Tis’ a busy time for the indie music fan, with the SXSW pilgrimage underway, the Record Store Day exclusives shopping list shaping up, Coachella warm-up shows are popping up across the west, and a release calendar which answers the question of whether or not some of the big debuts of recent years were mere flukes, or if the blogosphere coronations gone-by were indeed warranted. On top of all that, the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame induction shows are just ahead, as are some big reissues for Stones and Who fans.
Yearly Austin Music Fest Underway
If you are looking for a broad overview of bands and sounds from South-By-Southwest, many participating labels have begun posting MP3 samplers or streams from their attending artists. For those less concerned with acquiring free and legal MP3s, grey-market compilations are also sprouting up like weeds. Best stick with the official stuff. If you are looking for collectibles, rarities, and vinyl exclusives, the list of items to be made available at this year’s Record Store Day seems to be growing every day, and includes its fair share of awesome: exclusives and/or first looks from Elvis Costello, Ani DiFranco, Peter Gabriel, Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, Pavement, REM, Velvet Underground, John Lennon, Flaming Lips, and even Negativeland’s favorite band Neu!
Among the other big indie releases, there is a crop of new stuff from many acts who have long been just one massive song from leaving the indie world behind for mainstream success. It should only be a matter of a few weeks to see if any of these upcoming releases have that one big tune in them or not:
One of the “Most Likely To Succeed” candidates with the biggest momentum behind them is Brooklyn transplants The National, who used the Fallon show to preview a track from their upcoming LP High Violet. If they are right on the cusp of breaking big, and this could well be the disc that does it.
Band Of Horses has tasted a bit of mainstream success, yet also retained much of their indie cred. For my money, they have so far been able to deliver at least 2 or 3 major winners, and almost no duds, on each of their first two albums. Now they are ready to drop their third LP, Infinite Arms, which is their first for major label Columbia, and represents the end of their relationship with super-indie label Sub Pop. While they make music one might be tempted to call modern classic rock, there is just enough punk edge and Americana undercurrent to their work that they could easily veer well-off their beaten path in either a noisy or twangy direction while still making a Band Of Horses record. It will be interesting to see where they take things if not simply forward.
The first promo MP3 from MGMT’s sophomore release Congratulations has begun making the rounds, and I gotta say, it portends good things. MGMT is one of those bands who either is going end up able to deliver the goods a la Beck (which is to say consistently, and for a long time), or they are destined to clog used CD bins with an over-hyped, half-baked, and otherwise jinxed 2nd disc that functions as a weak goodbye to a cruel world. If I had to guess, I think they are more likely to actually keep the quality high and the work steady than to collapse under their own bloat
The next album from Mathew Houck’s project Phosphorescent is called Here’s To Taking It Easy. It appears to be an album of original material, and if the first songs floating around are any indication, it is a return to a bit more light-hearted, country-tinged fare, but still immediately identifiable as Phosphorescent material. I myself enjoyed the more ethereal moments on their last few albums of original music, but for the most part, I think Mathew Houck is maturing and getting better at song craft and is finding his true voice as time goes by. Hopefully this album is a sum of all his recent progress.
In the classic rock realm, this week sees the blue-ray release of The Who’s mockumentary The Kids Are Alright. Fan reviews have been good, and even though loving The Who requires one to buy reissue after reissue and repackage after repackage, the extras on this disc – including commentary from Daltrey – appear to make it worth picking up. It may just be good enough to redeem their Super Bowl performance.
Finally, word is out that their is at last to be a Rolling Stones reissue laden with extras from the vaults surrounding an era in which they were (again) peaking. Rolling Stone magazine reports that the reissue of Exile On Main Street not only includes many of the known out-takes of the period, but that Mick Jagger himself went back into the studio to finish and touch-up a few of the fragments left behind, creating some quasi-new, yet classic, Rolling Stones material. I may be biased in favor of the indie and alternative stuff of recent vintage, but I started out with the basics, and consider anything from the Stones in that era well worth a listen. I simply hope that this round of Rolling Stones reissues are given the same treatment. The last round added nothing but 3 or 4 bucks to the price of the albums. One can always dream!
