White Rabbits Tour With Miles Benjamin Anthony...
...Robinson

White Rabbits and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson are two acts with mighty famous friends, at least in our little corner of the internet. White Rabbits recently became U.S. labelmates with Radiohead, and Robinson's forthcoming self-titled debut features contributions from members of Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio.

Now these socially active artists are set to do a little more mingling-- with each other! Miles and the Rabbits will team up for a tour, taking them across the U.S. in late May and early June. First those Rabbits must wrap their sizable chunk of European dates, while Robinson does a pair of NYC shows.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson comes out July 1 on Say Hey Records. White Rabbits plan to release their Fort Nightly follow-up and TBD debut early next year. [MORE...]

Thalia Zedek Expands Backing Band for New Album

Photo by Damon Vrettos

Could it be that Thalia Zedek is collecting bands? Hey, better her than Travis Barker or somebody!

The onetime member of Come, Live Skull, White Women, Uzi, and Dangerous Birds has forged yet another musical unit for her Liars and Prayers LP, due April 22 on Thrill Jockey.

Consisting of Zedek's recent touring unit of Daniel Coughlin and David Michael Curry, and further bolstered by Winston Braman and Mel Lederman, the new configuration is said to give Zedek's tunes plenty of opportunity to run the emotional gamut. And, seeing as this is a Thalia Zedek record, that's some heavy shit, man.

The newly expanded crew has a date late next month in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but Thalia and company won't get going proper-like until June. [MORE...]

Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners on Tour

With the Drag City release of his Sings Country Winners album on April 22, Neil Hamburger will make the transition from sadistically awkward stand-up comic to full-blown (albeit humorous) country western crooner. True to its title, the record consists of honest-to-goodness honky tonkin' music.

To complete the metamorphosis, Hamburger will play a series of West Coast shows in May and June where he'll be joined by the band that plays on the record. Those players include Rachel Haden, Prairie Prince, Dave Gleason, Atom Ellis, and Joe Goldmark, and between them, they've worked with the likes of George Harrison, John Fogerty, Weezer, Link Wray, and...the New Cars. Well, you win some, you lose some.

Hamburger also has two solo shows coming up on the East Coast April 19 and 20. The latter is also the date of Sings Country Winners listening parties at Chicago's Rainbo Club and NYC's Knitting Factory. [MORE...]

Neko Case Hurts Foot, Leaves New Pornographers Tour

Photo by Kathryn Yu

Even the toughest of Challengers face insurmountable obstacles on the road. Such is the case with the New Pornographers, who have suffered the loss of über-talented vocalist Neko Case from the rest of their tour with Okkervil River.

According to a missive from the band itself, "Neko had a really bad fall in Washington, DC, which resulted in a fractured ankle (which also did some damage to her ligaments), and will be leaving the tour today. She was really trying to be a trooper and stayed on as long as she could through Richmond and Athens, but it has gotten to the point where she must return home to have her ankle taken care of and to recuperate. She's very upset about having to leave. It's been super fun having her on tour and around again, but she just had to go to avoid doing some real permanent damage to herself.

"We hope that you understand, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Madison, and Cleveland."


The sad news aside (get better Neko!), the New Pornographers still have a summer scattered with festivals after they wrap up the current tour. And remember, a brand new song by Case and head Porno Carl Newman is featured on the compilation CD accompanying the latest issue of ESOPUS. [MORE...]

Two Pipettes Enter, Two Pipettes Leave
The campaign to become the indie pop Menudo starts now

As they prepare to record the follow-up to their 2006 debut We Are the Pipettes, the lovable, polka-dotted popsters in the Pipettes are experiencing personnel changes.

According to a press release and a note on their website, "The Pipettes have two new members, Ani and Anna... This means that RiotBecki and Rosay have left to pursue other musical pursuits (which will be brilliant when they emerge). We wish them all the best, we're all still great friends, and news on their pursuits will be closely supported by us.

"People may be confused by such a drastic change in line-up, but please rest assured-- if we were to be an imitation of ourselves we would stop. Plus the Pipettes has more members come and go than major labels have A&R men, it's just another day in the office for us (plus we've got to go one better than Sugababes). [British pop tarts the Sugababes have a notoriously fluctuating lineup-- Ed.]

"We refer you to the manifesto on our website for a more in-depth explanation on the functioning of the band; this was the natural step to take. For a more in-depth series of answers, we direct you to the prepared video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU."

Ah...well played, girls.

However, the news is still true, and the new Pipettes are currently recording demos of new songs with a hope to record their sophomore album this summer.

Islands Throw Some Dates on That Tour

Wednesday evening in Buffalo, New York, Nick Thorburn and his Islands kicked off their spring/summer tour, and Friday morning in cyberland, they've already lined up a whole lot more. Islands have affixed a good deal of new stops to their trot around North America, leading them all the way through late June.

Islands' sophomore album Arm's Way (yes, the one with the weird--and weirdly suggestive--cover art) is due May 20 from Anti-. [MORE...]

Stereolab to Issue Chemical Chords in August

Out from the lab and onto your stereo this summer, Chemical Chords is the first proper LP from Stereolab since 2004's Margerine Eclipse (not counting the EP collection Fab Four Suture).

The disc is due worldwide August 18 and in the U.S. August 19 from 4AD. Featuring 13 songs by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane and one solo Gane composition, the record also sports string and brass arrangements from former member/current High Llama Sean O'Hagan.

Stereolab have plans to tout the release of Chemical Chords with a few festival appearances this summer. If you can't wait, there's always the recently released (and very good) Monstre Cosmic from Sadier's Monade project. [MORE...]

