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Wilco, MMJ, Decemberists Get out the Vote

Since 2004, a group called HeadCount has set up voter registration tables at concerts by the likes of Dave Matthews Band, the Allman Brothers Band, and members of the Grateful Dead and Phish. But voter registration ain't just for jam band fans. Recently, HeadCount has partnered with My Morning Jacket, Wilco, and Colin Meloy and the Decemberists.

These new collaborations are in service of HeadCount's goal for this election year, which is to register 100,000 voters at 1,000 concerts. No matter the genre content of those shows, you've got to admit it's an admirable goal, and it's an effort in which anyone can participate just by seeing one of the aforementioned bands live.

So keep a lookout for HeadCount at shows by the aforementioned bands throughout year, especially if you're not yet registered to vote. Also know that HeadCount tables will be at plenty of big festivals this year, including Bonnaroo, Virgin, and Farm Aid.

Posted by Dave Maher in politics on Fri: 05-09-08: 04:40 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Kweli, YACHT, Black Angels Provide Noise for Needy

Seattle's Noise for the Needy festival will pump the decibels for charity at venues across the city from June 11-15. Among the artists performing are Talib Kweli, YACHT, the Black Angels, Matt & Kim, Two Gallants, Grayskul, Math and Physics Club, BOAT, the Warlocks, and Gabriel Teodros.

Proceeds from this year's Noise for the Needy go to Urban Rest Stop, "an organization that provides a clean, safe, and welcoming facility where individuals and families can come and use restrooms, shower, and laundry facilities in Seattle at no cost to patrons," according to a press release.

A month-early Noise for the Needy kick-off event will take place at Seattle's Triple Door on May 14. At that show, writer and performer David Schmader will host an annotated screening of Showgirls, a funny little undertaking about which you can read here.

Posted by Dave Maher in benefit, festival on Fri: 05-09-08: 04:25 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Philip Jeck Preps Sand LP, Plans Live Engagements

It's a busy May for sound manipulator and vinyl installation artist Philip Jeck. He'll release his fifth solo album for Touch on May 13, and it's his grittiest record yet. Actually, we can't guarantee that, but it is called Sand, so that's got to count for something, right?

Either way, the rest of Jeck's May and early June finds him playing live dates scattered between the UK and Australia. Cue the "Fanfares"! [MORE...]

MP3: Philip Jeck: Fanfares [from the forthcoming Sand LP]

Posted by Dave Maher in album, tour on Fri: 05-09-08: 04:10 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Photos: YACHT / Mount Eerie [Bergen, Norway; 05/07/08]
YACHT's overseas voyage extended

Photos by Eirik Lande

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more disparate pairing among indie hit-makers, but soft-spoken existential folkie Phil Elverum (as Mount Eerie) and hyperactive, interactive Portland party-starters YACHT nonetheless shared a stage at Bergen, Norway's Hulen Wednesday night.

Phil, fresh off the superdeluxe reissue of the Microphones' seminal The Glow, Pt. 2 LP and all set to share Mount Eerie's Black Wooden Ceiling Opening this month and D+'s On Purpose collection the next, continues touring Europe with some slightly more like-minded acts through early June.

YACHT's Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans, meanwhile, spend another week docked in Europe before sailing home for a few shows. Then it's back across the Atlantic for a whole bunch of recently-minted UK gigs and festival spots.

YACHT

Mount Eerie

[MORE...]

Posted by Pitchfork Staff in tour, photos on Fri: 05-09-08: 03:40 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Jarvis Begins to Commence to Start LP, Adds Shows

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Dapper fellow Jarvis Cocker is working on a follow-up to his solo debut, 2006's Jarvis. But he isn't exactly chomping at the bit to get it out there. As he recently told NME, he's got "vague ideas" about the record, which he'd ideally like to do "before the end of the year." (Jarvis' label, Rough Trade, confirms that it will probably be 2009 before we hear a new album from him.)

Mr. Cocker also laid a pair of possible song titles on NME: "The Usual" and "Girls Like It Too", the latter of which is apparently about male perceptions of female libido. Visions of hair metal tunes are dancing in my head, but if anybody can tackle that one tastefully, it'd be this gentleman right here.

