David Bazan Fewer Moving Parts [Barsuk]

| Brandi H.

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Rating: 6.0

The artwork on David Bazan’s EP Fewer Moving Parts depicts Bazan-as-lumberjack, walking through the woods. He approaches a tree, and in the span of six pages he chops it down. Upon closer inspection, there is a little heart visible on a close-up of the tree, with the initials DB and TW inside of it. It doesn’t take a detective’s training to deduce what is going on here, and I quickly surmise that the DB is Bazan himself, and that the TW is TW Walsh, friend and former conspirator in Pedro the Lion. Without Googling a word I realize that Bazan has created a breakup album, and that the breakup is between him and his old band (which was pretty much just him anyways), and that his new sound is going to be totally unprecedented. Though I feel pretty confident about my assertion and even begin writing this review, I decide to give the album a listen, which is a pretty advanced protocol as far as usounds is concerned. The results of my investigation will horrify you.

Cold Beer and Cigarettes [mp3]

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Music News Highlights

| USOUNDS

This week’s new releases: Art Brut – It’s a Bit Complicated, The White Stripes – Icky Thump, Maps – We Can Create, The Polyphonic Spree – The Fragile Army, The Mooney Suzuki – Have Mercy, and Bon Jovi – Lost Highway (?).

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According to an Amazon.com editorial review, “The moods are many, but the core feeling is pure Bon Jovi.”

NME: Ryan Adams admits to snorting heroin with coke and taking the occasional speedball (and by occasional, I mean every day); Instead of dying, cranks out an assload of records.

Music News Highlights

| USOUNDS

Preview new Caribou song “Melody Day” on MySpace.  Because it’s good.

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NME:  The Fratellis said, “No fucking way” to recording the official song for David Beckham’s first game as an LA Galaxy player.  Jon Fratelli added, “If we don’t get successful on our own terms then we won’t do it at all.”  Okay, so what about that ipod commercial?

All Smiles, Grand Archives and Menomena – Live in Seattle

| Brandi H.

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Seattle, WA – A Long, Long Time Ago @ Neumo’s (June 1st)

Unfortunately we were really late for All Smiles due to shows starting early and on time these days in Seattle. Also, I felt trapped at the dive bar across the street listing to some mangled-looking, old-man-river guy talk to me about the history of plumbing. He started the timeline over 2800 years ago when King Minos of Crete created the first flushing water closet complete with a wooden seat and everything. I was like, fuck, how are we gonna cover 2800 years of plumbing in ten minutes? But not wanting to be rude and perhaps needing a “safety” piece of ass sometime in the future, we powered though it.

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Music News Highlights

| USOUNDS

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Moustache Ride and Spanish Arts award weener. Ay yi yi!

Today’s post from Radiohead’s Dead Air Space Blog, “Yes, I know it’s been a while …. but we’ve been working on this album for a while ….. BUT WE ARE NEARLY THERE …..”

Check out Common vs. Bloc Party on The Hood Internet. It’s like Bloc Party, but with more hos.

Daft Punk’s new film, Electroma is about “two robots who journey across a mythic American landscape on a quest to become human”. Unfortunately, sometimes their faces melt off and various robot parts catch on fire making this a super difficult task.

Tool – Live in Baltimore

| Matthew Wendus

1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore 06-08-07

For me, Tool is something of an experience. Sure, the atmospherics and mystical content are retarded at first glance, but there is much more depth in Tool’s music than most credit. I’m mostly talking about writers over at Pitchfork and Stylus who leap at the opportunity to cut an hour of writing time by pasting failing grades on the band’s albums and not much else. I can understand not liking modern metal, but reading verbose jargon about how Tool is somehow the epitome of shit because they aren’t an Englishman with crooked teeth and a Rickenbacker is particularly grating. Tool is a lesser Led Zeppelin, not only because of the mystique and lyrical content, but because Tool is a band of four musical virtuosos. Adam Jones is a modern hero of the rock guitar, pulling more effects out of limited pedals than magician’s tricks out of a hat. Danny Carey can pound drums like a Ben Hur slave-driver on speed. Justin Chancellor can make his bass sound like a screaming guitar, synth funk machine, or metal factory at the turn of a beat. And Maynard James Keenan can bellow out so much disgust, loathing, and incendiary blast furnace rage that he could make it an Olympic event.

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