Pitchfork

Many a moon ago we brought the lowdown on Australian arts zine The Lifted Brow's "Fake Bookshelf" issue, a rather ambitious endeavor that involved getting a bunch of indie rock and literary types to create songs, stories, and comics based on gonzo book titles like Honeymoon With Murder and The World of Professional Golf 1994. Naturally a project of this magnitude took some time putting together, but the Brow bunch has finally unveiled the fruits of its labors.

Pre-orders have already begun for The Lifted Brow No. 4, which is due to arrive proper on January 17. The truly mammoth multimedia compendium spreads dozens upon dozens of stories and comics across 300 pages, and 40 songs across two accompanying compact discs. Check out the tracklist for the audio portion of the set below.

Joining the ranks of previously noted song-contributors Dan Deacon, the Wrens, Goblin Cock, Frightened Rabbit, and Rock Plaza Central on the CDs are Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg, the Magnetic Fields' Claudia Gonson (singing a tune penned by Neil Gaiman, no less), Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Sleeping States, the Capstan Shafts, and the Lucksmiths (who took the Golf book, which sounds like a Lucksmiths song title anyway), among others. Meanwhile, the Thermals' offering has taken the form of a solo track from Kathy Foster under the Butterfly Transformation Service moniker, and scribe and Decemberists favorite Myla Goldberg even has a jam on this thing with her band the Walking Hellos.

Ted Leo, Islands, and Handsome Furs bowed out since our initial report, but the trove of fiction and comic art contained in Brow No. 4 has increased to include selections from Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Jeffrey Brown, and Rick Moody in addition to Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown), Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater, ex-Okkervil River), Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Blackout Beach), Beth Murphy (Times New Viking), Sydney Vermont (Hello, Blue Roses), and zillions more.

All in all, this should keep you plenty busy for the year it takes The Lifted Brow to come up with their next one. ;-)

The Lifted Brow No. 4:

Disc 1:

01 The Cay: "Cachalot"
02 Haunted House: "Sierra Trail"
03 Fewn: "Buffalo Crossing"
04 The Panda Band: "Where the River Rises"
05 Aleks and the Ramps: "Walking in the Garden"
06 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: "The House of Memory"
07 No Kids: "Prisoner of Desire"
08 Hannah Marcus: "The Princess Royal"
09 I'm Not Jim: "Stalking Horse"
10 Telefauna: "Gold Fury"
11 Windmill: "Rollercoater"
12 The Lucksmiths: "The World of Professional Golf 1994"
13 Neil Gaiman "Bloody Sunrise"
14 Get Him Eat Him: "Catalysts"
15 Robbers on High Street: "The Duke's Dilemma"
16 Butterfly Transformation Service: "The Long Journey"
17 Pikelet: "Sweeter Music"
18 Dan Deacon: "The Night of the Scorpion"
19 Erik Hecht: "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World"
20 Thee More Shallows: "Desert Sinner"

Disc 2:

01 Goblin Cock: "A Tracing of Angels"
02 Bachelorette: "Mindwarp"
03 Sleeping States: "Root Canal"
04 The Himalayan Bear: "Voice of the Turtle"
05 The Walking Hellos: "The Unloved"
06 Rock Plaza Central: "Honeymoon With Murder"
07 Arms: "Gunsmoke Legend"
08 The Whiskers: "Marsh Blood"
09 Spiral Stairs: "The Cheetah Chase"
10 Faux Pas: "Road to Nowhere"
11 Michael Hearst: "Montana Crisis"
12 Claudia Gonson: "Cottage Gardening"
13 Sly Hats: "Rock Gardens"
14 Carolyn Mark and Her Enablers: "Mark of the Hangman"
15 Frightened Rabbit: "Last Tango in Brooklyn"
16 Ezra Furman and the Harpoons: "Portrait of Maud"
17 Home Blitz: "The Forbidden Tower"
18 Adam and the Amethysts: "Deadly Passage"
19 The Wrens: "In Turkish Waters"
20 The Capstan Shafts: "Murder at the Royal Shakespeare"