Califone Expand, Kick Off Tour

Sometimes, Califone once pointed out, good weather follows bad people. So if you're out at a gig put on by the raggedy folk troupe and the sun is shinin', well, you know that Tim Rutili must be making some mischief.

No, it's not like that; summer's here, and the time is right for a little hazy Dobro and hush-plucked banjo. Such is Califone, the lovable low-key Chicago institution hitting the road tonight for a month of dates. One expects they'll run through quite a bit of the lovely Roots & Crowns, and perhaps take a spin around "Ladders", the song they contributed to the Trials of Darryl Hunt soundtrack. Heck, they'll play 'em all; those guys have quite the stamina.

Califone, as we recently revealed, might just exceed their set times at this summer's Pitchfork Music Festival, and we couldn't be happier about it. We just hope they bring some of that good weather with 'em. [MORE...]

Mountain Goats, Darnielle Play Benefit/Celebration Gigs

Mountain Goats songwriter John Darnielle (who still has one of the best music blogs on the interblock) doesn't have a lot of shows scheduled this spring, but the shows he will play are all of the highest quality.

On May 5, the Mountain Goats will play Chapel Hill's Local 506 as part of the club's anniversary celebration. Then on May 11, Darnielle will go solo at a free in-store at respected Brooklyn record store Sound Fix to commerorate the re-opening of the store's café.

Darnielle's last two currently scheduled dates-- both solo and "probably unamplified either in a barn or outside" (according to the man himself in a Mountain Goats website update)-- are benefits for Farm Sanctuary, a vegetarian organization that "rescues animals from all kinds of situations and gives them a place to live out the natural terms of their lives in peace and tranquility." The shows are free, with a ten dollar suggested donation at the door.

In order to raise even more money for Farm Sanctuary, Darnielle is "still batting around the idea of a fan-constructed set where you give more donations the deeper into the back catalog you go. That set would probably be on Sunday [June 17]."

The Farm Sanctuary shows will also feature solo sets from fellow Mountain Goat Peter Hughes and the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers' Perry Wright. For full information about those shows, including parking, camping, and culinary requests (no meat snacks out of respect for the organization), visit here. [MORE...]

Gang Gang Dance Shimmies Across the U.S.

Oh, sure, I could fill you fulla details about Brooklyn-based boogie-backers Gang Gang Dance's Retina Riddim DVD (out May 22 via Social Registry), their upcoming EP, and album; but I could also just direct you to my esteemed colleague Matthew Solarski's interview with GGD's leader Brian DeGraw in which the two discuss all three and much, much more.

What I'd be glad to fill you in on is the tour Gang Gang Dance'll embark upon, starting June 8 in Cleveland and ending June 27 in Philly. [MORE...]

Polyphonic Spree Tour With Army

The newly macabre Polyphonic Spree will kick off a U.S. tour in Nashville on May 7. The tour is in support of their previously reported new album, The Fragile Army, which comes out June 19 on the Spree's new label, TVT.

The Fragile Army's tracklist has changed slightly since our last report. The seventh song is now Wait EP track "Mental Cabaret" instead of "Oh I Feel Fine", and the tenth song is actually called "Watch Us Explode (Justify)", not "Watch Us Explode/Justify". Spree is in the details.

Right now, the band/choir/robe enthusiast club's calendar is pretty wide open after May, with just three festival dates scheduled for this summer. [MORE...]

Photos: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists [Chicago, IL; 04/28/07]

Capturing Ted Leo in still frame is akin to videotaping an apple; it works, but one feels the wrong device is being employed. Standing agog through 80 minutes of Leo's whirling dervish act, one wonders just exactly how he replaces the protein in his vegan diet: despite getting a serious shine on (figuratively and otherwise) circa tune two, Ted never faltered this past weekend at Chicago's Metro.

Sweaty Teddy and his pill-counters spread their set nearly evenly between back catalog highlights and Living With the Living, pausing only briefly for a solo take on Joe Strummer's "Johnny Appleseed". The added oomph of the live setting wears well on "The Sons of Cain" and "Army Bound" (and leaves no room to pick up that confounded whistle in "A Bottle of Bucky"), but "La Costa Brava" and "The Unwanted Things" quickly show their haunches, pleasing though they were to the youthful crowd.

Even the lesser material manages to captivate on the shoulders of Leo's boundless cheerleading, and one can never hear "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" or "Me and Mia" too often. After nearly an hour and a half of rudeness-- including an encore-capping all-star jam with the Jai-Alai Savant's Ralph Darden and openers Love of Diagrams-- the set's 10 p.m. endtime couldn't have come soon enough. It's tiring, watching somebody pogo about like that. Tiring, but satisfying.

Ted Leo wraps up his North American tour this month, barely catches his breath, and then does it all over again in Europe.






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Elvis Costello Best-Ofs, Digital Reissues Due
Don't you think that I know that lavish repackaging won't make you a miracle man?

Though his middle-aged musical-leg-stretching has lead him down oft-softer paths, genre- dipping word-tinkerer Elvis Costello once punk rocked with the best of 'em.

Costello, in conjunction with Universal Music Entertainment, hand-picked 22 of the more propulsive numbers from his back catalog and called it Rock and Roll Music; which-- alongside the similarly self-selected Costello crash-course The First 10 Years: The Best of Elvis Costello-- will file in with the seemingly unending pantheon of Costello reissues tomorrow, May 1.

May 1 will also see the digital debut of Costello's first 11 albums. They'll pop up on the iTunes music store May Day and migrate to other outlets 30 days later.

Costello and his current band of Imposters are not coincidentally out on the road for a few dates throughout May. [MORE...]

Exclusive: YACHT to Open for LCD Soundsystem

It turns out ultimate fighting and touring have more in common than James Murphy might have suspected: they both require a great deal of resourcefulness. And when faced with the worthy opponent of a Prinzhorn Dance School cancellation, Murphy was forced to act quickly to find another opening act for LCD Soundsystem's U.S. tour.

Enter YACHT, aka Jona Bechtolt, he of the new record (out May 8 on Marriage Records) and the tour on the actual yacht. Bechtolt will take the place of Prinzhorn Dance School on the previously reported tour, which continues tonight (April 30) in San Francisco. The rest of YACHT's previously reported dates remain intact, except for the shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles on May 11 and 12, respectively.

After two weeks together, Murphy and Bechtolt will go their separate ways on summer tours that include European festival dates for Murphy and stints in North America and Japan with Architecture in Helsinki, Au Revoir Simone, and Tussle for Bechtolt. [MORE...]

Built to Spill Announce All-American Dates
I want to see them turns to backs of heads and slowly get smaller

Photo by Maria Tessa Sciarrino

Baseball, apple pie, power chords, and noodly guitar solos; nothin' says good, clean American fun like the Idaho power-pop impresarios in Built to Spill. And, after a previously-announced jaunt around Europe this May, they'll return to the States for the fireworks and a mess of red-blooded dates (and, alas, a hop up Canada way) sure to inspire patriotism or, at least, a few shreds on the ol' air-axe. And what could be more patriotic than that?

If you find some trouble corroborating these dates, you're not alone; we had to hunt 'em down in Built to Spill's password-protected fan-only site. In 2007, secretism is way American. We've been assured that Doug and the fellas are putting all that Yank elbow-grease to work on the follow up to last year's top-heavy You in Reverse. Makes you proud, dunnit?

Every heart beats true for the red, white and blue:

05-04 Groningen, Netherlands - Vera
05-06 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05-08 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
05-09 Malmo, Sweden - KB
05-10 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
05-11 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
05-12 Gothenburg, Sweden - Sticky Fingers
05-14 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
05-15 Dresden, Germany - Star Club
05-16 Vienna, Austria - Flex
05-17 Munich, Germany - Ampere
05-18 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
05-19 Oxford, England - Zodiac
05-20 Somerset, England - Butlins Minehead (All Tomorrow's Parties)
05-22 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
05-23 Nottingham, England - Rescue Room
05-25 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix Club
05-26 Schondorf, Germany - Manufaktur
05-27 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm
05-28 Winterthur, Switzerland - Salzhaus
05-29 Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-son
05-30 Paris, France - La Maronquinerie
05-31 Montpellier, France - Victoires 2
06-01 Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum (Primavera Sound)
06-30 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
07-02 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
07-03 Lancaster, PA - The Chameleon Club
07-05 Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom
07-06 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
07-07 Brooklyn, NY - McCarren Park Pool
07-08 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
07-13 Ottawa, Ontario - River Stage (Ottawa Blues Fest)
07-14 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
07-16 Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
07-17 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
07-21 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot

Peter Bjorn and John Launch Tour This Weekend
They put a little money into travelin'

With their sticky, lip-pursing melodies on the tips of tongues worldwide, smashingly slick Swedes Peter Bjorn and John will attempt to fulfill all those newfound expectations on their globe-spanning tour that kicks off this weekend.

The paradoxically prolific Writer's Block-sufferers-- along with just about every other band on the planet worth a rip-- will camp out at Coachella before embarking on a few weeks of North American mirth, followed by a spottier string through their home-continent's festival season.

Those fine tax-gathering folks at NPR will--as they often do-- broadcast the PBJ set from DC's 9:30 Club on April 30 for your at-home listening pleasure. [MORE...]

Exclusive: Mary Timony Band Tours Behind Shapes

In the school of indie rock, Mary Timony's got advanced degrees, having served time in Helium, Autoclave, and solo, and having put dissertations before the boards at Matador, Dischord, Lookout!, and soon, Kill Rock Stars.

Mary Timony's lastest-- as the Mary Timony Band, which includes Medications members Devin Ocampo on drums and Chad Molter on bass-- arrives May 8 via Timony's new home KRS. It's called The Shapes We Make, and features some studio wizardry courtesy of Ocampo (who produced), Jawbox's J. Robbins, and Mary herself. Watch Mary and Band defend this latest long-player on a series of U.S. dates beginning next month, with Joe Wong taking over for Ocampo on drums.

The Mary Timony Band's spring sojourn kicks off May 25 in Austin. Along the way, she'll be joined by the likes of some snotty freshmen like FatCat's Welcome, L.A. aviators Great Northern, angular-addicts the Joggers, and post-Q and Not U pop-savvy quartet Georgie James. [MORE...]

Frank Black Does Best Of, Plans LP as Black Francis
Tours Europe

Primary Pixie Frank Black will release his first "best of" compilation June 12 via Cooking Vinyl. Frank Black 93-03 will be a double-disc set covering material from 1993's self-titled solo debut through 2003's Catholics-supported disc Show Me Your Tears.

The first disc features 22 studio tracks in chronological order. The second is comprised of live versions recorded at late 2006 shows in Pittsburgh and Regina, Saskatchewan. Cooking Vinyl will release three different versions of the second disc, one each for the North American, European, and Japanese releases, and the European and Japanese versions of the compilation will come out June 4, a week before the North American edition.

Also featured on 93-03-- as a "hidden track" that will likely close out the first disc-- is a new song called "Threshold Apprehension", which is the first single from a forthcoming Frank Black album-- as Black Francis!-- titled Bluefinger. Black took inspiration for Bluefinger from 20th Century Dutch painter and musician Herman Brood, and he plans to release the album on Cooking Vinyl in September.

"Threshold Apprehension" will also have a separate single release outside of the compilation. It will be available for digital download May 7, and a limited edition 7"/digital download combo will make its way to indie rock fans on May 25.

Black and his band have a ton of European club and festival dates this summer, starting on June 15 in Interlaken, Switzerland. [MORE...]

Bat for Lashes Secures U.S. Release, NYC Show

British singer, songwriter, and multi- instrumentalist Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes, is coming to America. Granted, she only has one tour date scheduled, for May 1, in the Unites States' biggest city, but it seems American fans of her brand of dark, arty pop music will just have to take what they can get for now.

Those fans will get more than just a lone tour date in New York City, though, as Khan has inked a deal with Caroline Records to bring her enchanting little debut record, Fur & Gold, to the U.S. on July 31.

Khan's summer dates are still pretty substantial, thanks to the fact that she is playing about half of the hundreds of thousands of British festivals in existence. Or nine. [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.)