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...]

Okkervil Package Stage Names With Bonus Demo Disc

When its curtains are drawn August 7, the proper rollout of Okkervil River's The Stage Names will almost certainly hold audiences rapt. But just the same, the generous sorts at Jagjaguwar are giving 5,000 listeners a peek at the dress rehearsals.

The first 5,000 copies of the Austinites' CD will come packaged with a bonus disc of Will Sheff's demos for the Stage Names tracks, sequenced just like the original LP. With nothing to distract from Will's vocal theatrics, this bonus disc may very well deserve an ovation alongside its official counterpart.

What's more, pre-ordering the album from the Jagjaguwar webstore will get you access to the whole LP as a free download some two-and-a-half weeks before it hits shelves. Man, these indie labels are making it really hard not to buy records these days!

Thanks to reader Ryan D. Ward for the heads-up.

Okkervil are laying low for the rest of July and August before heading out in early September for a month of North American shows. All dates with Damien Jurado. [MORE...]

Liars Tour With Interpol, Prep Single

Use them eardrums while you've got 'em; you now have barely over a month to go before Liars release Liars, their fourth full length. Though perfunctory listens prove the band's initial "chilled out vibe" comment to be about as real as Radiohead's perpetual promise that their next one will be the rock album, it's quite a listen, and begs the question: just how will these blistering squalls translate live?

Answer, thy name is tour dates: Liars will bring the noise to a handful of European festivals before trucking over to the North Americas in September...with the ever fashionable Interpol. While Interpol's Our Love is no "My Love", there's still plenty to love about this pairing. Although we do hope Angus and co. manage to squeak some dingy basement/loft shows into this arena-addled itinerary.

In other Liars news, the trio will drop the first UK single from Liars, "Plaster Casts of Everything", via Mute on August 6 in the UK, August 14 digitally in the U.S., and on 7" in the U.S. on August 28. The UK CD version comes backed with "Mimic the Hurricano", while the 7" sports "Volcano Police" on its flip. The U.S. download has both songs, while the 7" has "Mimic the Hurricano".

Liars also pop up on that Mighty Robot DVD and that free Adult Swim comp, while one of 'em even found time to design some cover art for Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Interpol, meanwhile, likely won't be experiencing the comfort of their own beds until December. [MORE...]

Iron and Wine Announce U.S. Dates

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Still fairly fresh off their appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend, Sam Beam and his extra large mane the rest of Iron and Wine have announced a few U.S. shows to accompany their previously reported UK dates.

The new shows start in Boston on September 27, i.e. a mere two days after the release of The Shepherd's Dog on Sub Pop, but the band's first post-Fork Fest show is August 9 in London. [MORE...]

Arctic Monkeys Schedule More Shows, Yet Again

Typing tour dates isn't the most glamorous part of a Pitchfork newsie's job, but we do take a little bit of pride in our attempts at completeness and accuracy.

Nonetheless, when Arctic Monkeys update the itinerary of their North American tour this fall the freakin' day after we report it, we have no choice but to bring those new dates to (computer screen) light. The rock-loving residents of Kansas City, Providence, Tucson, and Eugene (and elsewhere) deserve to know!

Hey look, they're even playing with rad dudes Queens of the Stone Age in Houston! [MORE...]

Menomena Announce Fall North American Tour

Photo by Jason Bergman

Why, it seems like only yesterday (or, er, three days ago) that Menomena's Danny Seim was basking in the end of the "longest tour" the Portlandic powerhouse trio had ever tackled. So imagine our surprise when we found that Menomena have plotted another big ol' tour in the neighborhood of October and November. Some people got it, and some people don't, and when it comes to turning a crowd positively loopy (and being forebodingly tall), Menomena have it.

They'll link up with the misleadingly-monikered Illinois come Halloween, and they don't stop until November 17. Hopefully, then they can get some rest. [MORE...]

Devendra Announces Smokey Album Title

Photo by Lauren Dukoff

Looks like it's album title announcin' day here at the ol' Fork!

Devendra Banhart has revealed the title of his forthcoming fifth full-length, and it is neither Cyber Christ and the Gnostic Titi-Slap part deux nor Foreskin Sword (what it is & how to use it). Instead, it's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. Yep, just as Devendriffic!

The record features frequent Devendra collaborators Noah Georgeson, Andy Cabic (Vetiver), Otto Hauser, Greg Rogove, Pete Newsom (Joanna's brother), and Rodrigo Amarante (Los Hermanos), as well as a host of others who contribute parts via "freedom chime," "water drum," "mop stomp," and "some other thangs," according to an email from Devendra's publicist.

Georgeson and Devendra co-produced the record, and a few of the 16 total song titles include "Cristobal", "So Long Old Bean", "Samba Vexillographica", and "Seahorse".

Smokey will do its rolling via XL on September 25, and Devendra has quite a previously reported tour assembled in its support. Those dates start August 10 in Oslo, Norway, and Georgeson, Rio En Medio, Matteah Baim, Jana Hunter, and Hecuba provide support.

The question remains, however. Devendra, Who is Kadamon? [MORE...]

Citay Sign to Dead Oceans

Photo by Alissa Anderson 

Citay-- aka former Piano Magic drummer Ezra Feinberg and several of his closest friends-- have become the latest signees to the Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian offshoot Dead Oceans. The band will release their follow-up to last year's self-titled LP on their new home whenever they're good and ready to do so; they're currently finishing up sessions helmed by the Fucking Champs' Tim Green (who, along with bandmate Tim Soete, also contributes to Citay when he sees fit) in their native San Francisco.

Citay will be comin' to your citay soon, provided you live in one of five spots along the West Coast. They've got a few dates left with Comets on Fire spinoff Howlin' Rain and one with a little band called Yo La Tengo. [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.)