Gutter Twins (Dulli and Lanegan) Sign to Sub Pop
Fluid, Tad, Love Battery members waiting expectantly by the phone

Over a decade has passed since the "alternative rock" bubble burst, so it's high time to get back to its roots, right? Sub Pop has done just that, having signed the Gutter Twins, aka two of the alt-rock era's greatest frontmen, Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan.

Or, you could say, re-signed: Back in the early 90s, Sub Pop released two albums by Dulli's band the Afghan Whigs and a few singles by Lanegan's band Screaming Trees; Lanegan also released several solo albums on the label. Fly the flannel!

Lanegan and Dulli have been working together for years, as Lanegan has guested on several recordings and tours with Dulli's current band the Twilight Singers. Separately, Dulli has been busy with the briefly reignited Afghan Whigs, and lending vocals to such disparate groups as, uh, Lo Fidelity Allstars and Sean Na Na, while Lanegan has been growling with Queens of the Stone Age, Soulsavers, and Isobel Campbell. Lanegan and Campbell have a European tour coming up this week; see dates below. [MORE...]

Tokyo Police Club Sign to Saddle Creek

The loveable Tokyo Police Club will now bring their monkeyshines to the masses via Nebraska powerhouse Saddle Creek, who have signed them to a worldwide deal, excluding Europe and Japan. The band plans to hit the studio in September, with eyes on a winter 2008 release for their debut album.

Check out these photos from the signing, which literally just happened a few hours ago. Don't you wish all music industry wheelings-and-dealings were this happy, and involved cake?

TPC join a strong crop of new Saddle Creek bands, including Georgie James and Art in Manila.

In other Tokyo Police Club news, the crew recently dropped that "Your English Is Good" single. They're on the road now with Dappled Cities and will soon join up with Ra Ra Riot. Not coincidentally, TPC play the Saddle Creek-owned Slowdown venue in Omaha tonight-- the very place where they sealed the deal. [MORE...]

Cure Plan Documentary, Smith Addresses Ashlee Rumor
"I don't deny anything. I don't see the point. I've worked with lots of different people down the years."

Simmer down Guy, you'll get the Cure soon enough. The mope poster boys have revealed to Billboard.com plans to release a Cure DVD documentary in 2009. The occasion? Why, that's the year Three Imaginary Boys, the Cure's debut, turns 30! Here guys, have one of these!

As Cure frontmope Robert Smith told Billboard.com, "[The documentary] will include interviews with everybody who has ever been in the band, and everybody who has been an important part of the Cure." Smith hopes to work with director Tim Pope, the creative force behind many a Cure video over the years, and intends to release additional footage via the band's website.

What's more, the onslaught of deluxe Cure reissues continues in 2008 with tricked-out editions of Wish and Disintegration. But this is 2007, and indeed, the goth-ish rockers will deliver their previously reported lucky 13th album-- a double disc affair if Smith has his way-- in October. And they have that tour lined up, on which they'll prove that they do indeed play Charlotte sometimes (roflcopter!). Dates below.

But the news you really clicked this headline for: Robert Smith also shed some light on this Ashlee Simpson collaboration business.

As he told Billboard.com, "I would be hugely surprised if I end up working with Ashlee this year, but I haven't ruled it out. I went to see her in Chicago. We have people we both know, and I have some nephews and nieces who think she's really good. I was impressed. The fact is, when she got on stage and sang, she was really good." Huh, sure beats that Ashlee show I caught in New York.

Continued Smith: "I was encouraged to issue a denial, but I thought, why? I don't deny anything. I don't see the point. I've worked with lots of different people down the years." [MORE...]

New Marmoset, Spokane Albums Due From SC/Jagjag
L-R: Marmoset, Spokane

Sometimes bands break up for good. Sometimes, they just chill. Marmoset and Spokane, of Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar respectively, have had their share of chill for a while, and they're both returning from prolonged absences for an album apiece.

Little Hours represents the first album from the droning Virginian duo Spokane in four years. The disc mirrors a laborious construction project the Spokanians undertook while making the record, and in the spirit of making stuff, 50 Little Hours LPs will feature sleeves hand-designed by the band. The ten-track LP will be released August 7 on Jagjaguwar.

Marmoset bested Spokane by a year with their half-decade absence from recording. But never mind all that; the Indianapolis psych-rock outfit are back with Florist Fired, sixteen hazy tracks from the Naptown trio. Florist Fired-- the title of which we'd love to hear the story behind-- is out July 24 on Secretly Canadian. [MORE...]

Feist Squeezes North American Dates Into Fall Tour

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Leslie Feist: Polaris Prize nominee, sure. VH1 "You Oughta Know" artist, got it. Road warrior? You betcha. The Canadian singer-songwriter furthers her stronghold over 2007 (and her apparent fondness for cramped quarters and diner food) by tacking on a North American wing to her ever-lengthening tour.

After wrapping up July with a few Eurasian dates, Feist will do a little reading, boost her boy KD, and cold-rock a week's worth of shows in the U.S., pausing only for a quick stop at Montreal's Osheaga Music Festival. She gets around, this one. [MORE...]

Wait, So, New Order Actually Not Breaking Up

In what's turning into a pretty ugly game of he-said/he-said, founding New Order members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris weighed in today on Peter Hook's repeated claims that New Order has broken up.

In a statement issued to news outlets, Sumner and Morris declared:

"After 30 years in a band together we are very disappointed that Hooky has decided to go to the press and announce unilaterally that New Order have split up. We would have hoped that he could have approached us personally first. He does not speak for all the band, therefore we can only assume he no longer wants to be a part of New Order."

