Sonic Youth, Tortoise, Godspeed Folk on Chatham Set
Plus: Final Fantasy, Tony Conrad, Lichens, members of Hüsker Dü, U.S. Maple, Fog

One man, one chord, and a pretty enviable list of collaborators: Guitar Trio, perhaps Rhys Chatham's trademark piece, is minimal music deployed on a maximal scale.

Chatham celebrated the iconic composition's 30th birthday early last year by taking it on tour across North America with members of Sonic Youth, Tortoise, Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mt. Zion, Hüsker Dü, Fog, Final Fantasy, and more joining in at various stops. Most performances stretched the Trio to include upwards of seven or eight guitarists-- one (Toronto) even featured a six-piece string section-- and by all accounts "epic" was the word.

Those who missed out and those who long to relive the experience alike, you're in luck. On March 4, Table of the Elements will issue "GUITAR TRIO IS MY LIFE!" from Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars, a massive three-disc set collecting performances of the famed piece from across last year's tour. The set draws its name from an exclamation made by a particularly zealous fan during a previous Guitar Trio performance.

Featured on the release: Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth (in Brooklyn), John McEntire, Jeff Parker, and Doug McCombs of Tortoise (Chicago), Efrim Menuck and Thierry Amar of Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mt. Zion (Montreal), Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy (Toronto), Rob Lowe of Lichens (Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis), Andrew Broder of Fog (Minneapolis), Greg Norton of Hüsker Dü (Minneapolis), and tons more. Check out the city-by-city breakdown here, and while you're at it, have a look at the score. Not so simple after all, eh? [MORE...]

Will Oldham Guests on New Sun Kil Moon Album

Mark Kozelek will turn his attention from Retribution Gospel Choir, the Low offshoot whose debut album he produced, to his own Sun Kil Moon project with the release of new album April. Appropriately, it's due out April 1 on Kozelek's own Caldo Verde label.

According to Billboard.com, April features Will Oldham on two songs, "Unlit Hallway" and "Like the River". Kozelek told Billboard, "I heard his voice in there, so I mailed him the songs. In very Will Oldham style, he turned them around almost overnight. He added so much color. I think my favorite part of the whole album is his back-ups on 'Unlit Hallway'."

But Kozelek isn't the only one who's excited about the new Sun Kil Moon album. Maxïmo Park vocalist Paul Smith heard the news and got amped enough to blog about it.

Coinciding with April's release is a new edition of Nights of Passed Over, Kozelek's collection of lyrics, etc. originally issued in the U.S. on former Low bass player Zak Sally's La Mano 21 imprint.

Kozelek has three shows scheduled for April right now, though Billboard.com reports that he is planning a full-on Sun Kil Moon tour for later this year. [MORE...]

New Atmosphere Album Gives You Lemons
First copies of album come with children's story written by Slug. No, really!

Listening to Atmosphere's recent free "party" LP Strictly Leakage (available here), you can tell that it was only a taste of things to come. And indeed, on April 22, Rhymesayers Entertainment will issue When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, the Minneapolis duo's "proper" full-length follow-up to 2005's You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having.

Slug and Ant are juicing up the first pressing of Lemons with a DVD of their show at Minneapolis' First Avenue on this fall's "Everyone Loves a Clown" tour, as well as a gold-embossed, 40-page, hardcover book containing lyrics, credits, and "an illustrated children's story written by Slug," according to a press release. Also, the music on the album itself was apparently "influenced by fatherhood." Atmosphere is for the children!

Atmosphere have promised to kick off a 15-date 15-city North American run on April 22, the album's release date. Hopefully their gargantuan cat (see photo) will be helping out on the turntables.

In the meantime, why not give Strictly Leakage another spin? That is what it's there for, after all. [MORE...]

Arcade Fire's Win Butler Disses Hillary, Backs Obama
"Barack is the first candidate in my lifetime to strip some of this bullshit away, and I just hope we don't blow this chance."

