Stereolab's Gane, High Llama O'Hagan Do Soundtrack

No, you're absolutely right, this isn't the first time Stereolab co-leader Tim Gane and highest of the High Llamas Sean O'Hagan have collaborated on an LP: as the one-off Turn On, they released a record some ten-odd years ago.

But when director Marc Fitoussi calls, you brush off a decade's worth of dust and get busy soundtrackin'. Gane and O'Hagan have yet again collaborated on the score for the Fitoussi-helmed French comedy flick La Vie d'Artiste. The film apparently circles around the interconnected lives of three struggling artists, though if it's like any other French movie I've ever seen, at least one of those artists will turn out to be a man in a dress who drinks a lot of vino. Yuk yuk!

The soundtrack album will be released via Too Pure as a double CD and a download September 11. The first disc features music from the film, while the second contains 24 tracks of further collaborative material from the two gents that didn't make it into the film. [MORE...]

Freebass (Peter Hook, Andy Rourke, Mani) in the Studio
Q: How do you get a bass player off your porch? A: Pay for the pizzas

Though we've heard this sorta talk out of them before, Freebass-- the all-bass low end supergroup featuring New Order bassist Peter Hook, Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, and ex-Stone Roses/current Primal Scream (you guessed it) bassist Mani-- have been rattling subwoofers in the studio as they crank out their debut album.

According to Hook-- who recently spoke to Billboard.com about the project-- the album is not quite half done, though he and the lads hope to knock it out before Christmas. Hook also says he'd like very much for Freebass to play festivals next year once the album's in the can. "With the demise of New Order, I was happy to just not play for a while but now I'm missing it," he told Billboard. "And I want to get into it as soon as possible." No word on how those auditions for a singer went, but the Charlatans' Tim Burgess and the Stone Roses' Ian Brown are apparently working with the group. One would also think that guy from Crash Test Dummies with the ultra-low voice would be a natural fit.

Hook posted a Freebass track, "I Envy Us", on his MySpace. Shockingly, there are guitars and drums on it. Even synthesizers! Bells! Horns! And a voice that reminds you over and over again that this is Peter Hook's MySpace.

In other related topics, there's a Joy Division documentary screening during this month's Toronto International Film Festival, to say nothing of Control, which hits theaters soon. Joe Pernice is working on a screenplay loosely based on his book on the Smiths' Meat Is Murder, and some places are reporting that some jokers from "Reno 911!" are working on a Morrissey musical, but we'll believe that when it's actually singing and dancing right in front of us. As for Primal Scream, they'll spend the weekend on the Isle of Wight at Bestival.

Peter Hook has a few DJ dates scheduled for November as well. [MORE...]

Rogue Wave Tour With Feist, Without Feist

As Zach Rogue prepares to unleash Asleep at Heaven's Gate, his third gentle sonic tide at the crest of Rogue Wave, he'll embark on a landsurfin' safari of his own on an expansive North American tour. Following a handful of dates with Ms. Leslie Feist this month, Rogue and the Waves will head from sea to shining sea (or, at least, a few bayside locales) on a month of dates kicking off in San Diego October 10.

Asleep at Heaven's Gate will make its drowsy way to stores September 18 from Brushfire. Warning: do not operate heavy machinery after listening to Rogue Wave LP3. [MORE...]

M.I.A. to Drop "Jimmy" Single

Photo by Kirstie Shanley

Sure, in clubs and cars and anywhere Best New Music is found, you've been shaking it to M.I.A.'s "Jimmy" for ages now. But unless you snagged a copy of the Japanese version of Kala-- the splendid album from whence it came-- on holiday in Kyoto, you probably haven't heard "What I Got". Tacked on the end of M.I.A.'s bangin' sophomore effort in the land of the rising sun, "What I Got", in true M.I.A. fashion, flips scripts from the Chili Peppers and Huey Lewis & the News into something all her own.

"What I Got" is the star of the new 7" single for "Jimmy", which drops October 1 in the U.K. via XL. It will also be available as a CD and 12"-- regrettably absent the blood sugar sex magik of "What I Got". Still, as befits a modern disco cut, the B-sides will feature "Jimmy" getting stripped of its vocals for an instrumental, and mixed anew by DJ Eli.

Oh, and M.I.A. will take what she's got on the road sporadically from now 'til the end of October. [MORE...]

Cold War Kids Tour to the Delight of Some

From the wilds of college-town Wisconsin to the enclaves of Europe and back to the purple mountain majesty of Colorado, the Cold War Kids-- like the change about which they dubiously sing-- are gonna come.

The Fullerton, CA child stars are making their way to a lot of places this fall, unlike the static standoff they named themselves after. Following a one-off boozing up the Badgers with Wayne Coyne and the like, they'll link up, as we've mentioned, with the White Stripes for a few weeks of opening slots. Then it's Europe ho for the Kids, before a headlining run of U.S. clubs.

Gosh, is it ever hard to find neutral things to say about Cold War Kids. [MORE...]

Crystal Castles Tour Real World With Metric, Tour Fantasy Worlds With Joysticks

It seems the world of noisemaking just isn't enough for bleepmaestros Crystal Castles. They've gotta go and turn their lives into a rousing game of Crusin' World. And so it shall be on a mostly North American string of tour dates over the next month or so, which finds the Toronto terra-biters getting busier than any other video gamers you know. Most of the dates are with Metric, and they're also scheduled to play CMJ in mid-October, date and venue TBA.

The duo is currently working on their debut album, due February 19, 2008 on Last Gang. Hop them rubies, Bentley Bear!

Promises were made on the band's MySpace page of a winter tour of Japan and Australia, but, as it so often is with gamers, the likelihood of that happening depends entirely on how quickly they can find the bank of warp pipes. Do your homework!

UPDATE: Crystal Castles insist that this news item "makes it seem like we are at home playing videogames when in fact we've been on tour since feb'2006 and hate videogames." So, um, yeah. Sorry.

[MORE...]

Death Cab for Cutie Plan Plans Follow-up, Hit Studio

Imagine a modern day indie rock Rip Van Winkle, who fell asleep listening to Something About Airplanes just before the turn of the century and awoke last year to find his favorite band turned chart-topping megastars. How would he feel? Would he stand by his beloved Death Cab for Cutie or cop a scowl and brand them sell-outs? Would he undergo an existential crisis, only to meet some overzealous but sincere latecomer DCFC fangirl (played by Scarlett Johansson) who teaches him the true meaning of profound happiness? Zach Braff, film that shit!

The soundtrack, obviously, would be by Death Cab, who are about to enter the studio to record the follow-up to 2005's Plans, according to Billboard.com. The quartet did some pre-production, whatever the hell that means, and now they're eyeing mid-September as the golden moment to start recording. Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco will all be graced by the recording Death Cabbies, and spring 2008 will most likely be the season of the new album's release. No word yet on a title, producer, or tracklist, but-- hey wait a minute Rip, are you nodding off again?

As previously reported, Death Cab's Ben Gibbard will join Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket in conversation at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts on September 11, while the Postal Service will not be delivering a new album in time for the holidays.

Underworld Plunge Into Oblivion With Tour

Photo by Perou

UK electronic duo Underworld (aka Rick Smith and Karl Hyde) will release Oblivion With Bells, their fifth studio full-length and first for new label Side One Recordings, on October 16 in the U.S. (the day before on Different in the UK).

Oblivion is Underworld's first proper album since 2002's A Hundred Days Off-- since then, they've released the soundtrack to Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering, and a series of online-only "packages" that went by the name of the Riverrun Project.

After a handful of U.S. dates starting tonight in San Francisco, Underworld will kick off their hopefully riot-less UK and European dates in Dublin on October 4. [MORE...]

Jonny Greenwood: Radiohead "Finished Recording"

And there you have it! Straight from the mouth of Jonny Greenwood and onto the pages of Paste.com and then ateaseweb.com comes word that Radiohead have indeed finished their latest opus, or the recording part of it anyhow. The follow-up to Hail to the Thief. The one that may very well feature children and will allegedly not come out this year.

For more on that, heeeere's Jonny: "We just had a meeting...today," Greenwood told Paste.com on September 7. "We're very relieved to have finished recording. Now we have to decide what we should do with it."

That decision revolves, in large part, around the fact that mighty Radiohead are presently label-less, having fulfilled their contract with EMI. And that's where you come in! Want to release the new Radiohead album on your own awesome underground oh-so-hip DIY imprint?? Just shoot the band an email at fatchance@hellsno.com.

As previously reported, Jonny Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver makes its U.S. debut this coming January.

Fiery Furnances Plan Ballet, Another LP, Extend Tour

Photo by Amy Giunta

We could come up with some clever lede or pun involving a Fiery Furnaces song title or something, but we're just going to walk you through this one. As Matthew Friedberger disclosed in a recent chat with Billboard.com, the Fiery Furnaces are planning a ballet. The ballet has a rock'n'roll theme and incorporates dance based on American Sign Language. Also, it involves something Matthew calls "American event social gestures."

Huh? "The 'we're number one' finger and the heavy metal horn-sign," Matthew elaborated to Billboard, "and, most importantly, the hand-dancing in Indonesian and Pakistani (religious-minded) pop music videos." Ah, of course. Hand-dancing. Right.

No word yet whether this thing will ever see the light of day, nor whether Granny gets to wear a tutu, but indie rock ballets do seem to be in vogue these days. So the zeitgeist is on their side, at least.

Although Widow City, the Furnaces' latest, doesn't drop until October 9 (on Thrill Jockey), it seems the duo already has another record written. It's called Back to Begamo and, said Matthew, contains sister/fellow Furnace Eleanor Friedberger's "selection of her favorite 'arias' of mine." Well sure, if you're already doing ballet, why not opera too?

In the midst of all this grandiosity, the Furnaces have also stretched their previously reported North American tour into November. Catch the dates just ahead. [MORE...]

Patrick Wolf Prepares Digital EP, Extends Tour

Hungry for a bit more Patrick Wolf? The Technicolor dreamboat is set to release a digital EP in late September to coincide with his North American tour. And whaddaya know? He just extended that tour across the mighty Atlantic, taking his native UK in November. A press release states, "Accompanying himself on grand piano, ukulele, viola and clavichord, Patrick will play songs from all three of his albums. He has also hinted that he may even preview songs from his fourth album."

The digital EP features the "Magic Position" you know and love, the Forkcasted song "The Marriage", and a minisuite dubbed "Augustin/Secret Garden II". That oughta tide you over until the "epic" Alec Empire-assisted Patrick Wolf LP4. Or at least 'til snacktime, anyhow.

And if it don't, well, making a date with Patrick on his should scratch that itch. Hey, where'd all that body glitter come from? [MORE...]

Photos: Marissa Nadler [Chicago, IL; 09/05/07]

When Marissa Nadler looked up from tuning her guitar Wednesday night and politely informed another photographer that she's "very self-conscious," I got to worrying we were in for a repeat of her SXSW showcase flap. Thankfully that wasn't the case at all, although it took Nadler a few songs to settle into what would be a satisfying performance.

Following fine sets from local opener Angel Olsen and Toronto's Picastro, Marissa waltzed "onstage" (i.e., the corner of Ronny's' garage-like music room that's designated as a stage) in a bold red frock. Early in the set, she seemed desperate not to let her nerves get the better of her, hesitantly handling words like "reliquary" and "diadem" as though they were porcelain figurines she was arranging on a mantlepiece. That she looked trapped behind a makeshift fortress of three microphones (each with a different level of reverb) didn't help matters, but Marissa soon found her footing, and even offset her typically woebegone songs with moments of humor. At one point she flipped on a ridiculous-sounding chorus pedal for a few bars, then shyly remarked, "That was a joke!" Later she thanked her audience for being so attentive and condemned the rowdy "cowboys" who had turned up at other stops on this tour.

It's a joy Marissa was able to pull it together this time out, and one hopes she'll continue to do so-- songs as good as those that fill Songs III: Bird on the Water deserve to be heard.

MARISSA NADLER







[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.)