Animal Collective and Hot Chip Music Featured on “The Simpsons”

Last night’s episode of “The Simpsons”, “A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again” (note the titular cap-doff to David Foster Wallace) featured music from Hot Chip and Animal Collective.

Hot Chip’s “Boy From School” soundtracked the opening montage of Bart’s dreary weekly routine, while Animal Collective’s “Winter’s Love” featured during what could be described as the quintessential way to enjoy Animal Collective: sliding belly-first down a snowdrift. Homer gives a glum Bart sound advice also applicable to the over-pontificating Animal Collective fan in your life: “Yeah, stupid, stop thinking about fun and have it!”

Watch a clip of Hot Chip’s soundtrack cameo below:

(via Pitchfork !)

While Gary ‘Mani’ Mountfield takes part in The Stone Roses’ reunion, Primal Scream has tapped My Blood Valentine’s Debbie Googe to fill in as their touring bassist. According to NME, Googe will perform with Primal Scream throughout the summer, including during their opening slot for The Stone Roses at Heaton Park on June 29th.

Last night at Beastie Boy Mike D’s “Transmission LA: AV Club” festival at MOCA in Los Angeles, Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich debuted new Atoms for Peace songs during a DJ set, Radiohead At Ease points out. Although Yorke and collaborator Flea revealed that an album was nearly finished in interviews last fall, details have been otherwise scarce. Check out video from the DJ set in five parts below.

Great news for those who missed out on Jack White’s high-profile solo performances this week just hit the web, as the best way to see the Third Man leader live (aside from actually going to a show, of course) arrives in the form of video replay from last night’s full Unstaged webcast, directed by Gary Oldman. Live from New York City’s Webster Hall, White tore through a massive, two-part set spanning much of his back catalog up to his new LP, Blunderbuss. White Stripes cuts abound, in addition to his Danger Mouse collaboration, “Two Against One,” a pair of Raconteurs tunes, and Leadbelly/Hank Williams covers.

Revisit both sets — the first with Jack’s all-female backing group, the Peacocks, and the second with his all-male crew, Los Buzzardos — below:

Proto-punk icon Iggy Pop turned 65 on Saturday, showing no signs of slowing down just one day later with a new record announcement. Well, musically he is delving into a calmer pace, at least, with a set heavy on French covers and crooner favorites titled Aprés due in May. The Stooges frontman described the impetus behind this follow-up to the similarly-themed (music that “doesn’t try to beat me on the head”) 2009 album Préliminaires:

All popular music forms of today get their strength from the beat. Rap, hip-hop, metal, pop, and rock producers will tell you that the beats they use imitate the human heartbeat and that is where the power lies. The feeling of listening to any of these forms is always some variation on excitement, but before the birth of the blues there was another form of popular song, in which the timing comes from the human breath and the feelings are much more about emotion. These older ways of expression were known variously as bel canto, chanson, plainsong or just folk music. I’ve always loved this other feeling, one that is intimate, sometimes a little sad, and does not try to beat me on the head… Many of these songs are in French, probably because it is French culture which has most stubbornly resisted the mortal attacks of the Anglo-American music machine.

Meanwhile, Pop’s outspoken punk brother in arms Henry Rollins celebrated Iggy reaching non-retirement age over the weekend by paying tribute to his body of work thus far with a 2-hour trip through highlights from the Pop catalog in chronological order. While most of these cuts are cemented in our rock DNA already, many of us have never revisited them in order — a valuable way of keeping up with the origins of this incredibly influential and primal material. Not to mention Rollins’ ever-intense interludes really make the musical shot in the arm complete. Stream the full KCRW broadcast alongside the Aprés tracklist below:

(via 24bit)

Update: Johnny Marr has posted on his Facebook: “The rumour of the Smiths reunion is untrue. It’s not happening.”

Cue a tirade of “what, by hologram?” jokes: British website Music-News.com reports that the Smiths are in talks to reform for a major fall tour, based on “a source” reporting that the band have been discussing the notion with a “well known promoter.” There’s little to make the story seem anything but spurious at this stage, particularly given the assertion that the move was inspired by the Stone Roses’ reunion. Johnny Marr tweeted at 12:51 GMT:

Hey Everybody !! Amazing news !….My amp is fixed ! Johnny.

