Deerhunter, No Age, Busdriver Say Fuck Yeah! in L.A.
Plus: Lavender Diamond, Times New Viking, Pissed Jeans, Indian Jewelry, Boom Bip, Mae Shi

Despite the ubiquity of Lohan-related headlines in your normal news outlets, there's certainly been a movement in Los Angeles in recent times away from the coked-out starlet scene and into some fairly radical art and music. Blessed be the city that reclaims its once-mighty reign of creativity, and blessed be a festival celebrating L.A. (and all that dare enter its smoggy haven) under the umbrella of Fuck Yeah!

Over two nights (and a sure-to-be-rollicking kickoff party on its eve), the L.A.-based Fuck Yeah! fest will gather Deerhunter, Lavender Diamond, Busdriver, Times New Viking, No Age, Boom Bip, Indian Jewelry, Midnight Movies, Bobby Birdman, the Mae Shi, Pissed Jeans, Jay Reatard, Foreign Born, Abe Vigoda, Great Northern, Langhorne Slim, the Explosion, Imaad Wasif, Thee More Shallows, XBXRX, and far more names than this sentence can contain into various Los Angeles locales August 25 and 26. This marks the fourth incarnation of this potty-mouthed party.

Funnymakers Bob Odenkirk (yes yes, we do recall there were two people in "Mr. Show"), Jonah Ray, the Cracked Out boys, and way more will fill in the gaps betwixt all that heavy rock and/or roll. We should point out that this fest will feature the Explosion's very last West Coast show ever, and the one and only reunion date of the Fuse! (exclamation theirs). That said, get thee to the City of Angels! Fuck yeah!

Kanye + Pharrell + Lupe = Child Rebel Soldiers Album?

Anyone who took Kanye West's recent Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape for a spin encountered a Thom Yorke-sampling track from a little something called CRS. Short for Child Rebel Soldiers, this bona fide hip-hop supergroup consists of West, Pharrell Williams, and Lupe Fiasco. And while that tune, "Us Placers", is the trio's only recorded material to date, it seems we can expect more.

As Lupe told Billboard.com recently, the crew hopes to cut an album. "Now [our labels are] working it out. Whoever is going to pay is going to pay a whole hell of a lot. Everybody is excited." And indeed, it's not like those other two have anything else to do right now.

Lupe himself will follow up last year's semi-smash Food & Liquor with The Cool, now due out November 20. For now, he has four gigs lined up in the coming weeks, while Kanye-- who hits us with Graduation (with new, improved cover art) on September 11-- has planned a few engagements as well.

Mr. Fiasco also shared some words that might leave his fans ill at ease. "I'm just wearing down," he told Billboard.com. "I'm never doing mixtapes again, not even Internet ones. My whole energy for making hip-hop music is slowing down. I've been doing it for seven years. I still don't think I'm famous. I'll do what I have to do to promote my next album, but I'm not enthused about doing seven albums. I'll do my three, and then I am going to keep moving to the next phase of life and maybe grow trees."

Yeah, we've heard that one before. [MORE...]

"Chocolate Rain" to Fall on Girl Talk and Dan Deacon
Nora The Piano-Playing Cat in Talks With Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem

If you've got a computer and a forward-happy friend or two, you're already hip to Tay Zonday and "Chocolate Rain", the twinkly, croaking hook-overload that's swept through the internet like a Ghirardelli thunderstorm over the last few weeks.

One might have thought 2007's answer to William Hung was in danger of letting up, but not so: Girl Talk and Dan Deacon (clearly dudes with well-developed senses of irony and a penchant for goofy touring partners) have invited the M&M maestro to perform at their October 5 gig at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

We're a little too WTF'ed out to make much sense of this, but we did recall that yesterday, Girl Talk posted a MySpace bulletin hinting at a "special guest" that he predicted would "probably sell a bunch of tickets" to the Minneapolis show. I naively assumed it would be Prince, though this, somehow, seems even more unlikely. Tay Zonday! That "Chocolate Rain" guy! Who could've guessed?

