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In addition to playing drums (and other things) for The Decemberists, John Moen has also logged time with Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Elliott Smith, and Robert Pollard's Boston Spaceships. Revise Your Maps is the title of John's second solo album under the Perhapst moniker, his first in five years. Out June 25 on Jealous Butcher Records, the record's got a dusty, Laurel Canyon vibe and isn't miles away from the groups he's played with. Hear for yourself, we've got the premiere of the ebullient cut "Ramble Scramble" in this post. You can stream that below.

Continue reading "The Decemberists' John Moen releasing his second solo album as Perhapst (stream a track)" at brooklynvegan

The Pogues‘ guitarist reveals he has inoperable cancer.

Philip Chevron wasn’t a founding member of the legendary Irish punk act, but during the recording of the band’s first album Red Roses For Me he was brought in to replace recently departed singer Steve Rapid. Since then the guitarist has been a full time member, and despite being having been in a plethora of different bands over the years (including vanguard punk act The Radiators from Space) it is his tenure with The Pogues that he has become best known for.

The 55 year-old was treated for cancer to his hear and neck back in 2007, but was given a clean bull of health after successful surgery. Sadly, in 2012 another tumor was discovered, and Chevron was informed that any operation to remove it could be crippling or even fatal. Chevron himself said of the situation ”The cancer is, in short, inoperable and will prove fatal in time, though it is at present impossible to measure life expectancy,”.

The musician’s statement ended on a slightly more upbeat note, hinting that he has material in the works: ”Philip thanks his friends, colleagues, family and management team for their enduring support and hopes to make some notable musical contributions before, as he puts it, the cancer becomes ‘lethal’,”. [via Irish Independent]

Behold, the Weeknd in a state of growth. “Kiss Land” is the title track to Abel Tesfaye’s forthcoming LP — his first LP made specifically for the format, since Trilogy is just those first three mixtapes compiled — and he’s stretching out here and there! Not radically, mind you: Over the first half of its seven minutes, “Kiss Land” checks the standard Weeknd box of being about sex (he starts with oral, which is a good pro tip), sung directly to his prey (“Because the only thing you’re taking / is your clothes off”). But the vibe during this movement is lighter, more celebratory, less wrapped in a self-loathing narcotic gauze than his past sexual conquests. So that’s growth point #1. Growth point #2 comes at around 4:00: The production dives back toward the murky sonic anxiety that’s become the Weeknd’s calling card, but at that point it’s the lyrics that bring something new, albeit an entirely conventional sophomore LP trope: Started from the bottom (“Went from staring at the same four walls for 21 years”) now we’re here (“got a brand new place … I can’t picture how it looks inside so you can imagine how my life’s been”). This back-half is also where the lyric “This ain’t nothing to relate to” comes in to play, which you may remember as being on loop for the teaser Abel posted the other day to a song apparently ...

Pop the champagne: Italians Do It Better have finally released the follow-up to 2007′s After Dark compilation — ahem, After Dark II. The 16-track compilation features new music from Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire, and a variety of other Johnny Jewel-related projects.

“The last five years have been a blur of art & parties,” Jewel explained recently. “This record represents the people we’ve connected with along the way

Cast your mind back to 2009-11. Drum

Raspberry Bulbs: not for the faint hearted. 

Beginning life as the solo project of band lynchpin M. del Rio (previously of Cali metallers Bone Awl), the band have evolved into a rambunctious five-piece with a fierce live reputation. Debut LP Nature Tries Again arrived on Dominick Fernow’s Hospital Productions back in 2011, and offered a selection of seriously unvarnished lo-fi punk – Dead Kennedys as imagined from Burzum’s prison cell.

Raspberry Bulbs’ sophomore album Deformed Worship will find a home in Blackest Ever Black‘s broad church in July. The nine-track LP has a chequered past: the original studio recordings were all canned, then subsequently re-recorded onto cassette 8-track in November of last year. There are a lot of influences at play – traces of Born Against here, a hint of Sabbath there – but the results are distinctive, muscular and totally uncompromising.

Deformed Worship will be released on vinyl LP and digital formats in July; album track ‘Groping The Angel’s Face’ (sample lyric: “fondling the graves/And groping the angel’s face”) is available below. Raspberry Bulbs play live with Total Control, Crazy Spirit and Survival at 285 Kent, NYC, on Thursday 23 May – head here for tickets.

More names have joined the bill for End Of An Era 1 and 2, the last ever All Tomorrow’s Parties holiday camp festivals.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who masterminded the event back in 2010, will touch down at Camber Sands on the first weekend, curated by ATP and Primavera Festival. The Canadian post-rockers will be joined by legendary Chicago outfit Tortoise, scantily clad mischief-maker Har Mar Superstar, slowcore heroes Low and Fuck Buttons spin-off Blanck Mass. Other first weekend additions include Scout Niblett, Los Planetas, Standstill, Headbirds and Refree. They will join previously announced acts including Television, Dinos Chapman, Demdike Stare, Dinosaur Jr and Oneohtrix Point Never.

Weekend 2, curated by Loop, has also added a stash of new acts, including Cali troubadour Ty Segall, Tri Angle’s Balam Acab, Wolf People, White Fence and Dawn Hunger. Previously announced acts for the final foray include Mogwai, Dirty Beaches and The Pop Group.

Tickets and further information are available here. End Of...

Available on: XL LP

Let

Available on: XL LP

Let

The first track from The Weeknd’s bizarrely named Kiss Land is the title track, a 7-minute-2-parter-style thing, similar to tracks he’s done before. The first half isn’t all that, but the second is much more promising, having more of the wailing sex-flow and smooth production that we’ve grown to love: