Pitchfork

Here at Pitchfork, we make a point of reporting at least three Decemberists-related stories a month, but of late we have slackened. While we were fawning over Deerhoof and Wolf Parade and "Lost" and video iPods, those cockfarming bastards were busy readying a new UK single and tacking European tour dates onto their Brobdignagian itinerary.

First, that single. It's for "Sixteen Military Wives", arrives November 21, and in this age of options, Rough Trade gives you two, provided you live in the UK: seven inch and CD single. This also being the age of optimizing profits, the two formats boast different tracklistings. Gotta catch 'em all, Joe Completist:

7":
Side A: Sixteen Military Wives
Side B: From My Own True Love (Demo)

CD Single:
01 Sixteen Military Wives
02 The Kingdom Of Spain
03 Sixteen Military Wives (Video)

And like a plague that brings joy instead of death, the Decemberists are presently sweeping across North America on their "Flight of the Mistle Thrushes" tour, and will descend upon Europe next month for "A Jaunt 'Cross the Pond".

Come, join the Youth and Beauty Brigade:

10-14 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *
10-15 Cleveland, OH - Odeon Concert Club *
10-16 St. Louis, MO - Mississippi Nights *
10-18 Chicago, IL - Metro *
10-19 Chicago, IL - Metro *
10-20 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theatre *
10-21 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
10-22 Omaha, NE - Sokol Hall *
10-23 Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre *
10-25 Boise, ID - Big Easy Concert House *
10-26 Spokane, WA - Big Easy Concert House *
10-27 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
10-28 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
10-29 Las Vegas, NV - Vegoose Festival#
10-30 Memphis, TN - Voodoo Festival%
11-01 Eugene, OR - Macdonald Theatre $
11-04 Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre &
11-14 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
11-15 Manchester, England - Academy 3
11-16 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC 2
11-17 London, England - ULU
11-19 The Hague, Holland - Crossing Border Festival ^
11-20 Berlin, Germany - Magnet
11-21 Köln, Germany - Gebäude 9
11-22 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
11-24 Bilbao, Spain - Antzokia
11-25 Madrid, Spain - Aqualung
11-26 Valencia, Spain - Republica
11-27 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
11-29 Paris, France - La Boule Noire
11-30 Brussels, Belgium

* with Cass McCombs
# with Beck, the Shins, Devendra Banhart, Steel Train
% with New York Dolls, Cake, Carl Cox, H.I.M., Mindless Self Indulgence
$ with Viva Voce
& with the Minus 5
^ with Mercury Rev, John Parish, Van der Graaf Generator, Frances McKee, Salif Keita, Teitur, Boubacar Traoré

A one-legged carrier pigeon sent by the broken-hearted ghost of a civil war-era concubine also tells us the following: those smarmy Decemberists have begun employing an actual whale prop for the storied "Mariner's Revenge Song" interactive portion of their set. But you were there when it was just Chris Funk and his brawny arms, weren't you? You were totally there. They have also been covering ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky". No song is too cool for the Decemberists.

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/d/decemberists/picaresque.shtml">The Decemberists: Picaresque
* The Decemberists: