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:

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:

"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"

I was first introduced to Sri Lankan/English hip hop artist, visual disruptor, politico, and all-around sexy force of nature M.I.A. in March of 2005, when a friend much hipper than I to cutting edge jams included "Galang" on a birthday mix CD she made for me. I was bowled over. Not because I'd never heard anything similar-sounding; though the song certainly combines sounds in a brilliant and catchy way, hip hop has been biting South Asia's musical style for years, while UK dance beats and Caribbean reggae and reggaeton have been known to mingle freely. It was two things, really, that caught my attention. First, the personality behind the song; unlike the Diddys of the world, she was someone I could relate to. Like me, she was a young girl venturing out into the big scary world with only her attitude to protect her. She'd been given a lot of advice -- "suck a dick'll help you/don't let em get to you" -- and was now spitting it back out in a parody of her own situation. She had a cool bravado without being ridiculous, and she kept asses shaking with an infectious chorus about "blazing a blaze". In short, she was A Girl I'd Smoke A Blunt With.

The second thing I loved was that South Asia -- long a victim to the West's aforementioned biting, musical and otherwise -- was finally biting back, with her as its representative, its voice.

A lot has happened since then. Fast forward to 2007 and there have been world tours, underground hits, visa problems, a rising popularity in the blogosphere, a somewhat public breakup with boyfriend and collaborator Diplo, and a whole lot of defending herself against those who would deny her credit for her work because they just can't deal with the idea of a gorgeous Sri Lankan woman being the mastermind behind such brilliant, dirty, political tracks that alternately tempt and smack you like a bomb wrapped in candy.

And now, this: M.I.A.'s critically acclaimed latest release, Kala, has somehow made it to the top of Rolling Stone's disgustingly formulaic "Top Albums of 2007" list, beating out perennial old people favorite Bruce Springsteen for the number one spot. I can just hear Jann Wenner's voice in my head going, "Hey, Brooklyn kids. Yeah, you in the skinny jeans! I just want to make sure you know that we are down with the youth culture of today. We pay attention to all you weird blog people, and we even included some artists who are not white as fuck! Also, I think it might complement your hip, indie rock lifestyle if you smoked. Can I interest you in some Camel cigarettes?"

What does this mean for Maya Arulpragasam? Probably not too much. The experimental, global, take-no-prisoners vibe of Kala despite its being associated with such mainstream influences as Timbaland and Interscope proves that she's going to keep on doing what she does best, with or without your approval. However, for pop culture at large, it can only be beneficial to have a quality, boundary-pushing artist/positive female role model on MTV... even though they keep fucking her over with censorship and the like. On the flipside, each time big media does something obnoxious to her and she posts emphatically in her MySpace blog about it, it draws attention to the everyday censorship that most of us take for granted.

So crunk yourself up, have an M.I.A. dance party, and get psyched that for once, an artist who's hit the big time is still playing by her own rules.

Paper Planes, gunshot sounds in tact:


Nasty beats and brutal politics: agit-pop confection Sunshowers


Bollywood take-off Jimmy:


When you contract Bird Flu, you dance until you die:

Virgin Music Festival: Day 1
Sept. 8, 2007
Toronto, Canada

This was my first trip to the 2nd annual Virgin Music Festival in Toronto and I didn’t really know what to expect. I was informed the concert would take place on an island and I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t realize that Toronto even had an island. Saturday morning I went down to the press check in and after getting sorted out I was told to wait for the next ferry. Ferry? This is where the differences between V Fest and other festivals began. I took a short ferry ride across the water to the Toronto Island Park. I exited the boat, roamed around the grounds for awhile and saw a beautifully laid out theme park filled with rides, food vendors and four concert stages. This was trippy! It seemed to me that this was Perry Farrell’s original vision for Lollapalooza, “Come out to the island to see some great music, learn about some worthy causes, eat and drink and take a break and ride a roller coaster or a bumper boat.”

My day of music began with the 20-year-old Scot that I just can’t get enough of. Paolo Nutini took to the main stage at 2:15 in the afternoon and the crowd couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the show. Nutini and his boys played a terrific 45-minute set which included his hits, “New Shoes,” “Rewind” and “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty” along with an amazing new track “Rainbows.” The band also threw in an excellent rock cover of Moby’s “Natural Blues.” The kid is really coming into his own as a live performer. He’s always had the material but in the early days it seemed hard for Nutini to interact with the crowd, choosing to look down at his feet instead of making eye contact with his fans. These days he’s moving around, having fun, talking to the audience and the crowds are eating it up!


Next up on the main stage was K-OS. To be perfectly honest, I’d never seen the man and his band live. On stage, K-OS combined all the great elements of The Fugees, Rage Against The Machine and Bob Marley. One minute he was crooning like Lauryn Hill with Pras and Wyclef backing him and the next he’d fire up the political stance like Zach De La Rocha with a less aggressive Tom Morello on the axe. It would be hard to classify K-OS into any musical category because he doesn’t define himself. From rock to reggae to r&b and hip hop, the man put on a show that I consider to be one of the festival's best.

