Beach House, Papercuts Kick Off Tour Tonight

Photo by Skizz Cyzyk

This evening, in their native Baltimore, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally of Beach House will kick off a North American tour that will lilt its way gently but sure-footedly into April. On all but one of the band's dates, they'll be joined by San Francisco's Papercuts, who, curiously, won't be appearing with the band in their hometown.

Beach House, whose fine Devotion is out this week in the States on Carpark, are, at the moment, the most recent recipients of Pitchfork's Best New Music distinction. And Jason Quever of Papercuts won't just be there to look cute and kick out jams from his own Recommended album Can't Go Back; he'll sit in with Beach House on drums.

And take note, Beach combers: in addition to the recently Forkcasted clip for Devotion's "You Came to Me", the band mention on their MySpace blog that they've spent February working on videos for "Gila" and "Heart of Chambers". [MORE...]

Pelican Take City to More Cities

Chicago instru-metalists Pelican have scheduled yet another tour in support of last year's City of Echoes. Two, in fact! The first batch of new dates begins tonight (February 28) in Pelican's hometown, and all shows but the band's appearance at the Langerado Music Festival also feature Black Cobra and Unearthly Trance. The next tour, with Thrice and Circa Survive also on the bill, kicks off April 16 following a pair of Pelican headline gigs.

Pelican already know that their next album won't come out until 2009, but Hydra Head did recently release the After the Ceiling Cracked live DVD of the band's December 20, 2005 show at London's Scala. The package also features bonuses in the form of extra live footage, an interview, a music video, and a 3" CD featuring contributions from These Arms Are Snakes and Prefuse 73. Not bad for an interim release! [MORE...]

Photos: Crystal Castles / HEALTH [Chicago, IL; 02/27/08]

Photos by Matthew Taplinger

Toronto's Crystal Castles transformed Chicago's Abbey into a bona fide arcade rave last night, punctuating pretty much every blip, bleep, and fuzzy bass throb with a strobe light that flickered nearly non-stop through their set. Rather than nauseate, this tactic further invigorated the already hyperactive crowd, who packed the small club on a Wednesday night despite Castles' lack of a proper album at the moment. That changes March 18, when Last Gang Records finally unleashes the duo's self-titled debut.

Los Angeles' HEALTH, meanwhile, served up balls-out, primordial blasts of noise and ruckus, aplomb being their defining feature. All this catharsis was at its best when tempered with slight psychedelic tendencies, redolent of, say, Liars' Drum's Not Dead.

Crystal Castles and HEALTH bring the fury to Minneapolis next, and continue sharing their respective brands of danceable audio carnage well into spring.

UPDATE: Check out this clip from the British teen soap opera "Skins", featuring Crystal Castles performing "Alice Practice" during a very, very melodramatic scene. It's weird.

CRYSTAL CASTLES






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Holy Fuck, Raveonettes, Stills Play Rachael Ray's Party
Cooking celebrity is apparently "America's favorite indie music lover"

Yes, the Rachael Ray SXSW party is happening. And, holy fuck, Holy Fuck are actually playing it. (They are referred to as "Holy *&%$" on the SXSW website.) As are the Raveonettes, the Stills, Scissors for Lefty, some band called Autovaughn, and the Cringe, which happens to be Rachael Ray's husband's band. The Ettes are not playing, as previously reported. Efren Ramirez-- aka Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite-- is DJing.

The thing is happening on Saturday, March 15 from noon to 6 p.m. at Beauty Bar. It's described by the SXSW website as "...a feast of hot bands and tasty foods, hosted by America's favorite cook and indie music lover, Rachael Ray...Drinks on us and lots of Rachael's Tasty Recipies."

Yum.

(Via Idolator.)

Animal Collective Announce Water Curses EP

Animal Collective's long-promised new EP Water Curses is due May 5 in the UK and May 6 in the U.S. on 12" and CD from Domino. The four-song collection is the follow-up to Pitchfork's #6 favorite album of 2007, Strawberry Jam.

The EP's first three tracks were produced by Scott Colburn at Tucson's Wavelab Studio during the same sessions that produced Strawberry Jam. The last, "Seal Eyeing", was recorded at Nicolas Vernhes' Rare Book Room Studio (home of the Living Bridge compilation), with Vernhes handling mixing duties for all four tunes. "All tracks find Animal Collective exploring strange new waters," says a press release. Sounds about right.

The Collective's tour plans, which we mentioned a while back, have slowly been getting a tad busier as the festival lineups come trickling in. Since our last check, the band have added dates at both Norway's Hove Festival and New Jersey's All Points West. [MORE...]

Constantines Announce Spring Tour, Cancel NYC Show

From Kensington Heights to a borough within spitting distance of yours-- if you live on the right half of North America, that is-- come the Constantines. They'll show off their weathered word-rock to fans in both the States and their native Canada this spring on a modest tour. Set to issue Kensington Heights April 15 in Canada and April 29 in the States via Arts & Crafts, the band will preview the disc at SXSW before really going for it in April and early May.

Note, however, that the band's previously reported date at New York's Mercury Lounge on March 3 has been moved back to April, as guitarist Steve Lambke broke a bone in his right hand and can't rightly sling his axe to the best of his ability just yet. The date has been moved to April 16 at the very same spot. [MORE...]

Wire Return to the Road, Record New Album

We reported in October that Wire were planning a new album; since then, the band has been as short on information about it as their earliest songs were on time. But according to a recent newsletter from the band, Wire are in the thick of recording and mixing their 11th record, and they plan to release it this year. Non-specific hooray!

To whet our appetites until then, Wire have announced their first three concerts of the year, which also happen to be their first live dates since 2004. Taking place in late April and early May in Belgium and France, these shows are only the beginning of the band's itinerary, which looks to include more European festivals this summer and a North American jaunt in the fall. [MORE...]

R.I.P. Buddy Miles, Drummer and Hendrix Collaborator

Drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles, known for his work with Jimi Hendrix and a performing career that spanned nearly five decades, passed away at his Austin, Texas home yesterday, February 26, according to his official website [via Billboard.com]. He was 60.

Born September 5, 1947 in Omaha, Nebraska, Miles began playing music with his father's band the Bebops at age 11. He went on to work with the Delfonics, the Ink Spots, Wilson Pickett, and Electric Flag before contributing to the Jimi Hendrix Experience's seminal Electric Ladyland LP and co-founding the short-lived Band of Gypsys with Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox.

Miles also performed with David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, George Clinton, Barry White, Bootsy Collins, and Carlos Santana over the years, releasing or appearing on some 70 albums in all. Drug charges in the late 1970s and 1980s led to some jail time for Miles. He remerged later in the 80s as the voice behind the California Raisins television commercials, and continued releasing albums into this century.

Just prior to his death, Miles had toured to help raise money for Children's Craniofacial Association and various hurricane/disaster relief funds.

The following statement was posted to Miles' website following his death: [MORE...]

Mount Eerie Go "Hard Core" on New EP, Tour All Over

Gasp! Could our Phil Elverum be ditching the gentle rustling of the Pacific Northwest's trees for the sweaty, diamond-studded hardcore underground? Well, almost. Alongside Norwegian drummer Kjetil Jenssen and Jason "Wolf Colonel" Anderson, the Microphones/Mount Eerie head honcho has crafted Black Wooden Ceiling Opening, a new six-song EP performed, as Phil notes, "in a 'hard core' style (kind of?)."

That "kind of," it would seem, is key. The Black Wooden in the title actually refers to Phil's new hybrid sound, which he calls "kind of like Black Metal but made of natural materials." The set features radical reworkings of past Elverum triumphs in this Black Wooden idiom, carved into white vinyl and available from Phil/Southern Distribution May 27. Check out "Don't Smoke" in that little stream box down there.

But that's not all! In addition to the EP, a ten-track Mount Eerie bootleg CD and a big double-sided poster (printed on recycled stock at Hemlock Printers, the same place they made up that crazy felt-y paper for the Mount Eerie photobook) will join the party.

Speaking of parties, Phil's got quite a few of those lined up over the next several months. In addition to dates both at home and abroad, he'll hit Europe in May with No Kids, and pop in along the way at Malmö, Sweden's KRETS gallery on May 10. There he'll find an exhibition of his own art, including a ton of photos from the Mount Eerie Pts. 6 & 7 book, on display from that day through June 8.

