January 2008

The Archives

• 01.15.08
  Stars Of The Lid Announce Rare U.S. Tour   Bands (0)

  Pitchfork announced today that dronesmiths Stars of the Lid will be touring the U.S. this spring. I’m not usually one for just reposting a band’s tour dates from another music blog, but this is something that I personally have been waiting for since their last tour in 2002.

  Last year saw the release of The Stars Of The Lid And The Refinement Of Their Decline, which while not their best release in their catalog, it’s still a phenomenal record. Their greatest release in my mind is 2001’s The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid. The double disk set is a nearly perfect work of calm, something that is both rewarding to a focused or passive listen. To those that might be on the fence about going to see live minimalism or even listening to a drone band such as SOTL, you have to get into the mindset that it’s music that serves a purpose as much as it is simply something to listen to. Flex your patience and give a show like this a shot. Music like this becomes something disconnected from a traditional live music experience, moving into something that is consumed physically as well as acoustically. Stars of the Lid is possibly one of the best entrances to minimalism, as nearly all their catalog is pretty accessable and beautiful. Ultimately, to the uninitiated going to see SOTL live will probably far easier on the psyche than one’s first show being sunn 0))).

  04-14 Los Angeles, CA - TBA

  04-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent

  04-17 Portland, OR - TBA

  04-18 Seattle, WA - Triple Door

  04-21 Minneapolis, MN - Southern Theatre

  04-22 Champaign, IL - Staerkel Planetarium

  04-23 Grinnell, IA - Sebring-Lewis Concert Hall

  04-24 Louisville, KY - 9:30 Listening Room

  04-25 Pittsburgh, PA - Warhol Museum

  04-26 Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theatre

  04-27 London, Ontario - Museum London

  04-28 Toronto, Ontario - Music Gallery

  04-29 Montreal, Quebec - TBA

  05-01 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts

  05-02 New York, NY - Good Shepard Faith Church (Wordless Music Series)

  05-03 Philadelphia, PA - TBA

  05-04 Washington, DC - TBA

  05-05 Asheville, NC - TBA

  05-07 Austin, TX - Ritz Theatre

  05-17 Minehead, England - Butlin’s Holiday Centre (Explosions in the Sky ATP)

• 01.13.08
  So, There’s This Band Called The Mountain Goats…   Bands (1)

  …that I really missed out on. When All Hail West Texas was released in 2002, I gave it a listen but really couldn’t get my head around John Darnielle’s voice. Pretty quickly, it got dumped in the recycle bin. I think that year all my lo-fi attention went primarily to Iron and Wine’s The Creek Drank The Cradle. Years have passed and in late 2007 John Darnielle guested on the leading single from Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass. I’m a passive Aesop Rock fan, to me no single he’s released has topped 2001’s Daylight, but when I found myself having to review None Shall Pass, I was forced to give it a longer listen. The final track Coffee dug its way into my brain. Here is the lo-fi, splatter core video for Aesop Rock’s ‘Coffee’Directed by Ace Norton I hadn’t really put much thought into John Darnielle’s guesting on a hip-hop track (even if it is an out-there DefJux release), but his voice was one of the more captivating aspects of the funky, lumbering number. Darnielle’s voice bounces around in the background of the track, finally surfacing for his verse at the very end. Even just the structure of the track, leaving the featured verse to the final seconds of the song confused me enough to listen over and over.So I started poking around the net for more Mountain Goats and found that they’d released a track of the forthcoming Heretic Pride album (Feburary 18th, 2008) onto the web.

  I am coming home to you, with my own blood in my mouth.
  You can grab the MP3 of Sax Rhomer #1 - HERE
  I think initially, beyond the lo-fi hiss that put me off from their earlier works, I was also a little alienated by Darnelle’s voice. By re-exposing myself to it via a song like Coffee, which gave me nothing of their instrumentation and only his voice to cling to, his voice became the thing that drew me in. Plus, they’ve gained a polish to their music which has alienated old fans, but probably made things easier for me. Hell, I’m more content with The Mountain Goats post-polish than I am with Iron and Wine’s venture into actual production. ‘Sax Rohmer #1′ is a jaunty track, weaving a Decemberist-ian narritive about the coming chaos of some spy war or something or other. It’s an atmospheric piece, tension builds and Darnielle yelps against hurried guitar strums.Suddenly, I’m listening to this on repeat too, but I think I’m just a sucker for hooks about blood and romance.

  Themountaingoats.com

  The Mountain Goats @ 4ADLast Plane To Jakarta - John Darnielle’s Blog

  The Believer’s Interview With Darnielle

  photo of John Darnielle via kuranes , thanks!