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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...]
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EMI Deceiving Radiohead Fans?

Say, have you heard that awesome new album Rainbow by the acclaimed rock band Radiohead? No? Here, just click on this link here and-- hey, wait a minute...this looks an awful lot like that catalog box set and creepy bear USB drive thingy. Neither of which, come to think of it, include the new Radiohead album. And isn't the new album actually called In Rainbows? WTF?

Here, let's attempt to set things straight. According to a Guardian Unlimited report today, folks who Googled the word "Radiohead" last week were presented with a highlighted, paid-for link that read as follows:

Radiohead - New Album
www.radioheadstore.com New Album "Rainbow" now available as Boxset inc. CD, USB, Digital

The above link, however, leads not to the In Rainbows deluxe discbox so often mentioned in these pages, nor to anything involving In Rainbows at all. Instead, it takes curious clickers to a page where they may purchase the previously reported Radiohead catalog set in physical, digital, and USB formats from EMI/Parlophone. Which, as you may recall, was not Radiohead's idea.

EMI/Parlophone, of course, is Radiohead's former label, and the fact that they're dropping a box set around the same time Radiohead delivers their discbox has already aroused suspicions. Now comes this Google ad-- rather plainly misleading, wouldn't you say?-- and the plot thickens.

Guardian Unlimited asked EMI whether they had indeed placed the ad, and received the following in response: "Parlophone were aware of the data source glitch and removed the link immediately." Data source glitch, right, gotcha.

The link has indeed been removed, and NME.com quotes a Radiohead spokesperson as saying, "We accept that it was a genuine error and that it has been rectified." Regardless of what exactly is going on here, I think it's safe to say Radiohead and EMI will not be on each other's Christmas card lists this year.

In Rainbows CD and vinyl, meanwhile, arrives in North America January 1 via TBD/ATO, in the UK December 31 via XL Recordings, and in Japan December 26 from Hostess Entertainment.

On a lighter note, Scott Plagenhoef's Radiohead webcast play-by-play should bring a smile to even the grinchiest of faces.
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Metric Release Live DVD, iTunes EP
But will they ever release the stranglehold their songs have on my heart?

Finally, a Metric DVD I don't have to watch with my Kaplan math tutor. Canadian synth-rock superstars Metric will issue the live DVD Live at Metropolis February 12 on Last Gang Records. It captures the band in action at a Fall 2006 Montreal stop on their Live It Out tour, and also includes the videos for Live It Out's three singles.

To sweeten an already sugary deal, iTunes will offer a Live at Metropolis EP come mid-December. It will feature "Patriarch on a Vespa", "The Police and The Private", and "Too Little Too Late" from the Metropolis set, as well as the DVD trailer, for less than a buck.

If all this live stuff has got you salivating for a Metric show, well, you're gonna make a puddle before that happens. Metric's recent tour with Crystal Castles has wrapped, with no future dates scheduled for now. Makes you wish there was some kind of concert film or something to tide you over in the interim, don't it? Hey... [MORE...]
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Ladytron Sign to Nettwerk, Prep Fourth LP
Slag off old label, Rykodisc

Dig it: Ladytron have a new album, the follow-up to 2005's exquisite Witching Hour, due in May 2008. Well, almost: they're actually in Paris right now recording it with co-producer and Ed Banger dude Vicarious Bliss. And that's not all. Ladytron have inked with a new label, Nettwerk, to help bring that as-yet-untitled fourth album home to roost.

What, you don't know Ladytron? "Ladytron is one of the coolest, most vital and cutting edge bands around right now," according to Nettwerk co-founder Mark Jowett's press release quote. How about that?

Speaking to Billboard.com yesterday, Ladytron's Daniel Hunt was geeked about the signing as well: "We wanted to work with people who really understood where we were. The best thing about the Nettwerk deal is that the band and the management will have the ability to be really hands-on with the marketing and planning. This time around, nothing will be left to chance."

Hunt was notably less geeked about Ladytron's former label, Rykodisc, which gobbled up their former former label, Emperor Norton. "We were not on Rykodisc by choice," he told Billboard.com. "They wanted to keep us and we said no. The only reason our last record did so well was because we worked really hard and toured on it for two years. The label really did nothing." Rykodisc could not be reached for comment.

