Jeff Buckley Biopic in the Works

Sometimes in order to get the ball rolling, you need a mother's blessing. And that is just what writer/director Brian Jun received from Mary Guibert, mother of the late Jeff Buckley, when he proposed a biopic of her son. In fact, Guibert is taking her involvement to the next level; she will co-produce the film with Michelle Sy, who worked on last year's Best Picture Oscar nominee Finding Neverland.

"I can tell Jeff's fans with complete confidence that Brian is not the sort of fellow to sugar-coat or manipulate the facts," Buckley's mother said in a press release. "I know that he's a straight shooter. There's a depth of character to Brian, surprising in someone so young, and I have seen from his filmmaking that he has the courage and the skill to do this the way it should be done."

In January, Jun's film Steel City was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Cool moms eat that stuff up.

Video: Jeff Buckley: "Forget Her"

Suicide Squeeze Celebrates 10 Years With Shows, Comp

When most of us turned ten, we were squeamishly entering that wonderfully awkward phase when we grow hair in the strangest of places. Seattle's Suicide Squeeze Records, on the other hand, is taking on its second decade of life with the confidence of an over-developed Hollywood tween.

As we reported in March, the label celebrate the big 1-0 in high style with a series of celebratory shows at Neumos in Seattle, as well as a career-spanning 2XCD compilation. The comp gathers gold from past SS players like Modest Mouse, the Black Heart Procession, and Elliott Smith, and newbie signings such as Metal Hearts, Chin Up Chin Up, and Crystal Skulls. Slaying Since 1996 is limited to 6000 copies and will be available July 25.

Block the plate 'cause here comes the tracklist:

Disc One:

01 764-Hero - "Now You're Swimming"
02 Modest Mouse - "A Life of Arctic Sounds"
03 The Scenic Vermont - "Elementary" *
04 Elliott Smith - "Division Day"
05 Modest Mouse/764-Hero - "Whenever You See Fit" (DJ Dynomite D Remix)
06 Pennsy's Electric Workhorses Songs - "Cycle Suitor #
07 Pedro the Lion - "June 18, 1976"
08 The Black Heart Procession - "After the Ladder" *
09 Aspera - "Bird's Fly" *
10 Constantines - "Dirty Business" *
11 The Magic Magicians- "Cascade Express"
12 The Black Keys - "Yearnin'" (live)
13 Iron and Wine/Six Parts Seven - "Sleeping Diagonally"
14 The Melvins - "With Teeth" (live) *
15 Les Savy Fav - "We'll Make a Lover of You" *
16 Hint Hint - "Natural Collegiate"
17 We Ragazzi - "Making You Queens Tonight"
18 The Unicorns - "2014"
19 S - "5 Dollars"
20 Goon Moon - "Rock Weird (Weird Rock)"

Disc Two:

01 Minus the Bear - "The Game Needed Me" (Dalek remix) #
02 The Aislers Set - "What Fades First" (demo) #
03 Headphones - "Gas and Matches" (acoustic) #
04 Crystal Skulls - "Baby Boy" (demo) #
05 Six Parts Seven - "Afternoon Bed" #
06 Metal Hearts - "Jean Baptiste" #
07 Of Montreal - "Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da" $
08 Chin Up Chin Up - "Trophy's for Hire" #
09 Earlimart - "Caruthers Boy" #
10 Red Stars Theory - "Evergreen and Ivorbean" #
11 Black Mountain - "Voices" $
12 Russian Circles - "Upper Ninety" #
13 These Arms Are Snakes - "Old Paradise" #
14 Hella - "Meth Leper" #

* Out of print
# Previously unreleased
$ First time on CD [MORE...]

MP3: Modest Mouse / 764-Hero: "Whenever You See Fit" (DJ Dynomite D Remix)

Video: Sonic Youth: "Incinerate"

MP3.com is currently exclusively streaming the video for Sonic Youth's "Incinerate", the catchy second track from their newest record, Rather Ripped, which came out on Geffen earlier this month.

So MP3.com has the one-up, the bragging rights? Not so fast. This video is one of the dullest I've seen in quite some time-- so dull, in fact, that it is likely to decrease their readership.

We recommend steering clear at all costs, unless you're a super-fan interested in memorizing the band's guitar strumming patterns or scoping out the view up Thurston Moore's nose (not too hairy, from what we can tell).

Don't say you weren't warned.

Video: Sonic Youth: Incinerate

DJ Shadow Reveals Tracklist

We've already told you that DJ Shadow is getting crunk on his new album, which is called The Outsider and is coming out on Universal, but now, we've got ourselves a tracklist.

As previously mentioned, the disc features guest spots from David Banner, Q-Tip, Keak Da Sneak, and Turf Talk, as well as contributions from Little Brother's Phonte, Lateef the Truth Speaker, hyphy pioneer E-40, and Christina Carter, who is indeed the girl from Charalambides!

Tracklist:

01 Outsider Intro
02 This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way)
03 3 Freaks (feat. Keak Da Sneak & Turf Talk)
04 Droop-E Drop
05 Turf Dancing (feat. The Federation & Animaniaks)
06 Keep Em Close (feat. Nump)
07 Seein Thangs (feat. David Banner)
08 Broken Levee Blues
09 Artifact [Instrumental]
10 Backstage Girl (feat. Phonte Coleman)
11 Triplicate/Something Happened That Day
12 The Tiger (feat. Sergio Pizzorno & Christopher Karloff)
13 Erase You (feat. Chris James)
14 What Have I Done (feat. Christina Carter)
15 You Made It (feat. Chris James)
16 Enuff (feat. Q-Tip & Lateef the Truth Speaker)
17 Dats My Part (feat. E-40) [MORE...]

