Brian Eno once purportedly said that only 100 people ever heard the Velvet Underground, but all 100 went out and started bands. Dunno who the other 96 were, but the four fellas who comprise Canada s must ve worn down the grooves of their White Light/White Heat, as their late-70s underground classic smacks of VU-obsessiveness and some of the other primordial punks, cut through with a touch of Krautrock. Cyborgs has long been a favorite of the likes of Julian Cope and Thurston Moore, but like many of rock s great also-rans, Simply Saucer were long gone before finding the favor they might ve deserved.
Flash forward to 2007, and Simply Saucer-- due, perchance, to renewed interest in the group drummed up by -- have reunited for their first studio time in nearly three decades. The ends of these sessions, coupled (as the album name would suggest) with a few concert recordings, is Half Human, Half Live, due from at an as-yet-undetermined point later this year. What s more, the band will showcase material from the new disc at a pair of shows at Toronto s , April 13 and 14.
has never been able to settle on just one name. is always in there somewhere, but whether or not there s a Vanishing Voice or a Sky High Band or a Jambalaya Slamgrass (the last one is just a suggestion) in there seems entirely dependent on Toth s whim. So it s no surprise that he is modifying his Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice moniker once again.
According to from Toth, the band formerly known as Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice now go by the name WWVV to reflect the new, grown up, hard-as-hell us, like New Kids on the Block did all those years ago-- and just remember how great that turned out! The band will also function in a slightly more casual capacity due to band members various other commitments.
WWVV will commemorate the transition with a short tour of the East Coast.
Not coincidentally, the tour comes right before the release of Toth s newest album, , out May 15 on . Apparently this will be his final album under his present name. Wrote Toth, the Wooden Wand name will die with the release of (and inevitable tour in support of) the new album.
I m recording a new album this summer, not sure what name it will be under yet, but for all intents and purposes, it ll be a new band.
For Toth s full, somewhat convoluted explanation of the situation, along with a vague-but-extensive list of the other band members projects, check out his . (and the Melting Paraiso U.
F.O.) will cross the Pacific once again for a full-blown North American tour in April and May.
In typical AMT fashion, they re calling it the Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Tour , and we can t even begin to imagine what that could mean.
The metaphysical mayhem begins April 13 in Los Angeles and concludes exactly one month later in Santa Cruz. All dates are with California s ; swing by the merch table after your mind is blown to pick up Acid Mothers limited edition Crystal Rainbow Pyramid tour 12 .
The series of art exhibitions will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of the Velvet Underground s debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, with C/O The Velvet Underground, New York, NY .
Johan Kugelberg and John McWhinnie co-curated the exhibition, which features period posters, books, silk-screens, ads, reviews, albums, and photographs from public and private collections. Also included is the rare and rather 1966 acetate demo of the album.
Artists whose art and design work is featured in the exhibition include Andy Warhol, Adam Ritchie, Paul Morrissey, and Doug Yule. Lou Reed s original lyrics from 1965 are also featured. A catalogue with the same title as the exhibition will include texts by Richard Prince, William Gibson, Jack Womack, Jonathan Richman, Jon Savage, John McWhinnie, and Johan Kugelberg.
The exhibition will run for one month from April 12 to May 12 with an opening reception on the first day.
The ever-beguiling , just days from the April 10 release of -- which sports some fine, fine -- will express the inexpressible on a spring and summer tour of North America and Europe. beginning tonight in Reykjavik.
As , the reverberations of Redhead will match wits with the blooming and some campy on a smattering of dates. Blonde Redhead s 23 (their term, not mine-- I m still learning how to dial into BBSes) is counting on you-- well, you, or perhaps the more musically-inclined person reading this over your shoulder-- to remix new track Signs Along the Path . What great riches shall you reap from this generous act of remixery, you ask?
Dinner with the band? Untold riches? Perhaps a celebrity dye-job?
No, not exactly. To the winner go spoils of a spot on the BR website and a chance to get voted on by fellow Redhead fetishists. So if you re feeling an especially strong urge to be judged on your interpretative GarageBand prowess, well, you ve got your instructions.
23 is streaming from the band s right now as well, so get inspired!
1990s Treat U.S.
to Cookies, NYC Gigs -- three Scottish lads who ll nip you faster than a snapper turtle should you even think of marring their moniker with definite articles or apostrophes-- are poised to take their peppy retro guitar pop to U.S. shores this spring.
