Pitchfork

Photo by Joseph Mohan

"Love Lockdown" might sound like one of those novelty password-protected diaries they market to 11-year-olds, but apparently it's actually the name of a new single from rapper/producer/fast food mogul Kanye West. And it will be released via download Monday, September 8. That is, if the "label sources" consulted by MTV UK are to be believed.

The MTV report suggests that a follow-up to last summer's Graduation "seems likely to be with us in the near future." A post on the blog of Def Jam UK A&R dude and radio personality DJ Semtex suggests the album could drop as soon as December. Semtex also says that "Love Lockdown" will be out on Monday, and that he'll play the song on his BBC radio show tonight.

There's nothing amidst the usual array of half-naked girls and expensive shit on the Kanye blog to suggest any of this, but there is... um... sorry, got distracted there. Kanye's publicist did not return a request for confirmation.

Both DJ Semtex and the MTV report also note that "Swagger Like Us"-- the M.I.A.-sampling, disappointing-save-T.I. posse cut that leaked last week-- isn't actually a T.I. song, as previously believed. It's a Jay-Z song. ("You thought this was a T.I. single right? You really thought that Hov was going to give this away?" writes Semtex.) It, too, hits iTunes on Monday.

Kanye's got a brief European tour all lined up for November. Dates below.

When Of Montreal tackled the Fiery Furnaces' "Tropical Iceland" on last year's "Suffer for Fashion" single, Pitchfork's Mark Richardson remarked in Forkcast that the match was "one quirky and occasionally brilliant indie band meeting another." So it shall be anew on a batch of December dates that find the family Friedberger sharing stages with Of Montreal.

But the Of Montreal touring excitement doesn't stop there. Not only have Kevin Barnes and co. finally settled on a venue for their previously announced L.A. show on November 22-- the soon to be reopened Hollywood Palladium-- but they've laid out the details of one heck of a listening party.

On September 12, at the Laser Dome in Seattle's Pacific Science Center, the entirety of the band's forthcoming Skeletal Lamping LP will be played, accompanied by-- yeah, you guessed it-- a friggin' full blown laser show. Alas, the band won't be in attendance, but you know as well as I do you'll be far too highblown away to notice. In other news, there is a thing that exists called a laser dome (but hardcore Subtle and Minus the Bear fans already knew this).

Skeletal Lamping, in its many many forms, arrives from Polyvinyl on October 7.

Photo by David Needleman

The itsy Bits-y Sub Pop band crawls across North America. Yes, with just a few weeks of rest since their last jaunt, Brooklyn rompers Oxford Collapse start another tour tonight (September 4) with an appearance at Portland, Oregon's Musicfest NW.

The exactly-one-month-long tour is in support of the band's recently released new album, Bits, and it includes dates with Love as Laughter and Takka Takka.

Since that nasty little ankle injury she suffered in April, nearly all the Neko Case news has been about her guest appearances on other people's records. But what of the sanguine songbird's own follow-up to 2006's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood? In fact, she's been recording it, aiming for an early 2009 release. In recent weeks, however, Case has been taking a break from recording to play some shows around North America.

Her tour picks up again in California on September 12, and before it concludes toward the end of the month, Case will also play at least one show with the New Pornographers. The Pornos, meanwhile, have a few scattered U.S. dates and a jaunt Down Under in October.

Photo by Shannon McClean

From the hills of Selkirk, Scotland, the shores of Seattle, Washington, and the many chain restaurants of Wilmington, Delaware, they'll come: sensational Scots Frightened Rabbit have lined up a mess of dates with Death Cab for Cutie and the Spinto Band.

Frightened Rabbit, who have been tending to a particularly vicious Midnight Organ Fight for much of the year, will meet up with the Spintos (whose Moonwink arrives October 7) in mid-October for just shy of a month together. The Rabbits' time with Death Cab, meanwhile, will be spent a little closer to home off in November. First up, however, is a UK tour that gets going tonight (September 4) in Leeds.

