NEW WHISPERTOWN VIDEO. Haven’t been keeping up with our friends in the Whispertown 2000 lately, but rest assured Cannibal Cheerleader faithful, the LA-based quartet is alive and kicking. In fact, the band are just about to begin their first UK tour ever – hopefully they blog it in their overly addicting Tour Tumblr. The band’s sophomore LP Swim was one of our favorites of last year and “From the Start” was a real standout track – check out the video for it below, directed by none other than Morgan Nagler’s brother! Check it folks (we may be late on this one, but haven’t really seen it ’round the blogosphere yet!).
The Whispertown 2000 – “Atlantis” ******************************************************************** ROLO TOMASSI TOURING WITH GALLOWS. Just a quick update for those Cannibal Cheerleader fans not living in the UK (though apparently we have a lot of fans from across the pond, hmmm), two of our favorite acts right now London’s Gallows (whose Grey Britain is bloody ferocious) and Sheffield’s Rolo Tomassi (long time CC faves, headliners of our SXSW party, and punk rock masters of tomorrow) are tearing up the British Isles with a one-two rip-and-snarl of punk rock mastery. If there was ever a reason to make a trip from Austin to Portsmouth, now’s the time.
Gallows – “I Dread The Night” Rolo Tomassi – “Beatrotter” ******************************************************************** SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS TOUR DIARY. One of our favorite psych-rocking Brooklyn-based trios (and we know there’s probably a bunch of ‘em) School of Seven Bells have a really cool Tour Diary that you can access via their homepage. Definitely worth checking out if only for the cool tour pictures and trippy site design. Here’s hoping this group releases more material soon! They’ll be playing here in Austin on June 2nd at Mohawk and you know we’ll be first in line for that one.
School of Seven Bells – “Chain” ******************************************************************** GRAND OLE PARTY TO TOUR WITH YYYS. It’s official today – all of our favorite bands are hooking up! This time it’s the inimitable Yeah Yeah Yeahs with the fantastic San Diego trio and old-school Cannibal Cheerleader fave Grand Ole Party. Check out the dates on the GOP myspace (the only GOP this Austinite could ever get behind!).
Grand Ole Party – “Look Out Young Son” Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Hysteric (Acoustic Version)” ******************************************************************** NEW KILLERS VIDEO. We leave you fiends today with the Killers’ excellent rendition of their newest single “Dustland Fairytale” from their Day & Age LP – guitar-rock gods this quartet, gods we say! And Letterman appears to think so too.
In the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Karen O of art-rockers extraordinaire the Yeah Yeah Yeahs talks about her band’s newest album It’s Blitz and the new, positive energy the record seems to have unearthed in the band. To quote the article:
“We’re always going to have Yeah Yeah Yeahs hooks and energy,” Karen O tells us. “But we came up with something new that we’ve never heard before from ourselves. Less angst and
more positivity, man!”
Check out the full story here. Anticipation is high for YYYLP3, stay tuned CC faithful!
Here’s the word from our favorite ole-timey garage rockers Grand Ole Party from the band’s Myspace:
“we are very hard at work putting the finishing touches on all the new songs! we will be recording our second album in atlanta georgia shortly & are REAL EXCITED.”
Details are sketchy about whether or not the group’s second LP will be produced by Rilo Kiley frontman Blake Sennet yet again, but expectations are high for the band’s sophomore release. Can’t wait!
It’s finally here Cannibal Cheerleaders, the new SpinneretteGhetto Love EP has arrived and none too soon for our ears. It seems that ex-Distiller Brody Dalle has been reincarnated as a nightmarish punk burlesque dancer, wrapped in layers of electronic decadence while still maintaining the poignant and fierce lyricism on which she’s built a name. Dead romance, blood mixing with tears, makeup running down one’s face, all wrapped in pleather in a smoky, shady bar corner, that is Spinnerette (our kind of band!). Check the video for “Ghetto Love” below and head here to purchase the new EP (only five bucks people, quite the deal we’d say).
Today we begin our ‘end-of-year’ wrap-ups, mercifully soon so we can get back to the real business of music journalism! Seems like every blog does their “best of’s” around this time so we figured we’d hop onboard, with a few Cannibal Cheerleader touches of course. Our first category…
TOP FIVE LOCAL AUSTIN BANDS
SOUTHERN DRAMA
Whether you interpret this local all-female trio as a wildly imaginative Vaudevillian act or a indie-pop folk band wrapped in old-time mystique one thing’s for certain, Southern Drama is easily the most original and creative act currently playing in Austin and one of our favorites of the year.
