Diplo, CSS, Cool Kids Remix Sunny Day Sets Fire
Sunny Day Real Estate glad they bought fire insurance

Cosmopolitan London quintet Sunny Day Sets Fire have yet to release a full-length album, but they've managed to corral the Cool Kids, CSS, Spank Rock producer XXXChange, and Diplo and his Mad Decent crew to remix them on an EP. Pretty impressive for a bunch of upstarts.

That EP, a North American exclusive titled Stranger / Remix, will be released tomorrow, February 26 via IAMSOUND. The other artists remixing the band on the EP are Baron von Luxxury, the Slips, and Mad Decent.

On March 3, the UK will get some Sunny Day love with Brikabrak's release of a 7" for "End of the Road" (not a Boyz II Men cover, alas), which comes with "Lack of View" on the flip. The band's debut album, Summer Palace, will follow with a North American release on IAMSOUND in April May 6.

Sunny Day Sets Fire are set to play to-be-announced shows in NYC, L.A., and at SXSW in March, followed by a full-blown spring tour of North America.

You can hear the full Stranger / Remix EP here:

[MORE...]

T.V. Eye: February 25-March 2, 2008

Live music on TV this week:

Monday, February 25:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Grand Ole Party
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Super Furry Animals
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Helio Sequence
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daley: Lupe Fiasco

Tuesday, February 26:

FUSE: The Sauce: Andre Benjamin (not performing)
NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Lupe Fiasco

Wednesday, February 27:

NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Georgie James
CBS: Late Night With David Letterman: Kenna with N.E.R.D.

Thursday, February 28:

NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Cat Power
CBS: Late Night With David Letterman: Liam Finn

Friday, February 29:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Dengue Fever
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daley: Regina Spektor
OVATION: From the Basement: Thom Yorke, Albert Hammond Jr., Envelopes

Saturday, March 1:

NBC: Saturday Night Live: Wilco
FOX: Fearless Music TV: Cassettes Won't Listen

Wilco Postpone Show to Play “Saturday Night Live”

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Giving last year's Seth Rogen / Spoon episode a run for its money as most indie "Saturday Night Live" ever, this week's edition of "SNL" will feature host Ellen Page with musical guest Wilco.

Maybe Jeff Tweedy can play Ellen Page's dad in a sketch in which she tells her parents a big, big secret that she just can't hold in any longer: She's running away to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of becoming a stripper/screenwriter!

Unfortunately, due to the scheduling of the "SNL" appearance, Wilco have postponed their February 29 show in Charleston, South Carolina until August. But hey, maybe that means there's a Wilco summer tour in the works?

Thanks to Tony Wagner for the tip.

Like Super Furry Animals, Wilco are taking requests for their current tour. Fans are encouraged to submit their favorite song, along with a reason for picking it, here. [MORE...]

Sasquatch! 2008 Lineup Revealed
The Cure! Modest Mouse! Death Cab! Flaming Lips! R.E.M.! M.I.A.! New Pornos! National! Beirut! Destroyer! Battles! Okkervil River! Malkmus! Built to Spill! Jamie Lidell! Breeders!

You'll have to forgive us if we go all exclamatory up in this newspiece right here. It's just that Sasquatch! has been sighted yet again in the vicinity of the Gorge in George, Washington, just south of Quincy and about halfway between Seattle and Spokane. Sasquatch!, people!

Authorities confronted Sasquatch! and were able to wrest a cryptic note from the creature before it vanished once again into the mist. The note reads as follows: "The Cure, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, the Flaming Lips, R.E.M., M.I.A., the New Pornographers, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Battles, the National, Beirut, Destroyer, Okkervil River, Built to Spill, Jamie Lidell, the Breeders, Fleet Foxes, White Rabbits, the Cave Singers, Tegan and Sara, Flight of the Conchords, the Kooks, the Hives, Grand Archives, Mates of State, Thao With the Get Down Stay Down, Rogue Wave, Sera Cahoone, David Bazan, the Little Ones, Kinski, Throw Me the Statue, the Shaky Hands," along with a few more assorted scribbles. Also, something about a comedy tent and the "premiere" of a Flaming Lips movie called Christmas on Mars...underlined in blood!!

