Espers, Folkies Pay Tribute to Film With Valerie Project

Quoth a press release, Jaromil Jires' 1970 film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a "baroque, surrealist folk tale of a teenage girl's dreams and hallucinations as she experiences her first menstruation. Repeat encounters with witchcraft, vampires, the living dead, perverted monks and doppelganger distant cousins punctuate her journey into womanhood as the truth about her family's dubious past unfolds before her weeping eyes."

Yep, this thing has acid folk written all over it.

This weekend, it will have acid folk playing all over it too. Espers' Greg Weeks and Brooke Sietinsons and Fern Knight's Margie Wienk have assembled a choice group of Philadelphia musicians to perform an alternate live score for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders in New York.

The event, called The Valerie Project, goes down March 10 and 11 at 8:00 PM at NYC's Anthology Film Archives. The Project ensemble includes cellist Helena Espvall (also of Espers), harpist Mary Lattimore, vocalist Tara Burke (Fursaxa), bassist/percussionist Jesse Sparhawk (Timesbold), flautist/keyboardist Jessica Weeks (Woodwose, Grass), electronic artist Charles Cohen, and percussionist Jim Ayre (Fern Knight).

Jires' film is considered a new folk milestone and a part of the Czech New Wave movement, and Anthology will screen two more Czech New Wave classics-- Vojtech Jasny's Cassandra Cat (1963) and Juraj Herz's Morgiana (1972)-- before the Valerie Project event on March 11.

Rare reissue specialists Finders Keepers Records, meanwhile, released the original soundtrack to Valerie and Her Week of Wonders last week. It features an original score by Lubos Fiser and lots of acid folk types swear by it, so it must be completely incomprehensible to the drug-free.

Girl Talk Poses for Playgirl, Crashes U.S. Congress
Also debuts new project, appears in copyright documentary

Gregg Gillis, why u act so crazy? Because he can, folks, because he can. As if wild gig antics weren't enough, the Girl Talk phenom's latest escapades took him from the pages of Playgirl magazine all the way to the U.S. Congress. Pull up a chair as we recap.

First off, let's burst a few bubbles by mentioning that while Gillis will appear in an upcoming issue of Playgirl (specifically the "Man of the Year" issue), "he will be shirtless, in jean shorts and hightops...and doing air kicks," according to his publicist. In other words, if you've ever been to a Girl Talk show, you've probably seen more Gillis skin than Playgirl's readership. Be proud.

Next up, Gillis was the talk of the U.S. Congress for about 20 seconds just this past Wednesday, March 7. Usually when U.S. Congresspersons make mention of a musician it's to point out how horrible and depraved he/she is, and by extension how doomed and good-fer-nuthin the youth of America are. Usually.

This time, however, U.S. Rep Mike Doyle-- of Gillis' own 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania-- actually made a positive example of Girl Talk's mash-up work, likening it to Paul McCartney jacking a bassline from a Chuck Berry song, and raising the question of whether art is simply evolving beyond traditional notions of copyright. He also asks why Gillis is flying high while DJ Drama's taking so much crap, which is a pretty good question.

This all happened at Wednesday's second Congressional oversight hearing on the "digital future of the United States", which addressed copyright and intellectual property issues in the age of digital media, specifically radio.

Best of all, you can watch all three-and-a-half captivating hours of the hearing-- held by the U.S. House of Representative's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet (of which Doyle is vice president)-- on the world wide web! Or just jump to around the 21-minute mark to catch Doyle's brief statement (we wonder if that savvy looking chap behind him actually wrote it). Stick around to hear John Shimkus (R-IL) admit to being "clueless" and Jane Harman (D-CA) call Doyle "so hip." Who knew Congressional hearings were this entertaining? [MORE...]

Aa Release New Album, Kick Off Tour

Brooklyn percussion explosion Aa, spoken "big 'a' little 'a'," will release their newest album on April 24. The record, titled gAame, will come out on Gigantic Music as a CD/DVD package and on Deleted Art as an LP/DVD.

The DVD features videos by Sto, Synt.Tofs, Lev & Whitney, Christoph Steger, Michael Bell-Smith (of Professor Murder), Jon Schwartz, UMeanCompetitor, Rop "Ropstyle" Vasquez (of Semiautomatic), Billy Pavone, and members of Aa, all supplemented with plenty of live footage.

And speaking of Aa videos, just today we featured the clip for "Thirteen" in the Forkcast section.

