World's Fair

Beginning today, September 30 at 3pm EST, and lasting for one week, Under The Radar is holding a Protest Auction, selling the artist-made black-and-white protest signs that were featured in their Protest Issue earlier this summer.

According to the official press release, “all proceeds will go to benefit War Child International, a nonprofit that helps children in areas of conflict across the globe. This auction provides individuals with an opportunity to purchase a one-of-a-kind piece of art while also contributing to a worthwhile cause.”

British Sea Power, Jarvis Cocker, and Sharon Jones were all invited to participate in the sign-making (alongside Michael Stipe, Rilo Kiley, Britt Daniel, Tom Morello, Billy Bragg, Chuck D, Fleet Foxes, Talib Kweli, and Built to Spill, among many others), agreeing that indeed, it was a worthwhile cause. We do too.

Click on the pics for more info on how to bid, and to see all the signs.

 
All right, so, we don’t really know if Mr. Tarantino has actually declared his favorite band to be Spindrift, but considering he chose one of the group’s songs to be included on Hell Ride, which he produced (it premiered at this year’s Sundance Festival), chances are they’re near the top of his list. And anyway, Detour said it, not us.

According to Spindrift frontman Kirpatrick Thomas, Tarantino got in touch with the band after seeing their film The Legend of God’s Gun, in which they starred and to which they provided the soundtrack.

“Indian Run” is the name of the song on Hell Ride, but you can get a taste of the LA-based psychedelic Spaghetti Western group (that sports former members from the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre) with “The New West.” The song is off their upcoming album, The West (out 11/11 on Beat The World Records).

“The New West” DOWNLOAD

Or, if you haven’t yet caught them live, Spindrift is just finishing up their tour with dates in San Francisco and Los Angeles this week.

Sep 30 - San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
Oct 1 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo

Artist: Spindrift
Album: The West
Label: Beat The World
Street Date: November 11, 2008

CONNECT: World’s Fair | MySpace | Website

São Paulo, Brazil’s bright-eyed musical prodigy Curumin is preparing to release his second full-length, JapanPopShow, on Quannum Projects. The album will be coming out on iTunes next Tuesday, September 30, with an exclusive digital booklet, and will be available on other DSPs the following week, on October 7 (the English-language bonus track “In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day” will come with all digital purchases). The physical copy will hit shelves on November 4. The album highlights Curumin’s distinct style of samba soul, but it also features guest appearances from Gift of Gab, Chief Xcel, Tommy Guerrero, and Honeycut’s Hervé Salters, and Lateef.
 
 
The first single off the album, “Compacto,” “is available for download now. You can watch video for it here.

JapanPopShow takes its name from an Ed-Sullivan-esque variety show that was popular in Brazil in the early 80s. Check out a clip from the original theme song here, and contrast with Curumin’s title track (courtesy of an unofficial but highly-welcomed fanmade video).

Artist: Curumin
Album: JapanPopShow
Label: Quannum Projects
Street Date: October 7, 2008 (digital) // November 4, 2008 (physical)

CONNECT: World’s Fair | MySpace | Youtube

Menahan Street Band, headed by the Dap-Kings/Budos Band’s own Tommy Brenneck, already gave the world “Make the Road by Walking,” the 45 of which was picked up by some producers who happened to work for, um…Jay-Z. Now, as autumn begins to slowly uncurl itself across the continent, the band has unveiled the second single off the upcoming LP (Make the Road by Walking, out on Daptone/Dunham on October 14), “Tired of Fighting,” courtesy of an exclusive stream/premiere with the good folks over at The Fader.

The stream coincides with the release of the “Telephone Song” b/w “Tired of Fighting,” the 7-inch that the label is putting out today. You can check out “Telephone Song” (the vocal version of “Tired of Fighting,” with Charles Bradley doing the honors) on Dunham Records’ MySpace site. Or you know, buy the actual vinyl.

Listen to the “Tired of Fighting” stream.

If you happen to be in New York, Menahan Street Band will be throwing a record release party at Southpaw on October 17. Phenomenal Handclap Band will also be performing… it’s gonna be pretty sick…
 

But wait: there’s more happening on the Daptone front! The whole gang is also going to be pretty busy this weekend.

• Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings are at Austin City Limits on Saturday, September 27.
• The singers from COMO NOW will be performing a very special show in Memphis on Friday, September 26.
• The Budos Band and Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens will both be at the Sufjan Stevens-curated BAM Takeover this Saturday, September 27.

Naomi of course is still thick in the midst of her weekly Friday-night residency at Fat Cat. Change your life for $3, you know what they say…

Everyone’s other favorite British post-punk band, the 1990s, is currently featured on the new commercial for AT&T’s Walkman phone.

