Ear on TV: Week of 11.02.09: Pixies

The Pixies are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of the classic 1989 album, Doolittle, with a massive tour featuring a stunning visual production. The US tour kicks off on Wednesday in Hollywood, and the band will put their production on display on The Tonight Show stage on Friday night, While many wonder when the alt-rock legends will record something new, the band seems fully content to coast on their elevated past, which isn't a bad thing. If they can't create new songs that fit in the canon, then it's best to just leave it be.

Meanwhile, now that the dust has settled from the 2009 version of Beatles mania (special edition CD reissues and video games), the time is right to for Yoko Ono to get some of her due. John Lennon's widow is an avant-garde icon, but you'd hardly know it given how much grief she's been given over the years for her love of John Lennon. "The woman who broke up the Beatles," is an the unfair accusation that time hasn't seemed to erase yet, but maybe this is the year to make it right.

Now at 76 years old, Ono has released what might be her most realized work of art, in the album Between My Head and the Sky, which also finds her working under the name Plastic Ono Band for the first time since 1973's Feeling the Space, a band so Feeling Spacenamed by John Lennon. The suggestion to work as Plastic Ono Band again fittingly came from son Sean Lennon, who wrote, produced and played most the instruments on the album. The mother-son team was joined by Japan's Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada), jazz cellist Erik Friedlander and Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda in the studio, and there's no reason to think that we won't see most or all of them on stage Thursday night for Ono's appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Another album celebrating it's 20th anniversary this week is Nirvana's Bleach, which gets the Deluxe edition treatment this week from Sub Pop. Since there's sadly no Kurt Cobain to pimp the product on the talk show circuit, we'll have to settle for a couple films further up the dial, the first being the FUSE presentation of the amazing Nirvana Live at Reading on Monday (also seeing release on CD/DVD this week), and the final one being the documentary Kurt Cobain About a Son getting another showing on Sundance.

Elsewhere, check out a special performance from the cast of Glee for It's On with Alexa Chung (MTV), performing a song from the soundtrack (Glee: The Music Volume 1), which sees its release this week.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, November 2
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Cobra Starship (REPEAT)
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Peter, Bjorn & John
MTV: It's On With Alexa Chung: Weezer
NBC: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: Tegan & Sara
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Say Anything
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Arctic Monkeys (REPEAT)
Tuesday, November 3
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: White Rabbits
MTV: It's On With Alexa Chung: Glee Cast
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: La Roux
Wednesday, November 4
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ghostface Killa
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Nebula
NBC: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: The Bravery
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Monsters of Folk
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Alice Cooper
Thursday, November 5>
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Florence & the Machine
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Brother Ali
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Yoko Ono with Sean Lennon, The Roots
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Matisyahu
SYFY: Stargate Universe: Janelle Monae
Friday, November 6
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Ralph Stanley
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Regina Spektor
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Raekwon
NBC: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: The Pixies
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Peaches
SUNDANCE: Kurt Cobain About a Son: Nirvana
Saturday, November 7
PBS: Austin City Limits: Elvis Costello, Band of Heathens

Now Downloading: New Releases 10.27.09

We're quickly approaching the point of no return as far as significant releases go, before the tide turns to that of gift-oriented, so we have to savor what morsels are thrown our way. This week that means the latest from The Swell Season, Devendra Banhart, Tegan & Sara, Wolfmother, Gemma Ray, Broadcast And The Focus Group, Boat, a live release from R.E.M., a compilation from The Breakaways and deluxe reissues of U2's The Unforgettable Fire and James Brown's Live at the Garden: The Expanded Edition.

Playlist: New Releases 10.27.09

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The Swell Season - Strict Joy
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

As wrong as it is, it's hard not to think of this album as a sequel to Once, where Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova have broken up and are putting it to song. Of course The Swell Season existed before Once, with many of the songs from their debut ending up in the film, so this technically is a follow up to that release, but for the vast majority of the record buying public, Once is the starting point. I'm not sure what Hansard & Irglova are thinking putting their Van Morrison impersonations front and center (opening songs "Low Rising" and "Feeling The Pull"). The rest of the album has worked wonders as a sincerity tonic, cleansing my palate of all the irony and sarcasm in indie rock that are part of my usual diet, and for that I am grateful.

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Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

The transition from folk to minimalist new wave pop is almost complete for Tegan and Sara, with this their sixth album, Sainthood. Their past two releases both signaled the change, but the subject matter was a little dark on So Jealous and The Con. Here, there's a lighter feel to go with the witty banter the sisters showcase during their live set, and it just feels a bit more relaxed, confident... and yes, fun. And when your opening single is titled "Hell," that's saying something.

