LUMINOUS Plectrum towers has been suffering from some unexpected, and disappointing, technical difficulties. But we'll be back as soon as we can with news, reviews and the quite frankly wonderful weekly mixes. So as MF Doom once said: "We'll be right back after these messages, fellas grab your nut sacks, chicks squeeze you breasteses."
INTERPOL'S stylish-as-fuck bassist Carlos D has decided to call it a day with the New York powerhouses. According to the band's website, Carlos has "decided to follow another path" just weeks after completing their new album at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Here's the note in full:
Dear fans,
As some of you have surely heard, Interpol has completed it's(sic) new album. It was recorded at Electric Lady Studios, New York, and mixed with Alan Moulder at Assault and Battery, London. The four of us poured our collective heart into this music and we are very proud and excited to share it. It's a heavy record. But we're feeling limber; and we're going to carry it all around the world for you. Touring begins this summer, so check here soon for announcements and show dates. There is more: Sadly, Carlos will not be joining us. After the completion of the album, Carlos informed the rest of us that he would be leaving the band. He has decided to follow another path, and to pursue new goals. This separation is amicable, and we whole-heartedly wish him great happiness and success. We will remain, as always, deeply respectful fans of this blazingly talented individual. We can tell you that we have some very exciting new recruits joining us on the road. So stay tuned - we will promptly be revealing the identities of these illustrious players. We eagerly await the opportunity to reconvene with you all - the greatest fans known to Rock. Thank you. Interpol
It's sad news. Carlos was the driving force of the band. His playing style and overall persona gave the band something exciting and vibrant and it's difficult to foresee if Interpol can replace such a figure. Of course, it's exciting to know the new album has been completed but is this the beginning of the end for them? Lights, the first new song unleashed by Interpol since 2007, is, as we've reported, mediocre and shows fairly little progression from Our Love To Admire. Maybe Carlos knows this and has decided to leave before they're found out? We'll see.
IF you weren't already frothing at the mouth with the prospect of The Drums dropping their debut album sometime soon, prepare to act like a rabies-ravaged canine. The glorious four-piece have uploaded a 12-second preview of the video for Forever and Ever, Amen via their website. Not enough? The band has given fans in the UK the chance to pre-order the up-coming LP through iTunes. Drums heaven.
LAST week, Canadian indie-pop masters Wolf Parade released the album artwork for the up-coming Expo 86. And now, in what must feel like Christmas for WP fans, the guys at Pitchfork media have unleashed two new songs for our aural pleasure. Ghost Pressure and What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way) are well-produced, guitar-tinged rock that shows the band in a more simple form, rather than blowing us away with anthemic, mind-blowing epics. Oh, and it seems as if Spencer Krug is trying out his best David Byrne impressions in some points during What Did My Lover Say? Rock on.
LCD Soundsystem are renowned for paying homage to their influences – and This Is Happening is the ultimate tribute album. The hugely anticipated third album from James Murphy and co builds on their previous two records, their self-titled debut and Sound of Silver, and creates an indulgent disco, packed-full of tension, emotion and out-right fun. You could say it’s Murphy’s super-fan album. In the explosive Losing My Edge, Murhpy reels off the acts that have influenced and crafted his way into the music business and his love of all things electronic, punk and pop. “ERIC B AND RAKIM, INDEX, SOULSONIC FORCE, JUAN ATKINS, DAVID AXELROD, ELECTRIC PRUNES, GIL! SCOTT! HERON!” – he shouts like an eager record store monkey. This Is Happening takes all these acts, and more, and moulds them into a breathtaking melange of pulsating genius. The opener, eight-minute-plus Dance Yrself Clean, starts with a softly spoken Murphy discussing those in his “present company”, probably at an awesome party, over a simple drum and bass beat and a charming keyboard riff. About one third of the through, it explodes into one of the best openers in recent years. The beats pierce through you like a stun-gun, thrusting the listener into a 16-bit world as Murphy strains “DANCE YRSELF CLEAN” and “IT’S YOUR SHOW”. It’s a revelation that doesn’t falter throughout. Drunk Girls nods towards Bowie (not for the last time on this record) and is as ridiculously catchy as the legend’s Boys Keep Swinging, creating this album’s unashamed floor-filler, i.e in the ilk ofDaft Punk Are Playing at My House and North American Scum. The supersonic adventure of One Touch shows LCD Soundsystem at their most imposing best. The beats per minutes are cranked up a notch and the empowering vocals slides the record into darker territory. All I Want is the album’s piece du resistance, the song they’ve been threatening to make since the band’s inception. You’ll be hard pushed to find another song that’ll come close to beating it for the song of 2010 spot. It could be said that All I Want is another nod to Bowie, this time paying tribute to his emotion-packed extravaganza Heroes. It’s the addictive piano melody, which was evident in 2007’s classic All My Friends, and the guitar-bending riff that propels it a higher status. Murphy yells “Take me home!” as All I Want reaches its conclusion, knowing he’s done what he set out to do and come up with a modern day classic that is sure to be looked back on with career-affirming admiration. I Can Change, another album highlight, plunges the album back to 16-bit electronic tones following the grandiose All I Want and encapsulates Murphy at his most delicate. It’s a rich love song, stressing just how difficult love is and his determination to change in order for the recipient of his adoration to feel the same way. The lyric “And love is a murderer, love is a murderer/But if she calls you tonight/Everything is all right” has never been truer, possibly highlighting Murphy’s experience in relationship tribulations. You Wanted A Hit takes a while to get warmed up with its oriental chimes but once it kicks in with the building but basic guitar riff, it blossoms into an attack towards blood thirsty record companies, while Pow Pow is a fun but unconventional listen that’s a typical LCD Soundsystem jam. As the album draws to a conclusion, Somebody’s Calling Me slows down the pace with its amateur piano line that meshes into an bluesy-electro number but the final track, Home, is where Murphy wanted to get to in All I Want. If this is to be LCD Soundsystem’s final track on their final ever album, they’ve done a wonderful job. Murphy again sings “Take me home” in this funky, brass-filled triumph, urging you to forget the past and look forward to the fun-times. The album ends with “If you’re afraid of what you need/Look around you, you’re surrounded/It won’t get any better.” In a way, Murphy, you’re right. It won’t get any better this year. This Is Happening is class from start to finish and LCD Soundsystem have produced an album that will be viewed with immense prestige in years to come. Their self-titled debut and Sound of Silver were lavished with no-end of superlatives. This Is Happening deserves the same amount but multiplied by at least five. If this is the last material we’ll see from the NYC dance wizards, what a way to end proceedings. This is stunning.
This Is Happening top three tracks:
1. All I Want 2. Dance Yrself Clean 3. I Can Change
LUMINOUS Plectrum towers has been suffering from some unexpected, and disappointing, technical difficulties.
