September 3, 2003

Albums by Interpol, Bright Eyes, Cat Power and the Black Keys are among the 10 finalists for the 2003 Shortlist Music Prize. The prize will be presented Oct. 5 as part of a concert/ceremony at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater and taped for broadcast on MTV2 in mid-October. The finalists were chosen from a “long list” of 86 nominees.
Interpol’s “Turn on the Bright Lights” (Matador), Bright Eyes’ “Lifted or The Story Is In the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground” (Saddle Creek), Cat Power’s “You Are Free” (Matador) and Floetry’s “Floetic” (Dreamworks) join the Black Keys’ “Thickfreakness” (Fat Possum), Cody ChesnuTT’s “The Headphone Masterpiece” (Ready Set Go), Damien Rice’s “O” (Vector), Sigur Ros’ “( )” (MCA), the Streets’ “Original Pirate Material” (Vice/Atlantic) and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Fever To Tell” (Interscope) as finalists.
Interpol, Bright Eyes, Black Keys, Damien Rice and Cat Power will perform at the Shortlist concert, alongside potential surprise appearances from the “listmaker” judge panel. The panel — including Dave Matthews, Flea, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Erykah Badu, Perry Farrell, Mos Def, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and directors Spike Jonze and Cameron Crowe — will select the winner at the end of the concert and present the $5,000 cash prize from sponsor Sirius Satellite Radio.
Source Pollstar.com.

Vida Blue will release The Illustrated Band, the second studio release from the ambitious organ trio led by Phish-keyboardist Page McConnell.

On the eve of beginning an extensive touring schedule t) in Boston, Guided By Voices Tim Tobias has left the band for unexplained reasons. A post on the group’s official Web site says only that Tobias will be replaced by Chris Slusarenko for the North American dates and Superdrag’s Sam Powers for the European run, beginning Sept. 10 in Munich.
Tobias joined GBV in 1999 and has played on the group’s last three studio albums, including the recently released “Earthquake Glue” (Matador). Tobias and his brother Todd were also members of GBV frontman Robert Pollard’s side project Circus Devils.
Source Billboard.com.

Veteran DJ Paul Oakenfold has collected two CDs (or three LPs) worth of remixes for “Perfecto Presents … Paul Oakenfold: Great Wall,” due Sept. 30 from Warner Bros. The set features Oakenfold’s own creations as well as music by Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Madonna, Ian Brown and Bjork.The new album features Oakenfold’s remixes of Madonna’s “Hollywood,” Layo & Bushwacka’s “Deep South” and “Another Day” by Skip Raiders featuring Jada, as well as Oakenfold’s own track “Hypnotised,” remixed by Deepsky’s Reaktor Radio. Other cuts include Brown’s “Fear” (UNKLE Remix), Bjork’s “Pagan Poetry,” Infusion’s “Legacy” (Junkie XL Remix) and Jon B’s “Mercury Skies” (Trance Mix).
Source Pollstar.com.