Yann Tiersen to release next studio album on Anti-

Multi-instrumentalist / composer Yann Tiersen won acclaim for his beautiful score in the hit French film Amelie. Though the film features pop-based rolling melodies, it was a bit of a departure from his early work, which blended classical, folk, and post-punk sounds. Tiersen’s new album returns to that earlier style, employing a wide array of instruments and spanning many genres.

The result of a two-year creative process, Dustlane will be released on October 12 by Anti-, which put out Sage Francis‘ Li(f)e (featuring Tiersen’s collaboration on “The Best of Times”). Tiersen plays classical instruments like acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, and banjo, while adding harder sounds with toy drums, electric guitars, bass, and synthesizers. Lofty vocal choruses contrast dramatic narration by Matt Elliot (Mogwai, Blonde Redhead).

Folk experimentalists Pillars & Tongues to tour Midwest and West Coast

Adding to the 250 performances across North America and Europe that folk experimentalists Pillars & Tongues have delivered within the past three years, the Chicago-based trio is now headed west on a month-long tour promoting its latest release, Lay of Pilgrim Park (Endless Nest).

Starting in the Midwest at the onset of September, the group will travel across the country, closing the tour with a Daytrotter session on October 3.

Read music editor Scott Morrow’s review of Lay of Pilgrim Park on This Week’s Best Albums and listen to a track from the album.

Zine Scene: Adam Pasion, Sundogs, & Wasabi Distro

As an American expat living and working in Japan, Adam Pasion faces several difficulties in publishing his journal-style mini comic Sundogs and other zines. Connecting with the locals can be tricky when words like “consignment” and “distribution” don’t translate easily into Japanese, or when professional magazines outsell personal projects.

Glossy, high-end art and fashion magazines are the norm, but zines still have managed to survive and thrive – sometimes by mimicking mainstream culture’s style. However, as Pasion notes, “A zine can look fancy and glossy as long as it is being made by individuals who want to participate with the zine community by trading, writing reviews, and all the other things that advance the zine scene. People who take part in this community are all making zines as far as I am concerned.”

Krallice: Classically Inspired, Ambient Black Metal

The members of Krallice come from a variety of backgrounds — math metal, punk jazz, death metal — but their outgrowth of black metal in a community where the genre is lacking is reminiscent of the jazz era, when new sounds were pouring out of Queens, NY.