DeVotchKa Gear Up for A Mad & Faithful World Tour
Basia Bulat supports in North America

With DeVotchKa's new album A Mad & Faithful Telling out everywhere this week thanks to Anti-, it's time for the cosmopolitan folk group to start their touring engines once again. Following a one-off in-store today (March 18) in Denver, the foursome will kick things off in April with dates in the UK and mainland Europe.

Then, after DeVotchKa's appearance at Coachella, the band will tackle North America with Canada's Basia Bulat in the support slot. A string quartet will join DeVotchKa onstage for those dates, while certain shows will even feature aerial acrobats the Slavic Sisters. Could we get some cotton candy with that? [MORE...]

Kevin Ayers' Star-Studded Unfairground Hits the States
Far too many guest stars for one subhead to contain

As summer turned to fall last year, Kevin Ayers-- founding member of the pioneering experimental rock troupe the Soft Machine-- issued The Unfairground, his first album in a stupendously long time, in the UK, Europe, and Japan.

The disc is positively brimming over with guests, including, as I typed (and typed, and typed) way back when: Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, members of Architecture in Helsinki, Neutral Milk Hotel/Music Tapes dude Julian Koster, former Gorky's Zygotic Mynci frontman Euros Childs, Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake and Francis MacDonald, Elephant 6-affiliated cellist Heather McIntosh, Daisy Martey of the Noonday Underground, Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Joe McGinty, singer Candie Payne, folkie legend Bridget St. John, Ayers' Soft Machine cohorts Hugh Hopper and Robert "The Wyattron" Wyatt, and members of the Ladybug Transistor, including the late San Fadyl. Phew!

Anyhow, somebody over there at Gigantic Music must've thought, "Man, that gigantic list of guest stars would befit our label quite nicely," as they issued The Unfairground in the U.S. today. Fair enough! [MORE...]

Rilo Kiley Announce North American Tour

Photos by Amy Phillips, taken at Rilo Kiley's show at the Riviera in Chicago on September 15, 2007. Yeah, we know they're a little old, but you can never have too many cute pictures of Jenny Lewis, right?

Out from Under the Blacklight and into the spotlight come Los Angeles stars Rilo Kiley, who will hit the road throughout North America in April, May, and June. The trek will make stops at Coachella and Bonnaroo along the way.

In other Rilo Kiley news, there's apparently a Jenny Lewis solo LP in the works, though the impressive list of rumored guest stars may turn out to be too good to be true. Also, the band recently contributed a T-shirt design to the Yellow Bird Project, which will benefit the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund.

And while I'm standing atop this particular soapbox: If "Salute Your Shorts"-- the 90s TV show in which a young Blake Sennett portrayed wisecracking "new guy" camper Ronnie Pinsky-- doesn't hit DVD soon, I'm gonna start doling out the awful waffles.

More photos and tour dates below.

[MORE...]

Supergrass Serve Up New Album

Supergrass will once again remind us that they exist and not just on the Clueless soundtrack with the release of their sixth studio album, Diamond Hoo Ha.

Parlophone will release the full-length offering in the UK on March 24, though single "Bad Blood"-- which features a cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as one of its CD B-sides-- is available right now across the pond. Check out the video for "Bad Blood", featured in Forkcast, at the link below.

As for U.S. citizens, Astralwerks (a new home for the 'grass) will deliver Diamond Hoo Ha on tax day, April 15. UPDATE: U.S. release date TBA.

Supergrass have a run of live dates in the UK scheduled for April as well. [MORE...]

Russian Futurists, Dntel, Solvent Remix Sally Shapiro

Photo by William Joines

"Ooh, does this mean there will be a Vol. 2??", we once asked in typically giddy fashion upon learning of the first Sally Shapiro remix album. Little did we know, not only will there indeed very much be a Vol. 2, but said volume lies in wait just a few calendar pages away.

Dntel, the Russian Futurists, Solvent, and Shapiro's own producer Johan Agebjörn are among those reworking Disco Romance's parade of instant classics on this, Remix Romance Vol. 2, due May 13 June 17 on Paper Bag Records. The collection follows hot on the boogie shoe heels of Remix Romance Vol. 1, which, as you know, contains the remix magic of Junior Boys, Lindstrøm, Holy Fuck, and the Juan Maclean and blows up your favorite nightspot April 15.

