Arcade Fire Lead mtvU Woodie Awards Nominations

Several Pitchfork faves snagged nominations, including the Arcade Fire (five nominations), Common (four), Gorillaz (three), M.I.A., the Decemberists, and Bloc Party (one each). This year's ceremony will be filmed live for the first time, and will feature a full lineup of performers, presenters and more that will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

In keeping with mtvU's brief tradition, the Woodies focus on college community: students from around the country will chip in as on-camera talent and behind-the-scenes commentators throughout the live show. For the second straight year, the awards themselves were designed and made (yes, out of wood) by students at the Greenwich Village-based New School.

And since, let's face it, MTV can't possibly do anything straightforward anymore, nominees are divided into abstruse categories like the "Breaking Woodie", the "Left Field Woodie", the "Good Woodie" and the filthy-sounding "Streaming Woodie" and "Road Woodie". The "International Woodie" goes to Bloc Party. Probably. For a full list of categories and nominations, check out the mtvU website. Winners will be determined by online voting. In last year's inaugural Woodie Awards, Modest Mouse took home top honors as Best Artist and the (sigh) "Silent but Deadly Woodie" for their video for "Float On." Eww, what's that smell?

mtvU: http://www.mtvu.com

Flaming Lips Reveal More About Mystics

After Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' soothing synths, some fans were nervous about what the Flaming Lips would do with their upcoming album, At War With the Mystics. Would they stray even further into indie-yuppie territory, as per the lukewarm song "Mr. Ambulance Driver" featured on the Wedding Crashers soundtrack?

Well, good news, guitar lovers: Wayne Coyne told MTV.com that the next record is chock full of 'em. He said, "Without any true intention, I think we've found some guitar-rock things that we're freaked out about. People will see that some of it has gone more weird rock." Cue the rock-out emoticon.

Coyne also hinted that the album will definitely be affected by the state of the world: "I don't think you could be making any art in the atmosphere we're in now-- with the war and the different ways people feel about the Bush administration and all that-- without having some things that sort of, not address that specifically, but address this whole idea of what you do with power. When is the time to have mercy? And when is the time to be aggressive?"

But don't worry about a bunch of Bush-bashing songs. Coyne insisted that there are "some things on this record that I hope will stand the test of time long after this war is over and all these young guys come home."

Mystics has been in the works for several years, and was originally scheduled for release early this year. Now it's tentatively coming out in 2006. And so is Christmas on Mars, the Lips' long-overdo epic film project, which is slowly becoming the Chinese Democracy of homemade alien holiday movies. Coyne told MTV, "The way that I work is [not] that much different from the way I would do a painting or even the way that we record our music a lot of the time. We go in and we have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for things that we want to happen and sort of try to shape them up. But if we're lucky, something emerges that's really better than what we intended and we'll go with that. If we're lucky, 'Christmas on Mars' will continue to do that. We'll have built the sets and have actors there, and of course there'll be things for them to say and all that, but something marvelous will happen and we'll be able to incorporate that into the idea of what we wanted to do and it will be better and more expressive and more communicative and more emotional - all those things that I think all artists intend to do."

While we wait, we can pore over the recently released anthology VOID (Video Overview In Deceleration), which collects all of the Lips' music videos on DVD in glorious 5.1 surround sound. It also features commentary from the band for each video. Expand yr mind with these short flicks:

01 Mr. Ambulance Driver
02 SpongeBob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall Of Energy
03 Fight Test
04 Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
05 Do You Realize? (UK Version)
06 Race For The Prize
07 Waiting For A Superman
08 This Here Giraffe
09 When You Smile
10 Bad Days
11 Christmas At The Zoo
12 Be My Head
13 She Don't Use Jelly
14 Turn It On
15 Frogs
16 Talkin' Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever)
17 Phoebe Battles The Pink Robots
18 Are You A Hypnotist??
19 Do You Realize? (US Version)

The only Flaming Lips live date scheduled at the moment is on board the Xingolati Groove Cruise, sailing from Long Beach, California to Ensenada, Mexico on October 14 through 17. They'll be sharing the boat with G. Love and Special Sauce, Banyan, DJ Logic, Slightly Stoopid, Particle, DJ Greyboy, Medeski, Martin & Wood and some more lame hippie crap. Since this show will take place at sea, it might be possible to witness the Lips literally jumping the shark.

The Flaming Lips: http://www.flaminglips.com

Modest Mouse to Re-Release Good News as DualDisc

That direct attack on the already tattered integrity of the album format aside, the real reason to snap up this quickie reissue is the flipside of the DualDisc. It will include the entire album (again) in "enhanced LPCM stereo" and goodies such as the music videos for "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty", a new short film called "Stiff Animal Fantasy" soundtracked by the song "World At Large", Isaac Brock interviewing himself on MTV's Advanced Warning, behind-the-scenes photo galleries, and other assorted graphic bits and animated pieces. What, no Modest Mouse temporary tattoo?

Since it seems like Epic pulled all remaining copies of the original The Moon and Antarctica when that album was reissued last year, you may want to snatch up the plain Jane edition of Good News while it's still around, for future eBay sales. That might not be so important as buying the album only once, which is what all the filesharers were planning for in the first place, right? Right. Or if you exclusively listen to mp3s to preview Modest Mouse's live performance, ignore all the foregoing, and instead check these couple of live shows:

10-06 Reno, NV - Reno Hilton Theater
10-08 Mountain View, CA - Download Festival *

* with the Killers, British Sea Power, the Arcade Fire, Doves, the Lovemakers, Mindless Self Indulgence, H.I.M., Ambulance Ltd.

Modest Mouse: http://www.modestmouse.com

M83 Kick Off U.S. Tour Tomorrow

You can wistfully reflect in rooms full of other wistful reflectors starting tomorrow, as M83 are hitting the road for a short North American tour. (The trek was originally scheduled to begin tonight in Houston, but Pitchfork has just received word that the show has been canceled due to the Hurricane Rita evacuation.) Perhaps Gonzalez will be driving through the Western states behind the wheel of a 2006 Pontiac Torrent, which isn't a file-sharing joke. It's Pontiac's largest new automobile.

Dogs in wheelchairs welcome here:

09-22 Houston, TX - Numbers **CANCELED**
09-23 Austin, TX - Emo's
09-24 Denton, TX - Hailey's
09-25 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
09-27 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - Ground Zero (University of Southern California)
09-29 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine
09-30 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
10-01 Seattle, WA - Neumo's (KEXP Seattle's John In The Morning At Night Benefit)

M83: http://www.ilovem83.com/

The Darkness Going to Hell on New Album

According to the NME, the album's lead single, "One Way Ticket", will be released in the UK on November 14, followed by the album two weeks later on November 28. The track titles seem pretty straightforward, except for "Dinner Lady Arms". We can't figure out what that means, but I'll be damned if "Knockers" ain't about boobs. ***EDITOR'S NOTE: Several Pitchfork readers have written in to inform us that "dinner lady" means "lunch lady" in British. So I guess that song is about somebody with arms like a lunch lady. Gross.*** Other tracks include "Hazel Eyes" (an answer song to Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes", perhaps?) and "Girlfriend", which is probably about-- you guessed it!--somebody's girlfriend. Isn't speculation grand?

Unfortunately for fans of the band's original lineup, Permission to Land's bassist Frankie Poullain was sacked earlier this year, and he doesn't play a note on the new record (guitarist Dan Hawkins laid down the low end in the studio.) But don't fret, because Hawkins' guitar tech Richey Edwards was recently named the Darkness' new bassist.

>>Tracklist:
01 One Way Ticket
02 Knockers
03 Is It Just Me?
04 Dinner Lady Arms
05 Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
06 Hazel Eyes
07 Bald
08 Girlfriend
09 English Country Garden
10 Blind Man

Meanwhile, frontman Justin Hawkins' solo debut, tentatively titled British Wail, is due several months after the Darkness record. That album is slated to feature "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", a Sparks cover. We hope the "both of us" in this context refers to Hawkins and his penis.

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-07/05.shtml#darkness">The Darkness Replace Bassist, Plan LP

The Darkness: http://www.thedarknessrock.com

Tom Waits Sues Bad Ad Guys, Again

When it comes to inimitable voices, one immediately thinks of Tom Waits, whose ravaged rasp has enabled him to thrive in a musical genre of his own making. While Waits likes nothing more than to lend his coarse voice and handsome mug to favored producers and directors (like Jim Jarmusch and Robert Altman), he neither shills for commercial products nor takes kindly to anyone secretly using his famous inflection, whether it's his very own or that of a soundalike. On September 15, it was widely announced that Waits had filed a suit against the General Motors offshoot Adam Opel AG and the Frankfurt-based advertising firm McCann Erickson Deutschland for violation of the singer's personality rights under German law. He alleges that a Waits impersonator is currently selling cars in Scandinavia, and he won't stand for it.

In a statement to the press, Waits charged with typical wit, "Apparently the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad-- ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor. Currently accepting, in my absence, is my German doppelganger. While the court can't make me active in radio, I am asking it to make me radioactive to advertisers." He added that the commercial was "equivalent to someone sewing an udder on my face."

There is a long legal history involving Waits and those attempting to procure his incomparable songs and persona for ads. In 1988, Frito Lay was the first company to feel the wrath of Waits when the chip giant used a sound-alike for a radio spot. Waits won a lawsuit and found himself 2.6 million richer for his troubles. In 1993, Levi's had to print an apology in Billboard and cease all use of an unauthorized ad that featured Screamin' Jay Hawkins' version of Waits' "Heartattack and Vine". Audi was the next to try its luck with a Waits voice clone, after getting turned down with their request to use his "Innocent When You Dream" in a 2000 Spanish advert. This resulted in a judgment declaring copyright infringement, violation of moral rights, and more coin in the singer's pocket.You'd think people would have learned not to fuck with this guy by now, but apparently not.

In less litigious Tom Waits news, the elusive singer made an appearance at a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Tuesday. "I wish New Orleans was dry and Washington was underwater," he told the crowd. Waits' label, Anti-, confirmed to Pitchfork that a rarities box set, tentatively titled Orphans, is in the works. There's no more info right now, but we'll keep you updated. In the meantime, take heed the next time you're belting out "16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-Six" at your fave karaoke spot and your friends stuff a couple dollars down your shirt, ‘cause if Tom Waits finds out, he WILL sue that ass.

Tom Waits: http://www.tomwaits.com

Stoner Rockers Taking Over San Francisco Today

A huge consortium of musicians, including members of Six Organs of Admittance, the Fucking Champs, Neurosis, Sleep, Coachwhips, Comets on Fire and Tribe 8, have gathered in the Bay Area for The Rambler 12-Hour Composition starting at 6 a.m. Pacific time this morning; they will end, naturally, at 6pm. They are banging and strumming drums, bass, electric and acoustic guitar, electric sitar, harp, cello, and more, performing a composition entitled "Universe".

The piece (a sequence of 20-minute segments) speeds up as it progresses toward noon and then slows down again as the day wanes. It was composed by guitarist/drummer Tina Gordon, formerly of Lost Goat and currently of the AC/DC cover band AC/DShe, and is intended to "create a dialogue between light and sound on a sonic voyage," according to a press release. Duuuude. Appropriately enough, the event is sponsored by StonerRock.com. The titular Rambler is "a mobile soundstage and custom music environment" on which the whole shebang will take place, moving across the city from east (Warm Water Cove at sunrise) to west (Ocean Beach at sunset). If you aren't sold yet, allow us to point out that today is the autumnal equinox. What else could you ask for, besides an eighth?

The Rambler's website lists about three dozen performers, who we assume will tag in and out over the course of the day, unless somebody drank a case of Red Bull last night. It sounds like more happenings are in the works; that same website says the event will "christen The Rambler as a traveling music venue and vessel of infinite possibility". But if you're in San Francisco or its environs, you still have plenty of time to catch this one. The organizers have laid out the event's route on their site with little maps and everything, so no matter what time of day it is, you can just retrace their steps and look for...well, you'll probably know it when you see it. Or you can follow the weed smell.

The Rambler: http://www.therambler.org
StonerRock.com: http://www.stonerrock.com

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