Aa kick off a U.S. tour tonight in College Park, Maryland. [MORE...]

El-P Beefs With Rawkus, Hangs With Puffy, Adds Dates

There's nothing like an internet beef to boost the buzz around a new record, and either El-P knows this fact and is using it to his advantage or his war of words with his former label, Rawkus Records, coincidentally comes a week and a half before the release of I'll Sleep When You're Dead. We're not ruling out either possibility, especially since this beef was set into motion by Rawkus.

"But wait," you say, "I have a life. I don't spend all my time on hip-hop message boards. What beef?"

Let us explain.

Here is the chain of events that led to a blow up on El-P's MySpace blog, a Rawkus email missive dissing/apologizing to the Def Jux honcho (is that called a dissive?), a reconciliatory phone call between both parties, an apology from El-P (again on his MySpace blog), and El-P's postscript withdrawal of that apology (MySpace) after discovering the Rawkus "dissive" email seemingly after the phone call.

And yes, Diddy is somehow involved in all of this. [MORE...]

Antelope (ex-Supersystem) Release LP, Kick Off Tour

Justin Moyer has kept himself busy as a member of Antelope since Supersystem's breakup, and if Antelope's new album and massive tour are any indication, he seems to be just fine with the change of scenery.

The album, Reflector, comes out this month on Dischord, and true to their label's style, the trio's two-month tour is crammed to the gills with dates.

Things begin tonight in New York City and don't let up until April 28 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. [MORE...]

Beasties' Yauch Talks New Album, Bad Brains

If that happens, the group will have an album to promote on their upcoming summer festival tour, the first date of which is at the Sasquatch! Festival alongside their friends and old touring buddies Bad Brains. Yauch says there are no plans for the two groups to play together at the festival but adds that Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer "will probably steal a couple of beers from my dressing room."

Yauch spent a lot of time with Jenifer and the rest of Bad Brains' original lineup recently when he produced their forthcoming album, Build a Nation. Yauch calls Nation "more raw sounding than some of the other stuff that they did. It has a pretty full sound, but it's more like the way they sounded live back in the day seeing them at CBGB's, the amps and the PA at full tilt."

Nation also takes a different approach to the band's reggae influences: "With I Against I and after that, they started bringing the reggae influence into the rock style, and this record goes back to the [self-titled] ROIR cassette style where the dub is very separate from the hardcore tracks. There are tracks that are more straight-up hardcore and then tracks that are straight-up dub."

Considering how fast Bad Brains used to play, it would be understandable if they had mellowed in their old age. But Yauch says, "If anything, they play more accurately than ever. They're pretty incredible musicians. It was pretty amazing hearing those guys play together and lay it down. The way that they move together, the drums and bass and guitar, is almost like one complex instrument. I guess they've just been playing together so long that there's a certain flow to the way the band plays that's pretty unique. They have a lot of jazz influences in the way they go through changes. Like, the chord changes that they choose and the rhythms that they do are pretty amazing."

Build a Nation comes out this spring on Megaforce Records. [MORE...]

Simian Mobile Disco Primed for Attack, Tour
Go! Team's Ninja, former Clor vocalist guest

They're preeminently danceable, they're on the move, and they're making the club kids go apeshit. Yep, the name pretty much says it all, and Simian Mobile Disco have finally revealed the details behind their just-a-wee-bit-anticipated debut LP.

Attack Decay Sustain Release takes its name from a synthesizer programming term and collects ten tracks, several of which nighthawks and avid Pitchfork readers will recognize: "It's the Beat", "Tits & Acid", "I Believe", and of course "Hustler", along with several brand new bangers. London's Wichita Recordings-- also the UK home to Peter Bjorn and John, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Blood Brothers-- will release Attack overseas on June 18.

First single "It's the Beat"-- featuring a guest vocal by the Go! Team's Ninja and recently showcased over in Forkcast-- hits the shoppes first on March 26. It comes backed with a gaggle of choice remixes from such luminaries as Riton, Graham Massey (of 808 State fame), and Luke Vibert.

The LP, meanwhile, also boasts guest spots from Simon Lord (whom you may remember from SMD's Astralwerks-signed previous incarnation Simian), former Clor vocalist Barry Dobbin, and singer/songwriter Char Johnson. A forthcoming European version of the album will come bundled with a bonus disc (contents to be determined), while U.S. audiences should keep our eyes peeled for a Stateside release sometime after that.

