Video: Bloc Party: "I Still Remember"

Director Aggressive takes the video for "I Still Remember"-- Bloc Party's decidedly unaggressive first U.S. single-- to the trains. Lyrically, the song's a trip down memory lane, but visually, it's all boxcars, band members in multiple outfits, and Kele Okereke's oh-so-sincere looks into the camera, treated to a heavy blanket of fuzzy focus.

Matt Tong's collapsed lung may have forced them to put an end to their tour with Panic! At the Disco, but Bloc Party are emo through and through.

As previously reported, Vice will release A Weekend in the City on February 6, and the band begin their world tour January 25.


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Sam Prekop Talks New Sea and Cake Disc

Believe it or not, it's been nearly four years since we've heard so much as a whimper from the Sea and Cake, but that doesn't mean the veteran Chicago jazz-inflected pop quartet has slowed down.

Cakers Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt spent the last few years focusing on individual pursuits-- each released a solo record in 2005 (Who's Your New Professor and Wilderness, respectively, both on Thrill Jockey). Drummer John McEntire, meanwhile, has concentrated on his work with Tortoise, while also recording up a storm at his Soma Studios. And Eric Claridge traded the bass for a palette and paintbrush, turning out a pretty sweet series of oil paintings last year.

Now the fire, wind, earth, and heart of the Sea and Cake (water is lame, man) have reunited at last, and by their powers combined, nearly completed work on album number seven. Pitchfork caught up with Sea and Cake captain Sam Prekop yesterday for a chat about recording the latest LP at a "rock'n'roll boot camp," his photography book, his electronic record with McEntire, and the fine art of the album cover.

"We're almost done" with the as-yet-untitled record, reported Prekop. "We have one more song to mix, and then the sequencing." It should see the light of day in May, and like all previous Sea and Cake full lengths, bear the Thrill Jockey stamp.

That's not the only continuing trend here: like the six Sea and Cake LPs before it, number seven will contain exactly 10 tracks (including "Scribble On" and "What Tonight Is")-- which was far from Prekop's intention.

"I was very anxious to make a record that had more than ten songs," he said. "[But] this one has ten, too, which I didn't think was going to happen, because we had actually prepared 15. But for whatever reason, five of them didn't make it. If we felt that we could have pulled off more than ten, we would have, or if it felt right.

"It could be a thing where we just know that ten, that's it, that makes the best record, you can't get further than that." [MORE...]

Exclusive: Blonde Redhead Reveal 23, Announce Tour

When we last chatted with Blonde Redhead's Simone Pace, the band was recording the follow-up to 2004's Misery Is a Butterfly, but still wholly undecided about all those silly logistical things we Pitchfork newsies love to report: an album name, song titles, a release date, and the like. Perhaps they resolved to make up their minds when the ball dropped, or perhaps they're just damned savvy marketers, but the art-rock trio has at last revealed all.

On April 10, 4AD will release Blonde Redhead's seventh album, 23, which we sure hope has nothing to do with that forthcoming Joel Schumacher-directed, Jim Carrey-starring numerology thriller. But hmm, wait a minute...23 times four (as in 4AD) times seven (seventh album) plus 23 minus one (um, just because) equals...666!!!!

Holy smokes, we've got ourselves a conspiracy. And we haven't even considered the numeric significance of folks like 23's co-mixers Rich Costey and Alan Moulder, nor that of Mr. Chris Coady, who recorded the Blonde Redhead-produced affair at New York's Magic Shop.

And it wouldn't be a Blonde Redhead marketing blitz/occult conspiracy without the North American tour, which kicks off in mid-March at SXSW. But wait: if Kazu and the Pace brothers rock precisely four SXSW showcases/parties (a reasonable number for a band of their stature), that means they'll play exactly 23 shows on this tour!!! Hot Jesus, somebody call Dan Brown already. [MORE...]

Rough Trade Inks North American Licensing Deal
Jarvis, Brakes, British Sea Power, 1990s, Veils to cross pond

Times have been, er, rough for North America-dwelling fans of UK indie powerhouse Rough Trade Records in recent years, with most of the venerable label's newer releases hopping the pond in small numbers at best. Hence, you may have come up woefully short last time you visited your local U.S. record shop to hit on the clerk and buy that new Brakes record-- but not for long!

Rough Trade announced yesterday that they've hooked up with the NYC-based World's Fair Label Group to move units of their sweet product all over North America. According to a press release, the deal is an "agreement" in which World's Fair-- already in league with Definitive Jux, PIAS, Bella Union, Fabric, Echo, and BBE-- will "begin overseeing the marketing, manufacturing and distributing of five marquee releases initially, with more titles soon to be announced."

