White Stripes to Appear on "The Simpsons"

According to MTV, the episode depicts Bart's presumably zany attempt to become a jazz drummer. Following a parody of the Stripes video "The Hardest Button to Button", Bart meets up with Meg and Jack and cartoon hilarity no doubt ensues. The episode, which will air in the fall, is called "Jazzy and the Pussycats", a pun so unbelievably hopeless even we couldn't have thought it up. Doh!

Assuming Mad Jack White has made a full recovery from recent vocal cord ailments, the Stripes are primed to invade New Zealand and Australia next week as part of the Big Day Out festival series. So grab yr mates and head Down Under:

01-20 Auckland, New Zealand - Ericsson Stadium (Big Day Out) *
01-22 Gold Coast, Australia - Parklands (Big Day Out) *
01-26 Sydney, Australia - Showground (Big Day Out) *
01-29 Melbourne, Australia - Princes Park South (Big Day Out) *
02-03 Adelaide, Australia - Royal Adelaide Showground (Big Day Out) *
02-05 Perth, Australia - Claremont Showgrounds (Big Day Out) *

* with Franz Ferdinand, Iggy & the Stooges, Sleater-Kinney, et al

* White Stripes: <a

Oasis Announce North American Shows

Their ambitions are slightly more modest this time around, as only one out of the six shows announced so far takes place at a venue with "Verizon" in its name. Three of those shows are already sold out, including a stop at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville (yup, Oasis is rockin' the Opry). Isn't it weird how people still care about this band?

Before their American journey, Oasis will decimate hotel rooms across Scandinavia, Europe, the UK, and Asia, picking fights with Annie, Daft Punk, James Blunt, and the Buddha Machine guys, respectively.

The story:

01-25 Oslo, Norway- Spektrum
01-26 Stockholm, Sweden - Hovet
01-29 Lille, France - Zenith
01-30 Grenoble, France - Summum
02-01 Vienna, Austria - Gasometer
02-02 Winterthur, Switzerland - Eulachhalle
02-04 Toulouse, France - Zenith
02-06 Florence, Italy - Mandela Forum
02-07 Rome, Italy - Palalottomatica
02-09 Sheffield, England - Sheffield Hallam FM Arena
02-10 Sheffield, England - Sheffield Hallam FM Arena
02-13 Nottingham, England - Nottingham Arena
02-14 Nottingham, England - Nottingham Arena
02-18 Bangkok, Thailand - Bangkok 100 Rock Festival
02-21 Seoul, South Korea - Olympic Hall
02-23 Singapore, Singapore - Indoor Stadium
02-25 Hong Kong, China - Asiaworld-Arena
03-20 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre *
03-22 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre
03-23 Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
03-25 Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre
03-26 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
03-28 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre

* with Arctic Monkeys

Oasis: http://www.oasisinet.com/site.php

Merritt Reveals Showtunes Release Date, Tracklist

As ever, these Merritt track titles are poems unto themselves:

01 Theme from The Orphan of Zhao

07 Sounds Expensive
08 The Red Shoes
09 Fan Dance Cha-Cha
10 The Little Maiden of the Sea
11 Ukulele Me!
12 Train Song
13 The Little Hebrew Girl
14 Shall We Sing a Duet?
15 The Song of the Humble Serf
16 The Collar and the Garter
17 Shall We Sing a Duet? Reprise
18 Sorry, Wrong Show
19 The Storks
20 In the Spring, When I Was Young
21 The Ugly Little Duck
22 And He Would Say...
23 The World Is Not Made of Flowers
24 Behold the Lowly Centipede
25 In China, Said the Moon...
26 Hail! Son of Heaven

Stephin Merritt: http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/

R&B Legend Wilson Pickett Dead at 64

Pickett left his hometown of Prattville, Alabama while still in his teens, heading to Detroit and starting his first group, the Violinaires, in the late 50s. He later joined the Falcons, led by fellow soul giant Eddie Floyd, hitting the R&B Top 10 in 1962 with "I Found a Love," a classic soul burner topped by Pickett's screaming and sweating lead vocal. Three years later, after a few minor solo hits with RCA, Atlantic sent him to Memphis to record with the Stax crew, where the pumping "In the Midnight Hour" established him as a force to reckon with and helped define the gritty Southern soul style.