Jarvis, as you know, joins Animal Collective, the Hold Steady, and all your other fave raves at this summer's Pitchfork Music Festival. But the Jarvster isn't about to let a trip to the colonies begin and end with the Second City, so he's lined up a pair of New York dates following his stint in Union Park.

Your next chance to see Jarvis in action is May 23, when he gives that very intriguing songwriting lecture as part of the Brighton Festival. [MORE...]

MP3: Jarvis Cocker: Playmates (story)

Posted by Paul Thompson in album, tour on Fri: 05-09-08: 02:40 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Finland's Lau Nau Shares Sophomore Set

Said to be heavily informed by her recent experiences as both a new mother and a transplant to a truly remote part of her native Finland, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lau Nau's sophomore set, Nukkuu, is due May 13 on CD and vinyl from Locust Music.

To celebrate the follow-up to 2005's well-received Kuutarha LP, Nau plans to tour extensively. At present, however, she's only got one tour date to her name: a stop at the Ugglan Festival in Stockholm, Sweden on May 15.

For a fun time, turn to one of your co-workers and attempt to read the tracklist below out loud. [MORE...]

Video: Lau Nau: Painovoimaa, Valoa [from the forthcoming Nukkuu LP]

Posted by Paul Thompson in album, tour on Fri: 05-09-08: 02:35 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Oxford Collapse Craft New Single, EP, Double LP, Tour

For a while there, a couple years ago, it seemed like Oxford Collapse were putting out records on an almost monthly basis. Lucky for us, they were all pretty good, and lucky for them, after a period of extreme prolificacy, the Brooklyn trio had a little time to unwind.

Apparently, they didn't take it. In between tours and more tours last year and earlier in this one, the band managed to crank out enough material for a single, an EP, and a double album, all due in the next few months. Let's run 'em down, shall we?

First up is the "Spike of Bensonhurst" 7", due May 13 from Flameshovel. Backed with "Bloopers", the record is limited to 500 copies, 100 of which will switch out the usual black vinyl with eye-fondling orange vinyl. Buyers will also note that every purchase of the 7" includes MP3 downloads of its tunes.

Then there's The Hann-Byrd EP, so named in tribute to Little Man Tate himself, actor Adam Hann-Byrd. The five song set comes on 500 12"s and all the digital downloads you can shake a credit card at. It's due June 10 from Comedy Minus One.

As for the double LP, we know precious little about it so far, save the title, the label, and the approximate month of its release. Bits, as it's called, is due in August from Sub Pop.

In the midst of all this, Oxford Collapse have a date in New York over the weekend (opening for the Narrator's final show) and a two-week tour of the States to attend to in June. Word of warning, guys? Don't, you know, collapse. [MORE...]

Stream: Oxford Collapse: Spike of Bensonhurst [from the forthcoming Spike of Bensonhurst 7-inch]

MP3: Oxford Collapse: Amongst Friends [from the forthcomign The Hann-Byrd EP]

Posted by Paul Thompson in single, EP, album, tour on Fri: 05-09-08: 01:35 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Eugene Mirman Spreads Hilarity on Tour

Photo by Josh Bean

Are you ready to rock? It would seem you have clicked on the wrong news story. Are you ready to take in some absurdist comedy from Eugene Mirman, the man with the "fancy, bejeweled penis?" Well, uh, stay ready.

Sub Pop signee Mirman is out on tour as we speak, hitting a few comedy festivals and more than a few rock clubs as he traverses this country of ours. What, no Canada?

Of particular note: a June 5 set in Brooklyn to benefit Gulf Coast rebuilders South Toward Home, and a set at the pre-party for his current label's big 20th anniversary bash in July. [MORE...]

Video: Eugene Mirman: Pot Is Bad

Posted by Paul Thompson in comedy, tour, benefit on Fri: 05-09-08: 01:15 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Spiritualized Expand North American Tour

Photo by Natalie Kardos

The release of Spiritualized's sixth studio record, Songs in A&E, is approaching at warp speed. Thus, J. Spaceman and co. have decided to expand their itinerary with North American dates, starting with their appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival. These new shows take place in the midst of an already sizable world tour, and, in contrast to Spiritualized's previous "Acoustic Mainlines" performances, they feature a full electric band. Given Spiritualized's predilection for thunderous electric performances, we advise securing your internal organs in advance.

