New Boards of Canada EP Due in June

As is customary for the Sandison brothers, the release is shrouded in mystery. All we know are the song titles and that the video for the leadoff track, "Dayvan Cowboy" (which also appeared on BoC's last album, The Campfire Headphase) is due out on that same day. But we assume it will sound, uh, pretty and dreamy.

Tracklist:

01 Dayvan Cowboy
02 Left Side Drive
03 Heard From Telegraph Lines
04 Skyliner
05 Under the Coke Sign
06 Dayvan Cowboy (Odd Nosdam Remix)

* Boards of Canada: <a

Warp: http://www.warprecords.com

SXSW Diary: Day Two

But one thing I couldn't buy is a Smiths reunion. So said Morrissey in an interview with Rolling Stone's David Fricke yesterday. According to everybody who managed to stumble out of their hotel rooms at the ungodly early hour of 1:15 pm and crawl their way to the Convention Center, Moz revealed that he and his former bandmates rejected Coachella's five mil offer to perform at this year's festival "because money doesn't come into it."

Hey Morrissey, have you met Dave Chappelle?

Money also doesn't matter when it comes to Morrissey's clothing budget. Throughout the course of his hour-long set at the Austin Music Hall last night, he sweated through four shirts. Three of them were removed on stage and tossed into the audience, revealing his naked chest. Apparently he does this all the time. Regardless, it was still shocking to come face-to-face with the reality of Morrissey's man-boobs.

His performance was expectedly debonair and theatrical, heavy on songs from the forthcoming Ringleader of the Tormentors with a few solo oldies and Smiths chestnuts tossed in for good measure. "The good old days are good and gone," he smirked before the band tore into "How Soon Is Now". It ended, appropriately, with a bang on the giant gong at the back of the stage.

Photo: Neko Case

Earlier that day, I found myself on a picturesque hill overlooking downtown Austin, surrounded by the lush greenery of the Zilker Botanical Garden. Neko Case was performing at a day party put together by Harp magazine, Anti- Records, and the Chicago venue the Hideout, and I can't think of a more appropriate setting for her good-natured, folksy presence than the Zilker Clubhouse, a stone-walled cabin confusingly adorned with Christmas decorations.

Everybody there seemed to know each other from the alt-country trenches, and Neko greeted friends and told inside jokes between songs during her laidback set. She looked so happy and relaxed, in corduroys with no makeup, that her pitch-black death ballads lost more than a bit of their bite. But it didn't matter at all; Neko Case was performing "Set Out Runnin" and "Furnace Room Lullaby" in front of me and maybe 50 other people in a cabin on a hill on a beautiful day in Texas. Her voice literally rang out over the peaks and valleys, the fields and streams. Pardon the sappiness, but that's magic.

Photo: Goldfrapp

Goldfrapp had the unenviable task of playing to a three-quarters-empty Austin Music Hall right after Morrissey, but the divine Alison Goldfrapp and her fabulously trampy backing band pranced like peacocks in heat nonetheless. Positioned in front of a fan that kept her bleached tresses and pink cape perpetually windswept, Alison vamped through "Strict Machine", "Train", "Ooh La La", and all those other scary/sexy hits that have put her group on cheesy club compilations next to Danii Minogue.

Her bassist played a clear plastic instrument, she wore silver platform shoes with heels up to here, and two of her backing musicians proved that the only thing better than one key-tar is two key-tars. Tastefulness be damned!

Stay tuned for more daily updates from SXSW. Even though the rest of Pitchfork takes the weekend off, I don't.

South by Southwest: http://2006.sxsw.com/

The Constantines Hit the Road

The Constantines are planning a summer U.S. tour with Brooklyn's Oakley Hall. In the meantime, it's looking like youse American Cons fans will have to do some hitchhiking of your own, unless you live in the Seattle area, in which case you can just drive your own damn car to their appearance at the Sasquatch! festival or the Crocodile Café the night before.

Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright):

03-17 Montreal, Quebec - Club Lambi *
03-18 Ottawa, Ontario - New Capital Music Hall *
04-01 Quebec City, Quebec - Kashmir ^$
04-03 Moncton, New Brunswick - Manhattan ^$
04-04 Sackville, New Brunswick - George's ^$
04-05 Saint John, New Brunswick - Elwood's ^$
04-06 Fredericton, New Brunswick - The Cellar at UNB ^$
04-07 Halifax, Nova Scotia - Marquee ^$
04-08 Halifax, Nova Scotia - Marquee ^$
05-17 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Pyramid Cabaret %
05-18 Regina, Saskatchewan - The Exchange %
05-19 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Louis' Pub %
05-20 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall Ballroom at the U of C %#
05-21 Edmonton, Alberta - Starlite Room %#
05-22 Canmore, Alberta - Canmore Hotel %#
05-24 Victoria, British Columbia - Lucky Bar %#
05-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards %#
05-26 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Café %&
05-27 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch! festival)!
05-31 London, England - Brixton Academy &
06-01 Barcelona, Spain - Placa del Forum (Primavera festival) @

* with the Unintended
^ with the Meligrove Band
$ with Andre Ethier
% with Chad VanGaalen
# with Blood Meridian
& with My Brightest Diamond
! with Sufjan Stevens, the Flaming Lips, the Shins, Iron & Wine, Neko Case, Gomez, Ben Harper, Architecture in Helsinki, the Brunettes, more)
& with Editors
@ with Yo La Tengo, the Boredoms, the Deadly Snakes, Final Fantasy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Constantines: http://www.constantines.ca/
Sub Pop: http://www.subpop.com/
Three Gut: http://www.threegutrecords.com/

Sondre Lerche Jazzes Up New Album

Piddly differences aside, both of us are eagerly awaiting the Stateside release of Lerche's third full-length, Duper Sessions, a David Lynch-ready excursion into jazz-pop to be released March 21 on Astralwerks. Once again, we are again behind the times-- Duper Sessions entered the Norwegian album chart at number four when it was released in February.

Duper Sessions-- named for the place it was recorded, Duper Studio in Bergen, Norway, not as a bad pun-- features Lerche's longtime accompanying band, the Faces Down, along with pianist Erik Halvorsen. It includes covers of Cole Porter's "Night and Day", Prefab Sprout's "Nightingales", and Elvis Costello's "Human Hands". Read Lerche's diary entries on his website to find out how obsessed he is with Elvis Costello. It's kinda scary.

Super duper tracks:

01 Everyone's Rooting for You
02 Minor Detail
03 Across the Land
04 The Curse of Being in Love
05 Dead End Mystery
06 Night and Day
07 Once in a While
08 Human Hands
09 (You Knocked Me) Off My Feet
10 (I Wanna) Call It Love
11 Nightingales
12 I'm Not From Here
13 You Sure Look Swell

Lerche is already at work on yet another LP slated for 2006 release, but instead of classy and jazzy, this one promises to be a punchy, aggressive rock record. He plans to record in L.A. this spring with producer Tony Hoffer (Belle and Sebastian, Beck) and put the album out in the fall.

Dude has a smattering of live dates scheduled for April, and on his website promises that these shows will be "exclusively generous, marathon-ish, Springsteen-esque - in other words - loooong." But don't feel bad if you get bored and start fantasizing about hitting up Jamba Juice on the way home, because "Sondre previously has expressed mixed emotions with attending concerts that last too long, [so] he'll ask the members of the crowd to stay only till they've had their fix. No hard feelings." How considerate.

On and off again:
04-06 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
04-08 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour #
04-09 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour #
05-24 Bergen, Norway - Nattjazz $

* with Leona Naess
# with Annie Stela, Peter Walker
$ with Omar Sosa Trio

Sondre Lerche: http://www.sondrelerche.com/

Pelican Tour With Deftones, Mono

Sorry about that. We just got really excited about the fact that Pelican are on the Taste of Chaos tour this year. THE TASTE OF MOTHERFUCKING CHAOS, PEOPLE!!!! The post-instru-art-metal Chicagoans will hit sheds and arenas across country starting tonight in Dayton, Ohio. They'll be opening for Deftones, Thrice, Dredge, and As I Lay Dying.

That popping sound you hear is every single Decibel magazine subscriber spontaneously combusting at the same time.

After hording all the free Rockstar energy drink they can fit in their van, Pelican will set out on a much smaller-scale trek with the Life and Times and Mono. Not nearly as face-rocking, but just as mind-melting.

