Photos: The Hold Steady / Art Brut [Philadelphia, PA; 10/23/07]

Photos by Michael Alan Goldberg

Eddie Argos and his Art Brut pals have been going steady with the Hold Steady on a joint U.S. tour that kicked off last week and will carry the two bands from sea to shining sea over the next month. Craig Finn's crew impressed the boys and girls of America at Philly's Electric Factory Fillmore at the TLA last night with their Boss-inflected tunes, while Argos strutted and shouted tunes from this year's It's a Bit Complicated.

After the inevitable break up, Art Brut will take their show down under for a few dates in December, while the Hold Steady will get a little bit of rest. More photos and tour dates below.

THE HOLD STEADY




ART BRUT



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The Rapture Release "The Sound" as New Single
The Thermals hold it, the Dandy Warhols are it, the Sounds pluralize it

With Daft Punk shows, radio-liberating comps, and soccer anthems out of their way, the Rapture will get back to providing party-rocking fodder this fall with the latest DJ-targeted release on their label Throne of Blood.

It's the 12" single for Pieces of the People We Love's "The Sound", which features the original version in addition to two remixes of the track: one by Gucci Soundsystem's Ben Trucker and the other by Max Pask.

"The Sound" is out November 26 with the help of Amato Distribution.

Future Throne of Blood releases include the Zombi single "Sapphire" / "Long Mirrored Corridor" with an Escort remix, and a 12" from Dances With White Girls.

The Rapture have four dates scheduled on our fair continent this week, starting tonight, October 24, with a show in Monterrey, Mexico. The mini-tour ends with a Halloween show in NYC that also features the B-52's, the most unexpectedly perfect pairing we can think of at the moment. [MORE...]

Blood Brothers Still Together...For Now

Photo by Nathan Martin

Message board-mongering fans of the Blood Brothers' agit-punk antics have been in mourning mode since Monday, when a Three One G records forum administrator (purportedly label owner and Locust/Head Wound City/Holy Molar/Ground Unicorn Horn member Justin Pearson) posted a troubling message on a thread discussing the break-up of Some Girls. In addition to briefs on the status of other Three One G bands, it read:

"the blood bros broke up."

Although rumored for a few months, the news spread quickly following this post-- given Pearson's close ties with the band-- and was even picked up by some press outlets. NME.com, notably, mistakenly reported that, in addition to the break-up, Blood Brothers drummer Mark Gajadhar "hates [his] own band." In the context of Pearson's post, however-- which you may read in full here or below-- it's Mark McCoy of Holy Molar who allegedly hates his band.

So what's really going on here? The word from the Blood Brothers' management: "They are taking a break currently for the rest of the year and will make any final decisions or announcements next year."

Perhaps the death knell has already rung for the Blood Brothers, or perhaps those guys can hold it together (fingers crossed!). We'll just have to wait and see. For now, you're invited to crank "Ambulance vs. Ambulance" and rock out in solidarity. Goddamn does that song kick ten kinds of ass. [MORE...]

Liars Give Away Liars Demos

From single, to single, to EP: the lads of Liars keep on giving up the jams practically as fast as we can listen to them (no complaints here!). For the band's latest "release," Mute Records is unleashing the free-of-charge "Liars sessions" comprised of four demo versions of cuts from their latest LP.

Well, maybe not entirely free: to nab it, you'll have to head here and part ways with some personal info (and choose whether you'd like updates on "Liars", "Alternative", or both).** Your reward is four slices of scuzz-rock at its most primeval. For that, I'd gladly surrender my dental records. Molar city, man.

Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the heads-up.

As for Liars, they've just wrapped their tour with Interpol, and are headed to Europe to kick off a headlining trek. They'll play the aforementioned ATP Release the Bats fest with Deerhoof, Deerhunter, Black Lips and Fuck Buttons early next month. [MORE...]

Califone, Dirty Projectors, Black Moth on Esopus Comp

The folks behind bi-yearly magazine Esopus recently decided to make some dreams come true-- through the magic of song!

Guest editor (and Pitchfork contributor) Mike Powell, you see, assembled a crack team of musical types to tackle the sleepytime dreamstuff, however whimsical, weird, or worrying, of Esopus readers-- and now the fruits of their labors have been bundled onto a CD set to accompany the ninth issue of the magazine, which shipped to subscribers this week and will hit newstands the second week of November.

Readers were invited to submit writeups detailing their dreams, and 11 acts-- among them, Califone, Dirty Projectors, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Ida-- each chose one to interpret musically. If you haven't already done so, do check out the Projectors' "One Kill"-- inspired by subconscious wanderings of an Austin-based Esopus reader-- over in Forkcast. The complete tracklist follows. [MORE...]

Rakim Talks New Album, Tour, History Lessons
"When they created jazz years ago it was the best thing to happen since fried ice cream. But then you look at it now-- it's not so popular... The same thing can happen in hip-hop if we take it for granted and don't cherish it."

