Exclusive: Clinic Announce 2007 Dates

In anticipation of the U.S. release of their fourth album, Visitations, via Domino on January 23, Clinic have announced North American tour dates.

They have a sold-out show in London on December 14 and one in Glasgow in February, and they will hit American shores on March 2. According to a press release, "these shows will be their only appearances in these markets in 2007," so fanboys-and-girls have three months to decide which color surgical mask to wear.

On February 5, Domino will release the single for "If You Could Change Your Mind" from Visitations. [MORE...]

Hey, Where Did That Optimo Download Go?

As some of you may have noticed, earlier today, we posted an exclusive mp3 download of Optimo's "Essential Mix" for the BBC. Then it disappeared. What happened?

Well, hosting a two-and-a-half-hour dance mix put quite a bit of strain on Pitchfork's server, especially since the mix was so popular that a billion people tried to download it at once. We hope to have it back up by the weekend. So sit tight. Believe us, it's worth the wait.

Blood Brother, Dälek, Braxton Remix Minus the Bear
Plus: Pretty Girl, Fog, Alias, P.O.S., Crystal Skull, IQU, Plan B (U.S.)

Wayyy back in July, when your skin was being scorched by the sun rather than frostbitten by the wind, we told you of a good Bear called Minus and a cadre of remixers set to re-envision that Bear's 2005 set Menos El Oso. With all those Bear bands bumming around of late, after all, a remix disc might be just the thing to lift Minus above Volcano, Grizzly, Huggy, and Panda on the hallowed last.fm charts.

Well we're now quite pleased to share the complete tracklist and title for Interpretaciones Del Oso, due February 20 via longtime Bear den Suicide Squeeze. The disc once again features remix work from O, Hunter (aka Morgan Henderson of the Blood Brothers), the Oktopus (aka Dälek), Fog, Tyondai Braxton (also of Battles), J. Clark (aka Jay Clark of Pretty Girls Make Graves), Alias, P.O.S., Dark Baby (aka Yuuki Matthews of Squeeze labelmates Crystal Skulls), IQU, Michio (aka Monostereo), and Plan B (the Seattle dude, not the UK grimester).

Minus the Bear wrap up a UK tour tonight and tomorrow, and their clip for "Pachuca Sunrise" is in the running for video of the year on MTV 2's "Subterranean". Vote for it here. [MORE...]

Cornelius Schedules Sensuous Shows, Plans Release

Keigo Oyamada, aka Japanese electro/pop/noise auteur Cornelius, has scheduled a trio of dates in Australia in order to play songs from Sensuous, an album he released last month in Japan but which has yet to find a home anywhere else.

Since Cornelius is no long on Matador, he is currently looking for a distribution partner with whom he can release Sensuous in the U.S., possibly with bonus tracks. He hopes to release the album around the end of April, though nothing concrete has been determined.

Cornelius' Australian dates begin December 6 in Sydney and end December 9 with an appearance at the Meredith Music Festival alongside Band of Horses, Tapes 'n' Tapes, and Girl Talk, among others. [MORE...]

Explosions in the Sky Tour With Eluvium, pAper chAse

Seems every time the four mild-mannered gentlemen of Explosions in the Sky swing back through town, the venues are twice as large and the kids are twice as excited-- I mean, if you were desperate for a pun or something, you could say these guys are blowing up.

This time around, however, they're clearly stricken with a severe case of the glums, as evidenced by the title of their latest longplayer, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone-- which drops February 20 via Temporary Residence, as previously reported. But rather than gazing longingly at old photos of everyone, they're getting their asses out of bed and coming to visit as much of everyone as they can, you know, given the quantitative enormity of everyone.

After a pair of NY gigs and a hop, skip, and jump through Europe, the Texas post-rock foursome sweeps across the U.S. and Canada with T. Residence ambient buddy Eluvium-- who has a record due early next year as well-- along for the ride. Spitting in the face of all that graceful, instrumental nonsense will be fellow Texans the pAper chAse, who open a bunch of dates. The connection? John Congleton of the chAse produced Miss Everyone. [MORE...]

Clap Your Hands Reveal New Album, Post MP3s

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have finally spoken. The Brooklyn/Philly five-piece has titled its forthcoming self-released record, which is due on January 30, though fans can download it from the band's website on January 16. The album is titled Some Loud Thunder and is also set for a UK landing courtesy of Wichita and additional distribution through V2.

The band has made two tracks available for download. "Love Song No. 7" is a long, languid piano ballad that sounds like Aerosmith's "Dream On"...if Aerosmith were intentionally creepy and liked accordions. "Underwater (You and Me)" shows off producer Dave Fridmann's signature majesty, with chiming bells and what sounds like pedal steel. Another track, "Satan Said Dance" is streaming on the Clap Your Hands MySpace right now, but we can't get it to work right now.

