M. Ward, Zooey, (and Tigger too!)

​As if its empire wasn't vast enough, Disney is making eyes at the Pitchfork-reading crowd with some new soundtracks featuring the likes of Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward, My Morning Jacket, Andrew Bird, and Sondre Lerche.

With the release of the hand-animated (vintage!) Winnie the Pooh set for this Friday, July 15, Gimme Noise received the soundtrack in the mail from Disney Records, and it features none other than Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. To top that off, Pitchfork Media reported that a record dubbed The Green Album (Weezer must be pissed) will be released by Disney on August 23 to support The Muppets, which comes out November 23.

But oh, just wait for the video preview!

More >>

​Online British music magazine the Quietus loves Gayngs almost as much as we do, as a quick search will attest. So it comes as no surprise that they would ask the band to visually document their Coachella experience.

Also not surprising: the serious jank and wooze depicted therein.

More >>

photo by: Robyn Lewis

​September 17th at the Hexagon Bar, prepare to be sold shit. A lot of it. The Great Rock And Roll Swap Meet is sort of upon us, and you are not ready. Unless you totally are ready to buy goods and crafts from some local notables like Laura Bennett, Christy Hunt and maybe (maybe) a certain oily-headed four-eyed gadfly? In which case nevermind, you are fully prepared.

More >>

​ More >>

Fever Ray's self-titled album called to me from the break-room free table. I'll admit, my choice was based entirely on the great cover art. Swedish artist Martin Ander skillfully aped the style of Charles Burns' Black Hole; in fact, the atmospheric, haunting album would make an excellent soundtrack to for the book.
More >>

In perhaps the most truly random Clutter Control yet, this album was snatched without looking out of my stacks while running out of the office to catch the train. No time to consider cool album art or hilariously weird-ass names. By chance, this turned out to be Clutter Control's first local album - Hold Your Breath For A Rising Tide by Minneapolis hard rockers Down and Above.

The first thing I notice about Hold Your Breath For A Rising Tide is that the lady on the cover is wearing SCUBA gear. Why would she need to hold her breath? Perhaps the oxygen tank was ruptured by a giant squid? I guess to answer that question we'll have to play the CD.

More >>

When I went looking for this week's random album to review, the name Shivaboom leapt at me from the CD stacks, calling to mind ShamWow! and its accompanying douchebag salesman. I really hope it doesn't feature a Hindu god half-heartedly muttering catchphrases like "It sells itself," and "It's Shiva...BOOM!"

At first gander, I thought Shivaboom was the band name, but it appears to be the album title (disappointing!). The band is eccodek (lower-case intentional), who, according to the jacket, is a "Canadian soud scientist," and whose "melodies soaring from earth to sky take the far-raching global dub journey from cultural authenticity to the cutting edge." Let's give it a spin.

More >>

The name "Jewmongous" caught my eye while thumbing through my desk-stacks. "Even if this is awful," I thought, "it will will not be your normal boring indie crap." Which is true. It's a completely different kind of crap.

More >>

Courtesy Tilly and the Wall

For this week's Clutter Control I ran a finger along my completely disorganized stacks of CDs and randomly ended up on Tilly and the Wall's O, wedged between a copy of Haale's No Ceiling and M.anifest's Manifestations. My initial impression is that the members of Tilly and the Wall are all really, really attractive. I'll do my damndest not to let this interfere with the objectivity of my review.More >>

This week's selection for Clutter Control (a series arbitrarily reviewing CDs from the stacks of albums lying around our office) is Frigg's Economy Class. It was wedged behind some books in our A-List Editor's office. She dug it out for me at my request for "something funny, or at least weird." Weird describes the Cheetos clouds on the cover pretty well--we'll see if the music itself is similar.

More >>