Cat Power Appears on New Beck Album
Said album might be appearing sooner than you think

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead, Trent Reznor (twice!), the Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, and himself, Beck plans to release his new Danger Mouse-produced LP quite quickly-- in the next four to six weeks, to be exact, according to MTV.com

Universal Music Group wouldn't confirm anything, but we discovered that one of MTV's claims is very much true: the new Beck album will indeed feature contributions from Chan "Cat Power" Marshall. Hopefully in a more notable capacity than Beth Orton on Midnite Vultures, eh?

In other Beck news, he's added a few dates to that summer tour of his since our last report. Oh, and did you hear about his new album? It's got Cat Power on it! [MORE...]

Photos: Radiohead [West Palm Beach, FL; 05/05/08]

Photos by Margarita Gonzalez

Having turned the world on its head with a little Rainbows magic, Radiohead are now setting things straight again with a slightly more conventional activity: the performing of music in the live concert setting.

The quintessential quintet kicked off its epic 2008 tour last night at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, and pretty much all of your old friends were there: "Airbag", "Just", "Everything in Its Right Place", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", "Optimistic", "How to Disappear Completely", and more.

Plenty of relatively new acquaintances showed up as well, including "Nude", "Faust Arp", "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi", "House of Cards", "Videotape", and even B-side and Pitchfork.tv hit "Bangers & Mash".

As you peruse the photo selection and the many remaining tour dates below, don't forget to be mindful of your carbon emissions.

Set List:

01 All I Need
02 Bodysnatchers
03 There There
04 Reckoner
05 The Gloaming
06 Morning Bell
07 Nude
08 How to Disappear Completely
09 15 Step
10 Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
11 Idioteque
12 Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was
13 Where I End and You Begin
14 Airbag
15 Everything In Its Right Place
16 The National Anthem
17 Videotape
***encore***
18 Optimistic
19 Just
20 Faust Arp
21 Exit Music (For a Film)
22 Bangers & Mash
*** encore***
23 House of Cards
24 Street Spirit (Fade Out)










[MORE...]

Radiohead Launch Tour, Help Lower Carbon Footprints
Reveal "Nude" remix data

What's that strange sound, echoing from over yonder? Why, it's the call of the wild Radiohead, who begin their global migration this very day, Monday, the fifth of May, 2008.

Scientists and so-called music journalists have been tracking the movements of the wild Radiohead for some time now, and they've determined this year's migration will commence in the West Palm Beach area of Florida. The wild Radiohead will spend a couple weeks wandering these lands until they've exhausted the region's supply of their primary source of sustenance, Radiohead fan dollars. Then it's off to Europe in search of the far more nourishing Radiohead fan euro, then North America again for the hell of it, and finally Japan, where the Radiohead fan yen is hard to beat. After that, in all likelihood, comes a period of hibernation.

Herds of wild Radiohead are known to travel in tandem with Grizzly Bears, Bats, and wild Angus.

And researchers have long gained insight into the ways of the wild Radiohead by analyzing residual matter left by the wild Radiohead's only known parasite: the Radiohead fan. These researchers will find their work more difficult, however, given the wild Radiohead's long-brewing vendetta against the scourge known as the "carbon footprint." We're not quite sure how the wild Radiohead managed to harness human technologies, but they've now created a website devoted to helping these fans reduce their footprint. They've also given this website a name worthy of another noted UK species, the wild Monty Python: "The Most Gigantic Flying Mouth for Some Time". We kid you not.

Apparently, the creatures have also been doing some research themselves, as yesterday they posted data on their website regarding the success of the "Nude" remix project. It seems that the wild Radioheads is very closely monitored indeed.

Keep an eye out for wild Radiohead sightings on MTV and VH1, plus at all of the spots below. [MORE...]

Wildbirds & Peacedrums Issue Debut Worldwide, Tour

Swedish husband and wife duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums released their sophomore album, The Snake, in their native country in March, but the rest of the world is just catching up to their debut. Leaf is giving that first record, Heartcore, a U.S. release on May 6 and a worldwide release on May 12.

The lovebirds will fill the world with compoundnouns this spring and summer on livedates that start May 9 in Castellón, Spain. Along the way, they'll play with Jens Lekman, Caribou, Matmos, Born Ruffians, and A Hawk and a Hacksaw. [MORE...]

Howlin Rain Open for the Black Crowes

Howlin Rain-- the group of Bay Area psych-os led by Comets on Fire's Ethan Miller-- have found themselves some higher profile but nonetheless fitting tour partners in the Black Crowes. The two bloozy acts will team up for a run of U.S. shows in September and October.

Before then, Howlin Rain have UK, U.S., and mainland European dates this spring and summer in support of their recently released new album, Magnificent Fiend. One of those dates is an appearance at ATP vs. Pitchfork, which begins, oh my, later this week! [MORE...]

Rap/R&B Hits + Mathematics = Small Shorties
Includes beats jacked from E-40, Rich Boy, T-Pain, Mims, Jim Jones, Chris Brown, more!

Long before you can grasp the intricacies of "Chemical Calisthenics" and such, you need a solid foundation in basic mathematics, right? Well shucks, good thing for Hip Hop Multiplication, a new CD by a group of adventurous young students (and an enterprising ex-teacher) known as Smart Shorties.

Name a chart-topping rap/r&b track from the last couple years and Smart Shorties have probably bowdlerized it with their times-sign rhymes (or just plain reclaimed it for the kids, one would suppose, in the case of nursery rhyme stuff like Jibbs' "Chain Hang Low" and Yung Joc's "I Know You See It"). And while some educators out there might find the grammar questionable, at least the math is all sound.

