MY MORNING JACKET LEAVES US BREATHLESS Last night My Morning Jacket continued their massive Evil Urges tour and brought it all back home to Austin, “Where civilization first began,” according to Jim James. The performance recalled the last time the legendary James Brown swung through Austin before he died and played this same stage at Stubb’s BBQ, though he certainly would have been surprised to know that his heir apparent was a head-banging, wild-hair growing Southern rocker like the boys in MMJ. However, to see Jim James strut across the stage during “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 1″ with a cape draped over his shoulders, crooning and shrieking with all the showmanship of the hardest working man in show-business, one can see how he might be mistaken for the soul music legend. The Jacket’s set leaned heavily on the fantastic new Evil Urges LP but included crowd favorites all the way back to the Tennessee Fire. It was truly a night for the old-schoolers and new fans alike, as barn-burners like “War Begun” and “Evelyn Is Not Real” gave way to new standouts like “I’m Amazed” and “Sec Walkin”. The band’s penchant for bringing down the house is storied in the world of live music, but to silence a notoriously restless Austin crowd at the sold-out Stubb’s venue is truly a feat. Even during the drone-worthy exit music of “Dondante” the people surrounding me were rapt with attention, letting the music flow over them in waves while the light show danced spectacularly on Stubb’s giant overhang (pictured below). Some of the best tracks played included the “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2″ which segued into its “Good Intentions” scream then right into a furious guitar-breakdown, an absolutely transcendent version of “Lay Low” that found James’ guitar in hypnotic form, a killer rendition of “Wordless Chorus” where James slid across the stage on his knees in the middle of an elated cry, and the finale of “One Big Holiday”. Ultimately the Jacket’s set was a testament to the power of live rock and roll and an experience not soon forgotten by the likes of Austin’s Southern rock fans. If you have a chance to see the band on their Evil Urges tour, by all means buy tickets well in advance and find yourself directly in front of this amazing act while you still can. Definitely deserving of the moniker ‘the best live band in the world’. My Morning Jacket – “Lay Low” (Live) ******************************************************************** MMJ IN DALLAS VIDEO While the My Morning Jacket performance in Austin certainly wasn’t lacking in brilliance, it did miss out on something the Dallas folks had – Erykah Badu! That’s right, the soul-songstress joined the band on stage for her song “Tyrone” which the band famously covered at their much lauded 2008 Bonnaroo performance. Here’s the video below! Still doesn’t beat out Austin’s version of “Lay Low” though, haha.
******************************************************************** MOUNTAIN GOATS REVEAL NEW EP Straight off the success of their latest LP Heretic Pride, John Darnielle and the rest of his satanic band the Mountain Goats are releasing a tour exclusive EP limited to 666 copies. The double 7″ can be picked up at their shows (the band swings through Austin Nov. 1st) and features four brand new songs. Digital release will be announced later but for now, be prepared for Lovecraft in Austin this fall!
BLOC PARTY GET INTIMATE In an announcement that dropped jaws and got hips shaking worldwide, London’s own Bloc Party has revealed that their third LP, entitled Intimacy, will drop digitally this very Thursday and be available physically as soon as October. This move, reminiscent of the rush-to-the-streets strategies of the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Radiohead, and the Raconteurs, comes as a supposed result of the ridiculously early leak of the band’s last LP A Weekend in the City (which we hear at Cannibal Cheerleader had at least six months in advance). Here’s the tracklist:
01.Ares 02.Mercury 03.Halo 04.Biko 05.Trojan Horse 06.Signs 07.One Month Off 08.Zephyrus 09.Better Than Heaven 10.Ion Square
Of course we’ve all heard the inimitable “Mercury” and it’s Manchester-scene, vocoder heavy riffing, but in a separate announcement the band placed the as-of-yet unheard “Trojan Horse” on their Myspace today. Care to give a listen? We think it sounds like a more experimental “Prayer”, what do you think?
Bloc Party – “Trojan Horse” ******************************************************************** NEW MY MORNING JACKET VIDEO We here at Cannibal Cheerleader are waiting with bated breath for the August 24th My Morning Jacket here in Austin at Stubb’s, but until then, we’ll be satisfied with a new MMJ video for Evil Urges standout “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream, Pt. 2″. Check it below and stay tuned for pictures and a show review for what promises to be one of the top shows of the year next Sunday! My Morning Jacket – “White Rabbit” ******************************************************************** ANNUALS DROP NEW SINGLE Unsure about all this Sunfold side-project business? Just wish Annuals would get back to the bombast and rapture that characterized their wild, folk-tinged earlier work? Look no further young ones, as the band has revealed their new album Such Fun and it comes out Oct. 7th. Take a listen to first single “Confessor” and tell us the band isn’t back in fine, whimsical, volcanic form. Check it.
NEW MY MORNING JACKET VIDEOS Hey all, sorry about the late update (computer troubles again!) but today will knock your socks off. We not only have the new official music video for My Morning Jacket’s first single off of Evil Urges “I’m Amazed”, but we have the premiere of the Evil Urges EPK video on which yours truly helped. That’s right, check out the concert footage in the first video – I’m behind the camera in front of the stage.
Here are the videos, enjoy! My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket – “I’m Amazed”
My Morning Jacket – “West End Girls” ******************************************************************** NEW TILLY AND THE WALL VIDEO Awesome pop-rockers Tilly and the Wall have released a new video via Stereogum for their new single “Pot Kettle Black”. It features some serious shout-back chorus lines so it’s one of the more rocky tracks on their new LP O. Check it out here!
******************************************************************** NEW CRUISERWEIGHT VIDEO Cruiserweight have posted a new video on their Myspace via IheartMusic of their performance at SXSW. Check it out here.
Also the band has a new EP Cruiserweight Rocks the Moon coming out on Itunes on June 17th. Here’s the fun link to it.
According to this Pitchfork article, the mighty munchkins of Be Your Own Pet will be joining the Warped Tour for dates in July and August. The skater-punks will surely enjoy a little of Jemima Pearl’s madcap live antics and you know WE’LL be loving her at her upcoming Stubb’s show this Thursday. Prepare for pictures on Friday of that show. ******************************************************************** JOHANSSON’S TOM WAITS ALBUM STREAMING
Imeem is streaming Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits covers album. Check it out here and prepare to float on a wave of shoegazey-goodness with Marilyn Monroe providing vocals. ******************************************************************** CARRIE BROWNSTEIN POSTS NEW MONITOR MIX
Carrie Brownstein, writer for NPR and guitarist of the greatest American punk band to have ever existed Sleater-Kinney, has uploaded a new Monitor Mix. Check that shit out, it’s even got the Libertines on it! ******************************************************************** FULL-LENGTH EVIL URGES REVIEW Here’s a new feature – full-length reviews! Check out this new one for My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges and comment if you like it! Warning, long text ahead!
“The title track off of My Morning Jacket’s newest LP Evil Urges begins innocently enough, strutting in with a snare-drum downbeat, soft, funky guitar-plucking, and a twangy, country guitar riff, complete with syrupy slides, a seeming reassurance that the alt-country giants are back in fine form. However, as lead singer Jim James slinks in with a surprising, layered alto, a soulful falsetto croon more reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield than Neil Young, it becomes apparent that the Kentucky quintet is not in Louisville anymore. “Evil Urges”, a bricolage of extremely divergent genres including funk, Southern-rock, blues, and country, serves as a warmup to the album as a whole which, through its swerving between the Jacket’s noted strengths and their continuing flights with experimentalist tendencies, makes for a fantastic voyage and the band’s most original and exciting work to date. For any longtime fans of My Morning Jacket it should be clear by now, after 2006’s acclaimed Z, that the band’s penchant for reverb-soaked vocals and hushed instrumental strains have long since taken a back seat to piercing Prince-style vocals and fiery guitar heroics. The flecks of artistry and inspiration that peppered their debut effort The Tennessee Fire and separated it from contemporaries have been given room to breathe and fleshed out in all their glory. The band’s slow rise to fame recalls a roller-coaster ride, clicking up the tall first ascent with their debut and sophomore LP, the excellent At Dawn. The band’s Southern-rock dominance stood high atop the peak with the magnificent It Still Moves. And if the wildly innovative Z is the excitement of the first drop, Evil Urges is the first loop and the listeners are not strapped in but trusted to be stuck to their seats by the music’s sheer chaotic force. Urges, unlike previous Jacket LPs, contains not one extraneous song, not one skippable track, and flows elegantly from classic late-60s outlaw country like “Smokin’ From Shootin” and “Sec Walkin’” to barn-burning rockers like “Aluminum Park” and “Remnants” to radical mutations like the disco-rock “Highly Suspicious” or the bizarre instrumentation of both parts of “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream”. To describe the album as incomparable would not be wholly inaccurate, as its style varies so wildly and its influence seems cherry-picked from the best rock has had to offer since its inception. However, the album might be most accurately described as a rough combination of R&B-style singing and Flaming Lips’ madcap experimentalism, all painted on a canvas of Lynyrd Skynyrd country-fried rock and roll. Overall the piece gels fantastically and weirdly, stunning longtime fans with how different a band with a seemingly simple foundation, that of classic Southern-rock, can sound when they let loose their artistic urges, and flooring first time listeners with its disparity and creativity. During this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James performed a solo set at St. David’s Episcopal Church to a hushed crowd of 240, all of whom witnessed acoustic performances of old classics such as “Gideon” and new tracks like “Librarian”. Much like during this performance, the listeners of Urges are all witness to the church of Jim James, only instead of reverent sermons he is preaching hellfire, brimstone, and yes, evil from the pulpit, raining down a musical storm on we the parishioners. Bow down before the mighty My Morning Jacket because they’ve just crafted one of the best records of the year. “
Japanese metal gods Boris are set to tour the US again this summer, riding the wave of their awesome (if bizarre) new LP Smile. Check out the dates here and notice that they’ll be coming to Mohawk here in Austin June 28th. You know we’ll be there. ******************************************************************** EVIL URGES LEAKS
