News

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart announce new EP Hell, cover “Laid” by James

New York indie pop band, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, have announced their new EP. Named Hell, it will be out on November 13th through their own label, Painbow. They have also released the first track off the EP, a cover of “Laid” by James. Listen to it below and check out the track listing below and cover art above, which was made by Manuel Bujados.

They are also playing dates in London and Asia. Check those out below.

The band’s Kip Berman wrote in a press release:

A couple months ago I posted a demo for the song “Hell” and some people said, “why don’t you record that for real?” So we went over to my friend Danny’s studio (House Under Magic) and recorded the track along with two cover songs – “Ballad of the Band” by Felt and “Laid” by James as a way to mark our forthcoming tour of Japan. The latter has lead vocals by Jen Goma, who sang on our last album and also performs with the excellent pop contortionists, A Sunny Day in Glasgow. The Felt song is really the UR-Felt song, the wry articulation of what Felt is most famous for – not being an eighth as famous as they ought to be.

The song “Hell” is about how insufferable performances of sensitivity are when there’s a good song playing and someone you want to dance with.

Hell:

01 Hell
02 Ballad of The Band (Felt Cover)
03 Laid (James Cover)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart:

11/06 London, England – The Oval *
11/10 Tokyo, Japan – Club Quattro
11/11 Osaka, Japan – Club Quattro
11/28 Hong Kong – Cockenflap Festival
11/29 Singapore – Neon Lights Festival

* with the Pastels

Watch Doc Brown deliver a special message on Back to the Future Day

The day has finally arrived! Today is the day! October 21st, 2015 is the precise day that Marty McFly arrives in Back to the Future II. In a fictionally literal way, the future is now! It is a moment that istodaythedaymartymcflyarriveswhenhetravelstothefuture.com  has been waiting for for years, and one that is being celebrated in a huge way.

For the first time ever, the website reads “Yes!,” and it comes with a message from the Doc Brown, Christopher Lloyd. Lloyd and Michael J. Fox have already talked about what the film had right about the future, but now Doc has words for those who might be a bit sad about the lack of some of the technology. The future is yours to write!

Check out the once-in-a-lifetime video below.

The countdown website’s creator, Richard Haderer, is celebrating the day by donation to charity. Haderer’s mother, like Fox, suffers from Parkinson’s disease, so every cent earned by visits to his website today will be donated to The Parkinson’s Foundation Austria. You can donate directly on the site as well.

Lloyd, Fox, and Lea Thompson also went to Today to talk about the legacy of the film. They discussed reading the script for the first time, the onset chemistry, and the predictions of course. Watch the interviews here.

BTTFD is huge news everywhere, and that is including USA Today. As AdWeek pointed out, the newspaper will end the Thursday edition of its print newspaper in a cover directly from the 1989 film. The cover shows the inciting incident that sends Marty and Doc to 2015, as it shows Martin McFly Jr. getting arrested.

As the top half will be recreated directly from the film with headlines such as headlines like “Jaws Without Bite is the review of Jaws 19″ and “Woman Asphyxiates in Self Adjusting Jacket,” with the logo matching the film, and the bottom half never seen on screen. Thus, Universal and writer/director Bob Gale worked with the publication to create new articles, including one that announces the remake of George McFly’s novel A Match Made in Space, and a headline that states “Public more gullible than ever.”

Check out the cover below.

back-to-the-future-usa-today-full

SXSW Music announces initial lineup

SXSW Music will take over Austin next year from March 15-20. Today, the initial lineup of participating artists has been announced.

Crystal Castles, Micachu and the Shapes, Alex G, Mr Muthafuckin eXquire, Yuck, Beverly, Downtown Boys, Har Mar Superstar, Guerilla Toss, Hinds, Joan of Arc, Into It. Over It., Jahkoy Prince Rama, and Pure Bathing Culture are among the artists that have been announced. It has also been announced that Talib Kweli will participate on a panel named “What It Means to Start a Label in the Digital Age.” Find the current lineup here.

Hot Chip releases studio versions of “Dancing in the Dark”, “All My Friends” covers

While on the road in support of their latest record, Why Make Sense?, Hot Chip has been able to incorporate cover songs into its sets, especially Bruce Spingsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” and LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends.” The electronic outfit even performed both with David Byrne at Webster Hall in New York City in August. Hot Chip has now released a studio version of both covers blended into one amazing track.

The track is presented through a video that mixes found ’80s footage of concert clips and adds a frentic energy to the Springsteen classic track thanks to the synthesizers. It gets more and more energetic as it transitions into “All My Friends” at about the 05:00 mark. Listen to it below.

Hot Chip’s version of “Dancing in the Dark” is available through iTunes now, with a four-track EP coming out on October 23rd. As well as the cover, the EP will have an alternative version of “Cry for You,” and remixes of “Huarache Lights” by Soulwax and A/Jus/Ted. The cover will be on the October 24th deluxe edition of Why Make Sense? as well.

