Pitchfork: The Survey!

Hello, readers! Have you ever wanted to tell the people of Pitchfork what you hate about us? What you love about us? Your hopes and dreams for what you wish we could be? Well, now's your chance.

Head on over to the 2007 Pitchfork Media Reader Survey and let us know what you think of us. We're eager to hear it, and to learn a little bit about you, too. If you enter your email address at the end of the survey, you'll be entered to win a copy of the fabulous Rhino box set The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze and Brit-Pop Gems of the Last Millennium.

Thanks!

Once again, click HERE to take that survey. 

Blood Brothers Break Up, For Real This Time

They say there's an inkling of truth to every rumor. So, if the announcement of the demise of the Blood Brothers a few weeks back proved premature, that, alas, was only temporary. The Seattle post-hardcore unit announced today that they have indeed parted ways after a decade of truly brutal, boundary-stretching music.

A statement on the band's MySpace blog reads:

Dear Friends,

After 10 years of making music as The Blood Brothers, we have made the collective decision that our time together has come to an end. We feel extremely fortunate to have spent such a deeply memorable and amazing part of our lives with each other. At this point, however, we feel it's best that our futures move forward on separate paths. We'd like to express our sincerest thanks and gratitude to all the bands we've played with, individuals who have helped us make our records, and fans who have come to our shows and picked up our music throughout the years. Your friendship, support and love hold such a profoundly special place in each of our hearts. We hope that the memories you attach to our music are as fond as those you have given us. Thank you and take care, we'll miss all of you.

Love,
The Blood Brothers

Farewell, Blood Brothers. You were very loud, and we will miss you back.

The Blood will continue to flow through the veins of a pair of side projects that just got a whole lot more serious: Jaguar Love features ex-Brothers Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato alongside ex-Pretty Girls Make Graves member Jay Clark, while the more electronic Neon Blonde is comprised of Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar. Jaguar Love have a few shows on the way with Queens of the Stone Age, and those dates can be found after the jump. [MORE...]

Soulwax Roughed Up by Bouncers in Liverpool

It was a typical club night in Liverpool this past Friday, November 2. A dance-oriented band-- Soulwax-- on stage at the Nation venue, a crowd cutting it up on the floor, and, in between, a bunch of those beefy bouncer dudes. Yet something ran afoul that night, and for reasons that aren't entirely clear, a pack of these security guard types swarmed the stage during Soulwax's set and forcibly removed the band.

A Liverpool Daily Post report cites a number of eyewitness accounts from the event. "There were bouncers standing at the front of the stage making people stand about a meter back because someone got manhandled," described one concert attendee. "The lead singer [Stephen Dewaele] stopped the music and asked the bouncers to let the people come forward.

"One bouncer saw red and jumped on to the stage and waved another couple of bouncers on to the stage, at which point they muscled in and the drummer was pushed over."

The resulting melee was captured on a couple camera-phones and posted on YouTube. The quality leaves something to be desired, but both videos appear to show Soulwax-- the four skinny guys in white-- being roughed up to what would seem an unreasonable degree by a fair number of big dudes in dark clothing.

In one video, you can see a member of Soulwax being pushed across the stage by a bouncer. A second video captures the chaos from a much closer vantage point. If you watch closely (check the vidcap above as well), you can see a hand-- presumably belonging to Soulwax drummer Steve Slingeneyer-- reaching up from the ground. The dense crowd, clearly miffed, also booed the proceedings intensely before erupting into chants of "Soulwax! Soulwax!"

It would seem no one was seriously injured, as Soulwax have pressed on with gigs since the scuffle. Meanwhile, the Daily Post report indicates that Chibuku-- which hosted the club night-- has launched an investigation into the incident. Both Soulwax and Chibuku have also issued statements, which are reprinted after the jump.

Many thanks to reader Nicolas Dalias for the tip.

Undeterred, Soulwax will continue soldiering on with a number of appearances in the coming weeks. Catch them in South America this week. [MORE...]

