Jesus and Mary Chain Add Tour Dates

Video: Sister Vanilla (The Jesus and Mary Chain plus sister): Can't Stop the Rock [from the Little Pop Rock LP]

Ornette Coleman Wins Pulitzer Prize
John Coltrane receives Special Citation

The winners of the Pulitzer Prize were announced yesterday, and among the ranks of journalists, authors, and critics are two jazz giants.

Free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman won the Music Pulitzer for his most recent full-length, last year's Sound Grammar, and John Coltrane (maybe you've heard of him?) was awarded a Pulitzer Special Citation "for his masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship, and iconic centrality to the history of jazz," according to the Pulitzer website. Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury was the other Special Citation recipient.

We're still waiting for Coleman's foray into investigative reporting. Then it's really on.

Coleman also has a couple handfuls of mostly TBA dates this summer, but his appearances at Bonnaroo, London's Royal Festival Hall, and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam are all confirmed. [MORE...]

Stream: Ornette Coleman: Turnaround [from the Sound Grammar LP]

+/-'s Deaner Explains Kelly Clarkson Drumming Gig
"My first show with them was the Daytona 500. A nice intimate little show to get my feet wet."

Pitchfork: How did you hook up with Kelly Clarkson?

Chris Deaner: Her current guitarist, and co-producer on [Clarkson's forthcoming] My December album, Jimmy Messer, is an old friend of mine. We were roomates in college actually. Kelly's band needed a drummer, one that was used to playing with and triggring samples live, so he gave me a call.

Pitchfork: How long have you been in her band?

CD: Not very long. My first show with them was the Daytona 500 [on February 18, 2007]. A nice intimate little show to get my feet wet.

Pitchfork: Did you play on the new record?

CD: I did not. It was already finished when they called me.

Pitchfork: Are you going to tour with Kelly?

CD: That's the plan, I'll be touring and playing all TV performances.

Pitchfork: Are you playing Live Earth?!

CD: I hope so! What an amazing opportunity. It's a dream come true to be able to be playing music on something as historic as Live Earth. It gives me chills just thinking about it...

Pitchfork: Is your being in Kelly Clarkson's band going to affect your role in +/- at all?

CD: Unfortunately, yes. I am going to try to play all the shows I possibly can with +/-, but there is no guarantee that I'll be able to do all of them. In the event that I might miss any +/- shows (the European tour is an example), my friend Karl Lundin is going to fill in for me. He's a super great drummer and the other half of a two drumset band we have called Loudest Boom Bah Yea. (shameless plug)

Pitchfork: Is Kelly Clarkson as awesome in person as she seems to be on record/video?

CD: Yup. Maybe a little awesomer? She's exactly as you would think she is: grounded, funny, and very very very talented. Every time we rehearse with her I'm struck by how amazing her voice is.

Pitchfork: You mention that you're shooting a video right now. What's the deal with that?

This time I won't be behind the camera at all, but instead in front of it. We are filming the video for Kelly's single, "Never Again". Should be exciting! I plan on geeking out quite a bit while on set.

In addition to keeping time for Kelly, Deaner has also been helping his ex-roomie Messer record some demos in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, +/- themselves recently remixed a track off the Rosebuds' latest, Night of the Furies. They have a DVD, collecting 12 videos and some bonus goodies and titled Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut DVD, out soon via original home Teenbeat.

Finally, the +/- European tour Deaner mentions-- in further support of 2006's Absolutely Kosher LP Let's Build a Fire-- kicks off (plus or minus Deaner) May 15 in Cologne; the band also hopes to swing through the U.S. East Coast in September with Japan's Moools. [MORE...]

MP3: +/-: Steal the Blueprints [from the Let's Build a Fire LP]
Stream: Kelly Clarkson: Never Again [single; from the forthcoming My December LP]

Exclusive: Shout Out Louds Sign to Merge

Sweden's Shout Out Louds have made the label switch from Capitol to Merge for the North American release of their follow-up to 2004's Howl Howl Gaff Gaff.

The new album is titled Our Ill Wills and was produced by fellow brother of the blue and yellow Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John.

