Say farewell to the alterna-nineties too, kids...

By Blurt Staff

With ‘90s nostalgia already reaching critical mass - while welcome reunions from the likes of Blur and My Bloody Valentine have gone down, we're also being saddled with mooks ‘n' chumps like Creed and Third Eye Blind - it's probably not a bad thing when a band opts to bow out when it senses the well has run dry.

Ergo, Seattle's Harvey Danger recently announced it was splitting up, announcing a farewell tour (which starts today in Boston) and posting to their website,

"After 15 years, three albums, hundreds of shows, and far more twists and turns than we ever imagined possible, we've decided to put Harvey Danger to rest. The decision is totally mutual and utterly amicable. Everyone is very proud of the work we've done together, but we've also come to feel that our collaboration has--in a very positive way--run its course. We're all eager to try our hands at other projects, musical and otherwise. Of course, putting an end to something we've been working on since our early 20s can't help being accompanied by a soupçon of melancholy. Nonetheless, as the Chambers Brothers remind us, time has come today. Rock bands have life spans, and Harvey Danger's has been longer and more eventful than even we would have predicted."

Best known as a one-hit wonder of late '90s provenance, though obsessively loved by a devout cult of listeners from below and above the indie rock radar, Harvey Danger has released three albums of literate, emotional pop-rock that range wildly in style and impact. The first two (including the one that was a hit in 1998) came out on major labels, and a third was released in 2005, according to what would later become known as the Radiohead model. Little By Little... eventually generated over 300,000 downloads (it's still available at their site for free), and was released physically by Kill Rock Stars in 2006. It was followed with the release of an EP on Barsuk Records.

Other highlights? Sharing stages with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Spoon (both of whom were chosen by HD to open tours before anyone knew who they were), Nada Surf, Ra Ra Riot, Robyn Hitchcock, Jon Brion, Grant Lee Buffalo, They Might Be Giants, and many thousands more. Participating in the Seattle edition of Brendan Canty's "Burn to Shine" DVD series. Having their song "Flagpole Sitta" being used as the theme song for the British TV sitcom "Peep Show," now in its sixth brilliant season. Oh, and playing on Letterman, being on MTV a lot back when it still pretended to play music, making a bunch of videos, having their song played at the seventh-inning stretch at the World Series, and stuff like that.

But as the band puts it, "Now is the time to call it good. Everyone in Harvey Danger is very excited to have a last chance to play together in public, and to bring the band's energetic and assured live show to the cities that have felt the most like homes away from home for the band over the years."

Tour Dates:

08.07.09 - Boston, MA @ Harper's Ferry
08.08.09 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House
08.15.09 - Chicago, IL @ Schuba's
08.22.09 - Los Angeles, CA @ Largo
08.28.09 - Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
08.29.09 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile

HD does H&O:

1976 album Tracks and Traces due Oct. 6 from Gronland/High Wire

By Blurt Staff

Great news for Krautrock fans. We'll let you get the gist by reading the press release, below. And then get set for the massive - we do mean ginormous - Michael Rother interview that will be running soon on the BLURT site. You have been warned.

Oh yeah, have an MP3 on us: "Vamos Comperos"

In the late summer of 1976 the musicians of Harmonia sensed an opportunity. The band had made two albums up to then, Musik von Harmonia (1974), and Deluxe (1975). Both works are now considered classics of krautrock and electronic music; nonetheless, afterwards the creative core went its separate ways. All three musicians were tireless and set to work on solo projects. Michael Rother would later release Flammende Herzen, Hans-Joachim Roedelius Durch die Wüste and Dieter Moebius Lilienthal. But then Brian Eno waltzed onto the scene. He had long been aware of Harmonia, and had even spontaneously joined in on a session with the band at a concert in the Fabrik in Hamburg in 1974. The musicians were not shy about expressing their interest in further collaboration and exchanged numbers. Two years later Eno called the members of Harmonia and asked, "Is now a good time?" The answer, "Well, not exactly - we kind of broke up - but sure, as good a time as any."

At that time Eno was on his way to Montreux to work with David Bowie on the album Low. A man well-traveled in the beau monde of rock music, he entered the studio in the rural hamlet of Forst in Germany's Weserbergland region with no pretenses. To quote Rother, "Eno didn't come across like an aloof pop star at all; on the contrary, he was very pleasant and inquisitive. We worked as equal partners and were a collective that simply wanted to make music, with no thoughts of commercial success and without the pressure of having to record an album. To me those are the best working conditions you can have."

