Mike D Talks New Beastie Boys Instrumental Album
"It would be a great record to eat pie to."

The six years it took for the Beastie Boys to follow Hello Nasty with To the 5 Boroughs may have doubled their usual time between full-length releases, but with their new album, The Mix-Up, scheduled for a June 26 release on Capitol, Mike D told Pitchfork that the trio are "going back to our regular average."

He also said the album's title "is a bit of a double entendre, if you will. Any record we make is always about combining different ideas or different influences we have, and then with this record, it's an instrumental album. There are no vocals, no samples. We played everything. But as different as that might be from To the 5 Boroughs, it's equally different from instrumental songs we've done before, like the ones that were on The In Sound From Way Out! That was kind of one direction and this one [has] different influences, like Public Image Ltd., Gang of Four, the Slits, Killing Joke."

Even though The Mix-Up is a "post-punk instrumental" album, the Beasties have no plans to ditch vocals for good. In fact, they are currently planning another version of the album that will feature collaborations with "a pretty wide array" of "mostly newer" vocalists.

Mike explained that The Mix-Up took shape out of the need for variety. "On To the 5 Boroughs, we all put down the instruments and sat behind the computers and made music that way. [On] this record, we went 180 again and said, 'Okay, let's not sit behind the computers. Let's just play some music together and kind of see what happens that way.'

"What we do a lot is listen to music together, things that we're inspired by, everything from post-punk to Afrobeat to hip hop to whatever. We're almost as much music fans as we are a band that makes music." [MORE...]

Interpol Announce North American Dates

What a heady month April was for Interpol! They met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in hopes of furthering cooperation between the two collectives, and embarked on an adventure worthy of the Hardy Boys, recovering an ancient Iraqi sculpture in Lebanon that was taken from the national museum in Baghdad. Gee willikers!

Oh, so apparently there's this police organization called Interpol that totally stole the name of the moody New York rockers. Still, Interpol the band had quite an April, too, what trickling out details surrounding their third opus (titled Our Love to Admire and due July 10 on Capitol), a set at Coachella, and the debut of Sam Fogarino's chocolate-covered strawberries recipe. Maybe they didn't crack the case of the missing head of King Sanatruq I of Hatra, but they did write a song called "No I in Threesome", and that kind of linguistic detective work would make Nancy Drew swoon.

What'll the summer have in store for these stealthy, synthy, sharp-dresed sleuths? A whirlwind world tour, that's what, including a number of just-announced North American dates. [MORE...]

Sonic Youth Daydream at Brooklyn Pool, Glasgow Club
Cat Power, Built to Spill also set to take a dip

July 28, Sonic Youth'll drop the kids off at Greenpoint, Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool, opting to give their native land a crack at their ATP/Don't Look Back-curated Daydream Nation recreation tour. All the classics will be there, dolled up in their Speedos and laying out on their designer towels: "Teenage Riot", "Eric's Trip", that song where Mike Watt calls and warns Thurston about his memory going out the window. Shoulda used a higher SPF, Ace.

Pre-sale tickets for the splash went on sale today. And while McCarren Park Pool's sure-to-be-sensational summer lineup is still shaping up, there is a succulent Cat Power/Built to Spill show slated for July 7.

Of course, Brooklyn's not the only place to pledge allegiance to the Nation; ATP's set up gigs in Germany, Italy, California, and now, Scotland, in which Kim and co. will tear through the Reagan-era ruckus. And then, there's this little thing in Chicago you might've read about, at which you'll see Daydream, GZA swinging his Liquid Swords, and Slint leading a guided tour through Spiderland. It's called the Pitchfork Music Festival, and for $50, well, you could catch all that, plus the New Pornographers, Battles, Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, Yoko Ono, and a couple dozen more. Nation's one of those records that deepens with each spin, so we'd never daydream of discouraging folks to see it played through twice (it's gonna be, like, totally historic): but we would like to further extend our proverbial couches and sleeping bags to any and all who care to take a trip to the Second City.

Those of you looking to hit the snooze button on your Daydream can do so June 12, when the record gets the lavish repackage treatment it so verily deserves. Sonic Youth'll be playing some normal, non-Daydream shows and a whole mess of festivals this summer, so check 'em out. [MORE...]

