Ghostface Guests on "30 Rock" (Again), Plays Poker

Don't call it a comeback: Ghostface Killah will appear on the NBC show "30 Rock" for a second time when he joins Tina Fey and co. in an episode tentatively scheduled for early March. UPDATE: THE EPISODE WILL AIR MARCH 1 AT 9:30 PM EST.

His first appearance was in November on an episode titled "Jack-tor", where he played himself and rapped on a song called "Muffin Top". BONUS: DOWNLOAD A SNIPPET OF "MUFFIN TOP" FEATURING GHOSTFACE BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW!

For his cameo in this new episode, titled "The Source Awards", he will again play himself. He will also rap again, this time in a music video directed by a hip hop producer named Ridikolus--played by LL Cool J. Apparently, Alec Baldwin's character is putting out a line of wines, and this music video is an attempt to give the wines street cred. Wayne Brady also guests in the episode.

In other Ghostface news, today he is supposed to launch GFKpoker.com, a site for hip hop fans to play hold 'em alongside himself, Theodore Unit's Shawn Wiggs, Hot 97's Angie Martinez, and Mike Caruso, Ghostface's manager and executive producer. The site hasn't gone live yet, but as soon as it does, all Pitchfork News updates should be expected to come to a grinding halt.

SXSW Reveals Preliminary Lineup
Mogwai, Spoon, Walkmen, Diplo, Andrew Bird, Peaches, Junior Boys, Vashti Bunyan aboard

Guess that makes all those other announcements pre-preliminary, eh? But holy smokes people, here we go: South by Southwest, that Austin orgy of film, music, panels, and general mayhem, has announced the "preliminary lineup" for the music portion of its 2007 SXSW bash. And by preliminary lineup, they mean enough bands to make your eyes bleed and your brain turn to stew.

As you well know, the music showcases go down March 14-18 at pretty much every venue, bar, high school gymnasium, parking lot, patio, racquetball court, bingo hall, and crawlspace in Texas' capitol city.

Apart from the mess of previously mentioned folks, some more acts we're especially excited about: Aesop Rock, Annuals, Architecture in Helsinki, Apostle of Hustle, Arbouretum, Asobi Seksu, Au Revoir Simone, Andrew Bird, Bonde do Role, Vashti Bunyan, Busdriver, Cage, Diplo, El-P, the Faint, Flosstradamus, Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton, Hella, Daniel Johnston, Junior Boys, Amy Millan, Mogwai, Okkervil River, Peaches, Sage Francis, Spoon, and the Walkmen.

Not too many eyebrow-raisers yet, but we do have the reunited Meat Puppets and legendary country singer Charlie Louvin to look forward to.

Also of note (pull up a chair, whydoncha?): Keren Ann, An Albatross, the Ark, Bat for Lashes, the Besnard Lakes, Jello Biafra, the Bird and the Bee, Bishop Allen, the Black Angels, Black Lips, BOAT, Boom Bip, the Broken West, Ane Brun, Buck 65, Burning Star Core, Cadence Weapon, Calla, Call Me Lightning, Catfish Haven, Castanets, Charalambides, Chin Up Chin Up, Clem Snide, Cloud Cult, Cracker, Jill Cunniff (of Luscious Jackson), Cyann & Ben, Daedelus, Dan Deacon, Rob Crow, Daughters, Daylight's for the Birds, the Dears, Devin the Dude, the Diableros, Dirty on Purpose, Dirty Projectors, Dosh, Earl Greyhound, Earlimart, Erase Errata, Evangelicals, Field Music, the Frames, the Fratellis, the Gossip, Albert Hammond Jr., Micah P. Hinson, Robyn Hitchcock--

*deep breath*

--okay, continuing: Holy Fuck, the Horrors, I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, Jana Hunter, Frida Hyvönen, Indian Jewelry, Imperial Teen, Georgie James (ex-Q and Not U), Jel, Junior Senior, Kaki King, Kid Sister, the Ladybug Transistor, the Little Ones, Loney, Dear, the Long Winters, Macromantics, Magik Markers, Malajube, the Manhattan Love Suicides, Marit Larsen, Willy Mason, Masta Killa, Matt & Kim, Midlake, Mika Miko, the Mooney Suzuki, the M's, MSTRKRFT, My Brightest Diamond, Marissa Nadler, Nina Nastasia & Jim White, New Violators, Nomo, Oh No! Oh My!, Oxford Collapse, the Pack, Page France, Panthers, Peter and the Wolf, Ariel Pink, Plan B (UK), +/-, Ponytail, Pony Up, the Postmarks, Rafter, Razorlight, Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), Pete Rock, Rock Plaza Central, the Rosebuds, the Rumble Strips, Satellite Party, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Shapes and Sizes, Shearwater, Six Parts Seven, Sloan, Snowden, Sole, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Richard Swift, Talkdemonic, These Arms Are Snakes, 31Knots, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Tilly and the Wall, Times New Viking, Mary Timony, Tokyo Police Club, Tullycraft, Tunng, the Twilight Sad, Under Byen, Chad VanGaalen, the View, WinterKids, Working for a Nuclear Free City, and the Young Knives.