No Walkman commercial can really compete with this classic, it’s true, the 1990s’ “You’re Supposed To Be My Friend” is a close runner-up. Check it out for yourself.

“You’re Supposed To Be My Friend” is off the band’s full-length Cookies, which came out in 2007 via Rough Trade.

Download it here:
1990s - “You’re Supposed To By My Friend”

Artist: 1990s
Album: Cookies [E-CARD]
Label: Rough Trade / World’s Fair
Street Date: July 31st, 2007
Formats: CD, mp3

CONNECT: 1990s @ iMeem | 1990s.tv | 1990space | 1990s @ World’s Fair

 
The Secret Machines, quickly approaching the upcoming release of a new album and an accompanying tour, have just leaked the first track off the new record, with help from SPIN.com.

“Atomic Heels,” off Secret Machines (their third full-length and first on their own label, TSM Recordings), is a melodically-driven, hook-laden, nicely expansive song, a “pulsating and eerie first single, dripping in layers of sonic minutiae and — uncharacteristically — flaunting a radio-friendly 3:40 playtime.”

DOWNLOAD “Atomic Heels” here!

(The download follows a 30-second sneak preview streaming leak courtesy of USA Today.)

The band also recently announced a North American tour, and it is in fact their live show that has helped to build them such a stellar reputation among fans and critics alike.

The Secret Machines Fall Tour Dates

Oct 16 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Oct 17 - Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
Oct 18 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Oct 20 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
Oct 21 - Montreal, QC @ Les Saints
Oct 22 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
Oct 24 - Chicago, IL @ Metro*
Oct 25 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre*
Oct 27 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre*
Oct 28 - Aspen, CO @ Belly Up*
Oct 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ Key Club*
Nov 01 - San Diego, CA @ Belly Up*
Nov 03 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent*
Nov 05 - Portland, OR @ Berbati’s Pan*
Nov 06 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos*
Nov 07 - Vancouver, BC @ Richards on Richards*
Nov 09 - Calgary, AB @ SAIT Polytechnic^
Nov 10 - Saskatoon, SK @ Louis’ Pub^
Nov 11 - Winnipeg, MB @ Pyramid Cabaret^
Nov 14 - London, ON @ Call the Office^
Nov 15 - Ottawa, ON @ Babylon^

*w/the Dears
^w/Small Sins

EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD of “Atomic Heels” (@ SPIN.COM)

DOWNLOAD “Dreaming of Dreaming” (exclusive, new non-album track) here

Artist: The Secret Machines
Album: Secret Machines
Label: TSM Recordings
Street Date: October 14, 2008

CONNECT: World’s Fair | MySpace | Website

COMO NOW: The Voices of Panola Co., MS, the latest release from Daptone Records (and first that moves away from the Brooklyn funk and soul) continues to get rave reviews from critics all over. Says Grant Alden from No Depression:

“It is a relief once again to fall in love with an album — an entire album — to become enraptured by the music of artists who are unknown to me. To discover something of such great and glorious sounds that it is worth moving from the truck to the house stereo and back, to find music so rewarding to listen to that I have not opened the mail for a week, because this is enough. This is plenty…this is — by far — the best album I’ve heard this year.”

You can check the mini-documentary Daptone made about the album here, or, if you’re lucky enough to be in the Memphis area, the entire group of singers will be performing a very special show at the Levitt Shell next Friday, September 26 at 7pm.

You can also watch a special performance by the Como Mamas, one of the groups included on the compilation, on YouTube’s music homepage, or below.

 

Download the mp3 for “Trouble In My Way” here

Album: COMO NOW
Label: Daptone Records
Street Date: August 19, 2008

CONNECT: World’s Fair | MySpace | Website | YouTube

The half-Swedish/half-German singer-songwriter Peter von Poehl is pleased to announce his first US tour, opening for Yael Naim.

Peter, who released his debut full-length, Going To Where The Tea Trees Are, in the US this past June on Bella Union, the European home to artists like Fleet Foxes and Beach House, writes honest, heartfelt songs that transcend national boundaries. He has opened for Brian Wilson and Air, and regularly sells out shows in his adopted hometown of Paris. The tour with the French-Israeli Naim – who is best known for her song “New Soul,” which was used in a Macbook Air commercial – kicks off October 14 in Seattle at the Triple Door, and then crosses the country, stopping in Los Angeles, Boulder, Chicago, and New York, among other cities.

Oct 14 Seattle, WA @ Triple Door
Oct 15 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
Oct 17 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
Oct 19 Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
Oct 20 Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
Oct 22 Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
Oct 23 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
Oct 25 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union Theater (University of Wisconsin)
Oct 27 New York, NY @ Webster Hall

“Von Poehl’s slow-burning singing voice puts him on another planet.” - SPIN.com

“Given his good looks and yearning voice von Poehl could emerge as a thinking person’s James Blunt… But Blunt could never contemplate the arrangements that complement these delirious melodies.” - MOJO

“The Story of the Impossible” mp3 download

“The Story of the Impossible” video @ YouTube

“A Broken Skeleton Key (Alternate Version)” mp3 download

Artist: Peter Von Poehl
Album: Going To Where The Tea Trees Are
Label: Bella Union
Street Date: 6/10

CONNECT: Bella Union | Website | MySpace

The Dandy Warhols, along with Darker My Love and Beat The World labelmates The Upsidedown, have been on the road for a week now, hitting up Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Toronto, and Montreal before a stop in Boston tonight, New York tomorrow, Philadelphia on Saturday, and then the rest of the country!

The Chicago Sun-Times was at the show at the Vic on Friday, taking picture of the show.

They also interviewed Peter and Zia — you can read it here!

Courtney was also recently interviewed for a science fiction website SciFiDimensions (famed writer Richard K Morgan wrote the band members’ bios, and Courtney, as well as Zia and Peter, are big science fiction fans). You can hear the entire podcast here.

Download “The Last Of The Outlaw Truckers AKA The Ballad of Sheriff Shorty” here.

The Upsidedown have also been putting on a rather impressive show as openers. Their full-length, Human Destination, came out on August 12. Here’s a video for the title song:

 
 
(HD is here)

And you can download DOWNLOAD “Silver Wind,” from Human Destination, here.

The Dandy Warhols/The Upsidedown Fall Tour

Sep 16 - Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre*
Sep 17 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5*
Sep 20 - Philadelphia, PA @ TLA*
Sep 22 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club*
Sep 23 - Atlanta, GA @ The Center Stage Theater*
Sep 26 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall*
Sep 27 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater*
Sep 28 - Aspen, CO @ Belly Up*
Oct 01 - San Diego, CA @ Belly Up*
Oct 03 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
Oct 04 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield &
Oct 05 - Portland, OR @ The Roseland Theater (No Pre-Sale)^

*With Darker My Love
# With A Place to Bury Strangers
^With Monstrous
& With Helio Sequence

Artist: The Dandy Warhols
Album: Earth To The Dandy Warhols
Label: Beat The World Records
Street Date: August 19, 2008

CONNECT: World’s Fair | Myspace | Website | YouTube | Facebook

 
Life’s all about another chance: you puke on the lunch table in 6th grade you can hope everyone’s forgotten about it by 10th, you feed the family dog a pound of chocolate, you still have the cat to pour your feelings out to, you forget your mother’s 60th birthday, well, there’s always her 120th.

Apollo Sunshine understands this, they empathize, and because of this are offering New Yorkers two more chances to see them before they embark upon their national tour. The band was in New York a month ago, and they return again, playing two (2) shows, tonight (9/15) and tomorrow (9/16), at Williamsburg’s Monkey Town. As if this is not enough, Boston’s multi-talented, multi-media artist Edan will be there both nights, as well. The fact that the trio has decided to bestow their graces upon New Yorkers not once, but twice, also puts to rest what had previously been an eternal and unanswerable question: shall one have the carmelized banana and walnut empanadas (with cinnamon gelato and coconut caramel) or malted milk crème brulee?

The answer, friends: you can have both.
Monday, Sept 15 + Tuesday, Sept 16
@ Monkey Town
Apollo Sunshine CD Release Parties for Shall Noise Upon
w/ special guest Edan on visuals
58 N 3rd St
(btw. Kent & Wythe)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211
doors 8:30p, show 9p

More info here.

Download “Singing To The Earth (To Thank Her For You)” here.

APOLLO SUNSHINE TOUR DATES

Sep 15 Brooklyn, NY @ Monkey Town
Sep 16 Brooklyn, NY @ Monkey Town
Sep 19 Andover, MA @ Andover Town Hall
Sep 26 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
Oct 03 Fairfield, CT @ The Field
Oct 08 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Oct 09 Washington, DC @ DC9
Oct 14 Nashville, TN @ 3rd and Lindsley
Oct 15 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
Oct 16 Hattiesburg, MS @ Thirsty Hippo
Oct 17 Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
Oct 18 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
Oct 19 Norman, OK @ Opolis
Oct 21 Kansas City, KS @ Record Bar
Oct 22 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Oct 24 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
Oct 27 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
Oct 29 New York, NY @ The Mercury Lounge
Oct 30 Boston, MA @ Middle East
Oct 31 Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse

More dates TBA

Enter to win tix to a show near you, plus a very cool Apollo prize pack, here:

Artist: Apollo Sunshine
Album: Shall Noise Upon
Label: Headless Heroes
Street Date: September 2, 2008