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| You may have noticed that yesterday there were no updates to our LJ account. That is because we are in the process of deciding whether to continue to publish on LJ. It's become a pain and while our readership continues to grow rapidly at our home base of http://elecvp.blogspot.com, it's become more and more apparent that just a handful of LJ readers care to read the site's content through LJ. We hope that you don't feel scorned and will instead head to http://elecvp.blogspot.com to get your fix. That said, we plan to do a daily wrap-up post of all the items here for the time being to wean those of you loyal to EVP through LJ. If an outcry not to stop posting on LJ occurs, then we'll glad go through the effort of continuing to post here but we don't see that happening. | |
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|  Experimental Dental SchoolJane Doe Loves Me( Cochon Records) XDS have sprung forth from the frothy canals of California's growing kitchen sink indie scene. What was once the haven for the sounds of Big Sur, psychedelia and heavy metal has slowly turned into a territory where those genres have ended up in a broth of unidentifiable din agitated by an industrial blender powered by rolling blackouts, tabloid rags, and vapid consumerism. Ryan, Jesse, and Shoko ( burrito fetish aside) have condensed the racket of California materialism and advocate nihilism into a high-energy, dance-crazed third album: Jane Doe Loves Me. Much like the album's forgetfully lost namesake, XDS look to put the zaniness of their surroundings into their music, much like their noise-making brothers and sisters-in-arms. Much of the album finds the trio mining much of the same quick-yet-epic territory of Deerhoof and while such comparisons are accurate (right down to the Asian female voice), Jane Doe Loves Me is far heavier than any recent Deerhoof output; not to mention XDS clearly have a melodic goal in mind rather than just bashing out angular (although catchy) riffs. XDS are more influenced by new wave than by cuteness and indie experimentation for its own sake. Experimental may be 1/3 of the band's name--and they hold up that end up the moniker--but don't be fooled into thinking Jane Doe Loves Me is stab in the dark tactics to be 'experimental.' These are highly controlled songs all the while maintaining a sense of spontaneity. This won't be an album for the masses and it won't be an album for the ever-growing flock of devotees to the Seussical stylings of The Smell's recent alum. It carves its own niche with each passing listen and is preparing to launch XDS into their own stratospheres crack. Highlights: "Whale Drone", "What Ghosts See" Similar Sounds: Deerhoof, Bad Dudes, No Age | |
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|  Has one group done any more with a silo? Too bad it can't go out on the road with 'em, but if you've seen MMJ live then you know they can leave the silo at home. If you haven't seen the long-haired rockers, then get out from whatever is keeping you from seeing them.
06/20 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
08/16 - Louisville, KY @ The Great Lawn at Louisville Waterfront Park
08/18 - Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre
08/19 - Council Bluffs, IA @ Stir Cove
08/21 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater
08/23 - Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
08/24 - Austin, TX @ Stubbs
08/27 - Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre-Atlanta
08/29 - Miami, FL @ The Fillmore
08/30 - Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues- Orlando
08/31 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues- Myrtle Beach
09/02 - Charlottesville, VA @ Charlottesville Pavilion
09/03 - Washington, DC @ Constitution Hall
09/05 - Philadelphia, PA @ Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing
09/06 - Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
09/19 - Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
09/21 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
09/23 - Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee
09/24 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
09/25 - San Diego, CA @ SDSU Open Air Theater
09/27 - Portland, OR @ McMenamins Edgefield
09/28 - Seattle WA @ McCaw Hall
10/02 - Minneapolis, MN @ Orpheum Theatre
10/03 - Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
10/04 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
10/09 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
10/10 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
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|  The info is bare bones but that's the way we like it. It's compelling when an anticipated release from a popular artist (well, popular to their fans) is shrouded with a bit of mystery. Music is to be opened like a present on Christmas Day--not snatched from the closet in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In this case, Stereolab's holiday gift arrives August 19th.
Chemical Chords is their first album proper since 2004's Margerine Eclipse (if you discount the EP collection of 2006, Fab Four Suture) and it features thirteen songs by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane and one solo Gane composition, as well as string and brass arrangements from Sean O'Hagan. The picture you see on the left is the sleeve for the new album and the tracklisting reads like this...
