Son Lux Signs to Anticon
Works with Beirut, My Brightest Diamond, Castanets

Photo by Sarah Cass

Ryan Lott is just shy of the three-decade mark in years, but in that time, he has lived in a handful of locations (Denver, Cleveland, Atlanta, California, Connecticut, NYC), trained in composition and piano, and organized several multimedia art shows. So, naturally, he joined the Anticon roster to release his full-length debut under the name Son Lux.

At War With Walls and Mazes is an Anticonesque beat-and-hook-filled mish-mash of genres, and the label will release it on February 26. Son Lux will follow the album's release with spring dates supporting Why?

In the meantime, Lott is keeping himself busy by starting work on the next Son Lux album and a slew of other projects. He's remixing Beirut and Castanets, collaborating with My Brightest Diamond, and working on a large-scale piece with the Gina Gibney Dance company for a third time. [MORE...]

Sub Pop Responds to Arrest of Shins' Crandall

Detail from photo by Brian Tamborello

As reported yesterday, Shins keyboardist/utility man Marty Crandall and his now former girlfriend, model Elyse Sewell, both found themselves in a Sacramento County jail this weekend facing domestic abuse charges following a scuffle in a hotel Friday night.

Sewell was released Saturday on bail; Crandall followed suit yesterday. A post on Sewell's blog explaining the incident and cited in our previous story, meanwhile, has since been removed. "I've decided to heed the advice of many commenters (lawyerly types) and friends," wrote Sewell yesterday, "[and] lock my last entry about the legal foibles between me and my ex-boyfriend."

Today the Shins' label Sub Pop came forward with a statement regarding the arrests. It reads as follows:

Marty Crandall and his ex-girlfriend Elyse Sewell were both arrested over the weekend following an argument at a Sacramento hotel which resulted in hotel staff calling the police.

They were both taken into police custody and released over the weekend.

There will be no further comment at this time and we would appreciate their privacy being respected.

The Crandall case goes before a judge tomorrow, January 8.

T.V. Eye: January 7-13, 2008

Slowly, slowly, things are starting up again:

Monday, January 7:

CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: RZA, Ian Hunter

Tuesday, January 8:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Buzzcocks
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: MGMT
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Rogue Wave

Wednesday, January 9:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Panthers
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Lupe Fiasco

Friday, January 11:

CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Spoon

Saturday, January 12:

FOX: Fearless TV: Paramore
PBS: Austin City Limits: Kings of Leon, Roky Erickson

Vampire Weekend Plot North American Tour
Album release pushed up to this month in UK/Europe

As you attempt to shake the cobwebs from your head following your own blood-curdling, stomach-churning respite from the working world, sink those Monday fangs into this: nifty new New Yorkers (and, full disclosure, our buddies) Vampire Weekend have plotted tour dates enough to wear down even the starchiest Dockers.

Following a lone date in London late next week, the band will feast on North America as January comes to a close. The dates stretch on practically into April, so if you haven't been bitten by the Vampire Weekend bug yet, your chance is nigh. I guess you could say there's a lot at... stake... on this tour! Okay, okay, enough.

They'll share bills-- and, it occurs to us, a similar fashion aesthetic-- with the Walkmen on a smattering of dates in early March.

Also, good news for Vampire fans the world over: the band has moved the UK/European XL Recordings release of their debut full length from March 3 to January 28, the day before the disc hits U.S. shelves. And good news for anyone with a few minutes to kill and a working clicker-finger: the band's very Wang Chung video for "A-Punk" just made its way to Forkcast a little earlier today. [MORE...]

Dan Deacon's Ultimate Reality Tour Kicks Off
Deacon announces new single: "Slience Like the Wind"

Surely you noticed the change when you woke yesterday morning. Your eyes were crusty and your worldview bleary, but you could still feel it: the reality you've known all your life had changed. Heightened, if you will. Or, perhaps, simply become more... ultimate?

Chalk that fresh feeling up to the efforts of two fellows, Dan Deacon and Jimmy Joe Roche, both of Baltimore's storied Wham City collective. The two are taking Ultimate Reality-- the DVD they jointly created and recently released via Carpark-- out for a spin, with the proceedings ultimately kicking off last night in Chapel Hill. Danny Boy and Jimmy Joe will dole out their version of reality throughout the rest of the month of January, joined on the drums by Videohippos' Kevin O'Meare and Ponytail's Jeremy Hyman.

And when he's not heightening reality with a few old friends, Dan's doing his damndest by his lonesome on a handful of non-Ultimate Reality gigs over the next few months, including a trip to Australia and a trip to Langerado.

Deacon also recently revealed to the blog Cone Toaster that his next single from Spiderman of the Rings will be live fave "Silence Like the Wind". (His publicist confirmed this as well.) DOH! "Silence Like the Wind" isn't on Spiderman of the Rings!

In other Dan Deacon news, I wouldn't expect a Deaconized cover of "The Wheels on the Bus" anytime soon. [MORE...]

Battles Storm Australia

Photo by Sanchez and Kitahara

Sure, Mirrored grabbed the #8 spot on Pitchfork's 2007 year-end albums list and "Atlas" came away as our #2 track of the year, but Battles aren't about to rest on their internet-provided laurels. Instead, they're hitting the road to conquer Australia. Starting January 18, the band will play a couple weeks' worth of shows on the continent (and New Zealand), most of which are Big Day Out festival dates.

