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Tony Wilson R.I.P.

Bad news: Factory Records founder and all-around music guru Tony Wilson has passed away at 57. Though he had surgery to remove a kidney in January, he was present at April's Coachella Festival to introduce the long-awaited U.S. return of the Happy Mondays. Without Wilson, we would have no Joy Division/New Order, no Happy Mondays and no "24 Hour Party People". And no Creation Records either. The Manchester Evening News has a nice roundup of tributes from those who knew him.

Fun Fun Fun in Austin Austin Austin

Hell Yes: Austin just won't sleep until it has more stomp-ass music festivals than NYC, Chicago and L.A. combined. The Texas capital has upped the ante with the Fun Fun Fun Fest (sounds fun!), set for early November. It'll feature bands such as the New Pornographers, Explosions in the Sky, um... Of Montreal...er, Girl Talk... um, An Old Man Fashioning a Canoe... I mean Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Also Battles, Okkervil River, Diplo, Final Fantasy, Mates of State, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Emma Pollock (ex-Delgados), Neurosis, Busdriver, the Sword, the Saints, Against Me! and more!

OMG CMJ LOL!!!

Hell yes: For New Yorkers, rich people and music industry people, CMJ is four nights in a non-stop music fantasy land where Patti Smith follows you around and David Bowie crashes at your pad. For the rest of the world, CMJ is a giant jealousy-inducing tease that none of us can ever go to. The event will tease Oct. 16 - 20 in various venues around Gotham City. Only a few acts have been announced so far, including Spoon, Brother Ali, Justice, UNKLE, Del and Rodrido y Gabriela.

Seymore Tours the World...or at least 8 cities

Cool MPLS popsters Seymore Saves the World are hitting the road this month for a mini-tour west of the Mississippi, including three days at "Snowghost Sessions" in Big Sky Country.

8/16 - Minneapolis, Minn. - The Uptown Bar
8/17 - Omaha, Neb. - Saddle Creek Bar
8/18 - Denver, Col. - Quixotes
8/19 - Los Angeles, Calif. - Spaceland
8/20 - San Fransisco, Calif. - Elbo Room
8/21 - Portland, Ore. - Dante's
8/22 - Seattle, Wash. - High Dive
8/23 - Whitefish, Mont. - Snowghost Sessions
8/24 - Whitefish, Mont. - Snowghost Sessions
8/25 - Whitefish, Mont. - Great Norern Brewing Co.

Odds and sods and news

The Hell? Did you know that the Beastie Boys have NEVER played live in their native Brooklyn???! If "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" is right, then they haven't slept in TWENTY YEARS.

Madge and J. Timberlake, now how heavy is that? Is Timbaland a robot programmed to never say no? He and Timberlake have shacked up with Madonna for her follow-up to 2005's shitty Confessions on a Dancefloor.

Demme-gogue: My man Jonathan Demme has made several stomp ass concert films like this one and this one, and to a lesser extent, this one. Now, he's teaming with Alejandro Escovedo for another awesome one.

Rilo Kiley has a secret for L.A.

Rilo Kiley will be performing a "secret" show at --this rocks -- Eagle Rock’s All Star Bowling Lanes this Friday, August 10, courtesy of the Myspace. This'll be a warm-up gig for their ensuing tour.

A limited number of wristbands will be available starting at 4pm (no lineups before 3)on Friday at the Echo. You'll need a printout of your MySpace profile with Rilo Kiley’s MySpace and MySpace’s Secret Shows in your Top 8. Which you probably already have anyway.

The show is free, all ages and starts at 8pm.

Thanks for the tip again, A-Rom.

Devendra Banhart dates

Hell yes: That strange, hairy, lovely Devendra Banhart will be hitting the road in support of his forthcoming 5th album...

