Ear on TV: Week of 09.06.10: Interpol

Interpol hasn't had the best year so far, but things are finally looking to turn around this week with their first release in three years. Besides the eponymously titled Interpol hitting the shelves, the New York band also soon sets off for Europe, acting as the opening act for U2. While both of these events represent obvious high points, they're both are partially responsible for the low points in the band's year.

Just as they were putting the final touches on Interpol in the studio, an album that sees the band returning to the roots of it's gold standard setting debut (Turn on the Bright Lights), co-founding member and bassist Carlo D. announced he was leaving the group*. Then, U2's Bono had to undergo back surgery and their North American tour was put off until next year. The time off this summer has at least allowed the new lineup some time to gel, and they'll put their newfound synergy on display this Wednesday for viewers of Jimmy Kimmel Live when they likely play both "Lights" and "Barricade."

*Interpol was able to pick up indie gun for hire David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise, Stereolab, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) to play bass in the band.

Elsewhere, contrasting acts The Black Angels and Ray Lamontagne are on the tube promoting their latest releases this week. The Black Angels are bringing their psyche rock assault to Letterman Wednesday, playing "Telephone in support of their third release, Phosphene Dream (out next week); while Ray Lamontagne plays twice (Wednesday on Leno and Thursday on Kimmel) with the Pariah Dogs for their collaborative debut, God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise).

Finally, this Sunday is time for MTV's twice-a-year-spectacle-event-posing-as-an-awards show. Like it's sister event, the MTV Movie Awards, the MTV Video Awards always generates some water cooler "did you see that" talk, like last year's blood-splattering (an nightmare-inducing) performance by Lady Gaga. But with no Lady Gaga on the docket this year, it begs the question: Who will folks be talking about tomorrow morning? Kanye West? Well, probably, but not for his performance. Drake? Perhaps for the cleavage of his dancers on stage. Justin Bieber? Back-to-schoolgirls will be texting (Bieber) feverishly. I'm holding out hope Florence & the Machine's performance of "Kiss With a Fist" pulls out the stops, as it has all kinds of MTV awards-show-over-the-top-like potential:


Picks for the week
Monday, September 6
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Jimmy Webb (REPEAT)
FUEL: The Daily Habit: We Were Promised Jetpacks (REPEAT)
IFC: Dinner With the Band: Men (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: JP, Chrissie and The Fairground Boys
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: She & Him (REPEAT)
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Flo Rida (REPEAT)
Tuesday,September 7
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Scissor Sisters
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Soft Pack (REPEAT)
IFC: 360 Sessions: David Gray
IFC: Dinner With the Band: Kid Sister & Flosstradamus (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Robert Randolph
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Morning Benders (REPEAT)
Wednesday, September 8
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Interpol
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Black Angels
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Timmy Curran (REPEAT)
IFC: Dinner With the Band: YACHT (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Ray LaMontagne
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: OK Go (REPEAT)
SYNDICATION: Live With Regis and Kelly: Sara Bareilles
Thursday, September 9
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ray Lamontagne
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Colbert Report: John Legend
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Cypress Hill (REPEAT)
IFC: Dinner With the Band: Rufus Wainwright (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: David Gray
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Jerry Lee Lewis
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: City and Colour (REPEAT)
Friday, September 10
ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC/E!/G4/VH1/HBO/SHOWTIME: Stand Up To Cancer: Stevie Wonder, Natasha Bedingfield, Aaron Neville, Queen Latifah
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Foxy Shazam (REPEAT)
IFC: Dinner With the Band: The Devil Makes Three (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: N.E.R.D.
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Daniel Merriweather (REPEAT)
Saturday, September 11
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Scouting For Girls (REPEAT)
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Carrie Underwood (REPEAT)b:
Sunday, September 12
MTV: 2010 MTV Video Music Awards: Kanye West, Eminem, B.o.B, Drake, Florence and the Machine, Justin Bieber

Now Downloading: New Releases 04.15.08

After last week's riches, it's hard not to feel a bit of a letdown. However, thanks to some early arrivals from The Black Angels, Lyrics Born and Make Believe along with the new releases from M83, Black Francis, The Child Ballads, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Kooks, it's still a better than average week for releases.

