Last week, Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers set the blogosphere aflame, a mash-up of two of music’s most-revered catalogs mixed by British music teacher Tom Caruana. Now, the fine folks at Tea Sea records have supplied a bunch of supplementary materials for consumption, most notably instrumentals, radio edits and a podcast. Tinker away!
Some context after the jump.
Raphael Saadiq
Friday
1. Brendan Benson + Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons at (Le) Poisson Rouge
Jack White’s buddy settles in for a couple of shows with support from folk-soul Wisconsinite Chisel. (The other gig is Saturday at Maxwell’s.) Read our show preview here.
2. Raphael Saadiq at Terminal 5
A soul star with one foot in the past and one in the future walks with both of his shoes to the far West Side for a gig.
3. Woods + Real Estate at Market Hotel
Psychedelic pop is the name of the game for this showcase of two fast-rising indie bands in Bushwick.
Saturday
1. Friendly Fires + The xx at Webster Hall
The U.K. indie-disco group Friendly Fires may be headlining, but the real highlight comes with the opening act, the xx. Read our feature on the young, modern R&B now-trio here.
2. Espers + Azita at the Bell House
The psychedelic-folk band headlines a show that also includes a piano popper in Azita. Read our show preview here. The two also play Drom Friday.
3. A Prairie Home Companion with Punch Brothers at the Town Hall
Chris Thile’s Brothers are the highlight of a live rendition of Garrison Keillor’s radio institution. The show also takes place at the Town Hall on Friday.
Sunday
1. The Beatles Complete on Ukulele at Brooklyn Bowl
In what may be the strangest, and certainly longest, show of the week, today’s 13-hour event will feature 100 performers plucking their way through the entire Beatles catalog.
2. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at Bowery Ballroom
A proud product of the high-energy D.C. hardcore scene, Ted Leo has a new record coming out in March and will no doubt play some songs from it tonight.
3. Let’s Zydeco with Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band at Connolly’s
A true authentic—Daigrepont still writes songs in Cajun French—gets the toes tappin’ at a Let’s Zydeco show.
Catch Norah Jones’s full album The Fall streaming here, two weeks before its release. [@largeheartedboy]
Four Tet announced a new LP, There Is Love in You, that will come out in late January. Preview the single “Love Cry” on its MySpace page. [Pitchfork]
Dave Grohl said the release of Foo Fighters’ Greatest Hits record is premature and looks “like an obituary.” [NME]
The full Beatles discography will be released in December in a USB drive shaped like an apple. [Paste]
Listen to a new Spoon track here, “Mystery Zone,” which will appear in the band’s seventh LP, Transference, out in January. [Consequence of Sound]
Midlake, pictured, announced that the band’s third LP, called The Courage of Others, will come out February 2, 2010. [Drowned in Sound]
A rare copy of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club—one of 100 pressed to give as Christmas presents to Capitol Records employees—was found in a stack of LPs sold by a widow of a label executive. [Spinner]
The Dead Weather released a live EP recorded from a show at the Third Man pop-up shop in Los Angeles last August. Get it here. [Consequence of Sound]
The world remains hypnotized by the latest batch of Beatles reissues, which have given fans and critics alike the opportunity to reassess the Liverpool band: As it turns out, the Beatles were good! Yet the newly reissued disc that I cannot stop playing is by another venerated rock quartet, the Feelies—specifically, the Jersey band’s 1980 debut LP, Crazy Rhythms, which has been given a new life by Hoboken’s Bar/None Records. I heard this album from time to time over the years, but for some reason never fully connected with it until now. The Feelies are worth the fuss—they are wired, nerdy and particular; wholly individualistic without reaching for eccentricity. While the band predated contemporary indie rock by years, its mannerisms course through sundry albums of the past ten years, perhaps most lucratively those by the Strokes and Interpol. Here is the one track on Crazy Rhythms not penned by the Feelies’ Glenn Mercer and Bill Million. (Its original version appears on another popular 2009 reissue.)
Time Out’s Beatles series continues with Carla Bozulich, a veteran of many fine bands who currently performs in Evangelista. She talks about what may prove to be the Beatles’ most widely praised work, Revolver.
TONY: Do you have any idea how old you were and where you were when you first heard the Beatles?
