Suzuki, Califone, the Blow, Bowerbirds Say Halleluwah
Tara Jane O'Neil, Joggers, Panther, White Rainbow, Dark Meat, They Shoot Horses as well

Halleluwah, the second annual Portland festival named after that Can song, has brought in an awfully fitting headliner for its 2007 closing ceremonies: none other than Can vocalist Damo Suzuki!

Suzuki will perform with the "Portland All-Stars", a Pacific Northwestern supergroup consisting of Honey Owens, Yellow Swans, Adam Forkner, Emil Amos, Dan Wilson, and a lot of heavy coats. It gets cold up there, you know.

The best of Portland and some of the best of the rest of the world are on display all weekend at Halleluwah: Califone, the Blow, Tara Jane O'Neil, Panther, Bowerbirds, the Joggers, White Rainbow, Dark Meat, and They Shoot Horses Don't They? are among those from on high. Those looking to worship can do so August 31-September 2 at Portland's Holocene.

SoundExchange Makes New Offer to Small Webcasters

At the time, it seemed the means to an end: Back in the middle of July, copyright royalty collection agency SoundExchange offered internet radio broadcasters an 11th hour reprieve from the potentially crippling rate increases they'd been dreading, in the interest of keeping negotiations open between the two parties.

But now, more than a month after the reprieve took effect, SoundExchange has finally offered a deal to small webcasters-- i.e. those grossing less than $1.25 million in revenue per year (with an additional stipulation capping the number of monthly listening hours). The deal proposes that those qualifying stations would pay out around 10 percent of their revenue through 2010, when, presumably, negotiations would pick up again.

Most critics of the proposal suggest that the $1.25 million delineation between "small" and "large" webcasters leaves far too many in the large category, which would almost certainly pay a higher percentage. The SoundExchange offer also only applies to royalties paid to their members: 20,000 artists on all the major labels and thousands of independents as well, but leaving a wide swath of under-the-radar artists still subject to the higher Copyright Royalty Board-determined royalty rates.

In his Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN), AccuRadio chief Kurt Hanson expressed his frustrations with the offer, including that the agreement will discourage growth among webcasters who may fear they'll enter the higher bracket and, therefore, be subject to higher rates. He hopes that negotiations with SoundExchange can continue, or that Congress intervenes on webcasters' behalf. If neither of those things happen, qualifying webcasters have until September 14 to accept the offer. Should they reject it, they'll either be subject to the original rates laid down by the Copyright Royalty Board or be forced to silence themselves.

In other net radio news, in a private meeting in New York last week between SoundExchange and a number of webcasting services, an agreement was reached that would cap the controversial per-channel minimum fee of $500 at a $50,000 annual payout per provider. Had this agreement not been reached, the fee would've otherwise topped one billion dollars for the likes of Pandora, Live365, and other large webcasters, according to AccuRadio's Dan McSwain.

McSwain feels that both deals are insufficient gestures on the part of SoundExchange to impress Congress, to encourage lawmakers to rule in its favor. McSwain said, "The co-sponsors of the Senate bill have promised to push the Internet Radio Equality Act to a floor vote when Congress returns from recess if negotiations have not progressed. Surely, SoundExchange will use these meager concessions as proof to Congress that they are engaged in a good-faith effort to keep webcasters in business."

We Are Wolves Practice Total Magique on Second LP
Fun fact: they really ARE wolves!

The gents of Canadian trio We Are Wolves are bilingual, and they don't care who knows it. Some of their songs are sung in French; others, English. They already have one album-- Non Stop Je Te Plie en Deux-- with a rather French name, and another, Total Magique, is on the way.

Magique, which emerges October 2 on Dare to Care, comes packaged in a way that, if I'm being kind, could be described as "convoluted." I could characterize the sound of Total Magique, meanwhile, as "Times New Viking buzzsaw ebullience meets Rapture-like dancefloor sloganeering, with the occasional slow jam." They have a handful of Canadian dates coming soon. That'll do for now, eh? [MORE...]

Jon Spencer's Heavy Trash Ready Second LP, Tour

Explosive Bluesman Jon Spencer will release the second full-length by Heavy Trash, his collaborative side project with Speedball Baby's Matt Verta-Ray, via Yep Roc on September 4.

The album, Going Way Out With Heavy Trash, is the follow-up to the duo's 2005 eponymous debut. It was recorded at studios in Boston, London, and New York City with a different live band at each location. Those bands included members of the Sadies, Tremolo Beer Gut, and Powersolo.

Heavy Trash have three Spanish dates scheduled before the release of Going Way Out, starting with an August 30 appearance in Madrid. Then join Heavy Trash as they go way out across the U.S. [MORE...]

Black Angels Tour With Queens of the Stone Age
So that explains Josh Homme

The Black Angels are breaking up...psych!

Hey, do you get off on psych-outs like that? Well, then, the forthcoming Black Angels tour might just be for you. After a hometown show at the end of the month, the Austin, Texas Passover-observers have a spell of dates in September and October, including two weeks with those handsome devils of Queens of the Stone Age. [MORE...]

Luaka Bop Gets U.S. Distro, Live Mutantes Due Stateside

When last we checked in with Luaka Bop, the David Byrne-spawned imprint with a flair for the global, the label had found itself in a U.S. distribution-less limbo state following the dissolution of the Stateside branch of V2.

That was back in February. Now, with August on its way out the window, the Bop is back with a brand new distribution deal and a bevy of chic releases on the agenda.

Having partnered with North Carolina-based Redeye Distribution (whose clientele includes Daptone, Gern Blandsten, Kanine, GSL, Yep Roc, and Flameshovel, among others), the newly reinvigorated Luaka Bop will first conjure up that previously mentioned double disc live set from perennial favorites Os Mutantes. Titled Os Mutantes Live at the Barbican Theatre, London 2006, the release pretty much speaks for itself, no? Note also that said London show, from May 22, 2006, was the Mutantes' first in some 33 years and featured guest appearances from Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson.

Os Mutantes Live, which dropped UK-ways back in July, is due in the U.S. this November. A separate DVD of the gig is expected to follow in January 2008. For now, check out Os Mutantes Live cut "Ave Lucifer" below.

After that comes What's Happening in Pernambuco: New Sounds of the Brazilian Northeast, the seventh volume in the Brazil Classics series, which the UK got back in March. This compilation collects celebrated sounds from the Northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, including representative cuts from the Mangue Beat movement. Listen to Mombojó's "Cabidela", off What's Happening, by clicking the link below. The compilation is due Stateside in February 2008.

Luaka Bop returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the release of the latest record from sage folkie Jim White. Transnormal Skipperoo includes guest turns from Laura Veirs and Tucker Martine, among others, and was produced by Joe Pernice and Michael Deming. It arrives October 1 in the UK and Europe, with a North American release planned for March 2008. White has a handful of October shows lined up as well, listed for your convenience below.

After that, brace yourselves for the latest release from Brazilian trio the +2s, known for rotating their chief songwriter/producer with each release. This time around, Alexandre Kassin takes the reins for the previously mentioned Kassin+2 release Futurismo. Put out this past April across the pond, Futurismo will finally crash U.S. shores in April of next year. John McEntire (Tortoise, the Sea and Cake) and Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas) guest on the LP.

Finally, Luaka Bop keeps rolling along with the May 2008 (plenty of time to save up for this one!) U.S. release of Nobody Can Live Forever: The Essential Soul of Tim Maia. Esteemed as the "Brazilian Funk Soul Godfather", Maia should strike a chord with the Sun Ra fan in all of us, and this collection sums up his otherworldly charms. [MORE...]

Springsteen Announces Fall Tour With E Street Band

Expect the smile quotient of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" to take a small dip this fall, as Max Weinberg will take a break from flashing his pearly whites behind the talk show's kit to heed his call as drummer for the E Street Band on Bruce Springsteen's recently announced fall tour.

The gigs begin in Hartford, Connecticut on October 2, the very same day as the release of the Boss' new album, Magic, on Columbia. The band has shows scheduled across the world well into December. [MORE...]

Voxtrot Open for Arctic Monkeys, Postpone Shows

Score another one for the upstarts: Bringing their cumulative full-length album total to a whopping three, Voxtrot will join UK sensation Arctic Monkeys on the latter's previously reported fall tour of the North American continent.

The news came as something of a Favourite Worst Nightmare to Voxtrot, who took to MySpace today to express both delight at the prospect teaming up with the Arctics and dismay at the resulting logistical chaos. Consequentially, Voxtrot have been forced to postpone a handful of their remaining UK dates, as well as a two-week run of West Coast U.S. gigs. The boys assure via MySpace that the bulk of said dates "will be rescheduled before the end of the year." So, with a little patience, everybody wins.

And while you're updating your calendars, might as well make a note that the previously reported UK "Firecracker" single, originally due on August 27 from Beggars/Playlouder, will now come out September 3. [MORE...]

Thurston Edits Punk House Book, Issues Split Box Set

Photo by Jason Bergman

You wake, wipe the crust from your eyes (or don't), have a drink of water (if it's potable, or not), roll over to the other side of the bed (if you have a bed), and then punk out all the live long day. Such is the oddly glamorous life of a punk, and the subject of photographer Abby Banks' new book Punk House: Anarchist Interiors.

Thurston Moore knows a little bit about the lifestyle displayed within Punk House: He's been living it since he was a kid, and, heck, he probably found some way to get feedback in the sonogram. So it's fitting that Moore-- no stranger to dingy basements and beer can pyramids-- is the editor of Punk House. Available in October from Abrams Image, the book explores cheap communal living for the non-granola set through over 300 of Banks' photos and the sage wisdom of Mr. Moore.

With his mind on all things both dirty and claustrophobic, Thurston-- not one to sit still for too long-- has also concocted a new release. No, not September's "total pop record" Trees Outside the Academy, but the "fierce" and "charging" Thrash Sabbatical, a collection of vinyl releases split between Thurston and a trio of clattermakers. There's a 12" with L.A.'s Men Who Can't Love, and a 7" apiece with Barrabarracuda and Kevin Shields, who is not THAT Kevin Shields. The whole thing is out now on Deathbomb Arc.

Thurston, both under his own name and the Sonic Youth banner, will be out on the road for a good portion of the next few months. He's added a date to his solo tour since our last check-in, Halloween night at a Visalia, California pizza joint. Spending all hallow's eve making a racket at a local business? That, my friend, is way punk. [MORE...]

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...]

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.)