Stream: TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain

Tomorrow, September 12, TV on the Radio's phenomenal latest album Return to Cookie Mountain finally comes out in the U.S. To celebrate, we've got streams of every song on the album (including bonus tracks!), available below for your listening pleasure.

Enjoy!

 

01 I Was a Lover
02 Hours
03 Province
04 Playhouses
05 Wolf Like Me
06 A Method
07 Let the Devil In
08 Dirty Whirl
09 Blues From Down Here
10 Tonight
11 Wash the Day Away

Bonus tracks:

Snakes and Martyrs
Hours (El-P Remix)
Things You Can Do

As an added incentive towards picking up the CD, certain record stores are offering a free TVOTR poster designed by frontman Tunde Adebimpe with purchase. A digital version of the poster is part of the digital booklet that comes with the download of the album as well.

Clipse, Shins, Girl Talk, Thermals Added to CMJ
Also: Tapes 'n Tapes, Magnolia Electric Co., CSS, Beach House, George Clinton

CMJ has announced even more performers for its previously reported fall extravaganza, the CMJ Music Marathon, which kicks off in NYC on October 31 and runs through November 4. Predictably, the additions are pretty incredible, running the gamut from the indie-normous (the Shins) to recent favorites (the Thermals) to the lame (Medeski, Martin and Wood).

But the name that made us don sackcloth and ashes, burn all of our earthly belongings, and weep with joy in thanks, is Clipse. Now that all of our shit's burnt up, we're not quite sure how we're going to get to New York, but we'll find a way.

Unfortunately, the Boy Least Likely To have canceled their appearance at the festival. We're not sure why, but we hope they're not beefing with Clipse. No offense to the British duo, but we're pretty sure Pusha and Malice would win that one.
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Cage Talks New Album, Canceled Tour

It's been just about a year since Chris Palko, aka Cage, released his Def Jux debut, Hell's Winter. Since the record hit stores, he's logged over 80 days on the road, according to his own estimation-- enough to weary even the most steadfast rapper. However, last month, Cage dropped off a tour with friends Gym Class Heroes that was to begin on September 14. (He was replaced on the tour by Def Jux labelmates Hangar 18.) Pitchfork recently had a chance to catch up with the emcee to find out his reasons for the cancellation, as well as some news about his forthcoming record, Depart From Me.

"It was a number of things," said Cage, regarding his decision to stay off the road. "At that point, I was in the middle of a grueling tour. I was just kind of losing it. And the label was like, 'When's the next record coming?' I wasn't getting anything done on the road. I'd come home for a couple of days and then go back out for a straight month."

On top of that, it seems that, financially, it just wasn't worth his while. "I would have had to [pay] out of my own pocket to open up clubs that I had already been selling out. That on top of everything, was just like...I just couldn't do it. It was just asking way too much." He is planning a headlining tour for this coming January, however, so fans will only have to wait a few more months to catch Cage live.

But the wait should be worth it, as he's hard at work on the new LP and may showcase new tracks. [MORE...]

Deerhoof Reveal Friend Opportunity Tracklist
Also working on soundtrack to Hollywood movie

Just three days after announcing that their next album, Friend Opportunity, will be released on Kill Rock Stars/5RC on January 23, 2007, Deerhoof have dribbled out even more delicious morsels of newsy goodness.

First of all, there's the Friend Opportunity tracklist, which is printed below, as well as the fact that the album artwork was created by Scottish artist David Shrigley, the man behind Bonnie "Prince" Billy's "Agnes Queen of Sorrow" and Blur's "Good Song" videos.

Then there's the announcement that the band is working with composer Ed Shearmur on the soundtrack to the film Dedication, directed by actor Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive, Six Feet Under, Miami Vice) and starring Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore, Tom Wilkinson, and Amy Sedaris.

Finally, and most amazingly, on October 23 and 24, at Waterman's Community Center in North Haven, Maine, the North Haven Community School will perform a Milk Man ballet, based on Deerhoof's 2004 album of the same name. It will primarily feature kids from grades three through eight.