Our Ill Wills' first single, "Tonight I Have to Leave It", is out now in Sweden, and the album comes out there April 25 via Bud Fox Recordings. Bud Fox will release the record in Denmark on May 21 (in collaboration with At:tack Music) and in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on May 25 (in collaboration with Haldern Pop Recordings). North American residents have to wait until September 11 for the Merge release.

A full North American Shout Out Louds tour won't happen until then either, but limited U.S. dates are in the works for July. The band will, however, take Europe (and Scandinavia in particular) by storm this spring and summer starting with their April 19 and 20 appearances at London's Camden Crawl. [MORE...]

Video: Shout Out Louds: Tonight I Have to Leave It [from the forthcoming Our Ill Wills LP]

Lily Allen Definitely Cancels North American Tour

Turns out, Lily Allen did indeed cancel much of her North American tour over the weekend. Though she looks assured as ever in our pictures from the KCRW Sounds Eclectic Evening on Saturday, Lil complains of rattled nerves and a far-too-friendly relationship with the bottle in her just-posted MySpace blog explaining the tour hiccup:

"Hey Guys ,
I'm writing to tell you that I have cancelled many of my May and June tour commitments in America . The reason for this , is because my mummy and daddy are very rich , and I have never been in a position where i have actually had to do any hard work before . I thought that being a popstar meant going out getting trashed with famous people and sleeping in all day . The fact that this is not true has come as a huge disappointment to me , and as a result I am throwing the towel in .

No but seriously , I have been on tour with this album for a year now , I have fulfilled every commitment up to this point . I am tired , but more than that I don't think I have been giving my best performances recently . I have been getting really drunk because i've been so nervous about doing bad shows , and I don't want people spending money on a going to see a show that isnt the best it could be . I am not falling apart at the seems , I am not suffering with exhaustion , I am not pregnant , and I am not going to rehab . I will be here in America , promoting the album and also starting to write the second album , which I am beyond excited about . The LA and New York shows will still be happening , and I am still playing Coachella and Bonaroo and all the other festivals .

I'd like to apologise to anyone who has bought tickets , but you can get your money back , if you take 'em back to the place you bought them from ."

Get better soon, Lily! Glad to see your sense of humor hasn't suffered a bit. [MORE...]

Video: Lily Allen: Littlest Things [from the Alright, Still LP]

Handsome Furs to Open for Arcade Fire

The Arcade Fire have love for their homeland, and the Canadian quotient at their two previously reported Toronto shows just doubled with the addition of Handsome Furs as openers. Handsome Furs join the elite company of fellow AF openers the National, Electrelane and St. Vincent.

Thanks to reader Graham Thompson for the heads up!

The Montreal duo, which consists of Alexei Perry and Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner, have a few of their own previously reported dates as well. The shows with the Arcade Fire will start the tour.

Handsome Furs' debut, Plague Park, comes out May 22 via Sub Pop. [MORE...]

Video: Handsome Furs: Dumb Animals [from the forthcoming Plague Park LP]

School of Seven Bells (ex-Secret Machines, On!Air!Library!) Release Debut 7"

Named for the infamous, clandestine, possibly nonexistent South American pickpocket academy, deserter's supergroup School of Seven Bells released their debut single "My Cabal" today on the British label Sonic Cathedral.

Formed by ex-Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis and former On! Air! Library! twin-set Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, School of Seven Bells also boasts James Elliott (who you may or may not know as Ateleia) and sometime Rhys Chatham drummer Joe Stickney.

The "My Cabal" 7" comes backed with a remix of its A-side by ex-Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie, and is available on fancy yellow vinyl at the Sonic Cathedral label site and, electronically, through the Rough Trade Digital store.

Stream: School of Seven Bells: Various Tracks

!!! Expand Spring/Summer Tour

!!! have turned what was once the middle of their previously reported Myth Takes tour into the beginning of a world-crossing adventure, with the addition of an ungodly number of North American club shows and festival dates in every city from Chicago to Nijmegen to Warsaw.

Hmm, Warsaw in the summertime... it seems like such an oxymoron.

