Photos: Modest Mouse [Seattle, WA; 04/15/07]

Photos by Michael Alan Goldberg

Mouse on fire: Modest Mouse kicked off their crazy-anticipated North American tour in support of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank with a gig last night at Seattle's Paramount. It was the Pacific Northwest titans' first since docking Ship atop the Billboard 200 album charts-- and to the best of our knowledge, as far as celebratory gestures went, Isaac Brock stuck to the bottle and left the knife at home.

Catch Modest Mouse gnawing their way to a city near you this spring.








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Tim Kasher Talks Good Life, Screenplay, Move to L.A.
"It's exploratory, it's exciting, it's a way [so that at] 80 years old or something I can look back and say, 'And then there was that time when I moved to L.A.'"

Tim Kasher has moved to L.A.

Take a minute to let that sink in. Tim Kasher, a godfather to the storied Omaha "scene", bread to America's breadbasket, helmer of two of Saddle Creek's most vital and long-standing bands (one of which he named after Nebraska's original state slogan, for crissakes)-- dude's packed up and skipped town. He warned us in song that he'd leave Omaha, and now he's gone and done it.

Still, from the sound of it, this is a move the Cursive/Good Life frontman has been mulling over for a long time. And we should be excited for the guy.

"It's just something I've always wanted to do," Kasher told Pitchfork recently. "It's exploratory, it's exciting, it's a way [so that at] 80 years old or something I can look back and say, 'And then there was that time when I moved to L.A.'"

While he insists this isn't the reason for the move ("I don't like the vibe of moving to go make it somewhere or something like that,") Kasher-- like many who go the way of L.A.-- has a screenplay in hand. A screenplay adapted from a Kasher-penned play, really, and it's called Help Wanted Nights.

Like a sign one might see outside a diner or something? "Yeah, exactly," said Tim, adding, "it should have commas, but you don't put commas on marquees and stuff, so I thought I'd leave it that way."

According to Kasher, Help Wanted Nights involves "roughly a week in a bar in a small town where a stranger's car breaks down...so, he fraternizes with the regulars, getting too wrapped up in their sordid lives. Something like that."

If that sounds familiar, Kasher's with you. "I didn't hide my appreciation for Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee too much. It also doesn't fall far from the Good Life tree."

Indeed, Help Wanted Nights the play/screenplay in turn helped inspire Help Wanted Nights the album, Kasher's fourth with the Good Life, tentatively due for release via Saddle Creek on September 11, 2007. "There was definitely talk about what's appropriate or inappropriate," Tim explained when asked about the release date. "I think [the label] just saw it as the most logical release date for when we were done with recording it."

Help Wanted Nights features the same Good Life line-up heard on 2004's Album of the Year: Kasher, Stefanie Drootin, Ryan Fox, and Roger Lewis.

And while this won't exactly be his Album of the Decade, "everything's very idealistic," mused Kasher. "It's like if I could ever get that performance to be put on or to be shot, then this would be some kind of soundtrack for that. It was kind of the impetus for writing this record." [MORE...]

Tortoise's McEntire, Herndon, Bitney Team Up for Bumps

Tortoise side projects are born, retired, and revived at a pace that completely belies the band's name, so it doesn't come as a huge surprise that three of members of the band-- John McEntire, John Herndon, and Dan Bitney-- are releasing an album of instrumental percussion under the name Bumps.

The surprise is that they're releasing the album, simply titled Bumps, on Stones Throw, that bastion of excellent underground soul and hip hop.

That's not to say it's not a nice surprise. In fact, the possibility of Bumps becoming the go-to sample source for a new generation of hip hop heads is mighty intriguing. The three-piece suit could become the new gold chain.

Stones Throw will release Bumps on June 19.

Don't forget, Tortoise will launch their North American summer tour in Columbus, Ohio on June 14. [MORE...]

Deerhunter, Menomena, Klaxons, Fujiya Added to Pitchfork Music Festival!
Also: Oxford Collapse, Beach House, Craig Taborn's Junk Magic, Dan Deacon

The Pitchfork Music Festival lineup just keeps growing, and today, we're thrilled to announce the latest additions to the roster of our first-ever three-day festival, taking place July 13-15 at Union Park in Chicago.

Atlanta psych-rock powerhouses Deerhunter, Portland-based experimental pop trio Menomena, dance-rock juggernaut Klaxons, sleek Brits Fujiya & Miyagi, Sub Poppers Oxford Collapse, neo-slowcore duo Beach House, fantastically insane one-man-band Dan Deacon, and boundary-breaking jazz ensemble Craig Taborn's Junk Magic.

Of course, they all join previously announced Pitchfork Music Festival performers Cat Power, New Pornographers, Clipse, Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, Iron and Wine, Of Montreal, Girl Talk, Jamie Lidell, Grizzly Bear, Battles, the Ponys, Professor Murder, Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound, and, of course, Sonic Youth performing their landmark 1988 album Daydream Nation (in collaboration with All Tomorrow's Parties' Don't Look Back).

