Mogwai Announce Summer Festival Dates

Like the head-butting subject of one of the films they recently soundtracked, it's been a little while since we've heard from Mogwai. But the Glaswegian post-rockers are quietly (and then loudly and then quietly again) writing new songs for the follow-up to last year's Mr. Beast.

The band will take those songs on the road this summer on their European festival tour, which includes stops in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and the UK. It's a laid back schedule that runs from May to September, with plenty of downtime in between for going to Nine Inch Nails shows and writing online missives telling Keith Richards to die now. Okay, maybe it's not so laid back.

Mogwai's fest bender begins May 11 in Zurich. [MORE...]

Jesus and Mary Chain Add New York Dates

Let the reverberations ring out 'round Gotham way; the legendary the Jesus and Mary Chain will supplement their previously drooled-over reunion with a pair of New York City dates. The late-May shows come in the middle of a giant hole in the JAMC schedule...could more dates be on the way?

Everyone talks about Psychocandy, but by the way, have you heard Darklands lately? Darklands rules, too.

Don't forget; JAMC might just squeeze an album out of all this reformation stuff, and their spin-off Sister Vanilla are going as strong as their brother band. We'll keep you posted. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Feist to Tour U.S. With Grizzly Bear

Indeed, 'tis truly a pairing made by and for winsome weirdos: Brooklynite booger-drowners Grizzly Bear will open a slew of American dates for Canuck chanteuse Feist, immediately following the lady's previously reported Canadian dates.

In case you need a Reminder reminder (groan), Leslie will release her bewitching new album May 1 in the U.S. via CherryTree/Interscope and in Canada from Arts & Crafts. In case you're too lazy to scroll down one story, Feist will also appear on the Hottest State soundtrack.

In other Grizzly Bear news, they'll host MTV2's "Subterranean" this weekend, but won't play three shows at liberal arts colleges across the eastern seaboard due to a death in the family. They will so totally be playing the Pitchfork Music Festival, however, and they've contributed a new tune called "Black Current Jam" to a forthcoming David Shrigley comp on Tomlab.

In other Feist news, Feist is my girlfriend, and we are in love.

A disclaimer: some of today's Feist/Grizzly Bear news story may be made up.

EDIT: via MySpace, Grizzly Bear have reported that they've cancelled the Solana Beach, CA date they shared with Feist, pushed up their San Fran gig, and will be opening for old girl in Chicago. Score! [MORE...]

Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Feist on Hottest Soundtrack
Plus: M. Ward, Black Keys, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris

Write what you know, the saying goes. Looks like Ethan Hawke took that nugget verbatim when penning his 1997 novel The Hottest State, which details a struggling actor's relationship with a testy singer-songwriter. This summer, Hawke's literary endeavor comes full circle (or, depending on whom you ask, back where it belonged in the first place) as The Hottest State hits the silver screen under the actor's direction-- with an appropriately hot soundtrack to match.

NYC songwriter and Norah Jones/Bright Eyes collaborator Jesse Harris wrote all the tunes to accompany Hawke's cinematic vision, and a fine little corral of performers helps bring them to life. Bright Eyes and Jones turn up, as do Cat Power, Feist, M. Ward, the Black Keys, Willie Nelson, and Emmylou Harris. Of no apparent relation to Emmylou, Jesse Harris himself-- who appears in the film, and whose seventh album, Feel, arrives July 10 via Velour-- even plays a few of his own to round out the star-studded soundtrack. A release date has not yet been determined.

Thanks to THINKFilm, The Hottest State heats up select theaters in New York City and L.A. beginning August 24. Thanks to Amazon.com and the principal of supply and demand, the novel upon which the film is based can be yours right now for $0.01. [MORE...]

Bright Eyes Launch That Massive Tour

The new, extra shaggy Conor Oberst will saddle up the Bright Eyes posse and ride across the North American continent on the band's previously reported tour starting Sunday in Milwaukee.

In addition to Gillian Welch, Oakley Hall, and McCarthy Trenching, My Morning Jacket's Jim James will join the crew for a one-off performance in Berkeley.

After they finish on these shores, the band will head to Europe and Japan for a handful of dates this summer.

And just in case you didn't catch it before, Conor is not in fact selling signed guitars at Costco, and Cassadaga debuted at #4 on the Billboard charts last week. Supercassafragilisticexpialidocious! [MORE...]

