Thursday, October 1

Hold Steady's Nicolay Writes a Book

Back in 2006, I interviewed Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn, and he dropped a few hints about a novel that he was working on. Nearly three years later, there's no evidence that Finn has penned anything other than awesomely dense Hold Steady lyrics. But now we can report that Finn won't even be the first member of the band to publish a book.

Complicated Gardening Techniques, a collection of short stories from the band's impressively mustachioed keyboardist Franz Nicolay, is due in January from Julius Singer Press. I wonder of Nicolay is busting Finn's balls about that on the tour bus. According to Nicolay, the book concerns "real things that happened to me and people I know, fake things that might have happened to people you know; loosely fictionalized and highly stylized with handy tips and pithy epigrams." You can read an excerpt from it on Nicolay's site.

The book isn't the only enterprise Nicolay's got going outside of the Hold Steady.

Nicolay also will release a 10" single called "St. Sebastian of the Short Stage", due on Team Science. The 10" includes a cover of Jonathan Richman's "New England" that features the Dresden Dolls, as well as a song about the Watchmen character Hollis Wadsworth Mason Jr., the original Nite Owl, which Nicolay wrote for a book club, as well as two more new songs. (In related news, I really want to join Franz Nicolay's book club.) Team Science is also selling a Franz Nicolay corkscrew and button set, though they should really throw in a tin of mustache wax as well.

Beyond his Hold Steady duties and solo career, Nicolay is also a member of the New York gypsy punk band Guignol, who are planning a full-length collab with Philly peers Mischief Brew. Fight Dirty, the 16-song album in question, will feature Django Reinhardt and Iron Maiden covers.

And as if all this wasn't enough, Nicolay will spend his entire fall using practically every Hold Steady off-day to play solo shows in Europe, including a number of dates opening up for Mark Eitzel. That schedule is below.

Franz Nicolay:

10-01 London, England - The Garage *
10-02 Bedford, England - The Civic *
10-04 Exeter, England - Phoenix ^
10-05 London, England - Windmill Brixton
10-06 Winchester, England - Tower Arts ^
10-07 London, England - St. Giles Church ^
10-08 Brighton, England - The Basement ^
10-09 Bilbao, Spain - Kafe Antzokia ^
10-10 Zaragoza, Spain - FIZ Festival
10-11 Huesca, Spain - Matadero ^
10-12 Barcelona, Spain - Heliogabal ^
10-14 Madrid, Spain - Joy Eslava Festival
10-24 Brugge, Belgium - Music in Mind Festival
10-25 Paris, France - Sentier des Halles ^
10-27 Norderstedt, Germany - Music Star ^
10-28 Berlin, Germany - Cafe Zapata ^
10-30 Aarhus, Denmark - Music Cafeen ^
10-31 Copenhagen, Denmark - Music Cafeen ^
11-01 Utrecht, Netherlands - Echo ^
11-03 Bristol, England - St. Bonaventures ^
11-04 Birmingham, England - Glee Club ^
11-05 Manchester, England - St. Margaret's Church ^
11-07 Edinburgh, Scotland - Cabaret Voltaire ^
11-08 Newcastle, England - Cluny 2 ^
11-09 Leeds, England - Brudnell Social Club ^
11-11 Brooklyn, NY - Public Assembly (reading and performance)
11-14 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw

* with Chuck Prophet
^ with Mark Eitzel

Posted by Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 1:20 p.m.

Tags: Album, Book, Franz Nicolay, Guignol, Single, The Hold Steady, Tour

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Elbow Reissue Asleep in the Back

British festival act Elbow are the latest band to use The End of the CD as We Know It as an excuse to reissue one of their albums. The group's much-praised, prog-Coldplay 2001 LP, Asleep in the Back, is due for the re-release treatment October 26 in the UK via Universal. The three-disc package includes a CD of rarities and live takes along with a new documentary DVD chronicling the album's original campaign.

Full tracklist below:

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Experience Of Montreal and MGMT on Kids TV Show "Yo Gabba Gabba!"

