Apples in Stereo's Schneider to Talk at MathFest

Remember the hubbub when the Apples in Stereo released New Magnetic Wonder? A lot of the chatter surrounding the record was your standard stuff for a veteran band: decent disc, super catchy, return to form, etc. etc. But the thing about New Magnetic Wonder that really made them protractors pop was its use of the "Non-Pythagorian Musical Scale," some sort of Pynchonian craziness that gave the record its deceptively complex internal structure. You remember all the chatter about that, right? No?

Well, the Mathematics Association of America (link clearly NSFW) caught wind of Apples frontguy Robert Schneider's use of the scale and invited him for both a sitdown chat and a standup performance at their annual MathFest event, happening in San Jose, California August 2-5. Schneider's chat and pop-rock show sounds exciting enough, sure, but attendees will be all aflutter for James Sellers' "On Euler's Partition Theorem Relating Odd-Part Partitions and Distinct-Part Partitions" chat a few days later. Who needs rock n roll when you're talkin' 18th century Swiss math?

The Apples have a few slightly less heady dates scheduled, including a stop in their native Denver and one at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival. There's also Athens, Georgia's twee-as-fuck Popfest, where Schneider will join Ideal Free Distribution's Craig Morris as American Revolution August 10. You know we've got dates after the jump, right? [MORE...]

Will Oldham Helps Scout Niblett Act a Fool
Cover: Scout Niblett With Lasers

This Fool Can Die Now, Scout Niblett's badassedly-titled fourth album, is threatening release October 9 on Too Pure. Recorded (as previously reported) with Steve Albini at his Chicago-based Electrical Audio studios, the fourteen-track Fool features four duets with none other than world's greatest hypeman Will Oldham. The two link up for a couple of Scout originals and pair of covers: Marilyn Monroe's "River of No Return" and Van Morrison's "Comfort You". All this will be available in CD, LP and digital formats.

Scout has a few dates on the way this fall, though not nearly enough for somebody with a new album out. Expect that hole between Dorset and Bristol to close in with U.S. headlining dates sometime soon. And Scout pops up on that David Shrigley thing, too. [MORE...]

Ted Leo Cancels Tonight's Show in Cleveland

Ted Leo has canceled his show with the Pharmacists tonight (August 1) at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland due to a family emergency.

In a message on his website, Leo writes:

"The Cleveland show, Wednesday, August 1 has been cancelled.

I'm sorry I don't have time to go into great detail, but by way of brief explanation, the person who has been closest to me in my life for the last decade and more has been in and out of the hospital for the past year with a very rare condition. We found out in late June that the particular type of chemotherapy she has been on was not working (hence the UK cancellations earlier this month). She was forced to return to the hospital, for the second time this month, this weekend, and though we were hoping the new course of therapy she is beginning would have started before now, it is, in fact, going to start tomorrow (tomorrow for me as I'm writing this), Wednesday, August 1.

"This decision would have been made sooner if we'd have had the information sooner, but we were only informed of the final schedule for treatment at 7 PM today, and after much discussion/soul-searching, I have come to the conclusion that this is the right choice to make. I will, hopefully, be able to complete the rest of the tour starting Friday, but I simply cannot leave her as she enters this new phase of treatment. If all goes well tomorrow, there is every reason to hope that it will continue to go well, but I hope you, Cleveland, will understand that in the immediate, I need to remain here in Providence. Once again, I apologize, and I thank you in advance for your understanding.

xo - T"

In hopes that things go smoothly and the tour continues, we've listed the band's previously reported tour dates below. [MORE...]

Atmosphere Fill Bad Summer With EP

Atmosphere are currently whetting appetites for their next album, When Life Gives You Lemons... (tentatively scheduled for an early '08 release), with their appearances with Murs as Felt on the Paid Dues and Rock the Bells tours.

However, they have an extra treat for show attendees in the form of the Sad Clown Bad Summer Accompanied by Piano EP, the ninth installment in the "Sad Clown" series of EPs featuring rare tracks from the Minneapolis duo of Slug and Ant. And for the first time in the series' history, they're making the EP available for purchase online and in select retailers. They may give their releases bummer titles, but never let it be said that Atmosphere are okay with frowning alone.

Check out "Sunshine", an appropriately titled summer jam, available for download below. [MORE...]

The Hold Steady Just Keep on Truckin'
Boys and girls in Croatia have such a sad time together

As far as we can tell, 2007 might be the year the Hold Steady break their long-standing "album every year" streak; if they've got another record coming at you before January, it'll be news to us.

It's cool-- they did drop that EP, after all-- and, besides, when would they have had the time? Between regular meet-and-greets with seamy characters for future lyrical fodder, twisting the ends of Franz Nicolay's cookie duster, and stiffing bassist/bartender Galen Polivka when it's time to tip at Hi Fi, they've been squeezing in tour dates wherever they can. They've pushed the list of appearances into the late summer, cutting a wide swath through Europe following an all-too-brief North American run in the wake of their Lollapalooza appearance.

Speaking of which, their Lolla set-- along with quite a few others-- will be beamed live through various wires and cogs and sprockets and down into your computer, thanks to AT&T. If only they were this generous when I'm a day late with my cable bill. [MORE...]

Eric's Trip Reunite (Again), Tour Canada
Play Sappyfest along with Constantines, Mt. Eerie, Calvin Johnson, Chad VanGaalen

Did that deluxe Daydream Nation reissue coax them out of retirement once more? Whatever the reason, rejoice, as Canadian indie rockers Eric's Trip have reunited yet again!

A highlight of the fertile college rock scene of the early 1990s, Eric's Trip sprung from the seldom-used loins of Moncton, New Brunswick in 1990 and soon became Sub Pop's first Canadian signing, besting that whole Broken Arcade Wolf Pornographers thing by nearly a decade. The act included a young Julie Doiron, who has since mounted a successful solo career (initially as Broken Girl), recording a whole heap of records for Secretly Canadian-allied Jagjaguwar (all while making no mystery of her heritage).

Eric's Trip split in 1996, then got back together in 2001 to tie up some unfinished touring business and release a live CD, then parted ways again, only to re-reunite in 2006 for more shows. Which makes this spate of 2007 gigs, kicking off August 5 in Sackville, New Brunswick, pretty much a re-re-reunion. Or, you know, not really a reunion at all. But still more neat-o than a Cheeto!

The August 5 gig is part of Sappyfest, which pops off at numerous venues in happening Sackville from August 3-5, and also features performances by Doiron, Constantines, Mount Eerie, Calvin Johnson, Chad VanGaalen, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Peter and the Wolf, Dog Day, and more. Eric's Trip guitarist Rick White, who released his second LP, Memoreaper, earlier this year, will open all shows solo-style. [MORE...]

Matthew Dear's Big Hands Tour With Mobius Band
Dear remixed by Hot Chip, M.A.N.D.Y., DJ Koze on new single

Chameleonic electro mastermind Matthew Dear will hit the road with former Ghostly labelmates and Asa Breed guests Mobius Band this fall for a co-headlining tour of North America. Dear will be accompanied by his band Matthew Dear's Big Hands for the trek.

Mobius Band have their own new record, Heaven, coming out on October 2 via Misra. It will be the trio's second full-length (the follow-up to their 2005 debut The Loving Sounds of Static) and the first for their new label.

Aside from the tour together, both artists also have dates by themselves. Mobius Band's comes in the form of a lone September show, but Dear has a full August of European and Japanese dates, the next of which is August 3 in Geneva, Switzerland.

To coincide with the tour, Dear will release a new single, for Asa Breed's "Don and Sherri", featuring remixes by Hot Chip, M.A.N.D.Y., and DJ Koze. [MORE...]

Spoon, Ono, Sleater-Kinney, Yo La Tengo in Hedwig Doc
Plus: Breeders, Frank Black, Rufus Wainwright, Polyphonic Spree, Jonathan Richman

First came Hedwig and the Angry Inch the stage musical, then came Hedwig and the Angry Inch the movie spectacle, and soon after arrived the Hedwig covers album, Wig in a Box, boasting an impressive array of indie giants-- including Sleater-Kinney, Spoon, Frank Black, Yo La Tengo, and the Breeders-- putting their own characteristic touches on tunes from the musical.

Now comes-- brace for it-- the documentary on the making of the charity covers album. But wait, this actually looks super rad. Follow My Voice With the Music of Hedwig hits DVD shelves August 7, courtesy of Wolfe Video. It includes the Katherine Linton-directed, Rainlake Productions/Sundance Channel-produced 2006 feature that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on the Sundance Channel that year.

