Consequence of Sound » Spiral Stairs

Spiral Stairs and Long Winters announce joint 7″

Jeremy D. Larson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:25:29 +0000

I’d be interested in looking at a Venn diagram between The Long Winters fans and Spiral Stairs fans. Discordant, perhaps, but the two singers — John Roderick of The Long Winters and Scott Kannberg of Pavement and Preston School of Industry — found mutual adoration amidst the hazy fog of Seattle. The two became friends and got together with Mt. Fuji Records and voila! We get a double A-Side 7″.

The Long Winters offers us a new song, “Connections In Nashville”, and Spiral Stairs contributes “Dreams They Guide Us”. Both A-Sides are pressed on a limited edition, clear vinyl and come with a download code for free mp3s with purchase. There are only 500 of these available, and I bet those fans in both TLW and SS camps will come running for it. Maybe two fans will both put their hands on the record at the same time in a store, meet each other’s gaze, and fall madly in love.

You can purchase the 7″ right over here.

Pavement to play in hometown for first time ever

Harry Painter — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:25:23 +0000

As if touring the crap out of the Western world this year wasn’t enough, not to mention booking a veritable indie rock dream show, Pavement has decided to make its reunion even more special by venturing somewhere the influential band has never before played — its own backyard. That’s right, as reported by Recordnet.com, for the first time ever, Steven Malkmus, Scott Kannberg (who both graduated from neighboring Lodi’s Tokay High School), and the rest of the band (all are from the East Coast) will play in their hometown of Stockton, California.

Not that the band has ever denounced its hometown or anything. Kannberg, a.k.a. Spiral Stairs, told The Record in October, “I still consider Pavement to be from Stockton,” adding, “That’s our place of birth. We started from there.” That is, in original drummer Gary Young’s home studio, Louder Than You Think.

The venue is said to be the 2,000-seat Bob Hope Theatre, and it goes down June 24th, the day before Pavement plays the much bigger Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley. This will be quite the homecoming — not only is the venue the most intimate of any Pavement is playing on this tour, local punk legends The Authorities are slated to open. And there might even be another surprise: Young, who drummed with the band until 1992, including on its debut Slanted & Enchanted, may show up, according to Kannberg.

Young himself weighed in on this possibility, which sounds a lot like what happened at Faith No More’s final Warfield appearance in April. “Well, I wish,” he said. “It’d be as big as it ever gets.” Kannberg and Young are definitely in contact; Young received a birthday e-mail from Kannberg on May 3rd. Oh, and he lives just east in Linden, California. So this has to happen!

Tickets, priced at $35 plus fees, go on sale this Saturday, May 15th, at 10 a.m. on the venue’s website. And you’ll want to jump on this, because it only took three days for Pavement to sell 20,000 tickets for the Central Park shows. Do a little math, and that’s…uh, divide by ten or something. Basically, the tickets will sell out fast.

Pavement 2010 Tour Dates:
05/10 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/11 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/12 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/13 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/14 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/15 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/16 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/18 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
05/19 – Berlin, DE @ Astra
05/20 – Prauge, CZ @ Palac Akropolis
05/21 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
05/22 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
05/24 – Rome, IT @ Atlantico Live
05/25 – Bologna, IT @ Estragon
05/28 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
05/29-31 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
06/19 – Toronto, ON @ Toronto Island Concert
06/24 – Stockton, CA @ Bob Hope Theatre *
06/25 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
07/04 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
07/18 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
07/30-08/01 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
08/12 – Oslo, NO @ Oya Festival
08/14 – Gotenberg, SE @ Way Out West Festival
09/09 – Broomfield, CO @ 1st Bank Center
09/11 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
09/12 – St. Paul, MN @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium
09/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center for the Performing Arts
09/18 – Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
09/21 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/22 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/23 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/24 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
09/30 – Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Bowl #

* = w/ The Authorities
# = w/ Sonic Youth & No Age

More Pavement rehearsals…

Michael Roffman — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:29:13 +0000

Update: We now have rehearsal footage! Scroll down!

We’re only a few days away from Pavement’s first reunion show — in Auckland, NZ — and things are firing up. As we last saw the boys, Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists) gave us photographic evidence that this is actually happening, and now there’s more… this time from Spiral Stairs!

He writes via his online blog:

we are about to embark on our very ambitious world tour in a couple days. march 1 is the first date and it’s in a place very special to our hearts… new zealand. we’ve got the great 3d’s opening so it’s gonna be a legendary night. we then travel across the tasman sea to my future country of residence, australia (i’m actually writing this to you from brisbane where i’m spending a few days torturing my fiance and her family practicing the songs before the tour starts). speaking of practice, we recently had two good weeks of practice in portland. it was the first time some of us had been in the same room together for close to 10 years. i think we all were a little nervous. it started off pretty rough, except for our drummer who probably practiced the most. but… by the time we had finished, most of the 40 plus songs we had rehearsed were sounding pretty good. we’re really looking forward to the year ahead and seeing all the fans out there digging the music makes it all worthwhile. so thank you for buying tickets. we’ve also got the cool ‘qtp’ best of comp coming out march 9. it was compiled by the band and includes all our faves from the catalog.

There’s a photo, too:

From the looks of it, that’s one Stephen Malkmus enjoying himself by ripping apart the floor (not literally, of course). Oh, to be there listening… jamming… or feeding off the incredible hums and feedback. Sigh.

Anyways, if all this isn’t enough, then be sure to read the new Pavement spotlight by our hero Chuck Klosterman over at GQ. It’s pretty intriguing, especially when ol’ Chuck gives his witty [over] analysis on why Pavement continues to be such a glorified indie act.

We’ll find out ourselves when we see one of these 23,123,123 tour dates… or all the YouTube links come early Tuesday morning.

Pavement 2010 Tour Dates:
03/01 – Auckland, NZ @ Auckland Town Hall
03/04 – Sydney, AU @ Enmore Theatre
03/06 – Victoria, AU @ Golden Plains
03/07 – Adelaide, AU @ Thebarton Theatre
03/08 – Perth, AU @ Metro City
03/10 – Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli
03/12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Palace
04/18 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival
05/04 – Dublin, IE @ Tripod
05/05 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland
05/07 – Paris, FR @ Le Zenith
05/08 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
05/10 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/11 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/12 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/13 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/14 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/15 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/16 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/18 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
05/19 – Berlin, DE @ Astra
05/20 – Prauge, CZ @ Palac Akropolis
05/21 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
05/22 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
05/24 – Rome, IT @ Atlantico Live
05/25 – Bologna, IT @ Estragon
05/28 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
05/29-31 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
06/19 – Toronto, ON @ Toronto Island Concert
07/04 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
07/18 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival
08/12 – Oslo, NO @ Oya Festival
08/14 – Gotenberg, SE @ Way Out West Festival
09/21 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/22 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/23 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/24 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage

Broken Social Scene details super guest-heavy new LP

Alex Young — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:20:47 +0000

Since 1999, the Juno Award-winning Canadian indie band Broken Social Scene has illustrated several awesome characteristics — they make damn good music, they’re damn good live, and original members often go on to equally awesome solo projects only to return at a moment’s notice for the recording of a new studio album or a once-in-a-life-time, you’ll-remember-this-forever concert.

As Broken Social Scene gears up for the release of its yet-to-be-titled fourth studio album, the aforementioned characteristics will once again be on display. For one, the long overdue followup to 2005′s Broken Social Scene features many of the band’s original members. The album was written and arranged by BSS’ current core six-piece, including singer/guitarist Kevin Drew, singer/bassist Brendan Canning, drummer Justin Peroff, guitarist Charles Spearin, singer/guitarist Andrew Whiteman, and (newcomer) gutiarist Sam Goldberg. What’s more, BSS’ alum Leslie Feist, Stars’ Amy Millan and Evan Cranley, Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw, Jason Collett, Do Make Say Think’s Ohad Benchetrit, John Crossingham, Marty Kinack, Julie Penner, Leon Kingstone, and Lisa Lobsinger return to lend their musical talents as well.

