Under Byen Tour North America With Frida Hyvonen

What with all the chatter about Sweden on this here website, it's easy to forget that other Scandinavian nations made a serious Stateside splash in 2006 (an indie-sized splash, but still). Among them: Denmark, who graced us with Pitchfork faves Figurines and Mew, as well as Under Byen ("Oh'nah Boon"), who've been kicking it for a while now and released Samme Stof Som Stof (Paper Bag Records) last year to generally positive reviews.

The octet-- comprised of four boys and four girls, which means they'll kick your band's ass at square dancing-- finally makes its way to the U.S. and Canada this spring, playing a spate of shows throughout March which climaxes with some SXSW appearances. What's more, they're bringing along one hell of a secret weapon in their quest for Scandinavian domination: Sweden's potty-mouthed chanteuse Frida Hyvönen, who will open most dates, sharing coy, heartfelt balladry from her 2006 U.S. re-release, Until Death Comes (Secretly Canadian).

Frida's previously mentioned poodle-dance soundtrack hits shops across Sweden on January 24, thanks to the Concretes-run imprint Licking Fingers. It's called Frida Hyvönen Gives You: Music from the Dance Performance PUDEL and there's no word quite yet on Secretly Canadian's U.S. release. [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...]

Thermals Tear Across North America

Just in time for us folks up north to don our long underwear, the Thermals-- electrified Portland spunk-rock trio and creative force behind Pitchfork's 17th favorite album of 2006, The Body, the Blood, the Machine-- will take to the road beginning this February.

Hutch Harris and company have announced seven dates thus far, most in the Jesus-freaked U.S., one in comely Canada. Best of all: unlike last fall's jaunt that had our trusty Thermals playing second banana to Emomaha's Cursive and that band's black-haired, black-hearted minions, this little adventure has the hard-working Sub Pop trio headlining the smallish, dingy dives they were born to play, in front of the crowds they've been dying to sweat all over. And they'll be joined by Frenchkissers the Big Sleep for most dates. So come out, bring your friends, and for crissakes people, move around!

Here's something to get yr motors running: "2007 is gonna kick major ass!" exclaimed Thermals bassist Kathy Foster in a recent MySpace post. "Let's make it GREAT, ok?! we're gonna start it off right by working on new songs in january and february before leaving for tour. get your juices flowing too! don't put off what you wanna do any longer." Chew on that, kiddies. [MORE...]

Video: Girl Talk [New Year's Eve 2006-07, Chicago]

Girl Talk DJ/"not a DJ" Gregg Gillis stormed the grimy, punk-weathered stage at Chicago's legendary Empty Bottle venue Sunday night, ringing in the new year to an impossibly sold-out crowd: By the night of the event, the club's modest $25 tickets were selling on Craigslist for upwards of $250 a pop.

Inside the small, unassuming corner bar at Cortez and Western was a Chicago hipster "Soul Train" resurrection: 400 wasted party people, beat-thirsty and bug-eyed, knocking back straight whiskey and cutrate champagne, passing pizza boxes overhead, getting tangled in Christmas lights and ejected from the club. And Gillis-- lighting up sparklers on his laptop, gradually undressing, remashing Night Ripper faves with Daft Punk, Lil Wayne, and the latest Clipse clips, and celebrating his amazing year-- put in overtime, ensuring that everyone in the room had enough fun in the first hour of the new year to last them to 2008.

MP3: Talib Kweli, Madlib Team for Free Album

Seems Talib Kweli and Madlib resolved to be more generous and giving in 2007, and they're wasting no time with that. Today the pair delivers Liberation, a nine-track digital-only LP featuring MC Kweli and producer Lib, available for free download now-- cover art and all-- on Stones Throw's website.

A lo-fi affair full of soulful samples and plenty of name-dropping on the part of Kweli, Liberation includes guest verses from Consequence and Strong Arm Steady and should whet appetites a little bit until Talib drops Ear Drum, his previously reported new LP, originally slated for release late last year. It's now set to land later this month via Kweli's own Blacksmith imprint, under the mighty Warner Bros. umbrella.

