Austin was a fertile ground for the emerging counterculture of the 1960s. Seen as nonconformists, Beatnik-inspired hipsters were drawn together by folk, country and Blues music while dabbling with peyote and LSD. Traditional values became challenged as they sought a lifestyle outside of the system. Civil Rights and the war in Vietnam were galvanizing factors in 1960s American society but the advent of psychedelics made it electrified. This documentary tells how it happened in Austin Texas. Featuring interviews with the people who were there and a wealth of Super 8 film footage and raw live recordings. Janis Joplin, The 13th Floor Elevators, Gilbert Shelton, Kenneth Threadgill - they’re all here - and their story will make you proud to be an Austinite.
Web: dirtroadtopsych.com
The last Dirty Projectors full-length, 2007’s Rise Above, reimagined a Black Flag hardcore classic as an art-jazz cave painting, so these forever-fluctuating Brooklyn space cadets aren’t exactly short on ambition. Since Rise Above, the band has locked down a reasonably stable core lineup and signed with Domino. But judging by the flurry of activity they’ve got coming up, the Dirty Projectors aren’t quite ready to settle into any sort of regular record-tour-record-tour rhythm.
Now, the band has revealed the details of the Rise Above follow-up. Domino will release Bitte Orca, the band’s fifth full-length, on June 9. The band recorded the album last year in Brooklyn and Portland, Oregon. Song titles on this thing are commendably weird: “Cannibal Resource”, “Remade Horizon”, “Fluorescent Half Dome”. That’s the album cover up there.
On April 21, Domino will release the album’s first single, “Stillness Is the Move”, on both 12″ vinyl and digital download, and it’ll include a couple of b-sides and a remix from Lucky Dragons, their peers in elusiveness. (The first single is not “Byond Uquafina”, as previously reported.)
But those records are only part of the story, as we recently reported. This spring, the band will play a few American shows (including the Pitchfork/Windish Austin Bash) and then head over to the UK for a quick headlining tour. They’ve added two touring members to their lineup: bassist Nat Baldwin and singer Haley Dekle.
Meanwhile, Bang on a Can will premier a work from Dave Longstreth, the band’s sole constant member, at New York’s Kaufman Center on April 2, alongside a piece from Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo.
Longstreth isn’t the only member of the band making music on the side. On May 5, Lovepump United will release Mind Raft, the first solo EP from band member Angel Deradoorian, who records as just Deeradorian.
And supposedly the band also has another full-length in the works. They still intend to release one more album on Dead Oceans, the label that released Rise Above, though God only knows how they’ll find the time to finish the thing.
Also worth noting: “Knotty Pine”, the band’s collaboration with David Byrne, opens the massive double-CD charity comp Dark Was the Night, which we BNM’ed yesterday. It might be the best thing they’ve ever done, and it’s getting us amped for Bitte Orca.
Taken from: pitchfork.com MySpace
Bradford Cox and his pals in Deerhunter can’t stop making new music. And what may be tiring for them is good for the rest of us. Case in point: A new five-song EP called Rainwater Cassette Exchange is due May 18 digitally and June 8 on CD and vinyl via Kranky in the U.S. and 4AD elsewhere. Like last year’s Microcastle, the EP was recorded with producer Nicolas Verhes at Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room studios.
And while it’s exciting enough to read about fresh Deerhunter tracks, it’s slightly more exciting to actually listen to them. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered. The title track and first single is available to stream and download right below this paragraph. In a recent interview with this website, Cox professed his love for Animal Collective and “Rainwater Cassette Exchange” definitely has a bit of that dubby, underwater lilt perfected by those Merriweather guys.
Taken from: pitchfork.com
