Photos: Vegoose Festival [Las Vegas, NV; 10/27/07-10/28/07]

Photos by Sung Kim

The third annual Vegoose festival took place this weekend at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium, and it was the last place in the U.S. to behold Daft Punk's magical pyramid of lights this year. Joining the French robot duo were Iggy Pop and the Stooges (performing their classic album Fun House in its entirety), Rage Against the Machine, M.I.A., Lupe Fiasco, Ghostface Killah performing with the live band Rhythm Roots Allstars, both the Shins and Mastodon decked out in Halloween costumes, Queens of the Stone Age, Battles, Blonde Redhead, Public Enemy, Muse, Gogol Bordello, and Cypress Hill.

Tons more photos below the jump.

DAFT PUNK




IGGY AND THE STOOGES

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

THE SHINS




M.I.A.




GHOSTFACE KILLAH

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE


LUPE FIASCO




BATTLES

[MORE...]

Black Keys, Six Parts Seven, GBV Members on All-Ohio Comp

As a Cincinnati Reds fan who was rooting for the Cleveland Indians in the MLB postseason, I'm afflicted with Ohio fever. As a record label based in Akron, Audio Eagle-- run by Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney-- has the disease as well.

But the label has fashioned a remedy for those of us who suffer from this affliction: a compilation of 21 tracks, all by Ohio bands. With Midwestern straightforwardness, AE has called the comp Audio Eagle Records Presents: A Compilation of Bands From Ohio. It includes songs from the Black Keys, Six Parts Seven, former Guided by Voices members Doug Gillard and Todd and Tim Tobias (as Clouds Forming Crowns), Heartless Bastards, Southeast Engine, and more.

The comp hits select Ohio record stores November 1, and a national release through Nail Distribution will follow on January 22. [MORE...]

Love of Diagrams Embark on Fall Tour With Enon

Perhaps borne of their actual affinity for graphs and blueprints, Love of Diagrams have mapped a slick, circuitous route for their U.S. tour. After starting up tonight (October 30) in Seattle, the Aussie trio will move roughly counterclockwise through the States, with a slight jolt from Louisiana to Florida, presumably to abate wind resistance.

Love of Diagrams will be joined by pals Enon (and, perhaps, a big bag of free chalupas) for most dates; they'll plot their final point in Chicago November 23.

Meticulous planning: it's the only way to rock. [MORE...]

Gold Standard Laboratories Closing Its Doors

California noise-punk label Gold Standard Laboratories announced yesterday, October 29, via a statement on its website that it is calling it quits this month, citing "the onset of factors that have seriously limited our ability to maintain what we feel is the essence of the label." (See below for the full text of the statement.) Most of the label's 14-year back catalog will remain in print both digitally and physically, with mail order available via Redeye Distribution/11spot.com.

Gold Standard Laboratories, or GSL for short, was founded in 1993 in Colorado by Sonny Kay of the punk band Angel Hair (and later of the VSS and Year Future). In 1996, Kay and the label moved to California. Between 1996 and 2001, GSL released early records from future stars like the Locust, the Rapture, !!!, Out Hud, and the Faint.

In 2001, Kay partnered with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, then of At the Drive-In. GSL would go on to release many Rodriguez-Lopez projects, including records by the Mars Volta, De Facto, and various solo and collaborative groups. [MORE...]

Roisin Murphy Injures Eye Socket at Moscow Gig

Poor Róisín Murphy! Seems the UK dance-pop chanteuse was Overpowered by a derelict stage prop during a performance in Russia this past weekend. While treating fans at Moscow's Ikra Club to Overpowered jam "Primitive" on Saturday, October 27, Murphy hit her head on a chair and had to be rushed to a hospital.

As the statement from Murphy's camp puts it, she "severely damaged her eye socket." Thankfully, she's now back in the UK and recovering, and "despite [a] serious concussion and losing a lot of blood, her vision is unimpaired."

Murphy has had to cancel at least a week's worth of gigs, including upcoming performances in Warsaw, Berlin, and Prague. Other European dates-- beginning November 3 in Munich and wrapping up November 24 in Hamburg-- are on for the moment, but may be nixed depending on Murphy's condition. UK and Ireland dates thereafter, however, "should be unaffected."

Murphy hopes to reschedule the cancelled dates before the end of the year. [MORE...]

Iron & Wine Announces 2008 Dates

Once a band starts incorporating "world" influences, the slippery slide toward the jam circuit, wonky new age solo projects, and votive candles at the merch table often begins. Fortunately for us, Iron & Wine's Sam Beam braved such territory with subtlety and an ear for solid tunes, so we got The Shepherd's Dog instead of a sequel to "Brand New Day".

And so, to go along with the announcement of Beam and co.'s European 2008 trek that will follow their currently scheduled UK and U.S. dates, we say, "Go forth, Iron & Wine! See the world! Incorporate its influences! Extract from it new songs that you can use to soundtrack your eventual Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech."

Until then, Iron & Wine will keep touring. They next play London tomorrow, October 31. [MORE...]

Six Organs Craft Exclusive CD for Co-Written Book

For exactly 50 of you, here's some very good news: walk into Los Angeles' Book Soup bookstore around 7 p.m. this Halloween and you'll be presented with a Six Organs of Admittance Empty the Sun soundtrack CD free of charge. The disc won't be available anywhere else, and there's only a few of 'em out there: more than 50, though, as the purchase of any Hotel St. George Press book on that evening will get you one, too. Still, that's a generous offer... a little too generous if you ask me. Must be a catch, right?

Eh, not unless you're allergic to the written word. The night is a celebration of Akashic Books' new experimental imprint Hotel St. George Press, and a number of HSG authors-- including co-founders Alex Rose and Aaron Petrovich, the latter reading in a straitjacket-- will be on hand to read from their work. So, too, will Joseph Mattson, whose Empty the Sun is a collaborative novel with Six Organs of Admittance. Man, Ben Chasny, when do you sleep?

Not anytime soon: Chasny and his Organs have a string of West Coast dates and a single British gig next month. What's more, their latest LP, Shelter From the Ash-- pressed in a quantity exceeding 50, we're sure-- drops November 20 on Drag City. [MORE...]

Goldfrapp Reveal New LP Details

Don't we have enough confusing sevens to deal with as music fanatics? Well, here's one more to add to the pile. In February 2008, Goldfrapp will treat U.S. and UK denizens to Seventh Tree, the duo's fourth long-player.

According to a post on the band's website/MySpace, Seventh Tree came to life in the Somerset studio of Goldfrapp's own Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, who both also wrote and produced the new record. Longtime home Mute will have the privilege of releasing it, which they will do on February 25 in the UK and the day after in the U.S.

As reported just last week, Seventh Tree may, in the band's words, "come as a bit of a shock" to some fans. The most recent MySpace post elaborates: "A sensual counterpoint to the glitterball glamour of [previous LP] Supernature, Seventh Tree is gilded in the butterfly colours of an English surrealism shared from Lear to Lennon. It shimmers and shines with the warmth of a hazy summer, an electric whirlpool over which Alison's glistening voice soars." Ooh, I like butterflies!

Tracklist details, like many butterflies, remain elusive for the moment.

Will Gregory, however, does not; as previously reported, he will premiere his new score to 1924 film He Who Gets Slapped, with help from Portishead's Adrian Utley and others, this December. [MORE...]

Best of Common's Early Years Collected on Hits Comp
Jennifer Lopez wants her album title back

thisisme then: the best of common should come emblazoned with a warning a little bigger than its lowercase "then." The 15-track collection from the Chicago MC is culled almost entirely from Common's first three albums, all released in the 90s on the Relativity label: 1992's Can I Borrow a Dollar?, 1994's Resurrection, and 1997's One Day It'll All Make Sense.

There's a single exception-- "High Expectations" from the soundtrack to Soul in the Hole, a 1997 documentary on Brooklyn streetballers-- but it's not exactly a career highlights package without "The Light", is it?

