The Freakiest Tribute Album

A David Bowie tribute album is scheduled for release in May on Manimal Vinyl and its track list of performers is almost as impressive as the glam pop icon’s career.

The 28-track album will include cover versions of Bowie’s legendary music by performers such as A Place to Bury Strangers, Duran Duran, MGMT, Megapuss (Devendra Banhart), and Carla Bruni. 

What’s more is that all proceeds from the album’s sales will go to Warchild UK, an organization aimed at protecting children in war-torn societies (what a swell guy!).  The yet-titled album is highly anticipated and highly philanthropic; it is quite freaky… isn’t it?

TRACK LISTING:

01 – Exitmusic – Space Oddity

02 – Vivian Girls – John, I’m Only Dancing

03 – Megapuss (Devendra Banhart) – Sound + Vision (en espanol)

04 – Carla Bruni – Absolute Beginners

05 – Lights – World Falls Down

06 – VOICEsVOICEs – Heroes

07 – Duran Duran – Boys Keep Swinging

08 – MGMT – TBA

09 – Charlift – Always Crashing in the Same Car

10 – Aska w/ Moon & Moon – African Night Flight

11 – A Place to Bury Strangers – Suffragette City

12 – The Polyamorous Affair – Theme From Cat People

13 – Keren Ann – Life on Mars

14 – Swahili Blonde (feat. John Frusciante) – Red Money

15 – Marco Benevento – Art Decade

16 – Corridor – Be My Wife

17 – Aquaserge – The Superman

18 – Warpaint – Ashes to Ashes

19 – Rainbow Arabia – Quicksand

20 – We Are The World – Afraid of Americans

21 – Laco$te – Within You

22 – Ariana Delawari – Ziggy Stardust

23 – Pizza! – Modern Love

24 – St Clair Board – Secret Life of Arabia

25 – Caroline Weeks – Starman

26 – Amanda Jo Williams – The Man Who Sold the World

27 – Mick Karn – Ashes to Ashes

28 – Soulwax – TBA

Ear Plugs, Sonic Youth, and Ornaments

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS AT ATPAPTBS play ATP with MBV (what?) and they’re still too fucking loud!
SONIC NEW-THA new studio album, new soundtrack for a French film, new DVD, and new archives!
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WITH A FETUS!Flaming Lips Christmas ornament now available for purchase, you sick bastard.

The Big Pink Merge with APTBS on North American Tour

The U.K.’s breakout electro-duo, The Big Pink, will join recent sensation, A Place to Bury Strangers, on a strand of U. S. and Candian shows starting on the West Coast in the spring; yes, there are 3 Texas dates.  The Big Pink, recently awarded the Philip Hall Radar Award in February for best new act, will be supporting their debut album, “A Brief History of Love.”

TOUR DATES

03.10.10 – San Francisco, CA at Great American Music Hall
03.12.10 – Seattle, WA at Neumos
03.13.10 – Vancouver, BC at Venue
03.14.10 – Portland, OR at Doug Fir Lounge
03.18.10 – Minneapolis, MN at First Ave
03.19.10 – Madison, WI at Turner Hall
03.20.10 – Chicago, IL at Metro
03.22.10 – Newport, KY at Southgate House
03.23.10 – Cleveland, OH at Grog Shop
03.24.10 – Tonront, ONT at Mod Club
03.26.10 – Montreal, QUE at Cabaret
03.27.10 – Boston, MA at Paradise
03.28.10 - Hoboken, NJ at Maxwells
03.30.10 – New York, NY at Webster Hall
03.31.10 – Philadelphia, PA at TLA
04.01.10 – Baltimore, MD at Rams Head Live
04.02.10 – Chapel Hill, NC at Cats Cradle
04.03.10 – Atlanta, GA at Masquerade
04.05.10 – Tallahassee, FL at Club Downunder
04.07.10 – Houston, TX at Warehouse Live Studio
04.08.10 – Austin, TX at Parish
04.09.10 – Dallas, TX at Granada
04.10.10 – Lawrence, KS at Bottleneck
04.11.10 – Denver, CO at Bluebird
04.12.10 – Salt Lake City, UT at Urban Lounge
04.14.10 – Phoenix, AZ at Rhythm Room
04.15.10 – San Diego, CA at Casbah

In Your Heart… For A Very Long Time

Very few bands take me when I hear their albums.  In fairness, they usually consist of a handful of really great tracks and some ambient filler that you skip or let play because you’re busy doing some chore or other.  Many of us buy more albums than we can attend those same artists’ shows, so we’re left with a studio-produced replica of what could’ve been an even better or even worse live performance.

If I had never seen Brooklyn, NY’s A Place to Bury Strangers live in Austin, TX, I wouldn’t have regretted it because their 2nd effort, “Exploding Head,” is one of those few albums whose name is more of a warning than a clever title.

As I said, there are few albums that really take me, but as APTBS’s most recent album has possessed me for the last two months, I feel it’s important to outline why.  Now as I said, not seeing them live wouldn’t have filled me with regret, and not because it was a lackluster performance, but because “Exploding Head” is such an engrossing album that encompasses the full range of APTBS’s live frequencies, intricacies, delicacies, and bold in-your-face-acies. 

While everyone hypes APTBS as quite possibly the loudest band around (and, yes, they were fucking loud — pardon my French, but sometimes the F-word is the only proper adjective — and that’s not a French word, by the way), one of the more brilliant aspects of the band is their progressive take on a rocking dark wave movement; just as bands like The Strokes revived the garage rock sound, APTBS should be revered as the band who incited the return of new wave and gave it an ass-kicking facelift.

Don’t let frontman Oliver Ackermann’s quirky resemblance to H. I. McDunnough fool you, his knowledge of sound and guitar pedals (he also has his own boutique pedal company) unite to form epic guitar performances whether inside or outside the studio, and Jono MOFO’s serious looks intimate his serious bass strumming.  Drummer, JSpace, has an incomplete kit compared to most contemporary drummers, but he makes those few skins pay with aggressive beats that often reflect the mechanized playing style of “Isn’t Anything”-era Colm O’Ciosoig.   

APTBS’s music delivers the fuzz of The JMC’s “Psychocandy” with the darkness and subtlety of The Cure’s “Pornography” plus all-new effects technology courtesy of Ackermann himself;  a progressive spin on a genre of music that inspired an aural revolution.  And this revolution has come full circle.  From the dizzying opening of  “It is Nothing” to the sonic demolition at the end of “I Lived My Life…,” APTBS illustrates their command of sonic fury:  the ability to incite it, contain it, and even destroy it.  Their pulse-pounding brand of intense dark wave, a “total sonic annihilation,” if you will, is sure to explode your head… in the best of ways.

- N. Gonzales