For Carnation EPs Reissued by Touch and Go

If the name of Louisville post-rockers the For Carnation doesn't strike a chord, it could be cuz they've largely rested on their laurels since the release of their debut self-titled LP at the turn of the century. Heck, this is a band whose old label still links to a defunct Geocities page as their official website, to give you some idea of how long it's been.

Or it could be because the For Carnation were always doomed to be overshadowed by main man Brian McMahan's other band, Slint. (McMahan was also in Squirrel Bait and played with Will Oldham in the Palace days.)

But this summer, just as Slint themselves re-emerge from the shadows, the For Carnation will bloom again. On July 10, Touch and Go will reissue two For Carnation EPs, 1995's Fight Songs and 1996's Marshmallows (both originally on Matador), compiled together into a set titled Promised Works. On these tracks, McMahan was joined by members of Tortoise as well as Slint-mate David Pajo.

Don't forget, Slint are on tour this summer, playing their classic Spiderland album in full. Thanks to the fine folks at All Tomorrow's Parties/Don't Look Back, their first stop in North America will be July 13 at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago's Union Park! [MORE...]

Photos: The Thermals / Menomena Invade High School [Portland, OR; 05/11/07]

Photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell

The first of two homegrown headline bands to take the stage Friday night at Portland's Cleveland High School auditorium-- as a part of a benefit to raise funds for music programs in Portland public schools (which, to maximize the geographical confusion, was organized by student government at PDX's Lincoln High School)-- Menomena played a rousing set, alternating between laptops and live instrumentation-- including that signature saxophone.

The Thermals closed out the evening, entering with a "Good evening, Cleveland!"-- the irony seemingly lost on the majority of the predominantly teenage crowd. Keeping things PC, they performed tracks from a set list that stretched over two taped together sheets of paper and spanned much of their catalog.

The bands then mingled with students, faculty, and other concert-goers in the hallways of the high school to cap off a unique, slightly surreal, one-off charity night.

The Thermals hit up ATP vs. the Fans this weekend to kick off a hefty overseas trek, while Menomena's summer escapades have them romping across the U.S. and Canada, destination: the Pitchfork Music Festival.

THE THERMALS




MENOMENA

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T.V. Eye: May 14-20, 2007

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

Tuesday, May 15:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Wilco
ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Feist

Wednesday, May 16:

PBS: "Tavis Smiley": Lily Allen
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Silversun Pickups
CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Mavis Staples
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Modest Mouse

Thursday, May 17:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Rufus Wainwright
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": M. Ward
Fuel: "The Daily Habit": Cursive

Friday, May 18:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Elvis Costello
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Blonde Redhead
NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Peter Bjorn & John

Exclusive: Lindstrom Preps LateNightTales Mix
Plus: Reinterpretations collection with Prins Thomas, remix EP, 12"s

Front page photo by Lin Stensrud

Mom and dad, meet Hans-Peter Lindstrøm. Hans-Peter, the folks. Now mom and dad, I know you may not care much for Mr. Lindstrøm's otherworldly space disco, nor his killer remixes for the likes of Franz Ferdi-whosit?, LCD Sound-something-or-other, and Annie, but chew on this: Hans likes a lot of the same music you like, the music you grew up listening to.

Just take a gander at the tracklist for Lindstrøm's forthcoming entry into the LateNightTales mix series, out this July on Azuli Records: Carly Simon. The Lovin' Spoonful. Dusty Springfield. Sly and the Family Stone. I mean, Todd Rundgren, for crissakes. Mr. Lindstrøm clearly cares about your musical needs.

Thankfully, he doesn't neglect the present while doing so, interweaving these classics with contemporary tunes-- now pardon me a moment while I talk to the kids, ma-- from the likes of Terje & Thomas, Anja Garbarek, and Pitchfork's own Dominique Leone. And in curating the latest LateNightTales compilation, Lindstrøm joins the esteemed ranks of kid-tested, mother-approved faves like the Flaming Lips, Belle & Sebastian, Air, Four Tet, and more.

Lindstrøm wouldn't be Lindstrøm without a bevy of other material in the works, too. On June 5, he and BFF Prins Thomas release Reinterpretations on Eskimo in the U.S., which collects reinter-- er, alternate versions of tracks from the pair's self-titled 2005 LP, alongside B-sides and a pair of unreleased jams. Those unreleased jams will in fact also appear on the forthcoming Nummer Fire EP 12"-- out via Eskimo the same day as Reinterpretations-- thereby making them, perhaps paradoxically, actually released.

What's more, the previously mentioned Contemporary Fix EP (which features remixes of Lindstrøm by Boredoms' eYe and Bjorn Torske) will finally see release via Smalltown Supersound on August 6, in CD, 12", and digital formats. Finally, Lindstrøm and Smalltown will also hit us with a 12" of "Breakfast in Heaven" (backed with "Blast of Loser") this summer. [MORE...]

Method Man, Rhymefest, De La's Posdnuos Guest on Jazzy Jeff's Return

There is a Fresh Prince-shaped hole in the guest list of DJ Jazzy Jeff's new album, The Return of the Magnificent, but the void is almost filled by the appearances of Method Man, Rhymefest, De La Soul's Posdnuos, Big Daddy Kane, CL Smooth, Peedi Crakk (or is it Peedi Peedi?), Jean Grae, J Live, and more.

Jeff returns with Return today (May 14) in the UK and May 29 in the U.S. via Rapster/BBE. The aptly titled follow-up to 2001's The Magnificent is only his second solo album.

The DJ is planning a U.S. tour for the summer, but he currently has four dates in England and France scheduled for this month, including a couple of May 27 sets at a BBE anniversary party. [MORE...]

Sea and Cake Launch Tour, Add Euro Dates

Photo by Jim Newberry

Fresh off the release of their newest full-length, Everybody, the Sea and Cake are hitting the road on their previously reported tour, which kicks off tonight (May 14) in Vancouver.

The Chicago quartet have also added quite a few European dates to the tour. Those take place in the last half of June before the band return to the U.S. for their previously reported appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 15. [MORE...]

Animal Collective Kick Off Tour Tonight

Put furry costumes, delay pedals, and a whole lotta cooing together, and what do you get? No, not the shameful revelation you had about your roommate Saturday night; you get Animal Collective, the fuzzy, freaky woodland warblers who invade the U.S. on a string of dates kicking off tonight in Columbus, Ohio.

They'll be joined by Sir Richard Bishop for most of the run before a free one-off in NYC with Danielson and then a hop over the pond for a date with Marnie Stern. (Yeah, you wish you had a date with Marnie Stern.)

Panda Bear has a whopping four shows scheduled in June, but you knew that. [MORE...]

Sly Stone Schedules Rare Live Performance

Sly Stone-- he of the musical innovation, the recent catalog reissuing, and the one-time blonde mohawk-- doesn't get out much. If you were so inclined, you could probably count his live performances from the past 20 years on two hands with fingers to spare.

So it's a treat that Mr. Stone will add one more performance to that short list with a July 28 appearance at the Opera House in Bournemouth, England.

In addition to Stone himself, the show will also feature original members of the Family Stone in his band. It will be their first performance in the UK in more than two decades. Hardly a reunion, but we'll take what we can get.

Vladislav Delay Is the Whistleblower
Maculay Culkin is the Pagemaster

His momma calls him Sasu Ripatti, but you can call him anything you'd like. Whether he's Luomo, Uusitalo, or Vladislav Delay, the Finnish electron-wizard's been at it for a decade now; in fact, it was 1997 when the Kind of Blue EP, Ripatti's first recording under the Vladislav name, came to light.

Delay is set to release Whistleblower May 15, and though the music has deepened, the song largely remains the same: like most of Ripatti's projects these days, Whistleblower will bear the name of his own Huume imprint.

Delay, or Ripatti, or whatever, will hit the road for a few North American dates later this month, in between shows around the globe. Just to make things tricky, Ripatti will perform some of the dates as Vladislav Delay and some as Luomo. A bit of disambiguation is yours for the taking down below. [MORE...]