On the face of it, indie rock and children's television make for strange bedfellows. But as that Apples in Stereo "Powerpuff Girls" video, Feist on "Sesame Street", and "Pancake Mountain" have proved, this kind of thing can turn out great as long as everything is as bright and flashy and catchy as possible.

Last week, we told you that the psychedelic Nickelodeon monster-fest "Yo Gabba Gabba!" was preparing to release an album crammed with indie heavy hitters. And now we've got an mp3 from that album: of Montreal's tooth-cleaning instructional "Brush Brush Brush".

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Hear Two New Grouper Songs

Portland musician Liz Harris, better known as Grouper, doesn't make songs; she makes waves. On last year's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, Harris's unique, hazy, reverbed-out dream-dirges washed over you and quietly crept under your skin.

As Gorilla Vs. Bear points out, Harris recently posted two new songs to the Grouper MySpace page, and they're even murkier and more skeletal than anything on Dead Deer. Both "Hold the Way" and "Vessel" do a whole lot with barely discernable voices and a murmuring electric piano. Check them out here.

Posted by Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 11:25 a.m.

Tags: Audio, Grouper

Premiere Video: Black Lips: "Let It Grow"

Black Lips don't get into any brawls in their video for "Let It Grow", but that could be because the band members aren't actually in it. Instead, the clip for the the bleary-eyed 200 Million Thousand thumper stars a hefty dude and his blindfolded, hyperactive cat. Playing like an animated version of a faded thrift-shop postcard, the video follows the pair on a road-trip of America's backwater tourist attractions, ending at a parade where everyone dresses like aliens. Directed by Matt Dilmore. Check it out below or at Pitchfork.tv:

Posted by Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 11:05 a.m.

Tags: Black Lips, Premiere, video

Bonnie "Prince" Billy Live LP, Single Due

Will Oldham + metaphysical bluegrass band = who knows Bonnie "Prince" Billy Live LP, Single Due

Bonnie "Prince" Billy records are usually about as weird and insular as albums from big indie names get. But an album like this year's Beware is way, way more accessible than the joints that Will Oldham puts out there under different names-- including Funtime Comedown, the vinyl- and digital-only live-in-studio album he's got planned for later this year.

Funtime Comedown, due from Drag City, is credited to Bonny Billy and the Picket Line. You know this is one of those extra-weird Oldham records because he's using the alternate spelling of Bonnie. The Kentucky bluegrass band the Picket Line, who back Oldham up here, are "the official dance band of Funtown, a metaphysical little community in the woods outside Louisville," according to the Drag City newsletter. Which begs the question: How has Will Oldham not already recorded an album with the official dance band of a metaphysical community outside Louisville? The album will include takes on songs from Oldham's Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Palace periods, as well as covers of classic country songs.

And that's not the only Oldham-related release on Drag City's fourth quarter schedule. On October 20, the label will release "Stay" b/w "People Living", a 7" single containing non-album tracks from Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Both songs are covers of Susanna & the Magical Orchestra's Susanna Wallumrød. You can pre-order the single and listen to song snippets here.

Posted by Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 11 a.m.

Tags: Album, Billy, Bonnie, Bonny Billy and the Picket Line, Prince, Single, Will Oldham

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Listen: Animal Collective Remix Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset"

Remix LP also features Passion Pit, YACHT, Devendra Banhart Listen: Animal Collective Remix Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset"

Without a doubt, Phoenix are the most remixed band of the year-- perhaps because every song from their LP Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is nearly impossible to fuck up no matter what you do to it.

While most of the redos have been unofficial, the group are now readying a legit remix album featuring some heavy hitters: Passion Pit, Devendra Banhart (listen here), YACHT, Chairlift, and Friendly Fires are among the artists twisting up Wolfgang tracks in their own way.

Oh yeah: Animal Collective put their mark on the spaced-out instrumental centerpiece "Love Like a Sunset"-- with original AC vocals and everything-- and you can listen to it after the jump.

