M83 and Maps Remix Each Other on New Single

M83's sweeping synth sounds are like the audio equivalent of a moving landscape, so what better way to herald the release of new album Saturdays = Youth than with a sky-themed single?

Preceding Saturdays' arrival via Mute (April 15 in North America, April 14 everywhere else) is a split single with M83 and fellow skygazers Maps remixing each other's work. One side features the "M83 Mix" of Maps' "To the Sky" (from last year's We Can Create), while the other features the "Maps Mix" of M83's "We Own the Sky", a track from the new LP. The single is a limited edition 7" available online and at select UK independent stores on April 7 thanks to Sonic Cathedral.

Following its release, Anthony Gonzalez has plenty of M83 dates to worry about, so support for the single will fall to Maps' James Chapman. On April 30, Chapman will DJ for Sonic Cathedral at the Social in London. Also on the bill are Ulrich Schnauss, Airiel, and Autumn Chorus. [MORE...]

Stream: M83: Couleurs [single; from the forthcoming Saturdays = Youth LP]

She & Him Line Up Brief Tour

Photo by Natalie Kardos

It's not much, this She & Him tour, but hey, these are busy folks. Singer/songwriter M. Ward and actress/singer/songwriter Zooey Deschanel have lined up a little bi-coastal tour in support of their debut, Volume One, recently released on Merge. The pair will link up in New York April 21, perform on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" the following evening (April 22), make their way to L.A. April 29, and then finally land in San Francisco in mid-May.

As for She, well, she's probably gonna have to spend some time promoting that M. Night Shyamalan flick she's starring in this summer (she must work well with dudes named M., huh?). Him is gonna have to re-learn all his own songs for a pair of festival appearances he's got lined up this summer. Where to, M.? Well, to Outside Lands in San Fran way way off in August, as well as that there recently expanded Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in July. [MORE...]

Stream: She & Him: Various Tracks [from the Volume One LP]

Photos: Sunset Rubdown / Blood on the Wall / Ecstatic Sunshine with White Williams [Brooklyn, NY; 03/27/08]

Barry Adamson (ex-Bad Seeds, Magazine) Preps New LP

Stream: Barry Adamson: Various Tracks

B-52's Remixed by CSS, Scissor Sisters, Plan Tour
Join up with the True Colors tour

With the way they've been acting, you'd never know that the B-52's are almost two decades down the road from the "Love Shack". This week, Astralwerks released Funplex, the Athens icons' first album in 16 years, and the B-52s' show no signs of slowing up any time soon.

First up is a trio of remixes of Funplex's title track from the likes of CSS, Peaches and the Scissor Sisters, available right this instant through iTunes. Then there's the band's club tour, which kicks off in Boston in late April following a few scattered gigs beforehand (including one tonight in British Columbia).

And then there's their co-headlining spot on this year's True Colors Tour, where they'll join Cyndi Lauper, Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, Joan Jett, Andy Bell of Erasure, and others on a lineup that changes as often as Fred Schneider switches suits.

Welcome back, B-52's! Yours is a much more welcome re-emergence than that of those planes you're named after. [MORE...]

Video: The B-52's: Funplex [from the Funplex LP]

Tony Allen, Vieux Farka Toure on African U2 Tribute

Vladislav Delay Reissues 2001's Anima, Forms Quartet

MP3: Vladislav Delay: I Saw a Polysexual [from the Whistleblower LP]

Ray Davies Embarks on North American Tour

Stream: Ray Davies: Various Tracks [from the Working Man's Cafe LP]

Nine Inch Nails Announce Summer Tour

Get ready to spend your hot summer days in a cold, dark place. Trent Reznor announced on his website yesterday that "the band has been reformed (details coming!)" and Nine Inch Nails will "embark on extensive tour" in support of Ghosts later this year.

The first stop on the trek is the Pemberton Festival in British Columbia, and it may or may not include a stop at Lollapalooza, though Chicago during the first weekend in August sure does fit snugly into this touring schedule right down that.

Thanks to october_midnight of Echoing the Sound for the tip! [MORE...]

Stream: Nine Inch Nails: Various Tracks [from Ghosts I-V]

Andrew Bird Blogs for The New York Times

Photo by Joseph Mohan

As Andrew Bird Soldiers On with the recording of his new album-- the follow-up to last year's Armchair Apocrypha-- the loop-y Chicago songwriter has taken up a new hobby: blogging. However, unlike those of us who would have to register for a Blogspot or Wordpress account to indulge our net-enabled diaristic impulses, Bird's words appear online in The New York Times.

