Animal Collective, Silver Jews Do Super! Mon Amour
Plus: Bon Iver, Fuck Buttons, Crystal Castles, El Guincho

Make way for Paris' inaugural Super! Mon Amour festival! From May 22-27, the likes of Animal Collective, Silver Jews, Bon Iver, Fuck Buttons, Crystal Castles, El Guincho, Tunng, Monotonix, Telepathe, and more will help spin the exclamatory yarn of Super! Mon Amour for the first time ever.

The tale of Super! Mon Amour will be told at a plethora of Parisian nightspots over the six-day span, although the love festivalgoers find there will no doubt last much longer.

Ponytail Get Spiritual on Second Album, Tour

Hotly-tipped Baltimore noise-poppers Ponytail are set to lay a good one on us this spring with the release of their sophomore LP, Ice Cream Spiritual.

Spiritual hits June 17 on Baltimore's own We Are Free, and the disc will be preceded by an iTunes-only single for the recently-Forkcasted "Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)".

Until then, catch Ponytail at one of their upcoming East Coast engagements. [MORE...]

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down Open for Rilo Kiley
Add European dates aplenty as well

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Despite the urging of her constant companions, you can't keep a good Thao down. And we know of few Thaos quite as good as Thao Nguyen. In that spirit, Thao and her Get Down Stay Down will get up and continue touring tonight (April 10) in Claremont, California, then stay out on the road more or less through the middle of June.

With her tour with Xiu Xiu coming to a close this weekend, Thao's going in a slightly more mom-friendly direction with her next traveling companions: She'll join Rilo Kiley on a slew of the Cali combo's previously-reported tour dates.

"THANK YOU for taking us along for a three week jaunt on the east coast," Thao writes on her MySpace blog, adding, "Jenny Lewis sorry in advance for all of us who will try to hang out with you and touch your hair." We're guessing that didn't come up much with Jamie Stewart.

Oh, hey, and here's a nifty video of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down performing "Me on Top of You" in front of some folks:



It's like we're on top of them! Whoa dude. [MORE...]

Classic Sub Poppers the Fluid Plan Reunion Shows

Denver rockers the Fluid were the first non-local band to sign to esteemed Seattle label Sub Pop. Since the combo's mid-80s/early-90s heyday on Sub Pop, the label has seen quite a few artists pass through its doors: Nirvana, Afghan Whigs, Sleater-Kinney, Soundgarden, the Shins, Low, Sebadoh, Iron & Wine, the Postal Service, and Band of Horses, to name just a handful.

Just looking at some of those names (and the fact that we used the phrase "mid-80s/early-90s heyday") lets you know how long the Fluid have been gone. But let's not dwell on the past, because the original fivesome is reuniting in June and July for a few gigs where fans can relive all the sweaty magic in person.

The first of these shows is a June 20 appearance at Denver's Bluebird Theater, and the other two so far are July 12 and 13 at Seattle's Marymoor Park for the Sub Pop Records 20th Anniversary Festival. The latter event promises to be a scorcher, and more information about it is expected to surface soon. [MORE...]

Sun City Girls' Bishops Pay Tribute to Gocher on Tour

Photo by Catherine Lewis

Following the untimely passing of percussionist Charles Gocher over a year ago, folk/rock experimentalists Sun City Girls ceased functioning as an active group. Gocher and the Girls' legacy, however, will live on in the form of a tour featuring the remaining two band members, brothers Alan and Richard Bishop. The tour is called "The Brothers Unconnected: A Tribute to Sun City Girls and Charles Gocher", and on it, the Bishops will travel across North America from May into July.

Most stops on the tour will open with the viewing of a 40-minute collection of Gocher's video works called The Handsome Stranger. Following that, Alan and Richard Bishop will play two acoustic sets of tunes from across the Girls' 27-year history, including some penned by Gocher.

"The Brothers Unconnected" won't only be an occasion for commemorating Sun City Girls' live performances. These dates will also present opportunities for fans to pick up two tour-only releases: a limited-edition vinyl live album and a special "Brothers Unconnected" tour CD.

In other SCG release news, Drag City will release the soundtrack to Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely-- which features contributions from Sun City Girls and Spiritualized's J. Spaceman-- on April 22. The film itself will follow with a theatrical release in May. [MORE...]

Feist Does "1234" on "Sesame Street", Adds Dates
Kicks off tour tonight

Got plans for November 9? Yeah, me neither. But if you just so happen to be Leslie Feist-- or one of her bandmates, tour managers, groupies, etc.-- you know damn well where you'll be November 9: the Mile One Stadium in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Indeed, Feist, who kicks off her spring tour tonight (April 10) in Detroit, has already lined up a smattering of Canadian gigs for the fall. Something tells me we'll be hitting you with a Reminder (oh!) or two before those gigs finally happen in October and November.

There's plenty more Feist coming at you before that, with that unlikely pairing later this month and some new North American dates in July. And, while we're on the subject of unlikely pairings, this wacky thing is out now from Arts & Crafts, and get this: Feist recently reported that she has taped a version of "1234" for "Sesame Street", to air in a few months. Oooh, wonder if this guy's jealous? [MORE...]

Mission of Burma Add Live Vs. Gigs, Signals Gigs Too

For fans, anyway, there's always an elephant in the room whenever a band announces that they'll be running through one of their classic releases in its entirety: but what about my favorite? Post-punkers Mission of Burma hear ya. Not only will they perform the whole of their 1982 full-length debut Vs. at this summer's Pitchfork Music Festival and elsewhere, but they'll also treat some folks to classic debut EP Signals, Calls, and Marches.

In mid-June, Mission of Burma will take the stage twice over at both Boston's Paradise Rock Club and New York's Bowery Ballroom to perform Signals, then follow it up the next night with a full-on reading of Vs. Both are equally astonishing in their forward-thinking and wiry power. Study up on those super lavish new Matador reissues, pick your favorite (or, hell, catch 'em both), and see the "horrible truth" for yourself in a couple months.

Before all that goes down, MOB have a number of European dates on the way, including several with Shellac. [MORE...]

Rock Plaza Central, Plants & Animals Team Up for Tour

Plants and Animals photo by Katie Moore

Montreal indie trio Plants and Animals and Toronto robot-horse folk collective Rock Plaza Central have lined up some live dates in tandem. Alas, the double bill of Canadian Rocks and Plants will last for only four dates, but both acts also have a number of separate shows.

Plants and Animals are touring in support of their recently released album Parc Avenue, while Rock Plaza Central are still riding out 2006's Are We Not Horses. [MORE...]

The Roots Plan Tons More Dates, "Colbert" Appearance

Photo by Natalie Kardos

With a spring full of college shows and festival appearances, including one at their very own Picnic, the Roots seemed in store for a fairly laid back season surrounding the release of new album Rising Down.

But we should have known better, because the tireless hip-hop troupe has announced another couple months' worth of dates to carry them into the summer. The Roots will open for Erykah Badu on most of the May and June dates, and they also have a trio of television appearances scheduled for April.

On April 13, they'll play at NYC's Beacon Theatre as part of the Jon Stewart-hosted "Night of Too Many Stars" on Comedy Central. Then on April 15, another Comedy Central appearance, this one on "The Colbert Report" as the show broadcasts from the Roots' hometown of Philadelphia as part of the show's Pennsylvania primary coverage. Finally, the Roots will play "The Late Show With David Letterman" on April 28.

Rising Down comes out the next day, April 29, via Def Jam. [MORE...]

Patti Smith, Tegan Quin Songs in Burroughs' Audio Book

Morrissey, Colin Meloy, and Belle & Sebastian, eat your hearts out. Some other lit-leaning songwriters have used their talents to enhance a forthcoming book by best-selling writer Augusten Burroughs.

Due out April 29, A Wolf at the Table is, according to its own subtitle, "a memoir of [Burroughs'] father." And based on the description on the author's website, his book's narrative has a certain surrealistic bent to it.

Enter Patti Smith (with daughter Jesse Smith), Tegan Quin (of Tegan and Sara fame), Ingrid Michaelson, and Sea Wolf, all of whom penned songs specifically for the A Wolf at the Table audio book. Their contributions form a soundtrack that is interspersed throughout Burroughs' reading of the book in ways that heighten the aforementioned surrealism. For a taste of how this all sounds, head over to Burroughs' website.

Thanks to reader Jason LeRoy for the tip.

The Futureheads Send New Album Stateside, Tour

The Futureheads are now. Or, more precisely, the Futureheads are May 26 and 27, the respective UK and U.S. release dates for their third album, This Is Not the World. The follow-up to 2006's News and Tributes comes out on the Sunderland quartet's own newly minted Nul Records, and a producer named Youth (Primal Scream, the Verve) infused the album with his technical touch.

This Is Not the World's tracklist has changed slightly since we last reported it, so have a look at the adjusted rundown below. Then catch the Futureheads as they support This with tour dates throughout the UK and Europe, including shows with Muse, CSS, and MGMT. [MORE...]

Lightspeed Champion Adds Dates With Flowers Forever

Lugubrious Londoner Lightspeed Champion, aka Devonte Hynes, has found some company for his misery. The form of that company is a full band that will join him for a return trip to North America in June.

Still supporting his debut album Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, Lightspeed Champion has added a heap of North American dates to his travels, all with Tilly and the Wall singer/guitarist Derek Pressnall's Flowers Forever project. The first two shows on the tour also feature the Moldy Peaches' Adam Green.

And that's hardly it for Lightspeed Champion live activity. For the moment, Hynes is in Switzerland, but he has quite a few shows in the UK and Northern Ireland over the weeks to come. [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.)