Photos: MusicNOW Festival [Cincinnati, OH; 04/02-04/05/08]

Photos by Keith Klenowski

The more adventurous strains of indie rock and contemporary compositional music collided at the third annual MusicNOW festival, which wrapped up over the weekend at Cincinnati's Memorial Hall.

Curated by National guitarist Bryce Dessner, the eclectic festival brought together the likes of Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, Dirty Projectors, and modern music mavericks Bang on a Can All-Stars (joined by Dessner and Wilco percussionist extraordinaire Glenn Kotche), with Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, and the Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry also putting in appearances.

Catch all the hot MusicNOW action below.

GRIZZLY BEAR






ANDREW BIRD




DIRTY PROJECTORS




BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS with GLENN KOTCHE and BRYCE DESSNER






BRYCE DESSNER


GLENN KOTCHE


SUFJAN STEVENS

[MORE...]

King Khan and the Shrines Sign to Vice Records
Give up on modesty in all forms

Out of the garage and onto Vice Records come King Khan and the Shrines, the international 12-piece rock'n'roll explosion. Khan and company will release The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines-- a greatest hits compilation of sorts-- June 17 on their new digs. The disc features tracks from throughout King Khan's history (including cuts from What Is?!, Pitchfork's 33rd favorite album of 2007), liner notes by Jared Swilley of Khan's new labelmates the Black Lips, and, as always, a whole lot of shoutin'. The good kind.

Khan and company have a number of dates to go in 2008, but there will be more soon, including the band's first U.S. tour in July and August. We know but a few so far, including their stop at the Pitchfork Music Festival. [MORE...]

Beach House, Dodos, Dead Child Play Culture Shock

IU, ground yourselves, as you're about to feel a little jolt: Culture Shock 08 is almost upon you!

Bloomington, Indiana's student-run WIUX will host their annual Culture Shock festival April 19 at Indiana University's Dunn Meadow. The day-long fest will reign in the electrified likes of Beach House, the Dodos, Dead Child, the Explorers Club, Pattern Is Movement, White Hinterland, Mahjongg, Blueprint, the Chicago Afrobeat Project, and more.

Of course, you may wonder just what's shocking about a festival that goes on every year. That is, until you see the price of admission: seeing all them bands will cost you absolutely nothing. Nice!

Radiohead, Wilco, Kanye, NIN, Etc. Confirmed for Lolla
Ditto for Rage, Bloc Party, Raconteurs, Gnarls, Cat Power, BSS, Malkmus, and so forth

Get that lollipop out of your mouth, quit your lollygagging, and prepare to LOL at the epic lineup for the 2008 Lollapalooza festive gathering. LOL at the sheer absurdity of seeing so many grade A acts in one 72-hour span, that is.

Lollapalooza returns to Chicago's Grant Park from August 1-3 this year, bringing with it much musical goodness. The fun includes previously speculated-over headline appearances by Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, Wilco, and the Raconteurs, plus Gnarls Barkley, Cat Power, Broken Social Scene, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Bloc Party, Girl Talk, Battles, Grizzly Bear, Jamie Lidell, the Go! Team, the Cool Kids, Kid Sister, the Black Keys, and Mates of State.

Other goodness of note that has just come to light: Love and Rockets, Lupe Fiasco, the National, Explosions in the Sky, Okkervil River, CSS, Spank Rock, Black Kids, Black Lips, the Kills, Booka Shade, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Gogol Bordello, Amadou & Mariam, Rogue Wave, the Gutter Twins, Yeasayer, Dr. Dog, the Octopus Project, and Cadence Weapon.

Speaking of LOLs, the press release for this deal lists the hometown of Gnarls Barkley as "St. Elsewhere". Cute, guys.

Radiohead Reveal Second Leg of North American Tour
Liars and Grizzly Bear split opening duties

People at my lunch table just can't stop raving about this guy Ray Deohedd. What's his deal, man? Apparently he really turned the record industry on its head last fall when he released some record called Inside a Rainbow or something. But how does just one dude command such adoration from my peer group?

I dunno, but this morning somebody mentioned this Ray Deohedd had finally revealed all the dates and venues for the "second leg" of his North American tour, and man, people just lost their shit. Cafeteria milk was spraying out of noses, kids were jumping on tables, somebody got stabbed with a Handi-Snacks cheese-spreader-- and for what? I just don't get it.

Then somebody said something about "Liars" and "Grizzly Bear", and-- boom!-- same scene all over again. And do I even need to tell you what happened when the subject of Mr. Deohedd's exclusive performance on the newly-launched Pitchfork.tv came up? Do I? [MORE...]

