B-52's Remixed by CSS, Scissor Sisters, Plan Tour
Join up with the True Colors tour

With the way they've been acting, you'd never know that the B-52's are almost two decades down the road from the "Love Shack". This week, Astralwerks released Funplex, the Athens icons' first album in 16 years, and the B-52s' show no signs of slowing up any time soon.

First up is a trio of remixes of Funplex's title track from the likes of CSS, Peaches and the Scissor Sisters, available right this instant through iTunes. Then there's the band's club tour, which kicks off in Boston in late April following a few scattered gigs beforehand (including one tonight in British Columbia).

And then there's their co-headlining spot on this year's True Colors Tour, where they'll join Cyndi Lauper, Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, Joan Jett, Andy Bell of Erasure, and others on a lineup that changes as often as Fred Schneider switches suits.

Welcome back, B-52's! Yours is a much more welcome re-emergence than that of those planes you're named after. [MORE...]

Vladislav Delay Reissues 2001's Anima, Forms Quartet

Originally released in 2001 on the Mille Plateaux imprint, Vladislav Delay's Anima marked a shift for the noted electronic whiz kid with the many monikers. Gone, in large part, were the well-choreographed, sequencer-led compositions of old, replaced by live instruments, long takes, and a minimum of post-production and overdubs.

Delay's own Huume label will reissue Anima in full on May 13, with a tantalizing new extra. Delay took to the studio earlier this year to craft a ten-minute remix of Anima's single track, paring the hour-long original down to a more manageable size.

Delay has a number of tour dates over the next few months in Europe, the UK, and Japan, including a few shows that find him debuting the Vladislav Delay Quartet. Apart from Delay, the group features Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio on electronics, Derek Shirley on the bass, and Lucio Capece on reeds. [MORE...]

Hey Kids! It's a One-of-a-Kind, Four-Hour-Long Charity Remix of Radiohead's "Videotape"...on VHS!

There's no doubt about it: Radiohead inspire people. They gave producer Amplive the impetus to craft a whole remix album (which, despite hang-ups, did finally see the light of day) and they've arguably provoked a number of post-In Rainbows name-your-price schemes and 11th hour album announcements.

And now Radiohead have touched UK knob-twiddler James Rutledge (aka Pedro) in a special way, the way that makes you want to create a 240-minute remix and, sure, why not, throw it on a VHS tape.

Believe it: Four glorious hours of In Rainbows' haunting closer "Videotape", committed to an obsolescent media format, with accompanying visuals from Philip M. Lane and some pretty swank cover art designed by Jacob Blandy.

Rutledge's press release happily accounts for any thoughts you might be having right now: "Is it a comment on the state of the music industry, or music PR? Fan boy tribute? Ambient epic? Inspiring idea? Bad joke? Deranged waste of time? You decide."

Or you can decide if you're the one lucky person who scores the one existing copy of this piece that makes even The Disintegration Loops seem radio-friendly. Rutledge intends to auction off his unique remix of "Videotape" and donate all profits to the UK-based Missing People charity. Auction details are forthcoming, so until then, looks like you have a little time to ask mommy what a "VHS" is.

"Videotape (James Rutledge Remix)" sleeve art:

Chris Blackwell, Dennis Bovell Remix Manu Chao on EP

Manu Chao brings people together. Usually, this gap-bridging takes a musical form, as evidenced by the man's pan-global sound and the crowds at his concerts. More recently, though, Manu Chao has been bringing the digital and physical worlds together, a partnership that continues with the Nacional release of his Politik Kills EP.

The EP hits digital retailers on April 22, with the CD and vinyl versions coming June 3. Featured on the disc are remixes of the La Radiolina track by reggae legend Dennis Bovell (featuring another reggae legend, Linton Kwesi Johnson), Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, Bostich and Fussible of Nortec Collective, Prince Fatty, Rude Barriobeat, David B., and others.

Furthering the digital interaction is politikills.com, where fans can go to watch the new "Politik Kills" video and download the song's individual parts to create their own remixes. The site also features musings on the song's theme-- the abuses perpetrated by people in power-- from a variety of voices.

We've got the Prince Fatty remix of "Politik Kills" available for download at the link below. Grab it quick, 'cause it's only available for a week!

Update: It's gone!

Manu Chao is planning some big U.S. shows for August, and in May and June, the native Frenchman will embark on his first tour of his home country in seven years. [MORE...]

