Pitchfork

Photo by Doug Coombe

Veteran Dearborn, Michigan duo Windy & Carl tend to take their time with things, but they're ready at last to issue a new album, one that Kranky is calling their first proper full-length since 2001's Consciousness. Songs for the Broken Hearted is due tomorrow (October 13) on CD and double LP from the Chicago label and longtime W&C home.

Songs follows close on the heels of Windy Weber's recent solo album, I Hate People. And while the duo doesn't have any dates at the moment, Weber will appear with Thomas Meluch (aka Benoît Pioulard) under the Lambs Laughter moniker at this year's Brainwaves Festival, going down outside Boston in late November.

In addition to the new LP, Windy & Carl have some music in Chris Eska's August Evening, which is screening all over the place this fall.

Photos by Kathryn Yu

In case the big lovely bump in her belly up there didn't clue you in, M.I.A. has some news for us. "I'm creating a baby," she revealed to Pitchfork's Jessica Suarez in an interview just prior to her performance at Diesel's ridonculous xXx party in NYC Saturday night. "I've got two kids, that's what it feels like."

The full interview isn't due to hit Pitchfork.tv until this Wednesday, October 15, but in the meantime we've got a few choice quotes.

"When I found out I was pregnant and 'Paper Planes' was in the iTunes top 10," M.I.A. told Pitchfork, "it seemed like the whole world was reshuffled in one week, and all my plans went out the window. And that's the lesson...you can't make plans, and you can't say shit."



No word just yet on the baby's (or babies'??) name, gender, or expected date of arrival, but let the record show: Diplo didn't make this one either. Instead, the baby is the collaborative undertaking of M.I.A. and fiancé Ben Brewer, frontman for NYC rockers the Exit and son of Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr.

As M.I.A. made sure to point out, "I got engaged first, then I got pregnant, kids."



For now, the singer said, "I have to do the rounds-- go see my family and show them the belly." But don't think this seals the deal on M.I.A.'s supposed "retirement." Indeed, far from it.

As M.I.A. revealed in the interview, she recently signed Baltimore's Rye Rye (with whom she's previously toured and collaborated) and is working on the teen rapper's album. She also recorded a cover of Tom Waits classic and "The Wire" theme song "Way Down in the Hole" with Blaqstarr, plus a couple tracks for her follow-up to Kala-- including one with Switch and, yes, Diplo. "We made up," M.I.A. stated.

Check out the full Pitchfork.tv interview on Wednesday to see M.I.A. chat being preggers, delve into the latest round of pro-terrorist accusations, share a piece of advice she received from Pharrell Williams, discuss the censorship controversy surrounding the Pineapple Express trailer, and talk her other current projects.

Stay tuned also for additional photos from the aforementioned Diesel party, including M.I.A. rocking with N.E.R.D., Franz Ferdinand kicking it with T.I., and loads more.

With My Bloody Valentine up and running again, Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel has inherited Kevin Shields' mantle as the most reclusive man in indie rock. But on Saturday at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan, Mangum crawled out of his cave for a few brief moments in the spotlight.

As you might have already seen over in Forkcast, Mangum hit the stage with his buddies from the Elephant 6 collective, who were in town for the NYC stop of the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour. From videos (via Brian at the Daily Cross Hatch) and audience reports, it seems that Mangum was in good spirits as he joined in on Olivia Tremor Control's "The Opera House" and "I Have Been Floated" as well as Elf Power's "The Arrow Flies Close". Although Mangum didn't do any Neutral Milk Hotel songs, Stereogum reports that his NMH bandmates Scott Spillane and Julian Koster performed "The Fool", Spillane's song from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

Mangum hasn't played any of his own shows in a very, very long time, but he has been popping up at friends' gigs in NYC in recent years. In 2005, he joined Olivia Tremor Control at the Bowery Ballroom and Elf Power at the Knitting Factory, and in 2006, he sat in with the Instruments at Cake Shop.

