“Call It A Ritual” is the new MP3 offering from Wolf Parade’s upcoming album, name TBA. It’s a great song, but let’s hope this isn’t like when Band of Horses gave “Is There A Ghost” away a month before the album came out and it ended up being the best song. That would be a sad day, but I expect Wolf Parade has a whole slew of great songs to come.
Download Wolf Parade - “Call It A Ritual” (MP3)
Oxfords’ Foals just released Antidotes, one of the best CDs I’ve heard this year. It’s really up there. It’s like magic disco lights in a seaside madhouse. It’s like Minus The Bear plus the Fall. It’s blistering bliss on an iPod. Whatever you need it to be. I’m glad it is. Be prepared for a review. Promises.
Listen to Foals - “Balloons” (MP3)
Though I would have called it, Goin’ Down To Bone Town, but that’s just me. I played 10 seconds of the first track today and plan on posting a review soon. I think Make Believe is a very nice band with interesting songs. There, I said it.
I got the advance copy yesterday and it’s an amazing record. Not quite the killer that Shine A Light was, but pound for pound it’s a solid record. I’m still looking for a song as substantial and memorable as “Soon Enough” but I think the ‘Stines really set an impossible bar with that one. Expect a mini review soon as I’m reviewing it for a couple mags/sites.
Here’s an interesting tidbit for those of us that like figures. I know I do. Unlike Radiohead, NIN have released their sales figures for their 36-track instrumental album, Ghosts I-IV. The results are pretty damn nice for Trent and the crew - 781,917 paid and unpaid transactions netting $1.6 million dollars. No shit. They even sold out of their $300 a pop “Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition” at the tune of 2500 copies. The album will go on sale as a double CD in the US on Apr 8.
Originally written for Skope Magazine.
Murder By Death
Red Of Tooth and Claw
(Vagrant)
When you reach a certain age, being the emo kid starts to get lame so it’s nice when your favorite bands grow as you do. Such is the case with Bloomington, Indiana’s Murder By Death. From their 2000 debut to their newest offering the musical modus has stayed the same, but the character has matured. This is devastatingly clear on their fourth long-player, Red Of Tooth And Claw.
Adam Turla’s troubled vocal now resurrects the late Johnny Cash or a manic Tennessee Ernie Ford and the result is remarkably poignant. In pure MBD fashion, the songs maintain apocalyptic narratives, but this time around are focused on one man’s vita rather than global cataclysm. Especially on the album opener, “Coming Home” (“Crawling on all fours / I’m coming home / Turning brick walls into doors / I’m coming home”) and the climax, “Spring Break 1899” (“And I jumped off the interstate to Highway 8 / To the bars full of girls who all know me by name / They all drink the same drinks / They all fuck the same”).
Red Of Tooth And Claw is American Gothic noir in its purest form, setting the bar a notch higher for narrative-driven indie rock and Americana bands for years to come. If only more bands could evolve as naturally and stylishly as Murder By Death.
I’ll be putting a review up today or tomorrow and a similar review will be running in Skope Magazine. Just so’s you know. The new album is pretty amazing, but I’m still infatuated with Who Will Survive… The new one, Red Of Tooth And Claw sounds more like Johnny Cash than what you might be used to from MBD. Definitely worth BUYING.
I recently reviewed Evangelicals’ new album, The Evening Descends for Shuffle Magazine. The 2nd issue was supposed to be out for SXSW, but I don’t know how they’re doing with the time line. I’ll probably post my review here next week.
The Contantines announced their new album on new label, Arts & Crafts, called Kensington Heights, due out Apr 29th in the US. A new track is available on their Myspace page. It’s my most anticipated album of 2008.
Old news, maybe, but Xiu Xiu have a new album out called Women As Lovers and a website gimmick… you download their instrumental MP3 and record your own lyrics over it and submit it back to them. The MP3 can be found HERE. More info can be found at womenaslovers.com.
