Appleseed Cast Tours With Get Up Kids
"Eno, emo-- we're not that different!"

The Lawrence, Kansas-based "ambient-by-way-of-emo" band, the Appleseed Cast, released two separately sold discs on Deep Elm this fall, titled Low Level Owl, Vol. I and Low Level Owl Vol. II. It's like Use Your Illusion... with a diary! Unfortunately, the band does not challenge Pitchfork contributor Brent DiCrescenzo to "Get in the Ring" based on bad press given to their The End of the Ring Wars album.

The albums are helping Appleseed Cast escape their emo roots in favor of clean, ethereal "soundscapes" that have drawn comparisons to Radiohead, but it's speculated that this is primarily due to the similar release tactics of the Low Level Owl albums and Kid A and Amnesiac. However, this presumed effort to distance themselves from the waning world of emotional rock isn't helped by the fact that they just signed on to tour with the Get Up Kids. Surely, their chilling drones will get audiences "totally revved" for the whiny power-pop destined to follow.

12-07 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall (w/the Anniversary)
12-08 Madison, WI - Barrymore Theatre
12-09 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
12-10 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Laga
12-11 Allentown, PA - Crocodile Rock Cafe
12-12 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
12-13 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
12-14 Lackawana, NY - Sideshow Music Hall
12-15 Worcester, MA - Pallidium (w/Alkaline Trio)
12-16 New York City, NY Irving Plaza (w/Alkaline Trio)
12-17 Washington D.C. - 9:30 Club

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/a/appleseed-cast/end-of-the-ring-wars.shtml
Deep Elm: http://www.deepelm.com

Pollard Cranks Out Another Non-GBV Album
Fans beginning to sense lack of effort

If your record store doesn't bother to stock every one of Pollard's flights of fancy, you can pick it up at the band's official website. However, we caution you not to pull up gvb.com in a dyslexic fury, even though the Guam Visitor's Bible is also a kickin' site.

01 Devil Speak
02 Feel Try Fury
03 Buffalo Spiders
04 World 3
05 Blanks
06 North Morning Star Trip
07 Ring Worm Interiors
08 Spectacle
09 You First
10 Knife Song
11 Kingdom of Teeth
12 Oil Birds
13 Lizard Foods
14 Not So Fast
15 Apparent the Red Angus
16 Playhouse Hostage
17 Straps Hold up the Jaw
18 Correcto
19 Star Peppered Wheat Germ
20 Silver Eyeballs
21 Decathlon
22 Peace Needle
23 Drill Sgt. Soul
24 Protect Thy Interests
25 Let's Go Back to Bed
26 Sterility Mega Plant
27 New You
28 Circus Devil Theme

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/p/pollard_robert/choreographed-man-of-war.shtml
Guided by Voices: http://www.gbv.com
Fading Captain Series: http://www.gbv.com/fadingcaptain

Trembling Blue Stars' First-Ever U.S. Tour
Band may want to sit down after exhaustive six-date itinerary

According to Sub Pop Records' official website, Trembling Blue Stars are looking to pop their tour cherry: less than two weeks from now, they'll hit the road for their first ever U.S. tour. Despite the cancellation of the first several shows, the band will make it to the U.S. in time for their Chicago performance and continue on from there, wrapping up the tour in Los Angeles. They'll be supporting the release of their newly released fourth album, Alive to Every Smile. The London, England threesome originally began playing as lead singer Bob Wratton's Field Mice side project, but became a full time thing in 1995 when the Field Mice broke up.

11-10 Chicago, IL - Schuba's
11-12 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry
11-15 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
11-16 Portland, OR - Dante's
11-17 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-18 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/t/trembling-blue-stars/broken-by-whispers.shtml
Trembling Blue Stars: http://www.tbstars.co.uk
Sub Pop: http://www.subpop.com

Strokes Announce New U.S. Tour Dates
"Quick, guys! While we're buzzworthy!"

But first! NME reported earlier this week that, with the insane hype following the band around the UK (it's worse there than here, believe us), the Strokes have already inspired a cover band. Going by the downright shameful moniker of Diff'rent Strokes, the band apparently recreates all the 11 songs from Is This It (12, if you include "New York City Cops") using a Casio-style keyboard. But Diff'rent Strokes are no run-of-the-mill Bjorn Again-- they've got a record deal! The incredibly prestigious UK label Guided Missile (anyone? anyone?) will, according to a post to their webboard, release their debut album on December 3rd. Yay.

11-14 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
11-16 Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre
11-17 Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
11-18 Indianapolis, IN - Birdy's
11-20 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
11-21 St. Louis, MO - Mississippi Nights
11-23 Nashville, TN - 328 Performance Hall
11-24 Birmingham, AL - Five Points Music Hall
11-28 Norfolk, VA - The NorVa

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/s/strokes/is-this-it.shtml
Guided Missile: http://www.guidedmissile.co.uk

Elliott Smith to Release Box Set
Steals assortment of dirty hats from Badly Drawn Boy

It can be ordered from Domino's site, so you won't have to worry about taking a trip over to the land where they talk funny just to get it. Elliott is also rumored to still be slaving at his follow-up to last year's Figure 8, but until then we'll just have to wait.

