The Arcade Fire is set to take on the dust bowl that can be Randalls Island. The show takes place October 6th, so the weather may be better than for some of the summer shows. The Fire are bringing some friends along for the ride. Wild Light, Les Savy Fav, Blonde Redhead and LCD Soundsystem will share the bill.

You may recall us featuring Demander back in January. The New York trio are still going strong and the buzz will likely only increase this fall as they join both the Hold Steady and Art Brut on the road for a series of shows and then going abroad for some dates with New Model Army. Just before hitting the road the band will release their new cd The Kindness of Ravens on October 2nd. Check out some tunes and get all the tour scoop on their Myspace page.

Mink, the New York based power-gritters, are hitting the road with Perry Farrell's Satellite Party (who we caught in Austin). Sounds like a great matching of high energy bands and worth seeing. Their new self-titled record, produced by Sylvia Massy (Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers) & Chris Shaw (Dylan, Wilco), came out yesterday. You check out Mink's video for the "Talk to Me" over on YouTube and get the show dates on their MySpace page.

Mp3 Offerings:
They Might Be Giants (new record out now): "Careful What You Pack"
Cannonball Jane (this is not the Adrock remix): "Take It To The Fantastic"
Division Day (starts of good, not sure about ending): "Tigers"
Tim Williams (new record in October): "Novel"
The Hot Springs (another Montreal act to watch): "Headrush"

The Decemberists are hitting the road for what they are calling "The Long and Short Of It" tour. The name refers to the idea that the band will play longer songs on some nights and shorter songs on others. The band will play two nights in each city so seemingly you could go to both shows and see two entirely different sets. Laura Veirs, who appears on The Crane Wife, will open.

Natalie Merchant and some friends are banding together to help the homeless. A benefit cd titled Give US Your Poor features new songs by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Madeleine Peyroux, Sonya Kitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant, Michelle Shocked, Keb’ Mo’ and others. Merchant even recorded a song written by 15-year-old Nichole Cooper when she was homeless. You can check out a clip from a related documentary here. The record comes out September 25th on Appleseed Recordings.

Labels: Arcade Fire, Art Brut, Bruce Springsteen, Demander, Mp3s, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady, The Hot Springs

The record label for Art Brut here in the United States and their U.S. promoter both gave this site explicit and direct approval to post certain Art Brut tracks last week. I still have the emails saying we could do so. Now, "Reverb House" in the UK says they are Art Brut's publisher and that I must take them down. A couple of questions arise.

Wouldn't the record label let the publisher know it was sending these out for publication? And, wouldn't the publisher check with the record label when it sees this sort of thing? Apparently not on either count. It is a shame that the band has trust to their careers to entities that obviously don't communicate.

The band has to rely on these people to protect their interests and are obviously too busy to oversee every communication that goes out. So, we can't blame the band for having to alter our publication. One thing we can do though is to not trust these entities any longer when it comes to communications.

We can't simply post and take down posts without consequences. We are a Google News source and all of our posts go out into the Google News wires via our RSS feed. The RSS feed incorporates the title of the post. If we change or remove a title (not the body) it throws off the feed and we get temporarily knocked out of the Google News system. So now we have a title we can't change because it is already in the wire system linked to the RSS feed. Changing these on occasion is not a bid deal. But, if you have to do this often Google may eventually tire of these kind of problems and cut you off. If we are cut off it is obviously detrimental to our ability to survive as a publisher. So, we try to be careful. If a label says, for example, that we can only post mp3s for a certain time we don't even post them at all so as to not have to worry about making changes later. There was no such restriction in this case. Indeed, just the opposite.

The PR company trumpeted the release of the mp3s. Taking precautions, I contacted the label before posting. The label confirmed that it was ok to post the mp3s. Now, we get a "take down" message (a polite one) from the publisher. A simple case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Hopefully these people will get their act together and, for Art Brut's sake, communicate better with each other on other issues.

Labels: Art Brut

Dirty on Purpose is out on the road in support of their North Street Records debut Hallelujah Sirens. Spin Magazine gives them four stars saying: "The full-length debut from this Brooklyn foursome is a wet dream of collegiate, aural wizardry, swinging smartly between noisy rambunctiousness and delicate bedroom pop." See their video for "No Radio" and get tour dates are here.

The Capitol Years are also set to hit the road. They'll head out in early October, timed with the October 4th release date for their new record Dance Away The Terror. That's probably not going to make Dick Cheney's playlist. TCY will spend some of the time touring with label mates National Eye and you can see a full list of dates here.

The Prids, who Spin.com describes as "pure indie rock goodness" are currently on the road with Built to Spill.

The Features are another one of those Nashville area bands proving that "Music City" puts out more than just country classics. The band has an interesting story in that they reportedly were dropped by Universal for refusing to record a cover of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" for a credit card commercial. Without major label backing, they've regrouped and recorded a new EP, Contrast. You can listen to the title track here and check out their MySpace page for show dates.

Brooklyn's Asobi Seksu are in full tour swing in supprt of their sophomore record, Citrus. You can get dates and check out their new video here.

The New Cars are taking their new lineup for a fall spin. Original members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, are joind by touring rock veterans Kasim Sulton
and Prarie Prince and are now fronted by Todd Rundgren. It's been nearly 2 years since any version of the band has toured. They don't hit the road until November, but tickets are already on sale. Dates are here.

Art Brut and Brooklyn's We Are Scientists are taking turns swapping headlining duties as they tour together. Art Brut will also do a handful of solo dates in October.

Seattle's Minus the Bear and Chicago's Russian Circles (currently gigging with Daughters) are going to share some dates this fall. MP3 samples here, MTB: "Hooray" and Russian Circles' "Death Rides a Horse."

The View, from Dundee, Scotland, will join the MTV Gonzo Tour in October and then hit the road for some dates with Primal Scream in November.

Detroit indie rockers Canada also have announced new dates. The good folks over at You Ain't No Picasso give them the thumbs up: "It's almost like the mothers of twenty five years ago got together and spoon-fed their sons and daughters healthy doses of Bob Dylan, Big Star, and Neil Young, and these are the people they grew up to be."

Labels: Art Brut, Capitol Years, Minus the Bear, We Are Scientists

E-Music conducted both a writers poll and a users poll to compile the best independent discs released in 2005.

The writers poll had Konono on top:

01 Konono No. 1, Congotronics (Crammed Discs)
02 Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
03 Animal Collective, Feels (Fact Cat Records)
04 Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise (Asthmatic Kitty)
05 Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (French Kiss Records)
06 Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree (4AD)
07 Annie, Anniemal (Big Beat)
08 Various Artists, Run the Road (Vice Records)
09 Slits, Cut (KOCH Records)
10 Bettye LaVette, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti Records)
11 Spoon, Gimme Fiction (Merge Records)
12 New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Matador Records)
13 Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)
14 Bobby Bare, The Moon Was Blue (Dualtone)
15 Danger Doom, The Mouse & The Mask (Epitaph)
16 Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (Vice Records)
17 Supersystem, Always Never Again (Touch & Go Records)
18 James Blood Ulmer, Birthright (Hyena Records)
19 Decemberists, Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
20 Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart (Yep Roc Records)
21 Eels, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (Vagrant Records)
22 John Doe, Forever Hasn't Happened Yet (Yep Roc Records)
23 Deerhoof, The Runners Four (5 Rue Christine)
24 Washington Phillips, Key to the Kingdom (Yazoo-Shanachie Records)
25 Clientele, Strange Geometry (Merge Records)
26 Gang Gang Dance, God's Money (Social Registry)
27 Of Montreal, Sunlandic Twins (Polyvinyl Record Co.)
28 Blackalicious, The Craft (Anti Records)
29 Albert Ammons, Hey Piano Man (JSP Records)
30 Gogol Bordello, Gypsy Punks (Side One Dummy)
31 Lyrics Born, Same!@#$ Different Day (Quannum Projects)
32 Nortec Collective, Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 (Nacional Records)
33 The National, Alligator (Beggars Banquet)
34 Black Mountain, Black Mountain (Jagjaguwar)
35 Iron & Wine/Calexico, In the Reins (Overcoat Recordings)
36 Yo La Tengo, Prisoners of Love (Matador)
37 Cocorosie, Noah's Ark (Touch & Go Records)
38 Isaac Hayes, Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It? (Fantasy/Stax)
39 So Percussion, Steve Reich: Drumming (Cantaloupe Music)
40 Vasti Bunyan, Lookaftering (Dicristina)
41 Serge Gainsbourg, Love And The Beat Vol. 1: Love Gainsbourg's Way
(Sunnyside Records)
42 Ladytron, The Witching Hour (Rykodisc)
43 Dave Douglas, Mountain Passages (KOCH Records)
44 Attileo Mineo, Man in Space with Sounds (Subliminal Sounds)
45 Various Artists, Sun Spots: The Story of Sun Records (Sun Records)
46 Blueprint, 1988 (Rhymesayers)
47 Dr. Dog, Easy Beat (National Parking)
48 Horace Andy, Dance Hall Style (Wackies)
49 Various Artists, Thai Beat A Go-Go 2 (Subliminal Sounds)
50 Fieldwork, Simulated Progress (Pi Recordings)

Sufjan Stevens topped the readers poll:

01 Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise (Asthmatic Kitty)
02 New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Matador Records)
03 Decemberists, Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
04 Spoon, Gimme Fiction (Merge Records)
05 Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (Vice Records)
06 Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
07 Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (French Kiss Records)
08 The National, Alligator (Beggars Banquet)
09 Josh Rouse, Nashville (Rykodisc)
10 Danger Doom, The Mouse & The Mask (Epitaph)
11 Great Lake Swimmers, Great Lake Swimmers (Misra Records)
12 Lemon Jelly, '64 - '95 (XL Recordings)
13 Echo and the Bunnymen, Siberia (Cooking Vinyl)
14 Sun Kil Moon, Tiny Cities (Caldo Verde Records)
15 Ladytron, The Witching Hour (Rykodisc)
16 Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)
17 Matisyahu, Live at Stubbs (Or Music)
18 Iron & Wine/Calexico, In the Reins (Overcoat Recordings)
19 The Pernice Brothers, Discover a Lovelier You (Ashmont Records)
20 The Frames, Burn the Maps (Anti Records)

Labels: Art Brut, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, Dr. Dog, Gogol Bordello, Of Montreal, The Hold Steady