Olivia Tremor Control Associates Ready Albums
Boys and girls, meet: Dark Meat and The New Sound of Numbers

The indie music scene in Athens, GA is all-too-often described in tandem with words like "collective," "collaboration," "family," "friendship," and "crazy." At times these descriptors might seem overly simplistic, even stereotypical, but there's no denying that Athens bands just love playing together with each other and being BFF!

Take the new Cloud Recordings bands: Dark Meat and the New Sound of Numbers, both of which have debut full-lengths on the way: The New Sound's Liberty Seeds arrives October 10, while Dark Meat's Universal Indians hits the better record shops on November 21. [MORE...]

Video: The Blood Brothers: "Laser Life"

Self-moving wires and computer monitors? Sounds like Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" video.

EVIL self-moving wires and computer monitors? Welcome to the Blood Brothers' "Laser Life".

In the first video off the Bros' upcoming Young Machetes (due October 10 on V2), crazed lighting, machinery, and more turn on the band. We assume director Patrick Daughters utilized that nifty trick where you edit the footage to run backwards. Or else the Blood Brothers were actually attacked boa constrictor style by a bunch of wires.

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Video: The Raconteurs: "Broken Boy Soldier"

There's a reason Jack White is so pale. When the other kids in his neighborhood were out drinking, selling drugs, and getting in knife fights (or whatever it is kids do in Detroit), young Jack was playing with his guitar and, yes, his dolls. It's all right here in the video for "Broken Boy Soldier", directed by Floria Sigismondi, in which Jack finally gets outside with the Raconteurs, who all look like they're in the same forest where Radiohead's "There There" video was shot. Meanwhile, the titular main character mends his broken body, but you know he's still a mess inside!

Lisa Germano Kicks off Enormous Tour

Singer/songwriter Lisa Germano has collaborated with Johnny Marr and Calexico and worked as a hired hand for David Bowie, John Mellencamp, Iggy Pop, and Sheryl Crow, among others. But on her upcoming tour, she'll be playing her own material, and she'll be doing a lot of it.

Germano's first tour in quite some time begins tonight, October 5 in Philadelphia, takes her over to Europe in November, and has her playing shows with Akron/Family and Alela Diane on the American West Coast in December. She is supporting her Young God debut album, In the Maybe World, which came out in July.
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Sufjan, Daniel Smith on Daniel Johnston Tribute Album
Kramer's Shimmy-Disc returns as Second Shimmy

Sufjan Stevens and Daniel Smith joining forces to cover Daniel Johnston? Pitchfork boner alert!! But seriously, these two are among 20-odd artists performing Johnston tunes on the new tribute album, I Killed the Monster, due October 10 via venerable New York producer Kramer's Second Shimmy Records. (Isn't this, like, the fourth Daniel Johnston tribute album?)

Kramer put the covers comp together to coincide with the DVD release of the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, which hit stores last month. It sees Smith and Stevens tackling Johnston's "Worried Shoes", from 1983's Yip/Jump Music. Other contributors include former Minuteman Mike Watt, former Moldy Peach Kimya Dawson, former One Dove Dot Allison, former next-big-thing Joy Zipper, Half Japanese dude Jad Fair, and Kramer himself, forever doomed to be confused with the bumbling "Seinfeld" character, even though he had the name first.

I Killed the Monster will be the first release from Second Shimmy, which is in fact a reincarnation of Kramer's beloved Shimmy-Disc, responsible for puting out records back in the day from GWAR, Damon & Naomi, King Missile, Bongwater, and Johnston.

Daniel Johnston has one upcoming gig planned (invite only, mind you) for October 17 at Austin's the Belmont.

Johnston also contributes the unreleased track "You Made My High School" to the 50minutes compilation, due out October 30 on London's Exercise1 Records. It's a benefit album for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, and features 50 artists doing one-minute songs. MC Lars, Grand Mal, Piney Gir, Ladyfuzz, Jeremy Warmsley, and many, many more contribute. [MORE...]

Chosen Darkness Release Awesome Video, Tour

Let's cut straight to the point: I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness' new video-- for Fear Is on Our Side's "The Owl"-- is an awesome thing, one of the best videos I've seen all year, without question. Director/animator Emmanuel Ho does a great job of creating a sense of both fear and anxiety by getting something as simple as the dilation of a crow's pupil down cold. Birds haven't been this creepy since Hitchcock.