If it is true, then Marr’s position has changed since early March, when he wryly told the NME that it’d take the current UK coalition government stepping down for the Manchester band to reform.

It won’t have escaped your notice that the band have reportedly been offered millions of pounds to reform over the years, with the band’s final concert having taken place at London’s Brixton Academy in December 1986. Watch the Smiths play “The Queen Is Dead” at that show below.

“Stomach in, chest out, on your mark, get set, go…!”

I do remember the first time. 20 years ago, give or take. Another country, a smaller room, with folks that I still love but never see any more. Oceans will do that to you.

I remember the second time too. A Glaswegian green filled to capacity. We stood behind 3 kids who cried tears of joy simply because of this band onstage. They meant absolutely everything to them. And in that moment in time, they meant everything to all of us.

This time, the third time, we board a plane and fly 700 miles to yet another city, just to witness this miracle. Thank god we did.

Lasers welcome us. A standing ovation welcomes them, the reformed Pulp, to the stage. First, “Do You Remember The First Time?”. And we do. More songs… “Razzmatazz”, “Disco 2000” which Jarvis reminds us came out in 1995 and seemed futuristic. “Something Changed”, a love song which always felt out of place in the Pulp catalog, meanders past. And then through the manufactured fog comes “Sorted for E’s and Wizz”. This is a monster for me. I reel back from a flood of memories, my eyes welling up like a Scottish teen in 1996. “I lost my friends, I danced alone, it’s 6:00 o’clock, I want to go home”. Oh, the humanity.

More songs stutter out. “Acrylic Afternoons”, “Pencil Skirt”, “Like a Friend”. The natural born frontman couldn’t lead a band that sounded any better. This theater is a cauldron of fanatics, hanging on every syllable, hypnotized.

“Babies” brings back to me long forgotten details of my own life, another one, I used to lead. Jesus. “Underwear” is even more intriguing than I remembered.

Out of the blue comes a song from an album that I have waited years to hear live. I have always equated “This is Hardcore” to the final Soft Cell album. It was nervous, haunted, exhausted. It leered at you through the speakers sparking peep show visions. It crept and shuddered and shook. And in this moment, the title track is everything I imagined it would be. Unbelievable how powerful this is. 2,200 people are slackjawed in amazement. “Bar Italia” is a walk of shame that we have all taken, a party anthem for people who have partied too much. We are building. We know where this journey is headed.

Jarvis himself doesn’t even say the title of the next song. Just the initials. C.P. The room explodes. Not like in an “I love this song” moment but in an absolutely life changing, societal shift. All the air is sucked out of the room by the sheer pandemonium. This is a song that means something different to every single person in this place. And it has never meant more to us. And we forgive them for ever leaving us.

They abandon the stage. They return. “Glory Days”, “Party Hard”, “Mis-shapes”. All wonderful songs. They leave again. They return again. I cross my fingers and say a prayer for “Help the Aged”. I think it would be the perfect swansong. And at this time in my life, it means more to me than ever before. They play a song that is from their first album, one that they never ever play. And then they leave for good. Oh well. It was mesmerizing.
(Review by: L.A.M.)

I think Mr. White is about to have his Prince moment. Can’t wait until he starts creating little spin-off acts. Rolling Stone:

Jack White recently told BBC Radio 1 that he has enough leftover songs from the Blunderbuss sessions to cut another album, NME reports. “We had enough for an album at one point, but I just kept going,” White told host Zane Lowe. “I’ve got another 12 songs that I haven’t finished yet.”

