popwreckoning

Canadian indie ensemble Arcade Fire has announced the tracklisting for its upcoming release, The Suburbs. 

The album is a whopping 16 tracks and hits stores August 3.

Tracklisting:
01 The Suburbs
02 Ready To Start
03 Modern Man
04 Rococo
05 E mpty Room
06 City With No Children
07 Half Light I
08 Half Light II (No Celebration)
09 Suburban War
10 Month Of May
11 Wasted Hours
12 Deep Blue
13 We Used To Wait
14 Sprawl I (Flatland)
15 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16 The Suburbs (Continued)

Indie pop duo Matt & Kim will tour North America this fall, beginning September 15 at the Wescott in Syracuse, NY.

The three-month tour will take them across the country and include festival stops like the Austin City Limits on October 9. Tickets go on sale June 23. They’re also performing at Lollapalooza and Siren Music Festival this summer.

Matt & Kim are also set to release their third album this fall.

Tour Dates:
Sept 15th Westcott Theater Syracuse, NY
Sept 16th Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
Sept 17th Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
Sept 18th Majestic Theater Detroit, MI
Sept 19th Metro Chicago, IL
Sept 21st Majestic Theater Madison, WI
Sept  22nd First Ave Minneapolis, MN
Sept 23rd Granada Lawrence, KS
Sept 24th Ogden Theater Denver, CO
Sept 27th The Rickshaw Theater Vancouver, BC
Sept 28th Showbox Seattle, WA
Sept 29th Roseland Theater Portland, OR
Sept 30th The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Oct 1st House of Blues San Diego, CA
Oct 2nd Henry Fonda Los Angeles, CA
Oct 6th The Clubhouse Tempe, AZ
Oct 8th House of Blues Dallas, TX
Oct 9th Austin City Limits Austin, TX
Oct 12th House of Blues New Orleans, LA
Oct 13th Club Downunder Tallahassee, FL
Oct 14th Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL
Oct 15th State Theater St. Petersburg, FL
Oct 16th Masquerade Atlanta, GA
Oct 17th Exit In Nashville, TN 19th Orange Peel Asheville, NC
Oct 20th Cats Cradle Carrboro, NC
Oct 21st The Canal Club Richmond, VA
Oct 24th Starlite Ballroom Philadelphia, PA
Oct 28th Water St. Music Hall Rochester, NY
Oct 29th Phoenix Theater Toronto, ON
Oct 30th Le National Montreal, QC
Oct 31st Northern Lights Clifton, NY
Nov 2nd Higher Ground Burlington, VT
Nov 3rd Port City Music Hall Portland, ME
Nov 4th House of Blues Boston, MA
Nov 5th Toad’s Place New Haven, CT
Nov 6th Pearl Street Northampton, MA

Chicago native’s The White Tie Affair (TWTA) released a sneak peek of their new album with “You Look Better When I’m Drunk,” the newest single from the pop rock quartet.

Currently without a permanent drummer (previous drummer Tim McLaughlin left the band at the end of the last tour), the single is addictive in all of the right ways. Combining an almost lethal mix of dance music and pop has created the incredibly unique sound that is TWTA and has launched them through numerous tours, including Warped Tour 2009, and made them a crowd favorite.

Always a blast to see live, the band has also announced a summer full of Midwest and East Coast dates, promoting the new album, for which a release date has not been set.

Check out the new single here and see them on tour this summer!

The White Tie Affair can be found here:
Myspace
Facebook
Twitter
Website

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head is no more. Instead, the Seattle pop act will now be known as Brite Futures.

That’s right. After a mysterious countdown appeared a few days ago on this website, NPSH teased it all over Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. And technically the countdown ended at noon today, but since the information leaked, the band updated site prior to the end of the countdown.

If you go to any of their sites, you can download Brite Futures’ new single “Dog Eared Summer,” a breezy electro pop song laced with acoustic guitars and hand claps. When I heard it for the first time I thought of the beach. Dancing on the beach at sundown with s’mores. Not sure why, but it’s an aptly-named song great for the start of the summer.

Not that there are any hard feelings between the band and Ms. Portman, as she will still remain on their guest list +1 at every show. But as said in a statement released by the band on their Myspace page, “We chose our band name on a whim when we were still in high school, and ‘Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head’ has seen us through an unexpectedly amazing four years. Our love affair with Natalie’s name was like a summer fling that lasted… and lasted… and lasted. But now it is summer once again, and time for a change.” The band released a touching farewell video to Natalie Portman this morning on their YouTube account, which can be viewed below.

To catch Brite Futures in their first show as Brite Futures, they’ll be playing at Neumo’s in Seattle on July 17th for a benefit show for the volunteer-run all-ages venue The Vera Project.

Word to the wise: if you’re in a band and you’re asked to play a radio show event at 6 in the morning and said event gives people free booze and happens to be in the summer in one of the most humid Midwest cities, you better (1) be on time and (2) at least play the radio single.

