The Go! Team Remixing Thunder, Lightning, Strike Kanye West can probably get away with sampling whatever he wants. Not only will he sell enough albums to cover the costs of paying for the licensing fees, but, come on, he's Grammy Award-winner Kanye West!
He don't care what lawyers say, he'll speed up those soul samples all day long; that's fine, though, because the guy is a fantastic producer (see: Common's Be). But when the little guy tries to do it, and the major labels realize they won't be able to make Kanye-like bank off of it, it becomes more of a problem-- particularly in the United States. The Go!
Team's debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike has yet to see a U.S. release partly because of the legal trouble with a number of samples used on the album.
The Go! Team are currently looking for a North American home, but the law is making it difficult. The copyright laws are different in Britain and the album has not had the trouble there that it faces in the U.
S. We spoke to band leader Ian Parton while he was in the studio preparing Thunder, Lightning, Strike for its U.S.
debut. Parton couldn't discuss the details of signing to a new label, but he did tell us a little bit about what we should expect from this new version. "The album coming out in America will be a slightly different version compared to the import," says Parton.
"The tracklisting will be the same apart from one extra track ["Hold Yr Terror Close", a UK B-side]. It's in the early stages. We have been getting some things cleared, but other material [is being] improved upon or just as good as getting it recreated.
Hopefully, you won't notice too much of a difference when it's out properly in America. "We have to change things slightly to make them different in some way; it's quite complicated. It's like working to what a judge in court would think really, and I certainly won't sacrifice the songs for money.
I'd say keep it as it is if that was the right thing to do musically. However, if there are things we need to dispose of I'd happily do that as well, such as the 'yeah, yeah, yeah' in 'Ladyflash'. Somebody's going to want a lot of money for that.
I might actually be giving away more of the song than I own. If 10 people want 15%, then that is over 100%, and I have to get the money from other songs, which is a ridiculous idea, that you have remake the loss on a song." Either way, it's difficult for an artist to be forced to alter something that's already been released.
"When you've lived with an album for so long," Parton explains, "and it's finished in your head and you actually have to change things no matter how subtle, it's hard. It's either that or not release it at all." While Parton couldn't reveal specific samples in dispute, he did mention several that don't have sample troubles, including "Get It Together" and "Feelgood By Numbers".
As for the samples in dispute, "They vary in obscurity. Some songs I'd play for you and you really couldn't tell where I got them from and things like that. Some songs are sort of charity shots in a thrift store, records that everyone else has long forgotten about.
" In the meantime, Parton would much prefer to begin work on a new album and put this one in the past, but laws are laws, and he recognizes that not only are people in the U.S. looking forward to the release, but it's important to the success of the band.
But back to Kanye West. There's a sample at the end of "Go" on the Common album that sounds eerily like the breakdown at the end of "Get It Together". That's all we're sayin'.
For now, the Go! Team are performing live with Basement Jaxx in the UK before hitting some of the European festivals. In July, they'll come to North America for a handful of shows, including Pitchfork's Intonation Festival.
After that, it's on to Australia, Japan, and back to the European festival circuit to close out the summer. Dates: M83's Debut LP to See U.S.
Release Imports are expensive and hard to come by. Not only do you have to pay exorbitant shipping costs, but the Euro will kill you (go, U.S.
economy, go!). Plus, it's tough to navigate those crazy foreign websites.
Well, don't check the exchange rates and head over to Amazon.fr just yet. Mute are going to release M83's self-titled debut album in the U.
S. for the first time, thanks to the popularity of their last two albums, 2003's Dead Cities, Red Seas Lost Ghosts and 2005's Before the Dawn Heals Us. The album, released in France on Gooom in 2001, will feature the same artwork and same audio as its initial release.
It will be a CD-only release and will be available on September 6. Tracklist: Q: What do Pixies, Elvis Costello, and Bright Eyes have in common? A: Duhhhh, they're all sharing the bill at this year's Newport Folk Fest in Rhode Island!
This year's festival features an assortment of folk acts of all kinds, the most of exciting of which is a Pixies acoustic set (!). Also on the bill are Bright Eyes, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), M.
Ward, and a host of others. The festival, sponsored by Dunkin' Donuts (which seems to do a lot of sponsoring in Rhode Island), has been in existence since the 60s and essentially consumes the town of Newport, Rhose Island for three days in August. One great thing about Newport Folk is that it encourages its performers to play together.
Jim James and Emmylou Harris, who both appear on Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, are expected to perform with Conor Oberst, as well as his former collaborator M. Ward. There are also a number of jambandy-type groups you may or may not be interested in.
But if you dig the above artists, it might be worth your while to fight your way through the thick hordes of hippies. Tickets are on sale now and available through Ticketweb. Castanets, Tim Sweeney to Remix Grizzly Bear in metropolitan communities.