Photo by William Kirk

Rakim is back, or at least he's on his way. It's been eight years since he released his second solo album, The Master, and aside from rumors surrounding his signing to and subsequent drop from Dr. Dre's Aftermath label and some reissues, he's been relatively quiet since then.

In the last couple of years, he's taken to playing shows again, and over the course of this year, it came out that he was working on a new album called The Seventh Seal. The record is finally nearing completion, and it will likely hit stores early next year.

Though not a concept album, The Seventh Seal focuses on the theme of tearing hip-hop down to its essentials and building it back up to previously unknown heights. Rakim's done a little non-musical building as well, establishing his own Ra Records, which will not only release The Seventh Seal but also provide a label home, management company, and distribution for other artists.

Before the record comes out, Rakim will release a concert DVD titled The R-kives: Live Lost and Found. The DVD features performances from two shows at NYC's B.B. King Blues Club interspersed with interviews, backstage and tour bus footage, and a few other performances from around the U.S. It will also come with an enhanced CD featuring previously unreleased new material from the God MC.

Finally, Rakim has a previously reported tour coming up where he, Ghostface, and Brother Ali will front live band Rhythm Roots Allstars.

In the midst of all this activity, we spoke to Rakim about process, his return to recording and performing, and his role as an educator in hip-hop.

Pitchfork: What made you decide it was time to starting playing shows and recording an album again?

Rakim: Well, I've always been the type that didn't like to wear out my welcome mat, and I haven't dropped anything new, you know what I mean? But at the same time, you don't want to wait too long. You want to get out there, get your feet wet, test the waters, and reassure within yourself and with the crowd that it's time to do what you do. You get that cool sound from the crowd, and it puts everything in perspective. If I wouldn't have felt the response that I got, then I would've said, "I'm not going to do an album" or "I'm not gonna go on tour. I'd rather drop the album before I try to come out on tour." But the response was real good, and that's what I was speaking on as far as confirming with myself and with the crowd. Because as the artist, I'm modest, man. I don't take anything for granted, and my thing is if I get the welcome mat, then I do what I do. If I don't get the welcome mat, then I either got work to do or it's time to just fall back. I use my experiences as learning experiences.

Pitchfork: How are you rehearsing for your tour with Rhythm Roots Allstars, a live band? Do you work on your parts separately from the band of with them?

Rakim: We're going to sit down and have a few rehearsals so we can give a real good show. I want it to be tight, and I want to make sure that our chemistry is there. The last show that we did in Texas [at SXSW 2007], it was funny because I was supposed to get out there a little early, but I got out there late and we didn't have time to practice. They knew the songs, but we never got a chance to sit there and mesh, so we went on stage that day and winged it. But they're so professional in what they do, and they're so tight that at the end of the day it's just like having a DJ put on a record: You can get up there and kick your verse, and you can turn around and wave your hand and they're going to stop just as a DJ would. So everything worked out perfect, and hopefully too many people didn't realize that we didn't practice. I was surprised everything went real good, so that's another reason why I'm looking forward to this tour. I'm going to be able to do some things that I normally wouldn't be able to do.

Pitchfork: What kinds of things?

Rakim: Just show the power of live music and explain to the crowd and almost teach them the reason why we sampled records. We're going to have a little fun up there. We're going to learn a little something, and we're going to hear some real good music.

Pitchfork: Do you feel like it's your responsibility to teach people about the origins of hip-hop?

Rakim: At this point in hip-hop, [the history] definitely needs to be expressed a little more and put in front of their faces so that they won't forget where the essence of hip-hop came from. If I'm one of the artists that knows about it then yeah, I'm responsible to keep that alive and keep it in the listeners' faces and give them access to it. So hopefully I can do that. To me, at the end of the day, it's just doing my job. If this was something political or something dealing with the world and there was something that I knew, I would feel obligated to inform people. This music thing, there's a lot to know about it. And we're definitely going to have fun with it, but at the same time, we have to keep it alive. This hip-hop thing-- if we don't do it, it will die out. So definitely, I want to do my job.

I think it's important that we cherish this right here. It belongs to the youth. It belongs to the older people who were brought up on hip-hop. It's not just a young music. We created this in the suburbs and the cities and around the parks, and what we have to understand is that that's big. You look at jazz. When they created jazz years ago it was the best thing to happen since fried ice cream. But then you look at it now-- it's not so popular as far as [being] universal. The jazz lovers still support their music, but when you look at it on the wide span it went from being the only thing to one of the many. The same thing can happen in hip-hop if we take it for granted and don't cherish it. We've got to understand that it's that first impression that made hip-hop take the world by storm. And once we start forgetting those recipes, after awhile they're going to look at it like just another music. And not just them. Us. We're going to look at it like it's not special; it's not going to have that same appeal that it had. So of course we've got to understand the root before we start picking from the tree. [MORE...]

Bob Dylan Releases DVD of Newport Performances

What's life without the occasional DVD? No stranger to cross-media promotions, XM radio host Bob Dylan will release The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 via Columbia/Legacy on October 30.