Still not done… Also appearing on the record are several other indie heavy-hitters making their BSS debut, including Tortoise and The Sea and Cake’s John McEntire, who produced the album, The Sea and Cake’s Sam Prekop, Tortoise’s Doug McCombs, Pavement’s Spiral Stairs!, former Death From Above 1979 singer/drummer Sebastien Grainger, Poi Dog Pondering’s Susan Voelz, Helen Money’s Alison Chesley, and The Weakerthans’ Jason Tait. WOW!

Of course, gathering this mind-numbing collection of artists wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world to do, as Kevin Drew explained in a recent interview with Pitchfork:

“There was a point where it looked like it was going to be a core-member record and we weren’t going to get those people because they were so busy; Stars were making a record, Metric was on the road. We thought, “It’s OK, we can do this without them. We can move on. It’s not like that anymore.” But when we brought Johnny [McEntire] to Toronto and set up it was immediately like old times. So, right at the end, everybody made it on,” Drew said. Where can we send McEntire thank you cards?

Drew went on to note that the end result is particularly focused on “the times” — ” We had lots of conversations about how we could sing about our views and opinions without trying to make a poor man’s R.E.M. song” — and will once again convey quite a bit of emotion. “We’ve always been a band that sings about exactly what’s inside of us and exactly what’s happening outside as well. Like, if we’re screaming, let’s have something to scream about,” he added.

BSS will support the release by partaking in another one of those characteristics — a live concert. This May, the band will embark on dates in both the U.S. an Europe, particularly highlighted by the band’s personally curated Toronto Island Concert on June 19th. Pavement and Band of Horses are also playing. On stage collaboration, please?

This year is seriously kicking ass.

Broken Social Scene 2010 Tour Dates:
05/01 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
05/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
05/07 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
05/13 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/14 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/17 – London, UK @ Heaven
05/18 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
05/19 – Cologne, DE @ Burgerhaus Stollwerck
05/21 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
06/19 – Toronto, ON @ Toronto Island Concert

Pavement announces best of compilation, reissues

Alex Young — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:10:46 +0000

Last October, Pavement guitarist Spiral Stairs revealed to us that in addition to a slew of forthcoming tour dates, his recently reunited band would also be “doing a best of compilation.” Well, the man lived up to his words.

On March 9th, Pavement will offer Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement, a remastered 23-track collection that will be available on mid-priced LP, CD, and digitial formats. According to the band’s label, Matador Records, “the tracks span the entirety of Pavement’s career from 1989 to 1999, from the scratchy and mysterious sounds of their early vinyl-only releases to the rich, multilayered warmth of their final recordings. Although the compilation does not include any unreleased material, it definitely digs deeper than the hits.”

Of course, Matador wouldn’t share what 23 tracks fit this description — instead, they want you to guess. Prizes will be given to those who guess closest to the actual track listing and guess the most imaginative track listing. For additional details as well as a few clues, head on over to Matablog.

Now that we got all that covered, let’s move on to the reissues. During our recent talk, Spiral Stairs noted that the band would also be “doing a Terror Twilight [re-release] at some point… There’s not many extras from around this, but I’m sure it’ll be a great package as all the others were.” And again, he wasn’t lying.

A deluxe version of Terror Twilight is planned for next fall, to complete the deluxe editions of each Pavement album that we have been issuing every two years. What’s more, the re-release of Pavement’s complete Matador LP catalog (the 5 albums including the “Watery, Domestic” 12? EP) on L(ow) P(rice) vinyl will also be going down in the coming months. Exact details are still forthcoming.

What’s next, an appearance in Guitar Hero? Oh, wait.

Overkill? Sure! But that doesn’t mean 2010 still won’t kick ass!

Find Quarantine The Past‘s album art, as well as its first track, a remastered version of “Gold Soundz” below.

