ukulele and received a round of applause from the City Council, which are both not normally allowed.

Rachel plans to spend the rest of her life in New York City.

The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players will be performing Saturday night as part of the Showpaper Music and Art Celebration at Red Hook Labs in Brooklyn. I think it's only $8 but I guarantee a touching slideshow.

Paul, Paul... Interpol.

I read somewhere, sometime ago that Paul Banks was teased in his adolescence for being a narc. Funnily enough, when forming Interpol in 1998 he encouraged the adoption of aliases for his troupe. For the exception of Carlos D. it didn't take. Until now.

Under the adopted moniker Julian Plenti, Paul released his first solo album ~ Julian Plenti is... Skyscraper ~ on August 4th, 2009. Really driving the alias home, Paul.

Here's the video for Games for Days featuring the Canadian born Emily Haines of Metric as... the woman.



Paul, err, Julian Plenti will be playing at the Guggenheim Museum on Friday night for many many many many dollars. Really? I remember when Paul and his whole band would play for, like, twelve bucks. And he's not even from Brooklyn... ~ had to follow the Gugg-link for that one.

Woah. Best video ever. Seriously. of the day.

I wanna be someone to someone too. Don't we all?

I'll be on the lookout, hopefully it won't take long for this to be remixed ~ all 2009 style.

Fanfarlo, birds and drums

Fanfarlo @ The Bell House : TONIGHT.

I wonder what Beirut thinks of this London-based ~ via Swedenish (Simon Balthazar) ~ six-piece? Regardless... it should be a stageful of sound.

This music video was produced by Iain and Jane and features one of Europe's top escape artists ~ Roslyn Walker ~ performing his version of the Hanging Straitjacket Escape, first performed by Houdini in the early 1900s.



And they will be playing live on KEXP on Thursday afternoon. Here's a nerdy video...



Fanfarlo will be playing with Wildbirds & Peacedrums, the Swedish husband and wife duo.

Should be a doozy.

Bonus: Just Announced of the Day

Be Here:
Southpaw, Brooklyn on October 2nd. 7.30pm. Here's the lineup...

The Twilight Sad
Hailing from Kilsyth, Scotland, The Twilight Sad's new album ~ Forget The Night Ahead ~ will be released October 5th, 2009 on FatCat Records.



BrakesBrakesBrakes
Following April’s release of Touchdown, Rock Is Dodelijk (translated from Dutch: Rock Is Dead) will mark the BrakesBrakesBrakes second release of 2009, after April’s Touchdown. Recorded at an August 2008 hometown gig ~ Brighton, UK ~ and this past May in Cologne, Germany, the album is a unique spin for a live concept album. The first half was done on each venue’s in-house multi-track system, and the mixing was done afterward. The second half will be a bit rawer, as it was recorded in the midst of the crowd.

The live album is out October 6th on FatCat Records.

We Were Promised Jetpacks
Assembled in Edinburgh, Scotland as high school friends in 2003, their first ever gig saw them winning their school's battle of the bands competition. The band's debut album ~ These Four Walls ~ was released June 15th, 2009 on FatCat Records.

Colour of the Day.

MotherFucking Living Colour dropped an album last week ~ The Chair in the Doorway ~ in case you didn't notice. It's their fifth since the band's 2000 reunion performance at the now defunct CBGB's. They visited SoundCheck on the 11th to perform and discuss their new album, blasting on the scene in 1988 and the band's fuuuutre.




They kick off their world-tour tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and return to NYC on October 30th to play The Highline Ballroom. Tune in.

The List of the now. Of the day.

My buddy Stu was on KEXP last Friday. Here's the coordinates...



Go to KEXP's StreamingArchive, at the bottom... find the section listed as "Listen By Time". And plug in Friday, Sept. 11th. 3pm... and listen to it!

He talks all things Iceland. And all things Iceland right now are like that moment in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory when Gene Wilder throws off the cloak and reveals that, Yes! Charlie! What you thought you heard is true! Here. Take it. Now you shall own the pasture to the breeding grounds.

Stuart shows us that some damn fine horses are out there.

The playlist of Stu's hour-long fete with Kevin Cole is as follows:

LayLow : by and by
SeaBear: Seashell
Retro Stefson: Medallion
Hjaltalin: Traffic Music
FM Belfast: Par Avion
Agent Fresco: Eyes of a Cloud Catcher
Mammut: Svefnssykt
Reykjavik!: Eji plis!
Sin Fang Bouse (of SeaBear): melt down the knives
Sindri Mar Sigfussen (of Sea Bear): Landslide
Porir: HeyYa (Outcast cover)

a Video/Link of these will soon follow this post.