Wilco Announce New North American Dates

Photo by Will Marsh

For folks up and down the mid-section of North America, there's plenty of Wilco to come this spring, as the gents will follow up their current run of shows in Australia and New Zealand with a decidedly landlocked tour of the U.S. and, briefly, Canada.

The new tour kicks off in Rochester, Minnesota on the last day of April and sets down mid-May in St. Louis. Sky Blue Sky in big sky country? "Side With the Seeds" amidst the cornfields? Hard to argue with that kinda synergy.

Wherever you may hang your hat at night, you'll soon be able to pick up a copy of the Rock the Net: Musicians for Net Neutrality comp or the soundtrack to "Heroes", both of which feature a Wilco track. There's also that rescheduled South Carolina date way off in August, a beacon of hope for a full-out summer tour. Not to mention those rumors that Wilco just might be headlining one day of a certain massive festival in their hometown the first weekend in August...

In related news, Wilco's Glenn Kotche, along with the National's Bryce Dessner, will guest with Bang on a Can All-Stars at Northwestern University's Sonic Divergence Music Festival, taking place in Evanston, Illinois on April 6. [MORE...]

The Kooks Issue New Album, Tour the World

Named after Kinks legend Ray Davies' Konk Studios-- in which, it probably goes without saying, it was largely put to tape-- Konk is the sophomore LP from Brighton, England's the Kooks. The quartet will release the new disc, produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air), on April 14 in the UK on Virgin and April 15 in the U.S. on Astralwerks.

If you're just plain kooky for the Kooks and you dwell in their homeland, you can opt for a double-disc version of Konk that includes a second set of tunes entitled Rak (also named after a studio). A single for "Always Where I Need to Be" hits UK shops March 31.

Those Kooks sure do love to tour! Or at least, that's what we gather from the massive string of dates they have lined up. With upcoming gigs in the UK, mainland Europe, North America, and Japan, if you haven't caught up with this Konk-y Kookery yet, it may be unavoidable. [MORE...]

Black Moth Super Rainbow Drop Scratch'n'Sniff Vinyl!

We wouldn't ordinarily advocate scratching your vinyl, but in this case, we'll make an exception. Black Moth Super Rainbow, the convention-thwarting Pennsylvanian bunch responsible for last year's Recommended Dandelion Gum album, have gone and pressed said release into a turntable-ready LP.

Okay nothing so unconventional there, but wait! This isn't just any vinyl we're talking about here. This is, as you may have noticed in the headline, scratch'n'sniff vinyl!! Yes, the friction created by running something coarse (a fingernail, say) across the cover of this record will unleash odors as yet un-smelt by the noses of men! Women, too!

As if this olfactory offering weren't enough, the vinyl version of Dandelion Gum also includes a bonus track not found on the CD, "The Dark Forest Joggers". Both formats are available now via Graveface Records.

And that's hardly the only slice of vinyl BMSR will serve up this year: The trippy troupe also delivers the "Zodiac Girl" 7" via Suicide Squeeze on May 6, as previously reported. Catch of whiff of the weirdness that is Black Moth Super Rainbow at any of the act's upcoming live dates.

UPDATE: Former Minuteman and bass legend Mike Watt interviewed Black Moth Super Rainbow's Tobacco for his podcast, "The Watt From Pedro Show". Look for the stream later today on the show's site, and scope Watt [bottom left] hanging with the BMSR gang right here:


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Saturday Knights Get Dap-Kings, Thayil, Muscle Shoals

Photo by Christopher Nelson

Seattle rap goofballs the Saturday Knights have titled their forthcoming debut LP Mingle, and that's exactly what they did in the process of making the record. Mingle is full of guests from all corners of the music world, featuring appearances from the Dap-Kings, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Nirvana producer Jack Endino, the legendary Jim Horn and the Muscle Shoals Horns (Horn played on Pet Sounds and the original Shaft soundtrack), and Chris Ballew from Presidents of the United States of America. And those are only a few names on the Seattle-heavy list of people joining the Knights (aka DJ Suspence and MCs Tilson and Barfly) on Mingle.

But who, you might ask, is putting out this collection of live-accompanied throwback rap tracks? That would be the reissue masters at hometown label Light in the Attic. And they will do so on June 24. [MORE...]

QOTSA Cover Eno, Elliott Smith, Billy Idol on Tour CD
But it's only available in Canada

Photo by Chris Owyoung

To commemorate their forthcoming Canadian tour-- and, let's face it, because there's a lot of money in getting people to buy the same thing twice-- Queens of the Stone Age have whipped up a "Limited Tour Edition" of 2007's Era Vulgaris.

The bad news? It will be available in Canada and Canada only, April 15 from Universal.

The 11-track original Vulgaris album is bolstered by a Richard File remix of the title track, a live acoustic version of the album's "Make It Wit Chu", and covers of Brian Eno's "Needle in the Camel's Eye", Billy Idol's "White Wedding", and their unlikely take on Elliott Smith's "Christian Brothers". There's also a second disc containing nine songs recorded live at Amsterdam's Paradiso.

Man, the American dollar's already devalued enough. Now you go and make our record collections worth less, too?

The Queens are down in New Zealand at the moment, with gigs in Australia (including some V Festival shows) leading them to the Great White North. They'll hit Canada in late April and early May before taking off to Europe with all those suitcases full of Canadian currency. [MORE...]

Swervedriver Plan Gigs, Magnetic Morning EP Bumped

Lest you've forgotten, Swervedriver have expressed their intentions to reunite for a world tour in 2008. And seeing as it's now 2008, um, dudes, where's your tour?

Ah, there it is-- or the first four of a presumed many dates, anyhow. A dreads-free Adam Franklin and his gang will pilot their vehicle in an erratic fashion through Los Angeles, Austin, and New York as May turns to June. And since we were promised a full-throttle world tour, we'll assume more dates will soon join the ranks of the four below.

As for Franklin's other thing, the one with Interpol's Sam Fogarino? The oft-discussed debut EP from Magnetic Morning (née the Setting Suns) has a new U.S. release date. DH Records will now unleash the Magnetic Morning EP on April 19 (to coincide with Record Store Day), and the offering features a slightly different tracklist from the digital version that went live late last year. Check that below. [MORE...]

Kraftwerk to Tour the U.S. Just a Little Bit
Only as far as their extension cord can reach

Weary of traversing the Autobahn and scooting across the Trans-Europe Express, the Man-Machines of Kraftwerk will bring their Computer World to the United States for an extremely brief spring tour. After dates in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Denver, tthey'll transport themselves on down to Coachella before heading on back to "Ohm Sweet Ohm".

Oh Kraftwerk, you make computing fun.

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Terrastock 7 Lineup Announced
Includes Oneida, Jack Rose, Marissa Nadler, Entrance, Simply Saucer

Summer festivals are beginning to announce their lineups, which means we here at Pitchfork News are preparing to punctuate with commas the same eight names over and over again.

Fortunately, the seventh Terrastock festival in Louisville, Kentucky is sensitive to our truly awful (read: trivial) plight, and the organizers of the fest have obliged with a starting lineup of Oneida, Mono, Entrance, Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple, Marissa Nadler, Bardo Pond, Tara Jane O'Neil, MV&EE with the Golden Road, Jack Rose, Windy and Carl, Kinski, Damon and Naomi, the Bevis Frond, Major Stars, Wooden Shjips, Black Forest/Black Sea, Simply Saucer, Antietam, Tanakh, Grails, Linus Pauling Quartet, Plastic Crimewave Sound, and Paik, among others.

To take part in the off-the-beaten-path festivities, head to Louisville's Mellwood Arts Center from June 19-22.

Coldplay Reveal New Album Details
The Ricky Martin revival begins now

It's been well over a year since we last found cause to mention Coldplay in these pages, and whatever your feelings for the soft-rock Goliath, here we are again with our annual (not really) Coldplay roundup.