Forget the D's; Rich Boy is throwing some fours on it. Who cares about being fly or hot? The new Mims can't wait to let the world know "This Is Why I'm Smart". And E-40 is sticking around this time, since he wants us to "Tell Me What You Know". Hell, even "Chicken Noodle Soup" gets the math-over on this wacky collection.

The tracklist follows after the jump, with the original tunes and artists in brackets. Each track covers its corresponding column on the multiplication table, with track 13, "Clear It Out", addressing the number zero. Hip Hop Multiplication is available now from Spark the Mind.

In other news, the Dino 5 are cutting a dis track as you read this. [MORE...]

Frank Black to Open for Stone Temple Pilots
As hard as we try to ignore the STP reunion, it just keeps following us

Oh so long ago, there was a band from Boston called Pixies. They were very, very good. A guy named Kurt-- who you probably know from another very, very good band called Nirvana-- heard those Pixies, cribbed what he could, added a few more primary influences and plenty of his own touches, and became very famous as a result.

When Kurt's so-called "grunge" band was at the height of their prominence, a bunch of second-stringers thought "hey, why not me?", and just like that, post-grunge was formed. A periodically tolerable but generally unremarkable band called Stone Temple Pilots emerged from this particular genre, recording a string of albums and scoring lots of hits and getting arrested a lot. Then they broke up.

But when the frontman from STP got kicked out of yet another band he was fronting for generally behaving in the way he was accustomed, STP reformed at an economically opportune moment for all parties involved. Which is how we got here, I think.

Onetime Pixies frontman Charles "Some Combination of 'Frank or Francis' and 'Black'" Thompson, fresh off the release of his mini-LP SVN FNGRS, will open a handful of shows on the Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour this summer. The very same Stone Temple Pilots fronted by the fella whose next LP is being recorded by one Steve Albini? Indeed, the same. Could our STP being making their grab at art-rock glory? Is a critical reappraisal of Shangri-La Dee Da nigh? Man, whatever, just as long as Candlebox aren't reuniting or anything. Ah, shit.

In other news, Black plans to issue a recording of an October 2007 gig onto "some USB clips" through his website sometime fairly soon. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: May 5-11, 2008

Live music on TV this week:

Monday, May 5:

Syndicated: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Estelle

Tuesday, May 6:

NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Galactic
FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: Akron/Family

Wednesday, May 7:

ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lil Mama
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Mike Doughty
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: the Duke Spirit

Thursday, May 8:

NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: the Heavy

Saturday, May 10:

NBC: Saturday Night Live: My Morning Jacket
PBS: Austin City Limits: The Decemberists, Explosions in the Sky (rerun)

Sunday, May 11:

FOX: Fearless Music TV: the Ark

Diplo, Atlas Sound, Jay Reatard, TNV Do Stag & Dagger
With Tough Alliance, Hot Chip DJs, A-Trak, 1990s, Cadence Weapon, Muscles, Sian Alice Group

They may call it a festival, but Stag and Dagger is more akin to a particularly long pub crawl with a killer soundtrack. Hell, works for us.

Spreading out over East London the evening of May 15, Stag and Dagger features the likes of Diplo, Atlas Sound, Jay Reatard, Hot Chip DJs, Times New Viking, the Tough Alliance, A-Trak, 1990s, Sian Alice Group, Muscles, the Octopus Project, Cadence Weapon, Quiet Village, Archie Bronson Outfit, the Duke Spirit, Operator Please, SebastiAn, Busy P, Telepathe, Baseball Furies, Harmonic 313, Mira Calix, and Semifinalists.

These folks and a whole hell of a lot more will cram into just about any East London venue that would have them. Stag, Dagger, then stagger home.

Iron & Wine, Bill Callahan Open for the Swell Season
As does Rachel Grimes of Rachel's

The Swell Season (aka Academy Award winners/Once stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) have made their two-legged North American tour even sweller with the addition of some stellar opening acts.

Iron & Wine and Bill Callahan join the duo on separate dates of the tour's fall leg. Rachel's member Rachel Grimes opens two shows on the tour's already underway spring leg. Grimes' solo piano sets are in support of a forthcoming self-released album called Book of Leaves.

The Swell Season's next stop is tonight (May 5) in Kansas City, Mizzou. Iron & Wine and Bill Callahan also have plenty dates of their own. [MORE...]

Matt & Kim, Death Set, Black Ghosts Do Colt 45 Tours

For the second summer in a row, the party experts at Vice have assembled a series of tours in collaboration with malt liquor Colt 45 under the name "Tales of Colt 45". These free, RSVP-only shows will visit most of the same venues in L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, and NYC each month from May through August, creating residencies of sorts at each location.

Each month of the tour will feature a different lineup of artists. Thunderheist and ex-Simian singer Simon Lord's new project the Black Ghosts will take the mantle in May, followed by Drop the Lime aka Curses! in June, and a Matt & Kim/the Death Set double bill in July. The August lineup has yet to be announced.

Only the May and July "Tales of Colt 45" dates are available at this time, and you can view them after the jump along with a fair number of other dates from the Black Ghosts, the Death Set, and Matt & Kim. [MORE...]

Modest Mouse Add Dates to Tour

Details of the EP Modest Mouse have reportedly been working on with help from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band? Nope. How about tour dates featuring the latter opening for the former? Coming right up-- right around the time Modest Mouse finish their tour with R.E.M. and the National in mid-June.

Also lacking further details: that reworking of Lee Hazlewood's Trouble Is a Lonesome Town featuring Isaac Brock, Frank Black, and Larry Norman, due to be released later this year.

Brock also appears in the Flaming Lips' movie Christmas on Mars, which finally, FINALLY, debuts at the Sasquatch Festival on May 25. Check out an outtake from the film featuring Brock and actor Adam Goldberg here:

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.)