Toyota Antics

The UK's Trip Hop duo Massive Attack played their first ever U.S. radio performance last week on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic.

The group performed "Teardrop" which was sung by Martina Topley-Bird. You can see a video of the performance HERE.

KCRW are currently in the midst of a pledge drive to raise operation funds from listeners. Without pledges, bands like Massive Attack, Kate Nash, Laura Marling, Admiral Radley and Active Child would not be able to perform for listeners and viewers like you!

Make a donation, buy KCRW t-shirts, do anything HERE to keep the music alive!

Watch a bunch of other performances by multiple artists here.

FYI "Teardrop" is the intro music from the show House, which rules.

After trying everything possible to organize the first ever HEARDfest, scheduled to take place August 14, to conform to restrictions set by the Los Angeles State Parks organization, HEARDfest organizers were faced with the decision to either pay large amounts of money for security and other amenities the state park requires or find another place to hold the festival. Since the Heard of Elephants organization didn't have the kind of money available to make the needed changes and instead of rushing around last minute to schedule a new venue, the full-scale festival will be postponed until organizers can actually create the festival they had envisioned.

HOWEVER, an event at Junction Block, the site of the indoor stage, will still take place August 14. It is promised to still be a great event, just not the “HEARDfest” that organizers had originally envisioned.

The show will feature live music from Alpine Decline, Bobb Bruno, Fart Barf, Jeans Wilder, Random, Patterns, Superhumanoids, Woolen, Woah Hunx as well as installations, live art, a bar and DJ's. The price for entry is now only $7.

Festival organizers apologize for the inconvenience and promise a great HEARDfest in the near future. For more information and for updates on the festival visit www.heardfest.com.

As if playing guitar in the indie-rock outfit TV on the Radio and producing other people’s music wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Baltimore native Dave Sitek has added one more project to his list of accomplishments with the creation of Maximum Balloon.

“It might be cheating to say it’s a pure solo album,” says Sitek. “These songs are tunes I had created in the process of producing other people’s albums, and they were just too far out for the specific records I had been cast to do. So I kept them around and figured I should put them out under one blanket thing.”

This collection of songs will be released on Maximum Balloon’s debut, self-titled album on August 31 via Interscope Records. The album sees Sitek collaborating with a different artist on each of its ten synth-heavy, dance-friendly tracks.

Sitek took some time to answer our questions about collaborating with so many musicians, his role as a music producer, and his thoughts on turning your family’s favorite recipe into a song.

What was your main reason for starting Maximum Balloon and what do you hope to accomplish with this project?

Dave Sitek: I’m not quite sure I had a "reason" to start Maximum Balloon, so I shall say: musical exploration. It was a better idea than marching in place. I’m not so sure I was hoping to accomplish anything, though I suppose I wanted to work with a lot of my friends in a casual way on some music that had no other purpose than to come into being.

How was the songwriting process for Maximum Balloon different from writing songs for TV on the Radio?

With TV, I annoy at least five people in the room, this time I mostly just annoyed Zeph ( my engineer ). In addition, Maximum Balloon was recorded in Los Angeles, where I cook all the time. I hadn’t tried that in New York. Yes, I did just include food preparation as part of the writing process...it's all connected!

You collaborate with many different musicians on the album including Karen O, Aku of Dragons of Zynth and David Byrne. How did you go about choosing which artists you wanted to collaborate with?

Very loosely.

Did you have certain artists you wanted for specific songs?

I let the artists pick the songs. I picked the singers based on my wanting to accurately reflect the times, and who I work with and so on. I did kinda hope I could get Bernadette Peters to cover a Cyndi Lauper track, but alas it never came to pass.

The collaborations clearly play a large role in making Maximum Balloon what it is. How much of an influence did each of the collaborators have on the various tracks they worked on?

I am quite lucky...and grateful. These collaborators have an influence in my life; the influence over the music was just the icing.

Are there more musicians that you would like to collaborate with in the future, and if so, who are some of them?

Besides the Bernadette Peters/Cyndi Lauper project? For sure...there are so many talents out there, sheesh...Yasmine Hamdan, Bon Iver, Cercueil, Morissey, Brigitte Fontaine, Scott Walker, whoever’s voice Lee Hazlewood's spirit lept into, etc.

What role do you think lyrics and vocals play not only on this album but in music in general?

In my view, the human voice is the most immediately identifiable instrument...even beyond our comprehension of the lyrics. I feel like vocal expression can give rise to courage, love, transcendence, calm, fury and so on. I feel like I can be transported by the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to a place of great joy, a glimpse at the divine...and that is without comprehension of the lyrics.

How important do you think they are?

I think they certainly can be important. I feel like they can draw parallels between the singers and our own lives, and thus making us feel like we are understood, or perhaps loved. They can also accurately reflect the times we live in and can speak to great events in our history. I suppose they can also be informative, though I don’t think recipes would have the greatest hooks as songs ( "Beat It " and "Whip It" have already been taken). Perhaps THAT will be the new genre...

Have you ever thought of releasing purely instrumental music?

I actually do quite a bit of instrumental music already. Someday.

You’re also an accomplished producer and have worked on albums for bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars and Scarlett Johansson. What is it that you like most about producing?

Tinkering...and not really having to comb my hair. Oh yeah, and being lucky enough to work with some of the wild, some of the spontaneous and some of the brilliant! I’m a lucky duck.

How much of an influence do you get to have on these bands’ albums and what sense of satisfaction do you get out of that?

I don’t know that I have said influence. Satisfaction, for me, comes from bringing the speakers to life.

When producing someone’s album, what do you feel you bring into the studio that other producers might not necessarily think of or do?

Calamity, and now calamity + delicious food.

My favorite thing about the Maximum Balloon album is the diverse listening experience it provides. Some of the songs are very fast dance tracks while others are significantly slower. Some have a strong hip hop vibe while others have more of a rock or soul kind of feel to them. If you had to choose your favorite thing about this album or something that you are most proud of, what would it be?

My favorite thing about this album is the people. I think Zephyrus Sowers is one of the best engineers out there, and it was a joy to carve out so many weird and unusual spaces with him ... to make room for the incredible singers and horn players and others...we got to put together a giant puzzle and I didn’t blow it (hopefully).

What is your favorite musical element you were able to bring in on the Maximum Balloon project that hasn’t really fit in with other projects you have worked on to this point?

Blueberry pie (from absolute scratch) and as many synths as I wanted!

Overall, the album has a very “club friendly” feel to it, full of heavy electronic and dance tracks. It’s different from other projects you have worked on, but at the same time there are some hidden traces of that familiar TV on the Radio sound. Was there a conscious effort to try and steer away from that sound in recording this album or did you not think too much about it?

I didn’t really think too much about it. I pretty much kept my explorers helmet on.

What are some of your favorite bands right now and how much of an influence do they have on your music and your producing skills?

I really like the Swedes! Little Dragon, Lykke Li, El Perro Del Mar.

That Fever Ray record really was one of the first records that sounded futuristic to me, very modern. I like so many others: The Oh Sees keep putting out incredible records and it’s starting to make me green with envy! I’m really into Tinariwen, Dr Who Dat, MF DOOM , and as usual, i still listen to a healthy dose of old stuff. F
 

FILTER likes music. There's no hiding it. We also like our own opinions a whole bunch, so once a week we give the masses a fleeting glimpse into our selective stereos to let them see firsthand what fuels our endless devotion. We like to think of it as community service. We're selfless like that. So without further ado, here are the official, inarguable, objectively good Filter Weekly Picks. And in case you trust our tastes that much, click on the links below for some sample tracks (not all releases have samples available) from these releases, and even buy it if you feel so inclined. Yeah, we're good at what we do:

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

The Drums - The Drums

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Original Soundtrack

Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses – Junky Star ("Depression")

Jenny and Johnny – I’m Having Fun Now ("Big Wave")

Tired Pony – The Place We Ran From

Johnny Boy - Johnny Boy

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Spoon - Kill The Moonlight

The Strokes - Is This It?

Brooklyn's Bear In Heaven have been busy little bears lately (I know I'm hilarious).

We have already reported the re-release of Beast Forth Rest Mouth coming this September, now we bring you a slew of new tour dates including a few festivals that you may have heard of.

The release is set for September 14th via Hometapes.

Check out the dates below!

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Rent asunder, the moniker of the seemingly long-in-hiding Los Angeles band Autolux breaks down to a prefix indicating "automatic" followed by the Latin word for "light." Their debut album, released in 2005, was called Future Perfect. And at that moment, their particular star did, indeed, seem to shine effortlessly brightly. Both their name and the title, then, appeared to be a statements of admirably optimistic intent--signed as they were to the burgeoning and Sony-backed label (DMZ, apparently referencing Korea's Demilitarized Zone, which we are all aware the music business is anything but) of godhead producer T-Bone Burnett, and championed by none other than iconic iconoclastic filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen.

Five years hence, bruised by the vagaries of the biz, drummer Carla Azar, bassist Eugene Goreshter, and guitarist Greg Edwards (they all sing) have a second album that flaunts another optimistic, new wavey title, Transit Transit, and actually finds them rather undiminished by the struggles. Azar recounts without a whiff of regret in her tone.

