Vampire Weekend, Battles, Deerhunter Play Accelerator
So do Band of Horses, Stars, Fuck Buttons, St. Vincent, Hercules and Love Affair

The Accelerator festival will rev through Stockholm, Sweden once again in 2008. Just like last year, Accelerator has an ace lineup, including sets from Band of Horses, Vampire Weekend, Hercules and Love Affair, Battles, Stars, Deerhunter, El Perro del Mar, St. Vincent, Fuck Buttons, Black Kids, MGMT, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Those Dancing Days, Foals, the Teenagers, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and Duffy.

Accelerator 2008 will take place in Stockholm's München-Bryggeriet (translation: München Brewery) on June 24 and 25.

Stereolab Announce North American Tour

When we spoke with Stereolab's Tim Gane a few weeks back about the veteran group's forthcoming album Chemical Chords, he mentioned a North American tour the band were plotting around September. Let it never be said Mr. Gane is not a man of his word.

Plans for Stereolab to wind their way across the continent are presently in place, with the dates kicking off September 20 in Costa Mesa, California. Openers for the first leg of the tour are still up in the air, but Laetitia Sadier will play double duty on the second leg, as her side project Monade is scheduled to take the stage before Stereolab.

Chemical Chords is due August 18 worldwide and August 19 in the U.S. via Duophonic UHF Disks/4AD. [MORE...]

ATP vs. Pitchfork Starts Today!

Aaaand they're off!

Today at the Camber Sands Holiday Centre near Rye, England, the opening chords of the ATP vs. Pitchfork Festival will ring out over the English countryside, bringing bands and fans together for an unforgettable weekend of rocking the hell out.

Of course, the lineup should be well familiar to any and all attendees/envious homebodies. But here are the set times, for your scheduling pleasure:

Friday, May 9

Main Stage

4:30 PM The Clientele
6:00 PM Vampire Weekend
7:30 PM Sebadoh
9:00 PM Ween

Second Stage

4:15 PM Jay Reatard
5:30 PM Man Man
6:45 PM Car Sick Cars
8:00 PM Shit and Shine
9:15 PM Fuck Buttons
10:45 PM Redd Kross
12:30 AM Glass Candy + DJs
1:30 AM Hot Chip DJs

Saturday, May 10

Main Stage

3:45 PM Bon Iver
5:00 PM Yeasayer
6:30 PM Los Campesinos!
8:00 PM The Black Angels
9:30 PM Les Savy Fav
11:00 PM Hot Chip

Second Stage

2:00 PM Even
3:15 PM Times New Viking
4:30 PM Born Ruffians
6:00 PM Howlin Rain
7:30 PM Dirty Projectors
9:00 PM Deerhunter
10:30 PM Black Lips
12:30 AM Various Production DJs
2:00 AM DJs

Sunday, May 11

Main Stage

2:00 PM Jens Lekman
3:30 PM A Place to Bury Strangers
5:00 PM Black Mountain
6:30 PM Of Montreal
8:00 PM The Hold Steady
9:30 PM Girls Against Boys
11:00 PM Harmonia

Second Stage

2:45 PM Apse
4:00 PM Marisa Nadler
5:30 PM Pissed Jeans
7:00 PM Wooden Shjips
8:30 PM No Age
10:00 PM Meat Puppets
11:30 PM Caribou
12:45 AM DJs

These are just the start times, mind; you can dance to the Hot Chip DJs tonight 'til the five o'clock hour rolls around. Just don't forget to set your alarm, as a mere nine hours later, you'll be awakened by the sounds of Even.

Also note that Camber Sands doesn't provide stuff like towels or toiletries, so unless you wanna come out of this thing smellin' like a Schreiber, you'll want to make sure to tuck that stuff away somewhere. (J/K boss!) A full FAQ for all your last-minute inquiries is available here.

As always, we'd like to thank our friends at All Tomorrow's Parties for helping us get this thing together. See you all soon!

Beck Signs to XL Recordings in the UK

At whatever point in the summer that 30 minute, 10 track, Danger Mouse-produced, Cat Power-boosted Beck LP we've been talking about a lot this week happens to arrive, it'll do so in the UK thanks to the folks at his new overseas imprint, XL Recordings. The disc, about which we know literally nothing not contained within these two sentences, will hit the U.S. from Interscope sometime relatively soon.

