Björk: Live at Shepherd's Bush, a concert previously released on VHS that has now been digitally remastered, documents one of the last shows of the 1997 Post tour, a concert in which, according to the reviewer on Björk.com, "the energy and radiance she emitted was unlike anything I have seen on any other Björk concert." Björk: Live in Cambridge was recorded on December 2nd, 1998 during the Homogenic tour and features the Icelandic string octet and the electronic stylings of LFO's Mark Bell. Björk: Unplugged/Live and Loud includes two shows recorded for MTV, the former a ten-song set consisting entirely of songs from Debut in the acoustic format, and the latter a six-song session recorded in 1998.

Now the bad news: although these DVDs will be region free, they will not be available in NTSC format, only in the European PAL format. Some newer American DVD players can convert from PAL to NTSC, but others, which in this modern age should serve only as blunt weapons, sadly do not.

.: Pitchfork Review: Björk: Vespertine
.: Björk: http://www.bjork.com

Ben Johnson reports:
During the mid-to-late 90s, Whiskeytown made a name for themselves by combining the alt-country sensibilities of Uncle Tupelo with the stumbling public drunkenness of the second encore at a Guided by Voices show. Since the band broke up, Ryan Adams has been pushing into higher realms of fame as that guy on VH1 with the artfully mussed hair singing in front of the Twin Towers. But his former bandmates have also been hard at work on new projects.

Caitlin Cary, who, in addition to a mean fiddle, played Emmylou to Adams' Gram, will be releasing her full-length solo debut, While You Weren't Looking, on the Yep Roc label on February 26th. Cary's EP, Waltzie, was one of the stronger alt-country efforts of last year, and she's responsible for writing or co-writing some of Whiskeytown's best material ("Matrimony" and "Faithless Street," in particular), so her upcoming disc holds out a lot more promise than, say, Steve West's new band. She's also put together a pretty strong set of collaborators for the album, including former Whiskeytown multi-instrumentalist Mike Daly, ex-Jayhawks keyboardist Jen Gunderman, and producers, dB's, and former REM-consorts Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey. Oh, and Ryan Adams sings a little, too. 'Cause he's like that.

Speaking of Mike Daly, he too has already cut several tracks for a solo project which he's currently shopping to labels. The new songs already include Cary on backing vocals, and he's also attempting to reel in James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Bryson of Counting Crows, and various and sundry Pernice Brothers to play on the album.

And then, of course, there's that Ryan Adams guy. Mr. Prolific, who has already released three albums since last fall (two solo, one Whiskeytown), has two more finished products in the can and ready for release next year: one with his new punk band the Pinkhearts, and the other a solo album entitled 48 Hours, which apparently denotes the time in which the album was recorded rather than being the sly nod to the Nolte/Murphy films we'd initially hoped. Hey, where is Nick Nolte, anyway?

.: Pitchfork Review: Whiskeytown: Pneumonia
.: Yep Roc: http://www.yeproc.com

Brandi Haker reports:
Artist, author, poet, punk rock pioneer, and originator of the spiky haircut Richard Hell will release a two-disc set full of old, unheard, and live songs by his seminal (and brilliant) punk band Richard Hell & the Voidoids. It has yet to be given a title, but it's definitely due out on Matador in early 2002.

Before he formed the Voidoids in 1976, Hell was a founding member of the Neon Boys, Television, and the Heartbreakers. Then, he said "fuck that noise" (but in period youth-vernacular-- he wasn't that far ahead of his time), and released, with the Voidoids, the near-perfect Blank Generation. If you're a fan of Wire, Gang of Four, and the Modern Lovers' first album and you don't own this album, we at Pitchfork strongly encourage your starting to.

Last month, Hell also published Hot and Cold, a compilation of non-fiction essays, poetry, drawings, and lyrics, which is available on the web through any number of outlets (Amazon and Barnes & Noble among them). But hardcore Hell fiends might be better off ordering a signed copy from Hell's own website.

Disc One:
01 Love Comes in Spurts
02 Chinese Rocks
03 Can't Keep My Eyes on You
04 Hurt Me
05 I'm Your Man
06 Betrayal Takes Two
07 Crack of Dawn
08 Ignore That Door
09 I Live My Life
10 Going Going Gone
11 Funhunt
12 I Can Only Give You Everything
13 I Been Sleepin' On It
14 Cruel Way to Go Drown
15 The Hunter Was Drowned
16 Hey Sweetheart

Disc Two:
01 Intro
02 Love Comes in Spurts
03 Liars Beware
04 You Gotta Lose
05 Lose Yourself
06 New Pleasure
07 Walking On the Water
08 The Plan
09 Blank Generation
10 I Wanna Be Your Dog
11 Vacancy
12 Ventilator Blues
13 Kid with the Replaceable Head
14 Don't Die
15 You Gotta Lose (with Elvis Costello)
16 Shattered

.: Richard Hell: http://www.richardhell.com
.: Matador: http://www.matadorrecords.com

Derek Fahnestock reports:
If you were in a musty, atmospheric rathskeller and overheard "Stratford 4, blah, blah, blah, debut, blah, blah, blah, BRMC, Yo La Tengo, Sigur Rós, Velvet Underground, and My Bloody Valentine, blah, blah, blah...," would you lean in over your gueuze for a closer listen? Well, you might be a tad less credulous learning that such comparisons come from a press release, but by eavesdropping, you'd end up with a fairly sound notion of where the San Francisco quartet Stratford 4 are coming from on their upcoming debut.

The BRMC connection is actually fairly concrete-- frontman Chris Streng was in an earlier incarnation of the band, and was introduced to the remainder of Stratford 4's future lineup by current BRMC members in 1999. The fully evolved Stratford 4 sound layers multiple strata of guitar encasing "Yo La Tengo-esque" melodies brushed with the "dark strokes of the Velvet Underground." Hmmm... noise-pop? Intrigued (and patient) listeners can look for the band's audaciously titled debut, The Revolt Against Tired Noises on Jetset early next February.

.: Stratford 4: http://www.stratford4.com
.: Jetset Records: http://www.jetsetrecords.com