Lil Wayne FINALLY Announces Carter III Release Date

Hot damn. After untold numbers of mixtapes alluding to its existence, years and years of promises unkept and so many tentative release dates that came and went, Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III will be released by Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown May 13.

Probably.

Sporting the recently Forkcasted, awfully divisive first single "Lollipop", the sixth LP from Weezy F. Baby is the first full-length studio release from the nevertheless hyperprolific MC since the December 2005 release of Tha Carter II.

What info we've got isn't real long on details-- no proper tracklist, alas-- but Billboard.com recently confirmed that Kanye West, Lil' Mama, Hurricane Chris, Corey Gunz, Jibbs, Shanell, Kidd Kidd and Mack Maine have all recorded guest verses for the album, and producers Swizz Beatz, Alchemist, Cool & Dre, Deezle and Jim Jonsin (who produced "Lollipop") contribute tracks. And if Birdman's not on there even for a second, I will eat my hat.

Wayne, who's not letting his January arrest slow him down one bit, pops up on Bun B's forthcoming II Trill LP, as well as on newcomer Tyga's upcoming album No Introduction, which Wayne will release on his own Young Money Ent. label in conjunction with Pete Wentz's Decaydance label. (Tyga also appears on Tha Carter III.)

He also has a few U.S. tour dates on the way, the next of which goes down over the weekend in Philly. [MORE...]

Help Rivers Cuomo Write a New "Sawng"!
Weezer album due for June 2008 release

Hey have you heard about this YouTube thing? It's just the bee's knees, man! It would seem Rivers Cuomo has heard about this YouTube thing, and he's already putting it to good use.

The Weezer frontman and charity footballer reached out to his fans recently via YouTube for what he's christened "Let's Write a Sawng", an interactive songwriting project of sorts.

"Here's the deal," declares an amusingly mustachioed Cuomo in the introductory "Sawng" dispatch. "I'm in my music studio, trying to write a song. And I need your help. That's right. Me, and all of yous, are gonna write a song together."

For Step 1, Cuomo selected an "attitude" for his song, essentially "fun and poppy, but tough." For Step 2, he tapped his fans for a song title. "80's Radio" emerged as the victor, beating out "Riding in Geos With Katie", "Showdown in Candyland", and even the seemingly indomitable "Big and Bouncy".

For Step 3, still in progress, Cuomo has asked us to "come up with some chords yo." Word.

As of March 21, Rivers was heading over the river and through the woods to his grandparents' house for a week on a dial-up modem, which means you probably have until March 28 or so to pick the perfect chords for "80's Radio" and post them to YouTube. Make haste, yo.

Many thanks to reader Matthew Dunn for the tip!

And as much as we'd delight to find the fruits of the "Sawng" project on the forthcoming Weezer album, that seems unlikely given a recent posting to the Weezer website.

"We have one song left to mix and then it's on to mastering," that one reads. "We should be all done very soon. Then we chill for a minute." The record should be out in June, it's not called Tout Ensemble, and apparently it's "meaty, crunchy, and melodic like a good Weezer album should be." So there you go.

Oh, also, we're promised a new Weezer single on the radio soon. Cheeky Rivers won't disclose the title, but he does tell us it begins with T, ends with R, and is a single, twelve-letter world. So obviously it's called, um, "Treehuggerer".

Fleet Foxes Announce Debut Album
Sun Giant EP hitting stores soon

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Hot on the heels of their recent, Best New Music'd Sun Giant EP, Seattle's Fleet Foxes have announced the details of their debut LP. The self-titled affair (known for a time as Ragged Wood, though now officially eponymous) sports 11 tracks from the up-and-comers, including the recently Forkcasted (and totally gorgeous) "White Winter Hymnal". The Phil Ek-produced set is due June 3 from Sub Pop.

Oh, and Sun Giant, which has been available exclusively through Sub Pop's website since late February, arrives in stores April 8.

The Foxes recently launched a tour alongside another pack of Pac Northwesterners: Blitzen Trapper. Once the two are done stalking North America in late April, Fleet Foxes hit Sasquatch! and the Pitchfork Music Festival this summer. [MORE...]

Smashing Pumpkins Sue Virgin Over "Artistic Integrity"
LOLz

Photo by Matt Ziegler

Okay so this is just kinda funny. According to a Billboard.com report, Billy Corgan and his Smashing Pumpkins are suing former label Virgin Records-- with which they put out Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Adore, and Machina/The Machines of God-- for damaging their "artistic integrity" and undoing the "considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public" the band has "worked hard for over two decades to accumulate." All because of a little promotion.

Hmm, was it the promotion where the Pumpkins milked their hardcore fans by issuing four different versions of Zeitgeist to four different big money retailers? No? How about the one where they released a second Best Buy-only edition of Zeitgeist with a bonus DVD? Nope! Wait, that wrestling thing? No sir. Zeitgeist came out on Reprise, which falls under the Warner Music Group umbrella; the label taking the heat here is EMI Group-allied Virgin.

