Hercules and Love Affair Ready Debut LP, Drop Single

We've made a bit of a fuss about Brooklyn disco dude Hercules and Love Affair (aka producer Andy Butler) over in Forkcast recently, which is great if you sit on the internet all day trolling for hot new underground sounds instead of doing things like going outside, reading books, eating food at restaurants, and occasionally talking to people while buying music from them. We heavily recommend all those activities, however, so in the interest of balance, know that the month of March holds actual releases from Hercules and Love Affair.

First up is the digital and physical release of lead single "Blind" via DFA/EMI, available now in the UK. Like several other tracks on Hercules' forthcoming self-titled debut, "Blind" features vocal contributions from Antony Hegarty, and the CD and 12" versions of the single include a remix of the track from Chicago house legend Frankie Knuckles.

Speaking of Hercules and Love Affair, DFA/EMI will release the album on March 10 in the UK. But if you must stay inside and get it, the iTunes version of the record will include previously unreleased track "I'm Telling You" as a bonus.

And if you're looking to leave the house, catch Butler DJing in London this month, and Hercules and Love Affair playing live in June. [MORE...]

Photos: Arcade Fire Members Rock for Obama, Part 2 [Cleveland, OH; 03/03/08]

There's a lot of romance surrounding Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Imagine, for a moment, that New Mexico governor Bill Richardson was the candidate lodged in a late winter dogfight with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Would Albuquerque natives the Shins be playing rallies prior to the March 4 primary in Ohio? My guess is no.

With the polls indicating a shrinking Clinton lead, most of the Arcade Fire made the 14-hour trek from Montreal to Ohio to drum up support for Obama, playing in Nelsonville on Sunday, March 2, and performing two free shows last night, March 3, at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland.

Braving long lines, rain, and a rapidly descending temperature, the throngs of Obama supporters/Arcade Fire fans packed the one-time Croatian dance hall in the slowly-but-surely gentrifying Waterloo neighborhood. There was a surprisingly stark contrast between the two sets: the early show was an almost somber affair, while the second set was a raucous revival of sorts.

The band kicked off the early show with a subdued cover of David Bowie's "Heroes". Win Butler quipped that the last time they played on the Beachland stage there were one hundred people in attendance (he was understating that a bit), and that the increased attendance "means Barack Obama should be the president." He offered up "Intervention" as a cry for help after the 2004 election, adding a scorching run through of John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" as the answer to that cry. The short set wound down with what seemed to be a perfunctory "Wake Up" and a somewhat stale arrangement of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come".

The late set was an almost entirely different event. Will Butler proved to be a far more adept political speaker than his brother, firing the crowd up with the assertion that "if Barack Obama doesn't become president, this whole movement will not mean anything...history doesn't remember the candidate that didn't win."

Opening this set with "Intervention", the band was clearly operating on a more vital level than a couple of hours earlier. This was especially evident in the increased urgency added to a burning "Antichrist Television Blues" and a more energetic, almost punked-up repeat of "Gimme Some Truth".

After a short speech from Obama spokesman Kevin Griffis (who was personally responsible for the Ohio rallies, as his series of emails with Win Butler led to the hastily-arranged shows), the band revisited "A Change Is Gonna Come" (again without the undesired effect). The second set's infectious energy was recaptured with a searing "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)", with Win delivering the second half of the song from the floor among the packed crowd. The crowd responded accordingly, and the combination of dancing and shoving was nearly the polar opposite from the stoic nature of the earlier group of attendees.

This set's take on "Wake Up," which closed the night, found the band in their typical post-show impromptu balcony formation, creating the sort of crowd participation befitting a rally for participatory democracy.

There is plenty to make voters cynical in our country, and a skeptical reaction to a band of native and transplanted Canadians holding a political rally for an American presidential candidate is fairly predictable. But for a state with such a late primary (traditionally, the early March voting in Ohio has offered little aside from the opportunity for voters to cast a petulant vote of displeasure with the prohibitive candidate), the closeness of the Democratic race was a rare chance to attract this sort of attention before the general election. The decidedly young crowd reveled in the occasion, swept up in equal measure by the band and the romance of Obama's campaign. A bleak and rainy day awaits voters on Election Day, but the fighting spirit that the Arcade Fire brought with them to northeast Ohio proved that the possibility for less-cynical politics has a willing audience in Cleveland.

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Man Man Kick Off World Tour
Warning: shows may be Rabbit Habit-forming

No strangers to the epic expedition, Man Man begin their newest live journey tonight, March 4, in Baltimore. The three-month-long itinerary includes dates with Yeasayer, Islands, Dirty Projectors, and an appearance at the ATP vs. Pitchfork festival. It's a regular oddball parade!

Of course, the reason for Man Man's touring season is the April 8 arrival of their third LP, Rabbit Habits, via new label Anti-. Check out the album cover right up there. [MORE...]