What does this mean? Sasquatch!, what are you trying to tell us?!

Hmm, perhaps this is some kind of clue: "May 24, 25, and 26".

Peter Moren Adds Dates, Collaborates With Froberg

Do we detect a whiff of Americophilia in Peter Morén? First, he announces his solo debut, The Last Tycoon, will be released on Chicago label Quarterstick onto North American shores April 8, nearly a month before Wichita takes it to the UK May 5. Then he goes and lays out plans for a North American tour well before taking care of his native Scandinavia or, you know, the rest of Europe. And it's only recently that he's laid any dates on us even remotely close to his side of the pond, and nary a one of those comes before dude makes his way to the North Americas yet again for South by Southwest. Hey, man, we like you too!

But now, Morén has finally added a European trek to his itinerary. It will fill up a bit of space in April before he heads back to our shores. Tycoon track "Real to Reel" will be issued as a single in the UK on Wichita sometime in April, designed to coincide with the tour. Hey, don't we get a single? I thought we were friends!

Joining Morén in his touring band and opening for him on all of his tour dates (except the stint at SXSW) will be Tobias Fröberg, who co-produced The Last Tycoon. Morén returned the favor by producing UPDATE: Whoops, he didn't produce it Fröberg's forthcoming album Turn Heads Now, which is due out April 8 on Cheap Lullaby Records in North America and April 9 in Scandinavia on Playground Scandinavia. Morén also sings on the song "Just Behind a Brick Wall", which can be heard on Fröberg's MySpace.

And as if all that wasn't enough, Peter Bjorn and John posted on their website that they have begun recording their new album. Whew. [MORE...]

Beauty Pill's Clark Undergoes Successful Heart Surgery

Friends, family, and fans of DC producer, music-maker, and Dischord associate Chad Clark (of Beauty Pill and Smart Went Crazy fame) have much to be thankful for, following Clark's emergence from a successful open-heart surgery procedure on Friday, February 22.

Clark contracted a mysterious virus last year that resulted in an inflamed heart, known to medical professionals as cardiomyopathy. He kept publicly quiet about his condition until revealing all in a MySpace blog post on Friday, a mere four hours before we was to undergo surgery.

Explained Clark: "What is the problem, exactly? Well, my heart is getting a little bit larger each day because my valves are not connecting. And because my heart is getting larger, it is causing the valves to not connect. Read those two sentences again. Yup. A vicious cycle. After a while, if your heart keeps getting larger, game over."

Clark described feeling "confident and optimistic" going into the surgery, and also addressed the matter's provenance and consequences in thoughtful detail. (His words are well worth your time; read them all here.)

As his musical undertakings are concerned, Clark intends to release one if not two new albums with Beauty Pill this fall, while his Silver Sonya recording studio has largely fallen into the capable hands of bandmate and Medications member Devin Ocampo.

As Beauty Pill's Jean Cook wrote later Friday in a note declaring the surgery a success, "Please know that we appreciate your thoughts. It's been a bit of a surreal time. Thanks for bearing with us, and for the good wishes...We'll update as we learn more."

OMG! It's a Virtual Devendra Dress-Up Doll!

Here at Pitchfork World Headquarters, between grinding out news stories and sacrificing small animals on our altar to Radiohead, we tend to fantasize about two things: lunchtime, and what it would be like to dress and undress Devendra Banhart. The internet has yet to do a damn thing for our stomachs, but oh me oh my, it's now doing wonders for our latter fantasy.

A lovely little feature on the Devendra website called "Dress Me" has been making our dreams come true for a minute now. With just a few clicks and drags, we can deck out Mr. Banhart any which way we please. And what will our wee Devendra wear today, hmm? Perhaps some dashing plaid pants? A tie-dyed sock or two? This creepy-ass clown mask? Or maybe our Devendra, stripped to his undies, should just frolic with this other Devendra here, the one with the little bow attached to the back of his tighty whities? People, the possibilities are endless.

Many thanks to reader Wiley Laufman for the tip.

Clipse Working With Joss Stone

Photos via Re-Up Gang blog

Her last name may be a fine punchline for rhymes about selling rock, but, man, I dunno about this one. According to the Re-Up Gang blog (via Blender's blog), Virginia rhymers Clipse and British blues borrower Joss Stone are working together.

Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider blog reports that Clipse will appear on Ms. Stone's next album, while Stone will grace Clipse and crew's Re-Up Gang LP, tentatively due in June on Columbia. Apparently, Clipse and Stone already have a song together in the can called "Just Walk on By", which was recorded for, um, Randy Jackson's Music Club, Volume 1. However, the final version of the song cuts out the Clipse and leaves only the Joss. (For some reason, Three 6 Mafia are listed as being in the track, though. Oh Randy Jackson, why must you confuse us so?)

In other Clipse news, they'll rock the Primavera Sound festival in May, their Play Cloths fashion line is in the works, and the Re-Up Gang recently issued that We Got It For Cheap, Vol. 3 mixtape fire. Nary a Stone required!

Photos: The National / My Brightest Diamond [Brooklyn, NY; 02/22/08]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

The second annual Brooklyn Next festival continued Friday night with the first of two performances by the NYC borough's ascendent sons the National at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Matt Berninger and his boys brought along horns, strings, woodwinds, and one extra special guest: Sufjan Stevens, who had graced the BAM stage less than four months prior for his "BQE" bonanza. Sufjan's magic hands worked the piano during Boxer knockout "Ada", much as they do on the album. And although a recent back injury left National guitarist Bryce Dessner seated throughout Friday evening's festivities, the performance nonetheless earned rapturous ovations.

My Brightest Diamond opened, and she and her string quartet and backing band easily won the evening's award for sartorial splendor.

The National have several scattered shows before their spring fling with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse, plus quite a few recently added festival spots beyond that. Check those and My Brightest Diamond's SXSW schedule below.

THE NATIONAL






MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND





[MORE...]

Sigur Ros, National, N.E.R.D., Okkervil Play Oya Fest
Also: Iron & Wine, Diplo, Yeasayer, Girl Talk , Kid Sister & A-Trak, Jose Gonzalez

My Bloody Valentine may be the Øya Festival's biggest snag, but the Norwegian extravaganza's 2008 lineup is full of several varieties of goodness. Among the other artists performing are N.E.R.D., the National, Girl Talk, No Age, Sigur Rós, Iron & Wine, José González, Kid Sister and A-Trak, Yeasayer, Okkervil River, Diplo, Lightspeed Champion, Isis, Lykke Li, Health, Silje Nes, Ida Maria, and Holy Fuck.

Of course, the festival doesn't take place in Oslo's Medieval Park until August 5-9, so more lineup announcements are sure to come.

For a sort of preview-in-hindsight of the Øya festivities, check out Pitchfork's own Stephen Deusner's reports from last year's festival.

Iron & Wine Add U.S., UK Tour Dates

Like the hair that flows from the head and chin of main man Sam Beam, Iron & Wine's tour just keeps on growing. The band's U.S. tour with Califone in April has gotten a little longer, and now it will be followed by a trek to the UK in May. The latter set of dates surrounds Iron & Wine's stint at the Explosions in the Sky-curated ATP festival. Then it's back to the States for Bonnaroo.

For a taste of the Iron & Wine live experience, pick up the next issue of Yeti magazine when it comes out March 7. As previously reported, it comes with a CD featuring a live version of "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" from last year's The Shepherd's Dog LP. [MORE...]

Rhino Reissues Otis Redding's Otis Blue

Rhino will reissue Otis Redding's 1966 album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul in a remastered, expanded edition on April 22.

Redding's third album, Otis Blue is legendary for giving us "Respect", later made popular by Aretha Franklin's totally rippin' version. The album contains only three original songs, with the rest devoted to covers of the likes of Sam Cooke, the Temptations, Solomon Burke, and the Rolling Stones. It was recorded in a whirlwind 24-hour session by Redding and the Stax house band, which included Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & the MG's, among others.

Rhino's reissue is a double disc set containing the mono version of the album on the first disc and the stereo version on the second. Bonus tracks include B-sides, live tracks, and previously unreleased alternate mixes. [MORE...]

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.)