But don't whet those appetites too much. Wrote Kweli on his MySpace, "Some fans will say [Liberation] is the sound they want to hear from me all the time. If so, congratulations, you got your wish. However, do not use this to speculate what Ear Drum will sound like. It is a different project with different influences."

Oh, and add kindness to the list of Kweli resolutions. "Shout out to my brother Madlib," wrote the MC in the same MySpace message, "for being so creative and inspirational, and for giving me a canvas to paint on. This project was inspired by his consistency...In this era of over produced and over marketed product, Madlib leads the pack of independent artists who could care less about all of that." We'll toast to that. [MORE...]

Sebadoh Reveal Reunion Tour Dates
J Mascis Designs Shoe for Nike

In October, the semi-cryptic "Sebadoh Classic will be touring this spring 2/25/07 → 4/07" msg appeared on Lou Barlow's website. And now, Lou Barlow, Eric Gaffney, and Jason Loewenstein have revealed the dates that will be filling in that gap-- and extending it. (The trek includes a stop at Noise Pop, as previously reported)

In an update on his site, Barlow commented on a week of recent Sebadoh practice sessions in Los Angeles, as well as Dinosaur Jr.'s holiday trip to the UK, an upcoming five-song solo CD EP ("It sounds more like old-school Sentridoh than anything I've done in awhile. A big murky mess...I love it...That'll be out in Spain sometime soon."), and more.

Speaking of Dinosaur Jr., they currently have one performance scheduled. And it's... a Nike Skateboarding shoe release party taking place at Tampa, Florida's Cuban Club on January 19. No kidding, J Mascis designed a SHOE for Nike. Yeah, apparently aging indie rock legends have the same cache as basketball stars and rappers these days.

Dinosaur Jr. also has a full-band DVD, Dinosaur Jr.: Live from the Middle East, on its way May 8 via Image Entertainment. As previously reported, the trio also plans to drop a currently untitled album produced by Mascis and mixed by John Agnello this spring.

Finally, a bunch of Sebadoh bootlegs have made their way to the band's site. [MORE...]

Video: Bonnie "Prince" Billy: "Ebb Tide"

A striptease. A topless swim. Blue night-vision light.

The latest Paris Hilton escapade? Or...the new Bonnie "Prince" Billy video?

Congratulations, bald-guy-with-beard fetishists, it's the latter! Though not particularly raunchy, this clip for "Ebb Tide" (aka the hidden track at the end of The Letting Go) does feature Will Oldham stripping down to his swim trunks and taking a dip in the ocean. Director Jennifer Parsons' sea shots alternate with footage of Oldham, bathed in said blue light, crooning the song into the camera while making funny faces. Hot stuff.

Moore, Ranaldo, Chatham Head Experimental Fest
Also: Tony Conrad, Christina Carter, Sir Richard Bishop, Loren Connors, Zeena Parkins

New York I love you, but you're bringing me down. And that's mostly on account of the enormous distance between your culture-paved streets and the geometric avenues of the Second City-- and the fact that you're constantly getting kick-ass-to-the-max festivals like this one.

The Independents festival kicks off January 4 in Brooklyn and runs through the end of the month, bringing together pretty much anyone who's anyone in boundary-pushing music these days, and tossing in some film and poetry for kicks. All experiments in sound and vision go down at the Issue Project Room, which will host showcases all month long from a number of respectable labels, including Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace, Locust, Table of the Elements, Tompkins Square, XI, Pogus, and Family Vineyard.

Among the performers: Bark Haze (featuring Moore and Andrew MacGregor, aka Gown), fellow Sonic Youther Lee Ranaldo, guitar composer Rhys Chatham (performing with his "Guitar Trio All-Stars"), drone violinist Tony Conrad, Charmalambides' Christina Carter, Sunburned Hand of the Man (scoring some films), Ira Cohen (reading poems), mad drummer Jonathan Kane's February, crazed harpist Zeena Parkins, Sun City Girl Sir Richard Bishop, Loren Connors/David Daniell/Greg Kelley, No Neck Blues Band, MV+EE, Lau Nau, Function, Lichens, Ethan Rose, and Badgerlore. Scope the complete lineup and schedule here.

