Adem Takes on Aphex Twin, YLT, Bjork, Breeders on LP

Who is that man behind the colorful dots and recently featured in Forkcast? Why it's Adem Ilhan, Kieran Hebden's Fridge bandmate and releaser of solo albums under his own first name. Thanks to the folks at Domino, the third of Adem's solo albums will arrive quite soon. The label will issue Takes in Europe on May 12 and in North America on June 3.

Takes is a covers album collecting Adem's, ahem, takes on some of his favorite tunes released between 1991 and 2001. This includes tracks by Björk, Yo La Tengo, Aphex Twin, Smashing Pumpkins, Low, Tortoise, PJ Harvey, and the Breeders, to name just eight of 12.

Providing an even niftier listening experience, the instrumentation on Takes is typically unusual. There are sounds on the record from an Appalachian dulcimer, an EBow, harmoniums, glockenspiels, a banjolele, an autoharp, and found items such as cups and bike locks. There are also pianos, violins, and acoustic guitars.

Takes' tracklist, complete with original artists in brackets, lies after the jump.

Adem has a handful of shows scheduled this month in support of Takes, all in his native England. [MORE...]

Why?, Cryptacize Cover Dylan, Steely Dan on Split 7"

Unusual musical animals and old pals Why? and Cryptacize have joined forces with Asthmatic Kitty to release a 7" as part of the label's "Unusual Animals" series on July 22. Cryptacize cover Steely Dan's "Peg" and Why? cover Bob Dylan's "As I Went Out One Morning" on the slab, making it an extra special treat. In keeping with tradition, the record comes with an unusual animal on the cover: a West Indian manatee.

Cryptacize will support their debut album, Dig That Treasure, on tour this spring and summer. Why? will do the same for their own new album, Alopecia. [MORE...]

Dirty Projectors, Phosphorescent Cover Castanets

The circle around Ray Raposa of Castanets is a tight one indeed, as he and some of your favorite Brooklynite musician sorts have been sharing living spaces and swapping songs for some time now. That spirit of community lives on with Tendrils, a new DVD featuring some of Raposa's closest music-making compatriots tackling Raposa's formidable tunes in a variety of exciting locales.

Dave Longstreth and Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors join Phosphorescent, Marla Hansen, and a whole slew of Ray-pals on the Mia Ferm-directed DVD, which arrives May 20 on Asthmatic Kitty. Oh, and as a little preview, the set will be available over there at Pitchfork.tv as part of our "One Week Only" programming the week of May 9. For, you know, one week. Only.

And, since one good turn deserves another, if you preorder Tendrils direct from Asthmatic Kitty, you can nab an exclusive new seven song Castanets EP for download. Among other treasures, the set includes Ray's covers of tunes from Jana Hunter and Deer Tick, plus remixes by Son Lux and Actuel.

Ray will join multi-instrumentalist Meg Noe and head to Europe next month for a fairly expansive tour under the Castanets banner. [MORE...]

A Sunny Day in Glasgow Cover Pastels, Cut Singles, Tour
Also put debut on vinyl, get remixed by Asobi Seksu and Ulrich Schnauss

The sun has risen and set anew on the biggest city in Scotland plenty of times since the last time we heard much from Philly's A Sunny Day in Glasgow. But hey, here they are again! The band has a trio of vinyl releases and a handful of live dates on the way over the next few months.

First up on the release tip is a 7" featuring their cover of the Pastels' "Sometimes I Think About You", due May 26 from Slumberland. Then on June 3, WRAS-affiliated new label Geographic North will issue a 7" with a pair of brand new ASDIG jams. And finally, last year's Recommended Scribble Mural Comic Journal LP is due on vinyl sometime in early July, bolstered by remixes from Ulrich Schnauss and Asobi Seksu.

Then, there are the live dates, which find the band in California this week, and New York and Europe into the summer. Shine on, you crazy non-Glaswegians. [MORE...]

Tokyo Police Club Cover Rentals, Get Los Camps! Remix
All this and more on Elephant Shell bonus disc

Finally ready to make their honest-to-goodness full-length debut with Elephant Shell, Tokyo Police Club have supplemented the first pressing of the album with a bonus disc of remixes and additional tracks, the latter exclusive to the UK edition.

