Pitchfork

Dublin photos by Fiona Diffley; Manchester photos by Martin Cohen; London photos by Brian A. Doherty

As reported in these pages, idiosyncratic Texan troubadour Daniel Johnston and a few of his closest friends-- James McNew of Yo La Tengo, Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, Scout Niblett, Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub, and Jad Fair of Half Japanese, in this case-- spent a good chunk of July bringing their ragtag assemblage to the stages of Europe. Scroll on down for more photos of Daniel and the gang rocking Whelan's in Dublin earlier this week, plus a few bonus shots from a gig in Manchester and an in-store in London.

Daniel Johnston

James McNew

Mark Linkous




Norman Blake


Scout Niblett


Jad Fair


"Friends"

On the opening track from his last album, The Inspiration, Young Jeezy commanded us, in so many words, to get money. Thing is, times have changed since then. The economy, maaaan. It's like...so hard to find work now. The other thing is, Jeezy knows this, and he has addressed our concerns with the title of The Inspiration's follow-up, The Recession.

The Recession comes out via CTE/Def Jam on September 2. Its first single, "Put On [ft. Kanye West]", has already hit radio and Forkcast, and the album's cover is available below for your viewing pleasure.

To promote The Recession, Jeezy is unveiling new content weekly on a blog and social networking site called USDA2Day.com. We'd compliment the pun on USA Today, except it's probably "just a coincidence."

Young Jeezy will hit the road on a U.S. tour closer to the release of The Recession. The tour starts in Houston on August 10.

Murs is a man of simple tastes-- sex, booze, music, video games-- and he is forthcoming about them. Other than honesty, what do Americans want in a leader, except maybe political experience and some semblance of a plan? The L.A. MC may not have either of those last two qualities, but that hasn't stopped him from announcing his candidacy with the title of his forthcoming major label debut: Murs for President.

The record features guest appearances from Snoog Dogg, Will.I.Am (uh oh!), and Tyler Woods, plus production from 9th Wonder, Scoop DeVille, and Terrance Martin.

Warner Bros. will release Murs for President on September 30. Its first single, "Better Than the Best", is already available digitally. Another single is also in the works: a 12" featuring "Can It Be" on the A-side and "Me and This Jawn" on the B-side.

To tide us over until then, Murs has released his third full-length collaboration with 9th Wonder online for free. The record is called Sweet Lord, and you can download it here. What's more, Murs and the other seven MCs who comprise Living Legends hit us with their latest offering, an EP called The Gathering, this week via their own Legendary Music.

Murs' live itinerary is consumed by the traveling Rock the Bells festival this summer. His next date with the festival is in Miami on August 2.

Photo by Michael Lavine

TV on the Radio have unveiled the tracklist to their forthcoming Return to Cookie Mountain follow-up, Dear Science, and thanks to a Blender.com report written by Pitchfork contributor Ryan Dombal and confirmed by the band's publicist and website, it is listed after the jump.

TVOTR have also added quite a few dates to their North American tour since our last report. The trek now extends into November

Dear Science, comes out September 23 via Interscope in the U.S. and September 22 via 4AD elsewhere.

Soon enough, soulman Jamie Lidell's not gonna have a spare second to sit down and pose for these kinds of wacky promotional photos. The always colorful crooner's got tour dates out the wahoo, stretching nearly into next year.

Things just got a whole lot crazier with the addition of a new North American tour and way more dates on his run with fellow snazzy dresser Elton John. Lidell will bring it back to our shores in early fall, and the new dates with Elton come just before their previously announced jaunt. One addendum: Jamie's been forced to push back his October 16 gig in London to December 14, presumably to accommodate his new traveling schedule.

See? Hardly even a spare moment to watch one's own head on the telly.

"Shock Value is really like the Now [That's What I Call Music!] compilation," Timbaland recently told MTV.com in a report on the sequel to his 2007 grab bag of an album. Guess that explains the record's uneven nature?

With such high artistic aspirations in sight, the super-producer told MTV.com he has already recorded songs with Madonna and T-Pain for Shock Value 2 and that he also plans to include collaborations with Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jordin Sparks, the freaking Jonas Brothers, and maybe T.I. Shock Value 2 has no release date yet.

Explaining his Now comment, Timbaland said to MTV.com, "That's my goal for this-- not [to showcase] me as an artist. Of course I'll do my little part, introduce some people. It gives me room to go tour across the world. People request me. I put on a show. I put on a musical show."

But that's not all we learned about Timbaland: "I really do focus groups. I get reports, readouts. I'm not gonna talk about it. If you ask for documentation, I got it. I'm a businessman and at the same time a CEO. But I looked at the charts: I went platinum in 16 different countries. Africa? Double platinum. Ireland? Double platinum. New Zealand? Triple platinum. London? Platinum. London is the hardest place to go platinum. France? Platinum. They don't like nobody unless you French, but they like me." Nevermind that Africa and London don't qualify as countries. Point is: the man can move units.

Other people who like Timothy Mosley include Missy Elliott and Chris Cornell. Timbaland contributed production to Missy's Block Party, and MTV.com reports Cornell has enlisted Tim to produce his new solo album, Scream. As previously reported, Timbaland just might produce the entire next Jay-Z album too. Now that's what I call a collaboration.

Most summer music festival organizers take advantage of the season's nice weather by holding outdoor festivities, but the folks behind A Day at the Races have opted for something a little more intimate. On August 2, they'll squeeze several hundred people into two clubs in Manchester, England: Night & Day and Moho Live.

Playing to this crowd will be Los Campesinos!, Four Tet, Múm, the Mae Shi, Calvin Johnson, Nina Nastasia, Johnny Foreigner, Jeffrey Lewis, Elf Power, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Bearsuit, and Adem, among others.

Oh, ginormous corporations, sometimes you make it hard to have a problem with you. Once again, Nike Sportswear has glommed onto Portland's MusicFest NW to offer up a series of daytime shows for free to fest attendees and area mooches alike. (Man, Nike Sportswear is really on the cool free live shows tip this summer.)

The result is a trio of truly killer bills, taking place September 4-6 at the city's Wonder Ballroom. September 4 finds No Age and Battles trading licks, while the next day sees Spoon's Britt Daniel flying solo and Built to Spill tackling the riffmonster they call Perfect From Now On. September 6, it'll be Les Savy Fav and Ratatat getting their troubled grooves on.

The shows are, again, free of charge, though you'll have to either present your MFNW wristband, or pick up a pass at either Jackpot Records location the day of the show.

Man, see what years and years of shaky labor practices around the world will get you? The dude from Spoon!

In related MFNW news, Fleet Foxes, Bouncing Souls, and Hot Water Music have been added to the bill since our last report. Unfortunately, Murder City Devils have canceled their show.

Folks and folk alike will converge this summer as James Jackson "They Used to Call Me Wooden Wand" Toth and newish Pac NW duo the Dutchess & the Duke embark on a joint tour.

Toth's debut album under his given name, Waiting in Vain, arrived today (July 29) on Rykodisc, while the Dutchess & the Duke's She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke is out now from Hardly Art. Both acts have a few dates beyond the time they'll share, including a run of September dates that find Toth supporting Silver Jews. Folk on, folks.

Following in the illustrious footsteps of Chris Cornell, Garbage, Sheryl Crow, a-ha, Tom Jones, and so on, chart-topper Alicia Keys and Jack White of White Stripes and Raconteurs fame will perform the theme song to upcoming James Bond flick Quantum of Solace, according to a Billboard.com report (as yet not confirmed by representatives of either artist).

Keys and White will duet on "Another Way to Die", which White penned and will produce and play drums upon. The tune-- the first duet in the history of James Bond movie theme songs, for what that's worth, and the fourth to date to include the word "Die"-- will feature on the film's soundtrack, due October 28, and the film itself, due November 7.

Perhaps this is what Alicia was hinting at when she ran on to Rock & Roll Daily back in May, saying, "I think that combining [the White Stripes' raw] style with mine, which already has a raw feel to it, and my voice, I just think we could do something really interesting that mixes rock and soul together, the blues and emotion, and it could be really touching." Surely not more touching than "Die Another Day"!?

White's Raconteurs hit the road again next month, and they want your help. The boys recently launched a new live section of their website where they're seeking submissions for live video, images, and the like. Because you're not really having a good time at a concert unless you're logging the entire experience on amateur equipment for the enjoyment of others.