Sufjan, Franz, Coyne Pick Noms for Shortlist Prize

Sufjan, Franz, Coyne Pick Noms for Shortlist Prize
Knife, Newsom, TV on the Radio, Cat Power, Girl Talk, Art Brut, everything else makes longlist In brief, a short-lived was established by one of the Shortlist founders. , but following some legal dealings we won t bore you by explaining here, the New Pantheon went kaput and Stevens is now considered the winner of the 2005 Shortlist Prize. Got all that?

Anyhow! The sixth annual Shortlist boasts a fairly impressive panel of listmakers, including Stevens, Wayne Coyne, and Franz Ferdinand (the band, we suspect, and not the archduke s ghost), as well as KT Tunstall, Panic! at the Disco, Snow Patroller Gary Lightbody, and Killer Ronnie Vannucci, Jr.

A couple journalists hold things down in the critical camp.
Each nominated a few favorites, chosen from all records released in the U.S.

in 2006 which have not achieved gold status-- aka 500,000 or more in sales. These will be pared down to a ten-album, yes, shortlist in April, from which a shorter list-- consisting of precisely one winner-- will be determined later in spring. Among the past victors: TV on the Radio, Sigur R o s, N*E*R*D, and, yikes, Damien Rice.

The nomination process resulted in a 61-album longlist that includes, well, pretty much everything of note released somewhere in the last 18 months: Return to Cookie Mountain, Silent Shout, The Greatest, Ys, Everything All the Time, The Crane Wife, Gulag Orskestar, etc., along with records from Art Brut, Serena-Maneesh, Love Is All, and Field Music that feel like they came out six years ago. Proving the longlist means absolutely nothing, even the Hush Sound got a nod.

Stop trying to hide, Sufjan, we know you re responsible.
Just kidding. According to the press release, Sufjan nominated Joanna Newsom s Ys, Serena-Maneesh s self-titled (conflict of interest alert!

Doesn t he play flute on that record?), Dabrye s Two/Three, and OOIOO s Taiga. We wonder if he s listened beyond the first track on that last one.

Click MORE for the complete longlist. Judge not lest ye be judged, the good book says, and given the unnecessary critical flak bookish has taken in the past year, the man is ripe to judge. He ll put those skills to work tomorrow, as Meloy joins The New Yorker s Sasha Frere-Jones, The Onion s Maria Schneider, and others as judges for 2007 .

The book contest-- set up like an honest-to-goodness bracketed tournament-- puts a different judge in charge of each match, which pits two 2006 novels against one another. From the looks of it, Meloy-- a former bookstore employee-- oversees a first-round match between Richard Ford s The Lay of the Land and Upamanyu Chatterjee s English, August: An Indian Story. We hope he makes the right choice, even though we have no idea what that choice is, because we only read the internet.

Editors Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack (both tournament judges) co-founded The Morning News-- an online publication dedicated to world events, humor, media digests, and more-- in 1999. The book tournament victor gets a prize called The Rooster , which is, according to Baldwin, named after David Sedaris s brother. Check out the for a chance to win all the books in competition.

We re guessing Mr. Meloy digested The Lay of the Land and English, August whilst preparing for the Decemberists with My Brightest Diamond, which kicks off March 21 (aka the day after the Decemberists lands). The jaunt includes stops at such sophisticated locales as the Hollywood Bowl ( ) and a freaking winery in Portland.

Also, in case you missed it, check out the winning video from that notorious green screen contest over in . are preparing the follow-up to last year s by testing their new material on the road. Tonight they hit Orlando, and later this month, they will play three different shows at South by Southwest.

They ll finish off in Chicago on March 29, and the Besnard Lakes and Helio Sequence will join them on select dates.
Also, don t forget that we recently featured the band s new video for Car No Driver over in a few days ago. Running contrary to their usual modus operandi of playing a precious few scattered dates a year, will kick off their full-blown tour in less than a year on May 16.

The almost one-month long tour of Europe includes their at on May 19. To gear up for the shows in Europe, the band will play two April shows in their hometown of Chicago. One is a for Cal Robbins at the Subterranean, and the other is at the Congress Theater with Steve Albini s , the Stooges.

There is still no new word on Shellac s next record other than that it exists. Maybe.
Detroit duo will release their fourth album, Why Bother?

, via on March 20. The UK release date is March 19, and a 1000-copy LP edition on blood red vinyl will supplement the CD and digital versions of the album.
The first video from Why Bother?

is for the Folk Trilogy , the first two parts of which appear on the album. It is the first video ADULT. have directed themselves, and they will debut their second, for I Feel Worse When I m With You , on March 13.

ADULT. have one month of dates scheduled for April and May, with more to come. They will also play in their hometown tonight and in Mexico City on March 10 as part of the MXBeat Festival.

Latest issue of Zoetrope: All-Story out now, also features Woody Allen You knew Francis Ford Coppola directed the Godfather movies, and you knew he fathered Sofia and Roman, but did you know dude has a magazine? And he s been publishing it for ten years now? Neither did we, until we found out put together the of Coppola s , available now on all the cooler newsstands.

Named for a primitive motion picture device (as is Coppola s studios), Zoetrope collects writing and artwork and invites a different artist to compile and design each issue. Past contributors include David Bowie, Tom Waits, David Byrne, and Laurie Anderson (we suspect the link here is musicians who act, in one manner or another), as well as Coppola s fellow directors Gus Van Sant and Wim Wenders. Hell, even Dennis Hopper took a swipe at this thing.

Will tackles the Spring 2007 edition, aka the first issue of the 11th volume of Zoetrope. His creation features new pieces of fiction from Woody Allen, Elizabeth McCracken, Rachel Cusk, and Helen Simpson, as well as some interesting graphics. It also has a photograph of a monkey on the cover that Will took.