Before they arrive on North American shores, Spiritualized have a European tour that begins May 18 in Cambridge, England.

Songs in A&E arrives in the UK on May 26 (Universal/Spaceman) and in the U.S. on May 27 (Fontana International/Spaceman). And remember that iTunes thing we told you about last week? Yeah, it took a little longer than expected, but it's available now. [MORE...]

Video: Spiritualized: Soul on Fire [from the forthcoming Songs in A&E LP]

Posted by Dave Maher in tour on Fri: 05-09-08: 01:00 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Iggy, M.I.A., Jenny Lewis on Pancake Mountain DVD
With Built to Spill, Wayne Coyne, X, Nellie McKay

Have you seen this crazy "Pancake Mountain" show? It is way crazy, dude. A bunch of puppets, a bunch of indie rockers, and a whole mess of kids get together to say and do the darndest things, and even more wackiness ensues from the mixture that you can possibly imagine.

The fifth "Pancake Mountain" DVD-- collecting episodes nine and 10, plus a handful of bonus features-- is out now, and boy howdy, is the lineup of talent impressive.

The DVD features appearances from the likes of Wayne Coyne, M.I.A., Built to Spill, Iggy Pop, Meat Puppets, X, Nellie McKay, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, PSAPP, Scissor Sisters, Northern State and so on. Your next dance party/babysitting gig/drug binge so needs this.

As always, check your local listings to see if there's a "Pancake Mountain" anywhere near your airwaves.

Here's Nellie McKay with "Pancake Mountain"'s Rufus Leaking:

Video: Built to Spill, Jenny Lewis: Live on Pancake Mountain

Video: Wayne Coyne: Live on Pancake Mountain

Posted by Paul Thompson in dvd on Fri: 05-09-08: 12:20 PM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Girl Talk, Cool Kids, Pete Rock, Carl Craig Do Movement
With Peanut Butter Wolf, Richie Hawtin, Newcleus, Egyptian Lover, Moby

The 2008 edition of Movement, Detroit's electronic music festival, is sponsored in part by highway-adjacent restaurant chain Big Boy. And, uh, if there's one thing I don't wanna do after a Santa Fe Stuffed Potato Pancake from Big Boy, it's any kind of movement.

Still, if anyone could coax me out of my food coma, it would have to be the folks who comprise the lineup for this year's Movement. Hometown hero Carl Craig, Girl Talk, the Cool Kids, Pete Rock, Peanut Butter Wolf, Richie Hawtin, fucking Newcleus and Egyptian Lover, Kevin Saunderson, Heartthrob, Deepchord Presents Echospace, Alex Smoke, Cassy, Cobblestone Jazz, Tycho, Josh Wink, Speedy J, Moby, and many more will help you work off those onion rings when they bring the Movement to various stages across Motor City's Hart Plaza hood May 24-26.

Posted by Paul Thompson in festival on Fri: 05-09-08: 11:35 AM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

Coldplay Announce North American Tour

Now that Coldplay have revealed the release details, first song, and cover art for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (which, if their previously pleasant/innocuous musical habits hold, could win an award for most incongruously violent album cover ever), it's time for the band to unveil the live portion of their world domination plan. They've done just that with the announcement of the North American leg of their upcoming world tour (via Billboard.com / Coldplay's website).

Even more dates are yet to be announced, but following that pair of free shows, the tour is scheduled to kick off June 29 in Philly.

Viva la Vida comes out just a week and a half earlier: June 16 via Parlophone in the UK and June 17 via Capitol in the U.S. [MORE...]

MP3: Coldplay: Violet Hill [from the forthcoming Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends LP]

Posted by Dave Maher in tour on Fri: 05-09-08: 11:00 AM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

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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.)

Fri: 05-09-08: 04:40 PM CDT
Wilco, MMJ, Decemberists Get out the Vote