“T-Bone had just come off working on [the Coen brothers film] O Brother, Where Art Thou. At that time, they just decided to put a label together to put the soundtrack out. T-Bone had seen us, and said he wanted to sign us. It was really great.”

But…then?

“We were forced into a cave,” she continues. “It’s really boring—the first part of it is that we were on a label that wouldn’t release us from our contract but also wouldn’t give us money to make a new record. They didn’t know what to do with us, and they knew they would have to pay us to drop us, so we were sort of stuck in Purgatory.”

If their debut was a masterstroke of beautiful noise, the self-produced Transit Transit sounds like a band finding virtuosity amidst the dissonance. The opening and title track might remind you of Cocteau Twins, Sigur Ros, even Primal Scream, with its ethereal psychedelics and backwards tracked drumming. It’s followed by “Census”, its monotone vocals and caustic guitar standing in distinct opposition to all that pretty preceding it. Azar then plays breathy 30’s crooner lost in the forest of trippy dippy on “The Bouncing Wall”, which is awash in fantastically surrealist imagery (“I am free / The wall is bouncing / The lights are green / I am melting”). The surprises continue in abundance.

“There are so many strange songs on this record,” she observes, “I don’t know how you can even categorize them at all. We were actually aiming for farther back to bands like Can. In fact, they were so modern, that a lot of bands now are influenced by them.”

Farther back, indeed. While the rhythmic haywire of feral, determinedly abrasive tracks like “Kissproof” and “Headless Sky” bear the stamp of all that drug-addled 70’s Krautrock experimentation, there’s also a Pink Floydian sense of space and atmosphere throughout and the sort of lush, enveloping harmonies that would not be out of place on, dare we say it, a Beach Boys album.

For her part, Azar pleads blissful ignorance of current trends, choosing instead to pay her respect to what she considers more urgent, explosive points on the musical chronology.

“We’re sort of living in a bubble,” she confesses. “But those really powerful scenes that happened in the 80’s, like No Wave…I think you just don’t find those anymore.”

Like the No Wave bands, Autolux will probably continue to suffer the “art band” tag, lazily assigned to anyone not bound by the dull tenets and boundaries of “alternative” rock & roll. But what actually lingers most after a few listens to Transit Transit is its unrepentant romanticism, the sense that it might have all been the product of a few nights are particularly vivid and extravagant dreaming. And even when Azar intellectualizes a bit, it’s only to make a point about music’s ethereal and enigmatic hold over our fragile and peculiar humanity.

“There’s a study that I read about in Scientific American,” she recalls, “and it said that the memories that are attached to emotions on the highest level are those associated with music.”

It’s a weird, weird science, to be sure. F

It had been nearly 20 years since Devo’s latest release—1990’s Smooth Noodle Map—and although the band didn’t release music during the last two decades, Mark Mothersbaugh and company have spent their time writing songs for films, performing benefit concerts, rerecording old songs and touring. Just last month however, Devo ended that 20-year album drought with the release of its ninth studio album, Something for Everybody, which was released on June 15. The band continues to tour, entertaining audiences with favorite “Whip It” to songs off the new record, and is performing at many festivals across the country, including this year’s Lollapalooza on August 6 in Chicago.

Devo has always been known for its use of unique, innovative instruments to help give the band its cutting-edge, new wave sound. Devo founding member Mark Mothersbaugh took some time to talk about the technical side of the band’s music, the instruments it uses, and the ever-changing music industry.

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You know how this guy feels about double rainbows? “Oh my godddd.” That is how I feel about SHARK WEEK. And seriously, WHO DOESN’T?  Awful people, that’s who. There is something for everyone. Allow me to count the ways.

Feminists, did you know that female sharks can get pregnant without ever touching a male? Seriously. It’s called parthenogenesis, and it’s awesome. 

Darwinists, shark embryos have been known to literally eat their unborn brothers and sisters until just one shark remains. That’s what we know as intrauterine cannibalism. 

Historians, remember that event called World War II? Well, get ready for this. As WWII was drawing to a close, on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was struck by two Japanese torpedos in the Phillippine Sea, stranding nearly 900 sailors for four days. Sharks attacked. Only 316 people lived. It was absolutely horrific – and historic. 

Astronomers, I have the nugget of all nuggets for you. The moon’s control of the oceans' tides can actually affect sharks’ feeding habits to the point that attacks on humans increase during certain lunar phases. Seriously.

Athletes, you have to know how to defend yourself from a shark attack…or at least know which gym classes to avoid after Shark Week. Boxing classes may be a bit full after seeing a healthy dose of shark attacks because a solid punch to the face can make a shark to let go of your leg during an attack.

Lushes (I know you're out there), the Discovery Channel has a whole page of SHARK SHOTS for different occasions such as “The Forbidden Bite” or “The Lime Assault.” Make Shark Week an excuse for a celebration!

