Interpol To Record Soph-- Oh Wait, It's Just More Tour Dates
Studio-shy trenchcoat models go from new Joy Division to new Stone Roses in 26 dates flat

[Posted Tuesday, September 9th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Forgive me if this news update comes across as needlessly caustic, but this reporter is just about over Interpol's tour-our-successful-record-to-death career strategy and furthermore, the band's uniformly predictable live show. I know, it seems absurd to have such a Harvey Pekar-esque response to the customarily jubilant declaration of fresh tour dates-- I mean, everybody loves live music, and bands have to pay for their $2,630 Trussardi leather coats somehow (thanks, New York Times Magazine "Men of Fashion" special-- that preposterous black-and-white photograph of the band absconding from a troupe of hysterical schoolgirls really hit the spot).

Don't get me wrong-- I hold a great deal of respect for Interpol's work ethic, and if I were ranting in regards to any other band, it would be perfectly permissible to denounce my growing beef with the band as arrogant and unsubstantiated. Turn on the Bright Lights is still perched monarchically atop my favorite records of 2002, and no force of mortal descent has the power to dislodge the album from its rocky encampment. But this is a group who has not only been playing the same 11-14 songs on each date (catch them on a particularly generous night, and you might be treated to the archaic "Song Seven" or one of the fresh 'new' tracks they've been playing for ages), but has also just released The Black EP, a completely shameless rehash of more than half of their album material, with absolutely no new songs to smooth the collection out. Talk about monotony! A good-natured cover of "Transmission" would go a long way right about now.

What's that? There were supposed to be tour dates sprinkled somewhere amongst this foul pit of scorn and despair? Suit yourself, chuckles, but be warned-- the band has yet to reveal which of the "Obstacle" songs they'll be playing for an encore this time around. Some of these dates have been previously reported upon, but everything past October 1st is Fork-fresh and lemon-scented:

09-16 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda *
09-17 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus *
09-18 Detroit, MI - State Theatre *
09-19 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre *
09-20 San Bernardino, CA - KROQ Inland Invasion
09-23 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (w/ The Stills)
09-24 Salt Lake City, UT - DV8 (w/ The Stills)
09-26 Seattle, WA - Showbox Showroom #
09-27 Seattle, WA - Showbox Showroom #
09-28 Portland, OR - The Crystal Ballroom #
09-29 San Francisco, CA - The Warfield +
10-01 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium (w/ Enon, Ratatat)
10-02 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium +
10-03 San Diego, CA - Soma +
10-04 Las Vegas, NV - The Huntridge Theater +
10-06 Austin, TX - Stubb's $
10-07 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Ballroom $
10-09 Atlanta, GA - Coca Cola Roxy Theatre $
10-10 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone $
10-11 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Venu $
10-13 Raleigh, NC - Disco Rodeo $
10-14 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory $
10-15 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom $
10-16 Boston, MA - Avalon $
10-17 Boston, MA - Avalon $
10-18 Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club $

* with The Stills, The Broke Revue
# with The Stills, Ratatat
+ with The Warlocks, Ratatat
$ with Elefant, The Occasion

.: D'ya Think I'm Sexy?: http://www.interpolny.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=5477

Interpol: http://www.interpolny.com
Matador: http://www.matadorrecords.com

Cex Signs To Jade Tree, Release EP In November
George Michael asked to please cease and desist further requests; they're spoken for

[Posted Tuesday, September 9th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Eric Marth and Stephen Nelson report:
In perhaps the most bizarre pairing since white chocolate and Kit Kat wafers, Maryland's broken-beat answer to Eminem, Cex, has joined forces with Delaware emomongers Jade Tree. Cex (aka Rjyan Kidwell), known for his incredible live performances and tendency to release almost-as-good records, is gearing up for the release of Maryland Mansions, an EP in eight tracks. Jade Tree will be pushing out the record on November 18th.

Pitchfork recently spoke with Kidwell about the new record. According to the man himself, Maryland Mansions will feature guest appearances from Zach Hill of Hella (who provided drum samples for three cuts) and ex-girlfriend Indra Dunis of Numbers, whose vocals appear on the first track. Cex claims that the sound will be "darker, louder than Being Ridden -- not quite as all-over-the-place stylistically, but I guess compared to most bands' albums it's still kinda all-over-the-place. Thematically though, it's focused. Mostly focused on endings. And a little bit focused on absence-- and I think there's a bit about closing." Hmmm... ending, absence and closing. Sounds nicely postmodern and strangely unenlightening. The tracklist:

01 Drive Off A Mountain
02 Stop Eating
03 Take Pills
04 Kill Me
05 My Head
06 New Maps
07 Stillnaut Rjyan
08 The Strong Suit

When we talked to Kidwell, he was resting up in Brighton, England after playing "show five of what has been possibly the weirdest tour ever." Kidwell noted that the tour has been received with great enthusiasm, but has been plagued by poor merchandise sales, theft, robbery and lack of passports. Sounds like either really bad luck, or the plot to a new National Lampoon's Vacation movie. Cex will continue touring Europe through most of September before bringing the mayhem to the States in the coming months. This short U.S. stint will be followed by Cex's first-ever Australian tour this December. Those sweet, sweet dates (all U.S. dates with Nice Nice):

