Simian, Long Winters on Music for Robots Comp
Humans allowed to listen to it, too

Furthering their non-internet game, the folks at music blog Music for Robots released their second compilation today, simply titled Music for Robots: Volume 2.

Featuring exclusive tracks from Simian Mobile Disco, the Long Winters, Copy, and the Twilight Sad, as well as cuts from Frightened Rabbit, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Danava and more, Volume 2 is available online and at indie stores. [MORE...]

Emily Haines Serenades NPR Listeners

If you're a disaffected teen cooped up in some Podunk town that Emily Haines is not visiting on her winter tour, take heart: the Metric frontwoman and Broken Social Scenester has just announced her intentions to play your bedroom-- less than 55 hours from now!

Best of all, you don't even have to worry about what to wear. Hell, you can wear nothing at all, you creep. Haines and her band the Soft Skeleton perform at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club on January 10, and that very same concert will be simulcast live on your local NPR affiliate (which could very well be www.npr.org, depending on just how Podunk your small town is).

The NPR broadcast begins at, yes, approximately 9:30 p.m. (Eastern) and is the latest in an onslaught of live shows disseminated via the left-leaning radio institution in recent years. All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen will host the Haines event.

Emily and her Soft Skeleton then continue on their merry way across the U.S. and Canada, rocking you in support of their 2006 gem Knives Don't Have Your Back. Ecstatic Peace trio Tall Firs open all dates, having been hand-selected by Emily as part of a contest. [MORE...]

M. Ward, Jim James, Ladyhawk Featured on FADER 7”

The folks at the FADER love Jim James and company almost as much as we do, though I'd wager their love for limited edition vinyl is greater than ours. The magazine is combining both loves for the first of four installments in the FADER/Southern Comfort (yes, the liquor) 7" series, which will feature exclusive tracks from (press release alert) "today's most exciting emerging artists" in "specially colored" editions of 500.

The first 7" will feature M. Ward and the My Morning Jacket frontman singing "Magic Trick (Kansas City Remix)" on the A-side and Ladyhawk's "Soap" on the B-side. The record's cover sleeve will feature artwork by Lou Laurita. Though it's not available in stores (it seems to an "industry insider only" affair), five people who email contests@thefader.com with "the theme of M. Ward's 2005 album release" will receive free copies, according to the magazine's blog.

The rest of us will be busy wondering why a company that sells liquor-- a catalyst for the erosion of judgment if ever there was one-- has decided to enter the business of "tastemaking."

The Broken West (Formerly the Brokedown) Plan Tour

Make a note, fans: Linguistically speaking, "The Brokedown" is no more. Following a cease-and-desist order from an act with a "similar name," the recent Merge signees are now going by "the Broken West". Fortunately, legal action against shared birthnames isn't the norm, or our Editor-in-Chief could be facing off against a certain university newspaper editor. (Watch your back, kid!)

As previously reported, the Broken West, whose debut LP, I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, drops January 23, will romp around the U.S. with the Walkmen and Ferraby Lionheart throughout March.

Until then, the five-piece is lined up to play a string of shows, all west of the Mississippi. The festivities kick off tonight with a gig at L.A.'s Spaceland venue, where the Broken West is serving a (free!) Monday night residency through the end of the month. [MORE...]

Bloc Party Announce North American Tour
Albert Hammond Jr., Final Fantasy, Sebastian of DFA1979 to open

Bloc Party have announced a North American tour, but that isn't the biggest piece of Bloc Party news today. It seems that frontman Kele Okereke kinda sorta came out of the closet in an interview published yesterday in The Guardian.

Apparently, some songs on Bloc Party's forthcoming second album A Weekend in the City (due February 6 on Vice), are about homosexual love, which leads writer Craig McLean to ask about Okereke's sexuality, a topic he usually dances around. And while Okereke seems to be on the verge of some sort of confession, he ultimately states, "It's not something that I'd be inclined to talk...It isn't black and white. It isn't clear-cut."