Comedians, this stuff is golden. Take it from Tracy Jordan – “Live every week like it’s shark week.”

Music lovers, Tokyo Police Club know what I’m talking about!

I REST MY CASE.

Now please join me in enjoying Shark Week 2010 – all week on the Discovery Channel.  Hit up their website for not only the shark shot recipes, but tons of fun facts, photos, games, A LIVE SHARK CAM (who will even remember puppy cam after this???), and the whole schedule of insanely amazing programming.

HEY EVERYONE, YOU’RE WELCOME.

Hey all you New Yorkers! Want to meet the filmmakers of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World?! Well you have your chance!

Tomorrow (August 3rd) the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Press Tour will be stopping at the Apple Store in Soho, New York for a Q & A. The Q&A will be with Edgar Wright, Michael Cera, Anna Kendrick and Jason Schwartzman.

The Q&A will start at 7PM so get there early!

Check out the picture below for more information.

Soho Apple Store is located at 103 Prince St. New York, NY 10012.
 

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I'm not big on dining alone unless I'm absolutely prepared to just sit, pretend to not people watch, eat and leave.  This past Saturday night was not one of those "I'm prepared" nights, but thank goodness for the Gilt Bar in Chicago. 

It was 7:00pm, my friend had bailed on me, I was hungry and unwilling to get my car rental out of valet again so I used the nifty Foodspotting app (thanks for the tip, Vicki) to help me track down what was near the hotel and the next thing you know I'm drooling over a photo of roasted bone marrow from the restaurant.  Within 5 minutes, I'm out the door and power walking thru Downtown. 

I get to the restaurant, walk up to the hostess and very shyly say "one please".  We both look at the bar and it's full.  BUMMER.  I look around the room and all the tables open are too big for one person to occupy (unless I wanted to be known as that "person" who had to take up 4 seats).  Luckily, the hostess suggested I sit at the kitchen bar.  Seemed like my only hope.  So I'm walked over and seated to this amazing view:



I'm literally AT the kitchen bar.  I no longer had to deal with being the loner!  I can just sit, relax and watch the action go down.  After a lot of staring at the menu and wanting every single thing on it, I ended up with this magnificent meal:

Drinks:
- Rittenhouse 100 whiskey neat
- High West Bourye, Rendezvous, 16 Years
(both absolutely full of flavor and burns your throat in the best way possible)

Appetizer:
- Foie gras and pork liver mousse with toast and cornichons
(I probably would have just eaten the mousse out of the little cup if I could... but I kept it classy. Not a lot of liver smell/taste for those who are scared to order this or think this kind of thing is "gross".)

Main:
- Gunthorp farms pork belly with farro verde, asparagus & shallot-raspberry glaze
(Literally melts in your mouth.  Not a big fan of fruit glazes, but I really loved how light this one was.)

Side:
- Blackened cauliflower with red onion, capers & chili
(A little tangy; are the red onions pickled? Either way, it was really good.  I probably would have been down for it to be more blackened)

Dessert:
- Strawberry ice cream
(Standard wholesome goodness, though I do not recommend taking a bite after sipping some whiskey)

PROS
- I have no doubt that I could have closed my eyes and randomly picked a dish that would turn out to be one of my new favorite dishes; the meal was that good
- The staff was so sweet; very attentive and was pretty awesome to give me extra toast, cornichons and an order of fries I didn't even order (oops, are people going to expect this from the staff now?)
- Great selection of drinks and they sure know their whiskey (bonus points!)
- I walked away from that meal so incredibly stuffed, but walked away knowing I'd sleep like a baby, which was perfect cause I had to wake up at 5am to catch a flight...

CONS
- Just one, really, and it's my own fault. I NEED to control what I eat! I'm ashamed to say I did not finish everything I ate.  Not because it wasn't good (I think you already know how much I heart this place by now).  I let my hunger order for me and just had one too many dishes.  Thanks to the guy who served me; he reassured me (and I hope he wasn't lying) that he'd bring the leftover home to feed his dog... do dogs eat pork belly?

I hope my dining alone and staring at the kitchen didn't make chef Jeff and the staff feel awkward; I gotta be honest, I felt a little weird sitting there watching them cook at first.  But I figured the seat's there for a reason!  That seat alone helped make this one of the best overall experiences I've had dining out, probably ever, and this will now be the must stop restaurant for me next time I'm in Chicago.  I wish I could have told the staff this in person while I was so close to the action, but I didn't... so thank you, for the best meal/dining alone experiences in my life and for letting me make you feel a little awkward.


Gilt Bar
http://www.giltbarchicago.com/
230 West Kinzie Street
Chicago, IL 60654