Webcuts Music

It is too damn early to be throwing the ‘C’ word around, but the record company promotional machine waits for no man or elf. So it is with mixed scrooge-y feelings that we announce the release of She & Him’s first-ever Christmas recording entitled A Very She & Him Christmas on November 21, 2011 (via Double Six in the UK/Merge in the US). Inspired by seminal seasonal albums by the likes of The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and more, She & Him have set out to create an intimate recording of Christmas classics that help bring “new emotions out of old songs” (raised eyebrow, but we’ll play along).

Obscurities he called it, but more like a forgotten treasure trove from all chapters of the Stephin Merritt songbook.

Much-loved upon release earlier this year was the ninth album by sax employing, 80′s referencing eccentric/romantic Dan Bejar aka Destroyer entitled Kaputt. If his work as Destroyer draws a blank (and for shame, for shame), you may well know him as a member of fellow Canadian indie-rock outfit, The New Pornographers (Bejar’s songs being the ones that are just a little too out there to be A.C. Newman’s). Kaputt still resides in the upper reaches of our top albums of 2011, and so too one of our favourite tracks, the spacious hum of “Savage Night At The Opera”, which receives a motorcycle sight-seeing ride through the streets of Vancouver video to accompany it, and yes, it actually features (shock horror) Dan Bejar himself. Kaputt is clearly out now, and we advise you to seek out the European (Dead Oceans) version which has an extra 20 minutes of music. Webcuts, always looking out for ya!

Was there really once a musical sub-genre called ‘Shitgaze’? I mean, somebody actually sat around, coined that term and then hoisted it on a few unsuspecting bands who by fate or ill-fortune found themselves trapped under its audiophile repelling umbrella? Think about it, shitgaze. Would you buy into that? Thankfully it’s only a memory, but some of those bands still remain, including Columbus, Ohio’s Times New Viking. On the eve of their first Australian tour Chris Berkley of Static spoke to Jared and Adam of Times New Viking, fresh off the plane to promote their most recent album, the discordant but progressively tuneful, Dancer Equired.

One half of the hyper-productive quirk-pop outfit Fiery Furnaces takes her first solo steps on Last Summer.

Lyrically and musically, simply one of the best records you’ll hear all year. Dan Bejar — Genius. Kaputt — Divine.

Arcade Fire are to release a deluxe CD/DVD version of its Album of the Year Grammy Award-winning third album The Suburbs on August 2. The expanded CD version of The Suburbs sees the original album augmented by a longer version of the track “Wasted Hours (A Life That We Can Live)” as well as the previously unreleased “Culture War” and “Speaking In Tongues,” the latter of which features David Byrne on vocals. Highlights of the DVD include the half-hour short film Scenes From The Suburbs, directed by Spike Jonze, a companion documentary, and the music video for the track “The Suburbs.”

It’s been said by Webcuts in the past that Destroyer‘s Dan Bejar is the Woody Allen of pop music. His idiosyncratic, poetic touch is less that of a lyricist but a storyteller with a revolving cast of characters (mostly women), and picking up on the ripples and waves they create to make them a part of his own interior monologue. An essential eighth of the mighty New Pornographers, Bejar has been recording as Destroyer since the 90′s. Kaputt, his ninth album is a sumptious, rhapsodic slice of 80′s melodrama, immersing itself entirely in the era from the vintage instrumentation to Bejar’s own penchance for seeking the sublime out of what some might find the ridiculous.

Much-loved upon release earlier this year was the ninth album by 80′s referencing eccentric / romantic Dan Bejar aka Destroyer entitled Kaputt. If his work as Destroyer draws a blank, you may well know him as a member of fellow Canadian indie-rock outfit, The New Pornographers. There’s good news for people in the UK waiting for Kaputt to get a local release as that day is finally going to happen through Dead Oceans on June 13. Which also happens to coincide with Destroyer’s first ever European headlining tour, including an appearance in London at Heaven on June 28. Oh, happy days.

From a Funeral to a Neon Bible and now out to The Suburbs, the long-awaited third album from Arcade Fire has Webcuts feeling right at home.