Best of all, that's just a taste of the many artists who'll be performing at this year's fest, for which we still have yet to announce two more artists who, like Sonic Youth, will be performing their classic albums in full as part of Friday's ATP/Don't Look Back festival kickoff.

Here's the lineup so far:

Friday, July 13:

Sonic Youth performs Daydream Nation

Saturday, July 14:

Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
Clipse
Iron and Wine
Girl Talk
Grizzly Bear
Battles
Fujiya & Miyagi
Oxford Collapse
Dan Deacon
Beach House
Professor Murder
Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound

Sunday, July 15:

New Pornographers
Stephen Malkmus
De La Soul
Of Montreal
Jamie Lidell
Menomena
Klaxons
The Ponys
Deerhunter
Craig Taborn's Junk Magic

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketweb. Three-day passes cost $50, Friday night costs $15, Saturday and Sunday individual passes cost $25, and a Saturday/Sunday pass costs $35.

Keep up on all the latest festival news and details by bookmarking the Pitchfork Music Festival webpage and by tuning into the Pitchfork Music Festival podcast.

Lily Allen Cancels American Tour?

Well, this was unexpected! After adding and adding and adding shows to her neverending journey in support of her debut album Alright Still, Lily Allen has apparently canceled her entire May-June American tour.

According to several clubs at which Lily was scheduled to play, the reason for the quashed tour is "scheduling conflicts," and it will be rescheduled in the fall. So far, 11 dates, stretching from Kansas to Florida, have been removed. However, representatives from Lily's camp would not confirm that the entire tour would not be taking place.

No word yet on whether Lily's still playing Coachella or Bonnaroo or this weekend's KCRW Sounds Eclectic Evening. [MORE...]

Les Savy Fav Want You to Sing Their Jams

Is a Les Savy Fav show really a Les Savy Fav show unless someone accepts Skittles straight from Tim Harrington’s mouth? Methinks not. Mildly uncomfortable audience participation is as much as mainstay of the LSF experience as spiny riffage, barking vocals, or sweat descending into your nether regions.

But on any given night, there's only so many mouths one can feed regurgitated candy to, and those Les Savy freaks are widening their reach with a new approach to fan-fellowship. They'd like it very much if you'd visit their website, learn a few lines from a few new choice cuts ("Nine Teen Ninety Nine", "The World", and "Resent the Rent") and then call 718-228-8954 and sing them into their voicemail.

A chance to go all Idol with Les Savy Fav? Sweet slimy bon-bons!

In other Fav news, looks like the grumblings about scheduling another UK date around their May 19 date at the All Tomorrow's Parties Versus You (The Fans) festival will amount to little more than that, as, according to their website, the idea of booking a gig "sounds like work" and they, therefore, are "gonna just keep it easy."

Too lazy to slate a show and getting ringers for vocal duties? How sinfully slothful!

Joakim About to Get Silly on North American Tour

When French remixer/DJ/Tigersushi head chef/club sensation Joakim crashes North American shores later this month, he won't be alone. Indeed, this propagator of all things danceable will bolster the agreeable blend of house, techno, electro, and disco found on this year's Monsters & Silly Songs (!K7) with four separate live bands branded with similar but distinct names.

We know this much: Joakim's Ectoplasmics include Maxime Delpierre on guitar, Juan DeGuillebon on bass, and Mark Kerr on drums. As to who or what comprises the Euroschmucks, the Ectosluts, or the Europlasmics, folks in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago will just have to wait and find out. And don't even get us started on the Ectoschmucks (who turn up in Barcelona) and, of course, the Eurosluts (bound for Dublin). Do these refer to actual variations of Joakim's band? Or are they merely products of the Frenchman's whimsy? Either way, like Bill Murray, they're pretty funny.

In related news, Joakim lends his production muse to Chateau Rouge, the debut LP by buddy/collaborator My Sister Klaus-- aka Guillaume Teyssier, aka the lyricist behind Poni Hoax's kick-ass "Budapest". Look for that one May 15 on Tigersushi, and later, another Joakim-produced Poni Hoax LP. [MORE...]

Part Chimp Tour Europe, Spill Cup on U.S.

Part Chimp's odds'n'sods comp Cup busts through your headphones and pounds directly on your eardrums, shooting to kill your auditory nerves. The blaring Brits collect ten shattering singles, some mauling miscellaneia, and, improbably perhaps, a Beatles cover.

North Americans will get to hear Cup May 22 April 24 thanks to Monitor Records, but they may not be able to hear anything afterwards, ever. Cup comes complete with a pair of videos for "War Machine" and conveniently-titled new single "New Cross" which noise-punk fans on the go can load on their video iPods for portable punishment.

Part Chimp are currently going ape around Europe. [MORE...]

QOTSA's Homme Talks New LP, Motivations, Pirates
"Making fun of stuff is a hobby, because I don't have any other hobbies."

Queens of the Stone Age songwriter and frontman Josh Homme is friendly, funny, smart, and talkative. In other words, he's an ideal interview. I knew from the moment I picked up the phone and he said, "Dave, this is your conscience calling" that our conversation would be fun, but I had no idea it would touch on pirates, gravy, raves, jumbo shrimp, and cowbell addiction.

