Benefit Comp Rounds Up Unreleased Bettie Serveert, Barbara Manning, Cinerama, Hurricane Lamps, Metropolitan Tracks
Dismemberment Plan still trying to find a good orca benefit for Ryan Schreiber remix

[Posted Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Estimable D.C. punk outfit the Hurricane Lamps have put together a benefit compilation in aid of Washington D.C. collective Bread for the City, "a private, non-profit organization that provides vulnerable residents of Washington, D.C. with comprehensive services including food, clothing, medical care, legal and social services in an atmosphere of dignity, respect and peace." The album, Wellspring, comes out on November 25th on the Hurricane Lamps' very own Sonic Boomerang label with all proceeds going toward the charity.

Eric Tischler of the Hurricane Lamps was able to bring some pretty big names to the table, including friends Cinerama, Barbara Manning and the Go-Luckys!, The Mendoza Line, the Saturday People, and Metropolitan, along with "kind-hearted strangers" like Bettie Serveert, Lenola and Purple Ivy Shadows. The Lamps' own contribution, "A Matter of Tense," was, says Tischler, "written 10 years ago, recorded three years ago, and [never] released." In fact, most everything on the album is previously unreleased (Cinerama were due to contribute a brand new track, and even got as far as recording it, but ran out of time in the studio so their contribution is a pretty sweet b-side). Tracklist:

01 Metropolitan: "Home Room"
02 Bettie Serveert: "Have a Heart"
03 Barbara Manning and the Go-Luckys!: "I Mean Nothing"
04 Cinerama: "Swim"
05 Saturnine: "The Wind is Blowing Like an Outlaw"
06 The Mendoza Line: "Dear, We're in Trouble"
07 The 'Mericans: "So Easy"
08 Riverside: "Only Because"
09 Lenola: "Get Well"
10 The Saturday People: "Find Out" [remix]
11 The Hurricane Lamps: "A Matter of Tense"
12 Purple Ivy Shadows: "In South of Here"

The Hurricane Lamps will be playing an album release show at D.C.'s Black Cat on November 28th, with album contributors Metropolitan and members of the Mendoza Line opening up. The Lamps will also be playing New York City's Knitting Factory on Friday, November 21st, along with a smattering of other dates in the Northeast which have yet to be confirmed. Look out for those. The band has just released its fourth album, Sing Me a Song, and has been touring diligently in support of that.

Bread for the City: http://www.breadforthecity.org
The Hurricane Lamps: http://www.thehurricanelamps.com
Sonic Boomerang: http://www.sonicboomerangrecords.com

Blackball Records to Reissue Jawbreaker's Dear You With Extra Tracks
Hot Topic to reissue earlobe plugs and black hoodies with extra patches

[Posted Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Jawbreaker's 1995 swan song (well, unless you count their posthumous live, tribute and rarities albums), Dear You, is finally getting the reissue it deserves. Dear You went out of print less than a year after hitting store shelves when Geffen Records, who were cheesed off that Jawbreaker was disbanding and breaking their record contract, pulled copies from stores in a "fine-we'll-take-our-toys-and-go-home" snit of spite. As a result, for the past eight years the album has been scarcer than hot girls at a college radio DJ party, with vinyl copies going for upwards of fifty bucks on eBay.

Adorned in ski mask and camo, Jawbreaker drummer and Blackball Records proprietor Adam Pfaler commandeered the album from Geffen's Fortress of Crapitude and will re-release it in February 2004 on the Blackball imprint. The new Dear You will feature all the tracks from the original, plus five bonus tracks from the Dear You sessions, including "Boxcar" (which originally appeared on Jawbreaker fan fave 24 Hour Revenge Therapy) and the previously unreleased "Shirt," mixed by J. Robbins (fun fact: when Robbins was forming Jawbox, he actually wanted to name it Jawbreaker, but happened to come across the Whack and Blite EP that week and went with Jawbox instead).

In the interest of rampant fanciness, the reissue will also include a 24-page booklet with new artwork and lyrics, as well as the "Fireman" video. But will that adorable donkey, or the iconic Morton's Salt girl, put in appearances? Time will tell. I have a tracklist, although I can't, with total confidence, vouch for the running order:

01 Save Your Generation
02 I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both
03 Fireman
04 Accident Prone
05 Chemistry
06 Oyster
07 Million
08 Lurker II: Dark Son of Night
09 Jet Black
10 Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault
11 Sluttering (May 4th)
12 Basilica
13 Unlisted Track
14 Into You Like a Train
15 Sister
16 Friendly Fire
17 Boxcar
18 Shirt

Jawbreaker formed in California in the late '80s, and soon adopted San Francisco's Mission District as their spiritual home. A bridge between straight punk and literate, arty indie rock (bear in mind this punk band's members held B.A.'s in History, Philosophy and English Lit), they released several highly influential albums of melodic, chugging art-punk laden with ringing harmonics and arrayed in innovative structures, before disbanding in 1996.

Singer/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach went on to form Jets to Brazil, whose debut, Orange Rhyming Dictionary, spanned the gap between Jawbreaker and Jets' current, more mature and stately direction. Those who would write Jawbreaker off by as just another emo or pop-punk band are missing the layers, the focused and unique style, the purposeful variation that characterizes both Dear You and the baroque, gloomy mansion of Bivouac.

Then again, Pitchfork's original scathing review of Dear You, by some out-of-touch cad named Ryan Schreiber, called the album "more played out, pop-punk you've heard before" and slapped it, rather forcefully, with a 2.1. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

Blackball: http://www.blackballrecords.com

Dave Grohl Teams With Members of Napalm Death, Corrosion of Conformity, Celtic Frost, Motörhead for Probot Debut
Don Dokken already sucking up to Scott Weiland

[Posted Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

It's possible-- barely, mind you, but possible-- that some of our devoted readers may have been laboring under the misapprehension that the Foo Fighters rock. Oh, they're nice boys, they know how to lay down the popular music in an ear-pleasing fashion and all, but I think that you know and I know that deep down inside, there are several of your vital organs that feel the truth: they don't really bring the R-O-C-K. Of course, you need the R-O-C-K, and Dave Grohl isn't the kind of uncaring soul who would leave you hanging, and when we say hanging, we're speaking metaphorically.

Enter Probot. Grohl's long-discussed but never (until now) consummated heavy metal side-project is finally going to see the light of day early next year, according to a report from Billboard. The self-titled album, populated with a who's-who of '80s thrash-metal luminaries including Sepultura's Max Cavalera, Napalm Death's Lee Dorrian, and Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead, is due in February 2004 from Southern Lord Recordings. But just in case you can't wait that long (your pancreas says no), two of the album's tracks will be released this month on a color vinyl seven-inch that will be limited to (we shit you not) 6,666 copies. The single will feature the songs "Centuries of Sin" (with Venom's Cronos) and "The Emerald Law" (with Obsessed's Scott "Wino" Weinrich) and will only be available to subscribers to Southern Lord's singles club.

As for the full-length, the basic tracks for the album have actually been around for some time, as Grohl recorded them prior to the sessions for both the most recent Foo Fighters album and his brief stint with Queens of the Stone Age. A "friend" explained to Billboard: "They're the most slamming, intense metal tunes, but [Grohl] never sung on any of them. He went around to all his favorite heavy metal singers-- some of whom are famous, but some of whom are the local dudes in his town growing up who he always looked up to-- and gave tracks out to all these different people." Here's the folks who said yes:

01 Intro
02 Centuries of Sin (featuring Cronos of Venom)
03 Red War (featuring Max Cavalera of Sepultura)
04 Shake Your Blood (featuring Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead)
05 Access Babylon (featuring Mike Dean of Corrosion of Conformity)
06 Silent Spring (featuring Kurt Brecht of D.R.I.)
07 Ice Cold Man (featuring Lee Dorrian of Napalm Death)
08 The Emerald Law (featuring Wino of Obsessed)
09 Big Sky (featuring Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost)
10 Dictatorsaurus (featuring Snake of Voivod)
11 My Tortured Soul (featuring Eric Wagner of Trouble)
12 Sweet Dreams (featuring King Diamond and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden)

