Battles Talk Mirrored, Vocals, Side Projects
"We're no more an instrumental band than we are a rock'n'roll band with no lead singer." --Tyondai Braxton

There's a new behemoth in town, and Battles is its name. The fire-breathing, Warp-signed supergroup comprised of Tyondai Braxton, Ian Williams (ex-Don Caballero), John Stanier (ex-Helmet, Tomahawk), and Dave Konopka (ex-Lynx) drops their proper debut LP Mirrored on May 15, as previously reported. EP-based excitement has been brewing for a few years now, but longtime fans may be in for a few surprises.

For one: vocals. First single "Atlas"-- out April 2 in 12" and digital formats-- has 'em. So do several other tracks on Mirrored, as Battles' Braxton and Williams revealed to Pitchfork during a recent chat. So what's the deal, guys?

Said Braxton, who does all the quote-unquote singing, "It's not just straight vocals throughout on every track. Sometimes it's more conventional, sometimes it's more affected and used more as a texture. So there's no clear definition of the way that we use the vocals-- but we do have maybe three or four songs with lyrical vocals in them."

For Braxton and band, it's all about pushing boundaries. "The thing that I really like about other bands that I grew up listening to-- that I was inspired by-- is they have the same tools that other bands use-- you've got your lead vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, whatever-- but the way they use them is so different. So I always wanted to try my hand at using those same tools to go in the direction that I was interested in, and that we were interested in as a collective."

"We all are very cool with just trying out a bunch of different things. We're no more an instrumental band than we are a rock'n'roll band with no lead singer. We just try different things and do what we want to do, which is refreshing-- it's a refreshing formula to have in this band, where there's nothing that's too out of bounds.

"And though the vocal thing might be a little more conventional in a lot of ways, even there there's no fear of being able to go that route and see what we can come up with. And I had wanted to sing and wanted to see what it would be like to have a Battles song written, so we explored that direction." [MORE...]

Devendra, Lavender Diamond, Giant Drag Do Madonna
Devendra does "Express Yourself", dedicates it to his spirit animal

L.A. freak-folk label Manimal Vinyl will release a Madonna tribute compilation titled Through the Wilderness this September or October. The list of flower children paying homage to the Material Girl includes Devendra Banhart, Vietnam, Women & Children, Lavender Diamond, Giant Drag, the Chapin Sisters, Bat for Lashes with Moon and Moon, and the Tyde.

The album also features Winter Flowers, Apollo Heights, Jonathan Wilson, Mountain Party, Alexandra Hope, Little Death, Siddhartha, Golden Animals, and the Pangaeans.

Proceeds from sales of Through the Wilderness will assist the fight against AIDs in Africa, though a specific charity has not yet been selected.

[front page photo from Madonna.com]

Saddle Creek to Distribute Range Life Records
Conor Oberst records solo acoustic Pavement covers album to celebrate

First Nebraska, then...Kansas. As part of their plan to take over the world, starting with Middle America, the folks at Omaha's Saddle Creek Records have signed a deal to distribute Lawrence, Kansas' Range Life Records.

Range Life's first physical release will be former Anniversary songwriter Justin Roelofs' self-titled debut as White Flight, though the label released the album digitally and on vinyl last year. White Flight will come out on CD March 6, and it will include a documentary titled "The Making of White Flight", directed by Brendan Costello and label owner Zach Hangauer.

Range Life has releases by Lawrence bands 1,000,000 Light Years and Fourth of July forthcoming.

Nine Inch Nails Year Zero Tracklist Revealed

"The Warning" and "The Great Destroyer"-- not just Hot Chip and Low albums anymore! They have now joined "March of the Fuckheads" and "Starfuckers, Inc." in the pantheon of Nine Inch Nails song titles, as the tracklist for the forthcoming NIN disc Year Zero has been revealed. (As previously reported, it's due out Judgement Day, April 17.)

Although it isn't nearly as entertaining as the fake Nine Inch Nails tracklist Pitchfork came up with three years ago, the Year Zero list does have a few ringers: opener "Hyperpower!" could be a Go! Team song, while "Me, I'm Not" and "Capital G" raise good, old-fashioned Reznorian questions like "You're not what? A pussy?" and "Capital G stands for what? God? Gay?"

Nine Inch Nails are on tour in Europe right now and head to Scandinavia and Australia in May. Ladytron open quite a few dates. [MORE...]

Sigur Ros Protest Deforestation With Reykjavik Gig
Conspire with woodland critters in Hopelandic

If you happen over to Álafoss, Iceland anytime soon, check out the nearest grove, because you might just catch the men of Sigur Rós in a compromising position with some trees. And by compromising position, we mean hugging, you guttersnipes. Local authorities are planning to pave this paradise and put up a highway, see, and Sigur Rós are none too happy about it.

The orchestral rock quartet announced via its official website recently that it plans to hold a special concert in Reykjavik to raise funds to appeal the construction of the highway in Álafoss and "divert [it] through a less destructive route." Said gig goes down at Verið in Héðinshúsið on February 18, and tickets go on sale today.

As Sigur drummer Orri Páll Dýrason told Reykjavik's Morgunblaðið newspaper, "the ministry for the environment has stated that an evaluation of environmental impact is not warranted, which is a decision we just don't understand and have already appealed. The highway would also go through a grove of trees, which was planted by the children of the founders of Álafoss wool mill built in 1896. Half these trees have been already removed in the first place. It's such a remarkable place and played a huge role in the establishment of the [nearby] town of Mosfellsbær."

Not so coincidentally, Álafoss also serves as home to Sigur Rós' swimming pool studio, where parts of 2005's Takk were recorded. Somehow the band made it to this studio without a highway. Perhaps they have, like, a Hope-icopter or something?

As previously reported, Sigur Rós are presently at work on their next album, the follow up to Takk. They'll take a break to play this protest concert, as well as two U.S. dates later this month, including the Tibet House benefit at NYC's Carnegie Hall. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: February 12-17, 2007

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

Monday, February 12:

Syndicated: "The Ellen DeGeneres Show": Nelly Furtado

Tuesday, February 13:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Regina Spektor
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Lily Allen

Wednesday, February 14:

NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brian": the Apples in Stereo

Thursday, February 15:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Nas

Friday, February 16:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": the Thermals

Saturday, February 17:

NBC: "Saturday Night Live": Justin Timberlake (rerun)

J Dilla, Band of Horses Clean Up at Plug Awards

Grammys? What Grammys? On Saturday night, February 10, the 2007 PLUG Awards were announced at a star-studded event at Irving Plaza in New York City. Band of Horses took home the most PLUGs-- for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Americana Album of the Year-- while the late J Dilla was named Artist of the Year and Record Producer of the Year. Sufjan Stevens and Neko Case were voted Male and Female Artists of the Year, respectively, for the second year in a row, Arctic Monkeys were deemed New Artist of the Year, and some site called Pitchforkmedia.com won Music Website of the Year. (Aww, thanks, you guys!)

David Cross hosted the evening, which featured performances from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Deerhoof, Tokyo Police Club, El-P, and Silversun Pickups. Malkmus also received the 2007 PLUG Impact Award (sort of their version of the Lifetime Achievement Grammy).

All photos by William Kirk.

More photos and the full list of winners after the jump.

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS

DEERHOOF

EL-P

[MORE...]

Depeche Mode Reissue Construction, Celebration

The fourth and fifth Depeche Mode albums to receive the deluxe reissue treatment from Rhino will be 1983's Construction Time Again and 1986's Black Celebration. Rhino will release both as two-disc CD/DVD sets on March 20.

The CDs will feature the original albums, and the DVDs will have 5.1 mixes as well as B-sides, remixes, and live tracks. As a bonus, each DVD will feature a short film of interviews with Depeche Mode members about the albums. Booklets featuring lyrics and rare photos will come with both packages.

Rhino reissued Speak & Spell, Music for the Masses, and Violator last year. [MORE...]

Field Music's Brewis Talks Covers, Hiatus, Futureheads
Compiles greatest collection of Aerosmith cover band names ever

What do young people do, stuck all the way out in quaint, remote Sunderland, England? If you're David Brewis, one-third of Memphis Industries trio Field Music, you make music with your family and friends, you kick back and watch Trapped in the Closet with the Futureheads, you rework Thompson Twins classics...and you start Doors and Aerosmith cover bands??

"I was really trying to avoid getting involved," David told Pitchfork yesterday via phone, "but I ended up being Robby Krieger in a friend's Doors tribute." Bandmates Andy Moore and Peter Brewis (David's brother) joined him for this anomaly at a sort-of "Sunderland Stars" night this past December. "And it was quite fun."

"Unfortunately, on that night we were billed as blooming Field Music, which would have been a disappointment for anyone expecting 'If Only the Moon Were Up'-- and we turn[ed] up and actually did probably an eight or nine minute version of 'The End' instead. It was confrontational, which I liked."

David's cover band aspirations are hardly limited to the Doors. "I'm having an Aerosmith phase at the moment, so maybe I'll end up in an Aerosmith covers band." For a list of potential Aerosmith cover band names, including "PharaohSmith" ("This will involve Egyptian headgear"), "Hair-O-Smith" ("This will involve wearing wigs, and the singer can rename himself Steve [Hair] Styler"), and "Aeroschmitt" ("Krautrock"), skip to the end of this story. It's worth it, believe us.