Says XL founder Richard Russell in a press release: "We can't wait for everyone to hear the extraordinary music that he and Danger Mouse have made together." Says us: As representives of "everyone," we concur. We can't wait.

Beck's summer tour is currently scheduled to kick off June 25 at the Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway. [MORE...]

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks Prep New Trash Single

Photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Stephen Malkmus and his Jicks will release their first UK single from Real Emotional Trash on June 2 via Domino. The tune they've chosen is "Gardenia", and they are backing it with a new song called "Walk Into the Mirror".

The band will walk into the tour vehicle for festival dates this month and European shows in June. Support on the UK shows comes from Domino mates Wild Beasts. Then in August, the band plays Lollapalooza.

In related news, the Crust Brothers' Marquee Mark album was recently released digitally for the first time, courtesy of Comedy Minus One. And who are the Crust Brothers? Why that would be the members of Silkworm joined by Mr. Malkmus. And what is on Marquee Mark? It's a recording of a live show from 1997, and it's all covers. [MORE...]

Common Becomes Invincible With LP, Terminator Role

Common, please slow down! Not a year after the Chicago MC released Finding Forever, with a whole mess of activity in the interim, he has given word of its follow-up, not to mention a blockbuster acting role.

According to a Billboard.com report, Common's eighth album is called Invincible Summer, and it is tentatively scheduled for a mid-July release. (However, Common's MySpace page says it will be out June 24.)

Billboard.com calls the sound of Summer "electro-tinged," which is an interesting departure from Common's usual M.O. of beats based around dusty old jazz and soul samples. With a tune called "Runaway" "drawing its guitar riff from Pat Benatar's 'Love Is a Battlefield'," we're kind of imagining Electro Circus.

"I created this music for the summer time. It's about feeling good. This is the type of music I felt was missing from my body of work," Common told Billboard.com regarding Invincible Summer's musical direction, and he certainly surrounded himself with respectable contributors. The record's production comes from the Neptunes and Outkast producer Mr. DJ. Cee-Lo, Santogold, and Neptunes associates Chester French lent their singing and rhyming talents. Frequent Common collaborator Kanye West was absent from the proceedings because he was preoccupied with work on his "Glow in the Dark" tour.

"Universal Mind Control (U.M.C.)" looks to be Invincible Summer's first single, and it is planned for release at the end of May. Billboard.com's preliminary tracklist for the album is after the jump.

As for Common's blossoming acting career, he appears alongside Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James McAvoy in the pretty sweet-looking Wanted, which hits theaters June 27. Also, according to a Variety report, Common will join Christian Bale's John Connor in a new Terminator movie called Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. Common's character is "a freedom fighter and member of Connor's inner circle," and the movie is scheduled to appear in theaters May 22, 2009. [MORE...]

Talkdemonic Prep New LP, Tour With Helio Sequence

The third LP from Portland's symphonically synthy duo Talkdemonic, Eyes at Half Mast, is due September 2 from the Arena Rock Recording Company. The band road-tested the set's 14 tunes over months of extensive touring, bringing those tunes to the height of their demonic-ness before committing them to tape.

Talkdemonic have plans to get back out there in June with a handful of dates well in advance of Half Mast's release, most of which find them in close proximity to fellow PDXers the Helio Sequence. [MORE...]

Andrew Bird, Jon Brion, Fiona Apple in L.A. Club Doc
Plus: Flight on the Conchords, Patton Oswalt, Fred Armisen, Sarah Silverman, Aimee Mann

Earlier this week, Los Angeles venue Largo closed its doors for the last time. Fear not, left coast live music nuts: Largo will open an entirely different set of doors when they move to the former Coronet Theatre next month. But in celebration of the Largo Los Angelenos have come to know and love, owner Mark Flanagan and filmmaker Andrew van Baal have teamed up for Largo, a new documentary film about the storied nightspot.

