Acrylics have a new video for Sparrow Song (which I think we posted as an audio file earlier and which features vocals from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek) and they are just ready to head out on tour with Junip. Acrylics, a duo made up of Molly Shea and Jason Klauber, have a release out now, Lives and Treasure, on Friendly Fire Recordings.
 

Seems like a good act to put on with Junip. Everyone who saw the last Junip tour had nice things to say about the shows.

Tour with Junip

4/20 - Toronto ON - Lees Palace
4/21 - Cleveland Heights OH - Grog Shop
4/22 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Blind Pig
4/23 - Chicago IL - Empty Bottle
4/24 - Evanston IL - SPACE
4/25 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
4/26 - Iowa City, IA - Blue Moose Tap House
4/27 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room
4/28 - Denver - CO- Larimer Lounge
4/29 - Salt Lake City UT - The State Room
5/01 - Spokane WA-  The Empyrean
5/02 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
5/03 - Vancouver, BC - The Rio Theatre
5/04 - Portland, OR -Wonder Ballroom
5/06 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
5/07 - Costa Mesa, CA - Detroit Bar
5/08 - Tucson, AZ - Plush
5/10 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk
5/11 - Houston, TX - Mink
5/12 - New Orleans, LA - Republic
5/14 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
5/15 - Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
5/16 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
5/17 - Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle
5/18 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe
5/19 - New York City, NY - Bowery Ballroom
5/21 - South Burlington. VT - HG Showcase Lounge
5/22 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall

Montreal’s Miracle Fortress (aka Graham Van Pelt) is releasing his second album, Was I The Wave, May 17 on Secret City Records. Van Pelt wrote, produced and engineered this record which is more electronic than 2007’s critically acclaimed Five Roses. The first single from the record, Raw Spectacle is available as a free download at  www.miraclefortress.com.

You can pre-order the whole record at that site as well. There are upcoming shows in Canada . USA dates will follow.

Tour
5/02 Regina, SK @ The Exchange w/SHAD (Exclaim! Anniversary Tour)
5/03 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's w/SHAD (Exclaim! Anniversary Tour)
5/04 Calgary, AB @ Republik w/SHAD (Exclaim! Anniversary Tour)
5/05 Edmonton, AB @ Brixx w/SHAD (Exclaim! Anniversary Tour)
5/07 Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound w/SHAD (Exclaim! Anniversary Tour)
5/14 Quebec City, QC @ Le Cercle
5/20 Montreal, QC @ Torn Curtain

Diego Garcia’s solo debut, Laura, comes out April 5 digitally and everywhere April 12. Garcia is also touring. You may know Garcia from the band Elefant. Detroit born Garcia moves from the garage rock of his previous band to explore his latin roots. We are talking Latin Rock with a gringo twist in it.

It is nice to see artists move out of a genre and make a different sort of music, even if it doesn’t work I say good for them (I am not insinuating it doesn’t work in this case as I have not heard the record yet).

Tour
4/13- Joe's Pub (New York, NY)
5/3 - DC9 (Washington, DC)
5/10 - DC9 (Washington, DC)
5/18- Cafe 939 (Boston, MA)
5/24 - World Cafe Live (Philadelphia, PA)           
5/25- Cafe 939 (Boston, MA)
5/31 - World Cafe Live (Philadelphia, PA)

I don’t watch late night talk shows much. I think the formula is tired and the writing sort of predictable. I just thing the type of show is tedious and predictable, in part because all the guests are Hollywood types spouting the same old shit. BUT Jimmy Kimmel  (who I confess to not watching) does seem to get some really good live acts. The Gaslight Anthem played on the show and you can see the performance of Bring It On below.

The track is off the album, American Slang, which came out last year.

Jonny Burke is heading out on tour with James McMurtry this June to support his new record, Distance And Fortune, released earlier this year. Burke has toured with McMurtry before and also played opening for Todd Snider, Ryan Bingham and others.

Distance And Fortune has been critically praised and was produced by Marc Ford who also produced records for Ryan Bingham andBlack Crowes. The tour starts in June McMurtry, by the by, is a super duper songwriter.

Tour (with James McMurtry)

6/2/11 – Oxford, MS – Proud Larry’s
6/3/11 – Louisville, KY – Headliner’s Music Hall
6/4/11 – Newport, KY – Southgate House
6/5/11 – Nelsonville, OH – Stuart’s Opera House
6/8/11 – Albany, NY – Valentine’s Upstairs
6/9/11 – Londonderry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
6/11/11 – Ellsworth, ME – The Grand Auditorium
6/14/11 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater
6/15/11 – Annapolis, MD – Ram’s Head On Stage
6/16/11 – Fall River, MA – Narrows Center for the Arts
6/17/11 – Hoboken, NJ – Maxwell’s
6/18/11 – Brooklyn, NJ – The Bell House
6/21/11 – Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theatre
6/22/11 – Greenville, SC – The Handlebar
6/23/11 – Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay Theatre
6/24/11 – New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks
6/25/11 – Lafayette, LA – Blue Moon Saloon

Psychostick tour like crazy. I swear these guys are always on tour. They hail from Arizona and are just about to finish their new record, entitled, Space Vampires vs. Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D.

I hope Steven Speilberg has optioned the movie rights.

As you may surmise, Psychostick do not take themselves terribly serious. The music, yes but themselves? Doesn’t seem so. They head out in April on the UnleashThe Dumb Tour.

In addition to always touring and working on a new record Rob Kersey also has a webcomic called Alfredo Afro. Check it out HERE. alfredoafro.com .

“Unleash The Dumb” Tour

4/12/2011        Columbia, MO             The Blue Note
4/13/2011        Little Rock, AR            Downtown Music
4/14/2011        Birmingham, AL          Crush
4/16/2011         Orlando, FL                  Earthday Birthday 18/Tinker Field
4/17/2011        Sarasota, FL                  Club Sarasota
4/20/2011        Clarksville, TN            The Warehouse
4/22/2011        Amilea, OH                   Big Ed's
4/23/2011        Steger, IL                    Another Hole in the Wall
4/25/2011        La Crosse, WI             The Warehouse
4/26/2011        Moline, IL                     Rascals
4/27/2011        Janesville, WI              The Back Bar
4/28/2011        Chicago, IL                  Reggie's Rock Club
4/29/2011        Flint, MI                        The Machine Shop
4/30/2011        Battle Creek, MI           Planet Live Music
5/1/2011          Sandusky, OH             The Sandusky Underground
5/2/2011           Cleveland, OH             Beachland Ballroom
5/3/2011          Pittsburgh, PA             Club Diesel
5/4/2011          Buffalo, NY                  Broadway Joe's
5/5/2011          Dover, NH                   Brick House
5/6/2011          Auburn, ME                 Club Texas
5/7/2011          Brookfield, CT              The Vern Room
5/8/2011          Trenton, NJ                 Championship                    
5/11/2011        Redding, PA                 The Reverb
5/12/2011        Bristol, CT                    Bleachers
5/13/2011        Baltimore, MD              Sonar
5/14/2011        Richmond, VA             Alley Katz
5/15/2011        Charlotte, NC               Tremont Music Hall
5/18/2011        Savannah, GA             The Wormhole
5/19/2011        St Petersburg, FL         The Local 662
5/20/2011        Port Charlotte, FL        Corky's
5/21/2011        Jacksonville, FL            Brewsters Pit
5/25/2011        Atlanta, GA                   The Masquerade
5/26/2011        Augusta, GA                 Sky City
5/28/2011        Prattville, AL                  The Blue Iguana
5/31/2011        Austin, TX                     Red Eyed Fly
6/1/2011          San Antonio, TX            Jack's Bar
6/7/2011          Gallup, NM                    The Juggernaut
6/8/2011          Albuquergue, NM          Launch Pad
6/9/2011          Amarillo, TX                  The Sorority House
6/10/2011        Oklahoma City, OK       Bricktown Live
6/11/2011        Kansas City, KS            Aftershock
6/12/2011        Tulsa, OK                      The Marquee
6/13/2011        Kearney, NE                  The Garage
6/14/2011        Denver, CO                  Quixote's
6/15/2011        Salt Lake City, UT        Club Vegas
6/16/2011        Cheyenne, WY             G I Forum
6/18/2011        Great Falls, MT            406 Club
6/19/2011        Missoula, MT                The Dark Horse
6/21/2011        Seattle, WA                   El Corazon
6/23/2011        Citrus Heights, CA        The Fire Escape
6/24/2011        Fresno, CA                    Starline


www.psychostick.com

We wrote about this before I think. Datarock, who mix indie dance with new wave and funk in a pop music stew of Norwegian origin, released Catcher in the Rye, the most extravagant single in history last week (it came with an insane amount of additional music…a USB stick with 110 songs on it and 1500 photos..a concert film etc). A new EP has also arrived, California. This includes a Souldrop remix of the title track that you can hear above.

Find out more at datarockmusic.com

Mike Bloom is the co-founder of The Elected (with Blake Sennet t of Rilo Kiley). He also plays with Julian Casablancas. But that isn’t what we want to chat about right now. Bloom is releasing his debut solor record, King of Circles, via Little Record Company.

Bloom wrote the songs, played most of the instruments and produced and mixed most of the record as well (there are some guests). Apparently this record was initially funded by Tobey Maguire before the label picked it up. It is nice to have friends and fans with cash.

A video of the track, Anything But This, is below.

Safari Disco Club by Yelle hits the stores today. The band is in Europe opening for Katy Perry. Hey, that is a paycheck. I was going to make fun of them for that but, hell, take the money and run. This is the music business, someone gives you a check and you cash it fast.

ANYWAY, the band comes to the USA for shows, beginning with Coachella.

Tour 
4/16:  Indio, CA @ Coachella
4/17:  Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
4/18:  Tuscon, AZ @ Club Congress
4/19:  Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
4/21:  Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
4/22:  Austin, TX @ Mohawk
4/23:  Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald's
4/25:  Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
4/26:  Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat's Cradle
4/27:  Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
4/29:  Boston, MA @ Royale Boston
4/30:  New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
5/02:  Quebec City, QC @ Le Circle
5/03:  Montreal, QC @ Le National
5/04:  Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
5/06:  Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
5/07:  Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave.
5/08:  Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
5/10:  Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
5/11:  Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
5/13:  Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom
5/14:  Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
5/15:  Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
5/17:  Reno, NV @ Tonic Lounge
5/18:  Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theater
5/19:  San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
5/20:  San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
5/21:  Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre

Touring is pretty glamorous no? Below is a dual music video from Yelle.

Digitalism return with a new record, I Love You, Dude, on June 21. Aww..that is nice, I love you guys too or maybe I do…let’s wait until I hear the record before we exchange vows in our civil ceremony.

Digitalism started in a Hamburg record store (Underground Solution) when Jens Moelle and Ismail “Isi” Tuefekci met. The former worked at the shop and the latter for a distributor (vinyl records). They became a DJ duo and broke out from there, remixing bands such as Depeche Mode and Daft Punk. They have a lot to do with dance music moving in a rock n roll direction.

There will be USA tour dates soon so keep an eye on the band website (linked above).