Homme's band has a new album-- Era Vulgaris (Latin for "Common Era")-- coming out June 12 on Interscope, and we talked about that too. It's a long interview, but where else are you going to see the phrase "arcing ropes of jism"? (Nevermind, don't answer that.)

Pitchfork: How much Latin do you know?

Josh Homme: I know that, and then the one that everybody knows, in vino veritas. "In wine is truth," right? And then it stops cold there. But I'm going to try to learn how to say "intercourse" in Latin. I just got to look it up.

Pitchfork: What's the story behind the title?

JH: It sounds like "the Vulgar Era", which I like, because that sounds like something that I would like to be part of.

Pitchfork: So you don't think we're in the vulgar era, just that it's something to shoot for?

JH: I mean, I think we're in it, and I'm stoked.

Pitchfork: Why do you think we're in it?

JH: Because I think our generation is, they don't want to be dock workers or coal miners. They want to delay adolescence and prolong adolescence, prolong thought about what to do, and try to take advantage of life while it's around, take more artistic jobs, like working at Pitchfork, playing rock music. And I totally understand that. And I also think it's an age of disinformation, where it's not like it's being kept from you, it's more like it's being piled on top of you. And so I think every time you go to make a personal decision, it's like more information comes to light. I think it's not really bad, it's more gluttony rad. It's sort of like indecision. And I think while we're all deciding, everyone samples a little bit of everything. And I'd like to play that party. [MORE...]

Electrelane Get in on Arcade Fire Tour Action
UPDATE: St. Vincent too!

Electrelane and the Arcade Fire were supposed to tour together in Europe earlier this year. Unfortunately, Win Butler got "sicker than a brick" and the dates were canceled.

But now all is right with the world, as Electrelane have been chosen to open seven dates on Arcade Fire's forthcoming North American onslaught (plus Sasquatch!, at which both bands appear). These seven dates follow the seven dates featuring opening act the National, as announced earlier today. Lucky number, indeed.

Thanks a bunch to reader Dallan Guzinski for the heads up!

Having been Chosen, Electrelane must, with regrets, cancel on a few of their previously reported dates with the Blow and Tender Forever. Montreal, Detroit, Vancouver, and Portland are out, but as consolation, Electrelane will play several smaller shows amid the Arcade conflagration.

Electrelane's latest, No Shouts, No Calls, is an absolute gem. Pick it up beginning May 8 via Too Pure.

UPDATE: NEW BEGGARS SIGNING ST. VINCENT HAS ALSO BEEN ANNOUNCED AS AN ARCADE FIRE OPENER. ANNIE CLARK WILL HANDLE TWO MONTREAL SHOWS, ONE CHICAGO SHOW, AND VANCOUVER. [MORE...]

Voxtrot Add Dates to Summer Tour
Fox Trot Adds Panels, Still Not Very Funny

Never content to give the people too much at once, adorable Austineers Voxtrot-- who'll finally give up their eponymous LP debut in the wake of, like, a hundred great EPs-- have thrown a few tour dates on the back end of their previously announced summer stint. It ain't much, but as we've come to know and love about our Voxtrot, any stinginess in quantity is more than made up in the quality department.

In other Voxtrot news, those curious as to how the notoriously short-form Voxtrot came to the conclusion to go full-length can check out the Beggars Group's YouTube channel for a mini-documentary helmed by Voxtrot chum Elizabeth Skadden.

They'll also take part in Urban Outfitters' rack-rumbling FreeYrRadio series, and puddlejump over to the Great Escape Festival mere days before the May 22 release of their Beggars/Playlouder debut. [MORE...]

Beck's Information Limited Art Prints on the Way

As Beck aficionados and Pitchfork News freaks well know, Beck's latest opus, last year's The Information, came with snazzy do-it-yourself cover art.

More precisely, it came with a bunch of stickers and a blank grid, with the implication that you could design Beck's album cover any damn way you pleased, limited only by the illustrative imaginations of the 15+ artists at London-based Big Active who created the stickers. The hardest part, of course, was choosing which stickers to use and which to leave behind. Thankfully, for those who want it all, you'll soon get your chance.

Come May 1, LDN-based "online gallery" Product of God will begin selling limited edition prints of Big Active's Information artwork. We're talking a big ol' print that collects over 100 of the Information stickers, all conveniently arrayed on one visual plane.

Time truly is money with these prints, however, as they increase in price as more are snatched up-- and there are only 200 to begin with! Get your browsers revved up at 9 a.m. GMT (aka three in the morning in Chicago, four in New York) on May 1, as the prints go on sale with the initial price of £125 (aka $247.91, as of today). Did we mention all prints come signed by Beck himself?

With the release of this Beck print, Product of God springs to life. Check back there later this year for art from Big Active's Sanna Annukka (who did the lovely covers for Keane's Under the Iron Sea and its attendant singles), Kate Gibb (who's worked with Chemical Brothers and the Magic Numbers), and Dave Foldvari.

Oh, and those little Beck stickers won't stop there. From April 15-19, according to Beck's website, they star in an Information art exhibit at Tokyo's La Floret Museum.

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.)