- Caribou has won Canada’s Polaris music prize, which is meant to honor the best Canadian album of the preceding 12 months. As the Guardian somewhat smugly points out, the album, Andorra, was “written and recorded by a man, with a British passport, in his Islington bedroom.” But Dan Snaith has dual citizenship, allowing Polaris to honor the masterful combination of pop, psychedelia, and percussion he puts forth in his fourth album.
- The Kills ask “How can 3 tons of black metal vanish into thin air?” after their tour bus goes missing. According to The Guardian, the duo was supposed to meet up with their bus and driver in Austin after performing in LA -- the bus was supposed to make a pit stop for new tires before heading east -- but upon their arrival, there was no bus, no driver, no explanation. The band as appealed to their fans or anyone else who might have information about the bus or their driver on their website. The Feds and police have already been called in.
- It’s official: The Boss and his E Street band will be playing at the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida. I suppose it’s too dated to make jokes about nipple stars? Whatever the case, I promised myself that I would not allow anything political to be mentioned in this post, and I’m sticking to it. Seriously.
- Phish is back and ready to rawk! Well, maybe not rawk. Difficult to pick a verb. But they’re going to be touring again .
- Conor Oberst and the Mystic River Band played a couple new songs in Austin last weekend: “10 Women” and “I Got a Reason #2.” They also played a cover of Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome,” all available c/o Stereogum. Oberst and the MRB will be back in Seattle on October 26 to play at the Showbox at the Market.
- Tour dates: Mission of Burma will be a Neumos on October 1; Plants and Animals and Born Ruffians will be at Chop Suey on October 12; These United States will be at the Sunset Traven on October 25; The Dead Science and Shudder To Think will be at the Showbox on October 30; Crystal Stilts and Cause Co-Motion! will be at Chop Suey on November 9.