09-09 Frankfurt, Germany - Cooky's (w/ Grand Buffet)
09-10 Berlin, Germany - Bastard
09-11 Hamburg, Germany - Pudel Club
09-12 Hannover, Germany - Silke Arp Brecht
09-13 Rotterdam, Holland - Rotown
09-15 Gent, Belgium - TBA
09-16 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
10-29 New York, NY - TBA
10-30 Philadelphia, PA - University of Pennsylvania
10-31 Alfred, NY - Alfred University *
11-01 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse *
11-02 Cambridge, MA - TBA *
11-03 Providence, RI - TBA *
11-04 Baltimore, MD - TBA
11-05 Richmond, VA - Nanci Raygun

* with Aspera, I Am The World Trade Center

Cex: http://www.rjyan.com
Jade Tree: http://www.jadetree.com

Low Releases Vinyl-Only EP, Sparhawk Tours with Black Eyed Snakes
Scrapped b-side contender "L to tha Izzo (L.O.W.)" just fucking awful

[Posted Tuesday, September 9th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Low has just released a limited edition three-song EP entitled Murderer on writer-director Cameron Crowe's vinyl-only label, Vinyl Records (duh). The EP is second in a series of limited ten-inch EP's released on Vinyl (the first was Duk Koo Kim from Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek, already sold out). Tracklist:

01 Murderer
02 Silver Rider
03 From Your Place on Sunset

When the folks at Vinyl say limited, they aren't messing around-- though just how severely scarce the records will be is a topic of some small debate. The label site claims each release in the ten-inch series will be limited to 1000 copies in America and 500 in Europe. However, when we were initially tipped off about this story by distribution insider and deep-cover Pitchfork snitch Nate Hileman, we were told a mere 800 copies would be pressed.

Either way, you can buy the EP online at pastemusic.com, who dug up a quote from Low's Alan Sparhawk about Murderer, which we shall now repeat: "[This opportunity] came at an interesting time for Low... we had been on tour and were anxious to try out some new songs. The prospect of recording at home brought back the memories of doing the Low Christmas EP at home, several years ago. Sometimes odd projects like this give a band license to throw their preconceptions out the window and do things a little off from the norm... We are still reeling from the great time we had doing some shows with Radiohead this summer, but are taking most of the rest of the year off from the road to write and prepare to record early next year."

Speaking of the Radiohead tour, check the Low site if you want to be regaled with stories of poking through Johnny Greenwood's equipment and marveling at the band's caterers: Sparhawk has posted a tour diary.

Low have just three shows scheduled for the remainder of the year, to which a December stop in Chicago may be added. But first, Sparhawk will be touring this month and next with his other band, Black Eyed Snakes, who just released their second full-length, Rise Up! last month.

Black Eyed Snakes dates:

09-12 Eau Claire, WI - Stone's Throw
09-13 Duluth, MN - NorShor Theatre
09-18 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
09-19 Chicago, IL - Schuba's
09-20 Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
09-21 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
09-22 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater
09-23 Brooklyn, NY - South Paw
09-24 New York, NY - Sin-e
09-25 Boston, MA - Middle East
09-26 Philadelphia, PA - Doc Watson's
09-28 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern
09-29 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09-30 Nashville, TN - The End
10-01 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone
10-02 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
10-03 Austin, TX - Emo's Jr.
10-04 Norman, OK - The Opalis

Low dates:

10-16 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
10-17 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
12-03 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

Low: http://www.chairkickers.com
Black Eyed Snakes: http://www.blackeyedsnakes.com
Vinyl Films / Vinyl Records: http://www.vinyl-films.com

Matt Suggs Touring With His Amigo
Richard Marx touring in used Fiero

[Posted Tuesday, September 9th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Former Butterglory frontman and Ray Davies vocal double Matt Suggs has just released his sophomore record, Amigo Row, to a modest Pitchfork 7.5. Not too shabby. And, he's likely to get some decent exposure on the road this fall, as he hooks up with Songs:Ohia in September and the John Vanderslice-Beulah pairing in October. OK, so maybe there's not a lot of dish here, but what we're trying to tell you is, he's no doubt worth seeing and hearing, and he doesn't tour all that often (especially out east). Here are some dates to get you started:

09-18 Tampa, FL - Orpheum *
09-19 Tallahassee, FL - FSU *
09-20 Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's (w/ the Myrtles)
09-21 New Orleans, LA - the Mermaid *
09-23 Jackson, MS - Martin's Lounge *
09-24 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone *
09-25 Nashville, TN - The End *
10-12 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle #
10-13 Washington, DC - Black Cat #
10-15 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #
10-16 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
10-18 Boston, MA - Middle East #
10-22 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (w/ The Ladybug Transistor, Superchunk)

* with Songs: Ohia
# with Beulah, John Vanderslice

Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Pushing Own Poop In October
Several advance copies spotted on lawn at local dog park

[Posted Tuesday, September 9th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the Robert Smigel-voiced puppet famous for his sketches on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and VMA 2002 run-in with Eminem, will be releasing his debut CD on Warner Bros. this October 7th. Entitled Come Poop With Me, it features various songs and skits featuring A-listers like O'Brien, Adam Sandler, Janeane Garofalo, Subway spokesman Jared (okay, one C-lister) and Jack Black, no doubt singing some sort Spinal Tap rip-off duet. Also included will be Together In Pooping, a DVD of live performances and interviews.

Before making jokes about how painfully horrible a comedy record by a puppet dog sounds, at least consider that Robert Smigel is indeed a very funny man-- responsible for some of the best sketch comedy and animation in recent television history (the interstitial cartoons on Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central's lamentably cancelled TV Funhouse). But then consider the lyrics, which Triumph has graciously offered a sampling of: "Lady left Tramp for a taste of my G/ I got the Westminster poodles lining up for me." Or another: "I humped Mary Hart's leg on the ET set/ I got Phil Jackson's crotch on the Lakers' team jet." And another: "Little roundworm; tiny roundworm/ Must you live in the ass of a hound, worm?"

Once you put it all into perspective, yes, it will be completely horrible. Anyway, the first single, "I Keed," will be released in the same week as the album, along with a new video, which has already guaranteed air time on both MTV and MTV2. Triumph will also be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and possibly do a brief tour. And, as if that's not enough exciting Triumph news, you can also register at his official website to win... a phone call. From Triumph! Yesss!

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: http://www.triumphtheinsultcomicdog.com

Warren Zevon Dead at 56

[Posted Monday, September 8th, 2003 07:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

According to wire reports from the Associated Press and others, singer/songwriter Warren Zevon died yesterday, September 7th, at his home in Los Angeles. Zevon, a lifelong smoker until just a few years ago, had inoperable lung cancer and had just released a final album, The Wind, on Artemis Records last month. The album, which features cameos from Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, Don Henley and others, is a typically morose outing confronting issues of mortality and regret with Zevon's trademark sense of humor and grace. VH-1 produced a documentary on the making of the album which was aired around the time of its release and will likely be repeated this week. Last October, David Letterman invited Zevon to play on CBS' Late Show as the only guest, devoting an entire hour to Zevon's music and a bittersweet interview.

Zevon's began his career in the late '60s as a session player and composer of advertising jingles. After unsuccessfully attempting to launch a folk career as part of the duo Lyme and Cybelle, a mostly unheard solo album on the One Way label and a brief stint as the Everly Brothers' pianist in the early '70s, Zevon finally landed a record deal at Asylum with the help of his friend Jackson Browne. Zevon's self-titled album, released in 1976, featured a veritable who's-who of radio-friendly L.A. soft-rockers including Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey, J.D. Souther, Beach Boy Carl Wilson, Phil Everly, and even a young Bonnie Raitt. But it was Zevon's follow-up, 1978's Excitable Boy, that yielded the novelty hit "Werewolves of London," which Zevon is best known for. Battles with alcohol and depression made the births of his subsequent early-'80s output difficult.

A newly sober Zevon rebounded in 1987 with Sentimental Hygiene, where he was backed by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry for most of the album, alongside an unusual roster of guests that also included Neil Young, Bob Dylan, George Clinton, Jennifer Warnes, and Flea. Zevon, Buck, Berry, and Mills also formed the side project Hindu Love Gods during the sessions, eventually churning out a self-titled album of swampy blues covers and, bizarrely, a take on Prince's "Raspberry Beret." Zevon's career continued its path-less-taken trajectory through the '90s, yielding bizarro-world collaborations with the likes of Jerry Garcia, Bruce Hornsby, and Letterman's Late Show band, who appear on 2000's prophetically titled Life'll Kill Ya. Last year, Rhino Records released the 22-track best-of collection Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon, which collects most of Zevon's most essential work on a single disc.

.: Artemis: http://www.artemisrecords.com/zevon_bio.aspx?abbr=zevon

Warren Zevon: http://www.warrenzevon.com

Dismemberment Plan Unveil Final Album, Stream Catalog For Free
What a long, deranged trip it's been

[Posted Monday, September 8th, 2003 03:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The Dismemberment Plan is k-put (for now). They officially played their last show as a band at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club last week and have moved on to other things, as previously reported in this hallowed archive. This reporter was lucky enough to have been there, and it was outstanding-- something like a homecoming dance, with familiar faces returning from school or with their families, while a few X-marked underclassmen tried to score beer, but had to settle for Red Bull. Corps of Atlantans, Chicagoans, Pacific Northwesterners, and Californians represented their cliques with signs and shouts between songs. But it was really the District-area fanboys and ladies that showed up in full effect with parents, producers, labelmates, ex-girlfriends, and tons of other familiar faces from around the local scene. And as a result, the Plan was really, really on that night. Travis Morrison left his trombone at home, but managed to sneak Christina Aguilera and the Humpty Dance on stage. Eric Axelson and Joe Easley remain the tightest rhythm section on the planet. Jason Caddell even momentarily setaside his guitar/keys double-duty to actually take the mic for a special dedication to friends visiting from Colorado.

