Blog: Drawer B

Ryan Adams has grown up a bit. Well, actually, a lot. Maybe married life is treating him well. Either way, he's gone from a guy who couldn't take a "Summer of '69!" shout out from the audience to a guy who takes weird crowd interruptions and turns them into improvised songs. Adams was notorious for storming off stage and pouting when an old Bryan Adams song title was thrown at him by some drunken hooligan. However, the other night at the Noel Gallagher curated Teenage Cancer Trust benefit in London, Adams misheard an audience heckle as "loaf of bread," and [...]

I'm coming around on this new Foals record, Holy Fire . The last one took me a long time to get into as well. It's hard to get past my expectations for a particular style from them. Their debut, Antitdotes , was my favorite record of 2008. Both successive albums have veered off course from that astounding debut, leaning towards a more produced, cultivated, and commercial sound. While I miss frontman Yannis Philippakis' yelps and the frantic Battles-esque guitar interplay, the darker, more subdued direction is working, albeit painstakingly. It's just a slower burn. And speaking of dark, [...]

Duran Duran keyboardist and ex-guitarist Warren Cuccurullo began a side-project in the mid-19902s while working on a Duran Duran album (the underrated and sadly much-maligned Medazzaland ). Vocalist Simon Le Bon had lyrical writer's block, so Rhodes and Cuccurullo started tinkering in the studio by themselves. They produced a mish-mash of samples and beats entitled Bored with Prozac and the Internet? , which was shelved once Le Bon was back in action. Having dusted off the tapes recently, Rhodes decided it sounded fairly current, despite the time delay. So, while Duran Duran is on break, he and Cuccurullo [...]

Long-dormant Stephin Merritt disco-themed side-project has follow-up LP in the pipeline for Merge Records , and this is the first taste. Future Bible Heroes also features Christopher Ewen from Figures on a Beach and The Magnetic Fields' own Claudia Gonson. Here are the specs on the release from Merge : Partygoing is available on vinyl in a 3-LP collection containing Memories of Love (1997), Eternal Youth (2002), and three EPs. The collection is also available in a 4-CD set. Preorders will include a poster and will ship to arrive [...]

• MergeRecords - Future Bible Heroes "Living, Loving, Partygoing"

A friend of mine just messaged me asking if I'd heard Savages yet. I had heard the single "Husbands" the other day on Sirius XMU and almost had to pull over. Savages is an all-female quartet from London, channeling Siouxsie, The Slits, some no wave, and the requisite amount of Joy Division for a bracing, jarring stripe of post-punk that no one else is playing right now. My friend said the band was heavily buzzed last week at SXSW and with good reason. Just watch this video. The debut full-length, Silence Yourself , is being released in [...]

[via The Guardian ]

Even with the band's own blasé dismissal of 20112s Angels , I was just glad there was new music from The Strokes. It certainly wasn't their best record, but it was better than First Impressions of Earth . And I never could quite get into Julian Casablancas' solo stuff. Come Down Machine is gearing up to be the comeback record Angels was supposed to be. This second taste is even catchier than "One Way Trigger," and the video shows a band that actually might be able to stand the sight of one another.

Every time I hear this band on Sirius XMU I reflexively look to see who's playing and turn it up. Must be a good sign. This is the first single from the Glaswegian trio's forthcoming debut LP.

Latter day Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap (who replaced original guitarist Bob Stinson in 1987) had a severe stroke a few months back, wreaking havoc on his finances, despite having insurance. So, core Replacements founders Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson decided to raise some cash for their old bandmate to soften the blow. A supremely limited edition 103 of 250 copies made up of newly recorded covers was auctioned off , raising over $105,000. The music is available to the general public today via Amazon MP3 , as well as all of the streaming services. [...]

Never one to disappoint in a live setting, Prince tore it up on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last Friday night to showcase his new, all-female backing band 3rd Eye Girl and his new single "Screwdriver." He also played the ultra-deep cut "Bambi" off his second, self-titled LP from 1979. Jimmy Fallon announced a forthcoming tour for Prince to begin on the West Coast in April, although these are the only dates I could verify. [via Stereogum ]

The Original Soundtrack from the Ryan Gosling film Drive is being re-released on a special gatefold, double-LP set with new artwork by poster artist Tyler Stout (above) on black vinyl. Random copies will be pressed on hot pink vinyl, however. I never win that lottery, so I expect my copy to be black. But I'm excited, nonetheless, because the music is what pushed this film from great to bad ass for me. The OST features a score by composer Cliff Martinez, as well as unshakably memorable songs by Kavinsky, Chromatics, and College. This reissue is available [...]

Ugh. Record Store Day is so going to break me. Only 1000 copies of The Jesus and Mary Chain 's Psychocandy on paint splatter vinyl will be made available. No word yet on region. [via Spin ]

Still having trouble getting past that name but digging the record so far. And Thom Yorke's smooth moves. It's a good thing that guy can sing.

In Record Store Day News via Slicing Up Eyeballs : Echo & The Bunnymen’s 1980 debut album Crocodiles will be reissued for Record Store Day in a new 180-gram audiophile pressing on red vinyl by reissue specialist Vinyl 180 , the label announced in an e-mail newsletter this week. No further details have been revealed, and it’s not yet known whether it will be a U.K.-only release or also put out in the U.S. Surely to God, there will [...]

When the sound board recording of Survival Knife's first show appeared last March, forums and blogs exploded with links and opinions about Unwound's Justin Trosper's return to music. And I was one of them, scrambling for my copy like a giddy schoolkid. The band consists of two of Unwound's original members, drummer Brandt Sandeno and, of course, guitarist/vocalist Trosper. Sandeno has switched to guitar but Trosper's style is hard to disguise, even with a new rhythm section backing him. This is a good thing. Survival Knife may eschew some of Unwound's noisier tangents, but the riffs are unmistakably [...]

• Survival Knife - Name That Tune

This snippet from a quick Guardian review of the new Foals album exactly sums up my feelings on it after three listens: "Foals find themselves on their third album, trying to sound big rather than clever." Yes, exactly. Too bad.

Best concert cancellation excuse ever. I am terribly sorry that the next three shows have been moved back. The worst is for the best. I am certainly on the road to recovery, but caution and prevention demand further IV blood work lest I keel over and die before your very eyes. I apologize to an almost annoying degree for any trouble I’ve caused to anyone by way of travel plans and dog-sitters and ticket-outlay and re-molded hairstyles. I should be as fit as a ferret for San Diego. Please don’t be too appalled if [...]

With his first album in a decade not out until March 12, 2013, David Bowie is already announcing his second single, "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)," which will precede the highly anticipated album, The Next Day , by two weeks. His first single, "Where Are We now?," which sneaked up on the press without warning on Bowie's birthday, January 8th, kicked off unprecedented buzz for new material from the long-dormant star. His past two albums were met with respectful yet uneventful press. The references in the first single to his time in Berlin have many fans hoping [...]

Poltergeist , an instrumental trio that reunites Echo & the Bunnymen's guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattison, is streaming its new song "Cathedral" over at SoundCloud via Slicing Up Eyeballs . The collaboration is underway via  Pledge Music . I can't help but be turned off by all these Kickstarter-type fundraisers. It comes off as begging to me. Isn't it about supply and demand? If you don't fit into the music business paradigm, do it yourself. Put out your own records. Play shows and raise money. If you suck, people will let you know, either by telling you or [...]

His Twitter spat with Justin Bieber is amazing . [via Gawker ]