Apparatjik, the all-star project featuring Jonas Bjerre (Mew), Guy Berryman (Coldplay) and Magne Furuholmen (A-ha), will release the new single "Electric eye" as a digital download on November 30 via their own (cryptic) website: http://www.apparatjik.com/
Mew will release the new digital live album "Live at the Hollywood Palladium" on December 7. Said album was recorded during the band's performance at September 2 earlier this year.
New North American dates for Mew:
11/30 - Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA
12/01 - Constitution Hall, Washington DC w/The Pixies
12/02 - Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
12/04 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
12/05 - Cabaret Du Musee Juste Pour Rire, Montreal, QC
12/06 - Mod Club, Toronto, ON
12/07 - Metro, Chicago, IL
12/10 - Neumos Crystal Ball Room, Seattle, WA
12/11 - Venue, Vancouver, BC
12/12 - Hawthorne Theatre, Portland, OR
12/13 - Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA
12/14 - Henry Fonda, Los Angeles, CA
Mew has tapped fellow Danes Choir of Young Believers to support them in the UK:
11/03 - Wulfrun, Wolverhampton
11/04 - Academy, Dublin
11/05 - ABC, Glasgow
11/06 - Academy 2, Manchester
11/07 - Metropolitan University, Leeds
11/09 - Anson Rooms, Bristol
11/10 - Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Mew's new video for "Repeaterbeater" is now online: http://www.mtvu.com/music/video-premiere/mew-repeaterbeater/
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Taken By Trees
02. Frida Hyvönen
03. The Mary Onettes
04. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
05. The xx
06. Little Dragon
07. Mew
08. Håkan Hellström
09. Kent
10. The Hidden Cameras
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Pitchfork reviews the new Taken By Trees album "East of Eden": http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13386-east-of-eden/
Also covered: the new Mew album and Little Dragon in the Forkcast.
MewIt is finally here. It took Danish masters of experimental, ethereal pop a whole four years to release a follow-up to the internationally well-received "And the glass handed kites". In the meantime Mew have become a trio. Bassist Johan Wohlert left the band in 2006 in order to become a father. This new album, which bears a poem for a title, finds Mew working again with Rich Costey, who produced their 2003 album "Frengers" and has worked with bands such as Muse, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand and Glasvegas.
Jonas Bjerre's unusually high-pitched voice remains emblematic of the band's sound, though "No more stories..." is, on the surface, slower-paced, more approachable and less complex than its predecessor. On the other hand, it is also dreamy, at times pompous, with countless mood changes and a complete absence of obvious hooks. "Repeater beater" and the single "Introducing palace players" (which, by the way, has a spectacular and very enigmatic video clip) are the two best tracks, while the epic "Cartoons and macreme wounds" is an undisputed highlight. The album's reverberated, multilayered arrangements are compelling, and although "No more stories..." tries to be brighter than "And the glass handed kites", it miserably fails in the end. On top of that, I still haven't got the slightest clue what Mew are trying to communicate with their lyrics. All in all, with their newest effort Mew seem darker, more distant and incomprehensible than ever before. And precisely that's their beauty.
- Vasilis Panagiotopoulos
Lots of Scandinavian reviews at PopMatters today including the latest from Mew, Datarock and Anna Ternheim.
Under the Radar reports back from the "Mew at the Mewseum" event: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/mew_at_the_mewseum/
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Håkan Hellström
02. Jens Lekman
03. Anna Ternheim
04. Fireside
05. The Big Pink
06. Loney, Dear
07. Mew
08. Hello Saferide
09. Bon Iver
10. The xx
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Mew have a new live session up at Daytrotter: http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/mew-hazy-mountains-of-dreams-for-active-participants-concert/20030887-3738192.html
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Mew
02. The Bear Quartet
03. Hello Saferide
04. Frida Hyvönen
05. Anna Ternheim
06. Håkan Hellström
07. Grizzly Bear
08. The Big Pink
09. Yo La Tengo
10. Taken By Trees
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