At first, Jack White’s first solo album seems to be a straightforward affair. He once claimed “I’ve got three fathers: my biological dad, God and Bob Dylan,” and here, it seems, is his Blood on the Tracks. On the cover, the recently divorced White broods with a vulture on his shoulder. Inside, there are songs about collapsing relationships. These are sometimes depicted via lyrics that are clever and moving: “When someone tells you they can’t live without you, they ain’t lying,” sings White on Missing Pieces. “They’ll take pieces of you and walk away.” They are sometimes depicted via lyrics that are completely hysterical in every sense of the phrase: “Your momma was a bastard, had your bastard face all over the scene,” howls Trash Tongue Talker. “I got some words for your ass, you better find someone up the street.” And they are occasionally depicted via lyrics that suggest Jack White might be the most infuriating person imaginable to get into a domestic with. “I know you’re mad at me, but if you’re thinking like that, I think you’ll see you’re mad at you, too,” he offers, presumably before exiting the room to avoid the heavy items being thrown by someone who’s had enough of this passive-aggressive bullshit to last a lifetime.

If the songs aren’t about relationships collapsing, they’re about Jack White swearing himself off women. And who can blame him? If the songs that aren’t about relationships collapsing or Jack White swearing himself off women are to be believed, the fairer sex are basically responsible for every evil in the world, up to and including causing lifeboats to deflate with their high-heeled shoes. Even the internet troll depicted over a clattering drum pattern in Freedom at 21 is a glamorous femme fatale, which has to be one of the more extreme recent examples of artistic licence, at least until such time as someone who looks like Rita Hayworth in Gilda gets hauled before a magistrates court for tweeting abuse to a Premier League footballer.

Not since techno auteur Mike “μ-Ziq” Paradinas released an album called Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique has a record appeared to signpost its roots so clearly in a failed marriage. Or perhaps not. The woman you might suppose to be at the root of all this, his ex-wife Karen Elson, turns up all over the album singing backing vocals. Either Elson is a superhumanly tolerant musical collaborator in the vein of Rita Marley, who on Exodus lent her talents to a series of songs about how amazing her husband Bob’s mistress was, or White is back to his old “this-is-my-big-sister” trick of playing with public perceptions of his personal life in a weird and unsettling way.

In fact, presenting something deeply weird as entirely straightforward may be the whole point of Blunderbuss. Leaving aside the lyrics, the most striking thing is the way White uses his melodic skills to mask some off-the-wall musical ideas, next to which the fidgety prog-rock riffs that open the album and the irresistible vaudevillian arrangement of Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy are relatively straightforward. Elsewhere, the listener is treated to structures so wildly episodic that the closing Take Me with You sounds like three different songs – including a 70s stadium-rock anthem and a piece of library music – lashed together, the donning of funny accents (“I’m noivuss,” he sings on a cover of Little Willie John’s I’m Shakin’) and several bursts of falsetto vocals so ridiculous that the Darkness’s Justin Hawkins might advise him to tone it down a bit.

White does it so skilfully you don’t notice how profoundly odd most of Blunderbuss is until the third or fourth play, at which point you listen to, say, On and On and On and boggle not just at the way he continually shifts the song’s mood, but the sheer improbability of the moods he chooses to shift to: from portentous to ghostly to corny to intimate in less than four minutes.

The red herring of the White Stripesish single Sixteen Saltines aside, Blunderbuss is a 45-minute double-take, one long “hang on a minute”. But then so, you could argue, is Jack White’s career. “People around me … want me the same,” he laments on On and On and On, which seems wide of the mark. If people mourned the White Stripes’ passing, it might have less to do with a passion for the familiar than a sense that the strange, contradictory, unfathomable figure White cut as half of that duo was more interesting than the straightforward powerpop or 70s blues-rock musician he appears to be in the Raconteurs or the Dead Weather. Those people should be suitably bucked to learn that Blunderbuss is White at his most strange, contradictory and unfathomable, and therefore at his best.

This Saturday (April 21) is the annual Record Store Day and 2012 looks to be the best year yet, As a music fan you should already call your local record store home but with literally hundreds of special releases available this weekend we help you pick out the best of the bunch. See the complete list here

Arctic Monkeys – ‘R U Mine?’: One of the more intriguing Record Store singles, ‘R U Mine?’, rather than being a re-release or current album track, is a further progression in the Arctic Monkeys sound. The band have already performed the new track at Coachella and on US tv when they visited Conan O’Brien’s show, and are releasing the song as a limited edition purple 7″ vinyl with another new song, ‘Electricity’, as its b-side

Bloc Party – She’s Hearing Voices (7″): The first ever release from a band that would go on to define mid-00′s indie music, this re-release of She’s Hearing Voices is the perfect reminder of Bloc Party’s brilliance ahead of their return later in the year.

