The New Hold Steady Album: Stay Positive
"One thing I can say is that [Craig Finn] continues to blow my mind. And I'm saying that as a big a fan of his as anybody." - Tad Kubler

Earlier this week, Craig Finn and Packers/sausage aficionado Tad Kubler of the Hold Steady were in upstate New York. When we rang them up, they were "driving around," as Finn tells it, and "kind of scouting some stuff for artwork ideas."

Artwork for the fourth Hold Steady album! That's right-- after months of being hunkered down in the studio, growing their beards, the thing is finally in the can. All that needs to be done now is the mastering, sequencing, and, of course, artwork.

Pop the bottle of your choosing: this is reason for celebration.

"It's probably going to be called Stay Positive," Finn says, adding "we can say tentatively. There's a song called "Stay Positive" we've been playing live, and it was just something that's been kind of hanging around in my head a long time. I would say it's safe to say that's the name of the record." [MORE...]

Talking Heads, Grace Jones on Compass Point Comp

Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas is kinda sorta legendary. Founded by Island Records' Chris Blackwell in the late 1970s, the room was well known for bringing bands from far and wide a little bit of smoky, laid-back island atmosphere. Snoop, Björk, and even AC/DC made the trek, setting Back in Black to tape down at Compass Point. Okay, maybe the laid back vibe didn't work for everybody.

Then there's the frequent presence of equally legendary production duo Sly and Robbie, the ace Compass Point All Stars House Band, and the fact that a peek outside yielded views like these: it all adds up to one of the finest rooms in all of music.

February 25, the recently-rejuvenated Strut Records will collect a handful of recordings from Compass Point's early 80s heyday and release them on a CD entitled Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story 1980-1986.

The compilation sports tracks from Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Ian Dury, and even Sly Dunbar (of Sly and Robbie fame) himself, among others. Several of the tunes are found in their far dubbier 12" versions. The set will come complete with liner notes by Lee "Scratch" Perry biographer David Katz and rare photos from the studio. [MORE...]

Howlin Rain Issue Strange New CD, Tour
Not-so-strange CD Magnificent Fiend due March 4

Fiending for a bit more Howlin Rain? They've got you, dude. The Bay Area psych-rock giants (and Comets on Fire associates) will issue their Magnificent Fiend March 4 on American Recordings, sure, but they've got a far weirder one on the way too.

Along with Lee Ranaldo, Magik Markers, Charalambides' Tom Carter, Bardo Pond, and a few others, Howlin Rain will contribute a disc to Three Lobed Recordings' "Oscillation III" subscription series. Howlin Rain's offering, titled Wild Life, features a pair of tunes clocking in at a quarter-hour or so. The first is a jam on the song by Wings (you know, the band that made Paul McCartney famous) that the set is named after, while the second is a "completely improvised piece with heavy jazz fusion and free, Latin jazz rock overtones" titled "Black Sangria".

Wild Life is a family affair, as Comets on Fire's Ben Chasny and Utrillo Kushner help out on the musical tip and Raeni Miller-- wife of Howlin Rain's Ethan Miller-- contributed two paintings for the cover.

You can nab Wild Life together with the eight other releases in the series via Three Lobed, though this package deal is limited to 550 sets. Additional individual copies of Wild Life will be available at all stops on Howlin Rain's forthcoming tour, which kicks off in earnest next month. Those dates-- including a friendly reminder of Howlin Rain's appearance at this May's ATP vs. Pitchfork fest-- are available after the jump. [MORE...]

All Points West to Be Radiohead's Only NYC Appearance

New Yorkers hoping to brag to future generations that they saw Radiohead on the In Rainbows tour at Madison Square Garden are shit outta luck. Looks like your only chance to see Radiohead on this tour will be at the All Points West Music and Arts Festival, as no other New York area appearances are planned. (Except for the private show they're going to play at Cake Shop just for me and my friends. Right, guys? Right??)

