Radiohead + Grizzly Bear + Pitchfork.tv

Tons of good news coming your way today. In case you haven't already seen/heard, Grizzly Bear has just been announced as openers on a handful of Radiohead dates this summer, relieving Liars - another band near and dear to EF's heart - of opening duties for these shows (all of which are listed after the jump).

Drowned in Sound checked in with Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste earlier today and got his reaction to the exciting news. However, of most interest to us in this exchange was the following bit of info Ed casually dropped:

"Also we are planning on doing an even HUGER collaboration with Rihanna of ‘Umbrella’ at next year's Brit Awards. It's going to fucking blow England's mind."

Whoa. Belated April Fools Joke or real intel? If you'll recall Ed's interview with EF some months back, he did profess his love for Rihanna's music, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

In the meantime, remember that Grizzly Bear will be playing with Paul Simon at BAM from April 23-27.

Also tangentially related to the tour announcement is the launch of Pitchfork.tv today...oh and why is that? Because, the first ever video for the site features Radiohead performing In Rainbows' disc 2 rocker "Bangers & Mash" in Nigel Godrich's basement. Go check it out at Pitchfork.tv

Complete Radiohead tour dates after the jump:

05 May - West Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheatre w/Liars
06 May - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre w/Liars
08 May - Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre w/Liars
09 May - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre w/Liars
11 May - Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge w/Liars
14 May - St. Louis, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre w/Liars
17 May - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion w/Liars
18 May - Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center w/Liars
06 June - Dublin, Ireland @ Malahide w/Bat for Lashes
07 June - Dublin, Ireland @ Malahide w/Bat for Lashes
09 June - Paris, France @ Bercy w/Bat for Lashes
10 June - Paris, France @ Bercy w/Bat for Lashes
12 June - Barcelona, Spain @ Parc del Fòrum (Daydream Festival) w/Liars, Bat for Lashes
14 June - Nimes, France @ Arenes w/Bat For Lashes
15 June - Nimes, France @ Arenes w/Bat For Lashes
17 June - Milan, Italy @ Civica Arena w/Bat for Lashes
18 June - Milan, Italy @ Civica Arena w/Bat for Lashes
20 June - Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany @ Southside Festival
22 June - Scheeßel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival
24 June - London, England @ Victoria Park w/Bat for Lashes
25 June - London, England @ Victoria Park w/Bat for Lashes
27 June - Glasgow, Scotland @ Glasgow Green w/Bat for Lashes
29 June - Manchester, England @ Lancashire County Cricket Club w/Bat for Lashes
01 July - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Westerpark w/Bat For Lashes
03 July - Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival
05 July - Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter Festival
06 July - Arras, France @ Main Square Festival
08 July - Berlin, Germany @ Wuhlheide
01 Aug - Chicago, IL @ Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
03 Aug - Indianapolis, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center w/Grizzly Bear
04 Aug - Cleveland, OH - Blossom Music Center w/Grizzly Bear
06 Aug - Montreal, Quebec - Parc Jean-Drapeau w/Grizzly Bear
08 Aug - Jersey City, NJ - Liberty State Park (All Points West Festival)
09 Aug - Jersey City, NJ - Liberty State Park (All Points West Festival)
12 Aug - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center w/Grizzly Bear
13 Aug - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center w/Grizzly Bear
15 Aug - Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheatre w/Grizzly Bear
19 Aug - Vancouver, British Columbia - Thunderbird Stadium w/Liars
20 Aug - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre w/Liars
22 Aug - San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands Festival)
24 Aug - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl w/Liars
25 Aug - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl w/Liars
27 Aug - Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre w/Liars
28 Aug - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl w/Liars
04 Oct - Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena
05 Oct - Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena

Listen: "Bangers & Mash" - Live from The Theater @ Madison Square Garden 14 June 2006 (originally posted HERE, courtesy of NYC Taper)

Liars and No Age @ Warsaw - 9 February 2008 (pics, video, MP3s)

Liars (above) and No Age played an amazing show at Warsaw this past Friday night. Both bands were on point: No Age proving themselves (at least) worthy of all of the attention they've received over the past six months and Liars simply proving themselves to be one of the best bands on the planet. More pictures, as well as live video/MP3s of three Liars songs, after the jump.