We can t decide if it s aw-shucks cute or goddamn creepy-- doesn t it look like an evil, miniature human? At least a little bit? We re fairly sure it s plotting something heinous.

, Oldham hits us with another Bonnie Prince Billy single off , Strange Form of Life , on March 15 via . He wrapped up a UK tour last month and lands on the European mainland next week for a long stretch of solo shows.
Apparently, in this age of mp3s, iPods, P2P, torrents, YouTube, webcasts, and TiVo, people still listen to terrestrial radio.

Maybe these people are trapped in cars, or at offices, or maybe they just got one of those sweet Wild Wild West from Burger King last century and just can t get enough of it. Maybe (on a serious note..

.no really), they can t afford the digital knickknacks listed above, in which case we re dicks to poke fun at their radio-listening ways.
Anyhow, whatever their reasons for tuning in, chances are these people who listen to commercial radio are subjected to a whole lot of crap.

Major label crap, in most cases, and maybe-- just maybe-- the disc jockey wasn t playing that Staind song every 15 minutes because he liked it. Maybe-- dun dun dun-- he was paid to play it!
That s the history of payola in a nutshell, and you re correct in your assessment that it sucks.

Thankfully, legal-minded people have taken the crusade against payola to the courts, and in an uncharacteristic show of reason and integrity, the courts have sided against the money-grubbing corporate evil-doers.
According to The Hollywood Reporter yesterday, four radio giants-- Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio, Entercom Communications Corp.

and Citadel Broadcasting Corp.-- have entered an agreement (a consent decree , the article calls it) with the in which they ll pay a $12.5 million settlement for payola-related wrongdoing.

Here s the exciting part for the casual radio listener: concomitant to the payola decree but not part of it, the radio giants have reached a second, private agreement with the that will set aside 8,400 half-hour blocks of time for independent music. That s nearly a half-year s worth of time for the indies, although we have no idea what happens after all those hours are used up.
As the Reporter explains, The free airtime would be granted to companies not owned or controlled by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and EMI Group; do not have a market share larger than 5%; and are represented as independent through Nielsen SoundScan.

Now of course we re skeptical, especially since the deal s unofficial, and also since a lot of independent music really blows (trust us, we ve got promo bins full of it). In spite of this, it s exciting to see some waves being made, and we hope the radio giants make good on their word. Or else, you know, we ll completely ignore them even more.

While under scrutiny (not to mention illegal) since the 1950s, payola became a huge topic in summer 2005 following then-New York Attorney General s much-publicized , which landed Sony BMG, and later Warner Bros. in the doghouse.
His last drummer spontaneously combusted, too Look who got a copy of Spinal Tap.

, fresh off the announcement of his patiently scheduled first release of 2007, , has just one live show planned for the near future. And it s at . No, that s not the name of some obscure Berlin nightclub or a Wiccan festival in Eugene, Oregon.

We re talking the actual Bronze Age monument built by Druids here. (Possibly updated by witches?)
Adams will play the rock formation on June 5 as part of the .

For those of you asking yourselves how much more ridiculous this concert could be, the answer is none. None more ridiculous.
will return to the American road in full force tonight, as they kick off their tour tonight in Baltimore.

On March 10, they ll pair up with in a match made in guitar rock heaven. Finally, they will play Sasquatch in May and Bonnaroo in June. In other assorted Hold Steady news, the band is featured on the soundtracks to two upcoming films.

The first is Bob Dylan biopic , as previously reported. The second is the Aqua Teen Hunger Force feature, , where their Girls Like Status will join previously unreleased tracks by Andrew W.K.

, Mastodon, and Killer Mike. THS other film forays are on the music video front. First, a video for Stuck Between Stations is currently in the works with longtime Hold Steady video director Moh Azima at the helm.

Stills from the shoot are available at the band s . The band are also holding a contest in which fans can create their own music video for any song from , submit it by March 31, and find out on April 15 whether or not they won one of three prizes, which include a total of $1750 in cash and 10 months in eMusic subscriptions. Aspiring directors can submit their videos .

Plus: Against Me!, These Arms Are Snakes, Planes Mistaken for Stars The mastodon has never been less extinct. Fresh off a Grammy nomination and currently in the throes of , the men of have announced plans to continue destroying their vocal chords so that you, indie-geek-turned- metal-fan, can bang serious head to their glorious riffs and howls.

That s right, Mastodon have tacked a veritable of dates onto their already sizable North American tour, the one that also takes them to SXSW and even detours into Oceania for a spell. Joining our myth-makers: spastic Saddle Creek stalwarts , Floridian folk-punkers , and-- dividing opening duties-- post-hardcore gents and . Score pre-sale tickets before it s too late.

In other news, folks pummeled by Mastodon during that UK tour can-- after they peel themselves off the venue floor-- scoop up a single for Colony of Birchmen on March 12. That s the tune that got the Grammy nod, and it comes backed with a no doubt blistering live version of Iron Tusk . Shit yes.

have added dates to their , not to be confused with Bruce Springsteen s Thunder Road show. Now the band will fully cover the state of Missouri and the city of Indianapolis, and they will also play a handful of May dates in Australia and one in Japan at the Fuji Rock Festival in July. On April 4, the band will hit Late Night with Conan O Brien .

Today marks the release of the first single from s , . The three-track My Moon My Man EP comes in both 10 vinyl and digital versions. The single s two B-sides are the Boys Noize Classic Remix of My Moon My Man and album track The Water .

The Reminder comes out April 23 in Europe and May 1 in the U.S. and Canada, and Feist s previously reported tour of and begins April 16 in London.

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? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity. (Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.