Built to Spill, Notwist, Sparklehorse Play Fan ATP

The second All Tomorrow's Parties festival of 2007 will take place May 18-20 at Butlins Minehead in Somerset, England, and the first bands on the lineup are Built to Spill, the Notwist, Sparklehorse, Echo & the Bunnymen, Akron/Family, Do Make Say Think, Brightblack Morning Light, and Death Vessel. (As previously reported, the first ATP is the Dirty Three-curated one, happening April 27-29, and featuring Dirty Three, Low, Nick Cave's new band Grinderman, Bill Callahan [formerly Smog], Shannon Wright, Papa M, the Drones, Faun Fables, Devastations, A Silver Mount Zion, Magnolia Electric Co., and many more.)

The biggest announcement, however, is the curators of the festival (or half of it, anyway): the fans. When festival-goers purchase their tickets, ATP will give them directions to a website where they will list the ten bands they would most like to see play. ATP will tally the votes and list them on their website in order of popularity. The bands at the top of the list will receive invitations first, which means earlier votes will have more impact than later ones. If these bands accept their invitations, they will form half of the festival's lineup. The other half will be chosen by ATP (as in the case of Built to Spill et al.).

Voting begins on November 24, and because they do such a good job of explaining the specifics themselves, here are the official rules, via the ATP website: [MORE...]

Lansing-Dreiden Revisit Dividing Island with Dazzle D

Lansing-Dreiden's MMVI incarnation has recruited producer Dazzle D to readdress its The Dividing Island, released by Kemado in May. The concept multimedia troupe will self-release Dazzle's Island adventure, coined D.I. by D.D., on November 20. D.D. developed roughly 30 new beats for L-D, the best of which made their way onto the CD.

In other news, select images from the D.I. Collection-- which are pretty much chopped'n'screwed portraits of rain-worn statues and stonework-- are still on display at New York City's Rivington Arms gallery, as part of the "What Once Was One" exhibit, which runs through November 22. [MORE...]

DFA Signs Prinzhorn Dance School
Single out Monday, album out next year

When DFA adds an artist to its flawless roster, we pay attention. After all, the production duo/record label seems to have impeccable taste: LCD Soundsystem, the Rapture, Black Dice, Hot Chip, Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, Shit Robot, the Juan Maclean--not a dud in the bunch.

The latest finding from James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy is the Portsmouth, England group Prinzhorn Dance School. The duo of Tobin and Suzi Horn make sharp, stripped-down post-punk recalling the best of Young Marble Giants, only without any hint of cuteness. (Of course, I've only heard two songs so far, so the rest of their repertoire could very well consist of epic psychedelic symphonies.)

Those two songs, "You Are the Space Invader" and "Eat Sleep", will be released on Monday, November 20 on 7" vinyl and as a download via DFA. Prinzhorn Dance School will record their debut album with Murphy and Goldsworthy in New York City next year.

For now, hear snippets of the two songs on the single here.

Tobin and Suzi are in the middle of a brief UK tour, which ends on Monday in Newcastle. [MORE...]

Photos: "Daily Show" Anniversary [New York, NY; 11/16/06]

As previously reported, indie rock and topical comedy collided last night at New York City's Irving Plaza as Superchunk, the Mountain Goats, and Clem Snide took the stage along with cast members from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" to celebrate the award-winning Comedy Central series' 10th anniversary and raise money for 826NYC. "Ten F#@king Years" (The Concert), they eloquently named it. Photographer Kathryn Yu attended the f#@king gala and took some lovely f#@king photos for us.

Superchunk


The Mountain Goats


Clem Snide

[MORE...]

Deerhoof's John Dieterich Talks Ballet, New Album
Bonus: New 2007 American Tour Dates!

Deerhoof have a lot of cool stuff going on right now. The band's eighth album, Friend Opportunity, is due out on Kill Rock Stars on January 23, 2007. They just finished tours with the Flaming Lips and the Fiery Furnaces. They picked up a Goldie Award, given out by the San Francisco Bay Guardian to honor the best in local arts, and have been nominated for a Plug Award for Live Act of the Year. And they recently finished work on the score for Justin Theroux's film Dedication, due out next year.