Check Out:
“Gold Soundz”

Pavement 2010 Tour Dates:
03/01 – Auckland, NZ @ Auckland Town Hall
03/04 – Sydney, AU @ Enmore Theatre
03/06 – Victoria, AU @ Golden Plains
03/07 – Adelaide, AU @ Thebarton Theatre
03/08 – Perth, AU @ Metro City
03/10 – Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli
03/12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Palace
05/04 – Dublin, IE @ Tripod
05/05 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland
05/07 – Paris, FR @ Le Zenith
05/08 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
05/10 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/11 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/12 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/13 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/14 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/15 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/16 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/18 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
05/19 – Berlin, DE @ Astra
05/20 – Prauge, CZ @ Palac Akropolis
05/21 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
05/22 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
05/24 – Rome, IT @ Atlantico Live
05/25 – Bologna, IT @ Estragon
05/27 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
05/29-31 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
09/21 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/22 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/23 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/24 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage

Pavement taps more bands for All Tomorrow’s Parties 2010

Alex Young — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:50:53 +0000

More bands that Pavement likes (for All Tomorrow’s 2010 Weeked #2, curated by Pavement): Broken Social Scene, Calexico, The Fiery Furnaces, The Walkmen, Mission of Burma, The Raincoats, Atlas Sound, Blitzen Trapper, Spiral Stairs (who is also in Pavement), Grails, Wooden Shjips, and The Clean among others.

They join the some other bands that Pavement likes: Enablers, Endless Boogie, The Fall, Faust, and Quasi.

Find all Pavement’s favorites here. Then, head here to buy tickets where you’ll be greeted by lots of “sold out”‘s.

All Tomorrow’s Weekend #2 goes down May 14-16 at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, U.K. Weekend #1, curated by Matt Groening, takes place one weekend prior (May 7-9) at the same place.

Album Review: Spiral Stairs – The Real Feel

Justin Gerber — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:15:35 +0000

Scott Spiral, best known for his membership in Pavement, returns to the land of recorded material with The Real Feel, under the name Spiral Stairs. There are many artists who write about what they know, and incorporate such knowledge into their work. The Real Feel is all about pain, disappointment, and lost love. Spiral’s divorce contributed to the bleak material, and the album is indeed a bitter one. However, the variety of musical arrangements should prevent its listeners from jumping off a nearby ledge.

“True Love” starts things off, with its T-Rex-ian rhythym section and a less-than-pleasant take on the theme of love. The rhythm has a real swagger to it, comparable to a cock-of-the-walk attitude. It’s an attitude that struts its way through most of the album, with some exceptions. A world-weary Spiral wants to “Call the Ceasefire”, a down-tempo fit of accusations (“Did you realize/That that was betrayal/Did you see the lies/And all the details”). It’s a musical switch on the opening track, accompanied by piano and slide guitar.

The chilled-out “Cold Change” speaks of a relationship in transition (“Sold out/It was paramount/With phony sounds that cut and tear us/From our lives”), even features “ba-ba-bas” in the song’s closing moments. Spiral Stairs’ “Subiaco Shuffle” regains the swagger of the opener, sex’d up guitars over crashing cymbals, that breaks down in the middle only to finish with a rampage.

After faltering with the been-there-done-that chords of “Wharf Hand Blues,” the terrier, ahem, “Maltese T”, hops along to its own beat (with a return of the “ba-ba-bas”). The track even features banjo! Such an instrument serves as a precursor to the decidedly alt-country lean of “A Mighty Mighty Fall”, when Spiral harmonizes, “Your love is out back in the stars/Back in the stars/But your on course for a mighty fall.” Simple lyrics? Sure, but nothing here comes off insincere. “Stone Pills” goes lo-fi, from its fuzzed-out guitars to its distorted vocals. It’s the shortest song on the album, keeping true to its Guided by Voices influence.

The album falters a couple times, and unfortunately the longest track here is full of ‘em, and it happens to be the worst song on the record, too. Eight minutes of “Blood Money” slows down the proceedings, with its repeated calls of, you guessed it, “Blood money!” The 17-second title track preceding this is something played backwards, and the last track on “The Real Feel” is an old woman repeating, “Ladies and gentlemen, Spiral Stairs.” It’s funny, I guess, but would have served better as a secret track about five minutes after “Blood Money.” Then again, you’d have to sit through “Blood Money.”

Ultimately, Spiral Stairs’ The Real Feel is a good record. It’s bleak, and may be a little too exhausting to sit through repeatedly. However, it doesn’t leave you wishing Pavement would get back together just so Spiral can stop with the solo outings. It leaves you confident that the once and future guitarist of Pavement can still contribute solid material. I’m not saying that that band will be recording music again, but if they do, it will probably be more Dinosaur Jr. than The New Cars.

Check Out:
“Maltese Terrier”

Buy:
The Real Feel

Watch: Spiral Stairs – “Cold Change”

Alex Young — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:15:25 +0000

Much of the hype surrounding Spiral Stairs’ debut album, The Real Feel, has been overshadowed by Pavement’s forthcoming album, and deservedly so. But when the Pavement guitarist, who we recently interviewed by the way!, takes such actions such as releasing a brand new music video for the song “Cold Change”, he reminds us, at least for a few minutes, that his LP is certainly worth the listen.

According to Spinner, which had the honors of debuting the video, “Cold Change” was directed by Jess Carfield and filmed by Chris Heinrich, was shot in Los Angeles and features a day in the life of a main character called Benmont, who was previously seen in Preston School of Industry’s ‘Caught in the Rain’ video. Now, with all that in mind, check it out below!

The Pavement Reunion: Who, What, When, Where, and Why

Alex Young — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:23:50 +0000

Between a tour of Australia, playing curators at All Tomorrow’s Parties, headlining Primavera Sound, and a four-night stint in New York City, Pavement‘s 2010 reunion is already on the realm of being an extravaganza. But as Consequence of Sound can exclusively reveal, fans of Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, Scott Kannberg, Steve West, and Mark Ibold haven’t seen anything yet.

For the legendary outfit, which will be reuniting some 10 years after that final 1999 performance at London’s Brixton Academy, 2010 will include dates across the globe, a few high-profile festival appearances, and the reissuing of one classic album. In other words, 2010 will likely go down as the year of Pavement. But, why? Why now?

“It was just the right timing basically,” explains guitarist Scott Kannberg, the man known in Pavement circles as Spiral Stairs. “We’ve had offers coming to us for the last few years, but everyone in the band was not ready to do it. The anniversary definitely played into it. 10 years went by pretty quick… didn’t feel long at all. Everyone was busy doing their own projects and time just went by I guess.”

But ultimately, as Spiral notes, it was something else that proved to be the deciding factor.

“I think Pavement has become bigger in the last 10 years than ever before and I think we owe it to our fans to give them one last chance to see us. A lot of fans never got to see us.”

Those fans will have their opportunity beginning March 1st, following a month worth of rehearsals in Portland, Oregon, when the band launches a seven-date tour of New Zealand and Australia.

“I’m getting married in Australia right after the oz shows,” Sprial explains. “Japan will follow. Some U.K. and Europe shows after.”

As we now know, those U.K. and European shows will include appearances at All Tomorrow’s Parties (May 14-16) and Primavera Sound (May 27-29), as well as a return to the Brixton Academy in London beginning May 11th. More dates have yet to be announced, but according to a source with knowledge of the band’s plans, these will take place at “larger size” venues and feature sets heavy with “hits,” or at least as close to a hit that a Pavement song can be (think “Cut Your Hair”). That being said, the band will likely incorporate a few “new songs,” described as previously unreleased from the Twilight Era… but more on that later.

After Europe, it’s on to the U.S. for more tour dates, again at “larger size” venues. The band is also plotting appearances at two major music festivals (because of ongoing negotiations, we were asked not to name name), though a similar curating spot at All Tomorrow’s Parties’ New York festival is not in the plans. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, these dates will in fact mark Pavement’s final performances ever.

