The Walkmen Leave Label for New Album

Photo by Natalie Kardos

Their very name is made for walking, and that's just what the Walkmen have done in preparation for their new album. According to two interviews with frontman Hamilton Leithauser, the forthcoming LP will be released on a label other than Record Collection, which put out Pussy Cats, A Hundred Miles Off, and Bows and Arrows.

"We're actually in negotiations right now with a new label, and we're all happy about that too. I think a little fresh blood will be good for us," Leithauser said in an interview with the Baltimore blog Butter Team.

A representative from the label said, "Record Collection's deal with the Walkmen expired after the release of Pussy Cats. We've had an amazing time working for the Walkmen, we're all still friends and we wish them luck as they move into the future."

Leithauser revealed more about the contents of the new record in an interview with Billboard.com. Apparently, it features "a lot more instrumentation" than previous records, including turns on the trumpet and viola from member Paul Maroon. "It's sort of our sound again, but when you have it with a new instrument you can modify it the slightest bit, which to us sounds completely new," Leithauser explained.

Billboard.com reports that the band has finished recording nine songs, with six to go, and they plan to finish those this month in time for a spring release date. Between the two interviews, Leithauser confirmed that "If Only It Were True", "Red Moon", "Around and Around", "Blue Route", and "I Lost You" are all in the running for the record's tracklist. He told Billboard.com that "I Lost You" was the album's "breakthrough song," adding, "We wanted to do, like, a big Roy Orbison song that ends with a big [crescendo]. We tried a lot of different strings and horn parts and finally found a few that go together. We think it's fantastic. It's, like, power rock."

And finally, Leithauser let Butter Team in on the progress of the band's novel: "We really are trying to finish it even though it might take us 20 years."

The Walkmen will display this newfound power on the road, including some shows with Vampire Weekend. [MORE...]

Stream: The Walkmen: Sex and the City readings

Shudder to Think Members, Stella Play "Barack Rock"
Also: Nina Persson (the Cardigans), OK Go, Joan as Police Woman

Video: Dangle and Junior of Reno 911: Getupandvote.com promo

"Aqua Teen" Co-Creator Talks Neko, Homme, T-Pain
Case to play animated teen pop star in "Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge"

Folks who tune in to the new season of Adult Swim's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" on Cartoon Network (which premieres this Sunday, January 20) can of course look forward to seeing cartoon and comedy convention further subverted beyond any semblance of reason. They can also look forward to a pretty sick assemblage of guest stars. Those guests, as previously reported, include Neko Case, Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme, T-Pain, Kelly Hogan, and former professional baseball star John Kruk.

Still puzzling over the utter randomness of it all, Pitchfork caught up with Dave Willis, "Aqua Teen" co-creator (and the voice of Meatwad, Carl, and Ignignokt), to chat about the upcoming season's unlikely guests, past adventures with Danzig and Ted Nugent, T-Pain's Mooninite-inspired "bling," and Case's upcoming turn as computer-animated "pop princess" Cheyenne Cinnamon.

Case, Hogan, and Kruk play a trio of sirens [see above] on an "Aqua Teen" episode set to air January 27. Why sirens? As Willis, a longtime fan of both Case and Hogan, tells it, "We were trying to think of the perfect vehicle for both [Case] and Kelly Hogan and former Philadelphia Phillies great John Kruk, and this just seemed like such a natural fit."

And why these three? "Well, when you see Neko and Kelly, you think of Philadelphia Phillies baseball. In the same way you see Kruk on 'Baseball Tonight' and alt-country keeps popping up in your head."

Naturally.

While Case-- who, along with Hogan, sings all of her lines on the episode-- took a minute to warm up to things, she and Willis eventually formed a rapport that's already extended to a second project.

"I think Neko was genuinely kind of nervous, at least initially," says Willis. "But I've since used her voice for this other thing I'm doing, this CGI pilot that we're still working on, and by then we were pretty comfortable with each other. She's actually a really great actor. Not that I was surprised, but she's really good."

[Case and Hogan also spoke to Time Out Chicago's TOC Blog today about their "Aqua Teen" adventures and Case's follow-up to Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, which is due in January 2009 for now. Apparently, Neko's got it bad for Master Shake.]

