The Wrens' Charles Bissell Joins Okkervil River
Okkervil River backing Roky Erickson tonight in Austin

Wrens photo by Matthew Solarski, Okkervil River photo by Akmal Naim

Big doings in camp Okkervil River. Tonight at the Austin Music Awards, taking place at the Austin Music Hall, they'll play backing band for the legendary Roky Erickson. That will kick off a series of four SXSW appearances, which will be bittersweet for the band: they're the last shows Okkervil River will play with guitarist Brian Cassidy as a full-time touring member.

See, Cassidy and his wife Megan are expecting their first child, and Cassidy has chosen being a dad over being a rock'n'roller. (Probably a wise decision). Okkervil frontman Will Sheff said in a press release, "All the sadness we're feeling about Brian's not being able to tour with us for the foreseeable future is outweighed by our happiness for him and his family."

Cassidy's replacement? None other than Charles Bissell of the Wrens! Well, for now at least. Bissell will accompany Okkervil River on the road throughout the spring and summer, including on their spring trek with the New Pornographers.

In the fall, Okkervil River will look for a permanent replacement. Which means the Wrens can finally get back to work on their new album. Right guys? Right?

(P.S. If you tune in to WNYC today around 2 p.m. Eastern, you just might hear Will Sheff on "Soundcheck", chatting about SXSW with some dork from Pitchfork News, provided her plane arrives on time.) [MORE...]

White Rabbits Become Radiohead's Labelmates on TBD
Dave Matthews becomes their boss

Joining the likes of Radiohead, Underworld, and, you know, Radiohead at ATO subsidiary TBD Records are none other than Columbia, Missouri-born, NYC-bred White Rabbits. The band, whose Fort Nightly gained a good following around these parts circa its release in May of last year, will release their second album on their new digs in early 2009.

Impressive company, sure, but the Rabbits are used to that sort of thing by now. Peep, if you will, this giant list of tour dates they've got lined up for the next quarter, with shared bills aplenty with Spoon, the Walkmen, Guillemots, and Loney, Dear. [MORE...]

Cloud Cult Feel Good About New Album, Tour

Though April 8 marks the official release of Cloud Cult's sixth LP Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornados), let me help you help yourself. If you want to, you can order the disc via Cloud Cult's website and listen to it right this very second. Or, you can skip on down to your local record mart April 8 and greet these Ghosts head-on.

Whether you opt for patience or haste, your (physical) copy of the Cult's follow-up to last year's The Meaning of 8 will arrive via the band's eco-friendly Earthology imprint. And, of course, it will be full of the kind of genre-skipping electronic-tinged symphonic swell these Minneapolitans have made their own over the last five LPs. So it's win-win!

In the most environmentally-friendly way they possibly can, Cloud Cult are on the road, sharing a bill with My Brightest Diamond before a spate of shows at SXSW and a full-blown tour in April and May. Just make sure to mind the splatter: Cloud Cult are known to perform with a live painter. [MORE...]

Midnight Juggernauts, Dystopia Hit UK, North America

Their name is more than likely familiar to anyone with a fondness for the rockier side of dance music circa this very moment, but despite their notoriety (due in no small part to famous fans/occasional tourmates/sonic brethren Justice) Midnight Juggernauts still don't have an album in stores in North America or the UK.

All that changes this spring, when the Juggernauts' debut LP, Dystopia, hits UK shelves May 19 on the reactivated Charisma label and comes to North America May 27 on Astralwerks. Man, imagine how big these guys will be when you can actually hear their music outside the confines of the internet and Justice shows! A single for "Shadows", meanwhile, lands in UK shops May 12.

The Juggernauts aren't just bringing their LP beyond their Australian homestead; they're taking themselves on a tour as well. After a few dates around Australia, they'll ship off to the UK and Europe before making their way to North America and eventually visiting Japan with Foals. [MORE...]

New Pornographers Issue Live From SoHo on iTunes

Recorded at a December, 2007 stop at the Apple Store in New York City's storied SoHo neighborhood, The New Pornographers' fittingly-titled Live From SoHo is available now on the iTunes store via Matador. Collecting ten tracks from the three most recent volumes in the band's fine catalog (no love for Mass Romantic?), the set is further bolstered by their take on the Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Bring Me Down".

You can watch the band performing said ELO cover on the French television show "Taratata" here.

