Rapture, Spree, RJD2, Bad Brains Pen Soccer Anthems
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

"Go New York! Go New York! Go New York! Go New York! Go New York! Go New York! Go New York! Go New York! Go!" Thus begins the Rapture's soccer-fied version of "Whoo! Alright, Yeah... Uh Huh", recorded as part of "MLS Represent", a collaborative campaign between Major League Soccer and Adidas to get artists from cities with MLS teams to record theme songs for their local clubs.

The campaign also includes contributions from the Polyphonic Spree (for FC Dallas), Bad Brains (D.C. United), RJD2 (Columbus Crew), OK Go (Chicago Fire), Mike Jones (Houston Dynamo), and... Barenaked Ladies (Toronto FC), among others. The Rapture explain their involvement in the project by saying, "We love soccer. We love New York. It makes sense. Anything we can do to help Juan Pablo Angel score more goals."

The themes are all pretty uniformly funny and kind of awesome, if only for the novelty of hearing so many indie bands get in touch with their jock sides. And thank god, now we can hear the Rapture rework the "people don't dance no more" breakdown as "You people can't score no more/ You just stand there like this/ You cross your arms and stare around/ And whinge and moan and diss!" Ooh, they said "whinge"!

To experience the magic for yourself and download each and every theme (listed after the jump) for free, head on over here. [MORE...]

Franz, Streets, Raconteurs, Klaxons, Lily Do BBC Covers
Plus: Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Gossip, Editors, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Kylie

This year BBC Radio 1 turns 40, and to celebrate this ruby anniversary, the dominating force on the UK airwaves will release a 40-track compilation comprised entirely of covers-- one tune from each year of the station's existence-- performed by pretty much everybody on the current Radio 1 playlist.

The presumed highlights and suspected lowlights are too many to mention, but here's just a taste: Klaxons doing Blackstreet's "No Diggity"! The Gossip doing George Michael's "Careless Whisper"! Girls Aloud doing Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag"! Franz Ferdinand doing Bowie's "Sound and Vision"! The Streets doing Elton John's "Your Song"! Plus hot Editors on Cure, Raconteurs on Undertones, Lily on Chrissie, Maxïmo on Timberlake, Kylie on Roxy, and Hard-Fi on Britney action!

And then there's, like, Keane trying "Under Pressure" and Corinne Bailey Rae neutering the Raconteurs. And, God help us all, Mika.

According to Radio 1, the covers are in the process of being recorded, which means no release date yet, artists are subject to change, etc. But I mean, gee whiz guys, just look at this here tracklist. [MORE...]

Sunset Rubdown Extend Tour

When they're not picking spirits at random to love, fondling the afternoon's last light, or adding reverb to everything, Sunset Rubdown tour. So, with a fresh (and really rather good) new record in the can, Sunset Rubdown will hit the road this fall. But you knew that.

What you didn't know is that they've added more dates! Now the trek begins October 5 in Montreal with a blowout featuring Jagjaguwar labelmates Black Mountain and Lightning Dust (as well as Oakley Hall), and it ends a month later in Chicago. Thus, the tunes from Random Spirit Lover-- out October 9 -- will get their first proper Sunset singalongs. [MORE...]

Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Man Man Play Echo Project
Also: the Roots, Secret Machines, CYHSY, RJD2, the Killers

The Flaming Lips, Cat Power and her Dirty Delta Blues backing band, and Man Man are among the artists who will perform across 350+ acres of Bouckaert Farm outside of Atlanta on October 12-14 for the Earth-friendly Echo Project festival.

Other performers during the weekend include the Roots, the Killers, Secret Machines, the Polyphonic Spree, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, RJD2, Cypress Hill, Brazilian Girls, the Album Leaf, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Lyrics Born, Stephen Marley, MSTRKRFT, Thievery Corporation, the Bravery, and Son Volt.

In addition to the tunes, the Echo Project is focused on the environment. For the three weeks leading up to the festival, Echo will lead a cleanup effort on the Chattahoochee River, near the festival site. Volunteers who help out will receive "the Be Green Ticket upgrade" for the fest in addition to "exclusive camping spots."

