With the jump from her long-time label affiliate 4AD, to the major-label owned Republic/Loma Vista, St. Vincent is ready for a prime-time debut; with a song that almost immediately references masturbation.
"Birth In Reverse," from her self-titled fourth album, features the sticky, chugging bass familiar with her name, is a step in a slightly new direction for the singer-songwriter, who refers to her new record as, "a party record you could play at a funeral.”
Listen to the new single below. St. Vincent is due out February 25.
The debut single from David Byrne and St. Vincent's upcoming Love This Giantcollaboration has this brand new Martin de Thurah video. Shot entirely in black and white, it begins with Bryne hitting Annie with his station wagon, which I suppose is how this project actually began. Check out the video below, and stream Love This Giantover at NPR now.
Word of a collaborative album between David Bryne and St. Vincent was released a few weeks back, with a supporting tour along the way. Today, we hear the first cut from their upcoming Love This Giant, which is expected for release at the end of the summer.
Listen to "Who" below, and check out the album details over at Stereogum.
Annie Clark, who's beginning to earn a reputation for strong covers, recently performed this version of Brian Eno's "Some Of Them Are Old" in Paris. Check the cover below, filtered with a Mojave Desert imagery.
Fresh off last week's cutie-cameo on Portlandia, Annie Clark (St. Vincent) premiered her newest video for "Cheerleader," the most-recent single from the Dallas-native's acclaimed third LP Strange Mercy. Watch the video of a giantess Clark below, and grab the aforementioned album now via 4AD.
At the end of every month forever until I inevitably die - maybe - Bears and Bullets will run an Albums of the Month column. Right now, we'll take it easy early on with three top albums, but hopefully the list will continually expand.
September 2011 marked the release of a handful of anticipated releases, many of which collided on the same day; September 13, including: A.A. Bondy, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Das Racist, Mates of State, Memoryhouse, St. Vincent, and Wild Flag. That being said, the month was marred by disappointing releases as well. So, after all, what were this months standouts?
3. Four Tet - Fabriclive 59
Kieren Hebden, better known under his Four Tet moniker, released Fabriclive not as a studio set, but as part of the Fabric series, that will conclude at the end of this year. It begins as a generally mum post-90s trip-hop push colliding with the soft undertone of crowd noise, which to my knowledge has some sort of purpose. After the easy play-in, it courses through modern-Euro house and then seamlessly through more crowd loops into pure Four Tet-sound. It's that endearing core of the mix that sticks out further than many of September's other notable outputs.
2. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
What are Girls? The super-hyped San Francisco buzzband don't fit into the 2011 mold quite as well as their acclaim would seem. Upon the release of Father, Son, Holy Ghost's first single "Vomit," it would seem that they were wedged into some hybrid Beach Boys that are much more sensible to the Jesus and Mary Chain crowd. Confusing? It should be.
Regardless, there's something incredibly endearing about Father, Son, Holy Ghost that doesn't seem like faux-wave lo-fi that frequents the Pacific coastline. Those surf-sensibilities are there, but aren't juxtaposed as an overwhelming theme - letting Christopher Owens' songwriting take the necessary lead.
1. Mastodon - The Hunter
The metal band I simply hype more so than any other marked the end of September with the release of The Hunter, an album which was received by some to be too far off a departure of the band's hard-nailed previous works. And, well, they aren't wrong. Tracks like "Curl of the Burl" and "The Hunter" are easily the most accessible in the band's catalog. For some, though, that as a detraction is in hindsight. The Hunter jabs through blinding, clenching numbers like "Spectrelight" while allowing itself to web a different pattern. For me, that puts in on top.
As September 13, the official release date of St. Vincent's third studio album Strange Mercy inches continually closer, the Dallas-native has been pretty much everywhere; from the cover of this month's SPIN Magazine, performances on Letterman, and numerous spotlights, she's getting her fair share of hype.
Alongside the cover, Annie Clark also gave SPIN a small show which includes "Surgeon" and a cover of Tom Wait's "Tango Till They're Sore," both of which you can watch here. Also, check out her performance of "Cruel" on Letterman below.
LCD Soundsystem, Raekwon, St. Vincent, and many others including a long list of artists yet to be announced are performing July 16-18 at Chicago's Union Park. Good for them. What this means to me and anyone who ever reads Bears and Bullets knows that whatever happens at Pitchfork Music Festival will effect Lollapalooza, also held in Chicago in early August. Because of rules and regulations, any artist performing at one festival cannot perform at the other during the same calendar year. So for any devout Lolla-goers, scratch Modest Mouse, Pavement and LCD Soundsystem off your hopeful lists. Sigh.
Official 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival Lineup (as of Feb. 8):
St. Vincent (Annie) brought her unwavering lush brown eyes to the to Jimmy Kimmel Live stage last night, performing an uneven rendition of "Marrow" from her recent album Actor.
The song careened with a distorted flow as Annie marched through the assorted lyrical metronomes as her eight person backing band ebbed through "Marrow"'s sly progressions. It may not be one of Actor's best, and it seems like an odd suggestion (at least to me) for her to perform on late night, but it's hard to ignore that indelible intrigue that Annie exudes when she's on stage. St. Vincent - Marrow (Live on Kimmel)
Finally, I can actually get a legitimate copy of Dirty Projectors new single "Stillness in the Move" off of their upcoming Bitte Orca LP, without dealing with any of that mailing list bull crap. The album's due out June 9 via Domino Records.
inches continually closer, the Dallas-native has been pretty much everywhere; from the cover of this month's 