The extra disc features remixes of Elephant Shell tracks from Field Music, Tom of Los Campesinos!, Dntel, the Good Life, and Flowers Forever. Those UK-only bonus tracks, meanwhile, include a new song-- appropriately titled "New New Song"-- and a cover of the Rentals' "Friends of P" (!).

The total Elephant Shell package hits North American stores April 22 via Saddle Creek, while Memphis Industries delivers the UK release on May 5.

In the meantime, TPC are knee-deep in those previously reported tour dates. The next one is tonight (April 8) in Nashville. [MORE...]

Tony Allen, Vieux Farka Toure on African U2 Tribute

A handful of prominent African musicians-- Vieux Farka Touré, Les Nubians, Angélique Kidjo, and others-- have joined together to put new spins on some U2 classics for In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2.

Aerosmith's Joe Perry joins Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars on "Desire", while former Fela Kuti musical director (and Damon Albarn's the Good, the Bad & the Queen bandmate) Tony Allen serves up an "Afrobeat translation" of "Where the Streets Have No Name".

The disc emerges April 1 from Shout! Factory, and a portion of the proceeds from each sale go to The Global Fund, "the world's largest international financier of the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria." [MORE...]

Blonde Redhead, Jesu, Black Francis Cover the Cure
As do CocoRosie, Tanya Donelly, Raveonettes, Bat for Lashes, Rosebuds, Brunettes, Ariel Pink

The sheer number of Cure cover/tribute albums already in existence is pretty goddamned absurd, so does the world really need two more of these things? Well, if you're willing to wager on a bunch of bands who have done us good in the past, the answer is yes.

Both Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to the Cure and Perfect as Cats: A Tribute to the Cure (henceforth known in this news piece as Heaven and Cats, respectively) boast fairly formidable rosters of indie rockers trying their hands at Robert Smith and company's best mope-alongs.

Heaven comes at us courtesy of American Laundromat Records and will feature the Raveonettes, the Rosebuds, the Brunettes, Tanya Donelly with Dylan in the Movies (not to be confused with Stars of Track and Field), Elk City, Joy Zipper, and Grand Duchy (aka Black Francis and Violet Clark), among others, tackling pretty much all the hits: "Close to Me", "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong", "In Between Days", "Pictures of You", and so on. If American Laundromat sounds familiar, they also did that (almost) all-lady Neil Young tribute.

Cats, meanwhile, has a fairly enormous pool of contributors, including Blonde Redhead, Jesu, CocoRosie, Bat for Lashes, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, the Dandy Warhols, Indian Jewelry, Kaki King, Rio en Medio, Lewis & Clarke, Bat for Lashes collaborator Christine Weeks, and even Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkin and half-sister to Charlotte Gainsbourg. Manimal Vinyl, the folks responsible for that left-field Madonna tribute, will deliver this one unto our eager ears. They will also donate proceeds to the Invisible Children organization.

Each of these odes to the Cure is a work in progress, so don't be surprised to encounter insertions, deletions, and switcheroos as they shape up. American Laundromat doesn't expect to have Heaven out until February or March of next year, while Manimal Vinyl is eyeing a "late 2008/early 2009" release for Cats. For the curious, the current makings of the two tracklists lie below.

And hey, the real Cure are touring right now! Their European adventures wrap up in London tomorrow night (March 20), and a rescheduled North American jaunt awaits in May and June. [MORE...]

Black Kids Cover Sophie B. Hawkins on Single

By naming their band Black Kids and calling their debut EP Wizard of Ahhhs, those buzzed-about Floridians have done a pretty decent job so far of carving out a mischievous niche for themselves. The Kids will continue the mischief making with the UK single release of "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" on April 7.

In a previous report, we confirmed that the single would be the band's inaugural release for Almost Gold (their label everywhere outside of North America), but what we didn't know is that one of the B-sides will be a cover of "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover". Yes, the "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" that was a 1992 hit single for Sophie B. Hawkins. The "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" with bedroom overtones like, "I give you something sweet each time you come inside my jungle book." The "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" that's actually a pretty great Sinead O'Connor knock-off. Is there any other?

The other B-side on the Bernard Butler-produced single is an original called "You Turn Me On", but what if it was really another cover?

Speaking of the former Suede guitarist, Black Kids are preparing to enter the studio with Butler to record their first full-length for a July release, which they will precede with another single. Before and after that, the Kids have a ton of tour dates in the UK and North America. [MORE...]

