Lou Reed to Host Weekly Satellite Radio Show
Further excursions on a wobbly rail

Lou Reed said when he was just 66 years old, "Man, there's nothing happening at all. Every time I put on my satellite radio, there's just nothing going down at all." He paused briefly, then added, "No, not at all."

Then one fine morning, Lou went down to the SIRIUS satellite radio offices, and he didn't believe what he heard at all. They were offering him his own radio show and, yes, his weekend was saved by rock'n'roll.

This Saturday evening, May 17, at 6 PM, turn your SIRIUS extraterrestrial music-receiving device to channel 70-- "SIRIUS Disorder", as they call it-- to feast those ears on the inaugural edition of "Lou Reed's New York Shuffle", the latest venture from the rock'n'roll icon. Reed, having, like, been there, has plenty to say about the death of freeform radio and the crappiness of tightly-controlled playlists, but will let his gruff voice serve as a beacon of eclecticism as he and producer Hal Willner kick out the jams.

In a press release, Lou said, "For years, I've always been a fan of eclectic radio, such as FM radio in the past when you could hear stations play widely divergent music, ranging from rock to country to jazz to opera. I loved the days when DJs who did their own programming set the bar high. I learned from these DJs and it's a delight, with my friend Hal Willner, to do this type of radio today on SIRIUS. We will try to bring SIRIUS' listeners audio from all parts of the world that covers the whole musical spectrum."

Oh admit it, you're just gonna play the second half of The Bells and then grouse about "the kids" for a while, aren't you? We wouldn't expect anything less.

We assume Lou's new gig won't affect his forthcoming European Berlin tour, which kicks off in just over a month. Hey, if he's gotta miss a few shows to go out and make the fine fine music himself, well, that's all right now. [MORE...]

!!!, Yeasayer, No Age Play Free Yr Radio Series
Also: White Williams, Mudhoney

Did you know that, just like Prodigy and Darko, your radio needs freeing? No Age, Yeasayer, White Williams, !!!, and Mudhoney sure do, as each band will take part in 2008's Free Yr Radio concert series to prove it.

Now in its second year, Free Yr Radio is a campaign put on by Yaris and Urban Outfitters to increase support for independent radio stations. In addition to a compilation that benefits the program's partner stations, as well as Yaris cars being given away for fundraisers, Free Yr Radio will also host a series of free concerts to raise awareness.

10 shows will take place from May through October, mostly at Urban Outfitters locations, featuring the aforementioned artists and others still to be announced. Though each show is free, attendees must present an invite to get in. For invites and the specific details of each show, visit FreeYrRadio.com.

Stations benefiting from Free Yr Radio this year include KEXP in Seattle, KRCL in Salt Lake City, KUSF in San Francisco, OHIO.FM in Columbus, the Current in Minneapolis/St. Paul, WERS in Boston, WPRB in Princeton, New Jersey, and WVUM in Miami.

For the current schedule, make that jump. [MORE...]

Photos: Caribou / Fuck Buttons [Boston, MA; 03/26/08]

Photos by Alex Burack

I'd say Paradise is a pretty apt name for any club playing host to the kaleidoscopic bliss of Caribou and the pulsing, rhapsodic sonics of Fuck Buttons, just as a certain aptly named venue in Boston did last night.

Both acts will have plenty more opportunities to dazzle folks with their wares in the coming weeks, culminating in each band's appearance at that ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival you may have heard something about.

This awesome-bands-touring-together thing is a great idea. Let's hope it catches on!

And if you want the Caribou live experience from the comfort of your headphones, tune in March 30 as NPR's "Live in Concert" series broadcasts Dan Snaith and Co.'s set from Washington, DC's (also aptly named) Rock and Roll Hotel.

CARIBOU








FUCK BUTTONS



[MORE...]

Photos: Ben Gibbard, Ted Leo, and Patton Oswalt on WFMU's Best Show [Jersey City, NJ; 03/04/08]

Photos by Christine Tadler

Last night, Tom Scharpling and his Best Show on New Jersey/New York radio station WFMU, celebrated a milestone. With the help of special guests Ted Leo, Ben Gibbard, and Patton Oswalt, Scharpling raised over $50,000 for this year's WFMU pledge drive.

The mood in the studio was electric from the get-go, as Scharpling and his esteemed guest stars were joined by a small army of volunteers, WFMU staffers, and FOTs. Highlights from the show included Gibbard and Leo performing a duet of Scharpling-proclaimed "worst song ever" "Porcupine Pie", and a special appearance by the Famous Flamer, who happened to sound an awful lot like Patton Oswalt. After victoriously surpassing the $50,000 mark, Scharpling, Oswalt, Gibbard and Leo joined together for a rousing rendition of ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me."

