NLtS has moved!

Dedicated readership,

We are excited to announce that our blog has moved! You can find the new and gorgeous version at http://www.neverlearnedtoswim.com. All our old posts have been transferred to the new site, so don't fret if you've gotten behind. Same blog, only more legit. Spread the word like butter.

-RJR and PTC

neverlearnedtoswim.com

Treasure Island

I'd almost forgotten about this one. SF's own Treasure Island Music Festival will return to this year, and in force. Here are the highlights:

Saturday 9/20:
Justice (headlining?!)
TV on the Radio
Hot Chip
CSS

Sunday 9/21:
The Raconteurs
Vampire Weekend
Okkervil River
Tokyo Police Club
John Vanderslice
The Dodos

Ticketing details to come! You can sign up for the mailing list at treasureislandfestival.com to get the scoop on presale. Needless to say, your favourite bloggers are catatonic.

Ben Gibbard dispels rumours about Postal Service sophomore effort

There had been some cautious rumblings in select media outlets (and some brazen ones in the blogosphere) that every teen-aged girl's favourite side project - Benjamin Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello aka The Postal Service - would be releasing a second album sometime this year. But according to Gibbard, the follow-up to the platinum Give Up will not come out any time soon due to the overcommitment of both band members (Gibbard is really busy recording and releasing mediocre records with Death Cab for Cutie, and Tamborello is amply occupied by DNTEL and Figurine). Apparently, The Postal Service is as efficient as...the postal service. Haha. Lol. Lmao. Rofl.

He then proceeded to refer to the album as the Chinese Democracy of indie rock. There are, of course, two very obvious problems with such a comparison. First and foremost, it presupposes that anyone gives a flying rat's ass if we get a new Postal Service album. Odds are, the only people who really care are just going to download the single off iTunes (or something less legal) anyway. Second, this comparison loses a lot of its potency given that Axl Rose has just announced the release of Chinese Democracy. Only B-Gib would wait until the first moment in twenty years arrived where that joke wasn't opportune. I'm just saying.

New record from Brian Wilson

In a recent report on the NME, it has been revealed that this September will bring the rising of That Lucky Old Sun, the first record from former Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson. This will be Wilson's first record in nearly half a decade. This album is an 11-track concept affair about Wilson's childhood, featuring the hand of former Beach Boys lyricist Van Dyke Parks. More on this as it develops.

John Moen's...solo album...?

On the off chance that you immediately recognise that name: yeah, it's that John Moen.

The man who has drummed for Elliott Smith and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - and who is currently employed by Portland's finest, The Decemberists - has released an eponymous solo record under the moniker Perhapst (sic.). The record features guest appearances from Messrs Stephen Malkmus and Chris Funk. Other than that, Moen takes care of all things instrumental. NLtS has no idea what this record is all about, but given that it is some way connected to The Decemberists, we faithfully report.

Weezer album pushed up

That's right. Weezer jumped on this whole pushing album dates up bandwagon. Instead of June 24th, the Red party is coming your way on June 3rd. And yes, this is the album artwork. Seriously.

Tuesday Rundown

... and it's a big one. To wit:

1. Shearwater frontman Jonathon Meiburg has stepped back from work with sister band Okkervil River to focus full time on his main project. No word on whether Will Sheff will continue his relationship with Shearwater, his part-time band.

2. Hip hop flavoured electro pros Ratatat have firmed up details on their third record to follow the incomparable S/T and Classics. Creatively titled LP3, it should hit streets July 8th, lest Ratatat catch Lil Wayne release date fever via XL, who are still basking in the glow of strong Vampire Weekend sales. Hell of a one-two punch, XL.