Thanks to the Daily Swarm for the tip. Girl Talk and Dan Deacon dates after the jump. Alas, Tay Zonday has no more shows scheduled. [MORE...]

Los Campesinos! to Return to America

Photo by Grace deVille

With their very first gigs in Canada and the U.S. out of the way (and a resounding success), those Pavement-loving balls of energy known as Los Campesinos! now have a little break in their touring schedule until things pick back up again for their UK dates in October.

But wait! What's that all the way in November at the end of their itinerary? Why, freshly minted U.S. dates, of course, including the band's West Coast live debut. They've also added European dates at the beginning of the month.

The October UK dates are with fellow exclamation point lovers You Say Party! We Say Die! Which means that yes, you will be able to see "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" and You Say Party! We Say Die! all in the same evening.

To pass the time until their UK tour kicks off, the Welsh septet plans to enter the studio soon with Broken Social Scene producer Dave Newfeld to record the full-length follow-up to their debut Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP. [MORE...]

Sufjan, SY, YLT, Karen O, Tweedy, Cat Power Do Dylan
Plus: Antony, Iron & Wine, Black Keys, Tom Verlaine, Mark Lanegan, Eddie Vedder

It would have been a pretty sweet soundtrack with just Stephen Malkmus, the Hold Steady, Jim James, Calexico, Roger McGuinn, and Willie Nelson. But now comes word, via Billboard.com, that the soundtrack to the forthcoming Dylan avant-biopic I'm Not There-- in which everyone from Richard Gere to Cate Blanchett plays the harmonica-toting troubadour born Robert Zimmerman-- is shaping up to be quite a monster.

Additions since our last report include Sufjan Stevens, Sonic Youth (whose Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley pop up elsewhere-- more on that in a sec), Jeff Tweedy, Cat Power, Karen O, Antony and the Johnsons, Yo La Tengo, the Black Keys, Tom Verlaine, Mark Lanegan, Eddie Vedder, Iron and Wine, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mira Billotte (White Magic), the Frames' Glen Hansard (with Marketa Irglova, his co-star in Once), and Dylan himself.

All contributors cover Dylan songs. Bob, naturally, lends B-side "I'm Not There" to the soundtrack; Sonic Youth also cover that tune.

Backing Malkmus, Karen O, Verlaine, and Vedder are "The Million Dollar Bashers", an ad hoc combo comprised of Ranaldo and Shelley, along with Verlaine, Wilco's Nels Cline, and Smokey Hormel on guitar, John Medeski (sans frequent partners Martin and Wood) on keyboard, and Bob's own buddy Tony Garnier on bass.

Calexico also play backing band to quite a few folks, including James, McGuinn, Nelson, Gainsbourg, and Iron and Wine.

Columbia will release the I'm Not There soundtrack on October 30, while the Todd Haynes-directed film hits U.S. theaters November 21. [MORE...]

The Besnard Lakes Reissue LP1, Tour North America

Photo by Eirik Lande

If you thought the sprawling springtime gem The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse (by the, y'know, Besnard Lakes) was a debut album (like I did, until mere minutes ago), well, we could both benefit from some reading comprehension exercises. Truth be told, they didn't harness that kinda power right out of the gate: No, they have a much sought-after but rarely heard debut, appropriately titled Volume 1, just waiting to be reissued and rediscovered. And, hey, lookee here: It's going down October 23 on Jagjaguwar. Imagine that!

Initially released in 2004, Volume 1 was recorded in full by young marrieds Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas at Breakglass, the studio they jointly own 'til death do them part.

Besides rummaging through the archives, the Besnard Lakes have a busy fall ahead; they're preparing their best bib and tucker for the Polaris Prize ceremony, they've got a new 12" coming out in September, and they're out now on what's shaping up to be a sizable tour. [MORE...]

White Stripes Do Frat Rock on New Single

Photo by Thom Johnston

Having emerged relatively unscathed from a large state school with an active Greek system, the idea of a "frat rock version" of anything sends this reporter into a fit of sympathetic Natty Ice-induced Saturday morning dry heaves.

Yet, there it is: September 10, XL Recordings will issue the single for the White Stripes' Icky Thump standout "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)" in the UK. The B-side is the "Frat Rock Version" of the same song.

But which strain of frat rock will it be? Fey horns and watery Afrobeat a la DMB, or one-armed riffage, drunken Def Leppard singalong style? The classic kind-- i.e. "Louie Louie", "Wooly Bully"? We're guessing the Stripes are poking fun at said swill-soaked subgenre. But having known a lot of frat boys who really dug the White Stripes ("that drummer chick is hot," I recall hearing a time or two from Buzzcut Pete and the like), they may be raising more ire than they realize. Still, school spirit, rah, etc.

Ooh, and the Stripes have mixers and cotillions aplenty at home and abroad. Easy on the pre-show jungle juice, eh, fellas? [MORE...]

Arcade Fire and LCD: Not Just a Tour, But a Split 7"!
Buncha LCD Soundsystem releases in the pipeline

Good news! This Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem tour we've reported with each new addition of dates has finally reached its maximum expansion point, meaning the newest date in Lehi, Utah on September 26 will be the tour's last addition unless they decide to do the whole thing over again in, say, Botswana.

A special, previously unreported piece of memorabilia will be available on the joint tour and through each band's respective website: a limited edition split 7" featuring LCD Soundsystem covering Joy Division's "No Love Lost" and Arcade Fire covering the Serge Gainsbourg-penned, France Gall-sung "Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son".

As another heads-up, these shows with LCD will be the Arcade Fire's last in North America in support of Neon Bible, which makes it sound like they plan on either disavowing the record and touring here anyway or, in the more likely scenario, taking a break/touring elsewhere/recording their third record. We won't, however, hold our breath for a new album anytime soon.

It's a different story in LCD land, though. On September 18, James Murphy and co. will release the A Bunch of Stuff EP via DFA/Capitol. Included on the EP will be Franz Ferdinand's cover of "All My Friends", a Soulwax remix of "Get Innocuous", a Carl Craig remix of "Sound of Silver", a Sorcerer remix of "Us v Them", a Gucci Soundsystem remix of "Time to Get Away", and LCD Soundsystem's own live performance of "Us v Them" on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic".

On the very next day, September 19, LCD Soundsystem will appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno".

Other forthcoming LCD/Murphy releases include the DFA re-release of 45:33 on November 12 with three B-sides, as well as the Caroline release of mix disc FABRICLIVE36: James Murphy & Pat Mahoney on November 20.

Finally, artist Doug Aitken (who did that Sleepwalking thing) is in the midst of shooting an experimental short film to accompany the eventual UK single release of "Someone Great". [MORE...]

Hidden Cameras Play Football Match, Partake in Opera

Photo by Guntar Kravis

Taking a break from their usual voyeuristic activities, Canadian pop provocateurs the Hidden Cameras will soon shift their focus to a couple unusual-- even by their standards-- undertakings.

First up, on August 15, the band will perform at a football match in Munich, Germany. Apparently some people call this sport involving feet and balls "soccer." Anyhow, the special gig comes at the request of ace footballer Mehmet Scholl, whose FC Bayern München squad will take on the dastardly kickmen of FC Barcelona at Allianz Arena. Should be a match to remember, as the Cameras promise "11 musicians, several go-go dancers, and choir," according to a press release. Hopefully we'll get a wardrobe malfunction or two as well.

Champions of both sport and art, the Hidden Cameras will then lend several among their ranks to acclaimed rock opera The Rat King, which makes its U.S. premiere during the New York International Fringe Festival, going down you-know-where from August 20-25. Camera Maggie MacDonald created the piece, "a post-apocalyptic rock opera set in the not so distant future where the world is devastated by the effects of environmental degradation and global warming, rats threaten to overthrow the earth, and mankind is verging on extinction." Sounds lovely.

All performances of The Rat King take place at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Finally, the Hidden Cameras' Joel Gibb contributed to the forthcoming Jens Lekman-curated Arthur Russell tribute EP. Along with Lekman and Electrelane's Verity Susman, Gibb will perform at the Kulturhuset in Stockholm on August 20.

T.V. Eye: August 13-19, 2007

Live music on TV this week:

Monday, August 13:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": White Rabbits (rerun)
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Brother Ali
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Lily Allen (rerun)

Tuesday, August 14:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Smashing Pumpkins (rerun)
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (rerun)

Wednesday, August 15:

PBS: "Tavis Smiley": Chuck D
FUEL: "The Daily Habit": Guru

Thursday, August 16:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Common (rerun)

Friday, August 17:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Editors (rerun)
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Augie March
CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Andrew Bird (rerun)
IFC: "The Henry Rollins Show": Manu Chao

Cat Power Adds U.S. Dates to Tour

Photo by Kathryn Yu

When she's not living in bars, dancing on tables, mining her record collection for Covers Record 2 fodder or flexing that slang muscle on her MySpace blog, Chan Marshall (whom you almost certainly know as Cat Power) is taking it to the people. She's busying up her fall with engagements from Dallas to Brazil and the bottom part of the U.S. in between.

A recent blog post says "Cat Power may be opening up for Interpol at Madison Fucking Square Garden in New York Sept. 14... u never know," but apparently, that isn't actually happening. Rats! You'll have to glean your double-dose of mope elsewhere, New Yawk. [MORE...]

Oya Festival Report: Saturday [Stephen M. Deusner]

Photos by Eirik Lande (unless otherwise indicated); text by Stephen M. Deusner

Øya Saturday

The sun has canceled due to exhaustion.

No seriously, it's pouring this morning in Oslo. The sky is gray, the water is gray, the streets are gray. This doesn't bode well for the festival, which has so far been fortunate enough to avoid any major weather trouble. The hardy fans will be there regardless of the weather, but it'll be a pain nonetheless, and a bummer on the final day.

Walking becomes a little more treacherous today. Due to the morning's rain, large puddles have formed on the main paths, which everyone but the very young and the very inebriated tries to avoid. But with the large crowds, it isn't easy. Soon everyone at Øya seems to have soaked pant cuffs. The smart ones bring galoshes; the stylish ones bring galoshes in bright colors.

Hanne Hukkelberg



Photo 1 by Stephen M. Deusner

Fortunately, Oslo-based singer/songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg's set is perfectly melancholy for such a rainy day. She has brought a large band with her, including two drummers and a variety of multi-instrumentalists who play toy piano, castanets, autoharp, clarinet, flute, tuba, accordion, even pots and pans. Hukkelberg plays the spokes of an overturned bicycle for one song. All these sounds coalesce into a jazzy rattle that highlight her eccentric songwriting and warm, lovely vocals. Songs like "The Northwind" and others from her 2006 album Rykestrasse 68 fluctuate between subdued and blustery, usually starting soft and slow but gradually crescendoing into extended climaxes that show off her band's considerable muscle.

Bjørn Torske






Bjørn Torske is a DJ who hosts an open-mic night in Bergen, during which he invites musicians to share the stage with him. He's invited an army of regulars to play Øya with him (including Mental Overdrive and DJ Rune Linbæk). He calls them to the stage one by one; there are seventeen or eighteen in all, including five singers dressed variously as a flapper, a goth, a biker, and a young girl. It's a full stage. Just as the crowd migrates over following synth-rock act Pleasure's set, the concept behind Torke's show becomes clear: he plays his musicians like instruments, instructing each one what and when to play and when to stop. For one song, he talks at length to the guitar player, who begins to play a short Spanish filigree over and over; following his instructions, others add droning background, the drummer adds a beat, the vocalists sing operatically and wordlessly, and the song takes off.

