El-P and Dizzee Rascal Announce Tour
El-P plans next studio record

It looks like Def Jux's partnership with Dizzee Rascal to release Maths + English in the U.S. was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. And the next result of that relationship is a juicy tour featuring Dizzee and label honcho El-P. After they play the Def Jux SXSW showcase in March (alongside Del the Funky Homosapien and Devin the Dude, among others), the two will take North America by storm in May.

El offered the following words on the Maths release and upcoming tour: "Me and my partner at Jux have been huge fans of Dizzee, and thought the new record was so good that it needed to be released in North America. His music is raw and honest and fits right in with the type of artists we want to support. As big as he is overseas, he's never really had as much of a chance to get out there in the U.S., so the idea of touring with him is really exciting for me. Between the two of us it should be a pretty insane experience."

Another El-P/Dizzee collaboration is the former's remix of "Where's Da G's [ft. UGK]", which will appear on the aforementioned U.S. release of Maths + English on April 29. According to El-P's MySpace blog, that remix isn't the only studio work he's done recently. He also remixed the Mars Volta's "Goliath"-- from new album The Bedlam in Goliath-- and he's preparing some sort of studio follow-up to I'll Sleep When You're Dead.

The latter release has led El-P to regrow his studio mustache in the process. On his MySpace blog, El writes that the release "will most likely be a little more than an EP, a bit less than an album, and a whole lot of fuckery." He also says that, amidst other material, it will feature Darryl Palumbo's remix of "The Overlydramatic Truth". [MORE...]

Atlas Sound Kick Off Tour This Weekend

Photo by Tim Scharr

Over the weekend at his native Athens, Georgia's fabled 40 Watt Club, Mr. Bradford Cox and his Atlas Sound will take the stage on the first stop on their winter tour in support of the February 19 release of Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel on Kranky.

Cox will be joined onstage by "The Atlas Sound Music Group" (pictured up yonder), featuring Brian Foote of Nudge, Adam Forkner of White Rainbow, Honey Owens of Valet, and Atlanta-based drummer/guitarist Stephanie Macksey. Cox and the Atlas Sound will wrap things up with a series of showings at a little something I (and, I'm told, others) like to call South by Southwest.

As ever, Bradford's been filling up the Deerhunter blog with new music. Recent highlights include demos for Let the Blind standout "Recent Bedroom" and Cryptograms' "Spring Hall Convert", a spliff-worthy "PostGRUNGE death trip" called "Cloves", Valentine's Day offering the How I Escaped the Prison of Fractals CD-R, and the truly lovely Orange Ohms Glow EP, recorded earlier this month and posted within hours of its completion.

But what of that other band Bradford's in? Well, they've still got that one lonely gig to their name: the ATP vs. Pitchfork festival, May 9-11 at the Camber Sands Holiday Centre near Rye, England. [MORE...]

N.E.R.D. Plan Pre-Kanye Shows

The untold story of Kanye's "Glow in the Dark" tour-- aside from the nice looking lineup-- is the re-emergence of N.E.R.D., the Neptunes' rock trio. To add to the reunited good vibes, Pharrell, Chad Hugo, and pal Shay Haley will prove they can stand on their own six feet with a month of headlining shows before joining up with Kanye, Lupe, and Rihanna.

The freshly minted tour fills out the group's March schedule, includes multiple performances at SXSW, and wraps up in Alabama. Then, it's on into the "Dark"! [MORE...]

Cat Power Adds Dates

Photo by William Kirk

Cat Power and her Dirty Delta Blues wrapped up a brief North American tour earlier this week, but following a lone L.A. Leap Day date and a trip Down Under, the human Jukebox will return to this continent yet again.

The newly announced jaunt finds Chan heading from Vancouver down the West Coast and into Mexico City, all within the confines of the cruelest month, with a lonely UK date to follow in June. Thanks Chan! We miss you when you go away. [MORE...]

Statehood Line Up Some Live Dates

Photo by David Holloway

Releasing an album full of Lies and Rhetoric wasn't enough political proselytizing for the dudes of Statehood; they had to go off on a disinformation campaign, spreading those very Lies and Rhetoric all the while.

The East Coast instigators-- featuring the fine former Dismemberment Plan rhythm section for their very own-- will pound the drum of half-truths and spin across the U.S. on a brief tour. Dare to be deceived? Step right up!

