The Breeders release 'Mountain Battles'

Sun, 04/20/2008 10:57 AM | Entertainment

ADPARA>Welcome back to this week's edition of Underground Hum. That's right, fellas! It's time for you to unlock your mailbox, because Reverb is here to deliver fresh news from the international and national indie music scene! Go get your coffee, kick back, relax and enjoy this sunny mid-April Reverb!

REVERB

International

It's been almost six years since Title TK, The Breeders' third studio album, was launched. Last week, on April 7, Kim Deal and her sister Kelly broke out of their cocoon by releasing the highly anticipated output from this 4AD's precious icon, Mountain Battles. This new album underlines that Kim Deal is a songwriter and a musician of rare intuition. Her songs move from offhand charm to emotional truth with casual grace, balancing scuffed-up noise against fraught silence; timeless structures against strange new shapes. And throughout, of course, there's Kim's unique voice -- languid, urgent, bruised and beautiful. The Breeders recorded Mountain Battles at various recording studios, including Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago.

The Breeder's inception occurred while Kim Deal was at the height of success with the legendary The Pixies in the late 80's. Yet, it was also at this time when she felt she needed to have another outlet to channel her artistic and songwriting skills as she was unhappy with the way things were in the Pixies. She started The Breeders with her twin sister Kelly and immediately released Pod in 1990. The Pixies were disbanded in 1993, while The Breeders on the other hand, continued to earn greater success most notably for their follow up album to Pod (1990), which was Last Splash (1993). This legacy continues with Mountain Battles, described by their forefather record label 4AD as: "captures all the bittersweet electricity of classic Breeders records like Pod and Last Splash, and still manages to break new ground".

National

We should be happy with the fact that there are more and more international underground/indie bands checking Indonesia out on their touring route. And this week's show listing brings us the opportunity to witness an awesome New York/Philly-based trio, Off Minor, having their 3-day-tour here on Java as a subsequence to their Australian tour. Off Minor plays screamo post-punk with a unique Jazz element. Their former acts were Books Lie, Saetia and Interpol. Off Minor will play in three cities in Java: Solo, Yogyakarta and Kediri. Two Malaysian fellow screamers. Killeur Calculateur and Orbit Cinta Benyamin, will come along on this tour. Be sure to check out their gigs if you are near and I'll assure you, you won't regret it ... Highly recommended and highly addictive. This is the list of their shows:

Off Minor "A Glimpse of the Archipelago Tour" Solo, Central Java Date: Monday, April 21 Time: 6p.m. - finish Venue: Teater Kecil ISI Solo (Solo Institute of Arts) Tickets: Rp.5,000-Check out www.myspace.com/praankdistribution for more info

Yogyakarta, Central Java Date: Tuesday, April 22 Time: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Venue: Dennis Lounge, Pertokoan Babarsari Belakang/Utara, Yogyakarta Tickets: Free Call 0856-582-19972 for info on directions to the venue

Kediri, East Java Date: Wednesday, April 23 Time: 5 p.m.- finish Venue: Radio Sega's frontyard, Kediri Tickets: Free Call 0898-353-5048 for more info

You may also look Off Minor up on their Myspace page: www.myspace.com/offminor

That's pretty much it for this week's Underground Hum, fellas! Don't forget to send us questions, suggestions, praises or curses if you will to undergroundhum@yahoo.com.

Adios for now!

-- Ari Ernesto Purnama

For all of you indie bands or artists out there, let us know if you have a gig coming up so we can include it in future editions of Reverb. Be sure to include the name of the event you're playing, what other acts are billed, time, place, date and entry fee if any.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |