News

Protomartyr share “Dope Cloud” video, tour dates

Protomartyr’s The Agent Intellect track “Dope Cloud” now has a music video which is directed by all-time video great Lance Bangs who has worked with Pavement, Sonic Youth, Kanye West, Arcade Fire. A kid gets terrorized in a phone booth during the video. Find the video and their tour dates below.

Protomartyr:

02-17 Savannah, GA – The Jinx >
02-18 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder >
02-19 St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheater >
02-20 Miami, FL – Gramps >
02-21 Ybor City, FL – New World Brewery >
02-23 Birmingham, AL – The Saturn >
02-24 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa >
02-25 Houston, TX – Walters Downtown (Bad Ass Weekend IV) >
02-26 Austin, TX – The Sidewinder >
02-27 Dallas, TX – RBC >
02-28 Norman, OK – Opolis Production
03-01 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress <
03-02 San Diego, CA – Soda Bar $
03-03 Los Angeles, CA – Echo $
03-04 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill $?
03-05 Sacramento, CA – Blue Lamp $+
03-07 Portland, OR – The Doug Fir Lounge $
03-08 Vancouver, British Columbia – Fortune Sound Club $
03-11 Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
03-12 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
03-13 Madison, WI – The Frequency
03-16-19 Austin, TX – SXSW
03-16 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
03-31 Dublin, Ireland – Workman’s Club
04-01 Liverpool, England – Magnet
04-02 Glasgow, Scotland – Broadcast
04-03 Sheffield, England – Picture House Social
04-04 London, England – 100 Club
04-05 Reims, France – La Catonnerie
04-06 Antwerp, Belgium – Het Bos
04-07 Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
04-08 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
04-09 Rotterdam, Netherlands – Motel Mozaigue — Rotown
04-11 Dusseldorf, Germany – Zakk
04-12 Stuttgart, Germany – Club Schocken
04-13 Munich, Germany – Orangehouse
04-14 St. Gallen, Switzerland – Palace
04-15 Bologna, Italy – Covo Club
04-16 Rome, Italy – Monk
04-18 Ljubljana, Slovenia – Gala Hala
04-19 Zagreb, Croatia – Culture Factory
04-20 Vienna, Austria – Chelsea
04-21 Prague, Czech Republic – Basement Bar
04-22 Poznan, PL – Spring Break Festival
04-23 Berlin, Germany – Nothing Nice To Say
05-03 Guelph, Ontario – eBar
05-04 Ottawa, Ontario – Babylon Club
05-05 Montreal, Quebec – Virtola
05-07 Winooski, VT – Waking Windows Music & Arts Festival
05-08 Allston, MA – Great Scott
05-09 Portsmouth, NH – 3S Artspace
05-10 Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place
05-28 George, WA – Sasquatch Festival
06-01-05 Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound
06-03 Nimes, France – This Is Not a Love Song
06-09-11 Porto, Portugal – Nos Primavera Sound
06-22-23 Calgary, Alberta – Sled Island Festival
06-29 – 07-02 Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
08-05-07 Happy Valley, Oregon – Pickathon

> with Spray Paint
$ with Chastity Belt
< with Prom Body
? with Violent Change
+ with G. Green

Alabama Shakes announce summer tour

After their wins at the Grammys last night, Alabama Shakes have announced a tour. Find the itinerary below.

Alabama Shakes won Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Alternative Music Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

Alabama Shakes:

03-11 Bogota, Colombia – Festival Estereo Picnic
03-13 São Paulo, Brazil – Lollapalooza Brazil
03-14 São Paulo, Brazil – Lollapalooza Brazil Sideshow at Club Audio
03-15 São Paulo, Brazil – Lollapalooza Brazil Sideshow at Circo Voador
03-17 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Lollapalooza Argentina Sideshow at Niceto Club
03-19 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Lollapalooza Argentina
03-20 Santiago, Chile – Lollapalooza Chile
04-21 Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater *
04-22 Charlotte, NC – Uptown Amphitheater *
04-23 Charleston, SC – Volvo Cars Stadium *
04-25 Chattanooga, TN – Track 29 *
04-26 Asheville, NC – ExploreAsheville.com Arena *
04-27 Athens, GA – The Classic Center *
04-29 Ybor City, FL – Cuban Club *
04-30 St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheater *
05-21 Gulf Shores, AL – Hangout Festival
05-27 Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater ^
05-28 Burnaby, British Columbia – Festival Lawn at Deer Lake Park !
05-29 George, WA – Sasquatch! Music Festival
07-08 London, England – Hyde Park ‒ British Summer Time
07-09 Barcelona, Spain – Cruilla Barcelona Summer Festival
07-15 Memphis, TN – Mud Island Amphitheater
07-16 Louisville, KY – Forecastle
07-19 Chicago, IL – Civic Opera House
07-20 Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
08-06 Taos, NM – Kit Carson Park #
08-07 Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre #
08-09-10 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theater #
08-12 Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre !

* with Dylan LeBlanc
^ with Hop Along
! with Kurt Vile and the Violators
# with Dawes

Watch Alabama Shakes perform “Don’t Wanna Fight” at the Grammys:

Watch Ween’s first reunion show

After three years of being broken up, Ween announced that they were going to return for a pair of shows. The first of the pair occurred last night at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Videos from that set have appeared online—find footage in the playlist below (thanks to Stereogum).

