Friday, January 19, 2007

Malkmus likes The Kingdom

How did I miss this? Almost a year ago I came across the Kingdom with their debut Unitas EP and was immediately struck at their quick jabs at pop perfection. It wasn’t until this week when Stereogum let us in on Stephen Malkmus’ sit-down with Seattle’s The Stranger where Mr. Pavement points out his liking for the Portland outfit that I forced myself to find out what the Kingdom have been up to.

Fortunately, I was able to head over to eMusic (God bless their souls) and pick up the Kingdom’s new album K1. I hate saying that I was pleasantly surprised by a band but the Kingdom’s K1 is everything and a step up from where Unitas left off. With their new album, the Kingdom find themselves firmly planted in their tight fitting pop architecture (only one song on the 11-track album runs over 3 minutes). Charles Westmoreland’s ringy, high-pitched vocals have grown on me during my second pass and now come off as more friendly and familiar in his avant-garde story telling. And it never hurts to have a gorgeous girl in the band.

[www] The Kingdom – Racer
[www] The Kingdom – Driver

posted by Anonymous at 10:15 AM

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Off-topic:

Promoters are expected to announce Friday that the Pitchfork Music Festival is returning July 14-15 to Union Park in what is shaping up to be another busy summer festival season in Chicago.

The underground-rock Pitchfork Festival, sponsored by the Chicago-based Internet music site pitchforkmedia.com, drew more than 30,000 fans from around the world to the park last year. Tickets ($25 or two-day passes for $35) go on sale March 12 through pitchforkmusicfestival.com.

The lineup, which will feature dozens of bands and artists performing on three stages, will be announced later, but among the performers will be celebrated electro-pop maestro Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk.

Also expected to return earlier in the summer is the Intonation Festival, which last year brought performers such as Roky Erickson, Lady Sovereign and the Streets to Union Park. Promoters say details are forthcoming, but they are co-promoting a performance in March at the Steppenwolf Theatre by Los Angeles-based producer and songwriter Jon Brion, one of the highlights of last year's Intonation lineup.

In addition, Lollapalooza already has announced that it will be returning Aug. 3-5 to Grant Park.

XOXO
Rufus & Maude in Chicago

2:03 PM  

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