The most recent round of Ladytron touring, meanwhile, recently wrapped up, but the band does have a pair of DJ dates in the weeks to come. [MORE...]
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Arctic Monkeys Choose "Teddy Picker" for Next Single
B-side features guest vocals from Richard Hawley

Arctic Monkeys' "Teddy Picker" already has the distinction of being the best (only?) extended metaphor about a crane game ever set to music, but soon, it can claim another honor: its very own single. Domino Records will issue "Teddy" in the UK December 3 on 7", 10", CD, and download, with a digital-only release to hit North America the following day.

All but the 7"-- due to size, of course-- will feature not only "Teddy Picker" and a cover of Pat Farrell and the Believers' 1969 classic "Bad Woman" featuring Mr. Richard Hawley on vocals, but new Monkeys tracks "The Death Ramps" and "Nettles" as well. Maybe when you're older, 7".

All this, of course, comes as the band is on a rare break in their mighty world tour (which picks up again November 27 in France). No last-minute addendums have been made to that itinerary at the moment: perhaps this single is, in fact, the last screech we'll hear from the Monkeys in 2007? I dare not comment; we've spoken too soon on the matter before. [MORE...]
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Alan Sparhawk's Black-Eyed Snakes Go Skiing on DVD
Black Mountain pissed they didn't think of idea first

Usually when a band releases a DVD, it's of some live show, or it's a documentary chronicling the history of the band, or maybe it's some kooky music-related movie with interviews and music videos as extras. Not so for Low guitarist/vocalist Alan Sparhawk's Black-Eyed Snakes side project.

The Snakes have released a short film called Cross Country With the Snakes on DVD, featuring the cross-country skiing talents of the band and, in particular, those of drummer and one-time Olympic hopeful Brad Nelson. And sure, the DVD-- shot by skiing fanatic Hansi Johnson-- also has some live footage from the shows the band played on its Colorado/Utah road trip, but the real prize is getting to see the Snakes' impression of Low's "Belarus" video.

As part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival tour, Cross Country With the Snakes will screen at Minneapolis' Midwest Mountaineering on November 16 and 17 and at the Duluth Cross Country Ski Club on November 18 and 19. The DVD is available from Low's chairkickers.com now.

For their part, Low still have those Down Under dates scheduled in January, starting January 9 in Auckland, New Zealand. [MORE...]
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Dan Deacon Reveals Ultimate Reality Tour Details
Tour to focus on music, images rather than globalization, poverty, alienation

Wham Citizens Dan Deacon and Jimmy Joe Roche have turned Ultimate Reality, their collaborative DVD/"dominant pansexual ubermyth" into a dominant pansexual ubercircus with the announcement of a 2008 tour in support of the recent release.

On these dates, Deacon's regular set will come after a screening of the DVD, which will be accompanied by live music from Deacon, Roche, and drummers Kevin O'Meare of Video Hippos and Jeremy Hyman of Ponytail. Deacon has plenty of regular old tour dates as well, starting with a show in Baltimore on November 15.

According to Deacon's label, Carpark, he is readying a Spiderman of the Rings follow-up for a tentative May release. In the touring department, he hopes to supplement his February/March trip to Australia with February dates in Japan, followed in the spring by a potential European Ultimate Reality tour.

And finally: "Wham City" ringtone. [MORE...]

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The Band's Levon Helm Helps Ida Prepare Prayers

When it came time to record Lovers Prayers, their follow-up to 2005's Heart Like a River, New Yorkers Ida did the Bon Iver retreat-into-the-woods thing. The thing is, they chose a pretty cool patch of woods for the retreat: the home studio of Levon Helm (Arkansas native, drummer for the Band, actor in The Right Stuff, all-around cool-seeming guy) in the Catskill Mountains.

