Sasquatch! 2008 Lineup Revealed
The Cure! Modest Mouse! Death Cab! Flaming Lips! R.E.M.! M.I.A.! New Pornos! National! Beirut! Destroyer! Battles! Okkervil River! Malkmus! Built to Spill! Jamie Lidell! Breeders!

You'll have to forgive us if we go all exclamatory up in this newspiece right here. It's just that Sasquatch! has been sighted yet again in the vicinity of the Gorge in George, Washington, just south of Quincy and about halfway between Seattle and Spokane. Sasquatch!, people!

Authorities confronted Sasquatch! and were able to wrest a cryptic note from the creature before it vanished once again into the mist. The note reads as follows: "The Cure, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, the Flaming Lips, R.E.M., M.I.A., the New Pornographers, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Battles, the National, Beirut, Destroyer, Okkervil River, Built to Spill, Jamie Lidell, the Breeders, Fleet Foxes, White Rabbits, the Cave Singers, Tegan and Sara, Flight of the Conchords, the Kooks, the Hives, Grand Archives, Mates of State, Thao With the Get Down Stay Down, Rogue Wave, Sera Cahoone, David Bazan, the Little Ones, Kinski, Throw Me the Statue, the Shaky Hands," along with a few more assorted scribbles. Also, something about a comedy tent and the "premiere" of a Flaming Lips movie called Christmas on Mars...underlined in blood!!

What does this mean? Sasquatch!, what are you trying to tell us?!

Hmm, perhaps this is some kind of clue: "May 24, 25, and 26".

Peter Moren Adds Dates, Collaborates With Froberg

Do we detect a whiff of Americophilia in Peter Morén? First, he announces his solo debut, The Last Tycoon, will be released on Chicago label Quarterstick onto North American shores April 8, nearly a month before Wichita takes it to the UK May 5. Then he goes and lays out plans for a North American tour well before taking care of his native Scandinavia or, you know, the rest of Europe. And it's only recently that he's laid any dates on us even remotely close to his side of the pond, and nary a one of those comes before dude makes his way to the North Americas yet again for South by Southwest. Hey, man, we like you too!

But now, Morén has finally added a European trek to his itinerary. It will fill up a bit of space in April before he heads back to our shores. Tycoon track "Real to Reel" will be issued as a single in the UK on Wichita sometime in April, designed to coincide with the tour. Hey, don't we get a single? I thought we were friends!

Joining Morén in his touring band and opening for him on all of his tour dates (except the stint at SXSW) will be Tobias Fröberg, who co-produced The Last Tycoon. Morén returned the favor by producing UPDATE: Whoops, he didn't produce it Fröberg's forthcoming album Turn Heads Now, which is due out April 8 on Cheap Lullaby Records in North America and April 9 in Scandinavia on Playground Scandinavia. Morén also sings on the song "Just Behind a Brick Wall", which can be heard on Fröberg's MySpace.

And as if all that wasn't enough, Peter Bjorn and John posted on their website that they have begun recording their new album. Whew. [MORE...]

Beauty Pill's Clark Undergoes Successful Heart Surgery

Friends, family, and fans of DC producer, music-maker, and Dischord associate Chad Clark (of Beauty Pill and Smart Went Crazy fame) have much to be thankful for, following Clark's emergence from a successful open-heart surgery procedure on Friday, February 22.

Clark contracted a mysterious virus last year that resulted in an inflamed heart, known to medical professionals as cardiomyopathy. He kept publicly quiet about his condition until revealing all in a MySpace blog post on Friday, a mere four hours before we was to undergo surgery.

Explained Clark: "What is the problem, exactly? Well, my heart is getting a little bit larger each day because my valves are not connecting. And because my heart is getting larger, it is causing the valves to not connect. Read those two sentences again. Yup. A vicious cycle. After a while, if your heart keeps getting larger, game over."

Clark described feeling "confident and optimistic" going into the surgery, and also addressed the matter's provenance and consequences in thoughtful detail. (His words are well worth your time; read them all here.)

As his musical undertakings are concerned, Clark intends to release one if not two new albums with Beauty Pill this fall, while his Silver Sonya recording studio has largely fallen into the capable hands of bandmate and Medications member Devin Ocampo.

As Beauty Pill's Jean Cook wrote later Friday in a note declaring the surgery a success, "Please know that we appreciate your thoughts. It's been a bit of a surreal time. Thanks for bearing with us, and for the good wishes...We'll update as we learn more."

OMG! It's a Virtual Devendra Dress-Up Doll!

Here at Pitchfork World Headquarters, between grinding out news stories and sacrificing small animals on our altar to Radiohead, we tend to fantasize about two things: lunchtime, and what it would be like to dress and undress Devendra Banhart. The internet has yet to do a damn thing for our stomachs, but oh me oh my, it's now doing wonders for our latter fantasy.

