Crack The Skye’s clearly the least immediate release in Mastodon’s oeuvre. Which isn’t to say it’s bad. It just takes a few more close listenings (and, as you’ll soon discover, an acceptance of their increased progginess). Instead of the raw crustiness you found, even amid the most ambitious arcs of Remission, Leviathan, and Blood Mountain, Crack floats by with a — fittingly — (traced in) airier feel. Remember, each record’s focused on an element — fire, water, earth, and now sky[e]. The opener “Oblivion” offers a suitably grandiose, but still raw enough (and heavy) entrance, “Divinations” packs a dirtier wallop (especially live), and Neurosis’ Scott Kelly adds a needed gnarly bluster to the expansive title track. When you venture into the four-part 10-minute “Czar” suite and 13-minute closer “The Last Baron,” you’ll need sit back and take your time without jumping to conclusions. I was dismissive at first, but the collection’s growing on me, and I look forward to seeing where it stands after a few more spins. Begin your own trek at the band’s MySpace.

Crack The Skye is out 3/24 via Reprise.

It’s no Silent Alarm, but Bloc Party’s rush-released Intimacy is at least the best BP album since Silent Alarm. Meaning it was better than A Weekend In The City. It’s not an opinion I can get a lot of support for amongst the people I talk to because not a lot of the people I talk to still listen to them after Weekend. But don’t go by my ears, take the band’s decision to release a track-for-track remix recreation of this year’s LP, as they did for Silent Alarm but didn’t for AWITC, as probative. The album’s tracklist was announced today, and the cast of remixers features a mix of those right in our wheel house (No Age, Mogwai), blog-friendly up-and-comers (Banjo or Freakout, We Have Band), and the usual suspects (Phones). Armand Van Helden’s take on “Signs” is the first freebie MP3. And it’s already got a watch-worthy video. I couldn’t use the image I wanted to as a post thumbnail for NSFW-related reasons, mostly because a screengrab superimposing a pair of lipsticked lips into an upskirt shot is still probably enough to get one of you fired.

Continue reading New Bloc Party – “Signs (Armand Van Helden Remix)”…

It all takes place this afternoon (4PM EST) on superfurry.com. The concert’s a live rendering of the band’s forthcoming Dark Nights/Light Years. It coincides with today’s digital release of the album, i.e. you can download the album while you watch the show. The album’s out physically on 4/13. As we mentioned, Franz Ferdinand’s Nick McCarthy does guest vocals on the collection’s “Inaugral Trams,” though no word if he’ll show up to do it today. While you ponder and make yourself comfy, feast your eyes on Dark Nights’s album art. Click it and it’ll expand. We’ve already showed you the tracklist, but so you can follow along:

Continue reading Super Furry Animals New Album, Live Concert Stream…

Last week we showed you images from Patrick Wolf’s 3/12 show at London’s Heaven. The second to last song he performed was a new one, “Vulture,” which we mentioned was The Bachelor’s lead single and something you should expect to hear in coming weeks. We don’t lie. (Not intentionally, anyway.) Here it is in all its dark, new-wave techno-inflected, forest-fire-burning glory. The accompanying thumb is a still by Francisco Serrano from the in-the-works video. It should help give you an idea of the song’s vibe, as well as Wolf’s body.

Continue reading New Patrick Wolf – “Vulture”…