Carla Bozulich: I was about eight when I first heard Revolver.
TONY’s Beatles series continues with the remarkable Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds discussing the remarkable 1969 (non-Icelandic) album Abbey Road.
“I have memories from childhood of my father’s brother, Ólafur Arnalds (the elder), playing Beatles songs on guitar at the family summerhouse and everyone singing. My parents also had the blue and the red compilation albums, one of the few popular music albums they had—they were more into classical music. A favorite song from the those albums was ‘Here Comes the Sun.’ I remember listening to it over and over again every spring and watching the windy battle between the sun and snow out the window, feeling tender and relieved that the winter was over soon.
“A couple of years ago, I was sitting at home with my mother, playing guitar as she was recalling songs from her youth in England. Suddenly she started singing ‘Her Majesty.’ I had memories of her always stopping me from singing silly Icelandic lyrics about rye bread with cream to the British national anthem, so her teaching me this song, and singing it in a light and humorous manner, was a lovely surprise. When looking for the song on the Internet, I found Abbey Road, which also included my childhood favorite ‘Here Comes the Sun.’ Although I was brought up playing and listening to their music, it was the first whole Beatles studio album I’d ever heard. I really like Abbey Road as a whole piece because it’s so gutsy and all over the place. I relate to that.”
The Volume’s Beatles series continues with Caroline Polachek and Patrick Wimberly, of the Brooklyn pop group Chairlift. Both picked the colorful biggie from 1967.
TONY: Do you have any idea how old you were when you first heard the Beatles?
Caroline Polachek: I was eight or nine when the Beatles really struck me—not when I heard them first, but when it hit home what they were up to.
TONY’s Beatles series continues with the jazz drummer Ben Perowsky, a fan of Let It Be.
“I was in competition for who had the most Beatles records with a few of my friends at around age ten. I’m still listening and loving those records—been through vinyl, cassettes, CDs and now MP3s. I was pretty blown away when Sir Paul showed up at a gig of mine a few years back. He’s still hungry for new energy and music. Maybe that’s one of the many reasons they were such a great band.”
Our Beatles tribute series continues with Sarah Lipstate, the highly skilled dronesmith behind Noveller. She was kind enough to share her thoughts on the White Album.
TONY: Do you have any idea how old you were, and where you were, when you first heard the Beatles?
Sarah Lipstate: When I was a kid, I was always intrigued by the old turntable that my dad kept in a cabinet underneath the television in our living room. The first time that I really remember listening to the Beatles was when I asked my dad if the record player actually played music, because I had never seen it in use. He brought out a small collection of LPs from his college years that included Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I specifically recall him putting on the track “When I’m Sixty-Four.” My parents didn’t really listen to music around the house when I was growing up, so it was a special moment that has stuck with me through the years.
The second installment in our Beatles tribute series, which began yesterday with Deerhoof, features Jamie Stewart, leader of the brilliant and harrowing avant-pop outfit Xiu Xiu. Here he shares his memories of the White Album.
TONY: Do you have any idea how old you were, and where you were when you first heard the Beatles?
Jamie Stewart: I remember it clearly, actually. I had a foster sister when I was eight. She was 17 and treated me like a classic sidekick. We would look at surfing magazines, she taught me how to swear using Mad-Libs (adverb: fuckily, etc.), and we listened to the Beatles’ White Album while we heated up needles and poked them into my model airplanes to make bullet holes. She ran away after a year and I lost my mind. I listened to “our record” all day every day to remember her. This went on for about six months and then my mom made me stop. Read more »
As you most assuredly have heard by now, the complete studio recordings of the Beatles arrive on remastered, augmented CDs tomorrow (Wednesday, September 9), along with a slightly improbable video game, The Beatles: Rock Band. Having shared and savored a complete set of the stereo remasters for around a week now, we’ll state for the record that even skeptics who normally wince at endless catalog exploitation have been converted into giddy fans by the sharp, clear, detailed sound of these new discs. But rather than offering the 4,937,183rd review of these much-discussed, oft-dissected discs, we’ve decided to ask a diverse group of fascinating musicians to sound off on the Beatles albums that meant the most to them. Up first is a Q&A with Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier on Let It Be. Check back daily for further testimonials.
TONY: Was Let it Be your introduction to the Beatles?
