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.

Lavender Diamond Tour, Play With Orchestra
The finest diamonds since Dustin

Tonight, the lush'n'lovely Lavender Diamond would like to cordially invite you to the lushest, loveliest gig of their blossoming career. Their show at Los Angeles' REDCAT Theater will have Becky Stark and company backed by a twelve-piece orchestra, with all parts composed by LD's keyboard player Steve Gregoropoulos. Can you handle the lushness?

In a few weeks, the Diamonds'll rough it on the road in anticipation of their Imagine Our Love, which, as we previously reported, is out May 8 here via Matador, and elsewhere May 7 via Rough Trade. Catch them at numerous record shops, churches, ballrooms, and museums near you. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Art Brut Reveal Complicated Tracklist
Got themselves a brand new tracklist

You can hush all your nag-nag-nag-naggin': meta-punk-rockers Art Brut's It's a Bit Complicated finally has a full tracklist. Now you know definitively what eleven barked-out Eddie Argos nuggets'll be running through your head at inopportune moments for the next several months. It's got a cover, too, with-- for some reason-- instruments of geometry. So that's that, then; all you've got to do is sit on your hands 'til June 26 when Downtown Records and/or Mute actually give you the thing.

Of course, if you can't wait that long, you've got options; by now, you're all read up on the band's Talking to the Kids DVD, which you can scoop up Stateside May 22. And then, of course, there's the Infinite Livez Vs Stade album Art Brut Fe De Yoot, which has absolutely nothing to do with Art Brut the band, but could very well tide you over regardless. [MORE...]

Whitest Boy Alive Embark on Whitest Tour Ever

Erlend Øye and his polite band of white boys ("We play our music live. Sing along if you know the words," proclaims their website) will tour Europe with their Dreams in tow this spring and summer.

The Whitest Boy Alive will bring Norwegian trio Kommode along for some sun on several dates in late April/early May; they warm-up tonight at the Roskilde launch party in Copenhagen.

Øye reprises his day job in Kings of Convenience, meanwhile, for a set at the Slottsfjell Festival in Tonsberg, Norway on July 20. You may also hear the Kings guesting on "Omstart", a track off Cornelius' latest, Sensuous. As previously reported, that album lands Stateside at last via Everloving Records on April 24. [MORE...]

Modest Mouse, Shins, Decemberists Swag in Art Auction
Plus: Janet Weiss, Corin Tucker, Dandy Warhols, and...Bon Jovi \m/

Buckman Elementary School, an arts magnet school in Portland's public system, is rife with the cool, artsy kids. And these cool, artsy kids-- along with some high-profile, indie rock favorites-- have donated some items to be auctioned in benefit of the school; they're no mere pinch-pot ashtray castoffs, either.

In addition to a fly-fishing trip and jaunts to the Sonoma wine country, a series of hand-decorated mini-guitars and other swag from the likes of the Decemberists and Carson Ellis, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, the Shins, Stephen Malkmus and newest Jick Janet Weiss, Sam Coombs of Quasi, and the Dandy Warhols will go up for the good cause. UPDATE: STEPHEN MALKMUS DID NOT DESIGN THE GUITAR, JUST JANET WEISS. IT'S PRETTY SWEET! CHECK OUT THE PHOTO BELOW!

The Art Rocks auction takes place in two parts: the first-- organized by Sleater-Kinney pillar and Buckman parent Corin Tucker-- goes down web-ways April 22, when online bidders can stake their claim on those hand-decorated mini-guitars via eBay (keyword: Buckman). UPDATE: DUE TO AN EBAY GLITCH, THE ONLINE AUCTION START DATE HAS BEEN BUMPED TO MAY 13.

The second part, an actual live auction which we hope includes a motor-mouthed auctioneer, occurs April 27 at Portland's Melody Ballroom. There you can score vacation getaways, arts and crafts from kids and local artisans, a signed Bon Jovi guitar, and the prize to end all prizes: a set of maracas actually used by the Dandy Warhols. We kid you not. Alas, no portion of the proceedings is dedicated to a "date auction"; you'll just have to get Isaac drunk and try to make out with him on your own time. It can't be that hard, really.

Janet Weiss hand-decorated mini-guitar:

Islands, Final Fantasy Contribute to Tomlab 7" Series
So do YACHT, Tussle, Erase Errata

Tomlab's plot to issue a 7" single for each letter of the alphabet is smacking Sufjan's states thing around; while Suffy dreams up new flute charts for California or Delaware or whatever it is, Tomlab's made it all the way to T and plotted their way through the end of the alphabet.

Previous entries have in the series have included Grizzly Bear, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and the Blow, and the level of quality isn't letting up now.

For Q, Alig Fodder (of Family Fodder) spits up two sides of fizzy pop that would've sat well on Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna record. R goes to San Fran funky drummers Tussle, whose "Second Guessing" is treated to a remix from Blow-hard YACHT. Islands get S, which boasts, in "Flesh" the first Islands track ever recorded. And who can forget T, on which The World Court get windy and woozy. All four are available now.

As for the rest of the alphabet, well, Tomlab's all set for Erase Errata's U and the Dead Science's V in August, Scout Niblett's W, Numbers' (oh, the irony!) X, YACHT's Y, and Final Fantasy's Z in October, and David Shrigley sometime in the future. Starting with the Shrigley disc, Tomlab's switching to umlaut mode. Shrigley gets Ä, with several more dot-topped "special contributions" planned.

Please, God, let them be from Björk and Mötley Crüe. [MORE...]

Joanna Newsom to Open for Bjork!
Compete to see who can hit the highest note

Though it may seem that your pals at Pitchfork are too immersed in Volta fever to talk about anything else (tell yr friends: "Declare Independence" might just be the jam of the summer), we do have other records we're looking forward to; say, Joanna Newsom's Ys Street Band EP, out April 24 on Drag City.

So when we found out that these two creative juggernauts would be joining together for a couple of dates on Björk's previously-announced tour, well, we were beside ourselves for a minute. Then, we collected ourselves, and wrote a story about it.

Jo's only doing two dates on the Björk tour that we know of, although we'd like to strongly encourage whoever paired these two to keep up the good work. Seriously, who else but J-New is up for the challenge of warming up a crowd of Björk-aniacs? It's a toughie...though we'd also like to suggest Antony.

In other Björk news, there's more Volta slowly trickling out over the internet, including this frustratingly brief clip of the "Earth Intruders" video, set for proper release April 24. She'll also share another amazing double-bill this weekend as the musical guest on a soon-to-be-legendary "Saturday Night Live" episode with host Scarlett Johansson. And, of course, Volta drops May 7 in Europe and May 8 here. Wooo! [MORE...]

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.)