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Photos: The Clean / Times New Viking [New York, NY; 12/01/07]

Words: Matt LeMay, Photos: Christine Tadler
Pictured above: The Clean

New York City's Cake Shop was an ideal setting for three intimate shows by seminal New Zealand rockers the Clean. The venue's small size and minimal sound system highlighted the band's understated charms, most notably David Kilgour's nuanced, feedback-laden guitar playing and brother Hamish Kilgour's skittery, insistent drumming.

Openers Times New Viking and the Mad Scene (fronted by Hamish and joined by Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley on guitar) perfectly rounded out the evening, respectively reinforcing the Clean's ramshackle energy and Velvet Underground-esque emphasis on texture.

At Saturday's show (the last of the three), the Clean played a career-spanning smattering of songs, augmented at one point by guitar from Richard Davies (formerly of the criminally underrated Moles). At a time when so many bands of the Clean's stature are cashing in on outsized reunion tours, the whole evening was nothing short of inspiring.

Both the Clean and David Kilgour have finished their current spate of dates, but Times New Viking have a pair of shows scheduled in late January, in support of their forthcoming Matador debut.

THE CLEAN:





TIMES NEW VIKING:

[MORE...]

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Super Furry Animals Tour, Do Gigs With Fiery Furnaces

Following a weird and beast-y New Year's Eve alongside Deerhoof, Welsh psych-pop wackos Super Furry Animals will take to North America for a month of shows kicking off in Hoboken in late January.

Perhaps it's mere coincidence, but one can't help but notice these dates appear to line up with the North American CD release of Hey Venus!, which finally hits shelves here on January 22 from Rough Trade following a digital/vinyl release this past August.

Or maybe the trip's allure came from the chance to pal around with chunky Toronto combo Holy Fuck and the Widow-making Fiery Furnaces, who each join the Super Furries on a smattering of their dates. Or, perhaps, these guys know something about New Jersey in mid-January that we don't. No matter what's on their minds, prepare to get yours blown at any one of the dates listed below the jump. [MORE...]
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Witch, RTX, Turbonegro Kickstart Volcom Singles Club
Plus: Earthless, Dark Meat

The extreme-sports-friendly Volcom Entertainment label has chosen vinyl purists as its next target of endearment. Starting next year, the label will launch a subscription-based series of six split seven-inches per year, released every other month.

The name of the series is the Volcom Ent. Vinyl Club (VEVC), and the first seven-inch, featuring Turbonegro and Year Long Disaster, will ship in February. The other 10 contributors to the 2008 series are RTX, Dark Meat, Earthless, Birds of Avalon, Monotonix, Red Fang, Totimoshi, Tweak Bird, Valient Thorr, and Witch (featuring J Mascis on drums).

As a bonus, subscribers will get three free seven-inches, one each from Riverboat Gamblers, Totimoshi, and Year Long Disaster, plus a Volcom Entertainment slipmat. VEVC subscription details may be found here.

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Daniel Lanois Unveils Sixth Solo Album, Film

After reading today's review of The Joshua Tree: Deluxe Edition, perhaps you're revisiting the album (which is celebrating its 20th anniversary). And perhaps you want to catch up with one of the producers who accompanied U2 as "the band finally took a moment to ponder the wide-open American spaces it had been traveling through for years." Well, Brian Eno is likely off producing the new Coldplay record, so why not cozy up to Daniel Lanois, who is planning the release of his sixth solo album?

Titled Here Is What Is and billed as the soundtrack to an accompanying documentary of the same name, the album finds Lanois teaming with jazz drummer Brian Blade and pianist Garth Hudson (of the Band). According to a press release, Here Is also features "philosophical interludes and inspiring conversations with Brian Eno taken from the film."

Both the record and the documentary will come out March 18 on CD and DVD respectively (the former via Redeye Distribution), but Lanois is giving the album a digital release via his own Red Floor Records on December 15. The download comes in high-quality waveform (.wav) format and, thankfully for the iPod generation, also regular mp3 format.