3. The Faint are apparently also in a leavin' mood. Omaha's own have quit Omaha's own Saddle Creek to release their forthcoming LP on their own new label blank.wav. August 5th will herald Fasciinatiion's release and Todd Fink et al will also hit the road late this summer including shows immediately preceding and coinciding with their big release:

August 4th @ The Fillmore
August 5th @ the Grand Ballroom

This begs the question: how viable of a creative force is Saddle Creek? Conor Oberst is set to release solo material on Merge. Sister label Team Love, is siphoning talent, including the smash Jenny Lewis solo work. They recently picked up out-of-countryers Tokyo Police Club, but by most accounts, botched their debut release, with too much sentimentality creeping in. Only time and NLtS will tell.

Shearwater/OR, Ratatat, and The Faint in the same day? Excitement grips NLtS.

More on that Beck record

Trip-hop pioneer (and crazy) Beck has, as seems to be such a popular move these days, pushed up the release of his next album. Apparently, it should make an appearance in the next four to six weeks. Oh yeah, and apparently Cat Power will be making an appearance on the record. Huzzah! What the record doesn't have is a title or a tracklist or artwork just yet, but hey, it's Beck. Let's hope it's better Beck than The Information. Ouch.

In addition to an appearance at Outside Lands, there will be a titanic show at Los Angeles's Hollywood Bowl featuring the man himself (who is quite something live), with NLtS favourites Spoon and MGMT supporting. That venue will also be rocked by Radiohead and Liars less than a month before Mr Hansen makes his mark. Wow.

MBV in SF, Radiohead hits our beaches

As part of their recently announced trip to North America, shoegaze godparents My Bloody Valentine will be visiting our fair side of the state, dropping in at the Concourse (at the SF Design Centre) September 30th. This means that both artists honoured with having the best album of the 90s by Pitchfork (depending on which list you refer to) are going to hit up the Bay Area in the space of about a month later this year.

To give you an idea of what you'll hear at Radiohead's set August 22nd at Outside Lands, here's what they played at their inaugural show last night in Florida:

All I Need
Bodysnatchers
There There
Reckoner
The Gloaming
Morning Bell
Nude
How to Disappear Completely
15 Step
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Idioteque
Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was
Where I End and You Begin
Airbag
Everything In Its Right Place
The National Anthem
Videotape

And for encore numero uno:
Optimistic
Just
Faust Arp
Exit Music (For a Film)
Bangers & Mash

Another encore!
House of Cards
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Radiohead are notorious for playing a different set almost every night of a tour, as well as eschewing obvious songs like "Creep" or "Karma Police" and even "Paranoid Android". It's probably safe to assume they'll run through the balance of NLtS 2007 AOTY In Rainbows, some classics, and a few b-sides and surprises each night. In case, get excited!

Stay Positive release date and tracks

The follow-up to the sublime Boys and Girls in America has a stateside release date - July 15 via Vagrant - and a tracklist:

1. Constructive Summer
2. Sequestered in Memphis
3. One for the Cutters
4. Navy Sheets
5. Lord, I'm Discouraged
6. Yeah Sapphire
7. Both Crosses
8. Stay Positive
9. Magazines
10. Joke About Jamaica
11. Slapped Actress

If that doesn't get your proverbial engine revving, then God help you.

Bloc Party Tour With Does It Offend You, Yeah?

London's favourite sons and NLtS AOTY 2007 finalist are hitting the road to trot out some material from their third LP. Their inter-album material includes "Flux" and a cover of Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right", both of which were received fairly well. Frontman Kele Okereke has hinted at the introduction of keyboards to the Bloc Party lineup, in addition to drum machines dotting A Weekend in the City and the straightforward post-punk Silent Alarm. Having established themselves solidly on albums one and two, one wonders where Bloc Party are headed. In the short term, here's our best answer:

7/29 - Los Angeles (Mayan Theatre)
7/30 - San Francisco (Fillmore)

Both dates are accompanied by the latest intarwebs over-punctuated act, Does It Offend You, Yeah? One of your favourite bands at arguably the best venue in the Bay Area? Sounds like a must.

