Mike Skinner Names LP, Declares End of the Streets?

So whether or not Mike Skinner of the Streets was ever actually walking to France a few weeks back doesn't matter anymore. It seems that Skinner noticed the same fairly big stumbling block on his itinerary that we did: the fact that he had festival gigs scheduled during the time it would take to make the trek from England.

"I also hadn't realized that I had a gig to do in Austria tomorrow," Mike noted in a SkinnerBlog post on May 20, and the show appears to have gone off as planned. And he seems to have made his subsequent gigs in England and Switzerland.

Still, all that time not walking has found Mike with plenty of time to contemplate that new Streets LP, which he's calling Everything Is Borrowed (also the name of that tune Mike called "the biggest song on it"). A recent SkinnerBlog found Mike waxing introspective about the delay-filled nature of music marketing, and his relationship to his most recent work vs. that of his next big project. "The weird thing about being a music artist," Mike writes, "is that you live your life approximately 12 months ahead of your fans. I'm about to wrap my latest album. You're going to hear it in a few months (unless it leaks before then) but I'm already planning the next one. That's what I have to do if you are ever to hear it years from now."

He mentions that the "dark Berlin-influenced" next Streets album-- that would be the one to follow Everything Is Borrowed-- will be the very final Streets LP. Gloom and doom to come, no doubt, but not for a spell: in the same blog, he assures one and all that Everything Is Borrowed is a "peaceful coming to terms album." It's still tentatively due in August.

Whether or not any of this actually happens-- if the new album really is called Everything Is Borrowed or the one after it really is the last Streets album-- remains to be seen. What we do know is Mike's got quite a few of those European festival dates to attend to, the next one being June 7 in Nuremberg.

Stay tuned to Beat Stevie for more adventures. [MORE...]

Of Montreal, Les Savy Fav, Cut Copy Join Field Day
With Dan Deacon, Dirty Projectors, the Notwist, El Guincho, the Field (ha!)

The field? London's Victoria Park. (Also, the Field.) The day? August 9. Thus: the Field Day Festival-- taking place on that day, in that field.

Oh, right, the bands! Can't have a music festival without bands.

And just look who'll be stopping by: Of Montreal, Simian Mobile Disco, Les Savy Fav, the Notwist, Dirty Projectors, Dan Deacon, the Field (too rich!), El Guincho, Cut Copy, Foals, Lindstrom, Richie Hawtin, Modeselektor, the Mae Shi, Mystery Jets, Tunng, Emma Pollock, Jeffrey Lewis, Noah and the Whale, Efterklang, Laura Marling, Emperor Machine, Crookers, and oh-so-many others.

Why? Get the Mumps, Postpone Dates

Ah, what a time to be in Why?. Smack dab in the middle of the Cali folk-hoppers' massive tour we told you about some time ago, frontguy Yoni Wolf busted up his hand pretty good-- good enough to require surgery-- and, to add insult to injury, found himself laid up (as seen above) with a case of the mumps. Certainly no picnic for anyone, much less an adult of the human species.

All this misfortune forced the cancellation of a half-dozen dates in Germany and Scandanavia. Then, over the weekend, Yoni's brother and bandmate Josiah Wolf found himself feeling a bit under the weather, and lo and behold, he too was felled by those wretched mumps. Josiah's affliction has meant the cancellation of a handful of UK dates the band had scheduled for this week.

But there's a light at the end of the swollen salivary glands: Why? have largely rescheduled a bunch of their axed dates just around the time they were set to kick off yet another leg of that European tour of theirs. And patient sorts will be further rewarded July 22, when Asthmatic Kitty issues that covers-crazy split 7" with Cryptacize.

Feel better, dudes! [MORE...]

Franz Ferdinand Plan Fest Gigs, "Secret" Shows
Nearly done with third album

Looks like that photo there of the men of Franz Ferdinand loitering idly-- the one that's also adorned their website for what feels like ages now-- was but a clever ploy. As it turns out, the Ferds have been scheming behind the scenes the whole while! Cunning little angular post-punkers, those guys.

First and foremost, the gents are hard at work on the follow-up to 2006's You Could Have It So Much Better. An NME.com report from yesterday notes they're putting the "finishing touches" on the disc, and song titles bandied about on Franz's MySpace blog in recent weeks include "Lucid Dreams" "Ulysses", "Dream Again", "Turn It On", "A Severed Head", and "Katharine Kiss Me".

As noted in a Guardian.co.uk report, Franz worked on the new disc with producer Brian Higgins of British pop powerhouse Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Sugababes) before scrapping those sessions and instead linking with Dan Carey (Hot Chip, Lily Allen). Frontman Alex Kapranos shares some thoughts on working with "Mr Dan" here.

The scheming doesn't stop there, though. Franz Ferdinand have also lined up at least two "secret" shows in advance of a spate of summer festival appearances. The first, according to a Rough Trade email, goes down June 9 at London's Macbeth, while the second, according to a writeup on blog this is hull and east riding.co.uk, hits Hull's Adelphi club on June 22. Better start lining up now.

What's more, Mr. Kapranos apparently appears in some capacity on the forthcoming sophomore album from Annie, while the band recently broke out the Crayolas to work up some one-of-a-kind 7" artwork for fellow Scot Edwyn Collins. [MORE...]

BSS' Canning Combats Leak With Early Release

After putting his time and effort into recording Something for All of Us..., not to mention rounding up his Broken Social Scene associates, Brendan Canning is pretty bummed that installment of the "Broken Social Scene Presents" series leaked to the 'net so far ahead of its July 22 release on Arts&Crafts. And not only did it leak, but it's an inferior version of the album, too.

But Canning has decided to take action and counteract the leak the way his labelmates Stars did when the same thing happened with In Our Bedroom After the War: He's releasing a digital version of the record early.

