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Subtle Reveal LP With TVOTR, Wolf Parade Members
MP3: "Deathful" ft. Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio

Subtle's had a bad run. As we've reported in these pages, in the last two years, the genre-bending Oaklend sextet survived a tour van crash that left keyboardist Dax Pierson a quadriplegic, were robbed in Europe, and their major label debut, last year's For Hero: For Fool, received raves from the critics but less-than-breakthrough sales. Subtle's magnetic, magnanimous frontman, Adam Drucker, aka Doseone, has been a cult phenomenon in avant-hip-hop circles for years, but his intricate lyrics and jawd-ropping live performances have yet to find a wider audience.

So what do they do? Keep working. Yell & Ice, a remakes and remixes collection based on For Hero: For Fool, comes out on Lex Records October 23. It features contributions from members of TV on the Radio, Wolf Parade and the Notwist, as well as Anticon associates Why? and Chris Adams of Bracken and Hood. Check out "Deathful", featuring Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, by clicking on the link below. (The full tracklist for Yell & Ice and Subtle's upcoming tour dates cam also be found below.)

Doseone describes Yell & Ice as a labor of love. "Like fuck it, make it fun for these artists that we're cold-calling, that we love," he said. "We're not paying, there's no money turned around on this record-- which I love-- and so it's like, I send this to you, you should take what inspires you and fuck it up a little bit, ruin it, make it pretty, send that to us, we will do the same, and just keep remaking things. What I like is that it expresses, quietly and in a mature way, how committed we are to the depths in our music. That we can go in and remake all these songs because we made a bunch of rights, and we could've made lefts. And they're just as valid."

We recently spoke with Dose about his upcoming albums and projects, Dax Pierson's recovery, and how a cover of Shellac's "Prayer to God" wound up on Subtle's setlist this year. We also talked at length about the storyline behind the three Subtle LPs, A New White, For Hero: For Fool, and the upcoming conclusion, ExitingARM, which will come out as both an album and a website. And much, much more. Stay tuned to the Features section of Pitchfork, where the full interview will be published within the coming weeks. [MORE...]

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Morrissey Cuts Dates Due to Burst Pipe, Preps New LP

Photo by Alissa Anderson

Generally, we don't throw "Morrissey" and "bursting" into a sentence together without some reference to a heart swollen with emotion or something. But it was water-- and not salty tears-- flowing through Los Angeles' Palladium last night that caused the icon to axe both yesterday's and tomorrow night's gigs.

Lucky for Moz fans, his current L.A. residency means he's not darting off to Salt Lake City straight away, and tickets for the canceled gigs will, according to NME.com, get you into either the October 8 or 9 gig at the same venue or a refund of your purchase price. But heaven knows I'm miserable now!

But no one can burst the wellspring of misery located within the well-formed skull of Steven Patrick Morrissey. New in the world of hurt is chatter regarding the follow-up to last year's Ringleader of the Tormentors. He recently told the BBC, "The plan is to make a new album after this tour. It's absolutely written and completely ready." He hopes to release the LP in September 2008, though Morrissey's currently without a label. Eh, no big deal. [MORE...]

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Photos: White Williams Tour Diary Part 3

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Girl Talk/Dan Deacon/White Williams tour diary, which has been extensively photojournaled by Mr. Williams himself. We're getting to the homestretch here, following our heroes around the great American west, from Houston and Austin to L.A. and San Diego, with a lot of desert in between. Once again, your guide for the journey is Joe (are we supposed to call him White?) himself, whose comments accompany each photo. Be sure to check below to see what roads the three will take when they part ways (after just one more show together!).

DAY 13: Houston, September 24, 2007


Tyler and Joe brushing their teeth upon arriving at the venue.



We're teaching Andrew how to exercise regularly.



Joe carefully balances two Ws in his gentle hands.
[MORE...]

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Spiritualized Finish Album, Schedule Euro, U.S. Shows

Those Spiritualized blokes are the last people you'd need to remind that just one hit just ain't gonna cut it. In between a number of Spanish, Danish and British gigs, Spiritualized have snuck a mid-November show at New York's famed Apollo Theater, which promises to be the "first of several" U.S. shows for the veteran psych-rockers. That show-- like many of Spiritualized's recent engagements-- is being characterized as "acoustic mainlines," which means pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

UPDATE: They have since added San Francisco and Los Angeles shows.

While you sit fiending for more, this bit of news won't quell that jones deep down in those bones: That long-promised new Spiritualized LP is coming, but not 'til early next year. According to NME.com, the band has wrapped recording sessions, and frontman Jason Pierce describes the follow-up to 2003's Amazing Grace as "the work of the Devil... with a little guidance from me." Sure you won't consider pushing it up to Halloween? My "Spooky Sound Effects" record is scratched. [MORE...]

