ADDITIONAL TICKETS RELEASED FOR SOLD OUT NEW YORK SHOWS
SELECT UNDERPLAYS CONTINUING THROUGH OCTOBER 19 & 20 IN LOS ANGELES
FIRST SINGLE “OH NO” NOW STREAMING ON www.PITCHFORKMEDIA.com

Andrew Bird has confirmed that his new studio album Noble Beast will be released January 27, 2009 on Fat Possum Records. Noble Beast, currently in its final stages of mixing and mastering, is the follow up to Andrew’s critically acclaimed 2007 set Armchair Apocrypha which has sold over 100,000 copies to date.

Track listing for Noble Beast:
1. Oh No
2. Masterswarm
3. Fitz and the Dizzyspells
4. Effigy
5. Tenuousness
6. Nomenclature
7. Not a Robot, But a Ghost
8. Anonanimal
9. Natural Disaster
10. Confess
11. Souverian
12. On Ho!

The first single, “Oh No” is currently streaming in Pitchfork’s FORKCAST section, as well as dozens of other blogs who happened to pick it up over the weekend.

As a special treat, Andrew will be performing songs from the new record at a handful of intimate underplay shows this month in New York, Los Angeles and a few other select markets.

A small quantity of additional tickets has been released for TONIGHT AND TOMORROW’s shows (Oct. 6 and 7) at the HIRO BALLROOM. The limited additional tickets are available at the Mercury Lounge and Music Hall of Williamsburg box offices, ticketmaster.com, and Hiro Ballroom when doors open.

Following the conclusion of the second Hiro show, Bird will hightail it to the Music Hall of Williamsburg to appear at the October 7 BARACK ROCK fundraiser with Fiery Furnaces, Eugene Mirman and others.

The pre-release underplays wrap up Oct. 19 and 20 at the new Cafe Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles.

The complete itinerary is as follows:
10/06/08 – New York, NY – Hiro Ballroom
10/07/08 – New York, NY – Hiro Ballroom
10/07/08 – Brooklyn, NY – BARACK ROCK Music Hall of Williamsberg
10/08/08 – Portsmouth, NH – The Music Hall
10/09/08 – Albany, NY – Swyer Theatre
10/10/08 – Northampton, MA – Calvin Theatre
10/19/08 – Los Angeles, CA – Largo at The Coronet
10/20/08 – Los Angeles, CA – Largo at The Coronet

For more information, contact Steve Martin or Laura Eldeiry at nasty little man t 212-343-0740 e laura@nastylittleman.com

SPOON TO PLAY HOMETOWN BENEFIT FOR TEXAS DEMOCRATS & MARK THOMPSON, DEMOCRATIC RAILROAD COMMISSIONER CANDIDATE
October 13 Show at the Parish with Special Guest Gary Clark Jr.
Tickets On Sale 10 a.m. CST Thursday, October 2

Austin hometown dudes turned international musician-types SPOON will play a rare intimate one-off date October 13 at the Parish, proceeds from which will benefit Texas Democrats and the campaign of Mark Thompson, Democratic candidate for the office of Railroad Commissioner.
Tickets for the show will go on sale 10 a.m. central time Thursday, October 2.

The benefit follows on the heels of last month’s finale’ of SPOON’s year-plus on and off the road. It is expected to be one of the band’s last few live appearances before they head into the studio to complete the follow up to 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

For more information on tickets, go to Spoontheband.com.

Nov. 9 Date Added By Popular Demand New Single Featuring Jay Reatard “Gamma Ray” Cover and Non-LP Track “Bonfire Blonde” Out Now BECK has added a second date to his opening stand at the Club Nokia theater in downtown Los Angeles. The second date will take place November 9 the day BEFORE the sold out November 10 show. Tickets are on sale now. Additionally, Beck released a pair of singles digitally September 30 (available on vinyl October 7). The A-side for both is “Gamma Ray” from his acclaimed new album Modern Guilt. B-Sides are Jay Reatard’s cover of “Gamma Ray” and the non-album Beck original “Bonfire Blonde.” For further information, contact Steve Martin or Laura Eldeiry at nasty little man t 212 343 0740 e laura@nastylittleman.com

Electric Arguments
U.S. Release Date: November 25, 2008

The Fireman has returned after a ten-year break with something to sing about. Electric Arguments, the brand new third studio album from the mysterious duo–out in the U.S. November 25 on MPL/ATO–is their first release to feature vocals.

