Grizzly Bear Yellow House Film Sync Discovered!

We've all heard how if you cue up Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at the proper moment at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz (third MGM lion roar or something like that), and take copious amounts of drugs, you'll be amazed to find the two sync up rather tellingly. But what about the modern classics, records like Pitchfork's eighth favorite album of 2006, Grizzly Bear's Yellow House?

Seems Yellow House syncs cinematically after all, according to the unnamed blogger behind 12 Computers (so named in honor of an apparent OK Computer/12 Monkeys sync). 12C has discovered that the Grizzlies' sophomore LP aligns in all-too-convenient fashion with Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's 1995 dark fantasy flick La Cité des Enfants Perdus (aka The City of Lost Children).

The eerie, visually-dazzling French film stars Ron Perlman as a sub-literate circus strongman who befriends a young street urchin and embarks on a quest to save his "little brother" from a diabolical inventor, his midget wife, and their hapless cloned henchmen. Jeunet went on to direct Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, aka Amélie, which is probably your favorite film ever, as it should be.

The evidence for a Lost Children/Yellow House sync is fairly compelling: track titles like "Little Brother" seem to directly reference characters in the film, songs begin and end in tandem with scenes, and ambiguous lyrics apply rather aptly in the filmic context to City's protagonists, antagonists, and dramatic situations. Check out the detailed run-down from 12 Computers, who goes so far as to wager that the sync is deliberate.

The blogger has also discovered a somewhat more dubious sync between Thom Yorke's The Eraser and Stanley Kubrick's dark comedy classic Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Looks like my Friday night plans have been made!

As previously reported, Grizzly Bear bring their Yellow House love to lost children in cities across the U.S. and Canada beginning next month. Oh! And apparently if you play Yellow House backwards it will subliminally coerce you into killing Paul and worshipping Satan. [MORE...]

Sublime Frequencies Film Explores Moroccan Music

Sun City Girl Alan Bishop has been scratching our world music itch for some time now with his Seattle-based Sublime Frequencies imprint-- and when we say world music, we don't mean that hokey, over-produced shit your yoga instructor listens to.

Bishop and his partners in crime mine the innermost nooks, crannies, and niches of exotic locales to bring us pampered peoples of the information age documents of raw, unadulterated foreign music culture as real as we can hope for nowadays.

One of those partners, world traveler and filmmaker Hisham Mayet, has contributed a number of DVDs to Sublime Frequencies' eclectic output, including visual pieces exploring the regional musical treasures of Libya, Niger, and Thailand. Mayet's latest offering, Musical Brotherhoods From the Trans-Saharan Highway, captures Moroccan street musicians and premiered at ArthurBall last February. If you missed it there, don't fret: the film screens in several U.S. cities beginning tomorrow night in New York.

According to a press release, Musical Brotherhoods "showcases an assortment of spectacular musical dramas presented live and unfiltered on the home turf of the world's most dynamic string/drum specialists performing and manifesting the ecstatic truth!

"Ancient mystical brotherhoods have been flourishing for centuries in and around the cities of Marrakesh and Essaouira in Morocco where the trade caravans have gathered from their long journeys across the Trans-Saharan Highway.

"This is some of the last great street music on Earth."

Check out the trailer for Musical Brotherhoods here. Mayet will be on hand for question and answer sessions at all screenings except Cleveland (where Alan Bishop and Mark Gergis' Sumatran Folk Cinema will also screen). As a bonus, folks in Baltimore can catch Mayet's Niger: Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel as well. We might be going out on a limb here, but we're going to assume all of these films will be better than Night at the Museum.

Sun City Girls play Berlin's Volksbuhne Theater on January 25. [MORE...]

M. Ward Tours, Scores Film

Here is part of the plot description for the forthcoming film The Go-Getter, directed by Martin Hynes and starring Lou Taylor Pucci, Zooey Deschanel, and Jena Malone:

Left with an aching instinctual itch to explore America after a traumatic loss, a curious teenager named Mercer suddenly steals a car in Oregon and develops a life-altering telephonic connection with the forgiving and mysterious girl he took it from. As he sets out with her phone calls as guidance, Mercer's motives find focus as he travels across the postmodern highways of the former Wild West to seek self-knowledge and a sense of belonging."

