The Rapture Announce Spring/Summer Tour

Whoo! Alright! Let's fall apart! The Rapture have announced their grueling tour schedule for the spring and summer of 2007, which places them on the road from April through July. (OK, they get June off.)

The trek takes them around the world, from Australia and Japan to North America to Europe, touring alongside the likes of the Killers, Shiny Toy Guns, and, of course, Daft Punk.

They're even playing the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida-- where Anna Nicole Smith died! [MORE...]

Video: The Rapture: Whoo! Alright - Yeah...Uh Huh. [from the Pieces of the People We Love LP]

Hold Steady, M. Ward Pay Tribute to Bruce Springsteen
Plus: Badly Drawn Boy, Steve Earle, Ronnie Spector, Josh Ritter

"The Music of Bruce Springsteen" straps its hands across the engines of New York City's Carnegie Hall on April 5. The Boss-baiting benefit bonanza, produced by Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf, will feature live Bruce covers from the Hold Steady, M. Ward, Juliana Hatfield, Steve Earle, Ronnie Spector (with Jesse Malin), Badly Drawn Boy, Josh Ritter, Elysian Fields, North Mississippi Allstars, Pete Yorn, and more.

Video: Bruce Springsteen: Dancing in the Dark [from the Born in the U.S.A. LP]

New Pornos, Malkmus, De La Soul Added to P4K Fest
Also Battles and the Ponys!

Stakes is high! The Pitchfork Music Festival, taking place July 13-15 at Union Park in Chicago, is pleased to pull back the curtain on several additions to our all-star lineup: indie rock heavy hitters the New Pornographers and Stephen Malkmus, hip-hop legends De La Soul, art-rock supergroup Battles, and hometown heroes and recent Matador signings the Ponys!

All will join the company of previously announced festival performers Cat Power, Clipse, Of Montreal, Iron and Wine, Girl Talk, Jamie Lidell, Grizzly Bear, Professor Murder, Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound, and, of course, Sonic Youth performing their landmark 1988 album Daydream Nation (in collaboration with All Tomorrow's Parties' Don't Look Back).

If that's looking pretty good to you so far, keep in mind, more than 40 artists will perform at this year's Pitchfork fest-- we haven't even announced half of them yet! Plus, there are still two more artists to announce who, like Sonic Youth, will be performing their classic albums as part of Friday's ATP/Don't Look Back festival kickoff.

Here's the lineup as it stands today:

Friday, July 13:

Sonic Youth performs Daydream Nation

Saturday, July 14:

Cat Power
Clipse
Iron and Wine
Girl Talk
Grizzly Bear
Battles
Professor Murder

Sunday, July 15:

New Pornographers
Stephen Malkmus
De La Soul
Of Montreal
Jamie Lidell
The Ponys
Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketweb. Three-day passes cost $50, Friday night costs $15, Saturday and Sunday individual passes cost $25, and a Saturday/Sunday pass costs $35.

Keep up on all the latest festival news and details by bookmarking the Pitchfork Music Festival webpage and by tuning into the Pitchfork Music Festival podcast.

Dan Deacon Spazzes Across America Some More

Dan Deacon is his name. He's just signed to Carpark, he has an LP called Spiderman of the Rings out May 8 (and some reissues as well), and he's out there right now, terrorizing the status quo with his own bonkers brand of electronic pop.

Deacon has tacked a whole mess of dates onto his tour since we last reported, including a couple with similarly spastic Girl Talk, and quite a few with road warriors ADULT. and Parts & Labor. Catch him before he's the next Death Cab for Cutie. [MORE...]

MP3: Dan Deacon: The Crystal Cat [from the forthcoming Spiderman of the Rings LP]

Jana Hunter Sets Home Free, Tours
C'est chic, le freak-folk

Texan songstress and Gnomonsong signee Jana Hunter will cast off the shackles of domesticity on her sophomore disc, There's No Home, heading to the buyer's market April 2. Fans of the strummy stuff may recall "Farm, CA," the Hunter tune stuck in the mangy beard that was the Devendra Banhart-curated Golden Apples of the Sun freak folk showcase record, as well as her own well-received 2005 effort Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom.