Go-Betweens Frontmen Release Solo Best-Ofs

The extended hiatus Aussie indie-pop mainstays the Go-Betweens-- whose co-frontman Grant McLennan passed away in May of last year-- took during the 1990s was as creatively fertile a period for both McLennan and his compatriot Robert Forster as their many years together.

To spotlight this interregnum, a baker's dozen of each Go-Betweeners' solo work will be compiled on Intermission: The Best of the Solo Recordings 1990-1997. The discs, culled from McLennan and Forster's eight solo albums (four apiece), will be available individually from Beggars Group on June 19. Each member selected his own best songs, McLennan doing so shortly before his passing.

In February, we reported that the Rare Victory label had a tribute to McLennan and the Go-Betweens in the works, with contributions from the likes of the Clientele, Portastatic and Trembling Blue Stars (and, since we last wrote, Stars of the non-trembling or blue sort). We also reported that Rare Victory was accepting submissions for "Love Goes On", the tribute's title track and tune from the 16 Lovers Lane LP, for inclusion on the compilation. Baltimore's Private Eleanor emerged victorious, and you can hear their take on the tune and the four runners up by clicking right here. The tribute will be made available September 25. [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.

Alongside Superchunk, the Mountain Goats will also play the Eff Cancer Benefit at Chicago's Metro on June 20.

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...]

NPR to Broadcast Bjork NYC Gig
I feel the dull flame of Mara Liasson

Raise your flag! Or, at least, your antennae: Björk will beam Volta's electric charge into your whip and down to your tinny computer speakers when her May 5 performance alongside Konono N^o1 at New York City's United Palace is webcast. Bark if you must at the next NPR pledge drive interrupting "Whad'Ya Know?", but the tote-bag surplus shop/public commodity will be kindly hosting the 'cast on their website, with a little help from New York's own WNYC.

Just in case Vicky Promqueen wants to take you out for smoothies Saturday night at 8 p.m. EDT-- leaving you temporarily untethered from that life-giving box you call laptop-- you'll have a couple cracks at hearing the Björk jams while wallowing in dateless self-pity: NPR will host a stream and an "All Songs Considered" podcast from the show absolutely free of charge, and WNYC will rebroadcast the show from their website and over the airwaves May 14 at 7 p.m. EDT.

Been busying yourself with set design for your "Innocence" video, crafting a wimple for Joanna Newsom, or jerry-rigging a giant clock to count down the hours until Volta's May 8 U.S. release? Give the craft fair a rest, Charlie, and get all up in Björk's grill (in a non-stalkery way, please) on one of her oft-repeated string of tour dates, listed again for the delight of your eyeballs. [MORE...]

Sea & Cake, Jandek, Tim Hecker Play Montreal Fest
Plus: Akron/Family, Sunburned Hand, Charalambides, Fucking Champs, Ex

Some festivals think they can cram an experience into a couple days, but the folks at Montreal's Suoni Per Il Popolo know better. The festival, highlighting all manner of experimental and outsider music (and a few relatively straight-and-narrow acts as well), engulfs an entire month, kicking off June 1 and refusing to let up until June 27.

Dozens of bands will bring the strange to many of the French Canadian town's finest venues. Highlights include the Sea and Cake, Jandek, Tim Hecker, Akron/Family, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Charalambides, the Fucking Champs, Nadja, Les Georges Leningrad, the Ex, Marc Ribot, and Simply Saucer. Way-out parents looking to freak out their four-year-olds should take particular note of June 16, which fest organizers have deemed "Popolo in the Park" family day.

Full festival passes are on sale now, and tickets to individual shows will also be available. For a full performance schedule, make haste towards the festival website.

Exclusive: Imperial Teen Reveal New Album Details

The madames and gents of Imperial Teen haven't exactly reflected their band's name in some years, but after a half-decade absence from the recording booth, they're definitely into class reunion territory. Indeed, the moniker-belying title of their upcoming fourth album (and first in five years) demonstrates such adult-like domesticity. The Hair, the TV, the Baby and the Band will step out August 21 thanks to Merge Records.

In the five year interim between 2002's On and now, the band's been busy thinking of good names for their don't-call-it-a-comeback record, and indeed, they had no further to look than the concerns of the day-to-day. Jone Stebbins, with her hairstyling business, is the Hair; Roddy Bottum's work in the televised arts is the TV; Lynn Truell's had an active womb-life (hence the Baby); and Will Schwartz's side-act Hey Willpower is, natch, the Band.

Though there's nothing firmed up at the moment, Imperial Teen plans to usher out the late summer on tour. [MORE...]

Junior Boys' Goodbye Goes Deluxe
Includes bonus disc packed with remixes, iTunes session

So that wasn't goodbye, after all. Electro-pop heartthrobs Junior Boys, determined to linger a little while longer after the parting words, the valedictory hug, the awkward pause, the second valedictory hug, the half wave, the second awkward pause, etc., hope to milk their Goodbye well into 2007. Hence, So This Is Goodbye (Special Edition), a two-disc deluxe version of the Boys' 2006 masterstroke.

Special Edition arrives June 5 in the U.S. and June 11 overseas via Domino. It features, on disc one, the unadulterated whole of Pitchfork's 11th favorite album of last year. On disc two: a hearty sampling of Goodbye remixes from the likes of Hot Chip, Morgan Geist, Kode 9, and Carl Craig (several of which crop up on the recent Dead Horse EP), as well as Junior Boys' fabled January iTunes live session.

For your complete Junior Boys fix today, do check out the new video for "In the Morning", burning up pixels right now over in Forkcast.

The duo's massive spring trek wraps up this week, with a couple scattered North American dates and an EU jaunt thereafter. [MORE...]

Lupe Fiasco Spills Sophomore Album Details

Photo by Anoulay Tsai

Good luck keeping a mouth as prolific as Lupe Fiasco's down. Backstage at this weekend's Coachella, the West Side Chicago wordsmith blabbed to Billboard.com a few early details of The Cool, his follow-up to last year's boom-bap buffet Food & Liquor. If the title sounds familiar, that could be because it's shared by a track on Food & Liquor. Eh, cool with us.

Lupe's looking at a Halloween release for the record, and is nothing if not modest in his ambitions: he's still looking to pull Pink Floyd to back his shrewd syntax on a track. And, hey, if that doesn't work, he could use Super Furry Animals and no one'd know.

Lupe also told Billboard.com of a 'top secret' collaboration with "another superstar rapper and someone who is a rapper/producer." Gee, think he means K. West and Jigga? Whatever; I'm riding for Jazze Pha and Reh Dogg.

Young Fiasco's got a couple tour dates planned for the summer, and here they are. [MORE...]

Big Boi to Perform With Atlanta Ballet
Big Boi becomes ballerino?

Those who pegged Andre 3000 as the artsy-fartsy member of Outkast may have to reconsider the matter. According to a report from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Big Boi will collaborate with the Atlanta Ballet for a performance scheduled to debut April 10-13 of next year.

The Atlanta Ballet's website describes the event as "an adventuresome, exhilarating evening featuring the world-renowned musical artistry of Big Boi of Outkast as well as artists of Purple Ribbon Entertainment. Daring, progressive, and soulful, these very talented artists perform a stunning collaborative piece, LIVE on stage with Atlanta Ballet's exquisite dancers."

Beyond that, few details have emerged on the performance, but the MC is meeting today (May 1) with members of his Purple Ribbon Entertainment collective and choreographer Lauri Stallings to discuss it. We can only hope the result is something like a reversal of the costumes in this picture.

Zombies to Reunite for Odessey Anniversary Shows

Odessey and Oracle, the blood-coursing, stake-pierced heart of the Zombies' undead catalog, shall walk the earth when four of the original five Zombies-- Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White, and Hugh Grundy-- reform to play the entire album through, twice.

Fifth original Zombie and guitarist Paul Atkinson, barring any actual undead activity, will not be present; he passed away in 2004. Keith Airey will round out the fivesome for these special shows, which celebrate Odessey's 40th anniversary.

But that's fuzzy math, you say. Odessey came out in 1968. And indeed, according to Blunstone's website, you'll have the time of the season March 7 and 8 of next year (2008-1968 = 40) at London's Shepherds Bush Empire. Tickets for the bonanza went on sale today.

The concert will be split into two parts; the second, of course, being a run through the gem-packed dynamo, and the first being a cavalcade of classics from other Zombies records, material from Blunstone's solo career, and hits by Rod Argent and Chris White's post-Zombies project, Argent. By hits, we of course mean "Hold Your Head Up".

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.)