Now Hear This

Music moves fast. In the time I've spent recovering from All Tomorrow's Parties, countless tours, albums, and hijinx have gone down against a distracting backdrop of financial meltdowns, wildfires, and the election of a guy named Barack Obama (perhaps you've heard of him?). It's impossible for one short post to catch everything, but as part of my new duties here at the ever-evolving Newswire, I'm going to give you my monthly picks of the most exciting things happening in rock (and I use this term loosely). "But Hunter, what about the gonzo journalism you sacrifice body, soul, and basic human decency to deliver us?" Not to worry. The Weird Turn Pro as you know and cherish it will reappear in the next few weeks. I may be expanding my coverage of music news, but the kooky stuff is here to stay. Now let's get down to business.


Punk's Not Dead

Still riding high on last spring's Nouns, Los Angeles noise/art/pop punks No Age are touring the U.S. and Canada before heading to the land down under for heaping doses of punk rock and Vegemite. With feedback squalls and quiet/noisy interludes, they may not sound exactly like the punk bands you're used to, but their innovations help the genre stay alive and artistically relevant in the post-CBGB era. And unlike many young artsy bands, they carry the banner of political engagement. I found it especially endearing when guitarist Randy Randall got into a tussle with a staffer on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson over his Obama t-shirt, which he was asked to remove. The resourceful rocker obscured the candidate's name but wrote "Free Health Care" on his shirt, which got the point across well enough. They also pitched in and wrote a statement for the underground DIY site Noise For Obama:

Obama is a real human, and we believe in him and his decesions for the better of our country. The human country. Please vote.

They may not be the most articulate folks ever to speak about politics, but they get the point across in a way fans can connect with. They're not afraid to talk about veganism and animal rights, either, a subject near and dear to my heart. Thank you, No Age, for showing you can take the sneering, postmodern "whatever shrug" out of noise rock and still be cool.

Here they are performing "Boy Void" live in Philly. I like this video because it shows how hard Dean Spunt hits his drums:



And here is the official video for "Eraser," in which the boys frolic through a backyard party. Feel free to pause and rewind the part where Randy is getting hosed off:



They released "Teen Creeps," a relatively poppy single, in October, so don't be surprised if a video for that pops up soon.


The Boss and The Boy Genius

Accompanying No Age on tour are New Jersey's Titus Andronicus. One of my favorite bands as of late, they sound like a cross between Conor Oberst's now-defunct punk project Desaparecidos and fellow Jersey boy Bruce Springsteen, which means you can enjoy them with your dad. With lines lifted from Shakespeare and Camus alongside peppy, anthemic repetitions of nihilisms like, "Your life is over!" they may actually get you excited that everything's falling the fuck apart.

Here's the video for "Titus Andronicus," a single off their debut album The Airing of Grievances, to be re-released in January of 2009 in remastered form by XL Recordings.



Psych-Pop Returns

Enigmatic Deerhunter/Atlas Sound frontman Bradford Cox has had quite a year. From angry blog posts, to Converse ads, to piggy back rides on half-naked Bollywood soul singers, he has done some stuff. To top it all off, the band finally released the much-anticipated (and much-leaked) Microcastle, which incorporates enough pop sounds to make it their most widely appealing album yet while keeping enough weird psychedelia to satisfy fans. They're now performing with new guitarist/former cheerleader Whitney Petty for lucky people all over Europe.

Here's a video someone made of single "Agoraphobia" which features some rousing interpretive dance culled from a Pedro Almodovar film:



And here's a dreamy unofficial video for the album's dreamy title song, made by friend and former band member Adam Bruneau:




Post-Post-Punk?

If you can get past the whole "crystal is the new bear/wolf/deer" nonsense, you will find Crystal Stilts play excellent stripped down post punk that's more than a little reminiscent of great bands of the 80s like Joy Division and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Not to be pigeonholed, they also incorporate elements of garage, psych, and straight up jangly pop, and singer Brad Hargett slouches through each song with the depressed charm of Ian Curtis at his darkest. They've recently been joined by ex-Vivian Girl Frankie Rose on drums, and are currently touring North America in support of their debut full-length Alight of Night.

"Departure":



"Shattered Shine":




M.I.A. ≠ Missing In Action

Despite her recent announcement that she's taking a short break to gestate a baby, my number one girl crush is busier than ever. Following the appearance of "Paper Planes" on the soundtrack (and in the trailer) for Apatow-helmed stinker Pineapple Express (fun fact: she almost bailed because the producers of the film "which is all about weed" tried to censor her references to weed), the mainstream hip hop world has finally noticed her. She's being remixed like crazy, and has contributed some tracks to the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire, a Danny Boyle directed bilingual action romp through the slums of Mumbai that melds cultures freely, a natural fit for the genre-straddling star. She's also released a cover of Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole," currently best known as the theme song for HBO's amazing show The Wire, featuring Blaqstarr. As with all good covers, she really makes it her own, even changing the meaning from the drug-laden opening sequence of the show to � well, you decide. Here's what she wrote on her myspace page about the video, which supposedly cost $10 to make:

Me and Blaqstarr found the image at the end from a Joy Division video and thought about the election and thats how people want you to see the world , black/ white , good/ evil, jesus/devil
for you the words are Obama vs Mc Caine for me its terror vs genocide
simple maths so we put it on at the end to show how far we've gone and how far we've come, i have to start staying at home more because i dont think i can fit through my front door anymore but i want this to do the traveling for me.
good luck! go vote! i cant , but im glad im witnessing history in the making either way.

m.i.a
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
THANK FUCK THE FUTURES HERE!

"Way Down in the Hole"



Thank fuck indeed.

Architecture in Helsinki

As someone who tends to listen to depressing music, I like an aural pick-me-up once in a while. Purveyors of cheesy, fun, 70s and 80s-style dance grooves, these Aussies are hard at work on their fourth LP and have just released a single, "That Beep," which you can listen to in its entirety or watch in video form over at ThatBeep.com.

They're touring Australia right now, so if you're all moshed out from seeing No Age, stop by for some restorative booty shaking.


Cheer Up, Emo Kid

Isn't it weird how the late nineties were already ten years ago? It's enough to make a girl feel old. Jimmy Eat World's Clarity formed the soundtrack to countless nights spent cruising the empty playgrounds and 7-11's of my stupid suburban town, falling in love with and subsequently crying about boys, and getting as high as possible in order to forget that life is pain (and other existential revelations sparked when my parents took my car away). To celebrate its tenth (tenth!) anniversary, the band will be playing the album in its entirety at ten select U.S. dates.

In other emo news, The Get Up Kids are reuniting to play a single gig in their native Kansas City to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Something to Write Home About. Dust off your chucks (or if you're like me, chances are you're still wearing them), drink a few Redbulls, envision your worst heartbreak, and get ready to jump up and down while crying your fucking eyes out. If I somehow manage to make it to this show, I think I might actually die.

Play me out, boys.

Jimmy Eat World-"Your New Aesthetic":



The Get Up Kids-"Action and Action"

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/music/23427/Now-Hear-This/