Knife, Cat Power, Stipe, Animal Collective in Visionaire
Also: Sonic Youth members, Antony, Yoko Ono, David Byrne, Sunn0))), Danger Mouse

"Multi-format album of fashion and art" Visionaire will take the form of five 12" vinyl picture discs [pictured above] for its 53rd issue, "Sound", which will come out in December.

"Sound" features contributions from David Byrne, the Knife, Animal Collective, Cat Power, Michael Stipe, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Antony and the Johnsons, Andrew WK, Yoko Ono, Beastie Boy Adrock, Danger Mouse, U2, Courtney Love, Malcolm McLaren, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Laurie Anderson, UNKLE, Sunn O))), Gang Gang Dance, Christian Marclay, Miss Kittin, Trevor Jackson, Nigo, Robert Wilson, DJ Spooky, Doug Aitken, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, and Helmut Lang, among many, many others from the worlds of art, fashion, and, of course, music.

These contributions amount to over 100 minutes of previously unreleased audio experiments, samples, spoken word pieces, and even actual songs.

The images on the picture discs were created by a number of artists you might recognize from their work on your favorite album covers, including Peter Saville, Cindy Sherman, Raymond Pettibon, and Robert Longo.

"Sound" comes in an edition of 4,000 numbered copies, and the full package includes the five records, an acrylic dome case, a booklet with credits and instructions, two CDs containing all of the audio content, and a battery-operated toy car that plays the records through a self-contained needle and speakers as it drives along the grooves.

Best happy meal ever.

Danger Mouse Busy With Gnarls, Keys, Topley-Bird

He's the greatest! He's fantastic! At least, that's how artists seeking some creative direction (and affable backing tracks) seem to feel. And no matter the project, he'll be there. Yep, Danger Mouse, the collabo-mongering beatmaker, has a new crop of far-flung studio companions and at least one familiar (albeit perpetually costumed) partnership soldiering on. Amazing! Astounding!

First, settle those bets, naysayers: there's a second Gnarls Barkley album on the way. Seems Cee-Lo Green and DM have holed themselves up in their Atlanta-area cave, waiting for the perfect time to strike with the follow-up to last year's St. Elsewhere. Looks like "the perfect time" to drop the sophomore set is around the turn of the new year.

Then there's the new album he's producing for London's Shortwave Set. The disc, tentatively titled Replica Sun Machine, features a 24-piece orchestra helmed by the legendary Van Dyke Parks and further input from the Velvet Underground's John Cale. That disc is set for release early next year.

And that Black Keys/Danger Mouse/Ike Turner collaboration we've been muttering about has turned into yet another gig for DM: the Akron bluesmen (who've never worked with an outside producer before) and Danger Mouse have been crafting the follow-up to last fall's Magic Potion. That record is slated for shelves from Nonesuch in early 2008.

Oh, and how's this for a blast from the past? Martina Topley-Bird, the aeriform accompanist from all those Tricky albums you keep meaning to revisit, will release her Mouse-assisted sophomore solo set, The Blue God, in early 2008 on Independiente.

Expect to see Danger Mouse on the cover of every single magazine's February issue.

Marissa Nadler Joins Peter Bjorn & John/Clientele Tour

It's shaping up to be quite an epic battle between the forces of Happy and the forces of Sad on the upcoming Peter Bjorn and John/Clientele tour. Previously the odds seemed turned in favor of the sunny-day Swedes, who had cunningly sabotaged the most recent Clientele album (this year's God Save the Clientele), turning it into something that's actually rather upbeat and thus an ally to Happy.

Now the scales have tipped once again, as gloom-addled songstress Marissa Nadler has joined the war of moods for seven late-September engagements. If Nadler's latest piece, Songs III: Bird on the Water, provides us any clues, the lady will most assuredly lend her woebegone talents to the cause of Sad. Will Nadler and the Clientele's back catalog cast all in melancholy's shadow? Or will PB&J rally the troops with that ubiquitous battle cry, the one that involves forcing air through pursed lips? The suspense!

Before jumping into the PBJ fray, Nadler has a series of training exercises, with the latest set for August 28 in Santa Cruz. [MORE...]

M83 Brings Shades to U.S., Reveals More LP Details

M83 main man Anthony Gonzalez will release the previously reported first volume of Digital Shades, his ongoing series of ambient records, in the U.S. on September 4 via Mute. Appropriately, the release will be a digital one.

The forthcoming proper album follow-up to Before the Dawn Heals Us is still in the works, with Gonzalez working with producers Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós, Suede, Cocteau Twins, the Sugarcubes) and Ewan Pearson (the Rapture, Ladytron). It is still tentatively scheduled for release in early 2008.

Mastodon, Deerhunter, Black Lips Do Burn to Shine

With Volumes Four and Five (Seattle and Louisville) still in post-production, Burn to Shine-- the unique DVD series that collects footage of a city's bands performing in a space slated for demolition-- recently rolled into Atlanta for its sixth and latest shoot.

According to a Dry Ink report/interview, Mastodon, Deerhunter, Black Lips, Shannon Wright, Snowden, the Selmanaires, and the Coathangers were among the Atlanta bands that tore through one song apiece-- just before bulldozers and/or flames tore through their makeshift performance venue (or what was left of it after Mastodon played). Burn to Shine maestros Christoph Green and Brendan Canty (Fugazi) oversaw this production as well, which also included performances from the Liverhearts, the Mighty Hannibal, Delia Gartrell, the Carbonas, and the All Night Drug Prowling Wolves.

As previously reported, the forthcoming Seattle edition will feature Ben Gibbard, Eddie Vedder, the Long Winters, David Bazan, Tiny Vipers, and others, while Louisville gets Will Oldham, the Shipping News, and Magik Markers, to name a few. No word yet on release dates for either of these volumes, nor the ATL one, but I'm still totally asking Santa for all of them.

Orange Juice's Edwyn Collins Returns Home Again

Former Orange Juice singer Edwyn Collins will release his sixth solo album on September 17 in the UK via Heavenly. The record is a few years coming because of the stroke Collins suffered in 2005 after recording the songs. Fortunately, he recovered to the point where he could mix the album with engineer Seb Lewsley this past winter, and the result is the self-produced Home Again.

The album's first single, "You'll Never Know", will precede it on September 10.

Collins' recovery keeps moving along, and one of his most immediate goals is to get to a point soon where he and his band can play out in support of Home Again. [MORE...]

Lou Reed Works With the Killers on New Track
Hey babe, take a walk on the brightside

A couple years back, I recall seeing a very out-of-place-looking Lou Reed at some MTV event or another talking to Gideon Yago, decrying the network's recent resistance to rock music. Yago asked Reed just who he'd like to see replacing endless repeats of "Engaged & Underage" or whatever, and, with nary a blink, Reed replied "Okkervil River."

In that moment-- and with his embraces of Antony and Conor-- Lou showed himself to be both a man who takes his heartwrenching theatrics with at least a spot of nuance and, ad infinitum, the original hipster. So what in the heck is Lou Reed doing on a track with the nuance-free, not-exactly-hip Killers?

Singing, it turns out. According to NME.com, Reed recently hit the studio with Flood and Alan Moulder to duet with Brandon Flowers on "Tranquilize", a track from the moustachioed band's forthcoming B-sides, rarities, and now totally incongruous collabos compilation.

Pardon our incredulity. It's not that the Killers aren't awesome in their way, but "their way" is sort of the same thing Lou Reed's spent much of his career standing outside of. Also, don't bands generally wait until they have more than a couple albums before they drop a rarities comp? And wouldn't you think Lou Reed would maybe choose a band a little more road-tested (or with a bit more gravitas) than the Killers for a rare guest appearance? Perhaps Lou, like the rest of us, wishes he wrote "Mr. Brightside", too.

The Killers are touring. Expect nightly guest spots from Laurie Anderson and Tom Verlaine. [MORE...]

Photos: Fuck Yeah Fest [Los Angeles, CA; 08/25-08/26/07]

Photos by Akmal Naim

America...Fuck Yeah! And indeed, the American city of Los Angeles played host to the latest Fuck Yeah Fest this past weekend, spewing affirmative expletives across five city venues. Deerhunter, Lavender Diamond, No Age, Pissed Jeans, Busdriver, and Boom Bip all performed, as did Indian Jewelry, Bobby Birdman, Foreign Islands, Midnight Movies, and loads more.

Catch but a slice of the action in the photos to follow.

DEERHUNTER


LAVENDER DIAMOND


NO AGE


BOOM BIP

[MORE...]