Coldplay have named the follow-up to 2005's X&Y, and according to the band's website it is called...wait for it...Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. WTF? To be fair, Chris Martin revealed the Frida Kahlo-inspired title to RollingStone.com recently as just Viva la Vida, and I'm sure the people marketing this thing will make sure that's the name that sticks.

The RollingStone.com report cites June 17 as the release date for Viva. As previously reported, Brian Eno helmed the producer's chair for Livin' la Viva la Vida. Joining him: Markus Dravs, who has worked with Björk and the Arcade Fire, among others.

The Coldplay boys claim they're finalizing the album tracklist right now, but they have revealed a bunch of track titles in various website dispatches, including "Lovers in Japan", "Strawberry Swing", "Famous Old Painters", "Glass of Water", "Lost!", "Cemeteries of London", "Violet Hill", "Poppy Fields", "42", "Yes!", "Leftrightleftrightleft", "Rainy Day", and "Prospekt's March". That said, Martin and the gang have also expressed a desire to keep their new album to nine tracks (and 42 minutes' length), so perhaps a bunch of these will wind up B-sides.

So, what can we look forward to musically? Offered the band on its website: "As you'd expect with Brian Eno, there's experimentation and exploration. But the music still has integrity. It's real and honest. There's no posturing or bombast."

Also: "The sights, sounds and flavours of Latin America and Spain have definitely been infused into this album...No maracas or castanets, but a vibrancy and colourfulness that owes much to the atmospheres of Buenos Aires and Barcelona. The effect is subtle but important."

Many a live show will no doubt follow, but for now Coldplay have just three: a spot at the inaugural Pemberton Festival in Canada and two appearances at Japan's Summer Sonic shindig. [MORE...]

The Raconteurs Reveal Consolers Tracklist

So the idea is, you're not gonna get to hear Consolers of the Lonely, the just-announced sophomore set from Jack White and Brendan Benson's Raconteurs until it's actually issued March 25 on Third Man/XL/Warner Brothers. That's this coming Tuesday-- six whole days!

You can, however, now gaze longingly at its tracklist and imagine what it's gonna sound like. Will "The Switch and the Spur" be a country-rock jam? Will "These Stones Will Shout" be the Stones-y shouter? Could "Many Shades of Black" be their Sunn O))) homage? See, we don't know, and you don't either, and that's what's so great about all this. It's like the last ten years never happened!

As you know, the Raconteurs are hitting the road in support of their new disc, and Raleigh, North Carolina's Birds of Avalon have apparently been handpicked by the band to open their initial string of North American dates. [MORE...]

Odd Nosdam Compiles Remixes, Reworkings, Rarities

Photo by Jessica Bailiff

Odd Nosdam will clear out his closet of remixes, rarities (Oddities?), and even a few videos with the release of a collection called Pretty Swell Explode via Anticon on April 29 May 27. The package's two discs are split between an ambient EP and a full-length showcase of the producer's beat-centric skills, including reworkings (some straight remixes, some perhaps better described as "covers") of tracks by Boards of Canada, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Serena-Maneesh, and a few of Odd's Anticon labelmates.

Nos created most of the tracks on Pretty Swell Explode around the time he recorded his previous two LPs (2005's Burner and last year's Level Live Wires), and eight of them are exclusive to PSE.

Starting tonight (March 19), Odd has a handful of dates in California and Colorado. [MORE...]

Vampire Weekend, YACHT Sail Away on Tour Tonight

We ran through all our jokes last time, so now we'll just lay it all out for you: Vampire Weekend and YACHT-- who, all gags about recreational boating vessels and social standing aside, are both great bands-- will kick off their joint tour tonight in San Diego. The two will match wits just about every night from now through April 6, when they'll part ways in Chicago. Probably over a fancy dinner at a wine bar overlooking Lake Michigan. (Ack, sorry.)

Both bands have plenty of other dates besides, with YACHT hitting New York and eventually the UK/Europe, and the V-Dubs going to Brown, Coachella, the UK (including the ATP vs. Pitchfork fest), Spain, the American south, this summer's far-too-far-away Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, and, finally, Japan. [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.)