New Sigur Ros Album Due Out June 24 (Updated at 2 PM by Sonic Ryan)

...which means it should be available on your favorite bit torrent site any day now! Let's hope the new album is as balls-out (literally) as this album art.

And did I mention there will be one track sung in English? Does anyone else worry it might suck? Or maybe, it just will sound exactly the same? (Maybe the lyrics will be, "I saw you... I saw you... I saw you...")

Now I must return to ransacking my house for the SR tickets I held in my beloved hands for one day before losing them. If any Olathe garbage collectors happen upon them, I will reward you handsomely for their safe return. Perhaps you can be my date?

UPDATE:
Head over to Sigur Rós' website to snag a high quality mp3 of the album's first single, "Gobbledigook." While you're there, watch the balls out video for the song, unless you're at work, then you may want to wait until you get home. No, Femme, it doesn't suck, nor does it sound like Sigur Rós as we've come to know and love them. If anything, it sounds like Sigur Rós just picked up a copy of Sung Tongs and decided to have some fun with acoustic guitars. Is this their freak-folk record? Find out on June 24, when the album hits stores in North America. Or, pre-order the album from their website starting on June 2, and get access to an mp3 download a week early. Let's not forget Sigur Rós are playing at the Uptown Theater on June 12. Tickets are still available, and you'd be crazy not to pick one up if you haven't already.

Sonic Youth, What Are You Thinking?

So I must be living under a rock or something (it's called Olathe, Kansas), but somehow I missed that Starbucks is putting together a SY compilation. Apparently all of the tracks have been chosen from famous SY fans, everyone from actors like Chloe Sevigny and David Cross to fellow music masterminds Radiohead and the Flaming Lips.

OK, sounds cool.

But why oh why does it have to be compiled by Starbucks????

Anyway, the track list for the thing is after the jump. Did anyone else wish Radiohead would have been a little riskier with their choice? I do have to give props to Dave Eggers and Mike Watt, though. And, uh, Flea.


01 Bull in the Heather [selected by Catherine Keener]
02 Sugar Kane [selected by Beck]
03 100% [selected by Mike D]
04 Kool Thing [selected by Radiohead]
05 Disappearer [selected by Portia de Rossi]
06 Stones [selected by Allison Anders]
07 Tuff Gnarl [selected by Dave Eggers and Mike Watt]
08 Teenage Riot [selected Eddie Vedder]
09 Shadow of a Doubt [selected by Michelle Williams]
10 Rain on Tin [selected by Flea]
11 Tom Violence [selected by Gus Van Sant]
12 Mary-Christ [selected by David Cross]
13 World Looks Red [selected by Chloë Sevigny]
14 Expressway to Yr Skull [selected by the Flaming Lips]
15 Slow Revolution [exclusive]

Liars Photos

I intended to put up a couple Liars photos with my Radiohead post, but I was too busy paying homage to Thom Yorke to remember. Nonetheless, regardless of what your feelings about Liars are, the dudes put on a pretty deadly show. Frontman Angus Andrew is a sight to behold.

So behold.

Radiohead - St. Louis - 5/14/08

All I Need
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Airbag
15 Step
Nude
Kid A
Weird Fishes
The Gloaming
You & Whose Army?
Idioteque
Faust Arp
Videotape
Everything in Its Right Place
Reckoner
Optimistic
Bangers & Mash
Bodysnatchers
....................
Exit Music (for a Film)
Myxamatosis
My Iron Lung
There There
Fake Plastic Trees
....................
Pyramid Song
House of Cards
Paranoid Android

Have You Heard? Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

Obsessions come and go in the world of Femme Fatale. Currently I'm obsessed with Cut Copy's '80s homage, In Ghost Colours. Think New Wave and Post-Punk. Think Disco and Dance Party. Think The Rapture done up in polka dots. Through all this, there’s even a track that evokes Fleetwood Mac (“Strangers in the Wind”). It might sound like the album would be all over the place, but somehow this Australian trio makes it work.

If you're like me and ready for a new dance album, this is the one.

Dare I say they'll Cut Copy and Paste themselves into your heart? Yes, I so totally said that.

Sleeveface: Kinda Lame, Kinda Lovely

I've been meaning to do something about this strange trend for some time now. Sure, it's kinda lame, but does anyone else think it's also kinda cool?

Please Read Me.

Harken, Fellow Artists/Musicians/NMH Fans!

During my tutoring-turned-babysitting session this afternoon, I finally got around to reading the book that's been chilling in my bathroom for a few months now, Kim Cooper's addition to the 33 1/3 Series, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

First off, let me just say this book will make you want to turn off that tv, quit your job, move far far away, and live in someone's walk-in-closet. Oh, and make some badass music.

I'd like to share a quote from bassist/saw player Julian Koster that finishes out Cooper's homage. For some reason it gave me chills... and you'll see what I mean about getting out there and making our own little contributions to the world.

