Stream: David Banner: "Saints Row"

Stream: David Banner: Saints Row

Thurston Moore Helps Resurrect Peter Walker
Jack Rose, Greg Davis, more show support

Renowned guitarist Peter Walker (note: not this Peter Walker) will, on November 7, release his first new recordings in 37 years. Yeah, take that, Mission of Burma.

This man recorded for Vanguard Records in the Sixties. He studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, worked with jazz flutist Jeremy Steig and guitarist Bruce Langhorne, and excels at both Indian instrumentation and flamenco guitar. Heck, he had what qualifies as the coolest job to ever exist (other than the salaried masterminds behind the iTunes visualization feature), creating music specifically for Dr. Timothy Leary's LSD experiments.

Now, Walker has recorded four new tracks, set for release on A Raga for Peter Walker, a semi-tribute album due via Tompkins Square on November 7.

In addition to Walker's contributions, the disc features previously unreleased compositions by Thurston Moore, Steffen Basho-Junghans, James Blackshaw, Greg Davis, Shawn David McMillen, and Jack Rose-- all artists who were influenced by Walker and wanted to show their appreciation. [MORE...]

Kevin Shields Teams With Patti Smith

Super auteur Kevin Shields will appear live with Patti Smith during two shows at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on September 11 and 12. The performances are billed as "The Coral Sea Sessions" because they take their inspiration from The Coral Sea, Smith's 1996 book tribute to artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

This isn't the first time the pair have teamed up. At last year's Smith-curated Meltdown Festival, Smith and Shields, along with Cat Power, performed as the Coral Sea, also at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

According to NME.com, the shows "will be divided up into two parts. The first half will be a combination of new songs, spoken word pieces and overdubs from Smith plus other musicians. She will preview songs from her forthcoming album of covers, plus a new political piece dedicated to the children of Lebanon. Shields will act as musical director in the second half."

Ooh, spoken word! Maybe that's the direction for the follow-up to Loveless.

The mention of a "political piece" seems to be a reference to "Qana", the song Patti Smith has posted to her website (along with lyrics) for download, which, of course, we have been kind enough to link to below.

Smith will also appear on September 8 at the Tate Modern Gallery in London in "a unique evening of poetry and song" also dedicated to Mapplethorpe.

As previously reported, new music from Shields will appear on the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's forthcoming film Marie Antoinette.

MP3: Patti Smith: Qana

Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne Duet at NYC Benefit

Between short performances by Stevens and Byrne, host John Hodgman (an editor for the New York Times Magazine, and, more famously, the PC guy from the Apple Commercials) promised the Beacon Theatre audience of 3,500 that the two would close out the show with a duet if an additional $5,000 dollars in donations could be raised during the event. People dug deep, and after Byrne finished his set, it was announced that they had actually raised just under $15,000.

Byrne performed country versions of his own solo and Talking Heads songs, then invited Sufjan back to the stage, introducing the following song as being "about Michigan, but not written by Sufjan Stevens." Stevens shyly returned with a lyrics sheet and banjo, and together the duo sang a cover of Lefty Frizzell's "Saginaw, Michigan", Stevens fumbling a couple words of the verse while he and Byrne shared the chorus (and a couple hundred people took out the cameras they had snuck in). Instant karma! Except, now that I think about it, for $15k, Byrne and Stevens really owed us three songs. I'm waiting!

Sufjan Stevens & David Byrne: "Saginaw, Michigan"
[Lefty Frizzell cover; live at Beacon Theatre, NYC] | [Video via Stereogum]

Oxford Collapse Remember the Night Parties
Too soused to remember the day ones

Kanine Records graduates Oxford Collapse have scheduled an October 10 release date for their Sub Pop debut and third full-length overall, Remember the Night Parties. The OC only have one scheduled show at the moment, at NYC's Cake Shop on September 9, but they promise a full tour in the fall. [MORE...]

MP3: Oxford Collapse: The Boys Go Home
MP3: Oxford Collapse: Last American Virgin

Brian Wilson, Tom Waits Judge Your Music
So do Robert Smith, Frank Black, Isaac Brock, Sean Paul

If ambushing your favorite bands with UPS'd cassettes and CD-Rs tossed on stage hasn't gotten your band noticed yet, the 2006 International Songwriting Competition should be right up your alley. Brian Wilson, Tom Waits, Robert Smith, Isaac Brock, and more are all judging the contest. Hell, the ISC is parked in your alley giving away free ice cream.