Also, for the ultimate Battles obsessive in your life, Mirrored lyrics!! [MORE...]

The Cool Kids Line Up Winter Dates

All set to conquer 2008 by actually releasing their freakin' album already (via new label Chocolate Industries), the Cool Kids have hatched a plan to tour North America this month. Shortly thereafter, they'll bunny hop across the pond for shows in the Old Countries.

After that, the Obama-backers head Down Under, and they'll keep those passports handy for a return to Europe in March. [MORE...]

Drive-By Truckers Brighten 2008 With Album, Tour
Band also reissues back catalog on vinyl

Southern rock journeyfolk Drive-By Truckers will release their first post-Jason Isbell album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, via New West Records on January 22. DBT bassist Shonna Tucker took up third songwriter duties for the first time on the album, the band's eighth and the follow-up to 2006's A Blessing and a Curse.

The Truckers have already offered a taste of the record with a digital EP, also called Brighter Than Creation's Dark, featuring album tracks "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife", "3 Dimes Down", "The Righteous Path", and "The Purgatory Line". The EP is available now via digital retailers, and if you get any of its tracks on iTunes, the purchase will knock a bit off the cost of the album, as part of the Complete My Album program.

After releasing the album, DBT will kickstart "The Home Front 2008 World Tour" with a bunch of North American dates in February and March (European dates are still forthcoming). And since they seem to like teasers so much, they'll preview both the album and the tour with three dates in Athens, Georgia. The first of the Athens dates will find them playing Brighter Than Creation's Dark in its entirety as part of their annual Nuçi's Space benefit.

Additionally, the band will give a good chunk of its back catalog vinyl reissues on February 5 via New West. The limited edition 180-gram vinyl pressings include reissues of Gangstabilly, Pizza Deliverance, Decoration Day, The Dirty South, and A Blessing and a Curse. For a bunch of these albums, this marks their first vinyl releases. [MORE...]

Bill Callahan Tours the South

Photo by Shannon McClean

Teenage spaceships, take flight: there's Bill Callahan tour dates aplenty if you want 'em. After gracing the northern part of this fair nation last fall, Bill Callahan will take a decidedly southern tack on his forthcoming tour, which kicks off a couple days after Valentine's in Baton Rouge.

Dance away... just don't dance too hard. Surely you've heard what that leads to. [MORE...]

Echo & the Bunnymen, Orchestra Play Ocean Rain Live

September 16, 2008, wildly influential Brits Echo & the Bunnymen will perform their classic Ocean Rain LP in its entirety alongside a full orchestra at London's Royal Albert Hall. Each and every track, from the shimmering "Silver" to the soaring "Killing Moon" to the epic title track, will be done up with strings and laid out by the recently reformed post-punkers.

The group has two other live engagements between now and next fall, including a free gig in Spain and an appearance at January 12's Liverpool 08 concert, where they'll perform "Nothing Last Forever" from 1997's Evergreen with the Liverpool Philharmonic. Frontman Ian McCulloch will also appear on "The Early Show" on CBS January 11. [MORE...]

Six Organs of Admittance Set to Hit the Road

White noise, fingerpicking, and a whole lot of bad "admittance"-related puns directed towards the folks working the door: later this week, Ben Chasny and his Six Organs of Admittance will hit the road for a healthy dose of all the above, with Magik Marker Elisa Ambrosio-- who helped her pal Ben put up his recent Shelter from the Ash-- in tow.

A good chunk of the dates find the Six Organs taking the same stage as Dirty Three string-plucker Mick Turner, whose rare Stateside appearances are nothing compared to the ultra-rare gig his Tren Brothers (the occasional duo he shares with his Dirty Three compatriot Jim White) will play at the New York date.

But enough about all that. This is a Six Organs blurb, and a Six Organs blurb it shall remain. Did you know Ben's bunch are also playing Owen Pallet's unlikely, traveling Maximum Black Festival? Well, they are. And the likelihood of all those tour dates following this red thing here? That, friends, is practically off the charts. [MORE...]

Band of Horses, McCombs Play Halfway to Forecastle
Plus: Catfish Haven, VHS or Beta, Early Day Miners, Tyler Ramsey (DJ set)

We're just a little more than six months away from Louisville, KY's seventh Forecastle festival, the Derby city's yearly rock'n'roll throwdown that brought Girl Talk and De La Soul to Louisville late last July. But that's half a rotation of the Earth from now, simply too long for some folks to wait around for their moment to rock. So the people who bring you Forecastle are chopping the wait down the middle and bringing you Halfway to Forecastle, a day's worth of bands and extreme sports at Louisville's Headliners Music Hall.

Impatient sorts like Band of Horses, Catfish Haven, Cass McCombs, Early Day Miners, and VHS or Beta will hit the Headliners stage January 26, and BOH's Tyler Ramsey will DJ a portion of the event as well. Furthermore, there will be a nautical theme, and costumes are encouraged! All proceeds from ticket sales go to local BMX legend Jimmy Levan, who's on the mend from serious injuries he sustained skating in New Jersey. Ouch, Jersey!

For you type-A sorts never far from your daily planners, make a note of July 25-27. Those are the dates of this summer's regular ol' Forecastle (or, if you will, Halfway to Halfway to Forecastle), which takes place at Louisville's Riverfront Belvedere. No lineup has been announced as yet... golly, we're not even halfway there yet!

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.)