So maybe he's bisexual? Who knows? Who cares? (A lot of people, obviously. Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Anyway, none of that has anything to do with the matter at hand: that Bloc Party are headed Stateside for the first time since their aborted tour with Panic! At the Disco. And this time, they're bringing along some much hipper friends: the Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr., Final Fantasy, Sebastien Grangier (formerly of Death From Above 1979), the Like, and Smoosh, are all slated to open various dates of the trek, which takes up much of March. British and Japanese tours precede the North American jaunt.

Tomorrow, January 9, "The Prayer" remix EP will become available exclusively on iTunes, featuring remixes by Paul "Phones" Epworth and Does It Offend You, Yeah?, among others. Also, "The Prayer" 7", including the b-side "England", will be given away for free with purchase of A Weekend in the City by certain independent music stores. So support yr local mom 'n' pop. [MORE...]

Do Make Say Think Make Album, Do Tour
Say little, think really deep thoughts

Taking at least part of their verb-powered moniker to heart, Canadian post-rock/avant-jazz combo Do Make Say Think is kicking off 2007 right with a slew of activity.

First up, they've made You, You're a History in Rust, their fifth LP, set for European release on February 12 (everybody else has to wait until February 26). Constellation will deliver the accusatory eight-track set, and like many releases on the respectable label, History in Rust was recorded in such rustic spaces as cottages and barns.

The disc features the core lineup of Doers-- Ohad Benchetrit, Charles Spearin (both of Broken Social Scene), Dave Mitchell, James Payment, and Justin Small-- and also boasts guest contributions from Akron/Family, BS Scene orbiters Jason Tait (vibes) and Julie Penner (violin), and Great Lake Swimmers' Tony Dekkar.

DMST will then do an extensive tour of the U.S. and their native Canada, hitting up more metropolises in Alberta and Saskatchewan than we knew existed. The whole shebang kicks off on February 23 in Detroit, so we think it's safe to say you'd do well to make haste to one of these gigs. Right. [MORE...]

MP3: Beirut: "Elephant Gun"

Brooklynite (by way of New Mexico, by way of gypsy fantasy-land) Zach Condon continues to astonish even the most grit-toothed nay-sayers, demonstrating his precocious talent yet again on new Beirut tune "Elephant Gun", awarded a hearty four-star rating by this here website.

"Elephant Gun" leads off Condon's second release and follow-up to 2006's much-accoladed Gulag Orkestar. The Lon Gisland EP (rendered exotic by a mere misplaced space), hits U.S. shops January 30 thanks to Ba Da Bing! Records. If you're a UK resident, you may have already scooped up the EP, bundled with 4AD-stamped copies of Gulag Orkestar released across the pond this past fall. eMusic aficionados can score it today as well.

But shit damn kids, what are you waiting for? Download that action right now!

Pharoahe Monch Shares New Song, Controversial Video

Rapping is too easy for Pharoahe Monch. For proof, just count the "i" sounds (long and short) in this short sample of lyrics from "Let's Go", the newest track from the forthcoming Desire that Monch has made available on his MySpace: "I'm the pinnacle rhyme kid, and any line of mine is criminal minded. I blind 'em with original rhyme shit." Rapped in his quick, effortless flow, it's even better.

Getting his music released has proven much harder for Monch, who hasn't put out an official record in almost eight years. Recently, his Clinton Sparks mixtape The Awakening-- which features "Let's Go" as well as the previously reported tracks "Desire" and "Push"-- made the internet rounds, but SRC has yet to announce a release date for Desire.

Another Desire track featured on The Awakening is "Gun Draws". "Gun Draws" reworks the concept of "Stray Bullet", a track by Monch's former group-- Organized Konfusion-- in which he raps about gun violence from the perspective of a bullet. The tense and slightly awkward video features scenes of a little boy shooting his sister after discovering Daddy's gun as well as historical footage of assassinations, and as such, it's an internet-only affair.

And though the video's concept is a little heavy handed, the song itself is great, and it's hard not to appreciate Monch's earnestness: he's also involved in the "Guns for Cameras" program, which-- according to a press release-- "works with law enforcement to take guns from the youth and give them video cameras and training in video production." He has even set up a website to explain his motivations behind writing the song.

