Photo by Debi Del Grande
Muse will return in September with their sixth studio album, The 2nd Law, according to a just-released, dubstep-flavored teaser trailer which packs footage of the stock market and oil fields. Watch the clip below and draw your own conclusions.
We got a taste of that kid's youthful ambitions on the Japandroids' debut, 2009's Post-Nothing, and appropriately we find him grown up a bit on their sophomore effort, Celebration Rock. Un-ironically titled and boldly optimistic, here Japandroids burn through an intense 35 minutes of scorching garage rock that rips into life, shot through with passion and loss.
Celebration Rock opens with fireworks, that eternal symbol of both summer and of sky-bound wonder, before guitar fuzz enters on 'The Nights of Wine and Roses'. Here it still seems a lot like Post-Nothing, but Brian King's vocals rip the sound wide open, the lyrics a marching cry for the young and confused: 'We down our drinks in a funnel of friends/ And we burn our blends right down to the ends/ We don't cry for those nights to arrive/ We yell like hell to the heavens.'
And this is about when you realize that Japandroids have accomplished a rare feat. They have built upon a decent debut, intensified and kept all the best parts while trimming the fat, and their follow-up is a true thing of beauty. They've retained the energy that pulses below the surface of the best tracks on Post-Nothing and infused it with more focus. Where Post-Nothing melts into a hazy dream, Celebration Rock does exactly what it claims to do'it burns on and on like the best sort of party.
But none of this would have an impact if it wasn't earnest. In a culture saturated with irony, Japandroids lay their hearts on the line and it works. Their choruses are packed with heartfelt 'whoa-oh-oh's and the sort of percussion that's guaranteed to make drummer David Prowse sweat all over his kit as he sings backup. The vocals are raw and sound stripped from a gritty rock show that you didn't miss because it sounds as if it's happening right in your headphones. On 'Fire's Highway', King's voice strains almost to the breaking point on the line 'one night to have and to hold,' and he nearly breaks your heart in the process.
These are the same rowdy kids we saw in Post-Nothing, but they're no longer just trying to 'french kiss some French girls.' In 'Young Hearts Spark Fire', they told us to 'keep tomorrow/ after tonight we're not gonna need it,' but the narrator on Celebration Rock has learned some harder lessons. We're still at the party, but things have shifted, and the perspective here is wiser. 'Death has no respect for love/ and youth no respect for me,' King wails at the end of 'Adrenaline Nightshift'. He mourns his innocence on 'Younger Us': 'Give me that naked new skin rush/ give me younger us.'
Nowhere are the ideas of loss and recovery more clear than on ripping single 'The House That Heaven Built'. The album's climax runs hot and fast with a chorus that pays tribute to both the loss of a lover and the inevitable reality that life must go on: 'When they love you (and they will)/ tell them all they'll love in my shadow/ and if they try to slow you down/ tell them all to go to hell.' The lyrics, combined with King's wide-open delivery, wrench the sore spot that comes after a breakup. He remembers the good times ('blush of our bodies in the heat of the night') but also faces reality ('but you're not mine to die for anymore/ so I must live')'the very definition of growing up.
The frantic pace can only be sustained for so long, and the denouement arrives on closer 'Continuous Thunder', which runs slower as a point of relief. 'If I had all of the answers/ and you had the body you wanted/ would we love with a legendary fire?' King asks gently. We've come through the fire and the intensity to a place of reflection. The song doesn't answer this question but lets it hang, the process of growth still ongoing.
At the very end, the guitars dissolve into fireworks again, like the aforementioned thunder but also reminiscent of the frantic, passionate Jack Kerouac, whose alter ego in On the Road famously rhapsodizes that he loves people who 'burn burn burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everyone goes 'Aww!'' So too does Celebration Rock burn and burn, faster and harder, all the way through to the delirious end, a blur of an album that somehow helps you see more clearly. If you listen to it close and hard enough, you'll be pleasantly exhausted by the end'like the end of a hard-living, hard-loving summer day ' fireworks included.
