• Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle has died at age 63 after a battle with clear cell sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Rufus Wainwright, her son with musician Loudon Wainwright wrote on his website, “There is never enough time and she, my amazing mother with whom everyone fell in love, went out there and bloody did it.” R.I.P.

• Billboard reports that Vampire Weekend’s new album Contra has sold 124,000 copies in its first week, making it the highest selling album in the country. Contra debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Released by XL, is only the 12th independently distributed title to hit number one since 1991.

• There’s a new project with a Seattle connection on the not-so-distant horizon. It’s called Mt. Desolation and apparently features members of Keane, Mumford & Sons, Noah and the Whale, and The Long Winters. But when’s the new record coming out, Mr. Roderick?

• Conan O’Brien seems to have his pick of guests [musical and otherwise] in what will likely be his last week or two hosting The Tonight Show. Check out the video, below, of KEXP faves Spoon performing their song, “Written In Reverse,” off their new record:

• Fans of space rock and aficionados of the theremin, hang on to your helmets because Man or Astro-Man? are blasting out of their Alabamian home and reuniting for SXSW this year, playing for the first time (excepting a one-shot reunion in ‘06 for Touch & Go’s 25th anniversary) since 2001. Just before hitting Austin for a handful of shows, they’ll play Birmingham’s The Bottletree on March 6th. Strap in, everybody!

• Shearwater just released North American tour dates for this Spring, after they get back from Europe. They’re going to be at the Triple Door on April 29th and Pullman the next night [!] Pitchfork’s got the scoop and a new mp3 from their upcoming album [The Golden Archipelago, out February 23rd on Matador.]

• A number of local and otherwise KEXP artists are featured on a new compilation being offered through Starbucks called Sweetheart 2010 where artist cover love songs for Valentine’s Day. Here’s the tracklist:
  
  01 Jose Gonzalez: “Hand on Your Heart” (Kylie Minogue cover)
  02 Grand Archives: “Cupid” (Sam Cooke cover)
  03 James Mercer & Robert Mercer: “Spanish Harlem Incident” (Bob Dylan cover)
  04 Spoon: “Love Song” (The Damned cover)
  05 Elvis Perkins: “Teneme en Tu Corazon (Keep Me in Your Heart)” (traditional)
  06 The Long Winters: “Give Me All Your Lovin’” (ZZ Top cover)
  07 Yo La Tengo: “You Make Me Feel Good” (The Zombies cover)
  08 Céu: “Eu Amo Você (I Love You)” (Tim Maia cover)
  09 Diane Birch: “I Go Crazy” (Paul Davis cover)
  10 Jason Collett and Zeus: “Every Night” (Paul McCartney cover)
  11 The Avett Brothers: “I Love” (Tom T. Hall cover)
  12 Mates of State: “Long Way Home” (Tom Waits cover)
  13 Angelique Kidjo: “Ne Me Quitte Pas (If You Go Away)” (Jacques Brel cover)
  14 Hey Marseilles: “True Love Will Find You in the End” (Daniel Johnston cover)

• The Coachella lineup has been released and, naturally, features a million acts you probably want to see. The headliners: Thom Yorke, Jay-Z, Pavement, Gorillaz, Faith No More, Sly and the Family Stone, MGMT, LCD Soundsystem, Phoenix, Them Crooked Vultures, etc. etc.

• New Joanna Newsom! There are a number of YouTube videos from her tour in Australia as she plays stuff from her upcoming record. Check out “Jack Rabbits” below or plenty more at the YouTube user page.

• This week in WTF: I guess Jay-Z and Bono can’t get enough of each other. They’ve written and recorded a song together. At least it’s benefiting Haiti relief. And it would be less weird if it were the first time.

• We at KEXP are sad to inform you of two recent deaths. Indie rock songwriter Jay Reatard passed away yesterday morning at the age of only twenty-nine. His most recent release was critically acclaimed and is frequently played here at the station. R.I.P.

• Teddy Pendergrass, one of the most popular R&B singers of our time, died yesterday at age 59 after a long bout with colon cancer. He got his start with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1970 and had a successful solo career throughout the 70s before becoming wheelchair-bound in ‘82. R.I.P.

