Sonic Youth, M.I.A., Spoon, PBJ Play Portugese Fest
With Dinosaur Jr., Simian Mobile Disco, Architecture in Helsinki, CSS

The Oceanic climate, the delicious dried cod, the relatively high per-capita beer consumption rate-- Portugal's got pamphlet-fodder for days. And all that, plus a bunch of great bands willing to make the trip, turn Portugal into the perfect spot for a mid-August festival.

Lucky is the dude or dudette within crawling distance of Paredes de Coura, Portugal August 12-15, as the Paredes de Coura Festival hosts the lofty likes of Sonic Youth, M.I.A., Spoon, a Simian Mobile Disco DJ set, Dinosaur Jr., Peter Bjorn & John, Architecture in Helsinki, CSS, New Young Pony Club, Electrelane, the New York Dolls, DeVotchKa, and Crystal Castles. All that, plus cheap Dutch beer and delicious cured fish. If you're asking for more than that outta life, friend, you're just getting greedy.

Cat Power Prepares Second Covers Record

Photo by Kathryn Yu

When she's not filling her MySpace blog with exhortations to buy eco-friendly cars or using it to ask "whatchall feel about Obama + Hillary??," Shortlist Prize winner and Pitchfork Music Festival alumna Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) occasionally leaks little tidbits of info about her own new music. Or at least she did today, when she talked about Covers Record 2, the blockbuster sequel to her 2000 Covers Record. It's tentatively due in January on Matador.

Marshall writes that she is mixing the record next week in Dallas with Stuart Sikes and that she has "24 covers to choose from," adding "with so many covers, tryin' to decide if I should release COVERS RECORD 2 VOL. 2 ???"

This new covers album has been in the works at least since last fall, when it was mentioned in a New York Times story. And Cat Power certainly played a lot of covers at her Pitchfork Music Festival set.

Cat Power has a small palmful of dates scheduled for the next few months, including two in Brazil. Her next show, with the Dirty Delta Blues ensemble she assembled, is in Dallas (coincidence?) on August 17. [MORE...]

Grizzly Bear Extend Tour

Photo by Jana Green

Touring bands, you could learn a lot from Grizzly Bear. Every couple weeks, they duck out, play a few gigs, hypnotize a few minds with their lilting harmonies, and then head home to Brooklyn to pay the bills and water the lilies. Then they do it all over again. Some groups head out for seasons; Grizzly Bear only leave the house long enough to fill up the TiVo. And still, there's at least a 60% chance you've seen them since Yellow House dropped late last summer. We call that a winning formula.

When they're not getting their neighbor to feed the cats, the collective Grizz is supporting worthy causes, making their own music out of someone else's words, or-- in the case of Chris Taylor-- helping Dave Longstreth find the Fela hidden in Black Flag. When they're gone, however, they'll be at the places after the jump. [MORE...]

Hot Chip Remix Kraftwerk

Photo by Peter Boettcher

According to a NME.com report and confirmed by a publicist, Hot Chip and Kraftwerk have joined forces for a very special collaboration. Unfortunately, they're not starting the most eclectic band of robots ever; it's just a single. But it's still pretty cool.

The single will consist of remixes of two tracks from Kraftwerk's 2003 album, Tour de France Soundtracks: "Aerodynamik" and "La Forme". Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard contribute the "Intelligent Design Mix" of "Aerodynamik", and the band's Al Doyle and Felix Martin do the "King of the Mountains Mix" of "La Forme".

The single will hit UK retailers on September 17 and U.S. retailers September 18 courtesy of Astralwerks. It will be available in CD, download, and limited edition 12" formats. According to a press release, the single is being released "In honor of this year's Tour De France commencing in London for the first time in its history."

Lollapalooza Kicks Off Today

As you're reading this, roughly 80,000 of the biggest Satellite Party fans in the world are converging on Chicago's Grant Park, eagerly anticipating the opening gun of 2007's Lollapalooza. The massive summer music staple kicks off this morning and, for three full days, will let up only to sleep and to air the place out after the G. Love fans come through.

