+ Oceana – Clean Head EP

Greg from Moving Mountains turned me on to this band.  They used to be a deathcore/metalcore band but then changed their style and released an incredible 4 song indie rock EP.  Really digging this.  They just reached their goal on kickstarter so they will be recording a new album soon.  Can’t wait to hear it.

With Clean Head, the band have decided to incorporate this new aesthetic into their music – along with a progression so extreme it will either alienate fans or give them reason to rejoice. Clean Head is different. It is sorrowful. It is marvelous, yet most of all it is happy. Songs such as “Wool God” and “Joy” (obviously) are examples of this newfound happiness, while “Blue” and “Barracuda Capital of the World” showcase mourning, sorrow, wonder, and occasionally a restrained sense of euphoria. Together these songs form a cohesive whole that possesses enough quality to be perfect – yet it’s not quite there yet

via Sputnik

Pianos Become The Teeth & Xerxes Northeast and Canada tour 2012

Feb 24 – The Studio at Webster Hall – New York City
Feb 25 – The Space – Hamden, CT
Feb 26 – 242 Main St. – Burlington, VT
Feb 28 – Cafe L’ Agitee – Quebec City, Quebec
Feb 29 – L’escogriffe – Montreal, Quebec
Mar 1 – Mavericks – Ottawa, ON
Mar 2 – Hard Luck – Toronto, ON
Mar 3 – The Mansion House – St. Catharines, ON
Mar 4 – Lounge @ London Music Hall – London, ON
Mar 6 – Sugar City – Buffalo, NY
Mar 7 – Carabar – Columbus, OH
Mar 8 – Bangarang’s – Covington, KY
Mar 9 – Smiling Moose – Pittsburgh, PA
Mar 10 – Altoona Masonic Temple – Altoona, PA

Two of my favorite bands, At the Drive-in and Refused, are reuniting to play Coachella.  Hopefully both of them will tour because I don’t want to fly to California – or pay for Coachella tickets – to see them.  I go back and forth on how I feel about these bands doing reunions because a) it’s viewed as heretical for a punk band to reunite to cash in, and b) it’s rare for a reunion show to top past performances.  On the other hand, it’s great that I’m going to hopefully get the chance to see two incredibly influential bands and why should it matter that they are reuniting since they both make great music.

Here’s an article that sums it up pretty well.

+ Louis CK Interview

Here’s an interview with comedian Louis CK that’s worth reading.

Speaking about his first encounter with the Conan O’Brien writing team:

Then I was so nervous, and Dino Stamatopoulos and all the other writers were saying, “You’re the new writer here,” and I was like, “I haven’t been hired yet,” and Dino was playing games with me, saying, “Congratulations, you’ve been hired,” and I was like, “I haven’t even been interviewed yet.” I hung out with him while I was waiting, then I hung out with Smigel and Conan, who were in this really weird position, that in two months from now, they were going to be on the air to replace Letterman, a complete unknown replacing this massive…they started pitching ideas to me for their opening, and they had just started talking about this open where Conan’s really excited to go to work. Everybody goes, “Good luck, you’d better be as good as Letterman,” they keep saying that to him and he doesn’t care, and he goes into his dressing room and puts his head in a noose and they knock down the door and he has to go on. He told me he was going to put a gun in his mouth, and I was the new guy, and I said, “Are you really going to do that?” and they were like, “You think that’s too dark?” and I said, “You can’t do that, that’s vicious, that’s really hard for people to take.” I talked them out of it, and it was like they were asking me for permission. “Really, is it too much?” “Yeah, guys, that’s crazy.” A gun in the mouth, Jesus.

 + Pianos/Xerxes & Pianos/Touche Tours Announced

So we announced two tours today.  One with Xerxes in Canada and the northeastern US and the other with Touche Amore & Goodtime Boys in Europe.  I’ll post the Europe dates when they are finalized.

Pianos/Xerxes Tour Dates:

Feb. 24 – The Studio at Webster Hall – New York City
Feb. 25 – The Space – Hamden, Ct.
Feb. 26 – 242 Main St. – Burlington, Vt.
Feb. 28 – Cafe L’ Agitee – Quebec City, Quebec
Feb. 29 – L’escogriffe – Montreal, Quebec
March 1 – Mavericks – Ottawa, ON
March 2 – Hard Luck – Toronto, ON
March 3 – The Mansion House – St. Catharines, ON
March 4 – Lounge @ London Music Hall – London, ON
March 6 – Sugar City – Buffalo, NY
March 7 – Carabar – Columbus, OH
March 8 – Bangarang’s – Covington, Ky.
March 9 – Smiling Moose – Pittsburgh, Pa.
March 10 – Altoona Masonic Temple – Altoona, Pa.

+ Arcade Fire – Sprawl II

Watching this video makes me want to go back and listen to The Suburbs.  Definitely an album that I slept on.

+ Pianos Stuff

Our album leaked a month ago so I may as well post it up here.  Hope you enjoy it.  If you feel guilty for stealing the food from our mouths and from the mouths of our children by downloading it, or just want to buy it on vinyl – go HERE.

Someone posted a FLAC (very high quality) version HERE which is kind of cool.  But if you are short on file space download the mp3 version HERE.

Lukas Hodge also made a pretty cool video for the opening track “I’ll be Damned” which you can view HERE.

Koji covered Wagon Wheel by Bob Dylan/Old Crow Medicine Show at a venue in South Carolina and had the majority of the crowd singing along with him.  I decided not to record that performance and now I’m kicking myself for it.

To make up for my mistake I taped Koji playing his song Minute Eight during a very intimate house show performance in Melbourne, Florida.  Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our split with The Saddest Landscape is finally out.  We’re really happy with the way the vinyl turned out.  The etching looks incredible.  Thought I’d post it up for download.  If you would like to purchase the vinyl (limited to 600 w/ 18×24″ poster) you can do so through Just Say No! Records HERE.

Download:  The Saddest Landscape/Pianos Become the Teeth – Split 9″

In other exciting personal news: Pianos will be touring Europe in April with Suis La Lune!

+ Pansori – Summer EP

The always-excellent music blog ChugLife posted Pansori’s Summer EP.  I suspect they will get huge if/when they release a full length.  For fans of early thursday, envy, iwouldsetmyselfonfireforyou etc.  They’re playing a show in Baltimore this weekend at CCAS with an amazing lineup: Hostage Calm(!!! new album rules so hard), Transit, Big Kids, 1994!, Snowing, Pansori.

+ El Guincho – Bombay

NSFW!  BOOBIES + Indie Electronic pop + vintage muted color filters + creepy bits + nice transitions = a confusing but very enjoyable music video.

+ Tartine Bread

I like this new trend of beautifully shot trade/craft related videos that are popping up on the web.  Baker Chad Robertson shares his knowledge/promotes his new book/tells you why he loves bread so much.  I actually like this video more – detailing the process of creating ink – but it’s been posted on every corner of the internet already.