Pitchfork: Belle & Sebastian, Delgados, Pastels on Scot Comp

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Belle & Sebastian, Delgados, Pastels on Scot Comp
Plus: Josef K, Teenage Fanclub, Fire Engines, Future Pilot AKA, King Creosote

Belle and Sebastian addicts know well the tale of their beloved band's debut LP Tigermilk, originally released in fleeting vinyl quantities on Glasgow's tiny Electric Honey imprint, and now a prized collectable. Perhaps less known is the fact that Electric Honey, run by students at Stow College, still very much exists, and has cooked up quite the compilation of Scottish indie artists.

Thank You for Being You, named for a Pastels song, will see the light of day in May, according to Belle and Sebastian's website. Along with a Pastels tune and a Tigermilk classic, the compilation also features tracks from the Delgados, Josef K, Teenage Fanclub, Fire Engines, Future Pilot AKA, King Creosote, and more, including several folks from Electric Honey's current roster (the college label traditionally signs one new act per year). [MORE...]

Stream: How to Swim: (I Am a) Logical Man [from the Thank You for Being You compilation]

Posted by Matthew Solarski in compilation on Wed: 03-28-07: 02:00 PM CDT | Permalink

The Stooges Add Spring, Summer Dates

The Stooges have added dates to their tour in support of The Weirdness. (The less attention paid to that album, the better.)

The North American dates now start April 5 in Washington, D.C., and they have quite a few European festivals on their plates in June and July.

The Bay Area group Sistas in the Pit will open most of the U.S. shows, with Shellac filling in at the Chicago date. [MORE...]

Stream: The Stooges: My Idea of Fun [from The Weirdness LP]

Posted by Dave Maher in tour on Wed: 03-28-07: 01:30 PM CDT | Permalink

Spoon Record With Jon Brion, Party With Flavor Flav
Spoon with…?

As you prepare to go ga-ga and then some over the new Spoon album, know this: a certain instrument-hopping showman extraordinaire known as Jon Brion has produced one of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's tracks.

No, it's not "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb", nor "Don't You Evah", nor "Black Like Me". It's the most boringly-titled track on the disc: "The Underdog". Seriously, guys, given the other titles, "The Underdawg" wouldn't have been overdoing it. But anyway.

Longtime Spoon producer Mike McCarthy (Gimme Fiction, Kill the Moonlight, Girls Can Tell) helmed the rest of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's ten tracks. The album hits the streets July 10 via Merge.

In tangentially related news: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Spoon find their own flavor of love on a short U.S. tour that kicks off late next month. [MORE...]

Video: Spoon: The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine [from the Gimme Fiction LP]

Posted by Matthew Solarski in collaboration, lol, tour on Wed: 03-28-07: 01:00 PM CDT | Permalink

Metric Write Songs, Tour; Haines Plays Festivals
Fun factoid: there are 10,000 angstroms in a micron

It's been a spell since the Toronto-based rockers and Broken Social Scene-makers of Metric got to Live It Out on record, but if the recent upswing in Metric-related activity is any indication, it won't be long now. According to their website, they've been in the studio, "hiding out [and] writing the new Metric record."

And they hope to "try out some of the new songs and have some fun" during the handful of Western Canada engagements they've just announced.

Metric's leading lady and brittle-boned Soft Skeleton Emily Haines is also slated to play The Happening, a single-day NYC music and art festival spread between two Chelsea locations April 13. Haines will bring the noise to Hiro Ballroom alongside Money Mark, Mason Jennings, and Matt Costa, with Mojave 3's Neil Halstead mere blocks away at the Milk Gallery. Haines will also perform at the Homefires festival in London on June 2.

As we recently reported, Metric are cloaking hides and reimagining Stars. [MORE...]

Video: Metric: Empty [from the Live it Out LP]

Video: Emily Haines: Doctor Blind [from the Knives Don't Have Your Back LP]

Posted by Paul Thompson in tour on Wed: 03-28-07: 12:42 PM CDT | Permalink

Shellac Reveal Excellent Tracklist

Shellac have announced the tracklist for their long-awaited Excellent Italian Greyhound, due out June 5 on Touch & Go. In typical Shellac fashion, the album only has nine tracks. And though we assume it's just a coincidence, the possibility of "Steady As She Goes" being a cover of either the Raconteurs or Voodoo Glow Skulls has us reeling.

In addition to the previously reported cover featuring a photo of a greyhound in the middle of a group of fruits and vegetables, the album will also feature a second cover of sorts, one that slips over the actual CD. The second cover, a black-and-white Jay Ryan cartoon design, is posted at the top of this story for your viewing pleasure.

Shellac will kick off their European tour on May 15 in Zaragoza, Spain, and they will precede it with two April dates in Chicago. [MORE...]