St. Vincent – ‘Krokodil/ Grot’ (7″): Annie Clarke’s 2011 album ‘Strange Mercy’ was one of the year’s finest and she is marking RSD with her heaviest work to date. As anyone who caught her set at Coachella, packed full of riffs and even some crowdsurfing, will know – St. Vincent rock harder than most.

Sigur Ros – ‘Ekki Mukk’ (10″): Sigur Ros have never been the chart-friendly sort, and their latest release ‘Ekki Mukk’ is about as far from mainstream as they get. Seeminly influenced by lead singer Jonsi’s side-project Riceboy Sleeps, this epic track is awash with looped samples, distant choirs and radio static. Stirring stuff from Iceland’s finest band.

Garbage – ‘Blood For Poppies/ Battle In Me’ (7″): Garbage are back in a big way for 2012 and kick off their comeback with this Record Store Day release – their first in seven years. Bearing all the hallmarks of classic Garbage (Shirley Manson’s ladylike snarl, edgy production and heavy, distorted guitars), this is an esssential release – whether for Record Store Day or otherwise.

Mastodon/ Feist – ‘A Commotion/ Black Tongue’ (7″): As far as musical opposites go, the only two acts more different to one another than Mastodon and Feist that we can think of are Slayer and Olly Murs. Luckily those two will never meet but Feist and Mastodon have made good on their covers and lent their own skills to one anothers songs, totally re-defining the originals.

Azari and III – ‘Lost In Time’ (12″): Other than it’s eighties heyday, New York house music has never been cooler than since flamboyant four-piece Azari and III arrived on the music scene. Taken from their debut album, ‘Lost In Time’ is a mostly instrumental cut from their debut album, but one that builds to one of the year’s biggest, most uplifting climaxes.

The Flaming Lips – ‘The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends’ (12″): Wayne Coyne has gone a bit mad for Record Store Day this year and made an album featuring his collaborations with Bon Iver, Ke$ha, Tame Impala, Nick Cave, Yoko Ono and Neon Indian. We want to hear it for sheer curiosity if nothing else.

Morrissey – ‘Suedehead’: With no record deal to speak of – and therefore no hope of a follow-up to 2009′s ‘Years of Refusal – Morrissey’s Record Store Day contribution is the closest we’ll get to a new release any time soon.

He’s opted for his number five charting single ‘Suedehead’ from 1988 debut album ‘Viva Hate’, being presented as a 10-inch picture disc and digital download. The download track is remixed by Ron and Russell Mael, and is backed by two previously unreleased BBC live tracks: ‘We’ll Let You Know’ and ‘Now My Heart Is Full’, both recorded at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane in 1995.

Battles – Dross Glop 4′: Battles have incorporated their Record Store Day effort into their 12 inch remix series. The fourth and final installment, the remixes have been conducted by Gang Gang Dance, Hudson Mohawke and Patrick Mahoney & Dennis McNany of the songs ‘Ice Cream’, ‘Rolls Bayce’ and ‘My Machines’ respectively.

Also recommended:
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Covers EP
Outfit – ‘Another Night’s Dreams Reach Earth Again’ EP (12″)
Miles Kane – First Of My Kind (10″)
Animal Collective – Traverse Temporal Gyrus (12″)
Arcade Fire – Soulwax remixes (12″)
Beach House – Lazuli (7″)
The Flaming Lips/ Mastodon – A Spoonful Weighs A Ton (pink 7″)
Hot Chip – Night & Day (12″)
Little Boots – Every Night I Say A Prayer (12″)
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Songs From The Great White North (12″)
Sex Pistols – Anarchy In the UK (7″ picture disc)
Two Door Cinema Club – Acoustic EP (7″)
The Vaccines/ R. Stevie Moore – TBA (7″)
Scum/ Big Deal – Split EP (7″)
Zomby – Where Were U In ’92 (12″)
The White Stripes – Hand Springs/ Red Death At 6.14 (7″)
Gorillaz – DoYaThing (10″)
Domino/Ribbon’s Smugglers Way zine/flexi discs feat. Dirty Projectors, Real Estate, Cass McCombs, John Maus, and Villagers

Interested in finding some of the best record stores in the USA? CHECK HERE

Man, it has been one hell of a messed-up week.

