Animal Collective to Spread Strawberry Jam This Fall

Okay, no more monkeying around. No more people-pitching or ill-fated tape-flipping experiments. The post-millenial fab four have reconvened, the masks are off, the tour's begun, and Animal Collective have, at long last, revealed the details surrounding their rather wildly-anticipated new LP.

Thanks to reader Kevin C. Card for pointing out a post on the Animal Collective board Collected Animals, which offered the new album's title, Strawberry Jam (yum!), and tracklist. The information has been confirmed by the band's publicist.

Strawberry Jam arrives at some point in September (no exact date yet) via new Collective zoo Domino, and includes nine tracks sure to incite much mind-expanding (and, eh, probably a due share of head-scratching). This latest menagerie of tunes follows up 2005's Feels and January's People EP, and it does indeed include electronics-fried, carousel-death-trip "Cuckoo Cuckoo" (formerly just "Cuckoo"), which the quartet has been testing live of late. It was recorded at Wavelab in Tuscon, Arizona with Scott Colburn, who also worked on Feels and People (not to mention a little record called Neon Bible by some other band whose name we forget), as well as at the Rare Book Room in Brooklyn with Nicholas Vernhes.

The Crayola commercial stars' U.S. travels bring them to Chicago tonight, while Panda Bear teases most of the world with four East Coast date in June. [MORE...]

Girl Talk Adds Summer Dates, Quits Day Job
Update: Opens for Widespread Panic!

Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, is quitting his day job (in biomedical engineering!) to focus on music full-time. In a funny little post to his MySpace blog, the Pittsburgh resident writes the following:

"i'm done with my day job in exactly two weeks! i'll be a full time music man

here's a list of my non-music plans this summer...

- play basketball all the time

- sun tan

- walk around shirtless

- eat ice cream outdoors

- get a season pass to Sand Castle water park

- check out the Genesis reunion show

- eat at Peppi's and Village Pizza a ton

- watch movies

- do push-ups

- get to some some beaches

- Pirates games"

The Pirates' current record is 17-22, so it could be a very long summer for Gillis. Fortunately for the rest of us, he plans to make plenty of road trips to alleviate the pain of Pirates fandom and, you know, play shows. And he has added a few dates since our last report, including an appearance alongside one-off tourmates Clipse (?!) at our own Pitchfork Music Festival.

AND, WHOA, A GIG OPENING FOR WIDESPREAD PANIC IN BOSTON. [MORE...]

Audion, Boratto, Booka, Mayer Play Movement Fest
Plus: Model 500, Vladislav Delay, Richie Hawtin, Pole, Luciano, Rhythm & Sound, Monolake

The city that birthed techno will throw it a big ol' birthday bash, as the latest annual Movement festival dominates Detroit dancefloors this coming Memorial Day weekend.

From May 26 to May 28, "Detroit's Electronic Music Festival" takes over four Motor City stages, with genre stalwarts and boundary-pushers working the dance-happy hordes into hysteria over twelve consecutive hours each day (then, of course, come the afterparties).

Highlights include live/DJ sets from Gui Boratto, Booka Shade, Vladislav Delay (aka Luomo), Pole, Monolake, Mathew Jonson, A Guy Called Gerald, Butane, Kate Simko, Robin Judge, and scene legends Model 500 (aka Juan Atkins), Moodymann, and Jeff Mills-- as well as a ball-busting six-hour set from Rhythm & Sound.

Audion (aka Matthew Dear), Michael Mayer, Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Sassmouth, Steve Bug, Misstress Barbara, and Damian Lazarus will also spin. To plan your grind right, consult the complete schedule of events here.

Battles, Max Tundra, Melt-Banana Folk on Giraffe CD

Sharpen your pencils and dust off your TI-83s, it's time for a little math rock equation: what do you get when you add sketches of songs composed for bass and drums by Dublin duo Giraffe Running with a whole genre-spanning heap of collaborators-- including Ian Williams (Battles, Don Caballero), Ben Jacobs (Max Tundra), Agata (Melt-Banana), Luca T. Mai (Zu), and Jeff Mueller (Shipping News, June of 44, Rodan)-- and divide the results over two CDs?

You get the double-disc extravaganza that is Giraffe Running, out May 21 on Learn to Love Records. Disc one includes five original compositions from Giraffe Running's Greg Barrett (bass) and Hag (drums), which the duo then shopped around to fellow musically-minded friends (including all those mentioned above and others, sans Mueller). The 15 products of this transcontinental swap-o-rama make up the second disc, while Mueller hand-printed the sleeves (designed by Giraffe contributor Matthew Bolger) for the two-disc concept compilation at Dexterity Press in Chicago.

As a remainder, you also get a song titled "When Michael Jackson Started Celtic Frost", probably worth the price of this unique record by itself. [MORE...]

More Interpol U.S. Tour Dates Added

Like the auditory equivalent of an icy Nestea on a scorching August afternoon, too-cool-for-the-room NYC mope-rockers Interpol-- still set to issue Our Love to Admire July 10 on Capitol— are set to send temperatures plunging through the summer months.

The frosty fashionistas have added a whole bunch of late July/early August U.S. dates to their ever-expanding tour, which sets off in part this weekend at KROQ's Weenie Roast. [MORE...]

Scout Niblett to Release Dinosaur Egg EP

Recently, Emma Louise "Scout" Niblett took a little time away from work on her next album with feted recorder Steve Albini (soaking up all that positive energy can be a chore after a while), spending a few days in Memphis' storied Sun Studios.

Out popped the Just Do It/Dinosaur Egg EP, due out May 21 in the UK and June 5 in the U.S. on CD, 7" and download from Too Pure. The lyrics from leadoff cut "Dinosaur Egg" were lifted from David Shrigley's Worried Noodles album, which, we're told, is imaginary. The sessions also birthed another Scout/Shrigley collaboration, which will be released on a real Worried Noodles album in the future. Perplexing!

Even more perplexing: Scout covers the Cars' "Just What I Needed" on the EP.

In other Scout news, her edition of Tomlab's Alphabet Series-- W, as it were-- is on the bubble, and she's got a number of European dates on the way as well, including a set at the Jarvis Cocker-curated Meltdown Festival. [MORE...]

Young Jeezy Will Make Your Dream Come True
Unless your dream involves killing Young Jeezy, that is

When we spoke to Young Jeezy and his USDA crew recently, MC Blood Raw explained the positive connotations of snow slang thus: "Everybody links Santa Claus with the Snowman."

Young Jeezy seems bent on taking the Kringle comparison to the next level with his "Make Your Dreams Come True" contest, a promotion for The Inspiration's latest single, the Keyshia Cole-featuring "Dreamin'". The Atlanta MC is asking fans to tell him their dreams in 100 words or less, and he will then make one of those dreams a reality.

There is no official word on whether or not the lucky dreamer's dream can be for more Jeezy-fulfilled dreams (genie-in-a-bottle style), but the contest's deadline is June 21, just enough time to think of something better than "lots of money."

To enter the contest, email your dream (one per person) to dreams@corporatethugzent.com, or send a letter to the following address:

Make Your Dreams Come True Contest
45 West 45th Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10036

Jeezy will announce the winner on July 23, and just as a reminder, the USDA album/mixtape Young Jeezy Presents USDA: Cold Summer comes out May 22 on Def Jam/CTE.

Piano Magic Conjure Part Monster
Macaulay Culkin hellbent on conjuring Party Monster sequel

Led by pedal-fixated guitarist Glen Johnson, Piano Magic have helped soundtrack late night excursions into the nether realms for over ten years now, championed by those who still long to shoegaze like it's 1991.

The band returns May 22 with the release of Part Monster on Massachusetts' Important Records. Marrying shoegaze's dreamy aesthetic with cinematic rockers, folk balladry, and other genre dabblings, Part Monster features production from Laika's Guy Fixsen, whose part in shaping the shoegaze sound (through working with My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Lush, Chapterhouse, Moose, Revolver, and more, as well as Stereolab and the Breeders) cannot be overstated.

Among its 10 tracks, Part Monster also includes a slightly souped-up version of last year's wonderful "Incurable", titled "Incurable (Reprise)", and the transcendent old-school gazer "Saints Preserve Us".

Piano Magic have a shoe-ful of European gigs lined up in the coming weeks-- most of them, appropriately, in boot-shaped Italy.

In related news, Johnson (who also records as Textile Ranch) and bandmate Cedric Pin recently put out an album on LTM as Future Conditional. Titled We Don't Just Disappear, it's available now in the U.S. via Darla. Sometime Piano Magic vocalist Angele David-Guillou also served up an album last month, on Peacefrog, as Klima. [MORE...]