Throughout the set, Torske wanders the stage, a mad-scientist emcee trying to control his musical Frankenstein's monster. Sometimes his experiments create an arrhythmic cacophony, as on the wobbly second song. In general, however, the show hinges on the unscripted and untested nature of his approach, which endears him and his crew to the crowd, who call for an encore even though his set runs long.

Maribel




Rockettothesky




As the Oslo electropop trio Rockettothesky take the Sjøsiden stage, noise from young drone-rockers Maribel can still be heard from the Vika stage nearby. While it almost seems to overpower this act, it also serves as a reminder that there have been very few instances of sound interference from one area of the festival to another, despite the small grounds. Soon enough, either Maribel's distortion fades or Rockettothesky finally make enough noise of their own to drown it out.

At first, though, they're almost too cute. One of the two keyboard players sports a pink t-shirt, barette, and scruffy beard, and singer Jenny Hval highlights her platinum bob with an outfit that seems a little self-conscious in its mismatched outlandishness. It doesn't help that their first number is a pirate song with the chorus, "Heave ho and a bottle of rum."

But first impressions quickly melt away. As the set progresses, the arrangements grow spacier and stranger, and Hval's crystalline vocals become more confident and commanding. Her voice, which is the act's primary sonic element, shifts from stoic to sensuous, especially on songs like "A Flock of Cheshire Cats" and "A Choir of Crayons". Later in the day, when the band plays an intimate set on Ikea's floating booth, these elements will come through even more strongly.

The Besnard Lakes






Olga Goreas has rockstar moves. Wearing a gray summer dress that doesn't exactly scream "experimental indie rock," the Besnard Lakes bass player, singer, and co-songwriter jams just as hard as her taller, guitar-playing bandmates, even as she must split the difference between the band's guitar attack, strong rhythm section, and dual vocals. Throughout the show, her constant smile nicely punctures the group's gravity. Goreas is obviously enjoying herself tremendously.

The Lakes' show, however, is beset with early problems. The man who introduces them either forgets or can't pronounce their name, and a few songs in, Jace Lasek disappears after breaking a string. While the band pauses for him to restring, Goreas asks if anyone knows any jokes in Norwegian. By the time the Montreal collective get to "On Bedford and Grand", though, they've recovered fully, pounding out track after track from their debut, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse. The arrangements on that album, saturated with strings and horns, sound a little fussy, but today, the Lakes pare everything down to their essentials: guitars that alternately drone airily and churn earthily, counterbalanced by unapologetically sunny melodies. As a result, songs like "For Agent 13" and "And You Lied to Me" sound heavier and more urgent.

The Go! Team










Starting life as a sample-based act, the Go! Team have evolved into a traditional band, complete with guitar, bass, two drummers, keyboards, and a highly charismatic frontwoman. On the main Enga stage, their music loses little of its fizzy charm or frenetic excitement. Ninja delivers her pop-raps at lightning speed and generally acts like the most determined cheerleader you've ever seen. Meanwhile, the band run through tracks from their new album, Proof of Youth, with an emphasis on loud and fast.

Ninja wears a bandage around one knee, which seems to keep her anchored to the stage. She tells the crowd that because she dislocated her knee the day before, she won't be able to go as crazy today as she would like. Instead, in a lemons-to-lemonade twist, she informs her audience that they'll have to go even wilder on her behalf. They willingly oblige, even though it's difficult to see how Ninja or anyone else in the band could give any more.