Levon Helm, singer and drummer for the Band, died on April 19th in New York of throat cancer. He was 71.

“He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates,” Helm’s longtime guitarist Larry Campbell tells Rolling Stone. “All his friends were there, and it seemed like Levon was waiting for them. Ten minutes after they left we sat there and he just faded away. He did it with dignity. It was even two days ago they thought it would happen within hours, but he held on. It seems like he was Levon up to the end, doing it the way he wanted to do it. He loved us, we loved him.”

The recession is really over, huh? NBC L.A.:

More people attended the Coachella music festival in Indio this year than ever before, ending with more arrests than last year, according to the Indio Police Department.

“We had an attendance of 80,000–85,000 people every day,” said Benjamin Guitron, department spokesman. “Last year we had 70,000–75,000 people.”

That’s up from 60,000 per day in 2009, he added, citing statistics from Goldenvoice, the festival’s promoter.

The attendance increase comes at the same time the music festival was doubled into two weekends for the first time.

This year also saw an increase in the number of arrests, as the department took 134 people into custody, mostly for alcohol-related issues. There were 48 arrests last year.

ABC News:

Dick Clark, the music industry maverick, longtime TV host and powerhouse producer who changed the way we listened to pop music with American Bandstand, and whose trademark Rockin’ Eve became a fixture of New Year’s celebrations, died today at the age of 82, ABC News has learned.

We are in San Francisco to watch Pulp play the Warfield Theater. Updates will be light this week, thanks.

After a string of North American dates and an appearance on “Jimmy Fallon”, Pulp played their headlining set at Coachella last night. And now, you can check out all of Jarvis Cocker’s dances. Watch their full set below..

Radiohead’s headlining set at Coachella last night was added to the Coachella YouTube live stream at the last minute. Here it is, in its entirety, featuring a bunch of stuff from The King of Limbs, plus classics like “Karma Police” and “Pyramid Song”. Not to mention Thom Yorke’s ponytail.

Ever since Beijing put on one of the most spectacular coordinated displays in human history at the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony, observers have wondered how London could possibly improve on it. This would be a start.

Organizers for the 2012 ceremony recently asked the manager of The Who if legendary drummer Keith Moon would be able to perform at the London Games. It was a fine idea, except that Moon has been dead for 34 years.

Bill Curbishley told The Times how he responded to the request.

“I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to The Who’s anthemic line ‘I hope I die before I get old,’” he said. “If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him.”

That’s well done, Bill. Well done.

The surviving members of The Who, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend, still tour and are expected to play some role in the Olympic festivities. Nothing against the band who gave the world “Quadrophenia” and “Tommy,” but if you’re going to go for big names to play at the Olympics, why not try and get John Lennon and George Harrison to stage a Beatles reunion? Go for the gold, as they say.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols turned down an invitation to play the closing ceremony. No excuse was reported. Whatever it was, I doubt it was as good as Moon’s.
(via Metro UK)

Alabama Shakes played the Late Show With David Letterman on the host’s birthday yesterday. Just days after the official release date of their debut album, Boys & Girls, the Shakes gave a rousing performance of lead single, “Hold On.”

After the song, Letterman came over to thank and congratulate the band. Watch singer Brittany Howard’s expression as Letterman exclaims, “That’s a birthday present!”

Check out the Alabama Shakes’ “Hold On” below

Update: A STATEMENT FROM FRANCES COBAIN:

While I’m generally silent on the affairs of my biological mother, her recent tirade has taken a gross turn. I have never been approached by Dave Grohl in more than a platonic way. I’m in a monogamous relationship and very happy.

Twitter should ban my mother.

UPDATE: Dave Grohl’s publicist responded to Courtney Love’s accusations, telling Gawker: “Unfortunately Courtney is on another hateful twitter rant. These new accusations are upsetting, offensive and absolutely untrue.”