Does that sound like a movie you'd want to see? No? What if you read that paragraph again...while listening to the rustic indie-folk stylings of M. Ward? You can just feel the tumbleweeds, the stares off into the distance, and the sexual tension, right?

Yeah, this movie is totally going to suck. But at least it'll have good music, as Ward has made his first foray into film music with the score for The Go-Getter. It premieres at the Sundance Film Festival later this month, and Ward will perform at the festival to celebrate.

But Park City is just one stop on Ward's current world tour. He's in Australia right now, with a couple of gigs in New Zealand scheduled for next week. Then, it's back to North America for a brief run of solo shows.

As previously reported, Merge will release Ward's "To Go Home" single on February 20. It features guest appearances by such luminaries as Neko Case, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Howe Gelb of Giant Sand. [MORE...]

Scissor Sisters Announce 2007 World Tour

Get ready to cut a rug, because Scissor Sisters are about to tour pretty much everywhere. In late January, the band will fire things up with quick treks through both Japan and Australia. Then, they're off on whirlwind treks across North America and Europe, taking them through late April.

As if that wasn't enough, the Sisters also slated to play a New Year's Eve gig in Berlin, as well as three English dates in the summer.

And they'll reach an even bigger audience on February 8, when Scissor Sisters will appear on the zany NBC soap opera "Passions". According to their website, the band will "burst on to the show in a puff of smoke, conjured by young witch(!) Endora to play in her mother's living room."

And speaking of that big screen sitting in front of your face (the one that isn't a computer monitor), last month, Scissor Sisters asked their fans to film themselves "getting ready, pumped and prepared" for their shows at London's Wembley Arena for possible use on a future Scissor Sisters DVD.

Finally, the band released a new single, "Land of a Thousand Words", not too long ago on CD, picture disc, and iTunes exclusive download. [MORE...]

Diplo Mastering M.I.A. LP2, Finishing Favela Film
M.I.A. in studio with Timbaland / in Liberia with former child soldiers

It's been a little while since we've heard from the Diplo/M.I.A. camp, but that doesn't mean they haven't been crazy busy. Today comes word via Diplo's website that the ace DJ/party-starter-- along with UK producer/remixer Switch, aka David Taylor-- is right now mastering M.I.A.'s second album, the follow-up to 2005's white-hot Arular.

Details on the new disc remain scant, but we do know that M.I.A. shacked up in the studio at some point with everyone's favorite chaperone to the chorus, Timbaland. While it's unclear in what capacity he contributed, a video showing M.I.A. and Tim apparently selecting tracks for her new LP popped up on YouTube earlier this week-- and vanished before we had a chance to share it with you.

M.I.A. hasn't mentioned her dealings with Tim on her MySpace blog (yet), but she did post on December 3 about jetting "OFFFF TO LIBERIA. TO MEET X CHILD SOILDERS [sic]." She also shouted out Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl" and posted what appear to be lyrics to a new jam.

Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, meanwhile, also reports he's putting the finishing touches on Favela on Blast, a forthcoming film celebrating Rio de Janeiro's vibrant Funk Carioca culture that Dip executive produced, co-directed, and handled sound for (the flick shares its title with his 2004 baile funk mix). Joining Pentz, Funk Film's Leandro HBL handled direction, cinematography, and production for the doc, which should see release soon. Scope a blazin' trailer below and catch three more clips by clicking here.



Diplo has two newish tracks on his MySpace now, including a remix of M.I.A.'s "XR2"-- apparently from the insanely-anticipated Piracy Funds Terrorism sequel (out in 2010, his MySpace jokes-- at least we hope that's a joke!)-- and a mash-up of Lil Scrappy and Professor Longhair's "Big Chief" (which Lily Allen also used for "Knock 'Em Out") from the new Hollertronix 6 mix.

Finally, Diplo winds out the year with a few gigs, then heads off to Uruguay and preps for Oceania's Big Day Out festival. [MORE...]

MP3: Mark Kozelek: "Salvador Sanchez"
Also, Kozelek Scores Short Film for Art Exhibit

Still on the fence about throwing down the funds for Little Drummer Boy Live, Mark Kozelek's previously reported two-disc live compilation which dropped today (November 28) on his own Caldo Verde label? Well, now you can check out "Salvador Sanchez", a track from the first CD of the set. Click on the link below and judge for yourself.

The track, originally found on Sun Kil Moon's 2003 release, Ghosts of the Great Highway, is performed acoustically by Kozelek and Phil Carney here (though only the former sings), and it holds up well to its predecessor.

Although the Live "Salvador Sanchez" isn't as instrumentally heavy as its original, it stands more familiar and homey than ever, and the well-managed club aesthetic of the recording (you can hear the crowd, but not too much) only increases the number's intimacy.

Fans not in tune with the Ghosts version are, advised to seek it out, however, as Kozelek's live lyrics are sometimes unclear due to a slight echo on the microphone. The acclaimed Sun Kil Moon work is up for reissue on February 6, 2007, also via Caldo Verde. As previously reported, buyers can expect to find a new six-song EP included in the package.

Those on the prowl for new Kozelek creations can scope out Gaping Mouth, a seven-minute film by Kristina Faragher for which Mark provided the score. The short fits into a larger art exhibit, "Yosemite: Art of an American Icon", which is on display at Los Angeles' Autry National Center through April 22. After that, it will travel to the Oakland Museum of California (May 19-September 2, 2007), Reno's Nevada Museum of Art (October 13, 2007-January 13, 2008), and Indianapolis' Eiteljorg Museum (March 22-August 9, 2008).

Damon Albarn's Resume Is Better Than Yours

You'd think being in Blur would be enough to prove your musical worth to the world for a long time, but Damon Albarn keeps dipping his hands in whatever he can find.

As previously reported, Albarn's The Good, the Bad and the Queen will release their self-titled debut LP in January, and Gorillaz just released a whole ani-metric ton of Demon Days-related material. But those are just the beginning.

Billboard.com reports that Albarn produced Algerian group El Gusto's forthcoming album, due out in the spring on his Honest Jon's label. He also wrote the score to "Monkey: Journey to the West", a circus opera piece based on a Chinese legend and scheduled to premiere June 28 at the Manchester International Festival of Arts.

Then there is the requisite multimedia collaboration: a feature-length Gorillaz movie, on which Albarn is collaborating with director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, etc.)

Franz Contribute to Soundtrack, Doodle for Charity
Alex Kapranos' food book published

Franz Ferdinand will contribute the new song "Hallam Foe Dandelion Blow" to director David Mackenzie's forthcoming film, Hallam Foe. According to the Franz website, the track "was recorded during the band's most recent tour of Latin America and is described as a 'lyrical drunken waltz.'"

The soundtrack will come out on Domino some time next year, and will also include music from Franz's Domino labelmates Sons and Daughters, Psapp, and Four Tet.

In a recent interview with The Daily Record, Franz frontman Alex Kapranos described the new music, which does not use any drums, as "quite dark and full of whimsy."

According to several short descriptions from across the Internet (including IMDB), the movie, filmed in Edinburgh, Scotland, is about a teenager, Hallam (played by Jamie Bell, aka the kid from Billy Elliott and that Green Day video), who becomes a voyeur following the suicide of his mother-- a death which he is certain was a homicidal strike by his new stepmother. Sounds strikingly similar to another H-titled British tale out there, huh?

Those interested in Hallam Foe can scope out its production blog and character MySpaces here, here, here, and here, respectively. The film opens in the UK on February 7, 2007.

Kapranos also published the book Sound Bites: Eating on Tour With Franz Ferdinand in the UK earlier this month. A collection of the singer-guitarist's previously published food columns in the Guardian, it is due to be published by Penguin in the U.S. on January 2, 2007.

In other news, Franz Ferdinand are one of many bands (and artists, writers, athletes, etc.) who generously decorated and autographed canvases to raise money for the disabled children's charity Whoopsadaisy as part of artists Julie Ann Gilbert and Cameron Ross' Stars on Canvas exhibition.

In addition to Franz, Fatboy Slim, the Kooks, and a host of others contributed art to this worthy cause. The pieces will be auctioned off at www.StarsAuctions.com and in a final, real-life auction set to take place on November 26 in Brighton, England.

As previously reported, the band recently contributed to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation benefit compilation Give. Listen. Help. Filter Magazine and Urban Outfitters teamed up for the release, which will be distributed exclusively in Urban stores and on the clothing merchandiser's website. The band is also featured on Buena Vista Social Club's forthcoming collaborative record, Rhythms del Mundo, out today (November 14) on Hip-O Records/Universal Music Enterprises (details available here).

Finally, don't forget to catch the rerun of Franz Ferdinand and What Made Milwaukee Famous on PBS series "Austin City Limits" on November 25.

Danielson Famile Movie Set for U.S. Theaters

Ah, the Danielson Famile movie. No recollection of it? Given that we reported on the film and interviewed its director/producer/cameraman/editor JL Aronson just over three years ago, we can't really hold that one against you.

Let's refresh. Aronson, head honcho over at the Brooklyn-based Creative Arson Productions, set out to explore the religious motifs, solo/family balance, and other mysteries surrounding Daniel Smith aka Br. Danielson and the Danielson Famile/Danielsonship/Danielson in 2002.

Since then, he's carved his footage into a 105-minute movie with, according to a press release, "collage, direct cinema, animation, and memorable performances" all included. Also featured are cameos from author Rick Moody, Steve Albini, Daniel Johnston, WNYC's David Garland, and Low's Alan Sparhawk.

The film, now officially titled Danielson: a Family Movie {or, Make a Joyful Noise Here}, experienced a successful festival run, and was screened at events like the Chicago Underground Film Fest (it won the Audience Award), the Sidewalk Moving Picture Fest (it won the Special Jury Award), South by Southwest, the San Francisco Independent Film Fest, the New York Underground Film Fest, and a series of others.

And now, residents of select U.S. cities will be able to see A Family Movie on the big screen, as a limited theatrical release has been scheduled. The work will be screened at New York's Cinema Village from December 15-21, Chicago's Siskel Center on December 10 and 14, Austin's Alamo Downtown on December 11, 20, 28 and January 2, Seattle's NW Film Forum from December 15-21, San Francisco's Red Vic from January 25-27, Bloomington's Cinemat during the first two weeks of December, and Portland's NW Film Center in the third week of January, as well as in Los Angeles, Toronto, Boston, and Washington, DC sometime in the not-so-distant future.

In the trailer, Daniel Smith performs at a retirement center in his tree costume, so this is not to be missed, folks.

As previously reported, Danielson currently have a big round of dates on their itinerary, set to kick off in Brussels later this month. First off, however, on November 22, the band will record a VRPO 3VOOR12 radio session in Amsterdam. [MORE...]

Nick Cave, Bad Seeds Members Are Grinderman

Nick Cave and three members of his Bad Seeds-- Warren Ellis (also of Dirty Three), Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos-- will release their as-yet-untitled debut album as Grinderman on March 5 via Mute in the UK.

Grinderman's music is "an instinctual yawlp that...resurrects the demons of each musician's past: the trashcan proselytizing of Birthday Party-era Nick; Jim Sclavunos' late 70s New York no-wave noise wisdom; Martyn Casey's ominous Triffids bass reverb; plus Ellis' avant-garde soundtrack work and his teenage love of Black Sabbath," according to a press release.