This year's lineup certainly runs the gamut, from big names like Pearl Jam to first names Matt & Kim. Of course, we at Pitchfork would never dream* of trying to steer your Lolla experience; that's for you and the festival website's schedulinator to have determined already. Still, missing any opportunity to see the Hold Steady, M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, Los Campesinos!, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, or a rare appearance from I'm From Barcelona seems foolish from where we're sittin', but, hey, maybe you know something about Ludo (playing the same time as IFB) that we don't. Ludo?

Couldn't scrape together the scrilla in time to get to Chicago? Fear not, impoverished reader: if you can steal broadband off your neighbor, you can catch much of the weekend's festivities at AT&T's Blue Room. Interpol, Lupe Fiasco, the Black Keys, and the aforementioned Hold Steady, M.I.A. and LCD Soundsystem are among the acts being beamed straight from the Loop to the world's computers.

Planning to make your way over to My Morning Jacket's Sunday evening set with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra? Make sure to keep that camera phone dry and operable when you do, as "The Current Fix"-- user-generated Current TV's music program-- is calling on attendees to submit video of "one classic MMJ song" which they'll splice together and air on the network.

Tell Perry we said whaddup! [MORE...]

Jens Lekman Announces Fall Tour
Oh you're so busy, Jens

Jens Lekman has added a U.S. trek in October and November to his previously reported (mostly) Scandinavian dates this month and next.

The tour addition comes in support of the Secretly Canadian release of the Swedish songwriter's new album, Night Falls Over Kortedala, on October 9. [MORE...]

Faraquet Reunite for Tour, Possible Singles Comp

Smart Went Crazy offshoot Faraquet will reunite next month for a short tour of Brazil. Though original bassist Jeff Boswell is unable to make the trip, these four shows will feature original guitarist Devin Ocampo (who also plays in Medications and the Mary Timony Band) and original drummer Chad Molter (also of Medications and Mary Timony Band).

Boswell does, however, plan to round out the trio for some still-pending shows in the D.C. area that could take place around the release date of a Faraquet singles comp that the band is in the process of compiling. In other words, lots of TBAs here. [MORE...]

Now That's What I Call Indie! Comp Revealed

Well folks, it's really happening. Promoters today announced the inaugural release in the previously discussed This Is NEXT series-- essentially the Now! That's What I Call Indie compilation-- and it should further spur the (perhaps moot) debate over just what qualifies as indie.

All that aside, however, it's also chock full of great tunes, from the likes of Sonic Youth (major label alert!), the Shins, Spoon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (ditto!), Bright Eyes, Bloc Party, Of Montreal, the Hold Steady, Neko Case, Deerhoof, M. Ward, Ted Leo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and, wait for it...Cold War Kids (their best tune, to be fair).

Not-so-independent Vice Records will release this first volume, and all acts are culled from ADA Distribution allied labels (who'll rotate in releasing future volumes). This Is NEXT hits stores August 21, by which time something else will invariably be "next".

Hey kid sister, here, happy birthday! [MORE...]

Fujiya & Miyagi Reveal Fall North American Tour

Non-Japanese (British) non-duo (trio) Fujiya & Miyagi have announced the full dates of their non-spring/summer/winter (fall) non-stay-at-home-time (tour).

After they finish their current European dates this month and in early September, they'll fly to North America for three weeks of shows starting September 25 in Baltimore.

The tour is still in support of their 2006 singles collection/full-length, Non-Opaque Things. [MORE...]

Mike Watt Reveals Funanori Details, Keeps Touring

Former Minuteman Mike Watt remains a blur on our musical radars, but he does slow down on occasion to let us know where he's going. For now, that includes more info about his Funanori collaboration with Go! Team guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Kaori Tsuchida.