Those five initial discs are Jarvis Cocker's Jarvis, the Veils' Nux Vomica, the 1990's imminent debut, the forthcoming British Sea Power disc, and yes, Brakes' The Beatific Visions-- however because there's already a U.S.-based Brakes, and neither Brakes UK or the Brighton Brakes sounds remotely cool, the band behind Beatific Visions will henceforth be known as BrakesBrakesBrakes to U.S. audiences. Oh boy.

Said Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis in the press release, "This venture represents an opportunity to show what Rough Trade can do to help foster the growth of Independent artists and talented mavericks determined to improve the quality of all of our lives." [MORE...]

Thurston, Carl Newman Write About Favorite Shows

Oh man, remember concerts, those things we used to go to before the days of downloading convinced us that we should just stay inside and half-digest records recommended to us by blogs we discovered by Googling celebrity crotch shots?

Well, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and the New Pornographers' Carl Newman do, and not just because they continue to play these "shows" on a regular basis. Along with 48 other writers-- such as Chuck Klosterman, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), and Harvey Pekar (he of American Splendor immortalization)-- they remember certain concerts because they meant something to them. And they have written about those concerts for Da Capo Press' The Show I'll Never: 50 Writers Relive Their Most Memorable Concertgoing Experience.

Thurston writes about Glen Branca, Rudolph Grey, and Wharton Tiers, while Carl Newman writes about Redd Kross. Sufjan Stevens was supposed to contribute to the book as well (as he told us in an interview, he was going to write about the Ex), but we guess he got too busy with that whole being a successful musician thing.

Sean Manning edited The Show, which Da Capo will publish as a paperback original on January 15. The book's full list of musical subjects-- in order of appearance in the book (which is in chronological order by date of occurrence)-- is long enough that it might convince you to give up reading as well, but it is printed below: [MORE...]

The Rapture Announce American Tour

"Helping hipsters dance one song at a time" says the promotional postcard for the Rapture's latest album, Pieces of the People We Love. The band will help many a hipster, and play many a song, on their recently announced winter American tour, which will hit such hotspots as Tallahassee, Pittsburgh, and Northampton in late January and early February. Then it's off to Europe for Luke, Mattie, and the boys. [MORE...]

Patti Smith to Release Covers Album

Patti Smith helped launch her career with a cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria", and now, at the age of 60, she's coming full circle. Billboard.com reports that Smith will release a covers album this spring, and it will includes material originally recorded by Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Nirvana, Neil Young, and, Smith says, "some people you'd be very surprised at."

Oh god, we hope she isn't covering "Crazy" too.

In addition, the LP features guest appearances from Television's Tom Verlaine, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, the Black Crowes' Richard Robinson, playwright/actor Sam Shepard, and Smith's children Jackson and Jesse. It's a family affair.

As reported Monday (January 8), following a March 12 ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Smith will be admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She plans to perform at the event. Other 2007 inductees include R.E.M., the Ronettes, Van Halen, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

And that's not all the punk godmother is up to right now. Smith currently has a photography exhibit, "A Pythagorean Traveler", on display (through January 13) at New York City's Robert Miller Gallery. She'll make an appearance at another gallery, the Boston Institute of Contemporary Arts, on February 21 for a spoken word/poetry show.

In other news, Billboard.com reports that Smith and her band are currently learning songs associated with the "Summer of Love" era of the late 1960s for an upcoming tour.

Finally, further deluxe reissues are on their way from Smith's Arista back catalog, following the 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition of Horses in 2005.

[photo by Angelo Cricchi]

Exclusive: I'm From Barcelona Introduce U.S. Tracklist

Sure you and I'm From Barcelona have been going steady ever since you met in Pitchfork's Best New Music section this past August. I mean, you two really hit it off-- something about the beluga whale-sized hooks and anthemic choruses on Let Me Introduce My Friends just made you feel whole and warm, alive and snuggly. But alas, it's been but a wistful, long distance twee pop romance...until now.

As previously reported, I'm From Barcelona's Let Me Introduce My Friends crashes U.S. shores at last on March 20, thanks to Mute North America. You and your 29 sweethearts may finally skip hand-in-hand through the clouds, to the tune of a just-revealed, slightly revamped tracklist.

The U.S. edition of My Friends boasts two bonus tracks: "The Painter" (previously available on the Don't Give Up on Your Dreams, Buddy! EP) and what may well be an ode to indie-pop kids' number one turn-on, "Glasses".

Try to keep your heart intact, North Americans, as I'm From Barcelona bound about Europe this January. [MORE...]

