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I really don't know her music that well, but this Laura Cantrell NYC Subway Map from Matador Records is really cool. It uses the layout of the New York subway system to map Cantrell's musical influences. Very creative!
For example, the 1,2,3,9 line is the Country Legends line, listing Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton among the inspirations. Click an influence and a popup appears with a link to the relevant All Music Guide entry.
While you're clicking around the map, cuts from Laura's new album, Humming By The Flowered Vine are streaming in full. Credit to Laura and Matador for putting together an album preview site that is actually interesting and interactive. Other artists should learn from this.
I should also mention that Laura will be performing live today at the Union Square Virgin Megastore, June 25 at Maxwell's and July 4 at Battery Park with Yo La Tengo and Stephen Malkmus.
Falling Asleep to Lucky Pierre's Hypnogogia
Hypnogogia will put you to sleep. That's not meant as an insult. It's one of the highest compliments I can think of for this ambient record, released in 2002 by Arab Strap's Aiden Moffat, aka Lucky Pierre. I've just recently discovered this album and it's been my late night album of choice for awhile now.
Inducing sleep was Moffat's intent. Struggling with insomnia and disappointed by so-called "Chill Out" records, Moffat decided to create his own sleeping pill. The title of album refers to a sleep phenomenon in which a person can experience auditory, visual, or tangible hallucinations while still maintaining awareness. Essentially you are in a blurred chaturbate reality: awake and dreaming all at once.
Whether Moffat himself experienced it or not, he has composed a moving accompaniment for this state of lucid dreaming. Often Moffat's sounds are forlorn and chilling rather than idyllic, but his blend of bliss and sadness is utterly captivating. Hypnogogia rises above mundane ambient music by combining elements of classical, opera and jazz with the traditional spacey elements of the genre. It may not be new music, but its beauty and expanse make it unforgettable and essential.
Porl Thompson Rejoins The Cure
According to their official site, guitarist Porl Thompson is once again a member of The Cure. A message posted on the site proclaims that Porl will join Robert Smith, Simon Gallup and Jason Cooper for the band's summer festival shows.
Thompson was a member of The Cure in the band's formative years, 1976 to 1978, and again during their rise to mass popularity, 1983 - 1993. After leaving The Cure, Porl took the next logical step and joined Robert Plant's band, playing guitar and banjo.
One can only hope this news means Porl will inspire Robert Smith to record another classic album like Disintegration or Head on the Door. Now if they could just bring back Lol Tolhurst, the glory days could truly be revisited!
Carbon Records Summer
Lots going on tonight, most notably Gothamist's Movable Hype show at the Knitting Factory, but my plan is to check out Hinkley at Sin-é. (They actually go on at 11, late enough for you to catch a good chunk of the Gothamist show first - something I'm thinking about doing.) The Rochester band caught my eye over the winter with this 75oL review of their Frail and Poker Faced EP, which I've come back to with surprising frequency since then. (That EP was actually Mystery and Misery's favorite 2004 release.) The jasminlive sound isn't a gimmicky one - basically straight-up indie rock, a bit like Summerteeth-era Wilco with denser guitars and the snappiness of the Shins. The songwriting is strong though and there's flair in the details, like the way "Frail and Poker Faced" falls into pieces just past the two minute mark, or the way the bass and drums on "The Queen of May" barely stay still. I loved them in January, and since then they've been working on their second full-length, due in late summer on Carbon Records. I imagine tonight's set will include a few new tunes, and I look forward to it.
Legendary gig
Stephen Malkmus tells Amazon what he's listening to these days - Animal Collective, Sleater-Kinney, Dead Meadow, Hella, Kaiser Chiefs, Celtic Frost, and more.
What's Stereogum's most embarrassing CD purchase? The Spin Doctors' Turn It Upside Down. What's mine? I'm sure I've made a few bad ones over the years, but I'm drawing a blank right now on anything beyond Live's Secret Samadhi - the rare record I actually enjoy hating - and the B-52's Good Stuff. Oh, and maybe the second Letters to Cleo album. (Is Good Stuff even embarrassing? Not a great album, but certainly a defendable purchase after Cosmic Thing.)
Other Passengers really impressed me at February's Gothamist show, but I've unfortunately missed all their local shows since. I'm looking forward to finally catching them again tonight at Sin-e though. They're on at 10.
Soul Jazz recently released Acid - Can You Jack?, a new double disc of classic Chicago house from the mid-80's. Read more about it here. I'm looking forward to hearing this. It has some tracks in common with last year's Trax Records 20th Anniversary anthology, which I loved.
San Francisco's Broker/Dealer will be spinning at a loft party tomorrow night at 69 West 14th Street. They've done stuff for Traum and Ghostly International and their jasminelive album is pretty good. Marcos Cabral and Audioelectronic are also on the bill - more details available here.
Peephole celebrates the 10th anniversary of Blur's "legendary Mile End gig." In Damon Albarn's own words: "I'll tell you what's significant about that gig, it was the first time that lads and indie kids all went to a gig together. It was the beginning of that explosion."
According to this Tiny Mixtapes story, the Coral Sea will be making their live debut next week at London's Meltdown Festival. Who's in the band? Just Chan Marshall, Kevin Shields, and Patti Smith. Not bad! But what will they sound like?
Via Prefixblog, Whatevs lists every album rated a perfect 10.0 by Pitchfork - as well as nine records that earned the even more elusive.
Queens of the Stone Age
- Depeche Mode will be touring North America this fall - dates are promised for October, November, and December in 22 cities, including NYC. The specifics are yet to come, but see the complete list of cities along with full details on their 2006 Europe tour at DM's official site. Tickets are actually going on sale for the '06 European dates in the next couple weeks. (Talk about advance planning!)
Central Village has all you need to know about the Scissor Sisters' July "secret" shows at the Mercury Lounge, and Brooklyn Vegan has details on Annie's June 29 show at Scenic (on sale now). I'm curious to check out Scenic, but Annie's Tribeca Grand show has me a little gunshy about the 29th.
I was really looking forward to seeing the Duke Spirit make their NYC live debut this weekend, but it unfortunately was postponed. Word is they'll be here in the fall instead.
Pitchfork's Mark Richardson takes a look at the beauty of the long song - the epic tune that takes you on a journey. It's a nice piece, but I have to add four personal favorites to his list - Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" (19:36), Stereolab's "Jenny Ondioline" (18:08), Tortoise's "Djed" (20:53), and the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" (17:27). (I'm sure I'm forgetting others...)
Incidentally, Richardson also reviewed Kraftwerk's May 31 show in Washington DC for Pitchfork today.
The Original Soundtrack takes a very interesting look at the convergence of "underground" and "overground" dance music by way of two new mixes from Damian Lazarus and the DJ megastar Sasha. The two have a lot more in common than you'd expect.
Check out Fluxblog and PSNYC for reviews of Tuesday's Pixies / Interpol / LCD Soundsystem show at Jones Beach, and More in the Monitor for thoughts on Monday's Architecture in Helsinki show at Northsix. This Flickr stream also has some great AIH pictures.
Download Autechre's 4/27/05 show in Geneva, but be warned - it's a single 185 MB MP3. It's also a bit harder to appreciate when you can't feel the bass and the beats.
According to this Hollywood Reporter review (via LHB) of Sleater-Kinney's June 9 show in LA, it's possible that they'll cover Danzig's "Mother" at Roseland next Thursday. That would totally rule.
Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, and Death From Above 1979 will be at Madison Square Garden on November 3. Could this show be any easier to abbreviate?
The GBH folks can put on a good party, but the name of their new Saturday party at Movida.