When regular Joes like you or I wish to declare our love for, say, the Fray, to the world, we plunk down 20 beans for a t-shirt. When the Limey funkateers in do it, we get DJ-Kicks: Hot Chip, the latest in the series of taste-confessin musician-curated mix CDs. It s set to drop May 22 on .
Following in the footsteps of the likes of Annie and Four Tet, the Hot Chip installment finds the band chunking the deuce at artists as far flung as Tom Z e , Etta James, Joe Jackson and Positive K. The emphasis on microhouse, new wave, and hip-hop may not blow any minds familiar with the band s own blend of same, but any chance you have to hear Young Leek s Jiggle It, you should probably take. As is the DJ-Kicks tradition, Hot Chip contribute a brand new song, My Piano , to the mix.
It will be released as a 12 single on !K7 on May 8. The crew will play some DJ gigs in support of the mix, with dates forthcoming.
Though they will be appearing at London s Ministry of Sound tomorrow night, March 24. According to a Myspace post, We have some good new songs for the next album, wrestling seems to be a general theme.
yesterday, Hot Chip will serve on a jury of their peers in the case of Philly s Plastic Little vs.
yo mama, and many yesterdays ago, the Maurice Fulton remix of their own banger Over and Over gets a nod on Spank Rock s FABRICLIVE.33 mix. Hot Chip s Alexis Taylor is also joining up with Scritti Politti s Green Gartside for two gigs: March 29 at Koko in London, opening for Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid, and April 7 at Fence Homegame in Fife, Scotland.
As if that wasn t enough hotness, they ll take a about the States before popping up at a couple festivals you might ve heard of.
Neko Case Puts DJ Skillz to Work, Adds Summer Dates While gearing up for her , alt-country s number one crush will take to the ones and twos, spinning the dopest joints in her collection, offering shout-outs to her fellow people in twang, and repeatedly encouraging you to cop dat album the moment it drops.
Well okay, maybe not quite like that, but siren-voiced Neko will play DJ a couple times in the coming weeks.
First up, she s slated to spin on s as part of a Women s History Month special today, March 23. Maybe she ll totally mash that Mims scorcher with My Love and My Humps , or maybe she ll just keep our rocking chairs greased with Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, and Merle Haggard. Either way, well worth tuning in.
After that, start your Easter Sunday off right by ditching church and catching Ms. Case on . She ll DJ on Sirius station (channel 63) April 8 at 9 a.
m. Eastern and again at midnight. Expect lots of Slayer and Judas Priest.
In related news, Case has snuggled Lincoln and Indianapolis dates into her spring tour , and she s tacked on a few summertime gigs, including a performance at NYC s Central Park Summer Stage. Hawkeyes, rejoice! The will trickle through Iowa City, Iowa March 28-31.
Now in its second year, the fest boasts an impressive 60 bands smattered about a bunch of local venues, film screenings, readings from noted authors and University of Iowa Writer s Workshoppers, and a DIY arts fair. Phew! Slated to appear are Rock Plaza Central, Tilly and the Wall, Bound Stems, Ladyhawk, Arbouretum, Baby Teeth, Patty Griffin, Death Ships, David Karsten Daniels, Planes for Spaces (ex-Tapes n Tapes), Mucca Pazza, and many more.
A full schedule is available on .
If the Mission Creek moniker rings a bell with you Pelosi-crats, it s because it should: the nubile Iowa City hoedown is the cornfed cousin of San Francisco s presumably hyphy-er , primed to head into its eleventh outing May 10-20. No word yet on this year s Bay Area lineup, but Keak da Sneak is always there in a pinch.
? and the Mysterians Play Fire Relief Benefits Now that the shedding of tears is over, garage rock stalwarts -- whose wildly influential 1960s cut 96 Tears you ve heard, even if you think you haven t-- make a triumphant return to the stage.
, the Clio, Michigan house belonging to ?
(given name, allegedly: Rudy Martinez) and his manager and backing vocalist burned to the ground back on January 9 of this year. Apart from seeing his home reduced to ashes, ? also lost four pet Yorkies and a cockatoo in the fire, with a fifth dying later due to injuries sustained during the blaze.
Also gone forever: heaps of recording equipment, the gold record for 96 Tears , and numerous valuables.
If your heart-strings haven t been sufficiently tugged yet, check out the video below, which has ? wandering through the snowed-over ruins of his home and offering an inspirational message in spite of it all.
Rather than idly weep, however, ? will begin the rebuilding process by doing what he does best: rocking and rolling. The charismatic vocalist and his Mysterians play two shows this month to raise fire relief funds; the first goes down at Chicago s Empty Bottle tomorrow night, March 24, and the second has ?
and band rocking St. Louis Off Broadway on March 30.
The same night as the St.
Louis gig, a bunch of Detroit garage rockers will hold a for ? at their city s Magic Bag. That bill includes Nathaniel Mayer, Fortune Maltese, the Fondas, the Meltdowns, the Avatars, Outrageous Cherry, and Space Heaters, with more guests to be announced.
That s a whole lot of rock for a mere $10 and a cause that can t be beat.
A born entertainer, ? will likely find himself called to the stage on more occasions in the coming months.
Starting tomorrow night, artists -- the band so weird, they named em twice-- will draw tenderness to its logical breaking point, setting off a full month of live dates alongside fellow heartstring-rippers , , and Okkervil River side-thing . Lollipops and rainbows all around!
Along the way, Jamie Stewart and his crew of goodwill ambassadors will leave a daily voicemail on their hotline, (510) 587-3204, leading patient, free-associating fans to a special prize or message.
If they re anything like the one we got when we called Thursday afternoon, it s gonna take an Encyclopedia Brown sort to decipher; after a few fairly inaudible recordings of bluebird calls, a snarky voice exclaimed you only get two! In other words, typical obtuse Xiu Xiu stuff.
, Xiu Xiu s official chronicler (and Pitchfork contributor!
), is running for this tour, so if you want in on the raunchy Xiu Xiu backstage action, . And , Xiu Xiu are participating in Horvitz s art show , which runs through March 31 at Los Angeles High Energy Constructs.
As we mentioned, there s a coming at you soon (check out the Kid606 cover in now!
), as well as , the second supersession from the Xiu Xiu/Larsen conglomerate XXL. Expect the single to be all over pop radio this summer.
T.
I. Nabs Timbaland, Timberlake, R. Kelly for New LP
Also: Eminem, Lil Wayne, Just Blaze, Akon, Nelly, and.
..Himself What s your next move after crowning yourself ?
If you re , you have a personality crisis, rapping as yourself and as your alter ego T.I.P.
on your new album. There s not nobody out there doing what I do as well as I do it, so I see myself as worthy competition for myself, T.I.
told Billboard recently in explanation of the title of his forthcoming T.I. vs.
T.I.P.
, which /Atlantic will release July 3.
T.I.
was able to expand the album s guest list of one to include Eminem, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, R. Kelly, Lil Wayne, Just Blaze, Akon, Nelly, the Runners, Timbaland prot e g e Nate Danjahandz Hills, Mannie Fresh, Wyclef Jean, and Scott Storch, according to Billboard.com.
The titles of T.I. vs.
T.I.P.
s potential songs are all contenders for The Most Mundane Phrase Ever: It s OK , Yeah (the Lil Wayne collaboration), You Know What It Is , Tell Em I Said That , Hip-Hop , Life of the Party (the R. Kelly collaboration), Pass the Dutchie , Don t You Wanna Get High , Shorty Got a Gun . And the songs up for the honor of first single, planned for release in early April?
Big Things Poppin and Show It to Me . The creativity overwhelms. Then again, the phrase isn t exactly bursting with life, .
T.I. vs.
T.I.P.
s final tracklist (and therefore, guest list), however, is not yet finalized.
Just what we love: a whole mess of foreign names! Well okay, maybe Peter and John are as bland and Biblical as it gets.
But still: Fujiya, Miyagi, Bjorn, Simone-- four weird names! That s almost enough to spin into some kind of clever introductory paragraph. Almost.
Anyhow, -- heard of them? ? ?
Either way, get happy, because the Swedish trio have invited UK troika to open all of their U.S. headlining dates (i.
e. everything but Coachella). Perhaps you caught both of these rising stars at the recent , and totally saw this coming.
But you probably didn t see this: To triple your trio pleasure, PB J have also tapped Brooklyn threesome to open a hearty stretch of Peter/Fujiya dates, thus making the tour a truly international affair and a bona fide m e nage- -whatever the French word for nine is. Kinky! Two must be the magic number when it comes to pumping out roof-raising house anthems in Europe.
Recent phenoms Justice, the Presets, and Simian Mobile Disco? All pairs. Standard- bearers Daft Punk, of course?
Doubles or nothing. Germany s ? Here s a hint: more than one and less than three.
Like their peers, Digitalism-- a twosome comprised of Jens Moelle and Ismail Tuefekci-- rose to prominence in the mid-twenty-first century on the strength of some high profile remixes and a few key compilation tracks and singles of their own. And like those folks, Digitalism will soon give the world a proper document of their talents, in the form of debut full-length Idealism.
The 15-track album arrives June 5 via Astralwerks in the U.
S., and May 21 elsewhere, courtesy of the illustrious imprint, Labels, or Virgin, depending on where you shop for records. It will be proceeded by bouncy first single Pogo on May 7.
Like any good electronic duo, Digitalism are touring the world for the next 34 months-- including a handful of U.S. dates this week-- and playing a bunch of high-profile summer festivals, such as Coachella, Oxegen, and T in the Park.
Basking in the glory of s classic in its entirety will no longer cost Americans an arm and a leg (or at least an overseas plane ticket). Thanks to the great folks at , Brian McMahan, Britt Walford, and David Pajo will bring their masterpiece to New York City for two shows this July. It s part of ATP s excellent series, which will host Spiderland at several May performances in Europe, including one at the in Barcelona, and then .
Slint will also perform at ATP s festival in May, although they won t be performing Spiderland. Of course, ATP and Don t Look Back have partnered with the to bring s Daydream Nation to Chicago on July 13, . As for new Slint material, well, recently posted on their website: People are starting to ask us about a new album from Slint.
Here s the deal. Slint has been preparing for shows this summer. They want to play music together and have decided to work on new material.
Once they find a rehearsal space (in Louisville, KY), they can begin this process. Please do not start rumors about an impending Slint recording. Anything new will take a while.
With a little luck, Touch and Go will have something to release in the next few years. Woo!
The dangerous ladies of Japan s -- led by Boredoms Yoshimi-- cruised through Chicago s last night in support of their recent LP and .
If the album comes across a little unfocused, this gig was nothing of the sort, with OOIOO cutting out the wankery and keeping things crisp, hypnotic, and engaging. It helped that the quartet was bolstered by an additional drummer-- which still only made for half as many drummers as Boredoms presently use.
Chicago scene icon Rob Lowe opened under his guise, his all-too-brief set consisting of just two pieces.
The first-- a calming psych guitar meditation-- set the spiritual tone for the second, which Lowe constructed entirely from loop pedals and his own ventriloquist-worthy voice. That voice built gradually from gutteral Ommm s to the sort of nasal yelps Lowe occasionally busts out on 90 Day Men s material. He closed the short set in memorable fashion, wandering through the crowd while chanting, his multi-tracked vocals coming at us from all directions.
Eerie.
OOIOO have a few more U.S.
gigs lined up before they return to the East.
Decemberists, Thermals, Daniel Cover Classics on Comp
Plus: Christopher Walla, the Joggers, the Minus 5, the Dandy Warhols, Viva Voce, Talkdemonic If you love covers, irony, and good causes, boy does have a hat trick for you! The Portland-based label with the ironic name serves up on April 17.
The title don t lie: this 19-track monster collects 19 Portland-associated artists bridging the distance between the past and present with eyebrow-raising covers, all to benefit , which helps homeless and transitional youths bridge financial and class distances through its mentorship programs. Also, Portland has a lot of bridges! We re talking layers upon layers of profound meaning here, people!
Plenty of your Rose City favorites have signed on for this one, including the Decemberists, who take on Fleetwood Mac s Think About Me , the Thermals, who do Led Zeppelin s Tangerine , and Britt Daniel, who closes out the comp with a rendition of Sam Cooke s Bring It on Home to Me .
Other highlights include the Joggers committing their live-favorite Yes cover to tape, Death Cab for Cutie s Christopher Walla giving us nothing but Johnny Hates Jazz s Shattered Dreams , and the Dandy Warhols re-investigating the Cult. Toss in even more covers by Talkdemonic, Viva Voce, the Minus 5, and the Minders, and you ve got one hell of a blue light special.
Basically, Bridging the Distance should appease id, ego, and superego alike. Click more for the complete tracklist, with original artists in brackets. Do you have a news tip for us?
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