Playlist: New Releases 04.15.08

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Album: The Black Angels - Directions to See a Ghost

The latest from Austin's The Black Angels isn't actually due in stores for another month, but through the ingenuity of Drake fave label Light in the Attic Records, you can go to participating stores and buy a pre-sale card for $12.99, which gives you a unique online code to download tracks from LITA. Then, once May 13th arrives, you can go back to the store and pick up your deluxe embossed CD digipak release, with bonus CD EP of 4 unreleased tracks. It's a brilliant move on LITA's part, even knowing that this is The Black Angels last release on the label (they've since signed on with Interscope imprint Suretone). Because the virtual purchase also also buys you the CD, Directions to See a Ghost should get a corresponding spike on Billboard it's first week. Still won't be top 40, mind you, but it's bound to get LITA a heatseeker notice, which is a good way for the Angels to leave the label that gave them their start. Enough about the delivery of Directions -- how does it sound? Is saying it's Passover pt. 2 a bad thing? It might be pure laziness on my part, but if you liked their debut, you're going to like this one as well. The hypnotic Velvet Underground-meets-13th Floor Elevators sound is still on full display, should be enough to go on. If the one-two punch of openers "You On The Run" and "Doves" doesn't grab you, then try "Mission District," which effortlessly transports you to the Bay Area's pyschedelic past.

Full Album Stream

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Album: Lyrics Born - Everywhere At Once

Listening to the Bay Area's Lyrics Born won't get you any street cred, but who needs the street when planning a party. LB's funk grooves and good time party rap aren't the kind of joints that speak of a hard-knock life, but the good natured funk grooves are too infectious to worry about being 'authentic.' He's no Young MC, though, as LB's got a full band behind him now, recalling some of the Gap Band grooves along with party beats not unlike those that Afrika Bambaataa employed during his heyday. Hot tracks like "Don't Change," "Hott 2 Deff" and "I Like It, I Love It" will make many mixes in the coming summer, each proof in their own way that there's no shame in loving a little LB.

Full Album Stream from AOL

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Album: M83 - Saturdays=Youth

Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez (aka M83) gives up some of the My Bloody Valentine layered guitars for an ode to 80's synth acts like Cocteau Twins and early Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (who fittingly enough, this week see the reissue of their great 1983 album Dazzle Ships). The lush 80's soundscapes explore the themes of youth, so you have to forgive the lyrics at times, which sometimes seem like the scratchings from a Pee-Chee. "Kim & Jessie" is pure 80's brilliance, capturing young lovers who have a secret hiding place, and "Graveyard Girl" is a deliberate nod in the direction of the John Hughes' film Pretty in Pink, even name dropping Molly Ringwald. Too bad this album wasn't done two years ago, as it would've been perfect for Sofia Coppola's re-imagined Marie Antoinette, with it's rich new wave textures. It's an album that hits a bullseye on the target it's aiming for, but I can't help feeling that in a month or so I won't be as drawn to it's charms, unlike, say, Pretty in Pink.

Free AOL Album Stream

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More on the radar this week:
Make Believe - Going to the Bone Church (in Rhapsody a week early)
Black Francis - Svn Fngers
The Child Ballads - Cheekbone Hollows (Pop. 1/2 Life) / "Cheekbone Hollows" [mp3]
The Kooks - Konk / Free album stream from AOL
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - My Bloody Underground
Joseph Arthur - Crazy Rain / "Nothin 2 Hide [mp3]
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead / Free album stream from AOL
Tristan Prettyman - Hello / Free album stream from AOL
James McMurtry - Just Us Kids
Jordan Zevon - Insides Out / Free album stream from AOL
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
The Autumns - Fake Noise from a Box of Toys / "Boys" "Killer in Drag" [mp3]
The Plastic Constellations - We Appreciate You / "Stay That Way" [mp3]
Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Vol. 3 & 4: Air & Earth
The Gossip - Live In Liverpool / "Yr Mangled Heart (Live)" [mp3]
Reissues
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) - Dazzle Ships

tags: music, album review, foals, man man, nick cave, wye oak, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody