When we first heard about Jemina Pearl’s solo debut our fevered sniveling over the traumatic breakup of Be Your Own Pet was quelled – at least for a moment. Would the ferocious frontwoman bring the goods without her shredding sidekicks – would the songs maintain their high-flying heroics with the loss of the loose ends? By all means, by all standards, indubitably faithful friends. But this isn’t the Jemina Pearl we’re all familiar with – instead of the stabbing, shrieking siren of olde, this horrifying hellion has herself transformed into a songwriting starlet, with pop hooks, loud-quiet-loud choruses, and Shangri-La’s inspired harmonies replacing all the punk pulverization. While this might be a big change, and one might understand how it could turn off the purists (fuck ‘em), the song remains the same – cocaine, easy girls, heartbreak, cheeseburgers, confusion, tears, youth in general – these are the subjects of Pearl’s tunes, no less childishly awesome than anything BYOP did before, only instead of being dumped in the same pile as a wonderful mish-mash of guitar rock, here comes a perfected pop-punk squall, wiry guitars mixing with Pearl’s ever-engaging voice. Here’s an album that’s not only sure to grow on its listeners but undoubtedly announces an artist with a long road ahead of her full of excellent albums. Definitely check it out.

Jemina Pearl, our favorite rioting, rambunctious, rancorous ex-Be Your Own Pet frontwoman shotgunned our faces off last week with the announcement that her debut LP sits ready and raring to rend our ears straight from our smiling mugs. We’ve already listened to the excellent ‘Get Awkward-era’ tracks posted on JP’s Myspace page (the summery, subversive edge of “Ecstatic Appeal”, the bouncey, shredding brain-addled boogie of “Heartbeats”, and the croony, garage-rock mashup of “Nashville Shores”) and with the release of new single “I Hate People” featuring Iggy Pop(!!!) on backup vocals, which combines girl-group hooks with the menacing titular lyrics, Pearl seems poised to usurp her status as punk-rock frontwoman to solo rocker superstar.The new album will be called Break It Up and will be out October 6th, featuring 13 songs of Shangri-Las inspired rock and roll. Check out the tracklist below:

01 Heartbeats
02 After Hours
03 Ecstatic Appeal
04 Band On The Run
05 I Hate People (with Iggy Pop)
06 Looking For Trouble
07 Retrograde
08 Nashville Shores
09 No Good
10 D Is For Danger
11 Selfish Heart
12 Undesireable
13 So Sick

All this with the bonus news – turns out Jemina Pearl will soon be on tour and will be swinging through Austin on October 27th at Mohawk! Good snap, we’re already snatching up our tickets and you people really should too. Here’s to JP and company, may they have a show to remember.

Jemina Pearl – “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (feat. Thurston Moore)”

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NOW, NOW EVERY CHILDREN KILL IT IN AUSTIN
Welcome back Cannibal Cheerleader faithful, here’s a searing series of psychotic indie rock stabbing you right in the ears, beginning with the instantly enjoyable new stumbleupon Now, Now Every Children blasting out of Minneapolis. Here’s a group that we here at Cannibal Cheerleader regrettably wouldn’t have given a second look to had we not been invited to check the group out live – and what we were treated to was a tour-de-force bedroom-pop meets Stars-inspired jam session with unfettered emotion and inspired musicianship powering the songs forward like a cascade of dreamscapes. NNEC might initially suffer from a variety of short-sighted and ignorant criticisms focusing perhaps on the age of the group (all under 21, looking much younger) or their acceptance into the cult of personality surrounding groups like the Alternative Press Magazine crowd or Paramore (whose Hayley Williams has been known to don a Now, Now Every Children shirt during her band’s stadium-packing concerts). Such ancillary discussions somehow might inhibit a listener’s initial foray into the group’s music – we here at Cannibal Cheerleader would like to throw open that closet door.
Beginning with two excellent EPs (the Not One, But Two EP and the In the City EP) the group, consisting only of Cacie Dalager on vocals, keyboards, and guitars and Bradley Hale on drums (though the live band is bolstered by friends of the group) has only just released their incredible debut LP Cars in December of 2008 and have been riding its wave ever since. With indie-sensibilities well beyond their years the duo crafts a brand of soft-spoken and sensitive bedroom-recorded, 8-track-loving pop music with a delicate eye for heartfelt lyricism which doesn’t dive into melodrama or pitying pathos but swoons with metaphor and darkness. Songs like “Everyone You Know” and “Friends With My Sister” denote a level of maturity and understanding that indie-rockers have been clumsily striving for for decades. Here’s a band that knows how to take the Stars formula, whip in a little shoegaze drone, punch it up with some guitar riffs, and inject a little personability to make a fantastic brand of rock music. Definitely check out this group immediately – we did and we’re thankful for it.

Now, Now Every Children – “Everyone You Know”
Now, Now Every Children – “Friends With My Sister”
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NEW LISSY TRULLIE VIDEOS
Lots of people have been leaping onto the Lissy Trullie bandwagon as of late and we don’t blame them – with an infectious sound and an enticing band personality to boot, LT and crew have garnered the attention of hip magazines trying to claim street cred and lame magazines trying to reclaim coolness. According to all reports the group is taking it in stride and now that they’re stuck in the studio hopefully churning out new and even more electric tunes we thought it prudent to give the fans a whirlwind tour of the group’s recent video lineup, starting of course with their new single “Ready for the Floor”.

As it turns out the original Hot Chip version of this track will be featured in the upcoming horror flick Jennifer’s Body (you know, the one about the hot cheerleader who eats her fellow classmates, more on this later…) and will hopefully throw some listeners Lissy’s way.
We really feel that LT’s power and genuineness shine brightest during live performances and this one is no exception. It’s an interview video care of ABC News (???) featuring Lissy Trullie and the band performing tracks for a hard-hitting, 40+ year old reporter and still managing to win him over. Good or bad thing that parents might like LT? We’ll leave that up to listeners. Turns out this video is not embeddable (strange I know) but here’s the link because it’s actually a pretty interesting watch and comes recommended by the CC crew.
Lastly if you haven’t checked out the Lissy Trulie “Boy Boy Remix” yet you’ve got to get your ass in gear and download it below. It’s a stellar mix and definitely showcases LT’s Scarlett Johansson voice – worth a listen every time!

Lissy Trullie – “Boy Boy (Blunt Laser Remix)”
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NEW BAND CHEER: LANTERNS
Smashing their way out of San Diego with an equal parts bombastic and wiry guitar sound, Lanterns features a brand of Sonic Youth-meets-Bloc Party sound that’s sure to please fans of either group. With a self-proclaimed fluid band structure that features members of the group constantly moonlighting in other groups, Lanterns has still managed released a myriad of EPs, all apparently coalescing into one giant sonic assault in the form of their upcoming debut LP Young Wizards.
Seeing as the group combines our favorite elements of new-wave British dance-rock a-la the Futureheads and the best feedback of the true American fuzz-masters like the Raveonettes, we’re gearing up for an audio maelstrom the likes of which we’ve never heard. Definitely can’t recommend this group more, check them out or miss the boat after it leaves the harbor people.

Lanterns – “Creation Myth”
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NEW YOB RECORD REVEALED
Road-weary travelers of the stoner-rock landscape will be familiar with the name Yob, the inimitable and downright fearsome trio hailing from Eugene, Oregon whose breakup and reformation were the topic of much of the Northwestern metal landscape for several years. And now, finally in 2009 we have the result of the reformation in the form of the five track searing LP The Great Cessation, a collection of smoldering, crackling, choking doom metal that marks a new high point for the band and sounds not unlike a legless zombie slowly clawing its way out of some dark pit to tear your breath from your chest.
Featuring greater use of lead guitarist and vocalist Mike Sheidt’s voice than ever heard in previous Yob records, The Great Cessation stands as one of the group’s most terrifying works, delving into the realm of blackend metal with grinding guitar parts and hellish yelps and shrill cries splattering across every track. Here’s the new Yob record – definitely and defiantly worth the wait.