And what goes with hardcore metal like a refrigerator magnet to my ball piercings? Why, naked (or nearly naked) ladies, of course! According to a press release from punk-porn resource Suicide Girls, several of the sites' fetching young ladies will be featured in the upcoming video for Probot's "Shake Your Blood," to be directed by Bill Yukich (Jay-Z, Defari). No word yet on the video's concept-- pierced and tattooed vixens wrestling with Lemmy in a pool of red Jell-O while wearing g-strings, stiletto heels, and nipple-clamp pasties? Well, maybe I'm getting a little carried away.

Southern Lord: http://www.southernlord.com

Liars Whip A Donkey's Ass: Rock Over Melbourne, Rock Over Boston
We really love them a lot in the long run

[Posted Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

It must have been a frustrating summer for the Liars. Back in July, the band gave us the dismal scoop on the status of their sophomore release: it's done, artwork and all, but the powers that be at Mute Records have decided that no one wants to hear it until next February. So, up until now, the art-punk battlebugs haven't had a whole lot to do but sip grammatically aberrant, albeit incredibly stylish song titles through a kickass crazy straw and date musicians less creative than themselves. While that's certainly a respectable lifestyle, what with the sipping and the dating and the Karen O don't hit us please it'll hurt a lot, the guys in the Liars are in all probability dying to get their new album on the shelves and their critically lauded asses back to the rockin'. And rock they shall!

The band has just announced a handful of shows in the UK (as well as one show each for Boston and New York) where they're likely to be dishing out a taste of their highly anticipated and impossibly distant new album. Including the remaining dates in frontman Angus Andrew's homeland of Australia, the Liars' fall tour schedule appears as follows:

10-15 Melbourne, Australia - Hi Fi MCP Bar
10-16 Melbourne, Australia - Hi Fi MCP Bar
10-18 Brisbane, Australia - Livid Festival
10-30 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
11-11 Bristol, England - Thekla
11-12 London, England - Barfly (XFM session)
11-13 London, England - 291 Gallery
11-14 London, England - 93 Feet East
11-15 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
11-16 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tuts
11-30 Boston, MA - TT The Bear's

The Liars' new album, entitled They Were Wrong So We Drowned, is set for release on February 28th, 2004. Happy fucking leap year!

Liars: http://www.liarsliarsliars.com
Mute: http://www.mute.com

The Stills Drop Logic In October
May drop statistics, psychology too if the prof doesn't let up on the homework

[Posted Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

They're Quebecois, gaunt, and their collective hairdos are meticulously wispy. Mix in some genuine '80s-style pop, and a lot of hype. The result is The Stills, and they've secured a place among the ranks of the 2003 up-and-comers, riding a wave of moderate success without having released a full-length. The leave-them-wanting-more-EP strategy seems to be working though, as they've captured the attention of Interpol, The Rapture, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and subsequently their audiences; furthermore, being Canadian right now really doesn't hurt (especially on these pages). As their bill-sharing escapades with perpetual road warriors Interpol comes to an end, The Stills have struck out on their own, with a fall/winter tour and a debut full-length release on the horizon.

Let's go back to the '80s pop comment. Now, they've asserted in various interviews that they do not want to be considered revivalist, or god-forbid, styled after anyone in particular. But one simply cannot listen to their Rememberese EP without hearing echoes of The Walk-era Cure, or even a little bit of Echo and the Bunnymen. If this sounds particularly intriguing to you, then keep an eye out for their full-length debut, Logic Will Break Your Heart, which was recorded at the Boiler Room in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY with producer Gus Van Go at the knobs. The record will be released on October 21st on Vice Records, but UK fans will have to wait until January 26th to get their hands on the goods (via 679 Recordings). Tracklist:

01 Lola Stars And Stripes
02 Gender Bombs
03 Changes Are No Good
04 Of Montreal
05 Ready For It
06 Let's Roll
07 Allisson Krausse
08 Animals And Insects
09 Still In Love Song
10 Fevered
11 Yesterday Never Tomorrows

As previously noted, The Stills recently completed a stint as openers for Interpol, then toured their way back across the country opening for the likes of Tim Burgess, Moving Units, and the Lilys. After some downtime in their home city of Montreal, they plan to head out again in support of the new record, touring until Christmas. Post-holiday plans include a UK tour to support the album's release there.

