Friday rundown

I. Black Kids announce their most extensive tour yet, including a date in San Francisco at the Mezzanine to coincide with their show at Coachella. Both are listed on the 27th of April. Hell of a commute for one day.

II. The National are due to release a live EP. It was recorded at CMJ. The tracklist is as follows, including some of the best of songs of last year from one of the best albums this century:

1. Mistaken for Strangers
2. Brainy
3. Slow Show
4. Fake Empire

Expect it to tickle the ear drums. A good substitute if you miss their upcoming date in Berkeley with, oh, Modest Mouse and R.E.M.

III. Tapes 'n Tapes are forwarding their first cut from The Loon follow-up Walk It Off. It's entitled "Hang Them All" and it's streaming from their official site at tapesntapes.com. If this track is any indication of the broader sound of them album, they've lost some of their art-garage sound from the first album in favour of somewhat slicker and busier production. It's somewhat reminiscent of "Dashboard" from last year's Modest Mouse album in sound and production. Walk It Off is one of this blog's early favourites for Album of the Year, so stay tuned. The rest of the album is due April 8th, joining fellow April releases from R.E.M., The Black Keys, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Gnarls Barkley, Colin Meloy, Peter Moren, The Kooks, and Flight of the Conchords. Brace yourselves.

-RJR

John McCain's indie cred

Granted, newly-minted Democratic frontrunner (and NLtS co-endorsee) Barack Obama is really pulling in the indie support with endorsements from heavyweights like Win Butler, Conor Oberst, and Jeff Tweedy, but it apppears that John McCain's kids may have some connexions to our precious music community.

For starters, his daughter Meghan has a music/campaign blog up and running at mccainblogette.com with playlists from the blog's contributors and readers. The playlists include cuts like Mark Ronson's "Oh My God" with Lily Allen, which we recently featured here, and from The Smiths, Blur, Elliott Smith, The Velvet Underground, and my personal faves "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" from Radiohead and "Staring at the Sun" by TV on the Radio. There are also some tired radio-raped singles like "Young Folks" and "Float On", but Meghan does seem to have her head on straight. I probably wouldn't mention it if I didn't have their record on repeat, but she shares her alma mater with the members of Vampire Weekend. That has to count for something, no?



In addition to ear-right Meghan, daughter Sidney works in the record industry, having been on the payroll of Capitol and Richard Branson's V2. While not K or Sub Pop, they two are certainly friendly to forward thinking artists. V2 has held down Bloc Party, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, and the White Stripes. Capitol currently have their contractual tentacles on recent major label converts (and gush-worthy) The Decemberists and Interpol. Sidney also dwells in Toronto, the hood of Broken Social Scene and Tokyo Police Club.



While Obama does seems to have the indie community's endorsement writ large, we'll reserve our official judgment for weeks to come. It is worth remembering that every copy of The Crane Wife you buy (you know you bought more than one) helps keep John McCain's kid off the street. I may be grasping here.

-RJR

Free Radiohead remix album

NME is reporting that Amplive, a Golden State DJ and producer, has released an eight-track collection of Radiohead remixes entitled Rainydayz. The remixes are all of songs off of the seminal In Rainbows, and it's free for you to download. Contributors include Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Chali2na of Jurassic 5, among others. Maybe check it out. The website is below:

http://www.onesevensevensix.com/amplive/index.html

-PTC

Track Review: Gnarls Barkley - "Run"

Rating: 4.8 / 5.0
I have always maintained that Gnarls Barkley's debut St. Elsewhere was one of the best records of 2006. Cee-Lo has the best voice in hip hop today and, as it was coupled with Danger Mouse's razor sharp production, the result was truly stunning. What was always the most appealing about St. Elsewhere was that Gnarls sounded like they were just having a shitload of fun. That band didn't care if anyone liked the record, which gave it an impulsiveness that was impossible to resist.

The prospect of a sophomore album terrified me. When I first heard about The Odd Couple, I was really nervous. When I heard that the first single from that album had been released, I didn't even want to hear it, let alone review it. But I fought through the fear, and have been rewarded with the best song of 2008. Danger Mouse's production provides a brilliant foundation for this stunning, frantic, organ-based panicky, gospel, hip-hop gem. Cee-Lo belts out like his life depends on it, with less focus on melody and more focus on frenetic verses overflowing with syllables. The slippery, almost-rushed verse gives way beautifully to an insistent chorus.

The beats are crisp but understated. Drum kit blends seamlessly with hand claps and shakers to give the percussion a delightfully human feel, along with plenty of vocal tracks to flesh out the otherwise shockingly sparse arrangement. Gnarls Barkley is still having fun. The only difference with this song - and God willing, this album - is that now they know you are too.

-PTC

Spotlight On: Electric President

This two-piece Florida electro-folk outfit has won my heart. Their labelmates Seabear were honoured with a coveted spot on our list of the Top 25 Albums of 2007. Ben Cooper and Alex Cane sound similar to their Icelandic friends on their self-titled sophomore album (which came out via Morr Music in 2006). There is an honest, homespun quality about their tunes that make them at once fresh and familiar. It is a record of simple beauty, and I am sort of ashamed that it took me this long to think to write about them.

-PTC

Death Cab for Cutie offers up album details

Once-indie-now-superstars Death Cab for Cutie have announced their new album, the follow up to their most polished (production-wise, not quality-wise) effort to date, 2005's Plans. The new record is called Narrow Stairs. Fans will be able to make their way up the Stairs on May 13, courtesy of Atlantic Records. Here's a tracklist:

1. Bixby Canyon Bridge
2. I Will Possess Your Heart
3. No Sunlight
4. Cath
5. Talking Bird
6. You Can Do Better Than Me (But I Can't Do Better Than You)
7. Grapevine Fires
8. Your New Twin Size Bed
9. The Remainder
10. Pity and Fear
11. The Ice Is Getting Thinner

Track 10's title pretty well encapsulates my feelings about this record.

-PTC

Record Review: Hot Chip - Made In The Dark

Hot Chip are really trying to mess with me here. They frontload Made in the Dark with two absolute bangers, "Out at the Pictures" and long familiar "Shake A Fist", in the vein of the indie dance banger nonpareil "Over and Over" from The Warning. These two tracks seemed to portend a Hot Chip that had turned down the lounge elements and cranked up the dance. Not to misstep, I've always appreciated the slower side of Hot Chip. Fundamentally, they are a slow-mo group with a handful of danceable tracks that translate well in the club and live, not unlike LCD Soundsystem. "Look After Me" from the previous album is a particularly great example. But their mostly-slow-plus-dance haymakers formula breaks down on the second half where they attempt to blend chillers that perhaps only James Murphy can pull off with house-like beats and repetitious vocal lines.

In addition to over-mixing disparate electronic influences, they make the mistake of over-distilling their grooves. Even the slower tracks from previous efforts had a delicious melding of rhythm and melody. On faster and slower song alike here, they over-simplify their percussion and pair it with busy sounds, losing much of their magic touch.

On the plus side, they've really expanded their treatment of vocals, doing really excellent call-and-response stuff plus fabulous multipart harmonies. I also personally prefer the focus on guitar riffs over odder keyboard sounds, which shows through prominently in their live shows supporting this album, where they've utilised a live guitar rather than a synth.

Essentially, the problem with this album is a minor one. Hot Chip have laid too bare their influences and composition. This disembowels their slower tracks and leaves the up tempo material feeling a bit primitive. I could see this not being a problem for some, especially with the recent popularity of French house gorillas Justice. The take home point here is that Hot Chip are an excellent group a bit timid about sharing their gifts.

6.5/10.0

-RJR

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin prep new record

The Springfield, Missouri four piece outfit pictured above, who brought you 2005's charming Broom have announced plans to release a new, 11-track effort entitled Pershing, and the tracklist looks like this:

1. Glue Girls
2. Boring Fountain
3. Dead Right
4. Beach Song
5. Modern Mystery
6. Some Constellation
7. Think I Wanna Die
8. You Could Write a Book
9. Oceanographer
10. HEERS
11. Doris Tailspin (Boring Mountain)

Pershing hits the shelves on April 8th courtesy of Polyvinyl Records.

-PTC

The Grammys! All right! 50th year!

In case you still care about the most painful awards ceremony in the world for an indie aficionado to watch, the Grammys have been awarded for 2007. Amy Winehouse and Kanye West were the ceremony's darlings (the former robbing Feist of awards that should have been hers) on a night where good music took a back seat to grandstanding, bombast, and image.

Okay, okay, I'll lay off the indie schtick for a second. Some awards were well deserved. Mr West clearly deserved every award he earned. Herbie Hancock's receiving Album of the Year for that Joni Mitchell thing is a proper - if not slightly predictable - nod to seniority. The White Stripes were rightly honoured for the excellent Icky Thump, a record that was on our top ten for 2007 here at Never Learned to Swim. Justin Timberlake was snubbed for Record of the Year (in favour of Ms Winehouse), but enjoyed success elsewhere (including stripping Justice of the Best Dance Recording award).

For a list of the complete list of winners, go here:
http://grammys.org/Grammy_Awards/50th_show/list.aspx

Radiohead greatest hits album

EMI has announced that they will release a greatest hits album for their most cherished alums come April. The release of the record should fall in line nicely with the band's spring tour, but they have made it abundantly clear that they will not be promoting the record at all. But promotion seems ubiquitous given that by hook or by crook, these gentlemen seem to have been the centre of attention for most of 2008 (never mind the fact that this seems to be a blatant move on the part of EMI to squeeze whatever they can out of the recently departed Oxfordshire quartet).

We'll be very interested to see just how ineffectively this record does justice to this band's career.

-PTC

Ben Folds hints at future plans

Word down the wire is that the Nashville-based singer/songwriter (who admittedly holds a special place in this blogger's heart, but who also knows how to write the fuck out of a pop song and put on a hell of a live show) is at work on a new album, the follow up to 2005's Songs for Silverman. No title or tracklist has been revealed as of yet, but Folds has debuted new material in very recent months in shows and Nashville and Ann Arbor. As reported on this blog, Folds will be performing at Bonnaroo, so more details surrounding the new record should surface before then.

-PTC