Thursday, March 5

Radiohead Suffer the Wrath of Miley Cyrus


"Stinkin' Radiohead! I'm gonna ruin them" Radiohead Suffer the Wrath of Miley Cyrus

Thom Yorke photo by Daniel Cantó

Two words I never thought I'd write on this website: It's Miley! Teen pop queen Miley Cyrus may resemble a Juicy Couture mom, but she's figured out the most direct route into our little P4k news bubble-- dissing Radiohead. (Hey, it worked for Robert Smith and Kanye.) Bitching to Portland morning zoo radio hosts Johnjay and Rich, the teen pop idol recently relayed an ADD-addled story about how Radiohead snubbed her at this year's Grammys (via Stereogum). Listen to the whole gum-smacking interview here.

The gist: Apparently, Radiohead are the only band in the world Miley "would cry over," and "they're the reason I love music," which is shocking enough. (Next thing you know her favorite album turns out to be Amnesiac and she's doing an acoustic cover of "Like Spinning Plates" in concert.) So when she tried to get her people to pull some strings for an awkward backstage meeting at the Grammys, Radiohead's crew told Miley's crew that the band "doesn't really do that." Amazing.

This did not sit well with Miley-- a girl, I imagine, who doesn't hear the word "no" too often. "The reason I'm in this business is to make people happy," she said, suggesting Radiohead are not in it to make people smile. No shit! Radiohead are about making people miserable-- beautifully, heart-explodingly miserable! Get it straight, Cyrus!

She said, "I left 'cause I was so upset. I wasn't going to watch. Stinkin' Radiohead! I'm gonna ruin them, I'm going to tell everyone." While it's possible she was kidding, it's kinda hard to tell.

The Disney megastar also admitted that "if someone else pukes, I start puking" during the interview. Just a little factoid for you there.

Posted by Ryan Dombal on March 5, 2009 at 1:15 p.m.

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Eminem Says He's Going to Release Two Albums in 2009


Also, Relapse Gets a Release Date Eminem Says He's Going to Release Two Albums in 2009

The success of the horrendously lazy Eminem/Dr. Dre/50 Cent single "Crack a Bottle" has been making the radio a whole lot less listenable in recent weeks, but it looks like it'll have at least one potentially great side-effect: Eminem's album now has a release date!

On May 19, Relapse, the first Eminem album since 2004's puzzlingly awful Encore, will finally be out on Interscope/Aftermath/Shady. And according to a new press release, Relapse won't be the only new Eminem album out this year. Before 2010, Em also plans to release Relapse 2. Given how many times Em's pushed back the first Relapse, I'd be shocked if we actually see Relapse 2 anytime soon, but that's what the man says, anyway. (When we last reported on Relapse, Em was saying it would be out by the end of 2008, so take that into account.)

In that press release, Em explains: "A lot of people were expecting Relapse to drop last year. I was one of them. Then Dre and I went back in the studio in September for a few days, and that turned into six months. We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting out Relapse 2 will let everyone get all of the best stuff." It's been a long, long time since we've heard about either Em or Dre being on any sort of roll, so this is definitely good news.

Also "Crack a Bottle" is apparently not the album's official first single, since the press release claims that the first single and video from Relapse will be out on April 7.

The total garbageness of "Crack a Bottle" aside, Em remains one of the greatest rappers on the face of the earth when he actually gives enough of a shit. "I'm Having a Relapse", a satellite radio freestyle that Em dropped last fall, is dementedly great in a 1999 sort of way, and that has my hopes up. In any case, it's just good to see Eminem out in the world again. Since that last album, Em's been dodging all sorts of retirement and drug-addiction rumors, and the world has been worse off without him.

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 5, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.

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"The Beatles: Rock Band" Gets a Release Date


"The Beatles: Rock Band" Gets a Release Date

Last year, we reported that Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles' licensing company, was teaming up with "Rock Band" developers MTV Games and Harmonix to create a new video game based on the band's music. This marks the first time that the Beatles have licensed their music for an interactive game (as opposed to, I guess, a non-interactive game). And now that game has a release date: September 9. As in: 09-09-09. Numbers!

When Apple Corps first announced the game last year, a Billboard story about it said that the game "will not be part of the 'Rock Band' franchise, but will be based on the same platform." It turns out that's not actually true, unless the game's title is grossly misleading. In any case, the game will be called "The Beatles: Rock Band". There's also a website, but all that's on it right now is the release date, a photo of a recording studio or rehearsal space, and a string of corporate logos.

You'll also have the opportunity to purchase "a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr throughout their career," a press release says. So they're making tiny plastic versions of the Beatles' guitars and stuff.