And that CGI pilot? Brace yourselves: it's called "Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge", and it features what Willis describes as "a Strawberry Shortcake pop princess that lives in a candy wonderland just outside of Detroit. She comes into Detroit and helps solve problems of racism and teen pregnancy with the power of love and teen pop songs."

Unlike her "Aqua Teen" appearance, Neko is lined up to provide the speaking voice of Cheyenne Cinnamon, but won't be doing any singing-- "which is consistent with every other pop princess," Willis notes. "But her character will lip-synch it, and then a decidedly different-sounding voice sings all the songs." He isn't certain who will provide the singing voice just yet.

The songs in question were penned by pop-rocker and producer Butch Walker, and Willis is pretty psyched about them. "Butch turned all the music around in less than a week, and it sounds exactly like something that you would hear all over the radio, like something that would sell 20 million records."

"Cheyenne Cinnamon" is only in the pilot stages right now, but with any luck it will be confounding late-night television viewers soon enough.

So Case and Willis hit it off pretty good, but what of Mr. Kruk and "Aqua Teen"? "I don't think he quite realizes what he did. He was amazing [enough] to just say, 'Sure, yeah I'll do it.' I mean, I think that's pretty consistent with his entire career.

"Ultimately we made him look pretty good. And I told him, I said, 'Can I give you the mullet from the late-80s Padres Kruk?' And he was like, 'Sure, go for it.' He didn't care." [MORE...]

Video: Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Various Clips

Portishead Announce First Tour in Forever

Video: Portishead: New Songs (live at ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas)

Dizzee's Maths + English Coming to U.S. Via Def Jux
El-P remixing "Where's Da G's"

We haven't exactly been shy in expressing our fondness for Dizzee Rascal's Maths + English album. We gave the disc our recommendation when we reviewed it back in June, and it even landed at #49 on our list of our favorite albums of last year (single "Pussyole" made it onto our top songs list at #28) But when XL originally released the album, it wasn't given a physical release in the U.S., just a digital one. It was unfortunate; as our reviewer Nate Patrin wrote, "Dizzee's best prospects for an expanded fanbase may well be across the pond."

Happily, Maths + English is getting another chance, thanks to the good folks at Def Jux. The indie rap powerhouse will issue the album on CD for the first time in the States April 29. (It will also re-release it digitally, as it is no longer available as a download here.)

The Def Jux version will feature new studio tracks "G.H.E.T.T.O." and "Driving" as well as a remix of the UGK-assisted "Where's Da G's" by Def Jux label head El-P. All told, it sounds like it was worth the wait.

In other Dizzee news, he's got those dates we told you about recently. [MORE...]

Video: Dizzee Rascal: Flex [from the Maths + English LP]

Band of Horses Kick off Winter World Tour
Join Sufjan on Tibet House benefit bill

From a town so small to a town so large to a town that is hopefully within galloping distance of yours, Band of Horses kick off their winter world tour Sunday night in their home base of Charleston, South Carolina. The boys will be joined on the American leg by well-coiffed crooner Cass McCombs, and by some guy named Sufjan February 13 when they take the stage at Carnegie Hall for the Tibet House benefit. That show also features Philip Glass, Nawang Khechog, Marisa Monte, Television's Tom Verlaine, and Ray Davies of the Kinks.

From there, it's off to the UK and then, finally, eastward into the European sunset for these horsemen.

May your thick layer of reverb and your frontman's formidable face-mane assist you in your travels, dudes. [MORE...]

Video: Band of Horses: Is There a Ghost [from the Cease to Begin LP]

Cursive Plan Scattered Gigs, Working on New LP

If Cursive's upcoming live itinerary seems a touch on the scant side, well, they have a good excuse. The band are currently crafting the tearjerkers that'll pepper their follow-up to 2006's Happy Hollow, and have, according to their website, "booked some shows around different writing sessions." You know, to pass the time, get the juices flowing, and let the kids hear just what they've been up to recently.