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/s/smith_elliott/figure-8.shtml
Elliott Smith: http://www.elliottsmith.com
Domino: http://www.domino-mart.com

Love as Laughter Hit the Road
Is it 1979 already?

Love as Laughter will be traversing the nation (with Beachwood Sparks and the Glands in the west and Enon in the east) this November and December in support of the latest addition to their 70s rock canon, Sea to Shining Sea. The new record, recently released by Sub Pop, was produced by the very capable Phil Ek, along with Unwound's Vern Rumsey and Love as Laughter frontman Sam Jayne. It even features some bass guitar playing, adding some nice backbone to their tried-and-true two-guitars-and-drums structure. If you wanna hear the band's hyper butt-rawk and early Stones-style blues ballads, you can do so at the following venues (confirmed dates only):

11-12 Las Vegas, NV - Cooler Lounge
11-13 San Diego, CA - Casbah
11-14 Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
11-15 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
11-16 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
11-17 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
11-19 Eugene, OR - W.O.W. Hall
11-20 Portland, OR - Blackbird
11-21 Seattle, WA - Graceland
11-25 Denver, CO - 15th St. Tavern
11-26 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
11-27 Norman, OK - Meecham Auditorium
11-28 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's
11-30 Miami, FL - Club 592
12-06 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber Pass
12-07 New York, NY - Brownie's
12-08 Boston, MA - T.T. the Bear's
12-12 Chicago, IL - Schuba's

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/l/love-as-laughter/destination-2000.shtml
Love as Laughter: http://www.loveaslaughter.com
Sub Pop: http://www.subpop.com

Tight Bro's from Way Back When Visit Europe
Look out, Croatia

Still relentlessly touring in support of their sophomore album, Lend You a Hand, the Tight Bro's from Way Back When are staying on the road through the rest of 2001. After finishing the North American leg of their tour, they'll head over to Belgium in November and will stay in Europe for two months. Playing the first leg of the tour will be with the Damn Luckies (also known as Hot Rod Honeys). Once they hit Germany, the four-piece punk outfit from Olympia, Washington will join up with Hitch for the remaining dates.

11-09 Liege, Belgium - La Zone
11-10 Diksmuide, Belgium - 4AD
11-11 Antwerp, Belgium - Federal Prison (afternoon)
11-11 Hasselt, Belgium - Muziek O Droom
11-12 Lille, France - Malterie
11-13 Brussels, Belgium - Rock a GoGo
11-15 Amsterdam, Holland - OCCII
11-16 Copenhagen, Denmark - TBA
11-17 Aalborg, Denmark - TBA
11-18 Scandinavia - TBA
11-19 Scandinavia - TBA
11-20 Sweden - TBA
11-21 Hamburg, Germany - TBA
11-22 Berlin, Germany - Wild at Heart
11-23 Nurnberg, Germany - Kunstverein
11-24 Wasserburg, Germany - Insekkt
11-25 Munster, Germany - Gleiss 22
11-26 Frankfurt, Germany - Maike Barrax
11-27 Baltes/Ravensburg, Germany - TBA
11-28 Winterthur, Switzerland - Gaswerk
11-29 Schaffhausen, Switzerland - Tap Tab
11-30 Linz, Austria - TBA
12-01 Il Bistrika, Slovenia - MKNZ
12-02 Zagreb, Croatia - Kset
12-03 Pula, Croatia - TBA
12-04 Torino, Italy - El Paso
12-05 Barcelona, Spain - TBA
12-06 San Feliu, Spain - Atzavara Club
12-07 Madrid, Spain - Gruta 77
12-08 Gorliz, Spain - Xurrut
12-09 Poitiers, France - Carre Blue
12-10 Irun, Spain - TBA
12-12 Ghent, Belgium - Frontline
12-13 Rotterdam, Holland - Waterfront
12-14 Brussels, Belgium - Magasin 4

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/t/tight-bros-from-way-back-when/runnin-thru-my-bones.shtml
Kill Rock Stars: http://www.killrockstars.com

Lounge Singer Teams Up with Peaches
Hardcore XXX studio webcam subscription: $24.95/month

Have you ever heard of Louie Austen? Your grandma probably has. He's a Las Vegas lounge singer, a contemporary to Engelbert Humperdink whose vocal stylings earned him comparisons to Frank Sinatra. Frank Fucking Sinatra, people. Yeah, the dead guy. His upcoming release is entitled Only Tonight, and is a follow-up to his first Kitty-Yo album, Amore.

