New Release Tuesday

Since the release of their debut album, Gallowsbird's Bark, the brother/sister duo that make up The Fiery Furnaces kept the course, releasing an album a year since 2003. Off the heels of last year's Bitter Tea, the Friedberger's return to form with Widow City. Their first album for Thrill Jockey, City seems to find the siblings gelling comfortably along, and helping us even more to forget 2005's trainwreck that was Rehearsing My Choir (I mean, really, the music was great, but I did tire of their grandmother delivering 90% of the vocals. "The Garfield El" is one of my all time favorite Furnaces' tracks, though.) Opening track "The Philadelphia Grand Jury" could easily fit on their masterpiece, 2004's Blueberry Boat. Over the first seven minutes of the album, the song shifts from different song structures to slowing down and speeding up the same melodies, ending with the classic Furnace touch: the instrumental interlude. Their also seems to be some harking for the great land of pyramids (tracks "Clear Signal From Cairo" and "My Egyptian Grammar" do appear back to back,) and emulate their best Keith Moon (the awesome drum solo that starts off "Uncle Charlie.") The Furances, they're back. Thank god.

Download: "The Philadelphia Grand Jury" [mp3] // [Buy Here]

Iceland Airwaves '07: Reykjavik!

We're one week away from the Iceland Airwaves Festival. Next week, bands from around the world and their native Iceland will touch down on Reykjavik for five days of music and all that comes with your typical festival fun.

Keeping up with our little preview spiel, this week I felt we'd pay tribute to the location of the festival (Reykjavik) with something by the band Reykjavik! The exclamation point is included in the band's name, yes, and it's with good reason. The band's music explodes like the piece of punctuation at the end of their name. Taking plays from the books of At The Drive-In and Trail of Dead, the band recently spent the weekend at the Pop Montreal festival making new fans there. Back home, critics have hailed their debut (Glacial Landscapes, Religion, Oppression, and Alcohol) as one of the year's finest records. From the songs I've heard, and the one you can download to your right, this band definitely knows what to do. And I think next year could be the year Reykjavik! could be put on the map.

In other Iceland news, the full schedule for this year's festival has been announced. Feel free to head over to the official website and see who you can see when.

Pop Montreal 2k7: Playing Catch Up

This is my first time to Montreal and I totally want to be a tourist, but I am here for work and the business at hand is music. There are a lot of great bands here and I could take the easy way out and only see Ted Leo and Earlimart, but being that I am north of the border, I figured that there were a lot of amazing Canadian bands to see. And I was right.

I did lie a bit about the tourist stuff. I took the picture above at the top of Mount Royal. And tomorrow it's off to the biodome!



The highlights of the festival so far have been two Canadian bands -- Montreal's Diamond Sea and Toronto's We're Marching On, who are pictured above. WMO play a brand of frenzied/spastic indie rock, and it's a sound that fit well in last night's venue -- a second-hand store called Preloved. The lights were out and I think I may have been the only American in the room, but I knew all of the words anyway [thanks, Tenni]. Most of the time, I want the set to be over so I can get out of a venue's cramped setting. I wanted this show to go on all fucking night.

The track "1800s" is available for free download on the band's Myspace page.

Other great bands from last night include Syme.



And lastly, for now, was Lioness. The band was a great way to end the night, successfully splitting the difference between The Gossip and Bauhaus.



I am off to Tim's and then Saint Laurent St....

Sorry these pictures are so shitty, I'll have better ones to post in the upcoming week. To read our official Pop Montreal preview, go to our events page on Stranded in Stereo.

Bob Pollard: New Albums / New Video / Tour

I say it every and any time I get to mention it, and that is that Bob Pollard is my hero. The man puts out more records in a year then some bands can manage to get out in their entire span of existence. Next week will prove to be like no other as Uncle Bob releases not one, but two new albums via Merge: the creamy Bob pop that is Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love, and edgier, prog-ladened opus Standard Gargoyle Decisions.

Originally, Pollard mapped out one double album at around 30 songs or so, but after listening to the running order he put together, he started to notice how if you split these songs up in a certain way, it would make more sense. Coast is named after a song Bob previewed on his short lived tour last fall, that got relegated to a b-side on his in progress 7" singles series. It's what last year's Normal Happiness was thought to be: a nice collection of pop songs that gel together smoothly and swiftly. Gargoyle, on the other hand, has some murkier numbers, with songs that make sharp turns and twists in their two and three minute durations. To celebrate both of these albums, the Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love tour was announced yesterday.

Pack your bags, and get ready to go:
11.30 Chicago, IL @ Metro (Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10AM via Ticketmaster)
12.01 Newport, KY @ Southgate House (Tickets on sale now)

Longtime fan of Bob and someone I know, Mr. Marc Beck has put together a video for Gargoyle's standout track, "Shadow Port." It's cool as it uses nothing but collages that Bob has made throughout the years. It's very cool.


Stream: Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love & Standard Gargoyle Decisions [Here] // [Buy Here]

Vice Debate Series Tomorrow Night at Zuzu

Vice Magazine and Dewar's invite you to the second Dewar's Debate in Boston.

On Thursday, October 4th, we are serving up a heated argument. Come watch as two culinary cut-down artists roast each other over the topic: Herbivores vs. Carnivores.

For meat: Noah Garfinkle. For veggies: Joe Mande. All will be sternly moderated by Gabe Liedman.

Where:
ZuZu
474 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA

When:
October 4th
Doors at 7, Debate at 8:15

Complimentary cocktails provided by Dewar's.

MANDATORY RSVP No RSVP, NO ENTRANCE!

Must be 21+ to attend

Radiohead. New Album. Next Week.

Do I really need to say anything beyond the title? I will anyway.

So after the total hoax(?) that was RadioheadLP7.com, we were all delighted at midnight October 1 (England time) when Radiohead surprised us all with the announcement of their 7th album, In Rainbows, do for release via digital download on October 10. Not going the way of the major label (or possibly even an indie label, only time will tell) this time around, the band is currently taking pre-orders on a download of the 10 song set helmed by long time collaborator Nigel Godrich. Pay what you want for the download, it's up to you (really it is, ha ha ha, insert one of the many funny lines that is going around the web about this prospect at the current moment.)

But wait, there is more!

Did you drop your $81 yet for the all inclusive, deluxe rendition of In Rainbows? I know sure I sure as hell didn't, but that's only because I'm John Q. Brokeblogger. That $81 (only a mere 40 pounds across the sea; the almighty American Dollar sure is worth a lot, isn't it?) includes access to download the album next Wednesday, and then gives you the ultimate package. You get the album on CD, a bonus disc with eight additional songs (including my live favorite, "Bangers N Mash,") lyric book, photographs, art cards, and both said CD's on 'heavyweight vinyl,' all encased in a hardbound box, arriving at your doorstep right on time for the holidays when it ships on or around December 3 (Look up top at that picture of all of that stuff - gee whiz!) And, if this is all too much and you still don't mind waiting, there will be a standard release sometime in early 2008. Whether or not it is going to be through some sort of label has yet to be noted or determined.

If you frolic around the web, and go to just about any music related message board, you'll find pages upon pages about how innovative and/or how pretentious this whole endeavor is. Where once person exclaims that this is the greatest thing to ever happen to music, and that it's about time someone stands up and tries to show the industry a thing or two, another would cry foul and whine that Radiohead gets the pass from the press and is rarely given a harsh criticism on their music and innovations on the market.

So what do I think of all this? I think it's pretty cool, yes, and I'd love to throw down for the big ole box of fun they're offering. It's like a best friend of mine said, that this whole scenario pisses him off because he is still of the small percentage who doesn't download music. He's all about have the tangible package on the day of, and fears for the day when everything does go digital. And I'm the same way as well: I enjoy still to this day ripping off the plastic, putting the CD in, and (new step added for the modern age) ... ripping it to my iTunes only to upload it to my iPod. I, too, look forward to this album, and will be downloading it next week to enjoy it with the rest of the world. And maybe for Christmas, Santa will bring me the big package.

And if not, there's always 08. But will it come with the bonus disc? Oh the battle and how it marches on.

Iceland Airwaves '07: Múm

We're down to two weeks until the Iceland Airwaves Festival has its annual invasion of Reykjavik, and we keep on reminding you every Monday of another reason (in the form of a band who's playing the festival, that is,) on why you should be going. Or at least wanting to go.

This week, we look at Múm, an experimental outfit from Iceland. Pronounced 'moon,' the band is actually rather well known already here in the US, already in existence for a decade and fresh off the release of their newest album, Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy. Using catchy electronics this side of Radiohead and romanticized boy/girl vocals, Múm is definitely one of the definitive highlights to this year's festival. Download their track "Dancing Behind My Eyelids," and if you like what you hear, you don't have to travel to Iceland to see them: they'll be touring America beginning later this month.

Múm Tour Dates
10/23 Belly Up Tavern - Solana Beach, CA
10/24 Orpheum Theater - Los Angeles, CA
10/25 The Grand - San Francisco, CA
10/26 Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR
10/27 Nuemo's - Seattle, WA
10/30 Gothic Theater - Englewood, CO
10/31 Granada Theater - Lawrence, KS
11/01 Logan Square Auditorium - Chicago, IL
11/02 Opera House - Toronto, ONT
11/03 Theatre National - Montreal, QC
11/04 Somerville Theatre - Somerville, MA
11/06 Roxy Theatre - Atlanta, GA
11/07 Sixth & I Synagogue - Washington, DC
11/08 Theatre Of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
11/09 St. Paul The Apostle - New York, NY
11/10 New York Society for Ethical Culture - New York, NY

And if that isn't enough for you Americans, residents of Baltimore and Washington DC are encouraged to check out A Taste of Iceland, sponsored by the folks of Iceland Naturally. There will be bands, films, and all sorts of things going on at the conveniently dubbed Iceland Pavilion at the Baltimore Fun Fest at Fells Point near the Inner Harbor. Don't miss it.