The aforementioned event is called Kegs & Eggs. Basically, what happens is Kansas City alternative radio station, 96.5 the Buzz, invites people out for a free acoustic set at a downtown bar. Doors open at 6 and the first 100-150 people get free beer and breakfast (hence the title: Keg & Eggs). The station usually “opens” for the acoustic set with karaoke and giveaways. So breakfast and booze at 6 a.m., then once the audience is good and morning drunk, karaoke at 7 a.m. Then around 8:30 a.m., usually the band plays the acoustic set. A few of these happen every year.

Well, this time around it was the UK folk darlings Mumford & Sons, whom are fairly new to Kansas City radio. “Little Lion Man” has only been in circulation for a few weeks, so you can imagine my surprise to learn how quickly their evening show sold out and how quickly their line formed at 4 a.m. for this Kegs & Eggs event.

The audience got word that the band was in the vicinity at 8 a.m., but they didn’t take to the stage with their acoustic guitars and banjos until after 9:30 a.m. By that time, people were drunk, hot and tired: the recipe for a cranky crowd.

The band took to the tiny stage and told the crowd that they were the craziest group they’ve ever played for and that they couldn’t believe they were playing a new show and now an extension of the show in Saint Louis the night before. Sometimes I wonder if bands get briefed on these Kegs & Eggs events or if the manager just wakes them up in their bunks: “Surprise! Go play a show.”

The band began with “Awake My Soul,” a song that features some of their beautiful multi-part harmonies and some of their most heartbreaking lyrics, “How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes. I struggle to find any truth in your lies.” The lyrics in that number only get more brutal, “But lend me your heart and I’ll just let you fall.” I guess if you wanted a happy song this Wednesday, you should have gone to hang out with the Edward Sharpe crew setting up at the Beaumont up the street.

Then, the band played two more songs – also gorgeous harmonies; great instrumentals of banjo, accordion, and guitars; and of course, heartbreaking lyrics – “Roll Away Your Stone” and “The Cave.”

But then, they left the stage…without playing “Little Lion Man.” This being a radio event, people pretty much expected that, so they cheered for an encore: for 20 minutes. Finally a guy came out and started taking down the mics. That really was it. People finally stumbled away.

Talk about heartbreaking.

Here are some videos of the event and the complete set is available at blogs.965thebuzz.com/afentra.

Eels is offering up a taste of the new Tomorrow Morning album by offering up a free download of “Looking Up.”

Download “Looking Up” at www.eelstheband.com. The album is said to be the “brightest and most overtly uplifting work of the EELS’ fourteen year career.”

Look for Eels on tour beginning August 3 and for Tomorrow Morning to hit stores August 24.

The Belles‘ Time Flies When You’re Losing Your Mind is played a lot (a lot, a lot) on my iPod these days. This fact surprises me. I normally grow tired of an album after a few weeks.

I like, and continue to like, every little song Christopher Tolle (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion), and Jacob Cardwell (drum kit, percussion) wrote for Time Flies. Tolle and Cardwell have a knack for writing beautiful lyrics, and composing rich songs with full bodied melodies. The album’s 14 songs flow effortlessly together.

The Belles’ music is a tinge folksy, a smidgen psychedelic Americana and a heap of solid indie rock.

Many of Time Flies songs have an early 90s British rock sound and feel. Think early Oasis. The album is filled with echoing guitars and grainy male vocals. Strings and breezy electronic keys make Time Flies a light rock, sleepy summer treat.

~

Time Flies When You’re Losing Your Mind was released on June 8.

To celebrate the release of Time Flies, The Belles will perform at the Love Garden in Lawrence, Kan. this Friday, June 18, at 7:30 p.m. Entry is free.

Track Listing:

Time Flies When You’re Losing Your Mind
Existence is Fragile
The Late Hours
Standing Demons
The Burning Questions
Ghost in the Hallway
Keep Me Away
Monarch
Misery Loves Industry
Disarmed
New Years Resolution
Scars
Someone Missed the Party
Clouds Over Stansted

Ohio’s State Bird has unveiled its video for “Wasting Away.” The concept of “Wasting Away” is manifested in this video by laziness, drugs and even nudity (maybe keep the kiddos away from this one). The music is the band’s grittiest.

The video was shot in black and white on 16 mm film. “Wasting Away” can be found on the band’s Holy Spirits EP available for $2 from the Record Machine here.

In the shadow of the news of Mark Linkous’ passing, there is some light: the musical collaboration between Linkous, best known as Sparklehorse, and Dangermouse will finally be released.

Dark Night of the Soul is set for a July 13 release on EMI’s Capitol Records in the U.S. The record features a cast of talent such as Julian Casablancas and Iggy Pop.

Dark Night of the Soul had previously been released as a limited edition art book with a blank CDR with an audio-visual installation, however, the music had never been officially released. The official musical release will feature an art element as well in the form of a series of photographs by David Lynch.

More information on the album is available at www.dnots.com.

The Psychedelic Furs were at Kansas City’s Midland Theatre on June 14, performings hits from their expansive catalog spanning the last four decades.

The Furs are a new-wave, post punk band that formed in the 70s. They’re perhaps best known for “Pretty in Pink,” the inspiration for a John Hughes title.

Photographer Todd Zimmer was there to catch the British band in action at the Midland and shares these photos chronicling their performance: