What's New(s)?

Broken Bells announce tour

Much of After the Disco, The Shins' James Mercer and Danger Mouse's second LP as Broken Bells, was a dancefloor affair for the melancholic set and now that disco-ball melancholia will be hitting the road. Partnering with the B612 Foundation, the duo will be giving one dollar from every ticket sold on the summer tour to the Sentinel Mission, a program that aims to "protect Earth while preparing for future exploration." An overview on B612's site expands on the program's aim, "Sentinel is a space-based infrared (IR) survey mission to discover and catalog 90 percent of the asteroids larger than 140 meters in Earth’s region of the solar system." All of which fits perfectly with the album's space-centric videos. Dates for the tour can be found below.

Tour Dates:
6/7 Randall’s Island, NY - Governor’s Ball Music Festival
6/12-15 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
6/16 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
6/18 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
6/19 Columbus, OH - The LC Indoor Pavillion
6/20 Louisville, KY - Iroquois Amphitheater
6/21-22 Dover, DE - Firefly Festival
8/1 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
8/3 Minneapolis, MN - State Theater
8/4 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Burton Cummings Theatre
8/6 Calgary, Alberta - Jack Singer Concert Hall
8/7 Edmonton, Alberta - Winspear Centre
8/8-9 Squamish, British Columbia - Squamish Festival
8/10 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
8/11 Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 

 

American Football reuniting for first shows in 15 years

 

The term "emo-revival" has considerably high cache right now, so there's seemingly no better time for original 90s emos bands to reunite. Which is precisely what Champaign-Urbana's American Football is doing this fall. On May 20 the trio of Mike Kinshella, Steve Lamos, and Steve Holmes is reissuing a deluxe edition of American Football, their sole LP via Polyvinyl. 

To promote the record the band will be performing in their hometown as part of the Pygmalion Music Festival, before heading to New York in mid-October. In discussing the trio's intent for reuniting, guitarist Steve Holmes said, "Obviously, we knew the time was ripe for three middle aged dudes to play some old songs about teenage feelings, and stand around tuning guitars for a long time."

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Pygmalion Music Festival and will also feature performances from: Chvrches, Panda Bear, Real Estate, Sun Kil Moon, Deafheaven, Speedy Ortiz, and more. While you wait for that, check out the band's dates along with their aching 1998 single "Five Silent Miles".

Reunion Dates:
9/28 Urbana-Champaign, IL - Pygmalion Music Festival
10/11 New York, NY - Webster Hall

Check back tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

What's New(s)?

Cloud Nothings and Wavves collaborative album "almost done"

Dylan Baldi's new album as part of Cloud Nothings Here and Nowhere Else is out next Tuesday (April 1), but evidently Baldi's not taking any time off between projects. According to Exclaim, the frontman has been operating in Los Angeles, working on a collaborative effort with fuzzy surf-rock king Hathan Williams of Wavves.

In talking about the project with Exclaim, Baldi says the album is "almost done" and the seeds for the collabo were sewn in Paris. "I woke up one morning hungover in Paris, which is where I usually live, and I just had a text on my phone that was like, 'Yo, wanna make a record together?' I was like, '...Okay!' And that was it. It sounded fun." Baldi went on to add that the partnering resembled a cross between the two artists' work with "another element that wasn't present in either of our music before."

While you wait for the project, check out recent clips from Cloud Nothings and Wavves, and look for Here and Nowhere Elese out April 1 through Carpark Records. 

New Zach Braff film to feature music from Bon Iver, Cat Power, Chris Martin, and yes the Shins

 

Last spring Zach Braff launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Wish I Was Here, his first directorial work since 2004's Garden State. In the time since, the film received over $3 million in funding and premiered at Sundance in January.

Now Wish I Was Here has an opening date of July 18 in New York/Los Angeles with a wide-release the following Friday (July 25). In discussing the film with Entertainment Weekly, Braff opened up about the film's soundtrack which will feature a collaboration with Coldplay's Chris Martin and Chan Marshall of Cat Power. According to Braff the work will serve as the film's title track and is "one of the most amazing songs ever." In addition to that "amazing song", the soundtrack will include new songs from Bon Iver and Garden State centerpiece the Shins who will "change your life."  No word yet if the Martin/Marshall effort will do the same. Until it comes, you can always enjoy the video for the Shins' "New Slang".

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

What's New(s)?

Broken Bells announce new album

Earlier today, duo Broken Bells comprised of the Shins' James Mercer and Danger Mouse debuted a mysterious desert trekking video that ended with the above image. It's now been confirmed that the band will be following up their 2010 self-titled debut with an album titled After the Disco. The LP sports a tentative January 2014 release date and the band teased the announcement on Twitter, tweeting "there may be more than meets the eye". 

Check out the minimalistic space fare below, complete with Mercer attempting his best falsetto over a wobbling synthesizer and steady drum beat.

RZA and Paul Banks making an album together

Yesterday's installment of "What's New(s)?" spotlighted the improbable partnership between sample fiend Girl Talk and former Rocafella member Freeway. Today comes an even more unlikely partnership, formed by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and Paul Banks of Interpol. In an interview for Rolling Stone, RZA took time out from plugging his latest projects to describe the effort which reportedly has been in the works for the past six months. Speaking to the motivation for recording with the Interpol frontman, RZA complimented "Paul just has an energy about him. I think if we put our sandwich together it will be great." Continuing, RZA said "we went to the studio and we started writing songs and they sound very, very different than what I do, but very unique and very peculiar." Though RZA was quick to temper the praise, ensuring "it won't be able for awhile."

Banks previously issued his rap mixtape Everybody On My D*** Like The Supposed to Be, so this isn't an entirely improbable partnership, but it does raise more than a few eyebrows. 

"What's in the Box"- Mike G (Prod. Paul Banks)