Karen O Pens Tunes for Jonze/Eggers Wild Things Film

Photo by Kathryn Yu

No upbringing is complete without a few hundred bedtime readings of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, and no beloved literary relic of childhood is complete these days, it seems, without a major motion picture adaptation. Thus we have Where the Wild Things Are the film, directed by Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice") and coming to a movie theater near you in late 2008 or so.

Long before we can smile slyly at the possibility of some ignorant parent renting that other Wild Things for the young ones instead of this film, we can get all jazzed about its soundtrack. For that soundtrack, according to a post on blog The Playlist confirmed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' publicist, will include musical selections from none other than Karen O.

Ex-beau Jonze has enlisted O to write "songs and other pieces of music for the film," according to the website of composer Carter Burwell (previous Jonze films, various Coen Brothers films), who is "helping with the score." As if the hipster quotient weren't through the roof already, Dave Eggers collaborated with Jonze on the script.

No word yet whether the Karen O contributions have anything to do with the lady's long-discussed forthcoming solo record, reportedly produced by Jonze's brother Squeak E. Clean (aka Sam Spiegel).

And couture hounds and O oglers alike may want to flock on over to designer Christian Joy's website, where Karen is presently modeling Joy's spring 2008 collection [via TheFADER.com].

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have kept otherwise quiet of late, though guitarist Nick Zinner did contribute to the new Hives single.

Matador Reveals Mission of Burma Reissue Details

Photo by William Kirk

No matter how successful a reunion is, there's something special about a great band's initial run. Unfortunately, recent Mission of Burma converts won over by The Obliterati or OnOffOn have had trouble accessing the band's early days, since original documents like Signals, Calls, and Marches and Vs. have been out of print on CD for two years and unavailable on vinyl for almost 20.

Thankfully, the folks at current Burma label Matador are taking care of that. As previously mentioned, Matador will reissue the band's entire Ace of Hearts catalog, remastered and loaded with tons of goodies, on March 18.

For starters, each of the three reissues will come with a 32-page booklet featuring interviews with the band and producer Rick Harte. And if you choose to opt for the vinyl copies, you'll receive the booklets, the same bonus DVDs that come with the CDs, and coupons for complete MP3 downloads, all in between nifty gatefold sleeves.

The brass tacks of each reissue's contents are after the jump. [MORE...]

Sally Shapiro Tours! Remixed by Junior Boys, Lindstrom
Shapiro lines up DJ dates with Johan Agebjorn

Photo by Frida Klingberg

If hell's feeling a mite chilly today and you swear your swine are jumping a little higher than usual, well, know that Sally Shapiro, elusive disco chanteuse known to eschew her public, has just announced her very first live appearances. You read that correctly: Sally Shapiro is touring.

With young dreamers around the globe afflicted with a bad case of Disco Romance, Shapiro and producer Johan Agebjörn have agreed to spend this winter with but a few extraordinarily lucky North American cities. Their tiny but oh-so-welcome DJ tour kicks off March 4 in Toronto and wraps a couple gigs later in Chicago. Is this DJ jaunt a baby step toward a full-blown Shapiro stage show? That, my friends, remains to be seen.

And that's hardly all that's astir in camp Shapiro of late. In addition to Agebjörn's previously reported "Spacer Woman From Mars" 12", Sally Shapiro has another twelve in the works. "Jackie Jackie (Spend This Winter With Me)" lands overseas in February via Permanent Vacation, with a North American release to follow in April. In addition to "Jackie" (a Nixon cover taken from the North American edition of Disco Romance), the single includes another ace Shapiro track and two remixes-- including an offering from the one and only Junior Boys.

The Junior Boys remix will in fact appear on a forthcoming album of such reworkings titled Remix Romance. Paper Bag Records plans to unleash Remix this spring, and Lindstrøm is also expected to partake.

Finally, let's not forget that Sally is up for a couple PLUG Awards. You know what to do. [MORE...]

Bjork Concocts New "Earth Intruders" Single

Front page photo by Ashley Williamson

Ah, now this is the kind of Björk story we like to report. Nary a torn shirt in sight. Just a remix-laden single for "Earth Intruders", the thunderous leadoff track from last spring's Volta. It's available from One Little Indian, who will ship the "double pack" by February 4.

