Photos: Neko Case [New York, NY; 02/23/07]

Wrapping up the first leg of her winter tour, alt-country chanteuse de rigeur Neko Case settled down this past Friday at the Lincoln Center's Allen Room. Backed by a five-piece band-- themselves backed by a gorgeous nocturnal cityscape-- Case looks as dazzling in Kathryn Yu's photographs as we suspect she sounded.

Neko and band kick off tour leg two late next month with a sold out, three-night stand at Chicago's Park West.






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T.V. Eye: February 26-March 3, 2007

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

Monday, February 26:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Ludacris (rerun)

Tuesday, February 27:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Silversun Pickups

Wednesday, February 28:

MTV2: "Subterranean": Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Deerhoof, Silversun Pickups, Tokyo Police Club, David Cross (PLUG Awards special) 
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Silversun Pickups
Syndicated: "Live With Regis and Kelly": Akon

Thursday, March 1:

Fuel TV: "The Daily Habit": the Octopus Project
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Silversun Pickups
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Son Volt

Friday, March 2:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Silversun Pickups

Saturday, March 3:

NBC: "Saturday Night Live": the Shins (rerun)

Ben Gibbard Announces Solo Tour

Ben Gibbard will celebrate springtime with a solo trek through the States this May. Jonathan Rice and Pedro the Lion's David Bazan will tag alongside Death Cab's favorite cutie for the 16-show ride.

Not much is happening on the Death Cab and Postal Service fronts these days, as Gibbard prepares for his feature film debut and guitarist Chris Walla prepares his solo album.

As previously reported, Death Cab contributed a performance of "Photobooth" to Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller's "In the Attic" compilation Attic Jam. The iTunes-only release landed on February 14. [MORE...]

Photos: Bright Eyes [Chicago, IL 2/25/07]

A snowy Midwestern night, a club packed with the faithful eagerly awaiting new tunes-- seemed like the ideal setting for an electrifying Bright Eyes show. But what we got at the Metro last night, as Conor Oberst and crew kicked off* their winter tour, was kind of like a big ol' mug of hot cocoa: familiarly delicious at first, then just familiar.

Conor's sporting some terrible hair these days, long and greasy like a bass player in a grunge band circa 1992. And he seems genuinely content and at peace with the world, which is awesome for him but not so awesome for an audience used to onstage exorcisms. Perhaps that's why throughout Bright Eyes' 15-song set, he ignored anything older than the 2004 Neva Dinova split One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels, except for "Make War" from 2002's Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground and "Spent on Rainy Days" from his 2002 Britt Daniel split. Those old songs are mostly teenage catharsis.

So Bright Eyes the band, featuring Neva Dinova's Jake Bellows on bass and guitar and ex-Decemberist/current Norfolk & Westerner Rachel Blumberg on drums, lumbered through a set of primarily new songs, taken from the forthcoming Four Winds EP and Cassadaga album, due March 6 and April 10, respectively, on Saddle Creek. Four Winds was played almost in its entirety, and a John Prine cover ("Crazy as a Loon") and a couple tracks from 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning were thrown in.

The opening one-two punch of "Four Winds" and "Reinvent the Wheel" seemed to indicate that this would be a high-energy performance; alas, that was not the case. Soon, everybody had settled comfortably into a languid country-rock pace that would last for the rest of the evening. Even the show-closing "Old Soul Song", which usually erupts into exquisitely controlled chaos, had mellowed.

After watching the "Four Winds" video, I was expecting something much, much more exciting.

Tour dates and more Conor Oberst photos than a 15-year-old emo kid's locker after the jump.

* This actually wasn't the honest-to-goodness first show of the tour, as Bright Eyes played a semi-secret gig in their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska the night before.

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R.I.P. Arthur Magazine: 2002-2007

Hippies, stoners, and folk freaks the world over wept today as it was announced that Arthur magazine will close its doors after five glorious years of delivering discourse and pretty pictures on art, music, and more to our marijuana-stained hands. As confirmed by editor Jay Babcock, Arthur will cease operations effective immediately.

Arthur, printed bi-monthly in oversize format and available free at the savvier venues, bookstores, and record shops near you, set up shop in October 2002. In addition to publishing articles, interviews, artwork, and more on/by Thurston Moore, Arthur C. Clarke, Spike Jonze, Devendra Banhart, Will Oldham, Joanna Newsom, Joe Strummer, and others-- and playing a vital role in the freak folk boom of a few years back-- Arthur also hosted/curated a number of festivals, including Arthur Nights in the magazine's home city of Los Angeles.

