Today the Brooklyn band released the first tier of dates for their tour of their incredible new record "Burst Apart".
Check it out to see if they have plans to play near you. I will be there May 18, 2011 at The First Unitarian Church...
Enjoy,
MM.
The Antlers - 2011 Tour Dates
May 17 Black Cat Washington, DC May 18 First Unitarian Church Sanctuary Philadelphia, PA* May 19 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY* May 20 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY* May 28 Sasquatch Festival George, WA* May 31 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA* June 3 El Rey Los Angeles, CA* June 4 Glass House Pomona, CA* June 7 Emo's Austin, TX* June 8 The Loft Dallas, TX* June 9 The Marquee Tulsa, OK* June 10 Firebird St. Louis, MO* June 11 Metro Chicago, IL* June 12 Magic Stick Detroit, MI* June 14 Mod Club Toronto, ON* June 15 La Tulipe Montreal, QC† June 16 Paradise Boston, MA* June 17 The Space Hamden, CT* * with Little Scream † with the Dodos
I started writing this as a full review of SXSW. But the post kept growing when I put my thoughts on paper from The Antler’s show. So, here is another post regarding this in addition to the previous one from Amarillo. And expect multiple posts in the coming week regarding what I “virtually” lived from home at SXSW.
Last Thursday at SXSW, The Antlers presented their new album entitled “Burst Apart”, whose release is expected for May 2011. The Brooklyn’s band decided to play the entire album at The Parish in Austin, Texas as the major piece of NPR Music’s party that evening at SXSW.
Lots of expectations from people like me, who enjoyed and suffered their 2009 masterpiece “Hospice”, which in all reason remained on the top of the lists appearing in this blog for that year (Amarillo’s #2, MM’s #4).
The result was all good. What I heard last week loudly talks about this being another exquisite and roaring album from The Antlers. A close to perfect, though almost unrelated sequel to their 2009 masterpiece. Overall, “Burst Apart” remains a full story, one that needs to be heard from start to finish, but at the same time, an album that depicts a more approachable color than that from “Hospice”.
Their playlist last week, and I assume that of the album too, started with “I Don’t want Love” a song full of tints that resemble “Hospice”, one that to a certain extent sounds like an epilogue to this album. However, somehow at the end of the song, you know something has changed. You know that their steering wheel has shifted and that a trip to a different place has started. “French Exit”, the second song made this clear. This in particular is the key song that shows that The Antler’s palette is in fact way broader than we thought.
From there on the album grabs you tight. And if you ask me, the band reaches almost the top in “No widows”, a song that has all the qualities that make The Antlers a great band, it is powerful, though remains dark and mysterious. It is full of emotions without having to speed up the beat. “ No perfect love above “ ,“There’s no punishment below” screams front man Peter Silberman.
Overall, this is a great album, and like “Hospice” it builds in an epic fashion taking you right there within that fine line between joy and sadness. Right there where all hurts.
“Burst Apart”, just like “Hospice” will be for sure on the top of my list this year.
Just like Amarillo did in the previous post, I leave the link to their full story from SXSW as it appears in NPR plus the audio of “No Widows”. Trust me, it is worth listening/watching.
Esta increíble banda de Brooklyn, que definitivo nos regaló uno de los mejores discos del 2009 ("Hospice"), tiene ya lista su segunda producción titulada 'Burst Apart', y que podremos disfrutar a partir del mes de mayo. Mientras tanto, varias de sus nuevas canciones fueron presentadas live durante el SXSW de este año. Aquí les dejo el audio del vid que grabó NPR. http://www.npr.org/2011/03/20/134532285/sxsw-2011-the-antlers-live-in-concert
Smoke Ring For My Halo, el nuevo disco del vocalista y guitarrista de Philadelphia, Kurt Vile, es sin duda uno de los discos más destacados del año. Desde su increíble track inicial "baby's arms" es inevitable percibir algo difícil de producir por la gran mayoría de los artistas, y me refiero a esa sensación de trascendencia que solo logran las obras verdaderamente genuinas. Gracias a Adam Wills de Bear in Heaven por la recomendación. Boston GlobeMar 8, 2011 90 The result is Vile's best record to date, an idiosyncratic amalgam of intimate performance and communal expression - and one that continues to reveal new layers upon repeated listens. FilterMar 14, 2011 80 Vile has -- to paraphrase something that David Foster Wallace said -- his own way of fracturing reality, and it's so true that you'll feel it in your nerve endings. Rolling StoneMar 8, 2011 80 On Vile's fourth LP, the stoner haze lifts a bit, and he settles on a mood: chilled-out but guarded, and wrapped in gorgeous folk-blues guitar-picking.
Pepper Rabbit was certainly a nice surprise last Friday at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, where they supported The Rural Alberta Advantage.
Last year their release “Beauregard” did not hit my radar and I sincerely regret it.
The Silver Lake, CA-based band led by Xander Singh has a fresh though slightly familiar approach to music, which resembles some of our recent favorites artists, including Beach House and Grizzly Bear. Trumpets, banjo, piano and multiple other instruments blend seamlessly in their recordings, ending in a unique and tasty sound.
From “Beauregard”, probably “Older Brother” has become their most important track. A beautiful though bittersweet song, which depicts the death of a person and the way a close friend copes with it. Oddly, last year McDonald’s adopted music from this track as part of their regular TV ads.
Below, I leave “Older Brother” and 3 songs from the band’s last year appearance in KEXP-Seattle.
Last week in Philly, their opening tune was “Red Wine”, which immediately set the ground, showing us what this band can deliver.
The Rural Alberta Advantage played last week on Friday March 11 at the eclectic First Unitarian Church. The minimalist approach of the Canadian band including acoustic guitar, keyboards, and drums combined with the powerful voice of front-man Nils Edenloff delivers a solid and almost thrilling sound that it is certainly worth noting.
Friday night the RAA opened with "Luciana" from their beautiful Hometowns album. Throughout the night, the band from rural Fort McMurray, Alberta (now in Edmonton), performed strongly, almost too strong. In some cases, Edenloff voice resonated deeply into the walls of the almost full basement of the Unitarian Church. At the same time, Paul Banwatt drums appeared to dominate the melody from time to time with Amy Cole’s keyboards and voice appearing sporadically as a palette cleanser.
The RAA’s music depicts cold Canadian winters and in their songs they talk about even colder love affairs. The band certainly plays with this imagery in their live performances, which appear deeply raw departing from the softer more subtle sound from their recordings where color is introduced via the addition of multiple strings, trumpets and keyboards. This is certainly true for their new album Departing, which although highly recommendable does not evidence enormous evolution of the band since their 2008 release. On Friday, the band played almost every track from their two albums.
Below, a video from 2009 of one of my favorite songs from the RAA “Frank AB”.
El sábado se desarrolló una edición más del pequeño gran festival, el Indie-o Fest, que tuvo por venue el increíble Polyforum de la Ciudad de México. Tuvimos nuevamente la oportunidad de disfrutar de manera cómoda y muy de cerca a bandas que en condiciones normales no suelen visitar nuestro país. The Concretes, que sonaron bien pero que definitivo a su show le faltó corazón, Zola Jesus, en un escenario ideal para la voz de Nika, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, que tuvieron el honor de cerrar el festival, y a pesar de no haber podido tener sound check previo sonaron bien en un escenario con una acústica difícil de domar, y Bear in Heaven, a quienes menciono al final porque independientemente de haber tenido la oportunidad de conocerlos bien, beber y convivir con ellos durante el fin de semana, musicalmente nos volaron la cabeza.
The Concretes
Zola Jesus
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
La banda de Brooklyn, New york, compuesta por Jon Philpot, Adam Wills y Joe Stickney impresionó desde sus primeras notas. Con solo tres integrantes y un gran Ingeniero de sonido, Bear in Heaven se llevó definitivamente la noche.
Tocaron prácticamente todas las canciones de su enorme Beast Rest Forth Mouth (link al review de Pitchfork) e incluso un track nuevo. Dominaron el escenario de principio a fin e incluso intentaron comunicarse en nuestro idioma, definitivo todo el público agradeció su entrega. Increíble la voz de Jon, genial la guitarra y el bajo de Adam, y Joe es simplemente una máquina, de los mejores bateristas que hemos visto.
Bear in Heaven
Les dejo un vid de Lovesick Teenagers, live on KEXP, en Seattle. En el Indie-o esta enorme canción arrancó con una dedicatoria muy especial, "Esta canción va para las chicas del apartamento 319", todo el crew de Musical Soulmate (que tenemos por headquarters en México el 319) agradecemos la atención y además el detalle de Adam, que en su bajo colocó el emblema de "Milagrito del Corazón", en honor al "Mezteban", bebida local del 319 que tuvimos el honor de compartir con ellos.
Quienes tengan la oportunidad de verlos en cualquier parte del mundo no lo duden, es una banda impresionante que en vivo supera cualquier expectativa.
Uno de los discos que más emociona en el año es definitivamente "Circuital", el sexto disco del orgullo de Louisville, Kentucky... My Morning Jacket!
De aquí hasta el 12 de abril MMJ regalará tracks a través de su sitio oficial, un track por semana, finalizando con uno de su nueva producción. Pueden suscribirse por aquí.
Les dejo un vid de su famosísimo DVD live Okonokos, grande MMJ! Ojalá tengamos la suerte de verlos nuevamente este año en vivo... Enjoy...
