Caribou to Donate Majority of His $20k Polaris Prize Money
By Kenny Bloggins on 12-02-2008
For someone who's named himself after majestic deer and a lush foresty Canadian province -- not to mention a sample and title songs that deal with nature -- it's no surprise that Dan Snaith would want to save the earth. And since he's also a part-time teacher, Snaith seems like the kind of guy who likes to give rather than receive.
Appropriately, Snaith, a.k.a. Caribou, announced last week that he will donate a majority of his $20,000 Polaris Prize money he won for 2007's Andorra (TMT Review), keeping only a small portion to fund his forthcoming album. The money will be given to environmental non-profit Ecojustice and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
"I have always thought of Canada as an environmentally progressive place... however, recently the Canadian government has acted as a global obstacle to climate action. In a study this year Canada ranked 29th out of 30 industrialized nations for tackling climate change," Snaith said, remarking on his choice of giving to Ecojustice. Meanwhile, The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a project-based charity helping communities affected by the AIDS epidemic throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
Heck of a guy, that Snaith. Hopefully the money given to Ecojustice will be invested in getting real legislative efforts to come to fruition, not in another Live Earth (Sorry, Al).
Deerhunter’s European Vacation
By Kenny Bloggins on 12-02-2008
Deerhunter have had a hell of a year: blog drama, album leakin', shit-talkin', secret record schemin', playa hatin', dealin' with the obligatory clause that states every Goddamn article about Deerhunter has to mention something about Bradford Cox's physical appearance, et al. Nonetheless, the band has emerged victorious with the mighty Microcastle / Weird Era Cont. (TMT Review), poised to be at the top of a lot of year-end lists this year (including my own).
Just wrapping up a recent fall tour for the yanks, Deerhunter will
spend Q1 of next year studying abroad. They will also release a
single for "Never Stops," certainly the poppiest of Microcastle, in
March. Otherwise, not a whole lot going on, so just keep looking at the amazing photo above before you go.
# Times New Viking, Nite Jewel
% Leah Hutchison
Neko Case to Release Middle Cyclone Next March with A Little Help From Her Freunde (New Pornographers, Calexico, Giant Sand, M. Ward)
By Mango Starr on 12-02-2008
What do you have planned for next March? Are you going to be there as the U.S. begins its first round of negotiations with the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership countries on a possible free trade agreement? Anticipating the second World Baseball Classic? Can't wait until NASA's Kepler Mission is launched? Perhaps the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai or the 60th FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne?
Nope, none of the above. You're beyond politics and sports, because you're one of the lucky few who are so attuned to your feelings that ART is what moves you. Well, art connoisseur, expert of taste, master of your feelings, you're in luck: Neko Case is set to release her first album since 2006's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Titled Middle Cyclone, the 15-track album features Case's core band (guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, drummer Barry Mirochnick) with guests aplenty, including members from The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, Giant Sand, The Sadies, and others, like M. Ward and shit.
Middle Cyclone is set for release March 3 on ANTI- Records. Tracklist:
Just Another Diamond Documentary: Vashti Bunyan Flick Debuts at London Film Festival
By Liz Louche on 12-02-2008
We know it exists. We know people have seen it. But where can we non-London or Copenhagen residents see it? And when? The new CC-Films Vashti Bunyan (TMT Interview) documentary is something like a velociraptor in that way. We know they existed once, but when will they come back?
Let's take a look at the facts. Filmmaker Kieran Evans recently collaborated with St. Etienne on their film love letter to London, Finisterre, and now Vashti Bunyan: From Here To Before has been making its way around the fall film festival circuit -- well, at least in the previously mentioned Copenhagen, where it was screened earlier this month, and London, where the film debuted at The Times 52nd London International Film Festival. Described as "a lyrical, modern day road movie," the documentary chronicles Bunyan's first big London show, 30 or so years after she recorded the undeservedly long-forgotten Just Another Diamond Day, and features interviews with big-name music execs like Joe Boyd, Andrew Loog Oldham, and Robert Kirby. The documentary also retraces the horse and buggy journey!!! Bunyan took across Great Britain to join a commune in Scotland (during which she recorded her debut LP with Joe Boyd) and appearances by Adem Ilhan, Max Richter, and, of course, Devendra Banhart.
Alas, no upcoming screenings have been announced, and no DVD news is pending, but if we've learned anything from Jurassic Park I-III, it's that if people want something bad enough -- be it a bloodthirsty, fast-running tiny lizard monster or a documentary about a critically-acclaimed English folk artist -- it won't be too long before it shows up in a theater near you.
The Strokes Announce Plans to Start Tracking Again in February, Or As Soon As It’s Warm Enough for Leather and Snake Skin Outerwear
By Nobodaddy on 12-02-2008
The Strokes (Wait, who? Is that that band from Sweden who wears red and black?) have been so busy with their individual side-projects lately that the members of NYC’s one-time rock ‘n’ roll saviors (oh yeah, those guys) have probably almost forgotten what it’s like to sit hunched over their instruments in a live room worrying about their image and secretly hating one another. Fortunately for us, they’ll be experiencing that personal hell for our benefit soon enough, as the band has announced that they’ll be heading back into the studio this coming February.
In a recent interview with Spin, Strokes bassist and, umm, Nickel Eye frontman Nikolai Fraiture elaborated on his hopes that the band will find a new sound naturally when they finally reconvene in the studio. "The dynamic will be different and it will seep through," Fraiture said. "Maybe that'll be our producer, maybe it will be different songwriting; it's a little too early to tell. But I think the only way to go forward is to change.” TMT Translation? “I better get to write some of these new Strokes songs, or ELSE...”
Fraiture also revealed that the band had tried to come together for a new album for some time, only to have their personal lives (read: side projects, pregnant girlfriends, etc.) get in the way. "Everyone in the band is eager to get back... we've been trying for the last two years, on and off. But people need to do what they need to do. That's how all of the side-projects came about — wanting to continue to play music."
Oh, and speaking of those now comically-numerous side-projects, Fraiture’s aforementioned Nickel Eye project is scheduled to release its debut, Time of the Assassins, January 27. Though, between you and me, I think that the band would have more yuppie appeal if it were called “Dr. Fraiture Crane,” don’t you?