Wig in a Box was orchestrated by Chris Slusarenko of Guided by Voices and the Takeovers, and was released on Off Records in 2003. All proceeds from sales of that album go to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk School, which strives to create "a safe and supportive environment...for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth between the ages of 12 and 21 and their families."

Follow My Voice, then, interweaves the stories of several students at the Harvey Milk School with the making of the album, and includes performances and interviews by/with Yoko Ono, Sleater-Kinney with Fred Schneider (The B-52's), Yo La Tengo, the Breeders, Frank Black, Rufus Wainwright, the Polyphonic Spree, Jonathan Richman, They Might Be Giants, the "Three Bens" (Kweller, Folds, and Lee), and Cyndi Lauper with the Minus 5, as well as Stephen Colbert and Hedwig visionaries John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask. Plus a Spoon performance! And Slusarenko turns up in there as well.

So put on your makeup, turn on the DVD player, and, you know, watch this.

Les Savy Fav Join Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem!
Sign to Wichita for UK

Just when you thought that Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem team-up just couldn't possibly get any better, well, it did. Triumphantly returning Brooklyn art-punkers (and wicked wicked live act) Les Savy Fav have been added to the October 6 show at New York City's Randall's Island. We usually pity any band that has to play after Les Savy Fav, but we think these two can hold their own.

In other Les Savy Fav news, they've recently signed to the London-based Wichita recording concern for all their UK distribution needs. Their chum-heavy Let's Stay Friends will drop in the UK October 1; it's out September 18 on French Kiss in the States. Wichita will also release the double A-side single for "What Would Wolves Do?" / "The Year Before the Year 2000" on September 24. A European tour is in the works for October. [MORE...]

Beastie Boys Kick Off U.S. Tour, Add Dates

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Well, they rock an instrumental gala at the drop of a hat, but, when called upon, they'll beat a regular show down with an aluminum bat. Two dudes named Adam and a guy named Mike who call themselves the Beastie Boys will hit the road tonight in Philadelphia for the first show of a month of U.S. tour dates. Jumping back and forth between "instrumental gala" shows (for which fancy dress is strongly recommended) and your regular loudmouthed Beastie throw-downs, the Stateside gigs anticipate yet another European run for our Boys through early September.

Attendees should also know that their good time is for a good cause: one dollar of every ticket purchased for this tour goes to Reverb, an organization that promotes the use of sustainable resources. They'll be helping the Beasties tour go green, and they encourage you to bring your old cell phones and PDAs for recycling. [MORE...]

Trail of Dead Announce Replacement Drummer

A retirement is never quite a retirement with these android scientist types. It seems ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have found a replacement for their previously reported "Doni [Schroader] computer version 2.9"-shaped hole behind the drum kit, and he comes from the same kindly "scientist friend Max Brenner," according to a website update from frontman Conrad Keely.

Apparently, totally real scientist Brenner "happened to have had another prototype lying around in his studio [read: Nashville --Ed.], the Aaron 3.0. Aaron was developed alongside the Doni and performs with equally superb skill and efficiency, albeit slightly faster and even a bit harder at times than the Doni. Although not yet tested under extreme environments such as spilt beer and shards of glass, Brenner has convinced us that the Aaron's newly updated circuits are robust and capable of withstanding the extreme pressures of a live TOD show."

The new bot-- who also goes by the name Aaron Ford-- has proved his durability with stints in bands like Bluetip, Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals Starvation League, and Unwed Sailor.

So now TOD can finally get to the real business: that month-long tour of (mostly) Europe they have coming up, which still begins with a single date in Brooklyn tomorrow, August 2. [MORE...]

The Acorn Climb Mountain for Paper Bag Records

Canadian quintet the Acorn will release their sophomore full-length, the almost Devendra-ically titled Glory Hope Mountain, via Paper Bag Records on September 25.

Glory Hope Mountain is a concept album of sorts, a biography of lead singer Rolf Klausener's mother, Gloria Esperanza Montoya, a Honduran immigrant to Montreal in the 70s. In addition to the Acorn, the record also features the musical talents of members of Ohbijou, the Wooden Stars, Flecton Big Sky, Fiftymen, and others.

The Acorn will tour their native Canada in support of the album this fall, beginning with a September 22 appearance in London, Ontario. [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.)