“Ambient dreams in rainbow arches describe the circles of The Fireman” is how the duo described their music in a rare interview around the release of their last album ‘Rushes’ in 1998. Their first album ‘Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest’, released in 1993, was a solid ambient dance album heavy on electronics. Around this time the identity of The Fireman was unknown until the press exposed the duo as none other than Paul McCartney and Youth. The now defunct music bible Melody Maker heaped praise on the project, “Paul McCartney has discovered dance music – the results are staggeringly brilliant. They (The Fireman) take a melody and, with dexterous genre-hopping through ambient, trance and house, evolve a number of breathtaking variations.”

Last year The Fireman returned to work again to start work on what would become Electric Arguments, ultimately finding thirteen days and recording a song on each of those days over the course of a little more than a year. The results this time are entirely different from any previous Fireman release.

Earlier this year The Fireman donated a new track, Lifelong Passion (which appears on Electric Arguments) to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield. This new track marked a directional change for The Fireman, showcasing a more traditional song based sound with vocals, completely unlike anything on the previous two albums. Speculation increased as a ’studio source’ was quoted in The Times of London as describing their new sound ‘like Arcade Fire meets Led Zeppelin’. So what had The Fireman been up to and what does the album sound like?

Electric Arguments is an eclectic and varied album consisting of thirteen tracks, each written and recorded in the space of one day. McCartney and Youth went into the studio with no master plan or clear direction. Instead they let the project take a life of its own, with the results surprising them as much as anyone.

The record opens with a stylistically diverse trifecta: Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight is a classic rock attention grabber followed by a hairpin turn in the form of the acoustic driven Two Magpies and yet another direction with Sing The Changes, a euphoric upbeat song with an undeniable and instantly memorable melody. Electric Arguments continues in this fashion, each track with an entirely different personality yet all meshing perfectly. Other standouts include ‘Light From Your Lighthouse’, ‘Sun Is Shining’ and ‘Dance ‘Til We’re High’, all in keeping with the genre-hopping spirit of the first two Fireman albums and demonstrating Paul McCartney’s unending interest in pure musical possibilities. This is an album set to both surprise and delight the listener. Made with no record company restraints or a set release date to work to, Electric Arguments is a work of omplete artistic and creative freedom.

The Fireman
Electric Arguments

Track listing:

1) Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight
2) Two Magpies
3) Sing The Changes
4) Traveling Light
5) Highway
6) Light From Your Lighthouse
7) Sun Is Shining
8) Dance ‘Til We’re High
9) Lifelong Passion
10) Is This Love?
11) Lovers In A Dream
12) Universal Here, Everlasting Now
13 Don’t Stop Running

Produced By Paul McCartney & Youth / All tracks written by Paul McCartney

After the overwhelming response to the Nude Remix Project, Radiohead are giving fans the opportunity to remix “Reckoner”, another track from the band’s latest album “In Rainbows” at http://www.radioheadremix.com

To make remixing easy, the separate ’stems’* from the song will be available to purchase on iTunes. The ’stems’ available are bass, lead vocal, backing vocals, guitars, piano/strings and drums. All six stems will be available to buy for the price of a single track. Fans can mix them in any way they like, either by adding their own beats and instrumentation, or just remixing the original parts.

Fans who purchase the ’stems’ from iTunes during the first two weeks they’re available, will be sent an access code to a GarageBand file ready to open in GarageBand or Logic. However, you don’t need GarageBand to do a remix, the stems are available in the DRM-free iTunes Plus format and compatible with several music software platforms.