The game's publicists aren't releasing any further information, so we'll have to wait to find out what songs they'll include and how, exactly, they'll organize them, in this "unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of the Beatles."

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 5, 2009 at noon

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Jason Lytle (Ex-Grandaddy) Reveals Twee Album Cover


Jason Lytle (Ex-Grandaddy) Reveals Twee Album Cover

It's once again time to dig Grandaddy's The Sophtware Slump out of your "old shit" 200-strong Case Logic binder. Though the psych-folk band broke up in 2005, leader Jason Lytle is finally ready to drop his solo debut, Yours Truly, The Commuter, on May 19 via Anti-.

But you knew that. I bet you've never seen that cover, though. Bam!

Check it out, breathe it in. That shit is so lo-fi it hurts. Is that a drawing of a house on top of a picture of a plane?! Is he about to chop that plane with an ax?! Someone call the TSA.

New song "Flying Thru Canyons", which is streaming at Lytle's MySpace right now, is a meditative piano elegy-- it sounds like what you think it sounds like. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily.

Lytle is playing no less than six sets (including one at a pizza joint!) at this year's SXSW Festival. Show details after the jump:

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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Plot Tour


The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Plot Tour

Last month, we dropped a BNM bomb on the self-titled debut from warm and fuzzy Brooklyn twee-poppers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

And when the band hits the road later this month, their touring schedule includes approximately 50 bazillion sets at SXSW , including one at our party. We're not jealous of all those other parties; we just respect their grind.

Dates:

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Will Oldham Does Old-Timey Music, Song About Eazy-E


Will Oldham Does Old-Timey Music, Song About Eazy-E

Will Oldham's new Bonnie "Prince" Billy album Beware will be out later this month (March 16 in the UK via Domino, March 17 in America via Drag City), and it is great. But the album and the attendant promotional duties won't exactly dominate Oldham's calendar in the coming months. Maybe in an effort to wash the stink of commerce off himself, Oldham has a few decidedly non-"big" projects coming up.

First up, Oldham has teamed up with Cheyenne Mize, the fiddle player for the Lousiville psych-folk band Arnett Hollow and a member of Oldham's own touring band, to release an extremely limited 10" vinyl EP called Among the Gold. The EP consists entirely of covers of songs originally recorded between 1873 and 1915. Karate Body Records will release it this spring, and the first pressing will be on cream-colored vinyl and limited to 500 copies, so it will probably not be around for long. Karate Body has streams of two songs from the record here. Another Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Cheyenne Mize track, "The Girl in Me", appears on the Louisville Is for Lovers Vol. 9 compilation, out now on Karate Body.

As we previously reported, Oldham will also share a split 7" with the Louisville post-hardcore band Young Widows. The split features the Widows' "King of the Back-Burners" on one side and Bonnie "Prince" Billy's "Poor Shelter" on the other. It's the first in a series of splits that the Widows are doing; they've also got splits with Melt-Banana and Pelican coming out, and both of those bands have way more in common with Young Widows musically than Oldham does. Temporary Residence will ship the Widows/Oldham split on or around March 15.

Oldham also appears on one song on Shark Tank, the new self-released album from Austin comedy-rap singer Black Nasty. The song, currently streaming on Black Nasty's MySpace page, is called " Eazy", and yes, it's about Eazy-E. Mostly it's this Black Nasty guy half-rapping about Eazy (sample lyric: "My grandpa taught me how to fish / But Eazy taught me that all bitches ain't shit") while Oldham coos softly in the background. It's basically terrible, and it's proof that a Bonnie "Prince" Billy song about Eazy -E is way better in theory than it is in practice.

Also, Oldham's about to go on tour.

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New Bob Dylan Album Coming in April


New Bob Dylan Album Coming in April

Bob Dylan's last album, 2006's Modern Times, topped all kinds of critics' polls. Since then, we've seen a resurrection of Dylanology via stuff like I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' impressionistic Dylan biopic (and star-studded soundtrack), and the rarities collection Tell Tale Signs. So a new Bob Dylan album is a big deal, but don't expect him to announce it to great fanfare like, say, U2 or the Rolling Stones. That is not The Dylan Way.

As Rolling Stone reports and Dylan's publicist confirms, Bob Dylan will release his follow-up to Modern Times next month. Beyond that, details are characteristically scarce. The ten-song album has no title, release date (beyond "late April"), or cover just yet.

Rolling Stone's David Fricke says it has "a seductive border-cafe feel (courtesy of the accordion on every track) and an emphasis on struggling-love songs." Sample song titles: "I Feel a Change Coming On", "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'", "If You Ever Go to Houston", "This Dream of You", "My Wife's Home Town", "It's All Good". Sample lyric: "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver / And I'm reading James Joyce / Some people tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice." Yeah, sounds like a Bob Dylan album.

According to Rolling Stone , Dylan recorded the album after filmmaker Olivier Dahan requested a song for a movie. When Dylan finished that song, "Life Is Hard" (which will appear in the movie My Own Love Song , starring Renée Zellweger), he just kept recording. Fricke reports that Dylan produced the album under his Jack Frost pseudonym and that David Hidalgo of Los Lobos might play accordion on it.

In other news, Dylan has a European tour coming up:

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Win Butler Responds to Wayne Coyne's Diss


"I hope I was less of a 'prick' than telling Rolling Stone that a bunch of people I don't know at all are really assholes." Win Butler Responds to Wayne Coyne's Diss

Win Butler photo by Drew Angerer, Wayne Coyne photo by Kirstie Shanley

Earlier today, Rolling Stone posted a quote from Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips accusing the Arcade Fire of being dicks in real life. "We've played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit," he said. "Whenever I've been around them, I've found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, 'Who do they think they are?'"

Well, Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler isn't taking it lying down. This evening, he posted a response on the Arcade Fire's website expressing his confusion, anger, and disappointment with Wayne, someone he considered to be a bit of a hero. It's a straightforward, sincere piece of writing, and Win definitely comes out looking like the better man.

The full text is reprinted below; to see it in its original format, go to the Arcade Fire site, click on "Win" in the upper left hand corner, and then click on "I still like clouds taste metallic"

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Wednesday, March 4

Pitchfork.tv Teams Up With NPR Music


Pitchfork.tv Teams Up With NPR Music

Pitchfork and NPR Music have teamed up!

Pitchfork.tv has partnered with NPR Music's "Live in Concert From All Songs Considered" to bring you audio and video from select concerts. We'll collaborate with NPR Music to pick the shows; Pitchfork.tv will broadcast video and NPR Music will offer webcasting and podcasting audio.

The first of these collaborations is an Antony & the Johnsons performance at the Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C., recorded on February 3. A few songs are available on video on Pitchfork.tv, while NPR Music's website is streaming the full set. Stay tuned for more in the future.

Also, we're going to try to make Terry Gross listen to Wavves.

Posted by Pitchfork Staff on March 4, 2009 at 5:15 p.m.

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News in Brief: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Richard Thompson, Dengue Fever, Wheat, CIMM Fest


News in Brief: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Richard Thompson, Dengue Fever, Wheat, CIMM Fest

-- Since the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, It's Blitz!, started leaking all over the internet last week, the band is pushing up its original April 14 release date. Now you'll be able to legally get blitzed in digital formats on March 10 in the U.S. (March 9 elsewhere) and in physical formats March 31 in the U.S. (April 6 elsewhere). Do the right thing, folks-- we need bands like this.

-- Between his work with Fairport Convention, ex-wife Linda Thompson, and his solo albums, Richard Thompson has brought us a daunting amount of music over the last 40 years. On June 30, Shout! Factory offers a Thomps on primer: the 4-CD set Walking on a Wire: Richard Thompson (1969-2009) . The collection features 71 tracks spanning his entire career. But the music vet isn't just sitting on his ass and reflecting nowadays; Thompson has plenty of shows lined up in the near future.

-- Dengue fever is a disease that lasts about seven days and can include nausea, stomach pain, and vomiting. Dengue Fever is also a Khmer band from L.A.! Dengue Fever (the band) is readying a DVD documentary called Sleepwalking Through The Mekong , due as part of a CD/DVD set due April 14 via M80 Music. The film follows the band on a 2005 Cambodia trip, which "marked the first time a Western band had performed classic 60s and 70s Cambodian rock'n'roll in the country where it was created," according to a press release. The accompanying CD includes tracks from Cambodian artists as well as a couple previously unreleased Dengue Fever songs. Also, on May 5 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, Dengue Fever will premiere their original soundtrack to the 1925 silent film The Lost World at a screening during the San Francisco International Film Festival. And the band is on tour now. Catch it?

-- Indie rockers Wheat are back and they're reissuing their first two albums, Medeiros and Hope and Adams , on March 10. The re-release is packaged as a three-disc set, one for each album and one CD full of rarities. Pre-orderers get a free signed poster, so check out the band's website if you like signed stuff. Wheat's new album, White Ink, Black Ink , is due out this spring via The Rebel Group.

-- The 1st Annual Chicago International Movies and Music Festival (CIMM Fest, for those in the know) is coming to the gusty city this weekend. The fest will host Wilco's new concert film, Ashes of American Flags, on March 9 as well as performances from Andre Williams, Dent May, Dex Romweber, and others.

Posted by Ryan Dombal on March 4, 2009 at 4:05 p.m.

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