As previously reported, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah recently wrapped up a U.S. jaunt with Architecture in Helsinki and Takka Takka. The three groups' live tour EP, initially only sold on the road, can now be purchased online. Please note that the opener, "Some Loud Thunder", is also the title track on the new record.

Finally, we'd like to remind you that CYHSY will take on Europe alongside Cold War Kids and Elvis Perkins this February. Beforehand, however, they'll bring in the New Year at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom. [MORE...]

Les Savy Fav, Tokyo PC Lend Jams to College Hoops

Remember that NBA 2K7 video game, with that Dan the Automator-produced soundtrack boasting a bunch of marquee names, like Ghostface, E-40, and Slim Thug? Well make way for its brainy little cousin, 2K Sports' College Hoops 2K7. In the true spirit of college, this one sets the court hustle against music from a bunch of obscure no-names. You know, weird shit that skinny kid in your advanced calc class listens to, like Les Savy Fav and Tokyo Police Club.

Those two P4k faves rock College Hoops 2K7 alongside folks like Good Riddance, Jupiter Hills (huh?), Cities in Dust (good tune), and P.O.D. (brick!)...and a bunch of underground hip hop I won't even pretend to know a thing about: 3rd Degree, Deux Process, Ellay Khule, Exile, GERM and Mighty Joe, Knonsense, MHE, Redline 99, the Sole Vibe, and SYKO. Plus the Procussions, who had a single-of-the-week on iTunes, I think. And Traxamillion! People like that guy.

College Hoops 2K7 is out now for XBox and XBox 360, and will hit both Playstation 2 and 3 in the near future.

The Rapture Announce Record Label, Winter Tour
Mastodon totally wish they'd thought of label name first

Like many before them, the Rapture have formed their own record label, the tuff-named (perhaps after Akira Kurosawa's Macbeth-based film) Throne of Blood Records. Its initial purpose is to house the slew of vinyl singles and remixes culled from their latest album, Pieces of the People We Love, as well as the vinyl version of Pieces.

The label's creative direction will be managed by the Rapture, and DJ James Friedman will supervise its day-to-day affairs.

Throne of Blood has joined forces with Syntax Distribution in the U.S., and Amato Distribution and Schnauzer Records in Europe. Its first release, the single for "Get Myself Into It", landed on November 13; it features remixes by Prince Language, Serge Santiago, and SebastiAn.

According to a press release, the Rapture plan to recruit "some of the most influential producers in dance music" for the forthcoming remixes.

In other news, the band made its way to the market two times yesterday-- once on their second UK single, "W.A.Y.U.H. (People Don't Dance No More)" (aka "Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh Huh" on the album), which boasts new B-sides and remixes from Simian Mobile Disco and Claude Von Stroke, and again on Parisian duo Black Strobe's previously reported remix album, A Remix Selection (Playlouderecordings) with their song "Sister Saviour".

Of the former song, the Rapture's Mattie Safer commented on his group's official website, "I always wanted to have some fucking parentheses in a song title. It's so Janet Jackson."

The four-piece just wrapped up a lengthy North American trek alongside the Presets, and has already announced a modestly-sized tour of the UK. Following this jaunt, which is set to begin in February, the Rapture will make two appearances at Australia's V Festival.

Finally, the guys are up for Video of the Year on MTV2's "Subterranean" for "Get Myself Into It". Vote for them here. [MORE...]

Video: Bonnie "Prince" Billy: "Lay and Love"

The video for Bonnie "Prince" Billy's previously reported new single, "Lay and Love", is as weird a clip as we've come to expect from the man who used Neil Hamburger to promote his new album. Will Oldham rents a moving truck, pays a guy to help him deck out the back, then pays a prostitute to sleep with the guy, but all they seem to do is eat. The "surprise" ending (spoiler: the peanuts in Oldham's hand turn into a meatball) is equally baffling, though there's probably some mundane explanation for the whole thing.

UPDATE: DOMINO HAS REMOVED THE VIDEO FROM THEIR SITE. BUT YOU CAN WATCH A BIZARRE "PREVIEW" FOR IT FROM DRAG CITY BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW.

Domino will release the "Lay and Love" single in the UK on January 22 on CD and 7" vinyl. The 7" will feature a cover of Bob Dylan's "Going to Acapulco" on the B-side, and the CD will feature "Going to Acapulco", another Dylan cover ("Señor"), and the "Lay and Love" video. The single will be out in America on Drag City at some point next year.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy will give the UK even more love when he begins his tour there in Glasgow on January 21. [MORE...]

