Shepard Fairey's artwork for Li(f)e by Sage Francis

Shepard Fairey, one of our least favorite pop-culture artists, has created the artwork for the album Li(f)e by Sage Francis, one of our favorite pop-culture artists.

“I really wanted to get a Shepard Fairey album cover sometime in my career,” Francis explains. “I eventually sent him a picture of me which was taken at my most destitute time when I didn’t have anything and I was crashing on my friend’s floor. I was making music but I had to obscure the way I looked because it didn’t fit in with the way people thought hip-hop was supposed to be. But eventually I just took this really ugly photo of myself in all my mutton chop biker mustache whiteness and made it my logo. And Shepard used that old photograph to make this amazing image for the album’s cover.”

Sage Francis Tour Dates:

SXSW @ The Independent on Thursday, March 18 at 12:30 a.m.

05/12/10 Cambridge, MA Middle East Downstairs 480 Massachusetts Ave

05/13/10 S. Burlington, VT. Higher Ground 1214 Williston Rd

05/14/10 Portland, ME. Port City Music Hall 504 Congress St

05/15/10 Ottawa, ON. Ritual Nightclub 137 Besserer Street

05/16/10 Toronto ONT The Opera House 735 Queen St. East

05/18/10 Detroit, MI. Alvin’s  5756 Cass Ave.

05/19/10 Detroit, MI. The Bottom Lounge 1375 W Lake St

05/20/10 Milwaukee, WI. Turner Hall 1032 North Fourth St.

05/21/10 Minneapolis MN First Avenue, 701 First Avenue North

05/22/10 Columbia MO, The Blue Note 17 North Ninth Street

05/24/10 Englewood, CO. Gothic Theatre 3263 South Broadway

05/25/10 Salt Lake City, UT. Urban Lounge 241 South 500 East

05/26/10 Missoula MT. Badlander 208 Ryman St

05/28/10 Edmonton, AB. The Starlite Room 10030 102 Street NW

05/29/10 Calgary, AB. Distillery 615 7 Ave

05/31/10 Vancouver, BC. The Biltmore Cabaret, 2755 Prince Edward St.

06/01/10 Seattle WA, Showbox SoDo 1700 1st Ave.

06/02/10 Portland, OR. Berbati’s Pan 231 SW Ankeny

06/04/10 San Francisco CA, The Fillmore 1805 Geary Blvd.

06/05/10 Santa Cruz, CA. The Catalyst 1011 Pacific Avenue

06/06/10 Los Angeles CA, Henry Fonda Theater 6126 Hollywood Blvd.

06/07/10 Solana Beach, CA. Belly Up Tavern 143 S. Cedros Ave.

06/09/10 Pomona, CA. The Glass House 200 West Second Street

06/10/10 Tempe, AZ. The Clubhouse 1320 E. Broadway Rd.

06/11/10 Tucson AZ, Club Congress 311 East Congress

06/12/10 Albuquerque NM Sunshine Theater 120 Central Ave. SW

06/14/10 TX, .DALLAS Granada Theatre 3524 Greenville Avenue

06/15/10 Austin TX, Mohawk, 912 Red River

06/16/10 Houston TX House of Blues – Houston 1204 Caroline Street

06/18/10 Orlando FL Club at Firestone 578 North Orange Ave.

06/19/10 Atlanta, GA. The Loft 1374 W. Peachtree

06/21/10 Carrboro , NC. Cat’s Cradle 300 East Main Street

06/22/10 Washington DC Rock and Roll Hotel 1353 H St. NE

06/23/10 Baltimore MD, The Ottobar, 2549 North Howard St.

06/24/10 Philadelphia, PA. Trocadero, 1003 Arch Street

06/25/10 New York NY. Webster Hall, 125 East 11th St.

Sage Francis

Sage Francis‘ new album features Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine), Jim Becker and Tim Rutili (Califone), and songwriting by Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), Tim Fite, and members of Calexico, DeVotchKa, and Sparklehorse.

“We specifically sought out songwriters who had never worked with a rapper,” Francis explains.

The record’s title Li(f)e is a deliberate amalgamation of the words life and lie. As Francis says, “What about life is a lie? What we’re told about God is a lie. What we’re told about race, gender roles, beauty, war, food, drugs, sexuality, capitalism, history, the nature of humankind…a gang of lies. I feel it in my gut, I think it in my brain, I write it with my hands and I speak it with my mouth. That’s what makes Li(f)e the general theme of this album.”

Too cool.

Law.com:

Noncommercial speech doesn’t lose its broad First Amendment protections even when it’s tucked into a thicket of advertising, California’s 1st District Court of Appeal held Thursday.

A unanimous three-justice panel dismissed a lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine brought by a class of indie rockers. Led by bands Xiu Xiu and Fucked Up, the plaintiffs accused Rolling Stone of trading on the names of 186 groups listed in a five-page article to sell four pages of neighboring advertisements to R.J. Reynolds in the November 2007 edition.

The magazine’s so-called gatefold layout was intricate. The editorial piece “Indie Rock Universe” included colored-pencil-like graphics and the printed names of leading bands in the musical genre. The article was ensconced in four pages of ads featuring photographic collages that touted Camel cigarettes and the brand’s support of independent record labels.

It’s worth pointing out that Fucked Up is still awesome, and Rolling Stone still sucks.

“I Just Want To See Your Face” (available on their MySpace page).

Serena Maneesh: S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor

01 Ayisha Abyss
02 I Just Want to See Your Face
03 Reprobate!
04 Melody for Jaana
05 Blow Yr Brains in the Mourning Rain
06 Honeyjinx
07 D.I.W.S.W.T.T.D.
08 Magdalena (Symphony #8)

Coming March 22 (4 AD) and available for pre-order here.

Big Business “The Drift” Music Video from Wesley Belak-Berger on Vimeo.

The packaging includes 4 Freeway Bills, 4 Jake One Bills, with lyrics and liner notes on the backsides, a wallet to stuff them into, plus a download card with the Instrumentals. You can pre-order the record here.

Brent Rollins Bio:

Brent Rollins works in Brooklyn, and is dedicated to producing iconic images and ideas.

Since the age of 18, Brent has produced memorable logos for memorable films (“Boyz N The Hood,” “Dead Presidents”), and created his signature collage art for popular album covers (Spank Rock, Gang Starr, Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s Black Star), for apparel (Stussy), and also murals (Nike, UNDFTD, The Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, HVW8 Gallery, Brecht Forum Gallery and South Korea’s R16 Festival).

“She Makes Me Feel Alright” (1st single) via iTunes
“Know What I Mean” video via Pitchfork TV
“Know What I Mean” “Know What I Mean”
“Love Is A Battlefield” MP3 Rip (non album, mixtape cut)

Strange but absolutely true facts about Man or Astro-Man?

Over their constant global journeys, Man or Astro-Man? played in over 30 countries and 49 states (everywhere except Delaware–this was mostly out of spite, but also partially due to a lack of demand). They did 8 sessions for the late John Peel. They were huge on South American MTV for one summer. They tried to get sued by NASA over a T-shirt design but were unsuccessful. One member once threatened another member by shaking a water bottle in their face. They put 436,000 miles on a Chevy 20 conversion van. They only had their van broken into once, but the thief only stole guitars from a short-lived member of the band so it wasn’t that big of a deal. They hit 2 deer (accidentally) with their aforementioned van on separate occasions during various tours. Once after nearly being arrested in Orange County, CA. for stealing their own trailer, a police officer scolded them for mistaking a basset hound for a beagle. They were banned from college radio in Atlanta for 3 years after causing mild hysteria by announcing that a plane had crashed on I-85 during rush hour traffic. After not being able to agree on what music to play on the van stereo, they instituted a “headphones only” rule in 1996. The biggest crowd they played for was 40,000 at the Lowlands festival in the Netherlands and the smallest crowd was for 2 people (one was the record store clerk) at an in-store somewhere in Southern Australia. Fitness legend/Three’s Company star Susanne Somers became a fan of their first record after meeting the band at a battered women’s convention.

1. Young Widows were terrible, but the barstool was great.

I dig the band. Old Wounds is a great album. But these guys really blew it. So I sat at the bar at Lincoln Hall. I dig a club where you can sit at the bar but still hear the band — uncommon in Chicago.

2. The sound at Lincoln Hall is awesome.

In fact, everything so far about Lincoln Hall is awesome: the staff was friendly, they validate your parking, the bar is like a real bar, the room is big (but not too big — on some Goldilocks shit), there was an attentive sound and lighting guy, they knew to put the A/C on even in the winter, and the bathrooms are super clean (not sure how long that will last).

[Small note to Lincoln Hall: First, change your logo. It's already whack. You want to become a classic, right? You need to work on that identity. Second, this is a yuppie neighborhood; just face it and make a coat check.]

3. The crowd.

Why is the Chicago crowd at shows like this so awesome? Because they’re all hardcore music geeks. There was no fighting, no drama, total silence when needed, and total head-banging in unison when called for. The guys from Russian Circles where hanging out at the bar before their set. There were girls — like in a good way, not in an I’m-not-at-an-Animal Talk-show kind of way.

4. Lack of clutter.

Not to get all Steve Jobs on this shit, but the stage was perfect. Not a single ad or banner. No spotlights with lame gels. No neon Pabst light. No duct-taped backstage rules peeking out. Just black. Simple lights backlighting the band. This is how to set the stage for the most holy of rock music.

5. The soul-stirring, pants-wetting, head-banging holy rock of hometown instrumental icons Russian Circles.

It was a flawless performance. Not a single word spoken. Not even a kick drum scrawl. These guys are post-language and preach only with perfectly looped guitars and jaw-dropping drum beats. Long live Russian Circles. Amen.