Miles Davis' Cellar Door Sessions to Be Released

The massive six-disc set, which includes a few previously released cuts from Live-Evil, documents a four-night stand Miles spent in Washington, D.C. with an exceptional (even by Davis' standards) backing band of keyboardist Keith Jarrett, percussionist Airto Moreiera, drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Gary Bartz, and bassist Michael Henderson. DeJohnette's fellow Bitches Brew veteran John McLaughlin made the last night of the stand, and his fusion-forging guitar appears on the last eight tracks of Cellar Door.

If, during the set's nearly six hour duration, you find yourself panting for a break, Sony has included several heretofore unpublished photographs of Miles at his most colorful (Steven Tyler owes much of his 80s look to Davis' feather-thin hankies), and essays written by each of the six sidemen about those pivotal four nights. Just don't try to scan the photos or the essays. The ink might encode some type of anti-Photoshop malware in your operating system.

Tainted traxx:

December 16, 1970:

01 Directions
02 Yesternow
03 What I Say
04 Improvisation #1
05 Inamorata

December 17, 1970:

06 What I Say
07 Honky Tonk
08 It's About Time
09 Improvisation #2
10 Inamorata
11 Sanctuary

December 18, 1970:

12 Directions
13 Honky Tonk
14 What I Say
15 Directions
16 Honky Tonk
17 What I Say
18 Sanctuary
19 Improvisation #3
20 Inamorata

December 19, 1970:

21 Directions
22 Honky Tonk
23 What I Say
24 Directions
25 Improvisation #4
26 Inamorata
27 Sanctuary
28 It's About Time

* Miles Davis: <a

Jon Chapple (Ex-Mclusky) Talks New Band

Welsh primal stompers Mclusky are the case in point here. As we reported in June, bassist John Chapple is spending his post-lusky time with a new band, Shooting at Unarmed Men. Pitchfork spoke with Chapple recently and about the group's debut EP, Soon There Will Be Shooting at Unarmed Men, due this Tuesday, December 6, on Too Pure, as well as his future plans.

Shooting at Unarmed Men began its life back in 1999, when Mclusky was still alive and kicking. Their influences, according to a cheeky press release, include "a variety of British garden birds that sing in our streets, the highly addictive and unhealthy past-time of smoking tobacco, driving our polluting and fuel-consuming automobiles to and fro, drinking whiskey, working shit jobs for too little money and which hold no future prospects." We're assuming this is code for Skynyrd, cocaine, and blowjobs.

The trio's debut EP is rawer and more stripped-down than Mclusky's recordings. When asked about the Shooting at Unarmed Men sound, Chapple replied: "Some guy asked me why I recorded lo-fi for this album, and I said sarcastically that we're recording pi-fi to the nearest decimal point. I don't believe in lo-fi or hi-fi. A band sings the way they sing and somebody presses record. We did this whole recording in one weekend. Some people would say that was rushed. Other people would say that was pointless. I say we took as long as we needed to and we got what we wanted to get done, done." So... multiply pi-fi by the circumference of the record and square it to get its area and overall worth? You always wondered how we structured our 10-point rating system, didn't you.

Here's the EP tracklist:

01 Taking Care of Business
02 Four Eyed McClayvie
03 When Potent Doesn't Mean It
04 Impunity Rules
05 The Long and the Short of It
06 No-One Can Waltz
07 The Pink Ink
08 There's a Reason It's Called the Easy Way Out
09 This Much Is a Lot

Shooting at Unarmed Men aim to record their first full-length within the next month or so, for release in the spring. While the studio time frame is a bit shaky, Chapple has a good idea of how long the second album will be. He told Pitchfork, "Short records are good records in my book. The Minutemen never did eight songs over forty-five minutes, you know. My favorite albums are eight songs and exactly thirty minutes long-- exactly four songs a side on a vinyl. It's a perfect length for an album; it doesn't need to be any longer than that."

We didn't want to point out that Soon There Will Be Shooting at Unarmed Men has nine tracks, even though it's being billed as an EP, because we were afraid he'd find a way to climb through the phone line and kick all of our asses. He was in Mclusky, after all. Their old singer was a sex criminal!

Shooting at Unarmed Men hope to tour North America early next year, though no definite plans have been set. Chapple filled us in on the business of the band, saying, "This is a very small, very centralized project. The band handles everything outside of the record company. We book our own shows, we finance our own shows, we do everything in house, basically."

As for Mclusky, that three-disc set of singles, B-sides, outtakes, rarities, and live recordings we told you about way back when is still in the works, with a January or February release in the cards. Chapple said he has been in contact with drummer Jack Egglestone, but added that "there has not been a syllable exchanged between me and Andrew [Falkous] since I left Mclusky." Ouch! Both Egglestone and Falkous are in rehearsals with members of a "very seminal local band" called Jarcrew, though the new band remains unnamed. May we recommend "Mcrew", "Jarluskey", or, since we're already going this route, "Brunch"?

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/m/mclusky/difference- between-me-and-you.shtml">Mclusky: The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire
href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/21.shtml">Mclusky Line Up Compilation, Solo Projects
* Mclusky: <a

Peaches Parties With Feist, Homme, Jett on New Album

Although the album's title is as-yet-unknown, it seems that Peaches wants its sound to keep progressing from the Roland MC-505-heavy days of her debut album, 2000's The Teaches of Peaches and roll towards harder, smutty rock. Guests on the album so far include Homme, ex-Hole drummer Sam Maloney, Electrocute frontwoman Nicole Morier, former roommate and frequent collaborator Leslie Feist, and the mighty Joan Jett.

Talking to Rolling Stone recently, Peaches dished the dirty on recording with Homme ("There's a solo that I could play but I couldn't play it like Josh. He learned it in a second, and was playing all over it.") and Jett ("I made sure I was in my gold bikini, pressing my ass against the studio glass for her."). The follow-up to 2003's Fatherfucker is being co-produced by Peaches and Mickey Petralia (Beck, Ladytron) after preliminary session work in Berlin with Eagles of Death Metal singer Jesse Hughes.

According to Rolling Stone, song titles include "Giver", "Stick It to the Pimp", "Hanky Code", and "Two Guys for Every Girl". "Hanky Code" is a guide to what's what in pocket hanky position, vis-a-vis lesbian and gay male fetish, kink, and preference signals. "Two Guys for Every Girl" is a gender-fuck play on the old Jan and Dean ditty: "The lyrics are all real dirty about guys getting down with each other, and then I join in. Everybody fantasizes about the two-girl thing - to hell! Guys gotta get sexy with each other!" preaches Peaches.

Apart from sparse live shows and a couple of remix jobs, Peaches has kept relatively quiet in 2005 so far. But with a new album comes new tour dates and we'll gladly tell you all about them when they're announced. If you can't wait to shake yer dix, she will be appearing at UCLA's Royce Hall on December 17 as part of "A John Waters Christmas", the gross-out king's second annual live Xmas extravaganza. Wow, Peaches and John Waters...they really are the filthiest people alive!

* Peaches: <a

Sufjan, Broken Social Scene to Appear on Kiddie Comp

All of the songs are originals written exclusively for the project, except for the Sufjan and Broken Social Scene tracks, which are both covers. Mr. Illinoise tackles the Christian ditty "Friendly Beasts" (hey, it's never too early to get ‘em hooked on Bible study), while BSS do "Puff the Magic Dragon". We were going to make a joke about Dave Newfeld's pot possession arrest here, but that's just mean.

See You on the Moon! is scheduled for a North American release in Februrary of next year, and possibly in Europe soon after. A second album with another set of artists is already in the works, hopefully forcing VeggieTales out of business. We'll see you on the light side of the moon!

