Voxtrot Cancel Shows Due to Surgery, Add Euro Dates

They've scheduled the thing, de-scheduled the thing to link up with fellow fresh-faced youngsters Arctic Monkeys, then rescheduled the thing. But now, Voxtrot's fall tour has hit yet another snag.

Just a week after the last reshuffling, they've been forced to cancel a pair of dates: last night in Hamilton, Ontario, and tonight's gig in Toronto. Their excuse-- posted in a MySpace bulletin yesterday afternoon-- explains all:

Sorry everyone, but Voxtrot is canceling off of tonight's show at Club Absinthe in Hamilton, ONT. If you've seen the band in the last couple days, I'm sure you're aware that Ramesh has been a bit under the weather. He was taken to the hospital after last night's show in Philly, and underwent minor surgery this morning. Thankfully he's okay.

Rest up, Ramesh! Again, tonight's Toronto show definitely isn't happening, as the band has amended the itinerary on their MySpace to include "CANCELLED" behind that Mod Club date.

As a consolation for you jet-setting Canadian types, the band have quickly followed the announcement of cancelled gigs with a couple weeks in Europe. [MORE...]

Video: Voxtrot: Various tracks [live on The Interface]

Sufjan Stevens Speaks at Literary Event November 28
NERD ALERT

Despite his occasional (okay, still frequent) musical dabblings, it can sometimes seem like Sufjan Stevens is applying for a staff job at The New Yorker. Whether he's writing intros to nonessential books, exploring his thoughts on friend rock, or even associating with those lovable bookworms at the Believer, the guy's more Sedaris than Springsteen sometimes. (Though I'd gladly hear a record/read a book by either.)

In keeping with his dual role as literary celeb and ornate singing guy, Sufjan will appear at a "PENultimate Lit" event, put on by the longstanding literature advancement group PEN American Center. Sufjan will speak with fellow songsmith Wesley "John Wesley Harding" Stace at an evening hosted by Ice Storm author Rick Moody. The trio will convene at Brooklyn's Southpaw club November 28. Doesn't look like there'll be a performance from either of the two gentlemen, but you still get to watch Sufjan stand (or perhaps sit in a chair) on stage.

In other Sufjan news a bit closer to the musical category, he's covering Dylan, still getting those Franciscans pumped all this month, and his Brooklyn-Queens Expressway work is still set to premiere at the beginning of November.

Once again, thanks to Sufjan fan site All Good Naysayers. 

Video: Sufjan Stevens: The Lakes of Canada [live on the Take-Away Show}

Elvis Costello to Play Hillary Clinton's Birthday Bash

Hillary Clinton-- presidential candidate, New York Senator, and former First Lady-- will celebrate her 60th birthday in style, with a bash taking place October 25 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The celebration, which is also a fundraiser for her presidential campaign, will feature a performance by legendary English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello.

The party is being thrown by Hillary's husband, former President Bill Clinton, as well as New York Senator Chuck Schumer, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and New York Congressman Charles Rangel.

Special guests are promised, and if last year's Bill Clinton 60th birthday celebration at the Beacon is any indication, they will probably be pretty high-wattage. (Bill's party featured a performance by the Rolling Stones with appearances from Buddy Guy, Jack White, and Christina Aguilera, and the whole thing was filmed by Martin Scorsese.)

We're guessing the evening will end with an all-star sing-along to "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding".

The event is open to the public and tickets are on sale now.

Elvis Costello is currently on tour with Bob Dylan, playing solo for the first time in over a decade. [MORE...]

Video: Elvis Costello: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (live)

Output Says Goodbye With Retrospective Set, Remixes

About a year ago, we said goodbye to Output Recordings, the hyperprogressive UK dance label helmed by Trevor Jackson. Output had a fine run in its day, making ten years' worth of strange sounds well-suited for both dance floor shaking and chin-stroking-- sometimes both at the same time!