Not that there's anything to complain about. As you know, All Points West is taking place August 8-10 at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, and Radiohead will headline both Friday and Saturday nights (Jack Johnson headlines Sunday). Other acts slated to perform include Animal Collective, Cat Power, the New Pornographers, Girl Talk, the Roots, Underworld, the Go! Team, Metric, CSS, Andrew Bird, Black Kids, Chromeo, Amadou & Mariam, Rogue Wave, and Mates of State. It's shaping up to be a pretty cool time.

Pitchfork spoke to festival organizer Paul Tollett of Goldenvoice, who filled us in on some of the logistics of All Points West. Although Goldenvoice is the company behind Coachella, Tollett stresses that APW is not Coachella East. For starters, it's a lot smaller. Tollett estimates that the festival's capacity will be "about half" of that of American behemoths like Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza, meaning that they will cap attendance at around 30 or 40 thousand people.

There will only be three stages and about 40 bands, as opposed to the 100+ that swarm Coachella. This will allow bands to play longer sets than usual, thus letting everyone who doesn't want to see Jack Johnson leave super early on Sunday night and get a good night's sleep for work the next day.

But the biggest difference between Coachella and APW has to do with location. Coachella takes place on a polo field in the middle of the desert. It's beautiful and all, but it's very, very difficult to get to the festival without a car. (That will be changing this year, Tollett says, as they are partnering with Amtrak to set up a special stop for the festival.) APW, on the other hand, is in an urban park that's just a brief train or ferry ride away from Manhattan. That means less driving... plus getting to watch bands play against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Manhattan skyline.

Hmm... a three-day music festival that's relatively small, features three stages, is located in an urban park with a beautiful skyline backdrop easily accessible by public transportation, and features performances by Cat Power, the New Pornographers, CSS, and Girl Talk? What a great idea!

Since we had Tollett on the phone, we had to ask, even though we knew it was a stupid question: Any chance that one of the promised additions to the All Points West lineup might be My Bloody Valentine?

No. No chance at all.

Damn.

Reunited Young Marble Giants to Play Primavera Sound
Public Enemy, Animal Collective, Cat Power, Malkmus/Jicks, Atlas Sound, Vampire Weekend, Silver Jews, Caribou, Menomena, No Age also added

Primavera means spring, the season of rebirth and new beginnings and all that, so who better to rock the Primavera Sound festival than a band who rejuvenated, reinvented, and rewrote pop according to their own rules?

Young Marble Giants, largely dormant until last year and still an extremely rare live spectacle indeed, will treat audiences at this spring's festival to their unique and endearing songfare-- almost all of which can be found on last year's expanded reissue of Colossal Youth. The set times haven't been announced just yet, but the festive happening descends on Barcelona's Parc del Fòrum May 29-31. Our friends at All Tomorrow's Parties have even curated a whole festival stage.

A whole flaming heap of other cool peeps have joined on since our last report as well, and we'd be remiss not to give them some mention. Here goes: Animal Collective, Cat Power, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors, Boris, Caribou, Menomena, Sebadoh, Silver Jews, Tindersticks, Times New Viking, Voxtrot, A Place to Bury Strangers, Bill Callahan, Bon Iver, Dr. Octagon, the Go! Team, Atlas Sound, De La Soul, Dinosaur Jr., No Age, Simian Mobile Disco, Throbbing Gristle, White Williams, Rufus Wainwright, 808 State, Alan Braxe, Apparat, El Guincho, Ellen Allien, Enon, HEALTH, Prinzhorn Dance School, Six Organs of Admittance, Supermayer, and Why?, among others.

Plus there's a reunited Polvo, and Public Enemy will give It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back yet another go. Barcelona, how we envy thee.