Recorded at a friend's home in Houston, There's No Home packs plenty of the cathedral-ceiling harmonies, finger-plucked acoustic guitars, and freeform song structure you've come to expect from the freak-folkies. Guest-turns on the record are slim given the collective's tendency towards collaboration, but Jana's brother John Hunter contributes a few vocals, and John Adams of the Fatal Flying Guilloteens and Matt Brownlie of Bring Back the Guns handle a few instrumental duties.

The now Home-less Hunter will hit the road for a number of U.S. dates through April, then take a spin around Europe this May. [MORE...]

Stream: Jana Hunter: Various Tracks

Gonzales Enlists Feist, Jamie Lidell for DVD
Also releases solo album

Electro-MC, symphony-minded producer, Feist/Jamie Lidell/Daft Punk/Peaches collaborator, and sometimes-solo pianist Gonzales has of late been working a little harder on that "sometimes" gig, as evidenced by the Solo Piano CD he'll drop on our heads April 3. Yeah, so maybe the creative synapses weren't fully firing in the title department, but that doesn't mean Gonzales won't blow minds with his signature blend of classical forms and electronic flourishes.

Gonzales has been tickling ivories aplenty of late in his Piano Vision performance series, which finds him on the bench by his lonesome, schooling a "masterclass" of stage-storming audience members, and capping things off with appearances by the likes of Feist, Jamie Lidell and Mocky. Gonzales' vision will see its way to you in DVD form May 8 when From Major to Minor, a film capturing Gonzales and friends at play, sees release. Note that the US release of this DVD will differ from the double-disc version already available in Europe.

Gonzales is also looking to unlock his 88 keys for a handful of late-spring dates. [MORE...]

Video: Gonzales: Take Me to Broadway

Interpol's Sam + Swervedriver's Adam = Setting Suns

Fogarino met former Swervedriver lead Adam Franklin over dinner a winter ago, and the two must have hit it off, 'cause they done gone and formed a band. "i've been a swervedriver fan from the start, still am," wrote Fogarino on the Setting Suns' newly inaugurated MySpace page. "i would have killed just to bang a can for adam franklin. now, he makes sense of my melodies, and turns our ideas into a beautiful din. i feel lucky and alive.... and a bit sick from my own sap."

Thus far, the duo has posted two slow-burning bits of beautiful din on their MySpace: piano-dappled rainy-day dirge "Yesterday's Flowers", and a track called-- no joke-- "Cold War Kids".

As Franklin explained in a recent post, he's had the "Cold War Kids" idea for some time-- and even considered naming the band that until learning some youngins already snatched it up. "The inspiration behind [the song]," wrote Franklin, "was Bowie's Heroes, the film Christiane F and a song called Only The Dead Dreams Of A Cold War Kid by Hawklords, which was in effect Hawkwind contractually obligated to alter their name whilst playing Noo Wave music circa 1978." Good to know, good to know.

The Setting Suns have not yet unveiled any release details or tour plans. Franklin, meanwhile, has retired his Toshack Highway moniker for the moment, and will release an album called Bolts of Melody later this spring under his own name. Bolts will include Adam's cover of Wolf Parade's "Shine a Light", and several tracks off it may be streamed right now at dude's MySpace.

As previously reported, Sam Fogarino has put together a benefit for Callum Robbins, who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The event goes down April 16 at NYC's Bowery Ballroom and features performances from Bob Mould, Radio 4, and Mercury Rev offshoot Harmony Rockets. Expect special guests as well.

Interpol, that Capitol Records-signed band Fogarino drums for, embark on a totally epic Canadian tour next month, with several festival dates to follow. A Las Vegas gig recently popped up on Ticketbastard, and there's an awfully suspicious month-long gap between it and Interpol's Sasquatch! appearance at the end of May. Consider our fingers crossed. [MORE...]

Stream: The Setting Suns: Various Tracks

Man Man to Open Modest Mouse Tour!
Mmmm...

It's nice to see hardworking, talented bands hit it big, to see a band like Modest Mouse match their record geek/fanperson credibility with the commercial success of a #1 debut. And Modest Mouse keep adding chapters to the indie rock success story with the tourmates on their previously reported tour in support of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

Those tourmates? Man Man!

Yep, the Philly boys will join Isaac Brock, Johnny Marr, and co. on the road this spring. How sweet. Those audiences won't know what hit 'em.

