Beyonce's Sister Solange Samples Boards of Canada
Solange's album also features Cee-Lo, Q-Tip, Lil Wayne

With will.i.am sampling M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Booka Shade for "Get Your Money" and Andy Samberg jacking Aphex Twin for the "SNL" digital short "Iran So Far", is IDM the new James Brown/Stax/Motown? We sure didn't get the memo, but it looks like Solange Knowles did.

The singer, songwriter, Beyoncé sibling, and Bring It On: All or Nothing star (who knew it was a trilogy?) gets a Boards of Canada sample to call her very own on her forthcoming album. Knowles originally reported the news herself via MySpace blog all the way back in September.

Warp Records confirmed Boards of Canada's appearance on Knowles' record, but the original message also names a slew of other impressive guests: Cee-Lo, Q-Tip, Lil Wayne, Floetry's Marsha Ambrosius, and Bilal. In the message, she exclaimed she was "happy as yellow" with the album's progress, and "jammin to Feist and Lemon Jelly." You want to read the whole thing, don't you? Here:

"Thursday, September 27, 2007

album update
Current mood: chipper

in miami
happy as yellow
workn with cee-lo (wooooowww....Luv Him)
makn great music
wonderful people
bilal,q-tip,marsha(floetry),boards of canada,lil wayne....
all on MY record!
wow
feel so blessed
so honored
everyone is loving and respecting the music
being brave
staying focused
writing

cant wait
till your ears join
im taking my time
getting it right
jamming to feist and lemon jelly
inspiration

comes from every angle
life
love
dreams
paris :), london, miami, boston...

electro soul,vintage grooves, galaxy glimpse, 60's doooo wop!

cant wait for u 2 hear"

Wait..."galaxy glimpse?" Is that a reference to the "Dayvan Cowboy" video?

Radiohead Announce More Tour Dates, Sorta

Though it's still kinda shy on some of those all-important details (like, uh, specific dates and venues), Radiohead have announced a number of live engagements for next summer that closely approximate a proper tour. Adding sixteen stops to the previously announced pair from the other day, the band will kick off their tour in Dublin with a pair of dates in June, do two in Paris, hit up Barcelona, and then take it to Nimes, France for another duo of dates.

Which dates? That remains to be seen, but if the list posted on Radiohead's website is to be believed, those should all go down before their first specific (and currently on sale) date: June 18 at Milan, Italy's Civica Arena.

Then it's to the Hurricane and Southside Festivals in Germany, as we mentioned before. From there, two dates in London, a stop in Glasgow and one in Manchester will close out June. July sees the band in Amsterdam, at Denmark's Roskilde Festival (reportedly taking place July 3-6 in its usual spot), Belgium's Werchter Festival (on the same days as Roskilde) and, finally, making a date in Berlin. The usual chronological itinerary we'd generally post is a little hard to put together without, you know, chronology, but we've done what we can below.

In other Radiohead news, those discboxes are looming, as is the physical release of In Rainbows in both North America and the UK. That big, controversial box set of their previous LPs drops December 10. [MORE...]

Vetiver Plan Remix 12", Covers Album, New LP

There's just so darn much afoot in the land of Andy Cabic and Vetiver of late, what with a new 12" remix project, a covers album, and a proper LP on the way. They're set to emerge in roughly that order, so let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

While they were moving the levers at sessions for Vetiver's 2006 LP To Find Me Gone, Cabic and producer Thom Monahan decided to take a couple of the tracks in some very un-Vetivery directions. New drone-heavy, "deconstructive and electronic" visions of "You May Be Blue" and "Been So Long" will appear on a 12" due on Gnomonsong January 29, representing the first Vetiver recordings for the label Cabic himself co-owns (along with Devendra Banhart). Farmer Dave Scher (Beachwood Sparks) provides melodica and pedal steel on the tracks, while flute duties were handed over to Alissa Anderson (who's also contributed photos to this very website in the past).

Vetiver will release an all-covers LP in the coming spring, with takes on Townes Van Zandt's "Standing", Hawkwind's "Hurry on Sundown", Norman Greenbaum's "Hook & Ladder", Elyse Weinberg's "Houses", and Biff Rose's "To Baby" slated to appear.

Meanwhile, Vetiver also have a track on that Natalie Portman charity mix, and Cabic's been writing material for an all-new Vetiver disc, which he's hoping to record this spring.

Belle & Sebastian Fete Glasgow in Calendar
I was going to call this the one merch idea Gorillaz hadn't thought of yet, except they have

It's the holiday shopping season, which of course means the arrival of...a Belle & Sebastian calendar? Sure, why not? They've already got a puzzle, a frisbie, playing cards, and a comic book.

