Crooked Beat sent along a list of the Adams Morgan stores top-ten sellers for May. I pass it along not so much for its tiny news value as merely a reminder. Maybe you’re like me and totally slept on the new Camera Obscura album (it’s….No. 1 at Crooked Beat). Or maybe you still do not own Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic (No. 9).

Read More “Crooked Beat’s Top Sellers For May” »

Here’s what you need to know about The Decemberists playing The Hazards of Love in its entirety on their current tour: on prog-rock bulletin boards, folks are comparing this show to Genesis performing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in the 1970s.

Hazards of Love sounds awfully proggy on record, and live it’s got all the telltale signs: a theatrical presentation (including costumes of sorts), a ridiculously fantastical concept/storyline, lots of Hammond organ and other keys, a gratuitously long children’s choir section… everything to make the latent prog fan inside you start drooling. And the thing is, it works. Before last night I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the album, but its highlights are exhilirating in the live setting, especially those featuring the powerhouse vocals of My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden. Set the absurd concept aside and the music stands on its own remarkably well.

More photos and thoughts after the jump. Full gallery here.

Read More “Photos: The Decemberists @ Merriweather Post Pavilion” »

It has been more than two and a half years since Sufjan Stevens released a studio album, nearly three years since he released an album of non-Christmas songs, and almost four years since he released an album that wasn’t just a compilation (albeit a compelling one) of outtakes from his previous album. The man who once pledged to write a concept album for each of the 50 U.S. states is fast becoming the prolific musician who wasn’t–and the natives are getting restless.

Normally, when a beloved artist fails to release a much-anticipated album, it leaves his votaries in the tricky situation of being swollen with frustration but, wary of biting the hand that feeds, unable to unload it on anyone. Enter Alec Duffy, a self-content theatre director from Brooklyn, winner of last winter’s Sufjan song-swap–a contest wherein Sufjan pledged to send a copy of an unreleased single to the fan who presented him with the best original song. Mr. Duffy composed a wholesome holididdy called “It’s Christmas Every Day,” and won.

On receiving his coveted prize, Mr. Duffy declined to put the song, reportedly titled “The Lonely Man of Winter,” on the Web as feverishly anticipated. Rather, he issued this coy promulgation (as quoted by The 405):

In an effort to counter the cheapening effects of Internet all-availability, and to recapture an era when to get one’s hands on a particular album or song was a real experience, we at my theater company, Hoi Polloi, would like to share this song with Sufjan fans in a special way. We would like to invite you to our Brooklyn home for an exclusive listening session of this gorgeous song, with hot beverages and cookies provided for your enjoyment. We’ll share some conversation, slip some headphones on you, and press play. Please email for more information about finding a time to come over for a special listening session.

Ouch.

Whether Mr. Duffy assumed that anyone who could appreciate Sufjan’s artful chamber-folk orchestrations must necessarily live in Brooklyn or simply did not give a damn about the legions of unwashed urchins who didn’t, this was not widely received in the quaint spirit with which it was proposed. Needless to say, the spurned masses have found in Mr. Duffy an outlet for their Sufjan-withdrawal angst–and an opportunity to nudge the term “douchebaggery” closer to formal nounhood.

For a more detailed version of this story, check out Eric Molinsky’s piece for Studio 360.

Sufjan, by the way, has been in the studio–just not for himself. He just got done producing the debut album of The Welcome Wagon, a Brooklyn-area reverend and his wife, and has been backing them up on banjo.

Tomorrow is Record Store Day. Get pumped. Here’s a good idea of what the local stores will be carrying:

PAVEMENT: LIVE IN GERMANY LP SONIC YOUTH/JAY REATARD SPLIT 7 SONIC YOUTH/BECK SPLIT 7″ ARTHUR RUSSELL: LOVE IS OVERTAKING ME 2LP CAMERA OBSCURA: FRENCH NAVY 7″ ELVIS PERKINS: LORRAINE, LOOKOUT 7″ BLACK KIDS: WIZARD OF AHHS 10″ BOB DYLAN: DREAMING FROM YOU 7″ BRANDI CARLILE: DOWNPOUR 7″ BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: WHAT LOVE CAN DO 7″ DEPECHE MODE: WRONG 7″ JANES ADDICTION: MOUNTAIN SONG 7″ JENNY LEWIS & ELVIS COSTELLO 7″ JESUS LIZARD: INCH 7″ SINGLE BOX SET LEONARD COHEN 7″ MC5: 7″ MY MORNING JACKET: LIVE 10″ NEW ORDER: TEMPTATION 7″ SLAYER: PSYCHOPATHY RED 7″ SUBLIME: SUPERSTAR PUNANI 7″ SMITHS 7″ STOOGES 7″ VARIOUS ARTISTS: THIS LP CRASHES HARD DRIVES WILCO: ASHES OF AMERICAN FLAGS DVD WHISKEYTOWN 7″ YEAH YEAH YEAHS: IT’S BLITZ LP GUIDED BY VOICE: HOLD ON HOPE 10″ BEN HARPER: SHIMMER & SHINE 10″