"No Pussy Blues"-- the song streaming from the band's MySpace page-- could be mistaken for a track from the Stooges' reunion album, or at least what we hope that record will sound like. It's noisy, funny, raw, and totally cathartic. [MORE...]

Sonic Youth Prep Rarities Comp, Zillion Other Things
Or "A Not-So-Brief Recent History of Sonic Youth"

Well, well, well. Looks like Sonic Youth are up to their old tricks again: releasing bong-loads of recordings, luring the kids out to live shows, and collaborating, side-projecting, and multimedia-mongering all willy-nilly-- last I heard, Thurston Moore was starting an improv noise ensemble with your mom. Anyhow, this latest dispatch on Youth-ful happenings may include any or all of the following: (1) info on a new B-sides/rarities comp; (2) SY's thoughts on label limbo; (3) info on the U.S. premiere of Kim Gordon and associates' Perfect Partner; (4) side project mania; and (5) tour hysteria.

First up, the rarities comp. Titled The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities, according to Billboard.com, the disc arrives December 12 via Geffen. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo culled the collection's selections from the back sides of singles, various compilations, and bonus cuts from international editions of SY releases. While the final tracklist has yet to be determined, The Destroyed Room will also a few tunes that even you-- yes you, with the washing machine tattooed on you chest-- have never heard before. Er, maybe.

Following the release of the comp, Sonic Youth become the musical equivalent of a free agent, having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Geffen. Asked by Billboard.com if the band would stay with their longtime label, bassist Kim Gordon expressed uncertainty. "I don't really think they want us to stay. They fired a few key people working on [Rather Ripped] a week before it came out...So, I don't know."

There's also talk of an expanded reissue of Daydream Nation-- recently added to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress-- which a label split might jeopardize. [MORE...]

Tucker, Hanna, MacKaye in Riot Grrrl Documentary

When a musical movement comes along and revolutionizes the way we think and feel, the least we can do is make a documentary about it 15 years later, right? Right. And so, joining the ranks of American Hardcore is Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl, "a documentary film that tells the story of the origins of riot grrrl in the American independent music scene of the 1990s, and how this feminist movement evolved into a revolutionary underground network of education and self-awareness through music, writing, activism, and women-friendly community," according to the documentary's website.

Don't Need You features interviews with Sleater-Kinney/Heavens to Betsy's Corin Tucker, Bikini Kill/Le Tigre's Kathleen Hanna, Bratmobile/Partyline's Allison Wolfe, and of course, Ian MacKaye (what punk documentary would be complete without him?), among others. It also includes "rare, archival materials including original riot grrrl fanzines, flyers, and photographs as well as seldom-seen footage from pioneering riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, and Bratmobile."

Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl is available on DVD this week from director Kerri Koch's Urban Cowgirl Productions.

Stream: The Fountain Clips Ft. Mogwai, Antony

Clint Mansell is probably one of your favorite music-makers-- you just didn't realize it. The former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman has collaborated with Trent Reznor, but he's best known these days as a film composer. In addition to scoring such movies as Sahara, Doom, and Trust the Man, he's partnered with director Darren Aronofsky for all three of his projects: 1998's Pi, 2000's Requiem for a Dream, and this year's The Fountain, due in theaters November 22.

As previously reported, Mansell's score for The Fountain is performed by Kronos Quartet in collaboration with Mogwai. Nonesuch Records, home of Kronos Quartet, will release The Fountain: Music From the Motion Picture on November 21, and they have posted a few pieces of the soundtrack on their website.

Clips of nine of the disc's 10 tracks can be heard here. Of the nine thirty-second samples, "Tree of Life" seems the most Mogwai-ish, with droning guitars bubbling under Kronos' whirling strings.

The epic "Death Is the Road to Awe" can be heard in its entirety via Nonesuch Radio. Building and building to a crashing climax featuring screaming feedback, a choir, and bells, it's exactly the kind of vertiginous high we've come to expect from Mansell's music.