The trio s -stamped debut Cookies-- recorded by ex-Suede chap Bernard Butler-- hits Stateside shops with a bang and a few snare snaps on July 31. If you can t contain yourself until then, scoop up 1990s latest single, See You at the Lights , on UK import beginning April 16 (and scope the video below).
To help the kids get familiar, 1990s will hop in the time machine and touch down tonight at NYC s Bowery Ballroom.
They ll also turn up this weekend at Brooklyn s Union Pool for the ol hipster litmus test, where you can catch them along with choleric noise-rock trio Clockcleaner.
And lest you View this band as just another bunch of fresh-faced Kooks, know that 1990s singer/guitarist John Jackie McKeown served time-- indeed most of the nineteen-nineties, as fate would have it-- fronting Glasgow s beloved alongside 1990s bassist Jamie McMorrow. The Yummy Fur also counted among their members, for a spell, a certain Alex Kapranos (then going by Alex Huntley) and a certain Paul Thomson-- two fellers would go on to do something called Franz Ferdinand.
Red Hunter has expanded his touring lineup to a trio, and the next show on their six-week jaunt goes down tonight in Abilene, Texas. The present trek is nomadic Peter and the Wolf s second since the release of late last year on .
In addition to the non-Western instruments they plan to use in their set (e.
g., the Chinese erhu, the Tuvan igil, and the African kalimba), the band will also have a tour-only CD of new songs available for sale at shows. They ve titled the 10-track CD Fireflies.
Also announces tour, guest spot on Polyrhythm Addicts album s - new album, , finally has a release date on . Looks like we ll have to wait a little longer: originally May 1, that release date is now June 25.
To support the album, Monch will tour the U.
S. starting April 16 in New York City. His trek includes stops at both Coachella and .
The MC s MC also appears on Reachin , a song on new album, Break Glass...
will release that album April 24. In addition to the Polyrhythm core of DJ Spinna, Mr. Complex, Shabaam Sahdeeq, and Tiye Phoenix, Break Glass.
.. also features Planet Asia and Phonte of Little Brother.
So how do you make even better? Start by not messing with it at all, then tack on two more discs packed to the brim with bonus multimedia content.
, will unleash a deluxe edition of s , featuring a live disc and a DVD in addition to the original synth-rattled masterpiece.
The whole kit and caboodle lands in record stores at last May 8.
Since the Knife are meant to be seen as much as heard, the DVD includes the Silent Shout: An Audiovisual Experience goodies , including footage of the -designed live show shot in Gothenburg, Sweden on April 12, 2006, all the Knife music videos to date, and the short film When I Found the Knife.
The cold, sleek triptych is rounded out by a live CD featuring audio versions of the Gothenburg gig set.
Olof and Karin, meanwhile, have kept suspiciously quiet in 2007, which can only mean they re getting primed to take us on another nightmarish escapade into the chilling oblivion of our subconscious!! Or maybe they re playing pinochle and crocheting.
The notion of a fourth album from a band like mdash; the side-project-gone-amok that, among others, harbors principal songwriter , s Dan Bejar, and titan-voiced troubadour mdash; seems an almost impossible feat. It s hard enough keeping centrally-located bandmates together, let alone riding out the schedules of so many otherwise-occupied musicians over the many miles that separate them. But against the odds, Newman tells us that the band s fourth LP of dashing, deftly crafted pop will be out in August, and will almost certainly be titled Challengers.
Pitchfork spoke to Newman in a rare break from recording to discuss the album rsquo;s progress, his high hopes for his downtime at the (at which the New Pornos will play), the pros and cons of indie rock endorsement deals, and the importance of brevity.
will kick off a April 6 in Portland. He will take the stage as part of a duo with drummer/Moogster Dave Douglas, and s Annie Clark will also contribute some vocals to their sets.
All dates listed below are with St.
Vincent.
Faces will melt as Sam Beam delivers the latest single-- the first off forthcoming LP -- on July 10 via . Boy With a Coin includes a single edit of that Dog cut, along with two exclusive jams from the Shepherd sessions.
Mere days later, Beam will appear alongside his trap rap idols Clipse at the 2007 . Iron and Wine play the fest s second day (of three), starting mosh pits across Chicago s Union Park on July 14. Tickets are so damn cheap they might as well be free, and you can nab some .
Look for the complete Shepherd s Dog opus to surface sometime in September. Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently?
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