Nick Cave, Spiritualized, Jose Gonzalez Play iTunes Gigs

iTunes will continue its music-world domination with a series of shows taking place in London from this Thursday, February 21 through March 2. And guess what? Every concert that's part of iTunes Live: London Sessions will be recorded and subsequently available for purchase via-- guess where?-- iTunes. (Seems to be UK only, sorry.)

AIR Studios will host "solo and collaborative sets" from the likes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Spiritualized, Roisin Murphy, José González, Billy Bragg, Estelle, Mystery Jets, and (whoa, haven't heard this name in a little while) Jason Mraz, among many others.

Unfortunately, tickets to the shows are only available to contest winners. But you know where to go to hear the music after the fact.

(Via NME.)

Jay Reatard Unveils First Matador Single, Adds Dates

If all goes according to plan, there will be more of Jay Reatard's forthcoming "See/Saw" 7" floating around than any of the rest of his six upcoming Matador singles, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get excited about snagging a copy of your very own.

Jay's inaugural release for the label-- and the first in a plotted string of fewer and fewer copies of more and more singles-- arrives April 8, and will be backed with "Screaming Hand". More to come...or, wait, is it less?

One thing there is assuredly more of: Jay tour dates. After he parts ways with the Black Keys, he'll blow through the rest of April up and down the East Coast with fun-sounding folks like Cheap Time and CPC Gangbangs. [MORE...]

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...]

Atlas Sound Kick Off Tour This Weekend

Photo by Tim Scharr

Over the weekend at his native Athens, Georgia's fabled 40 Watt Club, Mr. Bradford Cox and his Atlas Sound will take the stage on the first stop on their winter tour in support of the February 19 release of Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel on Kranky.

Cox will be joined onstage by "The Atlas Sound Music Group" (pictured up yonder), featuring Brian Foote of Nudge, Adam Forkner of White Rainbow, Honey Owens of Valet, and Atlanta-based drummer/guitarist Stephanie Macksey. Cox and the Atlas Sound will wrap things up with a series of showings at a little something I (and, I'm told, others) like to call South by Southwest.

As ever, Bradford's been filling up the Deerhunter blog with new music. Recent highlights include demos for Let the Blind standout "Recent Bedroom" and Cryptograms' "Spring Hall Convert", a spliff-worthy "PostGRUNGE death trip" called "Cloves", Valentine's Day offering the How I Escaped the Prison of Fractals CD-R, and the truly lovely Orange Ohms Glow EP, recorded earlier this month and posted within hours of its completion.

But what of that other band Bradford's in? Well, they've still got that one lonely gig to their name: the ATP vs. Pitchfork festival, May 9-11 at the Camber Sands Holiday Centre near Rye, England. [MORE...]

N.E.R.D. Plan Pre-Kanye Shows

The untold story of Kanye's "Glow in the Dark" tour-- aside from the nice looking lineup-- is the re-emergence of N.E.R.D., the Neptunes' rock trio. To add to the reunited good vibes, Pharrell, Chad Hugo, and pal Shay Haley will prove they can stand on their own six feet with a month of headlining shows before joining up with Kanye, Lupe, and Rihanna.

The freshly minted tour fills out the group's March schedule, includes multiple performances at SXSW, and wraps up in Alabama. Then, it's on into the "Dark"! [MORE...]

Cat Power Adds Dates

Photo by William Kirk

Cat Power and her Dirty Delta Blues wrapped up a brief North American tour earlier this week, but following a lone L.A. Leap Day date and a trip Down Under, the human Jukebox will return to this continent yet again.

The newly announced jaunt finds Chan heading from Vancouver down the West Coast and into Mexico City, all within the confines of the cruelest month, with a lonely UK date to follow in June. Thanks Chan! We miss you when you go away. [MORE...]

Statehood Line Up Some Live Dates

Photo by David Holloway

Releasing an album full of Lies and Rhetoric wasn't enough political proselytizing for the dudes of Statehood; they had to go off on a disinformation campaign, spreading those very Lies and Rhetoric all the while.

The East Coast instigators-- featuring the fine former Dismemberment Plan rhythm section for their very own-- will pound the drum of half-truths and spin across the U.S. on a brief tour. Dare to be deceived? Step right up!

The campaign begins tonight (February 15) in Richmond, Virginia. [MORE...]

Elvis Costello to Tour With the Police

After he unleashes his next reissue on the world (the people must have their demos and alternate versions!), Elvis Costello will get a little closer look at the detectives when he heads out on a North American tour with the Police in May. Joining Costello will be his trusty Imposters.

The bespectacled bard also has a quartet of dates before then, including his previously reported appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. [MORE...]

Franz Side Project Correcto Ready Debut LP

A Glaswegian foursome with Paul Thomson on drums will release its new album in the UK on February 25, but it's not Franz Ferdinand. (They're still crafting their own picaresque journey^* of a new LP.)

Instead, the record comes from Correcto, the group Thomson plays in with Danny Saunders, the Royal We's Patrick Doyle, and artist Richard Wright. Just this week Domino released "Do It Better", the second single from the band's self-titled debut, and the label will follow with the album in a little over a week.

Correcto also have a handful of live dates coming up, starting with a show tomorrow night (February 16) in Glasgow.

Franz Ferdinand have a pair of festival shows as well, though they don't arrive until the summer.

* According to a MySpace blog post... [MORE...]

The National Release Live EP

The National are hardly the flashiest band in the world, but they certainly mastered the slow burn with über-grower Boxer. And any approach that results in a tour with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse seems like a pretty good formula for success.

The band's newest way for us to soak up the Boxer experience is through a digital live EP released through online music service Rhapsody. It's titled Rhapsody Rocks NYC and features four Boxer tunes recorded live at an exclusive show during last year's CMJ Music Marathon. It's available for purchase right now.

Before they join forces with the Rems and the Mouses on the aforementioned tour, the National have a handful of dates, starting with a pair of February shows at the Brooklyn Next festival. [MORE...]

Bill Callahan Kicks Off Tour With Shearwater's Meiburg

Photo by Shannon McClean

Tonight in Beaumont, Texas, Misters Bill Callahan (formerly known as Smog, in and out of these parentheses) and Jonathan Meiburg (generally speaking, the font from which Shearwater flows) will hit the very same stage for the first of many such meetings the two will enjoy on their joint tour of the Southern U.S.

They'll part ways March 8, at which point Meiburg and the Shearwater will prep for the release of Rook, due sometime this year on Matador. As for Bill, well, one only hopes he's accruing weird encounters to write about for his follow-up to last year's stellar Woke on a Whaleheart. Bon voyage, gents. [MORE...]

O'Death Head Out on Tour of Murderous Proportions

Death! And more death! And, also, O'Death! Following a pop-in at SXSW and a brief run around the country with Brooklyn bluesman Langhorne Slim, porch-stompers O'Death will hit the road with Kiss Kiss and their fellow gothic carnage-mongers in Murder by Death. You will know them by the trail of, uh, tour dates.

Oh, and O'Death's contribution to the Gigantic Records 7" series has been out since February 5. They'll reportedly head into the studio later this month with producer Alex Newport to craft a new full-length. [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.)