V Festival Coming to North America

Forget press releases: Sir Richard Branson, lord of the Virgin empire, took a personal approach to delivering news when he rappelled from a helicopter over the Toronto waterfront last Friday. His message to the media? Virgin's hugely popular British rock fest, the V Festival, will drop into Toronto's Island Park on September 9-10.

There are over 40 bands on the Toronto roster, including the Flaming Lips, Massive Attack, Gnarls Barkley, the Raconteurs, Wolfmother, Phoenix, the Hidden Cameras, the Dears, Jose Gonzales, Starsailor, Alexisonfire, Zero 7, Eagles of Death Metal, Thrice, 2ManyDJs, K'Naan, and Sam Roberts Band. The fest aims to draw 50,000 concertgoers, which just might happen, considering the British V Festival sold out in a mere three hours.

The V festival will make its U.S. debut at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course on September 23. (Alas, Branson didn't do any rappelling into Bodymore.) Gnarls Barkley and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the only acts confirmed for that one so far, with the full lineup to be revealed July 10.

Apparently, these North American extensions of the V Festival are only the beginning. Virgin hopes to hold fests in Vancouver and Montreal next year.

Antony, Björk Collaboration up in the Air

Pitchfork just received the following message from Antony, regarding the rumor of his involvement with Björk's forthcoming album:

"I am not 'working with Björk on her new record'. However we have written some things together in the course of hanging out; the destination of this collaboration is not known at this time. A subtle distinction I know, but an important one."

Oh well. Hopefully something cool comes of this.

Video: Daft Punk: "Electroma" teaser

Imagine a world where everyone wears Daft Punk helmets. Now imagine that world as a movie.

Sorry, Snakes on a Plane, but from the looks of this teaser for our favorite French house duo's latest foray into filmmaking, we've got a new Most Anticipated Movie of 2006.

[MORE...]

Tom Waits to Tour!

Tom Waits will leave his lair for a rare tour this August, hitting Southern and Midwestern cities he hasn't played in decades (if at all).

"We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me money in Kentucky," Waits said in a press release.

Yeah, Tom Waits is pretty much the coolest man alive. [MORE...]

Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" Vocoder on eBay

A piece of electronic music history has been put up for auction today on eBay. With bidding starting at a cool $8,500, the primitive vocoder prototype used on Kraftwerk's revered "Autobahn" is happily prepared to fall into the hands of some crazy-rich impulse-buying studio enthusiast.

Depicted in the sleeve art for the band's earlier Ralf & Florian LP, the vocoder is, according to its seller, "basically working and partly functional," although it "definitely needs an overhaul by a knowledgable technician."

The seller also casually states, "Highest bidder may have contact to the engineers who built it." That, of course, not being Kraftwerk themselves, but rather, "electronic engineers in the area of Physikalisch-Technische BundesAnstalt (PTB) Braunschweig, Dipl.Ing P.Leunig and Dipl.Ing. K.Obermayer." Dude, doesn't Germany have some equivalent of the Smithsonian?

Sound Team Strike Back!

Despite more than a year's worth of blog buzz behind them (and a fairly promising performance at last year's CMJ festival), the painfully mediocre debut album from Capitol Records "indie" band Sound Team got reamed last week by your pals at the Pitchfork. In retaliation of the 3.7 rating, the band-- or someone purporting to be them-- posted a YouTube video depicting a sort of Sound Team effigy being mutilated, thrown off a cliff, burned, and dismembered by a Pitchfork. Creepy! That's exactly what we did to our promo copy this weekend!

In the band's defense, the music backing up the visuals here is a vast improvement over their record. A bit more focus and you'll have it, guys...

Video: Grandaddy: "Elevate Myself"

Grandaddy may have passed on, but they will always be around to watch over us. No kidding-- Grandaddy made it to Heaven, a big achievement for a California indie rock band! Before all you hardass atheist hipsters point out the black tape you slapped over the word "Holy" on your mom's Bible, know that Grandaddy sent proof of their transcendence.

Prepare to be born again with the video for "Elevate Myself", the single from the band's recently released final album, Just Like the Fambly Cat.