Over the next few years, he cut side after side of fiery, vital soul, including "Mustang Sally," "Funky Broadway", "I Found a True Love" and the smoking Bobby Womack collaboration "I'm a Midnight Mover," splitting his recording time between Stax and Muscle Shoals. An unlikely pairing with Gamble & Huff for 1970's Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia worked out surprisingly well, and produced the hits "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" and "Get Me Back on Time, Engine No. 9," the latter a sweet slice of churning funk with psychedelic overtones. Pickett continued to have hits right into the early 70s, capping his long string of smashes in 1971 with the thrashing funk cut "Don't Knock My Love."

Pickett left Atlantic for RCA shortly afterward, and never again had the same level of success, commercially or artistically. He was inducted into the Rock ‘n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. In 1999, he cut It's Harder Now, a surprisingly strong comeback album that found his paint-scraping falsetto still intact.

Liars Prepare New Single

To tide you over (or maybe just further entice you) until Drum's March 21 U.S. release (February 20 in the UK), Mute will release the album's second single and standout track, "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack", in the UK on February 13. (The U.S. has to wait until April 4.) It will be available on both 7" and CD; the latter will be augmented by videos for each song.

Tracklist:

7":

A: The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (radio edit)
B: The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack

CD:

01 The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (radio edit)
02 The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack
03 Do as the Birds, Eat the Remains
04 Drum and the Uncomfortable Can (remix)
Videos:
The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (Video by Julian Gross)
Do as the Birds, Eat the Remains (Video by Aaron Hemphill)
Drum and the Uncomfortable Can (Video by Angus Andrew)

Liars have a few scattered shows scheduled overseas, including a stop at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-curated day of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May. If they're telling the truth on their website, the band will announce more dates in the near future.

Until then:

03-16 London, England - ULU
05-13 East Sussex, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties) *
06-16 Barcelona, Spain - Sónar Festival
06-17 Barcelona, Spain - Sónar Festival

* with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Oneida, Blood Brothers, Ex Models, Celebration, Imaginary Folk, Tall Boys, Magik Markers, Services

* Pitchfork Review: Liars: It Fit When I Was a Kid EP

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

David Thomas Broughton Releases EP, Plays UK Shows

More salt for your wounds:

01 Anchovies
02 The Window
03 Liberazione

Broughton also has a very, very busy weekend coming up. Not only is he scheduled to perform twice on Saturday-- in the afternoon at Golden Lab's ROWF ROWF ROWF! All Dayer in Manchester, and at night at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds-- but he happens to be moving from Leeds to Manchester that same day. Let's hope Sunday is a day of rest.

DTB Dates:

01-21 Manchester, England - The Klondyke Club *
01-21 Leeds, England - Brudenell Social Club #
02-04 Manchester, England - Rain or Shine Club
02-11 Manchester, England - The Red Deer Club

* with i had an inkling, Cowtown, Quack Quack, Cleckhuddersfax, Nursing Home, Lapsus Linguae, D'Astro, Hunting Lodge, Pifco
# with Castanets, Jana Hunter

* Pitchfork Review: David Thomas Broughton: The Complete Guide to Insufficiency

David Thomas Broughton: http://www.plugresearch.com/davidthomas.html
Golden Lab: http://www.myspace.com/goldenlabrecords

East River Pipe Asks What Are You On?

Cornog is once again ready to unveil an album of stories culled from his experiences in the urban battlefield and set to silken melodies laid onto his trusty Tascam 388. What Are You On? comes out Merge on January 24 and is the first East River Pipe album since 2003's Garbageheads On Endless Stun. If you're one of the first 50 people to pre-order the album from the Merge website, you'll get a free What Are You On? poster and magnet. Hopefully the fridge you attach it to was purchased at Home Depot.