And what a sendoff the Largo flick will be, sporting as it does musical performances from Andrew Bird, Flight of the Conchords, Fiona Apple, Jon Brion (who held a residency at Largo for some time), Eels frontman Mark Oliver "E" Everett, David Garza, Jackson Browne, Grant Lee Phillips, Tom Brousseau, Aimee Mann and hubby Michael Penn, Men at Work vocalist Colin Hay, Nickel Creek, and a whole slew of others.

Largo also made a point to make with the funny, and a ton of yuk-makers pop up in the film, including P4k office boy Fred Armisen, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Greg Proops, Paul F. Tompkins, and John C. Reilly. The film makes its world premiere June 22 at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Mastodon Hang With Bruce, Join Hellish Package Tour
Springsteen really needs to do something about that thing growing under his lower lip

A few weeks back, Pitchfork.TV premiered an interview with members of Neurosis and Mastodon as the two metal institutions were about to share a bill in Brooklyn. It was an inspired pairing. And this June, after their set at Bonnaroo, Mastodon will share yet another bill of note, this time with Iron Maiden. Makes sense.

But then, well, Mastodon will join the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival as it stalks around North America through the steamy season. Indeed, a metal package tour with Mastodon near the top of the marquee could be pure awesomeness, were the other bands billed over Mastodon not Slipknot, Disturbed, and Dragonforce. (C'mon dude, that Dragonforce song in Guitar Hero III is pretty sweet.-- Ed)

I mean, good for those dudes for getting paid, and good for the attendees of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. But hey, a list of Mastodon shows you probably won't be attending is after the jump.

Something totally unrelated: that up there is a photo of Brent Hinds and Brann Dailor bro-ing down with Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta in late April. Sweeeeeeet. [MORE...]

Dizzee Rascal and El-P Launch Tour
With guest appearances from Aesop Rock, Busdriver, Aaron LaCrate, more

They may call it the "No Chiefs Allowed Tour", but El-P and Dizzee Rascal's North American jaunt is packed to the gills with towering talent. Aside from their own formidable presences, the tour includes appearances by Def Jux artists and associates Aesop Rock, Kidz in the Hall, Busdriver, Mr. Dibbs, and Mighty Quin. And Aaron LaCrate is serving as Dizzee's DJ. Not bad, gentlemen.

"No Chiefs Allowed" kicks off tonight (May 8) in Washington, D.C.

In other news, Dizzee has a smattering of European dates this spring and summer, and El-P has a new blog. His first post is a pretty funny Kanye send-up. [MORE...]

Country Music Legend Eddy Arnold, R.I.P.

The world lost a country music legend today. Singer Eddy Arnold, a chart staple for many years, passed away near Nashville this morning, according to reports in The New York Times and on Billboard.com. He was just a week shy of his 90th birthday.

Arnold rose to prominence in the years immediately following World War II, earning the nickname "The Tennessee Plowboy" and deploying a string of hits that dominated the country charts from the late 1940s on through the late 1960s. Indeed, his presence on the country charts is unmatched to this day. Arnold continued recording well into this decade, releasing his 100th album, After All This Time, in 2005. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966.

Later in his career, the crooner shed his plowboy image and adopted an urban gentleman look that complemented his songs' new lush arrangements. Those songs, which include hits "Make the World Go Away", "Somebody Like Me", and "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", often towed a line between the traditional country & western style and a more mainstream pop sensibility. Two of Arnold's songs were later covered by Elvis Presley, whom Arnold is said to have influenced.

The singer, whose wife passed away earlier this year, is survived by two children, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Eddy Arnold: "Make the World Go Away"

Eddy Arnold: "The Richest Man (in the World)"

My Morning Jacket Announce Lengthy American Tour

Photo by Natalie Kardos

It's still more than a month away from the beginning of their intercontinental summer trek, and My Morning Jacket have already lined up a bunch of dates that will take them practically into the fall. Damn near every last one of these new appearances has been designated "An Evening With My Morning Jacket," though the lone exception-- a date at Red Rocks in late August-- will find you sharing your evening with both MMJ and the Black Keys.

My Morning Jacket's new one, Evil Urges, is due June 9 in the UK and mainland Europe from new overseas label Rough Trade and the following day in North America on ATO. The not-too-distant future holds the band's appearance on the Shia LaBoeuf-hosted episode of "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and a Jim James solo acoustic date in London on May 22. [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.)