CMJ 07: Spoon, Xiu Xiu, Deerhunter, Deacon, Justice
Plus: Simian Mobile Disco, Jesu, Islands, Devin the Dude, Marnie Stern, Ponys, No Age

Start raiding the couch cushions for cab fare now! The CMJ Music Marathon-- NYC's autumn answer to Austin's spring music orgy SXSW-- announced its initial lineup today, and stakes is already high.

CMJ 2007 goes down October 16-20 in America's most populous city, spread across many of said city's hallowed venues-- venues which, as any industry vet will tell you, are significantly further apart than their counterparts down in Austin. Which means commitment is key, people. With that said, here's just a slice of what, in most cases, you'll have to decide between: Spoon, Xiu Xiu, Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, Marnie Stern, Jesu, Islands (whoa, remember them?), Mates of State, Devin the Dude, No Age, the Ponys, Crystal Castles, Brother Ali, the Brunettes, MSTRKRFT, A-Trak, UNKLE, Little Brother, British Sea Power, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, KavinSky, Ruins, and more.

Complete schedule details are still emerging from the fog, but we do know Spoon is set to close out the fest with an October 20 show at Roseland Ballroom, while UNKLE creep through Webster Hall on October 18.

Menomena Plan Another European Vacation/Tour

Photo by Jason Bergman

At the beginning of the summer, Menomena embarked on their first ever European tour. Now, they're already returning to the continent in September and October-- just before they head back to North America for their previously reported dates here.

But Menomena have two shows before either tour kicks off. The first is August 15 in Mexico City, and the second is on September 1 at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival, where the PDX trio will be joined onstage by a choir. Smells like a party! [MORE...]

Siouxsie Sioux Readies First Solo Album

Having already cavorted with Banshees and Creatures, iconic punk frontwoman Siouxsie Sioux went and mined the sea for the title of the first solo album in her three-decade-spanning career.

Credited simply to "Siouxsie," Mantaray arrives in the UK on September 10 via W14, and in the U.S. on October 2 via Decca.

The album will be preceded in the UK by first single "Into a Swan", out August 27 and available in two different seven-inch versions: one with "Swansway" as its B-side, and the other with "Into a Swan (Reprise)". The B-sides to the CD version of the single are not yet confirmed, and fans can expect a digital release as well.

Siouxsie hasn't announced any live dates yet, but her website does have a tour section, so here's hoping. [MORE...]

Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Wilco, Decemberists Do "ACL"
Plus: Regina Spektor, Explosions in the Sky, Lucinda Williams, Crowded House

"Austin City Limits"-- the television series, not its offshoot festival cousin that takes place September 14-16 in the Texas city-- has announced the initial lineup of its 33rd season, and it seems like the show keeps getting indier and indier (or indie could just be getting mainstreamier, but don't hurt yourself pondering that).

Artists performing on the program this season include the Arcade Fire, the Decemberists, Bloc Party, Wilco, Regina Spektor, Explosions in the Sky, Lucinda Williams, Crowded House, Norah Jones, Femi Kuti, Paolo Nutini, Ghostland Observatory, Old Crow Medicine Show, and everybody's favorite piece of Jessica Simpson arm candy... John Mayer (sorry Lachey!).

The upcoming season of "Austin City Limits" will begin airing on PBS stations nationwide in early October.

Oya Festival Report: Wednesday [Stephen M. Deusner]

Photos by Eirik Lande; text by Stephen M. Deusner

Instead of sprawling out in all directions, the Øya festival space, confined to Medieval Park, is actually pretty accessible. It's a short walk instead of a long hike from one stage to another. Lining the byways are booths selling recycled cardboard chairs, organic foods, locally grown fruits and vegetables, comics, and, of course, beer. In addition to donating the couches along the shore, Ikea (one of Øya's sponsors) has set up a booth on the lake, decorated like a store installation but used as a lounge.

Throughout the day there are threats of thunderstorms, but during the early afternoon festivalgoers watch the dark clouds pass first to the south and later to the north of the grounds, leaving mostly sunny skies directly above. The weather holds until 7:45 pm, when it pours, sending most of the 14,000-strong crowd under trees and into booths. Fortunately, the downpour only lasts about half an hour, and by 8:30 everything seems completely dry again.

Boredoms

Even if you aren't a fan of the Boredoms' records, seeing them live-- especially against the backdrop of threatening clouds-- would give you insight into their appeal. Playing the midsize Sjøsiden stage early in the day, they arranged their instruments-- mainly three drum sets-- in a circle to direct all their energy toward one another, with various members occasionally addressing the audience in a series of whoops and howls. A better arrangement, albeit a highly untenable one, would have been to set up their equipment in the center of the audience rather than onstage, inviting the crowd to look over their shoulders and absorb the brunt of their force. As it was, the discipline of their frantically tribal rhythms was impressive, but somewhat distant. Perhaps it was the early time slot, which had them playing to a smaller crowd still acclimating themselves to the site.