Video: DJ Shadow feat. Keak da Sneak & Turf Talk: "3 Freaks"

Black Keys Plan Mega Tour

Before your band sends off that vague, "artistic" press release to Pitchfork World Headquarters, take a cue from the Black Keys on how to do these things. And also, throw in some candy.

We like the Keys because a) they're talented b) their website doesn't overuse Flash and c) (here's where you learn) they release a constant flow of non-cryptic news.

For instance, just within the past month or so, the Akron, Ohio pair signed to Nonesuch, toured with Radiohead, planned the release of their upcoming record (Magic Potion, due September 12 on their new label home), and talked to us about all of it. Patrick Carney even mentioned an album-supporting bi-continental mega-trek, the dates of which recently popped up on the band's official website (listed neatly in nice font, of course). [MORE...]

MP3: The Black Keys: "Meet Me in the City"

Beirut Schedules Summer Shows

Whether or not Jeff Mangum actually returns this year, we've got a pretty good replacement to hang our hopes on. Zach Condon, aka Beirut, has been compared to Neutral Milk Hotel all across the blogosphere, and he's just getting started. With only one album under his belt and a lifetime ahead (he's only 20!), Condon is hitting the road this summer. In July, he plays one-off shows in Moscow, Russia (!) and Brooklyn, and August brings a U.S. mini-tour.

[MORE...]

MP3: Beirut: "Postcards From Italy"

Kill Your Idols Coming to DVD

Kill Your Idols, a documentary film, takes a look at New York's art-rock scene over the last thirty years. It features interviews with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Black Dice, Arto Lindsay, Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch, Michael Gira, and more.

Director Scott Crary's film took the prize for Best Feature Documentary at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as a distribution deal with Palm Pictures. Kill Your Idols will screen at Cinema Village in New York City starting July 7. There are plans for more widespread release and the film will come out on DVD early this fall. [MORE...]

Cat Power, New Pornos to Play Detroit Fest

With the Pistons falling short in the conference final, the auto industry dealing with record-high oil prices, and Eminem and Kim divorced again, Detroit residents sure need something to cheer themselves up (and I doubt the fact that the Tigers are doing OK will suffice.

Enter the Comerica TasteFest, a five-day extravaganza of free samples from local restaurants, free activities for kids, and free stage shows, all of which are supposed to make people wanna give the city more props. (Did I mention that it's free?)

The shows take place from June 30-July 4 in the New Center district of downtown and include performances by Common, Ray Davies, Cat Power & the Memphis Rhythm Band, the New Pornographers, Kings of Leon, Amadou and Mariam, Dabrye, Blanche, Demolition Doll Rods, the Paybacks, Mavis Staples, and perhaps the best band to ever appear on a Fourth of July bill, the All-American Rejects.

Video: 1997 Modest Mouse Documentary

Lo-fi filmmaking-- you gotta love it. Especially when it involves awkward interview questions that lead to even more awkward answers. This recently unearthed 1997 Modest Mouse documentary follows the band through the recording of The Lonesome Crowded West. The untitled, 37-minute film is a collection of shots in the studio and on the stage and includes interviews with the band members as well as other musicians, including Built to Spill's Doug Martsch, Sam Coombs of Quasi, and Elliott Smith.

For the most part, this video should be left to only those with an unhealthy obsession with the band, but others may enjoy the 20 minute mark and on when Isaac Brock takes Madsen on a stroll through a park and drinks beer on a bench in broad daylight. Though the extremely young-looking Brock doesn't reveal his deepest secrets and rarely talks about the band, it's intriguing to see what a midday drink with the Modest Mouse frontman was like almost a decade ago.

Of course, we must add the disclaimer that this thing showed up randomly on Google Video last week, and we don't know how accurate our information is.

Video: Modest Mouse: 1997 Documentary

MP3: Exclusive: Lee Perry vs. DJ Spooky

Jamaican music legend Lee "Scratch" Perry isn't wiling away his seventies playing Scrabble and reading Tom Clancy novels. Nope. The Grammy-winning dub/reggae mastermind is busy putting out albums. His latest full-length, Panic in Babylon, is due out in America on Narnack on August 22.

Originally released in Switzerland in 2005, Panic will come to our shores amended with a bonus disc of remixes by George Clinton, TV on the Radio, and DJ Spooky. Check out Narnack's MySpace page for a clip, as well as an exclusive mp3 of DJ Spooky's remix of "Purity Rock" below. [MORE...]

MP3: Lee "Scratch" Perry: Purity Rock (DJ Spooky remix)

MP3: Ensemble ft. Cat Power: "Disown, Delete"

Eugene Mirman Brings the Funny to America

Good for a laugh, a Sub Pop record, and yes, even a slot at our own Pitchfork Music Festival pre-party is comedian Eugene Mirman, keeper of good jokes. The Russian-born New York funnyman heads out on the Comedy Men from Tomorrow tour in mid-July, hitting up such towns as Eugene, Oregon (significant because of its name) and Anchorage, Alaska (significant because nobody ever plays there).

Joining Mirman on the road are "The State"/Wet Hot American Summer/"Stella" comedian Michael Showalter and former "Saturday Night Live" writer Leo Allen. Mirman is supporting his second album, En Garde, Society!, which dropped on Sub Pop back in May. [MORE...]

Video: Eugene Mirman: An Advertisement

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.)