Art of Noise pictures with tag: rock news

Picture: Fricke’s Picks: The Whore Moans, A New Ear Tonic

Picture: Rob Zombie: “Our Fans Were More Metal Than We Were”

Picture: David Byrne Turns Unused Space Into Interactive Art Project “Playing the Building”

New Reviews: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wavves, Peter Doherty and More

Photo: Josh Wildman It’s Tuesday once again, which means there’s a whole slate of new CDs on sale now at your soon-to-be-closing record stores or favorite digital outlet. Before you brave the St. Patrick’s Day-celebrating masses on the way to the store, let Rolling Stone be your guide to the best of this week’s new releases. Indie rock (or, in this case, sorta indie rock) is the place to be this week, mostly because of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ third album It’s Blitz. Awarded four stars in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands tomorrow, It’s Blitz finds the YYYs throwing an art-punk dance party. “The turn toward the dance floor makes sense: Yeah Yeah Yeahs are drawing on a tradition of arty New York dance punk that extends from the Talking Heads to TV on the Radio, whose guitarist, Dave Sitek, co–produced It’s Blitz! The big news, though, isn’t YYY’s groovier sound — it’s the heat they radiate,” Jody Rosen writes in his review. Out of San Diego, California, we have Wavves’ Wavvves, the second LP by one-man surf-punk auteur Nathan Williams. (Be sure not to mistake Wavvves for the one-less-”v” of Wavves, the band’s debut album.) A cacophony of Brian Wilson melodies and Jesus & Mary Chain distortion, Wavvves is bad–trip music for cloudless days: surging distortion, sun–dazed hooks and a dark sense of humor,” Will Hermes writes in his three-star review. “The battle between noise and melody veers from scary to hilarious to heroic, and as a metaphor for trying to feel good in trying times, it may hit you close to home.” There’s also Grace/Wasteland, the first solo album by former Libertines/Babyshambles trainwreck Pete Doherty (now going by the first name Peter), with the oft-troubled guitarist managing to “make his dysfunction sing” on his debut LP. The album also features “Sheepskin Tearaway,” “a sketch of a chemical romance and one of Doherty’s prettiest songs ever.” For the rest of this week’s New Releases, check below: • MSTRKRFT’s Fist of God • Maria

Published: 2009-03-17
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

Having Survived Industrial Rock, Ogre Takes on the Future

Nivek Ogre, the founder of industrial icons Skinny Puppy who was born Kevin Ogilvie but now just goes by “Ogre,” has been around both literally and figuratively. Born and raised in Canada, his work with Skinny Puppy (as well as KMFDM, Pigface, Ministry, Revolting Cocks and just about every other major band in the genre) took him all around the world before he finally settled in a serene mountain area in suburban Los Angeles. “My head is always my head, and it’s my most dysfunctional tool, but I have a sense of comfort in places that don’t feel like home,” he explains. He’s produced all brands of art and survived heroin addiction and has had an amazingly productive year: he stars in the surreal movie musical Repo! The Genetic Opera and also has a new album from his project OhGr called Devils In My Details. The album, a left-field construction of processed jams and samples, moves further away from the pounding noise of his former bands towards something more abstract without sacrificing Ogre’s trademark theatricality. “We wanted to make the album an immersive experience. For me, records used to be that, but for today’s kids it’s video games, so we crafted a lot of sound design based on jump starts from video games. It’s a very crafted record. You’ve got to turn it up really loud.” “Looking for a reason to do the record became a big deal for us,” adds Mark Walk, the other half of OhGr. “A lot of people make a record just because the label says they can.” Walk created a number of audio-video loops based on images and films in the public domain. “We started jamming while watching these loops and using them as inspiration. We had a clip of Liberace performing this sort of classical lick, so at least part of the record was inspired by the image of his hands playing the keys. It was a different way to make a record, but it felt really natural after a while.” As for his participation in Repo!, it was a dream come true for Ogre. “My fantasy as a kid was to be able to sit in

Published: 2008-10-16
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

First Listen: TV on the Radio’s Art-Rock Symphony “Dear Science”

Last week, Rolling Stone nabbed a first listen to TV on the Radio’s excellent Dear Science, due out September 23rd. Produced by the group’s multi-instrumentalist Dave Sitek, the album finds the Brooklyn group fine-tuning what they did best on 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain: tweaking and looping and distorting a grand arsenal of aggressive percussion, new wave synths, epic guitar noise and various kitchen-sink devices, then layering them all into a big, beautiful art-rock symphony. But of all the instruments on the new record, the most compelling one is Tunde Adebimpe’s voice. On the blazing anthem “Dancing Shoes,” which sounds like TV on the Radio’s answer to R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” the rhythm of his words pound like a beating drum: “I’ve seen my palate blown to monochrome, hollow heart clicks hollow tone.” Album opener “Halfway Home” begins with a guitar riff that recalls Cookie single “Wolf Like Me,” but as a Smiths-like melody kicks in, Adebimpe delivers the lyrics with the dreamy, sing-song quality of a nursery rhyme. Of course, the guy can also just belt out some powerful singing when he needs to — especially on the funky R&B track “Cryin’,” where his falsetto rivals Prince’s. Thematically, Dear Science addresses similar themes to Cookie Mountain — namely, that these might feel like End Times, but love can get you through them. And the bands’ Brooklyn friends help drive that message home: members of the Afro-funk group Antibalas lend some golden horn rave-ups to “Red Dress” and Katrina Ford of the Celebration delivers lovely harmonies on the epic, orchestral closer “Lovers Day.” Over marching-band drums, sleigh bells, hand claps and distorted horn loops, her voice dovetails nicely with Adebimpe’s as they sing, “Swear to God we’ll get so high we’ll melt our faces off.” And the sentiment is right-on: this creative tour-de-force could be an epic drug album, too.

