Bon Iver Adds Dates With Wilco, Bowerbirds

Photo by Shannon McClean

For all the "dude who made the record in the cabin" talk, Justin "Bon Iver" Vernon sure does enjoy a good outing. Once he's done knocking out his previously reported European run, a little garden party, and, of course, some big to-do in Chicago, the wooly Wisconsinite will head out on another run of dates [via Brooklyn Vegan].

The fresh itinerary finds Justin and company sharing bills with Bowerbirds, A.A. Bondy, and, for a few stops in August, the fellow scruffy Midwestern sorts in Wilco. Perhaps the hibernation bit only applies to the winter months? Ask us again in, like, October. [MORE...]

Dandy Warhols Fire Up New Label to Release Sixth LP

Alt-rock lifers the Dandy Warhols have followed the interstellar-album-title path they established with 2005's Odditorium or Warlords of Mars with their new record, Earth to the Dandy Warhols.

Earth comes out this summer on the band's new label, Beat the World, but it is already out in one form. Enterprising fans will find the record among the collections of over 10,000 AMI jukeboxes across the U.S. Then, beginning May 19, the record will be available through a digital subscription service the Dandys are launching through their website.

While the band's less rabid fans wait for a physical release date, the Dandy Warhols have scheduled a fair number of European shows for July. They're also planning some Pacific Northwestern dates for June, and a full-blown North American tour this fall. [MORE...]

Outkast's Big Boi Reveals More Solo Album Details

They call him Daddy Fat Sacks, General Patton, Hot Tub Tony, and, from time to time, even Billy Ocean. But on his forthcoming solo debut, you can call him Sir Luscious Left Foot. Or the son of Chico Dusty.

Yes, Big Boi, the rappinger half of Outkast, recently spoke to Billboard.com about his forthcoming LaFace/Zomba solo album, Sir Luscious Left Foot ... Son of Chico Dusty, which he says he's "shooting to finish... by the end of August." Wait, I always thought it was Sir Lucious Left Foot? Eh, either way, the man does have some good lookin' feet.

"This album is Big Boi to the extreme," he told Billboard, making us wonder how exactly he'd characterize the decade-and-a-half of finely-tuned lyrical maximalism he's given us thus far. "It's like a recession special. I'm talking about what's going on in the world, with everything from rising gas prices to the election. It's just my insights on life up to this point." The album will feature production with from longtime 'Kast collaborators Mr. DJ and Organized Noise. Wooo!

Surely by now you've heard the first single from the disc, that Andre 3000 and Raekwon-assisted "Royal Flush" fire. Both Big Boi and Rae will be shooting a video for the track with Bryan Barber in the coming weeks, though Andre's busy schedule may keep him from the set. The second single from the disc, "The World Is Too Big," sports a guest vocal from none other than Ms. Mary J. Blige.

Billboard also reports that Big Boi is working on taking his ballet on an international tour.

As for Andre, well, that busy schedule of his reportedly includes a new fashion line, a role in the WTO protest flick Battle in Seattle, and his very own solo album, tentatively set for a fall release. You know, you guys could release both solo albums at once or something...

Mates of State Hit the Road With Headlights

It's a June swoonfest! Indie-pop mainstays Mates of State and indie-pop up-and-comers Headlights have joined forces for a U.S. tour that will take place next month.

Headlights are supporting the album they released earlier this year, Some Racing, Some Stopping. By the time the joint jaunt rolls around, Mates of State will also have a new album in tow. It's their forthcoming fifth full-length, Re-Arrange Us, due May 20 on Barsuk.

Both bands also have dates apart littered through the spring and summer. [MORE...]

Indie Rock Hits the Funny Pages, Again

Gosh, it sure seems like every Tom, Dick, and Harry in a button-up and a vest is talking up Vampire Weekend nowadays. Right?

Sally Forth might seem like the world's least likely source for left-field indie rock references, but check this out: for roughly the last decade, the strip's been penned by one Francesco Marciuliano, who looks like a dude who digs Vampire Weekend and Trail of Bread. Man, what a strange gig to have.

Thanks to Phil Bucska for the tip.

As for Vampire Weekend, they've added a ton of dates since our last report, and here they are, after the jump. [MORE...]

Death Cab Challenge You to a Round of Call of Duty 4
They will possess your heart, television set, analog sticks

Oh, sure, they'll follow you into the dark... then they'll drop your punk ass with a grenade. This Friday (May 14), one half of beloved geek rockers Death Cab for Cutie will hook up to the Xbox LIVE nerd aggregation service internet gaming platform and take on all comers for a rousing round of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as part of Xbox's "Game With Fame" program.

Starting at 7 p.m. ET, Xbox LIVE Gold members can shoot a friend request to Nick Harmer (GWF DCFC Nick) and/or Jason McGerr (GWF DCFC Jason) and opt for a chance to play with the dudes when they start things off around 7:30.

Shame there's no Crazy Taxi for 360, huh? That would just be too cute.

As for the Cab's less sedentary pursuits, well, Narrow Stairs is out now, and the band is gearing up to kick off their tour in high style May 24 in Bend, Oregon. [MORE...]

Nurse With Wound Set to Unleash Huffin' Rag Blues

If there's a new Nurse With Wound album-- and there will be, soon-- you know damn well already who is gonna be on it: one Steven Stapleton, who's led this particular danger-laden ward for three decades or so at this point. But what of the other folks who helped Stapleton put the finishing touches on the forthcoming Huffin' Rag Blues LP? Well, there's UK sound artist Andrew Liles, who had a sizable hand in crafting Huffin' Rag, plus Lynn Jackson, Freida Abtan, and Matt Waldron, all of whom contribute vocals. All prepped for the Nurse's next visit? Eh, not so fast: Huffin' Rag Blues is due June 24 on United Dairies/Jnana.

The near future will also see the arrival of a Nurse With Wound 12" entitled "The Bacteria Magnet" and a vinyl version of last year's NWW/Faust meetup Disconnected, both via Dirtier Promotions. Sometime after that we should see an Important Records-stamped collaborative effort from NWW and Italy's Larsen, who famously crafted a pair of XXL albums with Xiu Xiu.

Stapleton and company have a quartet of live engagements to their credit. The most immediate, a date in Paris, finds Stapleton creating a soundtrack to the 1922 F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Sunrise) flick Der Brennende Acker. [MORE...]

Page France Dissolve, Cotton Jones Takes Flight

There comes a time in every young man's life when he must turn the page on his current dealings and move on to something new. And if you're Michael Nau, main man of Maryland folkies Page France, well, your big transitory moment gets its own news story/bad pun on Pitchforkmedia.com.

It seems Nau will be leaving the confines of his Page France project to focus full time on the Cotton Jones Basket Ride, another band he leads. Why, here's a statement from Nau himself, explaining the switch:

Part of my brain has been collaborating with Cotton Jones for the past three years. I had little time to entertain those desires. After a few years of Page France touring and recording, we felt it time to step back from it-- I felt mentally exhausted, and quickly became a difficult person to be around. We all took a deep breath, and some time. I love each and every person that was so patient with me throughout, and to those who still are. I don't know if there will be another Page France record, but I'm finally able to appreciate it, without such attachments.

I've spent the past few months writing and recording material for Cotton Jones. [Page France member] Whitney [McGraw] and I finished the songs for the Archery EP, and our good buddies at Quite Scientific are gonna put it out. The first LP is finished-- it should be released somewhere, by someone, sometime. We'll be doing some shows this month. It feels good to be looking forward to everything again.

Not so fast on the LP tip, there, Nau; looks as though that offering, titled Paranoid Cocoon, has been tabled for the time being so the Cotton Jones Basket Ride can work up a handful of EPs. The first one is already sold the hell out, so we'll focus on the newest one: The Archery, a six-track affair out now from Quite Scientific in an art book limited to 500 copies. And then there's a third, as-yet-untitled EP, due from Quite Scientific in 1,000 books sometime soon.

With Page France more or less kaput, Nau's got all the time in the world to focus on Cotton Jones, and so he shall. Nau's new-old thing will take to the road for much of the next couple months. Dates after the jump. [MORE...]

Los Campesinos! Launch Tour, Play Camelot Benefit
Add festival dates

Photo by Max Tollworthy

Tonight, in lovely Hoboken, New Jersey, smashing young septet Los Campesinos! will take the stage at Maxwell's at the first of nearly a month of North American tour stops. The band will make its way across the continent with a handful of young talent, including Parenthetical Girls, Jeffrey Lewis, and fellow exclamation enthusiasts We Say Party! You Say Die!. Plus, in a move seemingly designed to make your reporter consider securing some airfare to the greater NYC region, they'll play a lone gig with the terrific Titus Andronicus.

In the middle of all that, the band has lined up one of those Camelot for Kids benefit gigs at Chicago's Empty Bottle May 27. The performance, closed to the public, will bring together Los Campesinos! and some of the young people Camelot treats. In so doing, the band joins the ranks of previous Camelot concert-throwers Black Lips and Fujiya & Miyagi. Pretty darn cool.

UPDATE: Los Campesinos! are playing ANOTHER show for kids on this tour! On the afternoon of May 18, they'll play a Kidrockers show at the Living Room in New York City. You must be accompanied by a kid to attend!

Once the North American jaunt wraps, there's a whole world out there to conquer, and Los Campesinos! are prepared for the task. They've got European festival dates aplenty, with a trek to Japan's Summersonic fest on the docket, and talk of their first ever Australian tour, should the demand dictate such a move. [MORE...]

