Benefit Show to Be Held in Phoenix Next Month for I Am the World Trade Center's Amy Dykes

As we reported back in May, Amy Dykes, one-half of synth-pop duo I Am the World Trade Center, is currently being treated for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of lymphatic cancer, after discovering the illness while on tour. As you can imagine, the expenses required for such treatment can quickly grow to astronomical proportions-- cross fingers that they have health insurance-- but if you currently reside in or around Phoenix, Arizona, here's your chance to help out. Panicfest!, named after the weekly Panic! night at Scottsdale, Arizona's Anderson's Fifth Estate, will be going down on September 5th, with all of the proceeds being donated to Dykes to assist in paying for her treatment. The line-up features Silent Gray, Mighty Six-Ninety, The Reflection, The Pacific, Brodie Hubbard, Futurekind and Colorstore.

According to frequent updates on I Am the World Trade Center's website, Amy has been experiencing ups-and-downs recently. In late July, a PT scan revealed that chemotherapy had succeeding in shrinking the tumors considerably. However, earlier this month she was admitted to the emergency room and diagnosed with a condition known as Pneumocystis. Also known as Pneumocystis Pneumonia, the condition is caused by a fungus, and commonly affects people with lowered immune systems. If left untreated, the condition can be fatal, and is the #1 killer of people infected with AIDS. Fortunately, after a somewhat hairy hospital stay and a very high fever, Dykes pulled through, and is now faring better. Here's hoping for a continued speedy recovery so's we can all get our dance on again soon.

Air, Stereolab Announce Californian Tour

Self-described "French Band" Air have announced they'll be teaming up late next month with fellow freedom-haters Stereolab for a three-day mini-tour of Southern California. For Air, the trip marks their first U.S. dates since April (if you aren't counting May's Coachella Festival), having been otherwise tied up by their Talkie Walkie tour in Europe for the past three months. The two bands will be joined on this jaunt by Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, who is currently cooling down from a summer of European festival appearances... much like his tourmates, really.

Stereolab, incidentally, are still touring in support of this year's Margerine Eclipse (with a more recent limited edition 7" titled Rose My Rocket Brain just released August 2nd)-- their most recent appearance fell just last Friday at Cannes, France's Pantiero Festival. The band's official website also alludes to a series of U.S. dates to follow the California shows, though dates for those have not yet been announced.

One final hook to this particular tour is that, at the concluding Hollywood Bowl date, all three performers will reportedly be joined by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who apparently have nothing better to do than back ethereal French pop bands. In addition, tickets for the Hollywood Bowl show start at just $3-- only $1 per band. Viva la value! The dates:

9-24 San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theater
9-25 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
9-26 Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl

Morrissey to Kick Off Trans-Atlantic Tour Tomorrow, Reveals North American Dates

Mark Simpson, the British writer who coined the word "metrosexual" in 1994 (and later apologized for doing so) released an entire book on Morrissey earlier this year called Saint Morrissey. Even though Simpson enjoys yanking the chains of the easily-shocked, the title wasn't a provocation, just a summary of what we all already knew about the reclusive singer/songwriter: He's long-suffering, distant, and occasionally appears in the ecstatic visions of lost souls everywhere.

More than 15 years after his stint with The Smiths came to a close, he has remained an almost ridiculously revered character, and despite his present residence in Los Angeles, England still treats him like royalty. Much of America, on the other hand, has never known quite what to do with him. Example: In his homeland, he plays festivals and city halls, while we put him up in a venue named after a phone company. Alright, to be fair, we are giving him a couple nights at New York's Radio City Music Hall, but come on, fucking Le Tigre could sell that out.

Oh, it looks like I just got ahead of myself. I think I entirely failed to mention that Morrissey-- get ready for it-- is kicking off a UK tour tomorrow night at Reading's Carling Weekend Festival, and then, finally, in mid-September, launching his first stateside tour in support of his latest full-length, You Are the Quarry. Had you figured it out yet? Okay, fine. Anyway. This latest set of dates comes not-so-hot-on-the-heels of the cancellation of Lollapalooza, which Morrissey was scheduled to headline. And when the touring festival fell through (reportedly due to insufficient storage and laundry facilities for The Polyphonic Spree's performance attire), his North American plans just sorta fell off the map.

