Sonic Youth to Hit the Road in June

After spending much of June as a headliner, Sonic Youth hooks up with Pearl Jam for a series of dates in July. Then they'll hit Australia, Japan, and Lollapalooza (which is large enough to be its own country).

Joining Sonic Youth on bass for the tour is Mark Ibold, formerly of Pavement and Kim Gordon's side project Free Kitten. We guess that means Kim is strapping on the guitar.

If a Sonic Youth tour sounds good except for the unpleasant part about having to leave the house, don't forget to microwave another burrito and tune-up the Tivo for Kim, Thurston, and their daughter Coco's appearance on the "Gilmore Girls" season finale on May 9.(Yo La Tengo and Sparks are also among the special guests.)

No promotional tool will remain untouched:

06-13 New York, NY - CBGB *
06-14 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom &
06-15 Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club &
06-17 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel &
06-18 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo &$
06-19 Atlanta, GA - Earthlink Live &
06-21 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
06-23 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ +
06-24 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Ballroom +
06-26 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall +
06-27 Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre +
06-29 Missoula, MT - UM Theatre +
06-30 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre +
07-03 Sacramento, CA - Empire +
07-04 Reno, NV - Reno Hilton +
07-06 Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand %
07-07 San Diego, CA - Cox Arena %
07-09 Los Angeles, CA - Forum %
07-10 Los Angeles, CA - Forum %
07-13 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl %
07-16 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium %
07-18 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium %
07-22 Byron Bay, Australia - Splendour in the Grass Festival #
07-24 Melbourne, Australia - Palace
07-26 Sydney, Australia - Enmore
07-29 Yuzawa-machi, Japan - Naeba Ski Resort (Fuji Rock Festival)
08-03 Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center (92.3 K-ROCK Presents Kuyahoga)
08-05 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza ^
12-08-10 Somerset, England - Butlins Minehead (ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas) !

* with Tall Firs
& with Be Your Own Pet
$ with Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Beck, Elvis Costello, Cat Power, more
+ with Awesome Color
% with Pearl Jam
# with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Brian Wilson, TV on the Radio, more
^ with the Flaming Lips, Kanye West, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, the Raconteurs, Queens of the Stone Age, the Shins, the Go! Team, Sleater-Kinney, the New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Gnarls Barkley, Feist, Iron & Wine, Ryan Adams, Andrew Bird, Common, more
! with Iggy & the Stooges, Bardo Pond, Six Organs of Admittance, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Charlambides, My Cat Is an Alien, the Skaters

For those of you who are, like, too cool for the WB, Thurston Moore will perform two solo guitar sets at the NYC experimental music mecca the Stone on May 10. A week earlier, on May 3, Moore's record label, Ecstatic Peace, will host a poetry reading at St. Mark's Church featuring Moore, Richard Hell, Byron Coley, and artist Jutta Koether.

Sonic Youth: http://www.sonicyouth.com/

Wilco Announce Summer Tour

If the boob tube experience just won't suffice, it will only be another month and a half until the next Wilco tour. The band has just revealed yet another slew of dates, which will take them through June and July. Wilco will polish the trek off with a stint at Lollapalooza in early August.

In a future age:

06-28 Calgary, Alberta - McEwan Hall
06-29 Edmonton, Alberta - Jubilee Auditorium
07-01 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Burton Cummings Theatre
07-02 Duluth, MN - Duluth Entertainment Convention Center
07-07 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
07-08 London, Ontario - Centennial Hall
07-10 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
07-12 Halifax, Nova Scotia - Alderney Landing
07-13 Fredericton, New Brunswick - Playhouse
07-16 Florence, MA - Pines Theater
08-06 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza) *

* with Flaming Lips, Kanye West, Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab for Cutie, Secret Machines, the Go! Team, the Raconteurs, Queens of the Stone Age, the Shins, the New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Gnarls Barkley, Feist, Iron & Wine, Ryan Adams, Andrew Bird, Common, the Hold Steady, She Wants Revenge, Wolfmother, more

Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche has one solo gig lined up for Chillicothe, Illinois' Summer Camp festival on May 28. Brrr, Chillicothe!

