Dr. Dog Tour With Bobby Bare Jr.

Dr. Dog and Bobby Bare Jr. will gather their prefixes and suffixes together for a tour this March. They will be joined by comic-sketchin' New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis for the trek, which kicks off March 13 in Tucson.

Both acts also have their own hefty treks scheduled for the coming months. Dr. Dog is prepping for a full-blown jaunt with What Made Milwaukee Famous next month, as well as a few scattered dates in April, while Bobby Bare Jr. is currently in the midst of a tour.

Dr. Dog will drop their new album We All Belong on February 27 (not February 13, as previously reported) via Park the Van Records. The band even created a puzzle website in anticipation of the record. If you want to save some time, head directly to the prize. [MORE...]

V2 Closes Shop on New Releases, White Stripes Are Free
Staff, artists let go; label shifts focus to catalogue releases

Get ready for V2 v. 2.0: leaner, meaner, and intrepidly backward-looking, with 90% fewer new releases and 100% fewer employees.

According to a Billboard.com report and verified by a V2 publicist, V2 North America parent company Sheridan Square Entertainment (which purchased the label from its founder, Virgin entertainment mogul Richard Branson, in 2005) has, effective January 12, initiated plans to restructure the imprint's entire operation.

As of last Friday, V2 no longer releases new material from its artists, focusing almost exclusively on maintaining its back catalogue (a task to be overseen by Chief Operating Officer Michael Olsen in Nashville) and pursuing digital ventures. The only exception is the gospel genre, to which V2 will continue contributing new records.

Restructuring also meant terminating all of V2's employees, including label president Andy Gershon. "I wish the best for everybody that's still left at V2 and Sheridan Square," Gershon told Billboard.com, which estimates 35 people lost their jobs this past Friday. A publicist from V2 declined to comment on the situation.

Artists on the V2 roster-- which include alternative radio heavyweights like the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Crystal Method, and Moby-- now return to the auction block; V2 will, however, retain back catalogue rights for these acts.

In the case of the Stripes and the Raconteurs, though, things are slightly different. According to their publicist, the band's contract with V2 has already expired; Meg and Jack are presently in negotiations with other labels, seeking a distributor for their own imprint, Third Man Records, for future releases. [MORE...]

Ben Gibbard Goes Hollywood
Death Cab frontman in movie directed by guy from that TV show

Insert "A Movie Script Ending" joke here: Death Cab for Cutie singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard is making the leap from indie rock heartthrob to indie film heartthrob. He has a role in the big-screen adaptation of David Foster Wallace's short story collection Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, directed by John Krasinski, aka Jim from the American version of "The Office".

Eagle-eyed reader Trey Burke alerted Pitchfork to the movie's IMDB page, which lists Gibbard as playing a character named Harry. Other cast members include a guy who was in Snakes on a Plane (Bobby Cannavale), a guy from "Saturday Night Live" (Will Forte), a girl from "That '70s Show" (Mila Kunis), Krasinski's "Office" coworker Rashida Jones, and Krasinski himself.

Unfortunately, Gibbard's next film role will not be in a remake of the Cash Money Millionaires classic Baller Blockin', in which he would be so, so great as Lil Wayne's character, Iceberg Shorty. [MORE...]

Kevin Shields: MBV Will "100%" Make Another Album

Kevin Shields has revealed, in an interview published in the January/February issue of Magnet Magazine, that he intends to record another full-length with My Bloody Valentine. It would be the shoegaze overlords' first album since 1991's classic Loveless.

"I do feel that I will make another great record," Shields told the publication. "We are 100% going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something. I'd feel really bad if I didn't make another record. Like, shit, people only got the first two chapters, but the last bit is the best bit. It's just that it's taken me such an oddly long time for that to happen." Wait. Better than Loveless? Kev, we know good for press and everything, but holy crap, dude, what are you saying? 

Given Shields' recent remix and solo work for Sofia Coppola films and Go! Team singles, the guy has a lot to prove-- although there's no question the album would certainly be one of the most highly anticipated releases of... whatever year it eventually comes out. As for what year that might be, Shields was hesitant to give any kind of timeframe. (Actually, the answer was, "I don't know," so let's just take this with a grain of salt altogether.) But Shields did have this to say, in defense of the band's inability, thus far, to follow their magnum opus:

"A lot of people say the reason My Bloody Valentine didn't make another record is because we couldn't. That's mostly true, but not because we couldn't make another record, but because I never could be bothered to make another record unless I was really excited by it. And just by fate or whatever, that never happened. I'm quite optimistic about the future, even though experience has taught me that I'm probably just delusional."