The competition welcomes original songs from musicians (amateur through professional) everywhere, judging them in one of 18 categories: Rock, Pop/Top 40, AAA (Adult Album Alternative), Americana, Jazz, Folk/Singer-Songwriter, Latin, R&B/Hip-Hop, Country, World Music, Gospel/Christian, Instrumental, Dance/Electronica, Blues, Children's Music, Lyrics Only, Teen, and Performance. Entrants can submit as many tracks as they care to in one or more genres. We'd like to submit a Go! Team track to every category and see what they do with it.

The best part, of course, is the prizes. ISC will give away over $150,000 in cash and prizes, including a grand prize package of $25,000 cash and over $20,000 in merch. Plus, you know, free press, publicity, and exposure.

Not to mention that the legendary artists listed above, plus Frank Black, Sean Paul, New Order's Peter Hook, Run DMC's Darryl McDaniels, Jerry Lee frickin' Lewis, and a slew of others (full list after the jump), including an avalanche of music industry execs, will listen to your work. Sheesh, talk about the chance of a lifetime.

The contest is accepting submissions right now. Make us proud, little musicians!

[MORE...]

Devendra, Boris, Furnaces Head Arthur Nights
Be Your Own Pet, Charalambides, Wooden Wand also on the bill

Last year's Arthur Fest was pretty sweet, but everybody, including the folks over at Arthur Magazine, knows that night time is the right time for hipsters to come out of hiding. So, this year, Arthur, in conjunction with the Echo Presents and Spaceland Productions, will put on Arthur Nights, a four-evening music extravaganza running October 19-22 at the Echo, Ex_Plx, and Jensen's Rec Center in Los Angeles.

Lineup highlights include Devendra Banhart, Boris, Fiery Furnaces, Six Organs of Admittance, Be Your Own Pet, Wooden Wand, Charalambides, Tall Firs, OM, Josephine Foster, Mia Doi Todd, and Bert Jansch in his first and only scheduled U.S. performance of the year. The full schedule is still in the works, however, and a slew of artists including a major headliner for Day Three remain unannounced at this point in time. [MORE...]

Video: Scissor Sisters: "I Don't Feel Like Dancing"
Trafalgar Square show added to tour

Scissor Sisters have discovered the magic of the green screen, and they want everyone to know. The Sisters took their name to the next level and applied a cut-and-paste aesthetic to this video for the lead single from the upcoming Ta-Dah. Thus, the real stars of the video are the band's disembodied heads. But don't worry, there are also running dogs, amorphous screen saver-style visualizations, and Jake Shears in a tight blue pleather (or is it vinyl?) suit. It's a little hard to believe the lyrics to the song when he's clearly dancing, but maybe for Jake this is taking things down a notch.

As previously reported, Scissor Sisters are currently on tour with no sign of stopping until the end of October. They have, however, added a special date on September 16 in Trafalgar Square. UK residents can get tickets for the event-- which is a free show in support of (RED), Bono's AIDS awareness organization-- through a text draw detailed on the band's website.

Unreleased Cobain Interviews Become Movie
Ben Gibbard provides the soundtrack

We all know Kurt Cobain as Nirvana frontman, Courtney's love, and, more recently, an action figure from beyond the grave. According to journalist Michael Azerrad, however, Cobain was more accurately, "a person who a lot of people thought they understood but probably didn't," MTV.com reports.

Azerrad first met with Cobain in 1992 to interview him for Rolling Stone. "Courtney [Love] greeted me at the front door of their apartment, and we walked down this long hallway, with a bedroom down at the end," he told MTV. "And I was just dreading what I was going to find in that bedroom. But what I found was a man lying in bed, with his feet pointed towards the door. His feet were sticking out from underneath a blanket, and his toenails were painted red. He was extremely nice, told me to come in and sit down. And then he offered me some grapes."

Later that year, Azerrad laid the idea of a Nirvana book on Cobain, who approved. Following the proposal, Azerrad interviewed the frontman over a series of months.

"I'd fly out to Seattle from New York, and he'd call me and say, 'OK, great, come over at around midnight,'" he said. "So I would take a nap, and then I'd head over. And we'd start talking, and often keep talking until the sun came up. It was basically a man, in his kitchen, talking to someone he trusts in the wee hours of the morning. The TV was always on. He was a huge 'Speed Racer' fan. He loved Chim Chim the monkey. He'd be sitting in his kitchen wearing ripped jeans and a pajama top."

Close to 25 hours of interviews were recorded, the majority of which Azerrad used in his 1993 Nirvana book, Come as You Are. Just months after the work landed, however, Cobain committed suicide. Emotionally unable to go over the remaining interviews (or even to listen to Nirvana albums, for that matter), Azerrad shelved the leftover material, not touching it for nearly a decade.

Dun dun dun...UNTIL NOW. Or a few years back, anyway, when Azerrad was interviewed for the They Might Be Giants documentary, Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns), and got to know director AJ Schnack. The two bonded over their passion for Nirvana, so when Azerrad dropped the "I've got a truckload of unreleased Cobain interviews in my apartment" bomb, Schnack was like, "Say WHAT? Let's make a movie!" Or something along those lines.

"It won't fit into what anyone is expecting about a Kurt Cobain documentary, and it's not a traditional rock doc," Schnack explained to MTV. "There's no archival footage in the film, and Kurt only appears at the very end. Basically it's the chance to sit with his voice and listen to him tell his story."

The final product, titled Kurt Cobain: About a Son, was based on 90 minutes of conversation snagged from the tapes. It features music by some of Cobain's favorite bands, from his widely known-about loves the Melvins and David Bowie to lesser-realized favorites like Queen, R.E.M., and Cheap Trick. And get this: Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and legendary grunge producer Steve Fisk provide a "plaintive, ambient soundtrack," according to MTV. Grundie!

About a Son will debut on September 10 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Following its premiere, Schnack and Azerrad plan to take the film to theaters across the nation. But it's not easy viewin', folks.

"The movie is funny in a way and brutal in others," Schnack commented. "And listening to his voice, coupled with the visuals of the places he lived, it's both mesmerizing and haunting. You get the feeling that he was an ordinary guy-- with problems and issues-- who sort of became famous despite that. He was this really extraordinary ordinary man."

In related news, various news sources including MTV.com have reported that Courtney Love plans to release a 288-page memoir, Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love, come November. The book will include poetry, letters, childhood records, lyrics, fanzines, show fliers, never-before-seen photos, and journal entries on the topic of Cobain's death, the couple's last good night together, and more. A book tour will take place with the release of The Diaries, and is expected to hit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York.

Video: Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Video: Dirty on Purpose: "No Radio"

Video: Dirty on Purpose: No Radio

Golden Smog Announce Tweedyless Tour
Tweedy Cancels Annual Dental Checkup to Make Room for Added Wilco Dates

A supergroup can still be a supergroup even when Wilco isn't thrown into the mix, right? Admittedly, it will be a bit tougher for Golden Smog on their recently announced Another Fine Day (Lost Highway Records) tour, but, as Tim Gunn always says, they'll just have to make it work.

The Jeff Tweedy/Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum)/Jody Stephens (Big Star)/Gary Louris/Marc Perlman/Kraig Johnson (all Jayhawks) collective will launch a seven date trek sans Tweedy in mid-September with a stint at Seattle's Showbox Theater. Jayhawks drummer Tim O'Reagan will open all shows. [MORE...]

Stream: Golden Smog: Various Tracks

MP3: Asobi Seksu: "Strings (Glass Factory Remix)"
New American tour dates added

Glass Factory give "Strings" dancing legs on this pleasant enough Asobi Seksu remix, though things do get a little uncomfortable when they let Yuki's vocal lines play uninterrupted over a repetitive synth line that is clearly out of tune with her. It's a failed "Everything in Its Right Place" there for a minute, but the beat takes over again and steers the track back into the dark dance territory where it started.

If you're thinking you might want to actually dance to the sweet and tangy sounds of AS' Citrus live, you can see the band on their upcoming North American tour, to which they have recently added seven dates. [MORE...]

MP3: Asobi Seksu: Strings (Glass Factory remix)

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