And speaking of books, Elverum has yet another one in the works. DAWN comes our way later this year courtesy of Buenaventura Press and features 136 pages of "very intense journal writing from time spent in a cabin in northern Norway," along with photos, drawings, and a CD collecting "all the songs written there, played once and for all [with] just guitar and singing."

Finally, Phil fans the world over have only a few weeks before K Records lets 'em revel in that giant reissue of the Microphones' brilliant 2001 set, The Glow Pt. 2.

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Jamie Lidell Announces World Tour

Jamie-- pardon me, Jim-- Lidell has already revealed plans for a new LP, a UK single for "Little Bit of Feel Good", a mess of tour dates, and an increasingly guffaw-worthy string of promotional photographs in 2008, and the gifts just keep coming.

That up there is the artwork for Jamie's new album, Jim-- due April 28 in the UK and April 29 in the U.S. from Warp-- for your gazing pleasure. And all those numbers and cities below the jump comprise the itinerary for Jamie's spring world tour. Mr. Lidell will get real busy in Europe and the UK come April and early May, before heading to North America from late May through mid-June.

He'll have more than just a little help along the way, as his previous one-man-plus-computerz setup (as seen here) will be augmented by guitars, saxophones, keyboards and drums. A veritable full band, they call that! Despite the number of bodies onstage, expect Jamie and company to leave plenty of room for improv and experimentations in the mix. It's just his way.

In addition to Jamie's trip to the States, he'll also hit U.S. HD airwaves March 7 on Nigel Godrich's "From the Basement" show along with fellow lotharios Beck and Jarvis Cocker. [MORE...]

Yo La Tengo Light Up the Airwaves This Week
Classics, prepare to be MURDERED ANEW

Radioland tends to favor booming voices, big personalities, and a lotta drive-time giveaways. But despite his involvement with one of the finest rock'n'roll bands in modern history, Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan rarely speaks above a whisper, seems far from ostentatious in his manners, and has nothing to give away but his song and a few well-honed witticisms.

Still, Ira's long been a fan and a favorite of New Jersey radio station par excellence WFMU. Over the next few days, both Ira and his band will grace the WFMU airwaves to help the station with its annual pledge drive, on and poppin' from now through March 4.

First, Ira will don the cans awful early tomorrow morning (February 28), stepping in-- as he's been doing a bit lately-- from 6-9 AM EST for a web-only broadcast. He will, as he says, "wake up at an ungodly hour to do whatever I can to help WFMU raise the money they need to stay on the air for another year."

Then on Sunday March 2 from 5-8 PM EST, Yo La Tengo-- accompanied by Bruce Bennett of the A-Bones-- will once again perform extemporaneous covers at the behest of WFMU listeners. Folks call in and, in exchange for a pledge, get Ira, Georgia, James (and Bruce) to play whatever song their heart desires.

I hope you folks know "Crank That (Soulja Boy)", cuz I am so getting paid this weekend!

All this should prove a fine warm-up for Yo La Tengo's March 13 appearance at South by Southwest, which will be broadcast live on several NPR stations and webcast on NPR.org. Hey, this band really does love radio!

In other Yo La Tengo-related SXSW news, The Toe Tactic, the newest addition to their film-scoring resume, will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. Directed by Yo La Tengo drummer Georgia Hubley's sister Emily, the film is a live action/animation hybrid starring David Cross, Mary Kay Place, Lily Rabe, and Kevin Corrigan.

They'll be back with more-- plus sports and weather-- after the jump. [MORE...]

The Verve Schedule More U.S. Dates, Work on New LP

You didn't think the Verve would have the nerve to play just one North American date and skip on out of here, now did you? Not unlike last year's big reunion story the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Richard Ashcroft-fronted, recently reunited skygazers have added a handful of U.S. dates surrounding their appearance at Coachella.

Late April finds them in Las Vegas and New York City, according to a Billboard.com report. They'll also hit up Glastonbury and T in the Park as the summer festival season swings into high gear. UPDATE: A May 1 gig in Toronto has been added as well.

For those pining for more new Verve material (following the little mp3 jam session they treated fans to last fall), the Billboard.com report quotes a Parlophone label rep as saying the band is "currently writing only," so the holding of breath would be ill-advised at this point. A new album is tentatively set to arrive in the UK as soon as June (no U.S. details yet, as the Verve remain unsigned here), however, so those guys had best get crackin'! [MORE...]

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