And what an early Valentine's Day gift it'll be! You and/or your sweetie can nab the heavyweight vinyl 12" version featuring four remixes of "Earth Intruders" from the likes of Spank Rock's Armani XXXchange, Jimmy Douglas, Lexx, and Mark Stent or the CD version, featuring all that plus a radio edit of the Lexx mix and a DVD of the Michel Ocelot-directed clip for the song. Who needs the roses and chocolate when you've got a blippy anthem of interplanetary invasion?

One Little Indian is only making up 10,000 of these sets, so you'd better switch your intrusion target to dad's wallet, and pronto. And, hey, while you're at it, why not score yourself some plane tickets to any one of the exotic locales Björk will be playing over the next few months? I won't tell if you won't. [MORE...]

Radiohead Plan In-Store Webcast Tonight

Our Radiohead radars are going all blippity-bloop this morning, which can only mean one thing: Thom Yorke and his cronies are up to something yet again.

This time our sources have determined that the In Rainbows operatives are planning another webcast, following hot on the heels of that quite amusing Thumbs Down dissemination and their New Year's treat, Scotch Mist. The "Rough Trade East" broadcast, as we'll code name it, will indeed be filmed at the new-ish Brick Lane location of the Rough Trade record shoppe in London. Look for it "round about 8" UK time tonight on Radiohead.tv. Say, that's mighty soon!

The Radiohead transmission we've intercepted indicates the band will "play a short set of In Rainbows material." Those in the vicinity of Rough Trade East are advised to leave their computers immediately and line up in the vain hope of securing admission to this evening's free in-store performance (also set to commence at eight UK time). For detailed, confidential documents pertaining to this occurrence, please consult this.

Still under surveillance: those cities Radiohead are expected to infiltrate on tour, the studios of "Later... With Jools Holland", and Zane Lowe's radio dispatches. [MORE...]

These New Puritans Bring Pyramid Across the Pond
Also prep singles, line up shows

Photo by Dean Chalkley

To our British readers, there's nothing particularly new about These New Puritans' Beat Pyramid, which Angular issued in the UK in November. UPDATE: THE ALBUM ISN'T OUT IN THE UK UNTIL FEBRUARY 4. But, as promised, Domino will deliver the band's full-length debut March 18 in North America. The disc, produced by occasional Wire/Liars knob-turner Gareth Jones, falls in line with the knotty, trance-inducing post-punk of the aforementioned mavericks' early works.

But for Puritans fans on either side of the pond, there's plenty of New stuff to go around. Domino will issue a 12" single for the recently-Forkcasted "Navigate, Navigate"-- a fifteen-minute track head Puritan Jack Barnett crafted as the soundtrack to the runway show for Hedi Slimane's Dior Homme Autumn '07 collection-- on February 5. The single will come backed with a remix from DFA co-owner Tim Goldsworthy's the Loving Hand project. UK audiences, meanwhile, will be treated to a single for Beat Pyramid's "Elvis" January 21 February 11 from Angular. That arrives on both 7" and CD.

And Puritanical sorts the world over can cast off their rigid value systems in favor of rock'n'roll, as the Puritans are touring. They'll stick to the UK in large part, but they plan to join the sunburnt sorts at South by Southwest as well. [MORE...]

Good Shoes Issue Think Before You Speak in the States

British sensations Good Shoes felt no need to put any additional shine on their rollicking debut, Think Before You Speak, in the near-year that's passed since its initial UK release and now. Why would they when it already kicks so hard?

So expect the same effective vocal affectations, the same bright and bouncy guitar rock, and the same high quality footwear at low low prices March 18, when Brille issues Good Shoes' Think Before You Speak in the U.S.

These Good Shoes are no loafers, what with a couple of sturdy new tour dates to their name later this month in the UK. [MORE...]

Decemberists' Colin Meloy Readies Live Solo Album
Includes covers, unreleased songs, stage banter

Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy has released tour-only EPs where he Sings Morrissey and Sings Shirley Collins, but what we really want is for him to sing himself-- to remember his spirit, as Oprah would say. He does it all the time in the Decemberists, and he's done it all by his lonesome on his solo acoustic tours. Meloy's self-singing on his 2006 solo acoustic tour is documented on Colin Meloy Sings Live!, which Kill Rock Stars will release April 8 on CD and gatefold double LP.

Included on Sings Live! are songs from Meloy's first band, Tarkio, as well as cuts from every Decemberists full-length pre-The Crane Wife. There is also a tune from the 2006 EP Picaresqueties, two previously unreleased originals ("Dracula's Daughter" and "Wonder"), bits of covers of songs by the Smiths, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac, and a traditional folk song in debt to Shirley Collins' arrangement.

