Sparklehorse Leave Astralwerks/Capitol

Photo by Kirstie Shanley

With the major label system as we know it very much on the rocks, musical casualties are turning up left and right. Whether they've been cold dropped without mercy or merely freed from the bonds of corporate oppression is probably a matter of perspective more than anything, but few would argue that the era of million-plus first week sellers is long over.

Which leaves one to wonder how Mark Linkous and his Sparklehorse are feeling right about now, having parted ways with former home Astralwerks [via EW.com].

According to an Astralwerks rep, Sparklehorse's contract simply expired, and thus the act is no longer allied with Astralwerks nor its parent label, Capitol. No word yet where the band will go for the follow-up to 2006's Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain.

Beyond this bit of news, we've heard nary a whinny from Sparklehorse in 2008, though Mr. Linkous did premiere some new material at last month's Portishead ATP.

And hey, looks like Soulja Boy's a fan! So there's that.

Enon Tour the Heck Outta Early '08

Photo by John Ray Fuller

And away they go! Starting yesterday, Enon are dropping a little of their spastic weirdness on Europe, the UK, and finally, these United States on a whole buncha tour dates to kick off '08. The band set things rolling in the Netherlands, sticking to that side of the Atlantic for nearly a month before picking things back up in April for a fortnight in the States in April. Just, um, don't accuse them of running for any borders or anything.

In other Enon news from this young year, the band's "Ashish" pops up on that Rare Book Room compilation, due February 26. And their latest album, last fall's Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds, is still fresh on Touch and Go. [MORE...]

Jamie Lidell Becomes Jim on New Album
Taking bad Belushi sitcom fandom to the next level

Last Friday (January 11), Forkcast posted a video of nü-soul man and hooker hound (kidding) Jamie Lidell rehearsing a new song with his band. The rehearsal implied a tour, and the unknown identity of the new song implied a new album. "Information is scarce," we said then, but not anymore:

Jamie Lidell will release Multiply follow-up Jim via Warp on April 29!

"Jamie is Jim. Let's clear that up straight away," says a press release, clearing up precisely. Still... Jim, Alice, Harold, he could call the thing Jamie Lidell Plays the Hits of Panic at the Disco, and we'd still hyperventilate.

The record is not, however, Lidell's post-millennial emo masterstroke. Instead, it's apparently very much the continuation of Multiply's left-of-center soul sound, as we suspected upon hearing the aforementioned new song.

Oh, and that song's title? Based on the lyrics, we're feeling good about the odds that it's "Little Bit of Feel Good". [MORE...]

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.

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.)