In the meantime, he's just released a second single from You Are the Quarry, July's "The First of the Gang to Die", which contained three more excellent B-sides. No word on whether there'll be a third release off the album, but with the election coming up, you just know Rob Reiner is trying like crazy to talk him into putting out "America Is Not the World". Nevertheless, America is the place where he's playing:

08-28 Reading, England - Carling Weekend Festival
08-29 Leeds, England - Carling Weekend Festival
08-31 Edinburgh, Scotland - Corn Exchange
09-02 Paisley, Scotland - Town Hall
09-03 Perth, Scotland - Perth City Hall
09-04 Blackpool, England - Empress Ballroom
09-06 Bridlington, England - Bridlington Spa
09-07 Newcastle, England - City Hall
09-09 Liverpool, England - Royal Court
09-10 Preston, England - Guildhall
09-18 Devore, CA - Glen Helen Hyundai Pavilion KROQ Inland Invasion
09-19 San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park
09-29 Washington, DC - Constitution Hall
10-01 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
10-02 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
10-04 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theater
10-05 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theater
10-07 Asbury Park, NJ - Paramount Theatre
10-09 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
10-10 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
10-12 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Theatre
10-13 South Bend, IN - Morris PAC
10-15 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
10-16 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
10-17 Detroit, MI - State Theater
10-19 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
10-20 Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre
10-22 Atlanta, GA - The Tabernacle
10-24 Miami, FL - Gleason Theatre
10-25 Miami, FL - Gleason Theatre
10-28 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
10-29 Dallas, TX - Will Rogers Auditorium
10-30 Austin, TX - The Backyard
11-01 El Paso, TX - El Paso County Coliseum

Ahhh, but the real culture clash is yet to come! On September 28th, Sanctuary Records, via Morrissey's Attack imprint, will release a brand new self-titled album by Nancy Sinatra, best known for her classic girl-power anthem, "These Boots Were Made for Walkin'". Nancy Sinatra is said to contain collaborations with (and we're not even kidding) Jon Spencer, Bono, Jim O'Rourke, Thurston Moore and Calexico, among others, though the first radio single will be Nancy performing "Let Me Kiss You", which originally appeared in Mozophonic Surround on You Are the Quarry. Nancy's rendition has Morrissey relegated to backing vocals. Unfortunately for you B-side hounds, though, a previously planned commercial release for the track has been cancelled.

New Jandek Release Could Be His Last

This week, as happens at least a couple times a year, a new Jandek album was dusted across the college radio and independent retail landscapes like a musical pesticide across a vast field of suck. But with Jandek fans prone to wild speculation, the name of this most recent Corwood Industries release is profoundly loaded: The End of It All.

As music writer Douglas Wolk discussed in the 2003 documentary Jandek on Corwood, albums throughout the Jandek catalog contain what some fans have translated as clues to the end of Corwood Industries' mysterious 26-year string of Jandek releases. Since 1978, Corwood has granted exactly one interview and generally offered no explanation for the music released under the moniker Jandek. Previously, much more subtle suggestions of finality have been amplified and circulated as fact-- notably the idea that a finite number of Jandek releases were recorded in a single session, and that the 19th release would be the last. Titles such as "The Electric End" and even "The Beginning" have been construed as coded letters of resignation.

Title aside, the album finds Jandek in roughly the same musical territory as on the June release Shadow of Leaves, an all bass and vocal collection that-- with the exception of its bright, apparently digital production-- is as dark and sour as Jandek's very earliest lonely acoustic guitar albums. On The End of It All, we find the same familiar voice wailing over a lone chorused guitar, the plastic-on-metal plunking of guitar strings bleeding in the vocal mic. The person singing seems troubled as usual. The thought of the Jandek story's end being indicated so directly and literally seems just unlikely enough to make it true, but naturally, nothing has been made official quite yet. Or possibly ever.

Next Trail of Dead Album Delayed Until Early 2005, Bassist Neil Busch Leaves, Fall Tour Planned

There are benefits to being on a major label like Interscope-- big recording budget, nice tour buses, money to buy food, plenty o' chicks (or dudes, if that's your thing)... but there's also a downside. Say you (and by you, we mean ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead) have completely finished your long-awaited and much-anticipated fourth album. Now let's say that said album was scheduled to be released at roughly the same time as albums by U2, No Doubt and Eminem.

You might argue that people who are planning on buying those albums aren't necessarily the same people who might be in the market for a Trail of Dead record. But here's the thing: Interscope appears to be goddamn hoping they will be. And so it is that Trail of Dead's new album-- which, according to a post by co-frontman Jason Reece on highly trustable fansite Trailofdead.org has been finished since early July-- will be pushed back to January to accommodate the fans of egomaniacal hip-hop stars and over-the-hill arena rock bands.

According to a more recent post on Trailofdead.org by other frontman Conrad Keely, the band is disappointed, but understands the label's stance. "I know, this is abominable news, especially since we worked so hard all year to get it out in time, but they don't want to have to dust [our album] under the rug. This happens in the industry sometimes. There are other reasons, such as we don't wash our hair and we need to take promo pictures." The record, entitled Worlds Apart, was originally scheduled to be released October 5th, but no firm date is now planned.

Fortunately, the band have thankfully taken the long view, and should be making themselves quite available over the next few months. According to Keely: "We still plan to tour the U.S. and the UK, and even pre-release a single, if you really want us to (yes, please -ed). "It will most likely be the title track of the LP and a couple other things. So in the end, it's only a couple months longer and then hopefully all hell will break loose."

In addition, the extra time will give the band plenty of time to come up with an album cover that meets our exacting standards. "I am currently trying to design the best album artwork possible because our last release Pitchfork gave the Worst Album Cover of the Year award to," says Keely. Okay, but guys, to be fair, Calexico actually took #1 on that particular list-- and it was just stupid old newswriter Eric Marth's personal list anyway! Not that it was really a great cover or anything. We're just sayin'. Anyway, the tour details are still largely up in the air, but what we have is yours:

10-19 Towson, MD - The Recher Theatre
10-21 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East
11-05 Seattle, WA - Neumos

Finally, the band announced back in July that bassist Neil Busch has decided to leave the band due to "severe health problems." Though several posts on the site allude to the possibility of Busch's possible return to the fold, Keely's most recent post says only, "I heard from Neil today and he says he's doing well." His replacement for the band's live shows is, at least for the moment, Danny Wood from Austin band The Rise, though Neil did contribute to Worlds Apart prior to his departure.

Wilco Announce First West Coast Dates Supporting A Ghost Is Born, Expand U.S. Fall Tour to 27 Shows

Wilco's latest release, A Ghost Is Born, hasn't caught fire like 2002's critical darling Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but that hasn't stopped Jeff Tweedy and crew from touring the shit out of their new jam-heavy material. Following an almost weekly string of tour updates, Wilco have once again made us their bitch by announcing even more shows for their expanding 2004 road trip. The good news, however, is that among those dates are a string of eight west coast performances-- the band's first since they began touring in support of A Ghost Is Born earlier this year. Opening for the midwest powerhouses on select dates will be experimental roots-rockers Calexico, and, for the east coast leg, Pitchfork faves The Fiery Furnaces. Dates:

Wilco's current tour schedule:
09-14 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note (w/ Calexico)
09-15 St. Louis, MO - The Fox Theatre (w/ Calexico)
09-17 Dallas, TX - The Granada (w/ Calexico)
09-18 Austin, TX - Stubbs BBQ (w/ Calexico)
09-19 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Music Festival)
09-22 Nashville, TN - The Uptown Mix
09-23 Atlanta, GA - The Fox Theatre
09-24 Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
09-25 Raleigh, NC - Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
09-27 Norfolk, VA - The Norva (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
09-28 Baltimore, MD - Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
09-30 Burlington, VT - Memorial Auditorium (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
10-01 Boston, MA - The Wang Center (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
10-03 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
10-05 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
10-06 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall (w/ The Fiery Furnaces)
10-08 Saratoga Springs, NY - Skidmore College Sports Center Gym
10-10 Ann Arbor, MI - Hill Auditorium
10-25 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
11-06 Denver, CO - The Fillmore Auditorium
11-10 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
11-11 Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
11-13 San Jose, CA - SJSU Events Center
11-14 Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre
11-18 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theatre
11-19 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theatre
11-22 Salt Lake City, UT - Kingsbury Hall

Also, as any Wilco fan worth his salt knows, the band has a healthy habit for side projects. That being said, Wilcoworld.net reports that drummer Glen Kotche's other band, On Fillmore, will also be playing a handful of live dates this year. The shows will support (if a handful of dates can indeed be referred to as "support") the release of the band's third album Sleeps with Fishes, which is set for a September 20th release on Quakebasket/Drag City. Dates are as follows:

08-23 Louisville, KY - Rudyard Kipling Theater
08-24 Pittsburgh, PA - Modern Formations Gallery
08-25 Buffalo, NY - SoundLab
08-26 Boston, MA - The Zeitgeist Gallery
08-27 Montague, MA - The Montague BookMill
08-28 New York, NY - Tonic

> And finally, Wilco's A Ghost Is Born was recently nominated for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize. The Wilco effort is one of 73 albums (including selections by PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand, Joe Strummer, and TV On The Radio) competing for the award, and saw nomination by a panel of artists including Robert Smith, Josh Homme, John Mayer and Chris Carrabba. The winner will be announced on November 10th at a concert in Los Angeles.

Mute Records Readies 2xCD Indie Pop Anthology

Mute Records may have the thinnest indie pop roster this side of Merzbow's personal record collection, which means that whatever you say about their upcoming two-disc history class, Indiepop 1, due October 4th, you can't call it incestuous. Mute carved out a niche for themselves in the 80s on the grown-up side of industrial music, playing host to Fad Gadget, Cabaret Voltaire and the reunited Wire. Though they've since branched out further, twee they ain't. The compilation is a joint release with Rough Trade Shops (which is not the same thing as Rough Trade Records)-- in fact, the compilation conspicuously skips as many seminal Rough Trade artists as it includes. (Among the missing: The Go-Betweens, Young Marble Giants, and, if they count, The Smiths.)

The collection leaps around between the 80s, 90s and last month, giving equal time to crucial selections and baffling ones. Over half the tracks can't currently be found on CD, and some of the ones that can (like Felt's "Penelope Tree" and Beat Happening's "Indian Summer") have the kind of power that motivates reissue campaigns in the first place. This, however, doesn't explain Indiepop 1's inclusion of 2004 bands that have yet to finish making their stabs at immortality, nor of lifelong footnote-fodder like Pop Will Eat Itself. The record is also profoundly UK-centric, as befits a collection supposedly selected by the Rough Trade Shops staff themselves. That's one way to stop record-store clerks from picking holes in the tracklist. But it won't stop us. Join the fun:

Disc One:
01 Primal Scream: "All Fall Down"
02 Modesty Blaise: "Carol Mountain"
03 Popguns: "Waiting For The Winter"
04 The Clouds: "Get Out Of My Dream"
05 Sea Urchins: "Pristine Christine"
06 Jesus And Mary Chain: "You Trip Me Up"
07 Mary Lou Lord: "Some Jingle Jangle Morning (When I'm Straight)"
08 The Monochrome Set: "The Monochrome Set"
09 Felt: "Penelope Tree"
10 Juniper Moon: "El Resto De Mi Vida"
11 Shop Assistants: "Safety Net"
12 V Twin: "Gifted"
13 Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes: "Splashing Along"
14 Television Personalities: "Look Back In Anger"
15 Dressy Bessy: "You Stand Here"
16 The Wedding Present: "Once More"
17 Helen Love: "Beat Him Up"
18 Pop Will Eat Itself: "Black Country Chainstore Massacreee"
19 I, Ludicrous: "Preposterous Tales"
20 Heavenly: "Sort Of Mine"
21 Beat Happening: "Indian Summer"
22 The Groove Farm: "The Best Part Of Being With You"
23 Field Mice: "Landmark"

Disc Two:
01 My Bloody Valentine: "Paint A Rainbow"
02 Love Is All: "Spinning and Scratching"
03 Josef K: "Sorry For Laughing"
04 Talulah Gosh: "Talulah Gosh"
05 Aberfeldy: "Vegetarian Restaurant"
06 The Pooh Sticks: "I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well"
07 This Poison!: "Poised Over The Pause Button"
08 The Magnetic Fields: "100,000 Fireflies"
09 The Vaselines: "Molly's Lips"
10 AR Kane: "When You're Sad"
11 Darling Buds: "Uptight"
12 Pastels: "Truck Train Tractor"
13 Camera Obscura: "Eighties Fan"
14 McCarthy: "Should The Bible Be Banned"
15 Lush: "Hypocrite"
16 June Brides: "Every Conversation"
17 The Velvet Crush: "Walking Out On Love"
18 The Flatmates: "I Could Be In Heaven"
19 Marine Girls: "Honey"
20 Bis: "Icky Pooh Air Raid"
21 Razorcuts: "Sorry To Embarrass You"
22 Eggs: "Government Administrator"
23 Spearmint: "Sweeping The Nation"

Jean Grae to Release New Album Next Month

Enough of this Lil' Kim bullshit already. Gritty and scary-talented New York emcee Jean Grae is back with a new LP, set to debut September 21st and kick the playa hatin' hip-hop world in its proverbial ballz. This Week, set to be issued via Babygrande Records, includes production credits from prominent names in the bidness like Midi Mafia (50 Cent) and 9th Wonder (Jay-Z), and could be the record that shoves Jean Grae from the underground into the U.S. hip-hop charts.

A double A-side single of "Goin' Crazy" and "U Don't Want It" (produced by Midi Mafia) will clear the way for This Week, and will give listeners a taste of what Jean can do on the mic by her lonesome. In the past, she's held the dubious title of "Cameo Queen," due to her penchant for upstaging the rappers on whose tracks she guested. To wit: Grae makes appearances on The Roots' recent release, The Tipping Point, though it remains to be seen whether she'll be quite able to one-up Talib Kweli on his forthcoming LP, Beautiful Struggle. October 2003's The Bootleg of the Bootleg EP was the last studio release from Ms. Grae, whom Rolling Stone once dubbed "the best kept secret" in the New York's scene. This cat might be getting out of the bag damned soon. And it's got claws. And a gat.

Beastie Boys Expand North American Fall Tour

Oh, the Beastie Boys... is there anything they can't do? Those three bad brothers you know so well have been awfully busy this year, from creating customizable AIM icons for destitute, iconless 12-year-old internet junkies, to raising awareness for hunger in New York City. But then there's that whole "world tour" fiasco, which so far has been taking a somewhat minimal aesthetic to heart: Since the June release of their now-platinum (and copy-protected) LP, To the 5 Boroughs, they've made fewer than 10 open-to-the-public live performances.

Fortunately, someone seems to have lit a match to their ass, as the next few months are chock-a-fuckin-block with arena and amphitheater show dates. The seriousness appears to get underway on September 9th at Colorado's Red Rocks, with an incalculable series of California dates tailing close behind. They've also got a handful of shows lined up for the east coast and southern U.S., though at press time, the midwest still gets no love.

One performance of particular interest is the MTV2-sponsored LIFEbeat Benefit, which throws down this Saturday at Miami's Crobar. There, the Boys are scheduled to share the stage with the grandaddies of enlightened hip-hop, De La Soul, with the results being aired on MTV's ugly-sister network M2 on Saturday, August 28th. And if all goes according to plan, the following day will see the trio playing some hit song or another on the MTV Video Music Awards. More dates are expected to be announced very, very gradually. For now, here's the scoop:

08-28 Miami, FL - Crobar (MTV2 Presents: A LIFEbeat Benefit)
09-09 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
09-11 San Diego, CA - Cox Arena *
09-13 Los Angeles, CA - Universal Amphitheater
09-14 Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena *
09-16 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *
09-17 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
09-19 Seattle, WA - Key Arena *
09-20 Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum *
10-08 Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center
10-09 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
10-11 Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center
10-15 Atlanta, GA - The Arena At Gwinnett Center
10-16 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience
10-18 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Office Depot Center
10-19 Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
10-22 Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
10-23 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center

* with Talib Kweli

Shortlist Prize Longlist Announced

The Fourth Annual Shortlist Prize's initial list of 73 nominees was revealed yesterday; The Longlist, as it's known, sports albums from such familiar names as TV on the Radio, Wilco, The Magnetic Fields and The Wrens. The Shortlist Prize is the indie rock equivalent of the Album of the Year at the Grammys-- nominated albums must have sold fewer than 500,000 copies and must have been released in America between July 1st, 2003 and June 30th, 2004. The 73 contestants will be trimmed down in September to represent the Shortlist-- a group of 10 finalists, from which the winner will be picked. It's kind of like American Idol, only no one's screaming bloody Whitney.

To create the list, each of the 20 listmakers, a group of artists represented by such musicians as The Cure's Robert Smith, System of a Down's Serj, Jack Black and Norah Jones, nominated a number of albums. For example, Norah Jones picked Devendra Banhart and Loretta Lynn; ?uestlove picked Wilco and TV on the Radio. Which I guess proves that liking good music is a whole lot easier than making it. ZOING. The resulting list of nominees, not to be self-aggrandizing, reads a bit like a who's who of Pitchfork Best New Music selections, as it includes albums by Franz Ferdinand, Air, A.C. Newman, Dizzee Rascal, Fiery Furnaces, and Iron & Wine. On the other hand, Peaches' Fatherfucker is in there, too, so who the hell knows what's going on?

After the nominee list is pruned down to 10 in late September, a final winner will be selected at a concert in Los Angeles on November 10th. The lucky shmuck(s) who win(s) will get a cash prize of $10,000, provided by one of the Prize's sponsors, XM Radio (MTV2 being, apparently, the less generous sponsor). Last year, the shortlist included Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights and Sigur Rós' ( ); in a head-scratching decision, Damien Rice's O won out. So, while we'd like to think that Boy in Da Corner or The Meadowlands ends up victorious, we're offering 5:3 odds that Ryan Adams' Love Is Hell will reign supreme. Place your bets with the intern today.

Magnolia Electric Co., Joan of Arc, Mt. Eerie Head Up Indiana's Bloomingtonfest This Weekend

Indiana jokes are easy. Getting serious about the Hoosier State, on the other hand, is just about beyond us. It's fortunate, then, that the owner of the modern world's best thousand-yard stare will be holding court in Bloomington, Indiana this weekend for the sixth annual Bloomingtonfest, which opens on the 26th and ends the 29th. Nearly 50 bands will play over the course of those four days, with demeanors ranging from downright goofy to Tim Kinsella's armor-piercing gaze.

Joan of Arc, Magnolia Electric Co., Mount Eerie and Br. Danielson (though not necessarily in that order) are among the biggest draws for this year's festivities. However, there are plenty more reasons to attend, including performances by Landing, Scout Niblett, The Impossible Shapes, Mock Orange, The Wind-Up Bird, Gang Gang Dance, Early Day Miners and plenty of bands you may never have heard. To help plot out your schedule, check out the Bloomingtonfest website, which neatly collates a blurb, an MP3, and weblinks for each participating band.

Passes for the event are $25, making it cheaper on a per-musician basis than pitching coins into guitar cases on the street. Plus, the venues are indoors. The only rough part is how Magnolia Electric Co. (formerly known as Songs: Ohia) and Joan of Arc are scheduled against each other on Saturday night. If it helps you pick, you might want to know about these rumors we've been hearing where Jason Molina of Magnolia plans to play all of Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy, straight through. Ah-ooooooo!

Impossible Shapes Tour Their Immediate Area

Indiana's The Impossible Shapes are heading out on a 12-date midwestern tour, and they're bringing their jangly, kaleidoscopic psych-pop along for the ride. (It would kinda suck if they weren't.) The tour kicks off this coming Sunday with a hometown appearance at the aforementioned Bloomingtonfest. After that, the group will stay fairly close to home, heading only as far west as Lawrence and as far south as Knoxville. Additionally, the apparently homesick quartet will treat Bloomington fans to another pair of appearances within the month, too-- although that one will see the band sharing the stage with Magnolia Electric Co. Maybe we should go check out this Bloomington place...

The Shapes have been busy this year, sharing personnel with the touring John Wilkes Booze (who released their debut album, Five Pillars of Soul, back in April on Kill Rock Stars) and pushing off for a bunch of European shows in May with Magnolia Electric Co. frontman Jason Molina. In addition, Secretly Canadian released two Impossible Shapes-related discs within the last month: one from Aaron Deer's side project The Horns of Happiness, and another by Chris Barth's Normanoak. So we'll officially announce it, then: It's the summer of the Impossible Shapes! Someone buy these guys a drug:

08-29 Bloomington, IN - John Waldron Arts Center (Bloomingtonfest)
09-01 Lexington, KY - High on Rose *
09-02 Cincinnati, OH - The Comet *
09-03 Indianapolis, IN - Melody Inn (w/Friends Like These) *
09-04 Pittsburgh, PA - Quiet Storm *
09-05 Kalamazoo, MI - Kraftbrau *
09-07 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird *
09-09 Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light *
09-11 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge *
09-13 Chicago, IL - Schubas
09-30 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird (w/Magnolia Electric Co.)

* with Drakkar Sauna

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.)