Fennesz, Matmos, Patton, Forrest Redo Foetus on Vein

Photo by Taylor Crothers

Industrial elder J.G. Thirlwell, aka Foetus, has gathered nine of his most glitched-out comrades-in-arms to reimagine Love, Foetus' 2005 album, on a collection called Vein.

Matmos, Mike Patton, Fennesz, Jason Forrest, and Tujiko Noriko are all part of the charge. And in addition to the regular helping of remixes, two of Vein's tracks, Jay Wasco's "L'overture" and Tom Recchion's "Corrodia Gravis", contain elements of several Love songs.

Vein comes out October 16 via Birdman and features album art designed by Thirlwell himself, as well as an animated video for "Time Marches On" by director Sam Sohlberg.

Adding a whole extra layer of meta to the project is Thirlwell's remix of the remix album into a single track, which he and the label have done to avoid the file-sharing of advance copies. They're calling it a trailer for the record, and you can listen to it at the link below.

Thirlwell also has a few other projects with which to busy himself, including the soundtrack to the third season of Cartoon Network show "The Venture Bros." and two forthcoming shows under his Manorexia alter ego. The first of those shows-- at New York City Whitney Museum on November 2-- will feature two sets, the second of which involves robots! [MORE...]

Photos: José González / Tiny Vipers [Los Angeles, CA; 10/10/07]

Photos by Akmal Naim

After chatting through a set by Sub Pop's Tiny Vipers, the talkative crowd at L.A.'s El Rey Theatre hushed to make some sonic space for José González's soft strumming. González didn't chat much with the sold-out crowd, but silence is golden.

The Swedish songsmith's sophomore LP, In Our Nature, is out now on Mute. More photos and tour dates below.

JOSE GONZALEZ






TINY VIPERS



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Bodies of Water Tour Land

Photo by Laura Heffington

For all the wild-eyed ambition of Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink, it's easy to forget that Bodies of Water haven't been knocking out Jesus'd-up opuses for years now. In fact, just as Ears Will Pop is the band's full-length debut, their forthcoming easterly tour is the L.A. band's first time doing the band thing near that Atlantic body of water. They'll warm up, however, with a number of shows near the Pacific.

Along the way, Bodies will be joined by the rather disparate likes of the Go! Team and Phosphorescent. Boy, a bunch of good Christian kids, stuck on the wrong side of the country with those sugar-addled weirdos and that sadsack with the beard? Pray for them, willya? [MORE...]

Girl Talk, Ted Leo, Enon, Blitzen Win Taco Bell Contest
Just pretend that's a taco, okay?

Photo by Jason Bergman

Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis: Playgirl model extraordinaire, the talk of Congress, the scourge of jam bands, and now, Taco Bell "Feed the Beat" contest champion of the world!!

Along with 49 other musical acts, Gillis walked away with a victory in the recent contest, which invited touring musicians to describe why they quiero Taco Bell foodstuffs. His prize? $500 worth of said foodstuffs. If you find a little salsa in Gillis' beard next time he stage dives on top of you, well, now you know why.

Other victors in the Fourthmeal mecca's competition include Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Enon, Blitzen Trapper, White Rabbits, Panthers, Meg & Dia, and Manchester Orchestra. Bon appétit, guys.

Oh, and speaking of Girl Talk: our boy Gregg has contributed a rare track to a special four-song sampler the folks at his label, Illegal Art, have kindly made available for download (snatch it here). The apostrophe-free jam, "Lets Run This", originally appeared on a now out-of-print Australian compilation titled Ministry of Shit. If the words "free Girl Talk mp3" aren't enough to get your mouse finger click-happy, do yourself a favor and ruminate on this here tracklist. [MORE...]

Patrick Wolf to Play "Finale" Show in London

Photo by Kathryn Yu

So it's a Patrick Wolf finale, then, but (thankfully) not the one we'd dreaded. The magic dandy has added a special year-capping show at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire December 20 to his tour itinerary that will be his last until the writing, recording, and release of his forthcoming follow-up to this spring's stellar Magic Position. The show will be a two-part affair: the first finding Patrick by his lonesome, and then, following a brief intermission, a Christmas party-slash-full band set. Dude could rock those elf ears like none other, don't you think?

There are plenty of opportunities to catch Patrick before then, too, as his North American tour winds to a close next week and he hits Australia, Japan, and the UK in November. [MORE...]

Beirut's Flying Club Blogotheque Vids Headed for DVD

The internet is pretty neat, what with the whole "world wide" aspect of it and this streaming video thing that's all the rage these days. But sometimes a few too many abrupt buffering breaks can make one long for the good old days of the DVD.

Beirut, no strangers to longing for the good old days, know this well. So, together with La Blogothèque, they're planning to compile all those lovely Flying Club Cup live videos that have been blowing up cyberspace (and your friendly Forkcast) onto one nice little DVD.

What videos, you say? Please report directly to the Pitchfork search box, change the drop menu item to "Forkcast", type in "Beirut", and hit "Go". (Or check them out here.) Those videos, my friend, the final two of which just went up this morning. You ought have a look! There's one for each track on The Flying Club Cup, and they're all rather lovely.

The DVD-- titled Cheap Magic Inside-- will in fact span an hour and contain additional footage never before seen on the interwebs! Blog and band plan to sell this self-released article on Beirut's upcoming European tour, which kicks off November 6 in Manchester, England. Plans for some sort of U.S. release are also in the works. Alas, no word yet on the cinematograph edition. [MORE...]

NIN Remix LP Tracklist, Release Date Revealed
New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Switch, Paul Epworth all confirmed

Looks like Trent Reznor hasn't quite rid himself of Interscope just yet. The once-mysterious Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D album will be released on the label in a number of formats November 20.

In a post to Nine Inch Nails' website yesterday, Trent laid out all the details for the remix album. In addition to previously confirmed remixers the Faint, Sam Fogarino of Interpol, Fennesz, the Knife's Olaf Dreijer, Ladytron, Saul Williams, and Bill Laswell, Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D also contains previously rumored, now confirmed remixes from New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Switch, Paul Epworth, and a ragtag crew of others, including a fan.

Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D will be available as a digital download, a CD/DVD-ROM combo, and a triple-disc LP. The digital download and CD/DVD-ROM share the same tracklist, but the latter "also contains a DVD-ROM (not a movie) that contains every track from Year Zero in multitrack format for you to do with what you please." He adds, graciously, "Mac or PC."

Both the vinyl and the CD come packed in a six-panel jacket designed to match Year Zero, though a number of tracks are exclusive to each. But frankly, Trent doesn't really care which version you buy, or if you buy it at all.

Having trouble sorting through your options? Let Uncle Trent explain:

"I can make this easy for you: if you just want to hear the tracks as cheaply as possible, get it digitally. The highest fidelity will likely be [the] Amazon [digital music store] (through legal means). If you want something that's aesthetically cool and will enhance any collection, get the vinyl. Trust me, it looks great. The extra tracks are fairly minor embellishments to the whole (and surely someone will upload them instantly). If you want higher quality tracks legally, a nice package AND a complete multitrack of the whole record, get the physical CD / DVD ROM." You're the boss!

Trent's straight talk express kept on rollin':

"**insert comment from NINSUX: 'I thought he said all the multitracks were going to be posted online, now he wants us to PAY for them??'

Relax, friend. One second after this package goes to the manufacturing plant someone will kindly upload those missing multitracks and everything will be OK. If they don't soon enough for your liking, just yell loudly out the window and I'll do it myself."

Awesome! We love it when artists leak their own albums!

He continues: "As for the record itself, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. Remix records can be disposable garbage (of which I myself have been guilty of to some extent) but this collection feels good to me. I reached out to heroes, friends, and strangers. I encouraged those I approached to do anything and insert themselves as much as possible into the track. Some of the stuff that was done earlier led me to choosing other people to balance things out. The Pirate Robot Midget mix is a fan's work-- I thought it was great, it filled a need and I asked permission to use it here.

"It's always interesting for me to hear my work reinterpreted-- I hope it is for you as well."

Upon the release of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, Trent and co. will launch remix.nin.com, designed as a hub for submission and discussion of fan remixes. [MORE...]

Liars Craft "House Clouds" Single, Extend Tour

Following up the face-melter "Plaster Casts of Everything", the first single from Liars' recent self-titled LP, couldn't be an easy task. But "House Clouds", the almost Beck-like tune that follows "Plaster Casts" on the LP, seems like a natural choice for the next gem to be culled from the magnificent muck of Liars. So it shall be October 29, when Mute issues that song as a single on CD, 7", and digital download "House Clouds".

The "House Clouds" CD and download feature new cut "Red Dirt" and the Tiny Masters of Today remix of "Clear Island" (the latter a favor repaid for Liars remixing a TMT song). The disc also contains the uncensored version of that bugged-out "Plaster Casts" video. The "House Clouds" 7" sports a new tune called "Dear God".

That tour with Interpol seems to be going rather well, if the pictures we've seen are any indication. Tonight both bands hit our homebase of Chicago. After the Interpol tour, Liars tour Europe in November and December, with a stop off at the ATP Halloween gala. [MORE...]

Indie Rock Hits the Funny Pages

When historians look back on our current decade, the date of October 10, 2007 will live in infamy. And not just because it was In Rainbows day. But because it was the day that ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead got a shout-out in Sally Forth. (See above.)

Big, big thanks to reader Nicholas Scheurich for catching that!

The story line continues today:

Too bad "the Killers" and "Awesome Color" are already taken.

Also, is it just us, or is Sally Forth really depressing these days?

Speaking of Trail of Dead, the dates for their Adult Swim tour have been announced. Look in the front row for the girl with the hipster haircut and brown jacket with food all over it.

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Photos: PJ Harvey [New York, NY; 10/10/07]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

Like the slightly more prolific Robert Pollard, PJ Harvey has decided to grace U.S. audiences with but two live appearances this year, the first of which went down last night at New York City's Beacon Theatre. Adorned in a vintage white dress with writing scrawled on the arms-- not unlike the one she sports on the cover of the just-released White Chalk-- a solo Harvey treated the gathered to selections spanning her diverse catalog, including the raw "Man-Size", alt-rock radio hit "Down by the Water", and plenty of the new Chalk material.

Ghostly Harvey haunts Los Angeles' Orpheum on October 15.




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John Pugh Leaves !!!, Fires Up Free Blood
Debut Free Blood EP features Hot Chip remix

This just in from the Department of Unsurprising Revelations: John Pugh of !!! fame has formed a band with the self-proclaimed desire to create "manic background music for ensuing debauchery." This new kid on the party-starting block is called Free Blood and is Pugh's collaboration with pal Madeline Davy.

Turns out Free Blood came at a cost, however, as Pugh has, according to his publicist, officially quit !!! to concentrate on his new digs full time.

Free Blood's first release is the "Quick & Painful" / "Never Hear Surf Music" EP, which comes out in the UK on October 15 via Adventures Close to Home. It's the first of three EPs Free Blood will release on the label, and it features a Hot Chip remix of the first track and an iTunes-only remix of the second track by the label's crew. All three EPs will have 12" vinyl as well as digital releases.

Meanwhile, the now Pugh-less !!! are still going strong on their tour with the Field. Their next show is tonight, October 11, in NYC. [MORE...]

Jonny Greenwood Talks In Rainbows
"It's just interesting to make people pause for even a few seconds and think about what music is worth now."

While most of the civilized world got lost this morning In Rainbows, NYC's Gothamist blog chatted with Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, who shared some insight on the new album, as well as his own exploits in orchestral composition and film-scoring. It's worth your while to peruse the entire interview here, but quick-fixers can cut to the chase right now:

Gothamist: What's motivating the band to distribute the album this way?

Jonny Greenwood: Just getting it out quickly. It was kind of an experiment as well; we were just doing it for ourselves and that was all. People are making a big thing about it being against the industry or trying to change things for people but it's really not what motivated us to do it. It's more about feeling like it was right for us and feeling bored of what we were doing before.

Gothamist: Why give people the option to pay whatever they want?

Greenwood: It's just interesting to make people pause for even a few seconds and think about what music is worth now. I thought it was an interesting thing to ask people to do and compare it to whatever else in their lives they value or don't value.

Gothamist: Have you gotten any figures of how much people are choosing to pay?

Greenwood: No we get the numbers tomorrow supposedly. Yeah, I don't know. The more exciting thing for me is just hearing it on the radio today and knowing it's landed on everybody's desk at the same time. That's what's exciting. But yeah, I'm sure our manager will have some idea soon.

Gothamist: How did the process of making In Rainbows differ from Hail to the Thief?

Greenwood: It was more like earlier Kid A stuff, more based in studio experiments and trying out ideas and spending quite a long time. That's what we did with Kid A and Amnesiac.

Gothamist: What song on the album proved most difficult to finish?

Greenwood: Even ones that we finished quickly we spent a long time deciding if they were good enough. None of them were easy, actually. "Reckoner" kind of came together quickly.

Beyond that, Greenwood also revealed that he's yet to start work on the commissioned piece that comes as part of his BBC British Composer Awards victory ("Thanks for reminding me, I must start something soon on that.") and that he likely won't be attending the U.S. premiere of Popcorn Superhet Receiver this coming January in New York City.

Oh, also: Radiohead hope to tour in 2008!!!

Greenwood also spoke with RollingStone.com's Rock&Roll Daily blog today and said more or less exactly the same things, sometimes word-for-word. One new topic he did touch upon, however, is the touchy subject of the 160 kbps In Rainbows mp3s. Justified Jonny: "We talked about it and we just wanted to make it a bit better than iTunes, which it is, so that's kind of good enough, really. It's never going to be CD quality, because that's what CD does."

In related news, since the In Rainbows download didn't come with album art, folks have started making their own. Here's our favorite so far:

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.)