Exclusive: Matthew Herbert Talks Scale

Every Herbert album is a concept album to a certain extent, and his latest, Scale, due out May 30 on !K7, is no different. Using "the idea of distance in our lives" as its platform, Scale is reminiscent of the poppier, more straightforwardly song-oriented sound Herbert cultivated on Bodily Functions and 1998's Around the House, as well as his work on Róisín Murphy's 2005 album Ruby Blue.

"My goals, as always these days, are to bring down Tony Blair [and] the American empire, a withdrawal of troops in Iraq and bring[ing] about an end to our reliance on oil," Herbert told Pitchfork in an email interview. "I will, as usual fail. This time, instead of trying to do it with a process of intense political organisation of sounds, I have chosen to shroud these ambitions in song."

He continued, "On Plat du Jour, my last record, I had few harmonic tools with which to write the melodies and not one traditional instrument. For Scale therefore I wanted to languish in the freedoms of an orchestra, the satisfying fall of a melody played by a musician on an instrument developed over hundreds of years. It is a celebration of all the luxuries I have been afforded by the age of cheap oil and a critique of all the violence that allowed those privileges."

Write your congressman to the tune of this tracklist:

01 Something Isn't Right
02 The Movers and Shakers
03 Moving Like a Train
04 Harmonise
05 We're in Love
06 Birds of a Feather
07 Those Feelings
08 Down
09 Movie Star
10 Just Once
11 Wrong

Scale features vocal contributions from Herbert's longtime collaborator Dani Siciliano, newcomer Neil Thomas, and Dave Okumu of Jade Fox, who also provides some guitar work. Herbert himself sings (or "croaks", as he put it) on the closing track, "Wrong".

However, the album's most intriguing guest spots come from an unusual source: Herbert fans. Late last year, Herbert and !K7 set up "Herbert's Hotline", open to anyone and everyone, with the intent of collecting sounds to use on the album. "We ended up with 177 messages, including a threat of violence, random mumblings, self-promoters, and a lot of slightly disturbing noises," Herbert said. "I used all of them on the track 'Just Once'. Hopefully with careful listening, people can recognize their own contribution."

As for the other sources of Scale's seductive cacophony, Herbert credits "meteorites, coffins, golf swings, cars, tornado bombers, petrol pumps, breakfast cereal, etc. etc." If anybody else said that, we'd think they were joking, but this is Matthew Herbert we're talking about.

Scale's first single, the double A side "Movers and Shakers"/"Harmonize", will be released in May, with "Moving Like a Train" due out in July. Herbert and Siciliano recorded Siciliano's sophomore solo album, Slappers, at the same time as Scale. It's scheduled for release in August. ("It rocks," said Herbert.)

In the meantime, the pair are preparing for a tour, which should kick off in April. Herbert is also keeping busy with "choral music for a contemporary dance piece, a film score, remixes as usual, grow[ing] vegetables, and hav[ing] a haircut." Good to know.

Matthew Herbert: http://www.magicandaccident.com/
!K7: http://www.k7.com/

SXSW Schedule Announced

As previously reported, there are approximately nine gajillion bands playing SXSW this year. Most of them have been organized into some semblance of order now, slotted into lineups that range from the sensible (Islands, We Are Wolves, and Vietnam at Carribean Lights on March 17) to the inane (the eMusic showcase at the Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores on March 16, featuring Mr. Lif, Blackalicious, Spoon, and Echo & the Bunnymen), and the hyped beyond belief (March 18 at the Fox and Hound: We Are Scientists, She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, Forward Russia, and Whirlwind Heat...gag) to the under the radar (March 16 at the Central Presbyterian Church: Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, Zeena Parkins, San Augustin, Arnold Dreyblatt Ensemble, and Jonathan Kane's February).

Just about every indie rock label in the world will present a showcase, including Merge, Matador, Polyvinyl, Rhymesayers, Astralwerks, Birdman, Absolutely Kosher, Saddle Creek, Barsuk, Flameshovel, French Kiss, Yep Roc, Babygrande, GSL, Lookout!, Bloodshot, Kill Rock Stars/5RC, Beggars Group, Suicide Squeeze, Locust, Fat Cat, Paw Tracks, New West, the End, the Militia Group, Ace Fu, Monitor, Mush, the Leaf Label, Sub Pop, Kemado, Tee Pee, Bar/None, Drive-Thru, Alternative Tentacles, Domino, Misra, Ninja Tune/Big Dada, Victory, Tigerbeat6, Gearhead, Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar, Anti-, Startime Intl., 679, Relapse, and yo mama.

Every British post-punk band the NME has liked for the past two years will be there, but most of them will play to half-empty clubs because everyone will be waiting in line to see Arctic Monkeys (who, along with Art Brut and surely many others, have yet to be put on the schedule). Morrissey will appear at the BBC Radio 2 showcase at the Austin Music Hall on March 16, along with Richard Hawley, Goldfrapp, and the Zutons. We will cry if we don't get into that one.

Apparently, Andy Dick (yes, Andy Dick) is performing at the Molotov Lounge at midnight on March 15. We're not sure exactly what he's going to do, but he's listed under "Avant/Experimental", so drones and found sound, maybe?

During the day, the bleary-eyed masses will stumble around the conference's headquarters, the Austin Convention Center, taking in interviews with the likes of Morrissey, the Beastie Boys, the Pretenders, and Neil Young, and arguing with panels about blogs, Houston rap, podcasts, artist development, and "Ten Things You Can Do to Change the World". That last one would sound kinda lame if Jenny Toomey from Tsunami/Simple Machines/Future of Music Coalition wasn't moderating it, and Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Chris Walla, and Hank Shocklee weren't the panelists.

Of course, the zenith of SXSW 2006 will be Pitchfork's own day party (co-presented by the wonderful Windish Agency), which will take place March 17 from noon to six at Emo's Annex. Funnydude Patton Oswalt will MC the shindig, Death Vessel, José González, Hot Chip, Spank Rock, the Juan Maclean, Love Is All, and Art Brut will perform live, and Ladytron, Audion, and Rjd2 will spin records. It's free and open to the public, so start lining up NOW.

South by Southwest: http://2006.sxsw.com/

Damon Albarn Working on Musical

Hey, remember that Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant movie Notting Hill? OK, let's forget it.

According to the BBC, Albarn is working alongside award-winning British playwright Roy Williams on the musical, which is set to open at the National Theatre in 2007. The show will purportedly focus on the area's diversity and multiculturalism.

"It will allow Damon to develop his passionate interest in the many musical styles that have emerged from Notting Hill over the past four decades," National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner told the BBC. "Damon is one of the most unique and inventive musicians of the moment," he added.

As for Albarn's blurry (AHH!) plans with Blur, the band is marching forward begrudgingly without guitar hero Graham Coxon in tow. Albarn told NME late last year that the next Blur album, the follow-up to 2003's Think Tank, will be recorded without an additional guitarist. Speaking to NME, he said, "The reason why it's so basic is we decided that if we're going to make another record it's just got to be the three of us and I've got to play guitar. And because I'm such a rudimentary guitarist it has to be really stupid and basic punk rock."

Albarn is also still hard at work on his first proper solo album, which, much like Think Tank and his Mali Music side project, will have a world-beat tinge to it. "I'm halfway through a record that I started in Nigeria last year," he said.

Gorillaz were last seen being really boring at the Grammys. C'mon, even Jem had more exciting holograms than that.

* Blur: http://www.blur.co.uk/

Gorillaz: http://www.gorillaz.com/

Nicolai Dunger Collaborates With Mercury Rev

Dunger has previously collaborated with such luminaries as Will Oldham, the Soundtrack of Our Lives, the Concretes, Calexico, Silver Jews/Sonic Youth/Jukeboxer drummer Timothy Barnes, the jazz trio E.S.T., and Dungen's Reine Fiske. So Mercury Rev are just a notch in his bedpost. But he's just a line in a song.

Here's his songs:

01 My Time Is Now
02 Hunger
03 Slaves (We're Together Like)
04 Someone New
05 White Wild Horses
06 Tell Me
07 Country Lane
08 Way Up High
09 The Year of the Love and Hurt Cycle
10 Harp's Coming In
11 ...and Falling Out

"The Year of the Love and Hurt Cycle" is an eight-and-a-half-minute epic in twelve parts-- one for each month of the titular year. We'd like to tell you that the song ends with the revelation that the midget is the baby's father, but that would be a lie.

Here's My Song was originally released in 2004 on Dolores Recordings/Virgin Records. Lots of stuff has happened to Dunger since then: he's toured with Sufjan Stevens, put out a three-LP box set, recorded his first Swedish-language album (Nicolai Dunger sjunger Edith Södergran"), and contributed a track to a compilation called "Jävla Kritiker" ("Fucking Critics") in which artists wrote songs in response to their reviews. (God, we hope nobody decides to run with that idea in America.)

Dunger has no plans to tour at the moment, but he will play two American shows with members of Mercury Rev-- once in New York City later this month, and once at SXSW.

Dates:

02-25 Luleå, Sweden - Luleå University (solo)
02-28 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
03-17 Austin, TX - 18th Floor at Capitol Place (No Depression showcase) *
04-12 Dublin, Ireland - Douglas Hyde Gallery at Trinity College (solo)

* with Robyn Ludwick, Sarah Borges, Tim O'Reagan, Bruce Robinson

As for Mercury Rev, well, we don't really know what else they've got going on right now. Sorry.

Nicolai Dunger: http://www.nicolaidunger.com
Mercury Rev: http://www.mercuryrev.net/
Rounder: http://rounder.com/

Acid Mothers Temple Plan American Tour

But here goes nothing: while the group's website proclaimed late last December that the Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. moniker would return from a year-long hiatus this spring with an album and tour, the Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno are not waiting around. In fact, Alien8 Recordings is putting out their latest album, Starless and Bible Black Sabbath, tomorrow, February 21.

