Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks Prep New Trash Single

Photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Stephen Malkmus and his Jicks will release their first UK single from Real Emotional Trash on June 2 via Domino. The tune they've chosen is "Gardenia", and they are backing it with a new song called "Walk Into the Mirror".

The band will walk into the tour vehicle for festival dates this month and European shows in June. Support on the UK shows comes from Domino mates Wild Beasts. Then in August, the band plays Lollapalooza.

In related news, the Crust Brothers' Marquee Mark album was recently released digitally for the first time, courtesy of Comedy Minus One. And who are the Crust Brothers? Why that would be the members of Silkworm joined by Mr. Malkmus. And what is on Marquee Mark? It's a recording of a live show from 1997, and it's all covers. [MORE...]

Common Becomes Invincible With LP, Terminator Role

Common, please slow down! Not a year after the Chicago MC released Finding Forever, with a whole mess of activity in the interim, he has given word of its follow-up, not to mention a blockbuster acting role.

According to a Billboard.com report, Common's eighth album is called Invincible Summer, and it is tentatively scheduled for a mid-July release. (However, Common's MySpace page says it will be out June 24.)

Billboard.com calls the sound of Summer "electro-tinged," which is an interesting departure from Common's usual M.O. of beats based around dusty old jazz and soul samples. With a tune called "Runaway" "drawing its guitar riff from Pat Benatar's 'Love Is a Battlefield'," we're kind of imagining Electro Circus.

"I created this music for the summer time. It's about feeling good. This is the type of music I felt was missing from my body of work," Common told Billboard.com regarding Invincible Summer's musical direction, and he certainly surrounded himself with respectable contributors. The record's production comes from the Neptunes and Outkast producer Mr. DJ. Cee-Lo, Santogold, and Neptunes associates Chester French lent their singing and rhyming talents. Frequent Common collaborator Kanye West was absent from the proceedings because he was preoccupied with work on his "Glow in the Dark" tour.

"Universal Mind Control (U.M.C.)" looks to be Invincible Summer's first single, and it is planned for release at the end of May. Billboard.com's preliminary tracklist for the album is after the jump.

As for Common's blossoming acting career, he appears alongside Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James McAvoy in the pretty sweet-looking Wanted, which hits theaters June 27. Also, according to a Variety report, Common will join Christian Bale's John Connor in a new Terminator movie called Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. Common's character is "a freedom fighter and member of Connor's inner circle," and the movie is scheduled to appear in theaters May 22, 2009. [MORE...]

Talkdemonic Prep New LP, Tour With Helio Sequence

The third LP from Portland's symphonically synthy duo Talkdemonic, Eyes at Half Mast, is due September 2 from the Arena Rock Recording Company. The band road-tested the set's 14 tunes over months of extensive touring, bringing those tunes to the height of their demonic-ness before committing them to tape.

Talkdemonic have plans to get back out there in June with a handful of dates well in advance of Half Mast's release, most of which find them in close proximity to fellow PDXers the Helio Sequence. [MORE...]

Andrew Bird, Jon Brion, Fiona Apple in L.A. Club Doc
Plus: Flight on the Conchords, Patton Oswalt, Fred Armisen, Sarah Silverman, Aimee Mann

Earlier this week, Los Angeles venue Largo closed its doors for the last time. Fear not, left coast live music nuts: Largo will open an entirely different set of doors when they move to the former Coronet Theatre next month. But in celebration of the Largo Los Angelenos have come to know and love, owner Mark Flanagan and filmmaker Andrew van Baal have teamed up for Largo, a new documentary film about the storied nightspot.

And what a sendoff the Largo flick will be, sporting as it does musical performances from Andrew Bird, Flight of the Conchords, Fiona Apple, Jon Brion (who held a residency at Largo for some time), Eels frontman Mark Oliver "E" Everett, David Garza, Jackson Browne, Grant Lee Phillips, Tom Brousseau, Aimee Mann and hubby Michael Penn, Men at Work vocalist Colin Hay, Nickel Creek, and a whole slew of others.

Largo also made a point to make with the funny, and a ton of yuk-makers pop up in the film, including P4k office boy Fred Armisen, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Greg Proops, Paul F. Tompkins, and John C. Reilly. The film makes its world premiere June 22 at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Mastodon Hang With Bruce, Join Hellish Package Tour
Springsteen really needs to do something about that thing growing under his lower lip

A few weeks back, Pitchfork.TV premiered an interview with members of Neurosis and Mastodon as the two metal institutions were about to share a bill in Brooklyn. It was an inspired pairing. And this June, after their set at Bonnaroo, Mastodon will share yet another bill of note, this time with Iron Maiden. Makes sense.

But then, well, Mastodon will join the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival as it stalks around North America through the steamy season. Indeed, a metal package tour with Mastodon near the top of the marquee could be pure awesomeness, were the other bands billed over Mastodon not Slipknot, Disturbed, and Dragonforce. (C'mon dude, that Dragonforce song in Guitar Hero III is pretty sweet.-- Ed)

I mean, good for those dudes for getting paid, and good for the attendees of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. But hey, a list of Mastodon shows you probably won't be attending is after the jump.

Something totally unrelated: that up there is a photo of Brent Hinds and Brann Dailor bro-ing down with Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta in late April. Sweeeeeeet. [MORE...]

Dizzee Rascal and El-P Launch Tour
With guest appearances from Aesop Rock, Busdriver, Aaron LaCrate, more

They may call it the "No Chiefs Allowed Tour", but El-P and Dizzee Rascal's North American jaunt is packed to the gills with towering talent. Aside from their own formidable presences, the tour includes appearances by Def Jux artists and associates Aesop Rock, Kidz in the Hall, Busdriver, Mr. Dibbs, and Mighty Quin. And Aaron LaCrate is serving as Dizzee's DJ. Not bad, gentlemen.

"No Chiefs Allowed" kicks off tonight (May 8) in Washington, D.C.

In other news, Dizzee has a smattering of European dates this spring and summer, and El-P has a new blog. His first post is a pretty funny Kanye send-up. [MORE...]

Country Music Legend Eddy Arnold, R.I.P.

The world lost a country music legend today. Singer Eddy Arnold, a chart staple for many years, passed away near Nashville this morning, according to reports in The New York Times and on Billboard.com. He was just a week shy of his 90th birthday.

Arnold rose to prominence in the years immediately following World War II, earning the nickname "The Tennessee Plowboy" and deploying a string of hits that dominated the country charts from the late 1940s on through the late 1960s. Indeed, his presence on the country charts is unmatched to this day. Arnold continued recording well into this decade, releasing his 100th album, After All This Time, in 2005. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966.

Later in his career, the crooner shed his plowboy image and adopted an urban gentleman look that complemented his songs' new lush arrangements. Those songs, which include hits "Make the World Go Away", "Somebody Like Me", and "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", often towed a line between the traditional country & western style and a more mainstream pop sensibility. Two of Arnold's songs were later covered by Elvis Presley, whom Arnold is said to have influenced.

The singer, whose wife passed away earlier this year, is survived by two children, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Eddy Arnold: "Make the World Go Away"

Eddy Arnold: "The Richest Man (in the World)"

My Morning Jacket Announce Lengthy American Tour

Photo by Natalie Kardos

It's still more than a month away from the beginning of their intercontinental summer trek, and My Morning Jacket have already lined up a bunch of dates that will take them practically into the fall. Damn near every last one of these new appearances has been designated "An Evening With My Morning Jacket," though the lone exception-- a date at Red Rocks in late August-- will find you sharing your evening with both MMJ and the Black Keys.

My Morning Jacket's new one, Evil Urges, is due June 9 in the UK and mainland Europe from new overseas label Rough Trade and the following day in North America on ATO. The not-too-distant future holds the band's appearance on the Shia LaBoeuf-hosted episode of "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and a Jim James solo acoustic date in London on May 22. [MORE...]

M.I.A., Interpol, Breeders Head Summercase Lineup
Also: CSS, the Sex Pistols, Los Campesinos!, the Verve, Grinderman,

Spain's Summercase festival will return this year for its annual two-city invasion. The fest will take over Madrid's Boadilla del Monte on July 18 and Barcelona's Parc del Fòrum on July 19, and the lineup of bands includes Interpol, Grinderman, the Breeders, CSS, M.I.A., the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs, Los Campesinos!, Cornelius, Foals, the Raveonettes, Tiga, Kings of Leon, the Long Blondes, Maxïmo Park, Primal Scream, 2ManyDJs, Edwyn Collins, Cadence Weapon, the Juan Maclean, Santogold, the Shout Out Louds, the Stranglers, Sons & Daughters, the Verve, Mystery Jets, and Pete & the Pirates.

Of course, those who don't want to travel to Spain that weekend can come to Chicago for another music festival we have a pretty good feeling about.

Shins, Built to Spill, Cross, Odenkirk on "Tim & Eric" CD
Includes the Shins' rendition of "Wipe My Butt"!

Here to make late night television that much more disorienting, it's the "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" non-cartoon on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. And here to make your indie dance night that much more awkward is the companion compact disc, Awesome Record, Great Songs! Volume One.

Available now thanks to Adult Swim's Williams Street merch station, Awesome Record collects no less than 43 ditties from and inspired by the wacky, guest-heavy late night comedy program. Packed in together with such timeless Tim and Eric fare as "Wipe My Butt", "I Sit Down to Pee", and "Doo Dah Doo Doo" are guest turns from funny people David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, and Maria Bamford, an appearance by Aimee Mann, a Flying Lotus remix, and a pair of unlikely indie rock covers: the Shins' version of "Wipe My Butt", which turned up in a "Tim and Eric" episode earlier this year, and a Built to Spill take on kooky karaoke come-on track "Come Over". Hilarity reigns!

Thanks to reader Daniel Bruchman for the tip.

Tim and Eric recently wrapped up a tour, and a DVD set collecting the first season of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" is available now as well. [MORE...]

Love Is All Return to the States for Brief Tour

Photo by Wyatt Cusick

For the first time in a while, Gothenburg gallants Love Is All will head to the U.S. for a (very) brief tour. After a London gig later this month, the expanded Swedish troupe will head to the East Coast for about a week in the middle of June. Yeah, that's all the All we'll get, for now anyhow.

Still no word on release details for the band's next album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night. But the group's resident blogger did post a live video of a propulsive little number called "Give It Back", which they claim will show up on the album. And Hand Held Shows recently posted a video of the band playing another new song, "Wishing Well", live on the street. Adorable. [MORE...]

Spiral Stairs, Broken Social Scene Unite for Sled Island
Preston School of Industry working on new LP, buncha awesome bands added to festival

As you may have read a while back in these pages, Preston School of Industry frontman and onetime Pavement foil Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg is serving as guest curator for Calgary Alberta's Sled Island Music Festival, taking place June 25-28 at a number of Calgary hot spots.

Sled Island recently threw quite a few more bands onto its already impressive roster, including Yo La Tengo, Grizzly Bear, Dan Deacon, Okkervil River, Blitzen Trapper, Qui, Tegan and Sara, the Secret Machines, Fucked Up, and Mark "BBQ" Sultan. Oh, and some raggedy lot who call themselves Broken Social Scene. Not bad!

Kannberg's well versed in the BSS M.O., having lent a hand to Kevin Drew's Spirit If... And BSS seem like the kind of people who'd be cool with collaborating with a guy from Pavement again if he was interested. And so it shall be during Preston School of Industry's set at Sled Island, when Kannberg will be joined by members of the Scene, playing mostly material composed specifically for the fest. BSS will play their own set as well.

Preston are also hard at work on a new record set to wrap later this spring. The band have a pre-Sled Island date scheduled as well: On May 17 in Seattle, they'll open for the Posies, who will be playing a 20th anniversary show at Neumo's. [MORE...]

Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently? Do you have inside info on the bands we cover? Is one of your favorite artists (that's not somebody you know personally) releasing a new record you'd like to see covered? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity. (Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.)