The Walkmen Debut Angela Surf City On Fallon

OK, so here is a follow up post to my previous one about the Walkmen. Last night they debuted the first track from Lisbon, the new album. It's called Angela Surf City and it rocks.

Turn it up really loud.

Waiting For Superman Is Heartbreaking

Waiting For Superman is the new documentary from Davis Guggenheim. In it, the failing American education system is dissected. It is a sad, sad state of affairs, and even watching the trailer will make you want to cry. It's more than a dumbing down of America, it's to the point where this generation will be less literate than the one before it, for the first time in several generations.

This is worse than mere consumerist, plasticized culture. This is a disaster.

New Walkmen Album Is On It's Way

It Came From Brooklyn: The Walkmen // In The New Year [Part 1 of 3] from Ray Concepcion on Vimeo.

One of my very favorite bands, The Walkmen (winners of my Top Ten Albums of 2008 list, with their raggedly elegant You & Me) are about to return with a new album. That album, entitled Lisbon, was written mostly during the tour behind their previous record, and is reported to share much of the same DNA with that period. Which suits me fine, as the band had truly moved into a higher plane with the release of that beautiful set.

The Walkmen have an interesting story. Back in the late Nineties most of the members were in another band - Jonathan Fire Eater. JFE were immensely hyped, and a bidding war kicked off between several record companies to sign them. Eventually they did, and their lead singer - Stewart Lupton - promptly got hooked on heroin, forcing a major rift between him and the rest of the band due to his unreliability as well as his desire to go in a different musical direction. They finally put out an album, which died a quick death, and band and singer parted ways. The guys then met raspy soul singer Hamilton Leithauser and reformed as The Walkmen. I picked up their first album - Bows & Arrows in 2002 and went crazy for The Rat, one of the best rock songs of the past decade. They grew and matured, but appeared to be moving kind of sideways - covering Nilsson's Pussy Cats in it's entirety, and kind of floating. Then came the aforementioned, beautiful You & Me and suddenly it seemed like all that potential had come together.

So we are today, and Lisbon will be released September 14th. I am very excited. Check them out - you won't be sorry. There is a nice article about them here.