9/1 - Vancouver, Canada - Commodore Ballroom
9/2 - Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival (KEXP stage)
9/4 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
9/6 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theater
9/7 - San Francisco, CA - House of Fine Arts
9/10 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theater (Native American Benefit)
9/12 - Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium
9/13 - Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall Theater
9/15 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
9/16 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
9/18 - Chicago, IL - Portage Theater
9/19 - Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater
9/21 - Toronto, Canada - Danforth Music Hall
9/22 - Montreal, Canada - Theatre National
9/23 - Burlington, VT - Davis Center Grand Ballroom
9/25 - Boston, MA - Roxy Ballroom
9/27 - New York, NY - Grand Ballroom
9/29 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts
10/1 - Washington, DC - Sixth And I Historic Synagogue
10/4 - Nashville, TN - City Hall
10/6 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
10/7 - Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
10/9 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater (Native American Benefit)
10/10 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater
10/12 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theater
10/13 - Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum

Frank Black Francis madness

Hell yes: Frank Black is turning into Prince. He comes out with a new album like four times a year, has a crazy new website, and he loves the name game. The artist formerly known as Black Francis (born Charles Michael Thompson) became Frank Black circa 1993, and is now reverting back to Black Francis for his latest release Bluefinger, out Sept. 10 (pre-order here). And wait, there's more: Black has also released an exclusive iTunes EP, BUT it's only available on Canadian iTunes?! No word on the long-rumored Pixies reunion album though...

All info courtesy of the saintly peeps who run Frankblack.net and release bitchin' F.B.-related podcasts.

Poster of the Week: MF DOOM by Mark Sgarbossa

The people have only those rights which I choose to give them:


Click on image to enlarge.

MF DOOM at Cane's in San Diego 8/19, art by Mark Sgarbossa

Odds and sods and news

Jesus rocks: A little update on Kanye's upcoming CD, which has been delayed until September 11 (same day as 50 Cent's new joint!).

Check it: The Hives have unveiled some newsy news about their upcoming album (no release date). The Black and White Album (Please be a Prince-Beatles mash-up) is being finished up in Mississipi studio, although they also recorded in London, Sweden and Miami (with Pharrell!)

Supergroup alert! John Mellencamp, Kelly Clarkson and Faith Hill will perform at the Colts/Saints game in Indianapolis on September 6.

Supercorn what now? Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's orchestral piece "Popcorn Superheat Receiver" is headed for the U.S. for the first time at New York's St. Paul the Apostle on January 16-17 as part of the Wordless Music Series. The piece, which features a 34-piece string orchestra was first performed in England in '05.

Whoa, that's a lotta REM: The dudes at MPLSfuckingrocks have posted a tankload of youtube clips of REM performing new material in Dublin. Pretty good.

MTV VMA noms announced

This is for the 7 people who still watch MTV (OK, fine, it's for the 7 people who read this blog): MTV has unveiled the list of nominees for this year's VMA Awards. That hot hunk of manmeat J. Timberlake has racked up a hard-to-beat 7 nods, while that luscious chunk of womanmeat Beyonce also earned 7 (I said "Hard to beat", not "hard to tie"). Kanye West and Rihanna are nominated for five and Amy Winehouse three.

All Wilco, all the time.

Hell yes: Are you some kind of Wilco fanatic? Well, earn prizes for your obsessiveness. Presenting The Second Annual Wilcoworld Photo Contest.

All you have to do is send in a photo of you doing your freaky summertime rituals (bar-b-q-ing, sledding, making snow angels, wait...) while wearing a Wilco shirt or holding something "Wilco related". Sounds fun, but check out the prizes: Two pairs of 3-day passes to Austin City Limits, a pair of tickets to see Wilco's taping of the Austin City Limits TV show, um... Simple shoes, and "other cool stuff." Stuff rules. Send photos to ineedacamera@wilcoworld.net.

Odds and sods and news

Sweeeet: Is David Lee Roth finally ready to party (no alcohol, please) with Eddie and the rest of Van Halen?! Yes, says Rolling Stone. An arena tour is in the works for the fall. Again.

Kick Push: Dapper Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco apparently unveiled a bunch of new tracks during his Lollapalooza set over the weekend, including "Superstardom," the first single from his upcoming second album Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, due in the fall.

Catch up with the Virgin Fest: You didn't go to Lollapalooza OR the Virgin Festival? Loser. LOSER. Stereogum'll hook you up with highlights from the latter.