The Stills: http://www.thestills.net
Vice: http://www.vice-recordings.com

Microphones To Release Live Album In February 2004; Mount Eerie Tour
Track ten a blatant plug for band's endorsement deal with Noxzema

[Posted Monday, October 13th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Though your fascination with the natural beauty of Japan may only extend from last weekend when you watched Bill Murray line up his tee shot with Mount Fuji in the background in Lost in Translation, Mount Eerie's Phil Elvrum has been there and done that-- and now he's going to share. Elvrum is pulling the Microphones name off the shelf once more to release a live album full of new material culled from his February 2003 tour of Japan, when the band were still calling themselves Microphones. The new album, awkwardly dubbed Live In Japan: Recorded Feb. 19th, 21st & 22nd, 2003, will be released February 3rd, 2004 on K.

Curiously, these shows-- in Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo-- were played only a few days after the news broke that the Microphones name was being retired. "I didn't want the Live In Japan thing to be the first Mount Eerie album," Elvrum told Pitchfork, adding that there's "sort of" an overlap between the songs on the album and the new songs he's been playing live on tour under the new moniker, Mount Eerie. "The whole [Microphones] break-up thing is a ridiculous joke."

Therefore, it's likely that most of the new material showcased on Live in Japan won't appear elsewhere-- or at least, according to Elvrum, "not the same way." Tracklist:

01 Great Ghosts
02 The Blow, pt. 2
03 Universe Conclusion
04 We Squirm
05 My Favorite Things
06 Silent Night
07 After N. Young
08 Climb Over
09 "I Love You So Much!"
10 I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth
11 Thanksgiving

If you don't want to wait until next February to hear the confluence of The Glow and the Rising Sun, you don't have to. Beginning on Halloween, Mount Eerie will be touring across the Western U.S. with Japanese songstress Nikaidoh Kazumi, and playing the Pacific Northwest with Japan's Moools as well. The Moools will appear on the Live in Japan album, according to Elvrum, and he certainly seems happy at the prospect of playing with Kazumi, who hails from Hiroshima and is all but unknown in America and English-speaking webspace.

"[The Moools] were on the whole tour with us in Japan and played also with Calvin [Johnson] and Kyle [Field] and I on some songs on the recording. Nikaidoh (Nika) played with us at one show in Tokyo and sort of was the spiritual inspiration for my shows there. Her songs and presence really touched me. I am excited for people in the western U.S. to see and hear her play, and get her CD." If the simultaneously cute yet disturbing picture of a blue cat-person on her website is any indication, she should be right at home. Dates (all shows after October 31st with Nikaidoh Kazumi):

10-16 Vancouver, BC - Sugar Refinery (w/ International Falls)
10-24 New York, NY - Tribeca (CMJ showcase)
10-25 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's (w/ Calvin Johnson and COCO)
10-31 Anacortes, WA - Department of Safety (w/ The Poison Dart, Moools)
11-02 Seattle, WA - Luscious (w/ Xiu Xiu, Moools)
11-03 Portland, OR - Fourteen (w/ Moools)
11-05 Olympia, WA - Phoenix House (w/ Moools)
11-06 Eugene, OR - Core Star Center / Hall of Mirrors
11-07 Chico, CA - Moxie's
11-08 Berkeley, CA - Rasputin Records (in-store)
11-08 Berkeley, CA - The Ramp (w/ Poser Posse)
11-10 Santa Cruz, CA - TBA
11-11 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
11-12 San Luis Obispo, CA - Z Pie
11-13 Los Angeles, CA - UCLA Cooperage
11-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory / Alterknit Lounge (w/ Photobooth)
11-14 Long Beach, CA - Koos Cafe
11-15 San Diego, CA - Gelato Vero Cafe (w/ [[[[VVRSSNN]]]], Dirty Projectors)
11-16 Los Vegas, NV - Park for the Arts
11-18 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
11-19 Boise, ID - Boise Cafe
11-20 Walla Walla, WA - Gilligan's Island Halfway House
11-21 Bellingham, WA - WWU Coffeehouse (w/ Karl Blau)

