Cover art of the year, no?

• Artist: Paul Westerberg
• Album: 49:00
• Label: N/A
• Release: 2008
• Links: Official Site, Amazon.com, TuneCore

Paul Westerberg hasn’t released a new album since 2004’s uneven Folker. He hasn’t released new material since contributing a handful of songs to 2006’s soundtrack to the animated film Open Season. Despite this, 2008 has been good to Westerberg fans. In April, The Replacements’ Twin/Tone catalogue was reissued and expanded by Rhino. Last week, it was revealed that Rhino will drop reissues of the Mats’ four major label efforts for Sire on September 23rd. Over the weekend, Westerberg fans received an unexpected surprise that skyrocketed their 2008 from good to great.

As detailed in-depth by Billboard, Paul Westerberg has released a new album digitally on Amazon.com and TuneCore (for non-U.S. listeners). The album is called 49:00 (It is only 43:55 in length though) and it has two twists. The first is that costs $0.49 and the second is that it is a glorious mess contained within a single MP3 file. Westerberg’s manager Darren Hill told Billboard, “He finished it on Monday, sent it to me on Tuesday and it was out this weekend. It’s just wonderful that you can actually do this. The freedom an artist can enjoy these days is fantastic. Can you imagine me pitching this idea to a label?” This is Westerberg on an unrestricted level, ignoring every rule and thriving because of it.

The album does not come with a tracklisting and many of the songs fade in and out of each other or overlap. On albums that skip around or are delivered in a fast pace, reviewers often use an analogy that liken the music to an artist switching stations on a radio. I can’t think of a better analogy to describe 49:00. It even contains a cathartic mash-up of classic rock covers near the end. 49:00 sounds like classic Westerberg, but he comes off as so much more comfortable in this situation where he has decided that the rules simply do not apply. To say the least, it takes Folker to the woodshed. This is the most fun I’ve had as a Westerberg fan in quite some time.

Hey, if you don’t like it, it was only $0.49.

 

If you were hoping for a new Tim Hecker album in 2008, you’re not going to like this post. I inquired about the status of a new Hecker LP on Kranky’s (Hecker’s label) MySpace page like any good fan boy would. Mr. Kranky replied with the following:

it’s looking like an early ‘09 release for tim. he sent us a rough mix of the next full-length and it sounds gorgeous, unsurprisingly.

mr.kranky

Sure, that is slightly disappointing, but the Chicago label have a pair of releases set for October 14th that will more than tide me over. Veteran noisemakers Windy & Carl return with their seventh full length, Songs For The Broken Hearted. You can stream three samples from the album here courtesy of Windy Weber. Weber released her debut solo album, I Hate People, earlier this year.

October 14th will also see the release of Temper, the second full length release from Benoît Pioulard (real name = Tom Meluch). Pioulard released the excellent Précis on Kranky in 2006. A teaser video for Temper can be seen below. Pioulard is also working on an EP for the boutique label Hall Of Owls as well as a collaboration (Songs Spun Simia) with Praveen Sharma on Music Related. I was able to coax a tracklisting for Temper out of Benoît via email:

1, ragged tint 2, ahn 3, sweep generator 4, golden grin 5, the loom pedal 6, ardoise 7, physic 8, modèle d’éclat 9, idyll 10, brown bess 11, cycle disparaissant 12, a woolgathering exodus 13, détruisons tout 14, loupe 15, tapyre 16, hesperus

Stay tuned as I will be sending some questions to Benoît for a mini-interview.

P.S. I haven’t been sold on Deerhunter, but Kranky will release their Microcastle album two weeks later on October 28th.

Benoît Pioulard - Temper Awareness Dispatch One (Looms)

• Artist: Ratatat
• Album: LP3
• Label: XL
• Release: 2008
• Links: Official Site, MySpace

Many critics piled criticism upon Ratatat’s last album (2006’s Classics), but I never fully grasped their reasoning. What they saw as “too mellow” I viewed as a band exploring new, thoughtful depths. Classics made me an avid fan of this electronic duo. Although Classics isn’t a perfect album, several of its tracks are as good as anything they have ever done. On LP3, Ratatat diversify their instrumentation slightly. In comparison to the tight composure of their first two albums, LP3 sounds messy at times, but its loose energy provides a handful of new Ratatat staples.

There are tracks on LP3 that recall Classics stylistically. “Falcon Jab” even samples the wildcat sound from “Wildcat.” However, it is evident that Ratatat are still evolving, as noted on the excellent first single “Shiller.” This and tracks like the enormous “Shempi” bare little resemblance to anything in the Ratatat catalogue. It is refreshing to hear Mike Stroud and Evant Mast unhinged, but the album lacks a central theme or sound and suffers because of it. Their previous efforts were so well-defined, which I never would have guessed if LP3 were my introduction to their music.

If there were more songs on LP3 as good as “Mumtaz Khan,” I’d be singing a different tune. This track showcases new influences (gypsies obsessed with Robert Fripp?) while providing an intense nod to the spastic guitar sound that has become such a trademark of Ratatat’s music. My gripe about LP3’s identity crisis isn’t helped by its over-generous helping of 13 tracks. There’s some definite filler here and it kills me to hear something like “Gipsy Threat” when I know how much more Stroud and Mast are capable of. Ratatat are already rumored to be nearing completion on LP4. I hope that album offers a more cohesive vision of where Stroud and Mast are taking Ratatat next.

Ratatat will be at the Black Cat on October 2nd.

Dri’s (Adrianne Verhoeven of The Anniversary) solo debut Smoke Rings has been out for less than a year, but Range Life Records have already deemed it worthy of a reissue. On October 14th, the label will drop a deluxe edition of Smoke Rings that comes packaged with a bonus EP of remixes by artists such as 1,000,000 Light Years and Say My Name. As debuted by The FADER, Dri has also released a new video (streaming above) for the Smoke Rings cut “Two Are One.” Dri will be spending the rest of the summer touring with Conor Oberst and Handsome Furs. Verhoeven’s previous band, The Anniversary, issued a rarities compilation (Devil On Our Side) last month on Vagrant, but remain broken up.

Smoke Rings bonus remixes:
1. Two Are One (One Are Two remix by Homeowner)
2. Goodnight, Baby (Coke Week X remix)
3. Meet Me Out (1,000,000 Light Years remix)
4. What’s Real (Say My Name remix)Tour:

Tour:
July 29 - Vancouver B.C. - Richard’s on Richards (w/Conor Oberst)
July 30 - Seattle, WA - Nuemos (w/Conor Oberst)
July 31 - Bend, OR - Midtown Ballroom (w/Conor Oberst)
Aug 1 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill (w/Conor Oberst)
Aug 2 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill (w/Conor Oberst)
Aug 3 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre (w/Conor Oberst)
Aug 5 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour (w/Conor Oberst)
Aug 14 - Fargo, ND - Aquarium (@ Dempsey’s Upstairs) (w/Handsome Furs)
Aug 15 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry (w/Handsome Furs)
Aug 16 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Club (The Rave) (w/Handsome Furs)
Aug 17 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (w/Handsome Furs)

Laser guided melodies: