Preliminary SXSW Lineup Revealed

Next year’s South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW if you're cool) will take place March 15 - 19, and will feature a shitload of amazing artists, as usual. Though the list of acts remains partial at this point in time, Belle and Sebastian, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Neko Case, Annie, the Go! Team, Lady Sovereign, Arctic Monkeys, Cat Power, and many, many more, were confirmed today.

The 2006 SXSW lineup so far (read it and weep):

The Adored, Annie, Arctic Monkeys, Belle and Sebastian, The BellRays, Be Your Own Pet, Blockhead, The Boy Least Likely To, The Brokedown, Calexico, Neko Case, Cat Power, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clor, Jason Collett, The Cribs, Cuff the Duke, Jamie Cullum, Dashboard Confessional, Death In Vegas, Death Vessel, Dengue Fever, Destroyer, Die! Die! Die!, Dirty Pretty Things, Jorge Drexler, Dr. Spock, The Duke Spirit, The Earlies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Editors, The Eighteenth Day Of May, Elbow, Empire Dogs, Erase Errata, Faker, Flogging Molly, Forward Russia, Giant Sand, Gogol Bordello, Jose Gonzalez, The Go! Team, Headphones, The Hellacopters, Clarence Frogman Henry, The Juan Maclean, Kaki King, Kalas, k-os, Sharron Kraus & Christian Kiefer, Lady Sovereign, The Like, Los De Abajo, Luminous Orange, Barbara Lynn, The Magic Numbers, Magnolia Electric Company, Serena Maneesh, Mates of State, The Morning After Girls, The Most Serene Republic, Mystery Jets, My Summer as a Salvation Soldier, Neon Blonde, Nickel Creek, No things, Of Montreal, Beth Orton, Peaches, The Plimsouls, Robert Pollard, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Saves the Day, The Secret Machines, Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, Tarantula A.D., Susan Tedeschi, Towers of London, KT Tunstall, Two Gallants, Tom Verlaine, Vetiver, The Whigs, Witch, Wolfmother.

In addition to this huge chunk of sound, SXSW is once again packed with panels and artist interviews. Panel highlights include "New Orleans Music After Katrina", "Podcasts Invade Earth", and something called "Superpowers of Music Supervision", which sounds like it could be about copy protection software, really overbearing parents, or the government monitoring your Last.FM playlist. Also scheduled are a keynote conversation with Neil Young, interviews with kd lang, Sam Moore, and the Pretenders, and speeches by Judy Collins, Billy Bragg, Kris Krisofferson. As well as impromptu nightly street performances by coked-up major label A&R guys.

Sounds like a party!

South by Southwest: http://2006.sxsw.com/

New Pixies Live Album Available on eMusic

Hey features twenty-eight tracks hand-picked by the band, culled from their mega-reunion tour that has taken place over the course of the last two years. We know you're tapping your foot in anticipation for the tracklist so you can see if "your" reunion show made the cut. Good luck:

>>Disc One:

01 Planet of Sound (Manchester, England - 8/30/2005)
02 Debaser (Norfolk, VA - 12/6/2004)
03 Gouge Away (New York, NY - 12/16/2004)
04 Ed Is Dead (Washington, DC - 6/13/2005)
05 Bone Machine (Cleveland, OH - 6/8/2005)
06 No. 13 Baby (Leeds, England - 8/27/2005)
07 Holiday Song (Raleigh, NC - 6/12/2005)
08 I Bleed (London, England - 6/2/2004)
09 Is She Weird? (Leeds, England - 8/27/2005)
10 Caribou (New York, NY - 12/12/2004)
11 Crackity Jones (Norfolk, VA - 12/6/2004)
12 Something Against You (Washington, DC - 12/7/2004)
13 Into the White (Raleigh, NC - 6/12/2005)
14 Dead (New York, NY - 12/11/2005)

>>Disc Two:

01 La La Love You (Los Angeles, CA - 6/2/2005)
02 Cactus (Edinburgh, Scotland - 8/28/2005)
03 Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) (Indianapolis, IN - 6/7/2005)
04 Mr. Grieves (Indianapolis, IN - 6/7/2005)
05 Nimrod's Son (Washington, DC - 12/8/2004)
06 Subbaculthcha (Leeds, England - 8/27/2005)
07 Monkey Gone to Heaven (Denver, CO - 6/5/2005)
08 Velouria (Toronto, Ontario - 7/9/2005)
09 Wave of Mutilation (San Francisco, CA - 5/30/2005)
10 U-Mass (Boston, MA - 12/9/2004)
11 Here Comes Your Man (Newport, RI - 8/6/2005)
12 Hey (Dublin, Ireland - 8/23/2005)
13 Vamos (Washington, DC - 12/7/2004)
14 Gigantic (Norfolk, VA - 12/6/2004)

Pixies (unofficial): http://www.pixiesmusic.com/
4AD: http://www.4ad.com/
eMusic: http://www.emusic.com/

The Wrens Plan US/UK Tour, New Single

Now, on to the new news. The Wrens have added a seemingly random string of tour dates to their itinerary, stretching from January (New York, Evanston, Illinois) to March (the UK). How worldly! Because they're older than us, we trust that the Wrens know what they're doing.

