News :: King Tuff :: S/T

This summer's looking up with news of the sophomore King Tuff record, out May 29th via SubPop.  We've waited four dark, self-serious years for this one to land, and King Tuff himself emailed me last night to tell me how awesome it's gonna be.  And, you know, I'm gonna take his word for it.  He'd likely lop off my head with a guitar string-turned-garrote if I questioned it.

Here's to eating pizza all fucking night and playing pinball til my palms bleed.

Review :: Psychotronic Wiretap :: Washed Out

Let's talk about me for a minute. More specifically, let's talk about my funeral. It's inevitable, unless of course I'm completely forgotten and perish face down in a flooded ditch on the side of the road, which seems comfortably natural to me. But, if I were to die and some assembly claimed my body upon their lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing else to do, I guarantee they'd find a mixtape somewhere on my corpse. You know why? It's because I keep a tape labeled "Songs I'd Like Played At My Funeral" in my pocket every day. That's how morbid I am. I don't want an epitaph scribbled into my headstone... I want a goddamn iPod docking station with my Funeral Mix forever glued into my grave.

Washed Out already holds a place in this mix to end all mixes, and this cut from the forthcoming LP Within and Without (July 12 on Sub Pop) is a strong contender. If by the off-chance there's a lofty heaven, and the further unlikelihood that I make it there, this is the sound of the clouds breaking. Cheesy enough? Try spending a day in my shoes.


Washed Out :: Eyes Be Closed

News :: Third Eye Laser Surgery :: Dum Dum Girls

Nope, this isn't a protest shot from Bahrain. We're just posting a track that the Dum Dum Girls have been passing out around town for free lately.  Handouts for the everyman.

There's something different going on with the guitars here, and while I'm not sure I'm totally on board with it,  I'm not reaching for the boo-hoo button neither. They definitely feel mottled to me, too harmonious, and not at all chainsaw massacre, cosmic killer like I likes. But then again, I think I'm happier listening to music when I've got one finger in the wall socket. Who knew it was so easy to feel free, am I right?

The follow-up EP to their 2010 LP is coming out March 1 on Subpop, and you'll never believe what it's called...And get your tickets for the Black Cat show with the Minks and Dirty Beaches on March 5 during their wind up to SXSW. It'll be a good show. It will also be full of total tools. A virtual toolshed of dumpster-diving trust fund babies (not mutually exclusive). But I'll be there, crying and laughing my spleen out.

Bones: the EP's going to include a cover of Smiths song, "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out." And now I'm going to bed with visions of the Moz swaying in my head.

Dum Dum Girls :: He Gets Me High

Video :: Remote Viewing :: Cloud Nothings

The Cloud Nothings album is out today on local label Carpark Records. So to celebrate the release we're posting some watchin's. After you're done with the videos, you should make a move over to Red Onion to pick up a copy on vinyl. This first one came out this past week and involves some awesome hair braid on hair braid action, which mainly reminds me of the last time I got drunk in Georgetown.

"Should Have"

"Should Have" - Cloud Nothings from John Ryan Manning on Vimeo.

For those of you who didn't catch this next one when it came out last fall, here's a video that makes me miss my MTV. It's a simple tale: shovel-toothed nerd kills homeless man, replaces organs with machine parts, programs him to respond to remote control and play basketball. It's a plan too good to fail. There's also a Herbert West/Re-animator thing going on that thrills the Lovecraft fan in me.

"Hey Cool Kid"

Carpark Records

And, finally, a live set that brings the whole act, led by frontman Dylan Baldi, down to Earth. With Beach House moving to Subpop this past year, Carpark kind of got the spring board treatment. But the hometown label continues to dependably bring lightweight acts to the foreground without wearing away any of the homegrown, sweat-and-toil earnestness that makes independent music great.

"Should Have [live]"

And now I'm looking forward to a solid tour from Cloud Nothings come SXSW season.

Video :: Remote Viewing :: Shabazz Palaces

"Belhaven Meridian"

Shabazz Palaces

Subpop