Output's new output might've dried up, but they're back to say goodbye with one last hurrah. Selections from the Output discography have been compiled and reissued as I Hate Music: A Compilation of Output Recordings 1996-2006, double CD/single DVD set the label will release November 12.

The CDs gather 30 tracks from the Output catalog, including gems by Four Tet, Fridge, Mu, Black Strobe, and Jackson's own Playgroup. The DVD collects 37 videos from the same crew.

Noticeably absent are cuts from the Rapture and LCD Soundsystem; the press release for the compilation explains that this is "due to 'monsters' and major label bullshit." Monsters? Ah, that would be a reference to Jackson's statement that one of the reasons he shuttered the label was "I saw people I thought were my friends turn into monsters." Yikes.

I Hate Music is the last release from Output; the companion remix 12" I Hate... Remixes is the first release from new label Process Recordings. It features Output tracks by Colder, Kreeps, Dempsey, and Lopazz, remixed by Optimo, Mungolian Jet Set, Tomas Almgren and Nutaike, respectively. It also lands November 12. [MORE...]

Stream: Various Output Recordings Artists: Various tracks
Stream: Various Artists: Various I Hate... Remixes tracks

Trio of Sun City Girls Records Reissued

Photo by Catherine Lewis

Ever taken a glance at the Sun City Girls section of your local record emporium? Or, perhaps, pored over a printout of their discography with your jaw planted firmly on the floor? Guess it helps to be a troupe with a thing for improv, but goshdang, in their nearly 25 years making music together, brothers Alan and Sir Richard Bishop and the late Charles Gocher sure did put out like nine billion records.

And even with all the gaping out-of-print holes in their catalog, them dudes made a lot of jams. Three of 'em from their characteristically fertile mid-period-- 1994 and 1995-- are due for the first time on CD from Abduction in the coming months.

1994's Juggernaut, recorded live to four-track by the Girls, was the soundtrack to a forgotten movie of the same name, while 1994's Piasa... Devourer of Men was inspired by a film that was never made, with a plot about "the legend of a giant pre-historic flying reptilian terrorizing an early 1800s Indian tribe in Midwest America" according to a press release. Both of those albums are due tomorrow, October 9. 1995's Jacks Creek, considered a particularly difficult (and particularly rewarding) Sun City Girls release is due November 6.

In other Sun City Girls news, Sir Richard has his second LP of the year coming soon, with a tour to boot. Only two albums this year, Richard? C'mon, get on it! [MORE...]

MP3: Sun City Girls: Electoral Termites

Castanets Tear Through Vines On Tour

MP3: Castanets: This is the Early Game [from the In the Vines LP]
MP3: Castanets: Sway [from the In the Vines LP]

Reznor Hammers Another Nail in the Industry's Coffin

For the second time in a little over a week, a major player on the alt-rock scene has announced their departure from the mainstream music industry, as Trent Reznor announced today via the Nine Inch Nails website that he is no longer signed to longtime label Interscope, and may perhaps be choosing to go it alone:

"Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.

Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.

Exciting times, indeed."

Reznor very publicly clashed with Interscope over the release of the last NIN record, Year Zero, leaking pieces of the album himself and encouraging fans to download it for free. So it would be unlikely that he would sign with another major, or even any label at all-- given Reznor's large and rabid cult following, he could very easily pull a Radiohead and take matters into his own hands. (Perhaps that is what is alluded to by that "direct relationship with the audience.")

Regardless, we sure hope that remix album comes out soon.

Thanks to Theninhotline.net for the heads up.

Stream: Nine Inch Nails: Survivalism [from the Year Zero LP]

Photos: Justice / Midnight Juggernauts [San Diego, CA; 10/07/07]

FIFA '08 Features PB&J;, Bonde, !!!, Robyn, CSS, SMD

EA Sports, like most other video game companies, has realized the vast cross-promotional opportunities of lifting tunes from real musicians for their games. So, for their FIFA '08 footballpalooza (or soccerpalooza for us Yanks), they've gathered a bunch of tracks both suitable and shrugworthy to get you pumped for all that hot dribbling action.

Though there are 50 tunes on the FIFA '08 soundtrack, the ones you're likely to recognize through the door of your roommate's pad include Art Brut's "Direct Hit", Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks", Bonde do Role's "Solta O Frango", Robyn's "Bum Like You", CSS' "Off the Hook", Simian Mobile Disco's "I Believe", !!!'s "All My Heroes Are Weirdos", Datarock's "Fa-Fa-Fa", Digitalism's "Pogo", Maximo Park's "The Unshockable", Modeselektor's "Silikon", Santogold's "You Will Find a Way", that Madness song with Sway, and tracks by Kenna, K-Os, and, yup, Travis. Travis? Is that some kind of psych-out or something?

You can push buttons while listening to the above songs (and many more!) starting tomorrow, October 9, when the game is released for virtually every system but the PS3. That pack of early adopters will have to wait 'til the 16th for their FIFA.

Soulsavers (With Lanegan) Announce Brief Fall Tour

Like those dudes in the well-starched, short-sleeved shirts and crewcuts knocking on your door when you're making your lunch, Rich Machin and Ian Glover are dead set on saving your soul. And Machin, one half of those well-meaning Soulsavers, is set to embark on a brief but nonetheless powerful evangelical mission. (Seems Glover prefers to worship in the studio.) In November, Machin will tour the U.S. with his friends in good faith Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, QOTSA, Gutter Twins, etc.), Rich Warren and Kevin Bales of Spiritualized, gospel singers Carmen Smart and Wendi Rose, bassist Matt Stravick, and guitarist Steve Gullick.

These dates come hot on the heels of the recent cancellation of the Savers' opening spots on the Jesus and Mary Chain tour. The pious-sounding band name must've fooled 'em until they got their hands on the lyrics to "Kill Surf City". Blasphemy!

The group's latest missive, the Lanegan-heavy It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land, drops October 16 on Columbia. [MORE...]

MP3: Soulsavers: Through My Sails (ft. Mark Lanegan and Will Oldham) [from the It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land LP]

Hold Steady Add Bonus CD to Boys UK Reissue

Hold Steady, Bristol! Soon enough, you'll be up to your neck in sweat and more, uh, Hold Steady. The hardest working dudes in bro business are reissuing last year's Boys and Girls in America in the UK on Vagrant with a bonus disc chock full of tracks from that Live at Fingerprints EP.

According to the tracklist on NME.com, the disc appears to sport two tunes not on Fingerprints: "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "First Night". In other words, a dude like myself better start saving for the import right quick.

Er, maybe not: A deluxe version Boys and Girls is being planned specifically for America as well. Details are a bit slim at the moment-- it's not due 'til sometime next spring, we're told-- but it'll come with a DVD shot at the band's October-December 2006 U.S. shows, as well as their European tour earlier in 2007. There'll also be some footage from the band's forthcoming tour with Art Brut, and possibly some new audio as well, just nothing from the Fingerprints EP.

England gets yet another shot of Hold Steady October 22, when Vagrant UK releases "Massive Nights" as a digital-only, bonus-track-free single. [MORE...]

Video: The Hold Steady: Stuck Between Stations [from the Boys and Girls in America LP]

Photos: The Shins [Los Angeles, CA; 10/07/07]

Photos by Akmal Naim

Woodie dominators the Shins continued their fall tour in support of this year's Wincing the Night Away with a show at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre last night. The band continues around the country for the next month, before heading off to Europe and finally all the way to Japan in November. They'll hit "The Tonight Show" tonight, where they'll perform Wincing track "Sea Legs".

Opening band the Shaky Hands are chronicling their adventures on the road with the Shins for Portland paper Willamette Week's music site Local Cut.

[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.)