The Microphones: http://www.krecs.com/Microphones/index.html
K: http://www.krecs.com
Nikaidoh Kazumi: http://www.sam.hi-ho.ne.jp/nika
Moools: http://www.fan.hi-ho.ne.jp/ucchie/moools

American Music Club To Play Free Shows In December
Obvious ILM-orchestrated ruse to lure Chris Ott out of hiding for a "Castoffs" beatdown

[Posted Monday, October 13th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Apparently, American Music Club has a little more giddy-up left in the old caboose than their contemporaries in the Pixies and Whiskeytown. As we reported reported back in August, Mark Eitzel has reformed American Music Club to record a new album, You Better Watch What You Say, and play a show or two in California. Like any meeting of old lovers, once is never enough for these veterans of the jangle and weep. Mark Eitzel has posted welcome news of more reunion shows on his website, so you sad sacks will have reason to leave the house this winter, even in the Southern California chill.

Come December, American Music Club will play a month-long residency at Spaceland in Los Angeles, CA, with a free show every Monday. As added incentive, the band will be selling a live album from their August 21st reunion show at San Francisco's Make Out Club, which will soon also be available in streaming audio on the group's website.

Mark Eitzel: http://www.markeitzel.com

Mountain Goats Reveal New LP Details, Tracklist
Groupies insist, bizarrely, on being referred to as "goatees"

[Posted Monday, October 13th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

As reported very recently on this here 'Fork, John Darnielle is getting closer to loading some new Mountain Goats material into the fuselage. According to 4AD, Darnielle has put together a new long-player he intends to call We Shall All Be Healed in early 2004. The album was recorded in Washington state with John Vanderslice over a ten-day period, and will be preceded by a single of the album track "Palmcorder Yanja," which Pitchfork staffer Joshua Sharp totally boners over and swears by as the best Mountain Goats song ever. Tracklist:

01 Slow West Vultures
02 Palmcorder Yanja
03 Linda Blair Was Born Innocent
04 Letter From Belegium
05 The Young Thousands
06 Your Belgian Things
07 Mole
08 Home Again Garden Grove
09 All Up the Seething Coast
10 Quitto
11 Cotton
12 Against Pollution
13 Pigs That Ran Straight Away Into the Water, Triumph Of

Mountain Goats: http://www.themountaingoats.net
Last Plane to Jakarta: http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com
4AD: http://www.4ad.com

Ex-Models Touring Japan, CMJ, Toledo
Attribute recent job losses to ailing economy, lack of Robert Palmer videos

[Posted Monday, October 13th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Ex-Models are coming! Expect panic, chaos, bombast, noise! And no, we're not talking James King on her first night off the horse. The Ex Models, if you haven't heard, are New York noise-punk to rival the best of them, eking out structureless songs faster than Karen O on a date. This is stuff we Americans can proudly ship off to Japan, and that's just what we'll do.