*** that isn't Fall Out Boy

Wilco: http://wilcoworld.net/

Sigur Rós Launch North American Trek

While much of the rest of the world will see the band's Sæglópur EP drop on May 8, it isn't scheduled for a U.S. release. The four-song CD comes bundled with a bonus DVD featuring the Takk videos "Glósóli", "Hoppípolla", "Sæglópur", as well as a giant thumb in the eye for American fans.

Sæglópur:

CD:

01 Sæglópur
02 Refur
03 Ofriður
04 Kafari

DVD:

01 Glósóli
02 Hoppípolla
03 Sæglópur

Oh, and you know that all-female Icelandic strings 'n' things quartet that usually opens for Sigur Rós and also backs them up? Well, they used to be called Amina, but they recently changed their name to Amiina. (Note the extra "i.") They'll join Sigur Rós on all of the North American dates, and are at work on their debut album.

Takk is cheap:

05-01 San Rafael, CA - Marin Center *
05-03 Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall *
05-04 Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall *
05-05 Boise, ID - Big Easy Concert House *
05-06 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
05-08 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre *
05-09 Chicago, IL - Civic Opera House *
05-10 Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside *
05-11 Detroit, MI - State Theatre *
05-13 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall *
05-14 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion *
06-23 Eichenring, Germany - Hurricane Festival #
06-24 Beuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival #
06-25 Essen, Germany - Lichtburg
06-27 Oslo, Norway - Spektrum
06-28 Rättvik, Sweden - Dalhalla
06-29 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival $
07-01 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival +
07-02 Belfort, France - Les Eurockéennes de Belfort Festival =
07-03 Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Jazz Festival ^
07-04 Ferrara, Italy - Piazza Castello
07-06 Paris France - Olympia
07-07 Gdynia, Poland - Heineken Open'er Festival @
07-08 Balado, Scotland - T in the Park Festival !
07-09 Kildare, Ireland - Oxegen Festival ~
07-11 Southampton, England - Guildhall
07-12 Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Neumünster Abbey
07-15 Madrid, Spain - Summercase Festival &
07-16 Lisbon, Portugal - Pavilhão Atlântico

* with Amiina
# with Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab for Cutie, Elbow, Hard-Fi, Maximo Park, the Hives, the Strokes, more
$ with Morrissey, Animal Collective, Coldcut, Deftones, Franz Ferdinand, Lady Sovereign, the Streets, Tool, Kanye West, more
+ with Wolfmother, Kelis, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Artic Monkeys, Goldfrapp, more
= with Muse, The Subways, Blackalicious, Mogwai, Art Brut, We Are Wolves, Islands, more
^ with Murcof, Erik Truffaz, Talvin Singh
@ with Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Skin
! with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Pharrel Wiliams, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Pretty Girls Make Graves, more
~ with Kaiser Chiefs, Paul Weller, Red Hot Chili Pepper, Goldfrapp, Franz Ferdinand, Placebo, more
& with Massive Attack, Daft Punk, Belle & Sebastian, Fatboy Slim, The Cardigans, Super Furry Animals, more

* Pitchfork Feature: Interview: Sigur Rós</a>
* Pitchfork Feature: Live: Sigur Rós</a>
* Sigur Rós: http://sigur-ros.co.uk/

Modest Mouse Schedule Dates, Do DVD Commentary

Dates:

08-06 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
08-08 Sacramento, CA - Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
08-09 Bend, OR - Les Schwab Amphitheater
08-10 Troutdale, OR - Edgefield

The band also recently contributed commentary to the DVD of season four of the cult cartoon show "Home Movies", due out May 16 from Shout! Factory. The Shins and the staff of The Onion also yuk it up on the bonus features.

Modest Mouse: http://www.modestmousemusic.com/

Radiohead Announce North American Tour, Finally!