Daft Punk to Release Electroma on DVD and Blu-Ray

Photo by Kirstie Shanley

It looks like North Americans are in for another summer of Daft Punk. The beloved French-humans-posing-as-robots will bring their robots-on-a-quest-to-become-human film Electroma to DVD on July 22 via Vice Records. The silent, experimental feature directed by Daft Punk themselves will be available on both DVD and the shiny new Blu-Ray format. The package is a metal case with imprinted cover images, and a 40-page book of stills from the movie.

In anticipation of the DVD's release, there are two screenings of Electroma scheduled for next week in Florida. [MORE...]

Ben Gibbard, Ted Leo, Patton Oswalt Help Out WFMU

Poster by Neil Numberman 

In the interest of upstaging those geezers in Yo La Tengo (and raising money for this year's WFMU pledge drive), Tom Scharpling-- host of the aptly titled Best Show on WFMU-- will be welcoming some very special guests to his show tonight.

Fellow Jerseyite Ted Leo, Death Cab frontman/Postal Servicer Ben Gibbard, and Comedian of Comedy Patton Oswalt will all be stopping by the studio tonight from 8pm to 11pm EST, musicking and comedying to help win your pledge money. (For your reference, WFMU can be found at 91.1 FM in the New York-New Jersey area, 90.1 FM in the Hudson Valley area, and streaming at wfmu.org everywhere.)

"So what's in it for me?" you ask. Well, a pledge of any amount will give you the self-satisfaction of on-air shout-out. In addition to Ted Leo playing songs for dollars, Yo La-style, Scharpling and co. have made sure that a more substantial pledge is well worth it. A pledge of $75 or more during the show will land you the fabulous Best Show WE DID IT AGAIN Fun Pack, featuring some stickers, a t-shirt, a bitchin' poster, and a brand new, totally exclusive Patton Oswalt EP titled Frankensteins and Gumdrops.

To receive these fabulous prizes, you must pledge live during the Best Show, by calling 1-800-989-9368, or on the internet at wfmu.org. In a world increasingly devastated by Clear Channel's army of darkness, WFMU remains one of the last bastions of truly independent freeform radio, and is 100% listener sponsored and supported. So yeah, give them your money.

For those of you unfamiliar with The Best Show, now is as good a time as any to join the fold. Aside from being a uniformly excellent musical program, Scharpling's show is host to some of the funniest on-air bits this side of, uh, anything. So tune in and pledge pledge pledge! Big Money needs to get pizz-aid!

Spiritualized Details: U.S. LP, Mister Lonely Soundtrack

Looks like Jason Pierce aka J. Spaceman aka Jason Spaceman won't limit the pleasure of enjoying the new Spiritualized album to UK residents only. Us U.S. folk will get our taste of Songs in A&E on June 3 via Fontana International/Spaceman Records. (Yes, it's Songs in A&E, not Song's in A&E, as previously reported. That erroneous apostrophe came courtesy of a post on the Spiritualized MySpace page. -- Ed)

The album's first single will be "Soul on Fire", and it will be released on CD and as a download.

What's more, the soundtrack to the upcoming Harmony Korine movie Mister Lonely, which features music by Spaceman and the Sun City Girls, now has a tracklist and release details. The soundtrack is scheduled for an April 22 release on Drag City, but the film will hit theaters at the end of March.

As previously reported, Spiritualized performed as part of the iTunes Live: London Sessions series of concerts last week. A five-track EP of songs recorded at the performance will be available on iTunes UK starting next week. According to a post on the Spiritualized website, the EP includes "two previously unreleased acoustic mainline versions of tracks from Songs in A&E plus three others."

Then, of course, Spiritualized kick back into tour mode starting in late April. [MORE...]

Justice Kick Off North American Tour
Add European dates in late spring and summer

Photo by Natalie Kardos

Once again, it's time to pick up those cross-shaped glowsticks and prepare for a pummeling, because Justice begin their massive North American trek tonight, March 3, in Austin, Texas. The MySpace Music Tour takes them places with Diplo, Chromeo, Fancy, and Ed Banger labelmates Busy P and DJ Mehdi.

Recently added to Justice's never-ending world tour are a handful of spring and summer dates in Europe. [MORE...]

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Via Audio Tour

With Pershing set to descend April 8 via Polyvinyl, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have gone and done the unthinkable: they have booked a tour! Yes, folks, a tour! What will these crazy young men do next, share an mp3 off their new record or something? Ah, whoops.

Joining they of the long-ass band name will be New York City's Via Audio and Oakland's Port O'Brien. Each handles opening duties on a separate stretch of dates, with the whole succession of live nightly shows thing kicking off in earnest April 12. Someone Still Loves blah blah etc. have a few scattered dates before then, as do Via Audio. Dare to guess where you might find out MORE about all this?? [MORE...]

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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