The experimental music community, for the win: JG Thirlwell, aka Foetus, has curated the entire month of September at improv/jazz innovator John Zorn's NYC club, the Stone. The calendar is so stuffed with awesome artists that Carla Bozulich and Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes have already played, and yet the lineup's power has barely been dented.

Among those still to come at the Stone in September are Thurston Moore (with his Northampton Wools duo), Mercury Rev, Andrew WK (performing "piano improvisations"), Matmos, John Zorn himself, Michael Gira of Swans/Angels of Light, Yeah Yeah Yeahs drummer Brian Chase, Tony Conrad, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Skeleton Key's Erik Sanko performing with Doveman's Thomas Bartlett, Aa, Thirlwell's own Manorexia ensemble, Zs, Bridget St. John, David Grubbs, Petra Haden and Yuka Honda, and USAisamonster.

A full list of the Stone's events this month is after the jump.

Fearsome female foursome the Coathangers have signed to Seattle imprint Suicide Squeeze. Suicide Squeeze savvies might have seen this coming with the label's release of the Atlanta band's "Shake Shake" / "Dreamboat" 7" earlier this year.

The Coathangers are currently writing and recording a new album for a spring 2009 release, but their schedule doesn't exclude a few tour dates. The band has a handful of shows in and (sort of) around its hometown this month.

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Guess Municipal Art Society of New York members are suckers for hula hoops, huh? The long-running arts organization, a NYC staple for some 115 years now, will bestow a rather prestigious honor upon indie icon/ace hula-hooper/maker of grand creative overtures Sufjan Stevens later this month.

Stevens will receive the 2008 Brendan Gill Prize for his hula-hoop-happy motorway ode "The BQE", which he premiered in Brooklyn this past November. The Prize, created in 1987, is awarded annually to "the creator of a work of art, book, sculpture, film, musical composition, or architectural design...that best captures the spirit and energy of New York City." Sufjan's "BQE", as you may recall, was steeped in all kinds of local transportation lore and charged with plenty of hula-hoopin' energy, so it seems like a perfect fit for the honor.

MASNYC will present Sufjan with his prize-- which includes some serious cash money-- at a ceremony at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on September 27. Thanks to reader Dan Backhaus for the tip.

In other Sufjan news, the man recently composed some music for a short film directed by Natalie Portman, and he has friends in high (latitude) places.

Turns out Tilly and the Wall's performance wasn't the only notable musical aspect of the new "90210". The CW television show that resurrects the beloved 1990s teen soap opera premiered this week, bringing a whole new generation of rich Beverly Hills high schoolers into our lives (and proving that Shannen Doherty's career may come and go, but Brenda Walsh is forever). And the original music behind the trials and tribulations of said high schoolers? Why, it’s being provided by none other than Liz Phair. Man, talk about a 90s revival.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Chicago Tribune and other sources, Phair is one of the three composers behind the score for "90210". This isn't her first foray into television soundtrack work; as previously reported, she is scoring the CBS show "Swingtown".

Phair hasn't let all of this TV work get in the way of her day job, though. She's scheduled three October performances of her classic, recently reissued 1993 album Exile in Guyville, and she's still working on a new album for new label ATO.

And if you are a fan of Liz Phair, The Matrix, or funny things in general, please, for the love of god, do not watch this.

Photos by Jon Behm; Above: The Pharcyde

Tuesday's impromptu Rage Against the Machine sing-along in the RNC-ridden Twin Cities went off relatively incident-free, but the same could not be said for last night's Rage gig at Target Center, nor a Monday gathering of politically-minded music makers and fans billed as Take Back Labor Day.

Presented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the concert featured performances from Mos Def, the Pharcyde, Atmosphere, Rage's Tom Morello (as the Nightwatchman), Steve Earle, and others on Saint Paul's Harriet Island. By most accounts, the event itself was an entirely peaceful affair, though writeups from Rock & Roll Daily and elsewhere suggest a riot nearly broke out after police cordoned off streets and made numerous arrests following the show.

The RNC wraps up today; keep your cool out there, people. Same goes for you, law enforcement.

The Pharcyde




Mos Def






Atmosphere




The Nightwatchman


Steve Earle