Though technically unnecessary, Gore endorses Decemberists' track as the best of the lot The middle section of a trilogy is the hardest to nail. The evidence is all around-- think the unabashed crap of Back to the Future 2, or the criminally silly Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. And on the Star Wars front, I'm sure we all agree that Empire is the best, but take a look at Attack of the Clones.
Apparently lightning doesn't even strike twice for George Lucas-- even when he orders the CGI department to make it appear that way. And don't even get me started on Poison Ivy 2! Where am I going with this, you wonder?
What's the all-important indie rock angle? Well, Kill Rock Stars has decided to get in on the action and take a hint from Hollywood with their own trilogy, only this time, the second act is going to be good, and it doesn't involve Kate Capshaw or a wisecracking Asian sidekick named Short Round. At least I don't think it does.
Following the class act of the compilation trilogy Kill Rock Stars, Stars Kill Rock, and Rock Stars Kill, KRS has announced the second release in the next wave-- Tracks and Fields. The follow-up to last year's Fields and Streams (and precursor to the future finale Roads and Tracks), Tracks and Fields will feature 41 previously unreleased tracks from 41 bands, and if you're reading Pitchfork right now (and I think we both know that you are), there's a good chance you'll be interested in more than a few of them. According to KRS founder and label honcho Slim Moon, the compilation will be out on March 9th, 2004, and the tracklist will be like so:
Alright, who wiped Rudolph's Shiny New Year from the TiVo to record Shoah ?
Ah, Azure Ray, the pinnacle of achievement in melting, depressive coffee shop folk. The musical incarnation of rain cascading down grey windows, of sighing from the diaphragm, of wearing bulky knit scarves and caps: the Indie-go Girls. Saddle Creek has announced that Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor will be releasing the second single from their most recent LP, Hold on Love, just in time for Chr-- better make that Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day. On January 20th, Saddle Creek will release the "New Resolution" single. Aside from the titular track (damn it, why do you kids snicker whenever I say 'titular'?
), the single will feature a live version of "The Drinks We Drank Last Night," which was the first single from Hold on Love, and a remix of "New Resolution" by Dntel/The Postal Service's Jimmy Tamborello. Which, with carriage returns, looks a little like this: The CD will also be "enhanced" by the increasingly ubiquitous "multimedia content"-- in this case, video footage from the live recording of "Drinks We Drank," as well as a new music video for "New Resolution," directed by none other than Sam Jones, who also directed the Wilco doc I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. As Azure Ray's U.
S. tour with Crooked Fingers winds down, their European tour through specified cities but currently unknown venues is gaining momentum. And yes, the girls look cute in their passport photos.
Here are the remainder of the U.S. dates and an outline of their European adventure: 01-20 Rotterdam, Holland - TBA
Keats and Yeats are on your side; Rancid, Fastball and the Smoking Popes are on mine Morrissey is currently working with producer Jerry Finn on his follow-up to 1997's Maladjusted.
After keeping a relatively low profile for the last five years or so, the choice of producer is somewhat surprising. Jerry Finn is more known for producing '90s radio-punk acts like Green Day, MxPx, Blink-182 and Pennywise, but was also an assistant engineer for Alvin and the Chipmunks' landmark 1995 record A Very Merry Chipmunk, which many consider to be one of the most important testaments to the on-going struggle of Chipmunk-Americans in modern society. An official release date has not been set, but Morrissey is keeping May 2004 open just in case.
No tracklist has been leaked either, but the rumor is that the first single will be the optimistic "First Of The Gang To Die," which sounds just perfect for spring. The record will be released on Sanctuary, which will make it Morrissey's first technically indie-label album, and find Mr. Ordinary Drug in the company of the RZA and Ween, among others.
It's worth pointing out, however, that Sanctuary is a subsidiary of BMG, so it's not like it's coming out on Drag City or Thrill Jockey or something. I mean, Sanctuary is also home to Lynyrd Skynyrd. That's all I'm sayin'.
The Joggers on Tour With Ted Leo, Weird War, Others Jogging barbershop quartets, politically radical Pharmacists, and scene creaming Weirdos? Slow down, Whodi. This might sound like the "quirky" cast of characters from a Zadie Smith novel, but in fact, it's the line-up for what has to be one of the most uniformly strong bills of the holiday season.
The Joggers, touring on the strength of their StarTime International debut, Solid Guild, are known for kicking out suave four-part harmonies over pinwheely art-punk guitars. And they're much less annoying than actual joggers, who, at least in my hometown, seem completely oblivious to the 8000 cars creeping nose to nose behind them as they hobble down the exact center of the road, listening to gigantic headphones and sweating out five-dollar-a-bottle electrolyte-enhanced water. Weird War is the latest Ian Svenonius production (see also Nation of Ulysses, who were rocking outr e politicool jams while wearing sharp suits when (The International) Noise Conspiracy were still smearing Kaviar fish paste all over their bibs, also see also Make*Up and Scene Creamers, worshippers at the altar of Arthur Lee); expect a lot of mouth-breathing, gold-buttoned navy-blue prep school blazers, and "Baby, yeah!
" type histrionics. And what can I say about Ted Leo and the Pharmacists that you aren't sick of hearing me say already? Leo's latest, Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead, features two songs from Hearts of Oak alongside a few new tunes and covers (including one of The Jam-- talk about wearing your influences on your sleeve.
But where's the Thin Lizzy cover?). It would be cool to hear "The Sword in the Stone" and "Bleeding Powers" given the full-band treatment, but my advice?
Keep yelling for them to play "Ballad of the Sin Eater" until they do, or until beefy security goons forcibly remove you from the club. If they play it, it'll be worth your while. And if you get bounced, well, more time to scrub your hand stamp off so you don't accidentally show up at work with that tell-tale sign of debauchery the next day, to download new ringtones from The Darkness' website, to mail your next move to your incarcerated backgammon opponent-- hell, man, I don't know, whatever it is you do.
I could tell you about the other guys on the bill, but what would you do with the information (ding-ding-ding da-ding da-ding-ding-ding)? If The Joggers, Ted Leo, Weird War and a Roger Dodger reference aren't enough to get your plasma pumping, there's not much I can do for you. Having trouble getting a date?
Here're some to get you started, courtesy of StarTime International: 12-13 Washington, DC - Black Cat (w/ Ted Leo and Deep Six) 12-18 Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle (w/ Watchers, The Changes and Disc Jockey CB) 12-21 Missoula, MT - The Ritz (w/ Volumen and Obio Joes) Lisa Gerrard, one-half of the ethereal, ambient, world beat duo Dead Can Dance, has been tapped to compose the score to the controversial new Mel Gibson film The Passion Of The Christ. This will mark her second solo outing in the film score game, as she also scored Niki Caro's The Whale Rider back in 2002. Just because she's only handled one other soundtrack on her own doesn't mean she's some sort of amateur, though.
Gerrard has also contributed to the soundtracks for Gladiator, Ali, Heat, The Insider, Black Hawk Down, and many more. Gerrard is certainly walking into a proverbial shit-storm of controversy, as early screenings of The Passion Of The Christ have brought about a great deal of criticism and complaints from Jewish communities worldwide. The film, which depicts the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, has already seen a great deal of protest from the Anti-Defamation League for what it claims is promoting anti-Semitism.
In a statement made to the New Yorker Abraham Foxman, national director of the ADL, said, "The film can fuel, trigger, stimulate, induce, rationalize, [and] legitimize anti-Semitism." A spokesman for the Roman Centurions' league offered similar concerns. Gibson insists that his film is not meant to do any of those things.
He has made no secret of the fact that he follows a rather traditional vein of Catholicism, and he maintains that his attempts were to create a film that adhered quite strictly to the Biblical accounts of Christ's death (even going so far as to record the principal dialogue in two dead languages-- Aramaic and Latin). It would seem that he is aware of how the film could be seen in this manner, however, for he's admitted that he regrets cutting scenes that he felt would bring about too much controversy and/or too much moody Gerrard scoring. The film will arrive in theaters in March of 2004, and Gerrard's score will presumably hit stores the same month.
Still trying to get current label to drop them on camera-- Nonesuch, you've been punk'd! Still basking in the critical glory that surrounded the band after the release of their 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco is currently in the studio wrapping up work on the follow-up, according to reports from Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. After taking a short break around the Thanksgiving holiday, the band headed home to Chicago to put the finishing touches on the album, which they began recording in New York a couple of weeks before.
Warner Bros-affiliated Nonesuch Records, who Wilco signed with after a much-chronicled split with Warner Bros-affiliated Reprise back in 2001, will be releasing the album, tentatively scheduled for the spring. Two titles have been bandied about so far: dBpm (also a title the band gave to a group of improv recordings dating back to 2002) and W*lco Happens. An official tracklisting has yet to be released due to the fact that the band is still narrowing down from the close to thirty songs that have been recorded.
