Filter News

All Album Releases Commentary Industry News Pitchfork News

Best New Tracks

Thursday, June 18

News in Brief: Clark Sabine, Zero 7, Wheedle's Groove, Beachdown Festival

-- Clark Sabine, frontman for the DC postpunk band Statehood, died on Tuesday night after battling cancer for a year, according to the Statehood website. He was 33. Statehood, which also included the former rhythm section of the Dismemberment Plan, had 10 songs recorded for a second album, before Sabine died.

-- The British downtempo duo Zero 7 will release Yeah Ghost, their forth studio album, on September 8. The album, due out on Atlantic, features guest appearances from Eska Mtungwazi, Martha Tilston, and Rowdy Superstar. Zero 7 will play some European festivals this summer.

-- In 2004, Light in the Attic released a compilation called Wheedle’s Groove: Seattle’s Finest in Funk & Soul 1965-75. Since then, many of the forgotten soul greats featured on the compilation formed a band called Wheedle's Groove. And on September 8, Light in the Attic will release an album from the band called Kearney Barton, named after the veteran Seattle sound engineer who produced it. The album features a cover of Soundgarden's "Jesus Christ Pose", which should be fun. Also on September 8, Light in the Attic will reissue the Wheedle's Groove compilation.

-- August 28-31, the English seaside town Brighton, the site of the great mod/rocker rumble from Quadrophenia, will play host to the hopefully relatively peaceful Beachdown Festival. Grace Jones, Super Furry Animals, Saint Etienne, Grandmaster Flash, Prince Buster and the Delroy Williams Junction Band, the Fall, and Ida Maria will all take part. Lord willing, Sting won't show up looking to bust heads.

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 18, 2009 at 5:20 p.m.

Tags: Album, Beachdown, Clark Sabine, Festival, Obituary, Statehood, Wheedle's Groove, Zero 7

Email Link

Beck Debuts Record Club With the Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning"

And it sounds pretty amazing Beck Debuts Record Club With the Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning"

Photo by Beck/Drew Brown, front page photo by Autumn de Wilde

Yesterday, we told you about Beck's new Record Club project, wherein Beck and friends will pick an album, spend one day recording a cover of the entire thing, and then post it on the internet, one song at a time.

Beck's starting the project off with his version of the Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground and Nico, and today he posted the first song from the project, perennial mixtape staple "Sunday Morning". You can hear it now, complete with intentionally grainy footage of the studio session, on Beck's website.

Email Link MORE >>

Supergrass Dudes Start Cover Band With Radiohead Producer Nigel Godrich

They're covering the Sex Pistols, Kinks, Beastie Boys, Gang of Four, and more Supergrass Dudes Start Cover Band With Radiohead Producer Nigel Godrich

When most British dudes hole up in some basement, get a bit tipsy, and start stumbling through songs by the Kinks and the Sex Pistols, we really couldn't care less. But when said dudes happen to be members of Supergrass and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, it's a little different. (Via NME.)

Email Link MORE >>

Woods Tour With Dungen

Also Kurt Vile Woods Tour With Dungen

Bearded-up Brooklyn lo-fi heroes Woods may inhabit crusty warehouse venues and sing into crappy mics onstage, but when you see them live, you see them without the tape hiss that invariably fills their records (like the recently BNMed Songs of Shame) and dominates conversations about the band. When the band is standing right in front of you, you can hear the band's songs for the languid, summery classic-rock jams they are. Check this Pitchfork Live video for evidence.

Or, better yet, go see them for yourselves. This summer, the band will tour all over North America, opening shows for Swedish psych-rock revivalists Dungen. On the tour's last leg, Woods' fellow lo-fi Neil Young disciple Kurt Vile will join up. Dates below.

Email Link MORE >>

New Blur Music Possible

Maybe!

Now that the Blur reunion is officially underway with "wish you were there" live YouTube videos and outrageous quotes, the question remains-- will their current tour lead to a new Blur album?

Based on a BBC interview, the answer could very well be yes.

Email Link MORE >>

Premiere: Polvo: "Beggar's Bowl"

Earlier this month, we reported that the reunited North Carolina slash-and-burners Polvo had signed with Merge and were set to release their first new album since 1997. In Prism won't be out until September 8, but we've got a song from the album right here.

"Beggar's Bowl" is a serious post-Slint banger, jammed with the sort of math-rock guitar theatrics that nobody does anymore.

MP3:> Polvo: "Beggar's Bowl"

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 18, 2009 at 1:15 p.m.

Tags: Audio, Polvo, Premiere

Email Link

Hear the Very Best Song With Ezra Koenig

Earlier this week, we broke you off with the news that the Very Best, the collaboration between Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and Euro DJ duo Radioclit, are getting set to follow up their great mixtape with an official debut album. Warm Heart of Africa is due this fall from Green Owl.

Now you can hear the album's title track, which features Mwamwaya trading off vocals with Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig over Radioclit's impossibly buoyant track. The song is streaming on the Abeano Music blog here.

Email Link MORE >>

Broken Social Scene Play Surprise Show (With Feist!)

Plus video! Broken Social Scene Play Surprise Show (With Feist!)

It was just like old times at Toronto's Courthouse last night when Broken Social Scene took the stage as surprise headliners of their label Arts&Crafts' NXNE showcase. The night was special enough, but it automatically turned near-legendary when Feist-- who hasn't toured with the band in years-- showed up for a couple songs, including unreleased rarity "New Country", which is embedded after the jump. It looks and sounds amazing.

There's also a relatively high-quality YouTube rip of a new song below. According to the message board Broken Telephone, five new songs were played: "World Sick", "Forced", "Your Hate", "Small Big", and "Meet Me in the Basement".

According to a report from the National Post, the new stuff "seems less space jam arty and the feedback guitar noodling was held back. Maybe with the guys all doing individual art projects, Broken Social Scene will focus on being a straight ahead indie rock band."

As previously reported, BSS are currently recording their official follow-up to 2005's self-titled album in Chicago with Tortoise's John McEntire.

There's another Arts & Crafts showcase-- featuring another "Surprise Headliner"-- at the Courthouse tonight.

Here's a photo by Zack Vitello of Feist, Kevin Drew, and Pitchfork contributor/This Book Is Broken author Stuart Berman, rocking out together:

Click for videos and setlist.

Email Link MORE >>

Dead Body Found at Bonnaroo

Photo by Matt Jordan

After last weekend's Bonnaroo Festival wrapped up, the cleanup crew found a dead body on the festival grounds.

The Tennessean reports that on Tuesday, Bonnaroo workers found the body of an unidentified white man in his 20s in a tent. The man was apparently last seen alive around 3 p.m. on Monday, and police believe he may have been from Alabama. There were no signs of trauma on the body. Police are conducting an autopsy.

Posted by Tom Breihan on June 18, 2009 at 11:45 a.m.

Tags: Bonnaroo, Festival

Email Link

Air Announce New Album: Love 2

Dig out the velvet throw pillows! Air Announce New Album: <i>Love 2</i>

Just when we were beginning to forget that French musicians don't traffic exclusively in EQed-to-death monster-house jams, Phoenix came along with the weightless Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and reminded us that, oh yeah, the French can also be pretty great at luminously suave pop music. Now that our appetite for smoove, starry-eyed Gallic studio-rat music has been restored, it's the perfect time for Air to drop a new album. And that's exactly what they're doing.