Sigur Rós Reveals New Album, Song, and Lots of Nakedness

Figures that this big announcement would come one day after my June preview list was unveiled, but nonetheless here’s some wonderfully good news from the Sigur Rós camp.

Their new album með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (which translates into “with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly”),  will be released June 24 (June 23 for those of you outside of America). In the meantime, you can get lost in the world of “Gobbledigook,” their awesome lead single, that does admittedly contain shades of “Grey Street” (a la Dave Matthews Band) and boasts an unusual time signature that would even make Sufjan Stevens blush. If those two references weren’t enough of an indication, “Gobbledigook” errs on the side of mainstream– at least by Sigur Rós standards– I doubt if you’ll be hearing it anywhere other than the college radio, and is quite the carefree summer piece. Pushing the freewheeling feeling even further is the music video, which seems like the adult version of The Blue Lagoon– except lighthearted and… good. You can view the music video by visiting the Sigur Rós webpage here, but be forewarned there’s mucho nakedness– so probably best not to view it at work.

You can also view the ass-happy album art here, which gives you an indication of what goes on in the music video. If you just want to stick to the aural pleasure, take a listen to “Gobbledigook” by clicking play below:

If all that isn’t enough, Sigur Rós released the following tour dates:

06/05 Guadalajara, MEX @ Teatro Degollado
06/07 Tepoztlan, MEX @ Festival La Colmena
06/08 Tijuana, MEX @ Planeta Tijuana
06/11 – Omaha, NE @ Orpheum Theater
06/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
06/14 – Manchester, TN @ (Bonnaroo)
06/16 – New York, NY @ Grand Ballroom
06/20 – Neuhausen ob Eck (Southside Festival)
06/22 – Scheesel, Bremen (Hurricane Festival)

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Five Albums to Look Forward To: June Edition

5.
N*E*R*D Seeing Sounds (June 10)
The follow up to their 2004 Fly or Die, Seeing Sounds should be a drastically improved album, especially if “Everyone Nose” and “Spaz” are any indication. The drums and productions are as crisp as ever, and while one should never expect the lyrics to stretch any further beyond the simplistic, it shouldn’t be as much of a hindrance as they’ve been on previous albums.

4.
Martha Wainwright I Know You’re Married, But I’ve Got Feelings Too (June 10)
Surprisingly, this is just her second release in her lengthy career, nonetheless I Know You’re Married… promises to make up for lost time. As the clever album title indicates, Wainwright focuses many of her songs on lost loves, but both her songwriting and vocals are as strong as ever.

3.
Wolf Parade At Mount Zoomer (June 17)
Wolf Parade’s second release should easily avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, with standouts such as the opening “Soldier’s Gun,” and “Call it a Ritual.” If it weren’t for the two heavy hitters in Coldplay and My Morning Jacket releasing incredibly anticipated material, this would easily be #1.

2.
Coldplay Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (June 17)
The anticipation continues to mount for the upcoming triumphant release from Coldplay. Produced by Brian Eno, the album is bound to draw U2 comparisons (as if the band didn’t face that enough), but with songs like the anthemic “Violet Hill” and “Viva La Vida,” perhaps this time around the accusations aren’t too far off. Nonetheless, Viva La Vida looks to be a highly redeeming release after a disappointing X&Y.

1.
My Morning Jacket Evil Urges (June 10)
After their 2005 masterpiece Z, it looks as if the Louisville, Kentucky quintet has decided to flip the script with their off the wall release Evil Urges. If the title track wasn’t enough indication of their newfound sound, “Highly Suspicious” will certainly do the trick and polarize MMJ fans in the process. That being said, these guys never disappoint, and don’t expect to be let down by this album either.

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Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs

Fuzzy Bits:

Release Date: May 13

Last Album: Plans (2005)

Sounds Like: A million times better than Plans, Narrow Stairs is quite a superlative album.

Overall Rating: 90

While the jump onto a major label caused many Death Cab fans to fear that their favorite band had in fact sold out, Narrow Stairs appears to be big-league sound done right. From the strong starter “Bixby Canyon Bridge” it’s apparent that at the very least DCFC is looking to stretch their sound much further than ever before and this desire for adventure pays off wholeheartedly for both fans and newcomers alike. The creepy, eight minute stalker anthem “I Will Possess Your Heart” doesn’t sound at all out of place on the album as the single would lead you to believe– to top it off it hardly feels eight minutes long. Likewise, “No Sunlight” and “Cath…” are two incredibly well-done tracks that offer a bleak twist on their standard mainstream pop approach. The latter track in particular, feels a bit like a throwback without coming off as nostalgic– as it does not feel out of place on this album. The left field “You Can Do Better Than Me” bounces along with a Beach Boys like flair, while the urgent “Long Division” finds Death Cab with their lone rock out moment as the guitars screech their way through the last minute of the song. Narrow Stairs, despite the themes of loss, longing, love, and, yes kids, stalking, is actually a delightful album– much more so than Plans. As surprising as it seems, Death Cab for Cutie appear to be very comfortable here pushing their musical limits and the risks that they take on Narrow Stairs serve a clear purpose, something that was missing from their last effort. Even without the comparison to its predecessor, Narrow Stairs, while not the best, is certainly one of the better albums in the Death Cab for Cutie music collection– one that even may win over a handful of the jaded DCFC haters.

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New Coldplay Music Video: “Violet Hill”

Because we just can’t get enough of that song around these parts, here’s the official music video for “Violet Hill.” Even if you’re not a fan of the song, you have to admit it’s generating serious buzz. Another interesting Coldplay related tidbit is that the band reportedly wasn’t even on speaking terms prior to Brian Eno stepping in as producer for their upcoming album. That’s neither here nor there as they seem to have a hit on their hands with Viva La Vida…

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Shameless Self Promotion: Soapbox Theory Baby Blue

I’ve never been one to talk too much about my own personal life, but sometimes the line between your work and personal life gets a bit blurred. That is what’s going on right now for yours truly, albeit in a relatively positive manner. While my bio briefly mentions it, I moonlight as a singer/songwriter, and with the release of my debut album Baby Blue, I thought I’d finally come out about it.

Soapbox Theory has been a side project since 2005, and the premise has always been the same. I do all the songwriting, production and instruments myself, and everything is recorded using nothing more than my trusty laptop. You may find that the fruits of my labor sound amateurish at best– and you’re probably right. Nonetheless, I’m still keeping my day job (for now), so no worries. Furthermore, I just love playing and immersing myself in music, Soapbox Theory is just one of my many ways of expressing that– obviously, this blog is another.

All that being said, if you’re interested in checking out my debut album, you can purchase it from either iTunes or Amazon. Lastly, because everyone has one, here’s my myspace page.

That’s the end of my shameless self promotion, now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

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DeVotchKa, Iron & Wine, Saul Williams and more added to Lolla

Gotta love those late lineup additions. Making that second tier of bands that much stronger, Lolla went ahead and added DeVotchKa, Iron & Wine, Saul Williams, Toadies, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, and Wild Sweet Orange to the mix. Adding those artists bring a nice balance of acts to the table in an already diverse lineup, and of course, it’ll make choosing the band you want to see for a particular time slot just a bit tougher.

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Coldplay announces Viva La Vida tour

Looks like the guys will be keeping busy this summer, going everywhere from Europe to Japan to America in the span of only a few months. The full set of dates are listed below (don’t forget the New York show and London show are both free and will be June 23 and June 16, respectively). Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends will be released on June 17.

June 29: Philadelphia
July 2: Washington, D.C.
July 3: Hartford, Conn.
July 5: Detroit
July 6: Cleveland
July 8: St. Paul, Minn.
July 9: Kansas City, Mo.
July 10: Oklahoma City
July 12: Phoenix
July 19: Las Vegas
July 21: Sacramento, Calif.
July 24: San Jose, Calif.
July 27: Pemberton, British Columbia
July 29: Edmonton, Alberta
July 30: Calgary, Alberta
Aug. 1: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Aug. 3: Omaha, Neb.
Aug. 4: Chicago
Aug. 9: Osaka, Japan
Aug. 10: Tokyo
Oct. 20: Montreal
Oct. 21: Ottawa
Oct. 26: East Rutherford, N.J.
Oct. 29: Toronto
Oct. 30: Toronto
Nov. 3: Boston
Nov. 11: Atlanta
Nov. 18: Houston
Nov. 19: Dallas
Nov. 21: Denver
Nov. 22: Salt Lake City

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The Roots Rising Down

Fuzzy Bits:

Release Date: April 29

Last Album: Game Theory (2006)

Sounds Like: A very cold, dark place that you can’t escape from.

