James Murphy Starts New Band

The folks at NME are reporting that LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy is part of a new rock band that plans to release material on his DFA imprint.

The band, as of yet, has no name, though we know its members include fellow LCD man Pat Maloney, as well as erstwhile Hockey Night members Paul Sprangers and Scott Wells. “We’ve gone back and forth for months, there’s no way to say [what the band name is],” Murphy told NME. Hopefully the collective will have settled on one by the time it releases material, which is rumored to be next year.

Photo By Dustin Ross.

Grampall Jookabox “The One Thing”

When winter hits Indiana, there isn’t much to do besides drive around the slush-covered, four-lane roads and attempt to not freeze. Or, if you’re David Adamson, you release an album that’s as off-kilter and bizarrely enchanting as the state the he hails from. Ropechain marks his second full-length for Adamson under his Grampall Jookabox moniker, and his first for Asthmatic Kitty. A high-energy amalgamation of hip-hop and rock, with a distinct bluesy flavor (albeit, a really twisted kind of blues) the album’s frantic pace makes you wonder if the man behind its production hasn’t gone a little off his rocker, as evidenced here. Photo by Craig McCormick.

Grampall Jookabox – The One Thing 1

Various Nobody Knows Anything: DFA Presents Supersoul

Two is such an eventful, interactive age. An independence milestone, two is definitely good for reminiscing. And such is the role of this compilation, on which Death From Abroad presents Berlin-based label Supersoul Recordings. With the DFA’s James Murphy on record as an Italo, piano house, and electro fan, it stands to reason his sub-label would survey two years’ output from label head Xaver Naudascher, Skatebård, Plastique de Réve, Walter Jones, and more. Ensconcing Detroit techno’s more recumbent percussion and Chicago’s ramping acid in cosmic resin, many winking tracks worry more about gradual base groove than immediately dominating bass. Nearing or exceeding seven minutes, tracks detune and condense. There’s a smattering of squelchy cataracts, but this isn’t supersaturated big-room stuff. Hints of Nordic New Romanticism’s flush, the clarity of LASIK synths, strangulated staccato palpitations, sub-bass caulking, and filmy chords make for some disco-dub gems.

Inbox: Sebastien Grainger

Sure, we’re always curious to know about an artist’s upcoming release, most recent tour, or arsenal of analog gear, but XLR8R‘s also got a curiosity for quirk. Thus, each week, we email a different artist and find out what makes them tick, in the studio and in life. Today, the “fairly well-adjusted” dance-punker-turned-songwriter Sebastien Grainger chats tornadoes, Tom Waits, and futile attempts at reasoning with his beloved dog.

What are you listening to right now?

Josh Reichmann/Oracle Band’s Life Is Legal EP and the band I have with Josh, Bad Tits. We are finishing our EP together this weekend, so it’s been in my ears quite a bit. As I type this though, I am listening to TVOTR’s Dear Science… sounds great on laptop speakers!

What’s the weirdest story you ever heard about yourself?

That me and my friend “did all the coke” at some party. I’ve never done “some of the coke at a party,” let alone “all of it.”

What band did you want to be in when you were 15?

Either AC/DC, Pearl Jam, or The Beatles.

Worst live show experience?

Juelz Santana in Toronto. We paid over 30 bucks for the tickets and he came out two hours late and puked out the first verse to a handful of songs and was off the stage in 10 minutes. Boo. No wonder rappers get shot.

Favorite city to play in?

That’s a hard one. I could say anything, but today I will say L.A. I haven’t been there in a while and I am trying to manifest some sun destiny right now.

What is the biggest difference between working as a solo artist and working as part of a band, as you had with, say, DFA 1979?

I don’t really have to deal with anyone else’s lame ideas. Just my own lame ones. [Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains] sounds like the way I walk down the street. The DFA record sounds like a few guys trying to make sonic sense of sonic nonsense.

What is your favorite thing you own?

Do I own my dog? If so, her. Everything else could burn and I’d end up feeling pretty good about it.

Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.