And Saturday's appearance might not be the last we'll see from Mangum on the Holiday Surprise Tour. Koster recently told Billboard.com that "Jeff told me he wants to make it to the Chicago show and maybe the Kentucky show, so we'll see. I know he hasn't played out much in the past few years, but he seemed very excited about this tour when I talked to him."

As previously reported, the Holiday Surprise Tour features Koster, Spillane, Will Cullen Hart of Olivia Tremor Control, Laura Carter of Elf Power, Eric Harris of OTC and Circulatory System, and Nesey Gallons playing the songs of OTC and Elf Power as well as Circulatory System, the Music Tapes, and more. It continues October 14 in Portland, Maine.

Pitchfork is making the leap from pixels to the page: On November 11, Simon & Schuster imprint Fireside Books will publish The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present. This handy paperback chronologically explores Pitchfork's 500 favorite songs from 1977-2006, constructing an alternate history of the past three decades of popular music-- one that extends beyond the typical Baby Boomer-approved canon of the Clash, Prince, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Radiohead, and Outkast.

From art-rock and proto-punk godfathers such as Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie to today's leading lights such as the Arcade Fire, the White Stripes, and Kanye West; from superstars to cult heroes; and from punk, indie, and pop to hip-hop, electronic music, and metal, we've created the ultimate playlist. Interspersed throughout are sidebars on the most vital subgenres from electro to grime to riot grrrl, along with pieces like "Career Killers: The Songs That Ended It All" and "Runaway Trainwrecks: The Post-Grunge Nadir."

Edited by Pitchfork Founder/President Ryan Schreiber and Editor-in-Chief Scott Plagenhoef, and written by an all-star team of contributors, The Pitchfork 500 is the perfect book for the train ride to work, a cozy winter's night by the fireside, or extended stays on the toilet.

For more information on The Pitchfork 500, go to www.thepitchfork500.com; to pre-order now, go to Insound. And remember to look for it at your local bookstore starting November 11! (It sure would make for a nice holiday gift, hint hint.)

Less than a week ago, the Black Angels supported legendary psych rocker and fellow Austin, Texas resident Roky Erickson at a show in Dallas. It seems the two acts get along, because they've also got a little West Coast tour together starting at the end of the month.

On the tour, the Black Angels will open for Erickson and then return later each evening as his rhythm section. And that's not the only special part of Erickson's sets, since they will include songs from the 13th Floor Elevators catalog that haven't been performed live in years.

In addition to their dates with Erickson, the Black Angels have quite a few shows, both in the U.S. and Europe. Their next date is tomorrow (October 11) in Pioneertown, California.

Semiannual arts mag Esopus has its 11th issue back from the presses and ready to ship, and with a new issue of Esopus comes a new themed compilation.

Esopus 11: Advice features 11 songs, each written with a piece of advice as its inspiration. The sources are as diverse as radio DJs, Billy Graham, and "Savage Love", and the tunes come from Shearwater, Wye Oak, Lucky Dragons, Stuart Dahlquist, Jenny Owen Youngs, the Muslims, and the Wingdale Community Singers (aka author Rick Moody, artist Nina Katchadourian, and musical types David Grubbs and Hannah Marcus), among others.

Advice follows previous Esopus comps themed after good news and dreams.

To order Esopus 11 and see links to all of the compilation's source material, visit esopusmag.com.

Björk and Thom Yorke, two of the mightiest figures in avant pop music, might will be joining forces for a good cause: protecting the Icelandic environment. If a promotional CD discovered by the French Björk fansite bjork.fr is to be believed (UPDATE: It is!), One Little Indian will release the new Björk single "Nattura", which features the Radiohead frontman on backing vocals. Although the promo indicates that the single is coming out this Monday, October 13, nothing about the single has been confirmed by anyone from One Little Indian or the Björk or Radiohead camps.

UPDATE: Björk's camp has confirmed that the single will indeed be released on October 20 from One Little Indian.

According to text on the promo, the song "highlights a grass roots movement in Iceland to reclaim the country’s natural resources and wilderness from the hands of big business and pollution." It is described as "more of a protest and rallying cry than a lecture." [Thanks to reader Daniel La France for the heads up.]

