We Are Scientists Display Mastery on LP, Tour
Mastery of having a confusing band name

What is brain thrust, and how might one master it? And what in the heck is that We Are Scientists band up to these days?

These questions, and not all that many others, will be answered when Brain Thrust Mastery, the sophomore set from We Are Scientists, hits shelves via Virgin on March 17 in the UK and March 18 in the U.S.  UPDATE: The album is coming out May 13 on Astralwerks in the U.S.

The disc has been preceded by the single for "After Hours", out this week.

After wrapping up a brief round of in-store performances in the UK, the band will return to Europe for a tour from late March through early May. Their fellow New Yorkers Oxford Collapse will open a good chunk of those dates.

And apparently they've been covering Nickelback lately. Haha, very funny, guys. [MORE...]

Video: We Are Scientists: After Hours [from the Brain Thrust Mastery LP]

Sonic Youth, Sunn 0))) Members, Fennesz Contribute to Table of the Elements Singles Series
So do Rhys Chatham, Belong, Benjamin Curtis (School of Seven Bells, ex-Secret Machines)

In 1993, weird little label Table of the Elements issued Guitar Series Vol. 1 and Guitar Series Vol. 2, a pair of limited edition 7" records containing solo guitar performances by some of experimental rock's titans. Folks like Jim O'Rourke, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Derek Bailey, and Keiji Haino (like I said, titans) flaunted their fretwork for the sets, which sold out immediately and subsequently became the stuff of record-nerd legend.

Flash forward 15 years, and you've got Guitar Series volumes three and four, emerging over the course of 2008 from the still weird but not quite as little Table of the Elements. A dozen artists contributed tracks to the series: Thurston and Lee (though not together-- those dudes really oughta form a popular rock band to pass the time between rarified geekery), Christian Fennesz, Rhys Chatham (commanding a guitar army), Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Belong, Oren Ambarchi, Ateleia and Benjamin Curtis (of School of Seven Bells, ex-Secret Machines), Andrew Burnes and David Daniell of San Augustin, and Jon Mueller of Collection of Colonies of Bees.

Each track will be carved into a clear vinyl 12", with an etching on the flipside from noted UK illustrator Savage Pencil. The first two-- from Collections of Colonies of Bees and the Ateleia/Benjamin Curtis combo-- are due May 20, with the rest to follow throughout 2008. A portion of the proceeds will go to Sweet Relief, which provides services to ailing musicians. And yes, once again, the series is limited edition.

In other Table of the Elements news, Chatham's "GUITAR TRIO IS MY LIFE!" live album, featuring contributions from members of members of Sonic Youth, Tortoise, Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mt. Zion, Hüsker Dü, Fog, Final Fantasy, and more, is out this week. And the label will hold their SXSW showcase Thursday, March 13 at the Hideout Theatre. Collections of Colonies of Bees, Megafaun, and Northampton Wools-- a collaboration between Thurston Moore and Bill Nace-- highlight a bill that also includes Neptune, Melissa St. Pierre, Carlos Villarreal and Jon Mueller.

Look at these things! They're gorgeous!

Robyn to Issue "Who's That Girl" Single

Front page photo by Kathryn Yu

Produced by the Knife and possessed with an icy groove belied only by the ebullience of its singer, Robyn's "Who's That Girl" is a standout among standouts on her 2005 self-titled LP we're so fond of over here. In April, "Who's That Girl" will get its own UK single on Konichiwa, with remixes of its titular track by Seamus Haji, Rex the Dog and Drop the Lime. Director Diane Martel-- who, among her other credits, recently helmed the clip for the White Stripes' "Conquest"-- will direct a video for the track to be released around the same time.

The album version of the song is out now as a digital download in the UK, with the radio edit coming April 14. The CD and vinyl versions of the single will be out April 21.

Robyn recently made good on a long-promised trek to the U.S., and she'll hop yet another plane for the States in March to rock the shit outta SXSW. Who's that lanky so-and-so in the front? Oh, yeah, that'd be me.

Robyn the album finally hits U.S. shores in April, via Konichiwa/Cherrytree/Interscope Records. And, shit, if you live in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, you can watch Robyn hosting MTV's "TRL" this afternoon. Nice!

Check out our recent interview with the lady herself here. [MORE...]

Video: Robyn: Be Mine / Show Me Love / With Every Heartbeat [live radio session in San Francisco]

Smoking Popes Down With Flameshovel for New LP

Photo by Hayley Murphy

Beloved (and reunited) Chicago pop punk veterans Smoking Popes have signed to hometown indie label Flameshovel to release their first album of new material in over 10 years. (The Party's Over, an album of covers, came out in 2003 after being held up by industry red tape for five years, and 2006's At Metro was a live collection of previous material).

The studio follow-up to 1997's Destination Failure is tentatively titled Stay Down, and Flameshovel will release it this fall. And hey, speaking of 10-year gaps-- that's the exact amount of time by which the Popes' existence pre-dates their new label's.

For an early taste of Stay Down, head on over to Smoking Popes' MySpace to hear "Welcome to Janesville" and "Grab Your Heart and Run". Sounds like the quartet still knows its way around a melody. Good work, fellas!

Stream: Smoking Popes: Welcome to Janesville / Grab Your Heart and Run [from the forthcoming Stay Down LP]

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Team Up Once Again

His voice is pretty damn foreboding, but Mark Lanegan must be an agreeable guy in person. Saturnalia, his collaboration with head Afghan Whig Greg Dulli as the Gutter Twins, just came out this week, but he's also revisiting his partnership with former Belle & Sebastian member Isobel Campbell on a second album.

Campbell and Lanegan's follow-up to 2006's Ballad of the Broken Seas is called Sunday at Devil Dirt, and it will come out May 5 in the UK on V2/Cooperative Music. Like Ballad, the new album features Lanegan tackling lead vocals while Campbell handles the writing, production, and arrangements.

There's no touring planned behind Sunday at Devil Dirt at the moment, but Lanegan has plenty of Gutter Twins dates to keep him busy for now, including a bunch of newly added European ones. That duo's next show is Friday, March 7, in Chicago. [MORE...]

Stream: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Various Tracks
MP3: The Gutter Twins: Idle Hands [from the Saturnalia LP]

Chris Corsano's Young Cricketer Gets Vinyl Release

Stream: Chris Corsano: Various Tracks [from the The Young Cricketer LP]

Edwyn Collins Puts Together a Tour

Video: Edwyn Collins: You'll Never Know [from the Home Again LP]

Numero Starts New Series With Recording Tap Comp

New Gnarls Barkley Video Too Hot for TV
Plus: New album tracklist

For those of us who spend most of our daylight hours staring at computer screens, Gnarls Barkley's video for "Run"-- the first single from sophomore album The Odd Couple-- is par for the visual course. In fact, it's downright pleasant in comparison to, say, the spazz-out that is M.I.A.'s website.

According to a Billboard.com report and an email from Gnarls' management, however, it turns out the video is not yet fit for MTV airplay. Because of its strobe effects, the video failed the Harding Test, which is used to tell whether or not televised images might trigger epileptic seizures.

While the Happy-directed, Justin Timberlake-starring video obviously needs editing to comply with the Harding Test's standards, Danger Mouse told Billboard.com, "I think [the video] is cool. It works for me. But I'm not necessarily that easily seasick. We can't predict how people are going to interpret it."

The video is currently being tweaked, with designs for it to "premiere" (ha) on MTV's "TRL" tomorrow afternoon.

UPDATE: Apparently all this only applied to the UK, not the U.S.A. The video that is airing tomorrow hasn't been edited. Guess British people are more easily made nauseous than Americans?

Maybe Danger Mouse and his Gnarls Barkley partner Cee-Lo should just wait to tease The Odd Couple with the video Chris Milk is directing for second single "Who's Gonna Save My Soul".

The Odd Couple is set to hit stores via Downtown/Atlantic on the previously reported release date of April 8. The Billboard.com story also gives us an album detail we didn't have before: a tracklist. Check it out after the jump.

They're still planning a summer U.S./European festival tour, but Gnarls Barkley's only confirmed date remains their July 27 appearance at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl. [MORE...]

Video: Gnarls Barkley: Run [ft. Justin Timberlake] [from the forthcoming The Odd Couple LP]

Ladyhawk Take Shots on New LP, Tour

MP3: Ladyhawk: I Don't Always Know What You're Saying [from the Shots LP]
Video: Let Me Be Fictional: Trailer

Feist, Spoon, and Lil Jon, Together at Last
Aw skeet skeet motherfuckers!

Giving Fayetteville, Arkansas' Dickson St. Music Festival a run for its money for the 2008 Pleasantly Deranged Festival Lineup award, here comes Vanderbilt University's Rites of Spring festival.

Taking place at the Nashville, Tennessee campus' Alumni Lawn on April 18 and 19, the spring fling brings together kindred spirits Feist, Spoon, and Lil Jon, in addition to the Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, DJ Kool, the disease known as Colbie Caillat, and others. (Via Billboard.)

David Silverstein, co-chair of the Vanderbilt Programming Board's Music Group, told InsideVandy, "Vanderilt University's Online Student Community", "I think Lil John will bring a fantastic level of energy for the Vanderbilt student community as well as the greater Nashville area that hasn't been seen on Alumni Lawn. And Spoon will bring a twist to the rock 'n' roll sound I think everyone will enjoy."

At press time, it is unclear whether or not the East Side Boyz will be in attendance.

Akron/Family Welcome Megafaun, Dodos Folks on Tour

Stream: Akron/Family: Don't Be Afraid, You're Already Dead [from the Love Is Simple LP]

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