Japan, you have to promise to let them come home-- for the Frenchkiss Records showcase at CMJ just won't be the same without them. Sure, they'll be sleepy and a day ahead of us, but somehow, I don't think jet lag is something these guys are too concerned with. The tour essentially kicks off with the CMJ showcase alongside labelmates Les Savy Fav and The Apes, and then it's westward ho for a 30-date U.S. megatour:

10-10 Sendai, Japan - Parksquare
10-11 Tokyo, Japan - Shimokitazawa Era
10-12 Nagoya, Japan - Club Daughter
10-13 Osaka, Japan - Shinsaibashi Sunhall
10-14 Kitakyushuu, Japan - Kokura Megahertz
10-15 Fukuoka, Japan - Kiethflack
10-16 Okayama, Japan - Pepperland
10-17 Kyoto, Japan - Metro
10-18 Tokyo, Japan - Shimokitazawa Era
10-19 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya Nest
10-20 Tokyo, Japan - Kouenji 20000v
10-22 New York, NY - Knitting Factory (w/ Les Savy Fav, The Apes)
10-27 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop *
10-28 Toledo, OH - Masonic Temple *
10-29 Chicago, IL - Fireside Bowl *
10-30 Iowa City, IA - Gabe's Oasis (w/ The Black Keys) *
10-31 Omaha, NE - 49er *
11-01 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
11-03 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *
11-04 Boise, ID - J.D. and Friends *
11-05 Seattle, WA - Graceland *
11-06 Portland, OR - Disjecta *
11-07 San Francisco, CA - Hemlock *
11-08 Oakland, CA - 40th St Warehouse *
11-09 Santa Barbara, CA - Biko House *
11-11 Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction *
11-12 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
11-14 San Diego, CA - TBA *
11-15 Phoenix, AZ - Stinkweeds *
11-17 Denton, TX - TBA
11-18 Austin, TX - Emo's (w/ Xiu Xiu)
11-19 Houston, TX - TBA
11-22 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
11-23 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern
11-24 Greensboro, NC - Gate City Noise

* with Dance Disaster Movement

In other Ex-Models news, they're supposed to be recording a series of seven-inchers for y'all. Each single will pair the group up with another like-minded conglomeration of merry pranksters, so look out. The first single in the series will be a split with Daughters, with other pairings planned with the Liars and Holy Molar. More on that in the not-too-distant future.

Ex Models: http://www.exmodels.org
Frenchkiss: http://www.frenchkissrecords.com

Walkmen Unveil Tracklist for Bows and Arrows, Continue Tour
Somehow, even worse marksmen than Archers of Loaf

[Posted Monday, October 13th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

As reported at Pitchfork just last week, the Walkmen have completed their upcoming album, Bows and Arrows. Recorded with Stuart Sikes (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Modest Mouse, and Cat Power) in New York, Tennessee and Missouri, the record is due in February on Record Collection Records. That tracklist:

01 What's In It For Me
02 Little House of Savages
03 My Old Man
04 No Christmas While I'm Talking
05 The Rat
06 138th St.
07 The North Pole
08 Hang On, Siobhan
09 New Year's Eve
10 Thinking of a Dream I Had
11 Bows & Arrows

And as previously reported by yours chrooly, The Walkmen are playing the United States this fall, including three shows the night of November 1st at New York's Knitting Factory. The band exudes as much confidence on the stage as in the studio, using a live forum to turn their minimalist studio efforts into raw, raucous and, most importantly, inspiring live affairs. See them. Dates:

10-13 Miami, FL - Churchill's
10-14 Tampa, FL - The Orpheum
10-15 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
10-17 Houston, TX - Fat Cats
10-18 Austin, TX - Mercury
10-19 Dallas, TX- Gypsy Tea Room
10-20 Lawrence, MO - Bottleneck
10-21 Columbia, MO - Mojo's
10-22 St. Louis, MO - Gargoyle Club
10-23 Chicago, IL- Schuba's
10-24 Milwaukee, WI - Onopa Brewing Co.
10-25 Chicago, IL- Double Door
10-26 Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House
10-27 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber
11-01 New York, NY - Knitting Factory

The Walkmen: http://www.thewalkmen.com

New Preston School of Industry LP Due In January; Matador Planning Deluxe Reissue of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain For Fall 2004
It could have been a brilliant Korea

[Posted Friday, October 10th, 2003 02:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The Preston School of Industry's second full-length album will be released early next year, according to frontman Scott Kannberg. Titled Monsoon, the ten-track disc features cameos from the Minus 5's Scott McCaughey, "who did an amazing Lindisfarne mandolin part," and all of the members of Wilco, who played assorted instruments found in the basement "while high on my BBQ chicken," Kannberg told Pitchfork.

