Strokes' Hammond, Jr. to Open for Incubus
Also new video

And we thought the Strokes' last album was the closest they'd ever come to meathead grunge/alt-rock. Guess we were wrong.

Strokes guitarist/solo artist Albert Hammond, Jr. has expanded his previously announced tour in support of his October solo debut, Yours to Keep (Rough Trade) to include a trip across North America opening for... Incubus. Yeah, think we'll be sitting that one out. He's also added some additional European and UK gigs, which kick off on November 22 in Birmingham.

Now, on to the important questions: ever wonder what Albert would look like with a little makeover? Say, without legs, an arm, and some facial tissue? Well, now's your chance to see him as a full-blown zombie.

In Albert Hammond, Jr.'s first solo video, he is killed in a bike/car collision and awakens as a ghost to see his dead body on the ground. He cruises around town, understandably upset about his unfortunate demise, and heads home, where he reaches right through his guitar and backing bandmates.

He later comes across some Jesus graffiti and a WWJD? bumper sticker, and heads to the cemetery, where he jumps into his already filled grave, meets his body, and crawls out as a zombie. Just like Jesus.

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MP3: Jens Lekman Talks Badminton, Snow, Dreams
"It's a world of slow motion and hyper-speed at the same time."

Turns out Jens isn't so silent. Recently, the Swedish singer/songwriter posted four minutes and twenty-eight seconds of spoken audio recordings to his MySpace page.

Lekman's first post, "hello", was added on October 11. The Swede explains his dislike of MySpace (it "is just making me dizzy with all the blinking ads and 'click here' or 'click there'"), his progress on his new record ("Will it come out soonish? Well, I have all the songs written, so now I'm just working on the recordings...If things go well, it might come out before the winter snow has melted"), what type of winter snow he was referring to ("not...the snow on the top of the mountain, nor...the snowflake that accidentally made its way across the Texas border, but...the Gothenburg snow, falling thick and thin over the pine trees"), and most importantly, his love of badminton. He explains his affinity for the sport, saying, "I like it because it's a graceful sport...if you want it to be. It's a world of slow motion and hyper-speed at the same time," before going on to explain its history.

Finally, he ends his audio post by commenting on the frequency of his dreams and promising to get back to his MySpace community about them, signing off, "Yours Truly, Jens Lekman."

And, being the honorable man he is, Jens kept his vow, posting another track, "a dream", early this month. So what does the musician see during REM? Doorbells, gymnastics class, beer, relatives and ancestors, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and cinnamon rolls. Of course. [MORE...]

Hood's Bracken Signs to Anticon, Plans Single, LP

Hood's Chris Adams-- aka new Anticon signee, Bracken-- has temporarily split from brother Richard Adams to play the solo card, crafting haunted, dubby glitch-hop manifestoes.

The one-man act released a 12" single, "Heathens", in the UK last week on Anticon, and now plans to drop the same limited edition single (1000 copies available worldwide) on American soil November 14, courtesy of the same label. In addition to the title track, this slab of vinyl features three songs, including a remix "redone" by Anticon mates Alias and Why?.

Bracken's forthcoming full length, We Know About the Need, arrives via Anticon come January 30. [MORE...]

Stream: Ghostface Killah: "Good"

Fish stink. Luckily, this doesn't. Indeed, the first single from Ghostface Killah's forthcoming LP More Fish ain't just "Good"-- it's pretty great. Soulful chorus that matches the beat to the titular word (and does so more gracefully than, say, Rhymefest's "More"), the ever-excitable Ghost in excellent form, taunting, teasing, and even spitting a little toilet humor...and a clunker of a guest spot from some Jay-Z wannabe. Okay, so maybe something here smells a little fishy.

As previously reported, the Theodore Unit-heavy More Fish comes ashore December 19 via Def Jam.

Photos: NovemberFest [Columbia, SC; 11/06-11/12/06]

All photos by Jen Ray

NovemberFest at the (Art) Garage was something Columbia, South Carolina-- a city resigned to being passed over by touring bands-- very much needed. Indeed, having the Slits, the Mountain Goats, Jennifer O'Connor, Richard Buckner, the Apes, Venice Is Sinking, Two Dollar Guitar, and others play in the same week at the same venue was almost too much for our overlooked town. But if anything, the DIY vibe that swept through the festive week gave us a sense of spirit and, hopefully, identity.

The Slits / The Apes [11/07/06]




The Apes rampaged the room, while the Slits-- who said it was their best show in seven years-- nearly emptied it. [MORE...]

Mazarin Say Goodbye

Mazarin is the name of a 17th century priest, a gallery in France, and an antique chest, as well as part of the title of a Sherlock Holmes movie. It is also the name of Philadelphia indie-psych guru Quentin Stoltzfus' ongoing project since 1999...at least until next month.

On December 2, at the Philadelphia bar/restaurant/venue Johnny Brenda's, Stoltzfus and his current bandmates will perform as Mazarin one last time. Forced to legally surrender the Mazarin name to these guys, who have apparently been "slaves to rock n roll" since the 1970s, Stoltzfus has chosen to break up the band. A post on the Mazarin website assures that he will continue making music, though it is unclear under what name.

Over the past seven years, Mazarin released three albums (1999's Watch It Happen, 2001's A Tall-Tale Storyline, and 2005's We're Already There) and several singles. Tourmates the Walkmen covered We're Already There's "Another One Goes By" on their album from earlier this year, A Hundred Miles Off.

In honor of Mazarin's retirement, Stotzfus has made available a new song for free download on MySpace, as well as by clicking on the link below. It's a cover of fellow Philadelphia band Blood Feathers' "Your Advice", and in typical Mazarin fashion, it layers woozy psychedelia over a folksy underpinning. Joining Stoltzfus on the track are members of the band Apollo Sunshine.

Mazarin are currently taking requests for songs to be played at their final shows. To send one in, email theband@mazarinband.com

Exclusive: !!! Reveal New Album
Myth Takes due out in March on Warp

Three exclamation points can barely contain how excited we are to announce !!!'s upcoming album, Myth Takes.

The follow-up to 2004's Louden Up Now, it features typically ChkChkChk-ian song titles like "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" and "Bend Over Beethoven", and hopefully lots of cowbell.

The Brooklyn eight-piece will release their latest work on March 4, 2007, courtesy of Warp Records. While previously only on Warp overseas, and Touch and Go in America, the band is now signed to Warp worldwide.

The 10-track disc is paired with beautiful cover art (as seen above) from painter Kevin Hooyman. [MORE...]

Photos: Modest Mouse [New York, NY; 11/13/06]

Modest Mouse continued debuting their new guitarist, some upstart named Johnny Marr, at a sold out gig at New York City's Nokia Theatre last night-- the first of five shows in the city spread across three different venues. You've seen the video of this promising rookie in action, now scope these lovely photos, courtesy of Pitchfork's NYC photographer William Kirk. This Marr guy looks good; we have a feeling he might amount to something someday.





As previously reported, Modest Marr-Mouse skitter about NYC this week, then play a London gig and jet off for Australia through the new year. Dates and more photos ahead. [MORE...]

Video: U of Arizona Marching Band Covers Radiohead

We've got to hand it to the University of Arizona's "Pride of Arizona" marching band director Jay Rees for his taste in tunes. In the past, he's put together shows around material from the Talking Heads, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Beatles, and more, apparently.

For the 2006 season, Rees brought the music of Radiohead to the Tucson community, and several rehearsal videos made their way to YouTube. And then the links to those videos cruised over to our inboxes thanks to Pitchfork reader Max Traylor.

Our personal favorite piece of footage is culled from the middle of the band's performance. It begins with all 250+ students chanting "Fitter Happier", and from there kicks into a booming, brassy "Optimistic". This rolls straight into "The National Anthem", which features a couple of impressive, range-pushing trumpet solos.

"The National Anthem" runs into "Karma Police", which opens with the marching band singing, "This is what you get. This is what you get when you mess with us." Safe to say, it's pretty spectacular...and even more so when you factor in the perfectly aligned field formations accompanying the music. We can't make out whether or not those formations are actually shapes that have anything to do with Radiohead, but still, they're pretty fucking cool.

