We cut through the hype and give the one thing lacking in so many places these days: an honest opinion. We're not going to put something down for the sake of it either. For an honest outlook on music (and other subjects), you're in the right place!
MGMT have announced they will be releasing their new album Congratulations, on Monday 12th April in the UK.
As the first teaser from the new album the band are giving away a free Mp3 of new track ‘Flash Delirium’ from www.whoismgmt.com.
One of 2010’s most eagerly anticipated new releases, Congratulations is the successor to MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular, the 2008 debut album which established the band’s potential as a visionary force in pop music.
Congratulations is a collection of nine individual musical tours de force sequenced to flow with sonic and thematic coherence: “It’s Working,” “Song for Dan Treacy,” “Someone’s Missing,” “Flash Delirium,” “I Found a Whistle,” “Siberian Breaks,” “Brian Eno,” “Lady Dada’s Nightmare,” and “Congratulations.”
Produced by MGMT and Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, E.A.R., Spectrum), Congratulations was recorded throughout 2009 in upstate New York, Malibu, and Brooklyn and features Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, MGMT’s core duo, performing with Matt Asti (bass, backing vocals), Will Berman (drums, backing vocals), and James Richardson (guitar, backing vocals), the band’s live line-up.
Congratulations offered MGMT the opportunity to work with a couple of their musical idols and influences including album co-producer Sonic Boom (Pete Kember) and Royal Trux front-woman Jennifer Herrema, who contributed guest vocals. “We’ve been lucky enough to meet and work with some of our all-time musical heroes,” Andrew says, marveling at MGMT’s good collaborative karma. “It’s so great to be around such amazing and unusual musical minds.”
Ben and Andrew first met the mythic Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, E.A.R., Spectrum) at a Spectrum show in London in February 2009 and wound up onstage jamming with the band on “Suicide,” a vintage Spacemen 3 track paying homage to another light in MGMT’s musical pantheon.
MGMT have become an international festival favourite with performances at South By Southwest, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo in the States and the Glastonbury extravaganza in the UK. The band have toured with Beck, Yeasayer and Of Montreal, among others, while becoming a headline concert attraction in its own right. MGMT are confirmed to appear at the 2010 Coachella and Bamboozle festivals.
With Congratulations, MGMT unlock a new musical world whirling in its own space/time grid infused with hints of music from the past five decades. Soulful and complex, Congratulations is a surprising and delightful quantum step forward in MGMT’s ongoing pop revolution.
The very lovely folks at Say Loose have sent along a link to download a free track from Alena. ‘Bowling Green’ will feature on a 10″ EP Diane is releasing as a split with Alina Hardin.
Following three limited edition 10″ EPs through Chess Club Recordings, Mumford & Sons are pleased to announce details of their eagerly anticipated debut album, and a special live event to premiere their new video.
The debut album, ‘Sigh No More’, will be released through Gentlemen Of The Road/Island Records on the 5th October. The album was produced by Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Bjork) at Eastcote Studios in London during the Spring.
‘Sigh No More’ will be preceded by a new single, ‘Little Lion Man’ on the 28th September (already declared by Zane Lowe as the ‘Hottest Record In The World Today’ on Radio 1), and Mumford & Sons are also pleased to announce a special video premiere of this new single in London on the 24th August at The Borderline.
Alongside the premiere of the video, the band will be performing an intimate live show.
Tickets are on sale now from www.wegottickets.com for £8.
Mumford & Sons will head out on a full UK tour throughout September and October to coincide with the releases:
24th August @ London, The Borderline (Little Lion Man Video Premiere + Live Performance)
12th September @ Glasgow, King Tuts
13th September @ Nottingham, Bodega
14th September @ Manchester, Ruby Lounge
15th September @ Bristol, Thekla
16th September @ London, Scala (SOLD OUT)
18th September @ Aberdeen, Café Drummonds
19th September @ Inverness, Loopalu
21st September @ Newcastle, The Cluny
22nd September @ Hull, Adelphi
23rd September @ Leeds, Cockpit
24th September @ Sheffield, The Plug
29th September @ Birmingham, Glee Club
30th September @ Oxford, Bullingdon
2nd October @ Norwich, Arts Centre
3rd October @ Tunbridge Wells, Forum
4th October @ Cambridge, Junction 2
6th October @ Brighton, Komedia
7th October @ Bath, Moles
8th October @ Southampton, Talking Heads
11th October @ Northampton, Roadmender
On Tuesday 16th June, Moby performs live at the Royal Festival Hall as part of free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown festival.
This upcoming live show marks the first time Moby will play songs from his new album Wait For Me in the UK. Wait For Me will be the debut release on Moby’s own label Little Idiot on June 29th 2009.
Ornette Coleman is a neighbour of Moby’s, and both have supported and performed as part of Tibet House’s international campaign for the support of Tibet. A long time admirer of Ornette’s work, Moby says, “I’m flattered and honoured to be asked by Ornette Coleman to play at his Meltdown festival. His approach to music, and the integrity with which he’s comported himself in all that he’s done, is a big inspiration to me. I can’t think of anyone alive who’s pushed things as far and as hard as Ornette Coleman.”
16th JUNE, SOUTHBANK CENTRE, LONDON
General on-sale is Thursday 30 April at 10am. Tickets will be available from www.southbankcentre.co.uk/meltdown or 0871 663 2520.
It’s fitting that Lynch directs this debut video, as it was a 2008 speech by Lynch that informed Moby’s inspiration for the album and Little Idiot Records:
“David was talking about creativity, and to paraphrase, about how creativity in and of itself, and without market pressures, is fine. it seems that too often creative output is judged by how well it accommodates the marketplace, how much market share it commands and how much money it generates.
“In making this record i wanted to focus on making something that i loved, without really being concerned about how it might be received by the marketplace. as a result it’s a quieter, more melodic, more mournful and more personal record than some of the records I’ve made in the past” — Moby
A resolutely DIY effort, Moby recorded the album in his home studio (“although ’studio’ always seems like an overly grand word for a bunch of equipment set up in a bedroom.”), drew the album artwork with a black sharpie on copy paper, asked his friends to record the vocals (“working with friends is almost always nicer than working with rock stars”) and asked another friend, photographer Jessica Dimmock, to take the press photos.
In addition, friend Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, Throbbing Gristle, M83) came on board to help mix the record: “mixing the record with him was really nice, as he’s creatively open to trying anything – like recording an old broken bakelite radio and running it through some broken old effects pedals to see what it would sound like. it’s on the record as a :45 second long track called ’stock radio’”. Moby and Thomas mixed the record using purely analog equipment in true stereo, akin to how records were mixed in the late 60’s. As a result, the songs sound pretty amazing on headphones.
The songs also sound best when listened to as a cohesive body of work. While each track stands on its own merit, ‘Wait For Me’ was recorded and arranged to be listened to from start to finish. In today’s single-driven music industry an album that holds together as a collective entity is a rarity. An album that holds itself to standards higher than commercial measures of success is even more rare.
On Tuesday 16th June, Moby performs live at the Royal Festival Hall as part of free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown festival.
