Photos: Sparklehorse / Jesse Sykes [Austin, TX; 02/02/07]

Photos by Zach Vowell

For a home-recording singer/songwriter, Mark Linkous and his touring version of Sparklehorse appeared on stage at Austin's Antone's this past Friday with a surprising air of professionalism. Linkous-- decked out in an ensemble coat, vest, slacks, and discriminating footwear-- stripped away much of the lo-fi trickery from the night's songs, preferring to rely more on his voice and memorable lyrics.

Bittersweet numbers like "Spirit Ditch" and "Apple Bed" never upstaged uptempo songs like "Hammering the Cramps"-- which, following Jesse Sykes' opening set of siren vocals and slow-burn hypnotics, provided a welcome contrast. Not all the tricks were forsaken, though, as Linkous more often than not cloaked his voice through his trusty processed microphone.

This was Sparklehorse's first date on their first U.S. tour in quite some time, so maybe it was too much to ask for Experimental Linkous. And really, disappointments were practically non-existent (minus the omission of "Shade and Honey"!). If Astralwerks ever decides to put out a Sparklehorse greatest hits collection, they needn't look much further than this night's setlist.

Sparklehorse and Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter continue their North American tour through March.

JESSE SYKES & THE SWEET HEREAFTER


SPARKLEHORSE



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Beatles, Apple Inc. Settle Lawsuit
Both sides celebrate by swimming in pools of money

One of rock'n'roll's longest-festering disputes vanished into thin air today, as it was announced that the world-conquering mega-corporations known as the Beatles and Apple Inc. have decided to give peace a chance and end their ongoing trademark battle.

You see, the Beatles' holding company is named Apple Corps Ltd., and has held that name, as well as its logo of a shiny green apple, for decades. In 1991, the band and the computer makers agreed to share the name, so long as the latter didn't enter the music business. The advent of iTunes and the iPod in this decade kind of mucked that up.

According to the Associated Press, today's settlement "gives Apple Inc. ownership of all the trademarks related to 'Apple.' In addition, Apple Inc. will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use."

Eternally black turtleneck-clad Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, "We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks. It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future."

Naturally, talk has turned to the possibility of a Beatles-Apple Inc. partnership, with a deal for the band's music hitting the iTunes store rumored to be in the works. The Beatles are one of the last holdouts against the selling of legal downloads, forcing music fans to resort to all kinds of crate-digging, eBay price gouging, and dangerous underground bootlegging just to hear "Yesterday". Not.

T.V. Eye: February 5-9, 2007

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

Monday, February 5:

Fuel TV: "The Daily Habit": Of Montreal

Tuesday, February 6:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Paul Weller
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Calexico

Wednesday, February 7:

Syndicated: "The Ellen DeGeneres Show": Christina Aguilera

Thursday, February 8:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Gwen Stefani
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": the Game

Friday, February 9:

Syndicated: "The Ellen DeGeneres Show": Gwen Stefani

Photos: Cat Power [New York, NY; 02/02/07]

While Punxsutawney Phil and his congregation were busy shadow-watching last Friday, bar-dweller Cat Power was out partying-- at a museum. As previously reported, Chan Marshall performed at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of a PopRally "Happening" celebrating multimedia artist Doug Aitken's new video piece, sleepwalkers. Projected onto one of the MoMA's outside walls, sleepwalkers features Marshall, Seu Jorge, and others taking "nocturnal journeys" (that was the sound of your mind sloshing around in the gutter) and will be on display through February 20.

Also onhand last Friday: Aitken himself, cabbie-blogger Melissa Plaut, and street drummers Ryan Donowho (who also appears in sleepwalkers) and Hisham Bharoocha (Soft Circle, ex-Black Dice). If Kathryn Yu's wonderful photos are any indication, Marshall looks more assured than ever. She plays scattered dates through the coming weeks-- springtime shows, if we can believe old Phil.






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Gnarls Barkley Hold Haiku Contest
We like when he sings / But we still miss Goodie Mob / Where is Big Gipp now?

In anticipation of their February 11 performance at the Grammys, Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse have found yet another way to drum up interest in Gnarls Barkley. This time, it's a haiku contest run and judged by the fictional (we think) "CEO of St. Elsewhere", A.B. Vidal.

Don't think that just any haiku praising the film-obsessed duo will do, though. In fact, it's probably best not to mention Gnarls Barkley in your haiku at all, because Vidal has limited the thematic possibilities to "either Solitude or Pineapples. Or, if you can manage it, both," according to Gnarls Barkley's website.

The winner(s) of the competition will receive three limited-edition Gnarls Barkley lithographs (one each for "Crazy", "Smiley Faces", and "Gone Daddy Gone"). Vidal will announce the winner(s) on the day of the Grammy performance, which means aspiring poets have six days to complete their haiku. But remember, if you show friends and family your solitude/pineapple-themed work, they will think you're crazy (possibly).

As previously reported, Gnarls Barkley will tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in late February/early March in between a few festival performances. [MORE...]

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Announce Spring Tour

With their new album Some Loud Thunder barely a week old, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have announced a spring North American tour supporting it. They're in Europe right now, and will take half of February and most of March off before hitting the road on our shores starting April 10.

Much clapping will ensue. [MORE...]

Arctic Monkeys Unveil Second Album Details
No pressure, guys. It's not like you have to live up to the fastest-selling debut album in UK history or anything.

Arctic Monkeys revealed on their website today that they will release their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, on April 23 in the UK. (No American release date has been set yet.) UPDATE: It will be released on April 24 in the U.S. It will be preceded by the single "Brianstorm" (not a typo, we think) on April 16. (April 17 in the U.S. We assume the album will be on Domino, but that has not been confirmed yet. Yes, it will be on Domino.

Thus, the Arctics have joined Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Arcade Fire, and Bloc Party in the dugout of high-profile indie bands spending the first half of 2007 bracing for the sophomore slump. (Who next? Band of Horses? Tapes 'n Tapes?)

Arctic Monkeys' spring/summer touring itinerary is starting to take shape, with gigs at Coachella, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, and Glastonbury already scheduled. At the end of July, the band is hosting its own festival at Lancashire County Cricket Ground in Manchester, England. [MORE...]

Arcade Fire Reveal Neon Bible Lyrics

Oh those sneaky, sneaky Arcade Fire kids have done it again. Just a little over a month before the release of their second album Neon Bible, the band has posted the lyrics for every song on the record on the album's mysterious website.

So go to neonbible.com, click on the blinking bibles, click on "lyrics" in the top left hand corner, and enjoy.

This is some pretty depressing stuff. There's a lot of fear of the world ending, lack of hope in humanity, and general distress and discomfort on this record. And quite a bit of distrust in the media: "(Antichrist Television Blues)" seems to be sung from the point of view of a father/svengali like Joe Simpson or Matthew Knowles, while "Windowsill" includes these lines:

"MTV, what have you done to me? / Save my soul, set me free! / Set me free! What have you done to me? / I can't breathe! I can't see! / World War III / when are you coming for me?

"Guess we shouldn't expect any Arcade Fire video premieres on "Subterranean" any time soon.

The "lyrics" section of neonbible.com also includes the text of "The Wolf and the Fox", a fable attributed to the 17th century French poet Jean La Fontaine. The lyrics to "The Well and the Lighthouse" seem to echo the sentiment expressed in "The Wolf and the Fox".

Clicking on that text cues up an audio recording of a child reciting something in French; logic would dictate that the child is reciting "The Wolf and the Fox", but since my French skills are more than a bit rusty, I can't guarantee it.

Remember, Neon Bible is out March 6 on Merge. (As if you could forget.) This week, Arcade Fire play five shows in Montreal, and next week, they hit NYC.

