I’m still in love with Moment Bends, months later.

Fiona Apple & Jon Brion – Everyday by TheNJUnderground

The Buddy Holly tribute Rave On: Buddy Holly is out June 28th and features quite an esteemed group of artists ranging from Paul McCartney and Julian Casablancas to Florence and the Machine and The Black Keys. Fiona Apple’s contribution has just been leaked and finds her once again teaming up with multi-instrumentalist/producer Jon Brion. Holly’s original charmed because of its overt simplicity. Apple knows better than to try to fuss up a winning formula, so she leaves the arrangement sparse and lets her voice do all the work. Her cadence lends more of a country feel to the melody, while adding a bit of a darker edge with her subtly tense vibrato.

Taken from the new album “Secret Rituals“, out June 17.

The Cure is planning to reform with founding member Laurence Tolhurst for a special series of shows at the Sydney Opera House in Australia as a part of Vivid Live 2011. The band plans to perform its first three albums (Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith) in their entirety on May 31st and June 1st, respectively, which will be filmed for a future DVD set. Joining Tolhurst, vocalist Robert Smith, long-time bassist Simon Gallup, and current drummer Jason Copper will be keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, who has been with the band on and off since the “Kissing Tour” in 1987. Tolhurst was shamefully ousted from The Cure right around the release of Disintegration in 1989 after being credited with “other instrument” in that album’s liner notes. He’d been a punching bag in The Cure for years due to his “one finger” keyboard technique. He later sued Smith for back royalties in the mid-1990’s, further souring their relationship. Having obviously patched things up with Smith, Tolhurst will make his first appearance with the band in over twenty years. The line-up decision for these shows is somewhat odd given that if you’re going to make a special effort to replicate early albums then you should probably use only the personnel that worked on each record. It’d be far more interesting for the die-hard fans who will appreciate this the most to see the original line-up for each of those three records than a hodge-podge assemblage of old and new. Either way, it’s good to see Three Imaginary Boys getting some live love.

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead has been enjoying a rebound period of goodwill surrounding the release of its seventh record, Tao of the Dead, since January of this year. It’s about time, too. The band was poised to become one of the elite untouchables after its seminal Source Tags and Codes album topped so many year-end lists back in 2002. But the backlash set in almost immediately, and the band couldn’t catch a break. It took four albums for even a whiff of praise to blow back in its direction. And Tao of the Dead is a deserving standout, as it encapsulates everything the band does well from the bombastic percussive breakaways to its over the top grandiosity, all couched in a thematic coat of mythical arms. “Summer of Dead Souls” is an explosive rocker, showcasing that the band’s hunger and angst haven’t been diminished by the business end of things. I can’t even recall the last video I saw from this band, but the “silent film” treatment works in this context. And the song just downright rocks.

Whether or not your down with Joy Division bassist Peter Hook touring his old band’s debut album with his kid and a few hired guns in tow is one thing. Purchasing an EP of Joy Division covers by said crew is another. I couldn’t imagine patronizing either one. But somebody must be, or I wouldn’t keep reading about it. (And I’m not helping either, obviously). The new EP 1102 / 2011 by Peter Hook and The Light featuring Rowetta (ex-Happy Mondays) tricks out new versions of the Joy Division classics “Atmosphere,” “Insight,” and “New Dawn Fades,” as well as an unfinished Joy Division song evidently titled “Pictures in My Mind.” The latter song is obviously the bait for the completists. Clever trick. I for one can live without any of it. For the curious, it all hits shelves on May 9 on Hook’s own Hacienda Records.

If you’re nostalgic to the point of obsession, then you can check out Hook et al. on tour, where they’ll not only be playing Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures on certain dates but for a special show in Manchester on May 18th, the anniversary of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis’ death, the group will perform Joy Division’s final recording, Closer, in its entirety. Dates after the break via Pitchfork.

[Read more →]

Another new tune from Arctic Monkeys’ fourth long-player, the curiously titled and shittily cover-art-ed Suck it and See, shows the Sheffield quartet continuing its quest into the dark terrain trampled on the slightly dour Humbug. But as with even the worst Arctic Monkeys songs, there’s always Alex Turner’s showy wordplay to lessen the blow. Alas, “Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” is a far cry from the band’s worst. It sports a twisted, rocker riff replete with borderline shoegaze “oohs” and a dose of sunny harmonies. And more of Turner’s ace lyrics.

The band has two sweeps across the US planned over the next few months. However, if you live in the South, you’re foiled again. Dates via Pitchfork after the break.

[Read more →]