With their breakthrough album just out on our shores last week, indie pop crushes have revealed the next step in their mission to claim our hearts: a full-scale North American tour. The trek, which kicks off at Coachella and lasts through the first two weeks of May, follows a tantalizingly brief series of shows a few weeks ago in and L.A.
PB J plan to release Objects of My Affection , the next single from Writer s Block, soon. It will be available on 7 and CD and will be backed by .
While we re still massaging our cochleas after the ear-bludgeoning sonic assault that was 2004 s , that boy Sam Beam just doesn t relent.
This fall, as has confirmed, will treat fans to another blistering LP of mixtape-ready folk balladry titled The Shepherd s Dog.
The new disc will include songs Boy With a Coin , House by the Sea , The Love Song of the Buzzard , Peace Beneath the City , Carousel , and Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car . Beam, who just wrapped up a with Calexico, has already begun beaming audiences with these tunes in the live setting-- many thanks to an astute show-going reader for the tip.
Battles Talk Mirrored, Vocals, Side Projects
We're no more an instrumental band than we are a rock'n'roll band with no lead singer. --Tyondai Braxton There s a new behemoth in town, and is its name. The fire-breathing, - supergroup comprised of Tyondai Braxton, Ian Williams (ex-Don Caballero), John Stanier (ex-Helmet, Tomahawk), and Dave Konopka (ex-Lynx) drops their proper debut LP Mirrored on May 15, .
EP-based excitement has been brewing for a few years now, but longtime fans may be in for a few surprises.
For one: vocals. First single Atlas -- out April 2 in 12 and digital formats-- has em.
So do several other tracks on Mirrored, as Battles Braxton and Williams revealed to Pitchfork during a recent chat. So what s the deal, guys?
Said Braxton, who does all the quote-unquote singing, It s not just straight vocals throughout on every track.
Sometimes it s more conventional, sometimes it s more affected and used more as a texture. So there s no clear definition of the way that we use the vocals-- but we do have maybe three or four songs with lyrical vocals in them.
For Braxton and band, it s all about pushing boundaries.
The thing that I really like about other bands that I grew up listening to-- that I was inspired by-- is they have the same tools that other bands use-- you ve got your lead vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, whatever-- but the way they use them is so different. So I always wanted to try my hand at using those same tools to go in the direction that I was interested in, and that we were interested in as a collective.
We all are very cool with just trying out a bunch of different things.
We re no more an instrumental band than we are a rock n roll band with no lead singer. We just try different things and do what we want to do, which is refreshing-- it s a refreshing formula to have in this band, where there s nothing that s too out of bounds.
And though the vocal thing might be a little more conventional in a lot of ways, even there there s no fear of being able to go that route and see what we can come up with.
And I had wanted to sing and wanted to see what it would be like to have a Battles song written, so we explored that direction. Pitchfork s news department seeks a motivated music nerd who is also a talented writer, diligent worker, and dedicated team player, to serve as a reporter in our Chicago office. The ideal candidate will possess thorough knowledge of the ins and outs of independent music, and be able to write quickly and wittily under pressure.
The position involves researching, fact-checking, interviewing, gathering news, and listening to *lots* of music. Past journalistic experience is a plus, but not necessary. Candidate must live in the Chicagoland area.
This position is part-time, with the possibility for full-time employment. Interested parties should send a resume and music-related writing clips to . The deadline is six p.
m. CST this coming Friday, February 16. will release a tribute compilation titled Through the Wilderness this September or October.
The list of flower children paying homage to the Material Girl includes Devendra Banhart, Vietnam, Women Children, Lavender Diamond, Giant Drag, the Chapin Sisters, Bat for Lashes with Moon and Moon, and the Tyde. Party, Alexandra Hope, Little Death, Siddhartha, Golden Animals, and the from sales of Through the Wilderness will assist the fight against AIDs in Africa, though a specific charity has not yet been selected.
First Nebraska, then.
..Kansas.
As part of their plan to take over the world, starting with Middle America, the folks at Omaha s have signed a deal to distribute Lawrence, Kansas .
Range Life s first physical release will be former Anniversary songwriter Justin Roelofs self-titled debut as , though the label released the album digitally and on vinyl last year. White Flight will come out on CD March 6, and it will include a documentary titled The Making of White Flight , directed by Brendan Costello and label owner Zach Hangauer.
Range Life has releases by Lawrence bands 1,000,000 Light Years and Fourth of July forthcoming. The Warning and The Great Destroyer -- not just Hot Chip and Low albums anymore! They have now joined March of the Fuckheads and Starfuckers, Inc.
in the pantheon of song titles, as the tracklist for the forthcoming NIN disc has been revealed. ( , it s due out Judgement Day, April 17.) Although it isn t nearly as entertaining as , the Year Zero list does have a few ringers: opener Hyperpower!
could be a Go! Team song, while Me, I m Not and Capital G raise good, old-fashioned Reznorian questions like You re not what? A pussy?
and Capital G stands for what? God? Gay?
Nine Inch Nails are on tour in Europe right now and head to Scandinavia and Australia in May. .
If you happen over to A lafoss, Iceland anytime soon, check out the nearest grove, because you might just catch the men of in a compromising position with some trees.