After from a hometown gig later this month, Cursive will reemerge for three dates in California (including a stop at Noise Pop) and, finally, a little Midwest run in early April. The record will emerge once the damn thing's all written and recorded, though, um, I thought the writing in Cursive was supposed to go a little quicker than that of, oh, Prints? Wacka wacka! [MORE...]

Video: Cursive: Big Bang [from the Happy Hallow LP]

Clientele, Black Mountain Added to ATP vs. Pitchfork
Battles, Stars of the Lid, De La Soul, Ghostface Added to Explosions in the Sky ATP

Egads! That ATP vs. Pitchfork festival we may have mentioned a time or two just keeps on upping its awesomeness quotient.

When things start to heat up May 9-11 at Camber Sands Holiday Centre, near Rye in Sussex County, England, you'll get all the previously-announced hullabaloo, of course. But now we can also add Pitchfork pick the Clientele and new All Tomorrow's Parties selections Black Mountain, Born Ruffians, Howlin Rain, krautrock supergroup Harmonia (doing their second UK gig in a quarter-century), Car Sick Cars, and Even. All that at no additional charge or nothin'!

Which makes the lineup look like so:

Chosen by Pitchfork:

The Clientele
Jens Lekman
A Place to Bury Strangers
Yeasayer
The Hold Steady
Black Lips
Hot Chip
Les Savy Fav
No Age
Of Montreal
Man Man
Los Campesinos!
Caribou
Glass Candy
Dirty Projectors

Chosen by ATP:

Black Mountain
Born Ruffians
Howlin Rain
Harmonia
Car Sick Cars
Even
Redd Kross
Marissa Nadler
Deerhunter
Wooden Shjips
Meat Puppets
The Black Angels
Shit and Shine
Sebadoh
Ween
Pissed Jeans
Fuck Buttons
Apse

As it ever was, passes are £140 and include accommodations at Camber Sands' chalets, which feature private bathroom suites, bars, a swimming pool, restaurants, a supermarket, go-karting, and mini-golf. Tickets for the weekend can be purchased through ATP's website in blocks of four, five, six, seven, or eight.

The subsequent weekend finds Texas post-rockers Explosions in the Sky's wishes coming true at the ATP they've curated. That one takes place May 16-18 at Butlin's Holiday Centre in Minehead, England. Since the last time we checked in on their ATP, Silver Jews, Jens Lekman, Liars, the National, Battles, Sunset Rubdown, De La Soul, Stars of the Lid, Ghostface Killah, Saul Williams, Mono, Lichens, Western Keys, Tony Teardrop, and the Drift have been thrown in the mix.

Hey Willpower Hit the Road With Le Tigre Offshoot Men

MP3: Hey Willpower: In the Basement [from the P.D.A. LP]

Brother Ali Spreads Second Round of Truth on Tour

MP3: Brother Ali: Truth Is [from the The Undisputed Truth LP]

Photos: Bon Iver [St. Paul, MN; 01/17/08]
Bon Iver adds dates with Phosphorescent

Photos by Stacy Schwartz

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon sure likes guitars. On his debut album For Emma, Forever Ago (our 29th favorite album of 2007), guitars are pretty much the only sound you'll hear in addition to the singer/songwriter's haunted falsetto. And for concerts, he apparently brings a whole stack of them (see below).

Something else he might consider bringing a stack of: copies of the album, which Vernon self-released last year but will be re-released via Jagjaguwar on February 19. Last night at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Minnesota, the audience was clamoring for copies, but Vernon had to tell the sold out crowd he couldn't get away with distributing it just yet.

More photos and tour dates below, including a new set of dates in March with Phosphorescent.

[MORE...]

Pinback Announce Winter Dates

With Rob Crow's army of metronomes all recalibrated after a hefty workout in 2007, one of those bands that he's in-- Pinback, I believe they're called-- has pinned down their first big plans for 2008. Looks like it'll be a tour that sticks to the West Coast for most of February before heading off to Japan at the end of the month. Will the mildly mechanized tones of Pinback go over in the country that brought us Asimo the robot and the Tamagotchi? Yeah, we reckon that oughta work out pretty well. [MORE...]

Video: Pinback: From Nothing to Nowhere [fan video]

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.)