The Vinyl District has been partnering with the Industry on this one. We’re just riding shotgun. Here’s a breakdown of what some of the local stores are doing (we will be adding to this list throughout the day):

Read More “Record Store Day: What To Expect, What To Find” »

This Saturday, hipsters nationwide will saddle up their fixie riders and head down to their local vinyl outlet for Record Store Day. The holiday, created two years ago by a coalition of well-connected romantics (presumably while smoking a peach hookah and watching Empire Records), celebrates the culture of indie record emporia in the face of encroachment from “corporate behemoths.” In order to participate, a store must be a “physical retailer whose product line consists of at least 50 percent music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70 percent located in the state of operation.”

Read More “Record Store Day: Do Hipsters Hate iTunes?” »

Check out Steve Kolowich’s post for the lowdown on this show… here are some images.

As for my take, Cloud Cult is a band that I like better in theory than in practice. I love how they combine visual art and music (Craig Minowa was careful to introduce painter Scott West as “a full-time member of the band”), I love their arrangements and their instrumentation. But the execution leaves something to be desired for me. That said, their live show definitely comes across better than their recordings, and Saturday’s set was certainly entertaining.

More photos here and after the jump.

Read More “Photos: Cloud Cult @ Black Cat” »

It was a night of chamber pop and droll viz-art at The Black Cat on Saturday, as Cloud Cult and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s played a many-strings-attached set to a crowd of studious head-bobbers.

Read More “Black Cat Baroques Out: Cloud Cult and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s” »

On Sunday night, Pop Cesspool and I walked over to DC9 to check out the Crystal Stilts show only to be faced with a flier on the door telling us that the band had canceled.

The Cesspool was miffed by the sudden no show. So he decided to e-mail the band. One Crystal Stilts member replied. Apparently, the band’s van had broken down.

Slumberland notes that there are more tour dates so maybe you can catch the band in….Lawrence, KS on the 23rd. Or Harrisburg on the 26th.

*photo of Crystal Stilts courtesy of highrize.

Earlier this week, the upcoming Grizzly Bear album, Veckatimest, leaked. We gave our first-impressions of the album. While a colleague joked that the much-anticipated LP was all texture and scaffolding and no melody, we disagree! We love the album more and more with each listen no matter the bootleg’s sound quality.

Yesterday, the band responded in a blog item about the leak:

“So yeah, we are kind of bummed this leaked so early. We know it’s not the 90’s anymore and times have changed, and we’re super grateful for all the support people have shown us on the blogs and internet, but we were kind of hoping it wouldn’t happen this soon.

Ultimately we feel like we put out a great album and hope people enjoy it, and we really hope people take the time to pre-order and support the good one-and-a-half years it took to write and record it.

I promise you the album art for both CD and vinyl is going to be gorgeous. And a bonus: all vinyl people will get a high quality download coupon with their purchase.

Leaking is a tricky subject; as we all know, I’ve had my run ins with the law O__o (Hi, Mr. Sheriff!) I have conflicting opinions about it, as it’s really complicated, but ultimately it saddens me that a bummer-quality version of Veckatimest is going around. Please consider putting your energies into a pre-order or into waiting till May 26 for the album the way we intend it to be presented.

Not to get all mushy, but we definitely put a lot of love and work into this one and are just excited to hit the road and tour it again.”

The band’s singer/songwriter Ed Droste was more fun on Twitter.

Read More “Ed Droste Responds To Grizzly Bear Album Leak” »

The new Grizzly Bear album, Veckatimest, leaked last night. Unexpected, sure. First link was a prank. By then, the real thing had already hit the message boards. It was Grizzly Bear’s night. Even then people complained. Wha? Only 128 kbps? Indie Beggars are assholes. Showed me at least that Grizzly Bear knew about sound and marketing. People expect big things and big sounds from them; they don’t want to listen to Orchestrated Pop with no 128 kbps. The band tweets and blogs. Every nerd had to file a blog post on the album art being released, the tracklist being finalized, the album going up for a vinyl pre-order on Insound. So when it leaked last night, I guess people wanted more, more, more.

But fuck it. Here’s a first take at 128.

Read More “Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest Leaks” »