In pastel-toned animation, Jason Lytle leaves solid land behind for a guitar-playing life in the clouds. Toward the end, he grows wings, multiplies into a bunch of little Lytles, and takes off for outer space. And you know we love space. [MORE...]

Gnarls Barkley Add Shows

Those crazy mofos in Gnarls Barkley have added even more dates to their world tour, as their debut album, St. Elsewhere, continues to climb the charts. (It's currently number eight on the Billboard 200!) On August 14, they'll hit David Letterman; we hope by that point, they're dressing up like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. [MORE...]

Malkmus, Thermals, Menomena on Portland Comp

A $7 local music comp is probably the last place you'd expect to hear a new track from Stephen Malkmus, but apparently the ex-Pavement front-man has much love for his adopted hometown of Portland, Oregon. Portland's non-profit PDX Pop Now! organization will release the two-disc PDX Pop Now! 2006 on July 11. It's a 40-track collection of music from area artists, including renowned performers like Malkmus as well as lesser-known acts looking for exposure.

Other locals contributing unreleased material include the Thermals, Menomena, Viva Voce, Vursatyl (of Lifesavas), and Talkdemonic, while Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, the Joggers, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Mirah, the Blow, and others offer previously released songs.

Funds raised from sales of PDX Pop Now! 2006 go towards producing the Third Annual PDX Pop Now! Music Festival on July 28-30 at Loveland in Portland. The lineup for the free, all-ages event is still being nailed down, but there will be a free kickoff-show on July 19 in front of Portland's City Hall, featuring a performance by Quasi.

The tracklist for the compilation is after the jump, and check out the exclusive mp3 of the Thermals track "Product Placement" below. [MORE...]

Jarvis Cocker Streams New Track

Jarvis Cocker, charmingly flamboyant frontman of 90s Britpop darlings Pulp, is making a gradual return to the spotlight. First it was a duet with Nancy Sinatra, then the one with Jonny Greenwood for that Harry Potter thing ("This Is the Night"-- how terribly romantic!), followed by that complication The Trip he put together with Pulp bassist Steve Mackey (nee Stephen Patrick Mackey, not to be confused with a certain S.P. Morrissey).

But the true sign of a public return: He's popping up in the UK tabloids again-- in Q with Scott Walker, in NME vs Peter Robinson, etc. And he's even talking up the release of a new album later in the year. To be titled Warrior on the Edge Time, the record is supposed to have been produced by old college pals Sam Lockwood and John Watson, and, if all goes to plan, it should feature a brand new song titled "Running the World", which he's just posted to his MySpace.

Originally given the longer title "The Cunts Are Still Running the World", it's a pleasantly hateful little tune with lots of swears that hints at Cocker reinventing himself as a lovably cantankerous old codger. (He is now nearly 43, after all.) But what about his new prepubescent fanbase? Could he even be singing about Dumbledore??! Jarvis, this is no way to secure a long-term voicing career with Pixar.

Exclusive: The Rapture Reveal New Album

It's been three long years since the release of the Rapture's last record, Echoes, which also happened to be Pitchfork's favorite album of 2003. But come September 12 (September 4 in the UK), the wait will finally end, with the release of the NYC dance-punk group's second LP, Pieces of the People We Love. In the UK, it will be preceded by the single "Get Myself Into It", which comes out August 21...but wait! You can hear it on the band's MySpace page starting today.

The album comes out on Vertigo Records in the UK, and Motown/Universal in America. Yes, we now live in a world where the Rapture are on Motown.

Pitchfork spoke to band members Vito Roccoforte and Gabriel Andruzzi about Pieces yesterday. They revealed that in addition to "Get Myself Into It", the album will also feature the title track, the previously leaked song "W.A.Y.U.H." (which stands for "Woo, All Right, Yeah, Uh Huh", in case you were curious), and "The Devil". They haven't finished working out the final tracklist, but they're looking to make the album 50 minutes and 10 tracks long. [MORE...]

Furnaces, González, Molina, Psapp Rock NPR
Your mom is now officially cooler than you are

This evening, NPR will broadcast the Fiery Furnaces' performance at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club. And as José González, Juana Molina, and Psapp wrap up their U.S. tour, NPR will stream a live webcast of their concert at World Live Café in Philadelphia tomorrow night, July 1. [MORE...]

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.)