Overall Rating: 86

Starting with the unsettling introductory track “Pow Wow,” which centers around an argument between The Roots and Geffen Records, Rising Down makes their last effort (Game Theory) look like a soundtrack for a Disney flick. The album is downtrodden almost to a fault– the unrelenting gritty and cold productions wear thin over the course of time. The songs, however, are jam-packed with some of the sharpest and most poignant lyrics to be featured on a Roots album, as Black Thought completely masters tracks like “@15″ and “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)”– the latter offering a frenzy of disheartened rhymes in such a no-holds barred manner that it’s borderline scary. While it almost feels like there are too many guest spots on the album this time around, they always add a welcome change of pace. This is particularly evident on the first two tracks, “Rising Down” and “Get Busy.” Both are something of a blend of older, more familiar Roots stylings with the new synthesizer-enhanced sounds. Other standouts include the addicting “Criminal,” the incredibly smart “I Will Not Apologize,” and the terrific closing track “Rising Up.” Rising Down somehow exceeds Game Theory in bleakness and claustrophobic production and when you pair that with a number of songs that have a less than optimal song structure (the redundant “Singing Man” and noise-happy “I Can’t Help It”), it can be a bit problematic. However, the lyrics, attitude and level of experimentation are all mesmerizing, and that’s what keeps the album afloat.

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Nine Inch Nails The Slip

Fuzzy Bits:

Release Date: May 5, 2008

Last Album: Ghosts I-IV

Sounds Like: Trent Reznor loves giving out the free stuff, which is good for fans– cause this is a pretty intriguing album.

Overall Rating: 78

Well, despite indications that Mr. Reznor was giving up on giving out his music, The Slip made its way to the public today for the price of free ninety-nine. Nevermind the old adage you get what you pay for, because even though The Slip is somewhat uneven, the album as a whole is highly enjoyable, particularly for fans. Both “1,000,000″ and the frantic “Letting You” are very well done and hardly feel like leftovers. The same can be said for the slow building closer, “Demon Seed.” The lyrics make some of the songs feel incomplete, but on the whole, Reznor seems to have found the perfect way to express all of his different sides without overreaching. The meandering “Corona Radiata” for example, essentially a seven and a half minute instrumental ambience track, somehow doesn’t feel too out of place on the album– but would never fare well on a full-fledged release. On the whole The Slip is something that die-hards will truly love and embrace, while casual fans will also get a kick out of seeing even more of the inner workings of Trent Reznor. The last half of the album may err too far on the side of atmospheric, but on the whole, The Slip is a worthwhile listen with a handful of stand out tracks.

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Fuzzy Film Review: Iron Man

Fuzzy Bits:

Release Date: May 2, 2008

Directed By: Jon Favreau (Made, Swingers, Elf, Zathura)

A highly enjoyable film, Iron Man is among the best superhero movies released.

Overall Rating: 90

Unlike many of the other super hero movies coming up this summer, the expectations for Iron Man were relatively low. As a comic, Iron Man has always been overshadowed by his infinitely more popular Marvel brethren such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, and the X-Men. Even so, the film adaptation packs quite a punch with Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard III, and Jeff Bridges all on board for the cast. Furthermore, the highly underrated actor/director Jon Favreau helms the film, which not only dazzles the senses with the amazing technical gadgetry involved, but also is wonderfully updated story-wise to make the film both politically relevant, as well as to give it a depth that most comic-based films lack. This isn’t the dark underbelly of society that the Gotham world boasts, but rather a reasonably optimistic spin on the real world, where it’s suggested that even the most greedy and selfish can come to a realization if the conditions are right. For hardcore fans, Iron Man will be a delight as it faithfully sticks to the original story. Similarly, novices and fringe-comic book lovers will also be thoroughly entertained throughout. From beginning to end, Iron Man is a wonderfully done movie that never fails to entertain.

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