Prone as they are to humans, grizzly bears of the wild radiate a certain kind of nobility by virtue of their power. By comparison, NYC's Grizzly Bear make sounds of urban mishap, like the poor animal that wandered from the foothills and wound up in your back yard, tranquilized, and laid out as a vulnerable, inert spectacle. The gentle vocal harmonies and bizarre are at once disconcerting and utterly captivating, which, of course, make perfect source material for www.
uncommonfolk.net, Kanine Records is rereleasing October 11. Frontman Ed Droste confirmed this via email, elaborating that he originally approached the Soft Pink Truth's Drew Daniel to do a one-off remix, Santos, UK composer Simon Bookish (who remixed "Michael" for Franz Ferdinand last year), Ariel Pink, and the Castanets.
Confirmed tracks: As if that wasn't enough, Grizzly Bear are also from Horn of Plenty, which sound considerably more lush as a four piece, including original member Taylor and Daniel Rossen. Said Ed: "..
.the songs will be significantly more dynamic. Won't be quite as sleepy as the first record.
" What's wrong with They've got shows coming, too. Go Bears! Like cancer or Wal-Mart or the Internet, Phil Elverum just keeps on expanding, threatening to blot the very sun from the sky.
Surely his Anacortes, Washington by now. Check out what's on the way from his P.W.
Elverum Sun Ltd. record label in just the next few months, as reported First, the releases under the Mount Eerie name. We get the full-length to the rest of us on August 16.
An all-percussion version of the album, 6. That same day will see the release of SINGERS, which consists of "'studio sing along' recordings from the past five years." Your guess is as good as ours about what that means, but Tiny Mix Tapes reports that it Then comes 11 Old Songs on October 11, an all-Casio collection later (on 11/11, dig).
Just to prove his abiding love for his befuddled audience, Elverum has two more bullets in his discographical chamber. The five-song live EP unspecified time, with a lineup "featuring celebrities." (Our money is on Omar Epps, Jason Alexander, and Sammy Hagar.
) And finally, Elverum will Yours / Fuck the World / Welcome Home Human, coming in August. Ha! Collect 'em all-- Phil dares you!
He is large! He contains multitudes! Somehow, all this recorded whimsy still leaves Elverum time to play live, 07-04 Anacortes, WA - Department of Safety (as Casiotone for the 07-15 Anacortes, WA - What the Heck Fest 2005 07-20 Redmond, WA - The Old Firehouse 08-27 Astoria, OR - Catch the Beat Festival Brian Eno to Work With Roxy Music?
Since last year, the following reunions (among others) have occurred: Pink Floyd, Slint, Dinosaur Jr., Gang of Four, the dB's, the Olivia Tremor Control, and the Monkees. Just when you think hell can't get any more frozen, legendary glam rock outfit Roxy Music's prodigal son, Brian Eno, returns to the flock.
He's returning halfway, anyhow-- the BBC reports that the upcoming Roxy Music album may feature Eno in some capacity, but After previously denying that Eno would rejoin Roxy Music at all, frontman past Saturday, following a performance by the group. Ferry said, "I hope he's going to come in and do some things on a few tracks. No live work, but on the record I hope he'll come and do something, yeah.
" As fans of Roxy Music are well aware, strained relations between Eno and Ferry led to the former's exit after just two albums-- the 1972 self-titled debut, visible (most recently, on Ferry's 2002 solo album Frantic, where subsequent to his departure from Roxy Music. He released experimental pop albums, pioneered an entire genre of music (ambient), and contributed greatly to Lodger), as well as major records by Talking Heads and U2. Did we After nearly 10 years together, the Richmond, Virginia-based Engine Down have decided to call it quits.
The band formed in 1996 from displaced fragments of Bughummer, the Weak Link Breaks, and the Sleepytime Trio; would eventually release four albums total, the first three on Arlington indie Lovitt and the final, self-titled effort on Lookout Records. According to singer Keeley Davis, speaking through the band's website, to leave Engine Down for the history books. With a good taste in the mouth we decide to enjoy our last tour with friends and family.
Come supported us through the years." Engine Down made waves expanding on their post-hardcore urgency, as cello and piano. Despite these embellishments, they always focused on thumping, off-time rhythmic discharges and overwrought vocals-- both ball-busting tour schedules.
So, appropriately enough, the band will then sign off with a torrid headlining tour across the U.S. in August and Ah, another juicy update on a hot British band.
You vultures love to read stories about the bar brawls and stage invasions, about the blackmail and robbery, the prison sentences, and the smack addictions, don't you? Well, we love them too, but unfortunately for us ogres, concrete news of a new Babyshambles single has been reported by the NME, Ex-Libertine Pete Doherty's new band, Babyshambles, will release "Fuck debut album due shortly afterward. The quartet have been holed up at Mick Jones finishing the last few selections for the record, which reportedly will contain 10-12 tracks, including top-ten debut single Bowl, and July 9 at London's Milton Keynes Bowl.
A dozen other festival in a group setting. The rest of us will have to wait for Justin Hawkins to menace someone with a flowerpot so we can get our gossip fix. Those It's difficult to say where the French Kicks consider themselves in the whole of the music industry today.