Oh, right, and also: the Bravery, Birdmonster, Chromeo, Cold War Kids, Sound Team, the Presets, and, wait for it...Taylor Hicks.

Check out the complete preliminary lineup here, bearing in mind this is all void where prohibited and subject to change and whatnot. And stay tuned: a night-by-night schedule with set times and venues should crop up in the near future.

Add to all this, of course, the film festival taking place during the days leading up to the music showcases. SXSW has announced the complete schedule, which includes screenings of over 100 motion pictures. Music-related potential highlights include the previously mentioned Scott Walker documentary 30 Century Man and Jandek flick, a Silver Jews doc (details forthcoming!), and films about James Blunt's former life as a soldier, the last days of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, a rap producer overcoming a crack addiction (featuring Method Man and Akon), "America's first all-female mariachi band," and "the raunchiest country music singer in America." Details here.

Antony Collaborates With All Sentient Life, Plans New Album

Despite the lack of any concrete news regarding a follow-up to 2005's I Am a Bird Now, Antony has been a very busy man over the past year or so, and his schedule doesn't look to let up at all in the future. In fact, he's doing so much that it's almost impossible to keep up. Fortunately, a Secretly Canadian website update offers a peek into Antony's diary:

Today

Bask in the glow of successful collaborations with Lou Reed (those "Berlin" concerts -- New York City ones soon to be made into a Julian Schnabel-produced film), Joan as Police Woman (as backing vocalist on last year's Real Life), and Current 93's Michael Cashmore (on mini-album The Snow Abides, along with Cashmore's bandmate David Tibet).

Rewatch both movies from last year that featured my songs with the Johnsons: Alessandro Angelini's L'Aria Salata and Paolo Sorrentino's L'Amico di Famiglia.

Continue editing the film version of "Turning" with Charles Atlas. Wonder how we will cut over sixty hours of touring and interview footage.

February 24-25

Wish conductor Gavin Bryars and the singers and musicians of Opera North the best in their performances of my and composer Nico Muhly's score for one of Shakespeare's sonnets. Send a thank-you note to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and try to make it to the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for one of the concerts if I can.

March 9

Play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. Not sure if Muhly's directing or not, but collaborating with him for this show sure was swell.

Spring

New albums! Buy Björk's new one, which features my duet with her, and continue recording my third album with the Johnsons. Try to expand upon my current theme: "ghosts and nature."

Tour Europe?

Summer

Visit Belsay Manor to see how the sound installation I worked on with William Basinski turned out.

Buy new bathing suit.

Will Sheff "Talks" Lost Voice, New Okkervil Album
"I've spent stretches of several days where I only talk with a pad of paper and a pen."

As reported earlier this week, one too many emotive yelps sent poor Will Sheff's voice a-packing. Vocal chord strain forced the Okkervil River frontman to to cancel his solo tour with Josh Ritter and suspend work on the band's new album.

Figuring Sheff might be trolling the interweb a little more frequently right now, Pitchfork caught up with the man for a brief e-mail interview, in which he revealed what happened to that expressive voice of his, what fans can expect from the new LP, and just how definitive the Black Sheep Boy Definitive Edition (out March 6 on Jagjaguwar) is.

But first, that lost voice: Following several months of intense touring last fall, Okkervil River set to work preparing for the new album. "We rehearsed every day, four hours a day for about a month," wrote Will. "An unintended and painfully ironic consequence of all that work was that, by the time I stood in front of a microphone to record the vocals for the record, I could barely get a sound out of my mouth."

Sheff visited an ear, nose, and throat doctor-- "he had all these signed head-shots of local opera singers hanging on the wall"-- for the first time in his life. As the specialist told Will, while things could have been worse, "my vocal chords were inflamed and fatigued and I'd developed a couple other problems that just had to do with using my voice too much. He put me on two different medications and prescribed a month of vocal rest."

"Since then," Will told Pitchfork, "we've stopped all work on the record and I've just been sitting around Austin waiting, trying to use my voice as little as possible."

It hasn't been easy. "I've spent stretches of several days where I only talk with a pad of paper and a pen. Whenever I'd go to the grocery store or something, I'd run into friends; they'd walk up to say hello and I'd have to stick a pad of paper in their face with the words 'Sorry - I lost my voice!' on it, and they'd say, 'oh!' and try to ask me a few questions about it. I'd try to scrawl a few responses down before we'd both kind of back away from each other wearing embarrassed looks." [MORE...]

Calla Bloom Anew With Strength in Numbers, Tour

Photo by Scott Irvine

According to the 1-800-Flowers website, Calla Lilies "signify magnificent beauty" and make "a fantastic and lasting impression." That's all well and good, but how many wimpy flowers can rock your lily-white face off, bro?

Brooding New York trio Calla can, and have for years now, and probably will again come February 20, when the trio unleashes its latest LP via Beggars Banquet.

Strength in Numbers collects 13 new jams, including several with typically Calla-esque single-word titles. Some more numbers: Calla self-produced the album and recorded it in three different locations (New York City, Austin, and Athens, Greece); it comes in two formats (CD and vinyl); and Calla presently have 28 North American tour dates lined up in support of Strength. Euro tour to follow.

