If this is legitimately Luna’s official bio for Rendezvous… well it’s pretty damn clever. And if not, and it’s actually an interview request, well then it’s just weird – though if they’re willing to answer questions from any old schlub with a website, I should probably get cracking on questions for my own exclusive Luna interview! (Dean – how much time do you spend in the morning perfecting your bedhead?) Rendezvous is out October 26. The lovely new promo pic is by Stefano Giovannini. Check out his work – there’s some real nice stuff there. Sonic Youth and Cat Power are favoured subjects.

And speaking of Ms Chan Marshall, Matador is trumpeting something called Speaking For Trees: A Film By Mark Borthwick, out October 26, on the Cat Power section of their message boards. There doesn’t seem to be any further information available, but my awesome powers of deduction lead me to believe that it’s a documentary of some sort about Cat Power, maybe trees, certainly directed by one Mark Borthwick, and it’ll be in stores on the 26th of October.

The new Stars album Set Yourself On Fire is coming out October 12. According to the press release, “Set Yourself On Fire sees Stars build upon their already acclaimed catalogue of songs about life, love, death, heartbreak. and the need to set yourself on fire when there’s nothing left to burn”. Sounds grandiose. Curiously, there’s been no word about Amy Millan’s solo record in a long time. What gives? Tidbits from Pop (All Love).

The excessively long list of nominees for the 2004 Shortlist of Music prize is out. I’m looking over this list, and honestly I’m having trouble coming up with a short list of my own – not even a top 10. There’s records on there I like but don’t think are necessarily the artistic achievements that winning the Shortlist prize would imply as well as records that I expect WILL make the short list simply by virtue of their popularity. I mean, I like the Franz Ferdinand album alright, but it’s really not much more than a dance/party record, y’know? Not really one for the ages. The Shortlist mission statement says the prize seeks to honour the “most adventurous and creative albums of the year across all genres of music, focusing on emerging artists rather than established hitmakers”, but that should mean more than just an indie/new artist whose managed to find some commercial success. If we’re going to give weight to artistic ambition/pretention, then I’d have to give the nod to The Wrens’ The Meadowlands, Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born, Nellie McKay’s Get Away From Me and maybe The Sleepy Jackson’s Lovers, though that’s a dark horse on account of the fact that very few people have heard it (a damn shame, it’s a brilliant record). Granted, there’s lots of nominees I haven’t heard, either because I haven’t gotten around to it or I simply have no interest, so I’m hardly laying odds on a winner. Just talking. Y’know.

Introducing DualDisc, coming October 2004. So let me get this straight – the Big Four (Three? Two?) record companies are actually doing something technologically-forward thinking that’s NOT going to screw over existing technology and make us buy the same albums for the umpteenth time in a different format? What’s the catch? Oh, I see – it’ll be years before they come out with anything besides Don Henley and Celine Dion discs and they’ll cost over $30 a piece. Nice. However, it has the Five For Fighting seal of approval, so it must be good. But here’s a question – if there’s redbook data on one side and DVD data on the other, just how careful are we going to have to be in handling these things?!?

As I mentioned yesterday, the film list (if not schedule or descriptions) for the 2004 TIFF came out yesterday. I believe I can submit my choices for the ticket lottery next week, so that gives me a little time to figure out what I want to see. Of course, short of Googling every title/director on the list, I don’t have much idea of what any of these films are save for a few of the high profile ones. Film buffs – care to offer some guidance? I’m going to do as suggested and avoid the bigger films that will be coming out theatrically in the next couple months anyway and try to target the stuff that’s a little further off the beaten path. At first glance, though, the list is just overwhelming. I may just throw caution to the wind, pick some flicks at random and hope for the best… Nah. Someone plan my festival itinerary for me.

np – Rilo Kiley / More Adventurous

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