I think what Elephant 6 meant for us is very simple: there's something pure and infinite in you, that wants to come out of you, and can come out of no other person on the planet. That's what you've got to share, and that's as real and important as the fact that you're alive. We [the Elephant 6 members] were able, at a really young age, to somehow protect each other so we could feel that. The world at large, careerism, money, magazines, your parents, the people at the rock club in your town, other kids, nothing is going to give you that message, necessarily. In fact, most things are going to lead you away from it, sadly, because humanity is really confused at the moment. But you wouldn't exist if the universe didn't need you. And any time I encounter something beautiful that came out of a human somewhere, that's them, that's their own soul. That's just pure, whatever its physicality is, if the person can play piano, if they can't play piano, if they're tone deaf, whatever it is, if it's pure, it hits you like a sledgehammer. It fills up your own soul, it makes you want to cry, it makes you glad you're alive, it lets you come out of you. And that's what we need: we desperately need you.

Random Shit

Do you ever get stuck on a song? Just one song, nothing else. I'm experiencing that right now.



What's really strange about this is I don't really even like Wolf Parade that much, but this song is excellent.

Concert Announcement: My Morning Jacket

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for an evening with My Morning Jacket? (First it was an evening with Sigur Ros, is this a new trend?) Well, ready or not, here they come, on August 18 at The Uptown Theater in Kansas City. I hear these guys pretty good in concert, so maybe you should check it out. As of right now, ticket information is unknown, but so keep your eyes peeled to My Morning Jacket or the ticketbastard web site for any further information.

If you just can't wait to get your live My Morning Jacket fix, you can catch the guys this weekend on Saturday Night Live. They'll probably play something off their upcoming album, Evil Urges, which is out on June 10.

Recent Concerts in Review

So this time of year always means a plethora of shows. A veritable cornicopia, if you will. Then it's summer, and when we have the most time to go to shows that's when, of course, they die down.

For now while I count down to Radiohead next week, I thought I'd share some thoughts from my recent long week of shows.


Tuesday, 4/29 -- Tim & Eric Awesome Tour -- The Bottleneck: Lawrence, KS
I'd been eagerly awaiting this one for awhile. Apparently so was half of Lawrence, as I had quite the time making my way to the stage. Eventually I nabbed a spot toward the front but on the side, which meant I could watch T&E cavort about in pizza boy uniforms, but I wasn't able to see much of the projection screen behind them -- which, by the way, was previewing much of Season Three. What I could piece together from behind those giant speakers sounded pretty cool, though. And where else can you get beer, pizza, hot dogs, and spit tossed on you mid-concert? OK, at least that sort of thing doesn't really happen at the sort of shows I go to (insert snob voice here). Seeing Uncle Casey perform live was my absolute highlight. Now, where's my chippy...?

Tuesday, 4/30 -- Caribou/Fuck Buttons -- The Record Bar: KC, MO
Ever since Caribou drummed their way into our hearts last October, we've been itching to see them again. Not to mention they were joined by up-and-comers Fuck Buttons, a band with an album that's almost as kickass as their name. I've got to be honest, I was really looking forward to see FB after I got a hold of their album... that morning. (I know, I'm lame. But man it blew me away.) The Record Bar crowd seemed equally eager for some NOISE, as it was one of those times when everyone inches closer and closer toward the stage until someone moves too quickly and then everyone rushes to the front in a frenzy. Seriously, the crowd filled in in record time.

Bandmates Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power had quite the setup: audio equipment inside a velvet-lined suitcase, tiny keyboards in descending size like those little Russian nesting dolls, a Little Tykes mike and keyboard set. I'll never forget Power screaming into the mike that he clenched with his teeth so his hands were free to (fuck) button mash, or when Hung came into the crowd to dance all tribal-like to their most Animal-Collective fare. At one point the noise nearly killed my already infected middle ear -- you know you're in trouble when the band members suddenly bust out ear plugs -- and I guess you could say they pushed my fuck button. Over and over and over again.

So, while I was in pain for Caribou, I would say they made for a nice follow-up. Dan Snaith and friends brought a decidedly more rockin' sound to match their openers. Oh, how I love me some 60s pop psychedelia! I have to admit, though I have Andorra and Up in Flames, I was still unfamiliar with many of the songs. Oh, they did play "She's the One" though. Gotta love that song.

Tuesday, 5/1 -- Destroyer -- The Record Bar: KC, MO

So, about not knowing all the songs, well make that ditto for the Destroyer show. Thursday night made for Dan #2 of the week. This was my first time seeing my favorite part of the New Pornographers gone solo... and he didn't disappoint. Sure, I would have liked to hear more from Destroyer's Rubies or even the new album, but I have to admire a guy who'll play a set of mostly older tunes. And those encores songs, whatever they were, WOW. If anyone knows what album those are from, you know where to find me. Oh and Dan, keep playing songs with my name in them. Pretty please.

Album Review: Portishead - Third

Portishead's first album in ten years has been in my possession for some time now, but it was only until recent weeks that I truly began to appreciate it. Who could have guessed the trip-hop trio would turn all ROCK on us?

So I might as well admit I've been cheating. I know what you're thinking. So that's why she doesn't feel like putting out for Range Life anymore. Well, stay tuned. Summer beckons, and with it, much time to wax poetic/nostalgic/nerd-like.

Bop on over here and read my thoughts on Third.

BTW, Buzzine doesn't score their albums, but I would have given it an 84%. Just read the review!