The Moldy Peaches Reunite for Juno Premiere

Few things bring people together like the miracle of teen pregnancy. And nothing, at least in this particular story, brings broken up bands back together like a movie about the miracle in question soundtracked by the band in question. For those who somehow missed the headline, we're talking, of course, about the Moldy Peaches and forthcoming flick Juno.

The Peaches-- fronted by Kimya Dawson and Adam Green-- reconvened last night (December 3) in Los Angeles at the premiere of Juno for their second show since more of less parting ways a few years back. Juno's PR department passed along a couple photos from the gig.

That "second" up there is no typo, as Dawson and Green also dusted off some old Peaches jams at L.A.'s the Smell the night before.

Juno, as you may have read, features many a Moldy Peach and Kimya Dawson solo tune on its soundtrack and in the film itself. Those tunes were selected in large part by Juno star Ellen Page, who portrays the titular character and who talked to Pitchfork late last month. "The Moldy Peaches' music...is full of so much heart and so much simplicity and it's so genuine," Page explained then. "It's really unique and it's quirky and all of those things, but it has heart to balance that. And that's one of the reasons why I always loved their music."

A review of the December 2 show that appeared on blog The Rawking Refuses to Stop! notes that Green and Dawson did not make mention of a tour or permanent reunion during their show, but that Dawson has altered her website to state she is a member of the Moldy Peaches, rather than was. That's hope enough to chew on for now.

Kimya will continue trolling California on tour, while Adam, perhaps suspiciously, has nothing planned at the moment. Makes you wonder...

The aforementioned Juno soundtrack, meanwhile, hits digital shops December 11 and physical ones January 15 via Rhino.


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Michael Showalter Talks Sandwiches, State Reunion
"I think within the next two years, you will be hearing about a State movie. In the vein of a Monty Python film, which is to say a sketch comedy film. Like The Meaning of Life or something."

To promote the release of his very first comedy album, Sandwiches & Cats, Michael Showalter recently took to a handful of blogs and started writing. One of his juicier posts appeared on My Old Kentucky Blog, where he revealed that his mid-90s sketch comedy group the State, they of the beloved MTV show of the same name, "is reuniting (though in truth we never broke up) to make a sketch comedy movie. All I can say about it is that we're back together after a brief ten-year break, and it's going to be about the history of our country. Hopefully, funny."

Pitchfork's (and a whole bunch of other people's) interest piqued, I called Showalter to talk to him about the reunion and all of the other things he has on his plate at the moment. In addition to the obvious stuff (the reunion, his album, his tour with fellow State member and frequent collaborator Michael Ian Black), we talked about hecklers, the Writers Guild of America strike, and his relationship with Sandwiches producer and former Shudder to Think frontman Craig Wedren. And yeah, sue me, I talked to yet another person about baseball.

Pitchfork: Are you and Michael [Ian Black] performing on stage together at all on this tour?

Michael Showalter: No, no. Not really. We're traveling together, but we're not performing together.

Pitchfork: Have you influenced each other's sets indirectly in any way? Any sabotage, intentional or unintentional?

MS: I think so. No sabotage, but I think we feed off of each other in certain ways.

Pitchfork: What sorts of ways?

MS: Mostly we eat food off of each other's stomachs and stuff like that.

Pitchfork: Do you clean it up before you go on stage, or do you just leave it on your stomachs?

MS: We try to, but sometimes there's no time.

Pitchfork: So you gotta work on the fly?

MS: Yeah. And I go up first, so I'm usually a little messier.

Pitchfork: You go up first?

MS: Yeah. I open.

Pitchfork: How was that decided?

MS: Well, Mike is sort of the headliner because he's more famous than me. He just has a lot more exposure than I do. He's a more recognizable face than I am. So like, when I'm traveling with Michael, I would say that for every ten people [who recognize] Michael, eight of them also [know] who I [am].

Pitchfork: So it's like he is 25% more popular than you, is what you're saying?

MS: He is probably a little bit more like-- and popular is also not the right word. He's just more famous. He's probably 30% more famous than me. [MORE...]

My Bloody Valentine Announce Reunion Shows!

People, it's on. Dust off your tremolo pedals, don your best pair of kicks, and get ready to gaze like its 1991. The time has come to announce a return to the live stage for a little band called My Bloody Valentine.

The news comes fresh off Kevin Shields' confirmation that the massively influential shoegazers are indeed back together, and follows months of speculation about a MBV live return.

But you want details, don't you? Well, UK residents, you're in luck. Of the three reunion shows My Bloody Valentine have revealed thus far, precisely 100% of them occur in your fair land. London, Manchester, and Glasgow can look forward to blissing out to the sweet undulations of "To Here Knows When" and getting floored by the noise freakout on "You Made Me Realise" in late spring/early summer 2008. Not on the itinerary right now: Coachella.

The performances are being presented by our pals at All Tomorrow's Parties.