A success story of sorts, these trendy New Yorkers abandoned a brief interest in garage rock for a follow up completely inconsistent with any sound they had ever touched on before. The Trial of the Century, their sophmore effort, is not only well-produced but cleansed of that backyard rock stronghold for good. It's been over a year since the release of that album.
A few solo tours, an opening slot on Keane's tour, and several festival appearances later it seems the French Kicks enjoy the hype-- it just seems they forgot where they came from. Dipping into a variety of fanbases, this time around the French Kicks will attempt to transform alternative rock teenyboppers into hipsters for a brief moment on tour with the Get Up Kids-- thrice an opportunity next week. The run is followed by several more solo dates in July, but not before a more honorable appearance with My Morning Jacket in Chicago this weekend.
06-18 Chicago, IL - Taste of Randolph Street 07-20 Cleveland, OH - Rock Roll Hall Of Fame Hey, bands, listen up! The key to a successful tour is to wait 15 years between tours. People get tired of seeing you at the Empty Bottle in Chicago or the Fox in Boulder every three months.
Take a break, maybe argue with each other a little bit, and get back to booking in a decade-- shows'll sell out in hours. Dinosaur Jr. was obviously more successful and revered than your standard indie rock group, and they parted ways for more serious reasons, but their current reunion tour has been well-received.
They've just added a bunch of West Coast dates, as well as filled in some holes in the Eastern tour. They'll tour the East Coast and Midwest throughout July, culminating with a stop at Lollapalooza in Chicago before heading to Japan and Europe for a couple weeks of festivals. Following that, they'll come back to North America for the Western leg of the tour, and at the end of August it's back to Europe for a few more festivals.
These reunion tours are grueling. 07-07 Orlando, FL - House of Blues 08-13 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues 08-16 Anaheim, CA - The Grove of Anaheim 08-20 Seattle, WA - The Showbox 08-26 Cologne, Germany - Monster of Spex White Crunk! How about that for an unexpected new genre?
And no, it's not a bunch of Southern boys ridin' around in their pick-up trucks blastin' Skynyrd remixes and beating down mailboxes. It's how Kanye West refers to Franz Ferdinand's dance rock, which the rapper says has influenced his new album, Late Registration. Kanye and the band met a while back at the MTV Europe Awards.
At the time, head Franzie Alex Kapranos said, "We've been talking a lot about production and we really feel the most cutting-edge stuff is being done in the world of hip-hop right now. Kanye West's a good example. I think that's maybe where we'll look for inspiration on the next record.
" And the lovefest goes both ways, as West feels that a Franz Ferdinand vibe has affected his new work. "I just told them I really liked how grimy their drums were, that was really important to me," West recently told NME while in Prague on the set of his video for "Diamonds From Sierra Leone". "I wanted to know how they got their sound.
I was asking them all types of questions. I told them they were my favorite band, there's a bit of their feel in my new album." As for West's new single, the aforementioned "Diamonds", he believes this song best showcases the Franz Ferdinfluence.
"'Diamonds' is kind of White Crunk." Then West proceeded to reveal a little bit about what Late Registration will sound like. "I've just tried to push the envelope.
Hopefully people will hear it and feel it. This record is edgier, that would be the best way to describe the difference between this and The College Dropout. The album is very dark.
I still have a sense of humor but I guess it's a dark humor. It's more Bill Murray than Bill Cosby." Further details on West's new album are being kept under wraps, but guests include Common, John Mayer, and perhaps M.
I.A., for whom West added, "I'm still waiting for her to lay down her verse, but she's got the beat though!
" Franz Ferdinand's as-yet-untitled sophomore LP is currently slated for a late September release, while Late Registration comes out Stateside on August 16-- just in time for school to start. You didn't think Sufjan Stevens could get away with releasing an album called Illinois without showing up in the Land of Lincoln, did you? Last month, Pitchfork reported a number of West Coast and Rocky Mountain dates.
Now, Stevens has added a Midwest and East Coast leg to his tour, including a stop in Chicago. The tour kicks off in California in mid-July with a KCRW appearance, and it continues through late September and possibly into October. There are some gaps in the schedule as more dates are expected to be added at a later date.
You can feel the Illinoise beginning on July 5 in both North America and the UK, as Rough Trade will release the album abroad at the same time. Also, a vinyl edition is coming on August 16. Those of you web-savvy enough to check out the Asthmatic Kitty site will find the album (not to mention an incredible poster expanding upon the album art) already available for mail order.
In other Sufjan Stevens news, he recently contribued a track to the upcoming album I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey. The album does not yet have a release date, but was produced by M. Ward and features songs from Devendra Banhart, Calexico, My Morning Jacket, Fruit Bats, Grandaddy, and, of course, M.
Ward. Stevens' track is titled "Commemorative Transfiguration Communion at Magruder Park". Yeah, he really has a thing for long track titles, which might be great for an album's theme, but it is awful for iPods-- songs just keeps scrollin' on by.
I hope that when his 50 States project is completed, he will go on a tour of each and every state-- even if we have to roll up with walkers and colostomy bags. Here are the current dates for the Illinois tour: 07-14 Los Angeles, CA - KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic in-studio performance Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently?
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