Tracklist:

01 Alan Sparhawk: "Be Nice to People With Lice"
02 Great Lake Swimmers: "See You on the Moon!"
03 Sufjan Stevens: "The Friendly Beasts"
04 Apostle of Hustle (feat. The Husky's): "24 Robbers"
05 Junior Boys: "Max"
06 Broken Social Scene: "Puff the Magic Dragon"
07 FemBots: "Under the Bed"
08 Glissandro 70: "Voices Are Your Best Friend"
09 Mark Kozelek: "Leo and Luna"
10 Detective Kalita: "Baby Brother"
11 Hot Chip: "I Can't Wake Up"
12 Kid Koala (feat. Lederhosen Lucil): "Fruit Belt"
13 Montag: "Bonne Nuit Etienne"
14 Rosie Thomas: "Faith's Silver Elephant"

Paper Bag Records: http://www.paperbagrecords.com/

Voxtrot Kick Off Tour, Prep Second EP

The Austin-based indie-pop quintet Voxtrot have whipped up a whole bakery of the stuff on the strength of a single EP and two seven-inches-- hardly a Herculean feat in this age of rabid blog barkers, but hype has its reasons, none of which seem dubious for the gimmick-free fivesome.

See, the gentlemen in Voxtrot play with a vivacity seldom seen among latter-day indie-pop acts. Their songs sparkle, compositional elements coalescing to achieve glistening whole-greater-than-sum pop brilliance. At times recalling Morrissey, vox-man Ramesh Srivastava croons confidently, never shying from range and weaving gorgeous vocal melodies into a hook-laden jangle fabric.

I mean, they're pretty good, man.

True, the Vox crib quite a bit from the Smiths and Belle and Sebastian, but holy wow, they're doing it eons better than anyone else right now. Which is why missing them as they swing through your town on this December tour may render you remiss. C'mon, too-hip Chip! They might even have a tambourine girl:

12-02 Dallas, TX - The Cavern
12-03 Lawrence, KS - The Jackpot Saloon
12-04 Champaign, IL - Cowboy Monkey
12-05 Chicago, IL - Subterranean
12-07 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
12-08 Waltham, MA - Bentley College
12-09 Cambridge, MA - Pa's Lounge
12-10 Washington, DC - Warehouse Next Door
12-11 Norfolk, VA - Relative Theory Records (instore)
12-11 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
12-12 Atlanta, GA - Lenny's
12-13 Athens, GA - TBA
12-14 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington

If indie mega-stardom is in the cards for Voxtrot, they're in no particular hurry to claim it. Srivastava and friends are steadily piecing together EP number two, christened Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives, set to see life April 3 via the band's own Cult Hero Records. In addition to the dazzling title track, which you are encouraged to sample at Voxtrot's MySpace page, Mothers will include "Rise Up in the Dirt", "Soft & Warm", and two more tracks-to-be-named. A much-anticipated full-length is said to follow shortly thereafter, so start carving out a place in your heart for it now.

Voxtrot: http://www.voxtrot.net/
Voxtrot on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/voxtrot/

Rare Jeff Mangum Demos Surface Online

A woman named Shannon Palmer, who occupied the same Louisiana house as Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum (as well as Olivia Tremor Control’s John Fernandes), recently discovered a tape given to her by Fernandes 11 years ago. Through the Elephant 6 message board, Palmer learned that the tape (dubbed “Shannon's Monroe House demos”) contained previously unheard NMH demos.

NeutralMilkHotel.org founder Gavin Bachner helped Palmer make the music available to all, and his site is currently offering one song, “Arm So Real”, for download. Palmer has three tracks, “Gardenhead”, “Circle of Friends”, and “Now I’m Going Down” (the latter is an unconfirmed title), available from her blog, Shannon’s Arty Arty. “Dead Dog” is currently posted on You Ain’t No Picasso, and “Say Goodnight” (also an unconfirmed title) is available from My Old Kentucky Blog.

Once all of the song titles are confirmed, the entire demo cassette will be accessible from Palmer’s blog and NeutralMilkHotel.org.

Neutral Milk Hotel: http://neutralmilkhotel.net/
Elephant 6 Townhall: http://www.e6townhall.com/

Beck Offers Unreleased Music Online

The online fun doesn't stop there, as the site is also showing Beck's latest video, "Hell Yes", which features extremely cool, extremely creepy robots.

Also in the cards (or should we say E-meter?) for Beck are a pair of TV performances this weekend: tomorrow night, December 2, on "Jimmy Kimmel Live", and Sunday, December 4, on VH1's Big in '05 awards show. Def Leppard and INXS will also perform. (Doesn't that make it Big in '87?) Beck will also appear on the World Café radio show on December 10.