"Eno brought a great intellect, boundless pleasure in making music and a font of experience in the realm of popular music, and that clearly opened a door that was already closed," adds Roedelius. Despite this, the general public heard nothing from these recordings for a long time; in part because they were not made for commercial purposes, but also because Eno's original tapes were long considered lost. Luckily, Roedelius and Rother had both made copies of the four-track tapes.

Out of the blue in 1997 Harmonia released the album Tracks & Traces, which included clips from the legendary 1976 recording sessions. Roedelius probed the material in his possession and had it remixed using an elaborate technical process. "I did nothing more than technically remaster the original material (one of the three four-track tapes that we had recorded) with Austrian sound engineers and enhance it so it would be digestible for other listeners besides ourselves," recalls Roedelius.

Rother explains more precisely, "Due to discord within the band, Achim put the music together on his own. The new tracks recorded in 1997 are therefore an expression of his personality in their atmospheric emphasis. Möbi and I weren't happy that Achim went it alone, but we had to admit that he had done a hell of a job. All the same, we came to a consensus on the title and the artwork, so Möbi and I were in a sense involved (laughing). But you really can't say a bad word about the music, it's wonderful." One can do nothing but agree with that assessment. In "Vamos Compañeros" a brazen groove hisses to the fore in the form of a looped steam engine sound. The idyllic detour provided in "By the Riverside" abruptly gives way to an abstract experimental phase with a gloomy undertone. A cautionary finger is raised admonishing, "Don't get lost on Lüneburg Heath." After a "Weird Dream" the mood again brightens and the listener is treated to warmer, pop-like harmonies and the slide guitar familiar from Eno's later works, although, in this case, it is Rother playing it. But, of course, it does not end there.

Rother himself had a copy he had had stashed away in his studio since 1976 as well. One day he decided to digitize the 27 fragments contained on it. Although the material could have filled an entire album, they agreed to add three of the songs to the reissue of the 1997 album. "Initially I asked myself what made sense musically; which of the many tracks I particularly liked and which reflected the broad musical scope of our collaboration with Brian Eno the best. The next step was about how best to integrate the selected tracks into the existing album. Instead of the normal practice of tacking them on to the end of the album as bonus tracks, I proposed changing the structure of the album and the order of the tracks. Luckily everyone involved agreed on that." The album now builds up gradually with the intro "Welcome" and the second track "Atmosphere" before proceeding to "Vamos Compañeros", from whence it gains the trusted momentum of the original release. It is rounded out with "Aubade", a track that reinforces the impression of a reconciliatory conclusion.

As they say, good things take time. And now, 33 years after these recordings were created, we finally have an all-around satisfying version of a long believed lost treasure of the krautrock era. In all likelihood this project signals the end of the Harmonia era. Although the band reformed two years ago and performed some highly acclaimed concerts in Berlin, Great Britain, the USA and Australia in the wake of the release of the celebrated concert recording Live 1974, Rother and Roedelius both jointly declared that there would be no continuation of the live performances - even if doing so would be lucrative for them in many ways. But the 1970s German avant-garde never let itself be a slave to commercial interests. Its credo remains as it was then: Good music is what is born of the unadulterated soul of the artist, not something fabricated with strategies and intellectual games, whatever their nature. And, as one can tell from Harmonia & Eno 1976 - Tracks and Traces, quality does not lose its luster in such conditions - not even with the passing of decades.

Tracklisting:

01 Welcome
02 Atmosphere
03 Vamos Companeros
04 By the Riverside
05 Luneberg Heath
06 Sometimes in Autumn
07 Weird Dream
08 Autumn
09 Les Demoiselles
10 When Shade Was Born
11 Trace
12 Aubade

See vid preview of Inspiration Information, below.

By Blurt Staff

The ever-provocative Strut label's been on a roll lately with a series of eye- and ear-openingglobe-trotting, genre-bending collaborations - including Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics, Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle and Sly & Robbie & Amp Fiddler. The label has also been responsible for those amazing vintage worldbeat compilations we've been reviewing at BLURT: Black Rio Vol.2  and Nigeria '70. (Watch the BLURT site soon for our review of their Ze Records overview Ze 30.)

Now Strut's announced the latest volume: Inspiration Information will feature legendary Fela Kuti drummer and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen along side Finnish electronic / jazz maverick Jimi Tenor.  As the label advises us, candidly, "The is a raw and forward-thinking take on Afrobeat which will thrill fans looking for the next evolution in worldly future funk." Coming soon - watch this space for details.

See the teaser trailer below for a taste.

Denial of service attack means people can't disclose details of their plans to paint their nails, go to lunch or entertain deep faux-philosophical thoughts.

By Blurt Staff

All you Twitter fans scratching your heads over why you can't get your daily crack fix, rest easy: Courtney Love is still asleep in her bed following a long night of ligging, so she hasn't crashed the system.

There is, however, an ongoing denial of service attack, according to a report filed by TechCrunch.com. Twitter has indicated it's dealing with the problem.

The rest of you who are going into withdrawal symptoms about now - hey, read a book. Watch some Oprah. Do a "Michael Vick" with the family pooch. Or simply get a dang life...

Better yet, ponder all the banalities you might be inclined to be posting about now, and then consider the fact that everyone who reads ‘em thinks you're really, really lame but is too polite to tell you to your face.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass--Tenacious D--announce a performance on the third day of the S.F. music and arts festival. Careful... You might get burned.

By Randy Harward

Forget Tom Jones. Fuck Jason Mraz. For that matter, you can tell the Dave Matthews Band to suck it. Also, Pearl Jam should go spread itself on toast 'cause True Rock Gods have been added to the lineup for the 2009 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, taking place August 28-30 in San Francisco.

Tenacious D annouced their appearance today on a teleconference with media--including Blurt, which is honored at our inclusion. The D will play on August 30, the same day that even lesser acts such as The Dead Weather, Modest Mouse and Ween play, but Jack Black was complimentary of these acts, mentioning them as his own must-sees. "I'm always into seeing me some Ween," he said... perhaps cheekily.

In fact, both Black and bandmate Kyle Gass praised the lineup, Gass saying, "Pretty much we're on the best day... pound for pound."

In addition to their three faves, the D's day will feature M.I.A., Band of Horses, Calexico, Lucinda Williams, John Vanderslice and The Avett Brothers. Among others. For the full lineup, visit www.sfoutsidelands.com.

Oh, one more thing. The D would like everyone to heed a caveat about their upcoming performance: "Our shit is toned," says Black.  "You might get burned."

And no, "The Clap" is not a cover of Yes... unless Steve Howe is guesting in disguise.

By Blurt Staff

Thao With the Get Down Stay Down will be releasing their second full-length album, Know Better Learn Faster, on October 13 via Kill Rock Stars. "The album is named ‘Know Better Learn Faster' because you can't," said Thao, in a statement. "By the time you realize you should, it's too late. And I enjoy the predicament and the totally devastating, unfunny humor of that."

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down (Adam Thompson on bass, keys and additional guitar, and Willis Thompson on drums and percussion) return with the follow up to their critically lauded previous album, We Brave Bee Stings and All. With super-producer and friend Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Bill Frisell, Jim James) again at the helm, Know Better Learn Faster matches the "cleverly crafted and emotionally evocative songs" with "vibrant, innovative instrumentation, incredible energy and a still-acutely-solid sense of what sounds good... all the while staying faithful to their distinct style, sharp wit, and the infectious and enamoring exuberance of their renowned live shows."

Know Better Learn Faster is also being described as in many ways "a boisterous, frenzied, and resigned break-up record," and with that territory comes a few songs wherein Thao does not employ her trademark method of juxtaposing brighter melodies with melancholic content.  "A few of these are just straightforwardly sad.  Sometimes there's not much room to mince words and music when you feel like shit," she says. The album is, in essence, an audit of the end of one or any number of relationships.  Thao says: "We are thankful for the opportunity to have explored and then purged all crippling tensions and anxiety inherent in such dramas and hope you enjoy the scrappy by-product.

Guesting on the album are Andrew Bird, Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper, Laura Veirs,  Nathan Crockett of Horse Feathers, and close friend and new 4AD artist Tune-Yards.

Track Listing:

01. The Clap
02. Cool Yourself
03. When We Swam
04. Know Better Learn Faster
05. Body
06. The Give
07. Good Bye Good Luck
08. Trouble Was For
09. Oh. No.
10.Fixed It!
11. Burn You Up
12. But What of the Strangers
13. Easy

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

New rec due in October from Yep Roc.

By Blurt Staff

As we told you a few months ago in this space, Chuck Prophet and his band ventured to Mexico City to record the follow-up to 2007's album Soap & Water and encountered a swine flu pandemic, an earthquake, electric brownouts, and crashing hard drives. For proof, check the photo accompanying our news item, here.

But they still managed to polish off a new record titled ¡Let Freedom Ring!, which will be released October 27 on Yep Roc Records.

