Futureheads to Tour With Tapes 'n Tapes

The Futureheads are hitting North America in support of their upcoming release, News and Tributes (due May 29 via 679 in the UK, and June 13 via Vagrant in the U.S.). Vagrant labelmates French Kicks will handle the first portion of the trek, with Tapes 'n Tapes handling the second half. The whole thing will culminate in both the Futureheads and Tapes 'n Tapes performing at our own Pitchfork Music Festival (albeit on separate days).

The North American stint sits comfortably in between a series of British dates for the Futureheads, including appearances at the Reading and Leeds festivals.

You're cordially invited:

05-18 Gateshead, England - The Sage (Orange Evolution Festival - acoustic early show) *
05-18 Newcastle, England - Carling Academy (Orange Evolution Festival)
05-29 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
05-30 Liverpool, England - Academy
05-31 Leeds, England - Leeds University
06-02 Manchester, England - Academy
06-03 Nottingham, England - Rock City
06-04 Keele, England - Keele University
06-06 Norwich, England - UEA
06-07 Bristol, England - Academy
06-08 Southampton, England - Guildhall
06-09 Birmingham, England - Academy
06-11 Cardiff, Wales - Great Hall
06-12 London, England - Forum
06-15 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #
06-16 Seattle, WA - Neumos #
06-18 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore #
06-19 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre #
06-23 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Ballroom #
06-24 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa #
06-26 Atlanta, GA - The Loft #
06-27 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle #
06-28 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
06-30 New York, NY - Webster Hall #
07-01 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club #
07-25 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom ^
07-26 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Theatre ^
07-27 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick ^
07-28 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall ^
07-29 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival)
07-30 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater ^
08-02 Denver, Co - Bluebird Theater ^
08-03 Salt Lake City, UT - Club Sound ^
08-04 Las Vegas, NV - Jillian's ^
08-05 San Diego, CA - Street Scene ^
08-26 Reading, England - Richfield Avenue (Reading Festival)
08-27 Leeds, England - Bramham Park (Leeds Festival)

* with Field Music
# with the French Kicks
^ with Tapes 'n Tapes
% with Silver Jews, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Art Brut, Destroyer, Mountain Goats, Band of Horses, Man Man, Hot Machines, Matmos, Dominik Eulberg, Ada, Ghislain Poirier, 8 Bold Souls

As previously reported, "Skip to the End", Tributes' first single, lands May 15 in the UK. Not too shabby.

* The Futureheads: <a

Bloc Party Get to Work on New Record

Over the course of the past few weeks, the band has been working in London with producer Jacknife Lee. Frontman Kele Okereke told Billboard.com, "One thing that we've learnt from touring over the last two years is that there are other ways to be powerful whilst making music, rather than being completely full on, 100 miles per hour. This next record is hopefully going to be a lot more intricate and layered. We learnt so much about the power of arrangements. I know it sounds cheesy, but I guess it is going to be a more grown up Bloc Party."

Most notable among the new tracks are "Waiting for the 718", on which Okereke observes his friends getting lost in the daily grind, and "Hunting for Witches", inspired by last year's London public transportation bombings.

Of the latter title, Okereke told Billboard, "The 30 bus in Hackney, which is just around the corner from where I live, was blown up. [That song was] written when I was just observing the reactions of the mainstream press in [the United Kingdom] and I was just amazed at how easy it'd been to whip them up into a fury. I guess the point about the song for me is post-September 11th, the media has really traded on fear and the use of fear in controlling people."

Other tunes in the running for the album include "Kreuzberg", "Cruel, "Merge on the Freeway", and "Machines". Add all those to the previously reported "Into The Blue", "Kids", and "The Present", and you've almost got a full album.

Okereke also told Billboard that David Bowie has had a huge influence on the record's sound as well, stating, "[Bowie's] had a career where you can actually trace influences and styles. He's just a real sort of artist in the way a lot of rock musicians now aren't given the scope to develop."

Before putting on the Ziggy costumes, however, Bloc Party have a few summer festival obligations in North America and England. Coming to a street near you:

06-24 Toronto, Ontario - Olympic Island
06-25 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Intonation Festival)
08-19 Chelmsford, England - Hylands Park (V Festival)
08-20 Staffordshire, England - Weston Park (V Festival)

Bloc Party: http://www.blocparty.com/
Vice: http://vice-recordings.com/

Robert Pollard to Release Three New Albums

First off is Psycho and the Birds, a new collaboration with Todd Tobias. If the name Tobias rings a non-"Arrested Development" bell, it's because the producer/engineer/musician worked on Pollard's solo album, From a Compound Eye (Merge), and various Circus Devils/GBV projects. According to his official website, Pollard "records songs boombox style and sends them to Todd to dress them up." So... jean jumpers, prom dresses, and makeovers? Project #1: A+.

Psycho and the Birds' debut release is the All That Is Holy LP. Track 14, "Hello Forever", is available for download on Pollard's website.

All That Is Holy tracklist:

01 The Killers
02 Suffer the Sun
03 Alibible
04 Father Is Good
05 Blood Witness
06 Late Night Scamerica
07 Oh My Chosen One
08 Alabama Sunrise
09 Kiss You/Kill You
10 Jesus the Clockwork
11 She's Around
12 Disturbed
13 Yes an Article
14 Hello Forever
15 Break Some Concentration
16 Nation Gone Dry
17 Frozen Vegetable Fiction

Next up are the Takeovers (not to be confused with Takeover, a MySpace collective who claim to be an "extremely hard working metal band, that has allready survived many changes, proving the bands inner strength and dedication to their craft" that want us to "Bring it HARD!!!"). It's a project with former GBV bassist Chris Slusarenko, Quasi's Sam Coomes, Mudhoney's Dan Peters, and more (Stephen Malkmus is rumored to be working with the group on a future release). Their album, Turn to Red, contains both new material and old Pollard demos, all mixed up together, as if someone put them through that old rock tumbler in your closet. Track seven, "Fairly Blacking Out", can be found on RobertPollard.net.

Turn to Red tracklist:

01 Do You Get Your Wish?
02 Insane/Cool It
03 First Spill Is Free
04 Mojo Police
05 Scuffle With Nature
06 Sweet Jelly
07 Fairly Blacking Out
08 Wig Stomper
09 The Public Dance
10 Be It Not for the Serpentine Rain Dodger
11 Bullfighter's Cut
12 Jancy

Finally, there are the Keene Brothers, a poppy project with rocker Tommy Keene, who handled the guitar and keyboards on Pollard's solo trek earlier this year. Their record, awesomely titled Blues and Boogies Shoes, holds "Death of the Party", the final new tune up for the taking on Pollard's official site.

Blues and Boogies Shoes tracklist:

01 Evils Vs. Evil
02 Death of the Party
03 Beauty of the Draft
04 Where Others Fail
05 Island of Lost Lucies
06 Lost Upon Us
07 Heaven's Gate
08 The Naked Wall
09 The Camouflaged Friend
10 Must Engage
11 This Time Do You Feel It?
12 Blue Shadow

Supposedly, the albums will drop every other week this month as additions to the Fading Captain series, starting, uh, yesterday, with all the releases available for mailorder as we speak. Another tidbit we can tell you (because we already told you) is that Pollard's supernew record, tentatively titled Normal Happiness, and described by his main Merge man as "a tour de force of perfect 2-3 minute pop songs," is complete and scheduled to come out on Merge in October. So that's... five releases so far this year. Superstar quota met, Pollard is free to change his name to Bobman!

* Pitchfork Review: Robert Pollard: From a Compound Eye
* Pitchfork Feature: Guided by Voices Says Goodbye
* Robert Pollard: http://robertpollard.net/

Camera Obscura Get Out of This Country

The band recorded the album with Jari Haapalainen (the Concretes, Nicolai Dunger) in Stockholm. Like all of Camera Obscura's past efforts, it is sure to be a lovely confection, considering the band's penchant for pure pop is not unlike a trucker's love of apple pie and No Doz.

Lloyd, we're ready for a tracklisting:

01 Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
02 Tears for Affairs
03 Come Back Margaret
04 Dory Previn
05 The False Contender
06 Let's Get out of This Country
07 Country Mile
08 If Looks Could Kill
09 I Need All the Friends I Can Get
10 Razzle Dazzle Rose

On May 9, a taster single will precede the album's release, featuring the opening track, "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken". (Elefant will put it out on 7" and CD in Europe on May 15.) The CD single also houses the supporting tracks "Phil and Don" (about the Everly Brothers?) and "Roman Holiday" as well as the video for the much-loved single "I Love My Jean".

Single:

01 Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
02 Phil and Don
03 Roman Holiday
04 I Love My Jean (video)

Camera Obscura will tour the UK in May and June, with a U.S. trek in the works for July.

Dates:

05-13 Liverpool, England - Korova Bar
05-14 London, England - The Luminaire
06-08 Leeds, England - Faversham
06-09 Manchester, England - Dry Bar
06-10 Hull, England - The Adelphi
06-11 London, England - Cargo
06-12 Norwich, England - Norwich Arts Centre
06-13 Colchester, England - Colchester Arts Centre
06-15 Cardiff, Wales - Clwb Ifor Bach
06-16 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
06-17 Glasgow, Scotland - QMU
06-19 Aberdeen, Scotland - The Tunnels
08-11-13 Leicester, England - Summer Sundae Festival

Camera Obscura: http://www.camera-obscura.net/
Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com/

His Name Is Alive Tour With NOMO

Soul shakin' new tones include "The Book of Right On", a Jonanna Newsom cover, and the rest of them:

