The Go! Team Announce Shows

On your marks, get set...Go! Team. Brighton's brightest have broken out of huddle formation and revealed their first 2007 dates, a pair of special UK gigs going down in April and May.

The first has the Go! Team crashing the holy confines of Edinburgh's Mansfield Traquair on April 20, while the second pits our junior kickstarters against you (the fans), as part of All Tomorrow's Parties' ATP Versus: You (The Fans) super-mega-insane festival in Somerset, England. Joining the Go! Team for the fest: a dream lineup that includes Modest Mouse, Mogwai, Yo La Tengo, Built to Spill, Patti Smith, Les Savy Fav, Wilco, Explosions in the Sky, Battles, Band of Horses, the Books, Sparklehorse, Grizzly Bear, Isis, and more.

Look for more festival dates and info on the forthcoming follow-up to Thunder, Lightning, Strike very soon. And get your G!T fix by shaking your shit to Ninja's guest vocal on Simian Mobile Disco's "It's the Beat", set to appear on the dance duo's forthcoming Wichita debut, Attack Decay Sustain Release.

Blackalicious, Lif, Cage, Sage Francis Head Paid Dues
Plus: Brother Ali, Jean Grae, Devin the Dude, Felt

Residents of San Bernardino, California, get ready for mic checks, one-twos, shout-outs, and yes-yes-y'alls of the conscious variety as the second annual Paid Dues Independent Hip Hop Festival graces the city's Orange Pavilion.

Blackalicious, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, and Def Jux heavyweights Mr. Lif and Cage hit the Pavilion stage March 24, along with Devin the Dude, Jean Grae, Zion I & the Grouch, Evidence with Alchemist, Visionaries, Pigeon John, and more. Felt will headline-- not the mopey Brits, mind you, but the rap troupe featuring festival co-presenter and Living Legend Murs, along with Ant and Slug of Atmosphere.

To learn details and pay your ticket dues, hip-hop on over to the fest's official website.

Modest Mouse Announce North American Tour

The Ship sinks tomorrow, and in celebration, Modest Mouse have revealed a bunch of new North American tour dates in support of their brand new album. Our seafaring adventurers plan to hit a few unexpected places on their journey, including Fargo, North Dakota, Rochester, New York, and Birmingham, Alabama. Basically, Johnny Marr just wants to get as far away from Morrissey as possible.

Thanks to Evan Smola for the tip-off. [MORE...]

Rob Crow, Ex-Heavy Veggies Reunite as Other Men
Prep debut for Crow's Robcore label

Once upon a time, Rob Crow played in a San Diego trio called Heavy Vegetable (Remember: assonance was a cool thing in the early 90s). Crow would go on to do Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, the Ladies, Goblin Cock, solo stuff, and, sure, a few dozen other bands in the process, while the other members of Heavy V-- drummer Manolo Turner and bassist Travis Nelson-- pursued similarly intense careers in professional gardening and monk-dom, respectively/allegedly. Vocalist Eléa Tenuta, meanwhile, later played with Crow in Thingy.

Now things come full circle, as Crow, Turner, and Nelson have reunited under the moniker Other Men. The trio will unleash its debut, Wake Up Swimming, on March 20 via Crow's brand new, previously reported, awesomely-named imprint, Robcore (for which Rob is way too busy to build a website). Get amped, because they'll hit the road soon, but first Rob must wrap up a tour in support of his Temporary Residence solo disc, Living Well. He bows with a homecoming gig at San Diego's Brick by Brick on March 21. [MORE...]

T.V. Eye: March 19-25, 2007

Pitchfork's T.V. Picks for This Week:

Monday, March 19:

ABC: "The View": Nelly Furtado and Timbaland

Tuesday, March 20:

CBS: "Late Show With David Letterman": Lucinda Williams
NBC: "Last Call With Carson Daly": VietNam

Thursday, March 22:

ABC: "Jimmy Kimmel Live": The Kooks

Friday, March 23: NBC: "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": The Fratellis

Exclusive: Grizzly Bear Announce European Dates

Grizzly Bear have added European dates to their previously reported tour. The North American dates end at Coachella on April 29, and the European tour begins in Cologne on May 11.

The band will return to the U.S. for dates at the Sasquatch! Festival and our own Pitchfork Music Festival this summer. [MORE...]

Dinosaur Jr. Announce Spring Tour

Dinosaur Jr. have scheduled a North American tour in support of their reunion record Beyond, due out May 1 on Fat Possum. Check out the totally sweet SST throwback cover on it.

