Bits: Sub Pop’s Andy Kotowicz, Einstürzende Neubauten, Tom Waits and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Low Anthem, Raekwon

  • On October 24 of this year, Sub Pop executive Andy Kotowicz was killed in a car accident, leaving behind a wife and young daughter. On December 4, the Showbox will host a benefit concert for the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation, featuring A-Frames/AFCGT, Fruit Bats, Mudhoney, Michael Yonkers, Pissed Jeans, Shabazz Palaces, Vetiver, and Wolf Eyes.
  • At 2:00 PM EST (if my calculations are correct) today, November 16, Arte will have a live webcast of Einstürzende Neubauten’s 30th anniversary show in Paris.
  • Beginning Friday, November 19, Preservation Hall will have for sale a special 78 of Tom Waits and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s recording of “Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing”, signed and numbered by Ben Jaffe. (Online sales begin November 20.)
  • The Low Anthem have announced that their new album Smart Flesh will be released on February 22.
  • November 13 would have been the inimitable Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s 42nd birthday. In memory, Raekwon has released the video “Ason Jones”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJtGqCyiMOA?fs=1]

Bits: Beastie Boys gearing up, new Teenage Fanclub album, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is everywhere, A.V. Club Undercover, Gorillaz + Jones & Simonon

  • The Beastie Boys put everything on hold when Adam Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his salivary glands, but now Yauch is recovering nicely, and the Beasties are planning to get back to it in September with the release of their latest album Hot Sauce Committee, Part One.
  • Also coming back, after a much longer hiatus, are Teenage Fanclub. They’ll be releasing Shadows on June 8th, and Pitchfork has a taste for you
  • The new Bonnie “Prince” Billy (with the Cairo Gang) album drops/is dropping/been done dropped today. Hot Chip celebrate by mixing the bonnie one’s vocals into “I Feel Bonnie”.
  • The A.V. Club have started a great series called “Undercover”. The premise: The A.V. Club has chosen a list of songs they’d like to see covered, and they’ve invited artists to come to their offices to cover a chosen song from the list… but the longer a band waits, the fewer songs they’ll have to choose from. The Fruit Bats’ cover of Hall and Oates’ “One on One” is fucking delightful, and we’re greatly looking forward to seeing who will cover Billy Squier’s “Everybody Wants You” and Guided By Voices’ “Game of Pricks”.
  • The Gorillaz are currently on a fans-only tour as they gear up for a monster Coachella performance. Manning the strings this time around? NTSIB heroes Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. Here’s the gang playing “Dare” with Jones looking goofier than we thought it was possible for him to look:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjWwQnnkhpE]