Headlights Deliver Some Album, Tour With Evangelicals

Photo by Justine Bursoni

Champaign, Illinois outfit Headlights will release their sophomore album, the follow-up to 2006's Kill Them With Kindness, via hometown label Polyvinyl tomorrow (February 19).

Some Racing, Some Stopping is the record's title, and it betrays the tour-heavy nature of the band's schedule in the coming weeks. Recently expanded to a quintet-- thanks to the addition of Decibully's Nick Sanborn and Shipwreck's John Owen-- Headlights have already headed out on their previously reported North American jaunt with Evangelicals. Catch them all in Athens, Georgia tonight. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: February 18-24, 2008

Live music on TV this week:

Monday, February 18:

CBS: Late Night With David Letterman: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Tuesday, February 19:

NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: The Hives
CBS: Late Night With David Letterman: Ray Davies
FUSE: Foo Fighters Live at Madison Square Garden
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Andre Benjamin (not performing)

Wednesday, February 20:

CBS: Late Night With David Letterman: Foo Fighters
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: The Whigs

Thursday, February 21:

NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Black Mountain
NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: John Fogerty

Friday, February 22:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Pinback
OVATION: From the Basement: The White Stripes, The Shins, Neil Hannon

Saturday, February 23:

FOX: Fearless TV: Super Furry Animals

Dude Auctions Off "World's Greatest Music Collection"

If you dropped the ball on Valentine's Day last week, here's one way to make it up to your sweetheart: prove your love to the tune of a nice little gift called THREE MILLION RECORDS.

No need to scour the nation's thrift shops and bargain bins for these, though. A Pennsylvania man by the name of Paul Mawhinney is auctioning them off-- all three million of them-- on eBay right this very instant.

The self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Music Collection" will set you back at least a cool $3 million (hey, that's just a dollar a record!) and it contains, well, what sounds like pretty much anything of relevance (and non-relevance) released over the last century or so.

"Every genre of American music is represented," declares the auction's website (yes, the auction has its own URL). "Rock; jazz; country; R&B; blues; new age; Broadway and Hollywood; bluegrass; folk; children's; comedy; Christmas, and more. No other collection in the world-- publicly or privately held-- even comes close."

This hobby gone completely mad includes CDs, plenty of vinyl, and duplicates galore, and apparently "more than half" of this stuff is brand new. Mawhinney has been stockpiling the goods for some sixty years now, but has been forced to sell due to "advancing age, declining health, and associated financial concerns."

Hopefully your "sweetheart" is "a museum, library, university, or charitable foundation, or...a philanthropist interested in purchasing the collection and donating it," because those are the kinds of well-intentioned buyers Mr. Mawhinney is seeking.

Hey, it's no Velvet Underground acetate, but 3,000,000 records should make somebody out there pretty happy.

Marky Ramone Condoms? Sure, Why Not?
Warning: The use of Marky Ramone condoms may result in an increase in speed and an endurance time of two minutes or less.

Did you know that last week was National Condom Week? (Not that the other 51 weeks shouldn't be spent with the safety and security of your crotch area in mind.) To commemorate this special occasion, onetime Ramones drummer Marky Ramone has teamed with safe sex education company Ready Two Go to unveil a series of "safer sex kits" to help promote the "cool, hip" (and, of course, disease-free) way to make your blitzkrieg bop and your gabba gabba hey.

What do you get with each kit, you hesitantly inquire? Why, a couple jimmy hats, some lube, and an STD resource card, packed in a discreet Marky Ramone-themed tin with the motto "Too Tuff to Break" emblazoned on top. Available in black or silver! And, as Ready Two Go reminds us, the tins are easily refillable with "coins, pills, cigarettes, stash, mints, gum."

Added bonus: Every 1,000th customer wins a free pair of Marky Ramone signature drum sticks! And 10% of net proceeds go to CitiWide Harm Reduction.

When Marky's not making the world safe for hot punk lust, he's spreading the seeds of rock'n'roll to far-off places like the Canary Islands and the United Arab Emerates. And, of course, there's Marky Ramone's "Punk Rock Blitzkrieg", a show for you fancies with your Sirius radios. [MORE...]

Andrew Bird and Dianogah to Play Obama Benefit

That Barack Obama's on a bit of a roll lately, huh? With primary wins left and right over the last week and support from all around the indie rock world, the senator from Illinois has picked up a little more hometown support on his quest to become the Democratic nominee for the presidency from fellow Chicagoan Andrew Bird.

Bird and his pals in Dianogah, who joined him on last year's Daytrotter session, will rock an Obama benefit at Chicago's Hideout on February 28. Both acts will perform separately and together.

The suggested minimum contribution for tickets may be $100, but you can't put a price on picking a president, can you? Besides, all ticket buyers will receive a limited edition handscreen poster by Chicago artist Kathleen Judge available this night and this night only.

As for Andrew, he's got a couple other tour dates scheduled right now, including that stop at the MusicNOW festival in Cleveland Cincinnati! DOH!  [MORE...]

What Made Milwaukee Famous Prep New LP, Tour

Austin's What Made Milwaukee Famous are wasting no time releasing the follow-up to their debut album. Barely a year and a half after the arrival of the Barsuk edition of Trying to Never Catch Up (the original version of which, okay, came out in 2004), they will unleash What Doesn't Kill Us via Barsuk on March 4.

The band will head out on a North American tour in March and April, on which they're stuck opening for Louis XIV. What Doesn't Kill Us, indeed. But before that begins, they'll play a handful of other shows, including a five-show L.A. residency across various venues. The first pops off tonight (February 18) at Spaceland. [MORE...]

Photos: St. Vincent [Los Angeles, CA; 02/15/08]

Photos by Akmal Naim

Patron saint of gaga-eyed indie boys across the land, St. Vincent swept through Los Angeles' Echoplex this past weekend on a pilgrimage to discover the true meaning behind her 2007 bid for matrimony. Said meaning will apparently only reveal itself after St. Vincent plays many a song for the kids, so that's just what she and band did.

Unlike past jaunts that had St. Vincent's Annie Clark supporting folks like Sufjan, Midlake, and Jolie Holland, this current one-- bound for Portland tonight-- finds St. Vincent topping the bill. And, at the Echoplex anyway, projected larger-than-life behind the stage as well. Maybe those big faces will translate to big wins at the PLUG Awards in March?

ST. VINCENT







[MORE...]

Human Giant Embark on Pre-Season Two Tour
We were just idly surfing the net when we came across this DVD...

The funnymen of Human Giant-- who look suspiciously like those Manhammer fellows up there-- will hit the road this week in preparation for the March 11 premiere of their self-titled show's second season on MTV.

Following an appearance this past weekend at the Telluride Comedy Festival, Rob Huebel, Aziz Ansari, and Paul Scheer will explode minds and give Columbian neckties at venues across the U.S. beginning February 21 in Los Angeles.

The tour also serves as a reminder that Human Giant's Human Giant: Season One DVD comes out March 4. As for Manhammer, well, we suggest you inquire at your local adult video store about that one. [MORE...]

Pollard Leaves Merge, Starts Label for New Album
MP3 of new song available

Only two months into 2008, Robert Pollard is already off to business, and his next order of business is releasing a solo album called Robert Pollard Is Off to Business.

Consisting of a mere 10 songs in 35 minutes, the record finds Pollard amicably peacing out of his partnership with Merge Records for a June 3 release on his own newly formed label, Guided by Voices, Inc. The label is run by Pollard along with manager David Newgarden, tour manager Rich Turiel, and business manager Eric Weiss.

Off to Business was produced by frequent Pollard associate Todd Tobias. Check out the track "Gratification to Concrete", available for downloading below.

The album is scheduled to coincide with Fantagraphics' publishing of the previously mentioned coffee-table book Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard.

