Indiephemera Friday, vol. 4

The biggest new in the indie-verse this week was the re-emergence of Neutral Mil Hotel auteur Jeff Mangum after 10 years of Salingerian isolation.  Mangum performed at venerable Manhattan club Le Poisson Rouge as part of a benefit for New Zealand punk icon Chris Knox, who sadly suffered a stroke in late 2009 at the age of 57.   Mangum performed five songs (all previously recorded under the Neutral Milk Hotel banner) and, although cameras (even camera phones) were strictly prohibited, some stealthy patron managed to record several of the performances on video, including an 8-minute version of "Oh, Comely" that can be seen at stereogum.com.  

Tickets for this performance were initially running at $75 and sold out in twenty minutes.  Sadly, the spirit of the evening seemed to have been lost on much of the audience; as Yo La Tengo tweeted during the event, there was a mass exodus shortly after the Mangum performance despite the hours of music left to be played by YLT themselves, kiwi legends The Clean, and members of TV on the Radio and Magnetic Fields.  Still, the rather gauche flight embarked upon by many guests was beneficial in the most important way of all: it allowed the club to re-sell tickets to those previously shut out for a mere $20, in the process raising more money for the courageous Knox and his family.

Onto this week's bonus music:

*Montreal rockers Wolf Parade have a new record on the way, and two songs from the record were made available this week, one each by the band's primary songwriters Dan Gloeckner and Spencer Krug.  The record, entitled Expo '86 (the most Montreal name possible), is due June 29th. 

Wolf Parade - Ghost Pressure


Wolf Parade - What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)


*The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, 2009 indie breakout act, made available their new singe "Say No to Love" this week.  The band, which uses the increasingly uncommon guitar-bass-drums-keyboard template, will be touring this summer with similarly traditional Surfer Blood this summer (full dates available at the Surfer Blood myspace page).   Included below are the "Say No to Love" as well as an interesting remix of Surfer Blood's breakout hit "Swim" be Baroness' Allen Blickle.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Say No To Love (Live)


Surfer Blood - Swim (Alpaca Remix)



*Broken Social Scene on Letterman:


*Fang Island perform for a kindergarten class (check out the kid on the right at 0:17. Doesn't care for the band):


*It was announced this week that a documentary about Stephen Merritt, mastermind behind The Magnetic Fields, will be debuting at New York's Film Forum on October 27.  We're looking forward to the film, although at this point, it's hard to imagine what is left to be said.

*For those not aware, Seattle radio station KEXP records multiple live in-studio performances weekly and makes them available for streaming via their website.  In the last two weeks alone, they have hosted performances by The Hold Steady, the aforementioned Fang Island, Javelin, Los Campesions, and The Antlers.  Click over and have a listen.

*Finally, we conclude the work week by giving the readers what they want: more mashups!  This week pay respect to two groups continually ostracized by modern society: Gypsies and people from Staten Island:

The Hood Internet - Save Me Concubine (Ghostface Killah vs. Beirut)


Have a spectacular weekend!
FP

Indiephemera Friday, vol. 4