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Photos: Black Mountain / Cave Singers [Omaha, NE; 10/01/07]

Photos by Paparazzi by Appointment

Canadian bloozy indie rock collective Black Mountain brought their jams of the future to Omaha's Waiting Room Lounge last night, offering selections from their upcoming sophomore release, available in January from Jagjaguwar. (For those who aren't willing to wait for the full-length, the Canadian collective are also peddling an exclusive 12" on this tour.

Joining in the fun WAS former PGMG-ers the Cave Singers, who just released their debut on Matador. The Singers will join the Mountain for all the American dates on their lengthy fall tour, continuing tonight in Chicago. All their dates and more photos below.

BLACK MOUNTAIN




THE CAVE SINGERS



[MORE...]

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A Place to Bury Strangers Open for BRMC

"Unwitting" "Sex and the City" fans A Place to Bury Strangers are planning to spend a lot of live time in their NYC homebase this month supporting their self-titled debut, if only because they seem scheduled to play about half a million (read: four or five) shows at CMJ.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of perfectly acceptable places for stranger burial outside the New York metropolitan area, and the band is clued into this fact enough to also place a handful of other dates on the calendar. Most of these shows find them supporting Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, so bring your reverb helmets.

APTBS' next show is in Washington, D.C. on October 11. [MORE...]

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Menomena Collaborate With Friend Artist Live
Foe artist shafted for obvious reasons

Photos by Pierre-Yves Arnoux

Menomena are serious about their art. Their Friend and Foe LP from this year had interactive artwork that allowed for a variety of different permutations. The sweet posters for their first-ever European tour featured drummer Danny Seim's pug/Menomena's manager, Ms. Geddy Lee, in a pair of movie roles. And now, on five dates of their already scheduled second tour of Europe, the band is collaborating onstage with Friend and Foe visual artist Craig Thompson (also known as the guy behind the sweet graphic novel Blankets.)

Seim explains the collaboration like so: "[Thompson]'s stretching a giant (approx. 3'x9') piece of butcher paper horizontally across the back of the stages and visually interpreting our set behind us with a brush & ink as we play. Pretentious? Maybe. But super fun all the same."

The first of these five, non-consecutive collaborations took place September 29 at the Nouveau Casino club in Paris. After the encore, Thompson tore his creation from the wall and, with the help of the band, tore it into pieces and passed the pieces out to the crowd. "He's ten times the rock star that we are over here," says Seim. For proof, there is YouTube documentation here. For more photos of the show itself, see the post-jump.

The next Menomena show is a collaboration with Thompson, and it takes place tonight, October 3, in Amsterdam. The next two collaborations are in Milan and Barcelona over the next week and a half. [MORE...]

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Pop Montreal Kicks Off Tonight

Kicking off tonight in the Real City and running through the weekend is the 2007 Pop Montreal Festival, celebrating film, art, crafts, and several dozen of the best bands in, oh, the whole entire universe. Who are we talking about? Let's roll those credits once again:

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, the National, Sunset Rubdown, Grizzly Bear, Caribou, Man Man, Patrick Wolf, Bun B, Islands, Silver Mt. Zion, Magnolia Electric Co., Fujiya & Miyagi, Black Mountain, Final Fantasy, Patti Smith, Half Japanese, Pere Ubu, Oakley Hall, A-Trak, Kid Sister, the Cool Kids, Kavinsky, Qui, Eric's Trip, A-Trak, MSTRKRFT, Buck 65, Chromeo, DJ Krush, Hot Hot Heat, Sebastien Grainger, Yeasayer, Cadence Weapon, Think About Life, Julie Doiron, Born Ruffians, Bobby Conn, DJ/Rupture, HEALTH, Aa, Chad VanGaalen, Earlimart, Daedalus, Lightning Dust, Fucked Up, the Stills, Shapes and Sizes, Young Galaxy, Miracle Fortress, Johnny and the Moon, the Narrator, Georgie James, Most Serene Republic, Old Podrida, the Watson Twins, Tiga, DJ Mehdi, Cody ChesnuTT, Cause Co-motion, AIDS Wolf, Jay Reatard, a Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk, and Reggae showcase featuring the Mighty Pope, Jay Douglas, and Everton "Pablo" Paul... and MORE.

Alas, the Federation (yes, the hyphy Federation) seem to have disappeared from the bill since we last reported about the festival. Of some consolation to hip-hop fans: Bun B has been added to the lineup.

The Pop and Policy conference at McGill University runs concurrently with Pop Montreal; it features four days of panels about the music business, with the likes of Patti Smith, Nick Thorburn of Islands, Murray Lightburn of the Dears, and Buck 65 conversing with industry people on a series of panels.
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Pipettes Reschedule Those Postponed Dates

Well, that didn't take long! Just two days after we announced the Pipettes had run into some visa issues forcing the postponement of a big chunk of their North American tour, all seems well in the consulates office, and the gals have got themselves a brand new run of dates. All but the Philly show have been replaced on the new slate, with that date expected to be announced soon. So, whether you fancy Rosay, Gwenno or RiotBecki (or Monster Bobby, growl), you'll be pullin' shapes and wastin' kisses and all that soon enough.

Just a reminder, North America: The expanded domestic version of We Are the Pipettes with the fancy new ochre cover has finally arrived. As in right now. For real this time. [MORE...]
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Photos: Bonde Do Role [Portland, OR; 09/27/07]

Photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Despite axing a run of gigs that were to occupy the next two weeks-- citing illness and exhaustion-- Bonde do Role looked neither terribly ill nor exhausted at Portland's Holocene this past weekend. Instead they were all smiles, fancy-footed antics, and Laser-guided fun-- although apparently somebody's panties got set on fire.

After a couple weeks' respite, Bonde do Role return to the road October 20 in Iceland. They might want to arrive a few days early: I hear the spas over there are second to none.












[MORE...]
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Jay-Z Reveals American Gangster Tracklist

Kingdom came and went, and most of us are pretty unaffected by it at this point, either psyched at the time to have new Jay-Z jams no matter the quality or bummed that the comeback was closer to Michael Jordan's minor league baseball career than his return to the Bulls for a second three-peat.

Thus, the prospect of hearing a gritty, hungry-again Jay-Z on his forthcoming new album, American Gangster (inspired by but not the official soundtrack to the Ridley Scott film of the same name), is an exciting one.

While not quite at Radiohead levels of spontaneity, the album nonetheless comes out soon, November 6 via Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam. What's more, it even has a tracklist, thanks to the wonders of iTunes. As previously reported, it includes "Blue Magic" produced by Pharrell, "The Return" featuring Nas, "American Gangster" featuring American Gangster movie actor T.I., and "Vietnam War" featuring Kanye West. And that great "I Get Money" remix!

Also, Jay-Z is trying to rename the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey after Rocawear, his clothing label. Now THAT's gangster.

Check it out after the jump. [MORE...]

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Did "Saturday Night Live" Rip Off Aphex Twin?

On Monday morning, as it made the rounds on the AIM and the blogs and that del.icio.us, "Iran So Far" was yet another mildly amusing Andy Samberg-helmed "Saturday Night Live" digital short. In case you missed it, it's a slow jam featuring some hushed rapping about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, buoyed mostly by Fred Armisen's Ahmadinejad impression and a surprise guest appearance by the actually-OK-in-miniscule-doses Adam Levine. As these things go, it did the trick, but it's no "Roy Rules".

But it's Tuesday now, and the internet's still abuzz about "Iran So Far". As our postmillenial attention spans don't permit mere amusement to retain mere chuckle fodder for more than maybe a day and a half, that can only mean one thing: CONTROVERSY.

Turns out, the Silk-style backing track of "Iran So Far" was lifted from an unlikely source: Mr. Richard D. James, better known to you and me as Aphex Twin. Samberg (or whoever) lifted the piano track for "Iran" straight offa "Avril 14th", a tune from Aphex Twin's 2001 double LP Drukqs.

Mr. James' publisher, Chrysalis Music, was apparently less than amused by the uncleared sample, which-- according to TVGuide.com, prompted NBC to take the video off the show's website (replaced, it seems, by "COMING SOON") and their official YouTube channel.

It's at this point that the plot-- never the show's strong suit-- thickens. According to The Daily Swarm (who first reported all this nuttiness), an "SNL" source confirmed that the sample was, indeed, Richard D. James' work, and that a clearance procedure is currently in progress. In addition, Daily Swarm reports that Chrysalis Music has confirmed that NBC didn't actually need permission to use the song for "ephemeral use," and won't, until they plan to air the show again. The internet being roughly as ephemeral as a stone tablet, the video remains yanked from all official NBC sites until, presumably, some clearance agreement is made.

Will Mr. James and the brass at NBC ever settle their differences? Will "Iran So Far" ever flash across our TV screens again? What will Andy Samberg Jodeci up next?

In the meantime, check out Aphex on a few dates this winter, or watch Spoon and Seth Rogen on "SNL" this Saturday night. [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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