Review: St. Vincent @ The Echo

8/4/7, Los Angeles: Texas songstress St. Vincent (nee Annie Clark) is like the weird theatre girl from your high school, except exceedingly talented and cute as hell. Her huge, anime-like eyes give her an irresistible deer-in-headlights look, and she backs up said looks with an awesome voice, quirky songwriting and some fearsome guitar chops. Backed by three grungy gents on bass, violin and drums (plus a smattering of keyboards thrown in for added ambience), St. Vincent enchanted the packed Echo Saturday night with a string of tunes from her lush debut Marry Me.

Her songs don't conform to the usual verse-chorus-verse structure, instead meandering through proggy orchestral pop sounds and often culminating in Sonic Youthy bursts of guitar noise. At the end of her best song "Now Now," Clark even ripped off a guitar string and threw her axe down in a display of mock rebelliouness. Later, she used a severed mannequin arm as percussion ("You should see what we did to the rest of her," she quipped).



The brief encore consisted of the Magnetic Fields' "Yeah! Oh Yeah!", duetted by Clark and special guest John Vanderslice, and Clark's haunting solo take on Nico's "These Days."

Cleary destined for cult status, Clark (as a solo act) is opening for the National on their upcoming tour.

Photos by the sportily-dressed Chinapixie.

Lee Hazelwood passes on

Bad news: Pitchfork is reporting that music legend Lee Hazelwood has died at age 78, after a long bout with cancer. He was best known for his seminal work with Nancy Sinatra. Hazelwood wrote "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and "Some Velvet Morning," and produced and performed on two albums with the singer, 1968's Nancy & Lee and 1972's Nancy & Lee Again. We'll miss you Lee!

Spy on Lollapalooza

Oh boo hoo: You don't get to go to Lollapalooza? You baby. You can (sort of) attend it here, at ATT&T's Blue Room, live! Virtually. Kind of. Better than nothing.
Today:
1:00 Elvis Perkins
1:30 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
2:30 Jack's Mannequin
3:30 Slightly Stoopid
4:30 Soulive
5:30 Sparklehorse
6:30 Satellite Party
7:30 LCD Soundsystem
8:30 G Love and Special Sauce
9:30 The Black Keys

Saturday:
12:45 Tokyo Police Club
1:30 Tapes 'n Tapes
2:30 M.I.A.
3:30 Motion City Soundtrack
4:30 Pete Yorn
5:30 The Hold Steady
6:30 Stephen Marley
7:30 Regina Spektor
8:30 Ben Harper

Sunday:
12:15 Dax Riggs
1:15 Heartless Bastards
2:15 Lupe Fiasco
3:15 Blue October
4:15 Kings of Leon
5:15 Rodrigo y Gabriela
6:15 Paolo Nutini
7:15 Amy Winehouse
8:15 Interpol

No Pearl Jam??! What the fuck?!

Asobi Seksu remix contest

Hell yes: NYC's Asobi Seksu is a good shoegazey-type pop band (although they're a disappointment live). Their latest single, "Thursday" (NOT the best song on their latest ablum Citrus) is avaiable for you to remix. You can win a "prize package" that includes t-shirts, a free show and signed posters, but no date with their hottie lead singer, Yuki.

Hot Chip does Kraftwerk

Hell Yes: We are the robots...We are the robots...etc... Kraftwerk is getting some remix action courtesy of Hot Chip, whose members will re-werk 2003's 'Aerodynamik' and 'La Forme' on a limited edtion 12" (and CD and download). September 17.

Party hearty with Jens Lekman

Hell yes: Catch Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman on tour this fall. His new album Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian) drops October 9.


10-23 - Bloomington, IN - Jake's
10-25 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
10-26 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10-27 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
10-29 - Boston, MA - Paradise
11-01 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
11-02 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
11-03 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
11-06 - Seattle, WA - Nectar
11-07 - Portland, OR - Someday Lounge
11-09 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
11-10 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour

Stevie Wonder on tour

Hell yes: Regular-sized Steven Wonder is leaving his billion dollar estate to finally tour from sea to shining sea -- although one sea (the Pacific) is seeing more Wonder than anywhere else (6 of the 13 shows are in California?!). Uptight:

8/23 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's
8/25 - Lake Tahoe, CA - Harvey's Lake Tahoe Amphitheatre
8/26 - Concord, CA - Concord Pavilion
8/28 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
8/30 - Portland, OR - Edgefield Amphitheatre
8/31 - Woodinville, WA - Chateau Saint Michelle Winery
9/4 - Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery
9/5 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
9/10 - Chicago, IL - Charter One Pavilion
9/12 - Detroit, MI - Meadowbrook
9/14 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
9/16 - Baltimore, MD - Pier Six Pavilion
9/20 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion

Poster of the Week: Sharon Jones by Scrojo

Simple and sweet:



Click on image to enlarge.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at the Belly Up in Aspen. Art by Scrojo.

Odds and sods and news

HOT! Details on PJ Harvey's upcoming album White Chalk here. The LP is due internationally at the end of September.

Sweet: Stereogum's got quite a bit of info on Rogue Wave's next album Asleep at Heaven's Gate.

Peter, Bjorn and John. And now Kanye. The Swedish trio will be the MC's backing band at a festival in Sweden. Get YouTube ready.

B O R I S

Hell Yes: You just knew they wouldn't come all the way over from Japan for just three shows, right? Right. BORIS is coming to your city:

9/30 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10/02 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10/03 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/04 - Pittsburgh, PA - Kelly-Strayhorn Theater
10/05 - Columbus, OH - Wexner Center for the Arts
10/06 - Milwaukee, WI - Mad Planet
10/07 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
10/10 - Bellingham, WA - Nightlight Lounge
10/11 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
10/14 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
10/15 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
10/18 - San Antonio, TX - The Ballroom
10/19 - Austin, TX - Scoot's Inn
10/20 - Baton Rouge, LA - The Spanish Moon
10/21 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
10/22 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10/23 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
10/24 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10/25 - Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
10/26 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
10/27 - Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - Bard College
10/28 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10/29 - Boston, MA - Middle East Downstairs

Review: Bat For Lashes @ Spaceland

7/31/7, Los Angeles Last night saw the L.A. debut of Bat For Lashes from Brighton, England, offering ten or so tracks from their U.S. debut Fur and Gold. The act is really just Natasha Khan, although she's touring the states backed by an all-female three-piece who rotate instruments.

The group's thrift store gypsy look matches their sound, an amalgam of junkshop folk (violins, viola, autoharp, percussion of all kinds), noisy guitar, electro beats and Khan's unreal vocal stylings that recall Bjork, Polly Jean Harvey and Julee Cruise --- sometimes all in one song. Like a less cloying CocoRosie, Bat For Lashes has a sweeping but childlike sound, often piano-driven, that can send shivers up your spine. But too many songs crawl along, and even at an hour, their Spaceland set seemed too long (this wasn't helped by their delay to the stage).

Photos by the insufferable Chinapixie.

Odds and sods and news

Solo Lowe: Dashing Brit icon Nick Lowe is returning to the U.S for the first time since '04, check the dates here, mates.

Dap it up, dap it up: Soul stirrers Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are hitting the road this fall as well.

It's all sunshine: MPLS hip-hop legends Atmosphere won't have a new full-length out til '08, but you can feast on five new tracks on the latest Sad Clown joint here. Sluggo's on tour with the Paid Dues crew now.
My name is Wilson: As in Brian Wilson, who's debuting another crazy "Song cycle" on a U.K. tour this fall. Jealous? You should be.

Review: M.I.A. @ The Echoplex

7/30/07, Los Angeles: England's buzzy dish M.I.A. stormed The Echoplex last night like a miniature Missy Elliot, sporting strange rhymes and even stranger clothes.

The Sri Lankan singer offers an infectious, danceable mish-mash of various world styles all filtered through a uniquely British stye of hip-hop. Live, she was accompanied by a backup singer/dancer/hypewoman and a scratch-heavy DJ. Playing songs from her breakthrough debut Arular and her forthcoming disc Kala, her set only lasted about an hour (making the $20 cover seem steep), but the sold-out crowd was definitely digging it.

The Echoplex is a cavernous, sweaty club probably better-suited for DJs than bands you want to be able to see, which makes it unfortunate that both Boris and The Go! Team are booked there this fall.

Photo by the incandescent Chinapixie.