It’s official, My Morning Jacket’s latest LP Evil Urges is on the Internet in its entirety. So how is it? The best description I can give is imagine attending the Church of Jim James and him playing the character of an eccentric Baptist preacher wailing to the ceiling. Except he’s evil. VERY evil. I am reminded of the Flaming Lips is they were to take on R&B and soul music. This album’s going to be contentious but let me be one of the first to say this album rules, it’s a natural progression from Z, and no one can touch Jim James. Five out of five bloody pon-poms. ******************************************************************** TERROR THURSDAY: ONE DARK NIGHT
Yet another Terror Thursday this week and it was the hilarious One Dark Night (comes with like fifty different titles there according to IMDB, yikes). You can definitely tell this was made during the height of 80s fashion and despite its PG rating it had some pretty serious gore going on with the walking dead. Not really gorey enough though at parts and groan-inducing with its bad dialogue/acting through most of the movie. Overall, two out of five bloody pon-poms. Maybe worth the rental if they don’t have The Car from last week! ******************************************************************** HEARTSREVOLUTION SWITCHBLADE EP OUT NOW
Our last ‘cheered band’, Heartsrevolution, is finally releasing their Switchblade EP and check out how cool that thing looks up there. Pick up a copy right now at the band’s Myspace. This EP includes one of my favorite tracks of the year “Wolves and Libertines” so give it a whirl if you’re into the Crystal Castles-like artists we’re always talking about here. ******************************************************************** NEW BAND CHEER: TINY VIPERS
While not necessarily ‘new’, I was reminded of Seattle female singer-songwriter Tiny Vipers by my friend Michael of Balmorhea recently and just how awesome she is. Mike recommends everyone view this YouTube video that features Vipers on the Burn to Shine DVD collection. Check it out and swing by her Myspace for more info.
Sorry about the sporadic updates this week. What with Internet troubles it’s hard to find the solution at 5 in the morning. Next week will be more on time though. Hope everyone has a good weekend and stay tuned for Cruiserweight and Dynamite Boy videos next week!
CRYSTAL CASTLES LEGAL TROUBLE While I heard rumblings of trouble with the above apparently ’stolen’ image of punched-up Madonna (which graces many Crystal Castles releases, tshirts, and even serves as the inner booklet for their debut LP) a couple of months ago, it appears everything has come to head between the original artist and CC, so says this Pitchfork article. At this point it all sounds like he-said she-said, and while I’m probably a Crystal Castles apologist, it seems that since they’re willing to pay the artist for the image, he’s just causing a ruckus to gain publicity. Read all about it and hope that this gets sorted out soon (and enjoy the idea of socking it to Madonna). ******************************************************************** RINGO DEATHSTARR LAUNCH WEBSITE
While it’s not altogether different from their Myspace Ringo Deathstarr’s brand new website still shows that the band is getting their footing and gaining ground, soon to explode onto the indie scene with their brand of shoegazey-pop. Check it. ******************************************************************** STEREOGUM EARLY EVALUATION OF EVIL URGES
Stereogum is giving really positive reviews to My Morning Jacket’s new release in their Early Evaluation of Evil Urges. Definitely worth checking out, if just for a description of some of the tracks and the realization (that a lot of us have already come to) that MMJ isn’t your typical old Southern’-rock band and that branching out can lead to great things. This is definitely worth a read.
Also, word on the street is this album has leaked. Get to downloading kids. ******************************************************************** ARCADE FIRE THINK BARACK ROCKS, COVER BOWIE
I think I like the Arcade Fire a lot more now that they’re overtly political and overtly Barockers. Here’s a video of AF performing David Bowie’s “Heroes” at an Obama rally earlier this year. Clearly if you like your music awe-inspiring (and your politics the same way), there’s no better combo than Butler-Barack (’08!!).
Sorry again about the delay readers! I promise this is the last night of this bull – tomorrow I’ll go wait outside Starbuck’s if my internet refuses to work! Comments?
Last night My Morning Jacket continued their massive Evil Urges tour and brought it all back home to Austin, “Where civilization first began,” according to Jim James. The performance recalled the last time the legendary James Brown swung through Austin before he died and played this same stage at Stubb’s BBQ, though he certainly would have been surprised to know that his heir apparent was a head-banging, wild-hair growing Southern rocker like the boys in MMJ. However, to see Jim James strut across the stage during “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 1″ with a cape draped over his shoulders, crooning and shrieking with all the showmanship of the hardest working man in show-business, one can see how he might be mistaken for the soul music legend.
My Morning Jacket – “Lay Low” (Live)
While the My Morning Jacket performance in Austin certainly wasn’t lacking in brilliance, it did miss out on something the Dallas folks had – Erykah Badu! That’s right, the soul-songstress joined the band on stage for her song “Tyrone” which the band famously covered at their much lauded 2008 Bonnaroo performance. Here’s the video below! Still doesn’t beat out Austin’s version of “Lay Low” though, haha.
Straight off the success of their latest LP Heretic Pride, John Darnielle and the rest of his satanic band the Mountain Goats are releasing a tour exclusive EP limited to 666 copies. The double 7″ can be picked up at their shows (the band swings through Austin Nov. 1st) and features four brand new songs. Digital release will be announced later but for now, be prepared for Lovecraft in Austin this fall!
