This is my article cross-posted from Tiny Mix Tapes.  Since they’re cool about me reposting my articles on my own blog without any exclusivity clauses, you should make like a tree and visit them and click on their ads and shizz.  And speaking of trees, Caribou speaks for them…

For someone who’s named himself after majestic deer and a lush foresty Canadian province, as well as sample and title songs that greatly concern nature, it’s no surprise that Dan Snaith is stoked on saving the Earth.  In addition, as Snaith has a day job as a teacher, it should be no surprise he also likes to give back.

The man best known by Caribou announced last week that he will be donating a vast majority of his $20,000 Polaris Prize money, coin he won for 2007’s {Andorra},  keeping a small portion to fund his forthcoming album.  The money will be given to environmental non-profit Ecojustice, as well as the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

“I have always thought of Canada as an environmentally progressive place… however, recently the Canadian government has acted as a global obstacle to climate action. In a study this year Canada ranked 29th out of 30 industrialized nations for tackling climate change,” Snaith said, remarking on his choice of giving to Ecojustice.  The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a project-based charity helping communities affected by the AIDS epidemic throughout Sub-Sharan Africa.

Heck of a guy, that Snaith.  Hopefully the money given to Ecojustice will be invested in getting real legislative efforts to come to fruition, and not used on another Live Earth (Sorry, Al).

MP3 :::
Caribou – Medium Sized Working Dog (Steady Steady)

This is cross-posted from my Tiny Mix Tapes news article. Oh yeah, forgot to mention… I’m a contributor to TMT now. Look for Kenny Bloggins, FTW:

The latest chapter in the saga of the internet’s leaky faucet and Thunderdome of publicity stunts features a rather unusual, rather awesome story from Mogwai.

Our favorite stalwart purveyors of doom are not deterred by several tracks of the triumphantly-titled The Hawk is Howling racing through the blogosphere, but rather a ‘leaked,’ unfavorable Pitchfork review. The band posted on their official site: “Dear dear me, it seems that there has been a second unfortunate Mogwai related leak this week. This was forwarded to us by an anonymous source, it is the unedited Pitchfork.com review of The Hawk Is Howling.”

However, akin to Mogwai’s technicolor shroud of mystery, it seems entirely probable that Mogwai wrote the review themselves, insofar as most of the writing is not in the typical dissertation-esque format. For example, the supposed Pitchfork writer dives into album epilogue “The Precipice” by lamenting how “guitars curlicue around the pounding of mannish tom-toms like the garland of graying pubic hair around your uncle’s boner… [they] offer you a lollipop and the promise of videogames, the ghost of Slint dulling your senses into a glassy-eyed hypnosis, until you realize that Mogwai are fucking you, fucking you, fucking you.” In “Thank You Space Expert,” Mogwai “absently strike their guitars, glockenspiels and who-diddly-dang-bangles.”

Moreover, sarcastic jabs alluding to common criticisms of Pitchfork reviews are peppered throughout (“I should note here that I will simply use the term ‘music’ in this review… no time for useless genre struggles”). The most compelling evidence, however, is that none of the credited authors in this particular review are listed on Pitchfork’s staff masthead.

If it is real, Pitchfork should up their QA standards. However, since Mogwai has often demonstrated their sense of humor throughout their discography, I’ll put my money on saying that this is a pretty hilarious prank from our favorite cheeky Scots. It appears as Pitchfork might be on the same shitlist as Blur, especially considering the hate brought in its review of Mr. Beast.

Look for the new “Pitchfork is Shite” shirts at the merch booth as they kick tires, light fires, et al. across North America with Fuck Buttons:

09.03.08 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
09.04.08 – Seattle, WA – Showbox
09.05.08 – Victoria, BC – Element
09.06.08 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore
09.08.08 – San Francisco, CA – Grand Ballroom
09.09.08 – Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern
09.10.08 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto
09.12.08 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s BBQ
09.13.08 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre
09.15.08 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
09.16.08 – Richmond, VA – The National
09.17.08 – Washington, DC – 9:0 Club
09.18.08 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
09.19.08 – Philadelphia, PA – Starlight Ballroom
09.21.08 – Monticello, NY – Kutshers Country Club (ATP)
09.22.08 – Boston, MA – Wilbur Theatre
09.23.08 – Montreal, QC – Metropolis
09.25.08 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot
09.26.08 – Chicago, IL – Congress Theatre
09.27.08 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

MP3 :::
Mogwai – Devil Rides (ft. Roky Erikson)

The King of Amazing Drug and God Songs (and also the King of Pitchfork Music Festival, as you may have read earlier) has some serious Nina Totenberg hang time scheduled. In what I thought at first was spam was actually a rather exciting alert notifying me that Spiritualized’s performance this Friday at DC’s 930 Club will be broadcast live online, courtesy of NPR. When I think of NPR, I certainly don’t think of J Spaceman’s Martian redemption grooves, but I definitely applaud NPR trying to broaden their pallets, givin’ a nod to what us weird kids like.

I don’t think you can hear it on your local soft-spoken news affiliate, but it will be webcast in its entirety at 10 p.m. Eastern / 9 p.m. Central at NPR.org. Go forth!