With the release of their stellar sophormore LP Pardon Me, Are Those Your Claws in My Back, the Faceless Werewolves have cornered the Austin market on furious blues-rock and garage-punk, cementing themselves as one of the Capital City’s most treasured acts.
Soaring in on a wave of delicated strings and hushed arrangement, Balmorhea has made good use of one short year, finding themselves poised to be the next big thing in neo-classicist cum indie-rock and making it easily onto our 2008 best local band list.
With a fiery carnage matched only by the band’s steadfast determination, Prey For Sleep have brought the brutality back to the Austin metal scene, whipping the small but vengeful community into a fury behind their debut LP and carving a spot into our end of the year list.
Swirling down on a wave of guitar squalls, Ringo Deathstarr single-handedly have revitalized the flagging shoegaze scene in Austin with an MBV-referencing sound and a distinction for being lost in a vortex of white noise, though they managed to find their way onto our top local band list with ease.
With girl-group vocals and shoe-gaze guitars all combined into a surf-rock playing style, the Vivian Girls have proven themselves as a formidable new act through relentless touring, capturing a sound long thought dead and revitalizing a genre with the ease of a reverb pedal.
With a level of delicate instrumentation and unique percussion almost unheard in indie rock, High Places have taken lilting pop ballads into the realm of wild experimentalism and are on the crest of a wave of musicians combining creativity with indelible songwriting abilities.
With a torrent of positive press flying their way after the release of their sophomore LP, the Gaslight Anthem have gone from celebrated underground Jersey punks to acclaimed rock and roll stars all in the course of one short year, due to their combination of lovelorn Springsteen-referencing lyrics and Social Distortion riffs.
Blazing onto the scene on the backs of several fiery singles and EPs, Heartsrevolution took punk-electro to new heights, combining dance-rhythms and electronic whirlings with shrieking vocals and violent imagery, making them one of the most original and exciting acts of the year.
Equal blues rock and female fronted indie-pop, Grand Ole Party deliver fiery vocals and spidery guitar lines in a fierce package of minimalistic garage punk that heralds this trio as an act to watch for years to come.
FINALLY PUNK ANNOUNCE NEW RELEASES Here’s the latest Myspace bulletin from long-dormant Austin punk giants Finally Punk:
“We uploaded our new track: “Hypertension”, to promote our forthcoming 4-song EP on M’Lady’s Records this Fall.
Germs of Youth will be releasing a 7″ single: “Six Years Doing Time” b/w “Negative Creep” and maybe another?
PPM is releasing a DVD compilation, “New Video Works”, with videos by: ABE VIGODA, BARR, BLACK BLACK, DEERHUNTER, ERASE ERRATA, FINALLY PUNK, HAWNAY TROOF, HIGH PLACES, DAVID HORVITZ, JAPANTHER, KIT, LUCKY DRAGONS, MIKA MIKO, NO AGE, POCAHAUNTED, THE SADS, SILVER DAGGERS, SISSY SPACEK, SOFT BOILED EGGIES, SOFT CIRCLE, SOILED MATTRESS AND THE SPRINGS, DAVID SCOTT STONE AND XIU XIU
We plan to tour the UK/Europe before the year is over, but school/work/nomadic endeavors has kept us put for the time being.”
Holy snap, just when we though we’d never hear from these awesome ladies again they go and churn out 4-song EP and plan to appear on a DVD comp with some of our Cannibal Cheerleader favorites (Mika Miko, High Places, Xiu Xiu, etc). Here’s to you girls, we’ll definitely be picking up the EP!
Finally Punk – “Manatee” ******************************************************************** GRAND OLE PARTY TOUR WITH BLACK LIPS In what’s sure to be an epic tour for the ages, Southern flower-punks the Black Lips are heading out on tour with Cannibal Cheerleader fave Grand Ole Party for some California dates. Here’s hoping this duo swings through Texas and soon!
Grand Ole Party – “Look Out Young Son” ******************************************************************** TREASURE MAMMAL BACK IN THE STUDIO? Recent mumblings on the Treasure Mammal Myspace along with confirmations from Abe himself point towards the fact that our favorite spazz-rocker/motivational speaker is in the studio recording tracks for what might hopefully be the followup to the excellent You Wish I Was Channeling Your Spirit. Of course, anything our friend Abe touches turns to gold, including the recently uploaded Improvisational tracks with Corey of the Mae Shi which are a testament to the experimental creativity of the T. Mammal. Check ‘em out on the ‘Space y’alls.