Now, on to that part about “new songs.” As Spiral went on to note, a few previously unreleased songs from a certain forthcoming release could find their way on to the setlist.

“We’ll be doing a Terror Twilight [re-release] at some point,” explains Spiral. “There’s not many extras from around this, but I’m sure it’ll be a great package as all the others were.”

“We’re also doing a best of compilation,” he adds.

But, as the legendary guitarist concluded, whatever the future may hold, Pavement plans to remain, well, Pavement — the same secluded rockers who have no problem mooning a crowd.

When asked if he views Pavement as the current “face of indie,” Spiral responded saying, “Nope… and it’s sort of unfair that we’ve been labeled that. We don’t believe it.”

Instead, he’s much more content discussing the prospects of a Gary Young handstand at some point on the tour. “I hope so,” he answered.

We hope so too. But then again, based on what he’s promising, there’s hardly any room for guff.

On October 20th, Spiral released his solo debut, The Real Feel, via Matador Records. Ahead of Pavement’s reunion, he plans to support the album with tour dates early next year.

Edit: Because of the band’s ongoing negotiations with the two aforementioned U.S. festivals, we were asked to amend the article to eliminate any names and references. We will update you as more info becomes available.

Flaming Lips, MGMT, Yo La Tengo head Treasure Island ’09

Alex Young — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:06:26 +0000

Come October 17th and 18th, the Treasure Island Music Festival will return to San Francisco’s Treasure Island for its third go around. This particular year promises to feature two days of “stellar and diverse” music, with Saturday geared more toward the electric side of things, while Sunday will offer an indie-like feel.

As a result, the folks behind Treasure Island have tapped MGMT, MSTRKRFT, Girl Talk, Dan Deacon, Passion Pit, Brazilian Girls, LTJ Bukeum, DJ Krush, Murs, Frederico Aubele, The Streets, The Limousines and Crown City Rockers for Saturday and The Flaming Lips, The Decemberists, Beirut, Yo La Tengo, Bob Mould, Grizzly Bear, Sprial Stairs, Sleepy Sun, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Tommy Guerrero, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Veviter and The Walkmen for Sunday.

Single day tickets ($65.00) and two-day passes ($100.00) will be available via Ticketmaster.com. Pre-sales begin on Tuesday, July 14th.

The complete 2009 bill and additional details will be officially unveiled tomorrow at 12:00 pm PST. Stay tuned as more information becomes available.

Spiral Stairs sets first solo LP

Michael Roffman — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:30:42 +0000

Stephen Malkmus isn’t the only Pavement member still packing heat. So it seems that guitarist/vocalist Scott Kannberg, aka Spiral Stairs, has some tricks under his sleeve, too. After recording with Preston School of Industry, Kannberg plans to finally release something under his own name — well, his own pseudonym.

Set for October 20 via Matador Records, The Real Feel marks the first solo jaunt by Spiral Stairs. According to the press release, and “associate” Parker Gibbs, the album “has a vibe similar to classic 70’s albums by Fleetwood Mac (Then Play On), Captain Beefhart (Safe As Milk), and guitar god Richard Thompson, not to mention Aussie psych rock icons Died Pretty. Comparisons aside, this is 100% Spiral Stairs rock, the same rock that made Pavement the most influential band of the ’90s (take that Hoobastank!) and the same strange, discordant, playful and melodic Spiral Stairs rock that your parents loved.” Got all that?

While nobody else from Pavement came on-board to help (how sad), the LP managed to snag some primo collaborations, including the likes of Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew. It’s also being handled and mixed by The Posies own Jon Auer. And if that distant autumn date is too hard to handle, the label’s unveiled one track for free, “The Maltese Terrier”, which you can download below. Oh, and you can expect a fall tour, too.

Sigh, this is all great, sure, but when the hell will that damn reunion happen? We all need to hear “Date w/ IKEA” live again, dammit.

Until then…

Note to readers, via press release: Please note no raccoons were harmed during the making of the album artwork.

Check Out:
“Maltese Terrier”