Rilo Kiley Reveal Blacklight Tracklist, U.S. Release Date

If all your white apparel is lit up like glowsticks right now, that's probably because the arrival of Rilo Kiley's previously reported fourth LP draws nigh.

Under the Blacklight lands August 21 on U.S. shores (and August 20 in the UK, as mentioned prior) via Warner Bros. It includes 11 tracks; among them, "Breakin' Up" and "The Moneymaker", which bear slight variations on previously circulated track titles, and "Give a Little Love", which we sure hope is an M2M cover.

Although his involvement was at one point in doubt, Jason Lader (Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, VietNam) did indeed produce, alongside the band and Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Fiona Apple). As far as we know, despite all the hip-hop links, Too $hort was not involved with the album in any way. [MORE...]

Photos: Deerhoof at the Natural History Museum [Los Angeles, CA; 06/01/07]

Photos by Anoulay Tsai

Prog-poppers Deerhoof made tracks through the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County this past Friday, rocking jams off freshest LP Friend Opportunity amid scenes like the one depicted on Interpol's latest album cover. Tight trio Autolux played as well.

Deerhoof don't have any other museum dates on their itinerary at the moment, but they are playing a Polish Centre and an Irish Centre during an upcoming overseas tour.

DEERHOOF

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Wilco License Sky Blue Sky to VW Commercials
Like a Volkswagen, Wilco is reliable, family friendly, beloved by middle-aged folks

UPDATE: According to various reports, Wilco's "War on War" appeared in a 2004 advertisement for the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, so this new deal may not actually be the band's first licensing deal. That is, unless the State of Illinois used the Wilco song without permission, in which case, shame on you, Illinois!   

For their very first commercial licensing deal, Wilco have given Volkswagen half of the songs on Sky Blue Sky to use in an ad campaign that features the tag line "When you get into a Volkswagen, it gets into you."

That's kind of nasty if you think about it.

According to AdAge.com, ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (which is responsible for designing quite a few other VW ad campaigns) created the TV spots, of which there will be six in total. Each one features a different song from the album, and the first-- featuring "The Thanks I Get" and viewable below-- is already airing. The campaign will run throughout the summer, and the car company will stream all of the songs used on its website.

A second commercial features "You Are My Face" and is also embedded for your pleasure below.

Wilco kick off their U.S. tour with Low on June 13 in Davenport, Iowa. [MORE...]

Shins, Hot Chip, PBJ, Grizzly Bear on KEXP Comp
Along with Beirut, Fujiya & Miyagi, Lady Sov

Listener-supported, Seattle-based radio station KEXP-- where, as it turns out, "the music matters"-- is holding its proverbial rumpled paper cup toward you, ready for your donations.

But the handout is for a good cause (freeform independent radio), and to the donor go some fine spoils. The third volume of the Live at KEXP compilation series features seventeen top-shelf artists from across the musical spectrum, recorded live in the KEXP studio. It's got everybody from Adult Alternative faves like the Shins and Peter Bjorn and John to edgier fare like Grizzly Bear, Hot Chip and Beirut to, um, the English Beat.

The collection is available right now to those who donate $100 or more to the station, though it'll become more reasonable (but far less beneficial to your karma) come August when it makes its way to stores.

And, if you're feeling particularly philanthropic, 365 smackers will earn you both the CD and a dual-vinyl copy with two bonus cuts: Thee Emergency's "Iceage Cobra Rules" and Anathallo's "A Great Wind, More Ash". [MORE...]

Ra Ra Riot Drummer John Pike Found Dead
UPDATE: Band responds to John's death

Twenty-three year old John Pike, drummer for Syracuse sextet Ra Ra Riot, was found dead near Fairhaven, Massachusetts yesterday (June 3).

According to a SouthCoastToday.com report, Pike had gone missing early in the morning on June 2, after attending a house party. He had played Providence, Rhode Island's Living Room with Ra Ra Riot before the party on the night of June 1.

Police found Pike's body in approximately seven feet of coastal water, in an area known as Wilbur's Point. Authorities believe the cause of death to be drowning, but will not confirm until an autopsy has been performed.

Our thoughts are with John's bandmates, friends, and family during this difficult time.