And by compromising position, we mean hugging, you guttersnipes. Local authorities are planning to pave this paradise and put up a highway, see, and Sigur R o s are none too happy about it.
The orchestral rock quartet announced via its recently that it plans to hold a special concert in Reykjavik to raise funds to appeal the construction of the highway in A lafoss and divert [it] through a less destructive route.
Said gig goes down at Veri in H e insh u si on February 18, and go on sale today.
As Sigur drummer Orri P a ll D y rason told Reykjavik s newspaper, the ministry for the environment has stated that an evaluation of environmental impact is not warranted, which is a decision we just don t understand and have already appealed. The highway would also go through a grove of trees, which was planted by the children of the founders of A lafoss wool mill built in 1896.
Half these trees have been already removed in the first place. It s such a remarkable place and played a huge role in the establishment of the [nearby] town of Mosfellsb r.
Not so coincidentally, A lafoss also serves as home to Sigur R o s swimming pool studio, where parts of 2005 s Takk were recorded.
Somehow the band made it to this studio without a highway. Perhaps they have, like, a Hope-icopter or something?
, Sigur R o s are presently at work on their next album, the follow up to Takk.
They ll take a break to play this protest concert, as well as two U.S. dates later this month, including the benefit at NYC s Carnegie Hall.
J Dilla, Band of Horses Clean Up at Plug Awards Grammys? What Grammys? On Saturday night, February 10, the were announced at a star-studded at Irving Plaza in New York City.
Band of Horses took home the most PLUGs-- for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Americana Album of the Year-- while the late J Dilla was named Artist of the Year and Record Producer of the Year. Sufjan Stevens and Neko Case were voted Male and Female Artists of the Year, respectively, for the second year in a row, Arctic Monkeys were deemed New Artist of the Year, and some site called Pitchforkmedia.com won Music Website of the Year.
(Aww, thanks, you guys!) David Cross hosted the evening, which featured performances from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Deerhoof, Tokyo Police Club, El-P, and Silversun Pickups. Malkmus also received the 2007 PLUG Impact Award (sort of their version of the Lifetime Achievement Grammy).
More photos and the full list of winners after the jump. The albums to receive the deluxe reissue treatment from will be 1983 s Construction Time Again and 1986 s Black Celebration. Rhino will release both as two-disc CD/DVD sets on March 20.
The CDs will feature the original albums, and the DVDs will have 5.1 mixes as well as B-sides, remixes, and live tracks. As a bonus, each DVD will feature a short film of interviews with Depeche Mode members about the albums.
Booklets featuring lyrics and rare photos will come with both packages.
What do young people do, stuck all the way out in quaint, remote Sunderland, England? If you re David Brewis, one-third of trio , you make music with your family and friends, you kick back and watch Trapped in the Closet with the Futureheads, you rework Thompson Twins classics.
..and you start Doors and Aerosmith cover bands?
?
I was really trying to avoid getting involved, David told Pitchfork yesterday via phone, but I ended up being Robby Krieger in a friend s Doors tribute. Bandmates Andy Moore and Peter Brewis (David s brother) joined him for this anomaly at a sort-of Sunderland Stars night this past December.
And it was quite fun. Unfortunately, on that night we were billed as blooming Field Music, eight or nine minute version of The End instead. It was I m having an Aerosmith phase at the moment, so maybe I ll end up in an Aerosmith covers band.
For a list of potential Aerosmith cover band names, including PharaohSmith ( This will involve Egyptian headgear ), Hair-O-Smith ( This will involve wearing wigs, and the singer can rename himself Steve [Hair] Styler ), and Aeroschmitt ( Krautrock ), skip to the end of this story. It s worth it, believe us.
The Doors and Aerosmith aren t exactly the first bands to come to mind when listening to the succinct, rhythmically precise music of Field Music, whose sophomore LP , out now in the UK, hits U.
S. shelves February 20 via Memphis.
Fans who turn out for Field Music s UK dates this month and with Menomena and Land of Talk in March probably needn t worry about any such classic rock-covering confrontations, however.
We ll probably end up playing quite a lot of stuff from the new record, David said. The biggest surprise for anyone who hasn t seen us live is what we manage to do between the three of us. People watch and say, How the hell are they doing that?
After the tour, however-- and the release of single She Can Do What She Wants on April 9 (coupled with a radical reworking of Tones Sit Tight titled Sit Tighter )-- the men of Field Music plan to go on a sort-of hiatus.
The general plan for Field Music is that after that tour in North America, we re going to take a break for a while, David told Pitchfork. Our money runs out then.
Money isn t the whole story, however. Brewis also wants to keep the spark of creativity alive, and some of the more routine aspects of being in a band have stifled it. Touring and other matters get in the way of being able to be creative on a regular basis, David explained.
Even rehearsing for us is not a particularly creative experience-- it s an interesting problem-solving challenge. We make good music, and it s quite enjoyable for performance, but it s not usually creative. When all of that time goes out, we realized that we don t get a lot of time to spend writing new music or having ideas percolate.
So the ambition for all of us for the months after March is to find ways to get into the habit of being creative...
All three of us have got quite a bit of stuff which is just not Field Music. So we re going to have to find other ways to do it.
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