As a final thank-you to the fans, the Dismemberment Plan have accompanied their goodbyes with an astounding amount of free music on their site, including RealAudio streams of all four of their studio albums, MP3's of a few rare and out-of-print nuggets, and even a full-album preview of the upcoming remix album A People's History of The Dismemberment Plan (in doing so revealing a tracklist ever so slightly different than the one we reported back in May):

01 The Face of the Earth [Parae remix]
02 What Do You Want Me To Say? [Drop Dynasty remix]
03 Academy Award [Cex remix]
04 Following Through [Cynyc remix]
05 The Other Side [Justin Norvell remix]
06 Life of Possibilities [Noise McCartney remix]
07 Pay for the Piano [Grandmaster Incongruous remix]
08 Time Bomb [ASCDI remix]
09 Automatic [Deadverse remix]
10 The City [Ev remix]
11 The Jitters [Ender remix]
12 Superpowers [Erik Gundel remix]

The actual, factual CD drops September 24th on DeSoto. In his final missive on the D-Plan dotcom, Morrison namechecks his influences and showers his groupies with love like a pro: "Thanks to everyone that came out. Ever. Now go start a band and figure out where we went wrong and build on that-- it's how music works. I still can't believe we got away with taking the ideas of Moonshake, Trenchmouth, Brainiac and Candy Machine to the bank, but I'll take it... I think this year has been a brilliant way to end things. Ex Sex is the best."

Dismemberment Plan: http://www.dismembermentplan.com
DeSoto: http://www.desotorecords.com

The Decemberists Plot Fall Tour, Question Selves
"King of Carrot Flowers" = "Freebird" to these guys, so don't go there

[Posted Monday, September 8th, 2003 03:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The Decemberists are set to release their second full-length, Her Majesty The Decemberists, this week. Kill Rock Stars is doing the releasing (apparently, they hate war), the very same label who re-released The Decemberists' first LP, Castaways and Cutouts, back in May. The Decemberists are not without apprehension regarding this release: check frontman Colin Meloy dishing on Hush Records' website: "I genuinely fear for this record. I think it's going to get roundly crapped upon. But [whatever]... the sophomore slump is a very real psychic hurdle for any artist, doubly so for one embraced, lauded, and virtually catapulted into the pantheon of indie-pop on the merit of one album. Any behind-the-scenes hand-wringing should be expected of anyone. But the question remains: 'Is it good? Does it deliver the goods amid all the hype?'" We fans can only hope, although Meloy's apologies rival Bush Jr.'s policy of preemption.

In celebration of (or in mourning for, Meloy makes it hard for us to know for sure) the new album, The Decemberists will be touring the U.S. in October and early November. The tour follows both the new LP and the band's performance at Bumbershoot (originally cancelled, then re-scheduled as a solo performance by Meloy, and finally performed as a whole band minus guitarist Chris Funk). The tour contains a stop in Brooklyn for a CMJ showcase with KRS labelmates Casual Dots, Jeff Hanson, and Slumber Party. The dates:

10-07 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
10-08 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland (w/ Young People)
10-09 Los Angeles, CA - UCLA (w/ Earlimart)
10-10 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
10-11 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
10-12 Lubbock, TX - Texas Tech
10-13 Austin, TX - Emo's
10-14 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
10-15 Houston, TX - Rudyard's
10-16 Baton Rouge, LA - Red Star
10-18 Orlando, FL - Will's Pub
10-19 Tampa, FL - New World
10-20 Athens, GA - Caledonia
10-22 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
10-23 New York, NY - TBA (CMJ Party)
10-25 Brooklyn, NY - Luxx (KRS CMJ showcase w/ Jeff Hanson, Slumber Party)
10-27 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber
10-28 Washington, D.C. - Black Cat
10-31 Richmond, IN - Earlham College
11-01 Chicago, IL - Schuba's
11-02 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College
11-04 MIssoula, MT - TBA
11-05 Seattle, WA - TBA
11-07 Portland, OR - TBA

Bandmate Rachel Blumberg's other band, Norfolk and Western, has also come out with a new album, Dusk in Cold Parlors (available on Hush, which is also helping with distribution of Her Majesty). Confused? Oh, what a tangled web these bands and labels weave.

The Decemberists: http://www.decemberists.com
Kill Rock Stars: http://www.killrockstars.com
Hush: http://www.hushrecords.com

Frank Black Covers Pixies Classic On Live EP, Tours Europe
Replaces Kim Deal with Derek Smalls; only Kelley notices

[Posted Monday, September 8th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

So, we let ya'lls know that Frank Black and the Catholics' new joint Show Me Your Tears plops like Jackson Pollock spatters all over this fine land this Tuesday, but the newswire just caught wind that certain indie retailers will also have a five-song EP fronted by album cut "Nadine" and backed with four live tracks recorded last April at the State in Regina, located in the lovely and wheat-filled province of Saskatchewan, Canada. And yes, that last cut is indeed the Pixies classic "Gouge Away." Tracklist:

01 Nadine
02 Hermaphroditos [live]
03 Los Angeles [live]
04 Jane The Queen Of Love [live]
05 Gouge Away [live]

Notice that we said only certain indie retailers will stock the Nadine EP-- that's because the retailers got together and actually licensed this material from SpinART themselves. A complete list of locations where the EP will be available is posted on SpinART's website.