Free AOL Album Stream

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More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
Devendra Banhart - What Will Be
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
Gemma Ray - Lights Out Zoltar
R.E.M. - Live at the Olympia
Broadcast And The Focus Group - Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age / Free AOL Album Stream
Yo Gabba Gabba: Music Is Awesome
Boat - Setting the Paces / "Lately (I've Been On My Back)" [mp3]
The Breakaways - Walking Out on Love: The Lost Sessions / Free AOL Album Stream
Junk Culture - West Coast / "West Coast" [mp3]
Los Lobos - Los Lobos Goes Disney
Deleted Waveform Gatherings - Ghost, She Said
The Mother Hips - Pacific Dust / Free AOL Album Stream
Chet - Chelsea Silver, Please Come Home
Chuck Prophet - ¡Let Freedom Ring!
Del McCoury - Family Circle
Gov't Mule - By a Thread / Free AOL Album Stream
Awesome New Republic - Hearts / Free AOL Album Stream
I Love You - Bell Ord Forrest / "The Colloquialism Is Simply 'Gas'" [mp3]

REISSUES
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (Deluxe
Reissue)
James Brown Live at the Garden: The Expanded Edition

tags: music, album review, the swell season, devendra banhart, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody

Now Downloading: New Releases 07.24.07

It's been a few weeks and I'm still not caught up on all the releases that happened while I was away playing daddy with my latest addition (baby Zane,) so we're just going to start fresh this week, which has plenty of fine albums to squawk about. This week features the latest from Tegan & Sara, Bishop Allen, Prince and Alamo Race Track, along with a slew of reissues including Sebadoh's classic The Freed Man.

Playlist: New Releases 07.24.07

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Album: Tegan and Sara - The Con

These Canadian identical twin sisters have improved their songwriting and sound with every album, and The Con builds on that. This time out they hone their sound with producer and Death Cabber Chris Walla twiddling the knobs, boiling it down in the manner that Britt Daniel and Jim Eno have done so well with their Spoon albums, endlessly tinkering with a song's rhythm and instrumentation. Take the first single "Back in Your Head," which starts with the simple Spoon-like tinkling piano over a driving rhythm. The subject matter has the twins sounding both more mature and more quirky then on So Jealous, building upon that last album's upward momentum.

Free album stream from AOL

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Album: Alamo Race Track - Black Cat John Brown

The quiet buzz surrounding this Amsterdam band may not be deafening, but it's there just the same. A living room live performance of the bluesy acoustic title track made it's way on to YouTube exactly a year ago, and slowly spread via word of mouth. The song even (oddly) made it's way into an episode of Grey's Anatomy (episode 319, "My Favorite Mistake.") They're kind of a more louder, dirtier Peter, Bjorn & John, with the classic reverb'd vocals and indiscriminate accent - it's sometimes hard to tell just what they're singing about. Take the wonderfully titled "Lee J. Cobb Is Screaming a Lot," which has a great Gang Of Four feel to it. It's infectious and you rise to meet the band's energy, but what it's all about remains a mystery. If it's this much fun being in the dark, I'll just hang out here with my headphones on.

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Album: Bishop Allen - The Broken String

Last year the Brooklyn band had the ambition to release and EP for every month, releasing a total of 56 songs for the project. The ambition was met with awe and praise from the blogosphere, and here finally is the full-length fruition of that endeavor. For The Broken String, Bishop Allen re-recorded 10 of the 58 and added two new compositions to fill out only their second album. As a result, there's an added variance to the songs, yet the tracks work together. A little Shins-like pop here ("Butterfly Net,") some Mountain Goats-like lyrical turns here ("The Chinatown Bus") and even Bonnie Prince Billy like bareness ("Shrinking Violet.") "Click, Click, Click, Click" was a mix-tape staple for me last year, and surely has a camera/HP Printer commercial in it's future, it's that catchy and appropriate. Take a picture now, though, before they blur into their next ambitious project.

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Reissues:
Album: Sebadoh - The Freed Man

If you still have the original cassette, you're cooler then me. I got an edited version of it, a mixtape that cherry-picked the favored songs of a good friend after I'd fallen for Sebadoh's III.

Listening to it again makes me feel creepy, like I'm looking through the window into my old college room - seeing me stoned, in my underwear, trying to penetrate the tape's mystery. I find myself wanting to either lecture or join this sorry sap. The longer I listen, the more I forget what the lecture would be about though.
Screw it... let's bake some cookies!

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Wished I could talk about, haven't heard (not in Rhapsody:)
Prince - Planet Earth
John Vanderslice - Emerald City (Free album stream)

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More going (or already in) the Sansa
Robbers On High Street - Grand Animals
Portugal.The Man- Church Mouth (Free album stream from AOL)
UNKLE - War Stories (Free album stream from AOL)
MF Doom - Mm...Food (Reissue)
Harvey Milk - A Small Turn of Human Kindness
Harvey Milk - The Pleaser
Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
Jacob Olausson - Moonlight Farm
Peter Himmelman - The Pigeons Couldn't Sleep
Against Me - Up the Cut
Silverchair - Young Modern
Tiny Vipers - Hands Across the Void
The Dilettantes - 101 Tambourines
The Lonely H - Hair
Manic Street Preachers - Send Away the Tigers
Bobby Bare - Bobby Dare Sings Lullabys, Legends and Lies (And More) (Reissue)

tags: music, album review, sebadoh, tegan and sara, bishop allen, alamo race track, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody