Things are finally looking up for psych rock icon and 13th Floor Elevators operator . Having re-entered the public sphere just a short while back, Roky s survived drug abuse and asylums to bring his still-strong rock n roll stylings to a venue or festival near you once again in 2007.
Erickson has eight dates lined up in the coming months, including his very first New York City live appearances ever, and stops at Coachella, Roskilde, and Bumbershoot, among other happenin happenings.
Whether you re new to Roky s world, or he s always been there before for you, take in the man s heartbreaking story on the big screen. Beginning June 8, the Roky doc hits theaters in NYC; it was directed by Keven McAlester, who s fortunate enough to share a name (phonetically, at least) with the main character in Home Alone. Look for the DVD to follow July 10 via .
Indies Launching Compilation Attack on Mainstream? What was your introduction to indie rock? Think back.
Was it seeing the Replacements on Saturday Night Live ? An R.E.
M. video? A band t-shirt Kurt Cobain wore?
Garden State? Hearing Float On on the radio? We ve all had those turning points in our lives (you probably wouldn t be reading Pitchfork right now if you hadn t!
), but what about the next generation? What about those kids out there right now who don t know who Sonic Youth are (gasp!) or don t care about the Arcade Fire (shock!
)? Who or what is going to be the gatekeeper for them? EW.
com says that the comps will feature the likes of Bloc Party, the Shins, Bright Eyes, Air, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, M. Ward, Ted Leo, Cat Power, Silversun Pickups, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Sonic Youth, and that labels such as , , and will take turns putting out each volume. However, both Matador and Sub Pop would not confirm their involvement in the series.
Vice s label manager Adam Shore was quoted in Entertainment Weekly s article, but told Pitchfork that those comments went out prematurely and all the information in there is not 100% confirmed. Said information included Shore saying, We re partnering with MTV2, and the focus is going to be Wal-Marts, big box stores, red states, and TV advertising-- to really go beyond..
. We don t really expect indie rock stores to support this record. It s for the casual fan.
MTV acknowledged that they have discussed the possibility of becoming involved in the series, but that nothing had been confirmed yet. Billboard.com reports that the entire project is being spearheaded by the (or ADA, if you re cool), the Warner Music Group-owned company that distributes Vice, Sub Pop, Matador, and countless others.
ADA had not responded to questions at the time of this story s publication. So. Are these compilations actually coming out?
Probably. Will they be on Vice, Matador, and Sub Pop? Maybe.
Will MTV be involved? Not so sure. But the most uncertain thing of all?
Whether anybody will actually buy the things. Believe it or not, the men of aren t always mucking about in masks or drumming and strumming their way to catharsis. Sometimes they are serious, quite serious, and that is the case with today s bit of Animal Collective news.
Simply put, Brian Geologist Weitz of Animal Collective has a grandfather who is suffering from the late stages of disease. The central nervous disorder, believed to afflict over one million people in the U.S.
alone, results from a lack of dopamine in nerve cells and often leaves the afflicted unable to go about day-to-day activity.
Wrote Geologist in a personal message relayed via his publicist, my grandfather..
.has been in the hospital hanging on for 2 months now. He had emergency surgery for something unrelated to the Parkinson s, however because of it, he has not been able to fully wake up or recover.
To help the cause of his grandfather and all those with Parkinson s, Weitz has decided to join his mother on s 2007 Walk for Parkinson s in Philadelphia. Geologist and Mom will tread ten miles to raise funds for Parkinson s research, but they need your help! to Weitz s fundraising efforts via his .
Act soon, however, as the walking shoes hit the pavement April 21.
Animal Collective s paws, meanwhile, hit the tour trail with Sir Richard Bishop this May.
We gave away so much, and people never recognize the good things.
They always try to bring the bad things up. As our own Tom Breihan put it in his review of s second and most recent album, , There s wisdom in his ignorance and ignorance in his wisdom. That is, even though the Atlanta MC rehashes the same old drug talk and motivational speak in his lyrics and in interviews, he does it with a charisma that makes possible the occasional revelation.
When I talked to Young Jeezy and the other two members of his crew-- Blood Raw and Slick Pulla-- about their new mixtape, , they were unsurprisingly repetitive and promotional. Nonetheless, there were moments of comedy and poignancy as we talked about Cold Summer (which comes out May 22 via and their own ), their communities, the slang that permeates their lyrics, and the street team comprised entirely of white girls to promote the single .
Pitchfork: How is the going?
Blood Raw: Aw, man, it s beautiful. It s real good exposure. It s real good politicking going on, and we re getting a lot of love from the fans.
Pitchfork: When you say politicking, are you guys making connections backstage? Are you working on collaborations, like with Lil Wayne and Rich Boy?
BR: Well, we re also doing promo, as far as USDA.
We re going to the radio stations, doing some marketing by passing out t-shirts, CDs, after-parties, and different things like that.
Pitchfork: There is an obvious pun going on with the name USDA. Why specifically did you choose that acronym?
BR: It s really just a coincidence. When we came up with United Streets and D-Boys of America, we just spun it up to USDA. That s the acronym for that.
That represents our movement. It s really not trying to make a spin-off.
Pitchfork: It s really just a coincidence that it also stands for the United States Department of Agriculture?
There wasn t a little bit of name recognition going on there?
BR: No, no, not at all. It s just a coincidence.
It just so happens that those letters stand for that. Lily Allen, Kanye, Dilla Help Common Find Forever Chicago s dapper hip-hop smiley-guy returns to the fore July 10 with the release of his latest LP, Finding Forever (Geffen), according to Billboard.com.
As the man whose mother named him Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. told the industry website today, I want to leave a mark on this earth..
.making music and saying what I have to say in my music is one of the ways I will exist forever.
To achieve his Achillean aims, Common has enlisted the talents of top-tier folk like Second City paisano Kanye West, revered late producer J Dilla, and clothes-shunning crooner D Angelo, as well as a Nina Simone sample, and, yes, Lily Allen.
Allen turns up on a tune called Driving Me Wild , which features the lyric Driving herself crazy like the astronaut lady/ Love is not a mystery, it s everything. Um, no comment.
Black Eyed Pea will.
i.am and Kanye/John Legend buddy Devo Springsteen take turns in the production chair as well.
Undaunted by , Canada s spirited rockers are primed to return to the U.
S. later this month, supporting maple leaf icons on a bunch of East Coast engagements. For a surefire cure for a tragic state of hipness, try the Cons 2005 LP Tournament of Hearts on .
At present the troupe s wrapping up a string of up yonder with Ladyhawk. descended upon New York this weekend for his first U.S.
shows in support of , Wolf s third LP and a recent Pitchfork selection (out May 1 Stateside via /Universal). According to Pitchfork photographer Kathryn Yu, the kids at went crazy for Magic s title track and delighted at Wolf tossing quotes from SexyBack into Bluebells . Dude also covered Kelly Marie s disco hit Feels Like I m in Love while awash in strobe lights.
Nice.
Apparently things didn t go quite so well at the following night s gig at Don Hill s, however. According to a reader, Wolf s drummer more or less passed out during a performance of Lycanthropy s Bloodbeat , prompting the vocalist/multi-instrumentalist to toss a cymbal stand at the guy, slap him around a bit, and fire his ass before returning front and center to continue the show.
Best stay awake if you plan on catching Wolf s in Europe!
Armani XXXchange remixing Thom Yorke, Bjork, working with the Kills, Kid Sister is pretty confusing. It s the name adopted by MC Naeem Juwan, but it s also the collective name for Juwan and the trio of DJs and producers who surround him.
Increasingly, those three have been striking out on their own. Alex Epton (aka ), Chris Devlin (aka Chris Rockswell), and have a slew of projects in the works, starting with FABRICLIVE.33, their entry in the mix series.
It will be released on April 16 in the UK and April 24 in the U.S.
Chris Devlin spoke to Pitchfork recently about the mix as well as the other projects he and the other members of the Baltimore crew have brewing this year.
Right now, their biggest priority is recording the follow-up to last year s .
Devlin was less forthcoming about specific details of the album, however, saying its release date is really anytime between now and some time from now. Nonetheless, after their performances at and , as well as a Devlin and Darko DJ tour, they plan to hit the studio pretty hard and get the record finished.
In the meantime, Devlin will release his first collaborative 12 EP with Baltimore producer via Flaming Hots Records, and Armani XXXchange has fielded quite a few requests for production and remix work, which he does through his own Royal Castle Productions. The only XXXchange remix Devlin mentioned was of Thom Yorke s The Eraser , but Alex s lists his recent production work for Kid Sister, Amanda Blank, and the soundtrack to the EA Sports game Skate. XXXchange also has collaborations and remixes with the Kills, Yo Majesty, and.
.. Bj o rk (!
) in the pipeline. Next up: Armani XXXchange Presents Shoxxx Value.
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