Denver lo-fi pop duo Tennis have gotten a lot of press recently after the release of their 7” on Underwater Peoples. I succumbed to the pressure from friends to check out their tunes [link] and I couldn’t help but to draw comparisons to Beach House, She & Him, and Wild Nothing who put out three of my favorite records of the year, so I naturally got excited when I heard they were playing Glasslands Gallery in southside Williamsburg. …read full article…

No, we aren’t going to make Coachella this year. If you aren’t going to be able to go either, Masterbeat has you covered. On the front page of their site, the digital music retailer is featuring some of best albums from this year’s participants:

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young
Owen Pallett – Heartland
Passion Pit – Manners
Matt & Kim – Grand

Feel free to check out the page and gather your favorite artists from this year’s show and then head over to the Official Live Webcast for Coachella 2010, streaming on Facebook all this weekend.

It’s now 2010, the beginning of a new decade. Have you stopped to wonder what the next ten years will look like for music and the music industry? What will be the dominant musical trend? What will the industry look like in ten years?

Our sort-of-awesome, sort-of-Chuck Klosterman ripping off writer Tom Williams has. However, unlike you, dear readers, he is doing something to find the answers. Next month Tom and two companions will embark on a two week long road trip across America and Mexico, where they will speak with bands large and small, venue owners, record store clerks, label managers, and music fans of all time, seeking to understand the nature of music and the music industry to come.

Upon his return, Tom will write a book, to be entitled Sound Through Sight: A Road Trip, about his travels, the people he speaks with, and the insights he discovers; think Klosterman’s Killing Yourself To Live meets Alexis de Tocqueville‘s Democracy In America. His travel companions will also be producing a book of photography from the trip, as well as a short documentary.

Tom is seeking to raise $1,400 before he leaves in three weeks via the site Kickstarter. To read more about his project, to purchase an advance copy of his book, or to see other cool ways you can help support the project, check out his project on Kickstarter.

If you’re in the NYC area, Tom is also throwing a concert Friday night to help raise money for the project. Event details can be found on Facebook.

The concert will be a the Newsonic Loft, an incredible loft space in South Williamsburg, on 2/19/10. Admission is $7, there will be cheap drinks available at the bar, and you can also BYOB.

Tentative Schedule:

9pm: Doors

9:30: Dynasty Electric – NYC – Recently signed to Damon Dash’s Blu Rock label.

10:00: mynameisjohnmichael – New Orleans – “One of the Top 5 Bands at CMJ 2009″ – http://bit.ly/mnijmCMJ

11:00: Common Prayer – Kingston, NY – The fantastic new project from Jason Russo, of Hopewell and the Mercury Rev

12:00: TBA (but they’ll be damn good, we promise!)

Click to Download and Share the Event Poster

Last night, The Flaming Lips [Official] appeared on The Colbert Report and performed “Convinced of the Hex” off their upcoming album, Embryonic. You can now stream Embryonic for free on Colbert Nation as well, check out the widget on the left side.

Purchase Embryonic here. Check out their appearance and performance “after the jump” …read full article…

Okay, close your eyes. The most important thing a reviewer can do is to give an album context and this handy little time machine here (which you conveniently cannot see because your eyes are close but believe me, it does exist) is going to give us context.

Okay, ready?

[you hear a whirring noise....you sneak a peak and see that you're flying through a bizarre empty purgatory filled with thousands of clocks, Mr. Peabody, and Sherman...you shut your eyes...]
…read full article…

Pitchfork has revealed the art of the gargantuan box set, Minotaur, that rounds up the band’s studio recordings and videos with a live DVD, new artwork, and a book. Here’s a glimpse inside the set, which is available for presale today at the Artist in Residence website and features all five Pixies’ albums on 24k gold-plated CDs and mastered for 5.1 surround sound.

(Full disclosure: The Pixies Minotaur project is one of SMS’ current marketing projects)

Thank you to the men and women serving our country; we appreciate your sacrifices and honor your service today

In honor of Memorial Day, here’s a project that uses Google Earth to map US and Coalition military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can see photos of the men and women who have died in these wars, find their hometowns, and learn where and how they died. The guy who created the map, Sean Askay, has been working on it for four years on his own time. [BuzzFeed]

[Photo Credit: The Library of Congress]

Any man worth his weight in “manly things” knows that sometimes getting a lady home is just the beginning of a wild night. Even with the right chemistry, you could still find a way to screw up a “sure thing,” so with a little help from this handy guide, you’ll know which songs you need to remove from your iTunes playlists or home audio equipment immediately. You don’t want to be thisclose to sealing the deal and have “Baby Beluga” pop on the stereo, do you? If you don’t have kids, that might be especially hard to explain.

With this in mind, please check out this amazing list, 8 Songs Not to Shag To …read full article…

Sorry for the delay in posting this last update about SXSW but I was recovering from the BIG ONE. What’s the BIG ONE you ask? “You have to ask?”, I ask in return. “You really have to ask?”.

The BIG ONE was (of course) Rachael Ray‘s SXSW party.

Now, before I go any further, I would like to go on the record saying that I’m reasonably sure this women is the anti-Christ, the Devil, or some combination of the two. I disavow being from “upstate” in large part because she’s currently upstate’s most famous export. I do not like Rachael Ray. …read full article…

I am in the home stretch. One more day. Survive this and I will have survived SXSW. Yes, Virginia, there is a wall and I’ve hit it. I’m finding myself forgetting what day it is. I’m sunburned to the point of pain. I very likely smell. I cannot remember my middle name.

But I shall push through, I will survive. Why? Because today is the big one. The mother of all shows. The mother of all mothers. Today is Rachel Ray. I’m doing it for her. …read full article…

This boy is exhausted.

It’s was pretty appropriate that first song of the best set I’ve seen at SXSW thus far was “This Boy Is Exhausted”. I am talking about, of course, the Wrens [MySpace]; those middle aged New Jersey indie rockers with grey hair and paunch who completely blew away bands have their age. One of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. I have some amazing pictures that I can’t late to upload to the site.

And of course, I’m exhausted. Don’t get me wrong. SXSW is pretty much heaven. You’re drinking and watching music by noon, the drinks and bands continue until 5 am, it’s 80 degrees out, and the tacos and hot indie girls are plentiful. As I said, heaven. Old indie rockers don’t die, they just go up to that great SXSW in the sky.

The one downside is the lack of sleep. Or maybe it’s not a downside. The past four nights I’ve slept 30 minutes, 7 hours, 2 hours, and 6 hours. I’ve drank more beer each day here than I have had total hours of sleep which is either a statement of how awesome this place is or an explanation for my doctor as to why I’ll be chronically sick for the next three weeks. …read full article…

Our own Tom Williams is at SXSW this year and he’ll be checking in regularly with updates. Here is his recap from Day One! But first, a note:

Shawn –

This needs editing. I’m drunk.

I mean really, this needs editing.

Okay.

It’s only my first day at my first SXSW but I think I’ve already received the best advice I will ever receive: “watch out for that ass sweat!”. That was courtesy of Michael, the lead singer/drummer of Telekinesis [MySpace]. Telekinesis, by the way, are a) a completely awesome band out of Seattle and b) were so kind to be my first interview of SXSW (which will be posted *just* as soon as I can find a SD card reader….anybody in Austin out there have one?? I need help).

But back to the ass sweat. It’s hot here in Austin. It was 80+ degrees today. I think I’m sunburned…in March. This is amazing. I love Austin. But the ass sweat is a definitely problem as both Telekinesis and I can attest to. And now you know.

More SXSW: Day One Coverage “after the jump” …read full article…

A month ago, we caused a bit of an uproar with a piece that had us doling out punches to musicians that we felt deserved them [8 Musicians Who Need a Punch in the Face] and we sort of felt bad (for a second or two, that is). This time around, we just want to spread some love, so we’ve come up with our choices for the musicians we’d most like to share a hug with.

A few weeks back, during a recent Radio Exile huge chain email, we started kicking around the idea of creating a new list and having our active staff members contribute one artist that they were interested in hugging. They weren’t told if it was a nice hug, a friendly hug, a “sexy time” hug – there were no restrictions, just hugs. And once again, this list had to be extended to 7 when one of the writers desperately wanted to hug a set of twins.

Without further ado, I would like you to introduce you to 7 Musicians Who Need a Hug. …read full article…

There are a lot of pretty valid reasons that one might want to punch another human being in the face: they might be physically revolting, they could owe you money or smell a bit “off”, or they might even be someone who has caused you some harm in the past. Throw all of those reasons out the door because this isn’t just any list, this gathering of musicians have offended some of us to the point that, yes, we want to hit them.

A few weeks back, during our usual Radio Exile pow wow (see: huge chain email), we started kicking around the idea of creating a list. This list wouldn’t be definitive or concrete, I merely asked my active staff members to contribute one artist that they wanted to punch in the face. Originally, it was supposed to only be singers, but, as you’ll see, someone threw a wrench in the plans.

Without further ado, I would like you to introduce you to 8 Musicians Who Need a Punch in the Face …read full article…

Merriweather Post Pavilion, for those who are apparently living under an effing rock, is the critically-acclaimed eighth studio album by Animal Collective, and is named after the Columbia, Maryland venue of the same name. That’s not even the coolest thing about this album: if you look at the cover long enough, it ripples. It’s an optical illusion.

What – you didn’t notice? Well, everyone else noticed. Did anyone else take the time to reach out and find the “other” potential covers for the album? (Not really, but this was too fun to pass up!)

Radio Exile did. Here are the Top Seven Rejected Merriweather Post Pavilion Covers …read full article…

Best. Photo. Ever. Whomever made that is my hero – too damn funny.

Happy New Year from the staff of Radio Exile. From the very bottom of our hearts, we appreciate the support in 2008 and here’s to assloads of fun in 2009!

Famed actor/singer Zooey Deschanel (well, almost famous) announced her engagement to rock star Ben Gibbard (well, semi-star….and it’s not really rock, more like “chunky glasses pussy pop”) on Monday. Ben of course is (semi) famous for his work in Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service. Zooey is half of the sorta-popular alt-country pop She & Him, her duo with Matt Ward (aka M. Ward).

So what comes next for this suddenly awkward menage a trois of semi-famous pop music? Well, we’re glad you asked. We here at Radio Exile have all the answers. …read full article…

Recently, our very own Tom Williams got to sit down with Andrew Hoepfner from Brooklyn’s Creaky Boards [Myspace] to discuss the success of their latest album, Brooklyn Is Love, the awesomeness of Brian Wilson and this whole Satriani-Coldplay-Creaky Boards saga. Here’s what Andrew had to say:

Tom Williams: You reference a muse in the title of one of your songs but from listening to the album, your muse seems to be less of the traditional lover and more Brooklyn/life in New York. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Andrew Hoepfner: Unfortunately, I must admit that most of the stories on Brooklyn is Love are of the traditional lover variety. It seems the city metaphor makes the album appear like it is about something bigger. Thank goodness!

A lot of songwriters gravitate towards expressing personal stories about themselves and their experiences with love. That instinct was guiding me for a long time, too. But releasing this record feels like the end of an era to me. Now I’m sick of autobiography. I’m gonna try to turn my eyes to the outside for a while.

Check out more of this exclusive interview “after the jump” …read full article…

So much music is leaked, released, re-released, remastered then re-released and so on that we here at Radio Exile have decided to help you sort through the madness. Each week (or whenever we feel like it, which will likely not be every week) we will compile a list of the most Hyped songs here at Radio Exile World Headquarters. And without further ado, on with the show! …read full article…

Joe Satriani has come out swinging. In an interview with MusicRadar.com, he has achieved a level of douchebaggery not since…well, we can’t even remember. So here is what we at Radio Exile are doing: we will send a TOTALLY AWESOME prize to the first person (or crew of people) who can send us an mp3 of a song that came out before Joe Satriani’s “If I Could Fly” that features the same melody he’s claiming to have “created”. According the thread at Fark [link] surrounding our original article [link], this is a fairly common progression.

Let’s prove that Joe had access to a similar song to help inspire “If I Could Fly”. It needs to be something that we can get the word out about and shut this dude up. Bear in mind, we’re a bit poor, but for your efforts, we will write you up on our rad blog and we’ll also sent you ANY TEN ALBUMS WE’VE REVIEWED in 2008. Radio Exile will ship them, no cost to you, just pick what you want once we confirm that we like the entry and believe we can use it to silence Satriani.

Update: 1:35 PM ET: Creaky Boards add Brooklyn is Love swag to our prize pack.

Click “Continue Reading” to read more nonsense from Joe Satriani …read full article…