Simian Mobile Disco have heaps of DJ dates lined up, including a SXSW stint that culminates with a set at Pitchfork's SXSW party with the Windish Agency-- a mere week from today! The duo will debut a brand new live formation in the UK in May. We's psyched. [MORE...]

Joel Petersen Talks New Faint Album, Broken Spindles
"Overall we've been more interested in human interaction on this record."

The Faint aren't just perfectionists-- they're egalitarians, too. And in their own private utopia, the mascara-happy Omaha neo-wavers haven't completed a new song until all five band members decide it's complete. That is why-- as bassist Joel Petersen revealed in a recent interview with Pitchfork-- we've yet to see a follow-up to the Faint's 2004 LP Wet From Birth.

"Originally we were hoping to have the record done right now," said Petersen. "But, well, that's not happening!"

Chalk it up to democracy. "It's pretty much been the founding policy of the band that we keep working on stuff 'til we're all happy. And sometimes to make five people happy, you have to try five different ideas on every little thing-- it just kind of takes a long time."

"But in the end," Joel continued, "we feel it's worth it...if something passes all our standards and hopes and everything, then it's good."

The Faint are presently in the throes of writing their fifth longplayer, which is a far cry from having a title. A new album isn't the only thing they're working on, as the band is also building a brand new studio, which they've named Enamel. "We're actually building [it] right now," said Petersen, "with the intention of recording our own record [there] and making it our new little club house."

Writing continues despite the construction project, and the Faint are making headway. "In our practice space," Joel explained, "we have a little dry-erase marker board thing, and we have the red side and the black side." Black means "done for now," while red indicates fragments and songs in progress. "It's a big deal to move from the red side to the black side, and on the black side I think we have something like eight [songs]-- on the red, probably somewhere around 20."

"To go to the black side you have to have a song title as well," continued Petersen. And several recent Faint concoctions do, including "Forever Growing Centipedes", "The Geeks Were Right", "Get Seduced", and "Fish in a Womb". [MORE...]

Maximo Park Schedule North American Tour

Those dapper gents in Maxïmo Park will mosey on over to the North American continent this summer, with a tour that criss-crosses our fair land in July, Billboard.com reports.

The trek is in support of Maxïmo Park's forthcoming second album, Our Earthly Pleasures due out on Warp on April 2 in the UK and the U.S. on May 8. As previously reported, the U.S. version comes with two bonus tracks.

Check out the band's new single, "Our Velocity", over at their MySpace. I like how his voice breaks during the chorus. [MORE...]

Air Announce North American Dates

Air have added a North American leg to their previously reported European tour and one-off show with Phoenix at Versailles. The tour is in support of the duo's new album, Pocket Symphony.

The freshly minted dates begin April 21 in Vancouver, over a month after the European tour's kickoff in Glasgow. Along the way, the French band will hit Coachella, unfortunately not on the same day as Jarvis Cocker, who sings on Pocket Symphony's sublime "One Hell of a Party".

Guitarist Steve Jones, keyboard player Vincent Taurelle, and drummer Earl Harvin will join the core Air duo of JB Dunckel and Nicolas Godin on the tour.

Norwegian songstress Kate Havnevik will open for Air on all of the North American dates (except Coachella, of course). [MORE...]

Fujiya & Miyagi Kick Off Tour, Reveal European Dates

Fujiya & Miyagi will begin their previously reported American tour in support of Transparent Things tomorrow in Seattle. Though we originally reported it as a short U.S. tour, it has turned into a full-fledged jaunt across the world, with a bunch of gigs in Austin during South by Southwest and three at the Triptych Festival.

One of those SXSW sets is at our very own party with the Windish Agency, which most of you know also includes sets from Menomena, Deerhunter, the Pipettes, Girl Talk, Beach House, and plenty of others. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Daft Punk Tour With the Rapture
Plus: SebastiAn and KavinSky

Move over Johnny-Five-- the 21st century's most beloved robot humanoids are back, primed to come harder, better, faster, and yes, stronger in 2007. Daft Punk have revealed details of a summertime North American jaunt, and while they won't be playing at your house, they might be playing your arena, theatre, center, hall, or park, which suits us just fine.

Get ready for towering neon-disco- spaceship-pyramids and some ace opening acts: New York dance-punks the Rapture, Ed Banger darling SebasatiAn, and kitschy electro knightrider KavinSky. Oh hells yes.

No word yet on Daft Punk's Electroma movie invading U.S. motion picture palaces, but iMDb lists an April 28 theatrical release in Japan. The film premiered at Cannes last year. [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.)