But first, Man Man have to finish their own previously reported dates. Godspeed, U.S.S. Man Man! [MORE...]

Video: Man Man: Engwish Bwood [from the Six Demon Bag LP]

Newsom, Deerhoof, Bloc Party Play French Fest
Also: Lady Sovereign, Peter Bjorn & John, Phoenix, Justice, Maxïmo Park

Joanna Newsom, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, Feist, and Lady Sovereign are among the 130+ artists who will play on 13 stages at the 31st Printemps de Bourges festival. The festival takes place in Bourges, France from April 17-22.

Le Printemps de Bourges' lineup also includes Phoenix, Justice, Maxïmo Park, Peter Bjorn & John, TTC, Akron/Family, Loney Dear, 120 Days, Amon Tobin, the Cinematic Orchestra, Benjy Ferree, Jesse Sykes, the Rakes, the Procussions, Metronomy, Bunny Wailer, John Butler Trio, Julie Doiron, Cold War Kids, and Tinariwen.

Blue Cheer Tour With An Albatross

Psych-metal pioneers Blue Cheer will hit the road with like minds An Albatross on a tour of North America that begins April 6 in Philadelphia.

An Albatross are featured on all of Blue Cheer's dates except for the last one, for which the Cheer will hop to the Netherlands to play the Roadburn Festival. That weekend, they will play another currently-TBA one-off date in Europe.

An Albatross will fly off on their own European tour in May, and they have one U.S. show without Blue Cheer in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on March 31.

Finally, Blue Cheer plan to release a new record this year. Hopefully in time to cure the summertime blues. [MORE...]

Stream: Blue Cheer: Various Tracks
Video: An Albatross: The Revolutionary Politics of Dance [from the We Are the Lazer Viking EP]

Maximo Park, Bonde do Role, Patti Smith Do Evolution
Plus: Echo & the Bunnymen, Simian Mobile Disco, Kano, Datarock, Loney, Dear

Hey, here's this great idea. Get a bunch of bands that people like and have them play all day long. Cater to a decent cross-section of young folks, and invite sponsors to bankroll a good portion of the overhead. Hell, tack on a week's worth of satellite events, just for kicks. We'll call it...a festival!

Seems some folks in amalgamated British city NewcastleGateshead will put this brilliant idea to the test in late May. The 2007 edition of the Evolution festival kicks off May 20 and runs through May 28, culminating on the final day with a massive, cataclysmic, day-long outdoor event in the city's Quayside called (groans at the ready)...Freevolution.

Freevolution will feature performances from Maxïmo Park, Bonde do Role, Echo & the Bunnymen, Simian Mobile Disco, Datarock, Kano, Soulwax, Shy Child, Hot Club de Paris, and more. Did we mention it's, like, totally free to attend? Meanwhile, during the days leading up to Freevolution, cool musical entities invade NewcastleGateshead's many venues, entities such as Patti Smith, the Apples in Stereo, Loney, Dear, Emma Pollock, Tunng, 2ManyDJs, Joan as Police Woman, Nouvelle Vague, and others.

Parts & Labor Trek with Mapmaker in Tow
Yes, they have their own personal cartographer

Jerryrigging two albums in as many years has to be a grind, but the workmen of Parts & Labor felt themselves up for the challenge. Heck, they even found time to squeeze out an all-electronic EP in between their two long-players. Fresh off 2006's Stay Afraid, the fruit of Parts' recent labor will emerge May 22 in the form of Mapmaker, another slab of grisly cacophony from the Jagjaguwar signees.

Mapmaker's dozen tracks were recorded and mixed in the band's native Brooklyn, with guest turns from the Good Good's Natalja Kent and P&L labelmates Pterodactyl's Joe Kremer. Standout "King of the Hill" is neither a rumination on the beloved childhood pushing-game nor an exploration of the amusing animated sitcom of the same name, but rather a cover of the Minutemen song, played on a toy keyboard.

The master craftsmen of Parts & Labor will take Mapmaker on the road for a month, joining up with likeminded sonic sculptors ADULT., Erase Errata and Dan Deacon.

In related news, Cardboard Records, run by P&L's Dan Friel, put out the album Red State by Gowns this week. [MORE...]

MP3: Parts & Labor: Fractured Skies [from the Mapmaker LP]

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