Pitchfork.tv: It's Alive!!

Well, today we’re like kids waking up and realizing all the Xs are marked on the calendar and the circled day has arrived and oh man… it's our birthday! Yup. What we’ve been laboring over for the past several months is finally ready to be seen by everyone we’ve been making it for. Today is the official (beta!) launch of Pitchfork.tv, and we couldn’t be prouder.

By now you’re probably pretty up on what we've got coming your way, and today is it's officially yours. Let's have one more look at what's in store. Now with links!

The site
http://pitchfork.tv

Radiohead: "Bangers & Mash" (Live In-Studio) // Pitchfork.tv Exclusive
Radiohead perform "Bangers & Mash" in Nigel Godrich's basement studio exclusively for the launch of Pitchfork.tv.

Liars // Juan's Basement
Liars drop by the Basement to play tracks from their self-titled LP and 2006's Drum's Not Dead, and chat about the new songs, getting medicinally certified, and what it's like to be broadsided by oncoming traffic.

Man Man // Daytripping
Last spring, we trekked down to Philly to document the making of Man Man's new LP, Rabbit Habits. They shot off fireworks in the street. Pitchfork.tv's first-ever production.

Jay Reatard // Pitchfork Live
Garage punk maniac Jay Reatard blasts 12 breakneck future rock anthems into one of the craziest audiences we've seen in a while. The full concert, live from NYC’s Cake Shop.

M83: "Graveyard Girl" // Pitchfork.tv Music Video Premiere
Reinventing "French new wave," M83 trade epic synth-rock for John Hughes nostalgia with the blissed-out "Graveyard Girl", from their forthcoming Saturdays = Youth LP. Pitchfork.tv has the music video's world premiere.

loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies // One Week Only
The Pixies' 2004 reunion tour documentary follows their first rehearsals to the final show, and the drug addictions and inter-band tension in between. Plus, see Frank Black in his underwear more times than you ever dared to dream! Steven Cantor & Matthew Galkin direct. Special thanks to our pals at Music Video Distributors.

Pitchfork Central Casting // Special Presentation
"Saturday Night Live"'s Fred Armisen and Les Savy Fav frontman Tim Harrington oversee auditions to find "the face of Pitchfork.tv." Islands' Nick Diamonds guests.

Justice Release "DVNO" Single

Justice's fondness for the short format takes us back to the early days of rock'n'roll, when 45s from Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper reigned supreme. Okay, so we don't remember those days, per se, but Justice conjure a French, leather-clad version of how we imagine them.

The pummeling electro duo will conjure those days again with the release of "DVNO", the latest single from their debut album †. Out May 12 in the UK on Ed Banger/Because (out now in France), the single comes in 12" and digital formats and features remixes of the track from Surkin, Todd Edwards, LA Riots, Petits Pilous, and Justice themselves. [MORE...]

Patrick Wolf Works With Patti Smith, Does Soundtrack

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Patrick Wolf just spent "the most inspired weekend away of [his] life", and, like many of these computer-literate types, decided to blog about it. Nah, no tales of yard-high margaritas and hookups with total cuties for Patrick; rather, he and a few friends headed to the country to play an unannounced gig or two and meet up with a punk icon. Kinda makes one rethink those Saturday night case-race plans, huh?

The last weekend in March, Patrick packed up the car with a few instruments and headed out to Laugharne, Wales. He played a few gigs he'd intentionally kept quiet in order to remind him of the feeling of "when I was 16 when I busked the accordion on Hungerford bridge or sang songs in squats or front rooms, where no one knows who you are but just sing and if you sing with heart enough, you'll have made a communication, no advertising or
hype or billing.."

Wolf had been asked to perform a concert in tribute to famed Welsh poet (and Bob Dylan namesake) Dylan Thomas, in conjunction with the forthcoming Thomas biopic The Edge of Love. On the soundtrack to that film, Wolf performs "The Edge of Love", a song co-written by composer Angelo Badalamenti and Edge of Love director John Maybury. Wolf notes that "the song has found its way deep into my heart and that's a tricky thing to do when you've spent a decade mainly only singing your own songs."

While in Wales, Wolf ran into Patti Smith, who was also performing at the Thomas tribute. The pair ended up performing together, and the collaboration has extended even further. Wolf writes, "Patti has and I will be making some music together very soon. On Monday she taught me a melody she wrote about a three legged dog... we have still to work the song out to full completion. Soon we will be recording a little moment for the next album."

The next album? Ah yes, that would be follow-up to last year's great The Magic Position, which will feature Alec Empire, and he is apparently working up now. No word on a release for that-- or the live DVD project we mentioned back in January-- but if Patrick has a few more inspiring weekends like that one, we can probably expect it sooner rather than later.

