THE MARS VOLTA RELEASE COTOPAXI Here’s the first single from the upcoming Mars Volta LP Octahedron. Sounds like some classic MV, a little less in-your-face that the Bedlam in Goliath but featuring the same energetic instrumentation with a flecks of Deloused in the psychedelic chorus. Definitely worth a listen, grab it below.
The Mars Volta – “Cotopaxi” ******************************************************************** BILL CALLAHAN IN AUSTIN Last Friday at Waterloo Records here in Downtown Austin local freak-folk hero Bill Callahan (aka Smog) performed some tracks from his new, hypnotic LP Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle to a hushed and reverent Texas audience. Marking a return to the darker days of his lo-fi cassette recordings, Callahan kept a crowded record store absolutely rapt with attention as he lightly strummed and picked through literary and intricate tracks. If you haven’t heard the new LP, definitely grab it from this Austin legend. Bill Callahan – “Jim Cain” ******************************************************************** NEW CELEBRATION SONGS Check out the new website from Cannibal Cheerleader favorites Celebration – it’s called Electric Tarot and it’s based on the idea that the 22 tracks from their latest LP of the same name are related to the 22 major archana of the Tarot deck. Their site will feature a full deck with cards being added over time. Studio recordings will be the major archana, home recordings the minor, and the Court cards will be Celebration videos. Sounds like a really cool idea to us, check out the mp3s and videos below for the first two songs, “What’s This Magical” (The Shaman/Magician Card) and “I Will Not Fall” (The Fool Card). Awesome stuff.
Celebration – “What’s This Magical” Celebration – “I Will Not Fall” ******************************************************************** NEW BLOC PARTY VIDEO Here’s the video for the Villains’ remix of “Ares” as featured on Bloc Party’s Intimacy: Remixed LP. It’s an all cell-phone-camera production recorded from two nights at London’s Olympia Theater. Very cool idea and even better realization. Take a look below.
SPOON ANNOUNCE X3 FEST AT STUBBS Sorry about the lack of posts this week Cannibal Cheerleader faithful (busy times here in the Atx) but we’re extremely excited to announce that Austin’s favorite indie-rockers Spoon will be headlining their own three-day fest from July at Stubb’s here in the capital city called Spoonx3. The band will be headlining all three days with different opening bands each day, including Cannibal Cheerleader favorite Low opening for them on Friday.
NEW BLOC PARTY REMIX ALBUM The new Bloc Party album features the choicest cuts from remixes from the band’s catalogue to date. While Silent Alarm Remixed, while awesome, may have suffered from some fluff, the feeling that immediately arises from Intimacy Remixed is judiciousness, a carefully selected assortment of tracks featuring the best collage of dub, club bangers, dream-pop, and the signature Bloc Party spidery indie-rock. One of our favorite releases so far this year, check it.
NEW GOD HELP THE GIRL ALBUM With rumors abound that Glasgow indie-poppers Belle & Sebastian may be down for the count, it came as a great relief to learn about God Help The Girl, a storyline-driven twee-opera side project from wunderkind B&S frontman Stuart Murdoch. Featuring lilting indie classics like “Come Monday Night” and mixing in slow-burning rockers like “I Just Want Your Jeans” (featuring Asya from Smoosh, who we love by the way), God Help the Girl seems a natural progression from the more progressive-pop of the Life Pursuit. Here’s hoping it’s not the band’s swan song!
The Cannibal Cheerleader Blood Bath recap continues with the Whispertown 2000, who put on an absolutely electric show last Wednesday at the Peacock in Downtown Austin. One of several stops on the band’s SXSW day party roundup, Morgan Nagler and company still managed to bring down the house with songs old and new, including several excellent cuts from their latest LP Swim.
Speaking to Morgan at the bar before the band played, she revealed the band was operating on so little sleep that they were feeling a little delirious, albeit the good kind of delirious. After a whirlwind jaunt down to Texas that saw them renting motel rooms for all of three hours before hitting the road again, the group dashed into Austin and immediately began playing shows, fueled only by a passion for playing and a good deal of free alcohol. Here’s to you W2K, our favorite traveling troubadours!
SXSW LIVE REVIEW: SVIIB, POBPAH (yay abbreviations!)
Friday was definitely a day of rest from SXSW proper, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t head down to Emo’s to check out some buzz-worthy bands, including the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and School of Seven Bells. Pains of course sounded heavenly, churning through now classic cuts from their self-titled debut, but it was SVIIB that really took the stage by storm, churning out fierce guitar-lines care of their ex-Secret Machines guitarist and screaming psychadelic with trippy dual-female vocal stylings. The Cannibal Cheerleader crew was definitely mesmerized by this one! One of the best bills of the whole weekend, quite the show.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from any of these bands comes Virginia-based doom metal outfit Salome (named after the woman who sentenced John the Baptist to death – how metal is that?) who on their four-track, near 45-minute self-titled debut LP mange to create enough carnage to beckon any apocalypse down on our heads. Seriously, this trio, helmed by Kat on wild-eyed, satan-worshipping vocals, R. Moore on stoner-jam, fever-dream guitar riffs, and Deal on pummeling, madness-inducing drums, has created one of the best metal records we’ve heard all year, on par with Crack the Skye and Static Tensions. If you haven’t heard of these guys yet, check them out immediately, they are truly a cannibalistic feast for the ears. Check it:
Lastly today here’s the cover of the new Intimacy: Remixed record from Bloc Party who have now posted the remixes of “One Month Off”, “Mercury”, “Talons”, and “Ares” on their Myspace (plus you can find the “Better Than Heaven” remix here). Looks like they kept the blacklit scheme from Silent Alarm:Remixed and all the better really, as Bloc Party album covers are always the best. Can’t wait to hear “Halo”!
Also check out this awesome video from Letterman! Watch for trippiness at 2:44.
CANNIBAL CHEERLEADER BLOOD BATH SET TIMES That’s right folks, the Cannibal Cheerleader Blood Bath, SXSW Day Party is approaching quickly and if you’re not going to be at the Peacock, 515 Pedernales in Austin, Texas this Wednesday March 18th, 12-6pm, you can rest assured you will be torn apart mercilessly. Above you’ll see our sign for the day show and below you’ll find the set times and the top ten reasons to attend the Blood Bath.
PS. It has come to our attention that the Peacock is now allowing everyone 18+ to attend the event, so if you’re over 18 but under 21 you can attend but not drink. Spread the word!
Top ten reasons to go to the Cannibal Cheerleader Blood Bath:
10. Vermillion Lies leaves to go support Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls after SXSW – Don’t you want to tell your friends you got in before they were big??
9. Treasure Mammal is a hip-hop/experimental artist and motivational speaker and in a live setting that’s every bit as cool as it sounds.
8. Agent Ribbons play Victorian punk – they didn’t even have punk back then but it would’ve been as badass as this, no doubt.
7. Prey For Sleep are following an indie punk band, so we hope a few clueless hipsters will get their faces literally ripped off for cool effect.
6. Action Design = former members of Tsunami Bomb, need we say more?
5. Whispertown 2000, the only folk-rock band with enough cajones to play the same stage as metal acts – seriously bloody indie rock.
4. First ever Rolo Tomassi performance in the United States! FIRST EVER!!
3. Issue #3 of the Cannibal Cheerleader zine available at our merch table, along with CC stickers and possible a Marnie-Stern-style kissing booth!
2. Meet your friendly Cannibal Cheerleader staff, who are way cooler than your average Austinites and can show you a better time in the ATX than 90% of these outside blogs/parties.
1. BLOOD, GUTS, AND GORE. LOTS OF IT. SERIOUSLY, FOUNTAINS.
Be there people, or be torn apart mercilessly. Rolo Tomassi – “Fofteen” ******************************************************************** NEW MF DOOM ALBUM All past transgressions are hereby forgiven, all the rumors, the poorly received live performances, it’s all in the past now that Atlanta emcee MF Doom (now apparently called DOOM, all caps son) has released BORN LIKE THIS. Seriously folks, this may just be the most consistently enjoyable Doom record since Madvillainy, and it features many of the same attributes, that is, short songs with atypical song structures and incredibly clever (not to mention extremely ill) wordplay and rhyming skills. MF Doom is back in fine form, rapping about the state of the hip-hop community, politics, and comic book characters, all in his trademark mush-mouthed, stream-of-conciousness flow. This, plus the sickest J-Dilla and MetalFingers beats this side of the Mississippi, combining bizarre instrumentation with fierce bass beats. Seriously, best hip-hop release of the year so far, no doubt at all. Definitely worth picking up and enough to put all the ’sucka emcees’ in their place, as Doom would say. Sometimes, the king of the world is also the biggest villain, check out some tracks below:
(deleted by request) ******************************************************************** BLOC PARTY ANNOUNCE REMIX ALBUM According to this Stereogum post, Bloc Party will be releasing an Intimacy remix album (Intimacy Remixed) in May, mirroring their lauded Silent Alarm Remixed from back in the day. They’ve got some seriously heavy-weight remix artists contributing such as Mogwai and Phones so we’ll be looking forward to this one with great anticipation. Here is the (terrifyingly awesome and fittingly Cannibal Cheerleader) video for first single, the remix of standout track “Signs”. Definitely worth checking out, though to correct the Stereogum album that said there were no ancillary releases to A Weekend in the City – did you never get the b-side compilation album Another Weekend in the City? You’re missing out if you’ve never heard “Once and Future King”! Check it y’all:
Here’s the first single from the upcoming Mars Volta LP Octahedron. Sounds like some classic MV, a little less in-your-face that the Bedlam in Goliath but featuring the same energetic instrumentation with a flecks of Deloused in the psychedelic chorus. Definitely worth a listen, grab it below.
Last Friday at Waterloo Records here in Downtown Austin local freak-folk hero Bill Callahan (aka Smog) performed some tracks from his new, hypnotic LP Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle to a hushed and reverent Texas audience. Marking a return to the darker days of his lo-fi cassette recordings, Callahan kept a crowded record store absolutely rapt with attention as he lightly strummed and picked through literary and intricate tracks. If you haven’t heard the new LP, definitely grab it from this Austin legend.
Bill Callahan – “Jim Cain”
Check out the new website from Cannibal Cheerleader favorites Celebration – it’s called Electric Tarot and it’s based on the idea that the 22 tracks from their latest LP of the same name are related to the 22 major archana of the Tarot deck. Their site will feature a full deck with cards being added over time. Studio recordings will be the major archana, home recordings the minor, and the Court cards will be Celebration videos. Sounds like a really cool idea to us, check out the mp3s and videos below for the first two songs, “What’s This Magical” (The Shaman/Magician Card) and “I Will Not Fall” (The Fool Card). Awesome stuff.
Here’s the video for the Villains’ remix of “Ares” as featured on Bloc Party’s Intimacy: Remixed LP. It’s an all cell-phone-camera production recorded from two nights at London’s Olympia Theater. Very cool idea and even better realization. Take a look below.