Animal Collective's Josh "Deakin" Dibb had this to say about the track: "Phoenix has been a staple for all four of us since Dave [Portner, aka Avey Tare] and Noah [Lennox, aka Panda Bear] brought home United from the record store they used to work at. One of the records that would get us through some of those long cross country tour drives, we've listened to Phoenix's jams many many times. We were all totally psyched to get asked to do this and it was super fun to work on it. All the best to those dudes."

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Remix Collection) is due in digital form in the U.S. via Glassnote/Loyauté on October 13. UK followers will be able to buy the remix record as part of a Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 2CD set out October 19.

In other Phoenix news, their publicist confirms a Playlist report that the band will contribute music to the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's upcoming film Somewhere, an L.A. story starring Benicio Del Toro, Stephen Dorff, and Elle Fanning due out next year. (While some reports have suggested that only Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars would be contributing music to Somewhere, it is in fact the whole band.) Coppola has a child with Mars, so it would almost be bigger news if they weren't on the soundtrack, but still, good news.

Full remix album tracklist and the Animal Collective remix of "Love Is a Sunset" below:

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The Love Language Sign With Merge

On their self-titled 2009 debut album, the fresh-faced Chapel Hill crew the Love Language played ramshackle alt-country with the hoarse, fired-up fervor of young kids anxious to change the world. They're at least as much Arcade Fire as they are Lambchop, so it only seems appropriate that they're headed to Merge Records, the same label that the Arcade Fire and Lambchop both call home. The band is currently at work on their sophomore album, which they plan to release next year.

In a press release, frontman Stuart McLamb said: "As of yesterday, I've overdrawn my bank account by $200, my girlfriend dumped me, and my car won't start. I think this Merge deal could be a real turning point." Let's hope so!

Posted by Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 9 a.m.

Tags: Merge, Signing, The Love Language

**St. Vincent Talks Twilight Soundtrack**

"I have a sister who's nine who called me screaming, and I have a sister who's 39, and she called me screaming." St. Vincent Talks <i>Twilight</i> Soundtrack

As fans of teenage vampire romance already well know, the forthcoming Twilight: New Moon is the second movie in the ridiculously popular Twilight trilogy. When the Twilight folks announced the tracklist for the soundtrack album, we did triple-takes. Thom Yorke! Death Cab! Grizzly Bear with Beach House's Victoria Legrand! Bon Iver with St. Vincent! This is almost certainly the most Pitchfork-friendly teenage vampire romance soundtrack album of all time!

So we called up St. Vincent mastermind Annie Clark to ask what it's like to be all caught up in the horny blood-sucking zeitgeist. Oddly enough, when we last chatted with Clark, back in March, she admitted to having had a dream starring Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson, despite having never seen the first Twilight movie. Well, she's seen that movie now.

Pitchfork: You're on the New Moon soundtrack with Bon Iver, doing a song called "Rosyln". How did that happen?

Annie Clark: Justin [Vernon] and I met at Bonnaroo, and it turns out we were both fans of each other. Afterward, we got to talking about doing some kind of collaboration. He had this song that he'd been kicking around, and he sent it to me. It was beautiful, as you can imagine. I ended up working on it with him, and then it turned out that the Twilight people were interested in the song being on their soundtrack.

Pitchfork: Do you sing on the song?

AC: I sing. I sing a lot on the song, and so does he.

Pitchfork: How do you feel knowing that this is going to be in this gigantic teenage vampire movie?

AC: Well, to be entirely honest, I hadn't thought about the impact of that. My main thought was that I really wanted to do something with Justin because he's so great. Then, once it was announced, I started getting floods of calls and emails from family and extended family, who were thrilled. Apparently, every woman in my family, unlike me, has read the entire series, so they're really just beside themselves about it. I have a sister who's nine who called me screaming, and I have a sister who's 39, and she called me screaming. Only then did I realize the impact of it.

Pitchfork: What's the song about?

AC: Honestly, all songwriting questions are more Justin's domain.

Pitchfork: So he didn't tell you what it was about or anything?

AC: No.

Pitchfork: Nobody I know has heard this song. Can you describe how it sounds?

