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...]

Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, Brother Ali Do Soundset Fest
Plus: Dilated Peoples, Little Brother, P.O.S., Psalm One, the World Famous Beat Junkies

The sampled stars will align and create a constellation of indie hip-hoppers on May 25, when Rhymesayers and Rose Presents help Soundset 08 invade Minneapolis' Metrodome parking lot.

Over eight hours, this year's Soundset festival will feature sets from Atmosphere, Aesop Rock with Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz, Little Brother, Dilated Peoples, Brother Ali, Psalm One, Blueprint, Eyedea & Abilities, P.O.S., Mac Lethal, I Self Devine, Grayskul, and the World Famous Beat Junkies (DJ Babu, Rhettmatic, and J-Rocc, all doing individual DJ sets), among many more.

!!! Line Up Summer Dates

Photo by Zach Vowell

Brooklyn hippie-sters !!! have reinvigorated their Mythical touring hootenanny with some brand new dates. While May and June find the band Down Under, the recently added shows comprise a regular North American summer tour.

Smack dab in the middle of the jaunt is an appearance at our own Pitchfork Music Festival, taking place at Chicago's Union Park from July 18-20. [MORE...]

Bjork Screens "Wanderlust" Video for Record Store Day

For one day this month, wanderlust will be more than a yearning felt in isolation while staring out of an office-building window. That day is April 19, aka Record Store Day, and the "Wanderlust" of which we speak is Björk's.

Björk joins Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Vampire Weekend, and many, many other artists in celebrating the independent record store, but instead of releasing some sort of exclusive vinyl, she's screening the 3-D video for fourth Volta single "Wanderlust".

Over 300 shops will hand out 10,000 3-D glasses for people to watch the video on in-store kiosks. For a full list of the stores participating, head to recordstoreday.com.

The physical release of "Wanderlust" in the UK via One Little Indian, meanwhile, has been bumped from its previously reported release date of April 14. No word just yet on a new date for that one.

Björk fans will also be thrilled to know that Toumani Diabaté, who plays kora on Volta, will join Björk's band at each of her three upcoming London gigs. [MORE...]

Streets, CSS, Hercules & Love Affair Do Evolution Fest
Plus: Crystal Castles, Sons & Daughters, Lightspeed Champion

The Evolution Festival in NewcastleGateshead, England is a curious beast. The four-day event takes place this year from May 23-26, and it consists of various one-off events-- concerts, seminars, a dance party-- at venues throughout the metropolitan area. Sons & Daughters, the Wild Beasts, Tiga, and the Felice Brothers will play some of those one-offs, but then there's the matter of the more traditional portion of the festival: a single-day outdoor event that happens across two stages on May 26.

That festival-within-the-festival will feature sets from the Streets, Hercules and Love Affair, CSS, Kate Nash, Crystal Castles, the Whip, New Young Pony Club, Lightspeed Champion, and Does It Offend You, Yeah?, among others.

Finally, there's the fact that some proceeds from the seventh annual Evolution will go to a self-explanatory charity called WaterAid. So while it's all a little bit confusing, at least it's for a good cause.

Hercules and Love Affair Sign to Mute for U.S. Release

We've made no secret of our love for Hercules and Love Affair's self-titled debut-- shucks, we even think it's some of the Best New Music going around. But we've also made no secret of our chagrin over its lack of availability in H&LA's home country: the United States.

But, like a real live Hercules smiting the mighty foe of import fees, the folks at Mute Records have seen fit to license the LP from DFA for release in the U.S. It will be in stores June 24. What's more, they're releasing the fantastic Antony Hegarty-laced "Blind" as a single May 27 for all your American neo-disco needs.

That Hercules and Love Affair tour got a few more dates added to its mighty roster, and the whole she-bang is yours for the lookin' after the jump.

UPDATE: They also added an American show! Yay! [MORE...]

Seun Kuti, Son of Fela, Issues LP, Tours With Egypt 80

Have you seen that new show on MTV with all the kids of washed-up rock stars trying to make it big on their own? Good luck and all that, spawn of Stryper or whatever, but I'd much rather place my genetically-influenced bets on Seun Kuti, the youngest son of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti.

For his forthcoming debut LP, the youthful Kuti has enlisted the help of Egypt 80, who famously played with his father throughout the 1980s and early 90s. Seun and Egypt 80's self-titled disc is due June 24 on Disorient Records.

Kuti and Egypt 80 will head to North America this summer for a fairly extensive tour, which kicks off in Los Angeles June 20. [MORE...]