Indie 500:

12-16 Seattle, WA - Neumos *#
12-17 Seattle, WA - Neumos *$
01-13 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom %&
01-14 Philadelphia, PA - North Star Bar &
02-10 Evanston, IL - Norris University Center at Northwestern University
02-28 Nottingham, England - Rock City &
03-01 Birmingham, England - Bar Academy &
03-02 Hull, England - Adelphi &
03-03 Aberdeen, Scotland - Moshulu &
03-04 London, England - ULU &

* with Okkervil River,
# with Pretty Girls Make Graves, the Purrs
$ with Harvey Danger, Mark Gardener, the Divorce
% The Onion's War on Christmas Party with Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Mirman, MC Chris, the Pontani Sisters
& with the Favours

For those lucky ducks living in the UK, a new Wrens single, "Faster Gun", is due February 27 on Lo-Max Records. The label promises "exclusive b-sides". Ooh, new Wrens music! We're stoked!

The Wrens: http://wrens.com/
Absolutely Kosher: http://www.absolutelykosher.com/
Lo-Max: http://www.lomaxrecords.com//

Vitalic's OK Cowboy Coming to America

February 21, boys and girls, will see the much-anticipated U.S. release of OK Cowboy, via the good folks at Citizen/Uncivilized World. It bears the same fabulous tracklist as its Old World cousin-- why mess with a good thing? Saddle up:

01 Polkamatic
02 Poney Part 1
03 My Friend Dario
04 Wooo
05 La Rock 01
06 The Past
07 No Fun
08 Poney Part 2
09 Repair Machines
10 Newman
11 Trahison
12 U and I
13 Valletta Fanfares

An American tour in March is in the works. For now, Vitalic is keeping busy jet-setting across Europe, with a stint on the Australian Big Day Out tour scheduled for late January / early February. Yee-haw:

12-15 Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Rockhal
12-16 Lille, France - L'Aéronef
12-21 London, England - Nag Nag Nag
01-22 Gold Coast, Australia - Parklands *
01-26 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Showground *
01-29 Melbourne, Australia - Princes Park *
02-03 Adelaide, Australia - Royal Adelaide Showground *
02-05 Perth, Australia - Claremont Showgrounds *

* Big Day Out with the White Stripes, Iggy & the Stooges, Franz Ferdinand, the Mars Volta, Soulwax, Henry Rollins, Sleater-Kinney, the Go! Team, many more

Vitalic: http://www.vitalic.org/

The Smiths' Marr and Rourke to Reunite

Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has been recruited by former bass foil Andy Rourke for tbe "Manchester Vs Cancer" which will take place at the Manchester Evening News Arena on January 28. The event is being hailed by the organizers and the hospital as the biggest-ever charity fundraising concert staged in Manchester. Other confirmed performers include the New Order, Badly Drawn Boy, Doves, Mani (ex-Stone Roses and current Primal Scream bassist), and Stephen Fretwell. Oh Manchester, so much to answer for!

NME.com reports that Marr enthusiastically supports the cause and his old friend's efforts. Speaking of the event, Marr said, "Andy and I go back a long way, since our school days. We have been hanging out and seeing each other and he told me about this project. I literally applauded him and said I wanted to get involved with it if he needed any help. It's a privilege to be part of it as I am aware of the work that Christie does."

The Christie is Europe's largest cancer treatment and research centre. Spurred on by the news that both his manager's sister and father were recently diagnosed with cancer, Rourke took it upon himself to organize the event and to make a few calls to his famous friends. In a press statement for the event, Rourke explained his involvement: "It will bring together people and bands that have made Manchester famous. It will be huge and the idea is that this will be the start of an annual event to raise money for charity whether it is helping cancer or arthritis. It will be bigger and bigger each year, the highlight of the musical calendar."

Marr added, "It's not the easiest thing getting something like this together because it needs to be done on a fairly big scale to have any significance, so I think Andy is really brave. But who would refuse his offer to get involved? I mean, who could refuse it? You can't unless you are out of the country on tour. I made sure I was around and I'm looking forward to it-- it will be a good night."

Hmm, who could refuse it indeed? Pitchfork can think of one semi-reclusive, allegedly celibate, highly erudite romantic sunning himself poolside in LA who may skip the night. Because an appearance by Ian Curtis is more likely than one by Morrissey.

Manchester v Cancer: http://www.manchestervcancer.co.uk/
Christie Hospital NHS Trust: http://www.christie.nhs.uk/PressRelease/2005/091205.htm

Ex-Blur Guitarist Graham Coxon Preps New Solo Album

Love Travels will follow up Coxon's well-received 2004 opus Happiness in Magazines, and will be heralded February 27 by the single "Standing On My Own Again". Perhaps Love will be good enough to win Coxon a "Grahamy", thereby ending our search for the most god-awful pun ever.

Graham will pack his trusty guitar, boyish good looks, and bushels of swag for two January gigs, followed by a slew of March headlining dates and a sold-out April tour with NME poster-boys Kaiser Chiefs and Pitchfork-approved crazies Polysics. Also, according to blog rumours, Damon Albarn will propose to Coxon onstage at the Hammersmith. JK LOL:

01-16 York, England - Fibbers
01-17 Cardiff, Wales - Barfly
03-20 Newcastle, England - Newcastle University
03-21 Liverpool, England - Carling Academy
03-22 Glasgow, Scotland - The Garage
03-23 Edinburgh, Scotland - Liquid Room
03-25 Leeds, England - The Cockpit
03-26 Norwich, England - Waterfront
03-27 Leicester, England - Leicester University
03-28 Manchester, England - Ritz Ballroom
03-30 Cambridge, England - The Junction
03-31 Oxford, England - Zodiac
04-01 Nottingham, England - Marcus Garvey Centre
04-02 Bristol, England - Bierkeller
04-04 Brighton, England - Concorde
04-05 London, England - Hammersmith Palais
04-19 Glasgow, Scotland - SECC *
04-21 London, England - Alexandra Palace *
04-24 Plymouth, England - Plymouth Pavilions *
04-25 Brighton, England - Conference Centre *
04-26 Birmingham, England - National Indoor Arena (NIA) *
04-29 Leeds, England - Millennium Square *

* with Kaiser Chiefs, Polysics

If music just isn't your thing-- and lord knows what you're doing here-- Graham also serves up art of the visual variety on his website, including limited edition prints of his artwork for Blur's 13 and his own Happiness in Magazines, as well as the requisite abstract nudie pics.

Graham Coxon: http://www.grahamcoxon.co.uk/
Abstract Nudie Pics: http://www.grahamcoxonart.com/

Arctic Monkeys Reveal Debut Album Tracklist

Rule #1: Arctic Monkeys, who are not behind the upcoming record Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (not due out on Domino on January 30 in the UK and Februrary 21 in the US), are not responsible for the recently announced tracklist you see below:

01 The View From the Afternoon
02 I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
03 Fake Tales of San Francisco
04 Dancing Shoes
05 You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Looking Straight at Me
06 Still Take You Home
07 Riot Van
08 Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured
09 Mardy Bum
10 Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But...
11 When the Sun Goes Down
12 From Ritz to the Rubble
13 A Certain Romance

Rule #2: As previously reported, Arctic Monkeys cannot be held accountable for the release of their upcoming single, "When the Sun Goes Down", which is not available on both CD and 7" in the UK January 16 and the US January 24.

Rule #3: Arctic Monkeys are not playing the ShockWaves NME Awards Tour 2006 with Maxïmo Park, Mystery Jets, and We Are Scientists. If they were, however, the schedule would look like this:

01-24 Dublin, Ireland - Ambassador
01-25 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Ulster Hall
01-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
01-28 Edinburgh, Scotland - Corn Exchange
01-29 Newcastle, England - Academy
01-31 Nottingham, England - Rock City
02-01 Leeds, England - Leeds University
02-02 Liverpool, England - Liverpool University
02-04 Manchester, England - Academy
02-05 Manchester, England - Academy
02-07 Sheffield, England - Octagon
02-08 Birmingham, England - Academy
02-09 Norwich, England - UEA
02-11 Cardiff, Wales - Great Hall
02-12 Cambridge, England - Corn Exchange
02-13 Bristol, England - Academy
02-15 Portsmouth, England - Guildhall
02-16 Brighton, England - Dome
02-17 London, England - Brixton Academy

Arctic Monkeys: http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/
Domino: http://www.dominorecordco.us/

Sam Coomes Talks New Quasi Record

Nope, the male/female guitar/drums duo that makes up Quasi is only responsible for When the Going Gets Dark, a new album due out via Touch & Go on March 21. In order to get the full scoop and keep the White Stripes comparison filler to a minimum, Pitchfork spoke with Coomes last week regarding the new album, tour plans, and side projects.