UPDATE: Ra Ra Riot shared some words on John on their website. Read them there or below.

Ra Ra Riot have been amassing an enthusiastic fanbase on the strength of a high-energy live show and one of the best "Hounds of Love" covers this side of the Futureheads. The band's self-titled debut EP is available now and due for proper release via the Rebel Group on July 10. They have a series of dates lined up with Tokyo Police Club in July, although it is unknown at this time whether those shows will go on as planned. [MORE...]

Photos: Interpol [Chicago, IL; 06/03/07]

Photos by Joseph Mohan, text by Amy Phillips

It's really weird watching people have a good time at an Interpol show. I mean, Interpol's whole steez seems to be the pursuit of some sort of Platonic ideal of coolness, where expressing any sort of emotion except for slight brooding and vague malaise is uncalled-for, and even sweating on stage is taken as a weakness. This isn't a bad thing, of course. Their melodramatic misery is why we love them. A happy Interpol song would probably suck.

But the band has reached a stage in their career where (gasp!) normal (scream!) people like them. People who listen to the radio and wear khakis and work jobs not related to the arts actually go to Interpol concerts to have a good time with their friends. What a concept! In fact, about 60% of the audience members at last night's show at Chicago's Metro looked like they'd just wandered in off the street from the bleachers at nearby Wrigley Field.

Once again, not a bad thing. An Interpol show attended by just cool kids is pretty boring. There isn't much to look at besides Carlos D's preening (now with added mustache power!) and Daniel Kessler's occasional headbang. They play their set, they say "thank you", and they leave. People clap politely at the new songs and kind of stare off into space and nod their heads and wait for them to play "NYC" (which they didn't this time... bastards!).

But an Interpol show with people dancing stupidly, making out, and shouting "WOOOOOO!!! CARLOS!!! WOOOO!!! YOU ROCK!!!! PLAY STELLA!!!"? Pretty awesome. An Interpol show where there's an old lady standing outside afterwards selling $10 bootleg t-shirts on the street? And people are actually buying them?! Even awesomer.

So when there were hundreds of people with their hands in the air singing along to "Evil", and a girl in a tube top and Bacardi Mardi Gras beads teetered by on platform heels with a full beer in each hand, it reminded me of when I saw the Polyphonic Spree and I was in a really bad mood, so the more and more exuberant the songs became, the more I wanted to murder everybody...but in reverse. The mopier Interpol get, the happier everybody around them seems to be.

More photos, as well as Interpol tour dates, below.

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Boredoms, Hold Steady, Spoon, Low, JAMC Rock Oya
Also: Devendra, Lily Allen, the Go! Team, Battles, Lady Sov, Bonde do Role, the Twilight Sad

Norway's Øya Festival, taking place August 7-11 in Oslo's Medieval Park, has announced its 2007 lineup, and it's one of the most diverse we've seen yet.

This year's Øya will host sets by Spoon, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Boredoms, Low, Battles, the Go! Team, Lily Allen, the Hold Steady, Devendra Banhart, the Besnard Lakes, Lady Sovereign, Bonde do Role, the Twilight Sad, Justice, Architecture in Helsinki, Primal Scream, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Malajube, Matt & Kim, Shout Out Louds, Albert Hammond Jr., Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Roky Erickson, Eagles of Death Metal, Yo Majesty, Shining, New Violators, New Young Pony Club, and many more.

Øya has also scheduled related club nights featuring appearances by Rhys Chatham, Bez from Happy Mondays, Richie Hawtin, M.A.N.D.Y.'s Philipp Jung, DJ T, representatives from Ed Banger and I Heart Comix, and others.

For more about Øya, check out a detailed report from last year's festival by our own Brandon Stosuy.

New Pornographers Reveal Challengers Tracklist

Look out, home team! On August 21, Matador Records will let the New Pornographers' Challengers take the field. The album is twelve songs long, including nine by Carl Newman and three by Dan Bejar ("Myriad Harbour", "Entering White Cecilia", and "The Spirit of Giving").