The National debut new song “Roman Candle”

The National have been busy with the work on the follow-up to Trouble Will Find Me from 2o13. Last night, fans were given what could be the first taste of their new album, debuting a new song named “Roman Candle” at a benefit concert in Los Angeles. Watch footage of the performance below.

Frontman Matt Berninger announced in August that the band already has sketches for 3o new songs, with plans to meet in the studio while in Los Angeles.

Last night’s benefit concert was in benefit of the nonprofit Cooperative for Education which was co-founded by frontman Matt Berninger’s cousins, Joe and Jeff Berninger. The are hoping their new campaign, Thousand Girls Initiative, will help improve education for girls in Guatemala.

M83 to release new music in 2016

Four years since the release of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, the sixth album from Anthony Gonzalez, also known as M83, he has worked on the soundtrack for the film Divergent and collaborated with HAIM and Jean-Michel Jarre.

Fans will have to wait not much longer for a follow-up apparently. According to an official statement, the Grammy-nominated musician is in the studio currently “working on new material, which is due for release in 2016.”

Gonzalez, in the meantime, is bringing back a few out of catalog albums. Saturdays = Youth and Digital Shades, originally released, respectively, in 2008 and 2007,will be rereleased on both CD and LP on November 20th. At the same time, Saturdays = Youth Remixes and B-Sides, a collection of “long-unavailable tracks,” is out today in digital formats on Mute. All the tracklists are below.

Saturdays = Youth Remixes and B Sides Tracklist:
01. Couleurs (Jori Hulkkonnen Remix)
02. Graveyard Girl (Yuksek Remix)
03. Graveyard Girl (Parkerlab’s Dusted Remix)
04. We Own The Sky (Maps Remix)
05. Kim and Jessie (DatA Remix)
06. Kim and Jessie (Montag Remix)
07. Je Vous Hais Petites Filles

Saturdays = Youth Tracklist:
01. You, Appearing
02. Kim & Jessie
03. Skin of the Night
04. Graveyard Girl
05. Couleurs
06. Up!
07. We Own The Sky
08. Highway of the Endless Dreams
09. Too Late
10. Dark Moves of Love
11. Midnight Souls Still Remain

Digital Shades Tracklist:
01. Waves, Waves, Waves
02. Coloring The Void
03. Sister (Part 1)
04. Strong and Wasted
05. My Own Strange Path
06. Dancing Mountains
07. Sister (Part 2)
08. By The Kiss
09. Space Fertilizer
10. The Highest Journey

Watch Small Black’s video for “No One Wants It To Happen To You”

Dream pop band, Small Black’s new album, Best Blues, will be out tomorrow (which can be pre-ordered here) and in preparation, the shared an introspective, watery video from a track off the record named “No One Wants It To Happen To You.” The video was co-directed by Small Black and William Colby. Watch below. 

Chairlift premieres new song “Chi-Ching”

Chairlift has premiered a new song called “Chi-Ching” today on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 program, the first taste of their follow-up to Something from 2012. Sprinkled with synth, brass, and a trap-style beat, it is a gem topped with Caroline Polachek’s vocals.

Listen to it through Apple Music.

More details about the duo’s upcoming yet-untitled album is yet to be revealed, but a music video for “Chi-Ching” will be released on Friday.

 Since the release of Something, Polachek put out her debut album under Ramona Lisa. Patrick WImberly has worked on albums by Wet, tUnE-yArDs, and Heems.

Neon Indian perform “Annie” on Jimmy Fallon

Neon Indian’s new album, VEGA INTL. Night School, is three days away from its October 16th through Mom + Pop/Transgressive. To celebrate the release, Alan Palomo and his band performed last night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The band performed “Annie,” the lead single, “a pared-down version” of the visuals that the effects company designed for their upcoming tour. If the visuals were “pared-down” on the show, the concert must be intense. 

Watch the replay here. 

VEGA INTL. Night School is also streaming now through NPR.

Foo Fighters have recorded five new songs, including one with Ben Kweller

Foo Fighters, headlining both weekends of Austin City Limits, came out with exciting news on Friday night for the second performance of the festival.

“You know what I did last night?” Dave Grohl asked the crowd during their performance on Friday evening. “I recorded a fucking song in your beautiful city of Austin, Texas.” And that isn’t. “And I’m just gonna say it now: We recorded five fucking new songs in your beautiful city of Austin, Texas. And we’re gonna give it to you! But not tonight.”

“Just by chance,” Grohl continued telling the crowd. “I bumped into an old friend that I hadn’t seen in about 16 years, right as I was recording a vocal. This motherfucker walks in — I’m like, ‘Hey, man!’ — and he starts fucking singing the most beautiful harmony to the thing I was singing. I was like, ‘Get your ass in the vocal booth right now.’ And then he said, ‘Hey, if you want, I’ll come up and sing a song with you tonight.’” Austin resident rocker Ben Kweller took the stage to help with “some straight-up sweet, tug-your-heartstrings ballad shit” on “Big Me,” off of Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut, which had turned 20 in July. Watch below.