The next stop on the band's tour is tonight in Copenhagen. [MORE...]

Stream: !!!: Must Be the Moon (Hot Chip Remix) [from the forthcoming Must Be the Moon 12

Photos: KCRW's A Sounds Eclectic Evening [Universal City, CA; 04/14/07]

+/-'s Chris Deaner Joins Kelly Clarkson's Band!
Here's the thing: they started out friends

UPDATE: CHECK OUT OUR INTERVIEW WITH DEANER HERE!

This just in: Chris Deaner of indie-popsters +/- has a new gig hittin' the skins with Kelly Clarkson.

No, not like that! He's drumming for her in concert, but not on her upcoming My December LP. As if Kelly Clarkson could get any cooler after working with Mike Watt!

According to Absolutely Kosher, Deaner's label, Kelly loves the video for +/- cut "Steal the Blueprints", which Deaner directed. However, her involvement in From Justin to Kelly renders all her opinions re: audio-visual media automatically suspect.

Deaner has expressed no plans to leave +/-, who have got a week-and-a-half's worth of European dates lined up in May. Leaving plenty of time for Deaner to rest up before Kelly plays Live Earth on July 7. [MORE...]

MP3: +/-: Steal the Blueprints [from the Let's Build a Fire LP]
Stream: Kelly Clarkson: Never Again [from the upcoming My December LP]

Wiley Talks New Album, Dizzee, Future
"I've got loads of different formulas, so many that I could do Nelly Furtado's album. I could do anyone's album in the world. I know it now."

Retiring at the age of 28 is a strange move. But even though British MC/producer Wiley is just two years shy of 30, he has already pioneered a genre, founded a scene, weathered the violence of that scene, and watched its members rise, fall, and fail to break through. So his weariness is understandable.

But Wiley's retirement seems to be more along the lines of Jay-Z's. Though he plans to make his new album, Playtime Is Over, his last solo album, he will still produce, record, and run his own Eskibeat Recordings as part of his mission to bring grime to the world.

But first things first: Playtime Is Over comes out June 4 via Big Dada, and Wiley will precede it with the release of the "50/50 / Bow E3" single on May 7.

Pitchfork had the opportunity to speak with Wiley recently about the new album, getting older, and his relationship with Dizzee Rascal and the grime scene in general.

Pitchfork: What's the story behind the title Playtime Is Over?

Wiley: Playtime Is Over is basically saying I feel I'm getting older and can't be a kid forever. I'm sorting out my pension maybe. These next six or seven years will be the time when I have to set myself up for the future, innit? So that's why I just thought, "28 years old, fun time's over." Now I've got to start making sure I've got houses and property and stuff, so that when music's over, I'm not struggling to turn up money.

Pitchfork: Was there a moment when you first realized all of this?

Wiley: Yeah, when I had my first child. And then it took about a year to sink in after that. [laughs]

Pitchfork: What sort of other things are you thinking about getting into?

Wiley: Still music, but I've got guys who are a little younger, like 15, 16, and they're very clever. They're more with-the-times than we were when we were their age. So I'm going to make sure that they get through, and I'm just going to spread the word of grime around the world. I understand that I've done my thing. I've done my years. I just need to spread the vibe now and get it around everywhere else in the world.

Pitchfork: Do you think that grime has a chance to make it big in places where it hasn't yet?

Wiley: Yeah. It's just going to take 20 years is all. It's going to take 10, 15 to 20 years, and I've done the first six or seven.

Pitchfork: What's it like to have awareness of yourself as a founder of grime and of the fact that it's still such a new scene?

Wiley: I realized that even though Grandmaster Flash and those guys, Afrika Bambaataa, they all started it [hip hop], they're not here today. It shows that you can't last forever. It's like being a baseball player: You were the homerun hitter. Then you don't play no more, but you watch baseball. You're always going to have that drive to play inside you. And that's why some days you've got to just know it's better to step back and look at the future. [MORE...]

Stream: Wiley: Various Tracks

Young Jack White on Hentchmen Anniversary Comp

Stream: The Hentchmen: Various Tracks

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