The 'Gum Drop: Volume XXVII

Wednesday :: March 5, 2008 'Gum Drop Giveaway #27 Win a limited-edition Radiohead 4GB USB stick packed with the seven Parlophone albums. It's shaped like the Radiohead bear! Enter now »
Witch - "Old Trap Line" We're really digging Witch's Paralyzed. The Vermont/Western Mass crew's self-titled 2006 debut had moments, but this new one has many. The nine-song collection finds the band mind-expanding into heavier, sludgier, occasionally up-tempo punk-ish realms. The rhythm section of bassist Dave Sweetapple and drummer J Mascis -- yup, an invigorated Dinosaur J -- is out of control, while vocalist/guitarist Kyle Thomas and guitarist Asa Irons, both also of folk crew Feathers, pack each jam with dense, airy psychedelic grooves and hooks. You'll get a taste of all the aforementioned in today's epic drop "Old Trap Line." We caught up with Kyle and and Asa -- the latter wrote the lyrics and music -- to ask about the song's story. What are you trapping? At one point, "the wolf is in the trap." It sounds like instructions on how to lay a line properly, but there's something bigger going on. Asa Irons: The lyrics to that song were inspired by philosophies drawn from Vipassana Meditation and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, through the lens of the practice of hunting rites. Kyle Thomas: To me, the lyrics of that song have a very strong feeling of some impending force, like when you can sense that something isn't right just by the feeling in the air. Did you always envision "Old Trap Line" as the closer? It doesn't seem like it could fit anywhere else -- like it was born to be a finale. In that way, it's less a trap, than a way out, or an exit. Maybe. KT: I had a thought that it should be last after we recorded it, because the outro just has that riff cycling over and over. It also has a nice groove to it. It seemed like a good way to go out. But really we didn't know what the order was going to be until the last minute ... it seems like the songs themselves pick where they want to go sometimes. /// Paralyzed is out 3/18 on Tee Pee.	Stereogum's SXSW Party » Taking over Volume Night club for three days, our SXSW party, co-curated with Paste magazine, and open to the public and badgeholders, includes My Brightest Diamond, Destroyer, Peter Morén (of Peter Bjorn & John), Kaki King, High Places, No Age, the Weakerthans, HEALTH, Blitzen Trapper, and tons of others. We lay out the party schedule and RSVP info. New Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" » The Roots' ?uestlove leaked the new Gnarls, a downcast, cavernous dose of vintage soul, late at night via his YouTube. Like the best of evenings, the footage involves lip syncing and tequila. Download Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV » The new NIN is "the first four volumes" of an instrumental work entitled Ghosts. You can get a complete download of Vol. 1 for the price of nothing, but lay down more bucks, get more Trent. Win Yr Way To SXSW 08 » There's no better place on the planet than SXSW to kick off a year's worth of activities supporting independent radio. Yaris and Free Yr Radio invite you to Yr SXSW, an online resource to make your SXSW 2008 better than ever!