Yob – “Burning the Altar”
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THE DANDY WARHOLS REVEAL THEY ARE SOUND
We here at Cannibal Cheerleader count ourselves as Dandy Warhols apologists. Sure they might be hipper than thou and of course they’re more electronic leanings and dancier rhythms are no match for their early, drone-rock recordings (The Dandy Warhols Come Down is still one of our favorite records) but with a bevy of fantastic singles and a live show that strips you of all pretensions (and sometimes your clothes) the group still stands a testament to the power of indie-rock and roll in today’s musical landscape. And what better way to recapture that early DW love than to invest in a remix album that takes the band’s first step into the true mainstream with Welcome to the Monkey House and twists it into a lo-fi version featuring the producer of the Roots.
The Dandy Warhols Are Sound is a reimagining of Welcome to the Monkey House that features alternative mixes of the album’s tracks, mainly resulting in a more organic, live performance style sound that captures the Dandys in rare form, combining their penchant for live fuzz-rock with their newfound interest in electronic noodling. The album is in many ways a step up from the original album, which, while solid, definitely suffers from overproduction and a sparkling clean finish that marked the jump to a bigger label for the band. Definitely check this one our as soon as you get a chance, and hey, go listen to the Dandy Warhols when they fly through town on Sept. 9th at Emo’s here in Austin!

The Dandy Warhols – “We Used to Be Friends”
The Dandy Warhols – “Burned”
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CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES SOLO SHOWS
Speaking of apologies, we have very few to say when it comes to our unabashed love of New York-based singer-songwriter Charlotte Sometimes whose debut LP Waves and the Both of Us still spins at the Cannibal Cheerleader house every once in a while. Turns out that CS is performing at a variety of NY locales over the rest of the summer, including tomorrow July 29th at Piano’s! Check her out people, this gal is most certainly going places!

Charlotte Sometimes – “Losing Sleep”
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VIDEO FROM THE DANKS
If there’s one record we’ve been spinning madly down here at Cannibal Cheerleader headquarters over the past few weeks it’s got to be the Danks’ debut LP Are You Afraid of the Danks?, an album many are describing as the Canadian answer to the Strokes, a highly positive critique that we can’t help but agree with. The Danks combine a bouncey, garage-rock based rhythm with sing-song vocals and scratchy-voiced lead singer philosophizing on the merits of youthful rebellion while his band frolicks on their guitars in the background.
Speaking of the background here’s the group’s newest video for single “In Alright” which features the band acting as party music for a college kegger. Watch the luckless foursome get shoved aside by blonde bombshells and wonder why they aren’t getting all the girls yet. Oh that’s right, they play indie-rock and roll. Oh what a world, check it out below:

The Danks – “Who Knows”
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NEW BAND CHEER: heat-ray
Here’s another in a long line of Cannibal Cheerleader shoegazey favorites – introducing heat-ray from Alberta, Canada, a five-piece pop group that combines a two-fold male and female vocal assult with the punishing power of ‘Creep-era’ Radiohead’s three-guitar punchout to create an overall aura of bombastic, glowing guitar-rock that billows and flares like a four-alarm fire. With the recent release of their debut LP LoveAllOver the group has managed to capture a stormy but sophisticated sound that garners instant comparisons to the likes of Catherine Wheel or Ride without sounding like petulant knock-offs or boring retreaders – instead the group sounds equal parts fresh and exciting while still retaining a level of pop pride that echos through ever pedal and amplifier on stage. Check out the group below and prepare to be amazed (also, yes, we’re aware the name’s not capitalized, that’s how it’s supposed to be geez).