Got a Complaint? Join the Choir!

Most people just complain about stuff. Some people actually do something about it. And some people actually do something about it that involves complaining about stuff.

Enter celebrated artists/musical ombudspersons Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, who've spent the past few years turning qualms to tunes and bickering throngs to sonorous Complaints Choirs. It all begin officially in Birmingham (UK) back in 2005, when the pair invited residents to sound off, then spun those gripes into song-- which the complainers then sung as part of the very first Complaints Choir.

Following subsequent successes in Helsinki and St. Petersburg, Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen are now poised to bring their inventive concept to the United States. The debut U.S. Complaints Choir performance will take place November 3 at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art (the MCA, if you're hip like that). It's being presented under the auspices of the museum, Windy City imprint Smog Veil Records, and the Chicago Humanities Festival.

Here's where you come in. The artists are inviting locals to submit their complaints and share their voices in belting them out. Interested parties may shoot an email to complaintschoir@yahoo.com or register (by October 1) at the Smog Veil website.

For a taste of what you're getting into, consult the videos of previous performances linked below. The Birmingham clip is worth a peep for the mid-song breakdown (near the 4:45 mark) alone.

And you thought only Morrissey could make an art of whining?

PJ Harvey Reveals U.S. Release Date, New Single

As anticipation runs high for PJ Harvey's forthcoming eighth LP, White Chalk, Polly Jean's finally dispensing with more juicy bits.

First up: A U.S. release date: September 25, the day after it drops in the UK, on Island. Second, she's added a single tour date-- at Bristol, England's Colston Hall on the day of White Chalk's UK release. And third, the single for "When Under Ether" drops September 17 in the UK.

Available on 7" or straight to the hard drive, the spare, somber "When Under Ether" comes backed by the previously unheard B-side "Wait", one of Harvey's first-ever recordings from 1988. How are the youth of today expected to look relevant when this maverick's been lacing dope cuts since we were in kindergarten? I ask you. [MORE...]

Photos: Bill Callahan [Belfast, Northern Ireland; 08/12/07]

Photos by Shannon McClean

A Smog-free Bill Callahan diamond danced his way into Belfast, Northern Ireland's Spring & Airbrake this past weekend, treating audiences to selections from this year's Woke on a Whaleheart (Drag City). No Newsom to speak of (she must have been visiting relatives in the Elf Kingdom), but Bill does have a hearty portion of live dates still on the platter. Catch those and more photos (including a couple shots of opener Alasdair Roberts) below.

BILL CALLAHAN



[MORE...]

Apparently, No New Radiohead Album in 2007
But! Radiohead art collected in Stanley Donwood book

Read it and weep if you must. But yes, according to a Teletext report, and despite rampant speculation, a Radiohead UK PR person has claimed that the band won't release its latest magnum opus until 2008. (A U.S. rep neither confirmed nor denied this).

Really though, with August already halfway out the window, 2008 isn't such a long ways off, is it now? And, to tide you over for the wait, Verso Books is set to re-publish the Stanley Donwood/Dr. Tchock art book Dead Children Playing.

Originally pressed in 2006 and sharing its name with a Donwood art exhibit, this full-color tome collects the era-defining visuals that have accompanied Radiohead's music from The Bends through Hail to the Thief. The eerie, paranoid creations of Donwood and Tchock (perhaps better known as Thom Yorke) fill this hardcover book's 80-odd pages-- everything from album covers to promo art to assorted sketches to that grim cartoon/comic that came hidden behind the CD tray in early copies of Kid A.

This, the first Verso edition, will hit bookshelves October 17.

In other Radiohead news, ask Jonny Greenwood why the hell he named his award-winning orchestral composition Popcorn Superhet Receiver when the piece makes its U.S. debut January 16 and 17, as part of the Wordless Music Series.

Rock Plaza Central and O'Death Pair for Fall Dates

Fond of sardined stages, marquee-crowding lineups, and embellished emotionality? How's this for excitement: O'Death and Rock Plaza Central, tired of respectively affixing that "gothic" tag right in front of country and folk from a distance, have gotten together to gloom up your early fall with a joint headlining tour through September.

