But he also sends signals of capitulation, the wimp. Imagine a world where your only musical options were Eminem or Justin Bieber. So fuck 'em. Just skip the following text and go straight to Merge's Arcade Fire video at the bottom.

By Fred Mills

Tallying the Arcade Fire-Grammy win (for "Album of the Year") controversy to date:

*First, the band wins on Feb. 13, duly ensuring that bands who don't necessarily sell a million albums still have a shot at the brass ring (and additionally proving to the mainstream public that the indie milieu does indeed "qualify" as artistically relevant);

*Then, the Arcade Fire haters come out in force, primarily from the hip-hop world and also from a few oddball corners (such as those occupied by Rosie O'Donnell and, uh, Tawny Kitaen).

*Next, former Interscope label exec (now a marketing mogul) Steve Stoute takes the Grammys as a whole to task, suggesting that the losses of Eminem and Justin Bieber means the awards ceremony is a sham, and in the process belittling the accomplishments of Arcade Fire. (He subtly dissed "Best New Artist" winner Esperanza Spalding as well.)

*Finally, Arcade Fire's manager, having had his fill, decides to weigh in and states flatly that the band "deserved the win this year."

Got all that? Good. Today the chairman of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, addressed Stoute's complaints about the Grammys by agreeing to have discussions with him on "how each side could better understand each other," according to an A.P. report. Portnow and Stoute issued a joint statement indicating they were ready to make nice in the mutual interests of improving the Grammys.

Of course, Stoute's stance, that the Grammys are broken and will remain that way until nobodys like Arcade Fire and Spalding are summarily shoved aside and gazillion sellers like Em and the Biebster take home all the awards, seems subtly intractable. That's a point Portnow tacitly made in his portion of the statement in which he defended Arcade Fire's win this year:

"Frankly, I'm not so sure 10 years ago where an Arcade Fire could have received a best album award. This is not about popularity or about sales or even about notoriety, it's about excellence in music," he said. "That's why a Grammy means so much to an artist when they get one, because it's a peer recognition."

That's for sure - as anybody who has followed the Grammys over the years and knows what a meaningless, empty honor a Grammy had become (and still was some 10 ago). And how, despite fits and starts, the Grammys had in the past few years been steadily improving as actual music lovers - who have a clue about contemporary music and understand it's not all about major label muscle - came into the Academy fold and voted on the basis of conscience rather than dollar signs.

Portnow's statement, above, is as things should be. Here's hoping that the Grammy chief doesn't cave and Stoute the keys to the Grammys SUV; we'd hate to see him and his posse barreling down the musical highway towards us.

Meanwhile, here's the only thing you need to know about all this:

Video from new album, due May 17, which will be followed by a national tour.

By Blurt Staff

In anticipation of their upcoming record False Beats and True Hearts, out May 17th on 20/20/20, Damon & Naomi have just unveiled a new "video" by visual artist Chris Marker, best known for his groundbreaking film La Jetée, the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys. It consists of a single still image set to album track "And You Are There" (via The Wire) - click on the link following the text.

Naomi issued a statment on "the connection between the artist and the art":

The song, "And You Are There," is about the way time can compress when you are lost in a memory, something I have learned a lot about from Chris Marker's work - his films (La Jetée, Sans Soleil), his writing (Immemory), his photographs. When the song was finished, I sent it to Chris with a note - since his work had provided inspiration for the song, I wondered, might he in turn have a visual response to it? He sent back this image, with the note: "Dunno if it fits your pretty Proustian melancholy, but I thought it could... And thanks for linking me to music, the only real art for me as you know (cinema? you kiddin'...)

May/June coast-to-coast U.S. tours are being planned with Amor de Dias, the new project from Alasdair Maclean of the Clientele. Their debut album will be out on Merge the same day False Beats and True Hearts is released, and it features Damon & Naomi guesting on one track. The two bands have played together in England, but this will be Amor de Dias's US debut. Japanese psych-rock demigod Michio Kurihara (Boris, Ghost) will play electric guitar with Damon & Naomi on tour, as on the album.

Damon & Naomi: "And You Are There" 

Damon & Naomi with Chris Marker - And You Are There from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo.

The Jersey post-hardcore outfit, on a co-headlining tour with Underoath, performed their Full Collapse classic in its entirety on Feb. 22 at the 9:30 Club.

Text & Photos By Adam Fried

About halfway through Thursday's set at the 9:30 Club, keyboardist Andrew Everding asked singer Geoff Rickly, "Is this the best show ever?" Rickly relayed the question to the fans at the sold-out venue, and then agreed: "I think he's right. This is the best show ever."

