Twin Peak just released a nice hometown cover of “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”. The song was originally released on A ghost is born by fellow Chicago band, Wilco. Even though it is roughly two minutes shorter than the A ghost is born version, Twin Peaks do a good job with this one. A nice ode to Wilco here.
Twin Peaks are fresh off their Lookout Low release and are currently touring. It would be neat to see them give “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” a shot live on tour.
Had to do a double take when I came across this. Björk 9th album Utopia is getting re-released with a limited edition boxset. The boxset includes a series of handmade wooden flutes used for bird calling. If this doesn’t scream Björk, I don’t know what does.
Posting an unboxing on her YouTube page, the artist wrote,
“utopia is so much about birdsong and sonically the mutation between synth/bird , bird/flute , flute/synth ……. air like that was a theme through all of the album . so i got very excited when i found these handmade wooden flutes imitating precisely particular birds . and i guess wanted you guys to have an opportunity to share that with me …….. enjoy !!! warmthness , björk”
Utopia bird call boxset
If you are literally dripping cash like I am, make sure to order at least 2 to 3 of these bad boys. Only a cool £500.00.
American Football will make their way over to Asia for a series of shows in late July. None other than, Chinese Football will open for them on 3 nights – Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. I had to do a triple take when I saw this come up on my Facebook scroll. Thought it as a meme, but this is in fact a real thing.
American Football Asia Tour – American Football Facebook PAge
Outside of forcing his very mediocre and asshole of a brother to the bill of festival after festival, Chance the Rapper has been keeping himself busy by fighting science.
On Twitter, Chance dated the world at a million years old on the “high side”. I don’t know if Chance was sleeping during science class or what, but the guy needs to hit the books. This is a bad look for a pretty large and succcesful name in the music industry.
Chance The Rapper’s Twitter
His scientific expertise included a poll where he wanted to know which source was 100% right all the time. You can see how I voted.
Looking at Setlist.FM, Lightspeed Champion’s last show was on 1/2/2011. That’s 2,998 days ago. Dev Hynes retired Lightspeed Champion to go all in on his excellent Blood Orange project, but it’s okay to miss Lightspeed Champion.
2008’s Falling Off The Lavender Bridge, is an extremely enjoyable album with songs like: “Dry Lips”, “Galaxy of the Lost”, and the almost 10 minute jam, “Midnight Surprise”. Lightspeed Champion was a guitar driven project by Dev – being much different from his dance and R&B focused project, Blood Orange.
Being Brave on Instagram
I went ahead and did the world a favor with this ask. When Dev brings Lightspeed Champion back, feel free to thank me.
On Tuesday, Mac DeMarco announced his new album, Here Comes The Cowboy where “Nobody” was released as a single. I have to say that the music video was neat. Mac wears a white cowboy hat while decked out in lizard makeup. You don’t see that every day.
Mac DeMarco as a Lizardman. From “Nobody” music video.
Outside of the interesting video, the song is a little of a snooze. I understand DeMarco is attempting to step away from the rowdy nature of his first couple of albums, but the song is dangerously soft. It’s not a bad song, but it’s a song that you play when you are trying to fall sleep. I’d call it “relaxing”.
Just hours later, the National announced, I Am Easy To Find – a quick follow-up to their 2017 album, Sleep Well Beast.
The first single to come off of the newly announced album is You Had Your Soul with You. Electronics blare at the start before Scott Devendorf and his iconic drumming jump in. Scott has to be up there with being one of the most underrated drummers around. The song is an interesting one – there’s a bit where Matt Berninger does a duet Gail Ann Dorsey (was David Bowie’s co-vocalist and bass player). You can hear a tone that is different from the heaviness and melancholy of Sleep Well Beast. It’s strange to say this, but this song had some hope and cheer to it.
I love Mac DeMarco (AKA Loveable Goofball), but 3/5/2019 was The National’s day.
There can honestly only be one “Flux” and it’s from 2007’s A Weekend In the City. Not only is the song about a billion times better than Goulding’s “Flux”, Bloc Party’s version also has giant robots and creatures destroying an urban center. Go kick rocks, Ellie.
After taxes and all kinds of fees to see them live in Chicago, the ticket price netted out to be $104.02. Okay, Okay, I get it – Vampire Weekend are a special group with terrific music, but come on! Am I buying a Saturday pass for a festival or tickets to see one band?
Let’s dive into the receipt of where the money is going (mind you this is for two tickets at $208.04, so we will halve it):
General Admission ticket price is $79.50 – If this was the all up price I could convince myself it’s fair.
$2.05 for order processing fee – you know they have to process paperwork for my purchase even though there is no paperwork since everything is digital
$18.80 for the service fee – you know it’s kind of like buying a toaster at Macy’s and then throwing down an extra 24% because the store had the courtesy to sell it to you.
$1.98 for taxes – this one is actually fine.
Mailing cost of $1.75 (we will cut this in half just for the sake of math). There wasn’t an option to print or email tickets so take more of my money.
Selling Soul To Be Able To Buy Vampire Weekend Tickets
That $18.80 fee really rubs me the wrong way. As bands like Vampire Weekend get larger and larger they start to partner up with demonic enterprises like Ticketmaster and these are the effects.
Disclaimer
I would pay whatever to see these guys, but let me bitch for second.
Back in 2016 Bombay Bicycle Club announced a hiatus. The break lasted 3 years, as just yesterday they announced a return on social media. During their break the band members went solo, with frontman Jack Steadman playing in solo project – Mr. Jukes. The entire band will be back with plans of new music and new live shows.
The announcement also featured a short video of the band playing together. Unfortunately, it was dubbed over with other music, but seeing everyone in the same room was still worth it!