And speaking of the Pixies, 4AD has announced that BBC 6 Music will be celebrating the release of Show Me Your Tears with two special programs next week. On September 15th, they're airing a live Pixies show recorded at the Glastonbury Festival way back on June 16th, 1989. We keep trying to use the Pitchfork time machine to go back and visit that show, but something always fucks up and we end up catching The Wonder Stuff, so I'm really glad they're re-airing that one. Then on September 16th, BBC 6 will be airing a Black solo appearance on Steve Lamacq's "Evening Session," originally recorded last June. Both shows will be archived on the BBC 6 website for a week after their initial airdates.

If you want to catch Frank Black and his mighty Catholics in support of Show Me Your Tears, you can catch him on his extensive overseas tour kicking off later this month, following some warm-up gigs in the intimate back room of Los Angeles-area guitar shop McCabe's. There may be more American dates coming up next winter-- so watch the skies, or maybe your local Blimpie. The dates:

08-29 Santa Monica, CA - McCabe's Guitar Shop (solo show)
08-30 Santa Monica, CA - McCabe's Guitar Shop (solo show)
09-26 Edinburgh, Scotland - Liquid Rooms
09-27 Aberdeen, Scotland - Lemon Tree
09-28 Glasgow, Scotland - Garage
09-30 Leeds, England - Cockpit
10-01 Manchester, England - MDH
10-02 Liverpool, England - Stanley Theatre / Carling Liverpool Academy
10-03 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
10-05 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
10-06 Birmingham, England - Academy 2
10-07 Norwich, England - Waterfront
10-09 Bristol, England - Fire Station
10-10 Oxford, England - Zodiak
10-11 Portsmouth, England - Wedgewood Rooms
10-13 Cambridge, England - Junction
10-14 Brighton, England - Concorde
10-15 London, England - Astoria
10-17 Lille, France - Le Splendid
10-18 Nantes, France - Olympic
10-20 Evreux, France - L'Abordage
10-21 Evreux, France - L'Abordage
10-22 Angouleme, France - La Nef
10-23 Angers, France - Le Chabada
10-24 Niort, France - Espace Leclerc
10-25 Bordeaux, France - Rock School Barbey
10-26 Milan, Italy - Filaforum (w/ Placebo)
10-29 Barcelona, Spain - Bikini
10-30 Madrid, Spain - Sala Arena
10-31 Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Festival de Norte (w/ Placebo)
11-01 Ramonville, France - Salle des Fetes
11-03 Montpellier, France - Rockstore
11-04 Lyon, France - Transbordeur
11-05 Clermont, France - Cooperative de Mai
11-06 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
11-08 Heidelberg, Germany - Karlstorbahnhof
11-09 Darmstadt, Germany - Centralstation
11-10 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
11-11 Dusseldorf, Germany - ZAKK
11-13 Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik
11-14 Magdeburg, Germany - Factory
11-15 Berlin, Germany - ColumbiaFritz
11-16 Warsaw, Poland - Proxima Club
11-18 Vienna, Austria - Szene
11-19 Salzburg, Austria - Rockhouse
11-20 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
11-21 Berne, Switzerland - Biehurbeli
11-22 Geneva, Switzerland - Usine
11-24 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique-Orangerie
11-25 Zwolle, Netherlands - Hedon
11-26 Leiden, Netherlands - LVC
11-27 Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar
11-28 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
11-29 Paris, France - Bataclan
12-01 London, England - Sheperd's Bush Empire

Frank Black: http://www.frankblack.net
4AD: http://www.4ad.com
SpinART: http://www.spinartrecords.com
BBC 6 Music: http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music

The Album Leaf Finally Release Some Damn Songs
Expedia.com confuses Malmö with Melmac; collaboration with Alf due in 2008

[Posted Monday, September 8th, 2003 03:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

So, back in July of the two-double-o-two, we reported that the first seven-inch in Better Looking Records' Album Leaf collaboration series was finally available following a five-month delay. In the meantime, Album Leaf mastermind Jimmy LaValle has been busy breaking up his other band, Tristeza, and befriending the lads from Sigur Rós-- prompting several tours, an open invitation to record at their studio in Iceland (remember, it's Greenland that's cold and Iceland that's green) and a promised future collaboration for said seven-inch series. Now it's a mere fifteen months later, and the second release in the series is finally (almost) ready.

Due before the end of the year, this time around finds LaValle teaming up with Marc Bianci of Her Space Holiday. Like the first collaboration (with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes), Bianci will be contributing the vocals for LaValle's ambient instrumentation. According to Better Looking's website, they're hoping to stick to a more reliable release schedule come 2004, with future collaborations featuring Karla Shickele of Ida, Pall Jenkins of the Black Heart Procession and Sigur Rós' Jon Thor Birgisson. It also seems that LaValle is feeling expansive (not to mention optimistic), as Better Looking is hinting at possible additions to the series beyond the five planned releases. So it takes nearly two years to release two out of the five, and he's planning to add more? At this rate, he may have to release them Tupac-style, from beyond the grave!

