The Rock Blogger

“Modern World” from Apologies to the Queen Mary. 2005

Wolf Parade’s long awaited follow up to 2005’s acclaimed Apologies to the Queen Mary , will be arriving June 17 courtesy of Sub Pop records. There is no definite title for the new album yet, but early rumors suggested it would be named Kissing the Beehive . Maybe the band got cold feet after Pitchfork made fun of that title, I’m not sure, but we’ll know soon enough.

The tracklist:
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On Monday, Chicago’s annual Lollapalooza Music Festival announced their stellar lineup for the August 1-3 event which will take place at the city’s Grant Park. This year looks to be unbelievable, with three of the 90s greatest acts (Radiohead, NIN, Rage Against the Machine) headlining and some excellent Canadian groups joining in as well.

Advance tickets are going for $190 US. They’ll go up to $205 once those are gone.

Go to Lollapalooza.com for more details.

You better start planning your road trips now.

The Full Lineup Below:

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Japan’s psychedelic masters return to the fray with their newest LP Smile to be released on Southern Lord on April 29th. The label will also release a 7” single for “Statement” which will also feature the B-side “Floorshaker” on February 26. If their last collaboration album with Merzbow was any indication, Smile is going to be a massive, blistering record.

Stay Tuned.

On the eve of 2008’s first American presidential primary in Iowa, the top-tier candidates are scrambling for a final push at the polls, as both parties see a dead heat race for their respective nominations. Last year saw the meteoric rise of Barack Obama, who has, not surprisingly, attracted many young people to the Democratic party. As reported by Pitchfork, Bright Eyes’ own Conor Oberst performed at an Obama rally on New Year’s Day, which was packed with political neophytes.

“Oberst played a few tunes and addressed those gathered by saying, “I met the next president of the United States earlier today.” The Observer also noted the enthusiasm of “the younger Iowans in attendance.” Let’s hope these youngsters are old enough to vote!”

Besides Oberst (and Oprah or course), Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, and The Cool Kids have also pledged their support for the first term Senator.

While it is certainly refreshing to see a candidate actually inspire young people to vote (miraculous really), the youthful enthusiasm will have to face the fact that most Iowan caucus goers are usually over the age of 50…

We’ll see how Obama’s slew of indie endorsements fare for him tomorrow night…

***Update: Obama kicked some serious caucus.

Happy New Year!

To ease my recovery from last night’s shindig (where much drinking and snow skating took place), I thought I’d create a quick rundown of some upcoming releases to be excited for in the first few weeks of 2008. Look for some reviews of these albums on The Rock Blogger as they come out.

This Will Destroy You This Will Destroy You January 8th.

Magnetic Fields. Distortion. January 15th.

Black Mountain. In the Future. January 22nd.

The Mars Volta. The Bedlam in Goliath. January 29th.

It looks like 2008 is going to have a good start.

Last Tuesday, Pitchfork released their Top 50 Albums of 2007, naming Panda Bear’s psychedelic Person Pitch as the album of the year. While I thought the album was warm, trippy and evoked fond memories of stoned summers past, I honestly thought several other bands were more likely to take the top spot, like The National (#17), LCD Soundsystem (#2) or The Arcade Fire (#27???). Here is the full list:

50 Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life
49 Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English
48 Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
47 Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
46 Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water
45 Ricardo Villalobos - Fabric 36
44 Les Savy Fav - Let’s Stay Friends
43 Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
42 Ghostface Killah - The Big Doe Rehab
41 Life Without Buildings - Live at the Annandale Hotel
40 Beirut - The Flying Club Cup / Lon Gisland EP
39 The White Stripes - Icky Thump
38 Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
37 Grizzly Bear - Friend EP
36 Iron and Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog
35 Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
34 James Blackshaw - The Cloud Of Unknowing
33 King Khan & the Shrines - What Is?!
32 Sally Shapiro - Disco Romance
31 Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
30 Caribou - Andorra
29 Bon Iver, For Emma - Forever Ago
28 Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
27 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
26 Various Artists - After Dark
25 The Tough Alliance - A New Chance / New Waves EP
24 Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings
23 Studio - Yearbook 1
22 Okkervil River - The Stage Names
21 Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
20 Liars - Liars
19 Feist - The Reminder
18 Kanye West - Graduation
17 The National - Boxer
16 Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3
15 Justice - †
14 Deerhunter - Cryptograms / Fluorescent Grey EP
13 Jay-Z - American Gangster
12 No Age - Weirdo Rippers
11 Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
10 Burial - Untrue
09 The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
08 Battles - Mirrored
07 Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
06 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
05 of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
04 Radiohead - In Rainbows
03 M.I.A. - Kala
02 LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
01 Panda Bear - Person Pitch

On their list of The Best 100 Tracks of 2007, Pitchfork Media honored LCD Soundsystem’s terrific “All my Friends” from their LP Sound of Silver which was #16 on my 50 Best Albums of 2007 list. The award seemed fair, as the song does brilliantly capture singer James Murphy’s growing pains with its evocative song-writing, jittery piano lines, inspired chorus, and top-notch production. What do you think is the best song of 2007? Some of my nominees would be “Squalor Victoria” by The National, “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations” by The Arcade Fire and “Suddenly its a Folk Song” by The Future of the Left”. Here is LCD:

As reported by Chart Attack, Montreal’s Silver Mt Zion will be releasing their fifth full length album 13 Blues for 13 Ghosts March 25 under Constellation Records. Their first release was mentioned on my Post Rock list for its alluring melancholia, and this new release will hopefully continue on the band’s expansion of their sound. Hopefully a tour announcement will follow soon as well. In the meantime, you can watch this YouTube video I found for “Stumble then rise some awkward morning” from their debut album. I’m not sure if this is official or not, but it sure is strange and hypnotic.

With/Avec 2007

Promising Montreal art-rockers Plants and Animals will release their first full-length album Parc Avenue on February 26th, according to Chart Attack. The release will feature 11 tracks and follows their excellent EP With/Avec which was released at the end of October. To hear two tracks off With/Avec, and to see a list of upcoming tour dates, check out the band’s myspace page.

“We have resumed rehearsing (meeting up and talking rubbish and occasionally playing music” -Stuart Braithewaite of Mogwai

As reported by Chart Attack, Scottish post-rockers Mogwai are working on a follow up to last year’s epic Mr. Beast which is currently under the working title “The Hawk is Circling“. The band has recently announced that the new work will be released sometime in the autumn of 2008. The only announced track name so far is “The Precipice”. Hm, sounds deep I’m sure it will be just as explosively psychedelic as their last work.

To tide you over until its out, here is the awesome video for “Travel is Dangerous”, from Mr. Beast (2006).