While the bandmates were obviously exaggerating, it certainly didn't come off as pandering; it felt sincere. From Rickly walking on-stage with a huge smile, to repeatedly thanking fans during the roughly 50 minute set, the guys in Thursday all seemed genuinely happy to be there.

In the ten years since Thursday released its sophomore effort, Full Collapse, the New Jersey post-hardcore band has put out three other full-lengths and has a new one coming out this April. Though the band's musical style and direction have changed from album to album, Full Collapse remains its most popular and well-known work.

Songs like "Understanding in a Car Crash" and "Cross Out the Eyes" have been crowd-favorite staples of the band's live shows over the years anyway, so it's no surprise really that Geoff Rickly and company would see the "10 year anniversary" angle as a tour opportunity.

And that's exactly what they did, currently making their way across the country on a co-headlining tour with Underoath, playing Full Collapse in its entirety. Though Thursday is far from the first band to do this, it's still a popular strategy: Old-school fans get a chance to be nostalgic, and teenagers get to pretend they were there the first time around.

As soon as the band came on-stage and the feedback led into the first notes of "Understanding in a Car Crash," it was an energetic sing-along for the rest of the set. Large sections of the crowd were clearly there just to see Underoath and bobbed their heads a little bit, but the several dozen closest fans to the stage hung on every word - from the screamed line "Write these words back down" a minute into "Autobiography of a Nation" to the call-and-response vocals in album-closer "How Long is the Night?"

Following "Wind Up," Rickly took another opportunity to thank fans for their support over the years. "When we wrote this record," he said, "we never thought you guys would want to hear it 10 years later." At this point, he said they had two songs left, so mathematically inclined fans knew he either a) was counting the album's sample-heavy outro as a song, or b) had a little bonus up his sleeve.

The latter was the case, and after "How Long is the Night?" a shortened version of the outro led into "Turnpike Divides," a new track off their upcoming album No Devolución. The song started off pretty frantic and high-energy, but then it slowed down and sort of just fizzled out for a couple more minutes.

It wasn't the most exciting finale for an otherwise exciting set, and it would have been nice to hear 2-3 other non-Full Collapse tracks. But that brevity is probably attributable to the "co-headlining" tour with Underoath, which seemed to be in name only since Underoath was clearly the headliner and responsible for the biggest draw.

Before leaving the stage, Rickly again thanked fans and promised, "See you real soon," hinting at another tour to support the new album this spring. Fans who missed this one probably won't get to see Full Collapse in its entirety again for a while, but chances are good you'll hear a handful of these songs at any given Thursday show anyway.

Or just wait until 2021 for another anniversary tour.

[Photos by Adam Fried, http://adamfriedphotos.com/]

Taping the episode on Friday for an April airing.


By Blurt Staff


Billboard is reporting this morning that Lykke Li will be taping an episode of MTV's "Unplugged" tomorrow in New York City. It's targeted for an April broadcast. The story also suggests that MTV is planning on getting behind the Swedish singer in a big way this year, including becoming one of the network's PUSH artists.


Meanwhile, Lykke Li is also a featured artist in the new issue of Blurt, headed to newsstands right now. You can read some excerpts from the interview elsewhere on the Blurt site.

Featuring guest appearances by Jan Akkerman (Focus), Peter Banks (Yes/Flash), Daevid Allen & Gilli Smyth (Gong), Michael Bruce (Alice Cooper), Napoleon Murphy Brock (Zappa), Zoot Horn Rollo & Rockette Morton (Capt. Beefheart's Magic Band), Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Buzz Gardner, Motorhead and Jimmy Carl Black (Mothers of Invention), Moogy Klingman (Todd Rundgren's Utopia).

By Blurt Staff

Just take a gander at that roster of progressive and classic rock players, above: someone's not messing around. After a 12 year gap between albums, and fans holding their breaths, avant-garde music pioneer ANT-BEE, best known for recording ex-members of the Mothers of Invention and Alice Cooper Group together on the critically acclaimed 1998 release 'Lunar Muzik', has finally released what could be considered the artist's masterpiece. Possibly the most unique and innovative album to be recorded in decades, ANT-BEE 'Electronic Church Muzik' is an exploration into the spirituality of man (and woman) in a steam-of-consciousness psychedelic trip. It's out on the Barking Moondog label.