The Jenkins and Birgisson collaborations may come easy, however, as the official Album Leaf site reports that LaValle is currently in Iceland recording his next full-length with members of both bands, as well as ex-members of Múm and (supposedly) current members of Amina. According to an July interview with LaValle in the Las Vegas Mercury, he met Sigur Rós in 2001 when they invited him out on tour, and he's been traveling with them and looking for an excuse to get to Iceland to record ever since. "Just from them playing with me through the tours, and putting their touch on my stuff, we work really well together," says LaValle. "There haven't really been any plans for [the album]. I just want to go out there with six or seven good ideas, and have the rest just happen." Following the recording of the (as yet untitled) album, he's headed back to the states to relax in typical rock star fashion-- by playing a show. (Yes, we just called Jimmy LaValle a rock star.) The Album Leaf website promises more tour dates in 2004, but this is it for the moment:

10-18 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

Never one to rest on his laurels, LaValle has also recently recorded a five-song Album Leaf EP, Seal Beach, for Spanish label Acuarela Records. Due out in October, the release is part of a series of exclusive mini-albums recorded for Acuarela, with future releases on deck from The Decemberists, Early Day Miners, and Tarentel. The tracklist:

01 Malmö
02 Brennivin
03 Seal Beach
04 Christiansands
05 One Minute

The Album Leaf: http://www.albumleaf.com
Better Looking: http://www.betterlookingrecords.com
Holiday Matinee: http://www.holidaymatinee.com
Acuarela: http://www.acuareladiscos.com/english

Guided By Voices Set Release Date, Reveal Tracklists For Box Set, Best-Of
Pollard legally changes name to Harry Potter, refuses to emerge from blanket fort

[Updated Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 10:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Matador Records have set a release date of November 4th for two Guided By Voices career retrospectives, according to the band's and label's official websites. The Best of Guided By Voices: Human Amusements At Hourly Rates promises to be the definitive best-of, with 32 songs from 1987-2003 on a single CD, selected and sequenced (per normal) by Robert Pollard. Interestingly, a full five tracks are from the TVT releases Do The Collapse and Isolation Drills. Almost all of the band's single a-sides are represented ("Hold on Hope"? Nope!), yet the band's voluminous output of short-players is represented only by The Grand Hour's "Shocker In Gloomtown." "Game of Pricks" and "My Valuable Hunting Knife" are represented in alternate single versions here, and "Teenage FBI" is an early version originally found on the independently released "Wish In One Hand" seven-inch. Ready? Let's roll:

01 A Salty Salute
02 Things I Will Keep
03 Everywhere With Helicopter
04 I Am A Tree
05 My Kind Of Soldier
06 14 Cheerleader Coldfront
07 Twilight Campfighter
08 Echos Myron
09 Learning To Hunt
10 Bulldog Skin
11 Captain's Dead
12 Tractor Rape Chain
13 Game Of Pricks [Tigerbomb version]
14 To Remake The Young Flyer
15 Hit
16 Glad Girls
17 Drinker's Peace
18 Surgical Focus
19 Cut-Out Witch
20 The Best Of Jill Hives
21 Hot Freaks
22 Shocker In Gloomtown
23 Chasing Heather Crazy
24 My Valuable Hunting Knife
25 The Official Ironmen Rally Song
26 Non-Absorbing
27 Motor Away [single version]
28 Teenage FBI ["Wish In One Hand" 7" version]
29 Watch Me Jumpstart
30 Exit Flagger
31 Back To The Lake
32 I Am A Scientist [Bee Thousand version]

But you've got to be shitting us with that cover, guys... there is nothing definitive about that. Is that a Gandalf robe? Yikes! Paging Ohe?

November 4th will also bring Hardcore UFO's, a 129-track, six-CD/DVD retrospective now freshly subtitled Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere. Here are the full tracklists as reported by GbV.com and Matador:

Disc one: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates: same content as commercial release but in chronological sequence, with different artwork (prayer answered) and "slight differences in versions [on] two or three songs" (those being the single version of "I Am A Scientist," and the original Alien Lanes versions of "Game Of Pricks" and "Motor Away").

Disc two: Demons and Painkillers: a 35-track compilation of all of GbV's out-of-print singles, b-sides, and compilation tracks (on Matador, anyway). Some of the material has never been released on CD before, including the "Motor Away"/"Color Of My Blade" seven-inch (1995) and the Plantations of Pale Pink EP (1996). 1995's Tigerbomb EP, which was only available on CD in a very limited run back in 1996, is included, as well as the b-sides for "The Official Ironmen Rally Song," "Bulldog Skin," and "I Am A Tree." Other surprises include three Under The Bushes-era outtakes from a limited-run split EP with Superchunk, a pair of live cuts from a UK-only picture disc, and all of the Japanese bonus tracks for both Under The Bushes and Mag Earwhig! Tracklist:

01 Motor Away ["Motor Away" 7"]
02 Color Of My Blade ["Motor Away" 7"]
03 My Valuable Hunting Knife *
04 Game Of Pricks *
05 Mice Feel Nice (In My Room) *
06 Not Good For The Mechanism *
07 Kiss Only The Important Ones *
08 Dodging Invisible Rays *
09 Deaf Ears +
10 Why Did You Land? +
11 June Salutes You! +
12 Delayed Reaction Brats $
13 He's The Uncle $
14 The Key Losers $
15 Postal Blowfish [alternate version from Brain Candy soundtrack]
16 Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy [live version from "Cut-Out Witch" picture 7"]
17 Some Drilling Implied [live version from "Cut-Out Witch" picture 7"]
18 Systems Crash #
19 Catfood On The Earwig #
20 The Who Vs. Porky Pig #
21 A Life In Finer Clothing #
22 The Worryin' Song #
23 Subtle Gear Shifting #
24 Finks [Under The Bushes Japan bonus track]
25 The Finest Joke Is Upon Us [Under The Bushes Japan bonus track]
26 The Singing Razorblade @
27 Now To War [electric version] @
28 Mannequin's Complaint (Wax Dummy Meltdown) @
29 Do They Teach You The Chase? %
30 (I'll Name You) The Flame That Cries %
31 The Ascended Master's Grogshop %
32 My Thoughts Are A Gas [alternate version from What's Up, Matador? compilation]
33 Running Off With The Fun City Girls [Mag Earwhig! Japan bonus track]
34 None Of Them Any Good [Mag Earwhig! Japan bonus track]
35 Choking Tara (Creamy Version) [from Everything Is Nice compilation]