Speaking of nightspot blower-uppers, Sally has another piece of vinyl on the way. A double 12" for North American Disco Romance bonus track and Pitchfork's 39th favorite track of 2007 "He Keeps Me Alive" lands this May on Germany's Permanent Vacation imprint. UPDATE: this release will include a new Sally Shapiro track called "My Fantasy". Woo!

And while Sally and Johan's debut North American tour may have been cut sadly short, the pair does have a DJ date lined up at Debaser in Malmö, Sweden on May 2. [MORE...]

Caribou and Fuck Buttons Kick Off Joint Tour Tonight

Caribou photo by Sanchez and Kitahara

This evening in Hamilton, Ontario, the blissed-out psych-pop of Dan Snaith and his Caribou will meet the blissed-out caterwauling crunch of Fuck Buttons. It's the first of a ton of engagements the two will share all over North America over the next couple months.

Carting what's sure to be a truckload of pedals and gadgets and doo-dads along at every turn, Caribou and the bad-word Buttons (recent Best New Music recipients for their head-swimmingly superb Street Horrrsing LP) will make their long honeymoon an overseas affair as well, when the bands share May bills at Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival and the ATP vs. Pitchfork shindig.

Upon untangling their respective cables, and figuring out which MicroKorg belongs to which person, both bands have quite a few dates on their own. [MORE...]

Jay-Z Headlines Hove Festival
Other acts: Animal Collective, Les Savy Fav, Band of Horses

American Hove, meet Norwegian Hove. After all that fuss we made last year about the funny name of the finely curated Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway, the fest went out and snagged Jay-Z as one of this year's headliner. Well played, you guys.

Of course, Jay is hardly the extent of the 2008 bill. It also includes Animal Collective, Les Savy Fav, Band of Horses, the Raconteurs, Black Mountain, Yeasayer, the Cool Kids, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Stars, Boys Noize, Simian Mobile Disco, Crystal Castles, MGMT, Babyshambles, Black Kids, Kim Hiorthøy, Familjen, Foals, the Teenagers, Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Kooks, Converge, and the newest candidate for worst band name ever, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, among many others.

This year's Hove Festival takes place from June 23-27.

Thanks to reader Anders Tønsberg for the tip.

Aphex Twin, Goldfrapp Added to Coachella Bill
One of these things is not like the other

Oh, snap. In our first post on the lineup for this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival-- burning up the desert around Indio, California April 25-27-- we mentioned that, compared to previous incarnations, the 2008 roster was a little, shall we say, "underwhelming." (Though just about anything after Daft Punk in 2006 would underwhelm, with the possible exceptions of Neutral Milk Hotel or the Beatles.) But there ain't a damn thing underwhelming about Mr. Richard D. James, who will bring his crazy ass Aphex Twin to the States for the first time in god knows how long. Coachella, consider us officially whelmed.

But wait, there's more! In addition to all that gloriously buzzsawin' clickety-clack from our boy Rich, Coachella has further bolstered its roster with appearances from at least one more truly stellar get: the chameleonic Goldfrapp. There will also be sets from righteous rockers Redd Kross, Lily Allen-lite Kate Nash, System of a Down dude Serj Tankian, and English soul/jazz buzz-getter Adele. These, of course, pepper a lineup already featuring Portishead, the Breeders, M.I.A., Death Cab, the Verve, Jens Lekman, My Morning Jacket, the Raconteurs, the Streets, Animal Collective, and all those other bands on that poster you've seen floating around. Guess that means the graphic design department's hard at work on round two, huh?

East Coasters, don't forget, Coachella organizers Goldenvoice will be putting on the somewhat smaller yet paradoxically Radiohead-headlined All Points West festival in your neck of the woods this summer.

Surprise! New Raconteurs Album out Next Week!
And there's a tour, too!

Pictured above and below: The Raconteurs on the set of My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade" video. (I kid.)

Jack White has pulled some pretty crazy stunts in the past (the insisting that his ex-wife is his sister thing, the only wearing red, white, and black thing, the one-note concert thing), but this just might be the craziest stunt of all.

Yesterday evening (happy St. Patrick's Day, folks!), the Raconteurs-- White's band with Brendan Benson and Greenhornes Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence-- announced that they will release their second album, Consolers of the Lonely, on March 25. Yes, that is this coming Tuesday, one week from today.

The Raconteurs also announced a spring tour connecting their appearances at Coachella and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

I'm too damn tired to explain the band's reasoning behind announcing the album's existence so soon before its release, so I'm just going to let this press release speak for itself.

[MORE...]

