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Thursday, June 11

Merge Records Immortalized With Book, Dance Performance

Merge Records Immortalized With Book, Dance Performance

Superchunk's Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance founded Merge Records in a rented home office in 1989. 20 years later, Merge is one of the biggest and best indies in America. The label is home to Arcade Fire and Spoon and Conor Oberst, and it has certifiable classics like Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs in its catalog. That's a story worth celebrating, and it's a story that's going to be celebrated.

You already know about the Merge XX 20th anniversary festival and the SCORE! subscription series. But before the year is out, we'll also see a book and a dance performance paying tribute to the label.

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Echo Chamber: Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Echo Chamber: Cedric Bixler-Zavala

"We've been making amends with a lot of the members and having some really good talks with them. And we’ve been trying to get our financial business in order because a lot of people have been ripping off that band really badly…as far as the business side goes. I wouldn't mind it. You know, it might happen. We just have to iron out a lot of personal things. A lot of it we've dealt with already and I've apologized for a lot of things I've said and the way it ended...we'll see what happens."

-- The Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Zavala, teasing us all with the possibility of an At the Drive-In reunion (Drowned in Sound via Rolling Stone)

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 11, 2009 at 3:05 p.m.

Tags: At the Drive-In, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Echo Chamber, The Mars Volta

 

Conor Oberst/Jim James/M. Ward Album Finally Coming Out?

Monsters of Folk album apparently coming in September. Conor Oberst/Jim James/M. Ward Album Finally Coming Out?

Conor Oberst and Jim James photos by Autumn de Wilde, M. Ward photo by Annie Musselman

They've toured together, played together, and covered each others' songs-- and now the tri-headed acoustic beast known as Monsters of Folk-- aka Conor Oberst, My Morning Jacket's Jim James, and M. Ward-- are finally putting out their long-in-the-works album, it seems.

According to this mysterious, official-looking website and Relix, the self-titled album will be out September 22. The record was produced by Bright Eyes conspirator Mike Mogis and features "original material by all three songwriters," says Relix. Details are scarce at the moment, but rumors of another Monsters of Folk fall tour are already circling. More info as we get it; emails to representatives haven't been returned yet.

Thanks to reader Ethan Farr for the tip.

Posted by Ryan Dombal on June 11, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.

Tags: Album, Bright Eyes, Collaboration, Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward, Monsters of Folk

 

Sally Shapiro Announces Second Album

The disco enigma returns with My Guilty Pleasure. Sally Shapiro Announces Second Album

After charming blog boys (and girls?) with her icy-hot brand of dance-pop on 2006's Disco Romance, nonplussed Swedish disco princess Sally Shapiro is readying her official follow-up, My Guilty Pleasure, for release August 25 via Paper Bag.

Produced by Shapiro's right hand man Johan Agebjörn, Guilty Pleasure also includes contributions from Cloetta Paris and Tensnake. The single "Miracle hits North American stores June 16, backed by a remix by Bogdan Irkük. The song is currently streaming on this very website.

In a press release, the notoriously shy chanteuse said the new album will "hopefully make you fall in love with the person sitting next to you on the bus." Creepy, Reader's Digest-reading old guy in the back, this is your lucky day.

Tracklist is below:

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New Release: Brendan Benson: My Old, Familiar Friend

New Release: Brendan Benson: <i>My Old, Familiar Friend</i>

Artist: Brendan Benson
Album: My Old, Familiar Friend
Release Date: August 18
Label: ATO

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Video: Step Inside Former Shins Drummer Jesse Sandoval's Food Cart

We're getting hungry Video: Step Inside Former Shins Drummer Jesse Sandoval's Food Cart

Last month, we reported that former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval was about to open up a Mexican food cart in Portland called Nuevo Mexico. Well, Nuevo Mexico is now open for business, and the food looks great!

VendrTV is a new web video series in which host Daniel Delaney travels around the country sampling street-vendor food. (Wow, that guy has an incredible job!) In the newest installment, Delaney samples Sandoval's food and interviews him about the cart. Sandoval talks about how his father used to work in the food cart business and how he's always loved cooking. He does not say anything about leaving the Shins.