Published: 2008-07-29
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

Critic’s Picks: Rob Sheffield’s Favorite Albums That Didn’t Make the RS Top 50

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs Is Is (Interscope) Five leg-humpingly amazing punk-rock songs about punk-rock lust, the kind that makes you see Jesus and tell him, “You know, you got a pretty car, I think I wanna drive it,” and off you roll with Jesus riding shotgun and the apostles in the trunk and the Holy Spirit strapped to the roof. If you add the Spider-Man 3 track “Sealings” and the live showstopper “Dull Life,” you get an album almost as sublime as LCD Soundsystem’s. It’s gonna be a beautiful night. 2. Grinderman Grinderman (Anti-) Nick Cave turns into the goth-punk Kenny Rogers, slobbering all over his mustache in the pudenda-positive “No Pussy Blues” and “Get It On.” The whole world seemed to hate this album, to which I can only say, “Sucks to be you, world!” 3. Liars Liars (Mute) These Berlin-based art-twat noise pervs sound like they’re actually attempting to write catchy rock & roll songs — and listening to them try is even funnier than watching Manny Ramirez chase pop-ups. For lovers only: “Leather Prowler.” 4. Guy Guy – Special Edition (Geffen) A reissue flashing back to the summer of 1988: Harlem native Teddy Riley decides to reinvent baby-making soul for a hip-hop world and creates the sound of international pop radio ever since. On this concept album, the three concepts are “Groove me,” “baby” and “tonight,” and the moral of the story is “The party’s not over.” Nineteen years later, it still isn’t. If you wonder why your mom still thinks Bobby Brown is hot, this album may help you understand where she’s coming from. 5. Jarvis Cocker Jarvis (Rough Trade) The Pulp smoothie hasn’t written such fluent tunes since the days of Different Class. On his first solo album, the Eurotrash love god who sang “Sheffield: Sex City” picks up true romance and drops it like it’s hot — but in “Tonite,” he resolves to hold on no matter what. This is hardcore. [Photo: Getty]

Published: 2007-12-19
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

CMJ 2007, Night Two: Dan Deacon, Deerhunter and No Age

One thousand or so bands (give or take a few shaggy haircuts) hit New York City every fall for the CMJ Music Marathon, a five-day band-a-palooza where new acts get noticed (see Arcade Fire) and scores more get drunk at open-bar showcases. For the next few days, Rock Daily will be bringing you reports on the bands we consider most worthy of your time after CMJ has packed up and moved on: “Fuck, yeah!” shouted Randy Randall of the guitar-and-drums avant-rock duo No Age at the beginning of the pair’s set at Bowery Ballroom. It was a neat summation of last night’s lineup: No Age, Dan Deacon and Deerhunter all revel in the art of glorious, sloppy, demented noise. No Age rocked the stage as if they had written the greatest guitar riff since AC/DC’s “Back In Black,” even though their songs are supremely messy two-minute bursts of chaos. Plus, they had a great spirit: Randall took turns playing from the top of the P.A. speakers or banging his head into his amp while drummer Dean Spunt at times slapped hands with the kids in the front row. When Randall claimed “We’re really excited to see you guys,” to the audience, you believed him. A performance artist from Baltimore, Dan Deacon performed at his table of mixers, samplers, ring modulators and pitch shifters on the floor of the venue. Since he was in the middle of the action, the crowd crammed dangerously around him, jumping up and down like tweaked-out aerobics instructors to synth-rock bangers like “The Crystal Cat.” For Deacon, it was too much and near the end of his set he shouted, “This level of shoving is just ridiculous.” So he asked the crowd to push back and create passageways so a few fans could run in circles around the balcony of the ballroom and back down to the floor. Things calmed down considerably for Deerhunter, the shoegazy four-piece from Atlanta. Their set was the perfect way to wind down from Deacon’s maniacal exercise-rock, especially when they kicked into the kraut-rocking groove of “Cryptograms.” It’

Published: 2007-10-19
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News, CMJ

Art of Noise

Art of Noise pictures with tag: rock news

Fricke’s Picks: The Whore Moans, A New Ear Tonic

Rob Zombie: “Our Fans Were More Metal Than We Were”

David Byrne Turns Unused Space Into Interactive Art Project “Playing the Building”

New Reviews: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wavves, Peter Doherty and More

Having Survived Industrial Rock, Ogre Takes on the Future

First Listen: TV on the Radio’s Art-Rock Symphony “Dear Science”

Critic’s Picks: Rob Sheffield’s Favorite Albums That Didn’t Make the RS Top 50

CMJ 2007, Night Two: Dan Deacon, Deerhunter and No Age