Rangda

RANGDA is (L-R) Ben Chasny, Chris Corsano and Sir Richard Bishop.

Download: “Bull Lore”—Rangda (mp3) - Sir Richard is tearing it up.

Album (”False Flag,” out May 18) and May-June UK/Europe tour info: Drag City website

link

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Arizona Splitting Up

via email today:
Before reading on we want to thank you very much for several great musical years as Arizona. We always appreciated the thought and time people gave us and our music. There's such a large musical world out there, and it meant a lot to us that we were able to share and be a part of that world for so many people.

As of now, Arizona is on an indefinite hiatus. Creative and philosophical differences sparked an amicable split – all of us care very much about each other and making music – and we'll all continue to make music. We put our hearts into the music we made as Arizona, and as of now this is the best way to make sure that the people who enjoyed Arizona get to hear as much from us as possible. We're now working as the following two bands:

WAGES
New Beard

Attached is a parting (for the time) gift. It was a recording we made for fun/a laugh, for a friend, and thought others might enjoy it as well. The track can be downloaded for free by clicking here. We recorded this tune when we were at our sharpest as a live 4 piece, just off the Glowing Bird tour.

You may be receiving just one more email from each of these new bands (the email will give you a simple way of being taken off of the mailing list if you would prefer that).

Thanks again for letting us share our music!

Love,
AZ

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EP release party for WAGES - May 8th @ LAB in Asheville

They came to my attention when I learned they'd recorded some in Asheville, NC, and they turned out to be one of my favorite bands. And one of my favorite cds of recent years was Arizona's Glowing Bird. Damn, people, it's beautiful. It's melody driven, it's harmony driven and you can't go wrong with that combo. The Beatles had that combination, Yeasayer has it. A few more bands do... so I'm anxious to listen to the two bands that came out of Arizona listed above.

For now I'm going to hunt Glowing Birds and listen to it again. Fucking classic. =)

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Zola Jesus opens for Fever Ray

I hadn't heard of Zola Jesus (Nika Danilova) before but I saw where Fever Ray was having her open for a few nights for her I was intrigued. Then Harmony Korine interviewed her in Impose Magazine and I searched for her in my Google Reader and found that Raven Sings The Blues had several posts on her dating back to 2008 so I downloaded about 6 songs and had a listen.

I'm not quite ready to cut her loose. I like her voice a lot but it's what surrounds it I'm not digging and she's obviously got something if Karin adds her to her lineup so I'm still looking for another song to listen to.

MySpace | Website

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Broken Social Scene

Song of the Day: Broken Social Scene - World Sick (MP3)

Broken Social Scene’s debut album, Feel Good Lost, was an atmospheric 2-piece featuring Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew, and although they put out some interesting tracks it was only until they swelled into an 11-piece manifesto of Toronto’s indie rock community and became the Canadian Juno-Award winning supergroup including Metric’s Emily Haines, and Do Make Say Think’s Charles Spearin. And while they may not have the name recognition as the Traveling Wilburys or even Monsters of Folk, Broken Social Scene have the staying power needed to be more than just another supergroup. With as many as 23 musicians in the collective’s roster, and such a liquid mentality, they wont be held back.

Only a taste of the new album courtesy of Broken Social Scene’s website including the tracks, "Forced to Love," "All to All," and today’s song, "World Sick," is enough to stir up some buzz and excitement for the mega-group’s first album in five years. After stepping away from the group mentality, BSS’s Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning having both released solo albums under Arts and Crafts and with the Broken Social Scene flag still flying high, they have reconvened as Broken Social Scene to create Forgiveness Rock Record, released May 4th on Arts and Crafts. The follow up to these solo endeavors, the Broken Social Scene is back together as a whole. The whole lot of them. [via]

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