Liars releasing WIXIW, playing Webster Hall June 20

by John Dabrowski

Not many bands would start an album with a track entitled “The Exact Colour of Doubt.” Doubt is something both listeners and critics possess when approaching the latest album from an established band. Liars, however, transcends this possible doubt by creating their own warped, dark dreamscape to lose oneself in. Pronounced “wish you,” WIXIW is Liars in their purest form - mystical, shrouded and languid. Angus Andrews’ voice acts as shade on WIXIW, covering and blanketing the electronic landscape extracted by bandmates Hemphill and Gross.

On WIXIW, each song has its own pulse, is its own body, knowing what makes it tick, desire and lust. The haze and suspense Andrews, Hemphill and Gross illuminates ultimately teases and taunts listeners into diving through their own demented dreamworld where the boundaries of reality are blurred and crossed. Standout tracks include “His and Mine Sensations,” a sinister layering of voices and sounds that delights and terrifies, and “No. 1 Against the Rush,” a number that crawls slowly towards you and bites down hard. Created by Todd Cole, the video for “No. 1 Against the Rush” syncs with the song’s urgency and restlessness. Check it out below...



Liars’ WIXIW will be digitally and physically released on June 5th through Mute Records, though you can stream the album in its entirety right now over at NRP. You can also preorder the album over here. To support their sixth album, Liars are touring this summer, most notably at Webster Hall June 20th. The opening act for their Webster gig is Oneohtrix Point Never. Tickets are still available.

Overall, Liars’ sixth effort reflects their evolution in sound and their commitment to experimenting with electronic music. It's complex yet accessible, making listeners pour themselves into its delicate folds. I would highly recommend investing in this work. Don’t ever doubt Liars.

Liars 2012 Tour Dates
Wednesday 6/20 – Webster Hall – New York City, NY*
Friday 6/22 – The Music Box – Los Angeles, CA
Thursday 7/5 - The Filmore – San Francisco, CA
Saturday 7/7 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
Sunday 7/8 – Neumos – Seattle, WA
Monday 7/9 – The Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC
Wednesday 7/11 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
Friday 7/13 – The Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO
Saturday 7/14 – The Granada – Lawrence, KS
Sunday 7/15 – The Waiting Room – Omaha, NE
Tuesday 7/17 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
Wednesday 7/18 – Mad Planet – Milwaukee, WI
Thursday 7/19 – Metro – Chicago, IL
Friday 7/20 – Magic Stick – Detroit, MI
Saturday 7/21 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON
Monday 7/23 - La Sala Rossa – Montreal, QC
Tuesday 7/24 - Paradise – Boston, MA
Wednesday 7/25 - U Street Music Hall – Washington DC
Thursday 7/26 - Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
Friday 7/27 – Grog Shop – Cleveland Heights, OH
Saturday 7/28 – A&R Music Bar – Columbus, OH

*With Oneohtrix Point Never

FN News Roundup: April 20, 2012 (Wink Wink Nudge Nudge)

Happy "Friday Before Earth Day," everyone! Look, let's not act like today's significance is lost on anyone... hell, even CNN ran a piece at 4:20pm ET entitled "Even Celebrity Chefs Get The Munchies." Have a nice Friday, have a tasty dinner, and get ready for our 1st Anniversary Concert tomorrow night, mmkay?

• Happy 20th Birthday to Pavement's Slanted And Enchanted! (Stereogum)


• Record Store Day is tomorrow, as all ye music fans know, but you can stream another track from Public Image Ltd.'s RSD One Drop EP, "Lollipop Opera," right now (NME)


• Radiohead are still out on tour kicking the world's collective ass ('sup Coachella goers), but while they were in Austin, they recorded a full-length set that will be available in its entirety this Fall. But as waiting is not at all one of the Internet's favorite qualities, you can now watch a clip of them performing "Lotus Flower" for the ACL session after the jump (The Arcade Fire)


• I'm a big fan of "No. 1 Against The Rush," the first single from Liars' upcoming album WIXIW (out June 5 via Mute). So I'm glad to see it got an appropriately creepy, not-really-NSFW official video. Check it after the jump! (Pitchfork)


• And what would this day be without a new (definitely NSFW) video from The Flaming Lips? (Consequence of Sound)

FN News Roundup: April 2, 2012

James Murphy @ Brooklyn Night Bazaar, 12/15/11

Happy April, babies. There was quite a bit of April Fool's-related tomfoolery happening in the music world over the weekend, but rest assured that the news below is legit and exceptionally awesome.

• In what may be the best LCD-Iversary gift short of a reunion, LCD Soundsystem has announced that their long-awaited documentary film, Shut Up And Play The Hits, will be seeing a North American theatrical release in special one-night only premieres this summer. Oscilloscope Laboratories will be distributing the film, which - as the hardcore among you know - is the production/distribution studio owned by none other than Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Seriously, show us a more badass release story than THAT (Oscilloscope Laboratories)


• I waited a full day to confirm that this wasn't an elaborate hoax, and thankfully it isn't - the legendary Patti Smith is putting out Banga, her first new album since 2004's Trampin', on June 5. The first single "April Fool" (see how I'd be skeptical?) is available now on iTunes, and the LP also features tributes to Amy Winehouse, Johnny Depp, and the nation of Japan (Exclaim!)


• Feeling bummed now that Portlandia is over? Chill - not only is Carrie Brownstein still rocking faces with WILD FLAG (who were just in NYC last night), she's got a memoir coming out through Riverhead Books and was just on Marc Maron's consistently hilarious WTF? podcast (Stereogum)


• In more let's-wait-and-see-if-this-was-a-prank news, yesterday Jack White premiered "Freedom At 21," the next track off of his new album Blunderbuss (out April 24) by... putting it on 1,000 Flexi Discs and tying those to helium balloons launched from Nashville. We kid you not, this actually happened. Check the video below the jump (Third Man Records)


• Hot on the heels of the announcement that their album would be dropping on June 5 (seriously, great day for musics), Liars have revealed the name of said album - WIXIU (pronounced "Wish You") - AND thrown down the LP's great first single "No. 1 Against The Rush" (Beats Per Minute)


• The Walkmen stopped by Pitchfork.tv to play "Heaven" off of their upcoming album, which is also named Heaven (Pitchfork)    

FN News Roundup: March 26, 2012

Mission of Burma @ MHOW, 1/19/2012

Hoooooly crap a LOT of great things happened today. Let's get to it.

• FN heroes Mission of Burma will continue rocking our faces off with their new LP Unsound, which will drop on July 9 via their new label Fire Records. Check out leadoff track "Dust Devil" below. Do it. We'll wait. Why are you still reading this (Pitchfork)


• In what is probably the biggest tease ever for me and every other Amurrican New Order fan, frontman Bernard Sumner has confirmed in a post-Ultra Festival interview that the legendary band will be back in the US for more shows once they've fulfilled other dates worldwide. I'll just stand here with my credit card out, Bernard (Slicing Up Eyeballs)


• NEW SIGUR ROS ALBUM (VALTARI) ON MAY 9! STREAM TITLE TRACK BELOW! IT'S COOL IF YOU TEAR UP A LITTLE (Consequence of Sound)


• New Liars album on June 5! (Mute)


• Tenacious D. 2012 Tour. Hammerstein Ballroom on June 28. Tickets on sale this Friday at 10am ET. Really no need for me to tell you how excited to get here. (BrooklynVegan)


• Stream M. Ward's new album A Wastland Companion! There's a LOT less Zooey Deschanel on this, so that's already a reason to like it (NPR)


• New(ish) Japandroids single? Yes! 2012 Tour bringing them to Bowery Ballroom on June 26 for a sweaty awesome rock show? Yes Squared. (Stereogum)


• 22 seconds of the first new Soundgarden song are available now. Juuuuuust enough to blueball SG fans until the release of The Avengers soundtrack (or, knowing the Internet, a couple weeks from now) (Rock It Out)