Monday News Mash-Up

Justin Spicer — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:40:47 +0000

The 3rd Annual Record Store Day is looming around the corner (April 17th!) and wouldn’t you know the list of participants and goodies is beginning to unfurl. Factory 25 will be releasing the first two LPs from its History of Chicago Punk series featuring DA and Tutu & The Pirates.

Throw a 12-inch single from Yeasayer on the Record Store Day want-list. The group will be releasing O.N.E. on vinyl—and to tease fans, have just released the video for the ODD Blood cut:

Sub Pop rolled out a long list of Record Store Day releases as well, with two 12-inch released from Beach House and The Album Leaf, a handful of 7-inches from Happy Birthday, CoCoRosie, Dum Dum Girls, and Male Bonding, and an official CD of the best performances from the label’s 2008 20th Anniversary concerts titled SP20: Casual Nostalgia Fest. Perhaps the most intriguing release will be the reissue of the newly reunited Soundgarden’s 1987 7-inch, “Hunted Down.”

Lo-fi freakster Ariel Pink is prepping his first release for 4AD, so while fans wait eagerly, he and the label have decided to unveil the title track from the upcoming 7-inch release, “Round and Round”. All it costs is a minute of your time to sign up for Pink’s mailing list.

Prepare for ORION, the supposedly legit metal LP from Mandy Moore’s husband. Via his official website, Ryan Adams delivered the good (?) news and unveiled an untitled track seemingly from the album.

Proliferate avant trio, Zs is set to release New Slaves–the band’s proper sophomore release — through The Social Registry May 11th.

Canadian doom metal duo, Nadja will be releasing the White Nights/Drone Field on DVD later this year via Beta-lactum Ring Records. Currently a part of a Toronto art installation, the film combines two live concerts from Nadja and member Aidan Baker with visuals from a long list of emerging Canadian filmmakers.

Fan Death Records are a part of the gleeful re-emergence of the cassette, and to celebrate the label is releasing Acid on March 30th from Psychedelic Horseshit. The Times New Viking and Abe Vigoda peers have released the first track for your listening pleasure:

Thursday News Threads

L. Manheim, KEXP — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:13:15 +0000

photo by Ron Henry

Ryan Adams, characteristically resistant to capital letters, has announced on his blog three things he’s cutting back: (1) smoking; (2) blogging; and (3) making music. In a long testimonial, he explains his decisions and discusses some of the recent difficulties he’s faced. On a more positive note, he describes himself as happy “for the first time in [his] life.” Adams concludes: “maybe we will play again sometime and maybe i will work my way back into some kind of music situation but this is the time for me to step back now, to reel it in and i wish everyone peace and happiness and if music is your dream, or if just dreaming is your dream, may you find your way through the rough patch with ease and i hope you let go and it takes you all the way there — loving kindness to all.” Apparently, some of this has been taken out of context by other news outlets, causing Adams to reiterate today, “i did not say i was quitting i said i was taking a step back…” Don’t worry, Ryan — the thought you not putting out at least one album a year seems unbelievable.

The Decemberists, though, are still going strong. After releasing a series of EPs, they’re set to release their fifth full-length, The Hazards of Love, on March 24. Right now you can download for free “The Rake’s Song” from the album, beginning today, at the band’s website.

Just a few months after good ol’ Times Square saw Kathy Griffin mortify poor Anderson Cooper, it will be witnessing the exit of an icon (and no, we’re not talking about TRL): The Times Square Virgin Megastore, which has proudly served as the highest volume music store in the United States, will shut down in April. It seems the store is still profitable — it’s just not paying the rent it could be. (Apparently Virgin pays only $54 per square-foot while the market rent in the area is over 10 times that figure.) Rents, shments; it still seems appropriate to blame the Stupid Recession. Oh, and it’s being replaced with a Forever 21. Here’s to capitalism.

Support a good cause, hear some good tracks, what’s not to like: War Child International (a network of organizations helping children affected by — you guessed it — war) has released another tribute album, and there are some ringers in there: Beck covering Dylan, The Hold Steady covering Springsteen, TV On The Radio covering Bowie, Hot Chip covering Joy Division, you name it. Check out the full list.

Could 2009 be the year of The Wrens? Celebrating 20 years together, the hardest working band in New Jersey is offering up a brand new single, “Pulled Fences,” recorded live at Abbey Road Studios. Does this mean the band is ready to record a follow up to their sensational Meadowlands? Seems so. They report on their newly updated website, where you can also find out how to get the new single, that on this coming Monday they will “reconvene in the basement and start recording music.”

MySpace now sports an 18-minute documentary that follows Oasis and “a group of street musicians” as they debut songs off Oasis’s new album (Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets) in New York. The documentary, free and available for your viewing pleasure, purports to be the first “to debut in high definition in the history of MySpace.” Further kudos to them Internets.

Speaking of videos, Weezer just released a new one for “Pork and Beans,” featuring an array of YouTube personalities and other characters (like Kathy Lee Gifford):