Burst Apart might not be out for almost two more months but the band debuted almost the entire album yesterday and NPR’s SXSW showcase. You can listen to each track from the show in order below, you’ll notice track 7, “Tiptoe” is missing. Apparently the band wants to leave something for release day and decided to skip that song during their set.

The audio isn’t great on these so it won’t be a replacement for the actual studio release but it should give everyone an idea of the direction the new album will be taking. Overall my opinion is favorable for Burst Apart except for the track “Hounds”. My reasoning behind this is that Darby Cicci’s singing of the line “slow down” is truly terrible and I hope it’s not that bad on the album.

Burst Apart is out May 10th via Frenchkiss.

The Antlers – “I Don’t Want Love”

The Antlers – “French Exit”

The Antlers – “Parenthesis”

The Antlers – “No Widows”

The Antlers – “Rolled Together”

The Antlers – “Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out”

The Antlers – “Hounds”

The Antlers – “Corsicana”

The Antlers – “Putting the Dog to Sleep”

written by Melissa.

Lia Ices is a seemingly unknown artist with a lot of hype already surrounding her.  Having only one album released (Necima, September 2008), this stunningly beautiful Brooklyn gal has already toured the 2010 CMJ festival with the xx, Neon Indian, and AA Bondy.  This pianist, singer, and songwriter began playing the piano at the unripe age of five.  Later in life while attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s Experimental Theater Wing she began experimenting with the art of songwriting.

While in preparation for her upcoming second album, Grown Unknown (January 25, 2011), she moved from the smaller Rare Book Room label to Jagjaguwar (Okkervil River, Sunset Rubdown). The rhythmic song “Grown Unknown” involves pant-slapping hands surrounding a microphone at different depths.  “Daphne” begins with a soft guitar and string melody leading to the entrance of her soothing, soaring vocals.  About halfway through the song, there is a heavier piano / electric guitar mood shift with supporting vocals by Justin Vernon, AKA Bon Iver.  “Daphne” was released this Tuesday on ITunes.  (Just this year alone, Vernon was featured on about a handful of songs on Anais Mitchells’s Hadestown, Kanye West’s “Lost in the World” which consists of Bon Iver’s “Woods” [Blood Bank EP] auto tune samples, and side project, Gayngs, with members of the bands Megafaun and Rosebuds.)  Already having this talent musically attached to her resume, this highly anticipated album could bring an “unknown” to a “grown” artist over night.  Lia Ices is set to appear at Austin’s SXSW in March 2011.

“Grown Unknown”

“Daphne”

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(download hosted by The Fader)

I haven’t been able to post much since Peter Wolf Crier last Friday. Now that I have a free moment, I don’t want to waste it on something frivolous. I hope you’ll consider today’s share well worth the wait.

I have been listening to San Diego’s Delta Spirit nonstop. This group also played Emo’s at SXSW and have been blowing up something huge since their first album came out a few years ago. As someone who used to make the drive from LA to San Diego quite often, I feel qualified in saying that Ode to Sunshine is possibly the best driving album I’ve heard all year. I challenge any of you to listen to the first few tracks and not smile, bob your head or suddenly discover that your arm, of its own accord, is pumping in the air 2:35 minutes into “People C’mon.” Before your mind even realizes it, your body will know this song is for you – the part of you that never feels truly satisfied, or finished, or at home. And for those few moments, you won’t even feel ashamed to admit such a thing.

The exciting news is that the release date for their second album, History From Below, is almost here. June 8 is right around the corner and just beyond that is July 15 – the day that, you guessed it, they’ll be playing here in Dallas.

Check out the clip below for a live performance with Gordon Gano, singing the classic Violent Femmes song, “Add It Up”. FUN!

Minnesota was doing some weird things to me last night.

As it turns out, they have some serious music appreciation going on over there. Have you ever stumbled across a Youtube video by 89.3 The Current? They are, in a word, inspired. Maybe it was the late hour and ill-advised Americano egging me on, but my little mind was certainly blown. I would probably give both my arms now to move to Minnesota and work at that radio station; I loved every show I watched from their site that much. Check out Yeasayer’s “Wait for the Summer” and maybe you’ll get an idea.

So shame on me for not giving Minnesota much thought…ever. Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio, I’ve been introduced to Peter Wolf Crier. I’ve given them a good listen and forged a strong attachment. Peter Pisano’s fervent vocals and the pulsing thrums of Brian Moen called out to me and said, “Desiree, put us on the top of your 2010 Watch List.” And there they sit, just inches above Jesca Hoop and Ferraby Lionheart.

Happily, PWC has been getting quite a bit of action outside of Minneapolis. The duo announced their partnership with JagJaguwar in early March (think Bon Iver, Okkervil River, and Sunset Rubdown). Then they played alongside Rogue Wave and the Local Natives at SXSW. And just yesterday, Daytrotter released a live recording with them that definitely merits an enthusiastic plug from me: I love you Daytrotter!

I predict an extremely bright future, starting with their May 25th release of Inter-Be.

There are many promotional downloads available through JagJaguwar, Daytrotter, NPR, etc… but if I may suggest a starting point, here is a special recording of “Untitled 101”, a tribute to Joe Pug’s “Hymn 101.”

You guys are all troopers and I’m proud of ya.

NPR + SXSW + iTunes = Free Download (Downloads automatically to iTunes)

If you don’t have iTunes, then click this link so that you can go to NPR’s website and they can tell you that you still need to get iTunes to download the free music they’re offering. As for me, I’ve been putting off downloading that whopping 81.86MB iTunes update, so I’m having to do that right now.

Update: I’ve finally finished downloading the iTunes and I got the free love from NPR.  Right now, I’m grooving on “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” by Mayer Hawthorne from Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out. This is the smoothest breakup I’ve ever heard!

By the way, fully 50% of the tracks have been categorized by iTunes as belonging to the “Alternative” genre.  Does anybody besides me see the irony here?

I’ve listened to the concert all the way through while at work but was unable to give much attention to the lyrics and story line. So I’m afraid that I can’t really give an accurate review of the album at this time. I can tell you that the audio is great for a live show.

You can stream the entire concert here.

As a music idealist of the highest order, as a former Austin denizen, and as a once (and former?) alcohol devotee, the present correspondent is absolutely required to slobber all over himself when the totem music festival known as SXSW rolls annually around.

You’d think so. Unless you’ve ever been to one.

Quite frankly, your intrepid blogger much prefers Lollapalooza. It is a single-venue, single-day event. Concertgoers are treated with a clear main stage and a clear side stage. (Actually, if memory serves there were two side stages, one with music and one with comedy or performance art. Right?) There’s plenty of elbow room and law enforcement is mostly private sector (read: only interested in their survival and your survival). At the end of the day you go home. No need for a hotel. Parking sucks.

SXSW is held in the Austin Sixth Street area, which is a geographical concentration of bars, restaurants, convenience stores, other businesses, ATMs, a church or two, and a homeless shelter.
While the SXSW lineups are always spectacular — and sometimes borderline phenomenal — the bars are packed like sherpas, often far too small for such big-name performers. Waiting for Band X will surely cause you to miss Band Y, and bad planning might cause you to miss both. It is far too difficult to hear a majority of the artists you intend to. And it is impossible to hear them all. And cops are everywhere; we’re talking the public sector kind, now. This isn’t music: whatever this is is too complicated to call music. And parking sucks.

SXSW has some A-list talent this year. But do yourself a favor and wait for the wrap-ups on YouTube.