Natalie Portman's Mixtape Tracklist Revealed

Upon reading the story we ran mere hours ago about the forthcoming Natalie Portman-curated Big Change: Songs for FINCA compilation that heads to iTunes on October 30, Portman herself flew to our Chicago headquarters outfitted in full Padmé Amidala dress, rang our buzzer, and stormed into the office demanding that we pay for her dry cleaning.*

She then politely handed us the compilation's tracklist, which is the after the jump. Turns out Tokyo Police Club, Vetiver, Wooden Wand, and Thee More Shallows, among many others, join the Shins, Beirut, Antony and the Johnsons, Devendra Banhart, M. Ward, and Norah Jones on the list of contributors. Also, Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn & John did the Shins remix. Those freakin' guys are everywhere.

* This did not happen. [MORE...]

Ipecac Recordings Roster Becomes Toys
Mike Patton, Qui, Isis, Melvins, Dalek-- now tiny and adorable!

Once a month next year, teeny boutique toymakers UNKL will issue a series of limited-edition figurines inspired by the Ipecac Recordings roster. Yep, that Ipecac: The Mike Patton co-founded label with a bent for dumping disc after disc of weird-ass experimental punk/noize/sludge/rap on a gleefully suspecting public. And that UNKL, the people responsible for those Wilco figures. It is, to say the least, a strange pairing.

Still, these Ipecac toys are really nifty-looking, with a lot more personality (if a slightly higher chance of coming to life and murdering your face) than, say, a Kindercore set might. Each figure will be available individually in a limited edition of 500, with a new one arriving each month.

Stay tuned for updates from our "Mike Patton regresses into childhood watch '07" as they come.

As for Ipecac, their next release is Brian Retzell's score to the recently released vampire flick 30 Days of Night, out October 30. [MORE...]

Le Loup Sign to Memphis Industries in the UK, Tour
You know how we like to keep you in the Loup

Photo by Brian Stansfield

Seems Sam Simkoff and his Le Loup have been snapped up by Memphis Industries in the UK, home to the Go! Team, the Pipettes, Field Music, and more.

Memphis will issue Le Loup's debut with the super long, folk art-inspired title-- The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, don't you know-- December the 3rd over there. The disc is already out in the States on Sub Pop-sidiary Hardly Art.

Le Loup had been playing shows alongside fellow District of Columbia residents Georgie James; illness, however, caused the James gang to cancel their plans for the next few weeks. Le Loup will soldier on sans Georgie for two more shows, then pick things right back up in December on another quick jaunt, this one with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's. [MORE...]

Burrito Brothers Set Kicks Off Parsons Archival Series

The Flying Burrito Brothers "Live" at the Avalon 1969 is but the first volume in the newly inaugurated Amoeba Records imprint's "Gram Parsons Archives" series, set to raid the vaults of the late country-rock legend.

"Live" showcases Parsons' twang-psych supergroup (also boasting Parsons' fellow ex-Byrd Chris Hillman) spreading its wings on a pair of April 1969 gigs opening for the Grateful Dead at San Francisco's legendary Avalon Ballroom.

Recorded by sound engineer/acid maker Owsley Stanley, the gigs are packed with some of Parsons' trad-country favorites never before heard on other Burrito Brothers records. The set also features the debut of a couple home-recorded bonus tracks, as well as a 24-page photo book with rare images of Parsons and company. Get "Live" November 6. [MORE...]

Caribou Extends Tour

Caribou is how we North Americans refer to our wild reindeer, and it's also what Dan Snaith's been calling the smiley psych-outs he's been making ever since he left Manitoba in the rear view. But whaddya call a Caribou who's managed to make its way to Europe? Superintelligent, you say? Dan does have that doctorate, after all.

Allow me to cut the crap: following his string of North American dates currently in progress, Dan "Caribou" Snaith will head to Europe in mid-November for a monthlong tour. Of course, these are merely the most pressing of Dan's plans for trans-Atlantic travel: he and some stellar company will keep the peace at next May's Pitchfork vs. ATP festival in Rye, England. [MORE...]

Georgie James Cancel Dates Due to Illness

Better up that vitamin C intake pronto, and don't skimp on the zinc, neither: there's a bug going around, and it's reducing hardened indie rockers to puddles on the floor. Err... metaphorical puddles on the floor. Because that would be gross.