Members of Tunng + Memory Band = The Accidental
Hot Chip's Goddard remixes band on forthcoming single

Extend a warm welcome to a newly christened group of out-there musicians, the Accidental. Comprised of members of Tunng, the Memory Band, and the Bicycle Thieves, along with solo songwriter Liam Bailey, the British collective will share its debut full-length offering, There Were Wolves, this spring. North Americans can look for it June 3 on Thrill Jockey, while folks across the Atlantic get the record on April 14 via Full Time Hobby.

Full Time Hobby will first release a UK single for album cut "Wolves" on March 31. The 7" comes backed with a remix of There Were Wolves opener "Knock Knock" by Hot Chip's Joe Goddard.

Before Wolves arrives anywhere, the Accidental have a handful of UK shows to occupy them, including a London gig tonight (March 18). Tunng have some touring plans too. [MORE...]

Russian Futurists, Dntel, Solvent Remix Sally Shapiro

Photo by William Joines

"Ooh, does this mean there will be a Vol. 2??", we once asked in typically giddy fashion upon learning of the first Sally Shapiro remix album. Little did we know, not only will there indeed very much be a Vol. 2, but said volume lies in wait just a few calendar pages away.

Dntel, the Russian Futurists, Solvent, and Shapiro's own producer Johan Agebjörn are among those reworking Disco Romance's parade of instant classics on this, Remix Romance Vol. 2, due May 13 June 17 on Paper Bag Records. The collection follows hot on the boogie shoe heels of Remix Romance Vol. 1, which, as you know, contains the remix magic of Junior Boys, Lindstrøm, Holy Fuck, and the Juan Maclean and blows up your favorite nightspot April 15.

Speaking of nightspot blower-uppers, Sally has another piece of vinyl on the way. A double 12" for North American Disco Romance bonus track and Pitchfork's 39th favorite track of 2007 "He Keeps Me Alive" lands this May on Germany's Permanent Vacation imprint. UPDATE: this release will include a new Sally Shapiro track called "My Fantasy". Woo!

And while Sally and Johan's debut North American tour may have been cut sadly short, the pair does have a DJ date lined up at Debaser in Malmö, Sweden on May 2. [MORE...]

Diplo, CSS, Cool Kids Remix Sunny Day Sets Fire
Sunny Day Real Estate glad they bought fire insurance

Cosmopolitan London quintet Sunny Day Sets Fire have yet to release a full-length album, but they've managed to corral the Cool Kids, CSS, Spank Rock producer XXXChange, and Diplo and his Mad Decent crew to remix them on an EP. Pretty impressive for a bunch of upstarts.

That EP, a North American exclusive titled Stranger / Remix, will be released tomorrow, February 26 via IAMSOUND. The other artists remixing the band on the EP are Baron von Luxxury, the Slips, and Mad Decent.

On March 3, the UK will get some Sunny Day love with Brikabrak's release of a 7" for "End of the Road" (not a Boyz II Men cover, alas), which comes with "Lack of View" on the flip. The band's debut album, Summer Palace, will follow with a North American release on IAMSOUND in April May 6.

Sunny Day Sets Fire are set to play to-be-announced shows in NYC, L.A., and at SXSW in March, followed by a full-blown spring tour of North America.

You can hear the full Stranger / Remix EP here:

[MORE...]

Allien, Swayzak, Modeselektor on Apparat Remixes Set
Plus: Orb's Fehlmann, Boys Noize, Nathan Fake, Telefon Tel Aviv, Monolake

I'm not one to soapbox, but Apparat's Walls: possibly the most unduly slept-on album of 2007? Hopefully dude's exquisite electronic renderings will receive greater attention thanks to Things to Be Frickled: Parts & Remixes, a forthcoming two disc collection compiling remixes of and by the man born Sascha Ring.

Swayzak, Boys Noize, Nathan Fake, Paul Kalkbrenner with Ellen Allien, and Lusine are among those who get the Apparat remix treatment on the first disc, while the second boasts Apparat remixes by the likes of Modeselektor, Telefon Tel Aviv, Monolake, Thomas Fehlmann of the Orb, and Boys Noize and Lusine again. A few bonus goodies turn up on Things as well, including a live "re-version" of "Let Your Love Grow" by Apparat/Modeselektor merge-up Moderat. We're Frickled pink!

Things to Be Frickled arrives April 15 on Apparat's own Shitkatapult imprint.

And in case you missed it, Walls knockout "Arcadia" received its own remix EP last month, thanks to France's InFiné label and Shitkatapult. The 12"/digital release features Telefon Tel Aviv and Boys Noize reworkings also found on Frickled, plus the "video edit" of the track.

Mr. Ring also has plenty of live activity brewing in the coming months. He'll travel across Europe well into spring, with a stop-over on the U.S. West Coast planned for mid-May (dates TBA). Many dates feature live visual accompaniment courtesy of Berlin's Transforma, while others have Ring busting out the backing band.