What Are You On?:

01 What Does T.S. Eliot Know About You?
02 Crystal Queen
03 What Are You On?
04 I'll Walk My Robot Home
05 The Ultrabright Bitch
06 Druglife
07 Absolutely Nothing
08 Dirty Carnival
09 You Got Played, Little Girl
10 Life Is a Landfill
11 Shut Up and Row
12 Trivial Things
13 Some Dreams Can Kill You

Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com/

Jamie Lidell, Notwist, Kid606 to Play Sperm Fest

Toting the tagline "fertile ways of music and other media," the Czech experimental electronic extravaganza actually an impressive bill reppin' both Eastern and Western acts. Artists already on board include the Notwist, Jamie Lidell, VJ Pablo Fiasco, Kid606, Radian, Jeff Milligan, Digitonal, Tigrics, Rupert Huber, the Complainer, Monika Naceva & DJ Five, Jezis Tahne Na Berlin, Bruce McClure, Karaoke Tundra & DJ Spinhandz, Barbara Idijot, Michal Marianek, Mesterhazy, Materidouska, Palsecam, the Lazy, Nika77, Josef Sedlon, Stanzim, Yukimura, Bomb Mitte Soundsystem, Bluem, Deus Ex Machina, Floex & Ridina Ahmed, and Poo.

Poo at the Sperm Festival! Your 10-year-old brother will be laughing for a week.

Tickets are available for 180 Czech Koruny (around $7.57) in advance, 250 kc ($10.51) at the door. Condoms not included.

Sperm Festival: http://www.sperm.cz/

Cloud Cult Embark on Brief Midwest Tour

Cloud Cult will use these gigs to warm up for a nationwide tour this April and May, dates TBA. So join the cult...ooh they even have live painters and a video dude, hot!:

01-19 Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club *
01-20 Madison, WI - The Orpheum Theater Stage Door #
01-21 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub %
02-10 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater ^
02-11 Eau Claire, WI - The Stones Throw

* with The Silence
# with Awesome Car Funmaker, The Selfish Gene
% with Kid Dakota, David Singer & the Sweet Science
^ with Bill Mike Band, Cowboy Curtis

Cloud Cult: http://www.cloudcult.com/

GWAR Immortalized as Action Figures

The company Shocker Toys has announced that they have acquired the rights to make cute little dollys out of the gross-out metal band. The set will include tiny versions of members Oderus Urungus, Flattus Maximus, Beefcake the Mighty, Jizmak Da Gusha, and Balsac the Jaws of Death. Perfect for your seven-year-old nephew or niece.

Set for release this summer in specialty stores and mass retailers, the company will make the action figures in their signature Shockini form: little blocks with sturdy joints and a lot of movement; 18 points of articulation to be exact, so the figurines got moves like you wouldn't believe. We wouldn't expect anything less from GWAR, honestly.

The toys will be available as six-to-eight-inch fully sculpted figures of the band as well as shrunk down, three-inch versions. And at $15 a pop, they offer much more bang for your buck than those $65 Glenn Danzig jobs from Medicom toys. C'mon, cheap dolls of interplanetary warriors or expensive yelling tiny man? No contest.

The GWAR dolls will come with "murderous accessories" and a GWAR comic book. You have nothing to lose in this buy. Except your life. Because obviously these toys will come alive, rock your head off, and then eat the rest of you.

GWAR: http://www.gwar.net
Shocker Toys: http://www.shockertoys.com

Will Oldham to Star in Yo La Tengo-Soundtracked Film

Old Joy, based on the Jonathan Raymond short story, tells the tale of Kurt (Oldham) and Mark (London), "two lifelong friends...who reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range," according to the press release. Directed by Kelly Reichardt (Travis, Ode, River of Grass) and produced by Todd Haynes (director of Far From Heaven and Velvet Goldmine), Old Joy will show four times at the festival but is not in competition.