Hold Steady, Husker Du Guys in Replacements Book

Behind the flannel shirts, mussy hair, and "Beautiful Loser" archetype, the Replacements were just a pretty great (if also pretty self-destructive) rock band with some good stories. Minneapolis rock critic Jim Walsh has gathered those stories for an oral history of the band that goes beyond their chapter in Our Band Could Be Your Life.

The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting is an oral history of the Replacements told through Walsh's interviews with their families, friends, fans, former manager Peter Jesperson, Twin/Tone label co-founder Paul Stark, and musicians who count Paul Westerberg and company's band as an influence-- including the Hold Steady's Craig Finn, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, and Hüsker Dü's Bob Mould and Grant Hart.

While officially due November 15, All Over is actually available now via Voyageur Press. Check out some excerpts from it here.

There are a number of All Over-related literary and musical events that will take place this fall and winter, starting with the November 15 reading/signing/general party at Minneapolis' Treehouse Records/CC Club. [MORE...]

Report: I'm Not There: In Concert [New York, NY; 11/07/07]

Photos by Kathryn Yu, words by Amanda Petrusich ABOVE: MY MORNING JACKET

Much like the film itself, the soundtrack to I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' already infamous Bob Dylan biopic (featuring an eclectic mess of actors in the lead role, from Cate Blanchett to Richard Gere to 11-year-old Marcus Carl Franklin) is a compelling, occasionally perplexing collection of interpretations of Dylan's work. Last night at New York's Beacon Theatre, a bunch of soundtrack contributors banded together to perform songs from the film, as a benefit for Dave Eggers' 826 National organization.

YO LA TENGO


Mercifully, talk of "the genius of the work" was kept to a dignified minimum, and the acts that stayed playful were the ones that soared. Collaborations abounded: Calexico teamed up with My Morning Jacket's Jim James ("Goin' to Acapulco"), Mark Lanegan ("Man in the Long Black Coat"), and Joe Henry ("Senor [Tales of Yankee Power]"), while Lee Ranaldo's Million Dollar Bashers (named after a track off of The Basement Tapes, and featuring J. Mascis on guitar) ran through four different vocalists (Ranaldo, Mascis, Henry, and Chris Bailey). Ranaldo also performed with White Magic's Mira Billotte.

JIM JAMES with CALEXICO

Gomez delivered a teasing rendition of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright", and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (introduced by an oddly hirsute, gum-smacking Heath Ledger) embraced Dylan's more absurdist tendencies: Sharpe, wearing no shirt (and, I dare say, no underpants) stared blankly while sound engineers attempted to plug in a guitar, pausing to hug his giggling bandmate, telling jokes ("What do you call a Mexican with a prosthetic toe? Roberto!"), and readjusting his snare drum before launching into a shockingly coherent take on "All I Really Want to Do".

LEE RANALDO AND THE MILLION DOLLAR BASHERS (FEATURING J MASCIS)

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks shuffled through "Subterranean Homesick Blues"; Hicks had to slip on his glasses and read lyrics from a print-out, but his choreographed, walking-in-place moves with his backing dancers (two women in sparkly black dresses and sunglasses, one wearing a purse) were stupidly charming. Yo La Tengo rolled out "Fourth Time Around" (with Georgia Hubley singing lead) and "She's Your Lover Now" with Buckwheat Zydeco on organ. Mason Jennings strummed and mewed "The Times They Are A-Changin'".

Notably missing was Cat Power, who was billed as playing the show, but was nowhere to be found. No reason has been given for her absence. UPDATE: She apparently canceled weeks ago. Michelle Shocked also couldn't make the show, due to a missed flight.

THE ROOTS

Unsurprisingly, the night culminated in a horrifying "all-star" rendition of "All Along the Watchtower", featuring members of Calexico, the Roots, and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, as well as Ranaldo, Mascis, John Doe, Joe Henry, Mason Jennings, Al Kooper, and more. There were two drummers, four guitarists, two trumpets, three dancers, tuba, bass, organ, violin, six vocalists, and a couple dudes in the back clapping their hands.

