Neko Case, QOTSA's Josh Homme Get "Aqua Teen"-ized
As do Kelly Hogan, T-Pain, and former Phillies slugger John Kruk

Leave it to "Aqua Teen Hunger Force"-- your one-stop late-night TV spot for abundant silliness, parades of non sequiturs, and enough absurdist antics to make even the staunchest Dadaist blush-- to corral the randomest bunch of musical (and non-musical) types this side of randomtown into their latest season, which begins January 20 on Cartoon Network.

If you couldn't tell from that rather impressive likeness above (to say nothing of the headline), Neko Case is among the chosen. She'll join fellow alt-country lady-crooner Kelly Hogan and-- wait for it-- former Philadelphia Phillies star (and current baseball analyst) John Kruk as a trio of sirens on an episode fittingly titled "Sirens".



The official episode description reads as follows: "A trio of sirens move into the Aqua Teen house. Their wanton songs pique Carl's attention." And true to form, both Case (playing a siren named "Chrysanthemum") and Hogan (alias "BJ Queen") sing all of their lines on the program. Et tu, Kruk? I guess we'll have to tune in to Adult Swim January 27 at 11:45 (Eastern and Pacific) to find out.

A later episode takes a cue from the Goosebumps book series and features Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and drank-buying stripper-luver T-Pain portraying homicidal ventriloquist dummies. One repeatedly chants "Kill!" while the other goes "Die!", and then they fall in love. Look for "Dummy Love", as they're calling it, March 2; same time, same channel.

Case, Homme, and the rest of the bunch are of course not the first musical faces to grace "Aqua Teen". Past guests have included Black Label Society/Ozzy Osbourne guy Zakk Wylde and the inimitable Glenn Danzig.

Update: Pair of Bjork Singles Coming to U.S.
"Declare Independence" and "Earth Intruders", to be specific

Photo by Ashley Williamson

Cram that credit card back in the billfold, Junior! If you're getting ready to plunk down some devalued American dollars to import those cool-sounding, big name remix-laden "deluxe" singles for Björk's "Declare Independence" and "Earth Intruders" we've been telling you about (one just earlier today), well, hold up.

Those nifty items will make their way to American shelves this winter from One Little Indian/Redeye Distribution sans that hefty handling fee. "Declare Independence" hits first on February 19, with "Earth Intruders" following suit March 4. Just think of all the Pottery Barn catalogs your mail carrier can now deliver instead!

Cass McCombs Hits the Road With Band of Horses

For his winter touring plans, it looks as though Cass McCombs will be Dropping the Writ and picking up a bridle (and, as it turns out, a Bridwell). The singer-songwriter and his Middle Class will join Band of Horses on the first leg of their 2008 tour. After that BOH head out to Europe and Cass heads back home to pluck his tourmates' errant beard hairs from his worldly possessions. [MORE...]

Gutter Twins Add Dates, Reveal Tracklist

Straight from the murky depths and onto the stages of the dingy nightclubs of the world come the Gutter Twins, the sinister-from-birth brainchild of Afghan Whig/Twilight Singer Greg Dulli and Screaming Tree/Soulsaver Mark Lanegan. The duo's already been seizing what few days we've had in 2008, having already landed in Forkcast for the early-reveal "Idle Hands". (The equally sinister track "The Stations" is also streaming on their MySpace now.)

And, now, they'll bring a little bit of dinge to the rest of the year on their recently expanded tour. Following a handful of previously announced gigs at home and abroad in February, the band will set out from their stop at Noise Pop for a month on the road in March.

Saturnalia, the Gutter Twins' debut LP, launches March 4 on Sub Pop. And what depravaties await us behind that spooky album cover (see above)? Find out below. [MORE...]

Quintron and Miss Pussycat Tour With Black Lips
Auction off custom-made Drum Buddy

New Orleans blippity bloopers Quintron and Miss Pussycat are naturally still in the throes of Mardi Gras at the moment, but in February, they leave all that hedonism behind for the hedonism of an opening slot on a Black Lips tour.

And those prolific Lips aren't Quintron's only cool music pals. Through Mr. Quintron's creation of a run of 10 Drum Buddies, the Dan Deacon-esque custom-made drum machine he plays, he recently jammed with Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed after Anderson purchased one of the machines. Wilco's Nels Cline also snatched one up, and you can too, if you're the winning bidder in an eBay auction for the final Drum Buddy.

Presented by Brooklyn shop Fresh Kills, the auction begins January 26 and ends February 5. More details at the Quintron site. [MORE...]

Photos: Lupe Fiasco [Solana Beach, CA; 01/15/08]

Photos by Natalie Kardos

The crowd was there, the lights were on, and a certain "Superstar" in the making fearlessly took the stage last night at Solana Beach, California's Belly Up. He goes by the name of Lupe Fiasco and he's out there right now drumming up support for The Cool, his ambitious concept-not-concept record and sophomore release. Perhaps you ought to join him? One cannot attain superstardom, after all, without fandom.

The camera was there too, of course, and it took the photos you see here.

LUPE FIASCO




MATTHEW SANTOS

[MORE...]

Update: Radiohead In-Store Moved by Police
Webcast still on

Bad news for anyone making a bee line for Rough Trade East right about now. The previously reported Radiohead in-store, originally set to pop off at the London record shop pretty much now, has been moved to a venue just a wee bit more suited to the quintet's kinda big following.

Radiohead will now perform at London's 93 Feet East, with doors set to open at 9 p.m. UK time. As the guys put it on Dead Air Space, "On the advice of the police and the local council, it was decided to change the venue to the larger one in the interests of public safety and due to the size of the crowd that turned up for the event. Rough Trade and the band apologise for any inconvenience caused." Wait a minute, people like Radiohead?

While folks left out in the cold will no longer be able to view the proceedings on live television monitors, the Radioheadz still intend to webcast everything via their Radiohead.tv thinger. That is all.

The Dutchess and the Duke Sign to Hardly Art

Armed with an eight track recorder and a handful of "wimpy folk" tunes, punk vets turned harmony-minded auteurs Kimberly Morrison and Jesse Lortz became the Dutchess and the Duke. The former members of such bands as Intelligence, the Fallouts, and the Fe Fi Fo Fums have put together their debut album, the winkingly titled She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke, which will be released by Sub Pop sister label Hardly Art at some point in the next few months. (They sure do like male/female duos with pseudonyms over there at Hardly Art.)

Like what you read? You can skip the wait and take a stroll in the band's "Reservoir Park" / "Mary" single, which Lortz released on his label Boom Boom Castle. Or you could check out the band on a couple of upcoming dates in their hometown of Seattle. [MORE...]

Karen O Pens Tunes for Jonze/Eggers Wild Things Film

Photo by Kathryn Yu

No upbringing is complete without a few hundred bedtime readings of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, and no beloved literary relic of childhood is complete these days, it seems, without a major motion picture adaptation. Thus we have Where the Wild Things Are the film, directed by Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice") and coming to a movie theater near you in late 2008 or so.

Long before we can smile slyly at the possibility of some ignorant parent renting that other Wild Things for the young ones instead of this film, we can get all jazzed about its soundtrack. For that soundtrack, according to a post on blog The Playlist confirmed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' publicist, will include musical selections from none other than Karen O.

Ex-beau Jonze has enlisted O to write "songs and other pieces of music for the film," according to the website of composer Carter Burwell (previous Jonze films, various Coen Brothers films), who is "helping with the score." As if the hipster quotient weren't through the roof already, Dave Eggers collaborated with Jonze on the script.

No word yet whether the Karen O contributions have anything to do with the lady's long-discussed forthcoming solo record, reportedly produced by Jonze's brother Squeak E. Clean (aka Sam Spiegel).

