- Joanna Newsom: “Goose Eggs” (from Divers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOREKA4DiA
2. Lana Del Rey: “Terrence Loves You” (from Honeymoon)
3. Grimes: “California” (from Art Angels)
4. FKA Twigs: “In Time” (from M3LL155X)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKRfltntgA
5. Marina and the Diamonds: “I’m a Ruin” (from FROOT)
6. Blood Orange: “Sandra’s Smile”
7. Nicole Dollanganger: “Christian Woman” (Type O Negative cover)
8. Buffy Saint Marie: “Farm in the Middle of Nowhere” (from Power in the Blood)
9. Bjork: “Lionsong” (from Vulnicura)
10. Rihanna: “Bitch Better Have My Money”
Less than a week (four days to be exact) until Divers is released and tensions are high. Two-minute clips of each song from the record briefly surfaced (and then disappeared) last week; I listened to them twice and then put them away, sating my impatience but unwilling to spend much time with only a portion of the far surperior whole. Meanwhile, more interviews keep popping up online as Oct. 23rd approaches; The Guardian, Stereogum, and Rolling Stone both feature pretty great ones.
The P.T. Anderson-directed music video for the title track, “Divers,” is playing at independent movie theaters around the country through the 22nd; I’ve seen it twice already at my local indie movie theater Ciné and plan on at least one more viewing; truly gorgeous and spooky, the video features Newsom immersed in the surrealist pastoral artwork of Kim Keever, whose art is featured on the cover of the record.
Life keeps fumbling blissfully towards death, as Newsom sang on Ys, and as such here are some reviews of the record for those who like to read before they listen: Pitchfork, The New Yorker, The Times, NME, Chicago Tribune, The L.A. Times, NPR, (by the great critic Ann Powers, who co-wrote Tori Amos’ Piece by Piece), The Line of Best Fit, and Loud and Quiet.
Bonus: a bingo sheet for the often lazy/sexist music journalism created by Joseph Harmer just for reviews of Divers.
Still from the video for the title track “Divers,” (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Joanna Newsom just announced the first round of her U.S. tour dates! Rejoice, rejoice, all of us who can make it to one of these shows. If you’ve ever seen Newsom live (I’ve seen her seven times and would follow her like a Deadhead if I could) you know it is transformative, magical (not like witches or fairies but like Emily Dickinson or the best dreams), heart aching, and joyful. Feelings-church to the max. In addition to these tour dates, there will be theatrical-only screenings of the video for the album’s title track, “Divers.” Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed the video for “Sapokanikan,” directs this one as well, with art/landscapes by Kim Keever, whose art is featured on the cover of the record. Dates for those screenings below as well; information gleaned from Brooklyn Vegan.
U.S. tour dates:
12-06 Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre *
12-07 Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre *
12-09 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer *
12-10 Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre *
12-12 Munhall, PA – Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall *
12-13 Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall – Babeville *
12-14 Toronto, Ontario – Queen Elizabeth Theatre *
12-15 Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre *
12-16 Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre *
12-17 St. Paul, MN – The Fitzgerald Theater *
12-18 Madison, WI – Orpheum Theatre *
*=Ryan Francesconi & Alela Diane opening
“Divers” video screenings:
OCTOBER 16-22
New York, NY @ IFC Center
Yonkers, NY@ Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers
Huntington, NY@ Cinema Arts Centre
Los Angeles, CA @ The Cinefamily
Los Angeles, CA @ Ahrya Fine Arts
Pasadena, CA @ Laemmie Playouse 7
San Jose, CA @ Camera Cinemas
San Francisco, CA @ Castro Theatre
San Luis Obispo, CA @ Palm Theatre
Grass Valley, CA @ Sutton Cinema
Grass Valley, CA @ Sierra Cinemas
Grass Valley, CA @ Del Oro Theatre
Nevada City, CA @ Magic Theatrea
Tucson, AZ @ Loft Cinema
Denver, CO @ Alamo Drafthouse Littleton
Boulder, CO @ International Film Series, UC Boulder
Miami, FL @ O-Cinema
Boston, MA @ Coolidge Corner
Seattle, WA @ SIFF – Egyptian Theater
Bellingham, WA @ Pickford Film Center[INFO]
Portland, OR @ Cinema 21
Eugene, OR @ Bijou Cinemas
Pittsburgh, PA @ Regency Square Theater
Ashburn, VA @ Alamo Drafthouse One Loudon
Winchester, VA @ Alamo Drafthouse Winchester
Austin, TX@ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz
Austin, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline
Austin, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Village
Austin, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane
Austin, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre
Dallas, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Richardson
Houston, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park
Houston, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Vintage Park
Laredo, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Laredo
Lubbock, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Lubbock
New Braunfels, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Marketplace
San Antonio, TX@ Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes
San Antonio, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Park North
San Antonio, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Stone Oak
Kansas City, MO @ Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet
Ann Arbor, MI @ Michigan Theater
Kalamazoo, MI @Alamo Drafthouse Kalamazoo
Columbia, SC @Nickelodeon Theatre
Nashville, TN @ Belcourt Theatre
Salt Lake City, UT @Salt Lake Film Society[INFO]
Tulsa, OK @ Circle Cinema
Scottsbluff, NE @ Midwest Theater
Raleigh, NC @ Colony Theater
Winston-Salem, NC @ a/perture Cinema
Columbus, OH @ Gateway Film Center
Chicago, IL @ Music Box Theatre
Champaign, IL @ Art Theatre Co-Op
Paducah, KY @ Maiden Alley Cinema
Arhus, Denmark @ Øst For Paradis
London, UK @ Rio Cinema
Munich, Germany @ Monopol
OCTOBER 27
London, UK @ Clapham Picturehouse
London, UK @ East Dulwich Picturehouse and Cafe
London, UK @Greenwich Picturehouse
London, UK @ Hackney Picturehouse
London, UK @ Picturehouse Central
London, UK @ Ritzy Brixton
London, UK @ Stratford East Picturehouse
Bath, UK @ The Little Theatre Cinema
Bradford, UK @ Picturehouse at National Media Museum
Brighton, UK @ Duke’s at Komedia
Edinburgh, UK @ Cameo
Exeter, UK @ Exeter Picturehouse
Henley, UK @ Regal Picturehouse
Norwich, UK @ Cinema City
Liverpool, UK @ Picturehouse at FACT
Oxford, UK @ Phoenix Picturehouse
Southampton, UK @ Harbour Lights Picturehouse
Stratford-upon-Avon, UK @ Stratford-Upon-Avon Picturehouse
York, UK @ City Screen
meme credit: Mary Samsonite
People are counting down the days ’til Divers. By people I mean the diehard, swooning fans. Here are some reviews, interviews, art, and various other medias that might sate you ’til 10/23. I’d like to give a shoutout to the JN community I’m a member of on FB, which provided many of these links:
–Newsom interviewed the NY Times
–Newsom is interviewed in the new issue of Uncut Magazine (the first interview for the new album cycle!)
–JN is touring Europe beginning in October
–You can (and should) pre-order Divers from Drag City
–A few JN Tumblrs: Only Newsom, Fuck Yeah Joanna Newsom
In 2010 Joanna Newsom gave us Have One On Me, and it was glorious. Three discs of baroque, meticulous tunes, all but one of which are now permanent residents of my bloodstream (“No Provenance”, your time will come eventually, I suspect). Newsom fans have been waiting ardently for a new record for five years, and in 26 days that record, Divers, will begin its public life and quick entry into my already-crowded (yet never crowded enough!) veins. I. CAN’T. WAIT.
In the weeks leading up to the record’s release I will be posting tidbits here so I can vent some of my excitement in a public forum and not drive everyone in my life crazy. If you follow me on social media, though, I am 26 days away from being insufferably obsessed with Divers for the forseeable future. In the meantime, here are some live performances of songs that will be on the record:
Sometimes a song doesn’t stick right away, or even a whole album. You’re there to get into it because I’m/you’re a Fangirl and that requires patience and sustained interest, at the very least. Tonight I was on a walk in the freezing cold with my pug, who wore two sweaters, and listening to it on headphones I suddenly got Charli XCX’s “Body of My Own”– GOT IT in capital letters: the sped-up ‘80s English ska beat, the shouty punch of the melody, the lyrics “’Cause I can make it feel just like I’m hangin’ on/Yeah I can do it better when I’m all alone,” which by the way I initially thought went “Sometimes sex just feels like you are all alone/Yeah I can do it better when I’m all alone.” That same chorus sounds like a bratty girl version of Oingo Boingo’s most urgent songs, my favorite ones, all dork-circus with a blend of styles ranging from the American songbook to Broadway to cabaret to new wave rave-up.
When Marina & the Diamonds toured her Electra Heart album I showed up after Charli XCX had already opened because I hadn’t really cared for or about her. I only recently fell wildly in love with Charli’s first album, Nuclear Seasons, while working an office job I hated where Spotify was my main source of Good Life Feelings and emotional engagement. I had eight hours a day to listen to music I’d never taken the time to give a fair shake; it was during this exploration that I also fell hard for Dum Dum Girls. I’d somehow forgotten to note how much I loved “Coming Down” when that song came out & it’d play on the satellite radio station while I stood around gossiping with the other shopgirls at my then-job; Too True is this shiny pop glut run through a punk/late ‘80s goth rock machine with strong, throaty vocals spread on top thickly. At this same job I’d listen to Sam Cooke for eight hours straight, the Harlem Club Live album’s version of “Bring it On Home to Me” over and over, the demo for “You Send Me” that is just Sam singing so sweetly with a light, heartbreaking acoustic guitar: perfect.
I saw Inherent Vice at noon today, the first showing of the film in my fair city of Athens. While I enjoy PT Anderson films, and would go so far as to say that I loved There Will Be Blood, I was there with such a quickness not out of some affinity for the filmmaker or lead actor or even book (which I’d just finished) but for Joanna Newsom, who plays a character named Sortilege who also acts as a narrator for the film and appears in about three scenes. Everything goes out the fucking window when Joanna is involved: it cannot be anything to me before it is a Thing with Joanna Newsom.” This all because her music sits right in the center of my body and has since I first heard it, though it’s set up house there more firmly as the years go by and the songs keep coming. If you’re a lucky person this happens with lots of art and there are thousands of good, strong homes inside you that you get to share with all kind of interesting strangers on this planet, makers of art and the fellow imbibers, too. It’s one of the best parts of being alive, next to dogs.