MSTRKRFT Help Brazilian Girls Flaunt "Pussy"

Brazilian Girls-- whom, we are obligated to point out, are entirely not Brazilian and mostly not girls-- put it out there. Their rather forward cut "Pussy" gets its own digital EP August 28 on iTunes and through the band's site via Verve Forecast. And as the collection's title would suggest, they're indeed giving us more than just "Pussy".

More Than Pussy: The Remix EP also features Carl Craig's remix of "Last Call", a MSTRKRFT reworking of "Jique", and the Girls' bilingual take on Talking Heads' "Crosseyed and Painless", recorded by veteran producer Tchad Blake.

Brazilian Girls have a few European dates scheduled throughout the fall, following a stop at KCRW's World Festival series August 26 along with the very American Macy Gray (and, to be fair, the very Belgian Zap Mama). Still, looks like that misnomer's working in your favor, eh ladies? [MORE...]

Stars Add DVD to Bedroom, Announce New Single

When Stars unleash their excellent new album, In Our Bedroom After the War, on the physical world (September 25 via Arts & Crafts), fans that refused to settle for the already available digital version will receive a reward for their patience and loyalty: a bonus DVD titled Are We Here Now?

Are We Here Now? is a 55-minute documentary of the band's tour in support of its previous LP, Set Yourself on Fire. In addition to live footage galore, it also features interviews with the band. The Anthony Seck-directed DVD will come as the second disc of an early, limited edition of In Our Bedroom at no additional cost. Check out the trailer below.

Adding to the fanfare surrounding the album, Arts & Crafts will release the album's first single, "Take Me to the Riot" on September 4. It will be available only on 7" vinyl and comes back by the B-side "Division".

Stars have also announced the openers for their fall tour. In addition to the previously reported New Buffalo, other support will come from Magnet, Lloyd Cole, and Miracle Fortress.

Are We Here Now? trailer:

[MORE...]

Explosions in the Sky Reschedule Cancelled Dates

Back in May, we laid a little bad news on our European readers: Texan post-rock coterie Explosions in the Sky axed the entirety of their summer European tour due to an illness in the family. The band made a promise to reschedule as many of those dates as possible, and in January 2008, Explosions will make good on that promise. Now that's called planning ahead!

Only the UK shows have been rescheduled for now, with ethereal Portland ambient artist Eluvium opening. After spending a few weeks with the Smashing Pumpkins this fall, I'm sure the gents will further appreciate the peace and quiet. [MORE...]

Hard-Fi Prep Sophomore Album, Tour

UK quartet Hard-Fi will release their sophomore album, Once Upon a Time in the West, via Necessary/Atlantic on September 3 in the UK and September 18 in the U.S.

The follow-up to 2005's Stars of CCTV features the (Flipper-inspired?) meta-artwork seen to the left; first single "Suburban Knights" dropped this week in three formats: a digital download and two separate seven-inches.

The band will launch a brief UK tour at the end of August. [MORE...]

The Aliens Invade North America This Fall
Cool it, Lou Dobbs, they're just going on tour

The Aliens-- whom we should really start referring to as The Gamma Band-- seem rather fond of letting North America lag a little behind their home planet of, uh, Scotland. Having allowed Astronomy for Dogs room to invade the UK months before it captured the U.S., they're now following a run of UK dates with a couple weeks in the U.S. and Canada. Where will their interplanetary invasion take them next? By the looks of it, perhaps the barbershop. [MORE...]

Fennesz Remixes Nine Inch Nails, Reissues Debut LP

On the NIN tip, the headline really says it all. Austrian auditory augmenter Fennesz will be among those contributing a remix of a Year Zero cut to the Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D album. No word on which track, exactly, but we're working on it.

As for Fennesz, well, when he's not thinking about Year Zero, he's looking back a decade. Hotel Paral.lel, Christian Fennesz' debut LP, will be getting a decennial anniversary reissue September 25 in the U.S. (the day before in Europe) from Editions Mego. There's a bit of bonus material that comes with Hotel Paral.lel, too; "5", a track from a 1996 7", and a video by Tina Frank/Skot for the album's closer, "Aus".

Christian has a precious few live engagements scheduled over the next month or so. All those and the refurbished Hotel Paral.lel tracklist are yours after the jump. [MORE...]

Ben Curtis Talks School of Seven Bells, Secret Machines
"I've already gotten my share of hate mail."

Photo by Amanda Merten

With Benjamin Curtis having ended his tenure with Secret Machines, the School of Seven Bells is officially in session. The Brooklyn quartet-- comprised of Curtis, ex-On!Air!Library! sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, and James Elliott (aka Ateleia)-- has plenty on the syllabus this fall, including a new EP, a Prefuse 73 collaboration, and a tour with Blonde Redhead.

"[We met] on an Interpol tour," Curtis told Pitchfork in a recent interview. Both his and the Deheza sisters' former bands were opening for the brooding NYC behemoths. "You know, it always takes a while-- bands are always so shy-- but we started talking. And we just became friends. Their thing fell apart and I was kind of moving on in my own direction too. That's just how it happened."