AC: Sure. Justin wrote the song and sent it to me, and we had first talked about various things we could do to the arrangement. But after we toyed around with some things, we went with less-is-more and kept it stripped-down and simple and elegant. So I'm singing along with him, and the two of our voices combined create this kind of strange, androgynous-- it kind of like, coalesces into one voice, and you're going like, "Oh, what is that? Who is that?"

Pitchfork: Do you have any idea what kind of scene it'll soundtrack?

AC: I have no idea. My sister tells me that the second book is very moody and that things are awry, that Edward has gone away and that Bella is in a coma. Or no, not in a coma. Sorry. She's very distraught by his absence. So melancholy, I guess was the tone of the second movie. This song would fit in with that.

Pitchfork: You're on this soundtrack album with people like Thom Yorke and Grizzly Bear. It's pretty incredible how indie this soundtrack is. You have to like the idea of all these nine-year-old kids picking it up and having their universes expanded a little bit.

AC: Yeah, I think that that's a nice way to look at it. It's certainly the way that I was looking at it, which is, I mean, it's awesome to be included on anything that has Thom Yorke on it and Grizzly Bear, and that's good company for sure. And also, I remember, the thing is-- we were basically all suburban tweenagers at a point. I know for damn sure I was. I think if I had this soundtrack, if my 13-year-old self could've been exposed to Grizzly Bear, I probably would've been a little further along and probably better off.

Pitchfork: We had the soundtrack to The Crow.

AC: Yeah, The Crow soundtrack was a big one. For me, it was Romeo + Juliet. And also The Craft. Remember that movie The Craft?

Pitchfork: Oh yeah, totally, with all those bands covering those 80s songs. That was a good soundtrack.

AC: That was a sweet soundtrack! Or Empire Records. Or even Pulp Fiction! I had the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.

Pitchfork: So you could be on the Empire Records soundtrack of this generation of kids.

AC: Fingers crossed, my friend.

Posted by Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 8 a.m.

Tags: Film, Interview, st. vincent

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Wednesday, September 30

James Murphy Drops LCD Soundsystem Album Hints

Via Facebook! James Murphy Drops LCD Soundsystem Album Hints

Photo by Drew Katchen

James Murphy has discovered Facebook. Or, more accurately, the man behind LCD Soundsystem has figured out that his band already had a Facebook page, and he's now using it to drop all manner of intriguing news about the forthcoming LCD album.

(Or at least we think it's him. It hasn't been confirmed that the person doing the updating is, in fact, James Murphy. But it sure seems like him.)

UPDATE: It's confirmed!

If you're one of those people who can't help but tell the world about your car troubles or pizza topping preferences, take note: this is how you use the status update.

Yesterday afternoon, Murphy wrote, "i think new album in march. so there."

Murphy claims that the band will tour next year: "as many places as we can. places we've been to a bunch (hello, dearest glasgow!) and hopefully places we've never been (mexico? serbia? china?) with what i think will be the best version of the band yet."

Murphy also dropped some details about a new single, encouraging everyone to buy the wax version: "should be a certain number of free downloads of the new single when it's ready. i must say, though, that we're trying to make the vinyl include a free download, so i recommend that. mainly because we worked really hard on the art and the mastering, and we're proud of it."

He then went on to name a few of the people involved in the album's production: "the art is photos by ruvan Wijesooriya and graphics by dfa superdesigner mike vadino of bureau. the mastering for the vinyl (and digi) is by my engineer hero, original mentor, and best vinyl cutter ever, bob weston of shellac at chicago mastering. i'm honestly really excited."

Late last night, Murphy finally reiterated the most important pieces of info he'd already mentioned: "record: march. tour: after." Hopefully Murphy will use the Facebook page to tell us even more about this new album before he inevitably gets distracted with all the "Which 'Lost' Character Are You" quizzes that Facebook has to offer.

Posted by Tom Breihan on September 30, 2009 at 3:50 p.m.

Tags: Album, Awesome, Bob Weston, James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem, Single

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