March to the sea:

03-17 Dayton, OH - Hara Arena *
03-18 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom *
03-19 St. Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins Auditorium *
03-21 Fargo, ND - Civic Memorial Auditorium *
03-22 Lincoln, NE - Pershing Center *
03-23 Kansas City, MO - Kemper Arena *
03-25 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium *
03-27 Fresno, CA - Selland Arena *
03-28 San Jose, CA - Event Center at San Jose State University *
03-29 Sacramento, CA - Arco Arena *
03-30 Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena *
04-01 Salem, OR - The Pavilion at Oregon State Fair *
04-02 Everett, WA - Everett Events Center *
04-04 Billings, MT - Casey's Golden Pheasant
04-05 Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
05-08 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place #$
05-09 New York, NY - Avalon #%&
05-10 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #%
05-11 Washington DC - Black Cat #%
05-13 Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle #%
05-14 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn #%
05-15 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn #%
05-17 Orlando, FL - The Social #%
05-19 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds #%
05-21 Houston, TX - Walters #%
05-27 San Diego, CA - Casbah %^
05-29 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour %^
05-31 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall %^

* with Deftones, Thrice, Dredg, As I Lay Dying
# with The Life and Times
$ with Russian Circles
% with Mono
& with MGR
^ with Tarentel

Pelican drummer Larry Herweg's doooooom metal band Lair of the Minotaur will release their second full-length, The Ultimate Destroyer on Southern Lord on April 4. Here is the highly entertaining tracklist:

01 Juggernaut of Metal
02 Behead the Gorgon
03 The Ultimate Destroyer
04 Lord of Butchery
05 Grisly Hound of the Pit
06 Cannibal Massacre
07 Horror
08 Engorged With Unborn Gore
09 The Hydra Coils Upon This Wicked Mountain

Lair of the Minotaur will massacre the East Coast this May on tour with Unearthly Trance. Get killed here:

04-15 Bowling Green, OH - Howards Club H
04-17 Washington, DC - DC9 *#
04-18 Richmond, VA - McCormack's Irish Pub *$ Wednesday
04-19 Baltimore, MD - Talking Head *&
04-20 Philadelphia, PA - The Khyber *
04-21 Hamden, CT - Hamden Plains United Church *
04-22 New York, NY - Ace of Clubs ^
04-23 Boston, MA - The Middle East *@
04-24 Providence, RI - AS220 *
04-25 Purchase, NY - SUNY Purchase *
04-27 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place *
04-28 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks *

* with Unearthly Trance
# with Drugs of Faith
$ with Battlemaster, Cough
& with Flowers in the Attic, Doomsday 1999
^ with Grief, Reservoir, Agnosis
@ with Watchmaker

Pelican: http://www.hydrahead.com/pelican/
Hydra Head Records: http://www.hydrahead.com/

SXSW Diary: Part One

Welcome to Austin, Texas in the middle of March. Welcome to South by Southwest.

If you're the kind of person who likes to complain about how it used to be "all about the music" and now it's "all about marketing," don't come here. Also stay away if you hate publicists, street teamers, A&R reps, label managers, marketers, journalists, bloggers, and Toyota (their Yaris car is being hawked here 'til kingdom come).

But for those of us who revel in the silliness of the pop music business, this is paradise. I've been here less than 24 hours and I've already seen two fantastic bands and spent time with friends I only communicate with through email during the rest of the year. And did I mention the staggering amount of free stuff, not all of it trash?

But enough existential yammering, on to the music.

Field Music were quite disappointing, offering serviceable, if a bit lethargic, takes on their spiky post-punk. Nothing was as sharp as it is on their record--the vocal harmonies didn't sparkle, the hooks sagged. Plus, the Emo's stage was flanked by a pair of mysterious cameramen, who filmed not only every second of Field Music's performance, but every second of the crowd milling about in between acts.

Photo: Serena Maneesh

I don't particularly care for Serena Maneesh's album, but then again, I'm not a sucker for anything shoegaze (like so many people I know). So I expected the Norwegian band's live show to be as boring as their album, with lots of staring at the floor. Well, apparently nobody told Serena Maneesh that you're supposed to look like you don't care when you play this kind of music. From frontman Emil Nikolaisen's Hendrix-meets-Stevie Nicks outfit and guitar bashing to the statuesque bassist's awkward pogoing, this was clearly a performance from people who grew up watching metal videos on MTV. Not at all a bad thing! The music was still dull, though, and there was way too much jamming.