Ida Maria
Ida Maria has not released any music officially, yet the crowd for her afternoon set was large and loyal, calling out song titles (mostly "Oh My God", which became her closer) and singing the words to "I Like You Better When You're Naked". In a short time, the Norwegian singer-songwriter has won two major radio and live competitions and has developed a reputation for her rambunctious sets. Even playing the smaller Vika stage, she gets one of the best crowd responses of the day. From the moment she practically skips onto the stage wearing a black babydoll dress and checked black hose, it's easy to see why. Ida Maria works hard on stage, spinning around with her guitar, exhorting the audience almost individually, dousing herself with a water bottle, even climbing high in the scaffolding to sing one song (which, remarkably, didn't restrict her movements).

The music's good, too: Her band churns out roughed-up pop punk and she sings in a strong voice that alternately suggests Björk, Janis Joplin, and Katrina & the Waves. On one song, she turns the statement "We are all going to hell" into a dark hook and practically demands the crowd to sing along, which they readily do. Her performance-- one of the best of the day—built to an intense close, transcending the somewhat impersonal festival space.

Bonde do Role

Even more rain: Amy Winehouse, in a London hospital for "exhaustion," has canceled her appearance. Most of the guests don't seem to mind, and some even applaud when the news is announced. Playing the Vika stage, Bonde do Role make the obvious joke: "They tried to make me go to Norway," Pedro D'eyrot sings, "but I said, ‘No no no'." The crowd goes wild.

The Brazilian group makes liberal use of devil horns, flashing them like air quotes. Most everything else likewise seems almost too ironic, especially the foundational samples of "The Final Countdown", Grease, AC/DC, and Tone Loc. But they do have a cheerleader effect, pumping up the crowd not through words, but through the recontextualizing of common cultural touchstones, in this case the cheesy music of the 1980s. That in itself is no great feat, but the three members of Bonde do Role attack the job with a single-mindedness that allows for nothing that might disrupt their party. In green shorts and a red-plaid hoodie (the mismatch is intentional), Marina Ribatski never exhausts her repertoire of post-flygirl moves; in the group she's like Fergie, but with, you know, sex appeal. Pedro makes cartoonish come-ons, and Rodrigo Gorky occasionally emerges from behind the turntables to take a few verses in his hoarse delivery. Their show is antic-based-- goofing off as entertainment-- but it's hard to say they don't succeed, at least judging by the crowd's response, which invites one of the day's few encores.

Nine Inch Nails

Photo by Ray Suzuki

The downside to the Amy Winehouse cancellation is that now I don't have much excuse not to see Nine Inch Nails. I'm not entirely disinterested, but after a day of high-energy performances with low-key effects, I'm not in the mood for a Big Rock Show.

And that's pretty much what the band delivers: A spectacle of expensive backdrops, copious smoke-machine smoke, and band members throwing their mic stands around. The show is all flash and thunder, drawing mainly from their surprisingly durable Year Zero and occasionally digging deeper into Reznor's catalog for crowd-pleasers like Closer" and "Hurt".

Musically, either industrial sounds have been so absorbed into the mainstream that the thumping bassline and strategic static don't hold the same sway anymore, or Nine Inch Nails have become a rock band, which gives "Head Like a Hole"'s a new urgency. It's the set's strongest moment and the best reminder of why Reznor has managed to remain relevant after nearly 20 years. Still, the artist most well known for painfully baring his soul through music delivers the most impersonal performance of the day.

Shining




Matt and Kim




Tinariwen






Kim Hiorthøy




Lionheart Brothers

Arcade Fire Keep Beefing Up Tour

The Arcade Fire Tour Story #4687.3b: So there's this band. They're called the Arcade Fire, but maybe you've heard of them. You also may have heard that they are currently on tour and that they keep trickling out more dates for the fall, some of which are with LCD Soundsystem.

Well, they've announced one more of those joint shows, scheduled to take place September 21 in Mountain View, California. They've also announced some more dates of a European tour in November.

All in all, this Arcade Fire band is something of a date-adding machine, like a calculendar, which is a combination of a calculator and a calendar that I just invented. [MORE...]

M.I.A. Adds More Dates, Another Show with Bjork

Photo by Kirstie Shanley

The release of Kala is almost close enough to taste (U.S.: August 21 via Interscope, UK: August 20 via XL), and M.I.A. has added even more dates to her world tour in support of the album.