Mark Ronson Recruits Lily Allen, ODB for Album

Mark Ronson-- DJ, producer, Allido Records co-founder, and friend of everyone from Christina Aguilera and Jimmy Fallon to Ghostface Killah and Lily Allen-- has announced that the title of his next pop-culture-cannibalizing full-length will be Version and that it will come out April 16 in the UK.

Allen and the bigger-in-Britain Robbie Williams both appear on Version, as does Allido's Daniel Merriweather, who contributes vocals to a version of the Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" that Ronson mashes up with the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On". Explaining the concept for Version in a press release, Ronson said, "With my first album, I had all these people like Mos Def and M.O.P. guesting. This time it's not about that. Despite the big names... the songs here are the guest stars. With Version, I've taken these songs that I love and turned them into Motown/Stax 70s versions."

Ronson will precede the album with the release of the limited edition, double A-side single "Toxic"/"God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" 10" on January 29 via Columbia in the UK, on which he turns in lounge-ready versions of Britney Spears' and Coldplay's tracks. Ronson has made both tracks as well as a subtle glockenspiel-and-trumpet-adding remix of Lily Allen's "Smile"-- that he hopes to include on Version if she lets him-- available on his MySpace.

Ronson foregoes Chris Martin's vocals on his version of "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face", instead getting some pep-rally-ready horns to play the vocal melody on a track that's a little bit surf and a little bit ska. For "Toxic", Ronson replaces Spears' vocals with schmaltzy singing and the late ODB's show-stealing verses, which include to-the-point lines like, "I don't want to go back to the police station./ They're trying to send Dirt on a long vacation," and, "Fuck the pussy 'til it's orange like Ernie and Bert."

We mean no disrespect, but step your Sesame Street game up, Russell. Bert is yellow!

caUSE co-MOTION! Incite Brouhaha on Tour
MP3: caUSE co-MOTION!: "Which Way Is Up"

Hey kid, have you used your motion lately? No? Well what have you been waiting for? Brooklyn's caUSE co-MOTION! have been not-so- subliminally urging you to do so ever since you first saw their meticulously-crafted, multi-layered moniker floating around some webpage somewhere. And now's your big chance.

The lo-fi noise-pop quartet (those two c's might as well allude to C86) takes to the road this weekend, blazing a jangly trail across northeastern North America. Joining them for various stretches are Canadian crazies Think About Life and animated punkers Japanther, as well as What's Your Rupture? buddies Tyvek and the Blankket.

As previously reported, caUSE co-MOTION!'s This Just Won't Last 7" EP makes up one-fourth of the Imagine the Shapes compilation, due February 6 via What's Your Rupture? and also collecting WYR? vinyl from Love Is All, the Long Blondes, and Comet Gain onto CD.

Click below for an mp3 of caUSE co-MOTION's "Which Way Is Up", the lead track from the band's latest 7" on What's Your Rupture? [MORE...]

Strokes' Hammond Jr. to Release Debut in U.S.

Albert Hammond Jr. has, in a stroke of genius (or common sense), scheduled a U.S. release for his debut solo album, Yours to Keep. The disc will feature two bonus tracks, "Postal Blowfish" (we knew these guys were big Guided by Voices fans!) and "Well...All Right", from the Strokes guitarist, both of which weren't present on the record's original UK pressing, released across the pond last October via Rough Trade.

Yours to Keep will hit the U.S. on March 6 courtesy of Scratchie/New Line Records. A Mexican version will follow, though a specific due date has not yet been confirmed.

As previously reported, Hammond (with guitarist Steve Schiltz and guitarist/keyboardist Marc Eskenazi) is currently making a fool of himself on the road with Incubus. A U.S. headlining tour is scheduled for this spring (dates yet to be announced). And, as mentioned yesterday, Hammond will open for Bloc Party on their upcoming trek through the States. [MORE...]

Kaiser Chiefs Reveal Album Details, Tour

We're not sure if the title of the newly announced Kaiser Chiefs record, Yours Truly, Angry Mob, refers to the rioters the band once predicted, but we do know that the Kaiser Chiefs sure are fond of large groups of revved-up people.

The Angry Mob will invade, pitchforks and torches aloft, internationally on February 26 and in North America on March 27 via Universal. It was produced by Stephen Street at Berkshire's Hook End Manor and mixed by both Street and Cenzo Townshend at London's Olympic Studios.

The disc's first single, "Ruby", is due a week earlier on February 19 on B*Unique on CD, seven inch, and as a download. Each format brags a different B-side: "From the Neck Down" (CD), "Admire You" (seven inch), and "Ruby" (live at Berlin's Kesselhaus in November 2006) (exclusive to the download). These will all be available digitally as well.

The Kaisers will celebrate the album with a series of two-night stands in cities across the UK throughout February and March, and will make their way to the States in early April. Additional U.S. dates are in the works. [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.)