Ant-Bee is the brainchild of one Billy James, formed through a series of musical experimentations in the recording studio back in 1987 in Los Angeles. In 1988, Ant-Bee was signed to Los Angeles record company Voxx/Bomp Records. The first Ant-Bee album was 'Pure Electric Honey', and received rave reviews worldwide. Ant-Bee became an overnight legend in the European underground. The album also featured guest performances by Bob Harris (Frank Zappa) and Rick Snyder ( Captain Beefheart ). In 1990 the live Ant-Bee ensemble was assembled and gigged throughout Los Angeles to the astonishment of most audiences. Also at this time, while recording new material, the first Ant-Bee video was filmed "Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree" which viewed in L.A and Canada. During this period a cover version of the unreleased Beach Boys song "Do You Like Worms?" was recorded. Oddly through a bizarre turn of events this Ant-Bee version of the song was mistakenly played on a Beach Boys radio show as a rare Beach Boys demo!! It eventually surfaced on several elaborate European bootlegs as an unreleased Beach Boys studio outtake from 1966! In 2004, ANT-BEE was mentioned in Brian Wilson's 'Smile' tour program, proclaiming the artist was the first to cover the 'Worms' track in question.

In 1992 the second Ant-Bee video was filmed "The Girl With The Stars In Her Hair", a much more elaborate production. It was broadcasted worldwide to much critical acclaim. At this point Ant-Bee left Voxx records. An EP of new music was released in Germany and several magazines and European labels released rare Ant-Bee tracks. Also during this period Billy James/Ant-Bee began a long (and current) relationship with the original ex-Mothers Of Invention (Frank Zappa's first group). Thus began a series of recordings, filmings and gigs with these legendary artists (Bunk Gardner, Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black, Motorhead and Roy Estrada). The Ant-Bee was the first in over 25 years to record most of the original Mothers (sans Frank Zappa) together on CD!!! From this unique collaboration came the second Ant-Bee album 'With My Favorite Vegetables & Other Bizarre Muzik' (released Divine Records UK 1994).

In 1994 Billy James relocated to the east coast to record the third Ant-Bee album 'Lunar Muzik'. Now in an elaborate 24 track facility, the third album soon become a true Ant-Bee masterpiece. Again the original Mothers make guest appearances along with the legendary Daevid Allen of Gong/Soft Machine, Harvey Bainbridge of Hawkwind and the original members of the Alice Cooper Group (namely Michael Bruce, Neal Smith). Also to promote the release of this album was the filming of the psychedelic video 'Child Of The Moon'. After a tour of the east coast with Michael Bruce, the Ant-Bee began work recording the fourth album 'Electronic Church Muzik' which promised to be an even bigger extravaganza then the previous album.

Mark Ronson- produced platter drops in June. See new video, too.

By Blurt Staff

They've decided to call it Arabia Mountain, and "it" is the new Black Lips album, produced by Mark Ronson and due in June on Vice. Leading up to that will be an extensive tour in April with the Vivian Girls and then again in June with Cerebral Ballzy.

Meanwhile, below check out the band's new video for the song "Go Out and Get It!" which just premiered at Vice's VBS.TV

Tour Dates:

March
07 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks 
April
06 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle 
07 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar 
08 Washington, DC @ Black Cat 
09 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero Theatre 
12 New York, NY @ Webster Hall 
13 Pawtucket, RI @ The Met 
14 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club 
15 Montreal, QC @ Le National 
16 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre 
17 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick 
19 Columbus, OH @ Outland Live 
20 Newport, KY @ Southgate House 
21 St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird 
22 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium 
23 Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre
25 Omaha, NB @ The Waiting Room  26 Kansas City, MO @ Beaumont Club 

June

9 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
10 Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones
11 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
12 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
14 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
15 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Commodore Ballroom
16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
17 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Concert House
18 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
19 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
21 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
22 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
23 Costa Mesa, CA @ The Detroit Bar
24 Los Angeles, CA @ The Music Box
25 Pomona, CA @ The Glass House

You know you were really, really hoping someone would do this....


By Perez Mills



Normally we'd just Twitter something like this and let you figure it out on your own, but hell, why not attempt to ride the Charlie Sheen zeitgeist in a shameless bid to pick up a few extra eyeballs?


Over at BuzzFeed.com, some wags decided to collect a slew of Sheen's more brazenly boneheaded quotes and pair them up with likely cartoons from that bastion of non-boneheadedness, The New Yorker. The results, like the one above, speak for themselves.


Go to BuzzFeed to see all of 'em. You won't be disappointed.

Official Showcase Thursday night -  St. Paddy's Day bash w/Second Motion Records at the Continental Club: Latebirds, K's Choice, Ian Moore, David Garza, Jon Langford, Scott Biram. Plus lots more all week long....

By Blurt Staff

We are extremely excited to officially announce our 2011 SXSW Showcase partnership with our good friends at Second Motion Records!  This year's showcase will be our best yet as we are hosting it at the legendary Continental Club on Thursday night, St Patrick's Day!  Below is the line-up and times. 