Squished in between all these goodies are stage banter interludes.

Meloy will head out on another solo acoustic tour this spring, and before then, the Decemberists have those four previously reported dates in their native Pacific Northwest. [MORE...]

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Prep New LP

The long-winded globetrotters in Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have announced the details of Pershing, their second album and first as members of Polyvinyl's roster (though the label already reissued the band's debut, Broom).

Pershing is an 11-song set of indie pop tunes due out April 8, and the band will precede its release with a Midwestern mini-tour and an appearance at SXSW in March. A full U.S. tour is planned for the spring, but for now, the live fun starts January 25 in Columbia, Missouri.

Check out "Glue Girls", the lead off track from Pershing, available for download below. [MORE...]

Fiery Furnaces Hold Caucus to Name Next LP
"The Mobilization Movement needs to be flipped over onto your record player"

Much like fellow members of their musical flock, election fever has gripped the Fiery Furnaces. Their position on those matters is fairly cut and dry: "This Tour supports the senator-from-Illinois, not the senator from Illinois," they write on their website in a post about their forthcoming "Roll the Dice/Leap of Faith" tour, "meaning, of course, that it supports the senator representing Illinois, not the senator born in Illinois." But just because you've already made your selection doesn't mean you can't revel in the process.

And so, our Furnaces have announced an "On-Line Non-Binding Caucus to Determine the Fiery Furnaces' Next Album". The setup is fairly simple: on their website, the Furnaces have proposed eight album titles with accompanying descriptions and split them into red and blue candidates. Will you choose Sweetheart and Co., with found material as lyrics and "Gershwin imitations as the tunes and changes"? Or maybe Catamite Corner, a disc jam-packed with tracks "like 'Kashmir', but faster, with real strings, and different sorts of lyrics"? The discs, as you can imagine, all sound weird and difficult on the page-- and somehow, it's not impossible to imagine the Furnaces pulling off each and every one.

So, uh, how do we vote? The Furnaces urge us to "go stand over in the corner of the Internet next to the album of your choice" and, if so moved, "stomp your feet and chant your candidate's name." We're guessing that means you may have an impact on the name of the next Fiery Furnaces LP (which, barring a massive write-in effort, apparently won't be called Back to Begamo after all) by weighing in on the comments section of the post. As the Furnaces urge, "Voice of the People-ize!"

As with the general election, we'll let that spot of weirdness hash itself out while we busy ourselves reminding you about Fiery Furnaces tour dates. [MORE...]

Clipse, LSF, Man Man, Portishead Do Primavera Fest
Plus: Okkervil River, Silver Jews, Deerhunter, Mission of Burma, Six Organs, Eric’s Trip

Estrella, damn! The lineup for this year's Estrella Damm Primavera Sound Festival has begun shaping up, and it's already a doozy. From the snub-nosed crack rap of Clipse to the furry lo-fi fury of Eric's Trip, from the manic Man Man to the masterful Mission of Burma, the current list is long on eclectism, with Portishead, Okkervil River, Deerhunter, Les Savy Fav, Silver Jews, and Six Organs of Admittance rounding out the top picks.

Other confirmed acts include the Shipping News, Scout Niblett, Pissed Jeans, Edan & MC Dagha, Fuck Buttons, MV & EE With the Golden Road, Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, Model 500, and the Felice Brothers. Our pals at All Tomorrow's Parties are sponsoring a portion of the festivities, which pop off May 29-31 at Barcelona, Spain's Parc del Fòrum.

Big Boi Ballet Details Emerge

Last May we learned that Big Boi-- probably not the first member of Outkast you'd expect to embrace his inner Terpsichore-- was putting together his very own ballet show in collaboration with the Atlanta Ballet.

And well, folks, it's really happening. Big opens April 10 at Atlanta's Fox Theatre and will feature the man born Antwan Patton moving his body about artistically alongside members of his Purple Ribbon Entertainment troupe and the Ballet. Act fast though; the extravaganza of sound and motion only runs for six performances and closes April 13.

According to NME.com (UPDATE: via Spin magazine), the production will feature a full live band, with musical selections from the Outkast catalog and Big Boi's own forthcoming solo album. There's also talk of taking Big, which was choreographed by Lauri Stallings, over to Europe later in 2008.

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.)