M83 at Sasquatch 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

"It's a double album," Gonzalez tells SPIN, adding that it will have a conceptual element. "It's mainly about dreams, how every one is different, how you dream differently when you're a kid, a teenager, or an adult. I'm really proud of it. If you're doing a very long album, all the songs need to be different and I think I've done that with this one. Overall, it's pop -- and very epic. Anyone who loved M83 before, they'll love this album even more. People that hated me, they're going to hate this, too."

Sonically, Gonzalez says he's splitting the difference between the slick, synth-pop of Saturdays and the more ambient work of Before the Dawn. Short interludes will be interspersed among longer tracks, and Gonzalez is testing out new instruments like acoustic guitar. He hasn't quite nailed down song or album titles yet -- Gonzalez just wrapped up mixing the album two weeks ago -- but he does reveal that guests will include Zola Jesus and Brad Laner from Medicine, the cult noise-pop band who were once signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings in the '90s. Beck and Nine Inch Nails' bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen is also contributing.

"The track that Brad sings on is just gorgeous -- he did incredible work on that," says Gonzalez. "And Zola's track is very orchestral and very big. It's almost like a duet." [Spin]

M83 plans to release the ambitious double album this October. A teaser video called "Echoes..." for the album was uploaded onto his website recently. Check that out below.

M83 will go on a North American fall tour in October and November in support of the new album. The tour kicks off on October 15 in Mexico, includes Moogfest and ends in NYC on November 22 at Webster Hall. Ticket presale is available on M83's site now. Check ticketmaster for updates on general sale.

M83 album guest Zola Jesus has her own new album on the way too.

All tour dates and album teaser video below...

Continue reading "new M83 double album coming (Zola Jesus & Brad Laner included), dates announced (on presale now)"

ML review by Rachel Kowal

DOWNLOAD: Brad Laner - Crawl Back In (Baths Remix) (MP3)

Baths @ Mercury Lounge on August 3rd (more by David Andrako)

It's kind of odd to go to an indoor show that starts when the sun is still up, but the Mercury Lounge's back room makes you lose your sense of time. The opener of the early show back in August was the one-man electro-pop act Baths, which is the project of 21-year-old Will Wiesenfeld. "Hi. Whoa! Sorry to scare you!" Wiesenfeld said as his voice suddenly broke through the soft chatter. "Hi New York. It's very sweaty here. I'm not used to it, but it's cool... I'm going to start playing music."

Baths consists of a laptop, a mixer, and vocals. Wiesenfeld projects the kind of lovable (but somewhat awkward) intensity you might expect from the 'hero' of a Judd Apatow movie. Though his work required him to be at arms length from the mass of knobs, dials, and buttons, he didn't let that stop him from some serious upper body dancing, and his energy was contagious.

After playing a handful of songs, Wiesenfeld began to talk over the concluding notes of a song. "This is going..." He stopped, and switched off the reverb. "This is going to be my last song. Stay tuned. Fol Chen is next... Oh!" he exclaimed, momentarily switching off his music. "And I'm Baths. B-A-T-H-S," he said excitedly, almost as an after thought.

When Fol Chen singer/guitarist Samuel Bing walked on stage in his bright red shirt and pants combo, the crowd snickered a little. But when the remaining four members of Fol Chen joined him - each wearing the same outfit (save Sinosa Loa, the sole female member who wore black tights to match the shiny black buttons of her red shirt), the reaction changed to something akin to amusement. "Matching outfits? Yes!" said one audience member toward the front of the room. Maybe I was just influenced by the White Stripes-like aesthetics, but the instrumental interludes seemed reminiscent of a tasteful soundtrack to an old sci-fi movie - playful, but definitely eerie as well.

In the studio, a significant portion of Fol Chen's music consists of samples, but their music translates well to a live setting. Their sheer weirdness mixes irresistibly with their alluring vocals, irrepressible beats, and 80s-tinged keyboard riffs. The frenzied drumming propelled the music and threatened to transform Fol Chen into a hypnotic martian marching band of sorts. (The brief addition of a trumpet for one of their songs only reinforced the image.) Everyone but the drummer - who was working up a real sweat - contributed backing vocals, but even he approached the mic for one song near the end of the set. Fol Chen was also joined on stage by Kárin Tatoyan whose cover of "In Ruins" appears on the band's "In Ruins" EP (as does a remix by Baths).

During the song "The Idiot," back-up singer (and recent New York-transplant) Patrick-Ian sang, "Everyone here thinks it's a joke," which seemed to be an interesting tag line for the evening given the borderline cult-like and somewhat ridiculous matching outfits, but joke or no joke, their music is worth a listen.

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We already posted pictures from that show (the above review got lost in my email) (until now). Baths, if you hadn't noticed or figured it out, are/is in fact playing NYC as part of his tour with Dosh and headliner El Ten Eleven. That takes place at Knitting Factory on Thursday, September 16th (tickets still on sale).

For an MP3, grab the free EP Baths appears on over at Heart Music Group's Bandcamp.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Baths - last here w/ Fol Chen (review), coming back w/ Dosh "