M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, Lupe, Girl Talk Play Brown
Insert joke about Vampire Weekend and the Ivy League here

Providence, Rhode Island's Brown University, as befits a school of its stature, is steeped in tradition. There's the legend of professor of psychoceramics Josiah S. Carberry, who simply never existed. There's the Naked Donut Run, which is exactly what it sounds like. And there's the annual Spring Weekend, a chance to cast off the pressures of the spring semester to the strains of some fine, fine music.

In recent years, the Spring Weekend has seen Brown play host to the likes of the Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, the Roots, Ted Leo, Common, Wilco, the Shins, and others. And this year's spring fling, taking place April 11-12, will once again pack a mighty wallop, with Vampire Weekend (representing Brown nemesis Columbia) joining Lupe Fiasco on Friday night, and M.I.A., Girl Talk, and jammy jammersons Umphrey's McGee doing their thing Saturday.

That's all well and good, but when will the future leaders of tomorrow do their homeworks?

Allien, Swayzak, Modeselektor on Apparat Remixes Set
Plus: Orb's Fehlmann, Boys Noize, Nathan Fake, Telefon Tel Aviv, Monolake

I'm not one to soapbox, but Apparat's Walls: possibly the most unduly slept-on album of 2007? Hopefully dude's exquisite electronic renderings will receive greater attention thanks to Things to Be Frickled: Parts & Remixes, a forthcoming two disc collection compiling remixes of and by the man born Sascha Ring.

Swayzak, Boys Noize, Nathan Fake, Paul Kalkbrenner with Ellen Allien, and Lusine are among those who get the Apparat remix treatment on the first disc, while the second boasts Apparat remixes by the likes of Modeselektor, Telefon Tel Aviv, Monolake, Thomas Fehlmann of the Orb, and Boys Noize and Lusine again. A few bonus goodies turn up on Things as well, including a live "re-version" of "Let Your Love Grow" by Apparat/Modeselektor merge-up Moderat. We're Frickled pink!

Things to Be Frickled arrives April 15 on Apparat's own Shitkatapult imprint.

And in case you missed it, Walls knockout "Arcadia" received its own remix EP last month, thanks to France's InFiné label and Shitkatapult. The 12"/digital release features Telefon Tel Aviv and Boys Noize reworkings also found on Frickled, plus the "video edit" of the track.

Mr. Ring also has plenty of live activity brewing in the coming months. He'll travel across Europe well into spring, with a stop-over on the U.S. West Coast planned for mid-May (dates TBA). Many dates feature live visual accompaniment courtesy of Berlin's Transforma, while others have Ring busting out the backing band.

P.S.: Go listen to Walls. [MORE...]

Lemonheads' Ray Gets Deluxe Reissue, SXSW Show

The Lemonheads don't wanna take up your whole time in Austin: they just want a bit part at SXSW. But the veteran band's walk-on role is a little different than most, as Evan Dando and company will bring the entirety of their 1992 gem It's a Shame About Ray to Emo's Annex on March 12. It's all in celebration of Rhino's March 25 release of a remastered collector's edition CD/DVD set of Ray.

Note that this gig won't see a full-on reunion of the Ray-era 'heads lineup, but will find Evan doing his best to remember what 1992 was like with the help of bassist Vess Ruhtenberg and drummer Devon Ashley.

Still, there's plenty of the old Lemonheads crew-- including bassist/backing vocalist Juliana Hatfield and drummer David Ryan-- on the brand new Ray reissue. There are also nine previously unreleased demos, "My Drug Buddy" single B-side "Shaky Ground", and the first-ever DVD version of their 1993 collection Two Weeks in Australia. Daddy, what's a VHS? [MORE...]

Tokyo Police Club Give Shell a Release Date, Add Shows

When we reported that Tokyo Police Club's well-anticipated debut LP Elephant Shell was due "in late April" on their U.S. home Saddle Creek, one question still remained. Would the Club do us a solid and lay Elephant Shell out April 22, still technically "late April" but a merciful seven less days spent waiting for fresh new Tokyo Police Club jams (of which we've had far too few) than an April 29 release date? OH THE SUSPENSE.