Please come early as we are expecting a full house all night long and as always in Austin/SXSW, entry is based on a first-come, first-serve basis. We'll also have copies of the brand-new issue of BLURT, hot off the presses.

Blurt Magazine/Second Motion Official SXSW Showcase

The Continental Club

1315 S. Congress Ave

Austin, TX 78704

8pm: The Latebirds

9pm: K's Choice

10pm: Ian Moore

11pm: David Garza

12am: Jon Langford & Skull Orchard

1am: Scott H Biram

We are also co-sponsoring several day parties during SXSW. More details to come but here is the kick-ass lineup for some of the parties we are involved with so far:

GINGERMAN PUB

301 Lavaca St

Austin, TX 78701

THURSDAY:

1-1:35  Ryan Schmidt - http://www.myspace.com/aboutschmidt

1:55-2:30  Cliff Hillis - www.cliffhillis.com

2:50-3:30  Lydia Loveless - www.myspace.com/lydialoveless

4:00-4:30  Jon Langford and the Skull Orchard (from The Mekons) -
http://www.myspace.com/jonlangfordskullorchard

4:45-5:15  The Waco Bros (members of The Mekons) -
http://wacobrothers.com/wb/

5:45-6:25  Hoots and Hellmouth - www.hootsandhellmouth.com

7:00-7:40  Exene Cervenka (from 'X') - www.exenecervenka.com

8:00-8:40  Kingsley Flood - www.kingsleyflood.com

9:00-9:40  Mean Creek - www.myspace.com/meancreek   

10:00-10:40  Ha Ha Tonka - www.hahatonkamusic.com   

11:00-11:40 Eatliz - www.eatliz.com  
 
12:00-12:40 Whitey Morgan and the 78's - http://www.myspace.com/whiteymorgan

FRIDAY:

1-1:40  The BellRays - www.thebellrays.com   

2:00-2:40  Richard Barone (from The Bongos, w/special guests Peter Buck from REM, and Vanessa Hay & Michael from Pylon who will do 'Cool' by Pylon as finale) - www.richardbarone.com  

3:10-3:50  The Fleshtones - www.fleshtones.org   

4:20-5:00  Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 -
http://www.myspace.com/stevewynnthemiracle3  

5:20-6:00  The Baseball Project (members of REM, Young Fresh Fellows, Dream Syndicate) - www.thebaseballproject.com   

6:30-7:15  Mike Watt (Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Minutemen, fIREHOSE) - www.mikewatt.com   

7:40-8:20  LITE (instrumental virtuosos from Japan) -
http://www.myspace.com/liteband  

8:50-9:30  The Bluebonnets (Kathy from The GoGo's) -
http://www.kathyvalentine.com/  

10:00-10:40  Supercluster (Vanessa from Pylon, Bob Hay from The Squalls) - http://www.superclusterband.com/  

11:00-11:40  Casper and the Cookies (buzz band from Athens GA) -
http://www.casperfandango.com/  

12:10-12:50 Flash To Bang Time (Lynda Stipe, Michael's sister, from OH OK) - http://www.myspace.com/flashtobangtime  

SATURDAY:

1-1:40  David Wax Museum - www.davidwaxmuseum.com   

2:00-2:40  Muck and the Mires - www.muckandthemires.com   

3:00-3:40  Parallax Project - www.parallaxproject.com   

4:00-4:40  Gram Rabbit - www.gramrabbit.com   

5:00-5:40  Colourslide - www.myspace.com/colourslide   

6:00-6:40  Evaline - http://www.myspace.com/evaline  

7:00-7:40  Blackbells - http://www.myspace.com/blackbellsband  

8:00-8:50  Jimmy Gnecco (of OURS) - www.jimmygnecco.com   

9:00-9:40  Locksley - www.locksley.com   

10:00-10:40  The Latebirds - www.latebirds.com   

11:00-11:40 Girls Guns and Glory - www.girlsgunsandglory.com   

12:00-12:40  Eddie Spaghetti (The Supersuckers) -
http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artist/eddie-spaghetti  

***

And we are also excited to once again be a co-sponsor with our good friends at Bloodshot Records and their annual day party at the Yard Dog:

Bloodshot Records annual SXSW Yard Dog Party
1510 S. Congress, Austin TX
Friday March 18, 2011

12 noon - 12:20  Carolyn Mark with The Jack Grace Band
12:30 - 1:00    Ben Weaver
1:10 - 1:40     Maggie Bjorklund with Cobirds Unite
1:50 - 2:20     Lydia Loveless
2:30 - 3:00     Exene Cervenka
3:10 - 3:40     Whitey Morgan & the 78s
3:50 - 4:10     Freakwater
4:20 - 4:50     Eddie Spaghetti
5:00 - 5:30     Ha Ha Tona
5:40 - 6:30     Waco Brothers

(links to the above musicians at the Bloodshot artists page)

Party sponsored by Rolling Rock and Blurt
Savory and sweet pies by Dangerously Delicious Pies

***

More to come! And hope to see you in Austin.