The New York-based O'Death-- still not following their own advice after the recent reissue of 2005's Head Home-- and the caterwauling Canadians of Rock Plaza Central-- still regaling y'all with last year's equine saga Are We Not Horses?-- would like very much to leave you gutted. And so they shall.

Each band has a couple dates besides, including O'Death's pop-in at Chicago's noteworthy Hideout Block Party. [MORE...]

Pinback: Shows, Side Projects, Game
"A young firefly has lost its way and Zach & Rob have to fend off the creatures of the night in order to bring it back home safely. The Autumn of the Seraphs patiently waits for its return."

As far as new album supplements go, screw a mere bonus disc. How about a computer game, a bunch of in-stores, new European dates, and new stuff from side projects? Well, with the release of Autumn of the Seraphs fast approaching (reminder: September 11 via Touch & Go), Pinback have decided to give us all of those things.

First, the game: It's called November Fireflight, and it's a somewhat difficult to navigate undersea adventure involving the zapping of fish. Or, as the game's introduction states, "A young firefly has lost its way and Zach & Rob have to fend off the creatures of the night in order to bring it back home safely. The Autumn of the Seraphs patiently waits for its return."

Which, of course, explains everything.

Next up are those in-store performances, four of them, and they're all scheduled for the week of the record's release in the band's native California. Those shows/signings now mark the beginning of Pinback's tour, and the end now includes a couple weeks' worth of European shows in November.

Also scheduled for a September 11 release (but on Temporary Residence) is "Up", the second single from Rob Crow's Living Well, which comes complete with three previously unreleased bonus tracks as well the song's video as B-sides.

And finally, on October 9, Temporary Residence will also release the self-titled debut album from Prints, a collaboration between Pinback associate and multi-instrumentalist Kenseth Thibideau and Who's Your Favorite Son God's Zac Nelson. [MORE...]

Spoon and Cute Yellow Robot Reunited!

Spoon are a top-shelf indie pop band with a penchant for roomy arrangements. Keepon is a party robot developed to interact with children, with a penchant for bottom-heavy Spoon songs.

They make a cute couple.

See:

'Tis a modern love, this thing between Spoon and Keepon. A few months back, Marek Michalowski programmed young Keepon to get down to Spoon's thudding "I Turn My Camera On," and posted the above results on YouTube. The video's been a hit-- closing in on 1.3 million views!-- perhaps because the bop Keepon does so closely approximates the very same one "all the weird kids in the front" do whenever Spoon plays that particular ditty.

Anyway, it seems Keepon wants nothing more than to shake it with his muses when they play Los Angeles' WIRED NextFest September 10. They even made another video celebrating the public debut of their courtship!

See: (Keep your eyes out for band member cameos!)

We're not sure what this rendezvous will consist of, exactly: Perhaps a Jumbotron-assisted Keepon cutting a rug to the live strains of Britt and the boys? A choreography lesson? A tennis game? "Chocolate Rain"? However the thing shakes out, the linkup will go to benefit nonprofit resource center Creative Commons.

Spoon, with and without their Nerfish chum, have puffed up their tour a bit since last we brought dates to you. [MORE...]

Love as Laughter Sign to Isaac Brock's Label

Glacial Pace sure is living up to its name, huh? The Epic-allied Isaac Brock vanity label, a mere two years after its inception and initial signing Mason Jennings, has finally welcomed someone else aboard.

Not surprisingly, the new guests are none other than Modest Mouse's frequent tour partners and Brock's old buddies Love as Laughter. Brock confirmed the signing in a recent interview with Spin.com, and also revealed that LAL is working with producer Joe Blaney (The Clash, the Ramones, Tom Waits) on new material-- as well as an unidentified Stevie Wonder vibraphone player. "Kinda rad," said Brock.

According to the Love as Laughter website, the band expects to release its Glacial Pace debut in 2008. For now, though, they're treating visitors to a couple streams from a new eight-song EP. That record-- said to contain some tunes that will appear in newly recorded form on the upcoming album-- is available now for purchase direct from the band. One suspects they may also have copies for sale on their present tour with-- who else?-- Modest Mouse. [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.)