As it turns out, Belle & Sebastian's "Toast to Glasgow 2008 Calendar" is more than a timekeeper. It's also a guide to the band's hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, with each month featuring a band member in one of his or her favorite places in the city. The photos, courtesy of photographer Marisa Privitera and B&S leader Stuart Murdoch, were all taken this year at locales such as Stow College, the Transport Museum, and Queens Cafe.

In other geographic B&S news, a few band members have solo or DJ sets coming up, culminating in Stevie Jackson's January 8 appearance at the Concrete Frequency: Songs of the City event in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the band has been working on their "God Help the Girl" project; for updates on the selection process, check out Murdoch's diary. Murdoch has also been keeping busy as a producer; he recently helmed the debut single for Glasgow band Zoey Van Goey. [MORE...]

Pinback Play a Bevy of Radio Station Christmas Shows

It's that time of year again! No, not that magical interval wherein dogs bark holiday hits and everyone sits around blitzed on various nogs (though that time, rest assured, is also nigh). It's that time of year when radio stations wrangle up the mirth-makers from their playlists, set up a stage for them to rock on, and spend a few seconds on a silly yuletide pun to name the thing.

From "Bands in Toyland" to "It's a Very Indie Blog X-Mas" (what a merry Christmas that will be), Rob Crow and his Pinback are making appearances at a number of Christmassy radio events, alongside many other jolly good fellows. And, also, Coheed and Cambria.

These gigs appear to cap what's been quite a year for the band, with new discs from both Crow and Pinback proper and a mess of touring in support of each. Rest up while you can, fellas: the season of "Spring Flings" and "Summer Jams" isn't far off now. [MORE...]

Be Your Own Pet Get Awkward on New LP
Song titles: "Bitches Leave", "Food Fight!", "Zombie Graveyard Party", "What's Your Damage"

Tuck those hands in your pockets, avoid any and all eye contact, and prepare to add "uhhh..." to every sentence: Nashville's Be Your Own Pet invite you to relive those lumbering teenage years as they prepare to exit theirs on Get Awkward, their forthcoming sophomore album. It's due March 18 in the States on Ecstatic Peace/Universal, and the day before in the rest of the world from XL.

Judging by the song titles alone, the disc oughta be a blast (just like the last one), even if you spend the entire running time posted up along the wall. You can read all about the album as it was in progress right here in our interview with BYOP guitarist Jonas Stein from May.

Be Your Own Pet's mini-tour wrapped earlier this month, and, for the moment, the band have no touring plans. But, hey, um, if you're maybe not, you know, doing anything later, we could hang out... [MORE...]

The Locust's Van Robbed

It turns out even biblical plagues can be the victims of really lame crimes (as opposed to really cool ones?). After a show in St. Louis on Sunday, November 25, time-efficient thrashers the Locust had their tour van robbed. The band returned to the vehicle to find quite a few valuable personal items stolen.

Here's the list:

three MacBooks (two 12" G4 Titanium Powerbooks, one 15" Macbook Pro)
three passports
$500+ cash
80 GB video iPod
iPod Mini
Western Digital 120 GB external hard drive
Nikon digital camera
Sony and Technics headphones
backpacks, clothes, electric shavers, phone chargers, etc.

The loss of the computers was a particular bummer because member Justin Pearson's laptop had a manuscript for a book he was writing, new Locust mp3s, and files related to his Three One G label.

Three One G has since set up a relief fund for the band, complete with PayPal donation link and contact info for tipsters, here.

Fortunately for westerly residents of the U.S., the Locust's tour, in support of this year's New Erections, continues. Next stop Albuquerque, November 29. [MORE...]

Forrest, Lucky Dragons Do Deathbomb Arc Tape Club
Forrest crafts Birthday Party Berlin mix as DJ Donna Summer

It may be hard to imagine, but there was a time when iPhones, satellite radio, and even good old CDs were all just twinkles in Al Gore's eyes. It was the era of the cassette tape, a magical time full of experimentation, spiritual awakening, and killing music.

But the folks at Deathbomb Arc Tape Club (who also run cassette culture webzine Cassette Gods) aren't content to leave the tape in the past. So they founded the Club, which gives subscribers access to 24 bands each recording a single 9-to-10-minute-long track for a single side of one of 12 tapes.

DBAT Tape Club turns four next year, and the first 2008 tapes (subscribers get one a month) will ship in February. The list of contributors this time around includes Jason Forrest, Lucky Dragons, XBXRX member Hawnay Troof, 16 Bitch Pile-Up, and tons more (all listed after the jump). New to subscribers to the 2008 Club is a large vinyl case to hold all 12 tapes, with art by Andreas Barsleth of Tape Club contributors the White Tiger Prepade.

For more info on the 2008 Deathbomb Arc Tape Club, including how to subscribe, click here.

And speaking of Jason Forrest, the mix-up maestro's own Cock Rock Disco imprint will link with Deathbomb Arc to present a SXSW showcase in March and release some records in 2008. Forrest has also been rolling of late with the Birthday Party Berlin crew, for whom he adopted his DJ Donna Summer moniker and crafted the crew's first mix; check that here. [MORE...]

Hot Chip, Optimo, Studio, Maps Remix Love Is All

Naming your band after an incomplete thought lends itself well to snarky headline writers and remix artists alike, as Love Is All are finding out. Come January 21, tunes from the Swedish indie-poppers' well-loved debut Nine Times That Same Song will be remixed, remade, and in the case of Chicken Lips' take on "Make Out Fall Out Make Up", even made to malfunction.

They're cleverly calling it Love Is All...Mixed Up, and in addition to remixes from the likes of Hot Chip, Maps, Metronomy, and the Optimo crew, there are new versions of familiar tracks from the Bees and Studio. The collection is due as both a CD and a download in the UK from Parlophone. No word yet on a Stateside release.

As of Halloween, Love Is All had nearly finished recording the proper follow-up to Nine Times. They hope to have it out in spring 2008. [MORE...]

Tonight's Sufjan Stevens Literary Event Postponed
Plus: Asthmatic Kitty advent calenders!

Sufjan Stevens and John Wesley Harding might be chewing the fat about their new fave rave softcovers and small presses and the like tonight, but they probably won't be doing it together, and they definitely won't be doing it at Brooklyn's Southpaw. The pair's aforementioned "literary event" hosted by PEN American Center, previously scheduled for this evening, is off until further notice, with the PEN website citing "unforeseeable circumstances" as the cause. Still, it looks as though rescheduling proceedings are in the works at the moment, so don't fret: your nerdlinger hero shall come anew. (Thanks to BrooklynVegan.)

In other Sufjan news (of which there is never a shortage), he did that "BQE" thing, he's providing some warez for a good cause, he's heading out on tour, and he's got a fun little gift exchange on the way.

And in the spirit of generosity, Asthmatic Kitty is giving away advent calendars with the purchase of Suf's Songs for Christmas box set via their website. Designed by illustrator Tom Eaton (who drew them pretty pictures for Sufjan's "Put the Lights on the Tree" clip), the calendars can also be purchased separately through the Asthmatic Kitty store.

[MORE...]

Driver Who Killed Silkworm Drummer Sentenced

In the summer of 2005, Jeanette Sliwinski tried to kill herself. She was unsuccessful, but in the process, she killed three Chicago musicians, including Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist. According to a Chicago Sun-Times report, a Skokie, Illinois judge has found Sliwinski guilty of reckless homicide and on October 26 sentenced the 25-year-old to eight years in prison. However, the Sun-Times reports that Sliwinski could be free in as few as 19 months.

Sliwisnki was driving 87 mph down Dempster Street in Skokie on July 14, 2005 when she plowed her Mustang into a Honda Civic stopped at a light in an attempt to end her own life, according to prosecutors. Instead, she took the lives of the Civic's occupants: Dahlquist, John Glick (The Returnables), and Douglas Meis (The Dials, EXO).

Prosecutors charged Sliwinski with first-degree murder and pushed to have her jailed for life. Judge Garritt Howard handed down the lesser charge of reckless homicide, however, after agreeing with the defense's assertion that Sliwinski was mentally ill at the time of the crash.

The Sun-Times report cites the two years and four months Sliwinski has already served awaiting trial, along with a law which requires only half a given sentence be served, in determining that Sliwinski may go free in 2009. The decision angered the victims' families, who believe that Sliwinski should serve a longer sentence.

As previously reported, a Silkworm documentary is in the works. Also, Silkworm's remaining members Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen have linked with Chris Manfrin (Seam) and Brian Orchard (.22's) to form Bottomless Pit. The quartet's debut, Hammer of the Gods, is out now on Comedy Minus One.

Gutter Twins Announce Release Date, Shows

Valentine's Day: a time for flowers, candy, snuggles, kisses, hugs, and all that gooey stuff. Who better to spend it with than Greg Dulli, the Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers master of the depraved psycho-sexual mindfuck?

On February 14, 2008, the Gutter Twins, Dulli's collaboration with Screaming Trees/QOTSA/Soulsavers dude Mark Lanegan, will hit the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. How romantic!

The date is the first of five for the Twins, who will be celebrating the March 4 Sub Pop release of their debut album Saturnalia. In a press release, Dulli says, "I couldn't tell you what Saturnalia's theme is, but there's a seeking of transcendence that's new. I have never written songs like this before. It's a different temple I'm visiting."

Lanegan is on tour with Soulsavers right now. [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.)