Of the documentary, which will make its U.S. premiere at SXSW in March, Lanois says, "The film is a camera following me around over the course of a year, in and out of recording studios documenting once and for all the way it really happens." Adam Vollick and Adam Samuels aided Lanois in the directing.

And finally, back to U2. Lanois is currently in the studio with the band working on the follow-up to 2004's How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb. [MORE...]
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Rare Book Room Comp (Ft. Avey Tare, Deerhunter, Silver Jews) Release Details Announced

Back in January, we reported about a compilation put together by Nicolas Vernhes, owner of Brooklyn's Rare Book Room Studio. The disc would mark the inaugural release from Vernhes' Rare Book Room Records, and it would gather brand new tracks recorded at the studio. Way back when, the disc had no proper title, release date, or even a fully confirmed tracklist. But today, friends, it has all three.

The set, now titled Living Bridge, has ballooned into a two-disc monster, with Deerhunter, the Naysayer (not to be confused with Yeasayer), Lia Ices, John Wolfington, and Doldrums added to a stellar lineup that already included the likes of Avey Tare, Silver Jews, Black Dice, Blood on the Wall, Fischerspooner, and Enon.

Other than the Silver Jews' "Self Ignition", which popped up on a UK single once upon a time, each and every song on Living Bridge was recorded specifically for the compilation.

Living Bridge emerges February 26. Future Rare Book Room Records releases include albums from compilation contributors Lia Ices and Palms. [MORE...]

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Un-T.V. Eye: December 3-9, 2007

Once again: strike, reruns, blah blah blah. But hey, Ghostface is on Fuse tomorrow!

Monday, December 3:

NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Animal Collective (rerun)

Tuesday, December 4:

FUSE: The Sauce: Ghostface Killah
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Kings of Leon (rerun)

Thursday, December 6:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: These Arms Are Snakes

Saturday, December 8:

Fox: Fearless Music TV: Metric, Athlete

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Devin the Dude + France + Architecture in Helsinki = !?
So, a rapper and some indie rockers walk into a French club...

So, where to begin with this one? Let's start with Devin the Dude. Know the guy? He likes his weed, in case you hadn't heard, and he put out one of 2007's best rap LPs, Waitin' to Inhale. Seems Devin has also been spending some time in France (perhaps en route to Amsterdam?), or at least jamming to some French club fare. That might explain why he's hooked up with Paris-based party starter and TTC member Teki Latex to record a track "presented by" NYC trio 33Hz.

While they were at it, 33Hz also enlisted a regular rogue's gallery of remixers, including Architecture in Helsinki, Curtis Vodka, Gentlemen Drivers, Max Pask, and In Flagranti to rework the track. So, hip-hop act? Check. Dance/electronic act? Check. Indie rock act? With Architecture, checkeroony. As far as genres we at Pitchfork fill our pages with go, this is like hitting for the cycle.

And the track? It's called "Paris, Texas". Yep, like the city and the movie and the pop punk band. It's out now in CD, 12", and 7" formats thanks to Brooklyn's Dither Down imprint. Let the mash-ups begin.
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Joanna Newsom Lines Up More Orchestral Dates

To see Joanna Newsom perform is heaven; to see her with an orchestra, however, is even more divine. So when we hear that she's lined up enough live engagements complete with symphonic accompaniment that a brave soul might even call it a tour, well, that's just divine enough for a news story.

You knew about Joanna's forthcoming appearance at the Sydney Music Festival with backup from that fair city's own Symphony Orchestra in January, but an appearance at Brooklyn's Academy of Music to kick off February is otherwise brand new. Indeed, that's it for now, and far be it for us to speculate whether or not more dates will follow. But, heck, if you're willing to rope together one orchestra, you're not exactly gonna be bashful to ask again, are you? [MORE...]
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T.I., Lil Wayne, Chamillionaire on Crunk Hits Vol 4

Crunk Hits-- for serious, maybe the most surefire compilation series on the planet-- is back like it forgot something on this, its fourth incarnation, due December 4 on TVT.

