J'Aime Tambeur Quits Islands

Diamonds said, "It is with sadness that I report Jamie has left Islands, but the band waltzes on! We wish Jamie the best in his new life."

He added, "Islands are forever."

We'll see about that. For now, the band plans to continue into the near future, with a European tour in July and August.

Throw your Diamonds in the sky:

07-02 Belfort, France - Les Eurockeennes
07-03 Malmo, Sweden - Accelerator
07-05 Gothenburg, Sweden - Accelerator
07-06 Stockholm, Sweden - Accelerator
07-07 Borlange, Sweden - Peace & Love Festival (Accelerator Stage)
07-08 Helsinki, Finland - Klubb Gang
07-10 Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik
07-12 Munster, Germany - Gleis 22
07-14 Frankfurt, Germany - ASTA Sommerfest
07-15 Dour, Belgium - Dour Festival
07-16 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
07-17 Nijmegen, Holland - Valkhof Affaire
07-18 Liege, Belgium - L'Escalier
07-19 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli (de Helling)
07-21 Paris, France - Maroquinerie
07-22 London, England - TBA
07-23 Manchester, England - Roadhouse
07-24 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC2
07-25 Dublin, Ireland - Sugar Club
07-26 Birmingham, England - Bar Academy
07-27 London, England - Bardens Boudoir
07-29 Berlin, Germany - Berlin Festival
08-02 Berlin, Germany - Bastard
08-03 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
08-04 Erlangen, Germany - Sommerfest
08-05 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Festival
08-11 St. Malo, France - Route du Rock
08-12 Aulnoye-Aymeries, France - Les Nuits Secretes
08-17 Avenches, Switzerland - Festival Rock Oz Arenes

Six Organs of Admittance Awakens on New LP

In the midst of these road trips, a new record from Chasny's Six Organs moniker is set to make its way to the record store. Following 2005's School of the Flower is The Sun Awakens, due June 5 on Drag City in the UK and June 13 in North America, both on CD and vinyl formats. And don't let the title mislead you; a press release claims Sun showcases "the darkest Six Organs of Admittance yet". Tim Green (Fucking Champs, Nation of Ulysses) twiddled knobs on the album and OM's Al Cisneros guests, contributing bass on the track "River of Transfiguration".

Daaaank:

01 Torn by Wolves
02 Bless Your Blood
03 Black Wall
04 The Desert Is a Circle
05 Attar
06 Wolves' Pup
07 River of Transfiguration

In early June, Chasny will wrap up a tour as a member of Current 93. Note June 1, when both C93 and Six Organs of Admittance will perform at the Dimitris Horn Theatre in Athens. Dates:

06-01 Athens, Greece - Dimitris Horn Theatre #*
06-02 Athens, Greece - Dimitris Horn Theatre ^%
06-03 Ravenna, Italy - Teatro Rasi $
06-04 Ravenna, Italy - Teatro Rasi #@

* with Six Organs of Admittance
# with Maja Elliot
^ with Baby Dee
% with Simon Finn
$ with Pantaleimon
@ with Clodagh Simonds

Come July, ol' Benny will hit the road again, this time in support of The Sun Awakens. For the sake of dissing on redundancy, the June 1 date listed above has not been included here:

07-06 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge *
07-07 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs
07-08 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber #
07-09 Arlington, VA - Iota
07-12 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
07-13 Lexington, KY - The Dame
07-14 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
07-15 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick ^
07-17 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern

* with Immaculate Machine
# with Court & Spark, Shearwater
^ with Slumber Party, Kiosk

Portastatic's McCaughan Gets His Soundtrack On

The film is described on the Portastatic website as the story of "two life long friends who spend a summer competing for the attention of the woman they both love," and the soundtrack will feature "lots of strings, oboes, and acoustic guitars," in addition to more traditional rock fare. The movie, which stars Lukas Haas and Molly Parker, does not yet have a release date, which is good because such a lovely story should be saved for the winter, when we're all getting down with our seasonally affected selves.

Who Loves the Sun:

01 Will's Return
02 The Sunset Rock
03 Maggie at the Dock
04 Fighting Music
05 Seems Like a Long Time Ago
06 The Search for Daniel
07 Nice One
08 Lively Chase
09 Snake Music
10 Nice Strums
11 Do You Want to Know?
12 Maggie and Mary
13 Stretch Waltz
14 Tremolo Chase
15 A Bit Pastoral
16 Just Like a Real Book
17 Is That Mars?
18 Will's Return Complete
19 Fishing Music
20 Once Nice Piano
21 Last Kiss Music
22 Older Summers

The Portastatic website also reports that Double Mac is currently in the process of writing a score for The Unknown, Tod Browning's 1927 silent film starring Lon Chaney as a man with three thumbs (Ultimate Thumb War Champion!) and Joan Crawford as "a woman afraid of the embrace of men." Yikes! McCaughan's score will be performed live, alongside the movie, June 16 at Seattle's Moore Theatre, as part of the Seattle Film Festival. The full band from the last Portastatic tour will play the accompaniment, supplemented with an oboe-trombone-violin mini-orchestra.

Half of CocoRosie Is Half of Metallic Falcons

Metallic Falcons are Sierra Casady of CocoRosie and Matteah Baim of the Voodoo-EROS label, which will release the Falcons' debut, Desert Doughnuts, on June 6. Antony, Devendra Banhart, Jana Hunter, and Greg Rogrove (Tarantula A.D.) all guest on the record. According to a press release, the album "is an emotional journey of Dungeons & Dragonsesque proportions," and it's "filled with hand-rolled peyote cigarettes, sticky sage resin, and old carburetors," which we are told is the freak-folk equivalent of bonus features.

Desert Doughnuts:

01 Journey
02 Airships
03 Night Time and Morning
04 Snakes and Tea
05 Desert Cathedral
06 Silent Night
07 Berry Metal
08 After Metal (Sound of Stars)
09 Pale Dog
10 A Heart of Birdsong
11 Misty Song
12 Ocean
13 Disparu
14 Four Hearts

The duo will celebrate the release of Doughnuts with a show the day after the disc hits shelves. In addition to the scheduled performers, "some very, very special surprise guests" are rumored to appear. These tin birds are well connected (just ask about them!), so that could mean anything.

Desert cops?:

06-07 New York, NY - Tonic *

* with Kid Congo, Nomi, Bow Ribbons

CocoRosie have a number of shows scheduled in June and July, as well as an appearance at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival in September:

06-02 New York, NY- Bowery Ballroom
06-03 Philadelphia, PA - Vox Populi
06-08 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
06-10 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
06-30 Poznan, Poland - Malta Festival
07-04 Vigo, Spain - Cultural Caixanova
07-06 Cartegena, Spain - Festival La Mar de Musica
07-09 Liege, Belgium - Festival Les Ardentes
07-14 Tuscany, Italy - Arezzo Wave
09-04 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival

Exclusive Liars, Jesu, Vashti Bunyan Tracks on Comp

New Orleans non-commercial radio station WTUL's Songs From the Basement series has smartly evaded that type of pay-for-play programming and their WTUL Songs From the Basement Volume 4 is no different. The two-disc release contains 33 tracks that mix New Orleans' top local talent alongside acts like Madvillain, Laura Veirs, Jens Lekman, Jesu, Drive-By Truckers, Jello Biafra & The Melvins, Liars, and more.

While Jesu has contributed an exclusive remix and Vashti Bunyan an unreleased demo, Liars, Caretaker, Ali Roberts, and Ballboy have all contributed all-new, exclusive tracks for the compilation. Proceeds from the release go towards funding the station, which is completely volunteer run and subsists solely on a mix of donations and modest funding from Tulane University. Considering the smack-down the station received courtesy of Hurricane Katrina-spawned floodwaters, prompting the demolition of their building and relocation to new facilities, it's a worthy cause.

The comp is currently available via the WTUL website, as well as at WTUL-sponsored shows in New Orleans.

WTUL Songs From the Basement Volume 4

Disc 1:

01 Ballzack: "Wine Candy"
02 Money Can't Buy Music: "We Will All Asphyxiate"
03 Glyn Styler & Rene Coman: "The Trucker Takes a Wife"
04 Meadow House: "My Window Cleaning Days Are Over"
05 Bruisers: "I'll Be Your Puppet"
06 Madvillain: "Figaro (Stones Throw 101 mix)"
07 A Particularly Vicious Rumor: "Sabotage"
08 Kid Koala: "Skanky Pank"
09 Bunky: "Wiggle"
10 Rock City Morgue: "Don't Leave Me Haunted"
11 Jesu: "Your Patch to Divinity (WTUL remix)"
12 Laura Veirs: "Galaxies (demo)"
13 Flossie & The Unicorns: "The Men with a Million Records"
14 Ballboy: "Ghosts of New Orleans (acoustic)"
15 Bipolaroid: "Burning Flag"
16 Jens Lekman: "Black Cab"
17 Tarwater: "Cassedy"
18 Jello Biafra & the Melvins: "The Lighter Side of Terrorism (Chrome-Honey Lysergic Mold mix)"