Not unlike Waits, Will's no stranger to the silver screen, having acted before in such films as Junebug, Radiation, Elysian Fields, Thousand Pieces of Gold, and Matewan. What's more, longstanding indie trio Yo La Tengo will provide Old Joy's soundtrack. You may recall that YLT portrayed the Velvet Underground in Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol, and a marching band in Hal Hartley's kooky The Book of Life (also starring PJ Harvey!). They also soundtracked Junebug, Michael Hoffman's Game 6, and French avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painleve's underwater films, which resulted in the album The Sounds of the Sounds of Science in 2001.

Sundance festival director Geoff Gilmore had this to say about Old Joy: "For me it is a strong story, very minimalist and very powerful, formal, and delicate." But just how powerful, you ask? Find out when Old Joy does compete in the Rottendam International Film Festival, beginning January 28.

And that's not all: as previously reported, Willy-O will wreak havoc on CD shelves in the coming weeks, as the covers-collaboration-with-Tortoise The Brave and the Bold finally drops on January 24, followed a week later by the re-release of I Am a Cold Rock. I am Dull Grass., an Oldham tribute starring Mark Kozelek, Jolie Holland, Court and Spark, Elephant Micah, Viking Moses and Unbunny. You dig?

Man about the world Oldham is, the Old Joy boy ships off to Oceania later this month for some tourin'. Check it:

01-27 Raglan, New Zealand - AquaVelvet Café
01-28 Leigh, New Zealand - Sawmill Café
01-29 Leigh, New Zealand - Sawmill Café
02-02 Wellington, New Zealand - Indigo Bar
02-03 Nelson, New Zealand - Mean Fiddler
02-06 Golden Bay, New Zealand - Mussel Inn
02-09 Oamaru, New Zealand - Penguin Club
02-10 Dunedin, New Zealand - Sammy's
02-11 Christchurch, New Zealand - Creation
02-16 Melbourne, Australia - Forum
02-17 Melbourne, Australia - Forum
02-18 Sydney, Australia - Newtown
02-19 Sydney, Australia - Newtown
04-10 Aberdeen, Scotland - Lemon Tree
04-11 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
04-12 Edinburgh, Scotland - Queens Hall
04-13 Gateshead, England - Sage
04-16 Perth, Scotland - Perth Theatre

Will Oldham: http://www.bonnieprincebilly.com/
Old Joy: http://www.oldjoymovie.com/

Tons More SXSW Bands Announced

In December, we announced South by Southwest's hefty initial lineup, but you knew it wouldn't stop there, especially since "preliminary" was included in the story's headline. Since then, a slew... no, a ton... no, a landslide of bands have beefed up the schedule. We've taken the liberty of selecting the following noteworthy bands added to the mega-list of over 850 artists on SXSW's official website:

Adult.,Aloha, Animal Collective, the Apples in Stereo, Arab Strap, Art Brut, the Avalanches, Belong, Black Dice, Black Heart Procession, Brakes, Brazilian Girls, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Buck 65, Chin Up Chin Up, Clem Snide, the Concretes, Cut Copy, Dirty Projectors, DMBQ, Dosh, Earlimart, Echo & The Bunnymen, Editors, Goblin Cock, Gogol Bordello, Goldfrapp, the Gossip, the Go! Team, Great Lake Swimmers, the Hidden Cameras, His Name Is Alive, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Islands, the Juan Maclean, Damien Jurado, k-os, Ladytron, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, the Magic Numbers, Magnolia Electric Company, Mates of State, Mazarin, the Minus 5, Minus the Bear, Mogwai, the New Pornographers, Of Montreal, OK GO, Beth Orton, Oxford Collapse, Peaches, Ariel Pink, Pit er Pat, Robert Pollard, Josh Ritter, the Secret Machines, Serena Maneesh, the Spinto Band, Test Icicles, Thunderbirds Are Now!, John Vanderslice, We Are Scientists, Whitehouse, WHY?, Wooden Wand, Xiu Xiu

The most overwhelming part? This isn't anywhere near the final lineup. Goddamn.

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