Dan Deacon to Unleash Ultimate Reality DVD
Also plays NYC scavenger hunt

Manipulated, neon-colored versions of clips from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies set to Nintendo-game-style music: What else could it be but a Dan Deacon DVD?

The Ultimate Reality DVD, out this winter on Carpark, consists of a Deacon collaborative performance with fellow Wham City collective member Jimmy Joe Roche [above left] and two live drummers, one from Ponytail and one from Deacon's frequent tourmates Video Hippos.

The performance pairs a 40-minute Deacon composition with Roche's "psychedelic montage of Arnold Schwarzenegger films that is projected at a monumental scale," according to a press release. It premiered at last summer's Whartscape Festival in Baltimore, and has since appeared in various other galleries and museums on the East Coast.

Two clips from the DVD are linked below.

Deacon continues his live madness tonight, August 10, with his appearance in Manchester, England, and he has added a few more tour dates as well.

By its varied, manic, and haphazard nature, one of those shows is a perfect match for Deacon himself: a September 2 performance at the end of New York magazine's Labor Day weekend scavenger hunt.

More info about the event, including the mention of the $1000 prize for the winning team, is in the flier after the jump. [MORE...]

Angels of Light Prep We Are Him LP

Former Swans main man Michael Gira will return with the fifth full-length with his Angels of Light project on August 21. The record, titled We Are Him and set for release on Gira's own Young God Records, is the follow-up to 2005's Sing "Other People"; it also features quite a host of guest musicians.

Previous Gira collaborators Akron/Family served as a backing band to lay down basic tracks for the album, and other contributors include Christoph Hahn (Swans), Bill Rieflin (Swans, Ministry, R.E.M.), Julia Kent (Antony and the Johnsons), Eszter Balint (Stranger Than Paradise), Steve Moses (Lambic), new Young God signee Larkin Grimm, and "Spinning on Air" host David Garland.

To celebrate the album's release, Gira will play a solo show at NYC's Highline Ballroom on September 14. Marissa Nadler and Castanets round out the ace bill. [MORE...]

UNKLE Play First Tour as Live Band

On the heels of the recently released War Stories, James Lavelle has turned UNKLE into a live band for the first time ever and scheduled tour dates through to the end of October.

The band's next show is in Osaka, Japan on August 11, and they will make their North American debut in New York City on October 18, as part of the CMJ Music Marathon. [MORE...]

Twilight Sad Extend Autumns Tour Into Autumn

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Moody Glaswegians the Twilight Sad have extended their current tour of Europe to include quite a few more UK dates. Over two months more, to be sure, which will allow the quartet to play Autumns in one of its natural seasonal habitats. The Scottish upstarts open for fellow countrymen Idlewild on most of the newly-added dates.

The next Twilight Sad show is August 17 at Aarhus, Denmark's Pop Revo festival. [MORE...]

YLT, Lekman, Danielson, Super Furries Play End Fest
Plus: Twilight Sad, I'm From Barcelona, Concretes, My Brightest Diamond, Midlake, Lambchop

The End of the Road Festival, going down over the long weekend of September 14-16 at Larmer Tree Gardens in North Dorset, England, touts itself as "an intimate music festival for just 5,000 people." Guess that kind of explains why glammy David Vandervelde is among the louder acts attendees are likely to see at the fest.

Still, you and 4,999 of your closest mates can mellow your minds to the strains of a seriously impressive lineup, which includes Yo La Tengo, Super Furry Animals, Architecture in Helsinki, I'm From Barcelona, Jens Lekman, the Concretes, the Twilight Sad, Scout Niblett, Danielson, Lambchop, Howe Gelb, My Brightest Diamond, Midlake, Joan as Police Woman, Richard Swift, the aforementioned Vandervelde, Loney, Dear, British Sea Power, David Thomas Broughton, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Robyn Hitchcock, Brakes, Archie Bronson Outfit, Euros Childs, Devastations, the (Band of) Bees, Jim White, King Creosote, Viking Moses!, and a bunch of basically chilled-out artists. What, no Boyz II Men?

John and Yoko Give Peace a Song on DVD

On August 27, Fabulous Films will give a UK release to Give Peace a Song, a DVD document of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Give Peace a Chance" performance from the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal in 1969.

The performance was the culmination of a seven-day "bed-in" protest against violence in which John and Yoko moved into the hotel's 1742 suite and...sat in bed. Since we weren't there (or even born yet), we're not quite sure (though we can imagine) what else they did besides just sitting.

That's where Give Peace a Song comes in, as the DVD includes not only the performance itself but also documentation of the events leading up to it from various visitors, including some of the couple's own footage.

The Roots to Tour With Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte
Also: Dave Matthews Band :(

Photo by Kirstie Shanley

Despite scattered talk of a new record, ?uestlove and his Roots keep on trucking behind last year's Game Theory. Not that we're complaining, especially since two of their next three dates are on the pretty sweet Rock the Bells tour.

After they wrap up those shows, the Roots will appear in East Troy, Wisconsin for two shows with...Dave Matthews Band. They will then try to wash that image out of our minds by leading the VH1-sponsored Hip Hop Honors Tour with Big Daddy Kane and MC Lyte shortly thereafter.

The Roots' next show is a non-Rock the Bells appearance in Salt Lake City tomorrow (August 10). [MORE...]

Professor Murder to Slay on Short Summer Tour

New York City, New York State's Professor Murder will enlighten the citizens of North America to their particular brand of whatever-we're-calling-music-with-a-lot-of-
cowbell-these-days on a recently announced tour.

The fun begins August 16 in Washington, D.C. and ends a mere week later, on August 23 in Montreal. With no full-length yet to speak of, these Pitchfork Music Festival graduates will still be out there in support of 2006's excellent Rides the Subway EP and the forthcoming "Dutch Hex" 12". [MORE...]

Deerhunter Add Dates Overseas, Play School Benefit

Photo by Kristin Klein

Deerhunter will take a break from feverishly blogging to tour very soon, and the Atlanta quintet have now added a European leg to take place later this fall.

The band's next show, however, is tomorrow (August 10) in their own hometown, and it's a benefit to help the city's Burgess-Peterson Academy pay for a new playground for its students. Deerhunter-affiliated acts Spooks and Chopper will open. Thanks to Trey Lindsay for the benefit tip. [MORE...]

Ryan Adams: Road Warrior

What comes after umpteenth? America's favorite book-cover-designer-guy, muse to Kings, emcee extraordinaire, and all-around homeboy Ryan Adams has squeaked a whopping six more dates with the Cardinals into his lengthy tour itinerary. "Easy Tiger," you might say, but this dude just keeps going!

Now Madison, Houston, Dallas, Birmingham, Lakewood, and NYC can get them a piece of that Ryan Adams action, and I can go back to having my toes fondled by the Pitchfork house pedicurist. [MORE...]

CMJ 07: Spoon, Xiu Xiu, Deerhunter, Deacon, Justice
Plus: Simian Mobile Disco, Jesu, Islands, Devin the Dude, Marnie Stern, Ponys, No Age

Start raiding the couch cushions for cab fare now! The CMJ Music Marathon-- NYC's autumn answer to Austin's spring music orgy SXSW-- announced its initial lineup today, and stakes is already high.

CMJ 2007 goes down October 16-20 in America's most populous city, spread across many of said city's hallowed venues-- venues which, as any industry vet will tell you, are significantly further apart than their counterparts down in Austin. Which means commitment is key, people. With that said, here's just a slice of what, in most cases, you'll have to decide between: Spoon, Xiu Xiu, Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, Marnie Stern, Jesu, Islands (whoa, remember them?), Mates of State, Devin the Dude, No Age, the Ponys, Crystal Castles, Brother Ali, the Brunettes, MSTRKRFT, A-Trak, UNKLE, Little Brother, British Sea Power, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, KavinSky, Ruins, and more.

Complete schedule details are still emerging from the fog, but we do know Spoon is set to close out the fest with an October 20 show at Roseland Ballroom, while UNKLE creep through Webster Hall on October 18.

Menomena Plan Another European Vacation/Tour

Photo by Jason Bergman

At the beginning of the summer, Menomena embarked on their first ever European tour. Now, they're already returning to the continent in September and October-- just before they head back to North America for their previously reported dates here.

But Menomena have two shows before either tour kicks off. The first is August 15 in Mexico City, and the second is on September 1 at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival, where the PDX trio will be joined onstage by a choir. Smells like a party! [MORE...]

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