Irate New Jersey indie rockers Titus Andronicus have released details on their second album. The Monitor will be a concept album loosely about the Civil War. Frontman Patrick Stickles says “it is a record about how the conflicts that led our nation into that great calamity remain unresolved, and the effect that this ongoing division has on our personal relationships and our behavior and how they’re all out to get us (or maybe not?) and yadda yadda yadda.” Guests on the album include the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and Vivian Girls’ Cassie Ramone. You can hear part one of the first single “Four Score and Seven” here.
Bradford Cox has dusted off a super-rare Deerhunter album. In a post on the band’s blog, Cox says “it features only me and Moses and is very experimental in nature. This was during our ‘tape phase’ when we would often play shows as a duo (or as a trio with colin) playing only tape machines and vocal loops.” You can download Carve Your Initials Into the Walls of the Night for free here.
‘90s East Coast indie darlings Thrush Hermit will reform for a series of reunion shows in March 2010. It doesn’t look like anything more than a short tour though. Joel Plaskett tells Exclaim!, “As it stands, this is a one-off tour. We’re all busy with our own agendas and we wanted to do this, so we are all pressing pause on our other lives to make it happen in March.”
Galaxie 500 will see their catalogue reissued once again. On March 22nd, Domino will release the seminal ‘80s indie band’s three studio albums - Today, This Is Our Music and On Fire - all with bonus discs of live recordings Peel Sessions and more.
The National and Dan Deacon have both been used new ad campaigns by Google. The National have leant “Apartment Story” for an “out of office” advertisement, while Deacon’s “Build Voice” will be heard promoting web browser Google Chrome.
Tags: Bradford Cox, Carve Your Initials Into the Walls of the Night, Dan Deacon, Deerhunter, Domino, Exclaim!, Galaxie 500, Google, Joel Plaskett, Patrick Stickles, The Monitor, The National, Thrush Hermit, Titus Andronicus
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Finally! A band has chosen to name their album after my favourite NES game Contra. Vampire Weekend is that band. Says frontman Ezra Koenig, “Look, I was born in 1984, so I’m not going to name an album Contra and not think about that video game.” All that’s left to say is Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start.
Just weeks after releasing a new Atlas Sound album, Bradford Cox proves he’s still prolific by giving away a new single. You can grab “Doctor” and its B-side “The Screens” for free over at his blog.
Jay-Z has signed the Ting Tings to his Roc Nation label. Yeah, we’re surprised too! We assume it’s all part of Jay’s plan to make indie rock popular. Oh wait, it already is…
Ladytron are turning ten and you know what that means? Greatest hits. Actually, it’s a “best of” since they didn’t exactly light up the Billboard charts. Multi-instrumentalist Rueben Wu says “Since we’ve done four albums, I think it would be time to put something like that together.”
And Julian Casablancas says he never really wanted to make a solo album, but felt he needed to because of those other Strokes. He tells the Orange County Register, “ I feel like I was kind of forced a little, to be quite honest. The band wanted to go do their own thing, and that’s cool — I respect that they need to go do that. But I didn’t want to sit around.”
Tags: Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox, Contra, Jay-Z, Julian Casablancas, Ladytron, Roc Nation', Strokes, Ting Tings, Vampire Weekend
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