Stream: Shellac: Watch Song [from the 1000 Hurts LP]

Posted by Dave Maher in album, tour on Wed: 03-28-07: 12:30 PM CDT | Permalink

Xiu Xiu, Sunset Rubdown Shock Indiana University
Richard Swift, David Vandervelde, Catfish Haven too!

When you've weathered three decades of Bobby Knight, nothing's shocking. Still, Indiana University students (or anybody within a buggy-ride to Bloomington) looking for a jolt of indie rock dogma will get theirs April 14, as student-run WIUX-FM presents their Culture Shock Festival.

Commandeering dual stages behind IU's DeVault Alumni Center, the free festival begins at noon and should rage on until well after the Xiu Xiu-borne heebie jeebies ripple through the crowd at 10:35 PM. Event organizers have encouraged guests to wear sneakers, bring blankets, and be on the lookout for fake blood; from this, it can be inferred that Culture Shock is sort of like Ozzfest with less discarded bat-heads. Though you can never be so sure when it comes to Xiu Xiu.

Revved up to fight for the cream and crimson in addition to Xiu Xiu are Richard Swift and the Sons of National Freedom, Sunset Rubdown, Racebannon, Mudkids, David Vandervelde and the Moonstation House Band, Make Believe, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Catfish Haven, Maps & Atlases, Nomo, Coke Dares, Husband & Wife and Arrah & the Ferns, and the Delicious.

Posted by Paul Thompson in festival on Wed: 03-28-07: 11:40 AM CDT | Permalink

Modest Mouse Crash Charts With No. 1 Debut
LCD Soundsystem clock in at 46

Hey, remember when Modest Mouse was just that little angry band on college radio? Well, now they're that big angry band perched atop the Billboard 200.

This past week, Isaac Brock's outfit moved a not-so-modest 129,000 units of its fifth full-length proper, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, according to Billboard.com-- enough to best Joss Stone and some "American Idol" pan-flasher for the chart crown. This debut trumps that of 2004 LP Good News for People Who Love Bad News as well, which opened at 19 with paltry sales of 68,000.

Modest Mouse's no. 1 of course dashes James Murphy's hopes of copping the top spot. LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver narrowly missed the Top 40 in its first week, landing at a respectable 46. That's still cause to crack open the bubbly, as it marks LCD's first Billboard 200 appearance.

The much-discussed decline in album sales-- and, perhaps, a slight de-homogenization of listeners' tastes-- has worked wonders for indie-label-signed and indie-sounding bands hoping for chart placement: both the Shins (Sub Pop) and Arcade Fire (Merge) scored impressive number two first-week debuts. Your next mission, indie-ites? Help the next Wolf Eyes LP go platinum.

Anyhow, give Isaac and (good luck charm?) Johnny Marr a hearty pat on the back as they hit the road next month. [MORE...]

Video: Modest Mouse: Dashboard [from the We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank LP]

Posted by Matthew Solarski in award, misc on Wed: 03-28-07: 11:00 AM CDT | Permalink

Pere Ubu Offer Fontana Reissues, Tour

[Photo by Lex Van Rossen]

On April 16, Pere Ubu will reissue their four albums originally released on the Fontana label. Mercury Records will reissue The Tenement Year (1988), Cloudland (1989), Worlds in Collision (1991), and Story of My Life (1993), all digitally remastered with bonus tracks and, occasionally, tweaked tracklists. The Wire's David Stubbs contributes extensive liner notes to each release.

In other Pere Ubu news, Smog Veil Records will pay tribute to Ubu associate Peter Laughner with the November 6 release of some lo-fi demos, rehearsals, and live tracks he left behind before his death in 1977. Laughner was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who played with proto-Ubu band Rocket From the Tombs as well as an early version of Pere Ubu. The Smog Veil collection is currently untitled.

Just before the Fontana reissues hit stores, Pere Ubu will embark on a short tour of the U.S. Then, just after the reissues are released, the band will skip over to Europe for a whole month's worth of shows in support of their newest album, Why I Hate Women. In between, frontman David Thomas will play one show in Cleveland with side project Two Pale Boys. [MORE...]

Stream: Pere Ubu: Various Tracks

Posted by Dave Maher in reissue, compilation, tour on Wed: 03-28-07: 10:40 AM CDT | Permalink

Ted Leo Kicks Off Tour, Rocks NPR
His van leads somewhere, but it's not yet to your door

Animal rights activist, rabble-rousing punk lifer, and handsome devil Ted Leo's been accused a lot of things over his storied career, but laziness just ain't one of 'em. He'll spend his summer throwing his weight-- which we estimate to be a lean, mean 93 pounds-- behind the fresh to def Living With the Living both at home and abroad on a nearly non-stop tour he'll inaugurate tonight in Philly.

Your tax dollars will be working overtime Thursday night at Ted's gig in our nation's capital, which the fine folks of National Public Radio will broadcast live on their website and eventually chop into MP3s. Will the mouthy Leo take the opportunity to let his dissenting voice ring out over the nation's car speakers? Hard to say for sure, but it wouldn't be a Pharmacists show without a barb or three at the expense of our fearless leaders.

