Yo La Tengo Plan Election-Time Variety Show Tour

Chris Rediske & James Gregory report:
Ah, the political season... birds singing, candidates carping, and musicians setting off on tours in a vain attempt to affect the outcome of upcoming elections. You can't blame 'em for trying, right? The latest band to throw down their musical gauntlets in the political arena are those fair-haired lads (and laddess) of Hoboken, Yo La Tengo. The trio have just announced the aptly (but not succinctly) titled "Tour of Swing States to Try and Help John Kerry Get Elected" on their official website. And while they don't have the star-power of, say, The Bruce or Pearl Jam, we'd sure rather listen to them blather about why Bush is a bad president than fucking Keb' Mo'. Actually, we'd really rather they just record a new album, but you can't win them all.

While they're not really calling it a "variety show," per se, that appears to be the agenda. The band elucidated on their plans for the tour in a post on their site: "The format of the show is still being worked on, and may actually be worked on until the moment it starts. But our plan/hope is to have guest musicians, singer and comedians at all the shows. If all works out, then there will be no opening act, but just a single performance during which people will come and go from the stage, playing on each others' songs, etc. In this relatively informal setting, we will offer our thoughts on the election (and trust our comedian friends to do so as well, only more entertainingly)." Prepare to get swung:

09-21 Philadelphia, PA - 1st Unitarian Church
09-22 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre
09-23 State College, PA - Dark Horse Tavern
09-24 Newport, KY - Southgate House
09-25 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
09-27 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
09-28 Grand Rapids, MI - The Intersection...
09-29 Madison, WI - University of Wisconsin Terrace
09-30 Iowa City, IA - University of Iowa (Wheel Room)
10-01 Ames, IA - Maintenance Shop
10-02 Kansas City, MO - Grand Emporium
10-04 St Louis, MO - Washington University/Gargoyle Club
10-05 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
10-07 Knoxville, TN - Blue Cat's
10-08 Charlotte, NC - Visulite Theatre
10-09 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
10-10 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle

Low Get Their First Tribute Album

Since Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk started recording as Low back in 1994, the band has achieved pseudo-legendary status in the sprawling, delicate subclass of melodic pop eventually and regrettably dubbed "slowcore." Low's 10th anniversary was marked earlier this year with the release of a career-spanning box set-- so the tribute album was obviously close behind. A handful of peers will honor the Duluth, Minnesota ensemble later this month with just such an album, scheduled for release on September 2nd via Fractured Discs.

Entitled We Could Live in Hope, the set includes contributions from friends and followers alike, including such high-profile acts as Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek, His Name Is Alive, Pale Horse and Rider, Migala, and Idaho. It's good to have friends:

01 Daniel G. Harmann: "Words"
02 Pale Horse and Rider: "Fear"
03 The Strugglers: "Cut"
04 A Northern Chorus: "Slide"
05 Mark Kozelek: "Lazy"
06 Kid Dakota: "Lullaby"
07 Misc / ill lit: "Sea"
08 Jessica Bailiff: "Down"
09 The Winter Blanket: "Drag"
10 Idaho: "Rope"
11 Migala: "Words"
12 His Name is Alive (featuring Nanang Tatang): "Sunshine (Super Low remix)"

Apples in Stereo Frontman's New Band Readies Debut

Following a two-year silence, Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider is planning a grand re-entrance for October 26th, with a brand new full-length from his new project, Ulysses. Titled 010, the record is being brought into the world by Los Angeles' Eenie Meenie label. The Lexington, KY-based group also includes John Ferguson (drums) and Ben Fulton (bass, synthesizers) of local live favorites Big Fresh, and Hair Police's Robert Beatty, who we're told will be creating random musical mayhem, as is his wont.

As reported previously in Pitchfork, The Apples in Stereo have been on hiatus as of late, with drummer Hilarie Sidney starting her own side project under the moniker the High Water Marks. During this downtime, in addition to co-founding a new Optical Records imprint and recording the better part of a new Marbles album (Schneider's solo side-project), Schneider developed Ulysses to explore some of the non-bubblegum realms of his musical brain. Eenie Meenie pegs the Ulysses sound as bleaker and more complex than the Apples. Regarding the band, Schneider has cited such un-Beach Boys influences as My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, and The Velvet Underground. Tracklist:

01 Push You Away
02 Television
03 Glacier
04 The Falcon
05 Change
06 Burning You
07 Frustrated
08 Castles in Spain
09 Evening Star
10 Her Silver Veil

---

Do Make Say Think Tour North America

With various shows scheduled on both coasts, and a number of places in between, Toronto's Do Make Say Think will take their arbitrary verbiage across North America this fall. Having spent the past few years as the popular guy's best friend in a movement dominated by their Constellation Records labelmates Godspeed You! Black Emperor, perhaps they're ready to break free of their post-rock shackles? Um, probably not. However, they do make some fine music, with their 2003 release Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn ending up on many a 2003 top ten list. And if we had to guess, they'll be playing some of those very songs on this here tour. Summer dates October dates Sleepy dates:

09-11 Guelph, Ontario - Guelph Jazz Festival
09-12 Waterloo, Ontario - Starlight Lounge
09-23 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
09-24 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
09-25 Cambridge, MA - T.T. The Bear's
10-02 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-03 Arlington, VA - Iota
10-04 Carrboro, NC - Local 506
10-05 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10-06 New Orleans, LA - Mermaid Lounge
10-07 Houston, TX - Mary Jane's Fat Cat
10-08 Austin, TX - The Parish
10-09 Denton, TX - Hailey's
10-12 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
10-13 San Francisco, CA - Cafe du Nord
10-14 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
10-15 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
10-16 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
10-19 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
10-20 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10-21 Bloomington, IN - Second Story
10-22 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
10-23 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick

The Wrens Expand Tour, Charles Plans Solo Dates
The Women's Royal Naval Service never looked this foxy

Erase Errata Lose Guitarist, Hire New Male Vocalist
Banned from Le Tigre's house!

After a turbulent 12 months of being derogatorily namechecked by the Pitchfork staff for their freeze-dried Gang of Four rips, matching outfits, and style-over-substance 2003 full-length At Crystal Palace, San Francisco spaz-funk freaks Erase Errata have gone and lost their guitarist. Known for her blatantly Andy Gill-copped distorto-stabs and tuneless shred-bombing, Sara Jaffe apparently has officially left the band, leaving their signature sound hanging in the balance.

There's no sign of any turbulent inter-personal fallout, though: According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, Jaffe simply left the group to pursue music of her own, and to focus on her self-depricatingly-named record label and publishing company, Inconvenient Press & Recordings, which to date has issued material by political punk girls The Quails and an Erase Errata seven-inch.

In the wake of this mild shockeroo, the Erase Errata lineup has done some serious shifting around. Vocalist/trumpeter Jenny Hoyston has resigned as lead vocalist to take the reins for Jaffe, now positioning herself as guitarist and backup vocalist. Which leaves who to sing, exactly? Interestingly, the formerly all-female foursome have recruited a dude: Archie McKay formerly vocalized for fellow Bay Area noisemakers Revenge SF (a little-known Narnack Records project whose lineup also included John Dwyer of Coachwhips and Pink & Brown, and Eric Landmark of Numbers), and, according to the Narnack website, he "sings like a champ." Of course, now that Erase Errata have boy cooties, we get the sneaking suspicion that all those press comparisons to Sleater-Kinney (which never made much sense-- S-K are waaaay hotter!) will just kinda stop.

