MGMT have released their album cover for Congratulations. (Andrew Bernard voice: AWESOME!)
Look for it April 13,2010. The cover was designed by artist Anthony Ausgang, also known as Lowbrow.
The band has stated that they would preferred the album to be released without singles so that we can hear it as a whole.
Here’s hoping they are playing Lollapalooza this summer in addition to the rumored headliners of Green Day, Lady Gaga, Soundgarden, The Strokes and the Arcade Fire.
The new Sophie Muller directed Broken Bells video for The High Road has been released and has me more intrigued for their debut 3-09-2010. The duo’s shared journey is filled with some great shots.
2 down, 42 to go. The newest Smashing Pumpkins track is more Zwanesque that the cathartic gloom the band is known for, and the track is growing on me.
“The story of the album is based on ‘The Fool’s Journey’, as signified in the progress of the Tarot. It is my intention to approach this by breaking down the journey of our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic.”-Corgan
You can download it on their website here.
So I love the show Lost and am very excited for it to start back up tomorrow. Ideally, you are too, but if you are like many you may be put off by the dense mythology and continuity of the show. It is a hard show to get into unless you started from the beginning. With that in mind, this clip will help illuminate what you may have missed and allow you to enjoy the premiere tomorrow. Enjoy.
“To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus by Terry Gilliam is a stupendous and captivating film. By now you already know it is Heath Ledger’s final film and that due to his unexpected death mid-filming Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell filled in for him. I also hope you recognize the name Terry Gilliam, the only Yankee member of Monty Python. His animation style that he popularized across the sea is very present in the movie, and that alone makes it worth the price of a ticket.
Avatar is being widely touted as the film to see for its visuals, but this intriguing pairing of the Joker and Alice and Wonderland and Tom Waits as the devil is just as commanding. While I enjoyed both movies, it is the Imaginarium that left a lasting impression on me due to its combination of story and aesthetics; in that order.
Mainstays of my desert island top five, Thrice, recently recorded a Daytrotter Session that was released today. The session is phenominal and includes three tracks from their newest record, Beggars, as well as a Tom Waits cover. Check out Circles. Vocalist and lyricist Dustin Kensrue best described the formation of the song and what it represents lyrically:
“Riley always has the most demo parts to sort through. I put three of his parts together and out came this song. He little added bar at the end of the second measure in the verse was weirding me out at first, but ever since I starting singing over it, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Lyrically, the song deals with our fascination with “progress” which we seem to loosely identify with change. But true progress requires a set destination, something I feel most of us rarely have in mind when we use the term. I have to reference Chesterton again as the last line of the song is a paraphrase of this quote: “Progress should mean we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.” -DK”
Danger Mouse and Shins frontman James Mercer have just released the first single from this new side project, Broken Bells. The result is a cool track that is really easy to vibe to and that has been on repeat throughout today. The project allows for both artists to challenge aspects of themselves that would perhaps not fit in their primary ventures, but meld well. Mercer expressed appreciation for this freedom. “When you’re the master of your own domain, it’s easy to fall into patterns. But with this, there was a freedom to try stuff and not worry about what it would mean for this identity I’ve created. And it just sounded cool.”
They will be releasing a 10 song self-titled debut on March 8 so check your local record store for that. For those of you who don’t remember what a cd actually looks like, let alone a physical store that is dedicated to selling tangible music, check it out on itunes.
The band has provided the first single for free. Enjoy.
I still remember walking to my brother’s room when I was in elementary school and seeing numerous Smashing Pumpkins posters covering the walls. In 5th grade the band disbanded and I was lucky enough to attend their second to last show in Chicago. It’s been 9 years since and the band (open to interpretation according to who you ask) has reformed.
At that show in 2000 they had cds handed out for free. Fans were instructed to share the music anyway they could with everybody; including the emerging internet. Billy Corgan has once again returned to the trend of distributing free music with his newest album, Teargarden By Kaleidoscope. This is his response to the fact that people don’t buy albums with the same frequency as they did in the 90s and before. The songs will be released one at a time on the internet and eventually be collected as a box set. This wouldn’t be the first time. So the project began this year and will conclude by 2011 if it all goes right.
Enjoy the song. It’s solid, earnest and has just the right amount of psychedelic rock in it.
If you want to download it, go to to www.smashingpumpkins.com
So after a relatively long silence from L.A. rockers OK GO, they have finally released a new single. It’s called “WTF” and like “Here it goes again” and all of their singles it comes with an awesome/trippy video. Keep it mind this was done in one take. The song is catchy and has a really cool breakdown at around 2 minutes. The video is mesmerizing.
Look for their new album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky on January 12.