And speaking of air travel, the band begins their European tour today, October 5 in Belgium, and they will go for over a month, playing shows all over the continent in the process.

"The Owl":

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Devendra Blogs!
Babelfish to include "Banhart" in language options

Devendra Banhart is guest blogging for JANE magazine right now, and he'll be doing it for the entire month of October, which is either a cruel trick or a delightfully stinky, hippie little treat, depending on your tolerance for "stream of consciousness" blather.

His first entry was yesterday, but we've printed it here in its unadulterated entirety.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by freak-folk: [MORE...]

Video: Xiu Xiu Share Tour Tomfoolery
Stream: Xiu Xiu vs. Grouper: "In the City"

Believe it or not, Xiu Xiu like to run amok. We're not quite sure how they find the time, since every time we turn around it seems they've announced four consecutive tours and released two more albums, a dozen EPs, nineteen videos, and scores of limited edition, hand-numbered split seven-inch picture discs-- but they do! And honorary fourth Xiu Xiu member, tour manager, and video artist David Horvitz has the YouTube footage to prove it.

Catch all the video action on the Xiu Xiu tour blog, which also includes photographs and writings (and at least one nude pic of Jamie Stewart) from the XX autumn jaunt, presently underway (dates below). What you're in for: new Xiu Xiu member Ches Smith at a Waffle House discussing time-traveling murderers, tourmate BARR writing an ode to a crowd heckler, Jamie discussing his masturbatory habits, and my personal favorite, which features the whole Xiu gang making a few adjustments to a roadside sign:



Speaking of EPs, Xiu Xiu have one coming out on November 7 via Slender Means Society. As previously reported, it's called Creepshow, it's inspired by horror movies, and it pairs the band with Portland's Grouper. Check out the eerie, ambient track "In the City" by clicking below. [MORE...]

Infinite Mixtape #46: Christopher Willits: "Colors Shifting"

With the Postal Service temporarily out of business, who will provide us with warm blips and bloops underscoring male and female vocalists harmonizing all lovey-dovey stylee? One gentleman up to the task is West Coast soundsmith and North Valley Subconscious Orchestra co-conductor Christopher Willits. His forthcoming Ghostly International debut Surf Boundaries (due October 17) is awash in lush blankets of drone, comforting crackles, murmurs, and frequently, hushed, whispery vocals.

While it begins just like a PS banger, "Colors Shifting"-- rather than flutter about like Jimmy Tamborello's compositions-- calmly drifts, in no particular hurry to get anywhere. The vocalists, likewise, linger on their words longer, less intent on crafting quotable love letter poetry than on evoking texture and color through sound. Like the slowcore drift of Ida meeting the Books' glitch-laden electro/acoustic textures, it's one of the best blissed-out dream-pop cuts we've heard this year.

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#0046 > Christopher Willits: "Colors Shifting"
[from Surf Boundaries; Ghostly International]
Info: [Christopher Willits] | [MySpace] | [Ghostly]

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// Previously on The Infinite Mixtape:
#0045: Giddy Motors: "Panzrama"
#0044: Bound Stems: "Western Biographic"
#0043: Tim Hecker: "Chimeras"
#0042: Working for a Nuclear Free City: "Troubled Son"
#0041: Fujiya & Miyagi: "Collarbone"
#0040: Malajube: "La Monogamie"
#0000: All Previous Infinite Mixtape Entries

Beck's Information Does Not Compute on UK Charts
On the bright side: make your own t-shirts!

Here at Pitchfork News, we try to give as much coverage to the underdogs and little guys as we give to the stalwarts of the indie world. So it is my pleasure to introduce you to a relative unknown named Beck. Who knows but that, with time, he might even become an artist to whom we devote eight stories in a single month?

Okay, you got me. This time, however, our Beck news is slightly upsetting. Though his most recent album, The Information, was released on Tuesday in the U.S. and on Monday in the UK, it seems that the UK's Official Chart Company (OCC) will deny him access to the charts there.

The decision was made in reaction to the DVD and stickers that come with the album, which, according to a press release "have been construed by the OCC as an 'unfair advantage'" over the other albums released last week.

Come again?! They're not even trying to recategorize the package as "video" instead of "audio"? They're just calling it an "unfair advantage"? Didn't they get the memo about how the music industry is scrambling to add incentives to get people to buy albums instead of downloading them for free?

Wow, congratulations OCC, you're the next big winners on my just-invented TV show, "Exercises in Missing the Point".

Beck told Billboard.com, "It's an unconventional package, but it shouldn't be penalized for that. Any art on a CD is an incentive to buy and listen. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. The response from the fans has been so strong, and that is the most important thing."

In continuing with the interactive art theme, Beck also announced yesterday that the merch available at his upcoming shows will be a DIY affair. Says a press release, "Fans will purchase a blank t-shirt with a set of iron-on decals, arrange the graphics on the shirt as they see fit, and have the shirt pressed up on the spot. There are four different sets of decals available as well as four different t-shirt colors, so the variations are endless."

Actually, they're not endless. There is definitely a set number of variations. We're just too lazy to do the math to figure out exactly what that is.

Also, for those of you who plan on seeing Beck on his current tour of the U.S., let it be known that there was a typo in our last Beck tour story. His show in Nashville will be on October 13, not October 12.

The Clash Reissue Singles in Massive Box Set
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens exhibit dedicated to the band

April 2007 will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the Clash's "White Riot", their debut UK single, and they're celebrating early with the release of the box set The Clash: The Singles, scheduled to come out November 14 on Epic/Legacy.

The 19-disc set collects all of the band's UK singles, including the 1977 NME giveaway-only Capitol Radio EP, in two separately-released formats: seven-inch and CD.

The seven-inches come as close to the original releases as possible, with "replica record labels and replica picture sleeves, containing single A & B-sides as they were originally issued," according to a press release. The CDs "also [come] with replica picture sleeves [and] several include bonus tracks gathered from 12-inch singles, non-UK (including U.S.) single B-sides, and rare promotional sources, including six tracks previously unavailable on CD."

There will also be "a 44-page four-color booklet with dozens of rare and unseen photographs and extensive memorabilia." Original Clash designer Jules Balme oversaw the artwork for the set.

What really puts this package over the top, however, is the "in-depth personal commentary" for each single, written by over 20 musicians and writers (and one soccer player!). The Beastie Boys' Mike D wrote an introduction to the set, and other contributors include Pete Townshend, Damon Albarn, Bernard Sumner, Bobby Gillespie, Carl Barat, Nick Hornby, and Irvine Welsh.

Preceding the release of the box set will be "Revolution Rock: The Story of the Clash", an exhibit of "well-known instruments, stage clothing, rare memorabilia, and never-before-seen original manuscripts and artifacts from the band," according to another press release. "Revolution Rock" will be open to the public at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (where the Clash were inducted in 2003) from October 21 to April 15. Highlights of the exhibit include "Joe Strummer's Fender Telecaster, Mick Jones' Gibson Les Paul Jr., Paul Simonon's smashed bass guitar from the cover of London Calling, and handwritten lyrics for 'London Calling', 'Know Your Rights', and 'Clampdown'."

The festivities surrounding the exhibit begin on October 20 with a member reception at which Mick Jones, Lucinda Mellor (Joe Strummer's widow, who started the Strummerville charity), and founding drummer Terry Chimes will all be present. As part of the public unveiling of the exhibit the next day, Mick Jones will take part in "a Hall of Fame Series discussion with Warren Zanes, Vice President of Education and Public Programs." [MORE...]

Isis and Aereogramme Go In the Fishtank

Isis' new LP, In the Absence of Truth, won't be released by Ipecac until October 31, but the band have plenty to tide hungry fans over until then, with the previously reported Clearing the Eye DVD coming out on September 26, an ongoing tour with Tool, and now, a collaborative EP with Aereogramme, to be released October 10 via Konkurrent.

In the Fishtank 14 is the latest EP in a series for the Dutch label in which like-minded artists are "given two days studio time [together] and freedom to do whatever they like musically," according to the label's website. Past collaborators have included the Black Heart Procession and Solbakken, Sonic Youth, ICP and the Ex, Low and Dirty Three, and Tortoise and the Ex.

The Isis/Aerogramme EP was recorded in July of last year, and, according to a press release, the resulting three songs are not what you might expect from such a collaboration: "When Konkurrent invited Isis and Aereogramme to do a Fishtank session, we expected a loud and heavy session not yet heard in the series. Expectations can be misleading. Was it the extremely hot weather? The overwhelming 70s atmosphere in the studio? The shitty hotel the night before? We may never know those answers, but we know this: it's the analog warmth that makes the song tender, organic, and fragile." [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.)