"Nattura" shares its name with the website Nattura.info, a gathering place for the Icelandic environmental movement. This wouldn't be the first time Björk has teamed with Nattura; this summer, she joined countrymen Sigur Rós at a concert to raise awareness for the organization. It also wouldn't be the first time Björk has teamed with Yorke. Back in 2000, the pair duetted on "I've Seen It All", a song featured in the Björk-starring Las Von Trier film Dancer in the Dark and included on its accompanying soundtrack album Selmasongs.

Read more about Björk's thoughts on Nattura here.

Maybe next these two can turn their attention towards fixing the Icelandic economy? (On a related note, the organizers of next week's Iceland Airwaves festival want everybody to know that the festival is still going on despite the country's economic woes. Party on!)

Photo by Justin Evans

Elephant 6-ers Elf Power and fellow Athens, Georgia songwriter Vic Chesnutt will hit the road this fall for a collaborative tour in support of their forthcoming collaborative LP, Dark Developments.

Credited to Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and the Amorphous Strums, Dark Developments arrives via Orange Twin on October 28. The album now has a tracklist, which can be found below along with its cover art.

The tour starts a day later in Oxford, Mississippi. Chesnutt and Elf Power are also working on adding a run of East Coast dates for early next year.

Currently, Elf Power are trotting around the U.S. on that "Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour".

I think it's fair to say, at this point, indie rockers have chosen their candidate for next month's presidential election: that one.

The Senator from Illinois has already earned the support of, well, a lot of the music makers and dreamers of dreams, and with November 4 looming in the minds of just about everyone, even more artists are banding together in support of Barack Obama's bid for the White House.

First up is a gig tomorrow (October 11) at Los Angeles' the Smell, which finds the Mae Shi, Bad Dudes, Bastidas, and the Widow Babies joining up for an Obama fundraiser. The event is being put on by Noise for Obama, that nifty website we mentioned a while back that gathers fans of Democrats and decibels alike.

Sunday (October 12) at New York City's St. Raphael's church, Vampire Weekend, David Crosby, and known Brit Graham Nash will perform "intimate, short acoustic sets" at a benefit for Music for Democracy's Be the Change GOTV (Get Out the Vote) campaign. That effort aims to boost the youth vote by support "progressive netroots technology." After all, nothing says youthful exuberance like, um, David Crosby.

Back on the West Coast, These United States and a "surprise headliner" will take the stage at San Francisco's Independent October 15 as part of Barack 'n Roll, a fundraising effort for obamatravel.org. That particular organization aims to help shuttle Obama volunteers to key swing states. That's just a day before the Breeders and the National hit up Cincinnati in support of the Obama/Biden campaign.

The following day, the Black Keys will join Devo at that October 17 show at Akron, Ohio's Civic Theatre as a benefit for Summit County Democrats. And a little bit closer to the election, the Beastie Boys will bring a rotating cast of characters-- including Santogold, David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Tenacious D-- out for a brief tour of swing states. Rock the Vote reps will be onhand as well; check the initial dates for that jaunt below.

If you'd prefer to dance out your frustrations with the thought of a McCain/Palin regime, the fabulous DJ Z-Trip has crafted a free "Obama mix", a 54-minute mash-up of "uplifting and motivating calls to action in support of" the Illinois Senator that can be downloaded here.

Or, should the pumping of fists be more your style, you can shake 'em in the general direction of Mr. McCain, who's been using the Foo Fighters' "My Hero" without their permission at his campaign rallies. The band is pissed, declaring in a statement that McCain's campaign has "appropriated [the tune] without our knowledge and used [it] in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric [and] just tarnishes the song." Maybe you wanna ask Meghan for a little advice on the matter? Er, on second thought...

Mississippi musician Dent May has signed to the Animal Collective-founded Paw Tracks imprint for the release of his full-length debut. The record, attributed to Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, is titled The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, and it comes out February 3. The AC gang reportedly discovered Mr. May while recording their new album Merriweather Post Pavilion down in the Magnolia State.

Dent May has a few shows this month, including an appearance at CMJ.