Mew Hit the Studio for Kites Follow-Up

It sometimes seems Mew exist and operate in a world slightly apart from this one, and lucky for the rest of us they're happy to invite folks in every so often.

With 2006's lush excursion into Mew-land And the Glass Handed Kites still tickling our psyches, the Danish outfit has revealed plans to hunker down in the studio and record the follow-up. To that end they've enlisted producer Rich Costey (twiddler of knobs for such high-profile releases as Interpol's Our Love to Admire, Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have It So Much Better, and Mew's own sparkling 2003 set Frengers) and booked some studio time in Brooklyn.

And what do we have to look forward to musically from Mew? Here's guitarist Bo Madsen: "Mew have danced to every song just to make sure. Lords of destruction are for real." Careful Bo! Don't want to give too much away, now.

In other Mew news, that photo up there. What the wow.

Ex-Cop Shoot Cop Dude Attempts Boneheaded Robbery

File this one right up there with the former Lifetime bassist who hoarded body parts in her basement. Michael Kaminski, onetime guitarist and percussionist for defunct New York City noise-niks Cop Shoot Cop, was charged with aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon after attempting to hold up a video store in Akron, Ohio (the city he now calls home) late last month, according to an Akron Beacon Journal report [via Cleveland Scene's C-Notes blog].

The concealed "weapon" in question? A Stetson cologne bottle shaped like a gun, the Beacon Journal report reveals, that Kaminski tried to make more convincing through the application of some black marker. Well done, son! Once Kaminski's ruse became apparent, an employee of a nearby store tackled the would-be thief, shattering the cologne bottle gun and dousing Kaminski in the alluring fragrance of justice.

"America's Stupidest Indie Rock Criminals", coming soon to a Fox network affiliate near you.

The Death Set to Open for Bonde do Role on U.S. Tour

Photo by Frank Hamilton

As the worldwide release of the Death Set's debut, Worldwide, inches closer, the Baltimore punk rockers are putting their touring feet forward. All their current shows remain bound by the U.S. border, but the Set have padded their previously reported tour with dates that extend until mid-May, including a round of shows with Bonde do Role. The Death Set have beefed up their SXSW schedule quite a bit as well.

Counter Records will release Worldwide April 22 in the U.S., and the record will hit stores March 30 in Japan and April 7 in the UK and the rest of the world. The album's first single, "Around the World", will be out later this month. [MORE...]

Photos: Arcade Fire Members Rock for Obama [Nelsonville, OH; 03/02/08]

Photos by Drew Angerer

Nelsonville, Ohio's relatively tiny Stuart's Opera House could hardly contain the excitement last night as several members of the Arcade Fire-- including Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Jeremy Gara, and Sarah Neufeld-- stormed through town to rally for Barack Obama.

Indeed, the Arcade Fire members went and added a second Stuart's show on Sunday to help accommodate the Obama-happy droves. Both sets included covers of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" (a portion of which has landed on YouTube), David Bowie's "Heroes", and John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth", plus a number of Funeral and Neon Bible standouts (and aren't they all?). The setlists, via photographer and show attendee Drew Angerer, looked like this:

First show:

"Intervention"
"Keep the Car Running"
"Heroes" [David Bowie cover]
"A Change Is Gonna Come" [Sam Cooke cover]
"Rebellion (Lies)"
"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"
"Wake Up"
"Gimme Some Truth" [John Lennon cover]

Second show:

"Heroes" [David Bowie cover]
"(Antichrist Television Blues)"
"Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)"
"Gimme Some Truth" [John Lennon cover]
"Wake Up"
"Rebellion (Lies)"
"A Change Is Gonna Come" [Sam Cooke cover]

The momentum keeps on rolling as the Arcade Fire folks Ba-rock Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom tonight. Stand for change, people, and don't be afraid to dance a bit for it too.






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Vampire Weekend Cancel Shows to Play "SNL"

Vampire Weekend drummer Christopher Tomson has returned from the hospital to deliver some VW news via MySpace blog. It's not purely positive news, but it's certainly good for the band: They accepted an invitation to play live on the March 8 episode of "Saturday Night Live". To do so, however, they were forced to cancel a quartet of sets in Florida, including a couple of shows opening for the Walkmen, and their appearance at Langerado on March 7.

(Hey, this sounds familiar...)

On the plus side, VW have already rescheduled their Orlando and St. Augustine shows for early June, and the Walkmen will still play the original dates this week. So really, it's just a single festival appearance and an in-store that are lost to the sands of time. And since we'll all get to see the band on "SNL" this weekend, we can handle that, right?

After they play "SNL", Vampire Weekend will scurry to meet up with the Walkmen and kick off their tour in Atlanta on March 9. [MORE...]

Photos: Atlas Sound [Chicago, IL; 03/01/08]

Photos by Matthew Taplinger

Deerhunter season opens again the weekend of May 9-11, when the Atlanta-based sonic psych-out artistes tear up ATP vs. Pitchfork. But until then, Mr. Bradford Cox has a no less stellar project of his own, Atlas Sound, a Best New Music-stamped debut album, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, and a tour of these lands with Kranky labelmates White Rainbow and Valet.

That Kranky caravan rolled into Chicago's Empty Bottle Saturday night, with White Rainbow's Adam Forkner, Valet's Honey Owens, Nudge's Brian Foote, and pal Stephanie Macksey filling out the Atlas Sound live band. Look for these sharply-dressed animal lovers at a venue near you during the days leading up to SXSW.

ATLAS SOUND








WHITE RAINBOW

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Bjork Show Cut Over Kosovo Talk? "Untrue," Says Fest
"EXIT Festival has never cancelled any artist's performance because of their political point-of-view or statements."

Photo by Bernhard Kristin/ILC

Following the shake-up last week surrounding Björk's politically-charged Kosovo song dedication and the subsequent (and, apparently, consequent) cancellation of a purported appearance at the EXIT Festival in Serbia, festival organizers have stepped forward with a statement.

To recap: Björk dedicated her song "Declare Independence" to Kosovo-- which recently declared its own independence from Serbia-- at a pair of Tokyo concerts in February. The singer rather plainly suggested the EXIT cancellation was the result of her remarks when she told Icelandic newspaper Morgunbla∂i∂, "Maybe a Serb attended my concert [in Tokyo] and called home, and therefore the concert in Novi Sad was cancelled." The story spread and was picked up by numerous news outlets, including Pitchfork.

Morgunbla∂i∂ reported that the cancellation was due to the festival's inability to provide enough security for performers and audience members.

According to EXIT's general manager Bojan Boskovic, "These stories are quite bizarre and untrue. EXIT Festival has never cancelled any artist's performance because of their political point-of-view or statements. We'd like to clarify that the festival is right on track and festival preparations are our best ever, we're really looking forward to announcing our program and, moreover, seeing everybody again at the event in July."

Boskovic continues, "EXIT was the first forum in the Balkans to gather people from all the former Yugoslavian countries after the civil wars. Started nine years ago as a student-initiated protest against the Milosevic regime, EXIT has become a symbol of togetherness and cultural diversity and is a social force that every year brings together more and more people, from every background and culture of the region."

The 2008 EXIT Festival descends on Novi Sad's Petrovaradin fortress July 10-13. Four performers have been announced thus far-- the Sex Pistols, the Hives, Paul Weller, and Nightwish-- but organizers would not disclose whether Björk would be playing or if she was indeed at any point a booked or considered performer. They also did not specify if Björk's performance had been canceled due to non-political reasons (namely, the security issue as previously reported).

Björk's publicist did not respond to emails about the matter.

