Photos: The Twilight Sad Live on KEXP [Chicago, IL; 10/04/07]

Photos by Sanchez and Kitahara

Watching the members of Glaswegian noise-pop group the Twilight Sad warm up for their live KEXP broadcast yesterday afternoon at Chicago's Engine Studios, one might have thought the band had come from their hometown's school of sensitive, navel-gazing popsters like Belle & Sebastian. Singer James Graham timidly slouched in front of the microphone, drummer Mark Devine crouched unassumingly behind his drum kit-- until they cranked into song number one, they seemed like the shyest guys in the world.



That perception, of course, was shattered about a minute into "Cold Days From the Birdhouse" (the lead-off track from the band's fantastic debut Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters), when Graham unleashed his Scottish brogue on the line "but this is where your arm can't go," as if to prove that this is where they can go. And once they'd gotten there, they really didn't stop over the course of four songs.



Devine had to keep a concrete block in front of his kick drum to keep him from pounding the whole kit into the sound booth (where the songs sound properly mixed; inside the studio, his endless pounding is the only thing anyone can hear). Host John Richards exclaimed, after their second song, that it was the most noise they'd heard all week.



But after a half-hour offering of such Fourteen Autumns tracks as "And She Would Darken the Memory of Youth" and "I'm Taking the Train Home", the fellows' meek demeanors returned. They gave a quiet, polite "thank you" to their host, and began packing up for two more U.S. gigs before heading back across the pond.


(The Twilight Sad with KEXP's John Richards)

Setlist:

Cold Days from the Birdhouse
Watching That Chair
And She Would Darken the Memory of Youth
I'm Taking the Train Home

Hear the full performance HERE.
[MORE...]

Debbie Harry Gets Evil on New Album

Photo by Joe Gaffney

It wouldn't naturally occur to us to think of a new Debbie Harry album as having anything in common with taxes, public transit, and doctor's office waiting rooms. Quite the opposite, actually. But the Blondie frontwoman insists on calling her first solo album in 14 years Necessary Evil, and who are we to contradict her?

Harry's supporting cast on Evil includes Blondie collaborator Chris Stein, the Jazz Passengers' Roy Nathanson and Bill Ware, the Toilet Boys' Guy Furrow, and NYC production duo Super Buddha (aka Barb Morrison and Charles Nieland). Alas, no Lily Allen.

Five Seven Music/ADA will release Necessary Evil on October 9. Harry has a few dates in support of the new album scheduled for this fall. [MORE...]

Video: Debbie Harry: Two Times Blue [from the forthcoming Necessary Evil LP]

Pitchfork Seeks Video Editor for NYC Internship

M.I.A. Does Track With Aussie Kids for Heaps Decent

Front page photo by Kirstie Shanley

Not that we'd ever suggest that M.I.A. was following in Diplo's footsteps, but she is indeed helping her old pal Wes' Heaps Decent project come back with power power. On a recent trip to Australia, M.I.A.-- along with French rapper Yelle, producers Tepr and Grand Marnier, and some young ladies from a school within an Australian youth detention center-- have recorded a track with the likely title of "Popo Mind Control".

Beyond describing the jam as the "HOTTEST CLUB TRACK YOU EVER HEARD," the Heaps Decent MySpace blog explains the sessions like this:

Early last week we got an email from M.I.A.'s management saying that M.I.A. was keen to get involved with us while she was in Australia for the Parklife festival. "Hell yeah!" we excitedly replied, and a few days later we were in the lobby of the Sydney Hilton with Maya and a bunch of Frenchies.

Turns out these Frenchies were pop starlet/gangsta rapper YELLE and her producers and bandmates TEPR and GRAND MARNIER! We were big fans of them too, so we asked them if they wanted to come and help record the greatest song ever. Lucky for us they did.

The next day we hit the road... after an hour or so of driving we reached our destination - an all girls school in a juvenile justice centre where we would spend the next two days making beats and rhymes with the small student population...

Produced by Tepr & Grand Marinier and featuring M.I.A and the girls from the centre this new song we did is CRAZY. I don't even know what it's called. Although M.I.A. screams "popo mind control!!" on the hook so maybe it's called that? How about we say it's a crazy hot new jam with the working title of POPO MIND CONROL?

The plan, it seems, is to "release this jam legit" once hott producer Switch-- whose touch is all over Kala-- is done mixing it. As Diplo mentioned when he told us about the project, all proceeds will go back into the Heaps Decent project.