As previously reported, Beck will release Guerolito, an album-length remix of his latest LP, Guero, on December 13. Here's that tracklist, one more time:

01 Homelife - Ghost Range (E-Pro)
02 Islands - Que Onda Guero
03 Octet - Girl
04 Air - Heaven Hammer (Missing)
05 Ad-Rock - Shake Shake Tambourine (Black Tambourine)
06 Mario C - Terremoto Tempo (Earthquake Weather)
07 8-Bit - Ghettochip Malfunction (Hell Yes)
08 Boards of Canada - Broken Drum
09 El-P - Scarecrow
10 Diplo - Wish Coin (Go It Alone)
11 Subtle - Farewell Ride
12 John King - Rental Car
13 Th' Corn Gangg - Emergency Exit
14 Beck - Clap Hands

Beck: http://www.beck.com

Maxïmo Park to Headline NME Awards Tour

ShockWaves Dates:

01-23 Dublin, Ireland - Ambassador Theatre
01-24 Dublin, Ireland - Ambassador Theatre
01-25 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Ulster Hall
01-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Glasgow Academy
01-28 Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Corn Exchange
01-29 Newcastle, England - Newcastle Academy
01-31 Nottingham, England - Nottingham Rock City
02-01 Leeds, England - Leeds University
02-02 Liverpool, England - Liverpool University
02-04 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
02-05 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
02-07 Sheffield, England - Sheffield Octagon
02-08 Birmingham, England - Birmingham Academy
02-09 Norwich, England - Norwich UEA
02-11 Cardiff, Wales - Great Hall
02-12 Cambridge, England - Cambridge Corn Exchange
02-13 Bristol, England - Bristol Academy
02-15 Portsmouth, England - Portsmouth Guildhall
02-16 Brighton, England - Brighton Dome
02-17 London, England - Brixton Academy

Maxïmo Park also have a handful of non-NME dates scheduled for this month, including a date at London's Hammersmith Palais, where they will indeed be white men in Hammersmith Palais.

Apply some pressure:

12-04 Wolverhampton, England - Wulfran
12-05 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
12-06 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
12-07 London, England - Hammersmith Palais
12-09 Liverpool, England - Liverpool Academy
12-10 Newcastle, England - Newcastle Academy
12-11 London, England - Brixton Academy

Maxïmo Park: http://www.maximopark.com/
Warp: http://www.warprecords.com/

Flaming Lips, Wilco, CYHSY Booked for Langerado Fest

Yes, the Flaming Lips are playing-- do they ever turn down something like this? Also on the bill: Wilco, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Secret Machines, RJD2, Drive-by Truckers, and humungous helpings of hippie (Ben Harper, Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGee, Brothers Past). And many, many more acts to stoke your buzz.

Two-day passes will run you $99.50 to $129.50 depending on availability, and only 15,000 people (think Intonation) fit on the festival grounds, so start cutting back on hallucinogen purchases now.

Langerado: http://www.langerado.com/

Blake Sennett Talks Elected, Rilo Kiley, Eagles

Currently, Sennett is holed up in a cabin studio in Lake Arrowhead, California, where he's busy working on an album by friends Whispertown 2000, for release on Rilo Kiley's own label, Brute/Beaute. The record is scheduled for a March release, at which point the band will tour with Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis as she supports her solo debut, Rabbit Fur Coat, due January 24 on Team Love.

Sennett's side project, the Elected, recently finished their sophomore album, Sun, Sun, Sun, the follow-up to last year's Me First. It's slated to hit stores on January 24 via Sub Pop. Uh oh, Blake vs. Jenny retail fight!

Describing Sun, Sun, Sun, Sennett said, "We're shooting at an early-seventies kind of a production. A lot of stacked background vocals and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in the harmony areas. It's like some early Eagles records." Sennett then proceeded to belt out a rendition of the Eagles' "One of These Nights". "I think we're shooting for kind of an organic, you know, groovy feel..."

Well folks, it looks like we've finally reached the point where Mom Rock has officially become cool again.

Backing Sennett up in this incarnation of the Elected are multi-instrumentalist Mike Bloom, percussionist Ryland Steen, and bassist Daniel Brummel. Jenny Lewis and Eisley's Stacy Dupree contribute backing vocals.

