Jay-Z Announces Fall Dates

On the same day Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam drops his un-soundtrack to American Gangster, the one they call Jay-Z will-- according to Billboard.com-- hold court at Los Angeles' House of Blues.

That date will kick off an all-too-brief run of live gigs the Jigga man has lined up in early November. He'll rock a grand total of five shows, sticking entirely to material from American Gangster. Just be glad he didn't pull that trick for the last one.

All aflutter for November 6? Tide yourself over with the recently reported tribute to Reasonable Doubt over at Damon Dash's social networking site. Yeah, it sounds a little weird when we read it, too. [MORE...]

Photos: Joanna Newsom with Orchestra [Milwaukee, WI; 10/21/07]

Flanked by busts of Beethoven and Wagner at the gorgeous Pabst Theater, Joanna Newsom kicked off her all-too-brief orchestral tour in Milwaukee last night. It was appropriate, really, for what is Ys if not a symphony of sorts in five movements (or, perhaps more accurately, a concerto for harp and voice with orchestra)?

And, just as she had been doing on tour with the Ys Street Band, Newsom and orchestra-- joined also by Ys Streeters Neal Morgan and Ryan Francesconi-- stuck to the score, taking on Ys in sequence from start to finish (with the orchestra standing by during the album's solo centerpiece, "Sawdust & Diamonds").

It was at once everything a Ys devotee could ever hope for-- Van Dyke Parks' sumptuous arrangements brought to life!-- and over all too soon. Once the strings dropped out at the end of "Cosmia", that was that for the orchestra. Following an intermission, Newsom, Morgan, and Francesconi returned to play a handful of Milk-Eyed Mender favorites, plus Ys Street Band EP showstopper "Colleen".

Newsom closed out the second set with an untitled, unaccompanied new song-- interestingly, it was only at the conclusion of this set that the seated crowd finally gave a deserved standing ovation.

Newsom's orchestral adventures continue in Austin this weekend.






[MORE...]

RZA Bumps Wu's 8 Diagrams Back to Please Ghostface

Last Tuesday, word (which, after all, is bond) came down that Ghostface had taken some umbrage with the perpetually shifting release date for the Wu-Tang Clan's eagerly anticipated 8 Diagrams LP, which had made its most recent move to December 4, the same date as Ghost's Big Dough Rehab LP.

Troubled by the possibility of diminishing sales returns for his own disc in light of the first new Wu-Tang album in six years, Ghost spoke, and the RZA-- slicing through the tension much as his nickname might suggest, and perhaps feeling generous after his recent chess conquests-- has worked out a new date for 8 Diagrams: December 11. Ahhh, that feels better.

In a video interview with MTV-- while perched next to a very giddy looking Common-- RZA explained that he was largely unaware of Big Dough Rehab when the December 4 date was set for 8 Diagrams. He detailed the tribulations that've gone into getting 8 Diagrams out there at all, then (sweetly) added: "Ghost is my brother, you know what I mean? I love him to death." And, that in mind, RZA moved the date back (a gesture also confirmed by the Wu's publicist), ensuring "mad cream" for all at the close of 2007.

Again, for enumeration purposes: Ghostface's The Big Dough Rehab will be out December 4 from Def Jam. Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams drops exactly seven days later (to the day!) on Loud/Universal/SRC/Wu Music Group. Let's let that be that, all right, fellas? I just wanna hear these things.

Ghostface, as you know, is touring with some of his fellow heavy hitters: though, sadly, none of them are named U-God. His next show is at this coming weekend's Vegoose Festival. [MORE...]

Killing Joke/Ministry Bassist Paul Raven R.I.P.

Photo by Steffan Chirazi

Paul Vincent Raven-- bassist for post-punk pioneers Killing Joke and, in more recent years, industrial elder statesmen Ministry-- was found dead Saturday, October 20 in a private home in a small French village on the border of Switzerland, near Geneva. According to initial reports, his death was the result of a heart attack.

The 46-year-old Raven was in the thick of a couple different musical projects at the time of his death. He was in Geneva to record with French band Treponem Pal, and he planned to release an album by Mob Research-- a collaboration with members of Warrior Soul and the Mission UK-- on Ministry leader Al Jourgensen's 13th Planet Records next year.

After Raven's death, Jourgensen released a statement saying, "I am in total shock. The world of music is a sadder, emptier place. Not only was Raven an extraordinary talent, but one of my closest dearest friends. Our condolences and prayers go to his immediate family. He will be truly missed by artists, musicians, and his fans the world over."

