Hold Steady Revamp "Ballgame" for the Twins
I say don't you know / You say you don't know / I say, take me out

The Hold Steady aren't bashful about their love of Minnesota Twins baseball; this reporter has personally witnessed at least a couple boozy soliloquies from Mr. Craig Finn pitching woo towards his treasured Twinkies. (As have most people who have seen the band live, probably.)

But one suspects no one in the Hold Steady organization ever expected they'd have a night at the ballpark quite as massive as Monday's, when the boys' punchdrunk pre-recorded riff on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" thundered through speakers at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. That's some Little Big League shit right there.

According to MTV.com, the band apparently has a fan in Twins musical director Kevin Dutcher, who, having already pegged "Massive Nights" for last night's Twins home opener, implored Finn and company to take on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." In typical nonchalant, dude-ish fashion, he agreed, telling MTV, "the Hold Steady, we're all sort of sports guys... we're more likely to be drinking beer and eating wings and watching baseball rather than collecting some obscure 7-inch." Bro's got your number, Meloy.

Finn also told MTV, "I think a lot of the players choose their own music, and generally speaking, baseball players don't have the coolest music taste. I think your ability to hit a baseball takes away from your ability to like good music." Oooh, diss!

You can watch Finn-- King of Beers in hand, per usual-- moan his way through "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" via MTV (see link below).

In other Hold Steady news, they're touring, unplugging, doing a Springsteen tribute show, and probably down for some more tallboys. [MORE...]

Bestival Boasts Bonde, Fujiya, Robyn, Gossip, Figurines
Plus: Electrelane, Simian Mobile Disco, Plastic Little, Orb, Chemical Brothers, Beastie Boys

The folks of Bestival clearly aren't fond of humility (although puns are apparently fair game). Still, if they haven't schemed up the finest European megashow weekend of the summer, they'll have their hand in an awfully big cookie jar fulla lies.

Their three-day, eight-stage festival, curated by BBC Radio 1's Rob Da Bank, will unroll September 7-9 at Newport, England's Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight. Will Bestival live up to its vainglorious name? Only time will tell, friends.

Willing to take 'em at their word? Pack your boogie-shoes, as the emphasis at Bestival seems to be on all things danceable; sporting a DJ list as long as your arm and trumpeting tail-transporting headliners Beastie Boys and the Chemical Brothers, Bestival wants you to get down. There's some fine rock bands, too, and a whole bunch of reggae, and the way-awesome Plastic Little, and, well, maybe this will be the Bestival after all.

After their mainstage evening performance, Beastie Boys are slated to play a Sunday-afternoon instrumental set in the fest's Big Top tent, which, I guess, is their new thing. Full weekend tickets are available now, although the festival will not-- as they have in previous years-- be issuing single-day admissions.

Bestival highlights: Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, Robyn, Bonde do Role, the Gossip, Figurines, Fujiya & Miyagi, Electrelane, the Orb, Plastic Little, the Rumble Strips, Tunng, the Maccabees, Billy Bragg, Horace Andy, Gregory Isaacs, Fields, Bat for Lashes, and Simian Mobile Disco, plus DJs Carl Craig, Erol Alkan, Luke Vibert, James Lavelle, and more. Scope the complete lineup here.

Cloud Cult Tour, Let Us in on Meaning of 8
It's the one after 7 and preceding 9

Way back in October, we reported that Craig Minowa and his twinkly Twin Cities sect Cloud Cult would issue their sixth album, The Meaning of 8, sometime this spring. If the chirping of blue birds and all that melted snow lining your trouser-bottoms weren't enough of a tip off, spring has sprung. That means Meaning of 8 will finally reveal itself April 10, this coming Tuesday.

The band will reach out to their cult following for a month on the road, starting on release day in Columbus, Ohio. Then in June, they'll perform in a tent during a marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. A marathon! [MORE...]

Lily Allen's Perpetual Tour Rolls On
I believe that is called "ad infinitum"

There's really only two reasons to have missed out on Lily Allen's neverending road trip at this point: you either don't hold with bouncy, spunky reggae-tinged pop, or you just aren't trying very hard.

Stragglers rejoice and nonbelievers take heed: though she's been rolling for roughly a year now, Lily shows no signs of slowing down, and the recently announced glut of late-spring U.S. dates will offer yet another chance to get in on all the "Smile"-inducing public intoxication.

Lily's sticking close to the East Coast for the just-tipped shows, sandwiched between a slot at Coachella and one at Bonnaroo. One suspects the gaping holes between a few of these dates could be caulked-up with more shows, but given all the recent references to recording on Lily's blog, she may very well just be thinking follow-up.

As we previously reported, Lily's got both her "Lily Loves" clothing line and her spot on Dizzee Rascal's Maths & English sewed up. She's also paired with fellow clubkid-turned-artist Mark Ronson for one of his trademark batty-sounding covers, Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God," set to anchor his debut full-length Version, due April 16.

Lily and Ronson, in addition to their friend, DJ/producer Aaron LaCrate, will DJ at the afterparty for her NYC show on April 11. It goes down at Love, 179 Macdougal at 8th. [MORE...]

Andrew Bird Leaves Armchair for U.S., European Dates
Admit it, you looked up "apocrypha" in the dictionary, too

Soon, Andrew Bird-watchers o'er the Atlantic will get a chance to cozy up to those whistlin' lips and that silken bow hair. Bird will wing across the pond for a paltry seven stops around Europe on the tail of his previously-reported string of U.S. dates. Only seven? Sounds to me like somebody hit #76 on the Billboard album chart and got Fat Possum to pony up vacation money.

Recent album title notwithstanding, Bird's no lazy boy; he just dropped the elegant Armchair Apocrypha, he's rolling around on a bus fueled by old french fry fat, and he's got some film thing going on. Insert your own "early bird catches the worm" joke here, if you so desire. [MORE...]

Gear Theft Brings Dears Guitarist to Tears

Here we go again: the vile shadow of gear theft struck again today, this time leaving Dears guitarist Patrick Krief bereft and weeping. The culprits apparently broke a window at Krief's Montreal rehearsal space, which he shares with one Mike Nash, running off with pretty much everything save a few cords.

Krief's no doubt upset about the whole ordeal, but one loss in particular had him bawling.

"The thing they took that I really want back most," wrote Krief in a post on his MySpace, "is my White Fender Stratocaster. I cried for hours about losing it. It has extreme sentimental value, and I don't know how I'll go on with out it. 16 people (friends and family) pitched in to buy me that guitar (of which I had been dreaming about my whole life) on my 18th birthday.

"I'm on a serious hunt for that guitar, I'm trying to gather some reward money, but I'm pretty broke right now...I can safely say that I'll give $1000 (my family has raised this ransom money) no questions asked to have it back." The guitar is pictured above, and in detail below.

"Keep in mind," added Krief, "that these people might change minor details on the guitar, but the serial number is listed below." Indeed, check out the complete gear list with serial numbers just after the jump. If you have any leads whatsoever, please contact the man via his MySpace.

Krief recently released his debut solo EP-- which bears the eerily prescient title Take It or Leave-- and has a few shows lined up, which are still on as of the moment. The Dears, meanwhile, play the TELUS Spin festival in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on April 7, and Mexico City's Polyforum Siqueiros on May 12. [MORE...]

EMI Dumps iTunes DRM
Free to be you and me

As any member of the iGeneration knows, you never quite own the music you purchase off iTunes. Make too many personal copies of a digital audio file and poof, your privilege is gone. Try to play it on another, non-iPod media player and you'll likely encounter the sweet sound of silence. And don't even think of rocking files downloaded from most other digital retailers on your Pod-- if you didn't buy it from somewhere enlightened, that's just crazy talk.

The culprit in these instances is the reviled little bugger known as DRM, which stands for Digital Rights Management, which refers to a bit of coding melded into digital media files to curtail copyright violations or personal freedom, depending on whom you ask. Apple's iTunes uses what's known as FairPlay (ha) DRM when coding its files, and the music-buying public-- at least those of us who are aware of it-- pretty much universally hates it.

Well, no April Fools joke here-- DRM's stranglehold over at least one major label's digital tunes will soon come to an end. Sort of.

According to various reports, Apple CEO Steve "Mac Daddy" Jobs and EMI Group chief Eric "Jolly Old Saint" Nicoli announced this morning in London that EMI will begin offering DRM-free audio content via iTunes. Here's the rub, however: these files, higher in quality, will sport a fetching 30 cent price increase ($1.29 as opposed to iTunes' standard rate of $0.99).

What's more, EMI will continue offering DRM-infected fare at the regular rate. Still, baby steps. Baby steps.

Read the full announcement here. The press conference also featured a brief performance from Damon Albarn's Danger Mouse-produced regal supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, signed to EMI subsidiary Parlophone.

"We think our customers are going to love this," said Jobs-- who has blamed DRM for stifling digital music sales-- at the press conference, "and we expect to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year."

We can probably expect that many, if not most, independent labels will gladly follow suit-- they're already selling their tunes DRM-free over at eMusic, Insound, Bleep, Rough Trade Digital, etc. Will they want to charge more for the privilege, like EMI? We'll see.

