Spinner http://www.spinner.com Spinner http://www.spinner.com/media/feedlogo.gif Spinner http://www.spinner.com en-us Copyright 2013 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this headlines and excerpts feed are available for limited commercial distribution. You may repost this feed to your site provided you link back to the original story, do not edit the material, and do not remove this copyright notice. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ Topshelf Records: Thriving While Building a Community http://www.spinner.com/2013/02/04/topshelf-records-profile/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/02/04/topshelf-records-profile/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/02/04/topshelf-records-profile/#comments

Topshelf

During CMJ 2012, I was jammed into a Brooklyn basement where bands were roaring. The place was full and everyone was jumping around, screaming and flailing; condensation made posters peel off the walls, the floor slicked with beer and sweat. The event wasn't official, so why are all these people there? As far as I could tell, they congregated in celebration of Topshelf Records, a Boston-based label who were having much more than a banner year.

Seth Decoteau, 29, and Kevin Duquette, 27, started Topshelf in 2005 as a means of distributing their own band, Sixfinger, "a glorified Texas Is the Reason rip-off band" according to Duquette. "We weren't getting responses from distros [...] so we thought it would be more formal if we had a label sending out our stuff," he told me in a phone interview in November. Though their group broke up soon after, the apparatus was in place, and they started releasing records by Massachusetts-area bands like Baker and Get Up Get Down. ]]> how long does it take befrore a record label see a profithowlongdoesittakebefrorearecordlabelseeaprofitno sleep run for cover topshelfnosleeprunforcovertopshelfrise of topshelf recordsriseoftopshelfrecordsrun for cover records topshelfrunforcoverrecordstopshelfshort kid jumping to see top shelfshortkidjumpingtoseetopshelfstrictly top shelf promotions californiastrictlytopshelfpromotionscaliforniatopshelf records seth decoteautopshelfrecordssethdecoteau Rob Rubsam 2013-02-04T15:40:00 00:00 Mars Volta Remembered: Eulogizing the Prog-Rock Greats http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/24/mars-volta-eulogy/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/24/mars-volta-eulogy/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/24/mars-volta-eulogy/#comments Filed under:


The Mars Volta performing live in 2011Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

It can feel strange writing up a eulogy for a band that seems to have been forgotten. In critic circles, the constant deluge of new Mars Volta material made each subsequent album feel less like an event, and it seems many people simply chose to tune out circa The Bedlam in Goliath. But here I am, and I have come to praise Cedric, as well as bury him.

There was a time, circa Amputechture, that the Mars Volta blew my musical doors to pieces, introducing me to 10-minute-plus suites, harsh ambient soundscapes, and songs that existed outside of 4/4 time. I backtracked immediately, picking up copies of Frances the Mute, then De-Loused in the Comatorium, the work for diehards. I remember riding the bus to school, just long enough for all of "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" to play out. ]]> At the Drive-InAtTheDrive-injohn frusciantejohnfrusciantemarsMars Voltamars volta endmars volta splitMarsVoltamarsvoltaendmarsvoltasplitomar and cedricomarandcedricspinner.com mars volta articlespinner.commarsvoltaarticlethe mars voltathemarsvolta Rob Rubsam 2013-01-24T14:00:00 00:00 Swans Interview: M. Gira Won't Let Critical Acclaim Go to His Head http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/14/swans-interview-gira/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/14/swans-interview-gira/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/14/swans-interview-gira/#comments Filed under: , , ,


SwansDennis Van Doorn

Michael Gira calls in late for our interview. He only recently got back from touring Europe with his long-running, and recently resurrected, band Swans, and he admits he's been spacing out. He's got a lot to think about. Since releasing The Seer back in September, the second LP since Gira reconstituted Swans back in 2010, and their twelfth studio album overall, he has toured all over the United States and Europe, and in 2013 plans to do it all again, with extra trips to Australia, Japan, South America and Eastern Europe. "We kind of play everywhere there is to play," he says.

This live experience proves vital to the band, in many ways. It's the space where new songs are beaten out until they take their recorded forms, then twisted and stretched all over again, sometimes past the hour mark for a single song. It's where the band makes enough income to maintain itself as a self-sustaining entity. And it's the place where a newfound appreciation for Swans and its music has taken its most obvious foothold. "A lot of Swans' previous tenure was pretty confrontational with audiences," notes Gira, "but now it's almost a shared communal experience between the audience and us, it's that the music is playing us, not the reverse, and we're all inside it together." The results, in his words, are "ecstatic" and "transcendent." ]]> gira swans 2013 interviewgiraswans2013interviewmichael giramichael gira 2013michael gira interview 2013michaelgiramichaelgira2013michaelgirainterview2013Swansswans bandswans giraswans interviewswans live experienceswans the seerswansbandswansgiraswansinterviewswansliveexperienceSwansTheSeerthe swans 2010theswans2010 Rob Rubsam 2013-01-14T15:40:00 00:00 Pianos Become the Teeth, 'Hiding' -- Song Premiere http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/04/pianos-become-the-teeth-hidden-song-premiere/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/04/pianos-become-the-teeth-hidden-song-premiere/ http://www.spinner.com/2013/01/04/pianos-become-the-teeth-hidden-song-premiere/#comments Filed under: ,


Pianos Become the TeethEvan Dell

The owners of Topshelf Records will tell you that one of the hands-down biggest records for their label was Pianos Become the Teeth's 2011 LP The Lack Long After.

Thanks to that eight-song meditation on death and grieving driven by slick guitars, gut-punch drums and frontman Kyle Durfey's spine-tingling screams, the've had a monster couple years as far as punk bands go, touring the United States and Europe, racking up thousands of new fans and screaming themselves hoarse from continent to continent.

One thing they haven't done recently is release new music, which is set to end on a new split with hard-driving L.A. emo-heroes Touche Amore. "Hiding" won't strike any of the band's many fans as too much of a departure, in that it features many of the landmarks of the Thursday-cum-Envy sound they've been developing over the last few years. ]]> aol spinner pianos become the teethaolspinnerpianosbecometheteethhiding pianos become the teethhidingpianosbecometheteethpiano becomes the teeth hidingpianobecomestheteethhidingpianos become hidingPianos Become the Teethpianos become the teeth - hidingpianos become the teeth hiddenpianos become the teeth hidingpianos become the teeth hiding downloadpianos become the teeth hiding lyricspianos become the teeth new songpianosbecomehidingPianosBecomeTheTeethpianosbecometheteeth-hidingPianosBecomeTheTeethHiddenpianosbecometheteethhidingpianosbecometheteethhidingdownloadpianosbecometheteethhidinglyricspianosbecometheteethnewsong Rob Rubsam 2013-01-04T11:00:00 00:00 Corin Tucker Gets the 'Blues' Over Lack of Progress on Women's Issues http://www.spinner.com/2012/08/31/corin-tucker-kill-my-blues/ http://www.spinner.com/2012/08/31/corin-tucker-kill-my-blues/ http://www.spinner.com/2012/08/31/corin-tucker-kill-my-blues/#comments Filed under: , ,


John Clark

On the Corin Tucker Band's new album Kill My Blues, the former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and vocalist has taken the personal details of her 2010 solo debut, 1,000 Years, and blown them up to completely different proportions. Simply, these songs rock, employing disco beats, razor-wire staccato guitar and Tucker's typically dynamite voice. She recently spoke to us about the importance of music, trying out new styles of writing and the frustration that comes with rehashing political debates.

When Sleater-Kinney broke up, did you take a break from playing music, or was it something you just kept at?

I really took a break, focused just on my family life for a couple of years, and I really hadn't written very much, but I did I ended up writing a couple of songs for a benefit show, thinking it was just kind of a project. But it changed. It definitely was an exploration of different instrumentation, trying out different things with my voice, trying different styles. It was a really interesting project to work on. ]]> corin tuckerCorin Tucker Bandcorin tucker kill my bluescorin+tucker+band+kill+my+bluescorintuckerCorinTuckerBandcorintuckerbandkillmybluessleater+kinneysleater-kinneysleaterkinneythe+corin+tucker+bandthecorintuckerband Rob Rubsam 2012-08-31T14:00:00 00:00 Future of the Left, 'The Plot Against Common Sense': Singer Andy Falkous Talks 2.4 Percent Life Change, New Album http://www.spinner.com/2012/06/13/future-of-the-left-the-plot-against-common-sense/ http://www.spinner.com/2012/06/13/future-of-the-left-the-plot-against-common-sense/ http://www.spinner.com/2012/06/13/future-of-the-left-the-plot-against-common-sense/#comments Filed under: , , ,


Future of the Left FutureOfTheLeft.Net

A word you often hear when talking about Andy "Falco" Falkous and his music is "caustic," and it fits. A riffy virtuoso, Falco has been through the noise-rock ringer a few times -- most notably in current band Future of the Left, as well as infamous doers of Dallas, Mclusky -- and his guitar and snarl can destroy any target he lays his eyes on, through both crushing blows and relentless assault. Best of all, he can make you laugh as he does it. When he isn't tearing into Pitchfork reviews and creating bizarre podcasts, Falkous simply makes the wittiest music around.

Future of the Left have a new album, The Plot Against Common Sense (out June 12 on Xtra Mile), their first collection of new music after the release of the Polymers Are Forever EP last fall. Since 2009's excellent Travels With Myself and Another, bassist Julia Ruzicka and guitarist Jimmy Watkins have joined the group, helping to make The Plot the band's most aggressive and ferocious yet, even while the record displays a deep sense of catchiness and beauty. Falco took some time to talk to Spinner over email about the new record, rioters in designer clothing and the exact percentage he's changed in the last three years. ]]> Andy Falco Falkous interviewandy falkousandyfalkousfuture of the leftfuture of the left interviewFuture of the Left the plot against common senseFutureOfTheLeftthe plot against common sensethe plot against common sense future of the left Rob Rubsam 2012-06-13T16:00:00 00:00 What Levon Helm Meant to Woodstock http://www.spinner.com/2012/04/26/levon-helm-tribute/ http://www.spinner.com/2012/04/26/levon-helm-tribute/ http://www.spinner.com/2012/04/26/levon-helm-tribute/#comments Filed under: ,


Douglas Mason, Getty Images

If you go to the Woodstock the way I go, crossing the Hudson and heading west, before you get into town you'll pass a sign on the side of the road. This particular sign celebrates the most recent album by Levon Helm, Electric Dirt, its cover writ large on a blown-up canvas. But, really, the sign celebrates Levon himself, the Midnight Rambles he throws that feature musicians from all over the Hudson Valley, if not the world, and the link these things serve to connect the Woodstock today to the past that imbues its name with something resembling importance.

Though they may have rejected the festival that came to bear their name, the people of Woodstock seem today to try and grapple onto whatever is left. And besides the few be-dreadlocked hitchhikers that pass through every summer, you'd have trouble finding anything like that at all. Which is not to disparage the town, as it's home to a beautiful monastery, the best radio station in the valley and a hell of a taco place. But as you climb on your way up to Overlook Mountain, you pass larger and larger homes, illustrations of the bizarre economic bipolarity of the Catskills. Needless to say, these homes were not built on "peace, love and music", though you could probably own one purely by selling Woodstock 40th anniversary t-shirts. ]]> bandLevon Helmlevon helm deadlevon helm memoriallevon helm tributelevonhelmlevonhelmdeadthe band Rob Rubsam 2012-04-26T15:00:00 00:00