******************************************************************** THE CANNIBAL CHEERLEADER ZINE IS OUT Where can I find this monstrosity? How can I get my hands on this limited edition first run of the Cannibal Cheerleader magazine? Well yours truly will be hard at work tomorrow planting the zine at strategic locations. These include:
Waterloo Records The Parlor MonkeyWrench Books Sound on Sound Records Book People Kerbey Lane (Guad location) SpiderHouse Cafe FlightPath Coffee Shop Epoch Zen’s (Guad location)
Because the zine is expensive to make I will only be dropping off a few at each location so grab it fast! However, if you’d like your own copy delivered to you, just email me at cannibalcheerleader@gmail.com and I’ll shoot one your way. And if you find a copy, be sure and hang onto it and let me know what you think.
KAREN O REVEALS NEW SIDE-PROJECTOver the weekend our favorite art-punk frontwoman Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs revealed her involvement in a new side project called Native Korean Rock. Here’s the announcement from KO from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ blog:
“Native Korean Rock is a side project of mine comprised of a body of love songs written over the last two years, to be performed with a motley crew of NYC natives. Expect high drama, high stakes in two intimate performances.
Does Native Korean Rock have anything to do with Yeah Yeah Yeahs? NO
Are these the leaked demos of years ago? NO“
Check out the band’s Myspace and check the flyer below for the NYC shows. Anyone attending this one want to take some pictures for us? Here’s a few Native Korean Rock tracks to download – fair warning, they’re appropriately lo-fi. Enjoy!
Karen O – “OOO” Karen O – “visits” Karen O – “rapt” ******************************************************************** CONOR OBERST LEAKSHere at Cannibal Cheerleader all the news of Conor Oberst ‘returning to form’ on his new solo, self-titled LP had us a little worried. We loved Cassadaga and we’ve been digging on his overtly political diatribes on the last few records, we’d prefer if our Bright Eyed troubadour stayed on this winding path. Suffice to say, during an initial run-through of Conor Oberst we’re pleasantly surprised that while this singer-songwriter has pared back the lush instrumentation, his penchant for wordy, poetic lyrics and impressive metaphor have been left well-intact. Check out a few tracks and let us know what you think folks!
“MP3s removed by request” ******************************************************************** ONE DAY AS A LION LEAKSDelivering on the promise of last week’s preview on the band’s Myspace, One Day As A Lion self-titled EP not only captures the fire and fury one has come to expect from the Rage Against the Machine MC, but also illuminates an evolution in his sonic palette, as drummer Jon Theodore helps push Zach de la Rocha towards a more dub-oriented reggae sound. Equal parts grime, rap, rock, and drum-n-bass, One Day As A Lion scorches through 5 economical tracks that promise great things in the band’s future. Here’s hoping for a full-length!
One Day As A Lion – “Last Letter” One Day As A Lion – “If You Fear Dying” ******************************************************************** MF DOOM/J DILLA/GHOSTFACE COLLAB SURFACESYes, it’s a day of leaks here at Cannibal Cheerleader but few seem so rare as this posthumous number from the great J Dilla. It’s a collaborative effort, two tracks from Jay Dee’s Donuts (”Anti-American Grafitti” and “Geek Down”) renamed, revamped (to become “Sniperelite” and “Murder Goons”), and flowed over by two master MCs (MF Doom and Ghostface Killah respectively). The end result is Sniperlite and you can hear the mashup of both songs below, in all their glory. Check it and be awed at the production mastery that was J Dilla.
Dilla/Doom/Ghostface – “Sniper Elite & Murder Goons” ******************************************************************** UZI AND ARI GET EQUIPMENT STOLEN The scourge of the indie-rock world has struck again, this time it’s our shoegazey-cum-indie pop favorites Uzi and Ari who have been left ‘out in the cold’ so to speak after their equipment was stolen from their own house! Here’s their Myspace bulletin with the details:
“Hi droogs.
This is really getting old, isn’t it? Reading about the misfortunes of Uzi & Ari. Must be a curse upon us. But, as Christian Bale said last night in ‘The Dark Knight,’ the night is darkest just before the dawn. We hope.