But the ticket price was justified by performances from My Morning Jacket, who did "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" (I'm Not There director Haynes, who periodically popped out in between songs, could only respond with "Wow") and the Roots, whose "Masters of War" was both chilling and ecstatic. Rapturous Dylan idolatry is not a particularly new or interesting phenomenon, but I'm Not There's pairings were weird enough to keep all eyes focused for twenty-four songs.

GROUP SING-A-LONG

[MORE...]

Lily Allen to Host TV Show on BBC Three

Photo by Anoulay Tsai

Seems like only yesterday we were bringing you news of Lily Allen's latest not-strictly-musical undertaking. (And if you haven't seen our update to that story, take note: Lily's management company originally confirmed that she would indeed be the new face of Agent Provocateur. However, hours after our story ran, the confirmation was rescinded, with no explanation. Agent Provocateur has not responded to our questions at this time.)

But today's a new day, and Lily's not the type to lay around in her knickers just waiting for the next thing to come along. Starting early next year, she'll be at the helm of a new variety show on BBC Three. According to The Guardian, the show is called "Lily and Friends". BBC News reports that the program is "based on the social networking phenomenon that helped launch her music career." Brits get Lily Allen, and we Yanks are stuck with Tila Tequila? Blast!

The show's audience will apparently consist of Lily's MySpace friends, with viewers presenting some of the show's segments and grilling celebrity guests. Bands both "chart-topping" and "unsigned" will join Lily on the show, and the progress of the lesser known acts-- chosen by the audience-- will be charted at length on a network created specifically for the show. It seems most of the details of the show are still being worked out; in fact, it was just about a month ago that Lily mentioned on her blog that she'd been "having meetings about a potential tv show."

So what else is Lily up to? Well, she's got that Jane Austen movie in the works, and a live track on that WXRT charity comp. And hopefully making a new record.

Vampire Weekend Reveal Debut Album Details

Since Is This It was already taken, NYC's Vampire Weekend-- already the subject of considerable buzz and backlash, a full 18-odd months and zero albums into their career-- have gone the self-titled route for their debut full-length release.

Vampire Weekend sinks its teeth into an eagerly awaiting U.S. populace January 29 (March 3 overseas), via the quartet's coffin of choice, XL Recordings. The 11-song set includes a few jams with which fans of the band will already be familiar, and we can pretty much guarantee that all of the songs, by default, will be better than the band's name.

As previously reported, the boys-- who, full disclosure, count a couple among the Pitchfork ranks as friends-- are vamping it up overseas with the Shins. Beware, as they return to terrorize North American cities in mid-November. Pack plenty of garlic. [MORE...]

Radiohead Reveal UK Rainbows Release Date, Single
Declare comScore's In Rainbows sales analysis "wholly inaccurate"

Before you let auld acquaintance be forgot and all that, UK residents, don't forget to bump the brand new Radiohead album-- on CD and/or vinyl!

XL Recordings announced today that the UK CD/LP version of In Rainbows that the label has the privilege of putting out will drop across the pond just before that big shiny ball drops, on December 31. And that's not all! Make good on your resolution to buy more music from great bands (that is going to be your resolution, right?) and scoop up In Rainbows' first single, "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", in the UK on January 14. Details forthcoming.

This whole December 31 UK release date thing would seem to lend more credence to the theory that the In Rainbows CD/LP will hit U.S. shops on January 1 via ATO/Side One, but that's still unconfirmed as of this moment.

Finally, XL also passed along a message from Radiohead's camp regarding that previously mentioned third-party In Rainbows download analysis, which concluded folks paid an average of $2.26 for the release. Spake the reps: "As the album could only be downloaded from the band's website, it is impossible for outside organisations to have accurate figures on sales."

Furthermore, "the figures quoted by the company comScore Inc are wholly inaccurate and in no way reflect definitive market intelligence or, indeed, the true success of the project." Definitive market intelligence? Sounds like something that would make Thom Yorke very, very afraid.

And, as a reminder, the Radiohead-endorsed discbox arrives "on or before" December 3, while the not-Radiohead-endorsed catalog box set and USB drive land December 10. Plus there may or may not be a webcast this Friday and a tour next year. Speaking of jigsaws falling into place, can we get a little help here guys?