Hah, well, on the off chance it never happens, we'll always have the past:

Video: My Bloody Valentine: "Only Shallow"

Video: My Bloody Valentine: "To Here Knows When"

Alice Coltrane 1937-2007

Jazz titan Alice Coltrane died in Los Angeles on Friday, January 12, the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 69 years old and suffered from respiratory failure.

Born Alice McLeod in Detroit in 1937, the pianist/harpist/organist started studying music as a child. She was an accomplished performer in her own right long before she met husband John Coltrane in 1963. The pair was married in 1965 and Alice joined John's band, replacing pianist McCoy Tyner.

John Coltrane died in 1967, and Alice continued on as a bandleader, performing with such musicians as Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, and Rashied Ali. She released several groundbreaking albums, including A Monastic Trio, Ptah the El Daoud, Universal Consciousness, and the spectacular Journey in Satchidananda, before embarking on a long retirement from recording and public performance in 1978.

Alice spent much of the following decades focused on raising her children, overseeing John Coltrane's estate, and engaging in spiritual pursuits. A devoted follower of Hinduism, Alice founded an ashram in the Los Angeles area in the mid-1970s.

In 2004, Alice Coltrane released Translinear Light, her first album in 26 years. She supported it with a smattering of performances, the last of which occurred in November of 2006. At the time of her death, Alice was working on a new album, Sacred Language of Ascension, which combined music with religious chants.

Marnie Stern Melts Your Face With KRS LP, Tour, MP3

For a solo artist, Marnie Stern seriously stirs up a lot of noise. Layering frenetic, in-your-face guitar over half-sung/half-spoken vocals and spastic drumming, the New York-based guitar virtuoso-- who amazed audiences last fall at CMJ-- makes it immediately apparent why she's described by her label as "The DIY Lady Shredder."

Until recently, Stern was an unsigned, make-demos-in-her-bedroom kind of solo act (another epithet-- this one designated by her booking agency-- is "The Upper East Side Recluse"). Then Kill Rock Stars discovered her via one of those demos and signed her to its 5RC imprint almost immediately.

5RC folded following Slim Moon's departure from Kill Rock Stars, which means Marnie's much-anticipated, slightly-delayed debut full length, In Advance of the Broken Arm, will arrive February 20 on KRS. Collecting songs Marnie's written over the past two years, and produced by Hella's Zach Hill (who also drums on the album), the LP comes armed with 13 blistering tracks. We're priveleged to share one of them with you.

Get your click on with our exclusive download of "Every Single Line Means Something", a slash-and-burn attack of Stern's shredding and Hill's epic pounding. This shit is bananas.

Not to be missed, Stern brings her sonic assault to the road in February with 5RC graduate BARR, hits up SXSW, and will later join Hill for a TBA summertime rampage/romp. [MORE...]

Video: Jelly Donut vs. Lady Sovereign

For those of you who missed this mess the first time around, MC Jelly Donut-- a name we can barely bring ourselves to type it's so awful-- has uploaded a video chronicle of his beef with Lady Sovereign to YouTube.

With the Notorious B.I.G.'s "What's Beef?" playing underneath, the video begins with footage of You Know Who walking around in the Mezzanine's parking lot. It goes on to cover Lady Sovereign's show, the audience's chanting of "Battle Jelly Donut!" and his subsequent expulsion from the club at her request. It ends with him freestyling back out in the parking lot before quickly recapping the entire event and flashing the words "Bring it."

Immediately after the video was uploaded, the Bay Area's "idiot white boy" quotient rose to dangerously high levels. For those still suffering from the side effects, long walks outside, deep breaths of fresh air, and repeat listenings to "Tell Me When to Go" are all valid cures for the specific form of depression caused by watching this video.

Exclusive MP3: Grizzly Bear: "Knife (Girl Talk Remix)"
Girl Talk sallies forth on tour blitz

That boy Gillis is at it again. Following up a fairly lackluster Peter Bjorn and John remix and a bangin' New Year's set, Girl Talk returns to repackage another Pitchfork favorite for the dancefloor, and this time around he actually employs the mash-up skills that made him a hit in the first place. Whether or not it works is for you to decide.

Gillis slices and dices Grizzly Bear's "Knife" (from the much-loved Yellow House LP), buttering it up with what sounds like the opening to Tears for Fears' "Shout", mashing in a liberal portion of Clipse's "Wamp Wamp"-- including Slim Thug's entire chorus and Pusha's verse-- and stabbing in a dash of this and that to color Ed Droste's cryptic queries.

Girl Talk is out there right now, in fact, making the kids move their bodies in indecent fashion across the U.S. Parents: do you know where your hip, young children are right now?

Grizzly Bear, likewise, hit the road soon (as you know), doing for our minds and senses of beauty what Gillis does for our hips and rumps.