The Doors and Aerosmith aren't exactly the first bands to come to mind when listening to the succinct, rhythmically precise music of Field Music, whose sophomore LP Tones of Town, out now in the UK, hits U.S. shelves February 20 via Memphis.

Fans who turn out for Field Music's UK dates this month and North American dates with Menomena and Land of Talk in March probably needn't worry about any such classic rock-covering confrontations, however. "We'll probably end up playing quite a lot of stuff from the new record," David said. "The biggest surprise for anyone who hasn't seen us live is what we manage to do between the three of us. People watch and say, 'How the hell are they doing that?'"

After the tour, however-- and the release of single "She Can Do What She Wants" on April 9 (coupled with a "radical reworking" of Tones' "Sit Tight" titled "Sit Tighter")-- the men of Field Music plan to go on a sort-of hiatus.

"The general plan for Field Music is that after that tour in North America, we're going to take a break for a while," David told Pitchfork. "Our money runs out then."

Money isn't the whole story, however. Brewis also wants to keep the spark of creativity alive, and some of the more routine aspects of being in a band have stifled it. Touring and other matters "get in the way of being able to be creative on a regular basis," David explained. "Even rehearsing for us is not a particularly creative experience-- it's an interesting problem-solving challenge. We make good music, and it's quite enjoyable for performance, but it's not usually creative. When all of that time goes out, we realized that we don't get a lot of time to spend writing new music or having ideas percolate.

"So the ambition for all of us for the months after March is to find ways to get into the habit of being creative...All three of us have got quite a bit of stuff which is just not Field Music. So we're going to have to find other ways to do it." [MORE...]

Sweden's Labrador Preps 100-Track Anniversary Box
Includes Acid House Kings, the Radio Dept., Club 8, The Legends, Pelle Carlberg, Sambassadeur

Can't get enough of that Jens Lekman fellow? Peter Bjorn and John and I'm From Barcelona duking it out atop your last.fm charts? Drink yourself silly every afternoon to Frida Hyvönen? Cry yourself to sleep every night to El Perro Del Mar? MySpace friends with the Concretes, Hello Saferide, Blood Music, and Jenny Wilson? Looks like you've got it bad for Swede-pop.

Which means Labrador Records has just the thing for you. This Valentine's Day, the beloved Swedish imprint celebrates 100 releases and 10 years of serving up some of the best indie-pop on the planet with Labrador 100, A Complete History of Popular Music. The four-disc, 100-track set includes one song from every Labrador release to date (including a brand new Radio Dept. jam) and a huge booklet detailing the label's history and more. Puppy-eyed kids across the U.S. can pick it up for their sweethearts in late February via Darla distribution.

Whether you're in the mood for the sentimental delicacies of the Radio Dept. and Laurel Music, the cosmopolitan indie-pop of Club 8 and Sambassadeur, the delightful jangle of Acid House Kings and the Legends, the wry wit and quirkiness of Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and Pelle Carlberg, the gaze-y sprawl of Douglas Heart, or the indie-disco of Waltz for Debbie, Mondial, and Tribeca, Labrador 100 has it all.

Don't know what the hell we're talking about? Get acquainted by checking out the free mp3s Labrador is offering right now. They've been posting a song from each CD every week, and if you troll the Labrador mp3 archives, we reckon you'll find a bunch more there.

Labrador celebrates the release of the centennial mega-comp with a mega-party at Stockholm's Debaser on February 10. Sambassadeur, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, the Mary Onettes, Lasse Lindh, and [ingenting] will perform, while members of Acid House Kings, Bubblegum Factory, SKWBN, and folks from the imprint itself will spin DJ sets.

The lovable label has a couple more feel-good releases on the way. On March 28, they'll treat us to Pelle Carlberg's In a Nutshell, while April 25 has the Mary Onettes' debut hitting shelves at the more sensible record shops near you. If you love the 1980s and haven't heard the Mary Onettes' "Lost" yet, please do so immediately. [MORE...]

Matt and Kim Tour America

Keyboard-and-drumming up even more support for their self-titled debut, Matt and Kim will hit the road starting on Valentine's Day in Chicago. They'll play quite a few East Coast colleges.

The duo will appear on MTV2's "Subterranean" on February 11. Their own video for "Yea Yeah" will air, along with some faves of their choosing. [MORE...]

Lifetime Hit the Road, Prep Vinyl Release

New Jersey hardcore all-stars Lifetime are heading out on a U.S. tour in support of their self-titled comeback album, which landed last Tuesday on Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen. They'll hit both the East and West coasts over the course of the month, beginning tonight in Washington, DC.

Lifetime lands on limited edition vinyl (750 black copies, 250 red) on February 13, and will be available at the band's web store and West Coast release shows. [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.)