If you missed it, you can listen to this week's Best Show, along with the rest of WFMU's excellent Marathon programming, at http://www.wfmu.org/recentarchives.php.

Those of you who pledged $75 or more during last night's show can look forward to receiving the Best Show on WFMU WE DID IT AGAIN Fun Pack, featuring stickers, buttons, a gorgeous full-color poster by Neil Numberman, and an exclusive Patton Oswalt CD EP titled Frankensteins and Gumdrops.

If you missed the show, it's not too late to pledge; the WFMU Marathon goes on through Sunday! Head on over to https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php and show your support for one of the last remaining bastions of truly independent, freeform radio!




[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!

Yo La Tengo Light Up the Airwaves This Week
Classics, prepare to be MURDERED ANEW

Radioland tends to favor booming voices, big personalities, and a lotta drive-time giveaways. But despite his involvement with one of the finest rock'n'roll bands in modern history, Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan rarely speaks above a whisper, seems far from ostentatious in his manners, and has nothing to give away but his song and a few well-honed witticisms.

Still, Ira's long been a fan and a favorite of New Jersey radio station par excellence WFMU. Over the next few days, both Ira and his band will grace the WFMU airwaves to help the station with its annual pledge drive, on and poppin' from now through March 4.

First, Ira will don the cans awful early tomorrow morning (February 28), stepping in-- as he's been doing a bit lately-- from 6-9 AM EST for a web-only broadcast. He will, as he says, "wake up at an ungodly hour to do whatever I can to help WFMU raise the money they need to stay on the air for another year."

Then on Sunday March 2 from 5-8 PM EST, Yo La Tengo-- accompanied by Bruce Bennett of the A-Bones-- will once again perform extemporaneous covers at the behest of WFMU listeners. Folks call in and, in exchange for a pledge, get Ira, Georgia, James (and Bruce) to play whatever song their heart desires.

I hope you folks know "Crank That (Soulja Boy)", cuz I am so getting paid this weekend!

All this should prove a fine warm-up for Yo La Tengo's March 13 appearance at South by Southwest, which will be broadcast live on several NPR stations and webcast on NPR.org. Hey, this band really does love radio!

In other Yo La Tengo-related SXSW news, The Toe Tactic, the newest addition to their film-scoring resume, will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. Directed by Yo La Tengo drummer Georgia Hubley's sister Emily, the film is a live action/animation hybrid starring David Cross, Mary Kay Place, Lily Rabe, and Kevin Corrigan.

They'll be back with more-- plus sports and weather-- after the jump. [MORE...]

Thom Yorke Turns NPR DJ on Valentine's Day

No doubt about it: the members of Radiohead love playing records. And what better day to spread that love than Valentine's Day (February 14, yo), the very date of Thom Yorke's forthcoming guest DJ stint on NPR program "All Songs Considered"?

Yorke follows in the paw prints of past "All Songs Considered" guest DJs like Conor Oberst and Joanna Newsom, and in addition to dishing out some choice cuts-- including, we hope, "Hottest Record in the World" "Archangel" by Burial-- Yorke will also chat with host Bob Boilen about In Rainbows, The Eraser, and how the Radiohead frontman goes about discovering new music. Say, Mr. Yorke, I know this website...

To find out what time this episode of "All Songs Considered" will air in your area, head here, and look out for a downloadable podcast version come Thursday afternoon here.

Following a Radiohead tour announcement and an Eraser benefit auction contribution, this dispatch hereby completes the Thom Yorke Pitchfork hat trick for this, the 12th day of the 2nd month of 2008. Hallelujah, amen. [MORE...]

Monster Bobby Needs You to Name His Tune

Sometimes after you nail a winning melody, finesse some fitting chord changes, and pen the perfect lyrics, there just isn't a drop of creative juice left to devote to the fine art of nomenclature.

Such is the recent plight of Pipettes backbone and indie-pop songwriter Monster Bobby, who had no trouble summoning all the component parts of a new tune for his next album on Hypnote, but has found himself hopelessly stuck on a name.

That plight soon developed into a tour-wide quest for a title, but even show-goers failed to come up with anything that tickled Bobby's fancy. Monster Bobby now turns to you, loyal patrons of the interweb, for the divine arrangement of letters, spaces, and punctuation that folks will forever connect with his composition.

Download the song at the link below, rack your brain for that title of titles, and submit your suggestions direct to Bobby via his MySpace. The person who comes up with the best name is promised "some kind of lovely glittering prize."

The forthcoming Monster Bobby album, meanwhile, is titled Forty Winks and will feature 40 different one-minute jams about-- how clever-- sleeping and beds and the like. Which means you'd better come up with a damn good title, since you'll be up against 39 others on roughly the same subject.