Wolf Parade record gets a new name

What was once called Kissing the Beehive is now called At Mount Zoomer, a reference to the recording studio where the album was recorded. They had been catching a lot of flak for the former title, given that it shared its name with some novel, and that it was bad. Well, it's changed now, so rest easy.

This festival, too.

I hope all those that attended Coachella this year had a time as good as could be had. Personally, the only thing that really caught my eye was the back to back to back Architecture in Helsinki/Vampire Weekend/The National afternoon sets on Friday, plus Hot Chip yesterday. Luckily, I caught Hot Chip last year at the festival and this week at the Fillmore, so all is not lost. Assuming I get George Bush's relief check this week, I may end up going the REM/Modest Marr/The National show in Berkeley and all will be right with the universe.

But on to today's real poop!

SF's inaugural festival, Outside Lands, which throws down this August 22-24, has firmed up its final lineup. A number of exciting acts are dropping in, and I've marked newly released names with an asterisk:



Friday:
Radiohead
Beck
Black Keys*
Cold War Kids*
Black Mountain

Clearly, this day will be mostly a tribute to rock made by sweaty men from the South in the Seventies, plus the only two Nineties artists that remain creatively viable (Does that burn, Damon Albarn?.

Saturday:
Lupe Fiasco*
M. Ward
Two Gallants

I see myself turning in early this day, unless an absolutely overwhelming South Park fanboy attack overwhelms me and I have to stick around for Primus.

Sunday:
Wilco
Broken Social Scene
Andrew Bird
Stars*
The Cool Kids

Yes. Stars and BSS on the SAME DAY. Take a moment with me to let that sink in.

In addition, single day tickets go on sale this Thursday, which should please anyone as displeased with the Saturday lineup as I am. I suppose I haven't seen Two Gallants in as many years, though. Never Learned to Swim hopes you can join us in San Francisco's first real stab at a decent festival in some time. I'll have you know that Live 105's BFD on June 7th this year has Pennywise and Everlast billed prominently.

The festival.

More so than that other Chicago festival, the currently running Coachella, and SF's own Outside Lands, the Pitchfork Music Festival is pulling at the heart- and purse-strings of Never Learned to Swim. The skinny:

*July 18-20
*Union Park in Chicago, Illinoise
*$65 for three day passes

Friday will feature post-punk/noise pioneers Mission of Burma, Public Enemy (Flavor Flav alert!), and Sebadoh all performing a classic album in its entirety (Vs., It Takes a Nation of Millions, Bubble and Scrape), much like Sonic Youth and Slint doing Daydream Nation and Spiderland last year.

Saturday, The Hold Steady, !!!, Atlas Sound, and Vampire Weekend effectively make the trip and expense worth your while. Other bands might play. Eh.

Sunday, Spoon headlines. The remaining members of Dinosaur Jr join Lou Barlow and will perform a standard set. Local guys The Dodos also play.

We could say more, but seriously...



The Hold Steady. Performing their hits. And probably material from Album 4.

Tha Carter III: guess what!

Weezy F. Baby has pushed back the release of XXL former most anticipated album of 2007, Tha Carter III, from the previously reported May 12 to June 10. It seems Mister Carter is fighting to keep one step ahead of the very leak-prone staff at Cash Money/Young Money and wants to keep the album all-new/unleaked when it does hit streets.

To remind you, the swarm of producers surrounding Tha Carter III is a literal who's who of hip hop including Kanye West, Mannie Fresh, The Alchemist, Timbaland, Scott Storch, will.i.am, and Eminem. Vocal talents lent to the album are rumoured to include Jay-Z, Kanye West, Ludacris, Juelz Santana, Busta Rhymes, and the hit-making trio of the last two years, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, and Timbaland. In short, anyone who's anyone is claiming to have laid tape for Tha Carter Trois.

Til this summer, here's another shot at one of the album's confirmed tracks, "Lollipop".