Looks like all of the rumors were true: the two-night stands, the intimate theaters, the Chicago and San Fran dates. Tickets for most shows go on sale May 5 and 6; see below for more details.

According to a press release, "set lists for the shows will draw heavily on the newer material the band has been working on over the past months. The performances will take place in smaller than usual venues, and will feature appropriately scaled down staging and lighting design, creating a suitably intimate environment for the first ever airings of several new songs."

So hopefully that doesn't mean that all of these shows will sell out in negative 5 seconds, and only people able to shell out thousands of dollars on eBay will be able to get in. But it probably does.

Here's Radiohead's full tour schedule:

New dates:

06-01 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-02 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-04 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ON SALE MAY 6
06-05 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ON SALE MAY 6
06-07 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Center ON SALE MAY 6
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Center ON SALE MAY 6
06-10 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts ON SALE MAY 5
06-11 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts ON SALE MAY 5
06-13 New York, NY - The Theatre at Madison Square Garden ON SALE MAY 5
06-14 New York, NY - The Theatre at Madison Square Garden ON SALE MAY 5
06-19 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-20 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-23 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 14
06-24 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 14
06-26 San Diego, CA - Bayside ON SALE MAY 6
06-27 San Diego, CA - Bayside ON SALE MAY 6
06-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25

Previously announced dates:

05-01 London, England - KOKO (Friends of the Earth benefit with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood)
05-06 Copenhagen, Denmark - KB Hall #
05-07 Copenhagen, Denmark - KB Hall #
05-09 Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall #
05-10 Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall #
05-12 Blackpool, England - Empress Ballroom #
05-13 Blackpool, England - Empress Ballroom #
05-15 Wolverhampton, England - Civic #
05-16 Wolverhampton, England - Civic #
05-18 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo #
05-19 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo #
06-17 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival *
08-12 Budapest, Hungary - Óbudai Island (Sziget Festival) %
08-15 Avenches, Switzerland - Rock Oz Arenes
08-19 Chelmsford, England - Hylands Park (V Festival) ^!
08-20 Staffordshire, England - Weston Park (V Festival) ^!
08-22 Edinburgh, Scotland - Meadowbank ^
08-24 Dublin, Ireland - Marlay Park

# with Willy Mason
* with Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, Common, Sonic Youth, My Morning Jacket, Cat Power, Atmosphere, Amadou & Mariam, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Magic Numbers, Dungen, Andrew Bird, et al
% with Franz Ferdinand, Ministry, Robert Plant, Natacha Atlas, Sick of It All, et al
^ with Beck
! with Bloc Party, The Magic Numbers, Keane

However, there is one small piece of bad news:

"There are no plans for a Radiohead album release any time in 2006," sayeth the press release.

Boo.

Radiohead: http://www.radiohead.com/

Fiery Furnaces' Matt Friedberger Reveals Solo LP Details

Back in January, Friedberger told Pitchfork that Holy Ghost Language School is a "story record" involving an English school in Japan, speaking in tongues, and "people getting happy," while its companion is "not very aggressive" and features "a lot of guitar solos."

Now we can also tell you that Winter Women is 60 minutes long and "intended to be a summer record, full of memorable, catchy, and un-ironic pop songs," according to a press release. Holy Ghost is 46 minutes long and can be likened to "Faust, the Residents, or the most 'out' moments of Brian Eno's solo records." So basically, the whole Fiery Furnaces spectrum can be mapped out onto these two records.

The double-disc is three years in the making, and was co-produced by Bill Skibbe at Key Club Recording at Benton Harbor, Michigan. John McEntire of Tortoise and the Sea and Cake contributed a bit of drumming, but other than that, Friedberger wrote and played everything himself.

"They sound very nice," Friedberger said of the records in January. "And entertaining."

Well OK then.

Here are the nice and entertaining tracklists. FYI, the periods were included.