Track Listing
1. Neon Beanbag
2. Three Women
3. One Finger Symphony
4. Chemical Chords
5. The Ecstatic Static
6. Valley Hi!
7. Silver Sands
8. Pop Molecule (Molecular Pop 1)
9. Self Portrait with "Electric Brain"
10. Nous Vous Demandons Pardon
11. Cellulose Sunshine 12. Fractal Dream Of A Thing
13. Daisy Click Clack
14. Vortical Phonotheque
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| Sorting through the potential list of VOTW candidates left us exhausted. There were very few outstanding or interesting videos to give such an honor, but in the midnight hour we struck gold in David Ramos. Ramos' debut video, "King and Queens," from his hip-hop/experimental folk hybrid This Up Here is the sort of video that tugs at our nostalgic heartstrings. It's nothing new for us to highlight 8mm footage, but much of the time those shots are contrived and edited to appear from the good ol' days. This is not the case throughout "Kings and Queens," which features family footage from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. But the footage isn't the only authentic piece of "Kings and Queens." Ramos sings from the heart--and though the fragile combination of folk narrative and soulful hip-hop melodies could crumble at any moment, Ramos somehow keeps it together. Ramos isn't the first to tie two distinctive genres with distinctive sounds together, but like his scant predecessors, his twig and twine operation is holding. David Ramos - "Kings and Queens" | |
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|  Just read!
In the year of the band’s 30th anniversary, Echo & The Bunnymen comes to New York City on Wednesday, October 1st for a very special concert at Radio City Music Hall performing their beloved album Ocean Rain in its entirety backed by a 10-piece orchestra. Acclaimed musical director Rupert Christie, who recently helmed the live performances of Lou Reed’s Berlin will conduct the orchestra. Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday, May 10 and are priced at $59.50, $49.50 and $39.50.
Released in 1984, Ocean Rain was Echo & The Bunnymen’s fourth album and is widely considered their masterpiece. It mesmerized Echo’s fans and broke them to a much wider audience on the strength of such towering songs as “Silver,” “Seven Seas” and the unforgettable “The Killing Moon.” Upon the album’s reissue in 2004 it was again praised in the media, with Blender Magazine acknowledging that Ian McCulloch “wasn’t that far off” when he had declared it the greatest album ever made, and admired it as “a portrait of splendid derangement with spectacular orchestrations.”
Echo & The Bunnymen are currently in the studio with producer John McLaughlin working on their tenth studio album entitled The Fountain which is set for release later this year. The first single from the album, “I Think I Need It Too” will be released in August in the UK.
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|  Soul meets hip-hop as the collective known as Hiero Imperium celebrate their 10th Anniversary with Blue Scholars and The Hieroglyphics joining forces on the road. These are the first batch of dates--more to be unveiled soon.
07/11 - Pomona, CA @ Glasshous
07/12 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
07/13 - San Diego, CA @ Belly Up
07/15 - Tempe, AZ @ Clubhouse
07/16 - Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum
07/17 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine
07/18 - Dallas, TX @ Granada
07/19 - Austin, TX @ Emo's
07/20 - New Orleans, LA @ Parrish
07/22 - Orlando, FL @ Social-Late Show
07/23 - Atlanta, GA @ Masq
07/24 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
07/25 - Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm
07/26 - Wilmington, NC @ Soapbox
07/27 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Steppin Out
07/29 - Baltimore, MD @ Bedrock
07/31 - New York, NY @ Highline
08/01 - Providence, RI @ Jerky's Live
08/03 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
08/05 - Ottawa, ONT @ Babylon
08/06 - Toronto, ONT @ Mod Club
08/07 - London, ONT @The Salt Lounge
08/08 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
08/09 - Columbus, OH @ Skullys
08/10 - Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
08/12 - Madison, WI @ High Noon
08/13 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
08/14 - Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
08/15 - Boulder, CO @ Fox
08/16 - Salt Lake City @ Urban Lounge
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