Sea & Cake, Jandek, Tim Hecker Play Montreal Fest
Plus: Besnard Lakes, Akron/Family, Sunburned Hand, Charalambides, Fucking Champs, Ex

Some festivals think they can cram an experience into a couple days, but the folks at Montreal's Suoni Per Il Popolo know better. The festival, highlighting all manner of experimental and outsider music (and a few relatively straight-and-narrow acts as well), engulfs an entire month, kicking off June 1 and refusing to let up until June 27.

Dozens of bands will bring the strange to many of the French Canadian capital's finest venues. Highlights include the Sea and Cake, Jandek, Tim Hecker, Besnard Lakes, Akron/Family, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Charalambides, the Fucking Champs, Nadja, Les Georges Leningrad, the Ex, Marc Ribot, and Simply Saucer. Way-out parents looking to freak out their four-year-olds should take particular note of June 16, which fest organizers have deemed "Popolo in the Park" family day.

Full festival passes are on sale now, and tickets to individual shows will also be available. For a full performance schedule, make haste towards the festival website.

Exclusive: Imperial Teen Reveal New Album Details

The madames and gents of Imperial Teen haven't exactly reflected their band's name in some years, but after a half-decade absence from the recording booth, they're definitely into class reunion territory. Indeed, the moniker-belying title of their upcoming fourth album (and first in five years) demonstrates such adult-like domesticity. The Hair, the TV, the Baby and the Band will step out August 21 thanks to Merge Records.

In the five year interim between 2002's On and now, the band's been busy thinking of good names for their don't-call-it-a-comeback record, and indeed, they had no further to look than the concerns of the day-to-day. Jone Stebbins, with her hairstyling business, is the Hair; Roddy Bottum's work in the televised arts is the TV; Lynn Truell's had an active womb-life (hence the Baby); and Will Schwartz's side-act Hey Willpower is, natch, the Band.

Though there's nothing firmed up at the moment, Imperial Teen plans to usher out the late summer on tour. [MORE...]

Junior Boys' Goodbye Goes Deluxe
Includes bonus disc packed with remixes, iTunes session

So that wasn't goodbye, after all. Electro-pop heartthrobs Junior Boys, determined to linger a little while longer after the parting words, the valedictory hug, the awkward pause, the second valedictory hug, the half wave, the second awkward pause, etc., hope to milk their Goodbye well into 2007. Hence, So This Is Goodbye (Special Edition), a two-disc deluxe version of the Boys' 2006 masterstroke.

Special Edition arrives June 5 in the U.S. and June 11 overseas via Domino. It features, on disc one, the unadulterated whole of Pitchfork's 11th favorite album of last year. On disc two: a hearty sampling of Goodbye remixes from the likes of Hot Chip, Morgan Geist, Kode 9, and Carl Craig (several of which crop up on the recent Dead Horse EP), as well as Junior Boys' fabled January iTunes live session.

For your complete Junior Boys fix today, do check out the new video for "In the Morning", burning up pixels right now over in Forkcast.

The duo's massive spring trek wraps up this week, with a couple scattered North American dates and an EU jaunt thereafter. [MORE...]

Lupe Fiasco Spills Sophomore Album Details

Photo by Anoulay Tsai

Good luck keeping a mouth as prolific as Lupe Fiasco's down. Backstage at this weekend's Coachella, the West Side Chicago wordsmith blabbed to Billboard.com a few early details of The Cool, his follow-up to last year's boom-bap buffet Food & Liquor. If the title sounds familiar, that could be because it's shared by a track on Food & Liquor. Eh, cool with us.

Lupe's looking at a Halloween release for the record, and is nothing if not modest in his ambitions: he's still looking to pull Pink Floyd to back his shrewd syntax on a track. And, hey, if that doesn't work, he could use Super Furry Animals and no one'd know.

Lupe also told Billboard.com of a 'top secret' collaboration with "another superstar rapper and someone who is a rapper/producer." Gee, think he means K. West and Jigga? Whatever; I'm riding for Jazze Pha and Reh Dogg.

Young Fiasco's got a couple tour dates planned for the summer, and here they are. [MORE...]

Big Boi to Perform With Atlanta Ballet
Big Boi becomes ballerino?

