Pitchfork

Once upon a time, a Vienna-based public works company called Wiener Stadtwerke wanted to use a Final Fantasy song ("This Is the Dream of Win & Regine" from 2005's Has a Good Home) in a commercial. The song's creator, Owen Pallett, politely declined, on the grounds that Wiener Stadtwerke was not in fact publicly owned.

Recalling what they learned about tenacity in business school (and ignoring what they learned about scruples), Wiener Stadtwerke went ahead and used the song anyway, soliciting an unauthorized cover version with a few swapped out lyrics and a new title, and crediting the whole thing to some mysterious entity called N.A.S.C.O. The commercial features ordinary citizens being attacked by white wispy graphics over Pallett's familiar string sorcery; you may view it right here:


Pallett caught wind of the devious move and was, naturally, less than pleased. But here's where things go all Disney ending. Rather than sue the asses off the shady company, Pallett was prepared to let the whole thing slide-- until Wiener Stadtwerke approached him, hat in hand, with an even better offer. The company agreed to help finance a festival co-curated by Pallett and his European booking agent.

Wait a minute, a festival?? You bet. "So far I think we've got all the 'best bands in the world', plus my lousy excuse for a band," Pallett joked in an email to Pitchfork, and indeed the folks already lined up for this thing make for a fine bunch. Dirty Projectors, Frog Eyes, and Six Organs of Admittance will play all three dates of the fest (in London, Vienna, and Berlin), while Deerhoof will headline the latter two. A bill-topper for the London gig has not yet been named.

All three events-- collectively dubbed the Maximum Black Festival-- go down as February turns to March next year. Many thanks to reader Christian Prügger for the tip.

Apart from finding himself on the good side of karma, Final Fantasy hasn't done too terribly much since unleashing a Zach Condon-boosted Tomlab 7" last month and, um, doodling. Most signs, however, point to a He Poos Clouds follow-up sometime in the '08.

Final Fantasy dates:

02-27 London, England - Roundhouse (Maximum Black Festival) *
02-28 Vienna, Austria - Arena (Maximum Black Festival) *#
03-02 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof (Maximum Black Festival) *#

* with Dirty Projectors, Frog Eyes, Six Organs of Admittance
# with Deerhoof