Much more certain: Björk tours England and Northern Ireland in April and May, and has a couple non-EXIT festival dates lined up beyond. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: March 3-9, 2008

Live music on TV this week:

Monday, March 3:

NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Kate Nash (rerun)

Tuesday, March 4:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Brother Reade
NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: John Fogerty (rerun)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Bettye Lavette (rerun)

Wednesday, March 5:

NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Willie Nelson (rerun)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Louis XIV (rerun)

Thursday, March 6:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: We Are Wolves
NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: The Hives (rerun)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Grizzly Bear
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daley: Louis XIV

Friday, March 7:

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Buzzcocks
OVATION: From the Basement: Beck, Jarvis Cocker, Jamie Lidell
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Les Savy Fav (rerun)

Saturday, March 8:

NBC: Saturday Night Live: Vampire Weekend
PBS: Austin City Limits: Spoon, the Killers (rerun)

Photos: The Mountain Goats [San Francisco, CA; 03/01/08]
Plus: Mountain Goats line up April dates Down Under

Photos by Natalie Kardos

She & Him weren't the only ones putting the pop in Noise Pop this past weekend. John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats also swept through the San Francisco fest, playing no fewer than three sold out shows at three different venues, the second of which went down Saturday night at the Independent.

Wearing his Heretic Pride on his sleeve, Darnielle of course entertained the captive crowd in winning fashion. And really, would we expect anything less?

The Goats head to Hollywood tomorrow night, shoot back East later this month, and heed the call of the Land Down Under in April. And don't forget: Darnielle's book about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality is out April 15.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS





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I'm From Barcelona Line Up American Tour

Photo by Kirstie Shanley

It's not a tour so much as a few clusters of dates, but whatever you wanna call it, when I'm From Barcelona hit the road, it's a rare thing indeed. (You try rounding up 20-odd people, booking them all flights, and shoving them all in a tour bus.)

IFB have big plans for 2008. They'll huddle their masses for a trip to the States in late April for a few dates surrounding their stop at Coachella, with more shows scheduled for the summer in Belgium, Norway and France.

What's with the sudden burst of activity? You probably could've guessed: the band are hard at work on their next LP, the follow-up to 2006's Let Me Introduce My Friends. A single can be expected soon, and the band promises new songs will pepper their forthcoming sets. Give it to us, IFB. [MORE...]

Photos: Black Lips at Camelot for Kids Benefit [Chicago, IL; 03/01/08]

Photos by Kirstie Shanley

Those Black Lips may seem all rough-and-tumble on the outside, but inside lie four genuine hearts of gold. This past Saturday, prior to the Lips' sold out gig at Chicago's Logan Square Auditorium, the Atlanta quartet put on a previously mentioned show for some youngsters from the Camelot for Kids organization, which helps children with special needs. (The folks at the Empty Bottle helped organize the show.)

Black Lips and kids alike also took in a puppet show from Miss Pussycat (Quintron & Miss Pussycat have been supporting Black Lips on this tour). And as they did last time with Fujiya & Miyagi, the Camelot kids once again presented their guest entertainers with a unique gift: a framed, photo-bedecked, giant thank you note. Too cute!

Having changed a few more lives for the better, Black Lips continue on their North American trek through late March. Then in May, they head to the UK, with a stop at ATP Vs. Pitchfork. To coincide with that British tour, the band will release a new double A-side single on May 12 on Vice. The songs on the single will be "Bad Kids" (from Good Bad Not Evil) and a new song, "Leroy Faster".

For more information on Camelot for Kids and its programs, click here.

BLACK LIPS




MISS PUSSYCAT

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Black Kids Cover Sophie B. Hawkins on Single

By naming their band Black Kids and calling their debut EP Wizard of Ahhhs, those buzzed-about Floridians have done a pretty decent job so far of carving out a mischievous niche for themselves. The Kids will continue the mischief making with the UK single release of "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" on April 7.

In a previous report, we confirmed that the single would be the band's inaugural release for Almost Gold (their label everywhere outside of North America), but what we didn't know is that one of the B-sides will be a cover of "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover". Yes, the "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" that was a 1992 hit single for Sophie B. Hawkins. The "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" with bedroom overtones like, "I give you something sweet each time you come inside my jungle book." The "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" that's actually a pretty great Sinead O'Connor knock-off. Is there any other?

The other B-side on the Bernard Butler-produced single is an original called "You Turn Me On", but what if it was really another cover?

Speaking of the former Suede guitarist, Black Kids are preparing to enter the studio with Butler to record their first full-length for a July release, which they will precede with another single. Before and after that, the Kids have a ton of tour dates in the UK and North America. [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.)