The Flaming Lips have spent the better part of a decade making Christmas On Mars. The film was released last month on DVD with the band's score as the accompanying disc. Watch the video to hear front man Wayne Coyne explain the process and the movie. - IL

The theatrics are but a hint of what the live show has to offer. The band will continue touring on the 30th of December -- so try and catch 'em then! Tour dates after the jump.

TOUR DATES:
12/30 -- Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
12/31 -- Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
1/3 -- Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
1/4 -- Asheville, NC -- Grey Eagle
1/20 -- London, UK -- London Heaven*
1/21 -- Amsterdam, NE - Paradiso
1/22 -- Brussels, BE - Rotunde
1/23 -- Utrecht, NE - Tivoli
1/24 -- Brighton, UK - Digital
1/26 -- Glasgow, Scotland - Òran Mór
1/27 -- Belfast, Northern Ireland - Kitten Tree
1/28 -- Dublin, Ireland - Button Factory
1/29 -- Manchester, England - Club Academy
1/30 -- Lille, France - Aeronef
1/31 -- Paris, France - Bataclan
2/1 -- Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie
2/19 -- Pomona, CA - The Glasshouse
2/21 -- Honolulu, HI - Loft Gallery & Lounge
2/25 -- Auckland, NZ - King Arms
2/26 -- Wellington, NZ - San Francisco Bath House
2/28 -- Perth, AU - Perth International Arts Festiva
3/3 -- Sydney, AU - Manning Bar
3/4 -- Brisbane, AU - The Zoo
3/5 -- Melbourne, AU - The Hi Fi
3/7 -- Golden Plains, AU - Golden Plains Festival
3/10 - Osaka, JP - Club Quattro
3/12 -- Tokyo, JP - Duo Music Exchange
3/15 -- Singapore, SG -- Mosaic Music Festival / Esplanade Theatre
*w/Franz Ferdinand

Hello readers! Death+Taxes is conducting a readership survey for our online and print publications. We're hoping to get inside of your heads a lil' bit. Please take a moment to fill out the survey -- it will take about a minute -- and you'll win some free stuff from Death+Taxes and Dangerbird Records. Thanks!

Ben Affleck and Mick Jagger yesterday released a new Affleck-directed video called "Gimme Shelter" as part of a new UN refugee agency effort to raise $23 million to help the tens of thousands of Congolese refugees. The often-messy situation in Congo boiled over again in August, when fighting resumed between government troops and rebels, with the civilian population caught in the cross-fire of a murderous, chaotic rampage. 250,000 people have been displaced since August.

Affleck has visited Africa four times since mid 2007. Of "Gimme Shelter" he says, "We made this film in order to focus attention on the humanitarian crisis in the DRC at a time when too much of the world is indifferent or looking the other way. The suffering and loss we've all seen first-hand is staggering -- it is beyond belief." Well done, Ben and Mick.

Those of you who caught Slumdog Millionaire might have noticed the remix to M.I.A.'s hit, "Paper Planes." The track was remixed by DFA for the film. Let's take the time to trace the trajectory of this song, shall we.

M.I.A. samples The Clash's fantastic "Straight to Hell." It ends up in a Judd Apatow film. We start seeing pictures of M.I.A. everywhere and she's pregnant. DFA remix the song for yet another movie, and they make a video for the song featuring clips from the movie, which used to be reserved for guys like Bon Jovi but nowadays anything goes. To wrap it up, "Blaze of Glory" is a great, great song.

Check out the DFA'd "Paper Planes" and its video after the jump. -SB

It's been six weeks since Obama's election -- are you one of the millions and millions of voters who has completely forgotten his message and everything his presidency is supposed to stand for? You are, aren't you? Well you need a hip, eco tote bag, friend-o.

No more "can" folks. Yes we will is more like it. Yes we will go to war in Afghanistan! Yes we will nationalize our banks and large corporations after giving China years of shit for it! Yes we will purchase a hyopallergenic puppy! Can you feel it? It's the new coalition of the willing, right here in the U.S.

It's true, environmental impact starts at home. Ecobags knows this, which is why they have partnered up with DoSomething.org to create this bag. Aside from the message, the number 30644 appears on the bag as well, which you can text for information on local volunteer opportunities.

The bag retails for twelve bucks and is available here.