There's also a weird moment where ex-Shins keyboardist Martin Crandall, unidentified, shows up and talks about how long he's known Sandoval and how much he likes the food. Video below.

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British Thieves Rip Off Itunes, Amazon by Buying Their Own Music

British Thieves Rip Off Itunes, Amazon by Buying Their Own Music

Well, it's one way to make money in a dying music industry.

The Daily Mail reports that an unnamed British "DJ gang" used stolen credit cards to buy their own music from iTunes and Amazon, netting themselves about £200,000 in royalties in the process. British police have arrested nine people in conjunction with the crime.

Maybe someone should look into this whole Flo Rida phenomenon...

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 11, 2009 at 12:35 p.m.

Tags: iTunes

 

News in Brief: The Apples In Stereo, MoMA, PBS, stellastarr*

News in Brief: The Apples In Stereo, MoMA, PBS, stellastarr*

-- Blindworm Guitars has created a special one-of-a-kind guitar for Apples in Stereo axe-slinger Robert Schneider. The instrument in question looks and sounds like Schneider's Danelectro DC-3, but it's made of wood and elephant bone, and it includes an inlaid Elephant 6 logo made out of meteorite dust. Elephant bone! Meteorite dust! It looks pretty awesome.

-- The New York punk scene of the 70s and 80s may be one of the most celebrated musical moments of all time, and now it's getting its own Music of Modern Art exhibit. "Looking at Music: Side 2", an exhibit devoted specifically to the intersection of music and art that the era produced, will run at MoMA June 10 - November 30. It includes artwork from the likes of Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, Raymond Pettibon, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. An accompanying film series will kick off in September.

-- "Austin City Limits" and "Soundstage", two PBS shows that routinely feature live music that doesn't necessarily involve banjos or Irish step-dancing, have just announced which performers they'll feature on their coming seasons. The next season of "Soundstage" starts on June 18, and Death Cab for Cutie, Billy Idol, and Fall Out Boy will all stop by. "Austin City Limits", meanwhile, will start its season on October 3. Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Beastie Boys, and Pearl Jam will make appearances.

-- After all these years, New York new wavers stellastarr* still have that ridiculous asterisk in their name. On July 7, the band will release Civilized, their third album, on Bloated Wife Records, their own questionably named imprint.

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 11, 2009 at 11:55 a.m.

Tags: Album, Art, Austin City Limits, PBS, Soundstage, stellastarr*, The Apples in Stereo

 

Trent Reznor Logs Off

"I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because it's now doing more harm than good." Trent Reznor Logs Off

Well, it was fun while it lasted. According to a lengthy post on the NIN message board yesterday, Trent Reznor is "tuning out of the social networking sites because it's now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule."

It's a shame because Reznor's online persona is one of the most engaging in rock; his interest and participation in the web helped changed his image from a nihilistic angst machine to something more well-rounded and interesting over the last few years.

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The Slits to Return With Trapped Animal

The Slits to Return With <i>Trapped Animal</i>

Thirty years ago, the Slits set the game on fire with Cut, the album that finally turned the British punk scene's reggae fixation into a fully realized apocalyptic roar. Their torn-apart version of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" remains the gold standard in violently recontextualized punk covers. After Cut, the band released one more album, 1981's Return of the Giant Slits, and then disintegrated.

In 2006, frontwoman Ari Up reunited with original member Tessa Pollitt and started playing shows as the Slits again. But up until now, the only recorded evidence of the reunion has been a three-song EP called Revenge of the Giant Slits. On October 6, the Slits will make their full-length return when Narnack releases Trapped Animal, their first album since reuniting. The tracklist is below.

This incarnation of the Slits, it should be pointed out, is multi-generational. The band's new lineup features Up, Pollitt, Anna Schlute, Adele Wilson, and Hollie Cook, the daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook. Aww!

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