The New York band descends upon the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland on Feb. 25. Opening: Corin Tucker Band.

By Tim Hinely

Hungry Ghost, Sara (Unwound) Lund's new band opened this evening but I didn't arrive in time to see them perform. I did get to the venue in time to catch the second half of the Corin Tucker Band's set.  Her debut record, which had some interesting moments, didn't do much for me, but live the songs really came to life. I didn't catch any song names but the last 3 or 4 songs rippled with the kind of electricity that the record didn't. The few folks I spoke with who caught the whole set said I saw the best part.

It had been at least a decade (maybe more) since I'd seen NYC's Versus, a longtime favorite upon hearing this first single (1992's "Insomnia"). The band had had some different folks in the lineup over the years (including Patrick Ramos and a 3^rd Baluyut brother, James). For this tour the band was back down to the original trio of Richard Baluyut on vocals/guitar, bassist Fontaine Toups and drummer Ed Baluyut while adding Margaret White on keyboards and violin. They played a nice mix of songs, both old and new. (For the new ones, however, when Richard said "new" I did not know whether he meant brand new or simply from the latest record, On the Ones and Threes.)

Still, it was hard to complain with a set that included "Thera" (from their Teen Beat debut, The Stars Are Insane), "Circle," "Into Blue," "River," "Double Suicide," "Forest Fire" and plenty more. For encores they played "Bright Lights" (their amazing 2^nd single) and "Blade of Grass" (for which ex-Team Dresch-er Jody Bleyle came on stage and did the oooh-ooohs).  None of us wanted it to end, but sadly, it had to. A band can't play forever.

On Fantasma City, the Buenos Aires collective serves up a spirited, polyglot mix of electro, cumbia, hip hop, reggaeton, and more.(hear their version of the Specials' "Ghost Town," below.) Out now in the U.S. on FireAnt Music.

By Carl Hanni

We live in the age of global groove cross-over, and the musical migrations seem to be picking up speed and shedding inhibitions as they go along. Nations may fuss and fight, but increasingly musicians, it seems, want to mix and match from the wide palette of world musics. This is nothing new, of course; musicians worldwide have been crafting all kinds of fascinating combinations for as long as music has been prefaced with the word ‘popular.'

South America and the Caribbean seem to have consistently been ahead of the game here. Going back at least as far as the late ‘50s and early ‘60s and you'll find thousands of examples of local combos taking little bits of whatever they heard on the radio, mixing it in with what was hot at the local record shop or sound system with their own local music, and turning out one fabulous hybrid after another. Whether it's from Columbia, Peru, Cuba or Jamaica, this part of the world has long embraced music-as-melting-pot. 

Fast forward to 2010 and we have Fantasma, a group of multi-disciplined musicians, artists, and filmmakers from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Not to be mistaken with Austin's fabulous Grupo Fantasma, Fantasma play a spirited, polyglot mix of electro, cumbia, hip hop, reggaeton and whatever else they take a shine to that has a sexy groove. Fantasma is pushing the pulsating cumbia groove into some new territory and inviting everyone along to the dance. Definitively electro based (but still using plenty of accordion), Fantasma make bouncing, buoyant, infinitely danceable music that also has both humor and a socially relevant aspect to it. 

Pretty much everything here is really strong and consistent. "Danza Danza," with a jaunty whistling chorus, melds electro cumbia and reggaeton into an instant dance floor classic. "Encantador de Serpientes" sounds like Egyptian Lover reborn as an intergalactic DJ street gang. "Cumbia Que Pega" and "Muevelo Que Sube" bring the hip hop forward, while "El Paisano," "Esto Es Asi" and "Cumbia Callejera" work the electro cumbia groove to perfection. Sure to draw some attention is a sci fi, Kraftwerked cumbia version of "Ghost Town" by The Specials, a wickedly great re-imagining of one of the signature songs of the 1980s. 

If you're looking for some early summer in this endless winter, Fantasma have condensed it down and put it onto a CD. Look no further. 

Listen to Fantasma's cover of "Ghost Town":

Fantasma - Ghost Town by Newton Las Pelotas!