For a statement on behalf of the Raven family, visit Mob Research's MySpace blog here.

A Place to Bury Strangers Shut Down by Cops, Tour

A Place to Bury Strangers: loud enough to necessitate their own line of effects pedals, sure, but loud enough for a brushup with John Law? According to the band's publicist, that's just the handcuff-rattling loudness attendees at last Thursday night's (October 18) CMJ show in NYC were up against. Observe:

"Six policemen stormed A Place to Bury Strangers' set at Loisaida after just two songs following noise complaints from local tenants. The promoter, Vacancy Records' Louise Fenton, was escorted by the officers toward the back of the building to have a word." [See photo above]

Fenton somehow convinced the cops to allow the band one more song, so APTBS did "Ocean", the epic closing track from their self-titled album. "Police officers then reported back to their dispatch to say they were in the process of shutting the event down, but that they were letting the band finish their song first, because, (directly quoted from the officer): 'This band is sick.'"

Dude! That is pretty sick. Saturday's APTBS gig at The Delancey, meanwhile-- at least, as our Marc Hogan told it-- seems to have gone off without a hitch. Another set that day at Glasslands, however, saw the band blowing the power out, according to PR. Easy, guys!

You can catch the entirety of the A Place to Bury Strangers' thing on vinyl tomorrow, or-- if your rap sheet's clean enough-- in person on their smattering of recently announced shows this fall. Those dates after the jump. [MORE...]

Black Lips Add Dates, Get Remixed by Diplo

They may be seasoned world travelers and all, but trouble follows Black Lips no matter where they may roam. So lock up your flats extra tight and keep a watchful eye peeled on any and all oversized spherical structures, United Kingdom, as the Black Lips are headed in your general direction.

The new dates will close a gap between their previously reported U.S. dates (which just wrapped up) and a quick trek to Australia, also filled in by a couple Atlanta area shows with old pals Deerhunter.

If that ain't proof positive of a full-bore British invasion in reverse from these Lips, get a load of this: Vice will press up 250 UK-only white label 7"s for release December 3, featuring Good Bad Not Evil standout "Veni Vidi Vici" on the A-side and "Hippie Hippie Hoorah" on the back.

In other Black Lips news, they've got that split Christmas single with the King Khan & BBQ Show to think about, and if you're willing to part with your e-mail address, you can download Diplo's recent reworking of "Veni Vidi Vici" here (or just stream it at the Lips' MySpace). [MORE...]

Pearls and Brass' Huth Goes Solo on Drag City

Photo by Bradley Fry

We're hard-pressed to think of a better way to shake the label of your band as a "power trio" than to literally unplug, pick up an acoustic guitar, and release a folksy solo album.

Pearls and Brass' Randy Huth plans to do just that. The guitarist and vocalist will defy easy categorization by following The Indian Tower-- his band's 2006 LP-- with the self-titled debut from his Randall of Nazareth solo moniker, so named because of his Nazareth, Pennsylvania origins.

Drag City will release Randall of Nazareth tomorrow, October 23. Randall opens for Om at Johnny Brenda's in Philly on November 15. [MORE...]

Harmonia Reunite for Concert, Live LP

It's hard to imagine Beatlemaniacal excitement at the prospect of a krautrock supergroup. Still, you don't get a much better pedigree than Harmonia, the German trio that consisted of Neu! co-founder and occasional Kraftwerk player Michael Rother and Cluster co-founders Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius.

Harmonia existed for a mere three years (1973-76) and released two albums, Musik Von Harmonia and Deluxe, before motorik-ing back into the musical ether.

But after 31 years of silence, the trio returns with Harmonia Live 1974, a document of their gig at the Penny Station Club-- a former railway station in Griessem, Germany-- on March 23, 1974.

London/Berlin-based label Grönland Records will release Live 1974 overseas today (October 22), and Harmonia have a November 27 show in Berlin (with Barbara Morgenstern opening!) to celebrate.

In fact, all three Harmonia members have dates aside from the one group appearance, including performances by Cluster, Rother & Moebius, and a Roedelius solo show. The latter begins the dates on October 27 in Ojai, California. [MORE...]