The Decemberists Announce Orchestral, European Dates

Contrary to the beliefs of physicists everywhere, there is at least one perpetual motion machine, and it's name is the Decemberists. Between recipe blogs (John Moen's "The Gallery Chef"), contests, Crane Wife videos and supplementary releases, and more tour dates than words in Colin Meloy's vocabulary, Portland's finest have never been busier.

And the Decemberists keep going. Their calendar just filled up again with the announcement of even more tour dates. After their "Twilight in the Fearful Forest" tour winds down in time for Bonnaroo, they will pick back up again in the U.S. with a handful of summer shows in a tour called "A Bit of Grass-Stain Does Not a Ruined Pair of Jeans Make". Then in the fall, they will head to Europe for a month of dates under the banner of the "A Great Smiting of Chavs" tour, finally revealing Meloy's cripplingly compulsive tendency to name everything.

The band's summer shows are a little different, however, as they will get the orchestral treatment in five cities. The first is at a previously reported show in Hollywood on July 7, but there are also stops in Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

At the Chicago show, the Decemberists will take the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park with the 82 members of the Grant Park Orchestra as part of the Grant Park Music Festival (Millennium Park is kind of a sub-set of Grant Park). The concert will be free, and it is sponsored in part by Chicago venue the Metro, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Sean O'Loughlin will arrange the Decemberists' songs for the orchestra, and he will also conduct the concert. In the past, he has worked with Belle and Sebastian, Nickel Creek, and the Blue Man Group. And oh what we wouldn't give to see the Decemberists in blue-face.

The Decemberists' "Twilight" tour continues tonight in Madison. [MORE...]

Bjork Hops on Music Video Contest Bandwagon

Aspiring music video directors of the world have never had it better. Fresh off chances to take their Decemberists, Modest Mouse, and Junior Boys fandom to the next level, all the little Michel Gondrys out there now have a shot at creating a chapter in the illustrious book of Björk music video history.

As announced this evening on Björk's official website, the Icelandic songstress is calling all earth intruders to create a video for Volta track "Innocence" (now streaming at Björk's MySpace).

"An idea is born," states the official contest page. "The idea is to make the video. The video to 'Innocence', a song of yet to be released Volta record. Who is to make the video? Another idea is born: It is to be you, my dear!"

And you, my dear, may go to that contest page right now to download the necessary tools: a .pdf of the lyrics, the Volta album cover, and several photos of that cover's cartoon bauble-suit-- which the winner gets to use!-- sans Björk. Along with the song, that's all you get for now (although "more assets" are promised). No green screen hand-holding with this one; let your imaginations soar freely.

The deadline, from what we gather from Björk's site, is "3 weeks prior" to "the beginning of August", so let's say, roughly, early July. Apparently Björk intends to assist in the "completion" of the winning video she selects, so perhaps it's to your advantage to leave a few loose narrative threads and ambiguities in your entries?

Volta, as you well know, hits May 8 (U.S.) and May 7 (UK) via One Little Indian/Atlantic. Björk's tour-- now bolstered with a couple dates with Joanna Newsom-- kicks off April 27 at Coachella, while Björk's inventive syntax will surely be the funniest part of this weekend's "Saturday Night Live". [MORE...]

Roskilde Adds Arcade Fire, LCD, Wilco, Jaxx, Clipse
Plus: Beasties, Arctic Monkeys, Peter Bjorn & John, QOTSA, Mastodon, Beirut, CSS, Bonde

Way back in February when we announced that Icelandic songbird Björk and inert sock-wearers Red Hot Chili Peppers would hold down Roskilde's headlining slots, that was but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Today's announcement of Roskilde's self-described "unequalled musical buffet" is, indeed, a smorgasboard, with the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, Wilco, and a whole bunch of your favorite bands (ours too) warmed up and ready for dishing out. Roskilde goes off July 5-8 in Roskilde, Denmark, and that's just about all you need to know. Well, that, and this:

Björk, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, Beastie Boys, Wilco, Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, Peter Bjorn and John, the National, the Thermals, the Who, the Killers, Basement Jaxx, Klaxons, Dizzee Rascal, Clipse, Mastodon, Beirut, Grizzly Bear, BORIS, CSS, Bonde do Role, Jean Grae, Camera Obscura, Roky Erickson, Annuals, Datarock, Eagles of Death Metal, Mando Diao, Explosions in the Sky, Loney, Dear, Electrelane, Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y., the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Matmos, Diplo, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Pelican, New Young Pony Club, Cold War Kids, Lee "Scratch" Perry, the Congos, Muse, Talib Kweli, the Whitest Boy Alive, Tunng, 120 Days, the Ark, Luomo, AGF, Trentemøller, Holly Golightly, Tenniscoats, and My Chemical Romance.