Collected on the DVD are 80 minutes of Dylan's performances at the titular festival during the titular years, most of which are previously unreleased. Aside from an interview with the project's Academy Award-winning director and producer Murray Lerner, the DVD has no bonus features.

For those who can't confine themselves to the mere home theater experience when it comes to live Dylan, he and his band have a handful of U.S. dates left on their previously reported tour with Elvis Costello. The next of those shows is in Iowa City on October 24.

After that tour ends, the I'm Not There Dylan tribute concert takes place November 7 in New York City. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the I'm Not There soundtrack drops October 30, the same day as the Newport DVD. [MORE...]

Crystal Castles, New Puritans, Teenagers Do Vice Tour

Vice magazine has gone and united the musical offspring of three different countries-- Canada's Crystal Castles, England's These New Puritans, and France's the Teenagers-- for one sure-to-be decadent tour of the UK. And it's all free! Less money for shows means more money to buy you know what.

They're calling it UNITAUR, and it kicks off October 30 in Glasgow. Along the way, these three young bands will cross paths with some special guests, including DJ Mehdi. Oh, and although it's free, sounds like you have to register at the UNITAUR site for passes.

Crystal Castles are also making good on some promises. They've lined up that winter tour of Australia and Japan-- alluded to in our last article about the tour-friendly twosome-- to follow the Vice jaunt. Of course, many of the Japanese dates are waiting confirmation, but we're just so darn fond of honesty and following through on things, we just had to make note.

CC also have some European dates in queue, and hope to tour the U.S. in February. Catch all those dates, plus non-UNITAUR These New Puritans and Teenagers dates, after the jump. [MORE...]

Mum Spread Poison Ivy on Tour
Dismayed audiences still recovering from M.I.A.'s "Bird Flu"

Múm will go smear Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy across the world on a tour that kicks off tomorrow, October 24, in Los Angeles. The trek was originally supposed to start today, October 23, in Solana Beach, California, but that date was canceled due to visa issues.

The trek includes the band's previously reported pair of appearances at the Wordless Music series in NYC, and it ends with almost a month of shows in the UK and Europe.

In fact, aside from a short break in November, the Icelandic post-rockers will go non-stop until mid-December. That's a lot of calamine lotion. [MORE...]

Vanderhoof Leaves Akron/Family for Buddhist Center

The sheer number of bearded dudes holding guitars onstage at any given Akron/Family event being what it is, you'll have to forgive the absence of one (even one as notable as occasional lead vocalist and original member Ryan Vanderhoof) for escaping notice until now.

Turns out Vanderhoof departed the group "amicably sometime between the completion of [2007 release] Love Is Simple and the start of the band's U.S. tour [which just wrapped up this past weekend]," according to Akron/Family's publicist. This leaves Seth Olinsky, Miles Seaton, and Dana Janssen as the core members of A/F, although the band is often supplemented by their recent tour buddies, namely Greg Davis and members of Megafaun.

As for Vanderhoof? Seems "he went to live in a Buddhist Dharma center in the Midwest." So there you go.

Though they're down a dude-- and short some stuff, still-- Akron/Family will soldier on with a European tour in a month or so. Those dates after the jump. [MORE...]

Portishead Album One Day From Completion
Challenge Madlib to soccer match?

Photo by Grumpy Man DJs

From close, to, well, closer: in fact, as Geoff Barrow of Portishead tells it, the band's third proper LP is just one day away from completion. Barrow, checking in on the band’s blog, says Portishead spent a few days in London finishing things up, but are back in Bristol making executive decisions regarding album art and plotting their return to the stage. "i think one more day messing about with it and it will be done," Barrow writes. "then into the wonderful world of mastering.. [joke]" He doesn't actually like mastering all that much, see.

Barrow then mentions that megaproducer Madlib will join the band at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas event they're curating. He adds "im putting a footy team together for a little 6 a side comp for a laugh." Does that mean he's challenging Madlib to a soccer match? Ooh, we hope so!

The three-day Nightmare begins December 7 at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, England.

Jens Lekman Kicks Off U.S. Tour Tonight

Photo by Sigurd Fandango

Here's a new one: Jens Lekman's kicking off his U.S. tour tonight in Bloomington, Indiana with a 21-minus show. Yep, you've gotta be illegal to ride this ride, as Jens warms himself up with a special set for the kiddies at the John Waldron Arts Center before taking the stage later that evening at Jake's (a 21+ affair). Nice guy, that Jens.

Stateside fans of sample-heavy Swedish pop both young and old can have at Jens for the next three weeks or so as young Mr. Lekman croons his way across the country. He'll skip out in mid-November before embarking on a UK trek later in the month. And, just in case you don't meet Jens' stringent age requirements, you can catch him on that Arthur Russell tribute EP, or (finally) pick up the nifty Night Falls Over Kortedala in the U.S. from Secretly Canadian. [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.)