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 Friday, October 11th, 2002
Zwan Still Hard at Work on Debut Album
We don't need another "Zero"
Will Bryant and Alan Haworth report: Well, whatever they sound like, apparently Corgan, Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, Matt Sweeney of Chavez, Paz Lenchantin of A Perfect Circle, and David Pajo of Papa M are nearing completion on their as-yet-untitled first album. Corgan had this to say on the arrival of Zwan: "[The album] is just about done and we are all very excited and proud that we were able to come together to make this possible. We've been having a lot of fun, working like wizards under red lights here in the studio." YES!! With the big Gandalf hats and cotton-ball beards!! I like it, go on... "Everyone has worked very hard so we could make the first Zwan record a reality by the end of this year," Corgan reports. "It looks like we will probably be playing some shows after Thanksgiving." Geez, Billy always sounds so freakin' genteel. How can you mock that earnestness? Come on, guys, let up. They've worked very hard. Or haven't they? The record, in fact, will not be a reality by the end of this year... ...Which is precisely why Virgin are raiding the Pumpkins vaults to re-release the 1994-vintage Vieuphoria collection on DVD, with new footage and bonus material on the inside but the same cheesy pigs on the outside. The DVD boasts 20 minutes of never-before-seen band footage from the Siamese Dream era, as well as a 10-minute studio interview titled (we shit you nary) The Unbearable Likeness of Manny, in which the band trades mock barbs with a 'record executive' played by a friend. There are rumors that the disc will also include a UK performance of "Rhinoceros" and the Pumpkins' appearance on MTV's 120 Minutes, where they played three rockin' hits promoting Siamese Dream. Tracklist:
01 Sinfony * * previously unreleased studio sessions For you cheap bastards, the music on Vieuphoria will also be available on a companion CD called Earphoria. Originally issued as a promo-only CD in 1994, original copies of the highly sought-after soundtrack often sold for $60 and higher on eBay-- until the annoucement of this reissue, that is! Should've slapped a "buy it now" option on that, hflax.
.: Pitchfork Review: Smashing
Pumpkins: MACHINA II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
Sonic Youth Get All Arty with Fall Releases
First single "VIII" leaked onto Internet, breakaway hit on TRL
Catherine Lewis and Ray Suzuki report: Just this week, Konkurrent issued the eighth volume in their series of In the Fishtank mini-LP's, featuring four-fifths of Sonic Youth (everyone but Kim Gordon), three members of ICP (that's the Dutch free-jazz collective the Instant Composers Pool, not Insane Clown Posse), and a handful of other musicians including Terrie and Luc Ex and percussionist William Winant (who has toured with folks such as Thurston Moore and Steve Reich). It was recorded in June of 2001. The Dutch label often sponsors touring bands to stop off in their studio for a few days to record something-- anything-- that it then releases as part of its growing "In the Fishtank" series. The series has featured several collaborations in the past-- most recently, Duluth slowcore outfit Low with their former tour-partners the Dirty Three; before that, Tortoise with The Ex, and Willard Grant Conspiracy with Telefunk-- as well as recordings by bands on their own (e.g., June of 44, Guv'ner). The label places no restrictions on the bands, and their in-studio wankery sometimes works incredibly well (case in point: Low and the Dirty Three's excellent reading of Neil Young's "Down by the River") and sometimes works only about as well as you would expect from 48 hours of studio noodling (well, I'm not going to name names, as that would be tacky). Tracklist:
01 III Third-chair guitarist Lee Ranaldo has also released an experimental record overseas: Outside My Window the City is Never Silent, a joint release between UK labels Chocolate Monk and Hell's Half Halo, combines "sounds of forgotten conversations, voices of loved ones, talks delivered via wire, crosscut with various tone poems (music(s))." All of which is just a fancy-pants way of saying it's a collage of studio outtakes, noise, found sound, and audio from "friends, family, loved ones and other artists" including Ranaldo's Sonic Youth bandmates, authors Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver, even the Youth's Lollapalooza tourmate Courtney Love. The collage, originally assembled for a 2000 radio broadcast in Belgium, "grows out of recent works I have been creating dealing with phrases constructed from various recycled bits of voice and sound, the silences between them, and the cross-pollinations which occur as they are combined in different ways," Ranaldo sez. And finally, the Yoof are wrapping up what has been an incredible year for the shaggy-dog art-rockers with five more live dates in the northeast, including two nights at Irving Plaza. Dates:
10-13 Boston, MA - Middle East (Terrastock Festival)
.: Pitchfork Review: Sonic
Youth: Murray Street
Guided By Voices Touring with Superdrag
Put that boner away-- I said "with," not "in"
Brandon Dameshek and Will Bryant report: And just to make things nuttier than a squirrel's ballsack, Dayton's finest have recruited Knoxville's Superdrag to come along for the ride. You can locate their special stew of power-pop can be located on their latest Arena Rock release, Last Call for Vitriol (featuring a cameo from GbV's Bob Pollard). Tour dates (all shows from October 17th on with Superdrag):
10-11 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club (w/ Chino) How's yer hope hangin'? Well, for those who are members of that ever-slimming demographic of Pitchfork readers who also watch "Friends" and/or "Scrubs", you may be delighted and/or appalled that GbV's 1999 prom anthem "Hold On Hope" is included on the Hollywood Records soundtrack to the latter. Oddly, this is not the first time that the realms of indie rock and must-see-TV have clashed-- the woefully unfunny "Friends" used a hired-gun's rendition of the riff from Pavement's "Rattled by the Rush" as transitional music in its second season. Then again, my stoner cousin Belzer thought they played Danzig's Blackacidevil continuously through an episode of "Frasier" once, and called to tell me so before realizing it actually eminated from the dorm room two doors down. Lastly, the 'Fork would like to put to rest the rumors that Pollard and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy have been quietly working on an album together under the moniker New Verbal Adventurers. Tweedy does have collaborative albums with the Minus 5 (which has also included Pollard as a member) and Jim O'Rourke (who should totally produce the next GbV record) due in 2003, but no collaboration with Pollard is planned. "There is nothing remotely true in that one at all," hardy GbV webmaster Rich Turiel tells us, adding that Pollard is already hard at work writing songs for the next GbV album.
.: Pitchfork News: Guided
by Voices: Universal Truths and Cycles
Jay Farrar Touring Europe, The South
Hard to say which has more inbreeding
Aaron Shaul reports: In the meantime, Bloodshot Records inform us that the Farrar-penned soundtrack to the indie football flick The Slaughter Rule is mastered and ready to go, but will likely be delayed until 2003 pending the film's distribution situation (it doesn't have any). Chances are if this little jaunt goes smoothly we can expect a full blown U.S. tour somewhere down the line, maybe even with a full band! For now he's just got Mark Spencer of the Blood Oranges tagging along and helping out on vocal, electric and lap steel guitar duties since he's got nothing else to do. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Farrar will also be joined by Uncle Tupelo tagalong Brian Henneman for most of the U.S. swing. Tour dates:
10-24 Gallarte, Italy - Teatro Nuovo * with Brian Henneman
.: Pitchfork Review: Jay
Farrar: Sebastapol |
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