And while we're on the subject of Monster Bobby, it wouldn't hurt to know that he's got a trio of London dates lined up, plus he'll appear tonight (January 30) on Radio 1 as part of a "BBC Introducing... Night on Radio 1" special. Bobby's bit is expected to air around 7 p.m. Eastern, so tune in! [MORE...]

Chuck D, Atmosphere's Slug Chat on Public Radio
Brother Ali guests with live performance

There must be something in the water up there in Minnesota, something that encourages the dispensing of artistic wisdom in public forum. That, or Atmosphere MC Slug just likes to talk.

Not even five months after he regaled Twin Cities area residents as part of the Making Music series, Slug will once again school his fellow Land of 10,000 Lakers, this time as part of Minnesota Public Radio station The Current's Fakebook series.

And this time it's looking like Slug may learn quite a few lessons as well, from one of hip-hop's elder statesmen. Joining Slug and host Mary Lucia for the April 19 conversation is none other than Public Enemy's Chuck D, a man we could all, in fact, stand to learn a lot from.

Also appearing: Brother Ali, in the midst of his "The Truth Is Here" tour, who will perform songs throughout the evening.

A limited number of tickets are available for the event, which pops off at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Those who cannot attend can of course tune in to The Current-- and hey, while you're at it, why not check out archived streams of past Fakebook happenings featuring such fine folks as Tapes 'n Tapes, Bound Stems, Amy Sedaris, and Chuck Klosterman?

Finally, don't forget Slug and Atmosphere's primary piece of advice, headed your way April 22: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.

Radiohead to Take Over BBC Radio 1 Airwaves

If those recent webcasts further proved anything at all, Radiohead are nothing if not superbly entertaining folks. So it comes as little surprise that BBC Radio 1 host Zane Lowe has asked the band to guest host an episode of his show while he's away on holiday.

The BBC station will turn Radiohead 1 on January 17 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. UK time, and if the band's stint goes anything like the ones before it (whose stand-in hosts include Dizzee Rascal, Klaxons, and others), we can look forward to a Radiohead-curated playlist, goofy photos and videos afterward, and even a minute-by-minute recap courtesy of a lucky fan. Just go easy on the Asian Dub Foundation, okay guys?

Thanks to reader Nick Middleton for the tip.

If you live in or near a major North American city, Radiohead may very well be visiting it this year. European residents already know where to find them. The band is also set to perform on "Later... With Jools Holland" on BBC Two television February 1. [MORE...]

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan DJs on WFMU
Dude, I bet they'd give you your own regular show if you quit threatening them with ass beatings

With their penchant for yanking obscure covers out of the ether, Yo La Tengo aren't just a great band-- they're a great band with bottomless knowledge of rock'n'roll's fringes. And the band has been known to flex their music nerd chops on the much-loved New Jersey radio station WFMU, playing cover requests from listeners. But recently, Yo La frontman Ira Kaplan has been spending a little time on the other side of the boards over at WFMU, showing off that well-defined taste of his as a guest DJ.

Ira's averaging about one show a month, filling in for absent DJs. While he doesn't have a regularly scheduled show, you could do a lot worse than sitting around all day listening to WFMU waiting for Ira to pop up in place of your regular DJ. Or, you could use this handy dandy little gizmo on the Yo La Tengo website that will e-mail you whenever Ira is set to reach out to radioland.

The WFMU website sports playlists and streams for Ira's past shows, and an MP3 of a full Christmas Eve set. Turns out he likes the Black Lips and Amon Tobin!

However, don't expect much Ira DJ action between January 9 and 19, as Yo La Tengo are heading out on the southern leg of their Freewheeling Yo La Tengo tour. Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, no stranger to freewheeling himself, will open all dates. [MORE...]

Destroyer, Amy Millan, Tokyo Police Club on CBC Comp
Plus: Pink Mountaintops, Malajube, Tegan and Sara, Chad VanGaalen, You Say Party!

When CBC Radio 3's studios aren't beaming the finest in Canadian indie rock over the airwaves, they're collecting the best bits for their Sessions compilation series. The third volume of CBC's Sessions gathers a dozen such tracks culled from their treasure trove of in-studio sessions, primarily recorded in the booths of CBC's Vancouver and Toronto operations.

So who made the cut? Why, the likes of Amy Millan, Destroyer, Tokyo Police Club, Tegan and Sara, Pink Mountaintops, Malajube, Chad VanGaalen, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Shout Out Out Out Out, Cuff the Duke, Joel Plaskett, and Cuff the Duke. CBC Radio 3 Sessions - Volume III is available now in stores, on iTunes, and through the CBC's website. And, if you've got some time to kill, poke around the Radio 3 website's wealth of archived live sessions. [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.)