The Flaming Lips have completed their first feature film, Christmas On Mars. Also in the cooker is their highly anticipated LP At War With The Mystics. There’s good reason to hope it’ll be better than M.O.R single “Mr. Ambulance Driver,” which recalled a less-hip ELO; Wayne Coyne says it features a heavier songs inspired by Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” which The Lips performed as a duet with Cat Power on a recent Austin City Limits set. Steven Drozd really nails those monster fills.
Bob Pollard in the house; the former Guided By Voices frontman has a release schedule that will surely bankrupt any One True Fan. Merge Records has just signed Pollard for the release of his first post-GBV official solo record, From A Compound Eye, coming out in January 2006. You can get the sequel to GBV’s Suitcase box set (containing hundreds of unreleased tracks); Suitcase II: American Superdream Wow is released Halloween; my sources suggest a primitive version of “Teenage FBI.”
The highlights of the set are available as a vinyl-only LP entitled Briefcase 2: The Return of Milko Waif, which also contains a track (not part of the box set) recorded by none other than Steve Albini. The Electrifying Conclusion DVD depicts GBV’s final show New Year’s Eve 2004 at the Metro. Scat Records will re-release 1992s excellent Propellor on vinyl. Copies of the original vinyl pressing have sold for $6,200 at auction thanks to the unique art on each copy. And best of all, a collaboration between Pollard and former GBV bassist cum Spin music critic cum Kim Deal ex-boyfriend Jim Greer has yielded Guided By Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years Of Hunting Accidents In The Forests Of Rock And Roll, a book. Pollard will be signing the book in Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, and hometown Dayton, Ohio during November. And that’s not mentioning a movie score by Pollard, or his literary magazine EAT.
UK music fansite Drowned in Sound (drownedinsound.com) has just finished renovations for their five-year anniversary. The Website, a great way to keep up with bands on the other side of the pond, also sports a new look and a story about Liars’ UK tour.
What is Lorenzo Goldfronts? Be ready for some serious jamming as “b-boy in a news-boy” Larry Gates and band get down with a briefly reunited Goldfronts, a hip-hop duo that is the baby of Nargile proprietor Garenne Bigby. Gates pumps out ’90s-style rock and warns against the dangers of staring directly into a disco ball; Bigby describes his duo as a “sexier” OutKast (is that possible?) and Goldfronts has previously portrayed New Order. Your only chance to catch the pairing is the second night of the annual Great Cover Up (scheduled for January 27th), a charity event featuring local bands covering national bands. What’s next, HUM reuniting?
The Killers have announced they’ll be releasing a box set of 7″ (that means vinyl) singles from their first album, Hot Fuss, for all those who love the Killers as much as they love the rest of their VU bootlegs on vinyl. The b-sides include remixes by Thin White Duke (not Bowie, a DJ), traditional unreleased track, and a Morrissey cover. Personally, I’d prefer a sophomore album that’s not a slump.