The Internet cover N.E.R.D.’s “Tape You”

The Internet currently are in Australia for St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival. While there, the band went to the famous Australian radio station triple j to play a couple of tracks in studio, which includes a cover of N.E.R.D.‘s “Tape You.” The song is from N.E.R.D.’s album In Search of…. Watch the Internet’s cover below.

The Internet worked with Chad Hugo fromN.E.R.D. in 2013. He produced “Dontcha” from their album Feel Good.

Listen to N.E.R.D.’s “Tape You”:

James Blake shares “Modern Soul”

During his BBC Radio 1 residency, James Blake played a brand new song of his. The song is called ‘Modern Soul” and can be listened to below.

Blake stated that his new album would be named Radio Silence. He later confirmed that Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Kanye West both would appear on the new album. There is no word still on the album’s details or release date.

Paul McCartney records music for Skype’s romance-themed animated emojis

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and Skype has launched “Love Mojis,” a series of romantic animated emojis, which can be used when on the service to celebrate. The Love Mojis are set to music created by Paul McCartney, who used guitar, drums, synthesizers, xylophones, and his voice to make the compositions. You can watch a short video showing his time in the studio below.

McCartney talked about the process on his website:

It turned out to be a great laugh at the same time as challenging because you suddenly realise you’ve got to compress a musical interpretation of an expression into less than five seconds. It was like doing a huge crossword puzzle and coming up with all these solutions. And at the same time it was musical so it was great practise for me in the studio.

Thundercat shares new untitled song

Thundercat sat down for an interview recently with Sydney’s FBi Radio, but he had brought more to the table than just his thoughts on collaborator Flying Lotus and Erykah Badu. The producer also debuted a previously unheard song.

The untitled jazz number features guest contributions from Mono/Poly, an electronic musician who previously was featured on Thundercat’s instrumental tribute to the victims of November’s Paris terror attacks. Thundercat can be heard referencing Kendrick Lamar a few minutes into the song, singing, “Bitch, don’t kill my vibe.”

Stream the song here (find it at the 14:20 mark).

The Shins tease at new music

The Shins released their last record in 2012, Port of Morrow. Now, however, it seems as though new material is on its way. In a “#shinstagram” post tagged under the name of James Mercer’s record label, Aural Apothecary, the band released a snippet yesterday of what sounds like new music. Hear it below.

Since Port of Morrow, the Shins have released a new song, “So Now What,” for the soundtrack for Zach Braff’s film Wish I Was Here in 2014. Mercer also released After the Disco with Broken Bells, his duo with Danger Mouse that year. Mercer’s band before the Shins, Flake Music, also reissued the 1997 album When You Land, It’s Time to Return,.

Watch the video for Port of Morrow‘s “It’s Only Life:”

James Blake and Justin Vernon to perform together as Fall Creek Boys Choir

James Blake and Justin Vernon teamed up for “Fall Creek Boys Choir” five years ago. The two seem to be set to reunited and they are bringing the collaboration to the live setting.

Fans who purchased the early-bird tickets to Vernon’s second annual Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival have also received a cassette tape containing b-sides, demos, and home recordings from a few of the acts on this year’s lineup. One track is attributed to Fall Creek Boys Choir.

Eaux Claires will take place August 12th – 13th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The cassette tapes seem to show that Vernon will play three separate sets during the festival weekend; in addition to Fall Creek Boys Choir, he will lead Bon Iver and perform alongside The National’s Aaron Dessner.

Other artists that are expected to appear at the festival: Bruce Hornsby, Jon Hopkins, Shabazz Palaces, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and Arcade Fire members Richard Reed Parry and Sarah Neufeld, the latter of will perform with Colin Stetson.

Andrew Bird announces new album Are You Serious featuring Fiona Apple, shares “Capsized”

Andrew Bird has announced his latest album, Are You Serious. This is the follow-up to his experimental album last year, Echolocations: Canyon and it will arrive April 1 via Loma Vista. It features “Capsized,” a new track he debuted on “Conan” last night and collaborations withFiona Apple and Blake Mills. Listen to the studio recorded song and the tracklisting below.

The Deluxe edition of the album will include “Shoulder Mountain” and “Pulaski,” two tracks that will not appear on the standard version. (They will be packaged in an album bundle as a separate 7″.) Bird is selling a deluxe box set containing the LP, 7″, and the exclusive Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized 10″ as well which will feature four unheard tracks (and a “Sound City version” of “Capsized”). The box set will include a 64-page book with artwork for each song on the album.

This morning, Bird spoke about the album with NPR on “All Songs Considered.” Check out his interview here.

Bird has been scoring “Baskets,” Zach Galifanakis’ new FX show about an aspiring clown.

Are You Serious:

01 Capsized
02 Roma Fade
03 Truth Lies Low
04 Puma
05 Chemical Switches
06 Left Handed Kisses
07 Are You Serious
08 Saints Preservus
09 The New Saint Jude
10 Valleys Of The Young
11 Bellevue
12 Shoulder Mountain *
13 Pulaski *

* deluxe edition only

Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized:

01 Trimmed and Burning
02 Venetian Bedmaker
03 Dying Beds
04 Jackson Bedmaker
05 Capsized – Sound City Version