A-Trak Releases One of Everything

A-Trak's current schedule looks more like a list of New Year's resolutions than an actual calendar of events: it includes the releases of a live CD, a mixtape, and two albums, as well as partnerships with clothing, toy, and skateboard companies. We think it's called "expanding your brand."

The live CD is a double disc release on French label Disque Primeur containing A-Trak's and tourmates the Rub's sets at the Indianapolis stop of their 2006 "Sunglasses Is a Must" tour. It is available for online purchase here.

The albums are debuts from A-Trak himself as well as Chicago MC Kid Sister, a collaboration he revealed to us back in July during his Pitchfork Music Festival interview.

The mixtape is titled Dirty South Dance, and a preview in the form of a remix of UNK's "Walk It Out" (which totally slays, by the way) is available for download below. Since when did the Gossip become the go-to source for dancefloor bangers?

As for the clothes and other goodies, there are so many companies coming out with Sunglasses Is a Must gear that it's best just to list them: "New Era hats, Crooks & Castles t-shirts, Kid Robot toys, Stussy sunglasses, and Zoo York skate decks," according to a press release. That's a lot of stuff, but man cannot live on sunglasses alone.

A-Trak will play with Kanye West at Pepsi Smash in Miami, Florida on February 1.

R.E.M., Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash Make Rock Hall
Plus the Ronettes and some band called Van Halen

Million-selling albums, sold-out world tours, critical accolades up the wazoo-- yet mom and dad still insist all your rocking and rolling is some phase, some flight of fancy. Finally, however, thanks to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, parents of R.E.M., Patti Smith, the Ronettes, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Van Halen may finally get it.

The hallowed Hall has named those five acts to its 2007 induction class, a deal to be sealed at a March 12 ceremony at New York's famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Anyhow, moms and dads may now boast to the neighbors how their sons and daughters were nominated by a pack of discerning "rock and roll historians" (according to the Hall's website) and ultimately selected by "an international voting body of about 1,000 rock experts." Furthermore, they may gush, this enormous honor is only bestowed upon five-seven music acts a year, and best of all, like, Elvis got this too.

Last year, as you may recall, the Rock Hall opened its doors to Miles Davis, Blondie, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Sex Pistols (who weren't having it).

The 2007 inductees-- all of whom released their first records at least 25 years ago, per the Hall's eligibility stipulations-- will have the opportunity to perform at the induction gala. Recently deceased Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun will be honored as well.

Ted Leo to Play NYC Benefit for Robbins Family

The support continues to roll in for Callum Robbins, son of J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Channels) and Janet Morgan (Channels). As previously reported, Cal is afflicted with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Type 1).

Most recent to lend a hand is Ted Leo, who will perform solo alongside Medications and the Forms at a benefit show for the Robbins family at Brooklyn's Northsix on January 26. Tickets are available here.

Leo, along with his trusty Pharmacists will also appear at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall for the 15th annual Noise Pop festival on March 2, as previously reported. His forthcoming Touch and Go debut album, Living With the Living, is due out March 20.

As announced last week, another Robbins benefit gig boasting the likes of Chin Up Chin Up, Bobby Conn, the Life and Times, Red Eyed Legends, and a "surprise special guest," is slated for Chicago's Empty Bottle on January 27. (Tickets)

Fans looking to aid J., Janet, and Callum can also make a monetary gift on the DeSoto Records website.

T.V. Eye: January 8-15, 2007

Pitchfork's T.V. Picks for This Week:

Monday, January 8:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Twilight Singers (rerun)

Tuesday, January 9:

NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Mos Def

Thursday, January 11:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": the Hold Steady
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": the Black Keys

Friday, January 12:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Spank Rock
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Islands
NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Common

Saturday, January 13:

NBC: "Saturday Night Live": The Shins

Monday, January 15:

MTV2: "Subterranean": the Black Keys

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.)