Animal Collective Confirm New EP Fall Be Kind, "Brothersport" Single

By Mr P on

A couple days ago, rumors abounded about a potential new release from Animal Collective called Fall Be Kind, mostly stemming from this Amazon order page (TMT News). Was it an EP? An LP? A mini-film starring Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser reprising their roles from hit movie Bedazzled?

Unfortunately, it's not the latter. Speaking to Pitchfork, Animal Collective confirmed that Fall Be Kind is indeed an EP, set for release December 8 via Domino. Described by Avey Tare as "a little bit darker," the EP features five brand new tracks, some of which were recorded during the Merriweather Post Pavilion (TMT Review) sessions. (Sit back and watch all the news sources reporting about AC's new "dark" EP!)

Meanwhile, the band is releasing a "Brothersport" single November 9, with a live version of new track "Bleed" as a B-side. You can read more about the EP, single, and the film they're working on (with no Hurley or Fraser -- boo!) at Pitchfork.

Fall Be Kind tracklist:

1. Graze
2. What Would I Want? Sky
3. Bleed
4. On a Highway
5. I Think I Can

Retribution Gospel Choir Sign to Sub Pop

By Annapocalypse on 10-09-2009

Every up-and-coming indie band wants to sign to a label as influential as Sub Pop, but only a few will actually get the chance to do so. Unsurprisingly, Retribution Gospel Choir have announced that they’re hopping on the Sub Pop roster. As you may know, Alan Sparhawk of Low happens to play guitar and sing in Retribution Gospel Choir. And Low is on Sub Pop. Make sense, right?

Sub Pop will release Retribution Gospel Choir’s second album on January 26 of next year. The band is also planning an extensive North American tour to begin in late January. They currently have one show scheduled for December 15 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City, but don't forget about Low!

Devendra Banhart Announces November Tour, Needs Us to Come to Prove Himself to Warner Bros.

By Nobodaddy on 10-09-2009

Whoa, don’t freak out, but I think I might be psychic. All of a sudden I am seeing the future, like, crystal clear. I mean, for one thing, I am pretty sure that I can see where Devendra Banhart’s career is is going! I’m getting something here... it looks like... the dependably Devendra Banhart-esque Devendra Banhart is all set to release his sixth Devendra Banhart album of Banhartedly Devendric songs about little kids, dead Beatles, things that are vaguely Hispanic/Latin American, and beards or the lack of them. Specifically, the new record — which I can somehow assure you without even having heard it that it will sound as Devendrastic as each of his past five Banharted efforts have — is called What Will We Be, and it drops on October 27 (at which point I’ll hear all of it... in the Starbucks I go to every day).

Hmm, lets see, I’m getting some other gut feelings too. I am imagining that it was recorded in some sleepy Northern California town or another, and that it was probably co-produced by some buddy of Devendra’s. Maybe Paul Butler from U.K. outfit Band of Bees? The only real curveball that I see here? It’s that this is his first for the major Warner Brothers label (oooo, ahhhh, etc.).

Now, wait, there’s more. Ah, it looks like just as TMT and all of the other sites out there are getting their hands on the record and giving it the “3 out of 5” or “6.0” or whatever it is that all post-Rejoicing in the Hands Devendra records obligatorily receive, my guess is that Banhart will probably be hitting the road in support of the new album’s forthcoming release, embarking on... oh, say, a two-week North American tour to prime the pump. I see antics and goofiness a-plenty for him and his crew. The shows’ll probably be a Devendra Banhartish mix of awesome, annoying, intriguing, and frustrating. My guess is that a lot of his fan-fans will be there. And the rest of us who already know what he sounds like because we heard him play once four or five years ago somewhere? Well, we’ll probably just stay home and listen to Rejoicing in the Hands (TMT Review)... or maybe Nino Rojo (TMT Review). I forget which is which sometimes.

Tourdates:
11.16.09 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
11.17.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
11.19.09 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
11.20.09 - Boston, MA – Berklee College of Music
11.22.09 - New York, NY - Town Hall
11.24.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
11.25.09 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
11.27.09 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Low Write Music for Upcoming Dance Piece, Switch Up Their Usual M.O. of Writing Songs for People Who Smoke a Lot of Pot and Sit Around a Lot or Are Really Depressed and Sit Around a Lot

By Liz Louche on 10-08-2009

First Nick Cave and Warren Ellis composed scores for a stage version of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis.” Then The Knife wrote that opera about Darwin. And now Low have created the original music and vocal orchestration for an upcoming dance piece by choreographer Morgan Thorson. Where would we be without indie musician/highbrow art collabos to make us feel classy? Thank God we have Low to add to this ever-expanding list of performance pieces!