Treat your sweetheart (or yourself) to the acoustic pluck of Strength in Numbers' seventh track, "Bronson", in mp3 form below. [MORE...]

Modest Mouse Announce More Shows

Modest Mouse have finally announced a few dates in the U.S. (and Mexico and England) in support of the Epic release of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank on March 20. The fun starts in Mexico City on March 10 and ends June 1 in Barcelona, but considering how few dates there are, you just know there have to be more coming.

Thanks to reader Seth Boid for the tip! [MORE...]

Lady Sovereign Expands World Tour

Little lady, big tour: Lady Sovereign has expanded the trek in support of her debut album Public Warning. In addition to her previously announced North American jaunt with Gwen Stefani and Akon, Lady Sov will hit the UK, Europe, Australia, and Japan this March and April. She also has a one-off date scheduled for this evening in London. [MORE...]

CocoRosie Ready for Adventures, Euro Tour

Photo by Julia Gillard

Double, double, toil and trouble, people: the weird sisters of CocoRosie are at it again, tossing disparate genres and wacked-out lyrics into their freak-folk cauldron and pouring that molten concoction all over our faces. On April 10, siblings Bianca and Sierra Casady conjure up their third LP, The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, a twelve-track affair once again born under the moon of Touch and Go Records.

The sisters then hop on their broomsticks for some tour adventures in the old countries, surrounding the album's release. No word yet on North American dates, but we hope they play, like, Salem.

Bianca's Voodoo-EROS imprint, meanwhile, has some more magic in store for 2007. V-E will release the debut LP from Brooklyn sleaze-chic rapper Bunny Rabbit, titled Lovers and Crypts, on February 20. And let me tell you: If sex and cussing are your bread and butter, you've just found your album of the year. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Arcade Fire to Rock NPR

Good news for everybody shut out of the Arcade Fire's five-night New York City residency next week (and for that matter, those shut out of the London and Montreal residencies as well): NPR's "All Songs Considered" will broadcast the band's February 17 show at Judson Memorial Church.

So next Saturday night, grab a computer, some speakers, a bunch of friends, and a bicycle helmet. Break into a local church, and boom: instant Arcade Fire show.

Klaxons Invade North America

Get ready: Klaxons are coming to America.

The UK sensations have announced a 13-date North American tour, which concludes with a previously reported Coachella stop in late April. The jaunt is in support of Klaxons' debut LP, Myths of the Near Future, due on Pitchfork's side of the pond March 27 via Rinse/DGC.

That album is already out in the UK, where the band is touring right now. [MORE...]

Flying Canyon's Cayce Lindner, R.I.P.

Cayce Lindner, frontman for self-described "California doom folk" band Flying Canyon, took his own life yesterday, February 6. No further details are available regarding his death, nor do we know how old he was.

Lindner, who lived in the Bay Area, was in the bands the Golden Hotel and the Goodwill Tapes before forming Flying Canyon with the Jewelled Antler collective's Glenn Donaldson and Shayde Sartin. He was also a filmmaker.

Sidney Alexis Lindner, Cayce's brother, fronts the Portsmouth, New Hampshire band the Hotel Alexis. He was also in Golden Hotel with Cayce.

Last fall, Soft Abuse released Flying Canyon's enchanting self-titled debut album. Our own Brandon Stosuy wrote, "Lindner and friends carve out an erudite haze that foregoes caricature and wardrobe changes in favor of melody, inventive instrumentation, strong songwriting, and an honest, riveting charisma."

Soft Abuse's Chris Berry said, "We are deeply saddened and we're thinking of his friends and family."

Twilight Sad Unveil Debut, Tour North America, UK
Start own cover band, The Gloaming Melancholy

Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters: apart from being a damn long time, a mouthful to say, and a, um, fingerful to type, that's also the title of the debut full-length album from emotive Glasgow quartet the Twilight Sad. FatCat lifts the curtain on the nine-track release-- which follows up last fall's excellent self-titled EP-- on April 24.

The fresh-faced, thick-accented foursome recorded Fourteen Autumns at their home city's Chem 19 and Ca Va studios, and mixed the opus at Connecticut's Tarquin Studios with Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon). It includes a trio of tunes from the EP, and six new epics. Pretty much all of them have totally emo titles, so start naming your blogs after them now, kids.

The Twilight Sad had better perk up, however, because they have quite a long tour road ahead of them. They'll sweep through the UK with Micah P. Hinson before crossing the pond for SXSW and a stretch of subsequent dates with Mary Timony, and later, fellow Glaswegians Aereogramme and Canada's A Northern Chorus. Adorably enough, they play both Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England on this tour.

Finally, don't miss the Twilight Sad's contribution to FatCat labelmates Semiconductor's forthcoming DVD, Worlds in Flux. The disc hits U.S. shops April 3 (February 26 everywhere else), and includes the Sad's score to some Semiconductor animation, alongside specially-comissioned scores from Max Richter, Ensemble, Christian Vogel, Our Brother the Native, and more. [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.)