Turns out the Pumpkins are peeved over a promotion with PepsiCo and Amazon.com to push "Pepsi Stuff", which I guess is like Kool-Aid points for people who consume mass quantities of carbonated soft drinks.

Corgan and Co. claim they never granted Virgin permission to use the band in such a manner, and demand that the label hand over all profits from the Pepsi promotion as recompense. They're also seeking an injunction prohibiting use of the band's name for such purposes in the future.

While you ponder all that, know that the Pumpkins have expanded their latest "goodwill" mission some since our last dispatch, adding gigs in Mexico and Costa Rica, plus more in Australia. [MORE...]

Al Green Reveals Details of ?uestlove-Co-Produced LP

In the world of soul singers with froggy tenors, stylish outfits, and killer falsettos, Cee-Lo Green has reigned supreme since at least the summer of 2006, when "Crazy" was inescapable.

No disrespect to Cee-Lo, but the original Green machine, i.e. Reverend Al, has returned with a new album to dispatch with all this Gnarls Barkley malarkey. Aptly titled Lay It Down, the record comes out May 27 via Blue Note.

In an inspired move, Green collaborated with the Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and Roots/Lauryn Hill/Common collaborator James Poyser to produce the album. ?uestlove plays drums on Lay It Down, and the record's other musical contributors include Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, and Corinne Bailey Rae, as well as horn group the Dap-Kings.

Green will lay it down on the road in support of the record with several North American shows scattered all the way through September. [MORE...]

Dan Deacon, Wrens, Thermals, Ted Leo on Zine Comp
Plus: Xiu Xiu, Islands, Times New Viking, Handsome Furs, Shearwater, and...YOU!

We're not sure where they found it-- yard sale, grandparent's attic, dark alley behind the corner café-- but somebody at Melbourne, Australia-based multimedia zine The Lifted Brow recently came across a "fake bookshelf."

That is, a construction intended to give the appearance of an actual bookshelf, but, upon closer inspection, merely a collection of stripped spines wrapped around foam. The thing looks like this.

Most would discard such an oddity, or use it to build a beer pong table or something, but not The Lifted Brow! Recognizing the 103 book titles contained on the fake bookshelf's spines as a potent font of inspiration, the zine reached out to a whole bunch of creative friends-- music-minded and otherwise-- to compile the forthcoming "Fake Bookshelf" issue of The Lifted Brow.

Dan Deacon, the Wrens, the Thermals, Xiu Xiu, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Times New Viking, Islands, Shearwater, Handsome Furs, Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum (with No Kids' Nick Krgovich), Sunset Rubdown's Spencer Krug, Frog Eyes' Carey Mercer, Goblin Cock, Le Loup, Frightened Rabbit, Thee More Shallows, Home Blitz, Rock Plaza Central, No Kids, Get Him Eat Him (featuring Pitchfork contributor Matt LeMay), MGMT, and Dan Bejar's Hello, Blue Roses co-conspirator Sydney Vermont are among those asked to select a "fake" book title and get all creative with it.

Most of these folks contributed music to one of the zine's two adjoining CDs-- Elverum and Krgovich linked for a tune called "Marsh Blood", for example, while Rock Plaza Central composed a jolly little number entitled "Honeymoon With Murder". But several embraced other realms of stuff-making. For starters, Mercer took on the title "Saffron's Army" for a tale illustrated by Vermont, Deacon did some drawing, and Krug crafted a short story.

The Lifted Brow's "Fake Bookshelf" issue also abounds with full-time literary types, including Sandman scribe Neil Gaiman and the Jekyll to Lemony Snicket's Hyde, Daniel Handler.

The songs, stories, and scribbles served up by these fine folks and more will eventually comprise issue number four of The Lifted Brow, set to span one book and those two CDs when it finally does find a place next to the Los Campesinos! and Sea Monstre zines on your very real bookshelf.

We don't know exactly when yet (late 2008 is the plan though), because the Brow's editors are still seeking one essential contributor...you! The zine has launched a "Fake Bookshelf" contest, inviting the curious to submit a creative piece based on one of the many silly book titles.

Check out the contest details, the kickin' collection of prize swag (including an original Dan Deacon drawing!), and the complete list of title options right here. You only have until July 1 to come up with something, but just think of the yarns you might spin, the songs you might sing, or the doodles you might, er, doodle to the tune of titles like The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World, The Cheetah Chase, and The World of Professional Golf 1994!

Mobius Band to Open for Black Kids, Cut Copy

Through some enviable combination of skill, luck, and well-connectedness, Brooklyn's Mobius Band are finding themselves in some pretty hot warm-up spots this spring.