Supersilent Set to Unleash LP 8 in the States

Photo by Eirik Lande

Sound the alarm! Norwegian avant-everything collective Supersilent are set for the Stateside release of 8, their first studio album in nearly half a decade and the proper follow-up to 2006's live 7 DVD.

Things like track titles and singles aren't really a concern of Supersilent's, but wild technical details are, so here's a bunch: 8 was recorded over a five day period at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway, a studio trading in entirely analog equipment. 8 was pared down to 68 minutes from five hours of "finished" music, though the band did consider easing up on the editing to make 8 a double or triple LP monster (just imagine!). 8 was mastered by "mastering guru" Bob Katz (one would think the appropriate title would be "master of mastering," but he's the master) and produced by Deathprod. It's already been nominated for an Alarmprisen, the alternative Norwegian Grammy awards (8 came out in Norway back in September).

And, as a final technicality, 8 can be yours in the U.S. October 23 from Rune Grammofon. Hooray! [MORE...]

U.S. Customs Clears Chris Walla's Hard Drive
Customs rep: "We followed standard operating procedure...and when you start talking about...Guantánamo Bay, you get my ire up."

The saga of Death Cabbie Chris Walla's confiscated hard drive has taken another turn or sorts, one which leads toward something of a denouement.

As reported last week, U.S. Customs officials seized a hard drive containing music files belonging to Walla when a studio employee attempted to take them across the border last month, from Canada into the U.S., near Blaine, Washington. Walla, understandably upset, vented both to MTV.com and on his website just last week. The news spread and was embellished upon-- Did Homeland Security Take Walla's Hard Drive Because of the Political Songs Contained Therein??-- and now, Customs has stepped forward with their side of the story.

Speaking with MTV.com, U.S. Customs and Border Protection rep Mike Milne expressed bewilderment and "ire" at the chain of events that followed from what Milne calls a "standard operating procedure." Said Milne:

"I want to point out very emphatically that the U.S. government, this administration, the Department of Homeland Security and specifically [USCBP] does not censor musical content coming into the United States. Period. That's not the reason this hard drive was kept.

"We followed standard operating procedure...and when you start talking about...Guantánamo Bay [as Walla did in his blog post], you get my ire up. I go on Google News, and I see 125 different news stories out there with the headline 'Homeland Security Seizes Musician's Music', and it strikes me as unfair. And I will be spending the rest of the day trying to contact those people-- The Associated Press, the record company [Barsuk], and Mr. Walla-- to ask them if they can set the record straight."

Milne went on to claim that Walla's drive was taken simply because it was "commercial merchandise" brought to the wrong crossing station without proper documentation.

It also seems Customs has already attempted to contact the person from whom the drive was taken-- Hippowest studio engineer Brandon Brown-- on three occasions to say that the drive was cleared and is available to pick up. Speaking to MTV.com, Brown denied this. "Obviously, I would've gotten the drive if I would've heard from them," he said.

None of this has hampered Walla much. Since tapes sent across the border along with the hard drive made it through, Walla received his music and is still scheduled to release his solo album, Field Manual, through Barsuk on January 29.

Barsuk's Josh Rosenfeld, meanwhile, admits to being "naive" about border crossing procedures (he had originally furnished Brown with a note explaining the transport situation to Customs), but he doesn't completely buy the "commercial merchandise" bit. At the same time, he doesn't feel the confiscation was politically motivated, for obvious reasons. "They had no means of listening to the music on the drive at the time they confiscated it," he told MTV.com.

"[But] it seems like a funny coincidence. I mean, a hard drive containing data, and if it was confiscated for commercial reasons, why would they let him leave with the tapes? There's something that doesn't make sense about the whole concept of it being confiscated for commercial reasons."

Still, Rosenfeld isn't too concerned about the hard drive at this point, and he's grateful for all the press (ha, whoops) that's come out of this. "It'd be nice if we could get the drive back, but the data is already back in the United States. So in some way, it doesn't really matter. The whole thing ranks somewhere on the continuum between questionable and clueless to me."

CMJ: Saturday [Marc Hogan]

Spoon photos by Jason Bergman; AAM Promo day party photos by Ryan Muir; Above: Spoon

The Ponys [Roseland Ballroom; 7:30 p.m.]