As an extra special treat, Mansell has posted an alternate outtake version of the track "The Last Man" on his MySpace page. It features Antony's fluttery, almost wordless cooing over mysterious, melancholy piano. [MORE...]

Nirvana's Live! Tonight! Coming to DVD

After a Polyphonic Spree-induced turn-over in the grave, Kurt Cobain is back in the spotlight once again. This time, he's headed to your television set.

Nirvana's 1994 VHS release Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!, which contains material culled from their 91-92 Nevermind world tour, will be reissued on DVD on November 7 via Geffen/UMe. The film has been color-corrected, digitally remastered in 5.1 surround sound, and expanded to include five previously unreleased live tunes from a 1991 performance at Amsterdam's Paradiso. The original video was completed after Cobain's death by Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.

As previously reported, a film featuring a series of Cobain interviews with journalist Michael Azerrad recently made its big screen debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. Titled Kurt Cobain: About a Son, the AJ Schnack-directed work's next step is theaters nationwide.

Finally, Courtney Love's Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love memoir comes out this Halloween. [MORE...]

The Fall, Raincoats, Faust Pay Tribute to the Monks
Also: Jason Forrest, the Gossip, Jon Spencer, Mouse on Mars

Fresh off of the August 19 world premiere of the Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback documentary at this year's Chicago Underground Film Festival and an appearance in Pitchfork's 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s feature, the Monks are back with a tribute album and even a few live performances.

The tribute album is called Silver Monk Time: A Tribute to the Monks, and play loud! will release it on October 23. The compilation features 29 tracks on two discs by artists ranging from the Fall and the Raincoats to the Gossip and Jason Forrest. The Monks themselves even appear in collaboration with Charles Wilp. There are plenty of such collaborations, the others between Jon Spencer and Solex, Silver Apples and Alan Vega, Die Goldenen Zitronen and Chicks on Speed, and Gary Burger with both Alec Empire and Faust on two separate tracks. A seven-inch single with the contributions from Alec Empire ft. Gary Burger and the Fall is also scheduled for an October 23 release on play loud!

The Monks will appear live in London, Zurich, and Berlin in October, with the latter show serving as the record release party for Silver Monk Time. Screenings of the documentary will follow the shows in Zurich and Berlin. For more information on specific events in those cities and any that are added in the future, visit http://www.playloud.org/themonks.html.
[MORE...]

U.S. Takes on John Lennon in Documentary

The man may have been a walking, talking, songwriting peace sign-- and a huggable one at that-- but for some folks John Lennon was, in his day, a threat to national security. Sounds crazy and, hmmmm, seems to parallel certain recent events, which is probably why the Lionsgate flick The U.S. vs. John Lennon hits the big screen later this month.

Written, directed, and produced by the team of David Leaf and John Scheinfeld (responsible, in various configurations, for countless musician-oriented TV specials), the film explores the U.S. government's attempts to suppress the voice of peace-happy John Lennon during the Vietnam War-happy era of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Unlike recent docs detailing the lives of Leonard Cohen and Daniel Johnston, this one focuses more on the socio-political climate of the times, so expect more hard-hitting truths and fewer baby photos.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon features seldom-seen footage from the Lennon vaults, courtesy of the man's widow, artist Yoko Ono. But that's not all. "Lennon's own music provid[es] subtly incisive narration," according to the press release. And while he's no Morgan Freeman, we can still dig it.

Plenty of special guests pop in to say a piece or two, including linguistics superstar and political activist Noam Chomsky, journalist and news icon Walter Cronkite, Watergate watchdog Carl Bernstein, Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy, civil rights activist Angela Davis, writer Gore Vidal, former Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern, former NY governor Mario Cuomo, and...Geraldo Rivera!

The curious may check out the trailer below, as well as an exclusive teaser clip from the film itself-- featuring Geraldo, who seeks the buried treasure of John Lenno-- er, who talks about stuff.

While you're at it, check out the film's website, a too-cute Drudge Report knockoff.