Finished mixes can be uploaded to http://www.radioheadremix.com where the public will listen and vote for their favourite. Fans can also create a widget allowing votes from their own website, Facebook or MySpace page to be counted as ‘mix votes’ back on radioheadremix.com.

*’stems’ are the component parts of the song.

FEATURING ALL NEW AND EXCLUSIVE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BIGGEST NAMES IN MUSIC
HEROES WILL BE RELEASED ON NOVEMBER 25, 2008 ON ASTRALWERKS RECORDS

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Heroes album will be contributed to the humanitarian organization War Child

For immediate release:
War Child, an award winning charity that provides humanitarian assistance to war-affected children in some of the most devastated regions of the world, are proud to announce Heroes, a new benefit album to be released by EMI’s Astralwerks label on November 25th, 2008.

Heroes features a unique and unprecedented collaboration between some of the biggest names in music history and today’s hottest artists, working with a concept that mirrors one of the intrinsic aims of War Child’s efforts in war zones across the world – to place faith in the next generation. The Heroes concept is simple:Â Many of the biggest legends in music, including Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Brian Wilson and The Clash, select one of the classic tracks from their own songwriting canon, and nominate an artist from the next generation to create a modern reworking of that classic song.

The full track listing will be announced in due course but already the album is shaping up to be a musical tour-de-force with the following amazing cover versions:

BECK covering BOB DYLAN’S “LEOPARD-SKIN PILL-BOX HAT”
DUFFY covering SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY’S “LIVE AND LET DIE”
BRIAN WILSON nominating RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, who performs a medley of two tracks from “Smile”
THE KOOKS covering THE KINKS’ “VICTORIA”.
HOT CHIP covering JOY DIVISION’S “TRANSMISSION”
THE HOLD STEADY covering BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S “ATLANTIC CITY”

Many tracks by hugely successful contemporary artists are still being finished; the completed Heroes record will be an album of staggering musical diversity uniting the cream of musical giants from different generations.

War Child places its faith in the next generation and works to protect the most hard to reach children hit by a combination of war, poverty and marginalisation. Despite security constraints War Child is still operating successfully to protect youth in Darfur, Sudan, is on the ground in Afghanistan providing support to vulnerable women and their children, and has been in Georgia since 2004, long before Russian tanks rolled in.
As well as being recognized for working in the world’s most dangerous war zones, War Child is widely known for its association with the music industry, having produced award-winning charity albums and documentaries.
Sir Paul McCartney said “I have been supporting War Child since 1995. Their work with children in war zones saves lives and their work with those who take decisions that help them to do something about it saves even more lives. I think Duffy’s version of ‘Live and Let Die’ is great – I was really impressed. The breadth of talent on this project is amazing; it’s great that so many people gave their time, energy and support to this initiative. I urge everyone to support War Child.”

Dr. Samantha Nutt, Executive Director of War Child said, “War Child’s programming is predicated on the belief that by empowering children we stand a better chance of a peaceful future. The artists who have contributed to this record really are heroes, because it is through their creativity that we are able to continue our work with children whose lives have been devastated by war.”

“We are enormously proud to be involved with a project that encompasses such musical depth, socio-economic scope and global significance” added Glenn Mendlinger, general manager of Astralwerks. “It is our sincerest hope that this is the first of many new efforts by the music community to raise awareness of the plight of children throughout the world”.

War Child is an award-winning charity which provides opportunities and long term solutions for war-affected children, focusing on education, strengthening children’s rights, reducing poverty and fostering self reliance. War Child works in partnership with local people and organizations to build sustainable programming that empowers children and their communities. Working closely with the music industry, War Child provides awareness, support and action for children’s rights everywhere. www.warchild.ca

For more information about Heroes, please contact:
Steve Martin
Nasty Little Man
(212) 343-0740
steve@nastylittleman.com
Angelica Cob-Baehler
EMI Music North America
(323) 871-5552
angelica.cob@emimusic.com
________________
For more information about War Child, please contact:
Fiona Hack
Senior Manager, Music & Communications
War Child Canada
(416) 971-7474
fiona@warchild.ca

APPEARING ON THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN OCTOBER 29
Akashic Books To Release Infinity Blues

The Cardinals–Ryan Adams (vocals, guitar, keys), Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Chris Feinstein (bass, vocals), Jon Graboff (pedal steel, vocals) and Brad Pemberton (drums)–have confirmed an October 28 release for Cardinology, the band’s latest collection of all-new studio material for the Lost Highway label. They will return to their TV-home-away-from-home, THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, the following evening.