Winter Women:

01 Under the Hood at the Paradise Garage.
02 The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co. Resignation Letter.
03 Up the River.
04 Ruth Versus Rachel.
05 Her Chinese Typewriter.
06 Big Bill Crib & His Ladies of the Desert.
07 Don't You Remember?
08 Betcha Don't.
09 PS.213 Mini School.
10 Theme From Never Going Home Again.
11 Motorman.
12 Quick as Cupid.
13 I Love You Cedric.
14 Servant in Distress.
15 Hialeah.
16 Wisconsin River Blues.

Holy Ghost Language School:

01 Seventh Loop Highway.
02 Holy Ghost Language School.
03 The Cross and the Switchblade.
04 I Started Drinking Alcohol at the Age of Eleven.
05 Do You Like Blondes?
06 Azusa St.
07 Topeka and San Antonio.
08 A Mystical Preparative to Lewdness.
09 Ship Scrap Beach Business.
10 First Day of School.
11 Things Were Going So Well.
12 All in Vain or the Opposite.
13 Moral and Epilouge.

As previously reported, the Fiery Furnaces are headed out on the road later this week in support of Bitter Tea. They'll spend May in Europe, culminating in a set at the Sleater-Kinney-curated day of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, and will spend June in North America.

Ohhh, I'm on fire:

05-04 Manchester, England - Night & Day
05-05 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC 2
05-06 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
05-08 Leeds, England - The Cockpit
05-09 London, England - King's College
05-10 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
05-11 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
05-13 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9
05-14 Hamburg, Germany - Molotov
05-15 Berlin, Germany - Magnet
05-17 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso Upstairs
05-19 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
05-20 Camber Sands, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties) *
06-08 Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
06-09 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
06-12 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
06-13 Seattle, WA - Neumos
06-15 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
06-16 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
06-17 San Diego, CA - Epicentre
06-19 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
06-20 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
06-22 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium
06-23 Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
06-24 Chicago, IL - Metro
06-25 Cincinnati, OH - Desdemona Festival $
06-27 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
06-29 New York, NY - Webster Hall
06-30 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

* with Sleater-Kinney, David Cross, the Gossip, Spoon, Lightning Bolt, Joanna Newsom, Boredoms, Dungen, Radar Bros, 1990's, Edith Frost, Black Heart Procession
$ with the Walkmen, Annie, the Stills, Radio 4, Heartless Bastards, Richard Swift, Small Sins, more

Fat Possum Records: http://www.fatpossum.com/

Calexico Talk Tour, Schedule Dates

But there is musical methadone to help with your transition, and it's probably coming to a town near you: live dates featuring the new sounds mixed in with the trumpet blasts, eerie vibes, and spaghetti-surf sounds spanning Calexico's decade-long career.

"The new stuff has a really good contrast with the old stuff," Calexico drummer John Convertino said after the band returned from a European tour in March. "So it's not like we're burned out playing 'El Picador' from Hot Rail. It's still a lot of fun to have the mariachi sound going on and then contrast it with 'Letter to Bowie Knife' from the new record. It keeps the crowd pretty interested, and us on our toes. I think that's probably why we're still enjoying touring so much and playing so much. There's enough diversity going on there."

The material from Garden Ruin has resulted in different on-stage roles for many of the six-member Calexico core. The lineup changes will just make your scorecard a mess, so suffice it to say that keyboards, electric bass, and lots more guitars have been added to recreate the Garden Ruin sound. Convertino said "Bisbee Blue", "Cruel", "Smash", "All Systems Red", "Yours and Mine", and the aforementioned "Letter to Bowie Knife" are in the regular rotation.

"We're still finding our feet a little bit on some of these songs, but that's the fun of it, too," he said. "The way they were recorded was a very controlled environment, and that's harder to pull off live. Some of those songs you just have to re-think completely."

Convertino said last year's tour with Iron & Wine's Sam Beam-- backing up their successful collaboration In the Reins-- and some bigger dates with Wilco increased their profile Stateside to the point that it's almost equal to what it's been in Europe ever since 1998's The Black Light.

"It's been good and it's steadily getting better and better, but we did a few legs in the South a couple summers ago, Florida and Alabama, and man, it was pretty rough down there for us," Convertino laughed. "So hopefully things will get better; we're going to dedicate more time this year to touring in the States anyway."

Looks like they've got the summer mapped out, with a bit of Stateside touring sandwiched between European treks.

Remember, all tour dates are subject to change, because even my sure things fall through:

05-01 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller *
05-02 Gothenburg, Sweden - Tradgarn *
05-04 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle *
05-05 Munich, Germany - Tonhalle *
05-06 Graz, Austria - Orpheum *
05-07 Vienna, Austria - Arena *
05-09 Zagreb, Croatia - Pauk *
05-10 Treviso, Italy - New Age *
05-11 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone *
05-12 Lucerne, Switzerland - BOA *
05-13 Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus *
05-14 Haarlem, Netherlands - Patronaat *
05-15 Krefeld, Germany - Kulturfabrik *
05-16 Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar *
06-12 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
06-13 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater ^
06-15 Santa Cruz, CA - The Rio Theater ^
06-16 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore ^
06-17 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore ^
06-19 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom %
06-20 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom %
06-21 Seattle, WA - Showbox %
06-23 Chicago, IL - Metro &
06-24 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater &
06-25 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero &
06-26 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club &
06-28 Boston, MA - The Roxy &
07-02 Ulm, Germany - Umer Zelt
07-05 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre
08-03 New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage @
08-05 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza) *@$
08-11 Saint Malo, France - La Route du Rock +
08-12 Leicester, England - Summer Sundae #
08-15 Feldkirch, Austria - Poolbar Festival
08-16 Nuremberg, Germany - Open Air
08-20 Crickhowell, England - Green Man Festival #
08-23 Dresden, Germany - Schlachthof
08-24 Leipzig, Germany - Parkbuhne
08-25 Paris, France - Rock en Seine !
08-26 Losheim, Germany - Ein Tag am See Festival

* with Iron & Wine
^ with the Black Heart Procession
% with Eric Bachmann
& with Jason Collett
@ with the New Pornographers, the Frames
$ with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Wilco, Manu Chao, Death Cab for Cutie, the Raconteurs, the Flaming Lips, Ween, Queens of the Stone Age, the Shins, Common, Matisyahu, Ryan Adams, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, the Dresden Dolls, the Smoking Popes, Andrew Bird, Gnarls Barkley, Stars, Cursive, Lady Sovereign, Feist, the Hold Steady, the Go! Team, Mates of State, the Rapture, the M's, more
+ with Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian, TV on the Radio, Mogwai, Islands, more
# with Jose Gonzalez, Vashti Bunyan, Adem, Martha Wainwright, Isobel Campbell, Tunng, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, more
! with Radiohead, Morrissey, Richard Ashcroft, DJ Shadow, Nada Surf, Calexico, Wolfmother, the Rakes, TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, more

Calexico: http://www.casadecalexico.com/
Touch and Go/Quarterstick: http://www.tgrec.com/

Magnolia Electric Co.'s Molina Records Three LPs

Ghostface and Raekwon aren't the only ones from the projects. Magnolia Electric Co. mastermind Jason Molina even records there. His new solo album, Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go, was recorded at engineer Jim Zespy's The Projects studio in Bloomington, Indiana. The album is in the vein of 2004's Pyramid Electric Co. and will see an official release later this year.

Never one to disappoint fans who expect him to keep up the three-record-per-year pace he established in 2005, Molina has also recorded two new Magnolia Electric Co. full lengths. The first, entitled Nashville Moon and planned for a September release, was recorded in Chicago at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studios and mastered at Abbey Road. The second, tentatively titled The Black Ram, was recorded under the Magnolia Electric Co. moniker with a completely different band at Camper Van Beethoven frontman David Lowery's Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia. It does not have a release date at this time.

Molina will also be playing a string of solo and full band dates this summer, probably previewing a symphony he has written for 80-piece orchestra to be released in 2009. Or, if you want a more realistic picture of what the shows will be like, here is a clip of Mikey, the keyboard player from Magnolia Electric Co., "taking a bow" at a recent Mates of State show in Atlanta. It is not safe for work or those with discerning taste.

Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go:

01 It's Easier Now
02 Everything Should Try Again
03 Alone With the Owl
04 Don't It Look Like the Rain
05 Some Things Never Try
06 It Must Be Raining There Forever
07 Get Out, Get Out, Get Out
08 It Costs You Nothing
09 Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go

Nashville Moon:

01 Lonesome Valley
02 Montgomery Bound
03 Don't Fade on Me
04 Hammer Down
05 No Moon on the Water
06 Nashville Moon
07 What Comes After the Blues
08 North Star
09 Don't This Look Like the Dark
10 Bowery
11 Texas 71
12 Down the Wrong Road Both Ways

Let Me Tour, Let Me Tour, Let Me Tour:

05-12 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall (Jason Molina solo) *
05-19 Akron, OH - The Lime Spider (Jason Molina solo)
05-20 Rochester, NY - TBA (Jason Molina solo)
05-21 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Fireproof (Jason Molina solo) #
07-25 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground %
07-26 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge %
07-27 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge %
07-28 Missoula, MT - TBA %
07-29 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
07-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richard %
07-31 Olympia, WA - TBA %
08-01 Portland, OR - TBA %
08-02 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall %
08-04 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill %
08-05 Los Angeles, CA - TBA %
09-18 Salisbury, MD - Holloway Hall at Salisbury College
09-29 Austin, TX - Emo's $

* with the Court & Spark
# with Elizabeth Mitchell, Daniel Littleton of Ida
% with Ladyhawk
$ with Serena Maneesh, Xiu Xiu

Jason Molina: http://www.songsohia.com/
Secretly Canadian: http://www.secretlycanadian.com/

Final Fantasy Poos Clouds

According to Pallett, the follow-up to last year's Has a Good Home is a set of songs for string quartet and voice based on each of the eight Dungeons & Dragons schools of magic. (What's next, a baroque tribute to Dig Dug?) "I used the eight schools of magic as a lens to examine the typical tropes of songwriting," he told Pitchfork recently. "For example, the song 'Do You Love' examines the disparate acts of cooking, working out, and plastic surgery as being all one this-- the magical art of transmutation."

Written in Barcelona, He Poos Clouds was recorded with multi-instrumentalist and Blocks Recording Club MVP Leon Taheny and the St. Kitts String Quartet. "The entire record has no looping on it," Pallett explained. "I wrote and recorded the entire album for string quartet. I can play most of the songs on the looping pedal, though."

Oh, and that title? "It is a preposterous statement of devotion, like 'your farts don't stink'." However, if the album was a person, he probably wouldn't tell it that its farts stink: "I've never recorded anything I've felt totally, unconditionally happy with. I feel like I just got married."

Shieldth up!:

01 Arctic Circle
02 He Poos Clouds
03 This Lamb Sells Condos
04 If I Were a Carp
05 ->
06 I´m Afraid of Japan
07 Song Song Song
08 Many Lives -> 49 MP
09 Do You Love?
10 The Pooka Sings

"Many Lives -> 49 MP" is the album's first single; it comes with a new version of the Has a Good Home track "The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead". Tracklist:

01 Many Lives -> 49 MP
02 The CN Tower (new version)
03 The Miner Becomes Forgetful
04 Jars of Lars

The Canadian label Escape Goat Records released the Final Fantasy "Young Canadian Mothers" 7" earlier this year; although printed in an extremely limited amount, there are still a copies left, according to the label. It included two re-workings of Has a Good Home songs, as well as a Joanna Newsom cover:

01 This Is the Dream of Emma & Cam
02 The Sea
03 Spell for a Weak Heart
04 Peach, Plum, Pear

A companion single, "The George Cedric Metcalf Foundation", is due out this summer on the Toronto label It's A Disaster.

Pallett is currently on tour in Europe; this summer, he'll hit the States. Several June/July dates have been scheduled, but more will be announced soon for August.

Roll that d20:

05-01 Lille, France - Le Grand Mix
05-02 Rennes, France - Antipode
05-03 Paris, France - Main D'Euvre
05-04 Le Havre, France - Agora
05-05 Brussels, Belgium - Nuits De Botanique
05-06 Cologne, Germany - Haldern Spiegelzelt Tour
05-07 Tilberg, Netherlands - 013
05-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05-10 London, England - The Luminaire *
05-11 Nottingham, England - The Social/Liars Club
05-12 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice & Sleazy
05-13 Manchester, England - The Circle Club
05-14 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
05-16 Utrecht, Netherlands - Ekko
05-17 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm/Studio
05-18 Munich, Germany - Rote Sonne
05-19 Vienna, Austria - Szene
05-20 Dortmund, Germany - Pauluskirche
05-22 Hamburg, Germany - Ubel und Gefahrlich +
05-23 Berlin, Germany - Volksbuhne +
05-24 Gothenburg, Sweden - Pusterviksbaren
05-25 Stockholm, Sweden - Propaganda Festival
05-26 Oslo, Norway - Bla
05-28 Dresden, Germany - Sunset Mission
05-30 Stuttgart, Germany - Schocken
05-31 Basel, Switzerland - Das Schiff
06-02 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound
06-03 Dodingen, Switzerland - Kilbi Festival
06-04 London, England - Homefire Festival
06-23 Cambridge, MA - T.T. The Bear's Place #
06-24 New York, NY - Tonic #
06-25 Philadelphia, PA - North Star Bar #
06-27 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom #
06-28 Columbus, OH - Little Brothers #
06-29 Cincinnati, OH - Alchemize #
06-30 North Manchester, IN - The Firehouse #
07-01 Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theater #

* with Grizzly Bear
+ with Xiu Xiu
# with Alex Lukashevsky

Finally, Pallett leaves us with these thoughts: "Arcade Fire have recorded at least three minutes of new material, last I heard from Jeremy [Gara, drummer]...At any rate, I'm donating my harpsichord to their new studio, and I think they're buying a pipe organ off my dad."

"And there's a funny joke going around since Morrissey decided to protest the seal clubbing and ignore Canada on his latest world tour. The prevailing Canadian response: 'That's supposed to be a deterrant?' Har har har."

Final Fantasy: http://finalfantasyeternal.com/
Tomlab: http://www.tomlab.com/
Blocks Recording Club: http://www.blocksblocksblocks.com/
Escape Goat: http://www.escapegoatrecords.com/

Duran Duran Compile Their Influences

And no, kids, it's not another "Queer Eye" tie-in.

Boasting the full title Nick Rhodes & John Taylor Present: Only After Dark, the CD, due out May 8 on EMI in the UK, culls 18 semi-obscure tracks from the late 70s/early 80s post-punk, post-glam movement-- including entries from such pioneers as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Wire, and Magazine-- that served to inspire the early days of Duran Duran.

You know, they could just call it Cliffs Notes: The Killers, and make out like bandits this summer.

Unlimited supply:

01 Human League - Being Boiled (fast version)
02 Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Games
03 David Bowie - Always Crashing in the Same Car
04 Psychedelic Furs - Sister Europe
05 Simple Minds - Changeling
06 Mick Ronson - Only After Dark
07 John Foxx - Underpass
08 The Normal - Warm Leatherette
09 Bryan Ferry - In Crowd
10 Brian Eno - The True Wheel
11 Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric?
12 Kraftwerk - The Robots (single edit)
13 Donna Summer - I Feel Love
14 Wire - I Am the Fly
15 Magazine - Shot by Both Sides
16 Grace Jones - Private Life
17 Iggy Pop - The Passenger
18 Ultravox - Slow Motion

Duran Duran are currently in the studio working on their next album.

Duran Duran: http://www.duranduran.com/

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