Prior to the release of Off to Business, GBV Inc. will inaugurate itself with the single for album track "Weatherman and Skin Goddess". Out April 8 but only available through Pollard's website, it's a three-song EP featuring two exclusive non-album tracks, "Kiss the Quiet Man" and Coat Factory Zero". It will be available on CD and 12".

And because this is a Robert Pollard news story, we can't only mention just one new album from the guy. As previously reported, the Psycho and the Birds (aka Pollard and Tobias) album We've Moved is out February 26 on Happy Jack Rock Records.

Also, for all you super fans out there, an acetate of the GBV album Half Smiles of the Decomposed is up for auction on eBay right now. It features an original Pollard collage on the cover created specifically for the auction, and is autographed by the man himself. [MORE...]

Photos: Mos Def [Edmonton, Alberta; 02/16/08]

Photos by Aaron Vanimere

With Be Kind Rewind set to hit theaters this Friday (February 22), film star Mos Def is out there doing that other thing he does: rapping. Mos touched down at the Edmonton Event Centre in Alberta this past Saturday to reassure us that he shouldn't quit his day job anytime soon. Or is rapping his night job?

Either way, catch Mos Def in Vancouver tonight and on the silver screen this coming weekend alongside Jack Black, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, and the latest visual marvels to spring from the one-of-a-kind mind of Michel Gondry.

MOS DEF







[MORE...]

Klaxons, Rihanna to Duet "Umbrella" at BRIT Awards

Rihanna did say we're always welcome under her "Umbrella", but what a big umbrella that's turned out to be. A weekend ago it took in defunct Minneapolis funksters the Time at the Grammys, and this Wednesday it will apparently extend across the Atlantic to cover the wily wags of Klaxons.

Wait, strike that, reverse it. Klaxons will in fact cover "Umbrella"-- not the other way around-- at the February 20, 2008 BRIT Awards ceremony, according to a Guardian report. That's cool enough in itself, but here's where it gets fun: Rihanna, up for a International Female Solo Artist award that night, will join them.

"We've made our own slant on a contemporary version of ['Umbrella']," Klaxons revealed in a BBC Radio 1 interview quoted in the Guardian report. "It's an electronic version with guitars on it."

Klaxons and Rihanna's camp have been ironing out the details leading up to Wednesday night's duet performance. According to Klaxons, "They've got this funny idea of what our band sounds like and we've done three or four different versions. Her people kept sending versions back, going, 'No, this sounds more like you.'"

Even if Klaxons don't take home the Breakthrough Act and Best Live Act awards for which they're nominated, freaking Rihanna, dudes! Congratulations! In fairness, this isn't so far-fetched, as both Klaxons and Rihanna technically fall under the same major label, er, umbrella: Universal Music Group.

Catch the BRIT awards-- also featuring performances by Kaiser Chiefs, Kylie Minogue, and Sir Paul McCartney-- February 20 at 8 p.m. UK time. Then catch Klaxons live at London's O2 Arena February 28, and Rihanna on tour with Kanye West this spring.

Ted Leo, Matthew Dear Remix Spoon on New Single
We never thought this phrase would exist: "Ted Leo's I Want It Hotter Remix"

Britt Daniel must be in a song-swapping mood. Following the release of Daniel's remix of Feist's "I Feel It All", his band Spoon will issue their cover of the Natural History's "Don't You Ever" (called "Don't You Evah" on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga) as a single backed by remixes from the likes of Ted Leo, Diplo, and Matthew Dear, according to a Billboard.com report confirmed by Merge Records.

To clarify: Spoon are releasing a single for a song they covered featuring the original and five remixes of Spoon's version. Well now that you say it like that!

The single also features "Don't You Evah" remixes by DJ Amaze with Alan Astor and newcomer Doc Delay Fixerupper.

Merge will release the "Don't You Evah" EP on April 8.

According to Billboard.com, Spoon have U.S. tour plans for April as well, and they are looking to September to schedule a West Coast tour.

Despite all this activity, Daniel also revealed to Billboard.com that he plans to take some time away from touring to start the process of writing new material. [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.)