Essential Tracks: 'The House That Heaven Built', 'The Nights of Wine and Roses', 'Adrenaline Nightshift', and 'Continuous Thunder'
Feature artwork by Dmitri Jackson.
Last night, Edward Sharpe and Sharpe Magnetic Zeros appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to showcase a pair of songs from their week-old LP, Here. Replay their performances of 'That's What's Up' and 'Man on Fire' below.
'That's What's Up':
'Man on Fire':
While Liz Phair flirted with Bollywood sounds for 2010's Funstyle, her interest has now blossomed into a full-fledged collaboration with Bollywood superstar A.R. Rahman. Featured on the soundtrack to the upcoming dramedy People Like Us, 'Dotted Line' is not exactly an updated 'Jai Ho', sounding more like adult contemporary with its mellow vocals and whispery violins. Stream it for yourself below.
The People Like Us soundtrack hits shelves on June 19th via Lakeshore; the film is in theaters June 29th.
Last night, Regina Spektor continued her publicity junket behind What We Saw From the Cheap Seats with an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Replay her performance of 'Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas' below.
In recent weeks, Spektor has also appeared on Late Show with David Letterman and Good Morning America. Click those links if you missed one or both.
Legendary music engineer George Marino died Monday following a lengthy battle with lung cancer.
A three-time Grammy winner, Marino mastered such classic albums as Guns N Roses' Appetite For Destruction, Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy, Metallica's Black Album, AC/DC's Back in Black, and, most recently, Arcade Fire's The Suburbs, which earned him a Grammy Award in 2011.
According to Billboard, Marino began his career as a librarian and assistant at Capitol Studios in 1967, then apprenticed in the mastering department. In 1973, he joined Sterling Sound and would spend the next 40 years there as a mastering engineer.
Photo by Debi Del Grande
The Walkmen have announced additional U.S. tour dates behind their new album, Heaven. Following a summer tour with Florence and the Machine leading up to their appearance at Lollapalooza, the band will return to the road in mid-September. This headlining leg runs until mid-October and includes a pair of dates with The War on Drugs.
Prior before all of this, however, The Walkmen will play an intimate hometown show at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, June 6th at 9pm ET. The band has partnered with Spotify to provide a worldwide live stream of the concert, filmed by La Blogotheque, creators of the Take Away Show. Stay tuned for a link to the webcast, which we'll post on Wednesday.
Check out the band's full tour schedule below, along with their video for 'Heaven'.
The Walkmen 2012 Tour Dates:
06/06 ' New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
06/07 ' Porto, PT @ Optimus Primavera Sound
06/27 - Louisville, KY @ WFPK Waterfront
06/28 ' St. Louis, MO @ Plush
06/29 ' Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
06/30 ' Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
07/20 ' Burnaby, BC @ Deer Lake Park *
07/21 ' Auburn, WA @ White River Ampitheatre *
07/22 ' Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield *
07/25 ' Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre *
07/29 ' Indianapolis, IN @ The Lawn at White River State Park *
07/30 ' Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion *
07/31 ' Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre *
08/02 ' Toronto, ON @ Molson Ampitheatre *
08/03 ' Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Festival
08/05 ' Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/10-12 ' San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music Festival
08/17-19 ' Beacon, UK @ Green Man Festival
09/12 ' Los Angeles, CA @ Anson Ford Ampitheater
09/14 ' San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
09/15 ' Santa Ana, CA @ The Conservatory
09/16 ' Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
09/18 ' Norman, OK @ University of Oklahoma
09/19 ' Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
09/20 ' Austin, TX @ Stubbs
09/21 ' Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
09/22 ' New Orleans, LA @ Tipitinas
09/26 ' Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
09/27 ' Nashville, TN @ Cannery
09/28 ' Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
09/29 ' Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
09/30 ' Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
10/04 ' Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
10/06 ' Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory #
10/18 ' New York, NY @ Terminal 5
10/19 ' Boston, MA @ Royale
* = w/ Florence and the Machine
# = w/ The War on Drugs