While there, the band was able to get Helm to sit in with them for a little bit of drum recording. And in addition to the work of new band members Jean Cook (Mekons) on violin and Ruth Keating on drum and multi-instrumental duties, contributions to the album included guitar, drums, and cover art from Tara Jane O'Neil, cello from Jane Scarpantoni (R.E.M., Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright), pedal steel from Matt Sutton, and engineering from Justin Guip, Helm's own engineer. Longtime Ida collaborator Warn Defever (His Name Is Alive) helped the band produce the album.

Lovers Prayers marks Ida's seventh full-length overall and second for Polyvinyl, which will release the record on January 29. The band has three New York dates scheduled for this month, starting with an NYC show on November 15.

Finally, during the time they recorded Lovers Prayers, Ida were also afforded the opportunity to collaborate with one of their heroes: songwriter Michael Hurley, who lends fiddle to Lovers. The band is currently working with him on another new project. [MORE...]
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Photos: The Walkmen [San Diego, CA; 11/10/07]

Photos by Natalie Kardos

Hamilton Leithauser and his Walkmen strolled into San Diego this past weekend to, yes, rock the Casbah. The Saturday night gig was but one of several engagements the NYC five-piece has lined up in the days to come. Tonight finds them in Santa Barbara, and apart from one lone date in Mexico next month, December is wide open for all the "Sex in the City" DVD-viewing slumber parties these guys could ever want.






[MORE...]
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Major Stars Join Drag City Roster for New LP, Tour

Almost 10 years into their recording career, Major Stars' pummeling psych attack doesn't look to let up any time soon. And for their sixth album, Mirror/Messenger, Massachusetts natives Wayne Rogers and Kate Village have found a new label, Drag City, and four additional members, giving them a three-headed hydra in the guitar department.

Drag City will release Mirror/Messenger on November 20, and the band will follow the album's release with a rare tour of East Coast and Midwest dates. Their first show is November 27 in Pittsburgh. [MORE...]
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Los Campesinos! Name Album, Add 2008 Dates

Things seem to be going swimmingly on the current Los Campesinos! world tour. Except for "the twat in Newcastle who tried to steal the Melody Horn, the smegga in Southampton who DID steal a microphone and the dickstick in Cambridge that tried to cause a fight after 'coming on' to Ellen," the enthusiasm radiating from the band's latest MySpace bulletin/outpost from the road is contagious. And while you seek out a real live British person to tell you the meaning of smegga (...icky!) and furiously Google in hope of helping Gareth in his quest to find a "decent Bis t-shirt," feast your eyes on the title of the forthcoming debut LP from the LC!:

Hold On Now, Youngster...

"This is the title of our album," Gareth writes on behalf of the band and their new ellipsis-laden thesis statement, "because it is the best title for any album ever." Debatable, but that'll do. You kids sure do like punctuation! The band has "a tracklisting and stuff too" for Hold On Now, "but that's all secret for the time being."

The disc is set to drop around the time Los Campesinos! embark on a fresh new run of tour dates in February. "We promise we'll have some amazing bands playing with us, because we know no other way." Indeed: just check out the ever-expanding lineup for next May's Pitchfork vs. ATP festival if you don't believe 'em. [MORE...]

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Travis Morrison Rounds Up Hellfighters for Fall Tour
Call him T-Mobile

Photo by David Holloway

When I found out Travis Morrison and his Hellfighters are about to go on tour, I immediately pictured one of the Orcs-gearing-up-for-battle scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies. Fortunately for the audiences at these shows, Morrison is easier on the eyes than that.

But even without Hellfighter accompaniment, Morrison's Prince-like live antics are not to be missed. So get on down to these shows, which start November 15 in NYC, and watch TM and band tear into some All Y'all tunes. [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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File-icon Tue: 11-27-07: 04:55 PM CST
New My Bloody Valentine Album: Not Digital-Only

File-icon Tue: 11-27-07: 03:15 PM CST
Interpol Live, Remix EPs Available Right Now

File-icon Tue: 11-27-07: 02:20 PM CST
Radiohead Announce First 2008 Dates

File-icon Tue: 11-27-07: 01:17 PM CST
Kanye West Makes Nice With Evel Knievel

File-icon Tue: 11-27-07: 12:30 PM CST
Bright Eyes' Oberst Forms Band With M. Ward?

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