Sometime back in excruciating heat of mid-summer Chicago, a wintry little Italo disco throwback by Sweden s smuggled its way into Pitchfork HQ like the freshest dancefloor breeze this side of 1984. That wondrous tune, , eventually found its way onto our . When the B-side, Time to Let Go , proved similarly wondrous, the Pitchfork Giddy Threat Level was raised to orange.
Now we have full-blown, code red giddy situation on our hands, as Sally Shapiro s long-awaited debut, Disco Romance, graces clubs the world over this December. will deliver this perfect present for a winter holiday of your choosing, featuring nine tunes sung by Sally and constructed by beat maestro , including a cover of twee electro-poppers Nixon s Anorak Christmas .
But Sally s no disco diva-- quite the opposite, in fact.
In a recent e-mail to Pitchfork, Agebj o rn revealed just how bashful his vocalist can be: Sally is so shy that I still haven t heard her sing any of these songs for me live! I mowed the lawn while we recorded the vocals. She refuses to be photographed by someone she doesn t know.
She refuses to make a music video or to perform live.
Enter Princess Sally s court by checking out the mp3 of Anorak Christmas below, which starts off sounding just a little bit like Limahl s NeverEnding Story theme song. Which is to say: awesomely.
A club mix of the tune will appear on 12 around the time of the album s release, along with three remixes of I ll Be by Your Side . The Diskokaine-stamped vinyl is conveniently divided into Italo disco and electro halves for all your DJing needs. When we heard that had created a new song for the soundtrack to the new Will Ferrell film , we knew not to anticipate an ambient drone piece or a skull-crushing noise dirge.
And, as expected, Spoon deliver an upbeat ditty balancing just the right amount of polish and scuzz, with chugging acoustic guitar and piano infused with splashes of strings and horns (possibly synthesized). Close your eyes, and a montage of Ferrell engaged in a series of goofy antics is right there. , Stranger Than Fiction opens in theaters on November 10, and the soundtrack comes out on Columbia Records/Sony Music Soundtrax on November 7.
The score was composed by s Britt Daniel in collaboration with Marie Antoinette/Lost in Translation/Thumbsucker music supervisor Brian Reitzell. In addition to The Book I Write and pieces of the score, the soundtrack album includes the previously released Spoon tracks The Way We Get By , My Mathematical Mind , and Vittorio E , as well as songs by Delta 5, Califone, M83, Maximo Park, the Jam, the Upsetters, and more. In other Spoon news, the band recently updated its website to reveal that they are hard at work on their sixth album, working in their hometown of Austin, Texas with longtime producer Mike McCarthy.
In an interview with Billboard.com last week, Daniel said that the album is half done, and that it is tentatively slated to be released in April or May of 2007. According to their website, songs being considered for the album include Don t Make Me a Target , My Little Japanese Cigarette Case , Kindness Kills Them , Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga , Black Like Me (wha?
!), The Way You Said, Yeah He Did , and Eddie s Ragga . the year are a Britt Daniel solo show at the Parish in Austin next Thursday, November 2, with opening acts Pink Nasty and Sally Crew, as well as an The fest will also feature Peaches, the Black Angels, Dead Meadow, Circle Jerks, Negative Approach, Dead Meadow, Prefuse 73, Whitey, and more.
The Dears Tour the World, Share Video Gang of Losers? Pshaw! Just look at those in that there press photo.
They are looking mighty swank, mighty swank indeed. And not the least bit loser-y. However, it takes a pretty penny to score such nice digs, and the Murray Lightburn-fronted Montreal sextet probably has a few bills to pay off, so they re taking to the open road this fall.
The tour kicked off last night in Bristol, and continues across England and Europe before swinging back this way for a Canadian homecoming (including an impressive four gigs at Toronto s Lee s Palace) and, finally, eight U.S. dates.
Expect a full-fledged tour of the States early next year.
Joining the Dears for those States dates are fellow signings , comprised of Montreal residents Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless. If you can t wait until spring 2007 to scoop up the Young Galaxy debut, click for a (zipped) mp3 of their gorgeous, cosmic spiritual Swing Your Heartache .
On a more serious note, click below as well to check out the new video for the Dears Whites Only Party , from Gang of Losers, which juxtaposes footage of civil rights activists with film snippets of corny, Hollywood-groomed drones and shots of the band rocking a live gig. Food for thought, as they say. .
I think it s fantastic, in both the great sense of the word and the fantasy sense of the word. There is absolutely nothing realistic about Wind It Up ; it takes place in a world where things like taste and genre and authenticity don t exist. Whether or not you want to live in that world is up to you.
The Neptunes-produced Wind It Up is from s second solo album, The Sweet Escape, due out December 5. And speaking of unrealistic worlds, the album features contributions from Gwen s No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal, Akon, Nellee Hooper, Sean Garrett, Swizz Beatz, the Eurythmics Dave Stewart and..
.wait for it..
.Keane s Tim Rice-Oxley. (No, .
The other guy.) Also due out on December 5 is Harajuku Lovers Live, a Gwen concert DVD filmed by Sophie Muller. Stefani plans to tour America next April.
? What do you get when you put Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve), and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti) together in a room, and then throw producer Danger Mouse in for good measure? Well, judging from History Song , it kinda sounds like Gorillaz minus the hip-hop influence.
On the lead-off track from supergroup s (due out early January), lo-fi acoustic guitar bumps up against eerie piano and scratchy sound effects, creating a mysterious mood perfect for soundtracking scenes of cartoon intrigue. Tonight in London, the Good The Bad and the Queen will perform (or perhaps are performing as we speak!) their debut album in its entirety as part of the festival.
You can stream the concert .