Scope the complete "preliminary full package of bands" here. Thanks to several readers for the tip.

Espers Tour UK; Meg Baird Releases Dear Companion
The freaks come out at night

Philly's premier freak folk collective, the echoey, ethereal Espers, will wave their freak flags high above the United Kingdom for a few shows to close out the cruelest month. They'll also take the stage at Ohio's cruelty-free Hockhocking Folk Festival in mid-May.

But the biggest news from the Espers camp comes from Meg Baird, whose barren, beauteous solo debut Dear Companion drops Stateside via Drag City May 22 and UK-ways June 4 from Wichita. Engulfing two Baird originals in eight cover versions and an a cappella take on its title track, the relatively poker-faced Dear Companion may flip a few of the further-out Esper-fan wigs, but it's a chaste companion piece to 2006's II.

In other Espers news, we reported Monday that their Otto Hauser will contribute to the new Devendra Banhart album. Contribute a shave and a haircut, we hope. [MORE...]

Photos: Lightning Bolt [Austin, TX; 04/18/07]

Photos by Zach Vowell

As is their custom, Lightning Bolt forsook the stage at Austin's Emo's last night and stacked up their amps-- complete with a large circular, convex mirror on top, so that the crowd outside the inner circle could see-- on the venue floor. Once they began the full-on assault of songs (most of which seemed to come from 2005's Hypermagic Mountain), the crowd swayed and pulsed, the front line struggling desperately to hold their peers behind them while also trying not to fall all over Brian Chippendale's drumkit.

Brian Gibson, meanwhile, let loose wave after wave of effects-laden bass noise, while Chippendale howled into the mic built into his maniacal mask and hammered away at his poor, defenseless drums-- it was amazing nobody in front lost a finger to an errant drumstick. Yet despite this and other dangers only a fire marshal could truly appreciate, a quick glance around the room revealed many a smile.

Lightning Bolt strike all over the Eastern U.S. this month.






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Spoon, Girl Talk, Aesop Rock Set for Block Party
Plus: Silversun Pickups, Viva Voce, Grand Archives, Cave Singers

Over 40 bands will take the outdoor stages of the 2007 Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle, going down this year July 27 and 28. The Block Party website announced the first of those acts recently, and so far, the bill includes Girl Talk, Silversun Pickups, Viva Voce, the Cave Singers (ex-Pretty Girls Make Graves), and recent Sub Pop signees (and Band of Horses associates) Grand Archives on the first day and Spoon, Aesop Rock, the Blakes, the Intelligence, and the Whore Moans on the second day of the festival.

Tickets go on sale April 20.

Block Party organizers will announce the rest of the lineup on May 16 (keep checking The Stranger's CHBP page for updates), and we're suddenly wondering... Have Bloc Party ever played a block party?

Sigur Ros Get Book Treatment

The glacial pace of Sigur Rós' music makes for easy comparisons to the landscape of Iceland, but non-Icelandic fans don't have to resign themselves to just imagining those mountains and fjords anymore, thanks to a new book documenting the band's 2006 tour of their home country.

On June 1, music quarterly Artist in Residence (A+R) will unleash In a Frozen Sea: A Year With Sigur Rós. Longtime fan Jeff Anderson created the book, A+R's first, by following the band on the last leg of its tour in support of Takk last year. Anderson collected observations and conducted exclusive interviews to go with the 32-page book's photographs of the band, the landscape, and combinations of both.

In a Frozen Sea comes packaged in a 12" vinyl jacket and will be available from A+R's website and select stores. A+R will also release the book in a special edition that comes with 12" LP versions of Ágætis Byrjun, ( ), Takk, and Smaskifa, which is previously unreleased in the format. The special edition will have a limited run of 5,000.

Those who just can't wait until June for In a Frozen Sea can visit A+R's site for an interactive Sigur Rós experience. Though it doesn't seem to be up just yet, the website will offer Sigur Rós music and videos as well as message boards for fans. Aspiring artists can also submit their own music for feature on the site, and a panel of judges-- including Sigur Rós and producers Alan Moulder and Flood-- will decide which artists make the cut.

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.)