Last Shadow Puppets Cover Bowie on First Single

As if the prospect of two up-and-comers from a pair of promising upstarts forging their own propitious path wasn't enough to wrap your head around, get a load of this: For the next three Mondays starting today, Domino Records will issue (in the UK) a Last Shadow Puppets release titled The Age of the Understatement.

One, of course, is the debut album from the brand new thing the Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and the Rascals' Miles Kane have gotten themselves into. That hits UK shelves April 21. On April 7 and April 14, the record's title track will be given a handful of singles in a mess of formats, flooding the marketplace with "Understatement". Let's cut through the jumble, shall we?

First up is the digital release of "The Age of the Understatement" today, April 7. A week later, you'll be treated to the single on a pair of 7"s and a CD. The B-sides include the band's own "Two Hearts in Two Weeks" and covers of the David Bowie rarity "In the Heat of the Morning" and early British rocker Billy Fury's "Wondrous Place". The artwork for the singles is pictured above.

Oh, and the LP drops in the U.S. May 6, with the 7" and digital versions of the single hitting the States April 15 April 8.

Here's the album cover:

Though neither the Puppets nor the Monkeys have any live dates approaching, those Rascals sure as heck do. Those dates, too, are down there under this thing. [MORE...]

Weezer Confirm Title, First New Photo Revealed
This is what Vampire Weekend is going to look like in 15 years

Yes folks, that up there is your first look at Weezer, circa 2008. And in case you were wondering, those are polo helmets.

This publicity photo is promoting Weezer's new album, due out June 17 on Interscope.

No, it wasn't an April Fool's joke: it really is called Weezer, and the CD is apparently red.

Kanye Tour: Muppets, Holograms, Daft Punk Lights
Music will be played as well

This Kanye West guy is pretty extravagant, right? Starting a travel website, writing ridiculous blog posts, and hanging out with everyone and their grandparents in the process. Plus, we hear he puts on a pretty good show.

With Kanye's usual serving of showmanship and support from Rihanna, N.E.R.D., and Lupe Fiasco, we already knew the upcoming "Glow in the Dark" tour was going to be a two-month-long capital "E" Event. Then again, big events are par for Kanye's course, so what's the big deal?

Well, Kanye knows people expect great things from him, but when it comes to this tour, according to the man himself, "I tell people, 'Hey, this show is gonna be crazy,' and they say, 'I bet it is!' BUT THEY HAVE NO IDEA!"

Now, however, we have some idea, thanks to pictures Kanye posted on his blog. The first one [above] is a blurry image of the "ENTIRELY NEW DESIGNED SET," and the ones after the jump are non-nude-but-still-probably-NSFW pics of Hype Williams' "SHOOT 4 THE HOLOGRAM GIRLS," whatever those are.

As a complement to the photographic evidence of "Glow in the Dark"'s potential for greatness, here's an itemized list of the stuff we haven't seen yet. From Kanye's keyboard to your screen:

-"ROBOT DESIGNED BY ACCLAIMED ARTIST CHRISTIAN COLON"
-"CREATURES BY THE LEGENDARY JIM HENSON'S CREATURE SHOP"
-"LIGHTING BY MARTIN PHILLIPS AND JOHN McGUIRE, RESPONSIBLE FOR LAST YEAR'S FESTIVAL ANNIHILATOR, DAFT PUNK'S PYRAMID, POSSIBLY THE GREATEST LIGHT SHOW OF ALL TIME!!"

Skeptics should note: "MY SET DOES NOT HAVE A PYRAMID IN IT OR ANYWAY FEEL LIKE A BITE OF DAFT'S SHOW."

Not neglecting the musical portion of the show (aka the reason for the tour in the first place), Kanye has spent the last month and a half "RE-ORCHESTRATING EVERY TRACK 2 FOLLOW A NARRATIVE." He follows that revelation with a possible explanation for all the caps: "WE'VE LEARNED TO SURVIVE OFF OF 1 HOUR OF SLEEP A DAY!" [MORE...]

Rare Nina Simone Live Cuts, Interviews on Digital Comp

The late Nina Simone-- ultra-distinctive vocalist, "High Priestess of Soul", and general badass-- has a collection of previously unreleased video interviews and live songs that will hit iTunes on April 8.

The collection is titled Protest Anthology, and it is the first in a five-release series from digital distribution company the Orchard. Named for the political bent of its content, Protest Anthology contains live renditions of some of Simone's biggest hits, including "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" and "Mississippi Goddam". Nice! [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.)