Anticipation boiled over as M.I.A. was taking the stage. She’s played at so many festivals that I’ve attended but, for whatever reason, I’ve never had the chance to watch her perform. While I really enjoy her recorded work it just didn’t seem to translate well live. The songs were there but the energy was lacking. That special something just didn’t seem apparent. That being said, the lady’s outfits were bangin’! Pink sunglasses and black leather daisy dukes will go a long way when it comes to remembering what to write in a review. It is hard to forget such a memorable ensemble.

While sitting on the shore I took a much needed break and enjoyed my slice of pizza and a hot dog. The venue offers up the most amazing view of the downtown skyline. The break was short lived, however, because the Arctic Monkeys were about to take the stage. I really wanted to see what the hype was all about. I loved the Arctic Monkeys debut album but was less than impressed with their recent follow-up, Favourite Worst Nightmre. The kids from Sheffield were quite impressive as they ripped through an hour long set that included the wonderful “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” and the current hit “Brianstorm.” It was a much needed energy injection near the end of a long day. It got the crowd riled up and everyone wanted to see more! One of the highlights from the festival occurred hours later when I listened to the boys playing acoustically outside of their trailer. They played with assorted friends, drinking Strongbow cider and singing James Blunt’s “Beautiful.”

As with all festivals, multiple acts play at the same time and you’re forced to make decisions as to what band(s) you’d rather see. Interpol vs. Mute Math was case in point. I decided to see the second stage headliner, Mute Math, and keep up my streak of skipping Interpol festival performances. This was the best decision I made all weekend long! I’m new to the phenomenon that is Mute Math but I’m a definite convert. Without hesitation I will tell you that this was the best performance all weekend long. For whatever reason, these guys remind me a lot of The Police during their heyday but with added pop sensibility. Terrifically catchy songs combined with a great light show made for the most memorable performance of the day.

To end the night I needed to catch a glimpse of Bjork’s performance so I could leave with a smile on my face. The queen of Iceland always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and this was no exception. She took the stage wearing a golden dress and it seemed as if she had painted her forehead green. The cast of characters behind her reminded me of the Polyphonic Spree on acid. Like the Spree, multiple members donned multi-colored robes but these backup performers had painted their foreheads, as well. It was awesome! I stayed long enough to hear the first couple of songs and then hightailed it to the ferry for fear that I’d be stuck on the island all night long.

Stay tuned for a report of Day 2 of V Fest...

She gave us "Bird Flu" back in February and now this summer M.I.A. will deliver more sickness with the release of her sophomore album, now officially titled Kala

The Sri Lankan mash-up queen did some globetrotting to lay down all of Kala's tracks, making stops in Trinidad, London, India, New York and Baltimore. M.I.A. arranged the travel to work with various collaborators including Timbaland, frequent collaborator and ex-lover Diplo, house music producer Switch and DJ Blaqstarr.

Earlier this week, Rolling Stone was reporting that the album would drop in June, but Billboard has now confirmed that Kala will see an official release on August 21st.

No tracklist has been released at the time of this posting, but "Bird Flu" has been confirmed to be part of the set.

Yes, August seems far off, but you can catch M.I.A. doing her thing this summer at Washington State's Sasquatch! Music Festival and Lollapalooza.

M.I.A. summer festival appearances:

Further Perusal (of the "WTF?!" variety):
Make your own M.I.A. "Paloozahead" here.

Recommended Viewing:
Check out M.I.A. talking about her past and music before performing "Galang"


Bonus VIdeo:
Comedians Aziz Ansari and Eugene Mirman do a bit on Ansari's brief meeting with M.I.A.

Saquatch! Music Festival is poised to step out from the shadow of bigger American music festivals such as Coachella and Bonnaroo this year. The Washington State festival is running strong in it's sixth year and Sasqautch! organizers have snagged the likes of Björk, The Arcade Fire, M.I.A., Spoon, and Interpol for this year's 2-day run. Additional acts will be added over the coming weeks

The festival will take place over Mermorial Day weekend (May 26-27) at George, Washington's Gorge Ampitheatre and will host over 50 artists spread out over three stages.

In addition to the amazing line up, the organizers have decided to go green and make this year's festival carbon neutral.

Tickets for Sasquatch! go on sale March 3rd via Ticketmaster or Livenation.com.

Confirmed Line Up:

Sri Lanka via London electro hip-hopper and all-around bad-ass, M.I.A. (AKA Maya Arulpragasam), has unveiled a sneak-peak at her forthcoming sophomore album, tentatively titled Power Power. The track is called "Bird Flu," and it's available for streaming on her Myspace page (sporting a wonderful new revolution/watermelon theme) along with its accompanying video, which was filmed in a fishing village on India's south coast.

M.I.A. posted some commentary this past summer about the song and the video on her blog, revealing the inspiration for the title of the track and the dance featured in the video.

There's no word yet on a release date or a tour (hope they let her through US Customs this time!), but M.I.A. collaborator, Diplo, reportedly mastered the album this past December.

Recommended Viewing:
BIRD FLU!

Where were you in '92?

A new MIA track is streaming at her Myspace site. The track is titled "XR2." Whether this is supposed to be the mysterious "Bird Flu" track she was threatening us with in August, I can't say. The beat is not going to win any converts, but for MIA fans who are all Galanged out, XR2 will do the trick.

Here are lyrics she posted on the MySpace Blog to introduce the tracks arrival to the web. Note to the caps lock sensitive, turn away now, turn away:

Stark Warning from MIA.