Ben Gibbard to Chat With Lemony Snicket

Whatever you do, don't go to the stuffy Palace of Fine Arts in scary San Francisco on September 11, 2007! Not unless you want to endure a sure-to-be mind-numbing conversation between two individuals of little consequence, Mr. Benjamin Gibbard (he of Death Something or Other) and Mr. Daniel Handler (aka sorry scribe Lemony Snicket, the fiend behind "A Series of Unfortunate Events", who has also haplessly crossed the path of Stephin Merritt).

If you really must know, this conversation will take place under the aegis of the Noise Pop festive gathering (the main shindig having gone down this past February and March, lucky for you). It's also part of the dastardly City Arts & Lectures series, a series so prestigious they only use black and white promo photos on their website. Those who callously ignore the above warnings and opt to suffer through the so-called conversation will also be treated to some of the grimmest musical sounds ever committed to the ether, courtesy of Mr. Gibbard.

Mr. Gibbard's interlocutionary* misdeeds actually commence the evening prior, as you may know, when the man who puts both the "bad" and "dour" in troubadour chats and performs as part of the similarly grave Miller Genuine Draft "The Craft" series. Forgive us for telling you that this event, sponsored also by the Rock and Roll Hall of Infamy, takes place September 10 at Denver, Colorado's Fillmore.

The Noise Pop-presented City Arts & Lectures series, meanwhile, also plays host to Nick Drake discussers Joe Boyd, Gabrielle Drake, and Jolie Holland on October 7 and Bob Mould on October 16.

* a made-up word which here means "of or related to conversation"

Georgie James Are Going Places On LP, Tour
In real life, too, but we'll leave it at the above

Georgie James might not be ready to be President, but they're gunning for positions in the department of transportation. September has the duo, consisting of ex-Q and Not U drummer John Davis and singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn, moving Places everywhere. The record-- their first full-length together-- drops September 25 in the U.S. and September 17 in the UK on CD and LP from Saddle Creek.

The album's release will be preceded by a single for "Need Your Needs". Available digitally in the U.S., "Needs" arrives in the UK on seven inches of wax and backed with a track they call "Aftermath". U.S. fans can fulfill their needs September 11, and Brits can get theirs the day before.

A new album, out intercontinentally? Sounds like prime time for a multi-continent tour! Dates after the jump. [MORE...]

Grizzly Bear Release Friend EP in November

Grizzly Bear have been running through the ten cuts on Yellow House (with a few covers thrown in for spice) for some time now. And, stupendous though the album is, a tour-happy band like Grizzly Bear--who, with this news item, have earned their fourth reference in Pitchfork news today-- need to keep themselves fresh, both for themselves and their fans.

So they've made a new Friend, a brand new ten-track (!) EP, who will hopefully assist in the band's big move out of the Yellow House. Though Friend is currently sans tracklist, it moves in November 6 on Warp.

In the meantime, Grizzly Bear-- as always-- are touring. [MORE...]

BSS, Pornos, Grizzly, National Join Feist on "Letterman"
UPDATE: Fun with Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste!

Photo by Rich Orris

Ever get the feeling indie rock's just turning into one huge clique? Britt Daniel and A.C. Newman are playing together, Patrick Wolf's kicking it with Grizzly Bear, Junior Boys are remixing the Decemberists, Peter Bjorn and John hook up with a new indie gal vocalist pretty much every time they play "Young Folks", and basically everybody's in Broken Social Scene. Now comes word that Feist (indeed in Broken Social Scene) will be joined onstage this very night (August 27) by members of BSS, the New Pornographers, Grizzly Bear, the National, and Mates of State.

Lucky for you, this gathering has an open invitation for anyone with a television and antennae that pick up CBS (or a computer and, cough, YouTube), as the performance in question is none other than Feist's "Late Show With David Letterman" appearance. Tune in at 11:30 p.m. (Eastern) tonight and catch Feist joined by choir comprised of Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene, Carl "A.C." Newman of the New Pornographers, Aaron Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, and Scott Devendorf of the National, Nicole Atkins, everybody in Grizzly Bear, and both Mates of State.

Maybe she'll even rope "Letterman" guest Susan Sarandon into lending her pipes?

UPDATE: We just spoke to Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, direct from the "Letterman" set. He told us that the song they're doing is "1234", and they're wearing white robes with sparkly arm bands. Droste described the experience as "just like summer camp-- basically we were sitting around playing dress up, eating cookies, clapping, and getting to know each other. All we needed were trust falls."

Feist kicks off a brief North American tour at the end of this month, then sets sail for Europe. [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.)