And if Shields wasn't pulling a fast one last week, we have plenty more to look forward to from the Valentines in 2008. Actually, we're supposed to get a new album this year, but seeing as it's mid-November already, we won't be too terribly shocked if that doesn't happen. Apparently another disc is in the works too.

Welcome back, guys. We still love ya. [MORE...]

Ya Ho Wa 13 Play First Shows in 30 Years, Reissue LP

We're hard-pressed for words to describe 1970s group Ya Ho Wa 13 beyond their traditionally vague "psychedelic" tag, so here's some math:

the Polyphonic Spree's numbers, cultishness, penchant for robes
X
the Hare Krishnas' meditative spirituality, penchant for robes
÷
general hippiedom
+
more robes
≈
Ya Ho Wa 13 and the Source Family cult/commune around it

Theirs is a confusing history, to say the least, and one that's better documented by others who are more knowledgeable.

But here's what we can tell you: Cold Sweat Records will reissue the band's Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony on February 5.

Better yet, surviving members of the band-- whose leader, Father Yod, died in a hang-gliding accident in 1975-- will play their first public shows in 30 years this month in conjunction with the publishing of Process Media's The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and the Source Family by Isis Aquarian. The performances and accompanying slide shows, home movies, book signings, and more only take place in California, but really, what did you expect from these guys? [MORE...]

Polvo Reunite for All Tomorrow's Parties
Explosions in the Sky weekend also adds Animal Collective, Four Tet

With their signature guitar whirl and crunch, Chapel Hill band Polvo helped define the American indie rock sound of the mid-90s. (Singer/guitarist Ash Bowie also did the same as the bassist in Helium.) After releasing several albums on Touch and Go and Merge, Polvo broke up in 1997, and haven't played together since. Until the weekend of May 16-18, 2008 that is.

Curators Explosions in the Sky have gotten Polvo to reunite for their first show in over a decade for their edition of the 2008 All Tomorrow's Parties festival, taking place that weekend at Butlins Holiday Resort in Minehead, England. And it will be a full-on reunion: original members Bowie, singer/guitarist Dave Brylawski, bassist Steve Popson, and drummer Eddie Watkins will all be there. For now, this is the only scheduled Polvo reunion date, though a London show is a possibililty.

UPDATE: It will not be a full reunion, as Watkins is not participating. Brian Quast, formerly of the Cherry Valence, will be drumming.

Explosions in the Sky have also added quite a few other noteworthy artists to their ATP: Animal Collective, Four Tet, Ola Podrida, Eluvium, Lazarus, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and the Paper Chase. They will join previously reported performers Dinosaur Jr., ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Iron and Wine, Broken Social Scene, Adem, and EITS themselves.

As you know, the Explosions in the Sky weekend is just one of many events All Tomorrows' Parties has planned in the coming months. There's Portishead's fest, Don't Look Back shows, and, of course, ATP vs. Pitchfork.

New My Bloody Valentine Album Due This Year??
HOLY CRAP, GUYS

Looks like this Kevin Shields fellow is a man of his word, huh? In the January/February 2007 issue of Magnet magazine, as previously reported, Shields promised that some band he's part of called My Bloody Valentine were "100% going to make another...record unless we die or something."

Today comes word that Shields wasn't just pulling our whammy bars, as the Vice-associated (UPDATE: Not associated, just good friends with Vice Records' Adam Shore) Daily Swarm has revealed bits from a interview with Shields-- set to air on a forthcoming episode of Vice's vbs.tv program "Soft Focus"-- in which the shoegaze godfather and fanclub president* confirms that the new album is being made, and what's more, it's supposed to come out this year.

Speaking to "Soft Focus" host and DC scene mainstay Ian Svenonius, here's Kevin: "We were making a record in the 90s, around when the band broke up in 1995...and I continued with Bilinda [Butcher, guitarist/vocalist]. We kinda made...most of an album...

"[The new album is] going to be this 96/97 half-finished record finished, and then a compilation of stuff we did before that in 1993–94, and a little bit of new stuff.

"I pretty much know what the one that's going to come out this year is going to sound like because it's already pretty much three-quarters done already...it sounds like what we sounded like-- different but not radically different. People will go, 'Yeah, it sounds like My Bloody Valentine.'"

That is, one presumes, after people catch their breath and pick their melted minds up off the floor.

Until the full interview airs on November 12, that's really all we have to go off. So what did we learn today? That My Bloody Valentine are indeed back together in some configuration or another. That they've recorded new material. That they have at least two releases on the way, one of which may very well come out this year. And, last but not least, that Loveless has a follow-up and IT WILL SOON TOUCH THE EARS OF HUMANKIND.

Wooooooooooooo!

Oh yeah, no word yet on all that reunion tour chatter, but consider this-- along with the reactivated MBV website-- a very good sign.

* this scene celebrates itself, recall

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...]