Morrissey will be releasing a new album on February 17th, 2009 called Years of Refusal. It was produced by the recently deceased Jerry Finn, whose engineer and production skills made him a favorite of the pop punk set, including Green Day and Blink-182 during the nineties. It is the last record he produced before his death. It casts a pall over the release of the record and uncomfortably suits Morrissey's overarching morbidity.

A world tour is in the works as well. Morrissey usually plays a bunch of nights in a row at theater-style venues, but the press release noted he would be also be performing some intimate club dates, which is a kind of fuck you to the rabid white males that predictably jump over barricades at his arena shows to get a closer look and maybe even get to touch Moz.

The first single off the album is "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris." Complete track listing is available after the jump.

Years of Refusal Tracklist

1. Something Is Squeezing My Skull
2. Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
3. Black Cloud
4. I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
5. All You Need Is Me
6. When Last I Spoke to Carol
7. That's How People Grow Up
8. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
9. It's Not Your Birthday Anymore
10. You Were Good In Your Time
11. Sorry Doesn't Help
12. I'm OK By Myself

NYC's Metropolitan Transportation Authority today approved a new "austerity budget" for 2009 for NYC's bus and subway system that starkly contrasts the "lap of luxury" budget we've been enjoying in '08. In what we've taken to calling the "pimps up, ho's down" budget of 2009, the MTA's plan calls not only for a fare hike from $2 per ride to over $2.50 per ride and a monthly increase from $81 to over $100 per month, but it also calls for cuts in service. It's kind of like telling a tenant you're going to raise their rent and take away the heat and water.

There are many things I don't understand about the MTA, but one is a matter of very simple arithmetic: If the subway used to run profitably for 30 cents a ride, and no giant service advancements have been made to the system in decades, and now you have more people riding it for $2 per ride, why the fuck isn't it profitable now? Something smells fishy to me. There is no way the overhead of investment in that system is soaking up all those dollars, and there's no way significantly fewer people are riding the subway due to the recession. Somebody at the top is getting rich.

This is what happens when you have a private company acting as if it's a government agency - with zero competition. We should just do like we're doing with rest of the country and nationalize that shit. Either that or open it up to truly competitive free enterprise and allow everybody to operate their own subway cars. Although that might get a little dangerous.
-AM

Art Basel Miami Beach began a decade ago as a sister show to Switzerland's summer Basel event. Fast-forward forty years, Basel has become one of the international cultural highlights among the elite, collectors, curators and hipsters. Miami Beach, along with participating hotels, provides a convenient locale to artists and attendees alike. But Basel is no longer confined to the beach -- it has extended to newly developed surrounding areas like Wynwood Arts District and the Design District.

An influx of satellite art fairs have popped up one after another in this newly revitalized section of Miami. These are independently curated by countless galleries with a focus on the avant-garde. Scope, Pulse, Photo Miami, Red Dot, Aqua Art, Green Art, Bridge Miami and Art Now Fair are just a few of the events to make Art Basel week their home.

For the week of December 3rd through the 7th, a supreme amount of stamina and resilience was required in order to attend all the fairs, including the four halls of the Miami Beach Convention Center, Yelle's performance, Adult at White Room, Madlib, DJ Lady Miss Kier and Mstrkrft. At one point, I found myself wondering if this was Basel or the Winter Music Conference. (More after the jump).I arrived from L.A., jetlagged and out of sorts, but determined to go to the annual concert held on Collins Avenue in the sand. (Last year my ultimate concert fantasy came true when Iggy Pop and the Stooges took the stage.) Even though the sounds of cutesy French electro pop artist Yelle don't compare to a punk god, her beats are undeniably contagious. The public installations of The Containers surrounded the concert area. The Containers were basically uniquely designed environments completely encased in pods.

With two hundred and twenty galleries presenting the renowned and the nascent, paintings by Picasso and Chuck Close, the photography of Helmet Newton, and collages of Dash Snow were abound and easily accessible.

Over in the Wynwood District among the temporarily converted warehouses, the sprawling galleries and the private collections had a chaotic display of authentic Punk Rock flyers spanning from seventies to the nineties, simply entitled "Punk Rock Bourgeois." It consisted of iconic portraits of Sid and Nancy, The Ramones and the Clash.

Other highlights include the exhibit at the Catalina Hotel -- where eighty rooms were converted into separate installations (one room turned was recreated into a grungy crystal meth lab) -- and, the Fashion Photo's display under the 38th Street Bridge. Acclaimed photographer Willy Rizzo's portrait of Salvador Dali, Lawrence Schiller's iconic Marilyn Monroe and an entire collection dedicated to supermodel Naomi Campbell titled "Naomi" were all on display.