Only Tonight consists of "crazy dance beats" and a collaboration with the Germany-by-way-of-Canada sex addict Peaches. But Grandma will not take kindly to this future strip-club classic; it's called "Grab My Shaft," alluding, of course, to the 60-year-old Vegas has-been's manroot. Enticing. Tracklist:

01 Music (featuring Ken Cesar)
02 Hoping (Extended Version)
03 Hear My Song! (featuring Ken Cesar)
04 Amore (I Love You)
05 Same Again
06 Grab My Shaft! (featuring Peaches)
07 Only You
08 One Night In Rio

Kitty-Yo Records: http://www.kitty-yo.de/

Múm Sells Music to Sony
Iceland: the new Chapel Hill

IDM wunderkinds Múm have hit the big time hawking personal computers for Sony. Their song "I'm 9 Today" has been featured on a commercial for the Vaio, one of those newfangled computer doodads that the kids are all buying up. Hopefully, they won't be joining Nick Drake in the used car lot any time soon.

Múm's recent release, Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is OK, mixes organic and electronic instruments to make a pleasing sound, much like Mouse on Mars' new album except without the singing dude and all the farty noises. They've also got a new remix record out, titled Please Smile My Nose Bleed, which features obscuro-but-muy bien IDM artists like Styrofoam, Isan, Phonem, Christian Kleine, Arovane, and B. Fleischmann. Múm also has a bit of that I'm-from-Iceland je ne sais pas to sweeten the mix. So goody for you, Múm. Don't forget us when you're on Dreamworks.

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/m/mum/yesterday-was-dramatic.shtml

Red Shirt Brigade Release Debut Full-Length
Green Sock Batallion proposes a duel

Home of the Cannon Saints, the first full-length LP from Michigan's Red Shirt Brigade, will be released November 13th. The band's label, Arborvitae Records, is currently accepting pre-orders on their website. If you're not the type who likes to buy before you hear, you can check out a download here at Pitchfork in next month's music preview section. Red Shirt Brigade is also planning a record release party, which conveniently coincides with the singer's Bar Mitzvah on November 9th at the Magic Stick in Detroit. Our boy is becoming a man!

The Detroit quartet released several EPs and appeared on some compilations, making them one of the hottest underground sensations since Basquiat. Ryan Allen (drums/vocals), Dan Clark (bass), Trevor Naud (guitar/vocals) and Scott Allen (keyboards/vocals) have been playing the Midwest since 1998. Their first EP, Mock Election and the Post Selection, was released in 2000 on Suburban Sprawl.

11-09 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick (record release show)
11-10 Champaign, IL - Courtyard Cafe
11-16 Kalamazoo, MI - Space
11-17 East Lansing, MI - Chicken Shack
11-30 Mt. Pleasant, MI - New Moon Records (w/Recital)
12-01 Ann Arbor, MI - Halfway Inn

Red Shirt Brigade: http://www.redshirtbrigade.com/
Arborvitae Records: http://www.arborvitae.com

Stephin Merritt Doing More Side Projects
If he spent as much time on his schoolwork as he does with these one-offs, he could be an A+ student

Merritt, this time in his Gothic Archies guise, also produced the theme songs for the recently released audio book version of Handler's children's book sequence A Series of Unfortunate Events. The books are voiced by actor Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Muppet Treasure Island), and are selling relatively well to hipster pre-teens who need something to listen to while relieving their eye-strain from reading those Harry Potter books 17,000 times.

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/m/magnetic-fields/69-love-songs.shtml
Magnetic Fields: http://www.houseoftomorrow.com
Merge Records: http://www.mergerecords.com

Ted Leo Tours Relentlessly
'Cause he's a fox! Look at that sexy body!

Why slow down the party train when you're just building steam? Thats what's going through Ted Leo's mind. He and the Pharmacists are heading all over the country and even to a little-known place called "Canada" this time around in support of his new album, The Tyranny of Distance. The album was produced by Brendan Canty of Fugazi fame, and features guest appearances by members of Trans Am, the Make-Up, Golden, Telegraph Melts, and Fugazi. It's also quite possibly one of the best pop CDs of the year.

10-31 Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
11-01 Chicago, IL - Fireside Bowl
11-02 London, ON - Call the Office
11-03 Hamilton, ON - Raven
11-04 Toronto, ON - El Mocambo
11-05 Ottawa, ON - Bumpers
11-06 Montreal, PQ - Casa del Popolo
11-07 Burlington, VT - University of Vermont
11-08 New Haven, CT - Rudy's
11-09 Hamilton, NY - Colgate University
11-10 Princeton, NJ - Terrace Club
11-14 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
11-15 Cambridge, MA - Garment District
11-16 Providence, RI - AS 220
11-17 Northampton, MA - Smith College
11-23 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
11-24 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
11-25 Chicago, IL - Metro
11-26 Milwaukee, WI - Miramar
11-27 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
11-28 Omaha, NE - Sokol Hall
11-29 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
11-30 Fayetteville, AK - Clunk Music Hall
12-01 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
12-02 Austin, TX - Emo's
12-03 Houston, TX - Mary Janes
12-04 New Orleans, LA - Howling Wolf
12-05 Tallahassee, FL - Cow Haus
12-06 Orlando, FL - Sapphire Supper Club
12-07 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge
12-08 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
12-09 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle

Pitchfork Review: http:///record-reviews/l/leo_ted/tyranny-of-distance.shtml
Ted Leo/Pharmacists: http://www.gernblandsten.com/ted/intro
Lookout! Records: http://www.lookoutrecords.com

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.)