Photo: Rumble Strips

The Rumble Strips' set at the Blender Balcony was criminally under-attended; maybe everybody was at the "secret" Flaming Lips gig or the Matador showcase. Suckers. What they missed was one of the most exciting new bands in Britain, a twee-ish, post-punk-ish four-piece featuring a trumpet player and a saxophonist and fronted by a guy who yelps like Morrissey gone David Byrne. (It also helps that he's foxy like Travis Morrison.) The Rumble Strips were bouncy and happy and completely unpretentious, and for a half an hour, I loved life and that was that.

The Ark are also bouncy and happy, but they're completely pretentious in the best possible way. Best described as "the Swedish Cheap Trick", these guys dress like hookers and play like they're in a sold-out hockey arena. Smoke machines, choreographed moves, a shirtless frotman in a Scott Weiland hat, a guitar solo played by the guitarist's teeth-why the fuck weren't more people there to see them? When the keyboardist/backup singer hit a particularly low note, the lead singer remarked that the sound "makes the small hairs on my scrotum stretch out to infinity." Could Belle and Sebastian really top that?

Stay tuned for daily updates from SXSW.

South by Southwest: http://2006.sxsw.com/

Lollapalooza Lineup Revealed

This morning, the lineup for Lollapalooza 2006 was announced, revealing a galaxy of alternative rock stars, indie icons, jam bands, has-beens, up-and-comers, and even a few token rappers. The big name headliners seem to be Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Manu Chao (?!), Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Jack White's new baby the Raconteurs, the Flaming Lips, Ween (??!!), Queens of the Stone Age, the Shins, Common, and everybody's favorite punching bag, Matisyahu.

Just glancing at the roster for the three-day extravaganza, taking place at Chicago's Grant Park August 4-6, is making me tired. So here's a sampling of the full list; for the whole thing, check out the Lollapalooza website.

Ryan Adams, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Broken Social Scene, the New Pornographers, Iron & Wine, Coheed and Cambria, the Dresden Dolls, the Smoking Popes, Andrew Bird, Gnarls Barkley, Stars, Cursive, Blackalicious, Editors, Lyrics Born, Lady Sovereign, Hard-Fi, Feist, the Hold Steady, the Go! Team, Mates of State, Of Montreal, Jeremy Enigk, The M's, Hot Chip

Lollapalooza: http://www.lollapalooza.com/

Matmos Get Busy With Björk, Antony on New Album

TRHTITMOAB, as we like to call it, is said to be Schmidt and Daniel's shot at musical biography. The album is composed of ten tracks, each of which focuses on a different historical individual who influenced the musicians' lives. Each song constructs its own musical style; according to the band, "porn funk," "Wagnerian slapstick," and "Arabic ragtime psychedelia" are all explored on the album.

If that sounds too normal, consider that Matmos also reenacted events from the lives of those being recounted, and then used sounds from said performances as part of their music. They also took items important to the songs' subjects and built melodies out of the noises these items made. Such objects include snails, semen, burning flesh, and "bovine reproductive track" (we're not making this up, we swear!).

Matmos claim that this album is more "fun" than their previous works. What could be more fun than flesh on fire?

Vocalists on The Rose include Björk, Antony, Laetitia Sonami, Marcus Schmickler, M. C. Schmidt's older brother Werner, and Maja Ratjke. It's a party!

Tracklist:

01 Roses and Teeth for Ludwig Wittgenstein (feat. Laetitia Sonami and Bjork)
02 Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan
03 Tract for Valerie Solanas
04 Public Sex for Boyd McDonald
05 Semen Song for James Bidgood (feat. Zeena Parkins and Antony)
06 Snails and Lasers for Patricia Highsmith
07 Germs Burn for Darby Crash
08 Solo Buttons for Joe Meek (feat. the Kronos Quartet)
09 Rag for William S. Burroughs
10 Banquet for King Ludwig II of Bavaria (feat. Maja Ratkje)

As for live performances, well, Matmos have something special up their sleeves. The band told Pitchfork the following:

"It's not going to be easy music to play live, so we're recruiting some special lineups for our tours of Europe and America and (maybe) Asia in the fall. We're extremely chuffed to announce that Zeena Parkins will be in the band for our European adventures and So Percussion will be playing with us for the U.S. shows. There will be a special concert at the Whitney Museum of American Art to coincide with the album coming out in May, and more dates are getting firmed up as we speak."