Guide to Pitchfork's SXSW 2008 Coverage

We swear we don't actively try to overwhelm our readers with content. But we totally understand if sometimes you can't keep up with quite everything that comes across your RSS reader from this website-- particularly last week, when a bunch of your faithful Pitchforkers journeyed to Austin, Texas for the annual SXSW extravaganza, where we cold binged on live music and embraced our inner insomniacs.

A half-dozen of us also contributed photo-bedecked daily reports to the site, links to which we've happily compiled below for your reference. Whether you want to revisit a particular day, focus on a specific writer's musings, read up on the bands that most interest you, or count how many different ways we can say we <3 Robyn, consider this your jump-off point.

Lists of our personal top five favorite SXSW performances from Pitchfork's SXSW posse follow below as well. And away we go....

SXSW 2008 Coverage Guide:

Wednesday, March 12

- Tyler Grisham (Jeremy Jay, Bjørn Torske, diskJokke, Lindstrøm)
- Matt LeMay (Pattern Is Movement, Shearwater, Upright Citizens Brigade, the Judy's, Okkervil River/Roky Erickson)
- Dave Maher (The Cansecos, Peter and the Wolf, R.E.M., the Lemonheads)
- Amy Phillips (Peter Morén, the Mae Shi, Frightened Rabbit, the Tough Alliance)
- Matthew Solarski (Laura Barrett, Planningtorock, the Russian Futurists, Gowns, Silje Nes)
- Paul Thompson (Phosphorescent, Earlimart, These New Puritans, Times New Viking, musings on a missed Bun B performance)

Thursday, March 13

- Tyler Grisham (Jens Lekman, Yeasayer, Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend, Bodies of Water, Man Man, High Places, El Guincho)
- Matt LeMay (R.E.M., So Many Dynamos, Yo La Tengo, the English Beat)
- Dave Maher (The Duke Spirit, Robyn, Phosphorescent, My Morning Jacket, Dizzee Rascal)
- Amy Phillips (Shout Out Louds, Lou Reed Tribute [Yo La Tengo, Mark Kozelek, My Morning Jacket, Thurston Moore and the New Wave Bandits, Moby, Laura Dawn, Lou Reed himself], Bellafea, the Wombats, Moby, Justice)
- Matthew Solarski (Thurston Moore interviews Steve Reich, the Brother Kite, Secret Shine, Sissy Wish, Retribution Gospel Choir, Mark Kozelek)
- Paul Thompson (No Age, Be Your Own Pet, Soiled Mattress and the Springs, Mike Rep with Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit, High on Fire)

Friday, March 14

- Tyler Grisham (Snowglobe, Fuck Buttons, the Mae Shi)
- Matt LeMay (Portastatic, Chris Brokaw, Yo La Tengo, more Portastatic, She & Him, Destroyer)
- Dave Maher (Matt Walsh and Matt Besser, Human Giant, Be Your Own Pet, Fleet Foxes, Constantines)
- Amy Phillips (The Ting Tings, Santogold, the Kid Sister Pro Nails salon, Mika Miko, Robyn)
- Matthew Solarski (Inca Ore, Grouper, Sera Cahoone, Grand Archives, She & Him)
- Paul Thompson (Mika Miko, Herman Dune, Telepathe, Panther, Kid Sister, Clipse)
- Pitchfork/Windish Austin Bash Photos (High Places, Lykke Li, White Williams, Jay Reatard, Fuck Buttons, Bon Iver, Atlas Sound, Fleet Foxes, Times New Viking, Yeasayer, A Place to Bury Strangers, No Age)

Saturday, March 15

- Tyler Grisham (Rachael Ray party [DJ Efren Ramirez, the Raveonettes], Kevin Barnes, Robyn, the Tough Alliance)
- Matt LeMay (Hard 'N Phirm, Paul F. Tompkins, Brian Posehn, Human Giant, Pissed Jeans, Jay Reatard, Atlas Sound, Crystal Antlers, Mr. Free & the Satellite Freakout!, No Age, Black Mountain, Islands, the Breeders)
- Dave Maher (Slim Cessna's Auto Club, David Bazan, M. Ward, Jim James, Wiz Khalifa, Murs)
- Amy Phillips (Home Blitz, Still Going, Holy Ghost!, go-go dancers, Chester French, N.E.R.D.)
- Matthew Solarski (Noah and the Whale, Laura Marling, Lightspeed Champion, Sons & Daughters, J Mascis, Thurston Moore and the New Wave Bandits, Misha, No Kids, Nadja, White Shoes & the Couples Company)
- Paul Thompson (Throw Me the Statue, Saviours, Ice Cube, Constantines, Jason Collett, Los Campesinos!)