Take, if you will, the case of Georgie James' John Davis, who-- due to that pesky illness of his-- has been forced to pull the plug on a couple weeks' worth of dates. Consider the nastiness that follows, lifted from their MySpace blog, to be your tonic:

"Basically, I've been sick for the past few weeks and things haven't improved at all. Since it's been four nights in a row onstage of me wondering if I can remain conscious til the end of the set, we decided to just take two weeks off to recover."

Good plan. Now through November 8 in Omaha, all Georgie James appearances anywhere beyond the Robitussin aisle are off (though the shows they've ducked out on, with Le Loup, Aqueduct and others, appear to be going on without them). Dates have yet to be announced for a planned European tour in December, but we're assured it's still on, and the band promises to make up the missed gigs on a U.S. tour next March. Here's hoping you kids don't suffer from hay fever! [MORE...]

Decemberists Kick Off "Long and Short of It" Tour

Photo by Rich Orris and Marina Teper

While the Decemberists themselves are prepared to give fans (except those in the UK) both "The Long and Short of It", we'll just skip to the good part: The band's blazillionth tour in support of last year's The Crane Wife kicks off this weekend-- Sunday, October 28 to be exact, in Chicago.

As a reminder, the tour's dates come in pairs, with the first night in each city dedicated to the band's proggier side (the "Long of It" shows) and the second night showcasing their pop tendencies (the "Short of It" shows).

There are a couple exceptions sprinkled into the schedule, however. On November 13 in Pittsburgh, the band will perform a regular set (that is neither Long nor Short) at a WYEP-organized benefit show for CASA and Family Resources. And then on December 7 in the Decemberists' hometown of Portland, Oregon, they'll play a show at the Crystal Ballroom that is also neither Long nor Short. Rather, it's a "fan's choice evening", with the set list made up of fan requests made over on the Decemberists message board.

Or, if you are among those who feel that recorded documentation of live shows beats the shows themselves, there is always the option to stay in and listen to the Decemberists on that 93XRT live comp that just came out, you grump. [MORE...]

Photos: The Pipettes [Los Angeles, CA; 10/25/07]

Photos by Akmal Naim

Those three heartbreakers from across the pond-- the Pipettes, of course-- finally made amends with the continent they'd so long ignored, as their North American tour officially commenced last night at Los Angeles' Echoplex. The polka-dotted trio danced and clapped their way through a whopping 22 songs-- including new tracks not on their debut album.

You can catch the Pipettes in an American town near you before they head back across the (other) pond to Japan and Australia in December. Unless that American town happens to be San Diego, as the Pips show tonight at the House of Blues has been canceled due to the fires. :(

More photos and tour dates below.






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Beirut, Black Lips, Edwyn Collins, Yeasayer Play Swn
Plus: Two Gallants, the Cribs, School of Language, Pony Up!, Sons and Daughters, Duke Spirit

Every Welsh-to-English translator I've tried on this dad-gummed internet has failed me in my quest to determine just what the "Sŵn" is in "Sŵn Festival". But, with Beirut, Black Lips, Edwyn Collins, Two Gallants, Yeasayer, School of Language, Pony Up!, the Duke Spirit, and Sons and Daughters crammed in among dozens of others at numerous Cardiff, Wales venues November 9-11, I'd posit that "Sŵn" is at least synonymous with awesomeness.

In addition to all the awesomeness a wristband will afford, there's a pair of separately ticketed shows going on around the festival. The Cribs, Those Dancing Days, and Shrag will play November 9 for an additional fee, while BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, Cassius, and more follow suit the night after. A wristband will get you into everything else, however, and individual tickets will be sold at the door of every other show when available.

Not content to merely offer music, Sŵn will also feature film screenings. Reels set to run: freak folkie favorite Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, the Saint Etienne-scored trio of This Is Tomorrow, Finisterre, and What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?, a Vashti Bunyan documentary teaser, music videos, and more.

Russian Circles Sign to Suicide Squeeze
Russian Circles & Botch, sittin' in a tree...

Lots of changes in the instru-metal world of Chicago's Russian Circles: First and foremost, they've signed to Seattle label Suicide Squeeze, home of Minus the Bear, Page France, and fellow Chicagoans Chin Up Chin Up.