Lady Sovereign




Øya booked Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Lady Sovereign, all three troubled British female pop divas who have had high profile problems this year. The first two canceled their Øya sets, but Lady Sov actually shows up. That is enough to win over all the fans who've crowded the Sjøsiden stage, even after a pre-show set by her DJ that seems to go on and on. But her performance-- bolstered by a live rhythm section-- is playful but gritty, as if she's trying to make us forget her recent TRL success. It's odd that an artist so young could have "early days", but today she looks and sounds more like the pranksta-rapper of her very first singles, with her signature sideways ponytail, oversized t-shirt, and two pairs of sunglasses that she trades off as purposefully as other acts change instruments. More to the point, she raps frantically, infusing these songs with an aggression that's completely missing from her album.

Yo Majesty

Yo Majesty are the third of three very different female rap acts scheduled for today, each of which has its own direction and sense of realness. A lesbian crew from Tampa, Florida, Shunda K., Jwl B., and Shon B. (Shon B. is missing from the Øya set) have the potential to topple so many masculine hip-hop clichés, turning misogynist terminology toward dramatically new ends. Initially, however, I'm skeptical. Before I head over to the Vika stage, a publicist tells me that the group puts on a crazy show and often even raps topless. Sure enough, a few songs into their set, Shunda K. is in her sports bra and Jwl B. is bare-chested. There's a disappointingly scripted feel to this exhibitionism; it's an act that potentially distracts from the music instead of signaling a natural expression of personal freedom.

On the other hand, who the hell cares? Even without Shon B., Yo Majesty have undeniable chemistry. Over low-key beats that form just the skeletons of songs, Shunda K. takes most of the verses, wielding a phallic scepter and exhorting the crowd with "Norway, where you at!"-- which is my favorite stage banter from the entire festival. Meanwhile, Jwl B. punctuates her partner's performance with gospel grunts and r&b howls. Yes, she takes her shirt off, which sets the audience's mouths agape, and yes, she wields those breasts like weapons, flaunting her fulsome physique proudly. Nevertheless, the crowd's excitement is a response to the music, not the mammaries, and in turn Yo Majesty seem generally touched by their reception. It's only reluctantly that they leave the stage.

Primal Scream




The last bill of the fest is always a thankless one, especially for a post-rock act like Norway's Salvatore. After seeing headliners BigBang and Primal Scream, audiences trudge tiredly toward the exits, most of them catching Salvatore by accident. Many leave for club nights early in the show, when the group still sounds a little rusty. One song in particular sounds like it might even fall apart, and the drum stand wobbles alarmingly. I'm a little worried for them. But soon enough, their grooves click into place and their music becomes purely motional. As squirrelly guitar lines buzz around the military rhythms, the crowd stops dwindling and people even summon the energy to dance.

Salvatore are a reminder that there hasn't been a defining performance at Øya-- that one show that so far exceeded expectations that anyone who missed it might as well have not attended the festival. There were, however, so many great performances-- Ungdomskulen, Ida Maria, Battles, Jens Lekman, the Go! Team, and Yo Majesty-- that it hardly matters. These were mostly smaller acts that didn't draw crowds as big as those for the headliners, but they had a big impact nevertheless.

Likewise, Øya continues to promote its ecological goals in subtly pervasive, but enormously effective ways. The festival never feels like a political or charitable event, and there are no onstage homilies exhorting attendees to save the earth. Instead, that mission is obvious in the collection of booths selling organic and locally grown food, which isn't necessarily unique to Øya but seems all the more significant in this context. Also, to cut down both on garbage and on dehydration, water is surprisingly inexpensive: for 1 krone, you can buy a paper cup that you can refill at any of the water stations throughout the grounds.

Throughout the week I've seen festivalgoers collecting beer cups and cardboard carriers, sometimes carrying stacks taller than they are. Initially I assumed they were volunteers doing clean-up duty, but later I was informed that Øya pays for trash-- 1 krone for each cup, 5 for carriers. So the industrious members of the crowd scooped them up for beer money, which created more trash, which other people collected for beer money. It's a productive and profitable cycle that constantly maintains the grounds and keeps Medieval Park clean and green. It's a small thing, but the result is huge-- which seems to be the Øya ethos.

Fans

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.)