Pitchfork

Melding musicians of different genres and eras-- as well as monarchs and spaghetti Westerns-- the Damon Albarn-led mouthful the Good, the Bad & the Queen have, like any self-respecting band nowadays, lined up a bunch of festival dates to while away the spring and summer hours.

Our Queen and her retinue will visit cities across Europe as the days grow longer and warmer, partaking of such hallowed traditions as the Hurricane Festival in Scheeßel, Germany, and Les Eurockéennes, in Belfort, France. Now I don't speak French, but I just caught a whiff of the unmistakable odor of bad pun. It's an odor we at Pitchfork know all too well.

Cutely enough, the band-- which bid farewell to London's Hammersmith Palais this past weekend-- is also slated to play the infamous Tower of London.

Meanwhile, at some point during their diplomatic mission to America last month, Damon and his royal highnesses set up shop at the Apple store in New York City's Soho hood to perform a bundle of tunes off their self-titled, debut record. The fruits of this generous gesture can be yours beginning today on iTunes.

The Live From Soho EP packs five in-the-flesh tunes-- one buttressed by a special string quartet intro-- from the Albarn/Allen/Simonon/Tong superproject. We don't see any higher-quality, DRM-free versions yet, but we'll be seeing them soon, yes? Yes?? Or off with his head, as the saying goes.

For some studio-recorded GBQ goodness, pick up the foursome's latest single, "Green Fields", which landed UK-ways via Parlophone just yesterday.

Live from Soho:

01 Intro/History Song
02 Herculean
03 Behind the Sun
04 Nature Springs
05 Three Changes

God Save Damon Albarn:

04-28 Indio, CA - Coachella Valley Music Festival
04-29 San Francisco, CA - The Regency Center
06-02 Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum (Primavera Sound)
06-22 Scheeßel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-30 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
07-01 Belfort, France - Les Eurockéennes Festival
07-05 Kristiansand, Norway - Quart Festival
07-07 Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Festival
07-09 London, England - Tower of London
07-14 Southwold, England - Latitude Festival
08-16 Salzburg, Austria - Frequency Festival