Additionally, Arthur founded Bastet as its publishing imprint, which went on to release discs from Sunn O))) and Arthur's own Million Tongues Festival, as well as what's arguably the definitive freak-folk compilation, the Devendra Banhart-curated Golden Apples of the Sun. No word yet whether Arthur will continue hosting events or publishing via Bastet, but Pitchfork wishes the best for all involved with the adventurous publication.

Casablancas, Reznor, Lanegan on New QOTSA LP

Never ones to do things in a conventional matter, Queens of the Stone Age have "unofficially" leaked a bit of information about their new album.

The record is titled Era Vulgaris, is scheduled to come out in June, and is "rumored" to feature guest appearances from the Strokes' Julian Casablancas, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, Mark Lanegan, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons.

The band's MySpace blog cryptically lists "Into the Hollow", "Sick, Sick, Sick", "Misfit Love", and "Battery Acid" as potential song titles.

Footage of the Queens recording in the studio is below, and though it's soundtracked mostly by feedback, there is a short song snippet with a twisted-around "Smells Like Teen Spirit" riff. Perhaps the sign of another Dave Grohl cameo?

Scissor Sisters, Gossip on A Touch of Class Remix LP

New York DJ duo and production team A Touch of Class-- aka Oliver Stumm and Domie Clausen-- will release A Touch of Class Still Sucks! via their own A Touch of Class Recordings on February 27.

The remix album is a follow-up to their 2003 debut full-length, A Touch of Class Sucks! (self-loathe much guys?), and it features remixes of Scissor Sisters, Erasure, the Gossip, and Le Tigre in their non-beatmatched, extended 12" versions.

Stumm and Clausen have a U.S. tour in the works. [MORE...]

Nico Heads to The Frozen Borderline

Rhino UK has compiled two albums by legendary chanteuse and Velvet Underground collaborator Nico into one two-disc release, expanded with previously unreleased demos, outtakes, and alternate versions.

The Frozen Borderline: 1968-1970 combines 1969's The Marble Index and 1970's Desertshore, both of which feature the Velvet Underground's John Cale assisting in production, performing, and writing.

The Frozen Borderline: 1968-1970 is out now. [MORE...]

Cadence Weapon Signs to Epitaph, Sends Debut to U.S.

Cadence Weapon, aka ex-Pitchfork scribe Rollie Pemberton, has joined the stable of rising underground rappers at Epitaph. He is moving to the once punk-centric imprint from Canada's Upper Class Recordings, though the labels will release Breaking Kayfabe together in the U.S. on March 13. UC originally released Breaking in Pemberton's native Canada back in 2005, and it garnered a respectable 8.0 from this here website.

Epitaph/Upper Class have also teamed up for the video for new single "Sharks". Spy Films produced the old-school video game homage, and Chris Grismer and Duane Crichton co-directed it.

Cadence Weapon will release his sophomore album on Epitaph this fall. A full tour is in the works for the summer, though he currently has a few dates scheduled in Canada and one at South by Southwest.

"Sharks":


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Idlewild Make Another World, Tour

Now that the (mediocre) dust surrounding Outkast's Idlewild soundtrack has settled, the original musical bearers of the name, Scottish five-piece Idlewild, have stepped forward to do their thing.

Sanctuary will release Idlewild's sixth record, titled Outka...ha, no, Make Another World, on March 5 overseas, and March 6 as a digital release in America, with an April 3 release date for the physical disc.

The album was recorded in Edinburgh last year with longtime Idlewild producer Dave Eringa.

A single from the LP, "No Emotion", will land February 26 overseas, courtesy of Sanctuary Records. Fans who pre-order it as a download will receive a link to watch a new Idlewild documentary online; the same footage hits Channel 4's 4Play program on February 26. [MORE...]

Split Lip Rayfield's Kirk Rundstrom, R.I.P.

Split Lip Rayfield and Scroat Belly singer/songwriter/guitarist Kirk Rundstrom passed away yesterday as a result of cancer. Rundstrom was diagnosed last spring but continued performing into this month. According to his website, he even has a new solo album titled Imperfect Spirals due out this year.

Wichita's Orpheum Theatre will host a memorial service for Rundstrom on February 26, and the folks at his label, Bloodshot Records, have a very nice eulogy for him at their website.

Donations to Rundstrom's family can be made through the Split Lip Rayfield website.

The Besnard Lakes Kick Off Tour

The Besnard Lakes' to-do list:

1) Release totally awesome album on Jagjaguwar.

2) Make Pitchfork's Recommended section.

3) Own the Forkcast with the total music-to-burn-barns-to jam "Devastation".

4) Strong-arm North America and Europe into submission with a lengthy tour.

Having already accomplished the first three, the Lakes will start on the fourth tonight in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Hide your women, children, and flammable black stallions. [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.)