Turns out, waiting is for suckers (and, um, folks in Europe and the UK), as Saddle Creek will issue Elephant Shell on April 22. Memphis Industries will let the disc loose on their side of the pond May 5.

The Club have added quite a few dates on to the end of their previously reported tour plans, which oughta keep 'em busy practically into June. [MORE...]

Teo Macero, Legendary Jazz Producer, R.I.P.

Legendary jazz producer and player Teo Macero-- best known for his work with Miles Davis during his incredibly fertile jazz-rock fusion period of the late 1960s and early 70s-- died Tuesday, February 19 according to The New York Times. He was 82.

Macero, born in Glens Falls, New York, studied at the Julliard School of Music before becoming involved with Columbia Records in 1957. In his nearly 20 years with Columbia, Macero was a pioneering figure in the way jazz was released on record. His early work with the label yielded such classics as Davis' Kind of Blue, Dave Brubeck's Time Out and Charles Mingus' Mingus Ah Um, lending the proceedings a warm, natural sound.

But it was his involvement with Miles Davis' experiments with rock music beginning in the late 60s that truly defined Macero as a producer. Not content to simply let Miles and company's gloriously unruly sessions be released in their unedited form, Macero laboriously edited Davis' raw improvisations to create the finished product. He believed that the studio albums themselves were as vital as the performances on those works.

Macero's touch-- and deftness with a razorblade, then the best way to splice together audio tape-- can be felt on such landmark LPs as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. According to the New York Times, Macero was not involved in Columbia's reissue series of Miles Davis' sessions from that era in largely unedited box sets, as he saw the proper LPs as the only true "finished versions" of the work.

In addition to his role behind the boards, Macero was an accomplished composer and saxophonist, playing in Mingus' band and recording LPs under his own name. As a performer, he was also involved in the proliferation of the jazz/classical hybrid Third Stream in the 1950s. Macero also worked as a producer on Broadway cast recordings and film soundtracks, and, after leaving Columbia in 1975, went on to work with a diverse crew of artists like Robert Palmer and Vernon Reid.

Radiohead to Headline San Francisco Festival?
August shows in Los Angeles also rumored

Man, by the time the summer's over, Thom Yorke and Jack Johnson are sooo gonna be BFFs. Unconfirmed rumors-- as reported by the San Francisco Weekly's "All Shook Down" blog-- would suggest that Radiohead, Johnson, and football game sideshow attraction Tom Petty will headline the inaugural Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park August 22-24.

The SF Weekly piece runs down a number of circumstantial factors that would lead one to believe their anonymous source (who, it should also be noted, doesn't work for the festival) isn't just making stuff up, including documents filed by promotion company Another Planet Entertainment suggesting a gathering of roughly 160,000 in the park over that weekend. According to the piece, Radiohead are rumored to be in California around that time for a pair of shows in Los Angeles August 24-25, though those dates have yet to be confirmed.

Of course, if you really wanna catch Radiohead and Jack Johnson buddying up in August, you could just catch a ferry to Jersey City August 8-10 for the All Points West festival. But, hey, maybe now you won't have to? [MORE...]

Photos: The Magnetic Fields [New York, NY; 02/21/08]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

You'd think all the fuzzed-out pop-rockin' found on latest release Distortion might have coaxed Stephin Merritt off his cozy stool from the get-go, but there he was last night as the Magnetic Fields kicked off the first show of four at New York City's Town Hall. A reverentially quiet crowd took in a two-part set that interspersed a bunch of Distortion numbers with a cavalcade of classics from the Fields and other Merritt projects. Naturally, the set also featured plenty of dry-humored Merritt banter.

The Magnetic Fields return to Town Hall tonight and twice more this weekend, follow that up with a trio of two-night stands, and cap things off with a six gig blowout in Chicago come mid-March.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS







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