* Matmos: http://brainwashed.com/matmos/

Matador: http://www.matadorrecords.com/

Arctic Monkeys, Silver Jews Celebrate Philly Promoters

Thank god for R5 Productions. The Philly show promotions agency has been putting on all ages gigs at various venues around the city since I was a wee one, entertaining kids with the best indie, punk, noise, hip-hop, and emo acts on the road. Through the years, I saw Rainer Maria, KARP, Bright Eyes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Out Hud, Liars, Delta 72, Wesley Willis, and countless others at R5 gigs, mostly in the basement of the First Unitarian Church at 22nd and Chestnut. While those shows were often hot, sweaty, and crowded, they were always cheap, well-organized, and super fun.

And--perhaps most importantly--R5 has always remained refreshingly free of corporate influence. Even as the Clear Channel stranglehold on the Philly music scene grew stronger and stronger, R5 continued to succeed as DIY independents.

Next week, R5 will celebrate their tenth anniversary with ten powerhouse shows. The lucky children of Illadelph get to experience a vast swath of the indie universe, from Animal Collective and the Go! Team to Love Is All, the Gossip, and Arctic Monkeys, all at intimate venues. Jenny Lewis and Thanksgiving are even playing inside the First Unitarian Church!

Here's the full lineup for R5's anniversary celebration:

03-20 Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, Jonathan Rice, Whispertown 2000 - First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
03-21 Silver Jews, the Braid Sisters - Starlight Ballroom
03-22 Animal Collective, Storsveit Nix Noltes - Starlight Ballroom
03-23 The Go! Team, Love Is All, cause co-MOTION! - Starlight Ballroom
03-24 Mates of State, The Gossip, Maria Taylor, Panther - Starlight Ballroom
03-25 Comeback Kid, Ignite, First Blood, This Is Hell - First Unitarian Church (afternoon show)
03-25 The Books, Jose Gonzalez, Death Vessel - International House
03-26 Arctic Monkeys, Spinto Band - Starlight Ballroom
03-27 Eisley, Brighten, Simon Dawes - First Unitarian Church
03-28 Thanksgiving, Watery Graves of Portland, A John Henry Memorial, Privacy - First Unitarian Church Chapel

Other performers on the R5 schedule for the next few months include the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Art Brut, Avail, Appleseed Cast, Acid Mothers Temple, Jamie Lidell, Mount Eerie, Isis, Mogwai, Sunset Rubdown with Frog Eyes, Jens Lekman, Soul Position, and Prefuse 73 with Edan.

Philly represent!

R5 Productions: http://www.r5productions.com/

Portastatic, Crooked Fingers on Benefit Comp

A release show featuring Mac McCaughan, Southern Culture on the Skids, Whalen, Two Dollar Pistols, and many more is slated for March 31 at the Chapel Hill club Cat's Cradle. All proceeds from the show and the disc benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Oh and the name? "Sixty-five roses" is how children are taught to pronounce the chronic respiratory and digestive condition, which is usually diagnosed in early childhood and has a median survival age of 33.

Tracklist for Songs for Sixty Five Roses:

1. Mower (Superchunk cover) - Jason Ross
2. Battleground Park (Goner cover) - Caitlin Cary
3. Oh My Sweet Carolina (Ryan Adams cover) - Portastatic
4. Lion Song (Harrod and Funck cover) - Claire Holley
5. Buddha Buddha (Rick Rock cover) - Sledge, Maxwell & Mosher
6. It's the Shame (Stillhouse cover) - Tift Merritt
7. Every Word Means No (Let's Active cover) - Eric Bachmann
8. Mister Flavor (Metal Flake Mother cover) - John Plymale
9. Driveway to Driveway (Superchunk cover) - Two Dollar Pistols
10. Everybody Wants My Baby (The Moaners cover) - Southern Culture on the Skids
11. Forever And Ever, Amen (Randy Travis cover) - Athenaeum
12. For Bob Riecke (Des Ark cover) - Nikki Meets The Hibachi
13. Nothing Is Wrong (the dB cover) - Chris Stamey
14. Flounder (Fetchin Bones cover) - Michael Rank
15. Seems (Queen Sarah Saturday cover) - Mike Garrigan
16. Bent Out Of Shape (Squirrel Nut Zippers cover) - Greg Humphreys
17. Restlessness (Michael Kelsh cover) - Katherine Whalen
18. Shower The People (James Taylor cover) - Will McFarlane

Songs for Sixty Five Roses: http://www.songsforsixtyfiveroses.com/

A-Trak Scratches Up DVD, Debut Album

Such is the story of Alain Macklovitch, aka A-Trak. The championship turntablist is one of the most sought-after spinners in hip-hop, and he currently serves as Kanye West's touring DJ. Did we mention he's only 24 years old? Sure, having an older brother who's a hip-hop producer/Vice editor/Chromeo member helped, but this kid made it to the top through the strength of his fingers alone. If only The Hebrew Hammer had as good a script...

