Joan of Arc Ready New Album, Tour
Finally complete tribute to Bee Gees, My Bloody Valentine

We here at Pitchfork dropped the news back in November that progressive emo quintet Joan of Arc's new album So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness-- their first studio album in three years -- is set for release on February 4th through Jade Tree Records. According to the Jade Tree website, this new album is a "career culmination of [the band's] musical meanderings and genius in a concise, focused, and mature realization." That's fantastic. But more importantly, was the band influenced by their time spent contributing vocals to rapper Trick Daddy's 2002 release, www.thug.com? I don't see a cover of Trick Daddy's "Suckin' Fuckin'" on the tracklist, so I'm guessing no. Here's the previously reported tracklist, again, in case you're scoring at home:

01 On a Bedsheet in the Breeze on the Roof
02 The Infinite Blessed Yes
03 Perfect Need and Perfect Completion
04 Olivia Lost
05 Diane Cool and Beautiful
06 Participation Billy
07 Mean to March
08 Hello Goodnight Good Morning Goodbye
09 Dead Together
10 Madelleine Laughing
11 Staying Alive and Loveless

In other news, the movers have loaded up the equipment onto the tour van and now Tim Kinsella & Co. are set to bring their "You Bet Tour '03" to a venue near you. Tour dates:

02-26 St. Louis, MO - Rocket Bar
02-28 Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater (w/ Rainer Maria, Mates of State)
03-01 Austin, TX - Emo's
03-03 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
03-04 San Diego, CA - Casbah (w/ Hella)
03-05 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland (w/ Hella)
03-06 Los Angeles, CA - The Smell (w/ Hella)
03-07 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill (w/ Hella, Ping)
03-08 Sacramento, CA - Capitol Garage (w/ Hella)
03-09 Bellingham, WA - Western Washington Univ
03-10 Portland, OR - The Blackbird
03-11 Seattle, WA - Graceland
03-14 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
03-15 Chicago, IL - Fireside Bowl (w/ The Love of Everything)
03-16 Milwaukee, WI - The Globe
03-19 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop (w/ The Love of Everything)
03-20 Rochester, NY - Milestones (w/ The Love of Everything)
03-22 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge (w/ The Love of Everything)
03-23 Brooklyn, NY - Club Luxx (w/ The Love of Everything)
03-26 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church (w/ Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Love of Everything)
03-27 Alfred, NY - Powell Knight Club (w/ The Love of Everything)
03-28 Bowling Green, OH - Howards Club H (w/ The Love of Everything)

Pitchfork Review: Joan of Arc: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/j/joan-of-arc/gap.shtml
Pitchfork Review: Joan of Arc: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/j/joan-of-arc/live-in-chicago-1999.shtml
Jade Tree: http://www.jadetree.com

Crooked Fingers, Spoon To Be Featured on Merge Records Comp Due in February
Alternate mix? I'm so fucking there!

The money grubbing folks over at Merge Records have this crazy idea in their head that if you, the unsuspecting indie-rock loving consumer, buy their new compilation CD you may want to hear more music from the likes of M. Ward, the Buzzcocks, and Destroyer. While this sounds like a consciousness-raising endeavor, don't be fooled! All these bands fall under the Merge aegis; it's really just a chance for Merge Records to sell more records, promote their stable, and just perhaps, make more money! Capitalism, we salute you. USA! USA!

Still, is there anything wrong with hearing previously unreleased music from Portastatic, Superchunk and Crooked Fingers? That's a decision that you and your higher power need to arrive at before February 18, the shelf date for Survive and Advance, Volume 2, Merge Records' latest attempt to separate you from your money. (We kid, by the way, please no nasty emails regarding our friends at Merge.) Following in the tradition of other Merge compilations such as MRG100, Rows of Teeth, and Knitting On The Roof, Survive and Advance, Volume 2 shines the spotlight on a handful of luminaries from the Chapel Hill stable. Their musical pimphand is strong. Don't believe us? Check out the tracklist:

01 Shark Quest - La La (previously unreleased)
02 M. Ward - Radio Campaign (previously unreleased)
03 The Clean - Drawing to A Whole (from the album Anthology)
04 Lambchop - The Gusher (live, previously unreleased)
05 Buzzcocks - Friends (from the untitled album)
06 The Clientele - Fear Of Falling (b-side from the "Haunted Melody" 7")
07 Crooked Fingers - Red Devil Dawn (previously unreleased version)
08 Spoon - Don't Let It Get You Down (alternate mix, previously unreleased)
09 Annie Hayden - Starring In The Movies (previously unreleased)
10 Portastatic - Gray Robbins (previously unreleased)
11 East River Pipe - Hey, Ma, What's The Point? (previously unreleased)
12 Destroyer - Don't Become The Thing You Hated (previously unreleased)
13 Pram - The Pawnbroker (from the album Dark Island)
14 Matt Suggs - Tehachapi Girl (previously unreleased)
15 Superchunk - Anything Could Happen (previously unreleased)

Amazingly, Merge is offering the album for the unheard price of $6.98. If my TI calculator with the red LED readout is working right, that works out to a mere 46 cents a song! Which is only 46 cents more than if you downloaded it off the internet for free... but perhaps we've said too much. Go buy the damn album, already!