Flight of the Conchords Deliver Debut LP, Hit the Road

Photo by Akmal Naim

Flight of the Conchords begins with Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement exhausting every French phrase between them over some breezy bossa nova. Then, it gets really weird.

The Kiwi cut-ups-- and stars of the self-styled HBO comedy program you've probably been told to watch a time or two-- have lined up 15 "fully fleshed-out and professionally recorded versions of Flight of the Conchords concert and television favorites" for their eponymous debut LP.

Produced by Mickey Petralia (Beck's Midnite Vultures, Ladytron's Light & Magic), the disc features guest appearances from the Conchords' "manager" Rhys Darby and, um, Rhymenocerous and Hiphopapoatumus. It arrives April 22 thanks to Sub Pop, though I know at least one gal who's already got the leak.

Jemaine and Bret will take to the road in the States for a mess of dates, including a stop up there at the Sasquatch! Festival. And the second season of "Flight of the Conchords" is apparently set to hit your television circa January of next year. [MORE...]

Danny Federici, E Street Band Keyboardist, R.I.P.

Photo: A.M. Saddler / Backstreets.com

Danny Federici, Bruce Springsteen's longtime keyboardist, died yesterday, April 17, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The 58-year-old E Street Band member had been fighting melanoma for three years.

Posting about Federici's death on his website, Springsteen wrote, "Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much...we grew up together."

It was also requested that donations be made in Federici's memory to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund.

Federici, who also played the organ and the accordion, began working with Springsteen in local Asbury Park, New Jersey bands in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the E Street Band, and stuck with the group until Springsteen disbanded it in the late 1980s. When Springsteen reunited with the E Streeters in 1999, he was back on board, and remained in the group until taking time off in late 2007 to undergo cancer treatment. Federici's last performance with the band took place on March 20, 2008 in Indianapolis.

Federici's playing can be heard on Springsteen classics throughout his career, from Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town through Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love to The Rising and Magic. He also recorded as a solo artist. Springsteen and the E Street Band have postponed their concerts in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando tonight and tomorrow, but promise to replace them soon. [MORE...]

R. Kelly Still Sequel-Happy on New Album

The most ridiculous man in R&B will return with a new album a little sooner than expected. The episodically inclined R. Kelly will release 12 Play: Fourth Quarter this summer via Jive, according to a Billboard.com report. The Double Up follow-up's title harkens back to the name of Kelly's 1993 album, 12 Play. And his 2000 album TP-2.com. And his 2005 album TP.3 Reloaded.

Fourth Quarter's first single, "Hair Braider", is out now, and according to Billboard.com, director Malcolm Jones shot a video for the tune in Chicago last month. There is also some sort of braid contest going on over at R. Kelly's site.

There are a couple of interesting things to note about "Hair Braider". First, it casts hairdressers in the same affair-worthy context T-Pain has cast strippers and bartenders, as evidenced by the refrain "zig-zags/ straight backs/ doin' my hair braider." We would love to see someone make a series of service industry employee songs that eventually includes bus drivers, department store cashiers, and Subway "sandwich artists."

Second, the song totally takes a page from The-Dream's glossy, mid-tempo, subtly vocoded playbook, which is just fine by us.

The Orb Send Youth-Boosted New Album Stateside

In the beginning (i.e., 1989) there was the Orb, and the Orb was more or less two people, Dr. Alex Paterson and Killing Joke bassist Martin "Youth" Glover. However, over the course of a discography pioneering ambient house, the Orb began to revolve around Paterson alone. Now, what was torn asunder has been mended on the Orb's new album, The Dream.

Youth and Paterson are back in the saddle together on The Dream, and true to past form, they have a few guests in tow: Steve Hillage (System 7, Gong), Eric Walker (Battersea), Aki Omori, Andy Caine, and Juliet Roberts.

Six Degrees Records will release The Dream in the U.S. on June 10 (it's out now in the UK on Liquid Sound), and the Orb have a good number of European dates and Paterson DJ sets on the schedule before and after that. [MORE...]

John, Yoko, Ben Stein, Killers: Creationist Controversy

Sigh. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a documentary of sorts due to hit theaters tomorrow (April 18). The film takes up the cause of intelligent design, that proposed "alternate" theory to Darwin's whole evolution deal-- and a theory which, to many, is just fancyspeak for Creationism.

Expelled stars Ben Stein, because we all know how compelling it is to listen to Ben Stein speak.

Now that's nice and all, but here's where things get really controversial: all hack science advocacy notwithstanding, the film is currently under fire for its use of a couple pieces of music.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, portions of both John Lennon's "Imagine" and the Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" can be heard in Expelled. As the Journal revealed in yesterday's report, the folks behind Expelled received permission to use the Killers song from the band's label and publisher, but did not get the go-ahead to use "Imagine" from Lennon's representatives.

Earlier this week, some saw fit to lash out at Yoko Ono, believing she had willingly licensed "Imagine" to the film. On Monday, a Huffington Post blogger chided Ono for having "sold out" and also questioned the Killers' motives, before posting a retraction yesterday.

A lawyer for Ono told the Journal that Ono's camp is "exploring all options" with regard to possible copyright infringement. Expelled's filmmakers, meanwhile, issued a statement acknowledging they had used "Imagine" without permission, but also claiming that use was "momentary" and thus protected under the First Amendment.

Whatever the outcome, we suggest you hold onto your $9.75 for another week and spend it on a ticket to Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay. In theaters April 25!!

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.)