The first date, in San Diego, is credited to "J Mascis and friends," with the Dinosaur tour beginning in earnest the next day in West Hollywood.

Lou Barlow is currently on tour with his own reunited trio, Sebadoh. Their tour ends April 16 in Tucson. [MORE...]

Watt, Hurley, Thomas, Pettibon Play on Second Unknown Instructors Album

Unknown Instructors will release their second album, The Master's Voice, via Smog Veil tomorrow, March 20.

In addition to founder Dan McGuire, the group consists of former Minutemen Mike Watt and George Hurley and Saccharine Trust's Joe Baiza. David Thomas of Pere Ubu contributes vocals to Voice, and so does famous SST cover artist Raymond Pettibon, who also drew the album's artwork.

Watt has two dates scheduled in March without the rest of the Instructors. The first is March 30 in L.A. at the Smell with Black Flag alumna Kira Roessler as Dos. The second is in his Missingmen trio on March 31 at Safari Sam's in Hollywood. It is a benefit for Saccharine Trust's Richie Hass, who was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.

Oh yeah, Watt's also helping out some band called the Stooges right now. [MORE...]

Liz Phair, Ryan Adams Grace Minnie Driver Album
How do you like them apples?

Minnie Driver will release her second album on-- wait, what? Minnie Driver had a first album? Apparently so. It came out in 2004 and was called Everything I've Got in My Pocket.

For the follow-up, titled Sea Stories, Driver has recruited Liz Phair and Ryan Adams as guests, according to Billboard.com.

The 12-song set of Driver originals also features Adams' band, the Cardinals, and keyboard player Rami Jaffee (the Wallflowers/Foo Fighters).

Though it doesn't have a release date yet, the album will come out on Zoe/Rounder, and Driver is planning a summer tour in support.

WHOOPS! White Stripes DON'T Announce North American Tour

OOPS! Looks like Billboard.com was given the wrong information! These dates aren't happening at all! Sorry, dudes. 

Photo by David Swanson

The world wide web wept a silicon tear last month, as the White Stripes, one of the few remaining banner holdouts, succumbed at last to the MySpace regime. So if you've always wanted to tell Jack and Meg "omg ur my favrit bandd eva!! LOLz!!!!1" and show them that hilarious kitten photo, now's your chance.

If you want to personally share that Icky Thump dance move you just invented, however, you'll get your chance soon. According to Billboard.com, the Stripes will embark on a dandy of a North American tour in late summer to drum up some love for their previously reported sixth LP. Icky Thump should hit shops in June, via new home Warner Bros. If all those SXSW posters are to be believed, it may involve penguins.

The jaunt, meanwhile, follows up a few summer festival appearances and kicks off on July 29 in San Diego. We hope Jack and Meg packed lots of sandwiches, because this road trip doesn't wrap up until an October 2 homecoming gig in Detroit. [MORE...]

Sufjan Pens Essay on "Friend Rock"

While the rest of us were running amok at SXSW, good old Sufjan was calling himself a "failed writer" and penning more content for Asthmatic Kitty's Sidebar.

This time we get an essay on the concept of "Friend Rock", which Sufjan defines by example: "You are going to a show not so much as a fan of the music, but as a fan of your friend, the musician, on stage." From the sounds of it, Sufjan's been doing the Friend Rock thing quite a bit lately, and he sounds a little annoyed by it.

As he concludes, "It's just that you were our friend first, and an aspiring musician second" and presents a list of friend-ish activities he'd rather engage in with such a person: flying kites, dodge ball, falafel sandwich, holding hands, and the like (the lack of grammatical parallelism clearly intentional). So we're wondering which acquaintance is riding the Suf-man's coattails hard these days? It's that guy in the chicken suit, isn't it??

Peruse Sufjan's complete "Friend Rock" essay here, and revisit more of the failed writer's winning prose here, here, and here.

Believe it or not, Sufjan still does that music thing too. Watch him do it live at Calvin College in Grand Rapids on March 30.

Shellac Announce Album Title, Release Date

Shellac's new album on Touch and Go now has a title, Excellent Italian Greyhound, and a release date, June 5. Hooray! Allegedly, it's named for Todd Trainer's dog.

Greyhound is Shellac's first album since 1000 Hurts, which came out all the way back in 2000. The new album does not have a tracklist as of yet, but we're sure it's full of songs about fighting, racism, and a whole slew of other nastiness.

As previously reported, Shellac also have a couple months' worth of tour dates that begin in Chicago on Tax Day. [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.)