Interpol Sign to Capitol!

It's not official yet, but we have it on very good authority that Interpol have left Matador for the loving major label arms of Capitol Records.

Not so coincidentally, Interpol now also share a management company with Capitol labelmates Coldplay.

Man, between the Decemberists, Lily Allen, and Interpol, Capitol's really stepping up their indie game. Almost makes up for Morningwood. Almost.

Video: Interpol: C'mere

Mars Volta Attacked With Urine!
Retaliate with new 18-minute jam "Hexasymbiotic Extracellular Fluid Counteroffensive"

The MV were reportedly only 30 minutes into their set at Endfest-- a gig already hurtin' from a Modest Mouse cancellation and a Snow Patrol no-show (detained at the airport by the damn terrorists, they was)-- when a frustrated Omar Rodriguez-Lopez smashed his guitar into his amp and stormed offstage, prompting singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala to say thanks and farewell-- but not before offering money, merch, and friendship to anyone who brought him the "head" of the agitator! Rock'n'fucking roll, dudes!

Here's Bixler-Zavala's departing quote in full: "I will pay $100-1,000 to somebody to find the person that's throwing urine up here. I will give you free merchandise and a lifetime supply [of tickets] to a Mars Volta show. Find that person and kick his ass for me, bring me his head-- and we'll be friends!" As of press time, no heads had been delivered. [MORE...]

Gang Gang Dance Talk DVD, Gorillas

Gang Gang Dance aren't a band. They're a gang. "I just think that the term 'band' is very limiting," multi-instrumentalist Brian DeGraw says. "It suggests that you solely make music, play shows, and maybe make a video here and there. But I feel it should be different. I like the word 'band' in its non-musical definition...like a 'band' of outsiders. Something that refers more to the idea of a group of people rather than a group of musicians. And if said group of people happen to be passionate and creatively inclined, then I see no reason why they shouldn't be producing things outside of music. We're a gang more than a band...a very non-violent gang who are very interested in exploring all there is to explore artistically."

Thus, rather than release a new album to coincide with their European tour (which kicks off today in France), the band is putting out the DVD Retina Riddim via the Social Registry. It will be in stores in December, and available at the band's merch table in the meantime. [MORE...]

MP3: Gang Gang Dance: Nomad for Love (Cannibal)

New Primal Scream LP Gets U.S. Release
But the 2.3 stands, dammit

As previously reported, Primal Scream-- on their new album Riot City Blues-- chose to abandon the caustic, electro-fuzzy sound cultivated on 2000's XTRMNTR to pursue a Stones-ier, more rollicking, mandolin-plucking throwback program, à la 1994's Give Out But Don't Give Up. Bad move, some would say. Regardless, those genre-transgressing Scots have announced a release date of August 22 for the bonus-track-flossing North American version of Riot City Blues-- which debuted at #5 upon its June 5 release in the UK, where mandolins must be the pinnacle of hip. [MORE...]

Outback Steakhouse Hearts Of Montreal

Normally, when a reader writes in complaining about a commercial featuring music by one of their favorite bands, we don't bat an eyelash. At this point, who hasn't sold their soul to The Man?

But when reader Charles Kaericher wrote in to say that his wife heard an Outback Steakouse ad on the radio featuring Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)", "but instead of 'Let's pretend we don't exist / Let's pretend we're in Antartica', it was something like 'Let's pretend we're at Outback Steakhouse'!", we batted several eyelashes.

What kind of marketing company hears buoyant Elephant 6 indie pop and thinks "STEAKS!"?!

Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes confirmed that yes, it is indeed his song. "We were approached by Outback Steakhouse's ad agency asking about making their own cover version of 'Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)' for one of their commercials. We thought it would be totally amusing to hear their take on one of our songs as a jingle."

We agree: it is totally amusing. Now can somebody please find that jingle and send it to us so that we can share it with the world?

MP3: Of Montreal: Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)

Video: The Knife: "Marble House"

Damn, the Knife, why does everything associated with you have to be so creepy? In this unofficial video for the duo's "Marble House", there's a nice family of rodents going through their daily routine-- eating dinner, bathing, playing violin, riding a moped-- until Papa Rat (Mouse?) is lured from his family's hole in the wall out into the human house on the other side. He comes back and seems to be planning something, but the video ends before we can even tell if there is a plan (much less what it is) or if he was just taking a stroll. Either way, Papa, just know that your family loves you very much. Do you really want to risk that for whatever is tempting you on the other side of that wall?

Infinite Mixtape #31: Swan Lake: "All Fires"

So you thought the musical offspring of these three Canadian characters-- Destroyer's Dan Bejar, Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown's Spencer Krug, and Frog Eyes' Carey Mercer-- would be all bombast, impenetrable song titles, fantastical imagery, and self references galore... but no! Instead we get the quiet but incessant acoustic drift of the simply-named "All Fires", the first offering from Swan Lake's Jagjaguwar debut Beast Moans. Krug barely raises his voice to sing a cryptic, mournful tale, backed by strum, warm tremolo, and stately Casio, culminating in one of the year's best choruses: "All fires have to burn alive/ To live." Calling it a (ahem) slow-burner wouldn't be too far off the mark. If Pitchfork's infinite mixtape ever went finite one day, this could be the closer.

#0031 > Swan Lake: "All Fires"
[from Beast Moans; Jagjaguwar]
Info: [Swan Lake] | [MySpace] | [Jagjaguwar]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

// Previously on The Infinite Mixtape:
#0030: Killer Mike: "That's Life"
#0029: Ratatat: "Lex"
#0028: Sally Shapiro: "I'll Be By Your Side"
#0027: Junior Boys: "In the Morning"
#0026: Mew: "The Zookeeper's Boy"
#0025: Annuals: "Brother"
#0024: My Robot Friend: "One More Try (Vocals by Antony)"
#0023: Susanna & The Magical Orchestra: "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
#0022: Girl Talk: "Smash Your Head"
#0001 - #0021: 21 of 2006's Best Tracks

T.V. Eye: August 14-20, 2006

Pitchfork's T.V. Picks for This Week:

Monday, August 14:

NBC: "Light Night With Conan O'Brien": Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (rerun)
CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Gnarls Barkley

Tuesday, August 15:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Dirty Pretty Things
NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Pharrell (rerun)

Wednesday, August 16:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Obie Trice
CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Christina Aguilera

Thursday, August 17:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Fatboy Slim
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": The Duke Spirit
IFC: "The Henry Rollins Show": Rollins Band (rerun)

Friday, August 18:

NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": Belle & Sebastian (rerun)
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Feist

Video: Teddybears: "Film Spoof Medley"

Walkmen Talk Pussy Cats; Exclusive Stream

The Walkmen's idea to record a song-for-song recreation of Harry Nilsson's 1974 album Pussy Cats started out as a joke. That lighthearted vibe lasted throughout the recording process for "PUSSY CATS" Starring the Walkmen, due out October 24 on Record Collection.

"There was no real plan. It just sounded like a really fun idea," said Walkman Walt Martin. "We decided what we wanted is do it pretty fast so it would stay fun the whole time, and we got lucky somehow and were able to do it fast. It never got to where it was a real drag. It was fun the whole time, somehow."

That sense of playfulness is evident in the outcome, which can be sampled in the exclusive stream of "All My Life", available by clicking below. [MORE...]

Stream: The Walkmen: All My Life

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan Talks Ass-Beating
Also: New Tour Dates

Here at Pitchfork, we do our best to go for the hard-hitting scoops, the things the people really want to know. Like, what's up with the title of the new Yo La Tengo album, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, due out September 12 on Matador (September 4 in Europe)? The band has been reluctant to explain themselves...until now. Sort of.

"Well, I mean, the explanation is...it's really not dissimilar to a lot of things we've done over the years in terms of what we want to talk about and what we don't want to talk about...it's kind of like the name of the band," singer/guitarist Ira Kaplan told Pitchfork last week. "Obviously there's something that--you know, it didn't come to us in a dream, but where it came from is ultimately kind of irrelevant to us. It just kind of touched a nerve for everybody in the band and made us laugh."

"As a rule, we sort of let other people decide these things rather than do it for them, but there is a lot of ways to do that. Let's say, 'We're not beating anyone to death. Just a small ass beating.'"

Well, that's good to know, I guess. [MORE...]

MP3: Yo La Tengo: Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind
MP3: Yo La Tengo: Beanbag Chair

Video: S-K's Carrie Brownstein Interviews Hussein

As of Saturday, Sleater-Kinney is over, but Carrie Brownstein already has her next career lined up. Introducing herself as Cindy Overton in this YouTube clip from the mysterious "Boink!" cable access show (seriously, if you have any info on this, let us know), Brownstein begins her beat with a bang by interviewing former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the clip, Brownstein and Hussein (who may or may not be Fred Armisen with a fake beard) sit down at the latter's Manhattan studio to talk guitars, selling out, and the purity of those good old days when the dictator would give speeches to just 50 people and world domination was only a pipe dream. Hussein also explains, in his amiable British (who knew?) accent, his revolutionary weight-loss program. "It's called being a vegan," he says. You learn something new every day.

Cursive Schedule Fall Tour

Whew, art is hard. We haven't bothered to schedule our weekend plans yet (we're making that "call me" motion with our hands over here), but Cursive are booked straight through late November.

The Saddle Creek collective recently announced a mammoth stretch of shows in support of their upcoming record, Happy Hollow, slated for release August 22. The songs "Bad Sects" and the single "Dorothy at Forty" can be downloaded below, and the video for "Dorothy" can be seen here. [MORE...]

MP3: Cursive: Dorothy at Forty
MP3: Cursive: Bad Sects

Mountain Goats Announce Fall Tour
Also new video

Dig John Darnielle's hott emo haircut at the Pitchfork Music Festival? Now you can revel in its glory once again with the brand new video for "Woke Up New", from the Mountain Goats' forthcoming album, Get Lonely, due out August 22 (August 21 in the UK) on 4AD.

The clip was directed by Rian Johnson, the man behind the cult high school noir flick Brick, but there's no mystery to be solved here (unless you count "what the fuck is up with the toy zebra?").

The Mountain Goats will hit the road in September for a tour in support in the album; it will be preceded by a few in-store appearances on the West Coast. Watch as his bangs grow longer and longer with each show. [MORE...]

Video: The Mountain Goats: Woke Up New

Glenn Kotche, Nels Cline Talk Tour, Wilco

By now, one expects seasoned musicians like Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche to have it all mapped out. The dudes are winners, right? After all, Cline's discography stretches back to 1979 and drops some pretty heavy names along the decades, from Willie Nelson and Rickie Lee Jones to Thurston Moore and Mike Watt. Kotche has played with Maureen Tucker, Jim O'Rourke, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Bobby Conn, and his latest album, Mobile, released this year on Nonesuch, is a fascinating exploration of his rhythmic questions. Plus, both Cline and Kotche insist that they're in some band called Wilco.

But a little more than a month before their first solo/duo tour, sweetly dubbed Alone/Together, the guitarist and drummer aren't quite sure how they will be handling the six East Coast and Midwest dates. Cline will play a solo set, followed by Kotche. They will then pair as an improvisational duo. But it's so improvisational they're not sure what they'll be playing. [MORE...]

Stream: Glenn Kotche: Clapping Music Variations (clip)
MP3: Nels Cline: Angel of Death

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.)