Art in Action devoted an evening to local up and coming talent. Being a Miami native I took a bit of pride in this exhibit. Graffiti writer Krave and urban muralist, CP1 were on display. City favorite painter/sculptor Lebo painted as DJ Lady Miss Kier's spun.

I also spent a fair amount of time at the ultramodern fairs Pulse Art Fair and its sub-fair Takashi Murikami's GEISAI Miami. These were housed in the newly developed area of Midtown Miami.

Art Basel is one of this country's most important and largest art fairs. Each year attendance and participation grows. Even though it can become overwhelming to try to squeeze everything into your schedule, it is most definitely worth it. Surviving Basel is an incredible feat, at least we have a well-deserved four-month break until the Winter Music Conference. - Franceasca Seiden

That's right, gang. 2009 (another year when the Union is in peril, appropriately enough) marks the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. To celebrate, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. is curating the uber-creepily titled show "One Life: The Mask of Lincoln."

One of the little-known facts about Lincoln is that he was absolutely terrifying-looking, a fact which Leondard Wells Volk and Clark Mills apparently sought to embellish in their sculptures of the sixteenth president, pictured here.

The exhibition does not limit itself strictly to masks, however. There are also early photographs and dagerotypes that depict how Lincoln, being among the greatest Americans to ever live, was also way crazier looking than you even realized.
-AM

The latest addition to the Mountain Dew, singles-only record label, Green Label Sound, is none other than Kuroma. You might recognize Kuroma's lead and founding member, Hank Sullivant. His flaming red hair makes him instantly known as "oh yeah, that dude!" but he was also a founding member of The Whigs and a touring member of MGMT (those guys!). The most basic way to describe his sound as Kuroma would be a combination of the two just mentioned. It's really delightful pop music.

Kuroma joins Matt and Kim and the Cool Kids as part of the Green Label Sound family. It's an interesting project that Mountain Dew have embarked upon and we definitely endorse it. Check out Kuroma's infectious FREE single, "In New York City, Everything Is Tropical," which you can listen to here. Later this week, look out for another single on the site, a collaboration between everyone's favorite duo, Flosstradamus and Caroline Polachek from Chairlift.

On February 17th, 4AD will release a compilation called Dark Was The Night. It will be released on double-disc, triple-vinyl, and digital formats, featuring thirty-one exclusive tracks from today's best indie artists (some of whom team up for delicious results). All tracks were produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National.

The comp will be released in conjunction with the Red Hot Organization, an organization founded in 1989 to fight AIDS through the strategic use of pop culture. (Yes, pop culture is good for something.) To date, Red Hot has raised over seven million dollars in AIDS relief worldwide.

Complete track list is available after the jump. And no burning or IMing this one -- you should buy it. Great songs can be more than entertainment. -SB

DARK WAS THE NIGHT TRACK LIST

1
1. Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2. Cello Song (Nick Drake) - The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3. Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) - Feist + Ben Gibbard
4. Brackett, WI - Bon Iver
5. Deep Blue Sea - Grizzly Bear
6. So Far Around the Bend - The National
7. Tightrope - Yeasayer
8. Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) - My Brightest Diamond
9. Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) - Kronos Quartet
10. I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) - Antony + Bryce Dessner
11. Big Red Machine - Bon Iver + Aaron Dessner
12. Sleepless - The Decemberists
13. Die - Iron and Wine
14. Service Bell - Grizzly Bear + Feist
15. Blood - Sufjan Stevens

2
16. Well-Alright- Spoon
17. Lenin - Arcade Fire
18. Mimizan - Beirut
19. El Caporal - My Morning Jacket
20. Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
21. With A Girl Like You (popularized by The Troggs) - Dave Sitek
22. Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets - Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
23. Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) - The New Pornographers
24. Gentle Hour (Snapper) - Yo La Tengo
25. Another Saturday (traditional song) - Stuart Murdoch
26. Happiness - Riceboy Sleeps
27. Amazing Grace (traditional song) - Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
28. The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) - Andrew Bird
29. Lua - Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
30. When the Road Runs Out - Blonde Redhead + Devastations
31. Love vs. Porn - Kevin Drew

A.P.C.'s sale starts this Thursday. It'll last through January 19th. Act fast, 50% off is no joke! Check out the French label's website here. Kinda snazzy right? Sleek & simple. A.P.C. is located at 619 North Croft Avenue, (between Rangely Avenue and Clinton Street); 323-297-0414.

The magazine pop-up store is a weird phenomenon. It's especially weird when it's the Teen Vogue pop up store in a suburban mall in the middle of nowhere. But if you're gonna do a pop-up store as a magazine, Wired's store on West 18th Street seems like it's about as natural a fit as you're going to get.

The Wired elves this Christmas will be happy to sell you an array of cool, overpriced gadgetry and apparel, including Oliver People's sunglasses for $400, or the Zang laser engraver for $8,0000 (for all your engraving needs).

What's more, they seem to have cultivated some great taste in music. Among the few CDs for sale at the Wired store are King Khan & The Shrines and Santogold (albeit for $12.98 and $14.98 respectively).

Best of all, Jay Reatard will be playing a free show at the store tomorrow night. It's his last show in NYC in months, so if you've got a hankering you can RSVP here.

Wired Store
15 W 18th St, NYC

The latest issue of Death+Taxes, featuring of Montreal on its cover (yup, all six of them), is on stands nationwide. The issue features interviews with Jay Reatard, Shugo Tokumaru, Little Joy, King Khan as well as an in depth talk with of Montreal's mystifying front man, Kevin Barnes. There are also tons of product, music and video game reviews.

Death+Taxes is sold at most chain retail booksellers as well as local book and magazine shops. If you're looking for Death+Taxes and can't find it, e-mail us info@deathandtaxesmagazine.com and let us know where you shop -- we'll be sure to get the book in there.

FINALLY! Our friends over at Street Carnage have created the perfect tee for those of you that don't know what to get your buddies for Christmas. And they even made it in "chocolate" and "caucasian." Get it here.

Bush gave a speech. Reporter didn't like speech. Reporter threw his shoes at Bush. That's pretty much all you need to know, if you want the full story -- read it here. - IL

The Associated Press today reports that "The speaker of the Illinois House is taking the first step toward possibly impeaching embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich." Cool, cool. But my question is this: "First step toward possibly impeaching"? First step? Possibly? What the hell? How in the name of holy shit is this guy still in office? Shouldn't there be some red emergency eject button that someone can push when a public official violates the public trust this flagrantly? Our leaders should have to sit in chairs like Doctor Evil's minions, and when they fuck up this badly we should push the button, they should fall thorough the floor and be promptly replaced by a new guy or gal (preferably with better hair)...

"Once the committee makes a recommendation," the AP continues, "the full House will decide whether to file impeachment charges against the governor." Seriously? Aren't they being waaaay too easy on this guy? What could you possibly do to get yourself impeached from office if not this? Blowing up the Statehouse? Would that do it? I think this is actually worse, because the underlying assumption behind trying to sell a publicly elected office is a perversion of the fundamentals of electoral democracy. Blago should have been bounced faster than a fat kid in dodgeball. What do they mean they are considering? What could they possibly be considering?

All this makes me think it's odd that we have a system set up to elect people, but no system to un-elect them. Given that we have no real idea how someone will perform once they get into office, it seems like being able to un-elect is almost equally important as being able to elect. It's like starting to date someone and forfeiting your right to dump them. If any politician could get bounced for poor performance any any moment, they'd probably do a better job in office. Nothing like fretting over getting fired to put a little fire under your ass on the job. -AM

Last Thursday, Dan Deacon unveiled his new 15-piece ensemble at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Featuring members of So-Percussion and Ponytail, the group included 2 drum-kits, xylophones, 6 laptops, a few ipods, and a slew of other percussive instruments. While it took a minute to set everything up - not to mention Dan's nerves seemed to be a bit on edge - the wait and anxiety were worth it. It was an incredible performance of minimalist dance music, and one that didn't go unrecognized by the Times.

Quick. Watch this video before the Internet Police remove it. It's rare for a televised performance to be so emotive, but Bon Iver nailed it on Letterman. Maybe it's because Mr. Vernon opted for three drummers as his backing band ...yup, that's totally it. No, no, "Skinny Love" is a great song -- three drummers, zero drummers, a cappella, any which way he'd chose to perform it would be fine by me. For Emma, Forever Ago made it on our best of list -- if you haven't heard it yet, you might want to. And if you need some more convincing -- check out this session on Myspace Transmissions - IL