A lovely little feature on the Devendra website called "Dress Me" has been making our dreams come true for a minute now. With just a few clicks and drags, we can deck out Mr. Banhart any which way we please. And what will our wee Devendra wear today, hmm? Perhaps some dashing plaid pants? A tie-dyed sock or two? This creepy-ass clown mask? Or maybe our Devendra, stripped to his undies, should just frolic with this other Devendra here, the one with the little bow attached to the back of his tighty whities? People, the possibilities are endless.

Many thanks to reader Wiley Laufman for the tip.

Clipse Working With Joss Stone

Photos via Re-Up Gang blog

Her last name may be a fine punchline for rhymes about selling rock, but, man, I dunno about this one. According to the Re-Up Gang blog (via Blender's blog), Virginia rhymers Clipse and British blues borrower Joss Stone are working together.

Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider blog reports that Clipse will appear on Ms. Stone's next album, while Stone will grace Clipse and crew's Re-Up Gang LP, tentatively due in June on Columbia. Apparently, Clipse and Stone already have a song together in the can called "Just Walk on By", which was recorded for, um, Randy Jackson's Music Club, Volume 1. However, the final version of the song cuts out the Clipse and leaves only the Joss. (For some reason, Three 6 Mafia are listed as being in the track, though. Oh Randy Jackson, why must you confuse us so?)

In other Clipse news, they'll rock the Primavera Sound festival in May, their Play Cloths fashion line is in the works, and the Re-Up Gang recently issued that We Got It For Cheap, Vol. 3 mixtape fire. Nary a Stone required!

Photos: The National / My Brightest Diamond [Brooklyn, NY; 02/22/08]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

The second annual Brooklyn Next festival continued Friday night with the first of two performances by the NYC borough's ascendent sons the National at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Matt Berninger and his boys brought along horns, strings, woodwinds, and one extra special guest: Sufjan Stevens, who had graced the BAM stage less than four months prior for his "BQE" bonanza. Sufjan's magic hands worked the piano during Boxer knockout "Ada", much as they do on the album. And although a recent back injury left National guitarist Bryce Dessner seated throughout Friday evening's festivities, the performance nonetheless earned rapturous ovations.

My Brightest Diamond opened, and she and her string quartet and backing band easily won the evening's award for sartorial splendor.

The National have several scattered shows before their spring fling with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse, plus quite a few recently added festival spots beyond that. Check those and My Brightest Diamond's SXSW schedule below.

THE NATIONAL






MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND





[MORE...]

Sigur Ros, National, N.E.R.D., Okkervil Play Oya Fest
Also: Iron & Wine, Diplo, Yeasayer, Girl Talk , Kid Sister & A-Trak, Jose Gonzalez

My Bloody Valentine may be the Øya Festival's biggest snag, but the Norwegian extravaganza's 2008 lineup is full of several varieties of goodness. Among the other artists performing are N.E.R.D., the National, Girl Talk, No Age, Sigur Rós, Iron & Wine, José González, Kid Sister and A-Trak, Yeasayer, Okkervil River, Diplo, Lightspeed Champion, Isis, Lykke Li, Health, Silje Nes, Ida Maria, and Holy Fuck.

Of course, the festival doesn't take place in Oslo's Medieval Park until August 5-9, so more lineup announcements are sure to come.

For a sort of preview-in-hindsight of the Øya festivities, check out Pitchfork's own Stephen Deusner's reports from last year's festival.

Iron & Wine Add U.S., UK Tour Dates

Like the hair that flows from the head and chin of main man Sam Beam, Iron & Wine's tour just keeps on growing. The band's U.S. tour with Califone in April has gotten a little longer, and now it will be followed by a trek to the UK in May. The latter set of dates surrounds Iron & Wine's stint at the Explosions in the Sky-curated ATP festival. Then it's back to the States for Bonnaroo.

For a taste of the Iron & Wine live experience, pick up the next issue of Yeti magazine when it comes out March 7. As previously reported, it comes with a CD featuring a live version of "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" from last year's The Shepherd's Dog LP. [MORE...]

Rhino Reissues Otis Redding's Otis Blue

Rhino will reissue Otis Redding's 1966 album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul in a remastered, expanded edition on April 22.

Redding's third album, Otis Blue is legendary for giving us "Respect", later made popular by Aretha Franklin's totally rippin' version. The album contains only three original songs, with the rest devoted to covers of the likes of Sam Cooke, the Temptations, Solomon Burke, and the Rolling Stones. It was recorded in a whirlwind 24-hour session by Redding and the Stax house band, which included Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & the MG's, among others.

Rhino's reissue is a double disc set containing the mono version of the album on the first disc and the stereo version on the second. Bonus tracks include B-sides, live tracks, and previously unreleased alternate mixes. [MORE...]

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...]

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.)