In a message on his label's website, Canning writes:

"It has come to my attention that an unmastered version of my album has been leaked through the internet. With the retail release being six weeks away, I've decided to correct the situation by releasing the album digitally myself, because I can. So this is for all you early birds who just couldn't wait for July 22nd. But you know, it won't be like going to your favorite record shop and getting a copy in your hot little hands, or sitting in your basement downloading it to your iTouch phone [sic] while playing 'Grand Theft Auto'. It merely corrects the situation that is...a messed up version of my record floating around on the internet, and this is not how I wanted my record to drop. Believe me, this is not a minor situation. We're talking recall here folks... With all of this in mind, please note: Something for All of Us... will be available at all fine retail and digital outlets in North America July 22nd with some additional artwork inside and slightly later for the rest of the world.

Thank you all, please enjoy.

BC"

To purchase Something for All of Us... digitally, click here.

Canning has dates throughout the summer with Broken Social Scene. [MORE...]

Hey Look! It's the Joy Division Zune!
Joy Division documentary DVD release bumped back

Ain't she something? That's the previously reported limited edition Joy Division Microsoft Zune up there, bearing Factory Records design guy Peter Saville's iconic Unknown Pleasures artwork. Though initially set to arrive in conjunction with the DVD release of the Grant Gee-directed Joy Division documentary on June 10, both DVD and Zune now go up for sale June 17.

All 500 copies of this thing come pre-loaded with the film, and the 80-gigabyte devices, dying star charts and all, can be purchased via Zune's website and zuneoriginals.net.

The Zune is Microsoft's portable digital music-playing contraption, and is thus of no use to the 500 biggest Joy Division fans in the world, who certainly never leave their cold, dark, lonely bedrooms.

Matthew Sweet Tells Lies on New Record

Power pop prince Matthew Sweet will release his 10th studio album on August 26 via Shout! Factory. The record is called Sunshine Lies, and it features contributions from previous Sweet collaborator Susanna Hoffs, formerly of the Bangles. Lies packs in 13 new tunes, though the double-LP edition (which also comes with a CD) will include four additional bonus tracks.

Sweet is tour-date-free at the moment, but he's expected to hit the road later this year. He also produced Alabama-based family fivesome the Bridges' debut album, Limits of the Sky, which comes out June 10 on Verve Forecast. [MORE...]

Black Mountain Firm Up Summer Tour Plans

With the release of In the Future a thing of the past, the guys and gal of Black Mountain are, as ever, looking forward. In fact, they've got big plans for this summer, including a whole mess of European festival appearances and a few North American stops besides. The band is also looking to reschedule last month's cancelled dates in Glasgow and Dublin around the time of their August 15 appearance at the Green Man Festival in Wales.

No new Black Mountain releases to report, so you'll have to make do with the recently released Bastards of Light EP and their contribution to the forthcoming UNKLE record. [MORE...]

Jesu's Broadrick Releases New Final Album

Jesu mastermind Justin K. Broadrick has released a Final album. Don't panic; Jesu isn't over! We're talking about Broadrick's semi-confusingly-named solo project, Final.

Avalanche has put out the new Final record, Fade Away, as its first download-only release, and it is available now from the label's online store.

Fade Away consists of four tracks for a total running time of about 47 minutes. The music "explores minimal pulselike drones, intended for late night listening," according to the official description on Jesu's MySpace and Avalanche's website.

Avalanche is also working on vinyl editions of Jesu's Pale Sketches and Heart Ache, as well as Final's Afar, which should ship in early July. And, as usual, Mr. Broadrick's doing a million other things. A relatively recent checklist can be found here.

Ruby Suns Shine on Summer Tour

Sunny times require sunny tunes, and New Zealand's Ruby Suns are happy to oblige. Now, in addition to their current run of European shows, the Memphis/Sub Pop Best New Musicians have a full-blown North American tour to accompany their appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July. All of the U.S. shows are with Tilly and the Wall.

Note: Tonight's show in Cologne, Germany has been canceled. [MORE...]

Fujiya & Miyagi Add Member, Play Shows, Work Up LP

Gosh, guys. It was confusing enough when you three British blokes went around calling yourselves Fujiya & Miyagi. Now you've got some other dude in the mix, too? It would appear so: Fujiya & Miyagi are now a quartet. As the press release delicately puts it, "the drum machine has been replaced" by stickman Lee Adams. You hear that, Adams? You beat out a computer specifically designed to do your job! Not everyone can say the same.

When they're not auditioning replacements for their other appliances, the newly-expanded, still-perplexingly-named Fujiya & Miyagi have been busy working up their Transparent Things follow-up, due for a fall release on Deaf Dumb & Blind. Well, that, and lining up exactly eleven summer festival appearances the world over. Expect a U.S. tour around the time of the new album's release. [MORE...]

The Field Allowed Into America at Last

A little over a month ago, we reported on some troubles Swedish electronic artist Axel Willner, aka the Field, and his newly formed band were having in securing entry to the United States for their North American tour.

With Willner's new bandmates and all their gear barred from the States, the Field were forced to cancel a bunch of their dates, including Coachella, in our firm but fair nation.

Last weekend, Willner and company managed to get to Montreal for the Mutek Festival, but due to even more immigration troubles, a handful of U.S. dates earlier this week-- including shows in Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C.-- were also nixed.

But all of that immigration stuff has finally been worked out, as Willner and company have made their way to the States, and will perform a trio of full-band Field shows this week on the East Coast.

If you missed one of those cancelled dates, you can fret, but not for long: the Field promise to return to the States by the end of the year for a series of make-up shows. In the meantime, dudes gotta get back to Europe for the festival dates that make up the rest of their summer tour plans. [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.)