Arthur Reborn!
Arthur the aardvark still getting into mischief, moralizing

Just a few months after a tragic retirement from newsstands, it seems Arthur magazine is getting primed for a triumphant return. As reported in Los Angeles weekly CityBeat, editor and co-founder Jay Babcock (as Arthur Publishing Company) recently bought out publisher Laris Kreslins' 50% share in the bi-monthly rag, which Babcock has designs on resurrecting.

"I have now gained 100 percent control of Arthur," Babcock told CityBeat, "and I intend to resume publishing the magazine as soon as all the financing is in order."

To secure funds for the buy-out, Babcock turned to those he knew best. "When I reached out, it was to a close circle of family and...longtime friends," he told CityBeat, adding, "We probably will do a benefit or two or auction off one-of-a-kind items to help me pay back all the people who loaned me money."

Since establishing the periodical in 2002, the folks behind Arthur have published 25 issues devoted to music, art, and cultural and political criticism, and distributed them free of charge. The 26th issue, in process at the time of Arthur's premature demise in February 2007, will not see print, most of its content having already appeared in other publications or on the Arthur website.

Babcock hasn't forecasted precisely when Arthur will return to the press. "It's not time yet," he told CityBeat. "All the ducks are getting in order, and then we'll go for a swim."

It's also not clear at this time what this means for Arthur-sponsored festivals, nor the Arthur-spawned imprint Bastet.

Kreslins, meanwhile, confirmed the business transaction in a recent e-mail to Pitchfork. He also sought to clear up some of the confusion regarding his break with Arthur: "There's no 'one' version of what happened...There's a full scope and it's complicated and emotional. I had been openly planning my departure from the magazine for a long time and marked issue 25 as my last issue as publisher more than a year before it went to print," he wrote, adding, "I really am looking forward to the next issue of Arthur."

Kreslins will continue work "developing a concept for a Philadelphia-centric magazine and focusing my attention on projects I have going on locally." What's more, "I just found a litter of kittens who don't have a momma, so that's taking up a chunk of time, too."

Ted Leo Adds U.S. Dates to Neverending Tour
Tour.Repeat.Tour.

Whatever Ted Leo's on, I want some: the stalwart punk synergist never seems to run out of gas (insert "vegan cheese" gag here).

Ted and his Pharmacists cap their previously announced string of European shows with Lollapalooza, a hightail around the American South, and a date in Cleveland (which, I'm told, rocks). Of special note is a stop at suburban Atlanta's WhirlyBall bumper-car arena, which should top your "venues to attend before I die" list.

In other Leo lowdown, he's got a track on the soundtrack to the Clash documentary Let Fury Have the Hour, and a recipe in the indie cookbook I Like Food, Food Tastes Good. [MORE...]

Photos: The Mountain Goats / The Extra Glenns [Brooklyn, NY; 05/11/07]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

Cram some 150 people into a room meant for maybe 100-- with the overflow clamoring around the outside windows for a peak-- and sweat is bound to pour forth in earnest. Luckily, the folks who turned out to see John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats play a special solo set at Brooklyn's Sound Fix record store-- with a rare bonus appearance by Darnielle and Franklin Bruno's the Extra Glenns-- didn't seem to mind all that much. Instead, they rejoiced in watching a gleeful Darnielle play "old and obscure stuff," in his words.

John also played "Palmcorder Yajna", first referencing Ben Gibbard's cover and declaring, "I spent all day trying to learn how to play 'Transatlanticism', but I have a very short term memory. Instead, I'll play the one he played." With Bruno, Darnielle debuted a new Glenns tune, "Programmed Cell Death", calling upon an audience member to hold up the lyrics sheet. And when John forgot the first line of another, unreleased Glenns jam, "Carmen Cicero"-- one he claimed "only the hardest of the hardcore" would know-- the audience once again came to the rescue, with one super fan (in a Captain America t-shirt, no less) dialing up a live bootleg of the song on his iTunes so John could have a listen and jog his memory. Hardcore indeed.








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