Incredibly, this newly regrouped Erase Errata already have a full concert's worth of new material written, to be played at several California dates in the next few months, and may be entering a studio to commit to tape in the coming months. Check the new lineup at the following dates, more than half of which will be played alongside D.C. post-punk sensations Q & Not U:

08-24 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
08-31 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
10-30 San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill *
10-31 Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction *
11-01 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *

* with Q And Not U

Dios Forced to Change Bandname by Dio!
20 years later, "Holy Diver" still epitomizes everything we love about really unconvincing metal singers

In what's become one of the weirdest and most trivial name-changing fiascoes since Oingo Boingo became simply "Boingo", Californian psych-pop folkies Dios have been made to alter their bandname, in cooperation with a cease-and-desist order from Ronnie James Dio, who, since 1983, has fronted the hilarious cheese-metal band Dio.

The 62 year-old Dio-- who has also fronted Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath (post-Ozzy years) at various points throughout his career-- contended that the two band names sounded too much alike, and added support to the claim that heavy metal fans can get befuddled over one letter of the alphabet. "It seems confusing to the public to have a band called Dio and a band called Dios," Dio's manager and wife Wendy told Rolling Stone recently.

The newly dubbed Dios Malos dropped their self-titled psychedelic beach-rock debut in May and have been touring in support of it since. As per the name change, the band had this to say on its website: "It doesn't mean what you think because it doesn't really mean anything. It's a shame we had to do it, but as J.P. said, 'We're up against rainbows and magic,' and when it comes to casting spells we're barely level 3 musicians with nothing but cheap magic missiles and plate mail armor to protect us from the wrath of eight-headed hydra law firms with unlimited mana and 100-sided dice."

And in case you're beginning to think this all sounds pretty retarded... well, you're not alone: "It's pretty retarded," bassist J.P. Cabellaro told Rolling Stone. "It didn't really seem like there was going to be any point of confusion... It's the same as it was before, except for now we're going to be Dios Malos." They're pretty locked into that URL, though, huh.

Now It's Overhead Tour, Cover Magnetic Fields
Magnetic Fields covering themselves just fine, really

Some people pin it on Radiohead. Maybe you could drag Neutral Milk Hotel or Godspeed You Black Emperor into it, too. We don't know. But somewhere in the past few years, someone made music safe for yearning. It may seem strange to think about now, but in 1998, you didn't hear a lot of straining toward the ineffable on college radio, unless a Celine Dion record got played in all its glorious, awesome irony.

This is all very good news for Athens pop band Now It's Overhead, who might otherwise have been lost to the dark, pining netherworld. Instead, the murky, multi-faceted 80s revivalists are touring-- for the second time-- in support of their second album, Fall Back Open (out last March), and boldly covering one of the Magnetic Fields' most deceptively simple songs while they're at it. The first single from Fall Back Open, "Wait in a Line", was released late July, and contains a cover of "Book of Love", from the Fields' 69 Love Songs, as well as a Faint remix of the title track.

What with that remix by The Faint and half of Now It's Overhead being Azure Ray, you can see that their lack of Omaha roots hasn't stopped Now It's Overhead from engaging in some standard-issue Saddle Creek cross-pollination. We remain impressed, however, at just how many Saddle Creek-affiliated bands they'll be playing with on this tour: five! Six, if Rjd2 suddenly defects from Def Jux. Check it out:

08-10 London, UK - Underworld (w/The Good Life, Beep Beep, Broken Spindles)
08-11 Oxford, UK - Wheatsheaf
08-12 Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms (w/Beep Beep, Broken Spindles)
08-13 Rennes, France - La Route Du Rock Festival (w/Beta Band, LCD Soundsystem, Rjd2)
08-15 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
08-16 Cork, Ireland - An Cruisin Lan
09-23 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 265 Club *
09-24 Portland, OR - Nocturnal *
09-25 Seattle, WA - Neumo's *
09-28 Minneapolis, MN - Ascot Room *
09-29 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground *
09-30 Chicago, IL - Abbey *
10-01 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop *
10-02 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig *
10-03 Toronto, Canada - TBA *
10-04 Montreal, Canada - TBA *
10-05 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs *
10-07 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
10-08 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
10-09 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom *
10-10 Washington, DC - The Black Cat *
10-11 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle (w/The Good Life, Neva Dinova) *
10-12 Atlanta, GA - The Earl (2 shows) *
10-13 Athens, GA - TBA *
10-15 TBA *
10-16 Orlando, FL - The Social *
10-17 Miami, FL - TBA *
10-18 Tallahassee, FL - Florida State University *
10-20 New Orleans, LA - Howlin Wolf *
10-21 Houston, TX - Mary Jane's *
10-22 Austin, TX - Emo's (w/Fiery Furnaces) *
10-23 Denton, TX - Hailey's *
10-26 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture *
10-27 Phoenix, AZ - TBA *
10-29 San Diego, CA - Epi Center *
10-30 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
10-31 Los Angeles, CA - TBA *

* with Rilo Kiley, Tilly & The Wall

What Is Known of the New Boredoms Album??????
We enlisted the aid of Geraldo Rivera to help unlock the ancient mysteries

Dominique Leone & Chris Rediske report:
Yes! It appears that, after an extended five-year hiatus, Japanese mega power maxi super-rock mayhem pioneers Boredoms will return this fall with their first album since 1999's glorious psychedelic excursion Vision Creation Newsun. Titled Seadrum/House of Sun, the record is presently slated for a September 23rd release via Warner Music Japan! Unfortunately, this is all that is known! Fortunately, the speculative details are legion! And we can now offer to you the fruits of our hours upon hours research! Let's go!

In recent years, the elusive Boredoms had been thought to have disbanded, leaving frontman Yamatsuka Eye to record under the name Vooredoms, with the assistance of three drummers. However, no proper Vooredoms LP has ever materialized, despite the band's countless live performances over the past couple of years. Now something real weird has happened: A new disc, Seadrum/House of Sun, has been popping up on the websites of Japaese online CD vendors, credited not to Vooredoms, but indeed, to Boredoms, which suggests that it may, in fact, feature contributions from thought-to-be-departed guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto and bassist Hira.

Furthermore, the title of the album hints at something reported by a 2002 Wire article-- material laid to tape on a beach, with drums recorded underwater. A post on Yahoo!'s Boredoms group may shed more light on the subject, quoting Eye as saying that the band had recorded an album in 2001, but were having trouble getting Warner Japan to release it. Perhaps this is that record. Perhaps not.

One very curious detail about Seadrum/House of Sun is that the album bears the same catalog number as 2001's Rebore Vol. 3, raising doubts as to whether this is even a new Boredoms release at all. However, the Pitchfork interns* have been hard at work translating the Japanese text that accompanies the album at these CD vendors, and it definitely points toward a new studio Boredoms release. The translated text reads:

"Shaking! Amazement! A Thundering Blast of Fresh Air! Tears of Gratitude! Astounding! It's been a long time since their last release back in 1998, but a new work under the name Boredoms has been completed! The members have individually been playing in innumerable other bands over an incredible range, but finally the real thing starts! With the Boredoms' following of hardcore fans not only in Japan but overseas as well, what type of album is coming? This is an album to look out for!"

Seadrum/House of Sun's September 23rd release, unfortunately, does not extend to Europe or North America. As with all previous Boredoms records, it will be issued first in Japan only, meaning that, for the time being, fans will be made to pay outrageous import prices of around $35, including shipping.

Though the album title suggests the distinct possibility of a double album, every CD vendor listing the record at present shows only one disc, with only one track, of which the title is unknown (another parallel with the Rebore 1-3 discs). As every Vooredoms live show we've heard (ranging from 2002-2004) has featured one long, jammy track, ranging from just under 35 minutes to over an hour, that may indicate the direction of this new album-- or it may be a complete coincidence. In any case, we'll keep you up-to-date any new developments in the Boredoms' never-boring story, so stay tuned for more details.

* Ok, it was actually translated by a guy on the Boredoms list. Our Japanese intern is on vacation.