Friends of B.P.
turn out in earnest Don t let his slightly unkempt appearance fool ya-- Athens, Georgia resident (also known as the living Bryan Poole) shaves and showers at least twice a week. Okay-- actually we have no clue about the man s personal grooming habits, but we do know that however cleanly he is now, he s about to get significantly less so, because it s time for him to sleep on floors, subsist on two-week old tuna sandwiches, and spend 90% of his waking hours trapped in a moving vehicle. Yep, it s tour time!
guitarist and dabbler the Late B.P. kicks off his own jaunt tonight at his hometown s 40 Watt Club.
Along the way he ll cross paths with Magnolia Electric Co. and Bishop Allen for a couple one-off shows. As an introduction to the Late B.
P. s world, why not check out the exclusive mp3 below? A high-energy cover of 60s Brit pop-rockers the Move s Lightning Never Strikes Twice , it features Helium along with Ben Crum on guitar, s Ed Livengood on drums, and Casper Fandango of on bass.
Dig it. Looks like we re in for five more festival-filled summers here in Chicago. Yesterday, s organizers signed a contract with the city to hold their annual extravaganza in downtown s Grant Park through 2011.
In exchange for the privilege of bringing boatloads of bands to the beautiful lakefront location, Lollapalooza will pay five million dollars to the s , reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The money will go towards our ability to fund new projects, youth programs and greening initiatives throughout Chicago s parks, according to a quote from Parkways Foundation president Laura Barnett in a press release. The 2007 festival will take place August 3-5, and according to the Sun-Times, may include up to 15,000 more people allowed per day, bringing the daily total up from 60,000 to 75,000, if the event sells out.
That s a lot of Porta Potties.
Friends of P. turn out in earnest Don t let those boyish good looks fool ya-- Abilene, Texas resident writes and sings as though he s weathered far more years than he actually has, being only in his early twenties.
hit us with Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit earlier this month, and now not-so-little Micah takes to the tour circuit in support of the fine disc.
Along the way he ll cross paths with for a string of dates, and play one-offs with Figurines, Matt Pond PA, and Steve Shelley s Two Dollar Guitar.
As an introduction to Micah s world, why not check out the exclusive mp3 below? A quick, celebratory jam flecked with banjo plucks, Opera Circuit standout Letter to Huntsville delivers. Madlib, Madvillain Unveil Chrome Children Videos have finished their trilogy of videos for tracks from s recent Chrome Children compilation, and like the one for Dilla s Nothing Like This , they feature plenty of amorphous animated characters in ominous situations.
The main character in Daniel Garcia and art collective s video for s Take It Back (heavily edited for cursing) rides in a pink Cadillac while evil bunnies exchange money and burn the city around him. So he gets away by having his chauffeur drive the car into the sea, where there are..
. MORE EVIL BUNNIES!
Garcia also directed the video for s anti-nine-to-fivers anthem, Monkey Suite , this time along with visual effects group .
Doom is the star among a host of blank-eyed suits going about their business while he gets to host his own talk show and unleash energy force fields.
Here s something I will never understand: the supposed coolness of . him.
. . Yet he remains a bald British dude who sings and plays drums at the same time.
(Yes, I know he was on that Eno album. No, that doesn t absolve him.)
Nonetheless, this trailer for the video game, coming to PSPs on October 31, is pretty fun.
It features a creepy digital version of uncle Phil performing In the Air Tonight at some place called Hyman Memorial Stadium , which is either a dirty joke or a touching tribute to Phyllis Hyman. Elf Power, Melvins, Patton Oswalt Perform for Chunklet
So do the Jesus Lizard's David Yow, Harvey Milk, Zach Galifianakis, Big Business, and more throws a four-day bash in celebration of their 13-year anniversary? , clearly.
The publication has prepared an action-packed blowout to run from today through Sunday evening, and a slew of its favorite artists (and comedians, and puppet show acts) are diving in headfirst for the party. Of course, all of these bands suck and are totally overrated.
(the Jesus Lizard), Patton Oswalt, Zach Galiafinakis, Elf Power, Jon Wurster (Superchunk, Scharpling and Wurster), Harvey Milk, Tenement Halls, the Rattler, Big Business (performing in and before the Melvins), puppet crew Pull the String Players, and of four Georgia venues this weekend-- the 40 Watt Club, the Drunken Unicorn, Variety Playhouse, and WhirlyBall Atlanta.
The last place will serve as Well, well, well. Looks like are up to their old tricks again: releasing bong-loads of recordings, luring the kids out to live shows, and collaborating, side-projecting, and multimedia-mongering all willy-nilly-- last I heard, Thurston Moore was starting an improv noise ensemble with your mom. Anyhow, this latest dispatch on Youth-ful happenings may include any or all of the following: (1) info on a new B-sides/rarities comp; (2) SY s thoughts on label limbo; (3) info on the U.
S. premiere of and associates Perfect Partner; (4) side project mania; and (5) tour hysteria.
First up, the rarities comp.
Titled The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities, according to Billboard.com, the disc arrives December 12 via Geffen. Sonic Youth s and culled the collection s selections from the back sides of singles, various compilations, and bonus cuts from international editions of SY releases.
While the final tracklist has yet to be determined, The Destroyed Room will also a few tunes that even you-- yes you, with the washing machine tattooed on you chest-- have never heard before. Er, maybe.
Following the release of the comp, Sonic Youth become the musical equivalent of a free agent, having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Geffen.
Asked by Billboard.com if the band would stay with their longtime label, bassist Kim Gordon expressed uncertainty. I don t really think they want us to stay.
They fired a few key people working on [Rather Ripped] a week before it came out...
So, I don t know.
There s also talk of an expanded reissue of Daydream Nation-- to the at the Library of Congress-- which a label split might jeopardize. 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?
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