Neko Case, Jim James, Howe Gelb on M. Ward Single
M. Ward single?? Fellers, lock up yer women!

It's just a big ol' boot-stompin' hootenanny all the time with these alt-country types, I tell ya. Just look at that M. Ward character. Greenhorn's only been around a few years now, and he's already covering Jimmie Dale Gilmore and hooking up with the most respected urban cowboys and cowgals in the game: Neko Case, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Nels Cline (Wilco), and even the grandson of banjo legend Earl Scruggs.

The proof's in the pudding, and the pudding here is a new single Ward has rounded up for release on February 20 via Merge. It collects "To Go Home", from this year's quite lovely Post-War, an epic cover of Gilmore's "Headed for a Fall"-- featuring Case (vocals), James (guitar/vocals), Cline (lead guitar), Saddle Creek handyman Mike Mogis (pedal steel), and ex-Thermal Jordan Hudson (drums)-- and new jams "Human Punching Bag" and "Cosmopolitan Pap". The latter showcases Gelb's piano skills and Chris Scruggs' lap steel chops. Mogis mixed both of the star-studded selections.

Ward goes to the land down under this winter, where it will be summer, a season more conducive to his six-shootin', rough'n'tumble ways. [MORE...]

Video: Ghostface Killah: More Fish Promo

Things we've learned from this promotional video for Ghostface's upcoming Fishscale supplement/posse record More Fish, due out December 12 on Def Jam:

1) Fishscale had nothing to do with cocaine.

2) Ghost stutters when he's frustrated.

3) Fishmongers just don't understand.

Owner of Velvet Underground Vinyl Talks eBay Auction
Highest bid up to $124,740.50!!!

Warren Hill is a lucky guy. A very, very lucky guy. Up until last week, the only reason the Montreal resident's name would have appeared on Pitchfork News would have been if something terrible and/or terribly hilarious had happened on a Sunset Rubdown tour, as Hill is that band's roadie and merch guy. (He also runs a record store, Backroom Records & Pastries, where Sunset's Camilla Wynne Ingr sells baked goods.)

But Hill might not need to spend his nights behind the merch table much longer. He's the guy who, as previously reported, is selling the ultra-ultra-ultra-rare Velvet Underground acetate on eBay, now up to the astounding bidding price of $124,740.50. The auction ends on Friday, December 8 around 8:30 p.m. PST.

As reported on Friday, Hill found the original 1966 test-pressing of an early version of The Velvet Underground & Nico at a New York City sidewalk sale in 2002. He paid 75 cents for it.

In an article for the record collector magazine Goldmine, excerpts of which are reprinted on the auction's page, Hill's friend Eric Isaacson of the Portland, Oregon-based Mississippi Records described the vinyl's journey from the sidewalk to the online marketplace. It's a fascinating read that reveals the story behind the recording (it was the band's first session, and contains the album as Andy Warhol intended it to be released).

In an interview with Pitchfork today, Hill said that his ideal buyer would be "somebody that was really passionate about the music, or somebody that was interested in it as a historical document and wanted to do something interesting with it in that way." (In the "question and answer" section on the auction's page, it says "We are confident that the item will go to a responsible party who will care for it as the historic artifact that it is while in their hands.") Hill would be happy if the music on the acetate reached a larger audience through some sort of release.

He added that he had been in touch with lawyers for the Velvet Underground two years ago, but "they had nothing to say. They were not interested." [MORE...]

MP3: Film School & Demetri Martin: "Electric Brain"

Hmm, so this comedy stuff-- it's no indie rock, but it is pretty funny! And now we get both in one cute little package, as New York jokester Demetri Martin has teamed with San Francisco cinematic rockers Film School and graphic artist/sitarist Michael Gillette to craft this rhyme-instense psychedelic ditty. Seuss would be proud. So would Timothy Leary.

"Electric Brain", as it's called, was put together for a Martin comedy short of the same name, the third of six episodes now playing at www.clearification.com. Film School, together with Martin, contribute music to the other sketches as well. The "Electric Brain" short itself is a bit, ahem, short on laughs, but we do get some trippy Yellow Submarine style animation to accompany the tune. Significantly kinder to your funny bone: the website's animated Martin, perched upon a bird's nest with a messenger bag draped over his shoulder, rambling randomness and delighting in the desultory. It's a good look.

Micah Calabrese Leaves Giant Drag

The magnitude is debatable, but it's certainly a drag of some degree to learn Los Angeles rock duo Giant Drag now has two fewer shoes to gaze at. According to a news tidbit on MTV.com, founding member and drummer/keyboardist Micah Calabrese has departed the band for unspecified reasons. Calabrese played on 2005's Hearts and Unicorns debut LP and 2003's Lemona EP.