Swervedriver to Reunite for World Tour Next Year
They're been gone so long, color photography was invented in the interim

It's been nigh on ten years since Swervedriver's 99th Dream, which even the least casual observer might've pegged their swan song. And perhaps it was: on record, anyway. We'll just have to wait and see.

But for now, these boys-- Adam Franklin, Jimmy Hartridge, Steve George, and Jez Hindmarsh-- have announced an end to their extended hiatus, as the fondly remembered Swervedriver plans to tour the world early next year, breaking almost a decade of silence. The dates have yet to be confirmed; we'll have 'em for you when they are.

Swervedriver's not-so-former-anymore frontman Adam Franklin is currently out shooting Bolts of Melody all over North America. Those dates available after the jump. [MORE...]

Company Flow to Reunite?

CMJ: it's happening. And, given the chaotic, scattered nature of the proceedings, it'd be easy for something big to get lost in the fray. (One shudders at the thought of something, somewhere going unblogged). But when we caught wind of this, well, we knew it'd be worth salvaging from the white noise.

Company Flow, the now-iconic hip-hop trio featuring El-P, Mr. Len, and Bigg Jus-- more or less dormant since the turn of the century-- will hope to reunite for Def Jux's big (and previously reported) showcase at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg this Friday (October 19).

***UPDATE: While a Def Jux rep initially confirmed the reunion, the group's publicist has informed us that it is NOT YET CONFIRMED. The official word from El-P: "I don't want to make any official announcement on anything as nothing is confirmed yet, but if all goes right the fans will be getting more than is advertised on the bill. If all goes right we will be rocking songs we haven't done in years. It [may] mean all of us, it may mean two of us...and possibly it may not happen at all. I will know more later this week."

Provided it happens, this is big for reasons both musical-- OMG Funcrusher Plus (which turned 10 this year, by the way)-- and personal, as El-P and Bigg Jus will reportedly have to mend a bridge or two to pull this one off. There's even been some talk of reissuing some Co Flow material, though that, at the moment, is just talk.

Even without this news, that showcase is one to check out, with Junk Science, Hangar 18, the Mighty Quinn, Mr. Dibbs, Yak Ballz, Despot, Activator, Cool Calm Pete and other special guests all slated to appear. El-P, as you should know by now, also dropped the Recommended I'll Sleep When You're Dead LP this year.

Reunited Avengers, Pansy Division Join Forces for Tour

Photo by Marcus Leatherdale

Punk rock nostalgia hounds will get a double dose of the stuff they crave this fall in the form of a co-headlining tour featuring the Avengers and Pansy Division.

For those who need their memories jogged, the Avengers are a short-lived San Francisco foursome who reunited half-intact this year, 30 years after they first formed. Frontwoman Penelope Houston and guitarist Greg Ingraham remain from the original lineup, and this will be the band's very first national tour.

Pansy Division have only been gone a short time by comparison: four years. Also from San Francisco, the former Lookout! "queercore" band is now signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles and is readying its next full-length. Here's hoping for an LP full of songs as provocatively titled as past classics ("Dick of Death", "He Whipped My Ass in Tennis (Then I Fucked His Ass in Bed)", etc.).

The Avengers and Pansy Division now share DNA in the form of the Mr. T Experience/the Plus Ones' Joel Reader (bass in the former, guitar in the latter) and the Plus Ones' Luis Illades (drums). The joint tour kicks off in L.A. tomorrow night (October 11), but the Avengers have a single date without Pansy Division tonight in their hometown. [MORE...]

Blur Reunite
...for lunch

A message posted yesterday, October 4, on Blur's website (via NME) on the subject of a full-blown reunion with Graham Coxon in tow has brought us from "nothing concrete" to "lunch." The message reads:

"In light of recent press speculation, blur.co.uk would like to confirm that Alex, Damon, Dave and Graham met for an enjoyable lunch on Monday, but there are currently no other music plans for Blur."

And that's it. We won't hold our breath for new music anytime soon, but the prospect of these four guys together again is nonetheless pretty exciting. And then again, who knows? Maybe they'll go all Radiohead and spring their In Rainbows on us over the weekend.

Also, the Damon Albarn-scored Monkey: Journey to the West "circus opera" is running at Paris' Théâtre de Chatelet from September 26-October 13. Next year, it will head to Berlin for a week-long run from July 8-15.

Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly Reunite for Shows

Perhaps it's not the full-on Throwing Muses reunion that band's slipped in and out of over the course of this decade, but it's still pretty great: Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly, who together formed the creative center of the pioneering alt-rock group, will join up for a pair of shows at Boston's Brattle Theatre October 6. (This weekend? Man, good thing the Sox don't play 'til Sunday.)

As you probably know, both women have enjoyed successful careers apart from each other-- Hersh as a solo artist, and Donnelly as a solo artist and member of Belly and the Breeders.

The pair will play a solo set apiece before joining up onstage to close thing out. Hersh also has a mess of solo shows Down Under scheduled after her gig with Donnelly.

Thanks to reader Pete Savignano for the tip! [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.)