You're also highly encouraged to check out Leif Inge's SXSW smash "9 Beet Stretch", which elongates Beethoven's 9th Symphony out into a 24-hour drone mindfuck.

TV on the Radio Schedule North American Tour

Following his Karen O leak outburst last month, Dave Sitek has found a new outlet for his pent-up creative energy: a TV on the Radio spring tour.

The band will hit the road in March, crossing the U.S. and Canada through late April. [MORE...]

Shins Share Video, Digital LP; Rock "SNL"

Somehow I missed the Cast Your Kids in a Shins Video contest, which is a shame, since my kids love them some Shins, but lookee here! The video for the band's "Phantom Limb", first single from Wincing the Night Away (January 23, Sub Pop), thrusts our fair Shins and America's children into the throes of various tragic historical situations. Situations that, yes, changed lives-- but hardly for the better. Irony! Maybe.

Kids and Shins portray Joan of Arc and her army, vile conquistadors, oppressed native peoples, and the ill-fated members of the Donner party in the Patrick Daughters-directed clip. It's rather charming because 1.) the whole thing is set up and dramatized like a play, and 2.) such dire circumstances are pretty much the last thing the Shins' music evokes. Incongruity can be fun.



Also fun: the digital age. And in an effort to reconcile the technological advances our science hath wrought with the rampant nostalgia for all things vinyl, those jolly elves at Sub Pop will package all LP copies of Wincing the Night Away with a magical golden ticket which you may redeem-- at no additional charge-- for Wincing in mp3 format. Not unlike what Merge Records and a bunch of other labels are doing right now. And not a bad idea, if you ask us.

Finally, our boys will wince the "Saturday Night Live" away, appearing on the sometimes funny NBC program January 13, along with Jake Gyllenhaal of Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain fame. UPDATE: They'll be performing "Phantom Limb" and "New Slang".

Finally finally, there's a pretty fantastic Shins interview on the main page right now. You know you want to click it.

T.V. Eye: January 2-8, 2007

Pitchfork's T.V. Picks for This Week:

Tuesday, January 2:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": My Chemical Romance
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Regina Spektor (rerun)

Wednesday, January 3:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": Twilight Singers
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": Wolfmother (rerun)

Thursday, January 4:

NBC: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno": Akon

Saturday, January 6:

PBS: "Austin City Limits": Damian Marley

Monday, January 8:

MTV2: "Subterranean": the Thermals

While We Were Out
Stuff that happened during the break

For the past two weeks, the Pitchfork news team has been on our annual Mexican vacation, swimming in the ocean, sipping margaritas, and building beach bonfires out of stacks of bad promo CDs. (Sorry, Bull Cock.)

However, just because we're busy rubbing suntan lotion on one another's backs doesn't mean the music world stops generating news, though we would prefer if it did.

So here's a brief wrap-up of some of the more notable happenings that took place since December 15, 2006 and today. Happenings that weren't as notable as James Brown's death or Stephen Colbert enlisting Henry fucking Kissinger to beat Chris Funk at guitar-soloing, that is.

Happy new year!

ARCADE FIRE ONSLAUGHT BEGINS

The week before the break, a mysterious advertisement appeared on our website, bearing only the phone number 1-866-NEONBIBLE and a link to www.neonbible.com. Assuming it was some cheesy viral marketing campaign for a Christian youth movement or a car (Dodge Neon, maybe?) or something, we ignored it.

Whoops!

Turns out it was an ad for the new Arcade Fire album, titled, yes, Neon Bible. Calling the phone number got you a static-y, almost unlistenable version of the song "Intervention". Thankfully, on December 28, the real "Intervention" in all of its orchestral, over-the-top glory became available as an iTunes download benefiting the nonprofit health care group Partners in Health.

