Photos: Mission of Burma [New York, NY; 01/19/07]

Mission of Burma took off on one of their intermittent mini-tours over the past two weekends, hitting Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and New York City. Pitchfork photographer William Kirk caught Friday night's show at New York City's Irving Plaza, capturing Burma in all their furious glory.

Sorry, no nude pix here. Just lots and lots of rocking.

[MORE...]

Jesus and Mary Chain to Play Coachella!

Man, fuck the Police! This is a reunion we can get behind.

It has just been confirmed that shoegaze gods the Jesus and Mary Chain (who don't even have a real website) will perform at this year's Coachella, joining Rage Against the Machine, Björk, Interpol, Jarvis Cocker, the Arcade Fire, and, like, every other cool band in the galaxy in Indio, California on April 27-29.

We know that the JAMC played Lollapalooza a million years ago, but the idea of these guys performing outside in the sunshine is still kinda weird to us.

Touch and Go Revisit Festival With Video Awesomeness

Chicago got the royal treatment when it came to indie-centric festivals last summer, with more beloved bands gracing our fair city's parks and parking lots than most two-bit hipsters-- and their paychecks-- could handle.

But if you made just two festivals last year, hopefully this was one of them (and this was the other): Capping off the delirious festival season, the Touch and Go Records 25th anniversary bash-- held in early September in conjunction with the Hideout's 10th annual Block Party-- provided a hearty share of the summer's best rock memories: Scratch Acid reuniting for a ferocious performance, Big Black teasing us with an EP's worth of songs, Negative Approach whipping the kids into a frenzied whirlpool, the original Man or Astro-man? lineup launching us into the retro-cosmos, and current T&G acts like Calexico, Ted Leo, and CocoRosie serving up their best-- and the list goes on.

Since Touch and Go 50 is a little ways off, why not relive those memories from last September's bonanza in fancy video format? Beginning today and continuing for every Monday for the next 32 weeks or so, Touch and Go will post choice performance footage on their website from pretty much every single performer on the venerable label's festival roster. Today's installment serves as an overview/introduction, including some words from T&G founder Corey Rusk and the Hideout's Tim and Katie Nicholson Tuten, along with a medley of concert snippets-- and let us say, the footage looks fantastic. Tune in next week for Ted Leo, and come back each week to follow for new audio-visual surprises.

In case you missed them, do scope Touch and Go's festival photo gallery and Pitchfork's photo coverage. And don't worry-- while the label is looking back, they're still looking forward too: Ted Leo's previously reported Living With the Living goes live March 20, while CocoRosie's third LP, The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn, arrives April 10.

Kristin Hersh Talks New Album

Kristin Hersh's back catalog stretches for miles, encompassing releases by her bands Throwing Muses and 50FootWave, as well as several solo records. But we're pretty sure that nothing in her discography was ever titled after a piece of spam email...until now.

Tomorrow, January 23, Yep Roc will release Learn to Sing like a Star in the U.S.; 4AD will put it out overseas on January 29. (An EP, In Shock, lands today, January 22 on 4AD. It features the album track "In Shock" as well as three non-album tunes.) According to Hersh, she also has new Throwing Muses and 50FootWave albums in the works, as well as an Appalachian folk project.

So, that title. Hersh explained it in a recent interview with Pitchfork, saying, "It's hard to pretend that there's anything artful about titling a CD. It's an artificial grouping of songs. Even titling a song is sometimes a little fakey if you ask me!

"But this just kept coming up; it just wouldn't shut up...this stupid 'American Idol' thing or whatever the hell it was. I couldn't ever bring myself to click on it, but as soon as it became meaningless-- you know, I'd heard the syllables so many times-- that's when it got pretty to me...I mean, like, stars--it sounds like something out of a Madeleine L'Engle book or something."

In the interview, Hersh also spilled a lot more information about the album, as well as talked about signing to Yep Roc, her upcoming tour, and what's going on with Throwing Muses and 50FootWave. [MORE...]

Silver Jews, Avey Tare, Enon, Black Dice on RBR Comp
Also: The Jewish (!), not a Silver Jews side project

Since 1995, Nicolas Vernhes has produced everybody from the Fiery Furnaces and Cat Power to Les Savy Fav and Ted Leo at his Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn. And he has convinced a bunch of artists he's worked with to return the favor, by contributing new material for his new label, Rare Book Room Records.

The label's first release will be a double disc compilation tentatively titled RBR 001 ("til I come up with a better one," Vernhes says) and featuring contributions from Fischerspooner, Animal Collective's Avey Tare, Enon, Blood on the Wall, Tara Jane O'Neil, Black Dice, and yes, a band called the Jewish.

Vernhes has not yet set a release date for the compilation (though he "expects [it] to be ready in the next month or two") "because it is a complicated and time-consuming project." Part of the reason why the process has been so time-consuming is that Vernhes "made sure to record extended intros and outros so the songs merge together into one long, but indexed, piece of music. This solution was developed so that the songs [would] flow into each other organically, eliminating the jarring and sometimes random feel to some compilations."