But, hey, what's a live album when there's real live New Pornographers dates comin' at you in less than a month? Er, a handy stopgap and a nice bit of ear candy, duh. Still, you've got but a handful of weeks to rock out to Live From SoHo before the real thing comes along when the New Pornographers kick off their double bill with the lads of Okkervil River. There's been a few additions to those dates since we first ran 'em down, as well as announcements of the band's stops at Sasquatch! and All Points West.

In other news from the Pornos, "All For Swinging You Around" pops up on the "Heroes" soundtrack, and frequent Pornographer Dan Bejar's Destroyer will issue his Trouble in Dreams March 18 on Merge. [MORE...]

Shy Child Sign to Kill Rock Stars, Make Noise in U.S.

Keytars are always, always, always wacky, which must make Shy Child a wackier band than their meek moniker would suggest.

The ostentatious electro-punk duo of Nate Smith and Pete "I Play the Friggin' Keytar" Cafarella has signed with the Kill Rock Stars crew, who'll issue the band's 2007 LP Noise Won't Stop in North America for the first time May 5. The disc, produced by White Rabbits/Les Savy Fav knob-twister Chris Zane, features MC Spank Rock on the tune "Kick Drum". And keytar! So very much keytar.

Shy Child will unload gobs of keytar fury all over the U.S. this spring with Midnight Juggernauts, though the crowd gathered at Kill Rock Stars' SXSW showcase down at Emo's this Friday (March 14) will be the first to have their ivories plastics tickled and their (nonexistent) strings bent. Can a single club really contain a magical instrument that combines a keyboard and a guitar? Yeah, probably. [MORE...]

Waits, Bruce, Bright Eyes on Body of War Soundtrack
Plus: Public Enemy, Neil Young, Lupe Fiasco, Kimya Dawson, Talib Kweli

Body of War is a documentary focusing on the daily struggles of Tomas Young, a 26-year-old veteran of the Iraq War who was paralyzed from a gunshot suffered within his first week of service in Iraq. Produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, the film has been racking up awards (including the National Board of Review's "Best Documentary of 2007" prize) on the festival circuit, and will be released theatrically all over in the coming weeks.

Body of War's resolute anti-war message is backed up by a politically-charged double-disc soundtrack entitled Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, due March 18 on Sire. Pretty much anyone with an eye on the electorate and a pen of poison shows up here, including Tom Waits, Public Enemy, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Lupe Fiasco, Against Me!, Kimya Dawson, Rage Against the Machine, Bad Religion, Talib Kweli, and John Lennon. All proceeds from the sale of the soundtrack go to Iraq Veterans Against the War, a charity chosen specifically by Tomas Young.

What's more, Body of War will be screened this Thursday, March 13 at Austin, Texas' Paramount Theater as part of the SXSW festivities, with Young and the filmmakers answering questions as a postscript. After that's wrapped, Stubb's will host performances from another who's who of politically-minded folks, including Billy Bragg, Kimya Dawson, Tom Morello, Serj Tankian, and Ben Harper. [MORE...]

Sonic Youth Reissue Remastered EP, Prep SYR 7 Vinyl
Band, copious side projects line up dates

There's never a dull moment for indie rock's resident Energizer Bunnies Sonic Youth, who have swiftly followed up news of more art-world dabblings and the unlikeliest festival appearance in the history of ever with a flaming slew of activity.

On the release front, Kim and the boys recently served up a remastered reissue of 1987's Master-Dik EP, marking the release's debut in compact disc format. The EP includes a Ramones cover ("Beat on the Brat") and a "sound collage of psycho-distorto-soundscapes" (ooo!), among other sonic treasures. Copies are available right now, exclusively via the band's website.

Sonic Youth also keep going and going and going with the seventh SYR release, due April 22. The limited edition self-released slab of vinyl includes an NYC Ghosts & Flowers-era "22 minute drone-piece" and a composition intended for an aborted collaboration with a fashion designer. Keen!

On the live front, you can't sneeze over the next couple months without getting germs all over a member of Sonic Youth performing in some capacity. In addition to the full band's sure to be legendary appearance at the Dickson St. Music Festival and a gig the night before in Nashville, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore will team as Mirror/Dash tonight (March 11), Moore will bring all manner of ruckus to SXSW this week and No Fun Fest in May, and Lee Ranaldo will team with the Bang on a Can All-Stars and hit up No Fun himself. We've put our asterisks to good use below in the hopes of sorting everything out for you; have a look.