It's not often Win Butler-- or indeed any member of the Arcade Fire-- takes to his cutely-animated "Scrapbook" section on the band's website to wax thoughtful. The last time he did so was after the Fire wrapped up a rigorous season of touring with that dream bill blowout at NYC's Randall's Island in early October.

Yet something drew Butler out of blogging semi-retirement here in mid-January, just as his Neon Bible-mongers are about to descend on Australia and New Zealand. And that something, my friends, was politics.

It seems Win has a few reservations about the upcoming political contest in the U.S. (and being a native of Texas, he has every right to vent them). We'll let Butler explain in his own words:

I am watching Hillary Clinton in her victory speech in new Hampshire...they just threw a bunch of college kids behind her, and had her talk about student loans, and had her daughter come out for a long awkward hug...does anyone actually buy it? Surely young people are too media savvy to be fooled by this kind of shit.
do we live in a democracy so we can just keep electing the same families?
Barack is the first candidate in my lifetime to strip some of this bullshit away, and I just hope we don't blow this chance.
man if we miss this opportunity we don't deserve it...how bad does it have to get?

fuck!!!!!!!!!

Fuck, indeed. With this proclamation I think we can safely file Butler alongside fellow Obama-backers Jeff Tweedy, Conor Oberst, and the Cool Kids. (Not to mention Herbie Hancock, Will Smith, at least one Dixie Chick, and the guy who created craigslist, according to this.)

The Arcade Fire arrive in Auckland (without incident, let's hope) January 18, but it's those three post-Super Tuesday gigs in Japan fans may have to worry about if Win's pick doesn't pull through. Although when a guy named Win's backing you, well, perhaps that's just what you'll do. [MORE...]

Stars of the Lid Plan Spring U.S. Tour

Weary, perhaps, of forever being relegated to the background (crank them jams, dudes!), the men of Stars of the Lid will place themselves front and center this spring on an ultra-rare North American tour.

Starting in mid-April, Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride will make their way from art museum to planetarium to concert venue to a whole lotta clubs called TBA (ha) on a three-week jaunt, further refining the taut grooves of last year's stunning And Their Refinement of the Decline LP (Pitchfork's 43rd favorite album of 2007). It's their first trek since 2002.

The touring doesn't stop there though, as the duo promises some UK shows surrounding their appearance at the Explosions in the Sky-curated ATP festival in May. [MORE...]

The Black Lips Issue Live iTunes EP

In case the Black Lips-- Atlanta's touringest band of late-- have managed to elude you on their neverending trek around this globe of ours, why, now you won't even have to stand up from that cushy chair of yours to get in on a little bit (...more) of the live Black Lips action.

Tomorrow, the band cuts loose The Live Sessions EP on iTunes (it's available in the UK today), featuring five Lips gems transposed from stage to screen. The Vice-issued Live Sessions EP is available the world over, so no matter where you rest your rump, you'd best get clickin'.

And what would a good tour document be without a corresponding string of dates? The Black Lips, per usual, have a whole bunch of live engagements lined up, with a Stateside run leading them into a UK jaunt in May. Their next gig oughta be a ball, to say nothing of their appearance at this May's ATP vs. Pitchfork festival. [MORE...]

Taken by Trees Tours N. America, Covers Guns N' Roses

Best to leave ex-Concrete Victoria Bergsman off your dance card. After all, she's taken-- Taken by Trees! Ho ho ho ho! Ha ha! Ha.

Ahem. Much more welcome than that completely impotent attempt at humor is the news that Ms. Bergsman will take her Trees solo project across the Atlantic next month. That's right folks, it's a tour, and it pops off February 22 in New York City.

"Young Folks"' secret weapon will then wind her way north-ward, break my heart by not coming to Chicago, and wrap up her tidy little tour in Seattle March 4. Ooh, and she shows some love to her native Sweden on one date beforehand.

And in a bid for honorary U.S. citizenship, Bergsman has gone and covered one of the most goddamned American bands ever, dammit, Guns N' Roses. The Taken by Trees take on "Sweet Child O' Mine" will turn up on iTunes February 19 via Rough Trade. Or scoop it up in 7" format at one of those tour stops. You know, the ones that aren't even remotely near Chicago.

Open Field is out now. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: January 14-20, 2008

Monday, January 14:

CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Lupe Fiasco

Tuesday, January 15:

FUSE: The Sauce: The Mars Volta
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Kate Nash

Wednesday, January 16:

NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Bettye Lavette

Thursday, January 17:

CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Mars Volta

Friday, January 18:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Lupe Fiasco 

Saturday, January 19:

FOX: Fearless TV: The Cribs, Gogol Bordello, Klaxons
PBS: Austin City Limits: Coldplay (rerun)

Au Revoir Simone Assemble a Little Tour

As they start work on their follow-up to last year's The Bird of Music, the ladies of Brooklyn keyboard trio Au Revoir Simone have put together a January tour as delicate as their sparse indie-pop tunes. With two shows in Canada, it technically counts as a "North American tour," but since there are only six shows total, let's just call it an apéritour. The first taste is January 16 in Toronto. [MORE...]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arctic Monkeys Remix the Hives
Hives announce world tour

Photo by Joseph Mohan

Congrats are in order for the Hives, who just this week picked up a Grammi-- the Swedish equivalent of our Grammys, duh-- for "best live act". And congrats to concertgoers the world over for getting a whole mess of chances to check out Sweden's finest show-givers on their recently announced world tour. Come Valentine's Day, the Hives hit Mexico, and for three weeks, they'll boldly go where many a fine live act before them has gone before: the U.S. and Canada. Following a couple weeks for Howlin' Pelle to rest those howlin' pipes, the band will give Europe and the UK about a month of their time.

Support for the U.S. and Canada shows comes from the Donnas. The Hives and the Donnas are on tour together? Hello, 2002!

And if you're looking to get in a little arts and crafts action with these awrd-winning Swedes, now's your chance. The band is asking fans to submit artwork for the forthcoming single for The Black and White Album's "We Rule the World (T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.)", which emerges from Polydor on a limited-edition 10" single in the UK February 25.

Even non-creative sorts can enjoy the "Rule the World" single, as it'll include remixes of the track from Matt Helders of the Arctic Monkeys and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. [MORE...]

The National, Ted Leo, Mastodon on Human Giant DVD
Second season begins in March

Since the announcement of their 24-hour-marathon-spawned second season on MTV, everything's turning up Human Giant. The guys are crafting new episodes and documenting it over on their website's production blog, complete with pictures of bloody escapades, guest stars like David Cross and Isiah Whitlock Jr. from "The Wire", and a Christmas monkey.

All the hard work and goofing around will pay off on March 11, when the premiere of "Human Giant"'s second season airs at 11 p.m.

Exactly one week earlier, Human Giant will release Human Giant: The Complete 1st Season on DVD via MTV and Paramount Home Entertainment. In addition to the eight episodes (with commentary from the cast and guests), there will be two hours of never-before-seen footage and a highlight reel from the aforementioned 24-hour MTV takeover. Performances by Mastodon, the National, and Ted Leo are all included, as are appearances from the likes of Michael Cera (Superbad, "Arrested Development"), Zach Galifianakis, Bob Odenkirk ("Mr. Show"), Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille), Andy Samberg ("Saturday Night Live"), Will Arnett ("Arrested Development"), Bill Hader ("Saturday Night Live"), Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, Fred Armisen, and many more.

Dead Meadow Slay on Winter Tour

Dead Meadow have some fresh new ideas for how to unleash their fresh new Old Growth LP, but this ain't one of 'em. Following their previously announced early-record-release gig at New York's Bowery Ballroom, the dirge-rockers will head to the West Coast and start winding their way through the country for nearly a month's worth of tour dates. After that it's off to Europe.

It's a fairly usual move for such an unusual band, but then again, it pays the bills. And we have to assume a band called Dead Meadow goes through quite a bit of dough on landscaping.

Old Growth emerges February 5 on Matador. [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.)