The trio not only has a run of dates currently in progress warming up European crowds for Editors, but will follow that with a trek opening up for Black Kids and Cut Copy on their forthcoming North American tour. Mobius Band will even find a little room in their overstuffed Rolodex for the DFA's Tim Goldsworthy and Tim Sweeney, who'll join the ace openers in New York May 14. Who will Mobius Band open for next? Guess we'll know soon enough. [MORE...]

Joan as Police Woman Survive on New Album

Joan as Police Woman, the chamber pop trio led by Antony/Rufus Wainwright collaborator Joan Wasser, have announced the release of their second album, To Survive. The follow-up to last year's Real Life features "To America", a duet with Wainwright, as the closer on an infinitive-happy tracklist.

Another of those infinitives is "To Be Loved", the record's first single. It's streaming now on Joan's MySpace, and it will make its physical debut in the UK on June 2 via Reveal. Reveal will then release the album in the UK on June 9, and Cheap Lullaby will release it in the U.S. on June 10. PIAS will handle the record's release everywhere else in the world.

Joan as Police Woman have three shows scheduled for now, the last two of which are intimate previews of To Survive. [MORE...]

Head of Femur Finally Deliver Great Plains LP, Tour

Photo by Maggie Pedersen

Chicag-Omahanians (the word we just invented for Omaha-bred Chicago residents) Head of Femur have made good on last summer's promise to deliver a follow-up to 2005's Hysterical Stars. The new record, still called Great Plains, comes out tomorrow (March 25) via Portland label Greyday Records.

To support Great Plains, the foursome has a handful of dates in (appropriately enough) the Midwest, starting and ending with CD release shows in both of their hometowns. [MORE...]

Lightning Bolt, Blondie Members Join Lee Perry Album
Moby and David Tibet too

Chalk it up to Andrew W.K.'s gregariousness, but notoriously reclusive reggae/dub legend Lee "Scratch" Perry seems to be in the midst of quite a party. As previously reported, Andrew W.K. is producing Perry's next album, which is now set to include contributions from Moby, Blondie's Chris Stein, Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale, Current 93's David Tibet, Gumball/Velvet Monkeys dude Don Fleming, and Josh Werner from Matisyahu's band, among others.

The new record also has a name now, Repentance, and a vague release date: this August on Narnack Records.

The other half of Perry's new public face is The Upsetter: The Life & Music of Lee "Scratch" Perry, a documentary about the musician and producer that premiered this month at the SXSW Film Festival. The documentary consists of an exclusive, in-depth interview with Perry filmed at his Switzerland home in 2006, interspersed with archival footage, and featuring a soundtrack of tunes from throughout his career. Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough directed the movie.

The Upsetter will make its European premiere at two showings in Copenhagen, Denmark as part of the NATFilm Festival. The first is on March 28 at Cinemateket, and the second is on April 2 at Gloria.

Yo Majesty, Does It Offend You, Yeah? Link Up for Tour
DIOYY? full-length hits UK shops today, U.S. ones in April

DIOYY? photo by Chrissy Piper

Yo Majesty shows have been known to venture into some fairly, er, revealing territory. So any band willing to travel with the duo needs to be able to weather the potential controversy that comes with their tourmates' potent combination of uncompromising, sexually-charged electro-rap and occasional (okay, okay, frequent) toplessness.

Good thing the provocateurs of Does It Offend You, Yeah?-- whose very name seems to lend them the right sort of salt for the job-- have come along to raise at least one probing query of their own. The two groups have big plans to follow their respective appearances at Coachella with a joint North American tour, running from late April through the middle of May.

Both groups have dates apart before and after their time together, and some other stuff going on besides. DIOYY?'s debut LP, You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into, hits the States April 15 on Almost Gold (the UK edition arrived today). And Yo Majesty, who recently appeared on Neon Neon's Stainless Style, are due to capitalize on last fall's Domino signing any year now. [MORE...]

Sunset Rubdown Add Dates, Do Polaroid Project

Photo by Yannick Grandmont

"He was a man of many nations," indeed! Sunset Rubdown mastermind Spencer Krug will visit many a foreign land, mend many a gown, and court many a Random Spirit Lover on his band's forthcoming jaunt about Europe.

And that jaunt just got, er, jauntier with the addition of a cool baker's dozen more dates since our last report. That's right, the Sunset Rubdown tour has expanded to encompass an even greater span of nations, including the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. It now begins March 27 with a tiny, three-gig excursion in North America.

The Sunset Rubdown jaunt in question also got a whole lot more interactive with the announcement of the latest "Polaroid Project" from Xiu Xiu associate David Horvitz. Horvitz, as you may recall, previously solicited show-going Xiu Xiu fans for Polaroid film, which he returned as candid snapshots of the band and later compiled in a book.

This time around he's reaching out to fans of Sunset Rubdown who'll be attending the troupe's March 27 gig at Masonic Temple in Brooklyn. Folks who show up with some Polaroid film and a self-addressed, stamped envelope can look forward to finding some possibly compromising photos of their fave band in their mailboxes shortly thereafter. Nice! Details here. [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.)