The eighteen-track collection documents crunk at a crossroads, with genre godfather Lil Jon's oft-delayed Crunk Rock still on the back burner and the all-encompassing mega-genre "ringtone rap" eating everything in its path. Despite all that, Crunk Hits still manages to wrangle eighteen of the wildest Southern rap cuts of the last many months for its latest volume. Though much of it may not be explicitly crunk per se, one is never wrong where "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" is concerned, and highlights include basically everything here.

On a somewhat sad note, unlike the last time we reported on Crunk Hits, there's no accompanying Hyphy Hitz collection to tell you about. Door's open, man. [MORE...]
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Maximo Park Celebrate Hometown With Beer, Bus Tour

Newcastle, England mischief makers Maxïmo Park would probably make their hometown plenty proud just by showing up to their December 15 show at the Metro Radio Arena, but by re-branding the famous Newcastle Brown Ale as Maxïmo Brown Ale, they must be something like local heroes.

According to NME.com, Newcastle Brown Ale brewery Tyneside Brewers asked the boys if they wanted to create their own one-off version of the beer, and they accepted. It seems the beer's taste difference from the original will be similar to the taste difference between colors of M&M's, so Maxïmo Brown Ale will distinguish itself via a label designed by the band.

Maxïmo lead singer Paul Smith was honored by the opportunity, saying, "So many amazing things have happened for our band in a short space of time, and to have our image emblazoned on a Brown label is another addition to that list. It would be great for our band to be as synonymous with Newcastle as the mighty Brown Ale, and it's both amusing and an honor to be able to deface the label in this manner!"

Maxïmo Park's beer launches around England on December 15, the same day as their Newcastle show. But it's not the only neat tie-in the band has planned for the date. They're also holding a contest for ticketholders to get a chance to go on a bus tour of the city inspired by the video for Our Earthly Pleasures single "Karaoke Plays", which came out today, December 3, via Warp.

By sending an email with their phone numbers to maximopark@warprecords.com (subject: "MAILOUTBUSCOMP"), show attendees will have a shot at a pair of tickets for the tour, featuring the same bus and driver from the video. The winners, contacted December 10, will see Maxïmo's favorite places around town as well as a few of the video's locations. The tour also features earthly pleasures such as "food, drink and lots of secret extras!" [MORE...]
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Constantines Issue Limited Edition 7"

Despite their punk ethos (perceived and otherwise) and a mess of vinyl-era sonic touchstones in their back closets, when Toronto's Constantines issue a single for "Hard Feelings" from their forthcoming LP on January 15, it'll be the band's very first 7".

Unlike "Feelings", the limited run single's B-side "Easy Money" won't appear on the as-yet-untitled album the recent Arts & Crafts signees are presently knocking out in Toronto. The disc will reportedly emerge in April, though you can check out the band's progress in a series of "web shorts" the guys are posting on their website. How newfangled!
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Radiohead Firm Up Tour a Wee Bit
Not quite everything in its right place

That rather vague list of Radiohead tour dates we mentioned last week became slightly less vague over the weekend, as the band firmed up venues and specific dates for their shows in Paris, Nimes, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Additionally, pairs of shows in Dublin and Nimes appear to have been shaved to a single date apiece. Of course, there's still plenty about the itinerary that remains to be seen, including a North American jaunt.

In other Radiohead news, folks the world over began receiving e-mails this weekend assuring them that "Your Discbox has been despatched," (sic) and a few lucky folks even got the thing itself already.

What else? In Rainbows drops in more traditional form December 31 on XL in the UK and the following day in North America on ATO. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", the first single from In Rainbows, emerges in the UK mid-January, while the giant box set that seems a little silly is due next week. [MORE...]

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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.)

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