The tracks already recorded for RBR 001 are listed below in alphabetical order by artist, since the compilation does not yet have a tracklist. Artists who have yet to record include Oakley Hall, Fischerspooner, Enon's Toko Yasuda, Dan Brown, Theo Angell, Holy Hail, Love As Laughter's Sam Jayne, "and probably a few more."

The Silver Jews track was originally the B-side to a UK single from American Water, but other than that, every song on the compilation is previously unreleased.

Rare Book Room's second release will be a full-length by compilation contributors Palm in the Claw. [MORE...]

Kanye West Applies for Graduation With Chris Martin

Going straight from Late Registration to Graduation is missing a few steps in between (what about Skipping Class? Changing Meal Plans? Drinking So Much You Wake Up the Next Day at the Airport Wearing a Badge That Says, "Hello, My Name Is: Sloppy McBlzioiuarhgh"?), but Kanye West has never been one to follow the beaten path.

Unless that path has been beaten by Jay-Z. According to Billboard.com, West has chosen Coldplay's Chris Martin to appear on "Homecoming", the first single from Graduation, the higher education-obsessed producer and MC's third album.

Graduation is tentatively scheduled for a Def Jam release later this year, and though Kanye did admittedly great things with Maroon 5's Adam Levine on Late Registration's "Heard 'Em Say", we're still a little skeptical about the Chris Martin collaboration. (Jigga's "Beach Chair" wasn't all that.)

The good news, however, is that West has re-teamed with producer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, telling Billboard.com, "We'll be working together again on the new project. Jon wasn't just a producer-- he was such a good friend and a great person to bounce ideas off of in the studio. It was the whole experience."

Back in the world of semi-troubling collaborations, MTV.com reports that Kanye has plans to remix Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", the first single from their forthcoming Infinity on High LP. The album features production from Babyface and a verse from Jay-Z on one track, and pin-up Boy bassist Pete Wentz hopes to get Kanye's remix on the disc as well, even though it's scheduled for a fast-approaching February 6 release. Wentz also said Fall Out Boy have plans to put their own spin on one of Kanye's new songs.

We can only imagine who Kanye might collaborate with next. Might we suggest, um, the guy from Travis?

Maximo Park Reveal Our Earthly Pleasures

The rhythmically restless Brits in Maxïmo Park have delivered on the promises Paul Smith made in his August interview with Pitchfork and given their second album an April 2 release date on Warp Records. Our Earthly Pleasures-- the follow-up to 2005's A Certain Trigger-- has 12 songs, including first single "Our Velocity".

Warp will release the single March 19 with exclusive B-sides in various formats. The album was produced by Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters, Throwing Muses).

Maxïmo Park also have a handful of tour dates scheduled in the coming months, and they'll be heading to places as far-reaching as Moscow and Istanbul. [MORE...]

Enon Cancel Dates With Of Montreal

Touch & Go art rockers Enon, in a recent announcement on their MySpace blog, revealed that they were forced to cancel their upcoming tour with Of Montreal "due to a few problems we have." (Thanks to reader Michael Fremus for discovering the blog entry and tipping us off.)

When contacted, Touch & Go said that the band wouldn't elaborate on said "problems". But the MySpace message did mention that the band is working on a new album, and would be touring later this year, which the label confirmed. [MORE...]

Corsano + Hair Police + Mouthus + Giffoni = Death Unit
It's a killing machine designed for one purpose

Death Unit have already reached the pinnacle of noise perfection with their name alone, but they will nonetheless release their debut album, the also excellently titled Infinite Death, tomorrow, January 23 via Important Records.

Björk collaborator Chris Corsano and Hair Police's Trevor Tremaine both play drums in Death Unit (which, according to the label's website, "was put together with one purpose: to leave nothing alive behind"), while Mouthus' Brian Sullivan is featured on guitar and Carlos Giffoni covers electronics.

Infinite Death is composed of two long tracks titled "1" and "2", one of which was recorded at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon studio. The other was recorded live on the band's 2005 summer tour. Prurient's Dominick Fernow made the album's artwork, and Khanate's James Plotkin mastered it.

Funkstorung Release Farewell Remix Album

After over ten years of releasing music together, German experimental electronic duo Funkstörung have dissolved themselves. On their website, they mention "musical differences, personal problems," and the distance between their homes as possible explanations for the break-up, without really committing to any of them.

Neither member is dwelling in the past, though. For one thing, !K7 will release the last Funkstörung record, Appendix-- a compilation of remixes for Björk and the Raveonettes, among others-- tomorrow, January 23. Additionally, members Chris de Luca and Michael Fakesch have dates lined up throughout Europe in the coming months.

De Luca has joined forces with Phon.o for an upcoming album, Chris de Luca vs Phon.o, material from which he has included in the "Main Streamed Mix" recently posted to the new duo's website. [MORE...]