The Sun, Sun, Sun tracklist looks a little something like this:

01 Clouds Parting (8:14 a.m.)
02 Would You Come With Me
03 Fireflies in a Steel Mill
04 Not Going Home
05 It Was Love
06 Sun, Sun, Sun
07 Did Me Good
08 The Bank and Trust
09 Old Times
10 Desiree
11 I'll Be Your Man
12 Beautiful Rainbow
13 Biggest Star
14 At Home (Time Unknown)

We really hope track ten is about the girl who sang that "you gotta be strong" song.

An Elected tour is in the works for next year, but Sennett plans to keep the shows to a minimum for now. A bare minimum:

01-20 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
01-21 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
01-24 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Café <p> Efforts are being made toward a new Rilo Kiley record as well, but veeeery slooooowly. Sennett told Pitchfork, "Before me and Jenny leave on our US tours, we're planning on trying to get a couple songs down for the next record...hopefully get little pockets of four and five songs at a time and get together a record."

Despite all the pending music industry commitments, Sennett has the same day-to-day problems normal folk like you, me and that dude over there have to deal with as well. When asked what else he's been working on, Sennett replied, "Well, the outside of my house has been lookin' really shitty. I have these roots growing next to my house...so I gotta work on that. That's about it." See, kids? Celebrities are just like us!

Rilo Kiley: http://www.rilokiley.com/
The Elected: http://www.theelected.com/

Swayzak Plan Short DJ Tour, Releases

As far as what to expect to hear from half of the internationally adored pair, Brun says that he'll be spinning "lots of deep, minimal house! Dutch electro, Detroit techno, Italo disco! And some late nights!" We're quite curious to hear what this new sub-genre "some late nights" sounds like. Maybe drill-n-bass meets bubble-crunk?

Dirty Dancing:

12-07 New York, NY - Canal Room
12-08 Denver, CO - The Church
12-09 Detroit, MI - Bleu
12-10 Washington, DC - Five Lounge & Discotheque

Making their vocal-laden mark on the emerging minimal techno scene back in 1998 with their debut LP Snowboarding in Argentina, Brun and his partner James Taylor (no, stupid, not the guy your mom likes) have put out a series of recordings acclaimed by many (but not Pitchfork). They also run their own label, 240 Volts, as well as Swayzak Recordings.

This year, Taylor released his first solo work, Carthage Milk (sans vocals) on Paris' Logistic Records, and the duo put out the Sans Adore 12" by Canadian producer Pan/Tone in September on 240 Volts. The label is also currently pressing another Swayzak record, Old Man Sorrow, due out at the end of this month.

Swayzak are preparing to flood the market in 2006, with a reissue of Snowboarding in Argentina, a new album, and what's tentatively being called Route de La Slack: Remixes and Rarities. Of the latter, Brun says: "The album will be cool, as it's a compilation of hard-to-find tracks, remixes, and unreleased demos. Lots of our history there, from releases with Mille Plateaux to remixes of Senor Coconut."

And if there's anything the world needs, it's more Senor Coconut remixes.

Swayzak: http://www.swayzak.com/

Masha Qrella Embarks on First U.S. Tour

Bassist for Berlin-based electro-pop act Contriva, the solo Masha concocts warm, looping acousti-pop decorated with her lovely vocal musings and light electronic flourishes. Berlin's venerable Morr Music, home to Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, Isan, and Styrofoam, issued Qrella's mellifluous second record, Unsolved Remain, last February. Now the lady's intent on wooing the American dive-bar set with her first-ever U.S. tour, beginning tonight. Cue fanfare, trailed by soft, ethereal blips:

12-01 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
12-02 New York, NY - Tonic
12-03 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop #
12-05 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
12-07 Portland, OR - Holocene ^
12-08 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
01-12 Groningen, Netherlands - Simplon (EuroSonic Festival)

* with Safety Scissors
# with ADULT.
^ with Tracy + The Plastics

Miss Qrella ventures to the wild western hemisphere with trusty guitarist/bassist Rike Schubert and keyboard/laptop guru Michael Mühlhaus at her side. Will she be able to hold her own against ADULT. and Tracy + the Plastics? Turn up and show love to find out.

Morr Music: http://www.morrmusic.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.)