No Age, Caribou, Madlib Do Dissonanze Fest
With Booka Shade, Fujiya & Miyagi, Prefuse 73, YACHT, Erol Alkan, Carl Craig, Cluster

You know, you can't spell Dissonanze without bungling the hell out of "dance." But screwing things up in the body movement department just ain't the Dissonanze festival's way. Check out the towering lineup of their eighth annual event, arranging its sequencers all over Rome, Italy's Parco Della Musica, Palazza de Congressi and Ara Pacis May 9-10.

Get down to the likes of Carl Craig, Prefuse 73, Model 500, YACHT, Madlib with J.Rocc, Booka Shade, Fujiya & Miyagi, Caribou, Erol Alkan, Switch, the Bug, Lucky Dragons, Loco Dice, Krautrock legends Cluster, and many others. And, for the sake of dissonance of that other variety, there's a collaboration between Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley, noise guru John Wiese, and artist Nico Vascellari, as well as No Age. (Wait, you can dance to No Age?)

Like a lot of these almost-entirely-dance festivals, things don't kick off 'til practically the following morning. Carl Craig-- not a particularly young man anymore, mind-- isn't slated to hit the stage until 4:30 in the AM. International travelers, now might be a good time to calculate your optimal jet lag interval, and all parties involved should probably go to bed now in anticipation. Just think: when you wake, Booka Shade!

Thurston Moore to Narrate Straight Edge Documentary

"Youth can be a minefield," the description for the documentary Inside Straight Edge reads, what with "drugs, sex, violence and peer pressure." Not to mention those unsightly pimples! Still, "one group has an extreme way of dealing with it." Nah, not goths: "they call themselves Straight Edge."

Ah, yes, straight edgers! The cult of MacKaye. Those teetotalin' perpetual naysayers to all things mind altering and socially lubricating. "Here, it's no drugs, no drinking, no smoking. They're rebels against society where everything goes."

We bring this up not so much to proselytize-- do your thing, people, just don't hurt anybody-- but to inform: Inside Straight Edge, which premieres tonight (April 9) on the National Geographic Channel, is narrated by none other than Sonic Youth frontguy Thurston Moore.

Though Thurston's personal xedgex status is unclear-- I hear he's done with all the stuff he used to dabble in way back when, though I could have sworn I saw him with a beer in the front row for Clipse at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival-- he's as good an example of how to live your life awesomely as anybody else I can think of in any field.

When not reminding us that crack is, in fact, whack, Thurston plays shows with Sonic Youth, including one upcoming gig too wacky not to highlight anew. The crew also has a trio of European festival appearances way the hell off in August.

SY, as we've mentioned, have just reissued 1987's Master-Dik EP, while the seventh installment of their SYR series will be available April 22. Plus, Kim Gordon and her long-dormant Free Kitten project are back in full force this year, with a new album due May 20 and talk of a tour.

As for Thurston himself, he'll open for Lou Reed on 4/20 (ha), help provide a live soundtrack to Amos Poe's new flick Empire II at New York's Gershwin hotel on the 29th, join Nancy Garcia at No Fun Fest in May (at which Lee Ranaldo will also appear), and perform along with Bill Nace as Northampton Wools in September. Plus, he's got a tune (as does Ranaldo) on the Table of the Elements singles series. Boy, sober folks are productive, huh? [MORE...]

Dear God, Please Let This Be the Lil Wayne Album Cover
Please!

Amazon.com via HipHopDX.com

Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III is out May 13

Heartsrevolution Issue New Remix-Heavy 12", EP

You say you want a revolution? Well, this will have to do: New York disco/electroclash hybrid Heartsrevolution have a number of releases in the "forthcoming" column and a tour in the works. Might not change your state of being, unless, of course, you are looking for something to dance to. In that case, well, Heartsrevolution will create quite an uprising in your trouser area.

First up is the remix-laden 12" for their song "C.Y.O.A.", which IHEARTCOMIX will release April 15. Looming in the shadows right behind it is the Switchblade EP, which the very same label will issue June 24. And then there's the tour, which finds Heartsrevolution spreading the doctrine hither and yon. Travel safe! Hearts! [MORE...]

New Pornographers, Okkervil River Kick Off Joint Tour

Tonight in Toronto marks the first of many on-stage meetings betwixt beloved Canadian indie-pop monolith the New Pornographers and Texas troubadour troupe Okkervil River, as the two take to the road in tandem in the month of April.

No word on just who'll be joining the notoriously wily Pornographers on the trek, though Okkervil, following the departure of guitarist Brian Cassidy, will be boosted by a familiar face for the tour: Charles Bissell of the Wrens. Check out the full schedule of joint dates and gigs beyond below.

Okkervil have a UK digital single in the works for The Stage Names' "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene", due June 9 from Jagjaguwar. The new release sports both the album version and an exclusive demo. The Pornos have a fairly fresh one, too: the Live From SoHo thing they stuck onto iTunes last month. [MORE...]

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