While we're busy shilling for Merge, we might as well take the time to note that some of these bands are hitting the road. Cram this additional info into your brain. Tour dates:

Crooked Fingers:
02-11 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
02-12 Victoria, BC - Thursdays 02-13 Vancouver, BC - Picadilly Pub
02-14 TBA
02-15 Portland, OR - Blackbird
02-16 Eugene, OR - Sam Bonds Garage
02-19 San Francisco, CA - Cafe' Du Nord (w/ John Doe)
02-20 TBA
02-21 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
02-22 Sacramento, CA - Capitol Garage

Portastatic:
02-26 Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave
03-05 Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave
03-12 Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave
03-22 Chapel Hill, NC - The Cave

M. Ward:
02-27 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord (Noisepop Festival)
03-01 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
03-02 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music (w/ John Doe Trio)

Pitchfork Review: Crooked Fingers: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/c/crooked-fingers/reservoir-songs.shtml
Pitchfork Review: Spoon: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/spoon/kill-the-moonlight.shtml
Merge Records: http://mergerecords.com/

Ryan Adams, Oasis Do Each Other
Horrifying spawn born with mammoth eyebrows, denim addiction

Ryan Adams, a man whose long list of famous friends and infamous enemies (whether real or imagined) has overshadowed-and, more recently, outshone-his music, can now add Oasis' Noel Gallagher to his growing list of admirers/drinking buddies/bloated celebrities. As New Musical Express reports, the appearance of a stripped-down solo acoustic guitar version of "Wonderwall" in Ryan Adams' recent tour of the U.K. caught the fancy of the elder, uglier Gallagher. Adams' version impressed Noel enough to prompt him to gather Oasis at a London studio to record an updated, Adams-inspired version of the popular sing-along song that ranks just behind Oasis' inclusion in the VH-1 Behind the Music series as the band's finest moment to date (musical or otherwise). A noted concert junkie on both sides of the Atlantic, Noel, in his usual incoherent and blustery mutter, has openly acknowledged his admiration for Adam's version: "Ahnevaguh muh ed roon thassong…” – aw, screw it, here’s the English translation: “I never got my head 'round this song until I went to see Ryan Adams play and he did an amazing cover of it. So now I'm going to cover one of my own songs in the style of Ryan Adams." How Noel could praise Adams' rather plaintive and unoriginal (okay, sucky) version, while overlooking Cat Power/Chan Marshall's haunting version of "Wonderwall" for BBC Radio from 2000, is inexplicable. Actually, it makes a whole lot of sense.

In addition to wanting to secretly be Ryan Adams (a younger, drunker, more arrogant, fitter, happier, more productive version of himself), the decision to sing the new version of "Wonderwall" himself is part of the larger process of an Oasis renaissance taking place solely in Noel Gallagher's own thick skull. According to an "insider's" remarks to NME: "Since he saw Ryan Adams playing his song in a completely different way, it's rejuvenated his interest in it. It's given Noel a way to make it his own again." Yes, nothing reclaims a song for its author like ripping off someone else’s arrangement. The as yet unreleased (new) "Wonderwall," is all the more significant given Noel's limited singing/garbling abilities, which was the occasion for Oasis' third finest moment in which the elder Gallagher sang uncomfortably for MTV's Unplugged as petulant Liam did his best to sabotage the performance, from the audience.

For 2003 Oasis will do their best to rejuvenate the mania that once made the Gallagher brothers the poster boys of Engerland’s rock and roll fantasies with the release of their latest single, "Songbird," off the universally panned and commercially forgotten Heathen Chemistry album. "Songbird" has the dubious distinction of being the first Oasis single penned by Liam.

Meanwhile, Ryan Adams’ 2003 resolutions include looking for new feuds, drinking buddies, and celebrity hookups. On March 25th, Lost Highway will release Adams' blatant attempt to be invited to the Matt Groening-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties, Love Is Hell, a full studio album produced by Scott Litt. Litt is best known for his work with R.E.M. and for incurring the wrath of Steve Albini and his legion by re-mixing two "radio friendly, unit shifting" tracks for Nirvana's In Utero. As also reported on NME, following the obligatory press schedule for Love Is Hell, Adams will head to London to begin recording a new album at Abbey Road Studios with the on Doves on board to serve as his backing band. Then he’ll pick a fight with, oh say, the Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmidt. You had it comin’, Schmidt!

Pitchfork Review: Ryan Adams: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/adams_ryan/demolition.shtml
Pitchfork Review: Ryan Adams: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/adams_ryan/gold.shtml
Pitchfork Review: Oasis: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/o/oasis/heathen-chemistry.shtml

The Anniversary Take Their Show on the Road
Warning: live show may involve knitting

The Anniversary, victim of the emo by association bug, are taking their "enjoyable live show" on the road this winter. The band, whose music is actually more of a pop history amalgam, is still touring off their latest album Your Majesty, which was released a year ago. So, let's see, The Anniversary are touring to celebrate the anniversary of their last disc. The band has announced six Midwest dates so far with more to come. Alt-country rock band Grand Champeen and TK Webb are scheduled to open.

01-30 Ames, IA - The Maintenance Room
01-31 Minneapolis, MN - The Ascot Room
02-01 Chicago, IL - The Metro
02-02 Detroit, MI - Shelter
02-03 Toledo, OH - Frankie's
02-04 St. Louis, MS - Gargoyle Club

While the band is expected to befuddle their audience with new material in amongst the old standbys, the band has no set plans to return to the studio at this time. No, my friend, bandmembers are too involved in trivial activities such as bowling, dogsitting, waffle making, and buying radios to lay some track, while keyboardist/vocalist/Get Up Kid first lady/mother figure Adrienne Pope is tending to issues within the band. But never fear, Anniversary completists, as interesting band-related side projects like Fruitpie the Magician, Lava Lamp & The Blacklights, and BlackBear are all in the works, either as bands or children’s books…we’re not quite sure.

Pitchfork Review: The Anniversary: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/anniversary/your-majesty.shtml
Pitchfork Review: The Anniversary: http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/anniversary/designing-a-nervous-breakdown.shtml
The Anniversary: http://www.anniversaryrock.com/main.html

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