More confounding is that Hook's MySpace-- where several of his break-up comments appear-- would seem to indicate Hook is still a part of the band. The "Band Members" section lists each player and his/her tenure with the New Order. Along with Sumner, Morris, and latest addition Phil Cunningham, there's Gillian Gilbert, with an attendant "(1981-2001)". And then there's Hook, still tagged as "(1980- )".

Hook blogs fairly regularly, but has not yet offered a response to his bandmates' statement. He does have quite a few DJ gigs in the pipeline, however, which are listed below.

Sumner and Morris, meanwhile, did not disclose any further details on New Order goings-on, nor if and how they'll forge ahead sans Hook. But gee, guys, can't everybody just get along? [MORE...]

The Sea and Cake Announce Fall Tour

Photo by Jim Newberry

Everybody is pretty well-suited to cookouts and sunny Sunday drives, but it seems the record will be our only post-Pitchfork Music Festival chance to soak up the Sea and Cake this summer.

The Chicago quartet will, however, bring their warm weather vibes to fans across the U.S. this fall, which makes its own kind of sense, since that's when we'll need those vibes even more. It's almost like the Sea and Cake are good-feelings superheroes.

The heroics begin September 14 in Minneapolis. [MORE...]

Bird, Deacon, Art Brut, Bloc Party(!) Play Block Party

Each year the good people behind Chicago's venerable (and cozy!) Hideout-- whose own Tim Tuten has emceed both Pitchfork Music Festivals-- host a block-rockin' Block Party, and this year is no different. In 2006, they partnered with Touch and Go to celebrate both the label's 25th and the Party's 10th anniversaries, and the resulting, reunion-bolstered three-day bash made for one of the raddest concert experiences your humble reporter has had so far. This year it's back to two days, but there's still plenty to freak over.

For one, Hideout has booked-- yes-- those punny Brits Bloc Party to play their 11th annual Block Party (but you already knew that), going down September 7 and 8. And that ain't the half of it. Also onboard to charm kids gathered in a massive parking lot outside the Hideout: Art Brut, 2007 Pitchfork Fest champ Dan Deacon, Windy City whistler Andrew Bird, and Irish mainstays the Frames.

Other acts include Cass McCombs, Cinematics, Golden Horse Square Dance Band, and the increasingly raved about Mucca Pazza. The Chicago Short Film Brigade will provide some visual fare, and many more performers are expected to be announced soon.

Best of all, all fest ticket profits go to three Chicago-based organizations: Literacy Works, Tuesday's Child, and Thomas Drummond Elementary School's Campus Park Project.

Behold, the lineup thus far: [MORE...]

YACHT Tours With Dirty Projectors

Prepare your own jokes about on-board movies if you must: populist spazz YACHT will mix it up on tour with the the ever-experimental concept rockers Dirty Projectors in August and September. Expect lots of bright colors.

The dynamic duo will be joined on most dates by either NYC afropop-indie crew Vampire Weekend (members of which have played in Dirty Projectors) or Adam Forkner's White Rainbow.

Both YACHT and the Projectors have plenty of dates besides, should you not fall in the crosshairs of this joint excursion. And the Projectors still have that Black Flag cover/not cover album coming September 11 from Dead Oceans. [MORE...]

MV & EE Already Have Another Ecstatic Peace Album
And J Mascis plays drums on it

Believe it. Psych-folkies Matt Valentine and Erika Elder, perhaps better known by their initials, MV & EE (or MV/EE, if you will), return less than a year after their last longplayer-- Green Blues-- with yet another record on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace imprint. Who do they think they are, Wooden Wand?

Gettin' Gone gets here October 9 and finds MV & EE in cahoots with the Golden Road, not to be confused with the Bummer Road, their backers on Green Blues. Wait, maybe they really are Wooden Wand.

The Golden Road comprises J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) and John Moloney on drums, Willie Lane on guitar, Samara Lubelski and Ron Schneiderman on bass, Doc Dunn on pedal steel, resonator, bass, drums, and vocals, and Luisa Reichenheim on harmonium. Oh, and also, a dog named Zuma, who allegedly played bells on the record.

Get a taste of Gettin' with the preview video below, and catch MV & EE on the Open Road this summer. [MORE...]

Handsome Furs Kick Off Summer Tour

After being delayed once, Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry (aka Handsome Furs) are extra-ready to take Plague Park to the U.S. Their previously reported North American tour (they also have quite a few dates elsewhere) kicks off tomorrow night (July 21) in Ottawa. The Montreal-residing duo has even added some more U.S. dates in September.

In related news, Boeckner's other band Wolf Parade, will hit the road on their previously reported tour starting August 11 in Kingston, Ontario... at the Wolf Island Festival! Here a wolf, there a wolf, everywhere a wolf wolf. [MORE...]

Kasher Flash: New Good Life Album, Cursive Shows

Photo by Michael Alan Goldberg

When a side project puts out nearly as many records as the main event, can it really be characterized as a side project anymore? We'll leave you ponderin' while we tell you about Help Wanted Nights, the fourth LP (to Cursive's five) for Tim Kasher's perpetual, prolific other band, the Good Life.

The ten-track LP-- which Tim himself spilled a bean or two about in an interview with Pitchfork this spring-- is sure to pack its fair share of anger, hurting, and other fun stuff when it drops October 1 September 11 on Saddle Creek. Hey, just in time for that seasonal affective disorder to kick in!

Help Wanted Nights will be preceded by the single for "Heartbroke", out August 21 as a download and limited edition 7" "with B-side etching in hand-screened, individually numbered packaging". But why would you buy just the download when the 7" comes with a code granting access to the download? Vinyl rules!

The Good Life have no live dates scheduled at the moment, though we're told that day will soon come. What's nearly here are a pair of Cursive dates in the general vicinity of the Big Apple over the weekend. [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.)