PREVIOUSLY: Courtney Love continues to prove she’s one of the most entertaining people on Twitter. (AKA CRAZY)

Last night, the Hole singer took to her private Twitter account @cbabymichelle to accuse former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, 43, of hitting on and possibly sleeping with her 19-year-old daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, reports Gawker.

Love and Grohl have been feuding since Love’s husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, committed suicide in 1994 and the two disagreed over financial issues relating to the band.

Gawker reports that Love aired the accusations to the 792 followers privy to her private account. “I hear from frannies roommate that @davegrohl hit on frances, and that she was curious , I’m not mad at her, him i am about to shoot, dead.”

According to screencaps taken of the conversation, Love said she’d heard from reliable sources, including a driver, who say Grohl’s hands were “all over her.” In a series of tweets, Love also repeatedly threatened Grohl, declared him “sexually obsessed” with Kurt, and made note that he named his daughter Violet, which is also the name of one of Love’s most well-known songs. She also claimed that Grohl frequently tried to sleep with her and that “he had that romney rape thing about him.”

Love has taken a ton of shots at Grohl over the years, and in November she told the audience at a show in Brazil that Grohl was stealing money that belonged to Kurt’s family and taking money off her kid’s table.

The singer has been estranged from Frances for several years, and recently the details of a restraining order Cobain had taken out against her mother was published by The Fix. Court papers showed that Frances claimed her cat died after getting entangled in piles of craft supplies and that her dog died after swallowing a pile of her mother’s pills.

The accusations should be taken with a grain of salt, but they are particularly scandalous given that Grohl has known Frances Bean since her birth and he’s married with two young children. Though there is no mention of when the alleged encounter took place, Frances has reportedly been engaged to The Rambles’ lead singer, Isaiah Silva, since October.
(via huffington post)

Brooklyn Vegan:

Due to open in Autumn this year, Rough Trade NYC will offer a large saturnalia for music lovers of all ages (even larger than multi-award winning Rough Trade East, London, UK).

In addition to being a place to discover, browse, debate and purchase the finest recorded music, Rough Trade NYC will partner with The Bowery Presents to feature a live performance area for in-store gigs, as well as operating at night as an intimate live music venue.

Billboard.biz:

“At long last, we can finally confirm the next bold step in our evolution” said Rough Trade’s co-owner, Stephen Godfroy in a statement. “We’re extremely excited at the prospect of handing over the ‘blank canvas’, that is a Rough Trade store, to the music lovers of New York, allowing them make it their own culture agora, just as the people of London have so successfully achieved, with downturn-defying results.”

The drama king is at it again, y’all. Rolling Stone:

It’s official: Axl Rose will be not be attending this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. “I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N’ Roses to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Rose wrote in a long letter obtained by the L.A. Times. “I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf. Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of ‘Guns N’ Roses.’”

In OFF!’s new video, transgressive director Richard Kern joins the punk rock supergroup (which includes ex-Black Flag singer Keith Morris) to bring back everything we loved about old school west coast skate culture.

Alabama Shakes is a blues-rock group from Athens, AL, that formed in 2009. As such, they missed out on both the original blues-rock explosion of the ’70s (ah, duh) and much of the subsequent revival as facilitated by the likes of The White Stripes and The Black Keys. Even still, their debut LP, Boys & Girls, is a profound submission, one which injects fresh life into the genre while maintaining its blazing spirit.

Sounding unlike any other young female singer working today, front woman Brittany Howard’s voice is a dynamo of emotional vulnerability and raspy sex appeal. On “Heartbreaker”, Howard’s voice tows the line between surreal awkwardness and being overwhelmed by cutting shards of forlorn. It’s as if you’re listening to someone’s very life disintegrate, and you can’t do a thing but wait with joyous anticipation to see how far she can fall. Vocally, Howard can readily flip the switch from emotionally damaged to slightly humorous, as evidenced in her Nina Simone-esque performance in “Goin’ to the Party” (particularly the line “You gotta take me home now, I know you ain’t drinking water/You gotta take me back ’cause I’m still someone’s daughter”).

Howard’s shining moment, however, comes on the album opener, “Hold On”. Delving into the realm of gospel, Howard unearths a vocal performance that’s drenched in pain, with tiny globules of regret and remorse practically forming around the base of your speakers. When she sings the line “Didn’t think I’d make it to 22 years old/There must be someone up above sayin’, ‘Come on Brittany, you got to come on up/You got to hold on…’”, the undeniable proof of celestial interference in her sad life is abundant in the cracks of her voice.

Despite its utter strength and unrelenting depth, Howard’s voice wouldn’t be the star of the show without the rest of the band. Throughout the album, the boys do their best to stay out of the spotlight, which gives Howard the full attention she deserves, while expressing themselves in unseen yet equally important manners. Particularly, it’s the backing vocals, harmonies that are crisp and focused and add a counter sheen to Howard’s soulful expressions. It’s also in less tangible moments, like on “You Ain’t Alone”. As is par for the album, Howard delivers vocals that could shatter someone’s very soul, yet so much of that power stems from the band’s gentle instrumentation; a slow, chugging guitar and the punctuation of cymbals crashing gives Howard a mighty jumping-off point. It’s symbiosis at its finest, y’all.

Of all the contributing factors to the album’s success, it’s the willingness for experimentation that may be most fruitful. While the album sticks mostly to flourishes and small tweaks, “Rise to the Sun” stands as a gem of free-flowing innovation. The three-minute track begins with a fusion of driving blues-rock and sunny, almost psychedelic organ work. The closing minute, though, represents the true meat of the song (and perhaps the album at large): a cacophony of the previous instrumentation, clashing into each other at violent speeds with glorious results. It’s intricate and messy, with the heart of a soul song and the skin of a punk anthem. Though it stands alone as the clearest example of sonic experimentation, its energy infuses the rest of the album with a sense of invigoration, as if each track may very well veer into similar territory at any moment.

The album’s other examples of experimentation lay outside the music, found instead in the contextual approach to several songs. “I Found You” is the tale of a long journey, revamping the dynamic of the world-weary man searching for a good woman. “I Ain’t the Same”, which takes a brighter, more bubbly approach, sees Martin cast as the woman now revealing to her beau that she’s at last finished with her troublesome ways.

Though ultra-subtle, these power shifts are lethally effective. By slyly bringing them to the attention of the listener, the changes are neither overwhelming nor overdone, thus making them perfectly suited to hunker down inside the sensibilities of everyone who hears them. As a result, they help to realign what is possible between the sexes in the previously one-sided realm of solid blues-rock.

Even if they are late to the party, Alabama Shakes have proven themselves as a band with a keen understanding of the genre’s basics and a curious spirit perpetually seeking to move upward and onward. From here on out, it’s safe to assume they’re not just a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears rookies and are, quite possibly, the new faces of modern blues-rock.

After resurfacing last month in the UK, Pulp has finally returned stateside for a series of one-off performances and, naturally, the band’s highly anticipated slot(s) at this year’s Coachella. Last night, lucky man Jimmy Fallon nabbed Jarvis Cocker & Co. prior to their sold out Radio City Music Hall gigs this week, and to let loose, the band pumped out classic hit “Common People” and a web exclusive cut of “Like a Friend” off of 1998′s Great Expectations soundtrack. So, even if you can’t make it to Indio, CA or the Big Apple this week, well, at least you have this. Catch both performances below. (We will let you know how the SF show goes next week)

Common People:

Like a Friend:

Pulp 2012 Tour Dates:
04/10 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall *
04/11 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
04/13 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
04/19 – Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
04/20 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
04/23 – Mexico City, MX @ Palacio de los Desportes
05/04 – Murcia, ES @ Estrella Levante SOS 4.8
07/06 – Turku, FI @ Ruisrock
07/08 – Tunari, RO @ B’estfest
07/13 – Azzano Decimo, IT @ Fiera Della Musica

* = w/ Chromatics

Jack White has revealed that death is one of the central themes of his forthcoming debut solo album ‘Blunderbuss’.

The former White Stripes man released the LP on April 23 and, in an interview with the New York Times, said that mortality was one of the main motifs of the album.