Last night at about 4am, some hoodlums broke into our house, while we were sleeping and made off with the following items:
Roland Juno 106 Synthesizer (black in color) Nord Electro-2 keyboard (red in color) Fender Twin Reverb amplifier Fender Mustang bass guitar (white in color) Boss DD-5 Digital Delay Boss DD-6 Digital Delay Dell Inspiron Notebook Laptop (black in color) Behringer 1204 FX mixer (dark gray in color) Tascam 4 Track (light gray) Korg Electribe ESX1 drum machine (red in color) Ludwig Acrolyte snare drum (matte silver in color)
and various power cords, guitar cables, etc., totalling about 4500 dollars worth of equipment. i’ll post pictures soon.
If you know anyone who might have acquired new equipment like this, please be a good samaritan and let us know. This is just happening too often to bands, it’s crippling. We already make such a meager earning, we don’t even break even. It’s getting harder and harder to justify doing this anymore, it’s just an uphill battle constantly. This is the third time we have been robbed, but this is just ugly, to be robbed in your own home while you are sleeping.
Anyway, I would feel awful to ask for donations again. So many of you were so generous in donating for the vinyl, I know our fan base isn’t huge and you must be exhausted with your own struggle and strife.
We will, however be throwing a sort of benefit show/party in downtown Salt Lake in late August. We’re trying to do it on a rooftop or something cool that a lot of people will want to come to. I’ll post more information as I get it.
Sorry to be such a downer. I posted a new song, ‘Wolf Eggs,’ from the new record, a little earlier than I had planned, to lighten the mood. I don’t want you coming to our page and just feeling bad all the time.
We’ll get through this!
xo ben“
So there you have it folks, if you see any of that equipment out there get it back to the band! Instrument thieves should be shot on sight! Stop destroying our indie-rock idealism! Here’s a video from the band and be sure to check out the band’s new album Headworms which drops Oct. 15th.
BORIS BLOWS AUSTIN AWAY It goes without saying that when it comes to metal, Japanese trio Boris remains in a completely different league than the majority of other ‘heavy’ bands working today. With a combination of sludge, drone, and stoner metal built on top of a framework of mind-blowing virtuosity by guitarist Wata, guitarist/vocalist/bassist Takeshi, and drummer Atsuo, one could expect the band to put on a live show that borders on perfection. Saturday here in Austin at the Mohawk, Boris did not disappoint. While opener Clouds experimented with melodic metal and Torche brought the requisite crunch-factor that metal-heads crave, the Boris experience was near mystical, as they whipped through tracks from their latest LP Smile as well as cuts from Pink with the help of master guitarist and special unannounced guest Michio Kurihara (who assisted the band on their Rainbow LP). As the smoke machine billowed around the band who played loose and free during their entire set, the audience quickly became mesmerized, only snapping from their metal-induced haze at the end of each extended cut, which was ultimately followed by rapturous applause. Starting slowly with “Flower Sun Rain”, Boris built up speed through the entire set before eventually settling on such fantastic cuts from Smile such as “My Neighbor Satan” and ending on a sublime note, leaving the audience begging for more. Ultimately Boris proved that metal can be an avant-garde art form, melodic and breathtaking in its head-banging fury, all while treating Austin to the heaviest show it might see this year. Here are a ton of pictures I took at Mohawk and a cut from their latest LP. Enjoy! Boris Wata Takeshi Atsuo Michio Kurihara Clouds Torche Boris – “My Neighbor Satan” ******************************************************************** GRAND OLE PARTY ON MTV2 It appears that our old friends from San Diego Grand Ole Party are tearing it up on MTV2, as their video for “Look Out Young Son”, a choice cut from their Humanimals LP is now in rotation according to the trio. Definitely keep an eye out for it and check the rad video below.
Grand Ole Party – “Look Out Young Son” ******************************************************************** HEADLIGHTS NEW DAYTROTTER SESSION Illinois-natives Headlights have just put up a new Daytrotter Session and it includes a great rendition of their hit from Some Racing, Some Stopping “Cherry Tulips”. According to the band’s Myspace:
“All these songs were re-invented for the Daytrotter sessions. We used all the great vintage gear — old keyboards and an upright bass, loop pedals and what not. They have really cool toys.”
Thanks everyone for readings and thanks to Treasure Mammal for stopping by my work yesterday even though I missed his show! He’s a really great guy so be sure and check him out! Any comments?
According to the Giant Drag website, Annie Hardy of our favorite My Bloody Valentine-referencing, shoegazey, post-punk solo/duo band will be recording a new, as of yet untitled EP. The tracklist will include live favorites such as “Swan Song” and “White Baby” as well as tracks “Heart Carl” and “Stuff to Live For”. This is a welcome change for Hardy who was unceremoniously dropped from Interscope following her first awesome LP Hearts and Unicorns. Hardy and other GD contributors are hard at work slamming out a new record but in the meantime visit her Ebay Store so you can donate to the cause of saving Giant Drag from obscurity. Seriously, this is one of my favorite bands in recent memory and definitely deserves to get the opportunity to make more music, so check it out. Also, here’s a sample of “Swan Song” taken live from a Giant Drag show in Paris.
******************************************************************** PREY FOR SLEEP TOUR CANCELLED!
“Due to issues with our booking agent we’ve been forced to cancel our upcoming nationwide summer tour”, says lead singer Hunter Townsend of awesome Austin metal act Prey For Sleep. Apparently the booking agent was unable (or too lazy!) to secure spots for PFS and the band was forced to call it off due to monetary issues. In the meantime though Hunter and the boys would like to know what Austinites or any of their fans want from the band now. Their latest Myspace bulletin reads:
“Here’s a thought.
What do you want from Prey for Sleep in the next few months?
T-Shirts? Lighters? Hoodies? DVDs? Lunch boxes?
Let us know what you need to spread the word.”
So there you have it, let Prey For Sleep know what you need from them by contacting them at their Myspace. A PFS lunchbox sounds pretty rad to me that’s for sure.
The band will be heading up to Cleveland in August to record an as of yet untitled EP, then plans to attempt a nationwide tour in January. Good luck guys! ******************************************************************** SUMMER SHOWS IN AUSTIN – CC CALENDAR
Here’s a rundown of some upcoming shows in Austin that Cannibal Cheerleader will definitely be attending:
Hey to all of the readers/users of Waffles.fm, the best replacement ever for Oink.cd in my opinion. Thanks for swinging by the blog and reading the ‘Converge’ piece posted on the front page of Waffles. If you don’t know what Waffles is you should read this article about file-sharing and see if the Oink/Waffles movement is right for you. Until next time, comment people!
Sorry about taking a break for Memorial Day guys, hope this monster post makes up for it! See you tomorrow!
Haven’t been keeping up with our friends in the Whispertown 2000 lately, but rest assured Cannibal Cheerleader faithful, the LA-based quartet is alive and kicking. In fact, the band are just about to begin their first UK tour ever – hopefully they blog it in their overly addicting Tour Tumblr. The band’s sophomore LP Swim was one of our favorites of last year and “From the Start” was a real standout track – check out the video for it below, directed by none other than Morgan Nagler’s brother! Check it folks (we may be late on this one, but haven’t really seen it ’round the blogosphere yet!).
Just a quick update for those Cannibal Cheerleader fans not living in the UK (though apparently we have a lot of fans from across the pond, hmmm), two of our favorite acts right now London’s Gallows (whose Grey Britain is bloody ferocious) and Sheffield’s Rolo Tomassi (long time CC faves, headliners of our SXSW party, and punk rock masters of tomorrow) are tearing up the British Isles with a one-two rip-and-snarl of punk rock mastery. If there was ever a reason to make a trip from Austin to Portsmouth, now’s the time.
One of our favorite psych-rocking Brooklyn-based trios (and we know there’s probably a bunch of ‘em) School of Seven Bells have a really cool Tour Diary that you can access via their homepage. Definitely worth checking out if only for the cool tour pictures and trippy site design. Here’s hoping this group releases more material soon! They’ll be playing here in Austin on June 2nd at Mohawk and you know we’ll be first in line for that one.
It’s official today – all of our favorite bands are hooking up! This time it’s the inimitable Yeah Yeah Yeahs with the fantastic San Diego trio and old-school Cannibal Cheerleader fave Grand Ole Party. Check out the dates on the GOP myspace (the only GOP this Austinite could ever get behind!).
We leave you fiends today with the Killers’ excellent rendition of their newest single “Dustland Fairytale” from their Day & Age LP – guitar-rock gods this quartet, gods we say! And Letterman appears to think so too.