The Preston School's sophomore effort is Kannberg's first since moving to the Seattle area and features an almost completely different lineup than 2001's All This Sounds Gas. Oranger's Matt Harris played the drum tracks live and engineered the basement recording; Dan Carr (Creeper Lagoon) and Chris Heinrich (David Dondero) flew up "while on a sugar high from Top Pot donuts [and] played their little hearts out" on bass and pedal steel, respectively, Kannberg reports. Hmmm, that's the second time he mentioned that his band was high. Got it! "Fucking rad drummer" Lara Scudder rounds out the new lineup.

Monsoon also represents a change in direction for the Preston School since it's the first album for which Kannberg had to consciously create new material. "[It's] pretty much all new stuff," Kannberg told Pitchfork via e-mail. "A couple [of songs] were from long long ago, but I still had to tweak a few things on those. It was some pressure, sure... I only had so much time to write these songs. The others on [All This Sounds Gas] were laying around for years. I think [this album is] much more true to what PSOI is about." Tracklist:

01 The Furnace Sun
02 Walk of a Gurl
03 Caught in the Rain
04 Line It Up
05 So Many Ways
06 If The Straits Of Magellan Should Ever Run Dry
07 Her Estuary Twang (Warm Medicine)
08 Escalation Breeds Escalation
09 Get Your Crayons Out!
10 Tone It Down

Monsoon was mixed last month by Alien Crime Syndicate's Joe Reineke at Orbit Audio. The album is set to be released simultaneously by Matador, Domino, and Trifekta on January 20th, 2004, according to PSOI's official website. However, you can get a sneak preview of the cut "Caught in the Rain" on a split single with the Australian band Gersey, out next week on Trifekta. The Preston School contribute a "pre-mixed" version of the album track; Gersey's side features the Tom Petty-on-wheels anthem "Roll Out The Heartbreakers."

Kannberg will also be previewing some of his new material in a solo setting in full Spiral Stairs regalia at three upcoming shows with the Starlight Mints. Then, it's off to Australia for some late November/early December solo dates supporting Gersey:

10-26 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *
10-27 Hartford, CT - Webster Theatre *
10-28 Portland, ME - Asylum *
11-20 Melbourne, Australia - The Evelyn +
11-21 Melbourne, Australia - The Evelyn +
11-27 Sydney, Australia - The Gaelic Club +
11-28 Byron Bay, Australia - The Great Northern +
11-29 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo +
12-04 Margaret River, Australia - Settlers +
12-05 Perth, Australia - The Rosemount +
12-06 Fremantle, Australia - The Basement +

* with Starlight Mints
+ with Gersey

Kannberg will also appear at this year's CMJ festival at Arlene's Grocery in New York City on October 25th. The Amazing Grease/Jackpine Social Club showcase will include sets from Canoe, Panty Lions, Kelley Stoltz, Sonny Smith, and Oranger. Kannberg will then play the part of Will Sergeant in a tribute to Echo and the Bunnymen alongside Stoltz, bassist Shayde Sartin, and John Hofer (Mother Hips), covering the Bunnymen's first album, Crocodiles, "in its entirety."

Finally, Kannberg confirmed for Pitchfork that Matador will be preparing a deluxe reissue for Pavement's watershed 1994 album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, probably in time for the 2004 holiday season. Kannberg isn't quite sure what material is available for the expanded reissue: "I haven't a chance to get started on compiling and sorting it out. I'll probably get started on it real soon. It should be a nice package, like the Slanted thing," Kannberg told Pitchfork. "There are tons of goodies to pick from."

Apart from the usual assortment of b-sides and compilation tracks, there is a February 1994 Peel session with the unreleased Spiral composition "Tartar Martyr" and three then-unreleased songs, a March 1994 broadcast from Holland's VPRO radio, and a July 1994 JJJ session with the never-released "Candylad" and early versions of several Wowee Zowee cuts.

