Visit the BLACK FRANCIS WEB STORE now to pre-order a limited edition BLACKFRANCIS.NET tshirt.

Shirts are high quality striped American Apparel apparel tees, printed using a full color process. Specially designed by M.L. these shirts look, fit, and feel great.

Only 100 of these shirts are available and you can get $5 OFF by order BEFORE November 1st.

BLACK FRANCIS HAS MADE A NEW RECORD. TENTATIVELY TITLED "NON STOP EROTIC" IT WAS RECORDED IN LA, NYC, AND LONDON. A COLLABORATION WITH ERIC DREW FELDMAN, THE RECORD CONTAINS 11 TRACKS:

WHEN I GO DOWN ON YOU
LAKE OF SIN
O MY TIDY SUM
RABBITS
WHEELS (FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS)
DEAD MAN'S CURVE
CORRINA
SIX LEGGED MAN
WILD SON
NON STOP EROTIC
CINEMA STAR




OH YEAH. AN OFFICIAL BLACK FRANCIS FACEBOOK PAGE HAS SPRUNG FORTH. BECOME A FAN.

::Report from Golem front by M. Lemhouse (Golem book designer)::

A new track has been uploaded and it is titled "ALL AROUND THE WORLD." This track is a live track which came from a live performance which was performed in the Netherlands. In Nijmegen.

We're putting together a live USB release which chronicles the events that took place that night. The night was February 28th, 2008. The song is one of many. Other goodies you will find on this release. And it is all coming soon. So shortly you will see it here and around.

THE BUREAU

"My oldest boy, he likes his tomato sauce with pasta so sometimes I've got to make it really quickly but I don't like using jars of sauces. So the first thing you need is an iron skillet." So said Frank Black when he contributed to our Rock'n'Roll Cook Book last year; proof, if it was needed, that the Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV of 2009 is a domesticated creature.

It makes his latest joint venture, Grand Duchy - a band comprised of Black and his wife, Violet Clark - a little less surprising. It's a move that will no doubt engender nay-saying, most likely from dyed in the wool Pixie-ites, who after 20 years are still hanging onto the coattails of Tame or Monkey Goes To Heaven in the unlikely hope that history might decide to repeat itself. Well hey, it probably won't, and certainly doesn't with Grand Duchy.

Sure, there are shades of Doolittle basslines and Black's trademark sneer makes the odd cameo (opening track Come On Over To My House being a prime example), but let's dispense with nostalgia and focus on the here and now: Petits Fours is an exceptionally tight and accomplished album. But rather than a safe, family outing, we get an exciting blend of 80s synths and enjoyably uncomplicated indie-rock anthems (Fort Wayne). It's fused with a chemistry and sense of playfulness perhaps normally akin to fledgling lovers, rather than the bearers of a five-strong litter.

Crucial to the longevity of marriage and ultimately the success of Grand Duchy is Black's willingness to share the limelight: this is far from a solo record, and on more than one occasion Clark's vocals usurp those of her more illustrious paramour - mischievous, sassy and devilish. Lovesick reveals the frustration that no doubt comes with Black’s jet-set life, the abandoned Clark giggling frivolously at her husband's skittish attempts to instigate phone-sex. Throughout the album, we get glimpses into the alternative lifestyles both lead – with album highlight Fort Wayne offering an account of life onstage in Indiana by contrast.

That the first collaboration between the couple was a Cure cover (A Strange Day - for a tribute album last year) proffers a fair indication as to the stylistic quality of Petit Fours: always hooky, sometimes kooky and unashamedly pop-based. Hell, sometimes they even venture into AM-friendly territory. But ultimately, Petit Fours should appeal to Pixies diehards and indie kids alike. Black & Clark join Ike & Tina, Win & Regine, and Johnny & June in adding another string to the already tuneful bow of matrimonial musical history.

Hello and welcome to the Official Black Francis myspace page. We tend to communicate a bit more over at blackfrancis.net, but we hang out here, too, and will try to keep things current, interesting, and, of course, extremely serious.