Rapture, Diplo, Wrens, Clipse Head Riottt! Fest
Plus: Girl Talk, Metric, Saul Williams, Explosions in the Sky, Asobi Seksu, more

All aboard! No, not you guys-- we're talking artists here...artists billed for California's Be the Riottt! Festival, specifically. It's got a little bit of everything! Set for November 11 at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the eclectic Riottt! lineup includes the Rapture, Clipse, Diplo, Explosions in the Sky, the Wrens, Metric, Asobi Seksu, Girl Talk, Sage Francis, Tokyo Police Club, and more. Check out the full list after the jump! [MORE...]

Video: Bob Dylan: "When the Deal Goes Down"

Directed by Bennett Miller (Capote), Bob Dylan's nostalgic new video for "When the Deal Goes Down" (from Bob's latest, Modern Times, released this week), features a montage of old-timey, shaky-as-shit home videos starring a 1950s-looking Scarlett Johansson. She frolics, she fishes, she feels the wind in her hair...

Hmmm, does Robbie Z have a thing for ScarJo? I think so! The best moment: when she communes with a manatee at some sort of dreamy aquarium. Weird.

Dinosaur Jr.’s Gear Stolen!

As a rule, people just shouldn't fuck with dinosaurs-- not even junior ones. Sometimes, however, bad, bad thieves break the rules and steal gear from Dinosaur Jr.'s trailer, which just plain sucks. Them's the breaks, but they shouldn't be.

The incident took place last night outside of Dino Jr.'s Long Island City, New York hotel. A list detailing all the missing instruments and equipment is being passed along via Internet-- view it by clicking "MORE". If you or anyone you know has information regarding the whereabouts of the gear, please contact Bart Dahl here. There has been no word of any show cancellations. [MORE...]

Xiu Xiu Share Unique Tour Polaroids With Fans!

All right, kids; it is once again time to hop onboard the Xiu crew press train. A few stops behind? Fear not-- read up on Pitchfork's latest stories, an interview with Jamie Stewart and a mega Xiu Xiu to-do list, here and here, respectively.

All caught up on the band's two upcoming studio albums (The Air Force, due September 12 on 5RC, and an untitled, half-finished disc), the Grouper collab (due November 7 via Slender Means Society), and The Air Force's David Horvitz-directed "Bishop, CA" video? Good-- let's go from there.

Horvitz, Xiu Xiu's tour manager and arts and crafter extraordinaire has yet another band-related project on his plate, "Xiu Xiu Polaroid Project Number 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", and he needs some fan participation! All you need to do is bring type 600 Polaroid film and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to any stop on Xiu Xiu's upcoming fall tour (dates after the jump). Drop said items off at the merch table and wait anxiously by your mailbox where you will, with time, receive some super special behind-the-scenes Xiu Xiu tour photos (however many exposures of Polaroid film you provide is how many photos you will get). For free!!

So make sure to swing by Xiu Xiu's fall trek of North America where, for the mere price of film and postage, you'll have a slim chance to receive a nekkid picture of Stewart...or at least a nekkid Vietnamese prostitute. Play those odds! [MORE...]

Lou Reed and Zeitkratzer Redo Metal Machine Music
And it's seriously "clangorous"

Lou Reed is keeping busy, as ever: This year, the sexagenarian has seen various reissues and reinterpretations of his solo material, and each project seems exponentially more ambitious. In June, RCA/Legacy put out a deluxe reissue of Coney Island Baby; this December, Reed, Antony, and others will perform a "theatrically realized version" of Berlin in NYC; and now, the musician is teaming up with avant-garde German music collective Zeitkratzer to create "audacious, clangorous realizations" of 1975's Metal Machine Music for a new CD/DVD out in early 2007 on Asphodel.

Fans familiar with the oft-criticized two-disc album (thought to be everything from a weird joke to an elaborate test of fan allegiance to an early example of noise music) might wonder how exactly they'll pull this off. But Zeitkratzer has churned out quite a few minimalist reworkings, collaborating with the like of Keith Rowe, Lee Ranaldo, Helmut Oehring, and Elliott Sharp. Reed joins the ensemble to play guitar on the re-metallicized album.

Later in September, our man Lou will play a few shows around the U.S.:

09-12 Kingston, NY – Broadway Theater
09-15 Telluride, CO – Telluride Blues Festival
09-16 Santa Fe, NM – Santa Fe Opera House

Exclusive: Langhorne Slim Signs to V2, Readies EP
Tours with Violent Femmes, Two Gallants

Don yer porkpie hat and break out yer corncob pipe: hootin', hollerin' blues-folkie Langhorne Slim has signed to V2 Records and will release a new four-song EP on September 19. Produced and mixed by Brian Deck at Chicago's Engine Studios, the Engine EP (how appropriate) features the following contributors: Langhorne (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Paul DeFiglia (bass, background vocals); Malachi DeLorenzo (drums, background vocals); Sam Kassirer (Hammond, piano); and Jim Becker (violin). [MORE...]

Thunderbirds Are Now! Extend Tour

Holy exclamation points! We originally thought that Frenchkiss tweeters Thunderbirds Are Now! were aiming to make history with their new record, Make History, due in stores October 3. It has since come to our attention, however, that the band intends to get its name in the record books not with justanalbum, but with what might be the largest North American tour ever attempted...ever! Or close to it, anyway.

Please note that some of these dates were unveiled last month when we posted Make History's meta-title track, "(The Making of) Make History" (listen below). The TAN! trek is now in full bloom and will kick off in late September before diving into October and November with You Say Party! We Say Die! and Rescue. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Paul Smith Talks New Maxïmo Park Record

In the wee days of August, Maxïmo Park posted a mysterious blog entry on their official website. It read, "Maxïmo Park have started working today on the follow up to A Certain Trigger with producer Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, The Pixies). They will be recording in London."

Leaves a bit to be desired, yes? Well Maxïes, this is your lucky day, because your buds over at Pitchfork have tracked down Park frontman Paul Smith for more information, and boy did he have a mouthful to share. The man was kind enough to enlighten us on the details surrounding the band's upcoming record, the importance of lyrics, opening for the Stones, and a run-in with a certain Eddie Vedder. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Hem Ride Funnel Cloud Across U.S.
Sadly, not playing any shows with Twista

Furthering their countrypolitan sound and following the February release of rarities collection No Word From Tom, Hem will release Funnel Cloud, their third proper full-length, September 5 on Waveland Records. Members Dan Messe and Gary Maurer produced the album, which includes contributions from the 21-piece Gowanus Radio Orchestra, Ollabelle vocalist Amy Helm, and ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist and man-about-town James Iha, who sings on "Not California" and "The Pills Stopped Working".

Hem will tour in support of Funnel Cloud, and for a taste of what that will be like, you can download the exclusive MP3 the band have shared with Pitchfork, a live version of new tune "Reservoir". [MORE...]

Destroyer, Califone, Okkervil River on YETI 4 Comp
Plus! Exclusive mp3s from Destroyer and the Blow

YETI magazine is back with another enormous heap of literary and musical goodness. YETI 4 has 244 pages full of pieces like an archival interview with the late science fiction author/MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Octavia Butler, an Okkervil River tour diary written by Will Sheff, and a guide from Pitchforker/Matmos-ian Drew Daniel entitled "How to Sing Along to 'Sweet Home Alabama'". Also included are interviews with Dan Bejar (which, according to a YETI representative, was conducted by "his eight-year-old mini-me"), Todd Barry, and the Blow, in addition to plenty of fiction and full-page illustrations.

That's not even cracking the surface of the magazine's contents, but the real news for Pitchfork readers is the accompanying YETI 4 compilation, which is completely full (literally, as it's almost 80 minutes long) of exclusive and unreleased tracks from the likes of Destroyer (two tunes from Ideas for Songs, a cassette-only release with an original run of 50), Califone (an alternate mix of Infinite Mixtape track and Psychic TV cover "The Orchids"), Okkervil River, the Blow, and Somos Marquis Homos, a confounding collaboration between the Murder City Devils' Spencer Moody and David Bazan of Pedro the Lion fame. Other contributions include an Eritrean folk song and a rare 1950s 78 tribute to country musician Jimmie Rodgers by two unknown Kenyan singers.

YETI will release the magazine and compilation on September 1, which also happens to be the first day of the previously reported Halleluwah Festival, where quite a few of the contributing musicians will perform. YETI has given Pitchfork two exclusive MP3s from the compilation for your sampling pleasure: Destroyer's "No One Needs to Know" and the Blow's "Get Around". You can download both at the links below.
[MORE...]

Video: Wolf Parade: "I'll Believe in Anything"

Powdered wigs, castle towers, firing cannons, dueling to the death, chickens...Wolf Parade tap into the weirdness and extravagance of the aristocracy of yore with the new video for "I'll Believe in Anything", from last year's Apologies to the Queen Mary.

OK, mostly I think they're just having fun wearing knickers and shooting guns. And seriously, who wouldn't?

Infinite Mixtape #37: Peter Bjorn and John: Young Folks [ft. Victoria Bergsman]

Swedes do it better, especially when "it" is sun-kissed, whistle-while-you-frolic indie pop. Commaless trio Peter Bjorn and John (never to be confused with 70s schmaltz-pop wizards Tony Orlando & Dawn) serve up an exquisite slice of "it" with single "Young Folks" (from their Wichita UK release Writer's Block), a superlative summertime ditty replete with maracas, happy-go-lucky bumbling bass, and an infectious whistled melody that can't help but incite smile riots.

The chorus soars and the lyrics flirt with youth-appropriate romantic nihilism ("All we care about is talkin'/ Talkin' only me and you"), but it's guest vocalist (and ex-Concretes singer) Victoria Bergsman who owns here: Her dour, pouty vocal enters atop distant storm-cloud synths to provide some much-needed shade from all that chippery. RIYL: endless summers.

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#0037 > Peter Bjorn and John: "Young Folks [ft. Victoria Bergsman]"
[from Writer's Block; Wichita]
Info: [Peter Bjorn and John] | [MySpace] | [Wichita]

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// Previously on The Infinite Mixtape:
#0036: Flying Canyon: "In the Reflection"
#0035: Califone: "The Orchids"
#0034: Beach House: "Apple Orchard"
#0033: The Thermals: "A Pillar of Salt"
#0032: Grizzly Bear: "Lullabye"
#0031: Swan Lake: "All Fires"
#0000: All Previous Infinite Mixtape Entries

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