Like its predecessor Easy Tiger, which TIME magazine hailed as “a career breakthrough,” Cardinology is a concise and focused collection of twelve unadorned gems, the final sequence of which will be:

Born Into A Light

Go Easy

Fix It

Magick

Cobwebs

Let Us Down Easy

Crossed Out Name

Natural Ghost

Sink Ships

Evergreen

Like Yesterday

Stop

First single “Fix It” will be digitally released to radio Tuesday, September 23, while “Stop” will receive a sneak premiere in the Tuesday, September 30 episode of THE CLEANER on the A&E network (check local listings).

In other news from Planet Cardinal, Infinity Blues, Ryan Adams’ first ever collection of non-musical writing will be published March 16, 2009 by venerable independent house Akashic Books. Infinity Blues will be available for pre-order through Akashic’s website beginning Monday, October 6 at http://www.akashicbooks.com/ryanadamspreorder.htm. Pre-orders will include a signed hardcover copy of “Infinity Blues,” with a bonus poetry chapbook by Ryan Adams titled “Sad American Mythology.” The limited edition signed and numbered chapbooks will be available only through the Akashic Books website as part of this pre-order.

For further information, contact Steve Martin or Amy Grote at nasty little man t 212 343 0740 e amy@nastylittleman.com.

RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS ON TOUR IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES:

September 25th – Albany, NY – The Egg * NOTE NEW VENUE *

September 26th – Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theater

September 27th – Rochester, NY – Auditorium Theater

September 29th – Columbus, OH – Palace Theater

September 30th – Cleveland, OH – Palace Theater

October 2nd – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre

October 3rd – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theater

October 4th – St. Louis, MO – Fox Theater

October 5th – Madison, WI – Overture Hall

October 7th – Ames, IA – Stephens Auditorium

October 9th – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater

October 10th – Tulsa, OK – Brady Theater

October 11th – Grand Prairie, TX – Nokia Theater

October 13th – Austin, TX – Paramount

October 14th – Houston, TX – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

October 16th – Tuscaloosa, AL – Bama Theater

October 17th – Atlanta, GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Having been hailed as a highlight of the summer festival circuit by USA TODAY, the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and more, MATES OF STATEÂ will join Santogold for a run of theater dates beginning September 28 at the House of Blues in Chicago and concluding October 14 at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater. The MATES will also play select headline dates throughout and following the Santogold tour. See below for a full itinerary.

Prior to the tour kick-off, MATES OF STATE will return to the small screen for a September 23 appearance on Nickelodeon’s YO GABBA GABBA! 2008 has been a banner year for MATES Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. Their fifth album, Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk), was released May 20, the same day marking the band’s network television debut on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN.
Re-Arrange Us has met with near universal critical acclaim: NEW YORK magazine called the record “a bona fide breakthrough,” MAGNET praised it as “the best album of their career for a second straight time,” while DETAILS and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY focused on individual tracks, the former raving “‘Now’ has summer anthem written all over it” and the latter anointing “My Only Offer” as a “Choice Cut.”

Gardner and Hammel will be joined on the upcoming dates by additional musicians Linnea Weiss (cello) and Chris Cosgrove (guitar, bass, electronics).