The husband-and-wife team of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker are taking the show on the road for a few select, very spread-out dates this fall/winter/spring. (“Spread out” like across three seasons. Why no summer dates, friends?) The project, entitled “Heaven,” concerns “the trinity of dance, music, and light while exploring the various manifestations of ecstasy in religious practices and the ritualistic nature of dance.” Choreographer Thorson has garnered rave reviews in The New York Times, and my mom gives Low the thumbs up. A surefire hit, if you ask me.
10.15.09 - Houston, TX - Diverseworks Art Space
10.16.09 - Houston, TX - Diverseworks Art Space
10.17.09 - Houston, TX - Diverseworks Art Space
10.25.09 - New York, NY - PS 122
10.28.09 - New York, NY - PS 122
10.29.09 - New York, NY - PS 122
10.30.09 - New York, NY - PS 122 (early show and late show)
11.19.09 - Menomonie, WI - University of Wisconsin - Stout
01.29.10 - Middletown, CT - Wesleyan University
01.30.10 - Middletown, CT - Wesleyan University
03.04.10 - Minneapolis, MN - Walker Art Center
03.05.10 - Minneapolis, MN - Walker Art Center
03.06.10 - Minneapolis, MN - Walker Art Center

RIP: Shelby Singleton, record producer, Sun Records

By Shane Mack on 10-08-2009

From The Tennessean (via The Daily Swarm):

Shelby Singleton died just before 1 p.m. Wednesday in Alive Hospice Care at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, at age 77.

Mr. Singleton was a renegade producer, record executive, song-hunter and promoter who helped fuse country and R&B music in the 1960s and who perpetuated the Sun Records label since 1969. He had been battling brain cancer.

“A lot of people in this town owe a lot to Shelby,” said friend and protégé Jerry Kennedy, himself a famed producer. “He created a place here for a lot of us. Shelby did things in a different way. He was a maverick.”

- Shelby Singleton

Always Swing with a Buddy: Nouvelle Vague Return with 3rd Album and Dive into the Deep End of Duetting

By David Nadelle on 10-08-2009

Why reinvent the wheel when you can just trick it out a bit? It would be like altering something beloved like Coca-Cola from its present 100% pure cocaine-and-boot-polish mixture to some opaque fizzy liquid beverage using natural flavors, colors, and preservatives. Can you imagine the catastrophic social and commercial implications!? No, gifted producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux knew not to completely overhaul things when it came time to plan the latest Nouvelle Vague album. But they did tweak the sound (more C&W, roots, and bluegrass influence this time out) and tinker the approach a little (there are a few duets instead of starlets singing solo). The resulting recording is the imaginatively titled 3 and it will come out October 20 on Peacefrog.

The four duets on 3 are interesting, coupling one of Nouvelle Vague's songbirds with the chosen song's original performer/writer. Melanie appears with Depeche Mode's Martin Gore on his "Master and Servant" and with Echo and the Bunnymen's Ian McCullough on his "All My Colours," Marina Celeste sings with Terry Hall (Specials/Fun Boy Three, etc.) on a version of his "Our Lips Are Sealed" (made famous by The Go-Go's in the early 1980s and famous for another generation by Hilary and Haylie Duff in 2004), and Nadeah Miranda croons with Barry Adamson (Magazine) on his "Parade." Unlike Nouvelle Vague's music, here is a tracklisting that is complicated and troublesome...

Legend: "Song" (Nouvelle Vague singer and, where applicable, featured guest singer), [original artist]

1. "Master and Servant" (Melanie Pain feat. Martin Gore) [Depeche Mode]
2. "Blister in the Sun" (Eloisia) [Violent Femmes]
3. "Road to Nowhere" (Nedeah Miranda) [Talking Heads]
4. "All My Colours" (Melanie feat. Ian McCullough) [Echo and the Bunnymen]
5. "The American" (Silja) [Simple Minds]
6. "Heaven" (Karina Zeviani) [Psychedelic Furs]
7. "Parade" (Nadeah Miranda feat. Barry Adamson) [Magazine]
8. "Metal" (Eloisia) [Gary Numan]
9. "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (LeeLou) [Plastic Bertrand]
10. "Our Lips Our Sealed" (Marina Celeste feat. Terry Hall) [The Go-Go's]
11. "God Save the Queen" (Melanie Pain) [Sex Pistols]
12. "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" (Sophie Delila) [Soft Cell]
13. "So Lonely" (Nadeah Miranda) [The Police]

Get yer ooh la las out:
10.08.09 - Helsinki, Finland - Korjaamo Culture Factory
10.09.09 - Stockholm, Sweden - Berns
10.10.09 - Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
10.11.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark - DR Koncerthuset
10.12.09 - Vilnius, Lithuania - Club New York
10.16.09 - London, England - Roundhouse
10.17.09 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar
10.18.09 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli
10.20.09 - Ghent, Belgium - Minnemeers
10.21.09 - Leuven, Belgium - Depot
10.23.09 - Marcheprime, France - La Caravelle
10.24.09 - Angoulême, France - La Nef
10.27.09 - Paris, France - Olympia
10.28.09 - Berne, Switzerland - Venue Bierhubeli
10.29.09 - Lausanne, Switzerland - Les Docks
10.30.09 - Zurich, Switzerland - Jazznojazz Festival
10.31.09 - Le Mans, France - Festival Be Bop n Roll
11.04.09 - Caen, France - Big Band Café
11.05.09 - St. Die, France - Centre Culturel
11.07.09 - Strasbourg, France - Laiterie
11.10.09 - Lyon, France - Transbordeur
12.01.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Le Botanique
12.04.09 - Lisbon, Portugal - Aula Magna
12.05.09 - Porto, Portugal - Sa de Bandeira

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