Greg Saunier: No, but it was the first one that I wanted to listen to on my own, away from the rest of the family.
Whoa! It’s been a slow couple of weeks for releases and then, just after Labor Day, we’ve got a flood of big-name and quality releases. Check this crop out:
Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 Hova pushes up the release of his highly anticipated disc (from Friday 11) because of a leak. Read our review here.
Phish Joy The reunited jam band releases its best studio record in years. Read our review here and listen here.
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part II Perhaps the best hip-hop effort of the year hits shelves. Throw your Ws up!
Wild Beasts Two Dancers The edgy yet accessible Brits put out a new one. Read our preview on the band’s New York shows—which began tonight—here and listen to the new record here.
Yo La Tengo Popular Songs Homespun indie pop from the vets finds its way onto another YLT release. Read our review here and listen here.
Remasters of the week: The Beatles. The new box sets and individual records sound extremely fresh, popping with new life. Overdue? Yes. Vital? More so. Stay tuned to the Volume for Beatles tributes all week.
Check out Largehearted Boy for even more of today’s output.
While the world awaits the release of the Beatles’ digitally remastered studio albums and The Beatles: Rock Band video game on Wednesday, September 9, we at Time Out New York turned to Brooklyn band Bubble to get our Fab Four fix. Among tribute bands, Bubble reigns supreme, playing faithful adaptations of the Beatles’ greatest hits to sold-out crowds. The group also records original material, claiming influences as diverse as Elvis Presley and astronauts. We caught up with three of the band’s members in Bryant Park for a flipcam concert, but when a police officer informed us we couldn’t legally set up an amp in the vicinity, a Hard Days Night–style chase ensued. Dave Foster, the John Lennon of the group, was worried that Bubble would have to shorten its performance to “Four Days a Week,” but we eventually received permission to resume taping. Clearly the cops were swayed by Bubble’s spot-on performance—or perhaps it was the $20 “gift” that changed their minds.
Bubble’s second full-length album, Seconds, comes out on Wednesday, September 9. To celebrate the event, the band will perform a set of originals and Beatles songs at The Living Room. Special guests Jupiter Deluxe kick things off at 9pm.
Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West lead a bandanna-clad, torch-lifting crowd in the postapocalyptic video for “Run This Town.” Watch it here. [MTV]
Details about Karen O’s music for the film adaptation of the children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are are out, and the list of collaborators includes members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Dead Weather, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox and more. Album’s out September 29, but watch out for the single “All Is Love” Tuesday, August 25. [Filter]
A remake based on The Beatles‘ animated Yellow Submarine flick is slated to be done in 3-D by Oscarwinner Robert Zemeckis. [NME]
More Bradford Cox news: Hear Atlas Sound’s fragile “Attic Lights” here, the second preview off his upcoming full-length Logos, out on October 20. [Pitchfork]
And from the TONY desk:
Listen to a new track off punk-cabaret chanteuse Shilpa Ray’s upcoming debut album here. [The Volume]
Show recap: Islands‘ Nick Thorburn channels his inner Tom Jones at the Bell House. [The Volume]
Watch video and photos of Del the Funky Homosapien performing at Sunday’s pool party. [The Volume]
Basement Jaxx, pictured, return to their club roots on upcoming LP Scars (due October 6), which features Santigold, Lightspeed Champion, Yoko Ono and more. The band’s lead single is available here. [Spin Magazine]
Listen here to Broken Social Scene’s cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” which will be featured in the upcoming movie The Time Traveler’s Wife. [Pitchfork]
The release of The Beatles: Rock Band draws closer (September 9), and the first official in-game video for “Birthday” (from the White Album) is available here. The avatars appear in the famous Abbey Road Studios. [Rolling Stone]
Bob Dylan wastes no time. His last album, Together Through Life, was released on April 2009, and already he’s allegedly recording a Christmas album with covers like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Here Comes Santa Claus.” Can it be true? [NME]
Amanda Palmer contacted fans through Twitter and organized a guerrilla gig—check out Palmer singing the Cat Stevens fave, “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” here. [TechDirt] (Harold and Maude fans may prefer to watch the original, here.)