Blondie's Clem Burke Talks Parallel Lines Anniversary
World tour kicks off in June, album gets deluxe reissue treatment

Hard to believe it, but Parallel Lines, the breakout album from New York City new wave icons Blondie, turns 30 this year. Frequently cited by critics and fans as Blondie's best, Parallel Lines spawned at least two instantly recognizable and ubiquitous classics-- "One Way or Another" and "Heart of Glass"-- and went on to sell 20 million copies worldwide. Not too shabby for a band which, as Blondie drummer Clem Burke nonchalantly puts it, was "just making music" at the time.

Pitchfork chatted with Burke recently about the album's pearl anniversary and the two celebratory gestures Blondie have planned: a deluxe reissue and two solid months of special shows on both sides of the Atlantic.

"We just wanted to make a statement about the Parallel Lines record being 30 years old," Burke offers matter-of-factly, before adding, with a laugh, "We wanted to make a statement that we're all old. We wanted to make sure everyone knew how old we were."

The North American half of the anniversary tour kicks off June 5 in Baltimore and fills out most of that month, followed closely by a gig in Israel and jaunt around Europe in July. And in ATP/Don't Look Back fashion, Blondie plan to rock Parallel Lines from front to back at each stop. "That's the general idea," Burke explains. "We're going to play the record and then another 45 minutes of Blondie stuff.

The other stuff will likely be a mix of songs from Blondie's late 1970s/early 1980s heyday and some material recorded since the combo reconvened in the late 1990s. "At this point, it's still kind of in the planning stages," Burke says. "We have a list of songs we can do. I guess we're going to have to wait and see how they feel when we play them live. I would definitely like to do stuff from the first two albums [1976's Blondie and 1977's Plastic Letters] that we don't really perform that often, that most people probably don't even know."

The Parallel Lines (30th Anniversary Edition) reissue, meanwhile, arrives June 24 on Capitol/EMI. In addition to the original 12 tracks, the set includes a handful of rarities and remixes-- including a French language version of "Sunday Girl"-- and a bonus DVD featuring three classic Blondie videos and a "Top of the Pops" performance.

Burke doesn't really have a favorite song off Parallel Lines, but the ascent of one particular track buried deep in the album continues to amuse him. "At the time, we got a lot of flak for 'Heart of Glass'. [Now] it's one of the main Blondie songs that has endured and contributed to our success." [MORE...]

Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, Robyn, Hot Chip, Battles Melt!
As do Los Campesinos!, Bonde do Role, Hercules and Love Affair, Supermayer

I have to say, of all the large-scale music gatherings going down the weekend of July 18-20 in this big old world of ours, Ferropolis, Germany's Melt! Festival is a strong contender for the second place spot. The locale, a pristine lake surrounded by huge industrial-era machinery, is choice, and the bill's no slouch, neither.

This year's Melt! features appearances from Björk, Franz Ferdinand, Robyn, Hot Chip, Battles, Los Campesinos!, Bonde do Role, Fujiya & Miyagi, Roísín Murphy, the Notwist, Why?, Hercules and Love Affair, Supermayer, Modeselektor, Gui Boratto, Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y., Editors, Mr. Oizo, (International) Noise Conspiracy, the Count & Sinden, the Teenagers, the Whitest Boy Alive, Miss Kittin and the Hacker, Lightspeed Champion, the Wombats, Late of the Pier, dEUS, Friendly Fires, Sascha Funke, Burger/Voigt, Operator Please, Ellen Allien, Boys Noize, MEN, Adam Green, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Kate Nash, and a whole lot more. Also, Uffie & Feadz will pump out a jam or two with the help of Technotronic... yes, THAT Technotronic!

Rainer Maria's Fischer Drafts the Blow, Mates for LP
Caithlin de Marrais solo album on the way too!

Excerpt from photo by Danielle St. Laurent

All's been more or less quiet on the ex-Rainer Maria front since the divisive but unquestionably spirited emo outfit called it quits in late 2006. Would the first album-length post-dissolution peep come from charismatic vocalist/bassist Caithlin de Marrais? Charismatic drummer William Kuehn? Nope, turns out it comes from that other charismatic former member of the Rainer Maria triumvirate, guitarist Kyle Fischer.

Fischer has followed up his 2002 Polyvinyl solo affair Open Ground with another round of solo-with-occasional-guests recordings, Black Milk. The 11-track LP, which we'll assume has nothing to do with the Detroit MC/producer, is available for free download right now via End Up Records. (Donations, we should point out, are encouraged.) Black Milk boasts additional contributions from the likes of the Blow's Khaela Maricich, Mates of State, Owen's Mike Kinsella, and de Marrais, among others.

Turns out de Marrais actually got a jump on her ex-bandmates in the singles realm, having released a free* track entitled "The Fire" via End Up back in February. The tune will appear on de Marrais's forthcoming solo debut, My Magic City, due later this year. Catch her live June 6 at New York's Bowery Ballroom, and keep your eyes peeled for a special, limited edition three-song EP de Marrais hopes to have for sale at the gig.

Okay, your move, Kuehn!

* De Marrais suggests downloaders donate to her mom's "favorite non-profit organization," the Evergreen Network. [MORE...]

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