Vetiver Share Covers LP Info, Tour With Jayhawks Dude

Photo by Alissa Anderson

Hey, remember that "all-covers LP" Andy Cabic and his Vetiver gang were cooking up way back when? Seems it's well on its way to a listening device of your choosing, complete with title, tracklist, release month, and all those other vital stats your analytical mind craves.

A Thing of the Past is the rather appropriate title Vetiver have given to their tribute to assorted songs of yesteryear. In addition to previously mentioned covers of jams by Hawkwind, Townes Van Zandt, Elyse Weinberg, Biff Rose, and "Spirit in the Sky" guy Norman Greenbaum, the set also includes takes on tunes by Michael Hurley, Ian/Iain Matthews, and Bobby Charles, among others.

Look for this Thing in shops come May (exact date TBA) bearing the Gnomonsong stamp, and listen closely for guest appearances from Vashti Bunyan, members of the Chapin Sisters, and Hurley himself (who sings on Vetiver's "cover" of his own "Blue Driver" and contributes mock trumpet elsewhere).

That Vetiver remix 12" on Gnomonsong is out now, while Cabic continues writing new material for the next, non-cover-centric Vetiver album.

Perhaps you'll hear some of the new stuff as the band hits the road this March and April, where they'll be pulling double duty on founding Jayhawks member Gary Louris' tour. Vetiver will both open and act as the backing band for Mr. Louris, so go easy on 'em, eh? [MORE...]

Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke Tracklist Revealed

Meloy photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Well, at least he's not doing "A Change Is Gonna Come". We all know how that turned out the last time someone tried it.

But Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy is indeed covering five Sam Cooke numbers on his forthcoming tour-only EP Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke. And now we know what they are: "Cupid", "That's Where It's At", "Summertime", "Good Times", and "Bring It on Home to Me". (The latter was also recently tackled by M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, aka She and Him, apparently.)

As reported yesterday, the EP will be available at Meloy's spring solo shows. Joining the Decemberist on backing vocals is Laura Gibson, who will also open the trek.

To hear Meloy take on the Smiths, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and Shirley Collins, get your hands on Meloy's live solo album, Colin Meloy Sings Live!, due April 8 on Kill Rock Stars on CD and Jealous Butcher on vinyl. [MORE...]

Little Annie Covers U2, Sinatra, Brel on Good Pianos LP

Singer, songwriter, ordained minister, and-- perhaps more than anything else-- iconoclast: there's no pinning down Little Annie. And, though her latest project sounds uncharacteristically vanilla, one can only assume the singularity lies just under the seemingly staid surface.

When Bad Things Happen to Good Pianos, Annie and longtime collaborator Paul Wallfisch's latest LP, is a covers album featuring plenty of tunes you'll recognize. Still, Annie's putting her distinctive mark all over ten classics from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Leon Russell, Tina Turner, Jacques Brel, Candi Staton, Michel Legrand, U2, and others. The disc emerges January 29 via Durtro/Jnana/Southern.

Annie and Wallfisch have a European tour lined up for February, while Annie and Baby Dee will later join Marc Almond (Soft Cell) for Almond's "Sin Songs, Torch and Romance" residency in London. [MORE...]

Taken by Trees Tours N. America, Covers Guns N' Roses

Best to leave ex-Concrete Victoria Bergsman off your dance card. After all, she's taken-- Taken by Trees! Ho ho ho ho! Ha ha! Ha.

Ahem. Much more welcome than that completely impotent attempt at humor is the news that Ms. Bergsman will take her Trees solo project across the Atlantic next month. That's right folks, it's a tour, and it pops off February 22 in New York City.

"Young Folks"' secret weapon will then wind her way north-ward, break my heart by not coming to Chicago, and wrap up her tidy little tour in Seattle March 4. Ooh, and she shows some love to her native Sweden on one date beforehand.

And in a bid for honorary U.S. citizenship, Bergsman has gone and covered one of the most goddamned American bands ever, dammit, Guns N' Roses. The Taken by Trees take on "Sweet Child O' Mine" will turn up on iTunes February 19 via Rough Trade. Or scoop it up in 7" format at one of those tour stops. You know, the ones that aren't even remotely near Chicago.

Open Field is out now. [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.)