* from Tigerbomb EP (1995)
+ from "The Official Ironmen Rally Song" single (1996)
$ from split EP with Superchunk/ Matador Europe Under The Bushes (1996)
# from Plantations of Pale Pink EP (1996)
@ from "Bulldog Skin" single (1997)
% from "I Am A Tree" single (1997)

Disc three: Delicious Pie and Thank You For Calling: a 23-track CD of previously unreleased studio material from the Pollard vaults. The disc will, as rumored, include the legendary original version of "Back To Saturn X," excerpted in part on the Propeller album and thought destroyed by a flood in Pollard's basement. Tracklist:

01 I
02 Back To Saturn X
03 H-O-M-E (Matador)
04 You're The Special
05 Perhaps We Were Swinging
06 Mother & Son
07 7 Strokes To Heaven's Edge
08 Fire 'Em Up, Abner
09 Harboring Exiles
10 Still Worth Nothing
11 Never
12 Slave Your Beetle Brain
13 It Is Divine
14 They
15 I Invented The Moonwalk (And The Pencil Sharpener)
16 Fly Into Ashes
17 The Various Vaults Of Convenience
18 Thrashed Aircraft
19 Running Off With The Fun City Girls [alternate version]
20 Bulldog Skin [demo]
21 Portable Men's Society [demo]
22 Choking Tara [demo]
23 Man Called Aerodynamics [Concert For Todd version]

Disc four: Live at the Wheelchair Races: Unreleased Live Recordings 1995-2002: a disc of unreleased live material from various line-ups throughout the GbV canon, as selected by Pollard and GbV webmaster Rich Turiel from "hundreds of tapes" (but 18 in particular). The tapes include full-band renditions of solo Pollard gems like "Quicksilver," "Make Use," "Far Out Crops," and "Town Of Mirrors" as well as rarely-played tunes like "James Riot," "Key Losers," and "Shrine To The Dynamic Years." Tracklist:

01 Randy Campbell band intro [Boston, MA 6/20/95]
02 I Am Produced [Cincinnati, OH 7/25/97]
03 Why Did You Land? [Denver, CO 4/10/95]
04 Zap [Carrboro, NC 4/16/02]
05 Little Lines [Cincinnati, OH 7/25/97]
06 14 Cheerleader Coldfront [Boston, MA 6/20/95]
07 Everywhere With Helicopter [Carrboro, NC 4/16/02]
08 Quicksilver [Cincinnati, OH 7/25/97]
09 James Riot [Columbus, OH 3/28/98]
10 Pretty Bombs [Carrboro, NC 4/16/02]
11 Far Out Crops [unknown]
12 My Impression Now [Cleveland, OH 4/26/97]
13 Look At Them [Chicago, IL 2/24/96]
14 A Salty Salute [unknown]
15 Melted Pat [Chicago, IL 2/24/96]
16 How Loft Am I? [Chicago, IL 7/11/98]
17 King And Caroline/Motor Away [Minneapolis, MN 2/22/96]
18 Trap Soul Door [unknown]
19 Cheyenne [Carrboro, NC 4/16/02]
20 Make Use [Chicago, IL 7/11/98]
21 Burning Flag Birthday Suit [Chicago, IL 2/24/96]
22 Weed King [Chicago, IL 2/24/96]
23 Town Of Mirrors [San Francisco, CA 2/27/99]
24 Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox [Boston, MA 6/20/95]
25 Dragons Awake [Athens, GA 1/22/00]
26 Shrine To The Dynamic Years [Columbus, OH 3/28/98]
27 Game Of Pricks [unknown]
28 Tractor Rape Chain [Amsterdam, Holland 7/10/97]
29 Key Losers [Denver, CO 4/10/95]
30 Now To War [Amsterdam, Holland 7/10/97]
31 Johnny Appleseed [Seattle, WA 4/17/95]
32 Drinkers Peace [unknown]

Disc five: Forever Since Breakfast, the first-ever CD release of GbV's debut EP, originally on the I Wanna label in 1986. Pollard has repeatedly dismissed this material as substandard in comparison to the band's later output, but it's actually very good. Definitely written and recorded under the influence of R.E.M., but on "Like I Do" you can almost hear Pollard inventing the lo-fi sound that would define the group for much of the '90s, and the stuttered pop of "She Wants To Know" premonitions GbV's new-millenium formula of big hooks and big sound. Tracklist:

