Like we had mentioned in our announcement for this in-store, even though the night was being billed as Fred Armisen’s Playlist, Live, we had no idea of what to expect. While Armisen’s earliest stint in the entertainment business wasn’t in front of the television camera, but rather sitting behind a trap kit drumming for Trenchmouth during the ’90s, his musical side still pops up frequently in his Saturday Night Live characters (from the Queen of England turned punk rocker to the hilarious hardcore wedding band sketch from last season – which spawned a 7″ single on Drag City) and starring alongside Sleater-Kinney/Wild Flag’s Carrie Brownstein in the IFC comedy series Portlandia. So with the comedian standing on Other Music’s floor encircled by a small ring of guitar amps, timbales, electronic drums, and the Quintron-invented Drum Buddy (a sort of Theremin-meets-rhythm box with spinning lights), and a row of sampler pedals at his feet, it was immediately apparent that this was not going to be your typical stand-up routine – far from, in fact.
Instead, Armisen performed a one-man show playing and looping each instrument, turning Devo’s “Beautiful World” into a motorik, Neu!-esque romp across the Autobahn, and, speaking of the Autobahn, delivering a jaw-dropping, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink cover of Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator” (while asking the crowd to forgive him for his German accent imitation). Of course, the evening was far from stoic – at one point he took a moment to “show off” by playing his favorite bass line, the Jackson-Five’s “I Want You Back,” and then added that he isn’t a Michael Jackson person. But Armisen’s forty-or-so minute set was first and foremost a love letter to music, made up of songs that changed his life, and ours too, from the likes of the Clash, the Stranglers and the Damned (whose “Life Goes On” was announced as one of his all time favorite songs), and an impromptu audience-request for Prince’s “Raspberry Beret.”
This was a test run of sorts for what is planned to be a semi-regular night in the coming year (Union Pool was mentioned as a possible venue), sharing his favorite songs and encouraging likeminded fans in the audience to come up on the stage and join in – and you won’t want to miss. Other Music has been privileged to play host to so many great shows from some incredible artists through the years, but Fred Armisen’s Playlist was truly one of the most memorable – and personal.
Celebrating the release of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls will be performing an in-store performance live at Grimey’s record shop in Nashville, and Other Music will be webcasting the concert right here on this page, along with lots of other great indie shops across the good ol’ U-S of A! Check back here at 6 p.m. (EST) this Friday, September 16, and catch the band playing new tunes off their great new album, and be a little part of history partaking in the first ever nationwide in-store performance.
And for those of you in New York City, you can catch Girls up close and in person at Other Music next week, on Wednesday, September 21, at 9 p.m. This will be a free performance, but get here early, we anticipate this one is going to be packed.
We love Cass McCombs and so does Brian King, who calls him “the Lee Hazlewood of Atwater” in this interview filmed at Los Angeles’ historic Gaylord Apartments.
We are thrilled to announce the line-up for our fourth annual SXSW Lawn Party, which we’ll be presenting again with our good friends, Dig For Fire! As you can see below, we’ve got an extraordinary two-days of music planned, so if you are in Austin for SXSW, please do join us on the Thursday and Friday afternoon of the music festival. Whether you can stop by or not, Dig For Fire will be filming the performances and you’ll be able to see all the highlights on youtube.com/sxswlawnparty. And check out this YouTube channel in the coming days, where we’ll be posting some of our favorite musical moments from past years events, including never-before-seen performance footage. Speaking of, the xx’s full 30-minute performance at last year’s Lawn Party has just been posted on YouTube, which you can view here! See you in Texas!!
THURSDAY, MARCH 17
HILL STAGE: Papercuts (1 pm), Cass McCombs (2 pm), Twin Shadow (3 pm), Sharon Van Etten (4 pm), Low (5 pm), Edwyn Collins (6 pm)
VALLEY STAGE: Hanni El Khatib (1:30 pm), Olof Arnalds (2:30 pm), Janka Nabay (3:30 pm), Lia Ices (4:30 pm), Ted Leo (5:30 pm)
FRIDAY, MARCH 18
HILL STAGE: Dead Gaze (1 pm), Lower Dens (2 pm), Grass Widow (3 pm), Cults (4 pm), James Blake (5 pm), !!! (Chk Chk Chk) (6 pm)
VALLEY STAGE: Jamie Woon (1:30 pm), John Vanderslice (2:30 pm), The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl — 3:30 pm), Sam Amidon (4:30 pm), Tune-Yards (5:30 pm)
FRENCH LEGATION MUSEUM: 802 San Marcos Street Austin, TX
1PM to 7PM both days | Free | All Ages (21+ w/ID to drink)
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx’s anticipated We’re New Here is coming out on February 22 on XL Recordings. (We’ll have it for sale on CD & LP in the shop, and for download here on Other Music Digital.) Jamie’s remixes and productions for other artists is almost as acclaimed as his main band, so the prospect of hearing the xx’s not-so-secret weapon re-working this legendary poet/soulman’s comeback album, I’m New Here, is exciting for fans of both artists. While it’s still a few weeks away from the record’s release, XL has set up a virtual transmitter that allows owners of an iPhone, iPad, Android (running OS 2.3), touchscreen Blackberry, and many other newer makes of smartphones, to stream the album in its entirety while you’re inside our East Village store. We don’t really understand the technology, but it’s pretty cool and if you’re one of our local customers, you should definitely check it out during your next visit. Just point your phone’s web browser here: http://www.werenewhere.com/radio/
The New Pornographers have a hilarious new video out for their song “Moves,” off last year’s Together. Directed by Tom Scharpling, and produced by Other Music alum Rob Hatch-Miller, the group themselves are played by a great cast of comedians and indie rockers, including Julie Klausner (as Neko Case), Kevin Corrigan (as Dan Bejar), Jon Wurster (as Carl Newman), and Ted Leo (as Kathryn Calde). John Hodgman, Horatio Sanz, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd and several other comedy luminaries also make cameos, including Todd Barry who plays a record shop clerk at a store that you just might recognize.
We’ve been sitting on this great in-store performance video for a while now, but with the release of Iron & Wine’s fantastic new album, Kiss Each Other Clean, the timing seemed perfect to premiere the latest installment of the Live at Other Music series. This was filmed by Dig For Fire back in May of 2009, when Sam and his sister Sarah Beam stopped by the store to play a very intimate set in support of the then newly released Around the Well collection of outtakes and rarities. There are three parts to this episode — the first segment features an early version of “Tree by the River,” one of the many highlights on Kiss Each Other Clean, followed by performances of older I&W favorites “Boy with a Coin” and “The Trapeze Swinger” in the next two corresponding clips. This film truly captures how special this in-store was, and we hope that you enjoy the latest installment of the series as much as we have.
If you’ve visited our East Village shop this past month, you may have heard Jim Sullivan’s U.F.O. playing on our shop stereo; it’s certainly been on heavy rotation. The L.A. singer/songwriter’s cinematic loner-folk is captivating and sadly tragic, almost foretelling his mysterious disappearance in a New Mexico desert back in 1975. Light in the Attic put together a short documentary about Sullivan, which includes interviews with his family, and is well worth checking out if you’ve been as taken by his record as we have.
We are very excited to announce the line-up for our third annual SXSW Lawn Party, which we’ll be presenting with our friends, Dig for Fire and Babelgum. Once again, we’re hosting two free days of music at the French Legation Museum, a beautiful outdoor space off the beaten path of 6th Street, its rolling lawns the perfect respite from the sensory overload of the main drag. As you can see, this year’s line-up is extraordinary, so if you are in Austin for SXSW, please do join us on the Thursday and Friday afternoon of the music festival. And whether you can stop by or not, Dig For Fire will be filming the performances and you’ll be able to see all the highlights on OtherMusic.com and Babelgum.com.
FRENCH LEGATION MUSEUM: 802 San Marcos Street Austin, TX
1PM to 7PM both days
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