Deerhoof Give Friends Art Opportunity
Kick off North American tour on Wednesday

As the release of Deerhoof's Friend Opportunity draws nigh (like, tomorrow, January 23 nigh), Kill Rock Stars and the prog-spastic trio have invited web-savvy fans to flex their creative muscles and serve up some Deerhoof-inspired artistic renderings.

Anyone who thought the 12 different David Shrigley-designed Friend Opportunity covers weren't enough can scoot on over to the special Deerhoof art website to read the rules and regulations, which pretty much don't exist. Deerhoof want "paintings, video, writings, anything" and encourage you to check out new tune "+81" (mp3 linked below) and incorporate it into your creations.

Once you're done, upload your shizzle to one of those "Year of You"-type websites-- YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, deviantART, imeem, etc.-- and fire the link Deerhoof's way (via this website). The 'hoof will post the fruits of your muse for all to see, and everybody's happy, because everybody's being all artsy-fartsy and interrelating in cosmic Internet harmony and whatnot.

As previously reported, Deerhoof bound across the continent beginning Wednesday night, January 24, in Los Angeles. Say 'hi' to Satomi and the gang, and be sure to thank her for the cute keyboard art she's kindly shared with you. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: January 22-29, 2007

Pitchfork's T.V. Picks for This Week:

Monday, January 22:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Nas (rerun)
CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Nellie McKay with the Brooklyn Philharmonic
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Lady Sovereign (rerun)

Tuesday, January 23:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": the Shins
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Cheap Trick (rerun)

Thursday, January 25:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Gwen Stefani (rerun)
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": New York Dolls (rerun)

Friday, January 26:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Young Jeezy (rerun)

Saturday, January 27:

NBC: "Saturday Night Live": Ludacris (rerun)

Monday, January 29:

MTV2: "Subterranean": the Shins

Jarvis, Lily, New Pornos, Ghostface Added to Coachella
Also the Rapture, the Good, Bad and the Queen, Peter Bjorn & John, Junior Boys, Sparklehorse, Tapes 'n Tapes, Girl Talk, Grizzly Bear

Just hours after announcing the initial lineup for the desert rock extravaganza known as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (taking place April 27-29 at Empire Polo Field in Indio, California), organizers have revealed an explosion of further confirmations. And this is apparently just the "preliminary" lineup!

As previously reported, a reunited Rage Against the Machine will headline the festival's final night, April 29, while Björk will headline on Friday, April 27 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday, April 28. The Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Air, a reunited Crowded House, Tiësto, and Kings of Leon are also playing.

It'll be a field day for Anglophiles, as a mess of Brit gods have just been added to the tally, including Jarvis Cocker, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, Lily Allen, Happy Mondays, Placebo, Hot Chip, Kaiser Chiefs, Travis, Klaxons, the Fratellis, the Kooks, Amy Winehouse, and the Feeling.

Also exciting: the New Pornographers, Ghostface Killah, Peter Bjorn & John, Junior Boys, Grizzly Bear, Girl Talk, Sparklehorse, Tapes 'n Tapes, the Rapture, DJ Shadow, Konono No. 1, LCD Soundsystem, Black Keys, Blonde Redhead, Peeping Tom, Rufus Wainwright, Explosions in the Sky, !!!, Lupe Fiasco, Stephen Marley feat Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley, Peaches, José González, Regina Spektor, CocoRosie, Cornelius, Pharoahe Monch, Roky Erickson, Soulwax, Tilly and the Wall, Andrew Bird, Gogol Bordello, Justice, MSTRKRFT, the Coup, CSS, Digitalism, Erol Alkan, Spank Rock, Tokyo Police Club, Felix Da Housecat, Richie Hawtin, Busdriver, and Brother Ali.

Plus: Faithless, Gotan Project, Paul Van Dyk, Nickel Creek, Damien Rice, Infected Mushroom, Benny Benassi, Jack's Mannequin, Julieta Venegas, Ozomatli, Amos Lee, Brazilian Girls, Fountains of Wayne, VNV Nation, Gillian Welch, the Frames, We Are Scientists, Yeva, Avett Brothers, Circa Survive, the Cribs, Evil Nine, Noisettes, Fields, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, DJ Heather, Mike Relm, Silversun Pickups, Nightwatchman, Bojones, Mika, Pop Levi, Anathallo, and Fair to Midland.

Whew!

Ted Leo/Pharmacists to Tour U.S./Canada

Like what you heard on the Forkcast exclusive MP3 premiere of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists' "The Sons of Cain"? Here's your chance to see how it's done, live and in color.

Leo and his behind-the-counter pals have announced a lengthy spring tour, set to kick off just after the release of their Touch & Go LP Living With the Living, which will hit stores on March 20. The tour runs from March through May.

As previously reported, Leo will perform solo at Brooklyn's Northsix club on January 26 at a benefit for Callum Robbins, son of J. Robbins. The band will also make an appearance at San Francisco's Noise Pop festival in early March. [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.)