Best of all, the majestic ending that follows "Karma Police" only wraps up the second third of the full Radiohead show. Parts one and three are linked below.

Report: Be the Riottt! Festival [San Francisco, CA; 11/11/06]

With sparsely-attended Veterans' Day festivities underway in San Francisco's Civic Center plaza (because nothing pays tribute to our esteemed men and women of war quite like a high school drill team in miniskirts and garters performing LeAnn Rimes' "Can't Fight the Moonlight"), the city's young and adventurous began lining up outside the nearby Bill Graham Civic Center for the inaugural Be the Riottt! festival.

Put together by burgeoning music/art/culture website Riottt.com, Be the Riottt! basically united those two towering bastions of underground music: white dudes with guitars and black dudes with microphones and turntables-- with a few laptops and ladies tossed in for good measure. By genre statistics, however, the fest boasted a pretty diverse lineup, with heavy doses of indie rock (the Rapture, the Wrens, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Metric, Tokyo Police Club) and hip hop (Clipse, Living Legends, Zion I, Sage Francis, P.O.S.), a few sprinkles of dancier stuff (Girl Talk, the Presets, Weird Science), and a couple random screamo bands snuck in for no apparent reason (Fall of Troy, Heavy Heavy Low Low).

Riottt! birthed this baby with a bang, and was kind enough to treat Pitchfork to a Frisco trip to witness the blood, the sweat, and the joyous tears of that birth live. A quiet Riottt! this most certainly was not.







[MORE...]

Exclusive: PLUG Awards Nominees Revealed
Band of Horses, Silversun Pickups Score Big

When we look back on the state of indie rock in 2006, it's going to appear very dreamy, jangly, and fuzzy--at least according to the PLUG Awards. The annual event honoring the previous year's best in independent music has announced the nominations for PLUG 2007, and Seattle's Band of Horses and Los Angeles' Silversun Pickups lead the charge with seven nods each. They will compete for honors such as Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year with the likes of Beirut, Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, Girl Talk, Grizzly Bear, J Dilla, Joanna Newsom, Neko Case, the Hold Steady, and the Knife.

PLUG also celebrates the best in various genres (hip-hop, metal, Americana, punk, electronic/dance, etc.), extra-musical aspects such as music videos, album packaging, record labels, and concert venues, as well as many media categories, including Record Store of the Year, Radio Station of the Year, Magazine of the Year, and Music Website of the Year (ahem).

The PLUG nominations have been chosen by a group of artists, journalists, label employees, and other music industry insiders (including, yes, myself and several other Pitchfork staffers). The winners, however, are chosen by YOU. Anyone can vote, from today through January 26, 2007, at the PLUG website. The PLUG Awards Ceremony will take place at NYC's Irving Plaza on February 10, 2007.

As previously reported, the PLUG organization is building excitement for the big day by hosting the PLUG City Highlights Tour, taking place in cities across North America in the months leading up to February 10. Events have already taken place in Miami, Austin, and Toronto, with plans for shindigs in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Brooklyn, and Portland, OR, in the works. In fact, the Brooklyn event will occur this Friday, November 17, at the Syrup Room, featuring performances by local bands the Harlem Shakes, Takka Takka, Dragons of Zynth, and Illinois.

So get to voting! But please, for the love of god, stay away from Silversun Pickups.

Jay-Z Announces Tracklist, One Day Tour
Sued over Black Album samples

It's old news to those of you who were waiting slavishly by your computers this weekend, checking torrent and p2p sites every half hour for one of the big name fourth-quarter rap albums to leak (and pretty much all of them did), but Jay-Z's Kingdom Come (out November 21 on Def Jam) now has a tracklist.

Just Blaze, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, and Swizz Beatz all produced tracks on the album, and featured guests include Beyonce, Usher, Pharrell, Ne-Yo, John Legend, and Coldplay's Chris Martin, who produced the track on which he is featured, album closer "Beach Chair".

According to various reports, Jay will literally phone it in on November 18 as he teams with Cingular Music for "The Jay-Z Hangar Tour", a 17-hour jaunt via G5 jet to the airports of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas (where the tour will end). He will perform for radio contest winners in these cities, and Cingular customers with video capability will be able to watch the performances on their phones. [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.)