As you meditate on the unholy marriage of Fripp and Osbourne, make sure to mark your calendar for the latest AMT incarnation's trek through America, which will take place in April and May. Hopefully Kawabata and whoever else he brings can avoid the visa delays that forced AMT to cancel several shows here last year.

Underground Freak Outs:

04-19 New York, NY - Knitting Factory *
04-20 Providence, RI - AS220 #
04-21 Philadelphia, PA - Vox Populi Gallery *
04-22 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
04-23 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern *
04-24 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
04-26 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks *
04-27 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington *
04-28 Austin, TX - Emo's *
04-29 Denton, TX - Hailey's *
04-30 Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar *
05-01 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *
05-02 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge *
05-04 Tucson, AZ - Plush *
05-05 San Diego, CA - Casbah *
05-06 Hollywood, CA - Knitting Factory *
05-07 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *%
05-08 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
05-09 Seattle, WA - Neumo's *
05-12 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock *
05-13 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
05-14 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *
05-15 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop *
05-16 Buffalo, NY - Soundlab *
05-17 Wallingford, CT - Wallingford American Legion *
05-19 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs *
05-20 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix *

* with the Antarcticans
# with Abunai, Bright
% with Tryptophan

P.S. The AMT website recently posted a 61-part FAQ section called "Kawabata's Words" compiling the AMT frontman's answers to several common press inquiries into the enigmatic group's life and past. The questions range from "Are all Acid Mothers tracks initially improvised?" to "If you had to describe something like the idea of time, how would you do so? Is it a concept that sonically could be described?" His answer to the latter: "I never feel the necessity of capturing ideas in written form. My music comes to me as a continuous broadcast from the cosmos and I merely recreate those sounds."

Right.

Acid Mothers Temple: http://www.acidmothers.com/

The Band Reissue Two Late-Period Albums

The albums marked the Band's return to the studio for the first time since their infamous breakup in 1978, following the much-ballyhooed farewell concert The Last Waltz. They were also the group's first without guitarist and principal songwriter Robbie Robertson, who would unsuccessfully sue the four reformed members in an attempt to stop them from continuing to use the Band moniker.

Fans were unsure how their reunion efforts would effect the Band's near-bulletproof legacy, but Jericho caught many critics by surprise, showcasing the group's continued musical strengths in the wake of Robertson's departure. While not quite living up to their 60s/70s peaks (who could?), the remaining foursome turned in a surprisingly skillful collection of tunes, including covers of Bob Dylan ("Blind Willie McTell") and Bruce Springsteen ("Atlantic City"). Jericho also contained the final studio recording of the haunting tenor vocals of pianist Richard Manuel, who killed himself in 1986.

High on the Hog was pleasant, but much less successful than Jericho, possibly because the Band chose to cover En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" on it. Or because the cover, which features an evil pig smoking a cigarette, would have been rejected by Alice in Chains for being too tacky. However, the album does include a fresh take on Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," which the Band had originally backed Dylan on in 1974. There's also live track from 1986 ("She Knows") featuring the late Manuel.

Since Capitol Records overhauled the Band's classic Robertson-helmed discs at the beginning of the decade, this latest pair of remasters leave their final LP, 1998's Jubilation, as the only album from their catalog yet to be reissued.

Tracklists:

Jericho:

01 Remedy
02 Blind Willie McTell
03 The Caves of Jericho
04 Atlantic City
05 Too Soon Gone
06 Country Boy
07 Move to Japan
08 Amazon (River Of Dreams)
09 Stuff You Gotta Watch
10 Same Thing
11 Shine a Light
12 Blues Stay Away From Me

High on the Hog:

01 Stand Up
02 Back to Memphis
03 Where I Should Always Be
04 Free Your Mind
05 Forever Young
06 The High Price of Love
07 Crazy Mama
08 I Must Love You Too Much
09 She Knows
10 Ramble Jungle
11 Young Blood
12 Chain Gang

In other Band-related news, keyboardist Garth Hudson appears on Neko Case's forthcoming album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.

The Band (fan site): http://theband.hiof.no/

Dengue Fever Play West Coast, SXSW Dates

The dates will be in support of last year's Escape From Dragon House. Dengue Fever's SXSW performance will take place on a bill that also feature bands from Iran, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Brazil. Kinda makes all those British showcases seem boring, huh?

Burning up:

02-23 Los Angeles, CA - Tangier Club
03-02 Los Angeles, CA - Tangier Club
03-07 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
03-08 Portland, OR - Towne Lounge
03-11 San Francisco, CA - 12 Galaxies
03-12 Santa Cruz, CA - The Attic
03-16 Austin, TX - Caribbean Lights *

* with 127, Auktyon, the Refugee All Stars, Lenine

Dengue Fever: http://denguefevermusic.com

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