Some of the tracks that might make the final cut are: "Hell Is Chrome," "Muzzle Of Bees," "Panthers," "Theologians," "Company In My Back," "At Least That's What You Said," "Wishful Thinking," and "Kicking Television." That last one must be about Emeril Live! That junk is kickin'.
The band, which in addition to core members Tweedy, Stirratt, Kotche, and Bach will be recording with touring keyboardist/laptop player Mikael Jorgensen, is co-producing the effort with Jim O'Rourke, who also engineered Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Fans have noted how the band's sound has evolved with each album, and this one promises to be no different. According to Tweedy, some tracks are similar to Foxtrot's "dryness and kraut-rock vibe," but others have a much more "live, organic, live vocal" sound.
"We're just waiting to see what kind of record pops out," he continues. Um, kraut-rock? I must've been listening to the wrong album this whole time.
Someone hook me up with the one he's talking about. Bro's before ho's! I mean, girl power!
That's the one. Indie-folk seamstress and longtime Microphones associate Mirah is taking it overseas this January, spreading the winter cheer to those of you who are into that kind of thing. Mirah recently released a collaborative album with Ginger Brooks Takahashi "and friends," spookily titled Songs From the Black Mountain Music Project and released, customarily, on K Records.
Get your Zeitlyn here: 01-19 Leiria, Portugal - Audit o rio Velho do Orfeao 01-20 Oporto, Portugal - Mercedes U.S. Maple on Tour With Just Everyone U.
S. Maple are on a three-week jaunt this December-- part one of what Drag City calls "an extended trip through the world." They'll be grimacing through material from their recently released fourth full-length, Purple on Time.
, their first with new drummer Adam Vida. Purple heralded the arrival of a kinder, gentler U.S.
Maple, boasting actual coherent rhythms, melodies, and recognizable rock dynamics, but this is only in comparison to previous U.S. Maple recordings-- compared to more traditional rock albums, Purple is still beautifully maimed.
U.S. Maple's music is more suited to the immediacy of the live format than the staid confines of an album, the tightly coiled urgency always seeming on the verge of boiling over into actual on-stage violence.
At their best, U.S. Maple seem to play against rather than with one another, each member striving to push their contribution to a song's structure away from the others until they're held together by the flimsiest filaments, thus all the more glorious when they reach the point of terminal tension and snap back together.
For the December dates, U.S. Maple has tapped an array of stellar supporting acts that are just as musically deranged and singular as they.
These include avant-garde noise rockers Need New Body, Papa M (granted, not really deranged, except for maybe his stint in Zwan), DMBQ (featuring ex-members of The Boredoms), and Spirit Stallion (including members of Oxes, French Mistake and Stars of the Dogon). In Tennessee, they'll be supported by Neptune (who I've heard described as junk rockers in the vein of Skeleton Key), not The Neptunes, as I thought at first glance. That U.
S. Maple is not playing with the masters of crunk is at once a relief and sort of disappointing, like realizing a girl you really like but know isn't good for you isn't actually going to break up with you. Al Johnson warbling over bounce tracks-- this is the theoretical end music I leave you with as the credits (i.
e. tour dates) roll:
Gouge it away, gouge it away, gouge it away now The internet-bred rumor that the reformed Pixies are to open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Paris next June is false, according to a report from French-language music site MCM.net.
Although the Chili Peppers have indeed booked a June 15th, 2004 gig at the 50,000-seat stadium Parc des Princes (with tickets on sale next week), a spokesperson for the group has apparently denied that the Pixies are set to open the show. The Red Hot Chili Peppers tip is just one of several unconfirmed Pixies booking rumors which would have the influential quartet playing, variously, the 2003 editions of the Eurock e ennes festival in France, the Witnness Festival in Ireland, and next May's Coachella festival in Indio, CA. The Coachella rumor is at least backed up by comments from Radiohead's Thom Yorke in Urb that both Radiohead and the Pixies are being actively courted for next year's fest.
Hell, there had even been a rumor that the Pixies were to secretly reform tonight to open for David Bowie at Boston's FleetCenter (we can quash that one for you as well: Bowie has had to reschedule this week's Boston and Philly gigs due to a bout with the flu). Although Pitchfork has heard other unofficial speculation regarding the whens and wheres of a pending Pixies reunion, the most reliable information is still the original announcement from an unidentified "spokesman" for the band who told MTV the original lineup of the group would be reuniting for some tour dates in April 2004. You can make what you want of the fact that the reunion was announced precisely one day prior to the release of Frank Black's latest opus, Show Me Your Tears.
And speaking of Frank Black, fansite Frankblack.net has just announced that SpinART has just released an exclusive Frank Black and the Catholics EP on iTunes. The untitled EP includes four previously unreleased songs including the discarded title track from Show Me Your Tears.
