Social Studies to Teach San Diego a Lesson
The National show at Spreckels is over. The Frightened Rabbit has scurried away. Shout Out Louds are feeling hoarse and Freelance Whales — well, they’ll be back on Tuesday — but not until then.
Enter keyboard-driven San Franciscans Social Studies, who will play San Diego’s Soda Bar tonight. Their sound — something between St. Vincent and Fiery Furnaces — should be the perfect cure for your weekend concert comedown. Continue reading…
The New Pornographers Come Together (MP3)
Photo credit: Matador Records
When The New Pornographers put out an album, it’s always an event. Continue reading…
Video: St. Vincent; February 21, 2010; Diesel Club, Pittsburgh, PA
St. Vincent, a.k.a. Annie Clark, takes her stage name from Dylan Thomas, a Welsh Romantic poet. In 1953, he died at New York’s St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center.
There are a few theories about why he died: was it alcohol, diabetes, or heart attack? Or something else, or all of the above? There has never been a consensus. When asked about why she chose that specific moniker, Ms. Clark replied, “Because that is where poets go to die.”
I recently had the pleasure of seeing her perform and I found her live show to be charming, whimsical, and yes, poetic. So much so that I decided to film the encore and share it with all of you. I also thought a piece by Mr. Thomas entitled “The Map of Love” would serve as a nice artistic accompaniment to St. Vincent’s musical poetry. Read, watch and listen below. (more…)
Photos: St. Vincent; February 10, 2010; Belly Up Tavern, San Diego
Photos of St. Vincent at the Belly Up Tavern on February 10, 2010. (more…)
St. Vincent – Marrow (Video)
Also, be sure to check out our Facebook page for photos from her May 30, 2009 show in San Diego.
St. Vincent to Play L.A. Tonight, San Diego Saturday
We’re happy to announce that after years of unquiet admiration, we’ll finally get to see St. Vincent. She’s touring in support of her acclaimed new album, Actor, and will play San Diego’s Casbah on Saturday, May 30.
According to the LA Times music blog Pop & Hiss, the new record was written and recorded on a laptop in St. Vincent’s apartment.
Her 2007 debut, “Marry Me,” was recorded over a number of years. Actor, by contrast, was pieced together over a nine-month period on a computer in Clark’s apartment in Brooklyn, where she relocated after her initial success.
“I had just moved to New York, and I couldn’t make a lot of noise, and I was really inspired by the idea of recession,” Clark said. “If I had a melody I really liked, I would double-time it later in the song, and take it half-time and use it somewhere else, or invert it and transpose it. I was really into this idea of using one simple idea in as many ways as possible, like milking every idea. It’s music for the new American recession.”
The Casbah’s doors open at 5:30 on Saturday, so only get there at the usual time if you want to miss the show. You can (and should) purchase Actor in a variety of physical and digital forms over at Beggar’s Banquet Records. Tourdates after the jump. (more…)
St. Vincent to Play San Diego’s Casbah 5/30
This spring/summer, St. Vincent (Annie Clark) will headline shows across the ‘States, and her tour includes a stop at San Diego’s Casbah on May 30.
Clark also has a new album, Actor, that will be released on May 5. CD and LP pre-orders will come with a limited edition 7″ featuring the album track “Actor Out of Work,” and a non-album b-side, “Bicycle”. Cool.
Dates after the jump.
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Interviews (St. Vincent, Christopher Guest)
The “ever-so-slightly deranged” St. Vincent at Pitchfork:
I thought your first album, Marry Me, was actorly in that it sometimes sounded like you were playing different characters from song to song. With Actor, did you want to bring that idea to the forefront?
Lyrically, the new album actually isn’t as dressed-up in metaphor– it’s not as guardedly clever [laughs]. As far as the title goes, I would just watch films on silent and think, “How can I score this scene?” as a writing exercise. So I envisioned the whole thing to be like a film score. Then I realized, “Oh wait, I write pop songs. I need words as well.” I was thinking about David Mamet a lot– I have such a crush on David Mamet– and about the whole idea of what a drama is.
Christopher Guest at Paste:
You’ve done both improvisational music and comedy for a long time. Is there a major difference for you when musical improvisation is also comedic?
Well, there is in the sense that musically there’s nothing inherently funny about improvising musically. Well, there could be, I guess. Comedy comes largely from characters that I’ve played. Whether it’s Spinal Tap or A Mighty Wind, it’s a very arcane, or twisted, way to make music. Because it comes, even though I’m playing it, it comes from my person in the movie. It’s not what I would have written. I wouldn’t have written some of those songs or played them that way. So there’s a great freedom and kind of weirdness from doing that. This record is different. There’s nothing inherently funny about this record. The improvisations are purely musical, and they just go where they go. But in the same way you can’t explain improvisation to someone who doesn’t do it, you can intellectually explain it, but they just look at you as if they have no idea what you’re talking about—because how does that click to a non-musician? Or to a person who isn’t an actor, trying to explain that you just talk, and that’s what happens. You can’t convince anybody that that actually can happen.
St. Vincent to Release ‘Actor’ May 5
The lovely and talented Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, will release Actor on May 5 via 4AD records.
Our friend Carrie says:
Actor takes the ambitious compositional and sonic underpinnings of Clark’s debut as a starting point and never looks back. The arrangements are more masterful, the songwriting grander, the performances ever more confident and inspired.
Ms. Clark has said that she “wanted to make these [new] songs technicolor animatronic rides.” If it’s any thing like Marry Me, St. Vincent’s 2007 album—and Owl and Bear favorite—it will be like an old friend whom you’ve never met before.
Related Downloads
St. Vincent – December 12, 2007
Owl and Bear’s Top 20 Albums of 2007
Owl and Bear writers’ favorite albums of 2007.
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