Jose Gonzalez Launches Tour, Issues New Single

Photo by Akmal Naim

I'm told that neon is one of the most environmentally sound ways to advertise intoxicating agents and places that sell them. Perhaps this is something noted environmentalist José Gonzaléz knows well? Set to kick off his Reverb-assisted "Green Tour" of North America, José just affixed exclusive B-side "Neon Lights" to a new digital single for "Killing for Love" from last year's In Our Nature LP. If it was called, I dunno, "There Is an Iridescent Light That I Never Turn Out", we might have cried foul, but you can't argue with science. (Unless, of course, you're employed by our current Presidential administration.)

But I digress. Tonight in Miami, José will bring those fiery lyrics and a passion for conservation to the first of many stages he'll take as part of this "Green Tour". Once that wraps at the end of March, he'll head to the UK for a smattering of shows before heading into festival season.

And, in a nice little tidbit that wraps up all the strands of this story, José's set at London's recent iTunes Live semi-festival-- sans environmentally-compromising packaging-- oughta be available for download via you-know-where fairly soon (in the UK only, mind). [MORE...]

Hallelujah the Hills Return to the Road

The time is nigh to give it up for the praiseworthy idol of your choosing: Hallelujah the Hills are returning to the road.

The boys of Boston, whose Collective Psychosis Begone helped make 2007 just a little less nutty, are fresh off a stint in a real live studio and ready to inspire reverence anew. They'll kick things off tonight (February 29) in Brooklyn alongside fellow extollers of virtue Evangelicals and Headlights. Praise is due! Earplugs optional.

Curious about all the clamor? Click here and nab some MP3s of the band performing the entirety of Collective Psychosis Begone at Cambridge, Massachusetts' Middle East Upstairs back in January. [MORE...]

Bonde do Role Recruit MCs on Reality TV, Plan Tour

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to meet the new Bonde do Rolê. Following the departure of MC Marina Vello back in December, remaining Rolêrs Pedro D'eyrot and DJ Gorky have gone and found themselves not one but two new permanent bandmates.

Please extend a warm welcome to Laura Taylor and Ana Bernardino, who will share vocal duties in Bonde do Rolê 2.0. If Taylor and Bernardino seem especially tenacious on the mic, know that they had to earn their place in Bonde do Rolê the hard way: on reality television.

Working with MTV Brasil, D'eyrot and Gorky conducted a televised search for their new MCs, eventually choosing Laura and Ana from some 100 initial applicants. In addition to actually performing, contestants had to live with the Bonde boys in Gorky's garage for one whole week, compete at karaoke, and yes, engage in a pretty unique twist on mud wrestling. "Me and Pedro were dressed as pigs and the girls had to catch us," recounts Gorky. "In the end we were all super dirty, but it was a lot of fun!" Check out performances from the victors here.

The newly reconfigured Bonde will waste no time attending to their public, as they have a fairly extensive North American tour kicking off April 24 in Miami and running well into May.

Marina, meanwhile, has kept on truckin' too. She's featured on a forthcoming single from Brazil's Edu K called "Me Bota Pra Dançar". Look for it on record racks March 28 via Man Recordings. [MORE...]

Lupe, Lil Wayne, Pimp C on New Bun B Album

For his solo follow-up to 2005's Trill, and his first release since both Underground Kingz and his partner Pimp C's passing, UGK's Bun B will get by with a lot of help from his friends.

According to a Billboard.com story and verified by a press release and Bun B's MySpace, Bun has enlisted a veritable army of guests for the record, including Lupe Fiasco, Lil Wayne, Slim Thug, David Banner, 8Ball and MJG, Mya, Chamillionaire, Sean Kingston, Rick Ross, Webbie, Mike Jones, Z-Ro, and Junior Reid. There is also an appearance from Pimp C.

The album, titled II Trill, features production contributions from Clinton Sparks, JR Rotem, Scott Storch, Jazze Pha, Mr. Lee, Bigg Tyme, Black Out Movement, Enigma, and Chops.

Rap-A-Lot/Asylum will release II Trill on April 29, and Bun B will spend the time until then on a U.S. tour. His next show is tonight, February 29, in Fayetteville, NC. [MORE...]

Los Campesinos! Announce North American Tour
Add UK and European dates aplenty

There's you. There's me. And then there's Los Campesinos!, those Welsh wonders with their Pitchfork Recommended debut LP Hold on Now, Youngster... And of course, there's dancing. Not to mention singing, shouting, and perhaps even a little drinking.

Los Campesinos! have offered up a real glut of new opportunities to get you, them, and dancing in the very same spot, as they've bolstered their itinerary with a spring North American tour and more gigs in the UK and Europe.

Currently in Germany, laying copies of their star-studded "Los Campe-'zine'os" on anyone willing to keep 'em away from the lager, the Campesinos! will make their way to South by Southwest, spend a couple days in Sweden to close out March, head back to the UK in April, and hit France with the Go! Team as they slide into May. They'll be knee deep at ATP vs. Pitchfork May 9-11, then head off to Jersey in mid-May to kick off those North American touring plans.

With all that set, now all they've gotta do is get Hold on Now, Youngster... into stores in North America. (It's currently available as a digital release here, and is on shelves in Europe courtesy of Wichita.) With a little help from Arts & Crafts, they'll knock that one off the list April 1. [MORE...]

Dave Clark Five Singer Mike Smith, R.I.P.

Mike Smith, lead vocalist, keyboardist, and sometime songwriter for British Invasion act the Dave Clark Five, passed away outside London yesterday (February 28) at the age of 64, according to reports in The New York Times and elsewhere.

Smith died of pneumonia, stemming from a spiral cord injury he suffered a few years ago that left his lower body paralyzed. The Dave Clark Five were among the selections for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, and Smith was planning to attend the induction ceremony in New York City on March 10.

Though their notoriety was relatively short-lived, the Five produced quite a few instantly-recognizable hits in their day, including "Because" and "Catch Us If You Can". For a time in 1964 the quintet-- named after drummer, manager, and founder Dave Clark-- was considered a viable threat to the Beatles' reign over the pop charts, and they had played "The Ed Sullivan Show" a dozen times by 1966.

Following the Dave Clark Five's breakup in 1970, Smith continued working in music, and had been performing with Mike Smith's Rock Engine in recent years.

Born Michael George Smith in 1943 in Edmonton, England, the beloved musician is survived by his wife.

Blur's Rowntree to Seek Parliament Seat
Drummin' up support (zing!)

Rock'n'roll and politics just keep getting cozier and cozier, eh? What with all the music-makers coming out in support of the U.S. presidential candidates and, you know, Bono's continued existence.

According to NME.com, the Cities of London and Westminster Constituency Labour Party have selected (former?) Blur drummer Dave Rowntree to run as the Labour candidate for a seat in Parliament, presently held by Conservative party member Mark Field. The seat is a Conservative party stronghold, but if anyone can beat Field, it must be the guy who played drums on "End of a Century", right? Makes sense to me.

The London Times reports that Rowntree "accused Mr Field of failing to speak up for the poor in the constituency. He added that encouraging the greater involvement of young people in politics would be high on his list of priorities if he were elected."

The Times quotes Rowntree as saying, "We are about to have a whole generation of non-voters."

Rowntree has been pining for a gig like this for a while now, perhaps due to the fact that his other job isn't exactly keeping him real busy. As you'll recall, Rowntree ran for a local council election last year in London, though he was defeated by another Conservative rival. NME also reports that Rowntree is studying to become a barrister. Hey, just like these folks! Oh, right.

In other Blur news, well, lunch was nice, but it doesn't look like dinner's in their future. Damon Albarn will perform with Africa Exprez at the Olympia Theatre in Liverpool on March 6, and there's all kinds of Gorillaz stuff going on. Alex James is blogging up a storm over at The Independent, and Graham Coxon is playing a benefit for Crisis Consequences, a charity that helps the homeless, at London's Roundhouse, this Sunday, March 2.

Vampire Weekend Drummer Injured in Hit-and-Run
VW statement: Chris Tomson "100% fit, despite some bangs and bruises."

Photo by Jason Bergman

From illness to injury, Vampire Weekend's winning streak seems to have hit a few snags. Drummer Chris Tomson was struck by a car outside a London hotel last night (February 28), according to an NME.com report and confirmed by Vampire Weekend's publicist.

Tomson was rushed to Royal London Hospital, and a follow-up NME.com story indicates he was treated for head and neck injuries. The driver who hit Tomson, meanwhile, reportedly never stopped.

Here's the official statement from the VW camp:

"Vampire Weekend's Chris Tomson was the victim of a hit-and-run accident last night while walking in London. He has since been released from the hospital and declared 100% fit, despite some bangs and bruises. The band was in the UK for some shows and promo and will be returning to the U.S. this weekend."

A Vampire Weekend in-store gig at Rough Trade tonight has been cancelled, but the band's upcoming North American dates, UK return (including ATP vs. Pitchfork), and fest dates beyond are all still on. [MORE...]

CSS Line Up World Tour

CSS! Ladies (and gentleman), it has been a minute. You're looking well, I see. And you're bounding into 2008, that's for sure, lining up festival appearances and remixing Sunny Day Sets Fire and so forth. (They also contribute a remix to "I Go to the Doctor!", the new single from fellow Brazilian dance band Tetine, out now on Soul Jazz.)