Tracklist: 02-20 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge Despite the fact that MTV apparently doesn't see Mates of State as the next Dashboard Confessional (it's all photogenics, people), they're making videos for songs off of this year's Team Boo like it ain't no thing. Following the MTV-rejected video for "Ha Ha," they recently posted a clip for "Fluke" on the official Mates of State website and reported that a video for "Gotta Get a Problem" is in progress. Can the exclusive DVD collection be far behind?
According to Hammel, the Mates plan to record and release something other than a full-length (read: EP) in 2004, then start work on the follow-up to Team Boo-- all of which will, presumably, be bookended by more touring. The benefits of having two people that live together in your band cannot be underestimated. "Hey, wanna record an album or something?
" "Sure, just let me finish the laundry first." Or something like that. It's time to stock up on little white candles and peace-sign medallions, for Saddle Creek has announced that Desaparecidos have signed on to the 2004 Plea for Peace tour, along with Cursive and Mike Park.
Let's take a moment to inspect the principals. PLEA FOR PEACE TOUR: The Plea for Peace Tour was initiated in 1999 by the Plea for Peace Foundation, a 501C non-profit helmed by Asian Man Records founder Mike Park. The Foundation is dedicated to "promote the ideas of peace through the power of music.
" To date, they've curated three U.S. benefit tours, two Japanese tours, and numerous compilations, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for various charities.
Their ultimate goal (besides, you know, peace) is to open a year-round teen center in Northern California's Bay Area. The 2004 tour, which will range from April to June (venues and dates currently unspecified, although in the interest of supporting media diversity, no ClearChannel venues will appear on the schedule) and focus on raising voter awareness and participation. While it's clear that Plea for Peace is firmly anti-Bush, the tour will attempt to take a nonpartisan stance and focus on the importance of voting itself, and will give voters in each state the opportunity to register with the party of their choice.
Each band will donate a tithe (that's ten percent, heathen) of their earnings to charitable organizations. While the brainwashed Pitchfork reporter instinctually longs to tear into the absurdity of lovelorn, navel-gazing emo bands taking up the altruistic banner of world peace, this is an endeavor wholly worthy of praise, and in truth, the prevalent cultural fear of hypocrisy and cliche from which the desire to cynically illuminate this perceived absurdity arises is exactly the sort of cultural force that political music needs to subvert. Too good a cause to take the piss, even if it means forgoing some funny copy and exposing you to a little bit of poisonous earnestness.
MIKE PARK: Founder of the Plea for Peace Foundation and Asian Man Records, ex-member of Skankin' Pickle and currently of The Chinkees and the B. Lee Band and a solo artist, the man seems to have a strange predilection for racial stereotypes for someone so dedicated to equality-- though he is, of course, Korean (which, according to current cultural values, transmutes any deployment of Asian racial slurs into strident political commentary). Park began Asian Man records in his parents garage, and now the label boasts over 50 bands (including Alkaline Trio and Less Than Jake) and over 500,000 units moved.
The Plea for Peace tour will find him showcasing his solo material. DESAPARECIDOS: This is Conor Oberst's "other" band, the one where he gets all political and stuff. Their name refers to the thousands of Argentines who were abducted, tortured and killed by the military junta that escalated Argentina's "dirty war" of 1976-1983.
With Desaparecidos, Oberst surgically removes the stool from his ass (and I mean the kind of stool he sits on as Bright Eyes), jumps around with an electric guitar, and instead of singing about how bad he feels when girls are mean to the boys who love them and how damn depressing depression can be, he waxes Holden Caulfield-esquely about how bad all the problems in the world make him feel and how damn political politics can be. Consumer culture, globalization and its malcontents, war, American imperialism are all, apparently, bad (okay, just a little piss-taking for form's sake, but well-intentioned). Also features Denver Dalley of the Jade Tree electro-poppers Statistics.
CURSIVE: Saddle Creek artists who play like a collabo between The Cure and Shudder to Think, with songs ghostwritten by John Barth. You know this; we're just establishing the Dramatis Personae. Wildly apolitical (musically if not ideologically), it's unclear how Cursive's songs about love gone stinky and metamusical smoke and mirrors tricks contribute to the overarching cause of peace-- overtly, at least.
In truth, proselytizing to people that they shouldn't hit one another is probably less effective in creating a sense of unity than songs that remind us of our shared and universal experience (in this case, heartache and the fear that art is completely meaningless). Peace through solipsism? It could happen.
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