The campaign begins tonight (February 15) in Richmond, Virginia. [MORE...]

Elvis Costello to Tour With the Police

After he unleashes his next reissue on the world (the people must have their demos and alternate versions!), Elvis Costello will get a little closer look at the detectives when he heads out on a North American tour with the Police in May. Joining Costello will be his trusty Imposters.

The bespectacled bard also has a quartet of dates before then, including his previously reported appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. [MORE...]

Franz Side Project Correcto Ready Debut LP

A Glaswegian foursome with Paul Thomson on drums will release its new album in the UK on February 25, but it's not Franz Ferdinand. (They're still crafting their own picaresque journey^* of a new LP.)

Instead, the record comes from Correcto, the group Thomson plays in with Danny Saunders, the Royal We's Patrick Doyle, and artist Richard Wright. Just this week Domino released "Do It Better", the second single from the band's self-titled debut, and the label will follow with the album in a little over a week.

Correcto also have a handful of live dates coming up, starting with a show tomorrow night (February 16) in Glasgow.

Franz Ferdinand have a pair of festival shows as well, though they don't arrive until the summer.

* According to a MySpace blog post... [MORE...]

The National Release Live EP

The National are hardly the flashiest band in the world, but they certainly mastered the slow burn with über-grower Boxer. And any approach that results in a tour with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse seems like a pretty good formula for success.

The band's newest way for us to soak up the Boxer experience is through a digital live EP released through online music service Rhapsody. It's titled Rhapsody Rocks NYC and features four Boxer tunes recorded live at an exclusive show during last year's CMJ Music Marathon. It's available for purchase right now.

Before they join forces with the Rems and the Mouses on the aforementioned tour, the National have a handful of dates, starting with a pair of February shows at the Brooklyn Next festival. [MORE...]

Bill Callahan Kicks Off Tour With Shearwater's Meiburg

Photo by Shannon McClean

Tonight in Beaumont, Texas, Misters Bill Callahan (formerly known as Smog, in and out of these parentheses) and Jonathan Meiburg (generally speaking, the font from which Shearwater flows) will hit the very same stage for the first of many such meetings the two will enjoy on their joint tour of the Southern U.S.

They'll part ways March 8, at which point Meiburg and the Shearwater will prep for the release of Rook, due sometime this year on Matador. As for Bill, well, one only hopes he's accruing weird encounters to write about for his follow-up to last year's stellar Woke on a Whaleheart. Bon voyage, gents. [MORE...]

O'Death Head Out on Tour of Murderous Proportions

Death! And more death! And, also, O'Death! Following a pop-in at SXSW and a brief run around the country with Brooklyn bluesman Langhorne Slim, porch-stompers O'Death will hit the road with Kiss Kiss and their fellow gothic carnage-mongers in Murder by Death. You will know them by the trail of, uh, tour dates.

Oh, and O'Death's contribution to the Gigantic Records 7" series has been out since February 5. They'll reportedly head into the studio later this month with producer Alex Newport to craft a new full-length. [MORE...]

Caribou-boo Leads to Cancelled Dates

Photo by Sanchez and Kitahara

Due to an injury to bandmember Brad Weber's wrist, Dan Snaith and the rest of Caribou have been forced to cancel a pair of dates over the coming weekend all their upcoming UK dates that would have kicked off their UK and European mainland tour.

Dan and them will still play Monday night (February 18) in Glasgow, for now now start the tour February 23 in Saint-Malo, France, and go on to play the millions of other dates they've got on the way. Feel better soon, Brad! [MORE...]

Black Kids Announce Tour With Cut Copy

Photo by Mike White

How do those Black Kids do it? Without a full-length album, a label (on their home continent, anyway), a proper tour of their own home country, or even a fully functional website to their credit (er, "coming soon"), Black Kids have managed to win hearts around the globe.

This has led to something called a "Best New Music" and overseas tours with the lofty likes of Sons & Daughters and Kate Nash, but that's just the beginning for these upstarts, of course.

Now, the Kids have revealed plans to follow their date with Coachella with a full-blown North American tour alongside fashion-forward Aussie new wavers Cut Copy. Never underestimate the power of a catchy tune, people. Or, in the Kids' case, four of 'em.

We'll get that Black Kids album soon enough, though, and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler is producing it. Cut Copy, meanwhile, unleash In Ghost Colours this spring and have plenty of dates sans Black Kids as well. [MORE...]

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