Haha. What is this Teen Vogue? There is nothing I couldn’t live without. I’m a fairly well-adjusted, 29-year-old man! I’d wear a bum’s clothing if my wife would let me. Wait, that sounded a little maladjusted.

What’s scarier: earthquakes, fires, or tornadoes?

Tornadoes. Their majestic presence on the horizon is super-intimidating.

What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?

Haha! Crying too much. It was the only way I could express myself. Probably a sign of constant frustration.

What other artist would you most like to work with?

Tom Waits.

What’s the last thing you read?

A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright.

Complete this sentence: In the future…

…our leaders will tell us the truth and provide us with real solutions to our most basic problems. Americans won’t be scared of “socialized” health care and [will] come to terms with the true meaning of freedom.

Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?

Tried to reason with my dog by telling her, “Be rational!” That’s really stupid and it happens every day.

What’s next?

Next is time to tour, keep focus on what’s important, and record a new EP.

MP3: “American Names”

Last Week: The Chap

AIDS Wolf “Tied Up in Paper”

For their recently released second full-length, Cities of Glass, the members of AIDS Wolf, are “de-anchoring compositions,” as the Canadian noise-rocking outfit states in its official list of principles. This involves ditching the bass guitar, to focus on rhythm, and employing the creative use of silence to offset the band’s trademark near-abuse of guitars. Exemplifying this aesthetic, their disturbed single track, “Tied Up in Paper,” is flurry of screeching brutality with lead singer Chloe Lum’s demented moans leaving one to wonder whether she is being tortured or pleasured by the instrumental mess surrounding her. The song throbs, building climactically, then finally drops out abruptly, leaving the listener with a painful aural hard on. Lulu McAllister

AIDS_Wolf_Tied_Up

LoDubs: Dubstep, Drone, and Beyond

The American West Coast seems to have really taken to U.K. dubstep–Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have developed devoted audiences for the stripped-down low-end sound that some initially surmised would be just a British thing. And helping U.S. dubstep make its mark, one bass-heavy burner at a time, is Jon A.D.’s LoDubs label.

LoDubs is not your ordinary dance music imprint, nor is Jon A.D. a young upstart. The label is run from inside Anthem Records, a record store (and label of the same name) that Jon owns, and which specializes in limited-edition metal, noise, and drone releases. This may seem contradictory, but Jon sees a strong connection between metal, noise, and dubstep. “Dubstep is so much about drum structures. And when you increase the air and rhythm in tracks, that allows drone and other frequencies to come out. Scorn’s stuff is very metal, and Burial and Boxcutter have some of those elements as well.”

In a former life, Jon A.D. was known as Jon Aldente, a Eugene, Oregon native who decamped to the Portland suburb of Milwaukie to throw drum & bass parties and DJ, then to San Francisco, where he started a house label, Losonofono, and ran a CD-pressing outfit. (Twee-pop act Boyracer dedicated a track to one of Jon’s angry voicemails on his To Get a Better Hold You’ve Got to Loosen Yr Grip album.) Getting little credit in the local house scene and fed up with the music business, Aldente closed up shop and returned to his home state in 2003.

Given the current digital music climate, it’s surprising that A.D. still wants to press vinyl, but he’s undaunted. “I like the idea of having artifacts that encapsulate art,” he says. “This stuff can’t just die on a hard drive somewhere.” To that effect, you can often find him behind the counter at Anthem, hand-cutting and stamping LoDubs releases. “I did that primarily for financial reasons, but it’s had a humanizing effect,” he explains.

If you’re not a DJ, LoDubs’ recent Analog Clash two-CD compilation contains all the recent LoDubs tracks, both as WAV files and as a mix, sutured together by L.A. icon R.A.W. (under his dubstep guise 6Blocc). Featuring the skull-and-bones-rattling ragga of Canadian DZ’s “Chalice Dub,” the emotive boom-clack-and-wobble of “Dementia” (by Philly’s Starkey), and the easy skank of “Mangione Tribe Dub” by Texas-based South3rn, the compilation highlights the myriad influences–dub, breakbeat hardcore, drum & bass, and, yes, even metal–that make present-day dubstep such an open palette.