Exclusive!: David Lowery Reveals Details of Camper Van Beethoven's New "Sci-Fi Prog-Rock" Album
"Wacko-grape-koolaid-drinking-fascist-homophobe-Christian-right-winger-cretins" surely offended

Reunited indie rock pioneers Camper Van Beethoven have set October 12th as the street date for the Vanguard Records release of New Roman Times, their first album of all new material since 1989's Key Lime Pie. After reuniting as a touring entity back in 1999, the question of new material has been on the lips of many a CVB fan. In a lengthy email correspondence with frontman David Lowery, Pitchfork was able to get to the bottom of the band's decision to make a new album.

"We did a couple of reunion type gigs but vowed to not milk it unless we were gonna do a new record," Lowery explained. So after selling out three nights in a row at New York's Knitting Factory, the band decided it was time to get back to business. "Apparently, people still cared about us. We could still play the songs [and] we didn't feel stupid playing the songs we wrote 20 years ago. We just needed to try to write some new songs together."

Explaining the differences in the process this time around, Lowery stressed the importance of technology: "The biggest change is that we were able to collaborate a lot closer because each of us could just email ideas to each other. We then could work on them in our own time in our own way, at home, before we would have to all get together and rehearse to flesh out the songs."

However, despite recording the album digitally, technology's insurgent domination of the recording industry didn't keep the band from maintaining their feel-the-groove attitude. Lowery continued, "Almost all the recording was done with me, Greg, Jonathan, Victor, and Jimmy, all in the same room at the same time. The last five or six songs were done almost live. We all looked at [digital recording] as a way to get the results that we wanted in less time, so we could spend more time on the real creative aspects of being a musician."

New Roman Times is a concept album set in an alternate universe of sorts where the United States is divided into many different countries rather than states. The story unfolds through the eyes of a young soldier fighting for the Christian Republic of Texas as they invade the Republic of California. Nilla what?

"There is a strong storyline in the record," Lowery explained. "The idea of having a story was to have some self imposed boundaries to work within. But secondly to talk in an exaggerated manner about the current political climate. And by this I don't mean Bush. I mean the deep (and artificial?) division of our country into 'blue' and 'red', conservatives vs. liberals, secularists vs. fundamentalists, science vs. faith..." Or in other words: "Wacko-grape-koolaid-drinking-fascist-homophobe-Christian-right-winger-cretins vs. smart, tolerant and decent people." So we know which side he's on, then, right?

To create a background for the story, the band did a great deal of research covering such topics as alien mythology, Roman history, genetically modified crops, classic surfing beaches, Victorian England, Mexican drug trafficking groups, and cryptography. If all of this sounds a bit complicated for a Camper Van Beethoven album, allow Lowery to calm your fears: "This makes it sound heavier (and more coherent) than it really is. Remember it's CVB after all. It wouldn't be a record if some pot wasn't smoked."

If you were to chronicle the shift in sound from Camper Van Beethoven's debut, 1985's Telephone Free Landslide Victory through Key Lime Pie, you'd see a band that matured, yet continued to incorporate a bevy of influences in their melting-pot of indie folk rock. So how does the New Roman Times compare to the past? According to guitarist Greg Lisher, the album is most similar to 1986's self-titled LP, and although Lowery doesn't completely agree, he does see where Lisher is coming from. "It's as if this record is centered on that point in our career. Some Kaleidoscope or Fugs hillbilly stuff with social commentary; some deep English blues rock fading into prog rock riffs; a little eastern European ska; and some southwestern Fairport Convention.

