Interview: Slow Club
If you need a little more U.K. folk-pop in your life, join the club.
Sheffield, England duo Slow Club are currently touring to support the stunning Yeah So, an album that would’ve been a shoo-in for our Best of 2009 list if I hadn’t discovered it too late. Over the course of the record’s twelve tracks, bandmates Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor masterfully walk the line between sincerity and playfulness. As far as adorable rock duos go, they just might be Britain’s answer to the White Stripes. (more…)
Blood Red Shoes Get Fired Up (Video)
Rock and roll has seen its share of great duos in recent years—The White Stripes and The Kills being among the best—but no other band attacks the senses with as much raw power as Steven Ansell and Laura-Mary Carter, better known as Blood Red Shoes. The Brighton, England group’s 2008 debut, Box of Secrets, was a cherry bomb of a record that dripped with raw, dangerous sexuality. The fast and furious album’s bloody hooks and visceral appeal landed it a spot on Owl&Bear’s world-renowned Best of 2008 list, and we’ve been waiting anxiously for its follow-up.
But now the wait is over. Out on March 10 through V2 Records, Fire Like This contains ten highly combustible tracks from the band. Those eager for a sampling of the album can go to the band’s official website, where they’re streaming a new track every week until its release. “Light It Up”, “Colours Fade”, and live favorite “Keeping It Close” had previously been posted to the site, and the band just today added the red-hot “Heartsink”, which the group describes as “a pop song that we tried to destroy from the inside out”. Those inclined to join the band’s newsletter will be rewarded with a free download of “Colours Fade”. (more…)
Poetic Memory: Kissing Cousins (List)
L.A.-based Kissing Cousins, an “all female sepulchral counter-pop” band led by Heather Bray Heywood, began with a few modest EPs. Since then, they’ve had a song featured on Nip/Tuck and recorded a full-length album, Pillar of Salt. Kissing Cousins recorded Pillar live to tape—a rarity in today’s mostly digital landscape—with the help of Richard Swift. The band used Wilco’s old TASCAM 8-track to record the album, bestowing a second life upon the piece of equipment that has produced some of Wilco’s greatest songs. Kissing Cousins definitely do the machine justice.
Music videos for Pillar are in the works, and the vinyl will be released in July (see tour dates below). For samples, check out “In Too Deep” from Pillar, as well as “Deathhouse“, Heywood’s personal favorite song from the album.
After the jump: 10 bands that influenced Heywood’s songwriting “in some shape or form.” (more…)
The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother (Video)
The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother
Following its premiere on Cinemax this weekend, The Dead Weather have made their new short film/music video, the Jonathan Glazer-directed Treat Me Like Your Mother, available for us internet folk. Watch Jack White and Alison Mosshart go at it like a pair of jilted Terminators, then pick up Horehound, The Dead Weather’s red-hot debut album, when it comes out tomorrow.
The Dead Weather Get It On with Your Mother on Cinemax
That’s right: The Dead Weather are set to get it on with your mother on everybody’s favorite childhood soft-focus porn channel. But before you pour lye in your eyes, let me clarify: the band will be debuting their new short film Treat Me Like Your Mother on Cinemax on July 11th. Wordplay!
Directed by Jonathan Glazer, whose credits include Sexy Beast, Birth, and the amazing videos for Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” and UNKLE’s “Rabbit in Your Headlights”, the film stars band mates Jack White and Alison Mosshart in what promises to be a dirty, dirty experience.
Says White, “It was overwhelmingly electric working with Jonathan Glazer on this project, which feels more short film than video. I’ve never felt an intensity like I did on the set of this shoot. Absolutely violent, explosive, and poetic.”
The video premieres promptly at 9:55pm, just days before the release of The Dead Weather’s highly anticipated debut album Horehound. You can watch a trailer for the short film here, and we’ve got the afore-mentioned Glazer-directed music videos after the jump. (more…)
Dead Weather Predicted for July 14
Your friendly neighborhood weathermen at Owl&Bear are predicting some strangeness in the air this summer. According to our satellites and advanced meteorological technology, July 14th will be partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain and a very high chance of deadness. The cause of the humidity and morbidity appears to be the impending release of Horehound, the debut album from supergroup The Dead Weather.
The band, which features The White Stripes’ Jack White, The Kills’ Alison Mosshart, Queens of the Stone Age’s Dean Fertita, and that long-haired guy from The Raconteurs, already released a seven-inch single—the blistering “Hang You From The Heavens”—for last month’s Record Store Day.
The band will be supporting the new album with a North American tour that includes a stop at San Diego’s Street Scene festival in August. Pre-sale tickets for many of the tour dates will be available starting Wednesday, and can be purchased by following the links here. Fans purchasing pre-sale tickets will also have the opportunity to pre-order Horehound at a discounted price.
We’ve got the full list of tour dates and your first look at the cover of Horehound after the jump. Be sure to wear your poncho. (more…)
Bonnaroo 2007
When I left Thursday afternoon, I felt like shit with an ungodly case of mono and, apparently, Lyme disease. I thought I might die there, but by Friday, I felt much, much better. It may be stupidly-named, but Bonnaroo apparently cures all ills.