Chicago-based four-piece the Ponys might sound like the kind of band that could succeed in a 3,000-plus-capacity room like Roseland, especially on this year's streamlined, consistent Turn the Lights Out. Three albums in, these guys have their live moves down, and their hazy, no-frills indie rock-- Pitchfork's Jason Crock approvingly dubbed it "Sonic Youth Lite"-- seems melodic enough to serve as a gateway to noisier stuff for Spoon's growing fanbase of skirt-chasers and frat boys. It wasn't, however, and it wasn't only the frat boys' fault. Singer/guitarist Jered Gummere's narcoticized murmurs were muddy and indecipherable, and there was a rote detachment to even the too-brief squalls of guitar noise. Maybe, a couple of weeks into their tour with Spoon, the Ponys are beginning to expect a listless audience-- and playing accordingly. "A few more and then Spoon's on," Gummere announced to the biggest cheers of the set. "They're OK, I guess."

Spoon [Roseland Ballroom; 8:30 p.m.]

It's a good time to be a scalper at a sold-out Spoon show. The dudes prowling 52nd Street before the Austin band's Roseland gig were turning would-be buyers away by the taxi-full if they weren't willing to cough up obscene prices. And many were. A half-an-hour before Spoon were officially set to start, one scalper told me he'd sold a ticket for as much as $60, and based on what I overheard, he might not even have been bullshitting. A couple of college-age guys who'd already bought tickets and been thrown out for fake IDs didn't even bother haggling-- they were literally pleading with the man to sell for what they had left in their wallets.



Spoon themselves have achieved a masterful balance between what those guys probably like-- beer, classic rock-- and what I like. It's going to become a precarious position to maintain as their fanbase grows and the media attention increases whenever they put out their next album, but on latest effort Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the veteran four-piece achieve an expertly calibrated combination of gorgeous experimentation and upbeat, accessible romanticism, sounding as Billy Joel these days as Pixies. Judging by applause levels, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was what many in the thousands-strong crowd were at Roseland to hear.

They got it, and a bit of back catalogue as well, in a concise, electrifying set. I haven't been to a venue this big in a while, so the instant weed smoke during opening song "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" was good for an inward chuckle. The three-piece horn section on new songs like "Cherry Bomb" or Kill the Moonlight's "Jonathan Fisk" gave the songs a trebly punch, but both songs were uptempo rockers-- music more for fist-pumping and beer-drinking than stoned navel-gazing.





Spoon never let the audience get too comfortable, though. Britt Daniel's hoarse bark went through even the breeziest arrangements, such as in Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga standout "The Underdog". The Radiohead-like "The Ghost of You Lingers" received perhaps the most muted reaction of the night, but the big-venue sound system helped its percussive glitches hit us in the guts after the pulsing synths put us at ease. On "I Turn My Camera On", one of several songs included from 2005's underrated Gimme Fiction, Daniel swapped shouts for falsetto coos, with bassist Rob Pope underpinning some Prince-ly funk. And many of the songs had discordant but economical guitar solos, which Daniel sometimes played with the instrument outstretched and held vertically, like a trophy.

Not that the show was ever flashy or indulgent. Daniel even kept the stage patter to a minimum, finally breaking his silence nearly halfway into the set in order to praise Spoon's label, Merge. I think he later called the show Spoon's biggest ever, though my ears may have missed a qualifying word. When the encore began, Daniel seemed truly impressed by the size of the crowd reaction. "That was a roar," he said tersely. A song later, he reached back to Girls Can Tell for "Everything Hits at Once", finishing the night with Gimme Fiction's "My Mathematical Mind".

"And when you believe, they call it rock and roll," Daniel sang earlier in the night, on "The Beast and the Dragon Adored" (also from Gimme Fiction). As he repeated the phrase, the words "rock and roll" became distorted by tinny echoes, moving from a traditional rock outlook recalling the Lovin' Spoonful to the weirder, wider musical universe also covered by this site. A guy I talked to before the set told me his favorite artists included Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty-- "The stuff our parents used to listen to was actually pretty good," he said. Spoon's challenge going forward will be satisfying both this guy and the guys who also appreciate some weirdness. Tonight, they did both.

A Place to Bury Strangers [The Delancey; 11 p.m.]

A Place to Bury Strangers weren't "the loudest band in New York" this night, as other press outlets and the band's MySpace page proclaim. They might've been the most punctual, though. The industrial-tinged Brooklyn dream-pop three-piece didn't deafen me the way even the piped-in music at the Annex before Black Kids did a couple of evenings ago, but they started (and ended) so promptly that I only caught one-sixth of their six-song set. Not sure how well you know New York geography, but suffice it to say it's a long way from 52nd and Broadway to Delancey St. and the Williamsburg goddamn Bridge. Not their fault.

At least the song I caught was "Ocean", the last track from A Place to Bury Strangers' self-titled debut, and a song that lives up to its title in its immersive vastness. "It's love that controls you," the frontman, Death By Audio chief, and ex-Skywave singer Oliver Ackermann intoned, not exactly with perfect pitch and perhaps a bit too high in the mix. Jay Space's drumming seemed as important as the swirling-but-not-deafening maelstrom of guitar effects, toms bashing all over the beat while the bass drum kept a steady, physical undercurrent.

Eventually, it was an extra burst of percussion that announced the guitars were about to get quite a bit louder. And they did, a piercing ring shining out above Ackermann's squealing, gnashing, vomiting mid-level tones. OK, pretty loud, I guess. Oh yeah, the performance was backed by a black-and-white film projection showing men and women running around in circles in what looked like a game of "Ring Around the Rosie" played in the fiery depths of hell.

AAM Promo Day Party [Music Hall of Williamsburg]

Oh No! Oh My!




Mika Miko




Islands




Will Sheff




...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

CMJ: Saturday [Zach Baron]

Photos by Kathryn Yu; Above: Jesu

New Violators [Mercury Lounge; 7 p.m.]

The New Violators' straightforwardness and honesty of intention-- they are an arena-sized band, in love with Bowie and the Cure and Echo & the Bunnymen and Springsteen and maybe even U2-- has had the paradoxical effect of alienating many who have seen them at South by Southwest, CMJ, and in their own hometown of Trondheim, Norway. Chalk this up, in part, to the band's frontman, Per Borten-- tall, handsome, well dressed, distant, and over the top.

Recently, the New Violators parted ways with their longtime guitarist, and Borten has since assumed double duty, a brilliant idea-- what little they lose in towering stage presence and theatrical appeal, they gain by being tighter, more locked in, less polarizing. Their new songs rely less on Borten's croon and more on his considerable songwriting ability. The material is more ballady; keyboards play more of a role, and the songs are longer and more complex, the influences still there but less obvious. If Springsteen's Americana leanings have come into vogue as an influence and a touchstone for so many new bands, New Violators cop the thing from Springsteen that attracted everyone to him in the first place: huge ambition and blatantly outsized songs.

I will resort to begging: somebody, please, put out this band's record.

Torche [Blender Theatre at Gramercy; 9 p.m.]

The Miami, Fla., quartet Torche-- say "Torch," that's what they do-- emerged from the rubble of Floor, an on-and-off Florida band renowned in some circles for their long-unreleased LP, Dove, recorded in 1994. Floor's legend circulated for some time before the band had a record out-- an oversight they remedied in 2001, when they released a self-titled album and then, eventually, Dove. After their 2004 breakup, those two records came to bookend the existence of a band few outside of Florida were aware of until they were almost finished. Torche formed shortly afterward, filling the void.







At the Gramercy, the band took the stage under the theater's busy light show, pounding away at a deafening single chord. The venue was packed-- a reminder that though certain bands may dominate all discussions of the festival, a journeyman metal group has a much easier time piecing a crowd together than does your average internet phenom. Like Floor, the band vibes Jane's Addiction as much as any other heavy predecessor-- angelic, soaring vocals, mountains of dialed-up guitars, a deliberate pace, and long, ocean-sized songs. Though Jesu was likely the band people had come to see, it was Torche that had most of the crowd bending rhythmically at the waist and neck, swaying as if in prayer.

Jesu [Blender Theatre at Gramercy; 10 p.m.]

Justin Broadrick's obsession with the non-metal aspects of his band's sound-- the suicidal wistfulness, silky drones and muted vocals-- has spilled over into his band's live set: "Turn everything up! It's too fucking quiet," yelled a surprisingly audible audience dude.





Lifeline, Broadrick's latest, suffered a bit from being so straightforward: without multiple layers to sift through, Jesu can sound thin, or underwritten. Live, it's clear that Broadrick is experimenting, seeing how light a touch he can employ and still make crowds feel the weight; still, after Torche's pummeling stand, it was odd to hear people's random chatter crest over the music. Like many other moments at CMJ, the whole thing was a little too transparent-- after seeing so much industry in motion, you begin wish someone would just drop the curtain again.

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.)