He said: I was writing the liner notes the other day, and it seemed like it had a lot to do with that [death]. For some reason, that was overwhelming throughout the lyric writing.

Last week (April 6), White revealed that he missed being in his old band, The White Stripes. He claimed that that band’s split wasn’t up to him alone and that if he had the chance, he’d “make a White Stripes record right now.”

Speaking to NME last month, however, White explained that there was “absolutely no chance” he would ever reform The White Stripes, adding that he would only consider it if he “went bankrupt”.

Jim Marshall, who pioneered guitar amplifiers used by some of the greatest names in rock earning him the nickname “Lord of Loud”, has died aged 88. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved founder and leader for the past 50 years, Jim Marshall,” said a statement on the company’s website. “While mourning the Guv’nor though, we also salute a legendary man who led a full and truly remarkable life.”

Tributes poured in for a man credited with helping to shape the sound of guitar rock.
“The news of Jim Marshall passing is deeply saddening,” former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash said in a message on Twitter. “R & R will never be the same w/out him. But, his amps will live on FOREVER!”

His company said in a written tribute: “Your memory, the music and joy your amps have brought to countless millions for the past five decades and that world-famous, omnipresent script logo that proudly bears your name will always live on.” Born in London in 1923, Marshall started out as a drummer before going into business and founding Marshall Amplification in 1962. He began making guitar amplifiers in Britain as a cheaper alternative to U.S. imports, and soon after legendary musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were using his equipment.
He is revered as one of the four forefathers of rock music equipment along with Leo Fender, Les Paul and Seth Lover.

On June 5, Patti Smith will release Banga via Columbia, her first album of new material since 2004′s Trampin’. It was recorded in Electric Lady Studios with longtime collaborators Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, and Tony Shanahan. According to her interview on “CBS Sunday Morning”, the album title is a reference to the Mikhail Bulgakov novel The Master and Margarita. It features a ballad for Amy Winehouse called “This is the Girl” and a birthday song for Johnny Depp (!) called “Nine”. The first single from the album, “April Fool”, features Tom Verlaine and is available on iTunes now.

Check out the album’s tracklist and a video of Smith performing “Horses” in 1976.

Banga:
01 Amerigo
02 Fuji-san
03 April Fool
04 This is the Girl
05 Banga
06 Maria
07 Tarkovsky (The Second Stop is Jupiter)
08 Mosaic
09 Nine
10 Seneca
11 Constantine’s Dream
12 After the Gold Rush

(via pitchfork)

leater-Kinney co-founder and Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein has inked a book deal with Riverhead Books.

According to the publisher, the book will tell the story of “her life in music, from ardent fan to pioneering female guitarist to comedic performer and luminary of the independent rock world.” Jud Laghi from the Jud Laghi Agency negotiated the deal with editor Megan Lynch.

In addition to working as a songwriter, Brownstein has written for The New York Times, The Believer, Slate and a Twitter page with 36,000 followers. Earlier this year, Grand Central acquired a Portlandia inspired book from Brownstein and her co-star, Fred Armisen.

Three weeks prior to the April 24 release of his debut album Blunderbuss (Third Man Records/Columbia), Third Man Records has premiered the as yet unreleased Jack White album track “Freedom at 21″ exclusively via 1000 flexi-disc records attached to helium balloons launched from the label headquarters in Nashville on April 1st, 2012: http://youtu.be/szoIcNykCc0

Envisioned as an experiment exploring non-traditional forms of record distribution and a way to get records in the hands of people who don’t visit record shops, the label was sure to use biodegradable latex balloons and all-natural twine in the process.

Accompanying the balloons were custom postcards with instructions for the finders to submit photos, discovery location and the date on which the record was found, all of which will be incorporated into a website where fans can access the information at http://thirdmanrecords.com/balloon

Statistics for similar balloon launches show a recovery rate of approximately 10% so it’s quite possible that less than 100 of the 1000 records launched will ever be discovered. Whatever the numbers, the “Freedom at 21″ flexi-disc will surely be a highly sought-after collectible for years to come.

Watch Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen, which, incidentally, dates back to the same period as the great Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back, above.