Ted's Touch and Go Records home has also announced a caption contest for Pharmacists fans looking to go all Rex Morgan M.D. on this picture of Ted and company. A bit of bubble-filling could translate into big winnings for ten guffaw-makers, with the spoils coming in the form of tickets for the grand victor's choice of Pharmacists dates, scarves, a PETA hip bag, and an autographed copy of Living. The contest ends April 5, so you'd be advised to start warming up your zinger-muscle now.

Finally, as we previously reported, the deft-handed amongst you still have a snatch up Living With the Living complete with the soon-to-be-extinct Mo' Living EP. Cop that disc! [MORE...]

Stream: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Old Souls Know [from the Mo' Living EP]

Posted by Paul Thompson in tour, radio on Wed: 03-28-07: 09:45 AM CDT | Permalink

Jack White to Play Elvis in New Film?

NME.com reports that Jack White has signed on to play the King of Rock'n'Roll in Walk Hard, a new film from Orange County director Jake Kasdan. White's publicist confirmed that Jack "did take part in this movie", but would not elaborate as to whether or not he actually plays Elvis.

It makes sense if you think about it, though: both married under curious circumstances, both were fond of Nudie suits, and both are among rock's acest interpreters of black music.

White, whose previous acting turns in Cold Mountain and Coffee and Cigarettes won him critical praise, will join such cast members as John C. Reilly, "The Office"'s Jenna Fischer, "Saturday Night Live"'s Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell, Kristen Wiig, and David Koechner.

The flick, apparently a parody of Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, was co-penned by director Kasdan and 40 Year Old Virgin scribe Judd Apatow.

Oh yeah-- the White Stripes have an album coming out soon.

Video: The White Stripes: Icky Thump preview

Posted by Paul Thompson in film, gossip on Wed: 03-28-07: 08:13 AM CDT | Permalink

Arcade Fire Announce New Single
Earth's tectonic plates dance a jig

While Win "sicker than a brick" Butler rests up and the band laments those recently cancelled European tour dates, Arcade Fire have a consolation prize for American Neon Bible-thumpers.

On May 5, Merge Records will release the first U.S. single off the Arcade Fire's epic sophomore LP. "Keep the Car Running" comes backed with "Broken Window"-- and arrives with typically lavish packaging on 7" vinyl.

Given a speedy Butler recovery, Arcade Fire will commence their latest North American pilgrimage-- which includes stops at David Bowie's High Line festival and other celebratory events-- on April 26. [MORE...]

Video: Arcade Fire: Neon Bible and Wake Up [Live on the Take Away Show]

Posted by Matthew Solarski in single, tour on Tue: 03-27-07: 05:15 PM CDT | Permalink

Patrick Wolf Bound for New York, Europe
Preps new single; praises Björk, Beth Ditto on website

There's a new Wolf in indie America's midst, and we'd do well to welcome this one with open arms and lots of glitter. Patrick Wolf, having just wrapped up a stretch of dates with the Arcade Fire-- and on the prowl in support of his Best New Music-inducted third LP, The Magic Position (out May 1 over here via Low Altitude/Universal)-- has revealed plans to make a 2007 U.S. foray at last early next month.

Colorfully-maned Wolf has lined up three Stateside dates on the eve of his April-long European jaunt. Not surprisingly, all of them go down in someplace called Ne Wyork. Never heard of it.

To celebrate his New World landfall, Wolf will release a single featuring The Magic Position's title track on April 9...in the UK. Like lots of things in that exotic land, it comes in more formats than you could ever possibly need, including CD and two different seven-inches. Naturally they all have different B-sides, and of course you must collect them all in order to validate your Patrick Wolf super-fanatic-dom.

Wolf, who recently dueted with child-opera-star-turned-jailbait Charlotte Church on the latter's television program, posted some rather impassioned remarks earlier this month on his website. Lamenting the "deadly, unspoken segregation" still manifest in his home country and the "deep, dark, invisible, conservatism, boring, lazy, top forty pop music charts, [and] grey, endless hours of radio programming," Wolf went on to shout-out Björk and Gossip frontlady and recent UK press darling Beth Ditto, among others.

Quoth Wolf, "It means so much to me to look around and see Beth Ditto, all fire and graces blazing, Bjork coming back from her self made palace of technology, flesh, volcano and supernatural reality with a new, much needed voice in the army and apparently quite the disco shoes to match...Even Britney, ready to go with your head shaved, umbrella in hand."

There you go, Brit-- someone still loves you. [MORE...]

MP3: Patrick Wolf: The Magic Position [from the The Magic Position LP]

Posted by Matthew Solarski in tour, single, gossip on Tue: 03-27-07: 04:30 PM CDT | Permalink

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Wed: 04-18-07: 04:13 PM CDT
Joanna Newsom to Open for Bjork!