Eh, we're just griping. thisismethen does a fine job of hitting the highlights from his Common Sense period and (slightly) beyond, and it's fleshed out with guest appearances from Lauryn Hill, Cee-Lo, Erykah Badu and Q-Tip. Pop the disc in your computer device and you'll be greeted with the videos for "Take It EZ", "I Used to Love H.E.R.", "Retrospect for Life", and (non-thisismethen cut) "Invocation". The disc drops November 27 on Relativity/Legacy.

As for Common, he'll be on the big screen soon in the second-most highly anticipated thing called American Gangster you're likely to take in this fall. And he recently launched the Common Ground Foundation, "an effort dedicated to the empowerment and development of urban youth through education," according to a press release. [MORE...]

Modeselektor, Poirier, Yellowman, TTC on Scion 12"s
Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh exhibits art at Scion Space

The jury is still out on whether or not Scion cars look more like the actual future or the 1980s version, but that ambiguity perfectly matches the old-songs-made-new-again aesthetic of the Scion Remix Project, sponsored by the car company's Scion Audio/Visual label.

The Project consists of five digital singles, each highlighting a signature track from the following labels: Greensleeves, Vice, Ninja Tune/Big Dada, Light in the Attic, and Strictly Rhythm. In addition to the tracks themselves-- from artists such as Betty Davis, Yellowman, Panthers, TTC, and Ghislain Poirier-- the singles also feature remixes of each track. The list of remix contributors also includes Poirier as well as Federation Sound, Modeselektor, BSOD, and DFA's Holy Ghost!.

Scion A/V will unleash the Remix Project to online retailers on October 30.

So that's the audio, but how about the visual? Turns out Scion also runs a gallery space in Los Angeles, and that space will soon host an exhibition of works by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. "Rugs During Wartime and Peacetime" opens November 17 at the L.A. Installation Gallery, aka Scion Space. According to the press release, the exhibit explores "the imagery we choose to bring into our homes and how we interact with it for the purposes of comfort and peace-of-mind rather than an esoteric sense of art for art's sake." Groovy. [MORE...]

Menomena's Seim Blogs, Preps New Lackthereof Album

This Menomena news story is all about choices. Want a headache? Just head on over to the Menomena website. Want some live Menomena? Catch the band across the U.S. and Canada this fall (dates recapped below). Want the skinny on the latest album from Meno-man Danny Seim under the Lackthereof moniker? Just read the next paragraph.

Seim will hit us with the eighth (!) Lackthereof record this December, via FILMguerrero. It's called My Haunted and comes in vinyl and digital formats. Just what happened to the other seven Lackthereof albums, you ask? Apart from 2004's Christian the Christian (LP7)-- copies of which are still available via FILMguerrero-- the other releases were limited-run CD-R affairs that Seim hopes to re-release at some point.

A true solo joint, My Haunted is all Danny, with some background vocal contributions from his wife, Holly Seim. Check out the track "Every Kind Word", available for download below, and check Forkcast tomorrow for another treat.

Amazing Mr. Seim found time to tour and make solo records and stuff, as the guy recently posted a 7500+ word blog entry on the Willamette Week website detailing Menomena's autumn exploits in Europe. The highlights are too many to name, and if the word count sounds daunting, don't worry-- there are plenty of pictures too. Check that here.

Finally, want to scope the latest wacky, film-spoofing Menomena tour poster by artist Tyler Stout? That's it right up there, next to the last two. Want it on your wall? Pick up a copy at one of Menomena's upcoming shows. Your roommates will thank you. [MORE...]

Sons & Daughters Return With a Gift on New LP

Photo by Joe Dilworth

The men and women of Glaswegian foursome Sons & Daughters have some pretty cool friends. Not only are they buddies with fellow Scots Franz Ferdinand, but they enlisted former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler to produce their sophomore album, This Gift.

Domino will release This Gift, the follow-up to 2005's The Repulsion Box, on January 29 (North America) and January 28 (elsewhere). The album's first single, "Gilt Complex", landed today (October 29) in the UK and Europe; it's due tomorrow in North America. The single comes as a download and a UK-only seven-inch.

S&D have tour dates, kicking off October 31 with a London in-store and running through December. After This Gift's release, they will head to North America for another, yet-to-be-announced tour. [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.)