Exclusive: Cat Power, Lips, Antony Retool Yoko Ono
So do Spiritualized, Polyphonic Spree, Peaches, Le Tigre

Taking aim at stereotypes while simultaneously playing straight to them, Yoko Ono has titled her forthcoming album Yes, I'm a Witch. (It's also the name of one of her songs.) And the legendary artist/musician has conjured quite a list of guests to appear on the record. In fact, the record consists of almost nothing but guests.

The idea behind Witch goes like this: Ono chose the artists with whom she wanted to work, gave them access to her back catalog, asked them to chose a song to rework, and then "provided [them] with the vocals and whatever other instrumental elements attracted them from that cut. Almost all the artists chose just the vocals," according to a press release. The result: a remixes/duets/covers record consisting of "entirely new musical tracks."

The Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Antony, Le Tigre, Spiritualized's Jason Pierce, Peaches, and the Polyphonic Spree are among those who contributed to Yes, I'm a Witch, which Astralwerks will release in February. The label will follow it in March with a compilation of dance remixes of Ono songs. [MORE...]

Sufjan to Rock Kennedy Center Anniversary Event

For the past 10 years, denizens of the Washington, D.C. area have had the unique opportunity to catch free live performances on a nightly basis at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Millennium Stage. Music, dance, theater, the whole bit-- everyone from Norah Jones and Patti Smith to the Joffrey Ballet and the Royal Shakespeare Company have played this thing.

With the tenth anniversary of these free Millennium Stage gigs fast approaching, the Kennedy Center needed a very special human being to lead the celebration charge, a superhuman with the musical mettle to transcend demographic boundaries, delight patrons young and old, and sport one mean-ass mustache-- and that superhuman is Sufjan Stevens.

Along with the National Symphony Orchestra (performing Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition), the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (performing "Revelations"), and Navy jazz combo the Commodores, our beloved Suf-jeezy will enchant the Kennedy Center masses on February 5, 2007, as part of the center's free Millennium Stage 10th Anniversary Celebration. The festivities begin at six in the evening, and Sufjan plays the Center's Opera House-- joined by the Opera House Orchestra, no less. That's a whole lotta butterfly wings.

What's more, the Center has been webcasting and archiving performances since 1999, so even if you can't make it out to D.C. this February, you can still get your Suf on in your dark, dank, dreary basement thanks to the magic of the world wide web. Get familiar with the Millennium Stage archives, which boast more than 2,500 performance documents, by clicking here.

So hmm, 50 states project, Christmas box set, Kennedy Center performance...do I smell a 2008 White House bid? "Believe in Stevens"? "Fawn over Sufjan"? [MORE...]

Little Ones Prep for Big Tour With Small Sins
Honey, I Shrunk the Bands

Best gank a magnifying glass from the science lab, or else the Astralwerks/Microsoft Zune-presented "Big Music, Tiny Price" tour (tickets won't exceed $12) might slip under your nose undetected. The trek, which launches November 16 in Chicago (with the Big Sleep also on the bill, no less), will see wee labelmates the Little Ones and Small Sins work their way across North America.

Small Sins, aka Thomas D'Arcy, will have a live backing band featuring Steve Krecklo (guitarist), Todor Kobakov (keyboardist), Brent Follett (percussionist), and Kevin Hilliard (keyboardist/handclapper).

As previously reported, the Little Ones also have a slew of UK dates lined up for January with the Boy Least Likely To. At some point between the shows, the L.A. five-piece plans to log studio time on their debut LP, due in mid-2007. [MORE...]

Franz Contribute to Soundtrack, Doodle for Charity
Alex Kapranos' food book published

Franz Ferdinand will contribute the new song "Hallam Foe Dandelion Blow" to director David Mackenzie's forthcoming film, Hallam Foe. According to the Franz website, the track "was recorded during the band's most recent tour of Latin America and is described as a 'lyrical drunken waltz.'"

The soundtrack will come out on Domino some time next year, and will also include music from Franz's Domino labelmates Sons and Daughters, Psapp, and Four Tet.

In a recent interview with The Daily Record, Franz frontman Alex Kapranos described the new music, which does not use any drums, as "quite dark and full of whimsy."

According to several short descriptions from across the Internet (including IMDB), the movie, filmed in Edinburgh, Scotland, is about a teenager, Hallam (played by Jamie Bell, aka the kid from Billy Elliott and that Green Day video), who becomes a voyeur following the suicide of his mother-- a death which he is certain was a homicidal strike by his new stepmother. Sounds strikingly similar to another H-titled British tale out there, huh?

Those interested in Hallam Foe can scope out its production blog and character MySpaces here, here, here, and here, respectively. The film opens in the UK on February 7, 2007.

Kapranos also published the book Sound Bites: Eating on Tour With Franz Ferdinand in the UK earlier this month. A collection of the singer-guitarist's previously published food columns in the Guardian, it is due to be published by Penguin in the U.S. on January 2, 2007.

In other news, Franz Ferdinand are one of many bands (and artists, writers, athletes, etc.) who generously decorated and autographed canvases to raise money for the disabled children's charity Whoopsadaisy as part of artists Julie Ann Gilbert and Cameron Ross' Stars on Canvas exhibition.

In addition to Franz, Fatboy Slim, the Kooks, and a host of others contributed art to this worthy cause. The pieces will be auctioned off at www.StarsAuctions.com and in a final, real-life auction set to take place on November 26 in Brighton, England.

As previously reported, the band recently contributed to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation benefit compilation Give. Listen. Help. Filter Magazine and Urban Outfitters teamed up for the release, which will be distributed exclusively in Urban stores and on the clothing merchandiser's website. The band is also featured on Buena Vista Social Club's forthcoming collaborative record, Rhythms del Mundo, out today (November 14) on Hip-O Records/Universal Music Enterprises (details available here).

Finally, don't forget to catch the rerun of Franz Ferdinand and What Made Milwaukee Famous on PBS series "Austin City Limits" on November 25.

Exclusive: Beirut's Condon Hospitalized, Cancels Tour

Last time Pitchfork reported on Beirut's Zach Condon (when he signed to 4AD), we lovingly joked about him having "nothing but good luck this year." Um, looks like we totally jinxed the poor guy (sorry dude!). We've just received word that Beirut have been forced to cancel the remaining shows on their current tour-- and that Condon has suffered a bought of "extreme exhaustion," for which he was hospitalized for a short time this past Saturday in Paris, France. The band was forced to cancel their show in Paris, as well as an appearance on French website La Blogotheque's "Take-Away Concerts" series.

"This was an extremely difficult decision to make," wrote a representative for the band's U.S. label, Ba Da Bing!, about the tour cancellation, "and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out.

"This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and traveling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion." [MORE...]

Mastodon Meet Borat
Backstage at "Conan O'Brien" on 11/01/06

HIGH FIVE!

(photo by Jimmy Hubbard) 

Stream: Eight New Goddamn Ryan Adams Albums

Looks like the witches are at it again. As anyone who cruises by Ryan-Adams.com today will find, the website has been updated with a veritable ass-load of new streaming songs. Last time we got 36 title-less tracks; this time, good God, the witches have summoned up eight whole albums.

Really though, we hesitate to call these "albums" or the things on them "songs", because let's face it, they're pretty much tossed-off Garage Band demos. Luckily Adams has a knack for song-writing, however, and most of these off the cuff sketches are already more melodically interesting than much of what indie-land has churned out this year. Plus they're hilarious, and have titles like "Get Scared, Throw Up, Die", "Oops, Youre Dead", and of course, "Drunk as a Pile of Fuck".

Many of your favorites from the original batch of 36 crop up here-- now with titles-- under one of three apparent Adams aliases: The Shit, who deal in punk rock and hillbilly fuckery, DJ Reggie, who sounds an awful lot like Bran Van 3000, and WereWolph, who cover Creed and Shania Twain and sound positively deranged.

Welcome to the future of the internet, kids.

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.

[MORE...]

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...]

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.)