The pancake-fueled independent woman now has an extra date with Björk in Detroit on September 11, and she has also added a quartet of dates in Japan (where Kala was just released) in early October.

Ms. Arulpragasam's next show is in Hasselt, Belgium on August 16. [MORE...]

Miles Davis' On the Corner Given Box Set Treatment

In the vein of The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions and The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, Columbia/Legacy will release a six-disc box set version of Miles Davis' seminal On the Corner titled, yep, The Complete On the Corner Sessions.

Originally released in 1972 as the studio follow-up to A Tribute to Jack Johnson, On the Corner found Davis using synthesizers and distorted electric guitars in the creation of what was basically funk music, and it remains one of his more divisive records, even among fans of his often-noisier electric period. It also made it onto our "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s" list at #30.

The Complete On the Corner Sessions comes out September 18, and it features newly mixed and mastered versions of these tracks as well as plenty of liner notes-- everything from general memories of Davis to accounts of the album's recording. [MORE...]

Hives Reveal More LP Details, Including Pharrell Collab

Still at work on their Tyrannosaurus Hives follow-up, the Hives continue to dispatch endearingly arrogant little updates regarding the new album's progress.

Here's what we've learned since our last album report. First, the majority of the record, titled The Black and White Album, was recorded with producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello) in Oxford, Mississippi. Second, they recorded with Pharrell in Miami after he met them in Japan and told them they should all record "something bass guitar based."

The record will also feature the first recordings the band made in their new house in Sweden, Hive Manor. Jacknife Lee (in London) and Tomas Oberg (from Swedish band Bob Hund) also lent their skills behind the boards.

With so many producers and locations, you'd think the Hives would be ready to release the freakin' record already, but frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist explains what's taking the band so long in a recent press release: "At this time, we have a lot of songs. In the past, we only had what was on each album. We ask you to bare [sic... or is it? --Ed.] with us as we take the time to wrestle this onto an album. An album of inhuman proportions called The Black and White Album."

In other Hives news, they made it into a Finish Line/Nike+ commercial with one of their new tunes, "Tick, Tick, Boom". You can see the spot below.

The Hives are also touring this summer before they hit the road with Maroon 5 in the fall (still funny!). Their next date is in their home country on August 10. [MORE...]

Okkervil River, Andrew Bird, Casiotone Play Pygmalion
Plus: Shapes and Sizes, Bound Stems, Maserati, Sybris, Headlights, Odawas, Damien Jurado

Okkervil River and Andrew Bird lead the charge at this year's Pygmalion Music Festival.

Among the many others performing are Damien Jurado, Shapes and Sizes, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Bound Stems, Maserati, Sybris, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, Picastro, Unwed Sailor, Liz Janes, Death Ships, Marla Hansen, Dark Meat, Foundry Field Recordings, Odawas, Yeasayer, Canada, Denison Witmer, and Headlights.

The festival takes place from September 19-22 at various venues in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.

Bon Voyage: Au Revoir Simone Hit the Road

On this, their first-ever U.S. headlining tour, Brooklyn-based three-piece Au Revoir Simone-- still comin' strong with them Bird of Music cuts-- have enlisted the help of hypermelodic Austinite openers Oh No! Oh My! But when the 808's kicking, the vocals are on point, and you're busting out the three keyboard attack, who needs assistance? Au Revoir Simone: breaking out the jams like three Lil Jons at once. [MORE...]

Jourgensen Reveals Last Ministry LP, Cheap Trick Collab

Industrial metal O.G. Al Jourgensen will put his Ministry project to rest after over a quarter century of recording under the name with various lineups.

Ministry's last album, The Last Sucker, will hit stores via Jourgensen's 13th Planet Records on September 18. The follow-up to last year's Rio Grande Blood, it's the third album in a trilogy "aimed at exposing the foils, failures, and fabrications perpetrated by the George W. Bush administration," according to a press release.

The Bush administration also factors into Jourgensen's explanation of the decision to put a halt to Ministry: "I'd rather be behind the console than behind the mic. Plus, I kinda like the synchronicity of Dubya and Ministry riding off into the sunset hand in hand."

In addition to Jourgensen, the album features contributions from Paul Raven (Killing Joke, Prong), Thomas Victor (Prong), Sin Quirin (The Revolting Cocks), Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory), and engineer John "Bixby" Bilberry.

A Ministry farewell tour will take place next year, and until then, Jourgensen's only scheduled live appearances are with Cheap Trick-- as they perform Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from start to finish at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl on August 10 and 11, as part of a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the album's release. Jourgensen and Sin Quirin will aid the band in performing a version of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" (actually off Abbey Road) that Jourgensen re-arranged himself. [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.)