>> Bob Extrawack! suggests Oxfam America's Cyclone Relief and Rehabilitation Fund as the vehicle for your donations to help ameliorate the suffering in Myanmar. More info here. And now on to the music...
>> We've got a huge backlog of stuff to share that will probably not be cleared until we get a couple more posts up, so we're just jumping in anywhere. Jazzy post-rock outfit Icy Demons return in July with a third set titled Miami Ice. The Chicago-and-Philly-rooted band's sophomore collection, Tears of A Clone, was issued on Scott Herren's Eastern Developments imprint. But the new nine-song collection will be issued July 15 on Obey Your Brain, a new label set up by Icy Demons bandleaders Chris Powell (also in Man Man and Need New Body) and Griffin Rodriguez (Need New Body, Bablicon). On the new set the pair are joined by musical luminaries including Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker and Prefuse 73/Sam Prekop collaborator Josh Abrams on bass. You can hear three of the new tracks -- "Spywatchers," "Buffalo Bill" and the title track -- at the band's MySpace dojo here. We reviewed Icy Demon's Tears Of A Clone here in 2006. Here's an MP3 of our favorite jam from the set, the album-closer "The Flea Garden."
Icy Demons --
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[buy Icy Demons records from Newbury Comics here]
>> A brief note from Texas shoegaze giants Ringo Deathstarr reports the band's planned next release will likely be an EP released digitally and on vinyl. Please, God, let it be 10" vinyl, as that is the coolest vinyl format that is still useful (sorry Boyracer, but that 5" was so small it was hard to keep track of). The quartet is also in pre-production on a new self-made music video, likely for the track "Sweet Girl," although "Down On You" is in the running as well. In the meantime you can watch a nice live clip of the band performing "Sweet Girl" over at Switchburn right here. The Deathstarr's next live appearance is June 3 at Emo's in Austin with the mighty and resurrected Swervedriver.
>> While our familiarity with the band doesn't go beyond a few listens to their first (The Fall Of Math, recently reissued) and last (The Destruction Of Small Ideas) records, we are very surprised about how-dance oriented the new 65DaysOfStatic EP is. Of course, the fact that the EP is titled The Distant And Mechanized Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties should have been more of a hint than it was. Based on the title -- because even at 34 we still make stupid assumptions now and again-- we were hoping to hear something akin to Silkworm's devastating "There Is A Party Tonight In Warsaw." But Sheffield, England-based 65DaysOfStatic's new EP is as close to a rave mix as we've probably subjected ourselves to in about 15 years. We expect there is a big audience for music of this stripe, particularly across Europe. But we're not feeling it. The quartet this past week commenced a strand of dates opening for legendary alt-rock act The Cure; the tour comes to Boston's Agganis Arena Monday night. The Distant And Mechanized Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties was issued April 29, and you can stream it in its entirety here.
>> We're just getting going with our new laptop, but here are two things we are excited about: 1) the onboard sound (that is the quality of the sound coming from the built-in speakers) on our new Dell 1720 is far superior to that produced by our five-year-old Dell 5150; 2) the optical drive rips discs at up to 17x, almost three times faster than our old drive. Cool.
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