Finally, Free Kitten have returned! And a few more details recently came to light regarding Sonic Youth's career-spanning traveling art exhibit: it's called "Sonic Youth Etc.: Essential Fix", and it has a museum tour of its own shaping up. Get your "Essential Fix" at Saint-Nazaire, France's LIFE from June 17 to September 9, Bolzano, Italy's Museion from October 10 to January 4 of next year, and Dusseldorf, Germany's Kunsthalle from January 31 to April 26, 2009.

Tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum... [MORE...]

Malkmus Whips Up New 10" for Record Store Day

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Above the din of your Soulseek client's insistent friend request beep and that nasty "server seems to have been compromised" message they throw at you whenever you've got too many torrents open, you may have caught wind of the troubles the record industry's been facing lately. People just aren't buying Bow Wow records in the numbers they once did, and the same, of course, could be said for the artists that generally grace these pages. Sucks for Wal-Mart, but whatevs, they deserve it.

But it sucks in a totally sucky way for indie record shops, where you should be acquiring a vast majority of your recorded music and related bric-a-brac. Seriously.

With that in mind, a group of artists and record labels have come together to support Record Store Day, taking place April 19 at a mom and pop shop near you. Participating record stores-- and there are a lot of 'em-- are hosting special events throughout the day, and will have special merchandise for sale. One of those pieces of merchandise comes from a young man by the name of Stephen Malkmus (via his record label, Matador).

Anyway, Malkmus and the Jicks are issuing a limited-edition 10" single for Real Emotional Trash's "Cold Son", featuring a trio of unreleased jams. The disc will only be available through stores participating in Record Store Day, though some will also be available on the Jicks' tour.

There's a song on here called "Carl the Clod"! Good cause and all, but how could you not want this thing?

Oh, and that Malky tour? Dates after this. [MORE...]

Citay Embrace the Road

Photo by Alissa Anderson

Cosmic wailers Citay are extending the reign of last year's Little Kingdom with some U.S. tour dates in support of the record. The San Francisco many-piece begin schlepping their psychedelic jams with a trip to SXSW this week.

Throughout the tour, the Dead Oceans band will play shows alongside Sunburned Hand of the Man, Old Time Relijun, Bodies of Water, Howlin Rain, Rings, and Wooden Shjips, among others. [MORE...]

Human Bell Tour, Play Dates With Boredoms

Human Bell-- the guitar-slingin', no singin' Baltimore duo featuring Arbouretum tender Dave Heumann and former Lungfish-er Nathan Bell-- rang in the new year with a top-notch pun and a self-titled debut LP.

But as spring rolls around, their self-styled reverberations will sound through clubs (and record stores) the world over. Indeed, Human Bell are doing that touring thing this very instant, with gigs in the States this month to be followed by a trip to Europe and the UK the next. Quite a few of the pair's U.S. dates find them ushering their Thrill Jockey labelmates Boredoms around the country. Show those Boredoms a good time, gentlemen, and maybe they'll come back more often! [MORE...]

Learn the Way of the Wu
Enter for a chance to win one of 10 custom-designed RZA sampler/synthesizers

How does the Wu do it? Over 15 years on, the Staten Island ruckus-bringers remain one of the most formidable forces in hip-hop, while the wide-ranging influence of RZA's distinctive production touch cannot be understated.

RZA recently played teacher to a handful of eager Wu protégés at a Hollywood Guitar Center during the unveiling of the Roland RZA/Forat MV-8800, a sampler/synthesizer custom-designed by RZA and audio technician Bruce Forat.

Now you, the Pitchfork faithful, have the opportunity to win one of these unique music-making machines. All you need do is sign up for the Pitchfork email list, which will not only guarantee you Pitchfork updates and assorted fun absolutely free of charge, but will also enter you in a drawing for one of RZA's MV-8800s-- one of only 10 in existence.

Sign up and enter to win HERE.

And that's not all! The winner will also receive round-trip airfare to Los Angeles and two nights' accommodations so that he/she may rendezvous with the RZA himself and receive a personal MV-8800 tutorial session. This sweet contest is presented by our friends at Guitar Center.

We know what you're thinking-- not another email list! But believe us, this one is well worth your while. Of course your email address will not be sold or otherwise used without your consent. Details on that and all the captivating fine print you crave lie just below the jump. And HERE.

Sign up between March 11 and March 24 to be entered to win. And click "MORE" for photos of the MV-8800 and RZA's Hollywood Guitar Center tutorial session as well. [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.)