Oasis Announce Greatest Hits Tracklist

For the self-proclaimed greatest band in the world, it seems quite an oversight that Oasis have waited until now to issue a "best of" compilation. However, the band wanted to do it right, so they selected the eighteen tracks for the forthcoming Stop the Clocks themselves. The hits compilation is scheduled for a November 20 release in the UK.

According to NME.com, the band is also planning to release their first film this year. Its title: Lord Don't Slow Me Down. Considering how long these releases have taken them, it's hard to imagine them going much slower.
[MORE...]

Pretty Girls Make Graves Bassist Launches Side Project

While pretty girls make graves, Cave Singers make their own brand of gentle, country-tinged Pacific Northwestern folk, citing their primary influence as "current life." Yep, the side project of Pretty Girls Make Graves bassist Derek Fudesco-- also featuring Peter Quirk (Hint Hint) and Marty Lund (Cobra High)-- is a pretty subdued affair.

The three-piece (which shares a name with Fudesco's blog) formed this year in a basement and anticipate recording an album this fall.

"Pete and I have been playing for about nine or 10 months," Fudesco told Pitchfork, "We live together and would go in the basement and play and record songs we made up. We really liked the stuff we were writing, so we decided to make it a band. About two months ago, we got Marty to help us play better."

The Cave Singers are recording with Colin Stewart (PGMG, Black Mountain) this October, but they don't have a label yet. "It would be awesome if someone wanted to put [the album] out," said Fudesco. "If not, then we will release it."

While the band hope to make Cave Singers "an ongoing thing." Fudesco has also kept busy writing songs for a film-- Analog Days, directed by his friend Mike Ott, which recently premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and will appear at the Vienna Film Festival in October.

"It was a really cool experience, writing to fit scene clips and creating a vibe and not just writing songs the same way I'm used too," said Fudesco, "It's something that I would like to try and do more of."

Meanwhile, Pretty Girls Make Graves recently recorded an exclusive live iTunes session which includes versions of "Pyrite Pedestal", "The Number", "Pictures of a Night Scene", and "Domino", all from the band's latest record, Élan Vital. The latter track appears as a seven-and-a-half-minute-long "dub mix".

PGMG head out on a massive North American tour this fall. [MORE...]

Rhino Compiles Hardcore Giants for Film Soundtrack
Sorry broheim, no porn here

It's essential for a music movie to have a good soundtrack, and doubly so for a documentary of a specific scene. With that in mind, Rhino Records has assembled a pretty solid compilation of tracks from local '80s hardcore scenes to soundtrack the previously reported forthcoming documentary American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986.

Sharing its name with the film, American Hardcore (the soundtrack) compiles 26 tracks onto a 37-minute album and includes contributions from the DC, New York, Boston, SoCal, NorCal, and Pacific Northwest scenes, among others. Big names (Bad Brains, Black Flag, Minor Threat) mingle with smaller ones (Battalion of Saints, Gang Green) on this record, which drops digitally on September 26 and lands in stores on October 10.

The film, which debuted at Sundance this year, opens in New York on September 22 and in Los Angeles and Irvine, California on September 29, with a nationwide release scheduled for October 13.
[MORE...]

Unreleased Cobain Interviews Become Movie
Ben Gibbard provides the soundtrack

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long Winters Announce Fall Tour
Documentary film in the works

The Long Winters will follow the July release of their latest album, Putting the Days to Bed, with a full-on North American tour. Barsuk labelmates What Made Milwaukee Famous and Menomena will join them for the majority of the dates, but their first two shows will be in California with Feist.

In addition to the tour, a Long Winters documentary is also in the works, scheduled for a tentative September release. Through With Love is a film by Adam Pranica and Jace Krause about lead Winter John Roderick and the process of recording Putting the Days to Bed. The ten-minute promotional featurette linked to below includes interviews with Roderick and his bandmates as well as Ken Stringfellow (the Posies), Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), and John Vanderslice. The film will include eight live performances and even more interviews in its final incarnation.
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Bishop Allen Tour, Star in Movies

Justin Rice, singer/guitarist for the Brooklyn based band Bishop Allen, stars in the indie film Mutual Appreciation, directed by up-and-comer Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha). Appearing in theatres nationwide starting in late August, the film features Rice playing an um, musician who moves to um, New York after his band calls it quits. There he decides to keep pursuing music and is, of course, met with instant success and a run on the late night talk show circuit.

Ok, just kidding. Actually, he runs into various challenges related to self-promoting his work and his relationships with women. Throughout Mutual Appreciation, Rice plays his own songs, as well as some Bishop Allen ones.

When not acting (Bishop Allen's other lead singer, Christian Rudder, played one of the leads in Funny Ha Ha), the band is putting out a four-track EP for every month of 2006. In addition, they're touring with the Teeth and Chris Mills. [MORE...]

Mogwai Score Aronofsky Film

Well I'll be. Mogwai have once again boarded the soundtracking ship, this time with Captain Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream). Makes a little more sense than Miami Vice, doesn't it?

The band contributed to the score for Aronofsky's upcoming film, The Fountain, playing music written by Clint Mansell. No surprise party there. The Kronos Quartet are also on the soundtrack.

The Fountain's trailer can be seen here.

Ian Curtis Movie Begins Shooting

Sure to excite (or enrage) many a disaffected, morose fan, filming for Control, the long-awaited movie about Joy Division's late frontman, Ian Curtis, began this week. Directed by veteran music video director and photographer Anton Corbijn, the film focuses on the tumultuous last years of Curtis' life before he committed suicide in 1980, at the age of 23 and shortly before the band was to depart for its first American tour.

Control deals with Curtis' romantic conflicts with his wife, Deborah, and his mistress, Annik Honore, his increasingly debilitating epileptic seizures, and his performances with Joy Division. Filming will take place in the English towns of Nottingham and Macclesfield (where Curtis lived and is now buried). The film will be released in the UK by Momentum Pictures sometime in 2007. [MORE...]

Old Joy, Starring Oldham, Set for Theaters

In January, told you about Will Oldham's starring role in Kelly Reichardt's Yo La Tengo-soundtracked film, Old Joy. Now, several screenings, a Sundance premiere, and Rotterdam Film Festival VPRO Tiger Award later, Old Joy is ready for a new audience-- you guys!

The movie will open in theaters nationwide this fall, beginning September 20 at New York's Film Forum. Afterward, Old Joy will make its way west, Yo La Tengo will change your kid brother's life, and Oldham will call himself Bonnie "Prince" Braffy. One can hope, anyway.

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.

This marks the second time Jeff Buckley's life story has been slated for the big screen. Writer/producer Train Houston secured the rights to music critic David Browne's 2001 book, Dream Brother: The Lives & Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley, last year, according to Billboard.com.

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...]

Missy, Eminem to Star in Films

Seems like every other week brings a new movie starring a rapper. Recently, we've seen ATL featuring T.I. and Big Boi, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift with Bow Wow, Killa Season with Cam'ron and Dipset. And we'll soon bask in the glory of Waist Deep starring the Game as a dude named "Big Meat" as well as Idlewild, the perpetually delayed Outkast movie we've mentioned a million times already.

Well, it seems that there's even more hip-hop Hollywood action to look forward to. According to the Associated Press, Missy Elliott will play herself in a film version of her life story; the as-yet-untitled film is being produced by Universal Pictures in conjunction with Robert De Niro's production company, Tribeca Films. No director or other participants have been revealed yet, but damn-- Robert De Niro and Missy Elliott! This could be the greatest thing ever. Or a total disaster. We can't wait to find out who plays Timbaland.

This actually isn't Missy's first time on the big screen. She was in Pootie Tang, the Jessica Alba danceathon Honey and apparently lent her voice to Shark Tale, if IMDB is to be believed. [MORE...]

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.)