In fifteen years, if you meet a kid who graduated from North Haven Community School in North Haven, Maine, and they complain about how much their elementary school or middle school sucked, feel free to call them a liar, and then beat them up. [MORE...]

MP3: Brother Ali: "Original King"
Hits the road with Rakim

"Ain't here to blow my own horn," Brother Ali says on this Scribble Jam compilation track, but he hardly does anything else. Fortunately, it's not much of a problem, since he graces the track with a swagger and dexterity that seem rare coming from the Rhymesayers camp these days.

Speaking of Rhymesayers, the label plans to release Brother Ali's next album-- The Undisputed Truth-- sometime in 2007. In the meantime, Ali has a tour scheduled with Rakim and Kid Capri that kicks off tomorrow night in Park City, Utah. Along the way, he will also play with labelmates Atmosphere and Psalm One.
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Photos: Touch & Go 25 [Hideout, Chicago]

BIG BLACK

And more from Ted Leo/Pharmacists, !!!, Scratch Acid, Man... Or Astro-Man?, Shellac, Quasi, Monorchid, and Enon... [MORE...]

The Hidden Cameras Tour in Support of AWOO

The Hidden Cameras are about to awoo fans this fall and winter with a new album and gigantic tour. Yes, the loosely organized Canadian collective (soon the words "Canadian" and "collective" will become interchangeable in music writing) led by singer/songwriter Joel Gibb is packing up their glockenspiels, violins, and sparklers and setting out in support of Awoo, due out September 19 on Arts and Crafts.

The tour began last weekend in Canada, jumps down to NYC for one show at the Knitting Factory last week, then goes transatlantic for a month and a half of European dates. In mid-November, Gibb and co. will travel west across the U.S. of A. (and back) to round out their epic journey, ending at the Grog Shop in Ohio in mid-December. (They'll be throwing back a lot of grog by that point.) [MORE...]

Bad Brains Live CBGB 1982 Coming to DVD, CD

Banned in D.C.? Then make your way to New York City, where Bad Brains, pillars of the American hardcore scene, spent Christmas Eve, 1982 kicking off a three-day stint at CBGB. Now, a DVD representing the best these gigs had to offer, Bad Brains: Live CBGB 1982, will be available for your viewing pleasure.

The disc, slated for stores on September 19, courtesy of MVD Entertainment Group, features 17 tracks and bonus material, including a series of 1982 interviews. Jack Rabid of Big Takeover magazine handled the liner notes. A CD featuring the same material will be released on Halloween through MVD.

In celebration of the DVD's release, MVD will screen Bad Brains: Live CBGB 1982 at locations across the U.S. Aside from the show at Washington, D.C.'s Black Cat, all viewings are free to the public. [MORE...]

Andrew Bird Signs to Fat Possum, Titles Record

Losing the Black Keys hasn't slowed down Fat Possum Records. Late last week, the label announced that they've scooped up Andrew Bird, who will release Armchair Apocrypha on Fat Possum in spring 2007.

As previously reported, Bird is all geared up to hit the road later this week with near-conjoined twin Martin Dosh (who has a new record, The Lost Take, due on Anticon come October 17, btw). In conjunction with the trek, he will release Fingerlings 3, the third record in a series of "official bootleg" (quoth a press release) discs.

Finally, Bird, along with Mark Booth and Dave Pavkovic, will soon contribute to Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak's latest dance performance, My Name Is a Blackbird. The three musicians will provide the soundtrack to the project, which is slated to run at Chicago's the Building Stage on April 12-29, 2007. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Michael Mayer Readies Immer 2 Mix
Says "fuck that passive waiting shit"; changes world by his own damn self

So lately your iTunes shuffle keeps calling up those Clap Your Hands tracks you got off Soulseek last year, and they're cool and all, but you're just not feeling them right now. Frankly, you're not really feeling the so-called "indie rock" at all these days. Perhaps it's high time you, as Pitchfork's Dominique Leone once put it, "come down...to the minimal world."

And what better occasion than this: on October 30 in Europe and October 4 in America, Germany's minimal techno mecca Kompakt will release Immer 2, the intensely-anticipated follow up to 2002's seminal Immer mix. As with its predecessor, Kompakt co-founder and beloved techno artist Michael Mayer mixed this set, liable to blow up headphones and slick European dancefloors in equal measure with de rigeur tunes from Lindstrøm, Justus Köhncke, SCSI-9, and more.

Whistle not quite whetted yet? Try this: in addition to twelve Mayer-mixed minimal house and techno anthems, copies of Immer 2 will also include a golden ticket to seven additional mp3s hand-selected by Mayer himself. Buttress your playlists with these subtle bangers and your indie rock won't sound quite the same again.

If you're not quite ready yet, try dipping your toes in Mayer's world by catching the man in action at Detroit's Shelter on October 7, or at NYC's T New York on October 6. The latter show is part of the New Yorker Festival and is listed as "A New Yorker Dance Party Hosted by Sasha Frere-Jones". HAHAHAHAHAHA. [MORE...]

Infinite Mixtape #39: The Polyphonic Spree: "Sonic Bloom"

Recording a cover of your old band's tune? That's kinda like wearing your own band's t-shirt-- you just don't do it. Then again, you aren't ex-Tripping Daisy frontman Tim DeLaughter, and you don't have a 23-person robe-bedecked backing cult called the Polyphonic Spree at your disposal.

On their new Wait EP, the Spree go to town on this T-Daisy classic from 1998's Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb, dressing the original's soaring paean to love in twinkling harp tinsel, cascading choral garland, and exalted trumpet ornamentation, like some polyphonic Christmas tree. Thing is, 'twas a damn fine tree to begin with-- but the added orchestral decoration spruces it up tenfold. Now when Tim declares, "The magic's in my heart/ Believe me," an angel voice lights atop that great evergreen of string and brass, cooing the original's affirming, "I do." And we can't help but agree: For these four minutes, love doesn't just seem possible-- it feels inevitable.

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#0039 > The Polyphonic Spree: "Sonic Bloom"
[from Wait EP; Good]
Info: [The Polyphonic Spree] | [MySpace] | [Good]

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// Previously on The Infinite Mixtape:
#0038: Oxford Collapse: "Please Visit Your National Parks"
#0037: Peter Bjorn & John: "Young Folks [ft. Victoria Bergsman]"
#0036: Flying Canyon: "In the Reflection"
#0035: Califone: "The Orchids"
#0034: Beach House: "Apple Orchard"
#0033: The Thermals: "A Pillar of Salt"
#0032: Grizzly Bear: "Lullabye"
#0031: Swan Lake: "All Fires"
#0000: All Previous Infinite Mixtape Entries

Future of Music Coalition Takes on Musician Healthcare
Prepares for Policy Summit 2006

If you're an indie musician, supporting yourself is standard operating procedure. But while some methods of self-support are taken for granted, others are almost ignored entirely. Just ask Jenny Toomey, former frontwoman of Tsunami, co-head of the now-defunct Simple Machines label, and Executive Director of the Future of Music Coalition. "Indie bands need to learn how to sell their own CDs at gigs or silkscreen their own t-shirts or sometimes sleep on floors to save money. [Those] things are just givens in the DIY scene. Getting your own health insurance should be one of those things," Toomey said in a recent interview with Pitchfork.

In order to accomplish this, the FMC has launched HINT, the Health Insurance Navigation Tool. Funded by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the HINT program offers free, confidential thirty-minute phone consultations in which the ins and outs of insurance are explained to musicians in order to help them find the resources that will best meet their needs. It is the FMC's hope that these consultations will demystify the process of obtaining affordable health insurance and assist in identifying organizations aimed specifically at helping musicians.

HINT has been around for "about a year," but Toomey said the FMC is pushing the program now because "I just don't think it's getting enough usage. We initially believed this was something that, 'If you build it, they will come.' But I think there's a lot of shame and a lot of denial in the music community about [getting health insurance]. A lot of musicians are young, so they deny. If you can convince yourself that you don't need to spend another hundred dollars a month to protect yourself from financial ruin, you'll do that."
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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.)