Individual Top 5 Lists:

Megan Davey, General Manager:

1. David Banner
2. David Banner
3. David Banner
4. David Banner
5. David Banner

Tyler Grisham, Assistant Editor:

1. The Tough Alliance
2. El Guincho
3. Fuck Buttons
4. High Places
5. Lindstrøm

Chris Kaskie, Associate Publisher:

1. Fleet Foxes
2. The Dodos
3. Cut Copy
4. Vampire Weekend
5. Fuck Buttons

Nate Hileman, Senior Account Manager:

1. Lykke Li
2. Reggie Watts
3. Atlas Sound
4. Jeremy Jay
5. The Dodos

Matt LeMay, Senior Contributor:

1. Destroyer
2. Shearwater
3. Portastatic
4. Jay Reatard
5. Yo La Tengo

Dave Maher, Lead Reporter:

1. Murs
2. Bon Iver
3. Be Your Own Pet
4. Jim James
5. Peter and the Wolf

Amy Phillips, Senior News Editor:

1. Frightened Rabbit
2. Robyn
3. The Tough Alliance
4. Santogold
5. The Mae Shi

Scott Plagenhoef, Associate Editor-in-Chief:

1. Cut Copy
2. The Dodos
3. Fleet Foxes
4. Fuck Buttons
5. Robyn

Mark Richardson, Managing Editor:

1. Fleet Foxes
2. Simian Mobile Disco
3. The Dodos
4. Ponytail
5. El Guincho

Ryan Schreiber, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher:

1. Fleet Foxes
2. Fuck Buttons
3. The Mae Shi
4. HEALTH
5. Ponytail

Matthew Solarski, News Editor:

1. Gowns
2. Be Your Own Pet
3. Fuck Buttons
4. Mark Kozelek
5. Grouper

Paul Thompson, Lead Reporter:

1. Clipse
2. Robyn
3. Times New Viking
4. Gowns
5. Los Campesinos!

Band of Horses Issue New Single

The MySpace-proclaimed "healing & easy listening" work of Band of Horses continues with release of the single for Cease to Begin tune "No One's Gonna Love You". The 7" is out now on Sub Pop, and on its B-side it features a cover of Them Two's "Am I a Good Man" that was recorded live for Seattle radio station KEXP. (You might recognize "Am I a Good Man" from the Numero Group compilation Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label.)

It also continues the band's tradition of subtly striking art, as witnessed by the cover pictured above.

Band of Horses have a handful of shows in Florida to wrap up their March, and the next time they'll play out will be in England this July.

They also provided music for this weird New York Times fashion movie thing, which should give you a taste of what it's going to be like when "Is There a Ghost" starts showing up in every movie trailer ever. [MORE...]

Goldfrapp Tour U.S., Work With Yeasayer, Spiritualized
Share incredibly awesome promo video

Boy, you look away for a couple of days, and Goldfrapp's gone and lined up all kinds of crazy stuff for themselves. In the coming months, Alison and Will have scheduled an embarassment of new singles for Seventh Tree's "Happiness", a mess of new tour dates, and a few appearances in popular media outlets. The single's out first, so let's start there, shall we?

On April 14 in the UK, Mute will issue "Happiness" on several formats. There's the regular CD edition, boasting a single version of the track and an acoustic version of "Road to Somewhere", a maxi-CD with a Yeasayer remix of "Eat Yourself", a take on "Monster Love" credited to Goldfrapp vs. Spiritualized (ah, I get it now), and a Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve Re-animation of "Happiness".

There will be a pretty 7" picture disc, too, with the single version of "Happiness" backed with a Metronomy remix of the tune featuring the much-talked-about Teenagers. And, though the details are scant for the time being, a "stack of downloads" is also promised.

As you know, Alison and Will plan to hit the road with all those backdrops and stuff come April, with a spotty schedule that's filling in nicely into the summer. They've added several dates since we ran them down last time, including appearances at both the Coachella and Glastonbury festivals and a couple non-fest gigs in the U.S. Their trip to the U.S. will also find the group making a stop on "Jay Leno" on April 22, and chattin' it up with Mr. Harcourt in between jams on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" the next day.

Oh, and since you were all so patient with our run-down, here's the craziest thing you're likely see in a while:

These two are so great. [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.)