And speaking of rump-shakers, CSS recently revealed to NME.com that they're going to have their way with Grizzly Bear's "Knife" as well, covering the song for their own licentious purposes. After talking to the feisty Brazilians and giving the thumbs up, the Grizz also accepted an invitation to return the favor and cover a CSS jam. The Internet: bringing people together who probably don't belong together, because it's funny. [MORE...]

The Stranglers Choke Out New Album Stateside

Punks and new wavers alike know it well: Thou shalt not wrangle with the Stranglers. In all likelihood, the legendary UK quartet has been kicking out the jams since before you were born, and in a few cases, before your parents were born. And they still bring the fury.

In fact, they brought it to the UK just this past fall, in the form of their latest longplayer-- and sixteenth LP overall-- Suite XVI. The audience across the pond has had to hold its breath for some time, but we may all exhale at last on January 16, when Suite XVI arrives Stateside in all its accessibly ferocious glory.

The Capitol/EMI LP runs 11 tracks and features the present Stranglers lineup, which includes founding keyboardist Dave Greenfield, white-maned original drummer Jet Black, original bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel, and 2001 addition Baz Warne on guitar. Burnel and Warne handle vocals.

Still a live force to be reckoned with, the Stranglers frolic around Europe this spring, playing gigs in Iceland and Italy, and hitting up every last crêpe-stand and pay-toilet in France. [MORE...]

Sneakers Release Retrospective Compilation
First show since 1979 scheduled

Like those limited edition art print Nikes you bought on eBay and later regretted, Winston-Salem, North Carolina's Sneakers were a short-lived phenomenon. But not regrettable.

The Southern-fried post-punk/power pop band only released one EP (1976's The Sneakers) and one LP (1979's In the Red) in their original incarnation before band members went on to form the dB's and produce R.E.M.'s first two albums. However, Sneakers later reformed in 1992 to assemble the Racket anthology and record a few new songs.

The forthcoming Nonsequitur of Silence compilation one-ups Racket by including-- in addition to the EP ("culled from restored original mixes," according to a press release), the LP, and all of the later recordings-- two bonus tracks: "Decline and Fall (Fidelitorium mix)" and the demo version of "Love That Girl" (the previously unreleased song that became "Love's Like a Cuban Crisis").

Collectors' Choice Music will release Nonsequitur of Silence on January 30. Sneakers co-founders Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter curated and remixed the songs, respectively, with Brent Lambert handling remastering duties at Carrboro, North Carolina's Kitchen Mastering. Music critic Scott Schinder wrote liner notes for the release.

Sneakers will celebrate the release of the compilation with their first live appearance since 1979 tomorrow, January 13 at New York City's Bowery Ballroom. Stamey's dB's and Mitch Easter will appear separately at the show as well, and both have a few dates scheduled on their own. [MORE...]

Exclusive: MP3: Busdriver: "Less Yes's, More No's"
MC hits the road with Deerhoof, RJD2 in support of new album

Like Native Americans with the buffalo, Los Angeles' Busdriver-- born Regan Farquhar-- uses every piece of the animals he hits while on the road. Hence RoadKillOvercoat, his fifth solo album and first for new label Anti-. DJ Nobody and Boom Bip provided the production on the MC's follow-up to Fear of a Black Tangent, and Busdriver also coaxed a guest vocal spot out of CocoRosie's Bianca Casady.

Anti- will release RoadKillOvercoat on January 30, but Busdriver has provided us with a teaser in the form of second track "Less Yes's, More No's". He raps with a breathless, poetry-jam-for-robots flow over the track's dense electro beat, giving it a paranoid feel that eclipses the specifics of the lyrical conspiracy theories. One thing Busdriver seems sure of: we're all doomed.

The MC will take his gloomy act on the road with Deerhoof and Harlem Shakes beginning in his hometown on January 24. Then in March, he will join RJD2 and Happy Chichester on their tour of the South and the East Coast. [MORE...]

Dntel Sub Pop Debut Revealed
Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis, Grizzly Bear guest

Jimmy Tamborello's next guest-heavy Dntel album, Dumb Luck, now has a tracklist and a tentative late April release date. As previously reported, Dumb Luck is his Sub Pop debut.

Moving Units' Chris Hathwell adds drums to a few tracks, and other guests include Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst, and Grizzly Bear. It's not all strength in numbers, however, as he goes it alone on the title track, which opens the record.

In the meantime, a remix 12" of tracks from Tamborello's James Figurine moniker-- featuring DJ Koze's take on "Apologies" and a Superpitcher/Tobias Thomas remix of "55566688833", both originally from the James Figurine album Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake-- is currently available from Monika. And, according to his MySpace blog, Plug Research will release a James Figurine covers 7" "once a couple things get sorted out." [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.)