ST. VINCENT Returns with Actor

-photo by Annabel Mehran

St. Vincent will follow-up her critically acclaimed debut Marry Me with the new LP Actor.

"Actor takes the ambitious compositional and sonic underpinnings of Clark's debut as a starting point and never looks back. The arrangements are more masterful, the songwriting grander, the performances ever more confident and inspired. "I wanted to make these songs technicolor animatronic rides," says Clark."

Actor will be released May 5th via 4AD, preceded by the single "Actor Out of Work" on April 20th.

Actor tracklist:

1. The Strangers
2. Save Me From What I Want
3. Neighbours
4. Actor Out Of Work
5. Black Rainbow
6. Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood
7. Marrow
8. The Bed
9. The Party
10. Just The Same But Brand New
11. The Sequel

FREE SUMMER SHOWS NYC - River to River

The best part of living in New York during the summer is all the amazing free shows. The annual River to River Festival just announced their lineup:

Wire, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers, Sonic Youth, St. Vincent, No Age, Ted Leo, Mary Weiss (Shangri-La's), Atlas Sound, Akron/Family, Dirty Projectors and more.

I'm most excited about Wire, No Age, and Atlas Sound, but the experience of the festival is also a great part of a sultry, summer Manhattan day. Most of the shows are free at Southstreet Seaport. Sonic Youth is at Battery Park on July 4th and the tickets are free, but require getting tickets at rivertorivernyc.com (not sure exactly when they become available).

More on Free Summer Shows NYC soon...

The 2008 Plug Awards

The Sky Report will be on hand for tonight's 2008 Plug Independent Music Awards, featuring a headline performance from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Cave is the recipient of this year's Plug Impact Award (awarded to Stephen Malkmus in 2007). The event will take place at Terminal 5 in NYC, with St. Vincent, Jose Gonzalez, and Dizzee Rascal also slated to perform. Swedish disco princess Sally Shapiro (nominated for two Plug Awards) will serve as the guest DJ.

Even though we weren't nominated for Music Blog of the Year (hey, maybe next year!), this does mark the first time we've ever attended an awards show. Exciting indeed. View a full list of this year's nominees here.

You can watch the awards simulcast live tonight at 8:00PM at www.delllounge.com/music/plugawards.