Liars

No Age

Listen:
"Houseclouds" by Liars (live from this show)
"Freak Out -> Drum And The Uncomfortable Can" by Liars (live from this show)

Watch:
"Houseclouds" by Liars live (from this show) on YouTube | download QT
"Freak Out -> Drum And The Uncomfortable Can" by Liars live (from this show) on YouTube | download QT

See more EF pictures from this show: Liars | No Age

Other coverage of this show: Sound Bites | Promethium Dreams | Product Shop NYC | punkphoto | Pop Tarts Suck Toasted | BrooklynVegan | Subinev (pics)

Adagetude: Clinic, Liars... PB Max?

Murphy, whoever he was, clearly was more opportunist than optimist, somehow getting his name attached to perhaps the most well-known (yet pessimistic) adage under the sun. But what about the lesser-known eponymous laws, the proverbs that lay in semi-anonymity just waiting to be referenced at dinner parties and the like? Buckle up, because it's time you adjusted your adagetude. This week:

Herblock's Law - "If you like it, they will stop making it."

Arrested Development, PB Max, Pepsi Clear, the Unicorns, Freaks and Geeks, where have you all gone? You were cut down in your prime, achieving mythic status in sharp relief to the gaping void left behind. How do you explain yourselves?

Arrested Development (think Ron Howard's voice): Are you kidding me? At best, you were a casual viewer during our three-season death march to cancellation.

Me: Well, if Fox hadn’t changed your time slot every week maybe I could have adjusted accordingly. Remember, this was pre-DVR for me, and I did the best I could. And, who was the first to buy all three seasons on DVD when they came out?

AD: Your roommate.

Me: Right, okay, but who dressed as Tobias Fünke for Halloween two years ago, shivering in the freezing cold in never-nude jean shorts?

AD: You. But would you have even entertained that idea if we were still on the air?

Me: I don’t like your tone…..PB Max, what’s your excuse?

PB Max (think James Earl Jones' voice): Excuse? For what?

Me: We had a beautiful thing, the two of us! I can still close my eyes and see THIS and it all comes back to me...Spending my hard-earned allowance for a fix of your peanut-buttery goodness, getting grounded for sneaking out to get you and ditching dinner. And yet you left me, why?

PBM: Did you ever think the only reason you wanted a hunk of the Max was because you weren’t allowed to have it? AND, don’t you suppose that the valuable lesson here is that forbidden fruit is always sweeter?

Me: You weren’t fruit Max, you had something like 30 grams of fat per serving.

PBM: My point stands.
(end scene)
------
Ahh forbidden fruit. That which is out of reach, unattainable, or ceases to exist is that which we covet most. What “we” like is what “they” stop making, and vice versa. And while it may seem that the gods always conspire to cancel, cease production, foreclose on, or disband all of that which we hold semi-sacred, is this really a bad thing?

No way Fünke....

When you stop moving forward and simply repeat what's expected of you, things get stale real quick. Take Clinic for example. Had they chosen to remove their scrubs and face masks after their 2000 full-length debut Internal Wrangler and called it quits, that album most likely would be viewed as a modern classic. Taken on its own, it’s an incredible listen, one that creates its own world of pulsing landscapes haunted by ethereally clenched-jaw vocals amidst a reverb and static-soaked atmosphere. After its release, we all breathlessly swooned over the possibilities of what new direction these Liverpool lads would turn for their next album.

What we got with their sophomore offering Walking With Thee was pretty much the EXACT same album. Okay, but surely the third would be different? Nope. Winchester Cathedral and even Visitations still mined the same familiar territory. The cupboard had been stripped bare. In this case, we liked it and they kept making it. And now as a result I can’t even listen to it.

There may be hope though. The group's latest single "Free Not Free" comprises a step - albeit a small and tentative baby step - in a new direction. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it just feels oh so slightly.....different. In place of that cold metronomic pulse that has defined their entire catalog to this point is a sputtering blast of distortion offset by a relatively lilting and loose beat. Granted, it's small potatoes, and you can still tell its Clinic within the first 15 seconds, but at least it's an attempt to switch up a staid formula. That it's also the advance single from their new album Do It! bodes well for the rest of the record. Is it too much to hope this is only a warning shot, a vague teaser for an album that offers something different? Or will they continue to defy Herblock's Law? Stay tuned, we'll find out on April 8th.

At the far opposite end of this spectrum are Liars. The ONLY thing this LA by way of Berlin by way of Brooklyn band does consistently is hold true to Herblock’s Law. In 2001 the group (alongside the Rapture) essentially gave birth – or at least acted as midwives – to the burgeoning dance punk sound with They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top. Kids from Williamsburg to Silver Lake (and excluding many points in between) collectively creamed themselves over the album and clamored for another heaping dose of the new hot shit.

Then, to everyone’s amazement, Angus Andrew and company returned in 2004 with They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, a complete departure that had as much in common with their debut as Dave Sitek has to Scott Storch. People were outraged, the media outlets exclaimed, “Sadistic is the only way to describe it-- a conscious effort toward slapping away all the little hands clamoring for more of They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top's antagonistic punk-funk,” and you know what happened next? Horrible bands like the Bravery came sniffing around and gleaned the very dregs of the sound Liars had created on their first album. By then, people could have given less of a shit. The Bravery recognized what people had at one time liked and force-fed it to them. Liars simply stopped making it, instead moving forward and releasing two more critically adored albums that have even less in common with each other than the first two. And the beauty is that people keep liking it just as they continue to stop making it (let's just hope Andrew's back holds up for the Warsaw show on Saturday).

Now, to muddy the conversation by injecting another adage into the fray, it’s often said by everyone from sideshow freaks to virginal zealots - think Lyla from Friday Night Lights - that when God (or whoever/whatever your thing is) closes a door, he opens a window.

Example: the Unicorns. I liked it and they stopped making it, disbanding and leaving us all panicked for a spell. Yet, this move that felt catastrophic at the time prompted Nick Diamonds and J’aime Tambour to form another (and almost as kickass) entity, Islands. And now with Tambour quitting Islands, even more opportunities should arise for future collaborations. Dig Diamonds and Tambour’s recent incarnation as Juiced Elfers for proof.

Finally, look at this past summer’s box office and the phenomenal success of Knocked Up and Superbad, both just a few of the products of the creative diasporas resulting from the dissolution of Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks. So lighten up Herblock, because most times “when they stop making it,” they start making something else worth our while. And even when they don’t, there’s always the chance for a reunion tour. Oh right, did I mention they're making an Arrested Development movie?

Listen:
"Free Not Free" by Clinic
"Houseclouds" by Liars
"I Was Born (A Unicorn)" by the Unicorns
--
Previously:
Adagetude: Chinese Democracy

Liars giving away FREE 4 track EP

This morning's top email was one from Mute announcing that Liars were giving away a free 4-song EP. Download it below.

Listen:
"Cycle Time" (Liars Session)
"House Clouds" (Liars Session)
"Pure Unevil" (Liars Session)
"Plaster Casts Of Everything" (Liars Session)

Liars - "It Fit When I Was A Kid" (Crystal Castles remix)

Liars have a new album due out on Mute on August 28th. While this isn't a track from this new record, it's a very fine remix worth checking out. Enjoy.

Listen:
"It Fit When I Was A Kid" (Crystal Castles remix)