"We didn't really care if the record 'fit' into the catalogue. We didn't want to set out and try to make a record that ignored the last 15 years of our musical careers and more importantly the last 15 years of music created by other bands... It was most important to us that the record be really good and be very Camper-esque. I can't define that, but a sci-fi prog rock concept record fits the bill." It seems apparent that, much like their other records, New Roman Times stands alone as its own sonic declaration, and that is precisely what makes it fit in. Finally, the tracklist:

01 Prelude
02 New Sons of the Golden West
03 51 7
04 White Fluffy Clouds
05 That Gum You Like is Back in Style
06 Might Makes Right
07 Militia Song
08 R and R Uzbekistan
09 Sons of the New Golden West Reprise
10 New Roman Times
11 The Poppies of Balmorhea
12 The Long Plastic Hallway
13 I am Talking to this Flower
14 Come Out
15 Los Tigres Traficantes
16 I Hate this Part of Texas
17 Hippy Chix
18 Civil Disobedience
19 Discotheque CVB
20 Hey Brother

Hayden Tours North America
Bar brawl with Tom Waits results in broken bones, hearts

Out to prove once again that no one can sing a sweeter song about being mauled by a grizzly bear or skating over frozen ponds in search of your dead wife, deadpan Canadian folkster Hayden Desser is packing up his brown sweater, green shoes and the Elk-Lake Serenaders and heading out on tour, according to Hardwood Records' official website. Hayden's latest excursion is a part of his Elk-Lake Serenade tour, titled after his dusky and introspective May release-- which was, in turn, named after an antique 1930's kickdrum.

Hayden's fourth studio full-length-- released in the U.S. via Badman in May, and in Canada by Hardwood Recordings-- has encountered considerable success north of the border this Summer, remaining on or around the top of the Canadian Campus/Community Radio Airplay charts, where it's been hangin' out with (and above!) heavyweights like Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys. It remains to been seen if the discriminating, Modest Mouse-loving ears of the U.S. will be as welcoming. All the same, Hayden and the Elk-Lake Serenaders will be playing a variety of dates around the country and in Canada next month, at a variety of clubs that look something like this:

09-07 Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall *
09-08 Buffalo, NY - Sphere *
09-09 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop *
09-10 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe *
09-12 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
09-13 New York, NY - The Knitting Factory *
09-14 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw *
09-16 Portland, ME - Big Easy *
09-17 Boston, MA - Paradise *
09-18 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber *
10-07 London, England - Bush Hall
10-08 Darvel, Scotland - Darvel Music Festival
10-12 Detroit, MI - Magic Bag *
10-13 Grand Rapids, MI - Division Ave. Arts
10-14 Chicago, IL - Schuba's *
10-18 Winnipeg, Manitoba - West End Cultural Centre *
10-20 Regina, Saskatchewan - The Exchange *
10-22 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall *
10-23 Edmonton, Alberta - Myer Horowitz Hall (U of A) *
10-26 Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theatre *
10-27 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey *
11-01 San Francisco, CA - Cafe du Nord

* with Elk-Lake Serenaders and Cuff the Duke

Stars of the Lid Side Project Due in October
Poor Texas is really getting the shit beat out of it these days

One half of sound-art combo Stars of the Lid, Adam Wiltzie's latest project, The Dead Texan, is an audio/visual collaboration with artist Christina Vantzos. The self-titled CD/DVD set is scheduled for an October 4th release on Chicago's Kranky label.

Vantznos is a filmmaker from Wiltzie's adoptive hometown of Brussells, and her work has recently been showcased at festivals in the U.S. and Europe. According to Kranky, Vantznos is also currently working on a documentary film on teenage life in Scotland.

Wiltzie's contributions to the project are reportedly nebulous would-be Lid tunes, worked over with strings, piano and a wash of SOTL guitar trademarks. The arrangements have been dubbed "mini symphonies" by their composer, with Kranky's online press drawing comparisons to the soundtrack work of George Delerue and Zbigniew Preisner. The chamber-style compositions range from wide-scoped and melodic to atmospheric vignettes, scored to compliment the seven accompanying video selections.

Kranky.net has released the following tracklist for the audio portion of the set:

01 The Six Million Dollar Sandwich
02 Glen's Goo
03 A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 1
04 A Chronicle of Early Failures - Part 2
05 Taco de Macque
06 Aegina Airlines
07 When I See Scissors I Can't Help But Think of You
08 Girth Rides a (Horse)
09 La Ballade d'Alain Georges
10 Beatrice Part 2
11 The Struggle

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.)