Kannberg also recalls some early, aborted sessions with original drummer Gary Young: "I remember doing songs like 'Grounded' and 'Cut Your Hair' and others with Gary. I haven't heard them since, but will listen to them when I get to compiling it all. I hope some of it is tapeable. We also played some new songs that were pretty awful on our Australian tour from around that time."

There are also likely versions of a few Spiral songs recorded in New York around the same time as "Hit The Plane Down"; the only one Kannberg vaguely remembers recording is "Kennel District."

As previously reported, 2004 is also the year that UK music journalist Rob Jovanovic plans to drop his forthcoming book on Pavement, tentatively titled Perfect Sound Forever. Publishers Justin, Charles, and Co. will handle domestic distribution on the book, which features the input of all five members of the band, ex-drummer Gary Young, and several other prominent witnesses/supporting characters in the never-ending Pavement saga.

.: Preston School of Industry: http://www.prestonschoolofindustry.com

Matador: http://www.matadorrecords.com

TV On The Radio Finish Full-Length, Extend Fall Tour
Radio killed the video star

[Posted Friday, October 10th, 2003 02:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

TV on the Radio have finished recording their first LP and updated their tour schedule since we last checked in with them. The band has been mum about the details of the album, which is set to come out in February 2004 on Touch & Go. Pitchfork did manage to contact the band's David Sitek, but all we really managed to ascertain is what's faintly written on the t-shirt that vocalist/former indie movie star Tunde Adebimpe is wearing in the picture on the band's website. It's "I'm worried about it," which is his preemptive response to anyone who might ask him how "it's" going. That's exclusive headline dirt right there.

As for the band's tour, which kicks off in earnest at the end of this month, venue information has been fleshed out considerably since we ran our initial story, and some killer co-headliners have been added for individual dates. On any given night, TV on the Radio will be playing with notables like Interpol, The Rapture, Quasi, and The Get Hustle. All dates from October 30th onwards are with Birdland unless otherwise noted. Dates:

10-10 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw (w/ 90 Day Men, Panthers)
10-17 Reykjav’k, Iceland - Airwaves Festival
10-21 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom (w/ Interpol)
10-30 Providence, RI _- Monahassett Mill (w/ Mahi Mahi)
10-31 Bennington, VT - Bennington College (w/ Turn Pale)
11-01 Philadelphia, PA - Pilam House (w/ Dub Narcotic Sound System)
11-02 Pittsburgh, PA - Quiet Storm
11-03 Newport, KY - Southgate House (w/ Quasi)
11-04 Bloomington, IN - Vertigo
11-05 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick (w/ The Rapture)
11-07 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (w/ Firewater)
11-08 Madison, WI - Memorial Union (w/ I Am The World Trade Center)
11-09 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
11-10 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
11-11 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge (w/ The Ladybug Transistor)
11-12 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court (w/ Dub Narcotic Sound System)
11-14 Seattle, WA - The Vera Project (w/ The Get Hustle)
11-15 Anacortes, WA - Department of Safety
11-16 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan (w/ The Get Hustle)
11-18 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
11-19 Los Angeles, CA - Silverlake Lounge *
11-20 San Diego, CA - Casbah (w/ Pleaseeasaur) *
11-21 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
11-23 Houston, TX - Proletariat +
11-24 Austin, TX - Emo's +
11-25 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves +
11-27 Atlanta, GA - Lenny's
11-28 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar
11-29 Tampa, FL - New World Brewery
11-30 Orlando, FL - The Social
12-01 Sewanee, TN - University of the South
12-02 Greensboro, NC - Gate City Noise
12-03 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar (w/ Firewater)
12-04 Northampton, MA - Smith College (w/ The Natural History)
12-05 New York, NY - TBA
12-06 Brooklyn, NY - TBA

* with Kill Me Tomorrow
+ with Zykos

TV on the Radio: http://www.tvontheradio.com
Touch and Go: http://www.tgrec.com

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