Pitchfork Drafts Music for Major League Baseball 2K8
First round picks: LCD Soundsystem, Hold Steady, Battles, Blitzen Trapper, Dinosaur Jr., Jay Reatard, Cool Kids

MP3: The Hold Steady: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Yes, Radiohead Are Headlining That San Francisco Fest

The other headliners? Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Radiohead BFFs Jack Johnson.

Thanks to Michael Greenwald for the tip.

New Nine Inch Nails Album Available NOW

"Nine Inch Nails presents Ghosts I - IV, a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available right now. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.

"Trent Reznor explains, "I've been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn't have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I'm very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts." [MORE...]

Stream: Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I-IV

Arcade Fire to Rock Ohio for Obama

Win Butler can talk the talk, and now he and several of his Arcade Fire bandmates are prepared to walk the walk in support of Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

With several major primaries going down this coming Tuesday (March 4) that could decide the contest once and for all, Butler, Regine Chassagne, Jeremy Gara, and Sarah Neufeld will hit Ohio on Sunday and Monday to drum up support for Obama.

On Sunday March 2, they will play a show at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville. Then on Monday, March 3, they'll play at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. Start lining up now, because the shows are free and first come, first serve. Colin Stetson will open.

BUT WAIT! Aren't Arcade Fire Canadian? Why are they meddling with our political process?

NOT SO FAST. A press release clarifies: "Though the Arcade Fire is known as a Canadian band, Win and Will were born and raised in the U.S. (and spent their formative years in Texas), Regine is a dual citizen whose dad served in Vietnam, and Jeremy Gara is just a really nice Canadian who likes playing music and is sick of explaining to Americans what universal health care means."

GOBAMA!

Video: Arcade Fire: Black Mirror [from the Neon Bible LP]

Most Serene Republic, Miracle Fortress, Liam Finn Tour

Most Serene Republic photo by Ben Telford

Fans of complex, comely Canadian indie pop with a dash of New Zealand singer/songwriter, the tour of 2008 has arrived... almost. Think About Life's Graham Van Pelt and his Miracle Fortress project will join up with the Most Serene Republic and Liam Finn for a week of U.S. shows in late March.

All three acts have new and new-ish releases to promote: MSR's Population, which dropped in October on Arts & Crafts, Miracle Fortress' Five Roses got a Secret City release in May, and Finn's I'll Be Lightning, out last month on Yep Roc.

Everybody also has dates of their own surrounding their time together.

think about life playing sxsw [MORE...]

Video: The Most Serene Republic: The Men Who Live Upstairs [from the Population LP]
Stream: Miracle Fortress: Have You Seen in Your Dreams [from the Five Roses LP]
Stream: Liam Finn: Various Tracks

Kelley Polar Claims Sky Is Falling on New Album

Stream: Kelley Polar: Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City) [from the I Need You to Hold on While the Sky Is Falling LP]

Ellen Allien Preps Boogy Bytes Mix, New Album

Bpitch Control label head Ellen Allien will add herself to the company of Sascha Funke, Modeselektor, and Kiki as the curator of the newest volume of her label's Boogy Bytes mix series. Boogy Bytes Vol.04 will feature tracks from Funke, Ricardo Villalobos & Patrick Ense, and German sound-manipulator AGF, among others.

Bpitch will release the mix in Europe on March 31 and in the U.S. on April 15 March 31. The U.S. release will feature the Martin Buttrich remix of Friendly People's "Music Is Improper", as opposed to the Damien Schwartz remix on the European version.

UPDATE: The Damien Schwartz remix is on the U.S. version as well.

Ellen Allien also teamed up with AGF to produce SOOL, Allien's new album, which comes out via Bpitch at the end of May. She has a ton of tour dates around the world to keep her busy until then. [MORE...]

Stream: Ellen Allien: Various Tracks

Photos: Wilco [Washington, DC; 02/27/08]

Black Dice Line Up European Tour

Photo by Akmal Naim

Clickety clack, Europe! Clear a little corner, warm up your tossin' arm and get ready for a rousing round of Black Dice. The New York noisemakers have big plans to bring a Load of their electroid madness over much of the continent, as the band embark on a tour sure to beguile and bewilder in equal measure. It kicks off tomorrow night in Düsseldorf, Germany.

In other Black Dice news, they've got a track on the Living Bridge compilation, and No Age singer/drummer Dean Spunt's PPM label recently issued Eric Copeland's 2007 solo joint Hermaphrodite on vinyl. [MORE...]

Video: Black Dice: Kokomo/Roll Up/Drool [live on BBC's Collective]

Original Killing Joke Lineup Reunites for Album, Tour

Video: Killing Joke: Eighties (aka the song Nirvana ripped off for Come As You Are) [from the Night Time LP]

Annuals Release Split EP With Themselves

Photo by Autumn de Wilde

On Wet Zoo, the first release we've heard from this North Carolinian lot for quite some time, Annuals will be splitting the EP with... Annuals?! How in the heck does that work?

Easier than you'd think. The Wet Zoo EP features a trio of all-new contributions from Annuals and a pair from a band called Sunfold. Thing is, Sunfold is Annuals, with one fairly major difference: instead of Annuals main man Adam Baker taking the reigns, the Sunfold recordings are spearheaded by Annuals lead guitarist Kenny Florence. Apart from that distinction, it's the very same band, with a very different name, with what we're told is a "very different, more guitar-heavy" sound, on the very same split EP.

Got that? It took three of us all afternoon to write that paragraph.

Wet Zoo, with its five frolicsome tunes of frontman-switcheroo, is due April 1 on Ace Fu and Sony imprint Canvasback Music. The band, meanwhile, are due in Raleigh tonight for a gig, to be followed a month later by another North Carolina gig, and followed a month after that by Coachella. An Annuals full-length is in the works for 2008, and more dates are on the way from both bands. Though, for their sake, hopefully not at the same time. [MORE...]

MP3: Annuals: Where Have You Been (Manchester Orchestra cover)
Stream: Sunfold: Oregon

Jose Gonzalez Launches Tour, Issues New Single

Photo by Akmal Naim

I'm told that neon is one of the most environmentally sound ways to advertise intoxicating agents and places that sell them. Perhaps this is something noted environmentalist José Gonzaléz knows well? Set to kick off his Reverb-assisted "Green Tour" of North America, José just affixed exclusive B-side "Neon Lights" to a new digital single for "Killing for Love" from last year's In Our Nature LP. If it was called, I dunno, "There Is an Iridescent Light That I Never Turn Out", we might have cried foul, but you can't argue with science. (Unless, of course, you're employed by our current Presidential administration.)

But I digress. Tonight in Miami, José will bring those fiery lyrics and a passion for conservation to the first of many stages he'll take as part of this "Green Tour". Once that wraps at the end of March, he'll head to the UK for a smattering of shows before heading into festival season.

And, in a nice little tidbit that wraps up all the strands of this story, José's set at London's recent iTunes Live semi-festival-- sans environmentally-compromising packaging-- oughta be available for download via you-know-where fairly soon (in the UK only, mind). [MORE...]

Video: Jose Gonzalez: Killing for Love [from the In Our Nature LP]

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.)