Another Devendra Banhart Art Exhibit
Hardly Banhart, hardly garbage

Photo by Alissa Anderson

Like the Bo Jackson of music and painting, Devendra Banhart keeps expanding his visual art career at the same time he's promoting the release of his latest album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. His tour continues today, November 8, in Dublin, and the very next day, a second exhibition of his artwork will open.

This new exhibition is called "Some Drawings" (one guess as to what's in it), and it takes place at DiverseWorks ArtSpace in Houston, Texas, where it will be on display through December 15.

In other Dev news, according to a post on Devendra's MySpace blog, on Tuesday, November 13, iTunes will post two songs from his performance at the 2006 Bridge School Benefit Concert. They are "At the Hop" and a cover of Neil Young's "Pardon My Heart".

Pictured: Devendra Banhart’s Spirit of Six Point Cloud People 2 [MORE...]

Handsome Furs Revive Touring Plague

Finally, Handsome Furs are seasonally appropriate. After opening the gates of Plague Park this spring and touring in support of the debut this summer, the Canadian duo has scheduled a handful of dates for bundled up audiences in December.

Also fitting is the fact that all five of the freshly minted dates are in the Land of a Thousand Skating Rinks. Hey, maybe hockey fever is the Plague they were referring to all along! [MORE...]

Cat Power Covers Lil Wayne on Updated Jukebox
Well, not Wayne solo. Hot Boys, to be exact.

Here in Newsland, we prefer to deal in certainties if at all possible. But the crew at Matador were right back in mid-October when they issued this warning along with the then-tentative tracklist for Cat Power's hotly anticipated Jukebox LP: "Much like real life, everything's subject to change."

The disc is still due January 22 from the label, still finds Ms. Marshall tackling the back pages of some formidable songwriters (including one Chan Marshall), still sees her recently Forkcasted Dylan tribute "Song to Bobby" making the cut, and still contains her feminine spin on Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man". It has, however, been shaken up a bit otherwise. As they say, that's life.

Gone are Marshall's takes on Creedence's "Fortunate Son" and Chips Moman and Dan Penn's "Dark End of the Street". In their places (well, sort of, as the running order has moved around a bit, too): Jessie Mae Hemphill's "Lord, Help the Poor and Needy" and Joni Mitchell's "Blue". And it's hard to mourn too hard for a pair of lost tracks when Matador's sweetened the new deal with a five-song bonus disc to be included in a "limited edition silver foil deluxe package." It's like a delicious baked potato, only made out of music!

So what's on the bonus disc? Moby Grape's "Naked If I Want To" (a highlight of the original Covers Record), Nick Cave's "Breathless", Roberta Flack's "Angelitos Negros", Patsy Cline's "She's Got You", and-- wait for it-- a cover of the Hot Boys' "I Feel". Yep, those Hot Boys: Juvenile, B.G., Turk, and Weezy F. Baby (please say the... well, you know). YES!

Chan will play tonight's star-studded I'm Not There concert in New York City, though beyond that, she has no touring plans. [MORE...]

Thurston, Pornos, Liars, Deerhunter Do Barcelona Fest
Plus: No Age, Castanets, Vanderslice, Von Sudenfed, Earth, Bishop Allen, Stars of the Lid

First, the technical stuff: the second edition of the Estrella Damm Primavera Club festival will take place across several Barcelona venues December 3-8. Yawn.

Now comes the fun: Thurston Moore, Liars, the New Pornographers, Deerhunter, No Age, John Vanderslice, Von Südenfed, Earth, Bishop Allen, Stars of the Lid, the Ponys, Castanets, Parts & Labor, Crystal Castles, Kode9 & the Spaceape, Bracken, Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts, and more will pack the Catalonian capital's clubs with pure rock/folk/noise/dubstep fury. No yawning anymore, is there?

Additional details for Primavera Club-- the indoorsy twin of the Primavera Sound thing they do every summer-- are available at the fest's website.

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.)