P.S.: Go listen to Walls. [MORE...]

Hot Chip, Diplo, Spank Rock Remix Delicious Vinyl

Remember "Wild Thing"? How about "Bust a Move"? "Drop"? "What's Up Fat Lip"? All were released by pioneering L.A. hip-hop label Delicious Vinyl.

This summer, the imprint responsible for launching the careers of Tone-Loc, Young MC, the Pharcyde, Brand New Heavies, and many more will celebrate itself with the remix compilation Rmxxology. Hot Chip, Diplo, Spank Rock and Amanda Blank, Ed Banger's Mr. Flash, Phillipians, and Bobby Evans of Brother Reade are among those who will contribute tweakings of the Delicious Vinyl catalog.

The compilation's first single was Peaches' remix of Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing". Its second is by Baltimore club connoisseurs (and Lily Allen pals) Aaron LaCrate and Debonair Samir, who have remixed Young MC's "Know How Theme" and Masta Ace's "Jeep Ass Niguh". The "Delicious Gutter" single is out February 26 on 12", CD, and digital download.

Check out the single's cover up there at the top of the story, and the "Gutter" remix of "Know How Theme" right here:

El-P and Dizzee Rascal Announce Tour
El-P plans next studio record

It looks like Def Jux's partnership with Dizzee Rascal to release Maths + English in the U.S. was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. And the next result of that relationship is a juicy tour featuring Dizzee and label honcho El-P. After they play the Def Jux SXSW showcase in March (alongside Del the Funky Homosapien and Devin the Dude, among others), the two will take North America by storm in May.

El offered the following words on the Maths release and upcoming tour: "Me and my partner at Jux have been huge fans of Dizzee, and thought the new record was so good that it needed to be released in North America. His music is raw and honest and fits right in with the type of artists we want to support. As big as he is overseas, he's never really had as much of a chance to get out there in the U.S., so the idea of touring with him is really exciting for me. Between the two of us it should be a pretty insane experience."

Another El-P/Dizzee collaboration is the former's remix of "Where's Da G's [ft. UGK]", which will appear on the aforementioned U.S. release of Maths + English on April 29. According to El-P's MySpace blog, that remix isn't the only studio work he's done recently. He also remixed the Mars Volta's "Goliath"-- from new album The Bedlam in Goliath-- and he's preparing some sort of studio follow-up to I'll Sleep When You're Dead.

The latter release has led El-P to regrow his studio mustache in the process. On his MySpace blog, El writes that the release "will most likely be a little more than an EP, a bit less than an album, and a whole lot of fuckery." He also says that, amidst other material, it will feature Darryl Palumbo's remix of "The Overlydramatic Truth". [MORE...]

DFA, Adrock Remix M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" on New EP
Also: Diplo remix with Bun B and Rich Boy that you already know and love

You've heard it all by now: M.I.A. flies like paper, gets high like planes, samples Combat Rock and gets stuck in your, er, brains. "Paper Planes", the Kala standout-- and, when joined by Diplo, Bun B and Rich Boy, Pitchfork's #4 track of 2007-- has been ringing out from every Hummer and hot dog stand since its release last summer. Now, M.I.A. has collected five fine remixes of the gunslingin', kid-singin' track for the Homeland Security Remixes EP.

In addition to Diplo's feted "Street remix" with Bun and Rich Boy, there's the Blaqstarr take with Rye Rye and Afrikan Boy, Beastie Boy Adrock's "Remix for the Children", one from the DFA, and one from Scottie B.

The Homeland Security Remixes EP is out this very moment digitally, and will get a physical release March 4 from Interscope.

As for M.I.A., she recently visited Liberia with 4Real TV, and you'll see her next at Mexico's MX Beat Festival, with other live appearances on the way at Coachella and Bonnaroo. [MORE...]

Amplive's Radiohead Remixes Now Available

After a bit of legal wrangling, Bay Area DJ/producer Amplive's Rainydayz Remixes project is here to stay. (Rainydayz being the Zion I member's reimagining of Radiohead's In Rainbows with assistance from MCs like Too $hort, Del the Funky Homosapien, Chali 2na, and his Zion I partner MC Zumbi.) And it's available for download now by following this very link.

In addition to the MP3s, Amplive is releasing a track from Rainydayz Remixes to his iLike iCast every 24 hours until he's all out, which apparently means you can put it on your Facebook or something. Seeing as we're all still trying to add each other on Friendster over here, we'll just stick to what we know: Rainydayz tracklist and Amplive, er, live dates after the jump. [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.)