The Montreal golden boy's journey from "Mazel Tov" to "Jesus Walks" is chronicled on the A-Trak DVD Sunglasses Is a Must which will be released on April 4 courtesy of Nature Sounds/Caroline. (It was originally supposed to come out yesterday, but the company distributing it, Studio Distribution, went bankrupt.) Peanut Butter Wolf, KLC, the Beastie Boys, Money Mark, and, of course, Kanye, all appear in the film.

2006 looks to be a busy year for the young scratch-master. He's hard at work on his debut solo album, tentatively due in the fall, and slated to feature guest spots from Dipset, Little Brother, and Kanye cohort GLC. He also recently released two mixes: the 'Ye-endorsed GLC collaborative mixtape Drive Slow and the live set Oh No You Didn't! (Live in Vancouver).

If A-Trak didn't seem like such a likeable dude, we'd be jealous of him. But we're not. So, while we reflect on how little we've accomplished in our young lives, you can amuse yourselves by reading the itinerary for the remainder of Kanye West's "Touch the Sky" world tour, for which A-Trak will be manning the turntables.

He's major:

03-06 Cologne, Germany - Palladum
03-08 Rotterdam, The Netherlands - The Ahoy
03-09 Paris, France - Zeni
03-10 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
03-12 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
03-16 Auckland, New Zealand - St. James
03-17 Auckland, New Zealand - Ericsson Stadium
03-18 Auckland, New Zealand - Ericsson Stadium
03-20 Brisbane, Australia - Convention Center
03-21 Brisbane, Australia - QSAC Stadium
03-23 Melbourne, Australia - Festival Hall
03-24 Melbourne, Australia - Telstra Dome
03-25 Melbourne, Australia - Telstra Dome
03-26 Sydney, Australia - Horden Pavillion
03-28 Adelaide, Australia - AAMI Stadium
03-29 Adelaide, Australia - Barton Theatre
03-31 Sydney, Australia - Telstra Stadium
04-01 Sydney, Australia - Telstra Stadium
04-02 Sydney, Australia - Opera House
04-05 Yokohama, Japan - Yokohama Blitz
04-06 Tokyo, Japan - Audio Coast

A-Trak: http://www.djatrak.com/
Audio Research Records: http://www.audioresearch.net/

Exclusive: The Hold Steady Sign to Vagrant

Pitchfork has learned that our favorite Springsteen-quotin', moustache-rockin', Catholic-guiltin' bar band, the Hold Steady, has made the move from NYC spazz-core powerhouse French Kiss Records to California emo-core powerhouse Vagrant Records.

Is it only a matter of time before "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" hoodies show up in Hot Topic?

The deal puts the Hold Steady in the company of such mall-punk faves as Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, Senses Fail, and Alkaline Trio, as well as more straight-up alt-rock fare like Eels and recent signees the Comas. Former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg has also put out a few records on Vagrant...ahh, it makes sense now, doesn't it?

In a press release, Hold Steady singer/songwriter Craig Finn said the following: "The Hold Steady is thrilled to be working with the talented people at Vagrant Records. We feel that Vagrant will allow us to bring our music to even more people, while also understanding the things that make the band special to the Hold Steady fans, and to the band members themselves."

The band plans to head into the studio in May, with a fall release date targeted for the follow-up to last year's triumphant Separation Sunday. According to the Hold Steady website, they have been playing a few new songs live: "Stuck Between Stations", "Same Kooks", "Hot Soft Light", and "Massive Nights".

As of right now, the only scheduled Hold Steady show will take place in their hometown of Brooklyn on April 7 at Warsaw. Next stop: the Warped Tour? Hey, it could happen.

The Hold Steady: http://www.theholdsteady.com/
French Kiss: http://www.frenchkissrecords.com/
Vagrant: http://www.vagrant.com/

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.)