The Neon Bible track "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" also became available as an iTunes download benefiting Partners in Health, albeit accidentally. According to a post from Win Butler on the band's website, someone from Merge Records mistakenly put the track on iTunes on December 26. Thanks, dude.

The band also added five shows at Judson Memorial Church in New York City to their previously reported residencies in London and Montreal. Tickets go on sale January 5, but they probably somehow sold out already.

BRIGHT EYES RETURNS

According to Google, Cassadaga is some sort of spiritual cult thing involving communicating with the dead. How emo! Cassadaga is also the name of the forthcoming Bright Eyes album, due out on April 10 on Saddle Creek. It will be preceded by the Four Winds EP on March 6, which includes the title track and five non-album B-sides: "Reinvent the Wheel", "Smoke Without Fire", "Stray Dog Freedom", "Cartoon Blues", and "Tourist Trap".

Conor Oberst is joined by producer Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott on Cassadaga. As previously reported, the album also includes cameos from M.Ward, Gillian Welch, and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks.

A Bright Eyes tour is in the works for February.

TAPES 'N TAPES ROBBED IN AUSTRALIA

What a shitty way to start the holidays: Right before Tapes 'n Tapes were set to fly home to Minneapolis from an Australian tour, the band's van was robbed. For some reason, the thief or thieves didn't take a lot of equipment, but they did take "one of our passports...two Mac laptops...one digital camera, all of Josh's clothes, one Blackberry, two cell phones, and all sorts of various inconvenient personal effects (glasses, keys, wallets, shoes, etc.)," according to a post on the band's website.

Why would you want someone else's glasses?

PAUL WESTERBERG STABS HIMSELF IN THE HAND WITH A SCREWDRIVER

 

 

 

Um, yeah. This made the front page of CNN.com.

VELVET UNDERGROUND ACETATE GOES FOR $25,200.00

That insanely rare Velvet Underground record was sold on eBay for a second time, and was presumably bought by a reputable person. We hope.

 

 

PETER BJORN AND JOHN INVADE AMERICA

Pitchfork's 24th favorite album of 2006, Swedish indie pop trio Peter Bjorn and John's Writer's Block, will be released in America on February 6. It's coming out on the brand new label Almost Gold, which is a partnership between Scott Rodger, manager of Arcade Fire and Bjork, and Isaac Green of StarTime International.

The U.S. version of the album includes the "single version" of "Let's Call It Off", as well as a bonus disc featuring the original take on that song as well as "Ancient Curse", "All Those Expectations (Weak Remix)", "Self-Pity", "Sitar Folks", and the "Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation" version of Pitchfork's fifth favorite song of 2006, "Young Folks".

PB&J also scheduled two New York City shows, one at the Mercury Lounge on January 29 and one at the Bowery Ballroom on January 30.

TED LEO REVEALS TERRIBLE ALBUM COVER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come on, man.

 

 

 

 

MALKMUS, DEERHOOF, EL-P TO PLAY PLUG AWARDS; DAVID CROSS HOSTS

The 2007 PLUG Awards got even cooler with the announcement of the awards ceremony's entertainment lineup. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Deerhoof, El-P, Tokyo Police Club, and, ugh, Silversun Pickups, will all perform at the big event, taking place February 10 at NYC's Irving Plaza.

Malkmus will receive the PLUG Impact Award (basically the indie version of the Lifetime Achievement Grammy), while the other performers are up for PLUGs in various categories. Comedian David Cross will host the show and make fun of everybody.

LADY SOVEREIGN RESCHEDULES SHOWS

As promised, Lady Sovereign rescheduled her Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles shows that were either cut short or canceled due to illness last month. The new dates are:

 

 

01-04 Las Vegas, NV - Empire Ballroom
01-08 San Francisco - Club Mezzanine
01-09 San Diego - House of Blues
01-10 Los Angeles - El Rey Theatre

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.)