New Florence and the Machine video for “Drumming Song” available here. [NME]
The Horrors’ frontman, Faris Badwan, covers Black Lips‘ “I’ll Be with You.” Hear/download it here. [Pitchfork]
And from the TONY desk:
New music from creepy metal outfit Bloody Panda. [The Volume]
Play count: Hip-hop from Quest, The Knux, XV and more. [The Volume]
Madonna will once again survey her greatest hits—37 of them, to be precise—as well as offer new material on Celebration (check out the cover above), available as single and double albums, and due September 29. The first single, “Celebration,” drops August 3, and word is that remixes of it are on their way to the clubs. [Rolling Stone]
Watch The Fiery Furnaces‘ new colorful video for “Charmaine Champagne” here, the first single from the Friedberger siblings’ latest album I’m Going Away. [Pitchfork]
Can’t get enough of bands with fire in their name? Check out Friendly Fires‘ video “Kiss of Life” here, which finds the synth popsters doing their thing on the beach. [MTV]
Heinz Edelman, illustrator of the Beatles’s 1968 Yellow Submarine animated film, has died at the age of 75. Watch a clip of the Fab Four’s psychedelic adventures here—and if you haven’t seen it yet, the trailer of the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band here. [The New York Times]
And from the TONY desk:
Jay-Z to replace Beastie Boys at All Points West. [The Volume]
The latest from iconic indie mope Lou Barlow. [The Volume]
Paul McCartney made history (again) on Friday, becoming the first artist to play a show at the Mets’ new home, Citi Field—44 years after the Beatles were the first band to perform at a sports arena, playing Shea Stadium on August 15, 1965.
And while the screaming wasn’t quite so shrill, there were plenty of goose-bump moments: Macca cherry-picked hits from the Beatles canon, fireworks boomed, and there was even a guest appearance from Billy Joel. TONY photographer Taso Hountas was there to catch the action.
Click past the jump for more pics and a full show recap.
In the summer of 1965, the Beatles played a brief, chaotic set at the old Shea Stadium, a historic concert that launched the era of the humongous rock show and, conversely, helped drive the Beatles off the touring circuit altogether. Over its short life, Shea hosted a number of concerts—at least in this sense, its importance surmounted the Bronx Goliath. Shows included a bill pairing the Who and the Clash (captured in part on last year’s Clash album, Live at Shea Stadium), another bill pairing Art Garfunkel with Paul Simon, and performances by the religious figures Pope John Paul II and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The ballpark’s final two concerts, last July, starred the nutty pianist Billy Joel and, on the second night, a surprise guest: Sir Paul McCartney.
On July 17 and 18, McCartney opens the Mets’ new home to music, headlining Citi Field’s debut concert. The singer, whose most recent New York outing was a Radio City charity date with Ringo Starr, has been touring with a generous show, flush with hits and amiable chatter. Read more »
Ever since The New York Times got ahold of my swine flu mixtape, the people have spoken: They want another topical collection of songs. And since Chrysler motors as we knew it seems to be pretty much toast, it’s getting a little tribute from yours truly.
“I’m Changing My Name to Chrysler” by Tom Paxton, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger Reasoning: Come on, just listen to this song. Written almost 30 years ago, it couldn’t be more pertinent.
“Drive My Car” by the Beatles Reasoning: I told you these “lists” didn’t work without the Fab Four.
“Sugar Magnolia” by the Grateful Dead Reasoning: The lyric, “Jump like a Willys in four wheel drive.” Willys used to run Jeep; Chrysler does now. That’s right—this is a heady pick. (And my apologies to any Dresden Dolls fans.) Side note: “Sugar Magnolia” is not my favorite Dead song (the question of which was just proposed in Slate). And neither is “St. Stephen,” but my high-school yearbook quote actually was “One man gathers what another man spills.” I’m not even close to joking.
“Barracuda” by Heart Reasoning: You’d better believe that Chrysler manufactured the Plymouth Barracuda from 1964 to 1974.
“Bankrupt on Selling” by Modest Mouse Reasoning: It’s depressing and it has the word bankrupt in the title. Sounds like the news every day…
Honorable mention: “Ordinary People” by Neil Young Reasoning: Neil is Mr. Car (as evidenced by his most recent record, Fork in the Road—and the cover of Trans) and namechecks Mr. Lee Iacocca in this song.
Listen to the mixtape after the jump.
The Volume Music news of note
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