“It’s really gratifying right now,” says Jon. “Being able to perpetuate ideas by having a label is really no different than being able to help someone in my record store. Plus, the best art comes from the struggle. I wouldn’t feel wholly successful if things were easy.”

Favorite Portland artist:
I’m torn between Daniel Menche and Agalloch. Menche has been a Portland fixture for almost 20 years. As for Agalloch, they are simply a lone force
in metal…

Morgan Geist Double Night Time

When he’s not busy running his own Environ label and pursuing electro-soul experiments as one-half of Metro Area, Morgan Geist produces the kind of ultra-sleek, ’80s-inspired synth-pop that’s bubblier than pink champagne and brighter than a pair of pastel-colored legwarmers. Many of the tracks in this set will be familiar to fans of his various EPs and 12s, as will the serenely melancholy vocals of Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan, who graces five of the album’s nine tracks. Prettily programmed confections of old, like “Lullaby” and “Most of All,” still sound fresh, while new tracks like “The Shore” and “City of Smoke and Flame” add just the right amount of postmodern sleaze to Geist’s neon-bright palette of retro synths and caffeinated beats.

XLR8R Seeks Design Intern for S.F. Office

XLR8R is looking for a design intern who knows the difference between Photoshop and InDesign, and who wouldn’t need any handholding for basic design tasks.

Duties include scanning, resizing, and reformatting images for both print and the web, securing images through press contacts, mailing promo magazines, and assisting the design team with the production of the print magazine as well as the website. Candidates should have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.

The internship is unpaid and requires a commitment of 8-10 hours per week, for four to six months. Please submit a cover letter, resume, and three to five examples of your work to Production Manager Mark Bartling at [email protected]. No phone calls please.

Cabide DJ “Me and You”

Despite all the ink and blog posts devoted to baile funk in recent years, relatively few Brazilian artists and DJs have been able to make the trek to the United States and deliver their sounds directly to gringo audiences. Hopefully, Cabide DJ can reverse that trend, as tonight, the man known as “Brazil’s #1 Sampler” is kicking off a month-long U.S. tour. A veteran DJ who has been playing Rio de Janeiro’s favelas since the late 1980s, Cabide puts his insane MPC skills to work on this bootleg remix of Cassie’s “Me & U.” Infusing the original R&B track with Miami bass beats, Cabide’s version is a rollercoaster of stops, starts, and tempo changes that reflect funk carioca‘s DIY spirit and devotion to the dancefloor. Cop the track and get yourself to one of these shows. Unfortunately customs won’t let Cabide DJ bring his famous fire-breathing sampler along for the tour, but we suspect these clubs will be hopping nonetheless. Shawn Reynaldo

Dates
10/17 Boston, MA – Club Lido
10/18 Queens, NY – Made in Brazil
10/19 Danbury, CT – Tuxedo Junction
10/23 Boston, MA – “Bass Invaders” at Milky Way
10/24 Framingham, MA – Old Station Steakhouse
10/25 Hyannis, MA – Pufferbellies
10/26 Boston, MA – Rumor
10/30 Philadelphia, PA – Medusa
11/03 Philadelphia, PA – “Jang House” at The Barbary
11/06 Baltimore, MD – “Bananas” at Bedrock
11/08 New York, NY – “Batida do Funk” at S.O.B.’s
11/13 Baltimore, MD – Sonar w/Diplo, Boy 8-Bit, Blaqstarr

Me and You

Stream the New Guns ‘N’ Bombs Track

“Riddle of Steel,” electro duo Guns ‘n’ Bombs‘ driving, four-to-the-flour second (and final) single on Kitsune, will hit the shelves on Nov. 10. The unsigned Echo Park natives Filip Nikolic and John Dal Santo have remixed the likes of The Klaxons, Chromeo, The Teenagers, and The Gossip, and are now, having recently made their live debut at the Detour Festival in L.A., finally putting the finishing touches on their as-yet-unnamed first full-length. While you wait for this club gem to drop, catch the boys on tour somewhere between Mexicali and Ottawa, or tap into this exclusive track right here.

Stream: “Riddle of Steel”

Photo by Annene Kaye.

GNBRID

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