• Local indie pop band leader John Roderick, of The Long Winters, and Kathleen Edwards recorded an exclusive track for the GIVE compilation and made a corresponding video, which you can check out below. If it gets your tastebuds salivating [as it should], make sure to check out JRod opening for Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar later this month at the Showbox.

• Country legend Johnny Cash apparently recorded enough covers in his Rick Rubin American sessions for the label to release another posthumous album. American VI: Ain’t No Grave, the final volume in the series, will be released February 26th, on what would have been Cash’s 78th birthday. It includes covers of songs by Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Paxton, and a bunch more, as well as an unreleased original song.

• Local band These Arms Are Snakes is following close in the footsteps of Schoolyard Heroes and Kane Hodder as now defunct El Corazon-type bands. According to their most recent MySpace blog, they’re through.

• Joanna Newsom will finally be releasing the long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s Ys. It’s called Have One on Me and it’s out February 23rd on Drag City here in the states.

• This is old news for a fan like me, but since it’s news to Pitchfork readers and relevant to music KEXP plays, I suppose I should post it here. Okkervil River and Roky Erickson are readying a new record called True Love Cast Out All Evil, out April 20 on Anti-. Brilliant psych-rock legend and literate indie rock backing band? Woo!

• Speaking of Austin-ites[?], longtime KEXP favorites, Spoon, will be setting off on tour with Deerhunter next month. They’ll be coming through Seattle with Micachu and the Shapes, too, playing the Moore on the ninth and tenth of April. Check out Spoon’s new album streaming fully over at NPR and/or buy it Saturday!

• Yoko Ono has recruited Eric Clapton, Paul Simon and his son Harper Simon, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Bette Midler, Martha Wainwright, Mark Ronson, Sean Lennon, the Scissor Sisters, Justin Bond and more artists for the first Plastic Ono Band show in 40 years: a special concert on February 16th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

• A new feature for Thursday New Threads: THIS WEEK IN WTF. Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan and Jessica Simpson are making music together.

photo by Laura Musselman

by Chris Estey

“The Long Winters know which staples to buy in bulk, and which to get fresh from local grocers… In short, being a fan of The Long Winters is a zero-risk proposition. You are Guaranteed to Be Pleased.” That’s from the band’s bio on their MySpace page, which I’m going to guess was written by lead LW John Roderick. The rest of the history might be a little more typical, but not much.

Until now my favorite rock bio was the one Paul Westerberg wrote for the Replacements’ final record on Minneapolis label Twin/Tone, before they went to a major label. Four paragraphs, and perfectly informative and hilarious. Last I saw that one-sheet was beneath glass at the Experience Music Project in the ‘80s indie section. That Roderick can replace it in my heart says a lot about his skills as a writer, and that I have no embarrassment of putting The Long Winters in the same paragraph as the Replacements, with no trepidation.

It’s been a couple years since the Winters put out their last LP, Putting The Days To Bed. A dynamic DVD came out since then of them playing at the Showbox (that I hyped like crazy on this blog), but rumors of struggles with new material have fueled speculation about the delay of its follow up. Meanwhile, Roderick has been scribing articles about his salad days (I think economically he’s worked up to soup) in the Seattle scene and “What Dad Doesn’t Tell You About Keeping A Beard” for the Seattle Weekly.

Many great songwriters have drifted to prose when the songs aren’t coming as quickly as they used to, but the meticulous quality of the Long Winters’ work betrays a lifelong tension with poetic expression and musical perfectionism. The soul of lighter tracks such as “Stupid” and “Teaspoon” unfold as indie rock Van Morrison as they flow along with blazing gems like “Commander Thinks Aloud” and “Ultimatum.” There are no other writer-performers in his milieu that seems as effortless, almost careless with an overflow of genius. I can’t argue with what I’m sure is an absolutely self-mocking line to the bio, “Long Winters is the greatest indie-rock band in the Americas.” Although I’m sure Roderick would.

Sporting a new drummer (we’ll sniffle as we wave goodbye to Nabil Ayers, one of Seattle’s best drummers and now far away), The Long Winters play the first night of Bumbershoot, Saturday, September 5th, at 9:30 PM on the Broad Street Stage. Watch one of our best rock poets play loose and wonderful guitar with a very tight band; and Nabil has all the vinyl of the band on his awesome label The Control Group if you haven’t collected it all yet!