Believers: Columbia, MO Polyrhythmic Post-Punk Band Releases Ltd. Edition Vinyl EP as a Free Download / Show at Glasslands on Oct. 7th

After listening to the debut EP from Columbia, MO's Believers, the disc struck such a chord that I started it over again from the beginning. The post-punk label that I used above really doesn't do justice to the band's new disc as the closest comparison is the post-punk, polyrhythmic experimentalism of later period Talking Heads without any of the pop dross/gloss that plagued the Heads' later albums. Columbia, MO's True/False Film Fest touches on Believers' core sound in a recent interview with guitarist and singer Wesley Powell.

True/False: "A striking feature of your live sets is that you have two percussionists at the center of the stage while the rest of the band fills the edges with guitars, samples, vocals, and bass. What’s the reasoning behind that setup? Is it just a space issue, or is there a purpose for such a configuration?"

Wesley Powell: "For much of what we play live, the rhythm section carries us. Taylor and Pete are the metronomic backbone, so it makes sense to have us all focus on them. And we like to have the two of them close together so they can feed off of one another’s energy, and the rest of us can feed off that. Some kind of parasitic vibe feast."

Believers are off on a trek to the East Coast which hits Cake Shop on Oct. 6th and Glasslands on Oct. 7th. No information is posted yet about the show at Cake Shop. For the show at Glasslands, Believers are playing with Landlady and RAILBIRD and advanced tickets are $10.

Believers Tour Dates
9/21 - Columbia, MO - RNBNBBQ Fest (5:45 Set)
9/21 - Columbia, MO - Mojo's (9:00pm)
9/29 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
9/30 - St. Louis, MO - Strange Folk Festival
10/2 - Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox
10/6 - New York, NY - Cake Shop
10/7 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands
10/8 - Portland, ME - Space
10/10 - Cincinnati, OH - Mayday
10/11 - Bloomington, IN - Bishop Bar
10/12 - Champaign, IL - Mike n Molly's
10/13 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
10/14 - Rock Island, IL - Daytrotter

Links:
Believers

David Byrne Releases Audiobook Version of "The Bicycle Diaries"

Click through to DOWNLOAD David Byrne's 9 Minute Introduction to the Audiobook (Free)

Last month, David Byrne released an audiobook version of last year's The Bicycle Diaries. This release is a good bit more than the typical author narration of their own work and below is David Byrne's description of the "You Are There" approach that he followed.

"After this book came out in hardback about a year ago, I wondered to myself, what if the audiobook for this project was more like a cross between a podcast and a radio show instead of the usual author or actor reading in silence? I was thinking about the kind of radio show that NPR stations do from time to time, with background music, street sounds and other ambiences that help put the listener in the picture. So, I did one chapter (New York) as a test, with me reading, and though it took a lot longer to assemble than I expected, I felt it did indeed do what I imagined it could; when you heard the tinkle of glasses and silverware during a restaurant “scene,” boom!—you immediately felt you were there. Your mind fills in the details and these little sound cues help paint a fuller picture. If only I could have added smell! When the text went off on one of many tangents, and I began ruminating about a subject off the beaten path, a little bit of music I happened to have available helped tell you, the listener, that, yes, we’ve left the “story” temporarily, but will return soon. It started as an experiment and then turned into a complete DIY project, with the Hendler Brothers keeping the ball rolling.

I also realized that this particular book could be consumed in any order, and it didn’t matter which chapter you started with. So one could download and listen to the chapters as individual podcasts, in any sequence. I could even make the chapters available to download separately—you wouldn’t need to buy the whole audiobook to see if you liked the experience. This all would have been impossible if these were made available only via CD (or cassette!)…or with many other types of books." - David Byrne

David Byrne's narration of the audiobook adds a new dimension that couldn't be captured in hardcopy print. The press release for the hardcopy edition describes the "Bicycle Diaries [as] chronicl[ing] David’s observations and insights — what he is seeing, whom he is meeting, what he is thinking about — as he pedals through and engages with some of the world’s major cities. In places like Buenos Aires, Istanbul, San Francisco, and London, the focus is more on the musicians and artists he encounters." The problem with this is that some of the narrative was hard to follow in print as David jumped between subjects and it seemed a bit stream of consciousness. These problems go completely away in the audiobook format as David's narrative allows for the listener to get inside of his head and follow his thought patterns. The audio queues (background music, which indicates that David is off on a tangent) also help keep the narrative flowing in a (quasi-)linear fashion.

The audiobook (which runs 8 hours: 39 minutes) is available for $19.95 and each of the nine chapters and the epilogue are available as individual downloads for $2.49 each.

Links:
David Byrne

Murder Mystery Play Public Assembly on June 12th and 14th as part of Northside Festival

DOWNLOAD: Murder Mystery - "The World" (MP3)

Brooklyn indie-rockers Murder Mystery have a busy weekend ahead as they are playing two nights at Public Assembly as part of the Northside Festival. The first show is Friday night as part of the Pop Tarts Suck Toasted showcase and the second show is Sunday night as part of the Engine Records showcase.

Murder Mystery released their debut CD, Are You Ready For the Heartache Cause Here it Comes, early last year and the Village Voice described this disc as "catchy, hard-rocking, intelligent music in the mode of Nick Lowe, Magnetic Fields, or Talking Heads." The band is in the process of finishing up their second disc which is tentatively due out in the fall.

Links:
Murder Mystery's MySpace Profile