The duo's previously reported split EP with Tokyo's LITE is called A Tiny Twofer, and it features artwork by Watt pal and former SST album artist Raymond Pettibon. The EP will drop UK-ways on September 3 via Transduction Records (distributed via Cargo Records in Europe), and though it doesn't have a U.S. release planned yet, a Japanese release on Daizawa could come as soon as October.

Watt also recorded with a different Tokyo band, mi-gu, which features Yuko Araki and Hirotaka "Shimmy" Shimizu (drummer and bassist, respectively, for Cornelius) as two of its three members. The recording took place on a recent break from touring with the Stooges, and while in Tokyo, Watt also recorded with Kyoka and Jim O'Rourke, who has lived in Japan for about a year now. O'Rourke spoke about his musical past and played some songs from his personal collection for an episode of Watt's "The Watt From Pedro Show" podcast that will go up this coming Monday, August 6.

Aside from all of that, Watt also plans to work on a new opera with his Missingmen trio, and the fourth Dos album will get mixed in the fall.

However, that Missingmen opera will have to wait until Mike finishes that aforementioned tour with the Stooges (see his tour diary here), which continues August 3 in El Ejido, Spain. The Missingmen also have a pair of dates scheduled for the coming months.

Finally, a Glenn Branca piece Watt took part in performing last year, "Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City)", is coming to London on October 12 for Frieze Music 2007. Of course, Watt's just a little too busy to play this year, but Branca is looking for 80 guitarists and 20 bass players to take part. Those who are interested (and who can read standard staff notation and don't mind not getting paid) should contact dthetncrkr@earthlink.net for more information.

Whew! [MORE...]

Franz, Lips, Rapture on Ewan Pearson Remix Collection
Plus remixes of Ladytron, Goldfrapp, Röyksopp, Depeche Mode, Chemical Brothers, Moby

Ewan Pearson, the producer and DJ formerly known as Maas and World of Apples, will release a collection of his remix work from the last six years titled Piece Work.

The two-disc collection features Pearson remixes of tracks by Franz Ferdinand, the Rapture, the Chemical Brothers (featuring the Flaming Lips), Ladytron, Goldfrapp, Röyksopp, Depeche Mode, Moby, and Pet Shop Boys, among others, and it will hit U.S. shops on September 25 (the day before in the UK) via !K7.

As a supplement (released separately, also on September 25) to the full-length CD version of Piece Work, there will also be a Piece Work EP 12". It features alternate remixes of Goldfrapp's "Train" and the Chemical Brothers/Flaming Lips song, as well as Pearson's "Objects in Space Remix" of Cortney Tidwell's "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up", which turns up on the album as well.

Pearson has a pretty decent-sized tour of Europe this summer, too. It begins August 11 in Almería, Spain. [MORE...]

Beck, Ryan Adams Design Book Covers
Left: Beck's cover for Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes (The Lost Estate); Right: Ryan Adams' cover for Bram Stoker's Dracula

My Penguin-- a new promotion from the UK arm of publishing house Penguin (not an avian version of My Buddy)-- has utilized Beck's interactive art obsession and Ryan Adams' fascination with the darker side of the nightlife by allowing both songwriters free reign to design covers for their favorite books.

The musicians' designs promote a program that allows readers to add art to the blank covers of seven books, picked by seven musicians or bands who named their favorite Penguin Classics. Beck's line drawing/magazine collage cover (above left) appears on his favorite novel, Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes (The Lost Estate), and Ryan Adams' semi-abstract oil painting (above right) was done for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Five other musical artists, including Razorlight and Dragonette, were asked to design covers, and they are listed below along with their choices.

Unfortunately, it seems the musician-designed covers are not for sale to the public, though you could print a design out, buy the corresponding book, and glue/tape it on. What good is reading without a little resourcefulness?

Adams still has quite a few tour dates-- including even more than we last reported-- continuing tonight (August 2) in Boulder, Colorado. They too are listed after the jump. [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.)