Laetitia Sadier's Monade Craft Monstre Cosmic, Tour

Though its beginnings lie in the bedroom of Stereolab singer, lyricist, and multi- instrumentalist Laetitia Sadier, Monade has slowly but surely invited more and more folks to the sleepover, transforming into the full-fledged musical unit it is today.

Sadier is still at the helm, joined at present by bassist Marie Merlet, keyboardist/guitarist Nicolas Etienne, drummer David Loquier, and multi-instrumentalist Joe Watson (also of Stereolab). Monade will issue its third LP (and second as a full band), Monstre Cosmic, February 19 in the U.S. and February 18 in the UK via Too Pure/Duophonic. The disc also features guest vocals by Luna Parker's Rachel Ortas and string work by members of the Bordeaux Conservatoire. And, like just about anything Laetitia sings over, it is lovely, and there are synths aplenty.

Monade have a handful of dates in Europe and the UK in February and March. Stereolab, too, have a show on the way: July 19 at Tønsberg, Norway's Slottsfjell Festival. [MORE...]

Man Man, Yeasayer to Tour U.S. Together This Spring

Bound by their love of the music of the world, off-kilter rhythms, and innovations in facial hair, Philly weirdos Man Man and Brooklyn weirdos Yeasayer will embark on a joint tour of the U.S. in April.

The two bands will join forces for nearly a month beginning April 12 in Boston, with Man Man ducking out briefly to fulfill their duties in weirding out Paris Hilton at Coachella. The tour, conveniently enough for them and us, ends just as the two bands are set to jump the pond for this May's ATP vs. Pitchfork festival.

Man Man have those Rabbit Habits of theirs to attend to April 8 on Anti-, and a slew of new dates, including a hometown record release party with the Dirty Projectors and a full-on UK/European tour that kicks off in mid-May. Yeasayer, too, have a mess of new dates since the last time we ran 'em down, including their own brief UK tour following the Pitchfork fest. [MORE...]

Islands' Nick Thorburn Talks Arm's Way, Side Projects
"This is a record that requires concentration, and I think it's a good record to help someone stay sober. It's a record for alcoholics."

Photo by Alex Wagner

Islands make strange, scattershot pop music, but as we know well, even the weird ones have their day in the sun. After making a sizable splash with 2006's Return to the Sea, Islands will return May 20 with Arm’s Way, which they'll release through new label Anti-. Yesterday, we spoke with Islands leader Nick Thorburn (formerly known as Nick Diamonds) about the music of Arm’s Way, as well as his various side projects.

Pitchfork: The new album is called Arm's Way, which is yet another winking title from you guys. Care to explain?

NT: The band is based in Quebec. It's basically, French-Canadian people don't pronounce their H's. So, it's "Harm's Way" without the "H".

Pitchfork: Ha, that oughta clear up any confusion for the American audience, then.

NT: It's your standard play on words. It's just what you might call a pun of sorts. This is a record that's very physical and I just like the imagery that "arm" conjures. It's got a menacing tone to it. You can think of arms in the military sense, or arms in the spiritual sense, too. Like someone reaching out to lift you up to a higher place. There are all these connotations that are in conflict, and I think that's what drew me to this title.

Pitchfork: I haven't heard the record beyond "The Arm", but the press material I've got suggests it's "far more centered" than the last one, but also "sprawling" and "symphonic". Those seem like two competing notions.

NT: Well, the thing about progressive rock is that, you know, it requires a lot of focus. It requires one to be centered to perform it, but it also progresses throughout. Instead of repeating a part, it moves to a different part, and that's where the progression comes in. Like I said, this is a record that requires concentration, and I think it's a good record to help someone, you know, stay sober. It's that record for alcoholics. At least if you're going to be playing it, which we will be. [MORE...]

Shearwater's Meiburg Tours With Bill Callahan
Americanarama

Photo by Kathryn Yu

From Texas to parts east to Texas anew, wherever the (dude from) Shearwater runs, Bill Callahan is sure to follow. Shearwater main man Jonathan Meiburg will hit the road sans the rest of the 'water with the one they used to call Smog on a winter tour of the South beginning later this week.

Meiburg's Shearwater have reportedly gotten pretty damn close to letting us in on all the pieces of their forthcoming LP, Rook, but Matador isn't parting with the knowledge just yet. Try getting the skinny straight from the source at the following spots. [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...]

Sonic Youth Plan Career-Spanning Art Exhibit

The extraordinary magnitude of Sonic Youth's, ahem, sonic influence is pretty much gospel at this point. But no less pronounced are the band's contributions to the visual culture, by way of artists such as Christopher Wool, Dan Graham, Vito Acconci, Raymond Pettibon, and Richards Kern and Prince.

These folks and more will be celebrated in a forthcoming traveling museum exhibition Sonic Youth is preparing, according a New York magazine report.

"We're putting together this museum show that's utilizing all the artists that we've worked with on different covers and concepts, and that's going to happen for two or three years," Thurston Moore said during a Marc Jacobs party in New York City last week. "It's going to happen in young museums; there's one outside of Paris, there's one in Malmö, Sweden."

The New York story suggests the exhibit will launch this June at the Lieu International des Formes Emergentes (LiFE) in Saint-Nazaire, France, while the Whitney in New York is being considered as well. What's more, Sonic Youth hope to perform at each of the exhibition sites.

The band also plans to start writing its Rather Ripped follow-up this spring.

In other related and not necessarily related news, Daydream Nation the album is headed to a venue Down Under near you, while Daydream Nation the movie should turn up in theaters before long.

A short film co-starring Obama-backer Kim Gordon may be headed to a festival near you soon too, while a DVD directed by the aforementioned Kern and featuring music by Mr. Moore is bound for an adult video store near you March 18. And that's to say nothing of the Sonic Youth member-boasting Rhys Chatham discs due March 4 or the Sonic Youth-boasting "From the Basement" episode airing Stateside March 14. Gotta catch 'em all! [MORE...]

Deerhoof's Satomi Doubles Up for Oneone Project

The recent addition of fourth Deerhoofer Ed Rodriguez should free vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki to strike more of those adorable poses in the live setting. It has also, it seems, freed her to pursue some extracurricular musical interests.

Oneone is a new music-making outfit comprised of Satomi and Saya Ueno of Japan's much-loved Tenniscoats and Maher Shalal Hash Baz's touring band. The fledging duo will play one of its very first gigs tonight, February 13, at Aquarius Records in San Francisco. Billed as an "acoustic" set, the in-store begins at 6 p.m. Pacific this evening.

We can also look forward to a Oneone album in the near future, boasting the mixing prowess of Deerhoof's Greg Saunier and the label stamp of Japan's P-Vine imprint. Oneone also hope to hit up Japan in June for more live action.

Before all that, however, Deerhoof have a little live action of their own brewing. [MORE...]

Art Brut Deliver New Digital Single/EP

Brothers and sisters! Art Brut have a brand new single headed your way, and, you guessed it, it's for decibel-baiting It's a Bit Complicated jam "Pump Up the Volume" (not actually a M/A/R/R/S cover, mind you).

"Pump" hit UK digital retailers this week via Mute, and e-buyers can opt for one of two formats: the single-track version, or a three-track EP boasting "Pump" and two new songs, "Wasted Week-End" and "Our Parents Record Collection".

The mighty Art Brut have tacked on an epic three-date tour of Switzerland since our last report, and they of course have gigs in the UK, Spain, and Italy leading up to it. The next pops off in Dundee, Scotland tonight. [MORE...]

Scarlett Johansson Album Has Tracklist, David Bowie!

Frankly, Scarlett, we do give a damn. Anywhere I Lay My Head, the previously reported debut album from screen thespian Scarlett Johansson, arrives May 20 on Atco/Rhino.

It's an album comprised almost entirely of Tom Waits covers, with one ScarJo original, "Song for Jo", as its centerpiece. And now we know just which Waits numbers get the Johansson touch: "I Don't Want to Grow Up", "Town With No Cheer", and "No One Knows I'm Gone" are among the tunes by the gravel-voiced one that make up the rather odd Anywhere tracklist, reported on Billboard.com yesterday evening.

We already knew Dave Sitek produced and members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Celebration, and Stars Like Fleas play on it, but here's the kicker: a pair of tracks ("Falling Down" and "Fannin' Street") feature guest vocals from none other than David Bowie! That's right: the other girl from Ghost World has recorded Tom Waits covers with David Bowie. Minds = blown.

As far as the covers themselves, "I Don't Want to Grow Up" will probably turn some heads. The Billboard.com report describes the track as having "drum machine beats straight out of a New Order song." Oh boy.

Waits gave the project his blessing, however. "I sent him some of the early, early recordings," Johansson told journalists at a press conference yesterday, "and he said, 'Go ahead.'

"I've heard he's very pleased."

While Johansson has no immediate plans to tour the Anywhere material, she is considering the possibility of "getting everybody together" for a festival appearance. [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...]

Handsome Furs Announce Spring Dates

Touring with Handsome Furs is all Dan Boeckner seems to do these days, so maybe it's time to start calling Wolf Parade the side project. Either way, Boeckner and Alexei Perry are heading out in support of last year's Plague Park once again this spring.

The duo's new headlining dates are all on the East Coast in late March and early April, starting with a show in Miami on March 27. UPDATE: Looks like a West Coast tour is taking shape. They'll also play Sub Pop's SXSW showcase. [MORE...]

Working for a Nuclear Free City to Tour U.S., UK
Working for a Canada-free tour

After a few UK dates over the rest of the month, Manchester, England's Working for a Nuclear Free City will sandwich a brief U.S. tour with appearances at Noise Pop and SXSW. In between, they'll work on bringing cities devoid of the pleasures of dance rock the same kind of reversal effect they've had on the nuclear problem. Get thee to Tehran, fellas. [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.)