And couture hounds and O oglers alike may want to flock on over to designer Christian Joy's website, where Karen is presently modeling Joy's spring 2008 collection [via TheFADER.com].

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have kept otherwise quiet of late, though guitarist Nick Zinner did contribute to the new Hives single.

Matador Reveals Mission of Burma Reissue Details

Photo by William Kirk

No matter how successful a reunion is, there's something special about a great band's initial run. Unfortunately, recent Mission of Burma converts won over by The Obliterati or OnOffOn have had trouble accessing the band's early days, since original documents like Signals, Calls, and Marches and Vs. have been out of print on CD for two years and unavailable on vinyl for almost 20.

Thankfully, the folks at current Burma label Matador are taking care of that. As previously mentioned, Matador will reissue the band's entire Ace of Hearts catalog, remastered and loaded with tons of goodies, on March 18.

For starters, each of the three reissues will come with a 32-page booklet featuring interviews with the band and producer Rick Harte. And if you choose to opt for the vinyl copies, you'll receive the booklets, the same bonus DVDs that come with the CDs, and coupons for complete MP3 downloads, all in between nifty gatefold sleeves.

The brass tacks of each reissue's contents are after the jump. [MORE...]

Sally Shapiro Tours! Remixed by Junior Boys, Lindstrom
Shapiro lines up DJ dates with Johan Agebjorn

Photo by Frida Klingberg

If hell's feeling a mite chilly today and you swear your swine are jumping a little higher than usual, well, know that Sally Shapiro, elusive disco chanteuse known to eschew her public, has just announced her very first live appearances. You read that correctly: Sally Shapiro is touring.

With young dreamers around the globe afflicted with a bad case of Disco Romance, Shapiro and producer Johan Agebjörn have agreed to spend this winter with but a few extraordinarily lucky North American cities. Their tiny but oh-so-welcome DJ tour kicks off March 4 in Toronto and wraps a couple gigs later in Chicago. Is this DJ jaunt a baby step toward a full-blown Shapiro stage show? That, my friends, remains to be seen.

And that's hardly all that's astir in camp Shapiro of late. In addition to Agebjörn's previously reported "Spacer Woman From Mars" 12", Sally Shapiro has another twelve in the works. "Jackie Jackie (Spend This Winter With Me)" lands overseas in February via Permanent Vacation, with a North American release to follow in April. In addition to "Jackie" (a Nixon cover taken from the North American edition of Disco Romance), the single includes another ace Shapiro track and two remixes-- including an offering from the one and only Junior Boys.

The Junior Boys remix will in fact appear on a forthcoming album of such reworkings titled Remix Romance. Paper Bag Records plans to unleash Remix this spring, and Lindstrøm is also expected to partake.

Finally, let's not forget that Sally is up for a couple PLUG Awards. You know what to do. [MORE...]

Bjork Concocts New "Earth Intruders" Single

Front page photo by Ashley Williamson

Ah, now this is the kind of Björk story we like to report. Nary a torn shirt in sight. Just a remix-laden single for "Earth Intruders", the thunderous leadoff track from last spring's Volta. It's available from One Little Indian, who will ship the "double pack" by February 4.

And what an early Valentine's Day gift it'll be! You and/or your sweetie can nab the heavyweight vinyl 12" version featuring four remixes of "Earth Intruders" from the likes of Spank Rock's Armani XXXchange, Jimmy Douglas, Lexx, and Mark Stent or the CD version, featuring all that plus a radio edit of the Lexx mix and a DVD of the Michel Ocelot-directed clip for the song. Who needs the roses and chocolate when you've got a blippy anthem of interplanetary invasion?

One Little Indian is only making up 10,000 of these sets, so you'd better switch your intrusion target to dad's wallet, and pronto. And, hey, while you're at it, why not score yourself some plane tickets to any one of the exotic locales Björk will be playing over the next few months? I won't tell if you won't. [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.)