Disc 2:

01 The Caretaker: "Can't Get to Heaven That Way"
02 Truth Universal: "Heat!!!"
03 Liars: "Untitled"
04 The Fantastic Ooze: "Fusion Snakes Part 1"
05 Tommy Sunshine: "Dance Among the Ruins"
06 Conner Richardson with Noam Chomsky: "Public Mind"
07 Solar Deth Trap: "Catfish 'n' Cornpone"
08 Robyn Hitchcock: "Flanagan's Song"
09 Drive-By Truckers: "The Living Bubba (live)"
10 Chef Menteur with Alexandra Scott: "Oceanic"
11 John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars featuring Wayne Kramer: "Cow"
12 White Birch: "Attention"
13 Alasdair Roberts: "Pretty Saro"
14 Belong: "I Never Lose Really"
15 Vashti Bunyan: "If I Were (demo)"

Exclusive: New Mountain Goats Album Revealed

A 4AD press release sez: "If [the last Mountain Goats album, 2005's] The Sunset Tree derived its power and energy from an unblinking exorcism of personal demons, Get Lonely is perhaps the quiet, haunted aftermath. It's a reflective, intimate record; the mood is one of bittersweet resignation rather than cathartic release."

Darnielle is joined on the album by bosom buddies Peter Hughes and Franklin Bruno, as well as cellist Erik Freidlander and drummer Corey Fogel. Get Lonely was produced by Scott Solter.

Let the ILM thread begin now:

01 Wild Sage
02 New Monster Avenue
03 Half Dead
04 Get Lonely
05 Maybe Sprout Wings
06 Moon Over Goldsboro
07 In the Hidden Places
08 Song for Lonely Giants
09 Woke up New
10 If You See Light
11 Cobra Tattoo
12 In Corolla

Mountain Goats fans can get a little less lonely this summer, when Darnielle hits the road for a fistful of shows, including a benefit show tonight in North Carolina, a West Coast stint with Barbara Morgenstern, and appearances at the Athens Popfest in Athens, Georgia, and, of course, the mighty Pitchfork Music Festival.

See America Right:

05-26 Durham, North Carolina - 305 South (Durham Music Benefit) $
06-08 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
06-09 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
06-10 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
06-12 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
06-13 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
06-14 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
06-15 San Diego, CA - Casbah *
07-29 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival) #
08-10 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club (Athens Popfest)

$ with Language Arts, AOK
* with Barbara Morgenstern
# with Silver Jews, the Futureheads, Ted Leo / Pharmacists, Art Brut, Destroyer, Band of Horses, Man Man, Hot Machines, Chin Up Chin Up, A-Trak, Matthew Dear, Matmos, Spank Rock, Tyondai Braxton, Chicago Underground Duo, Ghislain Poirier, 8 Bold Souls, Flosstradamus, more

Band of Horses Kick Off North American Tour

Band of Horses kick off their summer North American tour tomorrow with a little Bigfoot fun at Washington's Sasquatch! festival. From there, the quintet canter from the Northwest through the Midwest. After a two-night stand in Chicago, Ben Bridwell, Mat Brooke and crew trot towards the East Coast before dipping down into the South and then heading back towards the Northwest again. After completing that circuit, the equitable equestrians gallop back to Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival. Yee haw!

I go to the barn because I like the tour dates:

05-27 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch!)
05-30 Boise, ID - Record Exchange (in-store)
05-31 Boise, ID - Neurolux/Crazy *$
06-03 Fargo, ND - Aquarium *
06-04 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry *
06-06 Chicago, IL - Schubas *
06-07 Chicago, IL - Schubas *@
06-08 Bloomington, IN - Blue Bird's *@
06-09 Cincinnati, OH - Alchemize Bar *@
06-10 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *@
06-11 Cleveland Heights, Ohio - Grog Shop * @
06-13 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace *@
06-15 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero #
06-16 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *@
06-17 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's *@
06-18 Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw *@
06-20 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern *@
06-21 West Columbia, SC - New Brookland Tavern *@
06-22 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *@
06-23 New Orleans, LA - The Parish (House of Blues) *@
06-24 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington *@
06-25 Austin, TX - The Parish *@
06-26 Denton, TX - Hailey's *@
06-28 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress *@
06-29 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room *@
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Echo *@
07-01 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *@
07-03 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *@
07-28 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
07-29 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival)%

* with Mt. Egypt
$ with Slow Signals
@ with the Can't See
# with Yo La Tengo, the Stills, Matt Pond PA, Todd Barry
% with Silver Jews, the Futureheads, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Art Brut, Destroyer, Mountain Goats, Man Man, Hot Machines, Chin Up Chin Up, A-Trak, Matthew Dear, Matmos, Spank Rock, Ghislain Poirier, Tyondai Braxton, Chicago Underground Duo, Flosstradamus, 8 Bold Souls, more

Desmond Dekker, Jamaican Ska Legend, Dead at 64

The man born Desmond Dacres and known as "the King of Ska" (after the title of his 1964 hit) worked as a welder in Kingston before he was discovered by ska pioneer Derrick Morgan and producer Leslie Kong of the Beverley's record label. His first single, the celebration of traditional values "Honour Your Mother and Father", was released in 1963. He was one of the progenitors of the rude boy sound, with his 1967 single "007 (Shanty Town)" and an appearance on Derrick Morgan's "Tougher Than Tough" from the same year. Each song-- as well as rude boy anthems like "Rudie Got Soul" and "Rude Boy Train"-- celebrated the glamour and violence of street culture, earning Dekker a devoted following in Britain at the height of mod culture.

Dekker's biggest hit, 1969's mournful repatriation song "Israelites", went to No. 1 in the UK and reached the top 10 in the U.S.-- the first worldwide Jamaican success since Millie's 1963 bubble-ska single "My Boy Lollipop".

Unbeknownst to most record buyers, Desmond himself had first been introduced to a mass audience in 1968 as the inspiration for the Beatles' horrible plundering of Jamaican music, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" ("Desmond works a barrow in the marketplace..."). "Israelites" also later provided the inspiration for a well-known Maxell ad. Dekker's other successes included "It Mek", a version of Beverley's labelmate Jimmy Cliff's "You Can Get It If You Really Want", as well as songs recorded with the Cherrypies (aka the Maytals) and his longtime backing band the Aces.

In the late 1970s, Dekker signed with the punk label Stiff Records and recorded with Graham Parker's backing band, the Rumour, as well as Robert Palmer. In the 1990s, he worked with the Specials. Dekker continued to tour and record up until his death; his last performance was on May 11 at Leeds University, and he had concerts scheduled throughout the summer.

Desmond Dekker - "Israelites"

Former Built to Spill Drummer Andy Capps Dead

Built to Spill has gone through various incarnations since its 1993 inception, and Capps played in what may be considered the second version of the band. Capps is featured on 1994's There's Nothing Wrong With Love; previously, Capps and Martsch played together in their high school band Farm Days. Since moving to Boise from his home of Twin Falls, ID, Capps remained a fixture on the town's music scene and played on Distorted, Retarded, Peculiar, the second release from former Built to Spill bassist Brett Nelson's band Butterfly Train.

Yesterday, the Idaho Statesman announced that "an informal memorial service will be held 4 p.m. June 10 at the Connector restaurant, 249 S. 16th, Boise."

* Pitchfork Review: Built to Spill: You in Reverse
* Pitchfork Track Review: Built to Spill: "Goin' Against Your Mind"
* Pitchfork News: Built to Spill Reschedule Canceled Shows
* Built to Spill: http://www.builttospill.com/

The Roots Tour in Advance of Game Theory

Much of their current North American trek will be spent with Talib Kweli on the undercard, and rumor has it that we'll be seeing more of this pair in the future.

Let's just hope that these shows go a hell of a lot more smoothly than that Radio City Music Hall disaster last weekend.

Things fall apart:

05-27 Nashville, TN - City Hall #
05-29 Memphis, TN - Premier #
06-01 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room #^
06-02 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ #%
06-03 Houston, TX - Hush *#
06-05 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
06-08 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues *#
06-09 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
06-10 San Francisco, CA - The Grand *
07-05 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus &
07-13 Washington, DC - Fur Nightclub *
07-15 Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live *@
07-17 Pittsburgh, PA - Margarita Mamas
07-27 St. Louis, MO - The Paegant *
07-29 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave *@
08-03 Detroit, MI - State Theatre *
08-07 Boston, MA - Avalon *

* with Talib Kweli
# with Blackalicious
^ with Miri Ben-Ari
% with the Incredibles
& with Aloe Blacc
@ with the Pharcyde

Hair Police Terrorize America

All three bands will join Carlos Giffoni and Prurient at Tonic in New York City on May 31 for one of Giffoni's No Fun Series events. This show, which is being billed "Destruction Styles", is the eleventh No Fun event since August of 2004 (not including the annual No Fun Fests), when Hair Police and Prurient brought the noise for the series' inaugural event.

After No Fun Event 11, Hair Police will pass (kinda like a wrecking ball) through three more towns before finishing the current slate of tour dates in their hometown on June 9.

However, that's just for now. Earlier this month, Hair Police played their first-ever shows in Europe, and apparently Europe didn't throw them out on their asses for constantly terrifying everyone, so the band is been hard at work booking a European tour in July and/or August. The United Kingdom will see most of the Hair Police havoc, but the band plans to make stops in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.

Watch out for the mullet cops:

05-27 Ypsilanti, MI - The Raven Pit *
05-28 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar *#
05-29 Easthampton, MA - The Elevens *$%
05-30 Boston, MA - Nom d'Artiste *%
05-31 New York, NY - Tonic *%&
06-01 Allentown, PA - Jeff the Pigeon *%@
06-02 Pittsburgh, PA - Thommy Conroy Works *%!
06-03 Delaware, OH - Lamb's Den *^
06-09 Lexington, KY - The Dame +

* with Graveyards
# with Pengo
$ with Mirror/Dash (Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore)
% with Heathen Shame
& with Prurient, Carlos Giffoni
@ with Air Conditioning
! with Telecorps
^ with Walter Carson, Caves, Lambsbread + with Country Teasers, Sara O'Keefe

Jan Jelinek Tours North America

Jelinek has previously toured America with the likes of Thomas Fehlmann, Pole, and Burnt Friedman, and, writing to Pitchfork via email, betrayed an appreciation for the mess of a country he's about to travel: "The U.S. is so diverse, sometimes its like a cliché, like an image taken from an American TV series, sometimes it's totally surprising and unexpected. You meet a lot of obscure and nice people, which I like."

When asked how well his previous shows were received, Jelinek responded, "Some show were really well received, some shows not. Guess it depends on which city/area you are playing. Probably electronic music, or let's say electronic performances, are still a bit strange for a lot of people."

Possibly to help people transition from the ruckus of rock show, Jelinek will play most of the North American dates under the moniker of Kosmischer Pitch (also the name of his latest solo album) with fellow Berliners Hanno Leichtmann and Andrew Pekler.

Jelinek described these sets like this: "When we're playing as a trio, drums and drum sounds are played by Hanno, and Andrew adds guitar-elements. Actually, his playing more focuses on the effects than playing melodies. Also Hanno plays an obscure drumsynth from the 70s and 80s, the 'syncussion' from Pearl. I will play electronics and the computer. The sound of the trio is more organic, a bit "rougher" and I guess more noisy. It's definitely a band sound."

He also added, "In the trio, I improvise with the layers and textures. But in combination with Hanno and Andrew, beats are improvised as well. Hanno is actually a jazz drummer and a very good improviser."

And what about the few solo shows planned? "My solo shows don't have a real drum sound. The main sound source is the computer and the synthesizer, so everything is a bit more 'sequenced' and looped, which has, of course, its own quality as well."

Besides Austin, Jelinek will also play solo shows at the Mutek Festival in Montreal and the FLOW.er Festival in Italy. No one should be disappointed by Jelinek solo gig, though, as the typical solo set sounds more akin to Kosmischer Pitch than the Kosmischer Pitch shows. Plus, Jelinek revealed, "When I'm travelling alone, I'm more into composing during flights, etc."

And then we're all winners:

05-26 New York, NY - Tonic *
05-27 Boulder, CO - Trilogy Wine Bar *
05-30 Austin, TX - Flamingo Cantina (Jan Jelinek solo)
05-31 Portland, OR - Holocene *
06-01 San Francisco, CA - Boca *
06-02 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *#
06-04 Montreal, Quebec - Mutek Festival (Jan Jelinek solo)
06-24 Catania, Italy - Flow.er Festival (Jan Jelinek solo)

* playing with Andrew Pekler and Hanno Leichtmann as Kosmischer Pitch
# with Eliot Lipp, Signaldrift

And no matter which set you get to hear, you'll likely be able to relive it via facsimile soon. Jelinek had this to say about upcoming recordings: "Right now, I'm working on a new solo album, which I will probably finish at the end of the summer and we are also trying to finish an album as a trio." Fortunately, Jelinek and Andrew Pekler are both on the German record label ~scape, so maybe they can tag team the label's upper management for a priority release date.

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.)