Listen: The Shins, “Simple Song”
The Shins’ “Simple Song” debuted today, featuring James Mercer and a mostly new Shins lineup sounding largely as one might expect five years after “Wincing the Night Away” — the production and arrangements continue the “Wincing” direction toward polish and detail, but it clearly sounds like the Shins rather than an extension of the Broken Bells aesthetic. The new album, “Port of Morrow,” arrives on March 20.
– Lang
Video of the Day: Sharon Van Etten Plays “Serpents” on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”
Sharon Van Etten releases her third album, “Tramp,” on February 7, which is shaping up as the first big release date of the year (Air, Paul McCartney, Van Halen, etc.). “Serpents” sounds amazing in this performance and bodes well for Van Etten’s first release on Jagjaguwar.
– Lang
OK Sweetheart soundtracks “TCM Remembers, 2011″
Turner Classic Movies, which recently added an HD channel on Oklahoma City’s Cox Communications, generally does a much cooler, much more stylish and reverential remembrance of departed Hollywood players than the “Bring Out Yer Dead” sequence at the Oscars, but it’s even better this year, thanks to OK Sweetheart’s beautiful “Before You Go.”
TCM HD is on Cox channel 797. Congratulations to Erin Austin and OK Sweetheart for their inclusion on this project.
– Lang
Shins Announce New Album
As reported by Pitchfork, “Port of Morrow,” the Shins’ follow-up to 2007′s “Wincing the Night Away,” will be released in March on James Mercer’s new label, Aural Apothecary, the imprint he created after leaving Sub Pop. In an interesting point of stylistic departure — perceived, at least — “Port of Morrow” is produced by Greg Kurstin of The Bird and the Bee, who produced Lily Allen’s “It’s Not Me, It’s You” and the upcoming album from New Zealand singer-songwriter Kimbra.
Beastie Boys, G N’ R and Red Hot Chili Peppers To Be Inducted Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14
No question about it: the induction of the Beasties, Guns N’ Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers has potential to liven a traditionally stodgy event for the following reasons:
1) We need more Beastie Boys activity right now. The comparatively low-key promotion for “Hot Sauce Committee” is possibly due in part to Adam Yauch’s recent health issues. StaticBlog loves the Beastie Boys and wants to hear them play “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” in its entirety when the April 14 awards ceremony is shown in May on HBO.
2) G N’ R rumors and, er, lies. They should start about, oh, 30 minutes ago. Sure, the new-model Guns N’ Roses sounded great at Lloyd Noble Center last month, but for the rock hall, let’s put the old band back together.
3) A full-scale reunion of all former RHCP guitarists and drummers. Granted, the ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria might not be able to handle the crowd, but wouldn’t it be great to see Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Josh Klinghoffer and Chad Smith joined by former drummers Cliff Martinez (best film scores of 2011), D.H. Peligro and Jack Irons, along with guitarists Jack Sherman, Jesse Tobias, DeWayne “Blackbird” McKnight, John Frusciante, and Arik Marshall, and have the whole thing haunted by the ghost of Hillel Slovak? That’s kind of how an RHCP show feels to me, anyway — the last OKC show was notable for the paucity of pre-BloodSugarSexMagik material. However, StaticBlog is excited about the upcoming Tulsa and OKC dates, featuring special guest Janelle Monae. That will be amazing — that is, unless the show gets rescheduled and we end up with Mickey Avalon again.
In addition, Donovan, Laura Nyro and the Faces/Small Faces will be inducted, making it a second induction for Ron Wood and Rod Stewart and a perfect time to keep Stewart from wrecking the Great American Songbook.
Video of the Day: She & Him perform “The Christmas Waltz” on Leno
The downside to this is you have to look at StaticBlog persona non grata Jay Leno for 10 seconds, but then you get to stare at Zooey for over three minutes. No winking this time.
– Lang
Other Lives to open for Radiohead on 2012 tour
Earlier this year, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke offered a ringing endorsement of Other Lives, and now Radiohead is formalizing its support for the Stillwater band by selecting them as the opening act for the following dates.
02/27/12 – American Airlines Arena – Miami, FL
02/29/12 – St. Pete Times Forum – Tampa, FL
03/01/12 – Philips Arena – Atlanta, GA
03/03/12 – Toyota Center – Houston, TX
03/05/12 – American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX
03/07/12 – Frank Erwin Center – Austin, TX
03/09/12 – Scottrade Center – St. Louis, MO
03/11/12 – Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO
03/13/12 – 1st Bank Center – Broomfield, CO
03/15/12 – Jobing.com Arena – Glendale, AZ
Congratulations to Other Lives for the honor and exposure. Tamer Animals is out now.
STATIC with Other Lives
WinStar Spotlight Blog
While we were all busy being culture snobs, something happened with bookings at casino venues. It honestly was not that long ago that casinos were the place where once-great performers went for one last roll of the dice, but suddenly, places like WinStar World Casino in Thackerville are just blowing up. Weezer recently played the 3,000-seat Global Event Center, and in a particularly unusual turn of events, the great Al Pacino, a man who is one hit record away from scoring the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), engaged the audience in a wide-ranging Q&A session. Other casinos are doing bang-up business, as well — who would think a few years ago that Snoop Dogg would play Lucky Star Casino in Concho?
At any rate, in August The WinStar World Casino launched WinStar Spotlight , a smart, engaging entertainment blog covering upcoming performances and events at the venue. This is a smart move for WinStar — a lot of casinos are unfortunately old-school and disappointingly minimalist in their approach to promoting their shows, but because WinStar is competing directly with many non-casino arenas for A-listers these days, this is a good development.
I’m actually looking at doing a long-form story on the rise of the casino entertainment business and the rehabilitation of its image. A few years ago, I saw B.B. King at Riverwind. When you’re just a few rows back from true greatness and the presentation is as good as it was that night, it’s worth the consideration. Weezer playing WinStar is similarly impressive. Currently, that venue is in country mode, with Dierks Bentley playing tomorrow night and the next few months featuring performances by Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson and Blake Shelton, among others, but they’ll get back to rock in good time, and their comedy offerings are often of the highest order. Earlier this year, Craig Ferguson performed there, and then incorporated the WinStar’s all-the-world’s-landmarks facade into his opening monologue.
My friend Phil Bacharach oversees WinStar Spotlight — he knows how to do this. Let it be an example.
Video of the Day: Eugene McGuinness, “Lion”
There’s a bit of The The to this first single from “The Invitation to the Voyage,” but as Stereogum noted, the best thing about this video is McGuinness’ complete disregard for having frenetic dancers following him around wherever he goes. As if this happens to everybody.
– Lang
Flaming Lips to Release Six-Hour Song, “Found a Star on the Ground”
In a benefit for the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma and the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, the Flaming Lips have recorded “Found a Star on the Ground,” which clocks in at a whopping 360 minutes, or roughly 100 times the length of the average radio song, or the amount of sleep I usually get every night — perfect for my headphones-under-the-pillow “NightPod” listening, but only if I want to wake up feeling like I have lizards crawling on my face. The song will be included in a new illusion toy called The Strobo Trip, which Coyne, in a prepared statement, described as a great way to spend several hours in a safe place.
“The Strobo Trip by itself is fascinating,” Coyne said. “I wouldn’t be a surprised to hear about some people taking LSD or something, while listening to “Found A Star On The Ground,” and playing with The Strobo Trip for hours and hours. We hope you’ll enjoy them anyway you like.”
The Strobo Trip will soon be available at the band’s Web site for all your hallucinogenic stocking stuffer needs.