Those who pegged Andre 3000 as the artsy-fartsy member of Outkast may have to reconsider the matter. According to a report from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Big Boi will collaborate with the Atlanta Ballet for a performance scheduled to debut April 10-13 of next year.

The Atlanta Ballet's website describes the event as "an adventuresome, exhilarating evening featuring the world-renowned musical artistry of Big Boi of Outkast as well as artists of Purple Ribbon Entertainment. Daring, progressive, and soulful, these very talented artists perform a stunning collaborative piece, LIVE on stage with Atlanta Ballet's exquisite dancers."

Beyond that, few details have emerged on the performance, but the MC is meeting today (May 1) with members of his Purple Ribbon Entertainment collective and choreographer Lauri Stallings to discuss it. We can only hope the result is something like a reversal of the costumes in this picture.

Zombies to Reunite for Odessey Anniversary Shows

Odessey and Oracle, the blood-coursing, stake-pierced heart of the Zombies' undead catalog, shall walk the earth when four of the original five Zombies-- Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White, and Hugh Grundy-- reform to play the entire album through, twice.

Fifth original Zombie and guitarist Paul Atkinson, barring any actual undead activity, will not be present; he passed away in 2004. Keith Airey will round out the fivesome for these special shows, which celebrate Odessey's 40th anniversary.

But that's fuzzy math, you say. Odessey came out in 1968. And indeed, according to Blunstone's website, you'll have the time of the season March 7 and 8 of next year (2008-1968 = 40) at London's Shepherds Bush Empire. Tickets for the bonanza went on sale today.

The concert will be split into two parts; the second, of course, being a run through the gem-packed dynamo, and the first being a cavalcade of classics from other Zombies records, material from Blunstone's solo career, and hits by Rod Argent and Chris White's post-Zombies project, Argent. By hits, we of course mean "Hold Your Head Up".

Photos: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists [Chicago, IL; 04/28/07]

Capturing Ted Leo in still frame is akin to videotaping an apple; it works, but one feels the wrong device is being employed. Standing agog through 80 minutes of Leo's whirling dervish act, one wonders just exactly how he replaces the protein in his vegan diet: despite getting a serious shine on (figuratively and otherwise) circa tune two, Ted never faltered this past weekend at Chicago's Metro.

Sweaty Teddy and his pill-counters spread their set nearly evenly between back catalog highlights and Living With the Living, pausing only briefly for a solo take on Joe Strummer's "Johnny Appleseed". The added oomph of the live setting wears well on "The Sons of Cain" and "Army Bound" (and leaves no room to pick up that confounded whistle in "A Bottle of Bucky"), but "La Costa Brava" and "The Unwanted Things" quickly show their haunches, pleasing though they were to the youthful crowd.

Even the lesser material manages to captivate on the shoulders of Leo's boundless cheerleading, and one can never hear "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" or "Me and Mia" too often. After nearly an hour and a half of rudeness-- including an encore-capping all-star jam with the Jai-Alai Savant's Ralph Darden and openers Love of Diagrams-- the set's 10 p.m. endtime couldn't have come soon enough. It's tiring, watching somebody pogo about like that. Tiring, but satisfying.

Ted Leo wraps up his North American tour this month, barely catches his breath, and then does it all over again in Europe.






[MORE...]

Postal Service, Flaming Lips, Spektor Cover Lennon

Instant karma's gonna getcha; provided, that is, you plop down some dough on Instant Karma, a 21-track CD of John Lennon covers performed by some of your favorite artists (and, uh, Jack Johnson) with proceeds headed straight to Amnesty International's campaign to save Darfur.

Pitchfork faves the Flaming Lips, R.E.M., Big & Rich, the Postal Service, and Regina Spektor have donated tracks to the disc, while the likes of Willie Nelson, Duran Duran, and Ozzy Osbourne will offer up tracks for digital download. Also, Avril does "Imagine"; for some, a punchline, for others, manna from heaven.

Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur arrives June 12 via Warner Bros. And yes, some of these covers have been in the ether for a while, but hey, good cause! [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: April 30 - May 6, 2007

Pitchfork's T.V. Picks for This Week:

Monday, April 30:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Dinosaur Jr.
NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Kaiser Chiefs
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Arctic Monkeys
ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Silversun Pickups (repeat)
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Silversun Pickups (repeat)

Tuesday, May 1:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Modest Mouse
NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Patti Smith
ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Kaiser Chiefs

Wednesday, May 2:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Fountains of Wayne
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Teddybears

Thursday, May 3:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Tori Amos
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Patton Oswalt (non-performing guest)
ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Macy Gray

Friday, May 4:

NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Ne-Yo
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Snoop Dogg (non-performing guest), Tom Waits
IFC: "The Henry Rollins Show": Iggy Pop (guest), the Stooges

Elvis Costello Best-Ofs, Digital Reissues Due
Don't you think that I know that lavish repackaging won't make you a miracle man?

Though his middle-aged musical-leg-stretching has lead him down oft-softer paths, genre- dipping word-tinkerer Elvis Costello once punk rocked with the best of 'em.

Costello, in conjunction with Universal Music Entertainment, hand-picked 22 of the more propulsive numbers from his back catalog and called it Rock and Roll Music; which-- alongside the similarly self-selected Costello crash-course The First 10 Years: The Best of Elvis Costello-- will file in with the seemingly unending pantheon of Costello reissues tomorrow, May 1.

May 1 will also see the digital debut of Costello's first 11 albums. They'll pop up on the iTunes music store May Day and migrate to other outlets 30 days later.

Costello and his current band of Imposters are not coincidentally out on the road for a few dates throughout May. [MORE...]

Ian Curtis Biopic Control to Premiere at Cannes
If you only see one depressing-ass musician biopic this season, make it this one

Since we last hipped you to Control, director Anton Corbijn's retelling of the life, loves, and death of Joy Division sadsack Ian Curtis, we've learned much about the flick. We found out that Sam Riley, likely best known for playing Mark E. Smith in 24 Hour Party People, will adopt the guise of an even bitterer coot in Control's lead role, while Samantha Morton (the goo-covered, crime fighting mandroid from Minority Report) will play Curtis' embattled wife.

We learned that Alexandra Maria Lara, who plays Curtis' mistress Annik Honoré, is smokin'. We learned that the dudes in New Order (birthed, as you're well aware, from the ashes of Joy Division) are less than jazzed about how the film in being handled. And we learned that there'll be a Control launch party at Cannes complete with a moment of silence to mark the 27th anniversary of Curtis' death.

According to a Variety report, the bash will surround the premiere of Control at Cannes on May 17, while members of New Order, Depeche Mode, and U2 (some guy called Bono) are expected to be in attendance.

What we haven't learned, however, is why anyone would wanna see this potentially brain-screwdriveringly bleak flick when they could just as easily nab some Orville Redenbacher, find a couchward groove, and pop in the Shelley Duvall/Christopher Lloyd/Terry "Hulk" Hogan jewel Suburban Commando. To each their own, I reckon.

Courtney Love to Auction Kurt Cobain's Belongings

Courtney Love is an easy target, though maybe unfairly. Because even though she hasn't seemed to do much justice to the memory of Kurt Cobain since his death, her life hasn't exactly been a cakewalk. Losing a spouse and raising a child alone are rough, to say the least, and Cobain worshipers aren't the most forgiving of fans.

So we'll grant her a pass for this latest Kurt-related move. In an interview with AOL music blog Spinner, Love said she plans "to have a Christie's auction" for most of the Cobain memorabilia that she possesses and "make a lot of money and give a bunch of it to charity." See, there are worse things.

Though the decision seems sudden and a little arbitrary coming 13 years after Cobain's death, Love is apparently just sick of having so many of Cobain's belongings remind her of the past. "[My house] is like a mausoleum," she said. "My daughter doesn't need to inherit a giant hefty bag full of flannel fucking shirts... A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to '[Smells Like] Teen Spirit'-- that's what my daughter gets. And the rest of it we'll just fucking sell."

The details of the auction are still forthcoming.

Love is planning the release of her second solo album, Nobody's Daughter, which draws inspiration from her highly publicized relationships with Cobain, Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, and actor Edward Norton, according to Spinner. "I still wear his pajamas to bed," she said of Cobain. "How am I ever going to go form another relationship in my lifetime wearing Kurt's pajamas?"

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