The signing is accompanied by a KGB-like flurry of personnel changes as well. While drummer Dave Turncrantz and guitarist Mike Sullivan remain in the band, they have parted ways with bassist Colin DeKupier. In his stead, they have recruited former Botch/current These Arms Are Snakes bassist Brian Cook for recording purposes, though he is not a full-time member of the band.

Another Botch associate, producer Matt Bayles (also producer for Mastodon and Minus the Bear), will help RC record their follow-up to last year's Enter in December. The album is tentatively planned for a spring or summer release on their new label.

But in this trying time of departed band members, temporary fill-ins, and tentative release dates, one thing is for certain: Russian Circles have three dates scheduled for the rest of this year, the first of which is November 29 in Seattle. [MORE...]

Clipse Leave Jive/Star Trak for Columbia

In a move that should put an end to much of the drama surrounding their recorded output, Clipse have left Jive Records and the Neptunes' Star Trak Entertainment for a five-year deal with Columbia Records, according to Billboard.com.

Clipse's new 50/50 profit sharing arrangement with Columbia for their Re-Up Gang Records also includes ownership of all Re-Up Gang master tapes, including those of Re-Up members Ab Liva and Sandman. Both a new Clipse record and a Re-Up Gang posse disc are due in 2008, though unlike Clipse's two previous albums, the new one won't be produced in full by the Neptunes. Billboard.com reports that Pusha and Malice hope to work with Timbaland, Timbaland cohort Danjahandz, and Dame Grease on the disc.

As anyone who heard Hell Hath No Fury is painfully aware, Clipse's relationships with their various labels have often been a bit strained. Billboard.com explains the convoluted history: They began the decade with Star Trak, distributed at that point by Arista. Arista underwent drastic restructuring in 2004, its artists split between J and Jive. Star Trak was snapped up by Interscope, however. Despite Clipse's attempts to break their four-album deal with Jive and move with the Neptunes-run label to Interscope, Jive refused. A lawsuit between the group and the label was eventually settled, and Jive picked up a distribution deal for the group's Re-Up Gang Records catalog, yet famously continued to move the release of Hell Hath No Fury around until it finally emerged last fall.

Of Clipse's relationship with the Neptunes, Malice told Billboard, "I can honestly say that we were all friends before the music and will be friends to the end. Everything is business. If we had our way, we would always be on Star Trak. But it's what's working for you and what's not. We just want good energy, and Columbia has both the urgency and the muscle."

Naked Raygun Tour, Release CD/DVD Retrospective
Play Riot Fest, appear in Chicago punk doc along with Big Black, Effigies

Where to begin with the recently "reunited for good" Chicago punk vets Naked Raygun? A tour? A headlining spot at a hometown festival? A film? A career retrospective? Yeah, let's go with that one.

November 6, Riot Fest Records will unveil What Poor Gods We Do Make: The Story and Music Behind Naked Raygun, a DVD/CD combo of Naked Raygun favorites from across the years. Two days prior to Poor Gods' release, at Chicago's Reggie's Rock Club, the band will be on hand to screen the disc and sell a few copies before its proper street date. There's also a promise of "an after-party with live music." I wonder what they're insinuating?

Riot Fest: not just a label, but an actual festival. This year's Riot Fest takes place at Chicago's Congress Theater November 17-18. The first night finds 2006 Riot Fest alumni Naked Raygun yet again at the top of the bill; this time around that bill also includes Stiff Little Fingers, 7Seconds, Nekromantix, the Queers, and a whole lot more. The next night finds Bad Brains taking the top spot, with the Casualties, Dillinger Four, the Bollweevils, and a slew of others providing support. A Riot Fest-sponsored gig the night before at Double Door promising "mystery guests" has been canceled though, alas.

As for that tour: Naked Raygun will be joined by Cali punks $wingin' Utter$ and Chicago's Shot Baker on a string of West Coast dates following the band's set at Riot Fest.

And the film? It's called You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984 (The History, according to the trailer), and it premieres November 24 at Chicago's Portage Theater. In addition to Naked Raygun, the flick also covers Big Black, the Effigies, and many more key acts in the fertile landscape of early Windy City punk. [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.)