"I just wanted the energy of this place," Prophet says of Mexico City. "I'm looking at a studio that is totally state of the art... for 1957. I stood in the middle of that room, I clapped my hands and I knew we could make a great record."

You can check out the following promo trailer for the album and get some of that vibe:

Limited edition of 1500, so act fast.

By Blurt Staff

It's literally been a decade since the mighty Tortoise dabbled extensively in vinyl releases - check this discography of the band for proof. 1996-98 was particularly fruitful for the Windy City band, which pumped out a slew of limited edition 12-inch remixes that at the time proved highly prized among collectors (although a quick glance at eBay suggests the group's stock has fallen considerably since then). High-profile remixers of the band included Stereolab, Jim O'Rourke, Oval, Autechre, UNKLE and Derrick Carter. 

To follow up the release of their first new studio album in five years, then, Tortoise is releasing a two song remix 12" of songs from Beacons of Ancestorship.  Side A features  Eye from Boredoms doing a remix of the album's opening track "High Class Slim Came Floatin' In".  Side AA features the dub/version master Mark Ernestus of Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound doing a version of the track "Gigantes".

Side A : High Class Slim Came Floatin' In - Eyeremix

Side AA : Gigantes Version - Mark Ernestus

The 12" is presented in a proper LP jacket and features black and white photography from Andrew Paynter.  Andrew's photography was also featured on the Beacons of Ancestorship jacket and he was behind the video for the song "Prepare Your Coffin" which can be seen HERE.

The 12" is presented in an extremely limited quantity of 1,500 and will be released on August 18^th by Thrill Jockey.

Now this is a civilized way to help deemphasize leaks...

By Blurt Staff

NPR Music's latest round of pre-release album streams includes the new records from Brendan Benson (pictured, above), Mount Eerie and Choir of Young Believers. It's part of NPR's "Exclusive First Listen" series (www.npr.org/firstlisten). Benson and Mount Eerie are already streaming; CoYB will start tonight at midnight.

Details:

With his fourth album, Brendan Benson continues the solid solo career he established years before forming The Raconteurs with Jack White. My Old, Familiar Friend features meticulously crafted songs that NPR Music's Robin Hilton says are full of "ridiculously catchy hooks, perfectly placed handclaps and harmonies and sweet, buoyant melodies." Hear the entire album now here.

After ending The Microphones, Phil Elverum continued to explore the themes of death and failed relationships under his Mount Eerie moniker. On Wind's Poem, Elverum backs his traditional subject matter with a new style only hinted at in past releases. Lacing the album with layers of distortion and warbled synths, he creates the dark atmospherics that define a sound he calls "black wooden." Preview the full album at NPR Music.

Denmark's Choir of Young Believers may sound like a mass of robed singers, but its big sound is actually the solo work of Copenhagen native Jannis Noya Makrigiannis. His debut album, This Is For The White In Your Eyes, offers orchestral pop that mixes both modest folk arrangements and ambitious, grandiose indie pop. The entire reverb-soaked experience will be available for streaming beginning Wednesday, August 6 at 11:59 PM ET at NPR Music.

A-Trak and Armand Van Helden mash each other up. Check that saucy video below, too.

By Blurt Staff

Arguably one of the more formidable DJ/producer collaborations in recent memory, the creation of Duck Sauce by world renowned DJs A-Trak and Armand Van Helden promises to deliver what could easily be the the most refreshing dance music in years.  Individually, the New York-based duo are among the reigning names in dance music, past and present; earlier this year, they teamed up to produce tracks destined to become instant anthems.  Having found it easy to work together through similar musical backgrounds and viewpoints, namely creating house music through a hip-hop filter, Duck Sauce was born.

Reviving classic mid-90s formulas that became Armand Van Helden's signature sound along with the filtered French Touch era of labels Roulé and Crydamoure, Duck Sauce reinvents effortless disco house with a sonic quality and aplomb suited for the DJs sets of today.  Over a span of 5 days A-Trak and Van Helden mined their disco loops with the prime objective of "intentionally making party monsters."  The result was several overwhelming, feel-good tracks, two of which became the massive summer sing-along "aNYway" and "You're Nasty", a high-energy dancefloor bomb built around a quirky half-bar sample and a screeching keyboard.  Quickly turning into one of the most anticipated releases of 2009, "aNYway" has been receiving tremendous support from DJs worldwide, including airplay from Radio 1 (Zane Lowe, Annie Mac) and Power 106 (DJ Reflex).  These 2 songs, as well as other disco gems, can be found on the upcoming Fool's Gold EP entitled Greatest Hits.

It's due on October 5 from Fool's Gold Records.