And now I'm told you're heading on a big ol' world tour this spring and summer? Seems like a fine thing for a band such as yourselves to do. You'll be in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the UK, Japan, and New Jersey? My, what a journey. Any chance you'll be able to squeeze in a little studio time so you can grace us with some new tunes in the near future? No pressure; just making conversation. You do your thing, and we'll be here waiting. [MORE...]

The B-52s' Cindy Wilson Talks New Record
"We go to a lot of places in our imaginations, from outer space to the bottom of the ocean to the Funplex and the 'Love Shack' to all over the place."

With "Love Shack" as ubiquitous a staple of weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs as "Y.M.C.A.", it's easy to forget that the B-52s are an American new wave institution, a pioneering dance-rock band that helped usher in the alternative era. It's also easy to forget that it's been 16 years since they released a new album.

But don't call the B-52s defunct or their new album, Funplex, a reunion record. As Cindy Wilson was happy to inform us, they'd been playing shows together for years before hooking up with producer Steve Osborne (New Order, U2, Happy Mondays) to record the album.

With Funplex set to come out March 25 on Astralwerks and tour plans in the works for headlining shows and dates with Cyndi Lauper (oh, the hair color!), Wilson talked to us about the record, her band's imagination, and the importance of a good backbeat.

Pitchfork: 16 years is a long time without a new album. Why did you guys decide to return now?

Cindy Wilson: Oh gosh, I've had so many people ask me, "What are y'all doing?" but in reality, we've been performing, I guess under the radar. We've been making a good living playing around and doing corporate [gigs] and playing some summer tours, but we came to a point where, if we were really going to continue doing it, we had to have some new material out. It's really stuff that we started writing slowly, and by the end of the recording we were thrilled to have a strong bunch of songs. So now we have a great record that's coming out, and it just makes touring that much more fun.

Pitchfork: How was the recording process different this time around?

CW: The technology, of course. I mean the electronics, you could put the levels together a lot easier than it used to work. There were so many people, and we were trying to fit all our ideas together, and so technically the differences are huge.

Pitchfork: You seem to like it, which is interesting because a lot of people bemoan the decline of analog equipment and methods.

CW: Well I can understand the difference of the sound. There's a real physical aspect to it that you can really hear, and I think Steve [Osborne] did an amazing job adding textual sounds and refining it. But yeah, a lot of people are analog freaks [laughs].

Pitchfork: Did your dynamic as a band change during the recording?

CW: Well, we decided when we were writing that we would take the best parts of the B-52s and the worst of different things and use them. We all wrote together. It was very much like a focus group. Steve Keith [Strickland] brought us this amazing modern music that was danceable and lush and would shape us as a band into the 21st Century. So we used this music, and all of us were like jamming in recording. It was very hard to write that way, but if you have the patience, it's very rewarding. [MORE...]

The Gossip Announce Live CD/DVD Release
Wham!, Aaliyah covers included

Before they finish the studio album follow-up to 2006's Standing in the Way of Control, late-blooming dance punks the Gossip will release a document of their sweat-soaked live antics.

Titled Gossip: Live in Liverpool, the CD/DVD contains footage from a show on July 9, 2007 in, yes, Liverpool, England. The CD and the DVD each feature a slightly different tracklist (though both include the band's covers of Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" and Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?"). The DVD was filmed by director Lance Bangs (Pavement, Sonic Youth, Kanye West, R.E.M., Mike Watt).

Columbia Records/Music With a Twist will release Gossip: Live in Liverpool on April 15.

UPDATE: Kill Rock Stars will release the vinyl version of the album on May 6. It will be a gatefold with a poster, and it will also come with the DVD.

Of course, the Gossip also have a handful of flesh-and-blood live dates in the next couple of months. [MORE...]

Hives Challenge Vancouver Canucks to Hockey Game
What the puck?!

We know damn well that Sweden's Hives rule the live stage, but what about the ice rink? Determined to find out, the photogenic fivesome journeyed late last week from one frozen northerly land to another, Canada (where, okay, they also happened to be touring), to put a hockey challenge before three Swedish members of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks.

The February 22 afternoon contest at General Motors Place went down just prior to the Hives' gig that evening at the Commodore Ballroom, and was organized (and documented) by record-making liaisons Canadian Recording Services.

Somehow, amid the clattering of sticks, the swooshing of air, and the slicing of ice skates, the Hives managed to put up five against the highly-trained Canucks. But, alas, it would not be enough, as the professionals-- though outnumbered-- emerged with a 6-5 victory over their garage-rocking opponents.

It has been said that this victory gave the Canucks the mental boost they needed to prevail over the Detroit Red Wings the following night, and who are we to doubt it? Hopefully they got some free Hives tickets out of the deal too.

The Hives face off in Minneapolis tonight (February 28) and return to the home continent in late March. By the way, guys, if you'd like to challenge Pitchfork HQ to a game of foosball while you're here in Chicago tomorrow, BRING IT. [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.)