But, far and away, the coolest thing that's happened to Deerhoof lately has been the Milk Man Ballet, a production by the North Haven Community School in North Haven, Maine featuring participation from both students and community members and based on Deerhoof's 2004 album Milk Man. (See photos and video from the performance.)

Earlier this week, Pitchfork spoke to Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich about the ballet, the new album, and the band's constant barrage of side projects. [MORE...]

Velocity Girl Sarah Shannon Sings City Morning Song
Plus: Exclusive MP3!

Ex-Velocity Girl vocalist Sarah Shannon may have decelerated a bit musically since the quiet demise of that much-loved D.C. band in 1996, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been busy. Gal's just turned her attention to the finer things in life: love, marriage, house-buying, baby-making, and idle strolls down city streets. "I know it sounds very domestic and mundane," quoth Shannon in a press release, "but to me it feels very rich, and that perspective informed these new songs."

New songs, eh? That's right: Sarah, who issued her self-titled solo debut via Casa Recording Company in 2002, will follow-up it up at last come February 20 with new LP City Morning Song. Cosmopolitan pop mecca Minty Fresh Records has kindly offered to deliver the 12-song set, which was produced by Martin Feveyear (Mark Lanegan, Crooked Fingers, Rosie Thomas).

While Sarah no longer traffics in lush noise, she does still have a honey of a voice and a keen ear for pop, both of which feature prominently in City Morning Song's opener and title track. Download it exclusively by clicking the mp3 link below. [MORE...]

Lady Sovereign Breaks Down; L.A. Show Rescheduled
"I hated disappointing everybody. The pain and frustration hurt so much, it was scary".

Last night, Lady Sovereign was supposed to play a triumphant show at Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre. Her new album, Public Warning, debuted at number 48 on the Billboard Top 200 in its first week of release, she's conquered "TRL", and she's in the middle of a huge North American headlining tour.

However, as soon as she hit the stage, everything, it seems, went to shit. According to her publicist, Sov had been diagnosed with a chest infection, and performed despite doctor's orders to rest. She was clearly ill as she "spit, kicked, and cried her way through two songs," according to an email from a Pitchfork reader who attended the show. The reader continued, "She then left the stage abruptly a few times...she tried going through her songs '9 to 5' and 'Blah Blah' but stopped in the middle of both. She then completely broke down...bawling hysterically and falling to the ground...They practically dragged her off the stage as the crowd went insane. She never came back."

Today, Lady Sovereign released the following statement: "I hated disappointing everybody. The pain and frustration hurt so much, it was scary".

To make it up to her fans, Sov will schedule another Los Angeles performance in December, following the end of her tour. The date will be announced next week.

According to a press release, Lady Sovereign will not miss any of the rest of the shows on her tour, as she has two days to rest up before the next one, which will take place in Las Vegas on Saturday. [MORE...]

Video: Sufjan and Calexico on "Austin City Limits"

Sufjan Stevens and Calexico both stopped by "Austin City Limits" a couple of weeks ago to play sets and talk about their craft, and now some clips of their performances, as well as brief interviews, are online here.

Sufjan and his band-- dressed in those damned bird/butterfly wings-- turn in a competent version of "Casimir Pulaski Day" that is most notable for its completely false introduction: "This next song is about a famous Polish-American Revolutionary War hero." (Yes, we know Casimir Puaski was a famous Polish-American Revolutionary War hero. But the song isn't acutally about him.)

In his interview, Sufjan talks about his writing process, those "sacred moments" of creativity, his relationship with the music and city of Detroit (his birthplace), and the possibly of getting out of songwriting for a while to write "pieces, symphonic works." Keep in mind that he says all this while wearing the wings, so it's kind of hard to take any of it seriously.

Calexico play the instrumental "El Picador" from 2000's Hot Rail, and Joey Burns talks in his interview about the band's origins, evolution, and influences. Beware, Burns' shirt is hypnotic when listening to this interview!

Dust-to-Digital Plans Holiday Releases

The relentless diggers over at the Dust-to-Digital label have a big holiday season planned, so those of you who aren't buying Kingdom Come the day it comes out can pick up any of the following releases on November 21. But then again, who's to say that Jay-Z fans don't listen to Sacred Harp music?

Dust-to-Digital collected 30 tracks of Sacred Harp singing from 1922 to the present on I Belong to This Band: 85 Years of Sacred Harp Recordings, the CD companion to Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp. Awake, My Soul was the first feature documentary about the singing style, which is also referred to as "shape-note singing" and features some of the most raucous group vocals that have been recorded. (You might be familiar with Sacred Harp singing from the soundtrack to the movie Cold Mountain.) I Belong to This Band comes with a 16-page, saddle-stitched booklet with annotations and an essay by University of Mississippi music professor David Warren Steel.

Then there is the Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music DVD and its accompanying soundtrack. The film features Joe Bussard-- "king of record collectors"-- "telling the story of 'America's real music' with passionate enthusiasm in his own inimitable style," according to a press release. The DVD includes the documentary and a half-hour featurette; the soundtrack has tracks by Charley Patton, Son House, the Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon, and Blind Willie McTell, among others. [MORE...]

Air Conduct Pocket Symphony

Air are set to release the follow-up to 2004's Talkie Walkie on March 6 on Astralwerks. The record is titled Pocket Symphony, features artwork by contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan, and was recorded with Nigel Godrich over the last year and a half. Both Air members, Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel (aka Darkel), sing on the album, and Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon contribute vocals as well.

Pocket Symphony also incorporates some of the Japanese instruments Godin recently learned to play from an Okinawa master musician: the koto (also referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the three-string, banjo-like shamisen. However, a press release claims that "conventional instruments continue to play a great role" in the duo's music.

Air plan to spend much of 2007 on tour. They'll hit Europe in the spring and America in May, with festival appearances scheduled for the summer, and more shows throughout the fall and winter. [MORE...]

Bert Jansch, Charalambides Head Three Million Tongues
Spires That in the Sunset Rise, Burning Star Core, White/Lichens also scheduled

Chicago owes the Empty Bottle and Galactic Zoo Dossier a big thank you for presenting the Three Million Tongues festival-- which follows up last year's Two Million Tongues and the original Million Tongues-- and for managing to reel in headliner Bert Jansch for his last scheduled U.S. performance of the year. The legendary folk singer announced only a handful of U.S. gigs in 2006, so that diamond in the rough alone is incentive enough to attend the three-night Windy City event, slated to take place this weekend, November 17-19, at the aforementioned Western Avenue club.

Other festival highlights include Charalambides, Smegma, Spires That in the Sunset Rise, Michael Yonkers with the Blind Shake, Burning Star Core, no fewer than two projects featuring 90 Day Man and Bottle bartender extraordinaire Rob Lowe (Dreamweapon and the Lichens and White/Light hybird White/Lichens) and, of course, a premier booze selection.

To ensure you get your money's worth, the fest features a "sideshow" stage-- which, in past years, has been the corner next to the sound booth where the gear is stashed-- to squeeze in extra acts during set changes. That means, count 'em, at least seven different tongues each night. [MORE...]

The Pastels Ready New Album, Score Play
Indie pop kids everywhere overcome with fits of giddiness

If your anorak feels extra snuggly and your chai tastes especially sweet today, that's probably because the Pastels are on the prowl once again. The seminal Glasgow shambling indie pop trio has returned in earnest, with a new album, a collaboration, and a live score for a theatre production all in the works for you, their polite and devoted fanbase.

First up, the Pastels have contributed original music to Do I Mean Anything To You Or Am I Just Passing By?, a new, somewhat experimental play written and directed by Gerard McInulty-- aka Caeser, formerly of Factory/Sarah Records act the Wake (which also at one point included a young Bobby Gillespie) and presently of the Occasional Keepers. The work previews November 17 and 18 and runs from the 21-25 at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, with Pastels Stephen McRobbie and Katrina Mitchell in attendance to contribute live music to each performance.

According to their MySpace and current label home, Domino Records, the band have also been diligently working on a brand new full length-- technically the follow-up to 1997's Illumination, and their first collection of new material since the 2002 film soundtrack The Last Great Wilderness. Chalk up the long wait to the fact that the Pastels have been busy concentrating on their Domino-affiliated imprint Geographic Music, and also busy being honest and adorable.

Also on the way: a collaboration with Tokyo twee duo Tenniscoats. No word yet on titles or release dates for either record, but after a nearly ten year Pastels hiatus, I suppose we can stand to wait just a wee bit longer. [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.)