 

Photos: Battles [Chicago, IL; 03/30/07]

Strictly business, the men of Battles campaigned through Chicago's Empty Bottle Friday night, pushing their phalanx of equipment to the fore of the stage and blitzing through several hyper-complex cuts from the forthcoming Mirrored (out May 15 on Warp). And really, who needs between-song banter or ironic covers when your music is as tight, inventive, and technically accomplished as this? Many a jaw dropped at the Bottle, with many to follow as Battles wage war across the Eastern U.S. and Europe in the coming weeks.

Chicagoans left out in the cold this weekend needn't fret-- as announced last Friday, Battles return to the Windy City to rock Union Park as part of the Pitchfork Music Festival's second day (of three). The Warp crew join an eclectic July 14 lineup that includes Cat Power, Clipse, Iron and Wine, Girl Talk, Grizzly Bear, and Professor Murder, with many more to be announced. For details and tickets, click click click.








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RZA, GZA, Dead Prez Play We the People Fest

We the People Music Festival will feature RZA, GZA, Dead Prez, and Psycho Realm/Sick Symphonies as headliners at its second annual event. The hip hop and reggae festival will take place April 7 at the W.L.C.A.C. Grounds in Los Angeles.

The other We the People performers are DJ Muggs, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Sabac Red, Medusa (with Feline Science), 2Mex, Los Nativos, Hasan Salaam, Quinto Sol, Miktlan, and Ciuhatl Tonali. The festival's hosts are radio personality Fidel Rodriguez and X-Clan's Brother J, and the DJs who will play are Mark Luv, Orator, C Los, and Gabereal.

According to a press release, We the People's mission is to "celebrate Truth, Consciousness and Harmony," and that means speakers. This year, those speakers are Maxine Waters, Dr. John Carlos, Luis Rodriguez, October 22nd Coalition, Mario Rocha, Unity One, and Homies Unidos.

Bjork Reveals Volta Artwork, Tracklist
"It's sort of trying to put out some good vibes for the little princesses out there. There are actually other things than losing a glass slipper."

Björk's album covers have always been visual feasts, reflecting the spirit of the music inside while helping to maintain Björk's status as a brilliant artist. A new addition to the collection is always exciting, but the unveiling of the artwork for Volta (due out May 7 in the UK and May 8 in the U.S. on One Little Indian/Atlantic) is extra special, as Pitchfork was able to discuss the image with Björk herself.

(For part one of Brandon Stosuy's interview with Björk, click here. For part two, here. And part three, here!)

As you can see, the photo's bright colors contrast sharply with the muted tones of the covers of her last two albums, Medulla and Vespertine. This mirrors the sound of Volta, which was inspired by the universal urge to dance.

"All I wanted to do for this album was just to have fun and do something that was full-bodied and really up," Björk told Stosuy in the first part of their chat. The album cover is meant to evoke pagan femininity and, to some degree, feminism, which is a running theme throughout the music of Volta. "It's not necessarily about me as a woman, but just women," Björk told Stosuy. "Kind of that long leap of 10,000 years back, when they [were] in harmony with nature, and just little things like the fact that there are 13 full moons in a year and most women have certain things happening to them 13 times a year, but Christianity wanted to have 12 months, just to try to put that off."

Conflict with conventional organized religion is another undercurrent of Volta. "It's about being exhausted with the self-importance of religion, and thinking, 'okay, wait a minute, maybe we are one tribe, and we're actually part of nature,'. [MORE...]

Photos: Bloc Party [New York, NY; 03/30/07]

With the LCD Soundsystem party raging further downtown, a festive gathering of a different sort crashed New York City's United Palace Theatre this past Friday. UK phenoms Bloc Party spent A Weekend in the City, treating some 3,300 gig attendees to crowd favorites and selections from their sophomore LP. Apparently they brought down the house-- quite literally. According to Pitchfork photographer Kathryn Yu, who took the shots you see here, "even the band's quieter numbers took a toll on the Theatre, as small pieces of plaster from the ceiling occasionally rained down from above."

Bloc Party let the good times roll across Europe later this month, before returning to the U.S. in late May.








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Photos: LCD Soundsystem [New York, NY; 03/30/07]

No worse for wear after failing to meet his lofty Billboard aspirations last week, James Murphy brought Sound of Silver and his immutable energy to the city he loves on Friday. His LCD Soundsystem outfit treated the gathered rock kids, internet seekers, and North American scum at NYC's Bowery Ballroom to new classics like "Someone Great" and "All My Friends", as well as golden oldies like "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" and "Tribulations". Pitchfork photographer Matt Ziegler provides these visual documents.

With this past weekend's preview gigs in the can, LCD's North American (and beyond) parade proper kicks off for real at Coachella on April 28.








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