SXSW: Good Bad & Queen, Mountain Goats, Mastodon
Also added: Beirut, Jandek, Thurston Moore, Blonde Redhead, Jesu, more

For some reason, the organizers of this year's SXSW haven't been too forthcoming about the bounty of bands that will perform at their music festival in Austin, Texas come March 14-18. But today in an email newsletter, they leaked a few more artists. Also, the Beggars Group, Barsuk, and Hydra Head revealed their showcases, we announced our party, and we received a few more confirmations.

So let's round up what we know so far.

Back at the end of February, SXSW announced Bloc Party, Interpol, Lily Allen, the Stooges, and many more performers, plus interviews and talks by David Byrne, Pete Townshend, Emmylou Harris, and others.

Earlier this week, we unleashed the lineup for the Pitchfork Music Festival party, taking place at Emo's and Emo's Jr. on Friday, March 16 from noon-6 p.m. [In case you forgot, we've got Girl Talk, Menomena, Rjd2, the Ponys, the Pipettes, Do Make Say Think, Deerhunter, Simian Mobile Disco, Fujiya & Miyagi, Beach House, Marnie Stern, and Crystal Castles.)

In various news stories, we reported that Voxtrot, 120 Days, Magik Markers, a Nick Drake panel and film, Jesse Sykes, Frog Eyes, YACHT, Badly Drawn Boy, Datarock, Pattern Is Movement, and many, many more would be heading to Austin in a month.

Today, SXSW announced the additions of performances by the Good, the Bad and the Queen, Thurston Moore, Reigning Sound, the Automatic, Mastodon, and Steve Earle, as well as a few more speakers, including Iggy Pop, David Cross, and Patton Oswalt.

There will also be a screening of the Jandek performance film Duality of Self, as well as a live show by the man himself, taking place Saturday, March 17 at the Central Presbyterian Church.

The Beggars Group showcase will take over Emo's and Emo's Jr on Wednesday, March 14, with sets by Blonde Redhead, Mountain Goats, Beirut, Emma Pollock (formerly of the Delgados), Wolf & Cub, Voxtrot, Calla, ILiKETRAiNS, Future of the Left, and the Early Years. Barsuk will occupy Buffalo Billiards on Thursday, March 15, bringing Menomena, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Aqueduct, Viva Voce, and Rocky Votolato. That same night, Hydra Head will terrorize Emo's Annex, with sets by Pelican, Jesu, Big Business, Daughters, Oxbow, and Stephen Bordsky's Octave Museum.

Whew. My feet hurt just reading that.

Rah Bras Call It Quits
…Until 2037

Rah Bras are leaving us, and chances are, you missed them. The disco-noise spazztro trio were crazy and awesome and only a few people cared about them, but they kept at it for over ten years. In 2005, they released their last album, Whohm, which I loved and the rest of the site liked, um, slightly less than I did.

Tonight at the Richmond Renaissance Center in Rah Bras' hometown of Richmond, Virginia, the band will perform their last show. It is part of local community radio station WRIR's anniversary party, and "space suits [are] optional", according to the band.

After the show, Rah Bras will go "on sabbatical until 2037, when truth is revealed and your place on the new ark is secure."

So I'll see you at the reunion! I'll be the 55-year-old lady in the front row.

Love Is All Release Single, Tour

Love Is All will release their next single as a double A-side. "Ageing Had Never Been His Friend" (see: the recently Forkcasted video) will be on one side, and a cover of the Pastels' "Nothing to Be Done" will be on the other. Parlophone will release the single in the UK on March 19.

The band have a couple of dates in England this month before heading off to Australia to play a few clubs and a few festivals. [MORE...]

The Juan Maclean Kicks Off DJ Dates

The Juan Maclean has kept pretty quiet recently. That is, unless you count his MySpace blog, where he posted recent entries about the Gossip's "Standing in the Way of Control" and "What it means to be gay." The latter is pretty detailed and includes the line, "That one Top Gun dude is an example, not Goose but the other guy."

Hopefully this won't start any fights.

He has, however, finally peeled himself away from the computer to kick off a tour of DJ dates that begins tonight in Washington, D.C. Presumably, this means no more treatises on sexual orientation for a while, but we think his party-rocking will make up for 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.)