M.I.A., who's currently in Japan, recently announced she'd pegged the Cool Kids to open much of her North American tour. Those dates after the jump. [MORE...]

Video: M.I.A.: Paper Planes [live on the Late Show with David Letterman]

Gutter Twins Reveal Debut Album Title

The Gutter Twins, aka the dynamic duo of Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, have announced the title of their debut album: Saturnalia.

According to their publicist, "Saturnalia was a feast/festival back in Ancient Roman times where the slaves became the masters. A fitting title for this album."

Oooooh...

As previously reported, the album is due out next year on Sub Pop. In early 2008, the Gutter Twins will play a few shows in the U.S. and abroad to preview the album.

Both men have been keeping busy popping up on other peoples' albums recently, with Lanegan pitching in on the Soulsavers' new album, and Dulli popping up on the debut album from Intramural, the new project from Desaparecidos guitarist / Statistics main man Denver Dalley.

Also, for some reason Dashboard Confessional cover "Crazy" by the Afghan Whigs on their new covers album, which is just weird.

Stream: Twilight Singers ft Mark Lanegan: Live With Me (Massive Attack Cover) [from the A Stitch in Time EP]

Former Unicorn Drops Clues With New Band
Was it...Mr. Penner, in Montreal, with the guitar?

MP3: Clues: Album sampler

Photos: Patrick Wolf [New York, NY; 10/03/07]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

Patrick Wolf loves to play dress-up, as we know well. So when he donned a Mozart wig last night at New York's Webster Hall, it came as little surprise-- but it was still pretty sweet.

Of course, Mr. Wolf's eccentricities seem to know no bounds, and indeed the wig was possibly not the strangest site of the evening: there was a forest backdrop, a shirt that looks like it's made out of blue draperies, and even a somersault! Wolf's sometimes-girlfriend (and current opening act) Bishi was also on hand to lend her talents to one of the set's songs.

Catch the rest of P-Wolf's odd manners and his remaining tour dates below.

[MORE...]

Sigur Ros Push Back Heima DVD, Add Shows

Crack wise about how slowly they always do things if it helps, but turn that frown rightside up anyhow: Sigur Rós have pushed the release of their "stupidly gorgeous" Heima DVD back two weeks to November 20 (UPDATE: this is only true for North America. The DVD will be released everywhere else November 5.). No reason was given, but as a consolation of sorts, fans in the general vicinity of our nation's capital can check out the recently added theatrical screenings of the film October 6 at Baltimore's Rotunda Cinematheque or the following day at D.C.'s E Street Cinema. (We hear Clarence Clemons likes to hang out there.)

A bunch of other screenings at various cities around the world have also been added, many also including brief acoustic performances by the band themselves.

Sigur Rós themselves will be on hand at the New Yorker festival for brief acoustic performances, a conversation with John Seabrook, and two screenings of Heima October 6 at New York's French Institute on October 6. They'll pull this screening/show trick (sans Seabrook, natch) a couple more times throughout the fall in various locales, but still, if you're stuck in Sheboygan with nothing to watch on November 6, you're just gonna have to settle on Mandroid for the time being.

However, the Hvarf / Heim CD still drops as planned November 5 in the UK from EMI and the day after in the U.S. from their new Stateside imprint, XL. [MORE...]

Video: Sigur Ros: Heima trailer

Sufjan Song Chosen As Franciscan Theme for October
November's Theme: "Shout at the Devil" by Motley Crue

The dozen rules of the Franciscan order are put in place to help guide Franciscans-- a subset of sorts within several Christian churches-- through leading a moral life. (Kind of like the ten commandments.) Franciscans the world over are a tight-knit bunch, ever tighter since the internet provided them with opportunities for large-scale fellowship heretofore impossible.

Each month, the Franciscans participate in something called "Franciscanized World vocation," to which there is a kind of meditative theme song. This month, that song is Sufjan Stevens' "All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands", from the Seven Swans LP. (Thanks to the Sufjan fan site All Good Naysayers for the tip!)