While Curtis says the combo has only been playing together for "maybe nine months," they already have a 7" on Sonic Cathedral, and a 12"/digital EP due September 11 on Table of the Elements. Listeners can expect "really chromatic synths...and a really visceral rhymthic context" from the songs on the Face to Face on High Places EP, according to Benjamin. "You know, and guitars. Because that's what I end up doing."

The sound apparently has Secret Machines fans divided. "I've already gotten my share of hate mail," Curtis admitted.

"It's kind of divided down the middle. [I'll] get messages like, 'I know at least 10 people that never ever buy your records now,'" Curtis offered with a laugh. "It's like, you can have those 10 people, it's all right man."

He continued: "But it's just totally different music. Fans of Secret Machines are very committed, more so than I ever thought. It's weird, it's like if you're a big fan of the hometown football team, whoever that is, and you're cheering on the quarterback and the quarterback gets traded somewhere else. And all of a sudden he's the enemy, you know what I mean? It's very much like professional sports. It's loyalty to the name, I guess, not the people."

Those hungry for beef about Benjamin leaving Secret Machines, however, should take their salivating elsewhere. Indeed, "it was the most boring split in the history of rock."

"We hang out, and they come to our shows and we go to their shows. Brandon [Curtis, Benjamin's brother] and Josh [Garza] dig [School of Seven Bells]. But I don't think they want to be doing what I'm doing either, so I think it's cool." [MORE...]

Adam Franklin (ex-Swervedriver) Tours U.S., Canada
Preps Setting Suns release with Sam Fogarino of Interpol

Having split ears (and, eventually, hairs) with Swervedriver, gotten friendly with Interpol's Sam Fogarino, and only just let loose his Bolts of Melody, Adam Franklin's ready to hit the road.

Following a brief late August jaunt with fellow ex-somethings Hopewell, Ad will rock October up and down all over the U.S. and just a smidgen in Canada. A Setting Suns release is in the works for the fall... fingers crossed. [MORE...]

YACHT & Architecture in Helsinki Team Up for Tour

YACHT photo by Sarah Meadows

It seems that YACHT and Architecture in Helsinki hit it off on their late July dates together in the latter group's native Australia, because the two acts have announced a second round of joint dates. The new tour takes place in Europe in mid-to-late September and is bookended by plenty of separate dates (some new) from both parties.

To coincide with the European tour, YACHT's latest album, I Believe in You, Your Magic Is Real will be released in Europe via the brand new label ERR. ERR is a joint venture between Jan Lankisch from Tomlab, and Matthew Thornhill from XL, but is not affiliated with either label.

Just a reminder: AiH's new album, Places Like This, comes out in the U.S. tomorrow, August 21, via Polyvinyl. And we posted some nice YACHT photos from his show at the McCarren Park Pool earlier today. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: August 20-26, 2007

Monday, August 20:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": New Pornographers
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Stephen Marley feat. Damien Marley (rerun)


Wednesday, August 22:

NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Blonde Redhead (rerun)
PBS: "Tavis Smiley": Talib Kweli

Thursday, August 23:

NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Lily Allen (rerun)

Friday, August 24:

FUEL: "The Daily Habit": The Donnas
IFC: "The Henry Rollins Show": The Duke Spirit
NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Mando Diao (rerun)
CBS: "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson": Ferraby Lionheart

Spoon Cancel Headline Shows to Open for the Shins

Photo by Autumn De Wilde

The Shins aren't made of squishy yellow foam like Spoon's other new friend, but the two bands have enough mutual affection to account for their appearance on the same October 22 bill at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. (Vetiver opens the show.)

What this means, though, is that Spoon were forced to cancel both of their shows at D.C.'s 9:30 Club on October 22 and 23. In addition to a simple refund, ticketholders for those shows have two options for attending the Merriweather Post Pavilion show:

1) Go to the 9:30 or Merriweather box office, and trade in the original ticket and an extra ten dollars for a General Admission Pit or Reserved Pavilion ticket.

2) Bring the original ticket to Merriweather on the day of the show for a lawn seat.

Other North American residents have a much easier decision to make: To go or not to go. The decisions continue September 5 in Seattle. [MORE...]

Photos: Spank Rock / YACHT / The Cool Kids / Flosstradamus & Kid Sister [Brooklyn, NY; 08/19/07]

Photos by Jason Bergman

A little rain couldn't dampen party spirits at Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool, which became Earth's center of hipster gravity yesterday afternoon as Spank Rock, Kid Sister and Flosstradamus, YACHT, the Cool Kids, and Ghostland Observatory took turns making kids' rumps twirl in time with their umbrellas.

This latest Pool Party also played host to the usual dodgeball tournament and all sorts of other extra-musical fare. Scope the performers' other dates and more photos below.

SPANK ROCK


YACHT


KID SISTER


THE COOL KIDS

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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.)