More specifically, Bird is blogging about his songwriting and recording processes for the NYT blog Measure for Measure. Measure for Measure chronicles the creative processes of its contributors, who include Roseanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, and songwriter Darrell Brown.

Bird's first post is up now, and it details his preparations and plans for the new album:

"I've got 11 songs mostly written and several dozen distinct melodies. I never worry about the melodies drying up. Since I can remember, I've had melodies in my head. I chew my food to them... Words are much trickier. I would forgo words altogether if I didn't love singing them so much... I'm really an instrumentalist who sings words, and if you care to pay attention, you might enjoy them. So in this post, I will begin reporting on the progress of an as-of-yet unfinished song, with all my doubts and insecurities laid bare."

The song Bird details is tentatively titled "Oh No", and he traces its growth from the initial spark of inspiration (a child's cry on an airplane flight) to the later stages of line-editing lyrics. The post is full of nitty-gritty stuff, for those who like that kind of thing, and there will be more where it came from every few weeks.

Despite the recording and blogging, Bird hasn't neglected to schedule some shows for himself this spring and summer. The first of them is April 5 in Cincinnati. He's also been busy popping up on friends' records-- he contributes to the new Dosh record, Wolves and Whistles, out May 13 on Anticon, and to Dianogah's qhnnnl, out June 10 in the U.S. and June 16 in Europe on Southern. [MORE...]

MP3: Andrew Bird ft. Dianogah: Fiery Crash / Lull / a breaks b / Plasticities (Daytrotter Session)

ATP vs. Pitchfork Sells Out!
Hot Chip, Various Production to DJ at festival

Airfare/train passes to Rye, England? Check. Directions to Camber Sands Holiday Centre? Check. Time off from work for May 9-11? Check. A totally great lineup? Check plus!

Tickets? You did remember to get tickets, right? Hope so, because ATP vs. Pitchfork-- to be held at the aforementioned venue near the aforementioned English town on those aforementioned dates-- is now sold out!

However, All Tomorrow's Parties plans to release a small number of additional passes. If you'd like to get on the waiting list to purchase one of these, you'll need to send an email to feedback@atpfestival.com with "WAITING LIST" as the subject line. Good luck!

We'd also like to welcome two late additions to the festival lineup. Apart from their full-band set, Hot Chip will also DJ at ATP vs. Pitchfork, while the mysterious Various Production (aka Various) will make a rare DJ appearance.

Here's that lineup one more time:

Chosen by Pitchfork:

Bon Iver
Vampire Weekend
Times New Viking
Jay Reatard
The Clientele
Jens Lekman
A Place to Bury Strangers
Yeasayer
The Hold Steady
Black Lips
Hot Chip
Les Savy Fav
No Age
Of Montreal
Man Man
Los Campesinos!
Caribou
Glass Candy
Dirty Projectors

Chosen by ATP:

Girls Against Boys
Black Mountain
Born Ruffians
Howlin Rain
Harmonia
Car Sick Cars
Even
Redd Kross
Marissa Nadler
Deerhunter
Wooden Shjips
Meat Puppets
The Black Angels
Shit and Shine
Sebadoh
Ween
Pissed Jeans
Fuck Buttons
Apse

Plus:

Hot Chip (DJ set)
Various Production (DJ set)

Thanks to everyone who bought tickets-- see you in six weeks!

Booka Shade Return With The Sun & The Neon Light
Get Physical acts tour

Though they've spent the last couple years mixing, remixing, being remixed, and, uh, being sampled by will.i.am, it's been a little while since Booka Shade's Movements, their last full-length of twitchy, funky Berlin microhouse, came out in 2006.

But Booka Shade are back and as luminescent as ever, if Get Physical's May 27 release of their third LP The Sun & The Neon Light is any indication. The album will be released as a regular CD and as a limited edition double CD, which will contain an extra disc of "club versions" of the album's tracks. The added tracks will also be available digitally.

The double-A-side single for "City Tales" and "Planetary" is available now.

Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier will hit the touring circuit pretty much all spring and summer, and, wouldn't you know it? Their fellow Get Physical label co-founders M.A.N.D.Y. are, too. Feast your eyes on just gads of dancing opportunities below the jump. [MORE...]

MP3: Booka Shade: Darko (Le Grand Noir Club Mix) [from the Darko Remixes II LP]
Stream: Booka Shade: Planetary / City Tales [from the forthcoming The Sun & The Neon Light LP]

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