For further information, contact Steve Martin or Amy Grote at nasty little man 212 3453 0740 amy@nastylittleman.com

09/28/08
CHICAGO, IL
House of Blues
with Santogold, Plastic Little, Low vs Diamond

09/29/08
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Fine Line Music Cafe

09/30/08
LAWRENCE, KS
Liberty Hall
with Santogold, Trouble Andrew, Low vs Diamond
all-ages

10/01/08
ENGLEWOOD, CO
Gothic Theatre
with Santogold, Trouble Andrew, Low vs Diamond

10/04/08
SEATTLE, WA
Showbox Sodo
with Santogold, Low vs Diamond

10/05/08
PORTLAND, OR
Crystal Ballroom
with Santogold, Low vs Diamond

10/07/08
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Fillmore
with Santogold, Low vs Diamond

10/10/08
SAN DIEGO, CA
House of Blues
with Santogold, Low vs Diamond

10/11/08
LAS VEGAS, NV
House of Blues @ Mandalay Bay
with Santogold, Low vs Diamond

10/13/08
ANAHEIM, CA
House of Blues
with Santogold, Low vs Diamond

10/14/08
LOS ANGELES, CA
Wiltern
with Santogold, The Ting Tings, Low vs Diamond

10/16/08
MARQUETTE, MI
Northern Michigan University

10/17/08
GRAND RAPIDS, MI
Calvin College

10/18/08
KALAMAZOO, MI
Kalamazoo State Theater

10/19/08
DETROIT, MI
Magic Stick

David Byrne, Miranda July, Amy Poehler Among 14 Confirmed Curators
Exclusive Cover and Remix Compilations To Be Included In Box Set

Preorders opened today at mergerecords.com for SCORE! Merge Records: The First 20 Years, a deluxe subscription-only box set with special artwork and packaging. Quantities will be limited to the number of subscribers who enroll between the September 8 start date and the January 2009 delivery of the first two volumes.

The box set will include, in addition to the 14 curated Merge compilations, two more discs: an entire album of non-Merge artists such as The National, Death Cab For Cutie and Ryan Adams covering their favorite tracks from the Merge catalog, and a remix collection featuring reinterpretations of Merge classics by the likes of Battles, Jason Forrest, Four Tet and more.

As previously announced, the 14 curated discs span the Merge Records catalogue, each featuring its curators’ handpicked Merge selections as well as exclusively commissioned original artwork. The first two volumes have been compiled by Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Phil Morrison, director of Junebug, The Upright Citizens Brigade and numerous music videos. The full list of curators for the next 12 volumes has been confirmed and is as follows: Amy Poehler, David Byrne, Miranda July, Jonathan Lethem, artist Marcel Dzama, Momofuku chef David Chang, Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo, Zach Galifianakis, New Yorker critic/The Rest Is Noise author Alex Ross, Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi, and artists Andrea Zittel and Kara Walker.

Orders placed Sept. 8-Nov. 8 will receive the entire collection for $179, after which the price will be $199 until orders close.

The entire SCORE! Merge Records: The First 20 Years project will benefit specific charitable causes handpicked by these curators.

Additional components of the SCORE! box set will be announced soon along with special events commemorating the first two decades of the label that has brought us the likes of Arcade Fire, Spoon, M. Ward, Conor Oberst, She & Him, Lambchop, Superchunk and so many more.

For further information, please contact Steve Martin or Amy Grote, email amy@nastylittleman.com, tel 212 343 0740

“Patrons on the lawn poured down into the pavilion, pushing forward in one collective conga line of writhing excitement. In a matter of seconds, the scene went from tame restraint to a crush of dancing bodies, with young girls screaming, ‘I love you!’”–SPIN.com

Some 13,000 Andrew Bird fans packed Chicago’s Millennium Park Wednesday night, necessitating the closure of the park’s Pritzker Pavilion seating bowl as the crowd overflowed onto the concrete steps at the bowl’s back section.

The beyond-sold out show marked the opening of Millennium Park’s Blockbuster Week as well as Bird’s largest ever hometown headline engagement. The throngs of Bird fans in attendance were treated to previews of new material from the multi-instrumentalist’s forthcoming new album, as well as fan favorites “Fiery Crash,” “Plasticities” and “Fake Palindromes,” the latter of which elicited a surge of enthusiastic fans that SPIN.com described as a “babe riot.”

For further information, contact Steve Martin or Laura Eldeiry at nasty little man 212-343-0740 or laura@nastylittleman.com