Of course, Seven Swans lays the Christian imagery on pretty thick, but it's in a generally nondenominational way. According to Sister Mary Carol Kopecky of Manitowoc, Wisconsin's Holy Family Conservatory, "On October 4th the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron of ecology, is celebrated throughout the world. Francis could easily have spoken the words, 'And I heard from the trees a great parade.' All nature, even the smallest creature spoke to Francis and he was in awe of all of God's creation. The lyrics read as a litany or stream of consciousness. Reflection on each idea is up to the individual. Each of us, with our varied experiences, will relate differently to the message. The ostinato (repeated) instrumental and later background vocalists are conducive to meditation. Pray Psalms 147, 148 and 150 to praise God for all creation. Yes, you will 'be invited to the sound'." Neat! Can I get a plus one?

Anyhow, if you're feeling the hand of St. Francis on your shoulder or just want a free download of a pretty good old Sufjan cut, you can head here. May the grace and peace of a beloved indie rock singer-songwriter be with you.

In other Sufjan news, he's paused work on his forthcoming Delaware: Hi! We're in...Delaware! (or whatever) to pop up on a couple new discs from Marla Hansen and Chris Schlarb, and an even more docile version of one of his Christmas cuts is on that lullaby comp.

Video: Sufjan Stevens: The Lakes of Canada [live on the Take-Away Show}

Parlophone NOT Releasing Radiohead Album...For Now

HMV, the ginormous British-based chain of media shops, must take some pleasure in the jumping of the gun. They famously suggested that Chinese Democracy might actually be coming out (on a specific date, no less) by offering preorders for the album through their website, leading an awful lot of people far less pessimistic than I to throw their money into the cosmos.

And, much to the chagrin of Radiohead fans who enjoy touching things (but not too many things), they recently bumped Radiohead's In Rainbows to preorder availability status, suggesting the record was coming out in physical, non-discbox form from the Parlophone imprint on December 3.

It's not.

According to Radiohead's publicity camp, negotiations for the standard release of In Rainbows are still underway, and nothing has been decided yet. Of course, In Rainbows actually is coming out in six days (OMG OMG OMG) for free-99, and you're gonna get that big box in early December should you shell out for it. But for those of you who absolutely cannot wait for the regular-ass in-store version, don't believe everything you read on the subject.

Chinese Democracy! LOL

Video: Radiohead: Paranoid Android [from the OK Computer LP]

New Bloc Party Single Due Next Month

"Flux", the new single from Bloc Party, finds the band's gaze reaching beyond the City and into new, as-yet-uncharted territory. The track was put to tape with the help of A Weekend in the City producer Jacknife Lee, and according to NME.com, it will be released as a single in the UK on Wichita as both a CD and 7". The CD gets "Emma Kate's Accident" on the B-side, and "The Once and Future King" is carved into the vinyl.

Americans can flip to "Conan" tonight, where the band will play "Flux". How convenient! However, we have to wait until November 20 to buy the track, when Vice will release it digitally both on a "new, improved digital re-release" of A Weekend in the City and on its own digital EP. The EP will feature additional material still to be confirmed.

Having just wrapped that brief tour with Deerhoof, the band have one more U.S. date on their plate before they make their next move. All those remaining shows after the jump. [MORE...]

MP3: Bloc Party: Hunting for Witches (Ruckus Roboticus remix)

Photos: Beirut Live on KEXP [Chicago, IL; 10/03/07]

Photos by Sanchez and Kitahara

With all the tours we report on a daily basis, it's easy to forget they're actual events that involve real people losing sleep and spending days in vans just to play their music for an hour or so before doing it all over again.

When Beirut arrived at Chicago's Engine Studios yesterday for a live radio session on KEXP, they inadvertently reminded me of the reality of touring with their mussed hair, dirty clothes, and general grogginess. But they didn't need to look rested to play their six-song set like pros. All they needed was a little warm-up (which, due mostly to the band's instrumentation, looked and felt like a high school band rehearsal) and the presence of bandleader Zach Condon's strong vibrato.



That voice would probably sound good over rush hour traffic, and I feel bad for the bandmate that has to harmonize with him. But the whole ensemble gave five songs from The Flying Club Cup and one traditional ("Cocek") a casual feel that suited the music well, allowing those of us present to drift in and out of Condon's already dream-like world.



The set was a prelude to Beirut's show tonight at the Portage Theater, and when the session's host asked Condon if the band plans to ease up on the touring any time soon, he responded, "You go until you collapse, basically." That's great, guys, but please don't actually collapse.

More photos and tour dates below.



Setlist:

Nantes
A Sunday Smile
Cocek
Forks and Knives (La Fête)
Cherbourg
The Penalty

Hear the whole thing HERE.
[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.)