This leaves spunky frontlady Annie Hardy as "the writer and face of Giant Drag", according to a spokesperson for GD label Kickball/Interscope quoted on MTV.com. The act's MySpace now lists the band members as "annie and whoever else feels like doing it"-- so, folks, start lining up!

Calabrese's bail-out should give him plenty of time to focus on playing in the Summer in Between, the adorable indie pop trio he joined back in 2000. While the Kittridge Records-signed band hasn't been particularly active of late, Calabrese is still listed as a member on the act's MySpace page.

Meanwhile, Giant Drag are-- er, is "making new music" right now according to her MySpace. If you're in dire need of a GD fix, however, you can hear Hardy duet with Chino Moreno and contribute some squirm-inducing, potty-mouthed spoken word to the trip-hoppy "Pink Cellphone" on the new Deftones disc Saturday Night Wrist.

Low Re-Title Album, Set Release Date
Drums and Guns due March 20 on Sub Pop

New name, same great taste! Low's forthcoming eighth album, coming out March 20 on Sub Pop, will not be titled The Violet Path, as Alan Sparhawk told us a month ago. Rather, it will be named Drums and Guns.

Given the new title, we assume that the album will retain the violent nature Sparhawk described to us. "Near as I can tell, it's all about killing," he said of the album. "I was kind of realizing the other day that a lot of the songs deal with either killing someone or dying. I don't know, it's kind of funny...maybe that's the big question. [We're] kind of living in a time when it's good to talk about killing and being killed."

Sparhawk also listed potential song titles as being "Murderer", "Breaker", "Violent Past", "Pretty People", and "Hatchet". At this time, the Drums and Guns tracklist has not been revealed. But we do know that it features bass playing by new bassist Matt Livingston, was produced by Dave Fridmann (who also helmed 2005's The Great Destroyer), and that "these songs feature new elements (looped vocals, drum machines, etc.)," according to Sub Pop's website.

Low have a handful of shows scheduled this week, as well as a few in the late winter and spring (including a stint at the Dirty Three-curated edition of All Tomorrow's Parties). The concerts this week are Christmas shows which will also double as fundraisers for the building of a school in Namuncha, Kenya, a project begun with money raised at last year's Low Christmas shows. For more information about the project, as well as photos from Sparhawk's trip to Kenya this summer, click here. [MORE...]

Photos: DeVotchKa / My Brightest Diamond [Chicago, IL; 12/02/06]

Two acts intent on whisking us away to far off places-- or at least away from a Chicago in deep freeze mode-- DeVotchKa and My Brightest Diamond-- worked their respective magicks before a sold-out house at the Logan Square Auditorium this past Saturday.

Shara Worden of opener My Brightest Diamond wasted no time hushing the chatty crowd, taking the stage alone in an emerald-hued dress and siccing her crystal-clear, classically-trained voice upon us via a measured cover of showtune "Feeling Good", famously interpreted by Nina Simone.

Then joined by a bassist, drummer, and laptop, Worden delivered a solid and frequently enchanting set of tunes, mostly from her 2006 Asthmatic Kitty debut, Bring Me the Workhorse. With the disc's lush orchestrations reduced to digital samples, the focus shifted to Worden's imaginative lyrics and impressionist guitarwork, the latter rough around the edges but refreshingly so. She also made her classical pedigree known, namedropping Pierre Boulez (in "Dragonfly") and covering a Kurt Weill ditty in French. And just when the mood got a bit too heavy during the brooding outro to album closer "Workhorse", Worden hit us with a surprise sudden cover of "Tainted Love". Slightly cheesy, perhaps, but a welcome sparkle all the same.





Hailing from the Rockies or thereabouts, DeVotchKa took us to the more fashionable Balkans, riding a wave of hype descending from their recent soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine. The four DeVotchKans must be praised for their versatility-- on an abundance of visually exciting instruments, no less: the upright bassist also played the Sousaphone (and decked it out in Christmas lights), the fiddler accordion, the percussionist trumpet and accordion, and the singer, flanked by a small arsenal of music-makers, switched between several guitars, vintage microphone, mandolin, and theremin.

Markedly more upbeat than those of fellow gypsy revivalist Beirut, the songs DeVotchKa conjured using these diverse instruments had a warm, fuzzy feel, evoking nostalgia in the company of friends and revelers rather than an isolated longing. Expressive frontman Nick Urata, whose reverbed vocals billowed through the cavernous ballroom, contributed to this image by taking swigs from a bottle of Yellow Tail between songs and toasting the audience, a sea of bobbing smiles as far as I could see.


[MORE...]

Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently? Do you have inside info on the bands we cover? Is one of your favorite artists (that's not somebody you know personally) releasing a new record you'd like to see covered? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity. (Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.)