Pitchfork

Photo by Drew Angerer

Apart from a little electioneering and some rumor-policing, rather popular Montreal band the Arcade Fire have kept mighty quiet here in the oh-eight, understandable considering their whirlwind 2007. But quiet doesn't mean dormant, as suggested by a piece of tantalizing Arcade Fire news dug up by none other than David Byrne.

"Arcade Fire drop by," Byrne writes in his online journal, referring to his October 30 show at Metropolis in Montreal. He then adds, as an aside, "they're in the very early stages of beginning a new recording." The Arcade Fire's manager has clarified that "very early stages" translates to "doing home demos" and that there's no word just yet when the proper recording will begin-- but hey, still, excitement!

Thanks to reader Zach Brockhouse for the Byrne tip-off.

In other news, Win Butler recently took to his "Scrapbook" on the Arcade Fire website to post a few grainy but artful photos from Tuesday's massive (and massively awesome) Barack Obama victory speech rally at Grant Park in Chicago.

"What a beautiful day," writes Win. "I will be sustained by that one for a while."

Win then reports that he's heading off to Haiti to visit clinics run by Partners in Health, and encourages you-- yes, you-- to donate to the health care aid organization via its website.

And while we're on the AF beat, meet Kelly Pratt, multi-instrumentalist and onetime Beirut member who, as the Beirut MySpace cutely puts it, "deserted to join the Arcade Fire." Pratt, along with wife and current Beirut member Tracy Pratt, other Beirut members Jon Natchez and Jason Poranski, and a couple more cool folks, has fired up a new band appropriately named Team B [via Stereogum].

The NYC outfit has a self-titled CD-- featuring contributions from LCD Soundsystem/Special Disco Version guy Pat Mahoney and core Arcade Fire member Richard Reed Parry-- available right now through its MySpace, and a lone show scheduled for November 10 at Union Pool in Brooklyn. Check out an MP3 for "On My Mind", featuring Mahoney, below.