01 Nu Tones
02 Hand and Mouth
03 Fourth Ward
04 Reasons
05 New Song
06 Divisions
07 We Do We Go
08 One To One
09 If You Want
10 The Book of Right On
11 Sarvodaya

Bringing His Name Is Alive and NOMO closer than Defever and a shared homestate is their upcoming jaunt together, coined the "Dreams Really Do Come True Tour." HNIA will be headlining the trek in support of January's Detrola, which is pretty special considering they haven't taken a U.S. leadership position quite like this in ten years. Their website even brags that the 2006 tour will see "sing-alongs, storytelling, cloud amps, the "HNIA-POD," an iPod that contains over one thousand HNIA songs (every LP, CD, CDR, TAPE, EP, 7", and compilation track), and home-made electric thumb pianos." No doubt about that. While we're unsure as to whether Defever's name will come up on the next presidential ballot, we can tell you this for certain:

05-15 Cambridge, MA - TT the Bear's *
05-16 New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge *
05-17 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's *
05-18 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks *
05-19 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live *
05-20 Baltimore, MD - Gspot *
05-21 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
05-22 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *
05-23 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn *
05-25 New Orleans, LA - The Republic *
05-26 Houston, TX - The Proleteriat *
05-27 Dallas, TX - The Cavern *
05-29 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture *
05-30 San Diego, CA - The Casbah *
05-31 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland *
06-01 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
06-03 Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern *
06-04 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
06-06 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *
06-07 Denver, Co - Hi-Dive *
06-08 Omaha, NE - O'Leaver's *
06-09 St. Paul, MN - 400 Bar *
06-10 Madison, WI - The Annex *
06-11 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
06-17 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *

* with NOMO

NOMO have a few shows of their own scheduled, before they join the HNIA tour. And they are:

05-09 Lansing, MI - Mac's Bar
05-10 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College Fine Arts Center
05-11 Kalamazoo, MI - Rocket Star Cafe
05-12 Chicago, IL - Sonotheque
05-13 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig

* Pitchfork Review: NOMO: NOMO

His Name Is Alive: http://www.hisnameisalive.com/
NOMO: http://www.nomomusic.com/

Shearwater Prep New Album

Shearwater:Okkervil River::Sunset Rubdown:Wolf Parade.

Testmakers and curious onlookers alike should note that Shearwater, who'll be releasing their fourth album Palo Santo on May 9 through Misra Records, has always played a rather arbitrary second fiddle to Okkervil River, even though both groups shared the same primary songwriters (see the second part of the analogy for another example). This time out, however, Jonathan Meiburg has wrested the Shearwater songwriting duties entirely from his Okkervil colleague Will Sheff, and consequently Palo Santo promises to be a new direction for the band.

But instead of relying on press kit hyperbole, you can listen to a preview mp3 of "Seventy-four, Seventy-five" on Misra's website and meanwhile we'll take Meiburg's less prolix word for it. On the Shearwater message board back in January, Meiburg responded to an eager fan by saying, "I think it's safe to say that it's pretty different from the other Shearwater records. But I think you will like it. I like it." And really, is there anything else to be said until May 9?

Oh yeah, the tracklist:

01 La Dame et la Licorne
02 Red Sea, Black Sea
03 White Waves
04 Palo Santo
05 Seventy-four, Seventy-five
06 Nobody
07 Sing, Little Birdie
08 Johnny Viola
09 Failed Queen
10 Hail, Mary
11 Going Is Song

Shearwater: http://jound.com/shearwater/
Misra: http://www.misrarecords.com/

Measles Mumps Rubella Get Remixed by Ad-Rock, Tour

Send those immunization records on in:

05-03 Portland, ME - Space Gallery
05-04 Troy, NY - RPI Ground Zero
05-05 Toronto, Ontario - The Boat (Over the Top Festival) *
05-06 Detroit, MI - Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (I Want to Hurt Festival) #
05-07 Grand Rapids, MI - The Division Avenue Arts Cooperative
05-09 Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle
05-10 Newport, KY - Southgate House
05-11 Pittsburgh, PA - The Mr. Roboto Project ^
05-12 Philadelphia, PA - Millcreek Tavern ^

* with Feu Therese
# with Genders, Erase Eratta, This Moment in Black History, more
^ with Parts & Labor

Measles Mumps Rubella have more in store for fans as summer approaches, like, for example, the upcoming MMR remix single Dynamic Disaster. The Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock, along with Fantastic Success engineer Jonathan Kreinik, DJ John Selway (Asphodel / Serotonin), and Toshio Kashiwara (Christian Marclay, DJ Olive, Tim Barnes collaborator) will have their way with the new track. Cooler than the ice cream man, yes?

* Pitchfork Review: Measles Mumps Rubella: Fantastic Success

Measles Mumps Rubella: http://www.measlesmumpsrubella.com/
Doubling Cube: http://www.doublingcube.com/

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