Weezer Red has a tracklist

I'll throw my hat in the ring and say that this is probably Weezer's Last Stand. They're harkening back to their colour-based epoch - the only era in their career where they batted 1.000 - on the line. If they fuck this one up, God help them. Here's the tracklist:

1. Troublemaker
2. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
3. Pork and Beans
4. Heart Songs
5. Everybody Get Dangerous
6. Dreamin'
7. Thought I Knew
8. Cold Dark World
9. Automatic
10. The Angel and the One

And, should if you take the imperative of track five to heart, perhaps you will procure the deluxe edition. If you do, you will receive the following tracks:

11. Miss Sweeney
12. Pig
13. The Spider
14. King

Margot and Co. go major

According to their Myspace page, Chicago's Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos have signed to major label Epic Records. While many in the indie community lamented that their exceptional debut LP The Dust of Retreat (undoubtedly one of the best records of 2006) did not garner the attention and praise it deserved, we have happily been proven wrong. Apparently it curried enough favour to win them a berth at a label that is already home to Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, Ben Folds, and Oasis, among others. Congratulations to the most talented octet in indie music today.

They will be in California in May:
5.23 - San Francisco, CA: The Independent (21+)
5.24 - Los Angeles, CA: The Echo (18+)

The Best Of the best

At first blush, it would seem impossible to whittle down Radiohead's impossibly sublime catalogue down to a less-than-thirty-track collection of songs. But the folk at Capitol/EMI didn't get where they are by way of any shortage of ambition. So here, according to those very people, are the best songs that Radiohead has ever produced (this collection will be released stateside on June 3):

Disc One:
1. Just
2. Paranoid Android
3. Karma Police
4. Creep
5. No Surprises
6. High and Dry
7. My Iron Lung
8. There There (The Boney King of Nowhere.)
9. Lucky
10. Optimistic
10. Fake Plastic Trees
11. Idioteque
12. 2+2=5 (The Lukewarm.)
13. The Bends
14. Pyramid Song
15. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
16. Everything in Its Right Place

Disc Two
1. Airbag
2. I Might Be Wrong
3. Go to Sleep
4. Let Down
5. Planet Telex
06. Exit Music (For a Film)
07. The National Anthem
08. Knives Out
09. Talk Show Host
10. You
11. Anyone Can Play Guitar
12. How to Disappear Completely
13 True Love Waits (Live)

It's hard to not be disappointed by a list like this. Undoubtedly, you'll be appalled that this song ("Subterranean Homesick Alien"!!?!) or that song ("A Wolf at the Door?!??!") is missing, and so are we. But it's not so disgraceful as anyone might have expected. At least they gave it two discs. Right?

The latest from Wolf Parade

Spencer Krug's other other band will issue the follow-up to Apologies to the Queen Mary, one of the top albums of 2005 with the tentatively titled Kissing the Beehive on 17 June. It's tentative as the title is already being used for a Jonathon Carroll book. The tracklist is as follows:

1. Soldier's Grin
2. Call It A Ritual
3. Language City
4. Bang Your Drum
5. California Dreamer
6. The Grey Estates
7. Fine Young Cannibals
8. An Animal In Your Care
9. Kissing the Beehive

AOTY finalist and Krug project Sunset Rubdown is currently on tour in Europe. More to come.

Viva La Vida tracklist revealed

So in what we here at NLtS suspect will be second in a string of disappointments surrounding the new Coldplay album Viva La Vida (the first being the ridiculous title), they failed to keep the length to nine songs as they promised. Okay, so it's only one extra, but still. Oh and the song names are sort of ridiculous to boot. See for yourself:

1. Life in Technicolour
2. Cemeteries of London
3. Lost!
4. 42
5. Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love
6. Yes
7. Viva La Vida
8. Violet Hill
9. Strawberry Swing
10. Death and All His Friends

Damn, I was really excited about "Leftrightleftright". Anyway, the album, which will be produced by Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, hits stores June 16th. Brace yourselves.