TGIF Hodge Podge – P4K Anticipation + Thom Yorke + Mission of Burma + M83

I’ve been ready for the Pitchfork Festival to hurry up and get here for the last two weeks, but now that the weekend has finally arrived my anticipation has reached a fever pitch.  In a few short hours Kevin will be rolling in from Cleveland and the weekend will officially be underway.  We are skipping out on Friday night’s festivities, but we will be spending the majority of the day putting together a rigid schedule that will allow us to bring you the very best coverage of the festival that we possibly can.  So if you can’t make it down to Union Park on Saturday and Sunday, just keep your browser pointed here and we’ll keep you up to speed on all things Pitchfork.  Sure, it won’t be as good as actually being there, but it will be the next best thing.

First up today is an amazing new track from Thom Yorke that is set to appear on a tribute/benefit album featuring a star-studded collection of Mark Mulcahy covers.  In case you aren’t familiar with Mulcahy, he is a very talented singer and songwriter known primarily for his work in the bands Miracle Legion and Polaris from the 80’s to the mid-90’s, in addition to a handful of more recent solo efforts.  Though none of his projects have garnered much commercial success, his work has always been well heralded in musical circles, as witnessed by the formidable lineup that turned out for the upcoming benefit Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy.  The sad reason for the record is sudden death of his wife, Melissa, leaving Mark to raise their twin three-year-old daughters alone while still trying to work on new solo material. The Yorke song, which is the only one that I have heard thus far, is a mesmerizing rendition of Mullcahy’s “All For The Best” performed in vintage Radiohead style.  This is not merely a rehashing of the original, nor is it mellow ambient electronica piece ala some of Yorke’s previous solo endeavors.  This cover is a complete reworking of the original and the end result is a track that very well could have been included on Kid A.  This track, as well as 20 others (full listing below) will be available on September 29^th via Shout Factory, with proceeds benefiting the Mulcahy family.

01 Thom Yorke – “All For The Best”
02 The National – “Ashamed Of The Story I Told”
03 Michael Stipe – “Everything’s Coming Undone”
04 David Berkeley – “Loves The Only Thing That Shuts Me Up”
05 Dinosaur Jr. – “The Backyard”
06 Chris Harford & Mr Ray Neal – “Micon The Icon”
07 Frank Black – “Bill Jocko”
08 Vic Chesnutt – “Little Man”
09 Unbelievable Truth – “Ciao My Shining Star”
10 Butterflies Of Love – “I Have Patience”
11 Chris Collingwood (Fountains Of Wayne) – “Cookie Jar”
12 Frank Turner – “The Quiet One”
13 Rocket From The Tombs – “In Pursuit Of Your Happiness”
14 Ben Kweller – “Wake Up Whispering”
15 Josh Rouse – “I Woke Up In The Mayflower”
16 Autumn Defense – “Paradise”
17 Hayden -”Happy Birthday Yesterday”
18 Juliana Hatfield – “We’re Not In Charleston Anymore”
19 Mercury Rev – “Sailors And Animals”
20 Elvis Perkins – “She Watches Over Me”
21 Sean Watkins – “A World Away From This One”

Thom Yorke – “All For The Best”

Check out Mark Mulcahy’s solo work @ Insound!

Next up is a hot new track from a band that has been pumping out tunes since I was still in diapers.  To be honest, there’s not much I can say about Mission of Burma that hasn’t been said before or that you don’t likely already know.  On the off chance that you aren’t familiar with them, I suggest spending a few minutes on their Wikipedia page and then spending a few hours getting hip to their back catalog.  Their new record entitled The Sound, The Speed, The Light, which will only be the band’s fourth full-length studio album, is set for an October 6^th release on Matador.  Unlike most bands that break up early on and then reunite several times many years later (this record marks the band’s third reunion after a long layoff from 1983 until 2002), Mission of Burma have not missed a single step.  Their debut LP, 1982’s Vs., is and always will be one of my all time favorite records, and based of the first track from this latest effort they picked up right where they left off.  Don’t let the goofy title fool you, “1, 2, 3, Partyy!” is an all-out rocker steeped in the garage punk sound that the band has always been known for.  Yes friends, these old guys can still rock.

Mission of Burma – “1, 2, 3, Partyy!”

Buy Mission of Burma @ Insound!

As you may have guessed, today’s vault track comes from one of the performers at Pitchfork this weekend that I am especially looking forward to.  I started to get into M83 when a friend introduced me to 2003’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, and after listening to 2005’s Before the Dawn Heals Us I was completely hooked.  I have mentioned before that I struggle with instrumental music, which is likely why I didn’t fully fall for Dead Cities, but with the vocal interjections of Before the Dawn the lo-fi shoegaze sounds of Anthony Gonzalez really took hold for me.  Beyond the recorded work, the real reason that I am so stoked for the live set this weekend is because of the mind-blowing performance I witnessed at Lollapalooza in 2005.  Though you may not be able to tell from listening to his records, Mr. Gonzalez puts on an absolutely blistering live show.  I remember M83 being the first band on the first day of the first Chicago Lolla reincarnation, playing to a tiny crown in the scorching midday heat (it was near 100 degrees that day, so hot that one of the Tegan and Sara sisters passed out on stage later that afternoon), and blowing me away with a bevy of guitars and keyboards that I did not expect.  I haven’t caught them live since then, and I’m pretty sure Kevin has never seen them, but I have very high expectations for the Sunday evening set.  If it’s anywhere near the intensity of the last one I caught, I will definitely not be disappointed.  Enjoy “Don’t Save Us From The Flames,” my favorite track from Before the Dawn, and keep your eyes peeled for my report on that Pitchfork set sometime Monday.

M83 – “Don’t Save Us From The Flames”

Buy M83 @ Insound!