My Morning Jacket to Open for Bob Dylan
Jim James to play New Orleans benefit

Bob Dylan is not to be underestimated. The man continues to have excellent taste in opening acts. My Morning Jacket will warm up the crowd before Dylan at two Colorado dates in July.

MMJ songwriter Jim James has also added another solo show to his previously reported repertoire of full-band festival dates, solo one-offs, and a DJ set. The new show is the second "Musicians Bringing Musicians Home" concert to benefit New Orleans musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Following a May 26 tour of the city to see some of the damage that still remains as a result of the hurricane, James will play alongside OK Go's Damian Kulash, Indigo Girls, Matt Nathanson, and New Orleans musicians Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and Bonearama. The show takes place May 27 at Tipitina's Uptown and was organized with the potential for the performers to sit in on each other's sets.

The Future of Music Coalition and Air Traffic Control are presenting the concert, and proceeds will benefit Sweet Home New Orleans, a coalition of non-profit organizations whose goal is to help New Orleans artists find affordable housing in the city.

Don't forget that James' pre-My Morning Jacket band, Mont de Sundua, will unearth their sophomore album for a May 22 release on James' Removador label. [MORE...]

Casiotone, Bunnygrunt, BMX Bandits Do NYC Popfest
Plus: caUSE co-MOTION!, Pipas, Pelle Carlberg, Human Television, Dear Nora, Ballboy

Twee kids, this one's for you! Giving a glitter-speckled finger (with Lisa Frank polish on the nail) to all those bands in New York City who take themselves way too seriously, NYC Popfest descends upon the nation's most populous city this coming Memorial Day weekend.

Wait, another Popfest? Didn't Pitchfork just report one of these things yesterday?

And indeed we did. But that was the Athens Popfest (going down in August), and this is the NYC Popfest (going down later this month). And while both boast similarly twee-tastic lineups and share a spiritual kinship, they're separate entities organized by separate pop-loving bodies.

Anyhow, from May 24 through May 28, Popfest NYC takes over assorted city venues-- including Cake Shop, the Knitting Factory, Union Pool, the Delancey, and more-- to bring you a delightful and eclectic assortment of indie-pop goodness.

Highlights include Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Bunnygrunt, Pipas, caUSE co-MOTION!, Human Television, Pelle Carlberg, Dear Nora, Ballboy, a performance by Michael Grace's post-My Favorite project the Secret History, and a rare appearance by longstanding Scot-poppers BMX Bandits.

The happy-go-lucky lineup is rounded out by the following: the Smittens, the Lil' Hospital, Pants Yell!, Cars Can Be Blue, the Besties, Michael Leviton, the Ballet, Baskervilles, the Gazetteers, My Teenage Stride, Yellow Fever, the Specific Heats, Surefire Broadcast, Affair d'Coeur, Best Fwends, Brown Recluse Sings, the Gritty Midi Gang, Harvey Williams, Lispector, the Metric Mile, Mitch Easter, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Reverse, Titans of Filth, Shirley Beans, and the Orange Peels.

Ladytron DJ Across North America

Dress up rock and/or roll with as many synths as you can plug into the big board; it still takes some real goosin' to get folks to dance to it. Ladytron hit that sweet spot more than most as a live band, but they also like to move bodies using only the magic of spinning records.

In their nonstop quest to get you groovin', Mira Aroyo and Reuben Wu of Ladytron will embark on a DJ tour, starting tonight in Atlanta. The tour will feature the duo spinning what Wu refers to as "a mixture of rocky-dance, dancey-rock and several shades of in between." Rocky dance!

The band will also take their Ladytronics on the road as a fearsome foursome a number of times this summer, all the while dreaming up ways to compile the 20 songs they've recorded for the follow up to 2005's Witching Hour. [MORE...]

Photos: The Blow / Electrelane [New York, NY; 05/15/07]

Photos by Kathryn Yu

With cohort Jona Bechtolt recovering from a recent YACHT trip with LCD Soundsystem, the Blow's Khaela Maricich worked the mic solo-style at New York's Irving Plaza last night, dispensing relationship advice culled from 2006's excellent Paper Television over charming lo-fi beats.

Electrelane-- featuring former Pitchfork scribe Mia Lily Clarke on guitar-- played as well, treating showgoers to selections from this year's lovely No Shouts, No Calls.

Both bands have dates in the coming weeks, with Electrelane opening several shows for Arcade Fire.

THE BLOW




ELECTRELANE



[MORE...]

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