01 Land Of Danger
02 Let's Ride
03 Like I Do
04 Sometimes I Cry
05 She Wants To Know
06 Fountain Of Youth
07 The Other Place

Disc six: Watch Me Jumpstart, a freshly expanded DVD version of the 1996 Banks Tarver documentary which, similar to Pavement's Slow Century collection, will now include multi-angle live material as well as all of the band's videos. The live clips of "Hot Freaks," "Superwhore," "Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory," "Shocker In Gloomtown," "Postal Blowfish," "Weed King," "Exit Flagger," and "I Am A Scientist" that graced the original release are now augmented by 2002 performances of "Echos Myron," "Tight Globes," and "Cut-Out Witch." The disc will also include "Beautiful Plastic," an eight-minute follow-up documentary shot by Banks Tarver earlier this year, and the group's seven videos to date:

I Am A Scientist
Auditorium/Motor Away
My Valuable Hunting Knife
The Official Ironmen Rally Song
Bulldog Skin
Glad Girls
My Kind Of Soldier

The expanded Watch Me Jumpstart DVD will also be available separately on November 4th.

In other GbV news, we are told to expect a third release from Pollard side project Circus Devils this Halloween. The tracklist and recording details for Pinball Mars are expected from Fading Captain sometime next week. As previously reported, GbV bassist and Circus Devil Todd Tobias reportedly left GbV earlier this week, to be replaced on the current tour by Chris Slusarenko (Sprinkler) and Sam Powers (Superdrag). No reason has yet been announced for the sudden split.

Guided By Voices: http://www.gbv.com
Matador: http://www.matadorrecords.com

Quasi Offer Twice As Much Shit, Tour A Lot
Triumph finds himself short of one-liners: "What can you say? The joke writes itself."

[Updated Monday, September 8th, 2003 01:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

They don't wear matching outfits, and she's not his sister. He has Supercuts hair and wears homemade "FUCK WAR" T-shirts; she has exactly three identical black tank tops that she handwashes after each show. He writes observant, me-against-the-world anthems of alienation, then runs a keyboard that looks like a high-school shop project through a Rat pedal; she somehow works a kick and snare with half of her body while the other half plinks a keyboard and sings along as though hearing her favorite song on the radio. I'm talking about Quasi, people, and we've just gotten word that there'll be a whole lot of the divorced-yet-too-cool-to-break-up couple in the months to come, what with the pending release of their sixth album, Hot Shit, September 9th on Touch & Go and a 23-date tour all over this Wal*Mart-studded patch of dirt.

But what you don't know is that some of you will actually be enjoying twice the Shit next Tuesday when you crack into that bad boy and find a 19-track bonus disc of Live Shit. The 19-track freebie finds bandmates Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss pounding out a typical set that includes a panoramic overview of their six albums to date, with live readings of four Hot Shit cuts. The bonus disc is limited to the first 2500 copies of Hot Shit domestically and will only be available through indie record stores or from the band on tour, according to Touch & Go. Tracklist:

01 Intro
02 When I'm Dead
03 Seal the Deal
04 Goblins & Trolls
05 Mama Tried
06 I Never Want To See You Again
07 Genetic Science
08 Under a Cloud
09 A Case of No Way Out
10 Our Happiness Is Guaranteed
11 Master & Dog
12 Nothing From Nothing
13 Good Time Rock 'n' Roll
14 Sea Shanty
15 The Sword of God
16 Birds
17 It's Raining
18 I Give Up
19 No One

And the dates... oh, the dates! After a release-date shindig at Larry Crane's Jackpot! studio, the tour proper kicks off on the East Coast in a couple of weeks, running all the way down the jagged knife-edge of the eastern seaboard down to Atlanta. Pregnant pause. Gather your thoughts. Now repeat, down the West Coast this time, from Seattle to San Diego. Deep breath. In fact, take a couple of weeks off; we owe you vacation anyhow. Now, turn your attention to the sternum of the country, if you will. Straight down the middle, that's it. Tour dates:

09-09 Portland, OR - Jackpot Records (release party/free show)
09-16 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
09-17 Providence, RI - AS220
09-18 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
09-19 New York, NY - Knitting Factory
09-20 Boston, MA - Middle East
09-22 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
09-23 Philadelphia, PA - Khyber Pass
09-24 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
09-25 Washington, D.C. - Black Cat
09-26 Raleigh, NC - King's
09-27 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10-10 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
10-11 Portland, OR Dante's
10-12 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
10-14 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
10-15 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
10-17 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10-18 Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts
10-30 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
10-31 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
11-02 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
11-03 Newport, KY - Southgate House
11-05 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck

In related news, Weiss' side project Sleater-Kinney (I've always wanted to say that) just wrapped up a mini-tour in Europe last month. S-K principal Carrie Brownstein even wrote the loopy press release for Hot Shit, a semi-fictional account of a Portland summer spent barbecuing vegetables, listening to Quasi on a boom box with her cats, and obsessing over whether the kid on a bike she hit while driving is okay. "The sounds and lyrics and melodies and soul of this record feel like they have been made by people who want music to be more than a conversation," Brownstein writes of Hot Shit (uh, she's seen the Q*Bert-esque front cover, right?) "They want it to be a language all its own."

Quasi: http://www.quasi2x2.com
Touch & Go: http://www.tgrec.com

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