heat-ray – “Come Closer”
heat-ray – “If Love is The Drug”
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PETE DOHERTY BOOTLEG: LIVE FROM BARROWLANDS
If you’re visiting this site for the first time or are a long-time reader we can safely say you’ve not lost your faith and love in music – lucky for us neither has Pete Doherty, former Libertiner and current Babyshambler whose current solo tour has been causing waves across the British press for its heartbreaking renditions of well-worn Arcadian tunes old and new. Featuring many new tracks from his latest LP Grace/Wastelands Doherty has been relentlessly perfecting his live show, bringing the Babyshambles backing band and Graham Coxon as support.
Fortunately for all of us across the pond who can’t see Doherty live there’s a fervent recording community for all the former Libertines located at Albion Arks and French Dog Blues, the latter of which forwarded us this bootleg entitled Pete Doherty at Barrowlands and features the singer-songwriter performing gut-wrenching renditions of classics old (”Fuck Foverer”, “Music When the Lights Go Out”) and new (”The Lost Art of Murder”, “Sheepskin Tearaway”). Definitely live show worth reliving again and again, give a listen below.

Pete Doherty – “I Am the Rain (Live at Barrowlands)”
Pete Doherty – “What Katy Did (Live at Barrowlands)”
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FUN FUN FUN FEST SLOWLY REVEAL LINEUP
All roads point to Austin this November as the 4th Fun Fun Fun Fest gears up for a slamming lineup of punk, indie, and hip-hop for what we Texans have gotten used to calling the best festival that nobody knows about. According to all sources this site features the latest leaks for F3 and we’re stoked at the people it’s listing so far – Jesus Lizard? GZA? MELT BANANA?
We here at Cannibal Cheerleader have a Melt Banana fetish that stretches back to our days in high school and to see them live on a stage as big as the F3 ones, well that’s just a recipe for success in our book. Keep tabs on the site and look for more updates soon!
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NEW BAND CHEER: BAD VEINS
The band’s name is Bad Veins and they will change the way you think about lo-fi rock and roll. Frothing forth from the depths of Cincinatti, Ohio the duo of Benjamin Davis and Sebastien Schultz craft a brand of woozy, stadium-sized crashing rock, complete with Brandon Flowers-style vocals sung through a Strokes-esque megaphone. The duo features guitar riffs that mesh in soupy mash of electronic warblings and keyboard cuts to create an air of shoegazey-meets-organic roots rock, all recorded on what sounds like the most beat up 8-track dragged from the depths of your mother’s basement. In all sincerity, the band requires a listen to fully understand, so here’s a sample of Bad Veins, a band with a lot of room to rise in a landscape that needs their type of creativity.

Bad Veins – “Found”
Bad Veins – “Gold and Warm”
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RA RA RIOT TOUR THROUGH AUSTIN
Still stretching their legs to the tune of their debut LP the Rhumb Line Ra Ra Riot will once again be blasting through Austin on Sept. 24th and you know we’ll be first in line for such antics. This sextet still remains one of our favorite acts of the day, combining all our love for tender folk, loud-quiet-loud rock and roll, and singalong harmonies in seemingly every song. Here’s to the Ra Ra Riot gang – may you continue to forge ahead!

Ra Ra Riot – “Dying is Fine”
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JENNIFER’S BODY REPORT
So here’s the story so far – seems as if love-her-or-hate-her screenwriter Diablo Cody of Juno fame has penned a horror film entitled Jennifer’s Body starring Meghan Fox. The plot revolves around a bombshell cheerleader (the titular character played by Fox) who becomes wrapped up in a Satanic sacrifice ritual by what else, a rock band hoping that the Devil will assist them in snagging a record contract. The spell goes wrong and Jennifer turns into a possessed demon, luring boys into her clutches and, here’s the catcher, consuming them.
In many ways this plot obviously sounds incredibly badass. As it evident from the title of the blog we’re huge horror fans here at Cannibal Cheerleader and when it comes to high schoolers getting torn apart you can put money on us being first in line. On the other hand, we’re a little apprehensive about Diablo Cody stalking us, taking our name and applying it to a film. Either way, we’re going to be seeing this one in theaters, if only because Fangoria seems to be giving it the go-ahead (and Lord knows we love and trust those guys). So here’s hoping the film does well and, just so it’s written in stone and recorded on the ever-trustworthy internet – we were here first people. Thanks!

Scary stuff, mwahaha!
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CANNIBAL CHEERLEADER AND YOU
Thanks for reading Cannibal Cheerleader faithful. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods – we here at CC headquarters in Austin, Texas have been super busy over the past few weeks (as if our lack of weekly updates wasn’t evidence enough). We’ve stretched ourselves pretty thin with ancillary jobs outside Cannibal Cheerleader but fear not (or fear rather, mwahaha) we’ll be back up to speed in no time – things just need to cool down and smidge and we’ll be back in fighting form.

Also a quick plug for our friend over at Decaying Youth Buttons. Check out the buttons they did for us recently:
Really rad stuff if we do say so ourselves. Head on over to their website and take advantage of their July deal where you can get 100 buttons for fifteen bucks – quite a deal. And if you’re in the Austin area, let us know if you’d like some Cannibal Cheerleader swag. We’ve got buttons, stickers, zines – just let us know and we’ll get it to you! Even you people from around the world, hit us up and we’ll get you something cool. Stay hungry everyone, see you next time!

Comments?

Details are somewhat sketchy at the moment, but if all sources are true metal masters and sludge signors Isis will be delivering their fifth offering of pure drone-metal goodness this very May 5th. Entitled Wavering Radiant, several songs are purported to feature guitarwork from Tool shredder Adam Jones. Stay tuned for more info from this metal juggernaut.

Isis – “The Beginning and the End”

Straight from the devil’s mouth, the Myspace of Jemina Pearl, the ex-Be Your Own Pet frontwoman writes:

According to all the reports, the return of ex-Be Your Own Pet lead singer Jemina Pearl to the world of music was nothing but a triumph, albeit perhaps an awkward one for the pint-sized crooner. You can check out a video below that sounds every bit as ramshackle as a BYOP b-side with perhaps a little more Jemina-focused flair. Also, apparently John Eatherly, drummer of the duo’s former act, is now the guitarist, in what Pearl is calling an act akin to ‘Iggy Pop and the Stooges’, ie, ‘Jemina Pearl and the Somethings’. Check out the rest of the interview with Pearl here and watch out for more recordings from this group soon. They’re supposed to start committing songs to tape in March and have moved to NY to be near Mr. Thurston Moore, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the weeks to come.

Band On The Run
No Good
I Hate People
After Hours
Nashville Shores
So Sick!
Heart Beats

Jemina Pearl – “So Sick”

Comments? The interview features Pearl stating, “Actually, me and John were the two main songwriters on “Becky”. Maybe that’s closer to what some of the newer stuff is going to be like.” Oh we could only be so lucky! Also, SXSW update tomorrow – get awkward/excited!

While we were lamenting over the loss of one of our favorite bands ever, Be Your Own Pet, after their breakup last August, lead singer Jemina Pearl was hard at work writing and recording her solo debut, according to this article. Her label Ecstatic Peace! confirms these developments and as an even more exciting development Pearl is scheduled to play her first ever non-BYOP show this Saturday, Jan. 17th in Brooklyn. That’s a new press photo up there (brown hair now? you chameleon you) so stay tuned for even more new photos/videos/songs after this weekend. Can’t wait!

In other developments, we’ve somehow managed to stumble across a trailer for an as-of-yet unmade horror film starring none other than Miss Jemina Pearl as the protagonist’s main squeeze. Jemina Pearl, a horror fan? Well if her tattoo of the girl with the axe through her forehead from Friday the 13th (pictured above), the verse in “Ouch” about how “when there’s no more room in hell/The dead will walk the Earth”, “Zombie Graveyard Party”, and animal homicide in “Bog” don’t convince you, the following trailer for The South Will Rise Again will convince you. Check out Pearl near the 1:19 mark. 

Bonus video: The Gossip Girl clip with the “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” song that you can download above:

Comments? Any horror fans/Jemina Pearlies out there?