Newman, Bejar, Neko Case, and Kathryn Calder all sing on it. "Unguided" is "my first true epic at over 6:30 in length," Newman said in a press release, and on "Entering White Cecilia", "I believe Dan is singing about entering a girl named Cecilia, who is either white or dressed in white, or both. Like all of Dan's work, it is overtly sexual."

Finally, all that stuff about epics and string quartets Newman told us back in April makes sense.

The New Pornos will take their show on the road this summer, hitting England in June before coming back to the States for the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago's Union Park on July 14. [MORE...]

Glastonbury: Arcade Fire, Bjork, M.I.A., Modest Mouse
Also: Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, CSS, Klaxons, Pipettes, Go! Team, Bright Eyes

The Glastonbury Festival announced its massive lineup today, and it's packed to the gills with festival veterans like the Arcade Fire, Björk, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Hot Chip, M.I.A., CSS, Klaxons, !!!, and the Stooges.

Other artists performing on the festival's many stages include Modest Mouse, the Hold Steady, Bonde do Role, the New Pornographers, Spiritualized (an acoustic set), Patrick Wolf, Beirut, the Pipettes, the Go! Team, Vitalic, Super Furry Animals, Bright Eyes, Rufus Wainwright, Guillemots, the Long Blondes, Trentemøller, Annuals, Tokyo Police Club, the Chemical Brothers, Maxïmo Park, Four Tet, the Killers, Simian Mobile Disco, Pete Doherty, Kaiser Chiefs, Stephen and Damian Marley, Erol Alkan, the Horrors, the Magic Numbers, John Fogerty, the Who, and... Chumbawamba (acoustic).

Glastonbury will take place from June 22-24 over 900 acres in the Vale of Avalon, just east of the town of Glastonbury in South West England. For more information about the festival, including the full lineup (yes, there is more...much more), visit its website.

New Gibbard Songs, Cobain Interviews on Soundtrack
Also tunes from R.E.M., Iggy, Bad Brains, Mudhoney, Half Japanese

New music from Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, as well as unearthed audio excerpts of interviews with Nirvana's Kurt Cobain will appear on the soundtrack to the film About a Son, based on interviews with Cobain conducted by journalist/Come As You Are scribe Michael Azerrad.

Cobain's contemporaries Mudhoney, the Melvins, Mark Lanegan, and more, contribute previously released tracks, as do Cobain favorites like Iggy Pop, R.E.M., Half Japanese, David Bowie, and Leadbelly. The soundtrack is set for release September 11 from Barsuk.

Along with the soundtrack songs, the film features an original score by Ben Gibbard and producer Steve Fisk.

The documentary itself-- combining excerpts from the taped interviews with footage shot in the Pacific Northwest by director AJ Schnack-- will be released sometime in the fall with a DVD release to follow shortly thereafter. [MORE...]

Cristian Vogel Forms Night of the Brain, Preps LP

Night of the Brain-- the brand new supergroup featuring Cristian Vogel (aka the non-Jamie Lidell half of Super_Collider) and some pals-- will collect ten of their tracks and call it Wear This World Out. Though peppered with electronic flourishes, the album's got rock on the mind, and is referred to in the press release as a departure from "the banal and stagnant techno scene." In this business, we call that a "burn."

Night of the Brain's World collides with record shelves June 4, via Vogel's own Station 55 imprint. In anticipation of the LP, the label's also issued another Night terror, The Theme EP, in limited edition 10" vinyl format. Theme sports two early mixes of tracks from the album, and, like its heftier cousin, features artwork from Catalan artist Rai Escalé.

Night of the Brain will play Barcelona's Sonar Festival June 14. [MORE...]

Gogol Bordello Tour World, Issue Super New Album

The gypsy punks of Gogol Bordello do what they can to live up to the transient connotations of their self-styled descriptor. And with a world to travel and a summer to do it in, they'll cover quite a bit of ground on a tour setting off tonight in Germany and landing some two months later at the gates of the Emerald City.

All this wayfaring isn't just for kicks, however; the band have a new album to promote. Super Taranta!, the follow up to 2005's style-defining, Albini-recorded Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, will crawl out July 10 on Sideonedummy. Committed to tape into their native NYC with help from producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey), the album bears a title derived from an Italian musical style once thought to cure women of their madness. If only! [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.)