"I suppose it's not going to be earth-shattering," Coomes said of When the Going Gets Dark. "Originally I was calling it ‘neoclassicism'-- not like Mozart classicism, but classic rock, or even jazz or reggae-- all the records that are sort of band-oriented, you know, drums and bass and guitar and piano... before all kinds of fancy production and electronics and shit like that started kind of dictating the sounds of records. We didn't stick entirely to that in the end, but it's more like that-- just sort of guitar, drums, bass, singin'-- simple instrumentation."

Hey, take out the word "bass", and that sure sounds like the words of a certain candy cane child.

COomes said that the duo recorded as if they were a quartet, with drums, guitar, piano, and bass making up the majority of the improvisation-based record. Coomes commented, "It still sounds like Quasi, but I feel like we're branching out a little bit."

When the Going Gets Dark was recorded with Steven Wray Lobdell (Davis Redford Triad, Faust) in his Portland studio and sent off for Dave Fridmann's mixing treatment. "It was getting out of hand," Coomes said, "so [Dave] helped us out-- sprinkled a little pixie dust on it and it sounds pretty good." Think happy thoughts!

At this point in time, the album is complete aside from the finalized artwork. The tracklist is as follows:

01 Alice the Goon
02 The Rhino
03 When the Going Gets Dark
04 I Don't Know You Anymore
05 Peace and Love
06 Beyond the Sky
07 Presto Change-o
08 Poverty Sucks
09 Merry X-Mas
10 Death Culture Blues
11 Invisible Star

Quasi has two shows scheduled for the end of this month, both with Stephen Malkmus and Weiss' "side project", Sleater-Kinney, with plans to make full touring rounds closer to the album's release. The little drummer girl won't get much of a break between pa rum pum pum pums because, as previously reported, S-K kick off a series of Big Day Out performances in Australia come January. At least it's summer over there... hot shit!

Coomes' side project, Pink Mountain (no, we didn't forget the "tops"), has been bustling as well, with an album slated for release on Frenetic Records... sometime. He explained, "I think Frenetic's trying to get a new distribution thing happening, so it's a little bit up in the air, but it's kind of done and in the can, so when they get together, they'll just be able to roll on it." Coomes described the album as "a prog rock psychedelic improv record of some sort." Honestly, we can't say we're all that surprised.

Quasi dates:

12-29 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
12-30 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *

* with Sleater-Kinney, Steven Malkmus & the Jicks

Sleater-Kinney dates:

12-29 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
12f30 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
01-19 Auckland, New Zealand - Kings Arms
01-20 Auckland, New Zealand - Ericcson Stadium (Big Day Out) #
01-22 Gold Coast, Australia - Parkland (Big Day Out) #
01-26 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Showground (Big Day Out) #
01-27 Sydney, Australia - Gaelic Club
01-29 Melbourne, Australia - Princes Park (Big Day Out) #
02-02 Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
02-03 Adelaide, Australia - Royal Adelaide Showground (Big Day Out) #
02-05 Perth, Australia - Claremont Showgrounds (Big Day Out) #
05-20 East Sussex, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties) &

* with Quasi, Steven Malkmus & the Jicks
# Big Day Out with Franz Ferdinand, the White Stripes, the Stooges, etc.
& with David Cross, the Gossip

Quasi: http://www.theequasi.com/
Sleater-Kinney: http://www.sleater-kinney.com/
Touch & Go Records: http://www.tgrec.com/
Frenetic Records: http://www.freneticrecords.com/

Supergrass Plan North American Tour

But there comes a time in every Britpop band's life when, as they say, "it all gets too much." That's when you hire a string section to record a wintry, introspective album like Road to Rouen, garnering adjectives like "mature" and "intimate." Then you embark on a short tour of small North American venues. Supergrass knows how it's done:

02-06 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
02-07 Montreal, Quebec - La Tulipe
02-09 New York, NY - Webster Hall
02-010 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
02-11 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
02-12 Washington, DC - 9.30 Club
02-14 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
02-15 Nashville, TN - City Hall
02-16 Atlanta, GA - The Loft
02-18 Dallas, TX - Trees
02-19 Austin, TX - Parish
02-21 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
02-22 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
02-23 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
02-25 Seattle, WA - The Showbox
02-26 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom

Supergrass: http://www.supergrass.com/
Official fan site: http://www.secretworldofdave.btinternet.co.uk/supergrass/

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