Arcade Fire presents "The Suburbs" & announces tour dates

Arcade Fire will release its third full-length studio album, The Suburbs, on August 3, 2010, on Merge Records. Pre-order The Suburbs now on CD or double-LP and receive 320-kbps MP3s of two songs, "Month of May" and "The Suburbs," via email once the order is complete. Preorders will ship to arrive on or around the August 3 release date.

Written, arranged, performed, and produced by the Arcade Fire and co-produced by Markus Dravs, The Suburbs was recorded around Montreal and New York over the past two years.

Arcade Fire has also announced its first US headline dates since 2007's Neon Bible tour. Spoon is confirmed as special guest on the New York, Philadelphia, DC (Columbia, MD), and Atlanta dates.

Aug 01 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
Aug 02 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for the Performing Arts (w/Spoon)
Aug 04 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden (w/Spoon)
Aug 06 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion (w/Spoon)
Aug 09 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
Aug 11 Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park (w/Spoon)

Arcade Fire will donate $1 from every ticket sold to Partners in Health, an organization helping impoverished communities around the world combat disease and poverty. Please visit www.pih.org for more information.

Arcade Fire Live 2010:

Jun 07 Sherbrooke, QC - Theatre Granada
Jun 08 Sherbrooke, QC - Theatre Granada
Jun 28 Helsinki, Finland - The Senate Square
Jun 30 Rättvik, Sweden - Dalhalla
Jul 02 Tromøy, Norway - Hove Festival
Jul 04 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
Jul 09 County Kildare, Ireland - Oxegen Festival
Jul 12 Quebec City, QC - Quebec City Summer Festival
Jul 13 Ottawa, ON - Ottawa Bluesfest
Jul 31 Montreal, QC - Osheaga
Aug 01 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
Aug 02 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Centre for the Performing Arts*
Aug 04 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden*
Aug 06 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion*
Aug 08 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
Aug 09 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
Aug 11 Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre*
Aug 14 Toronto, ON - Olympic Island
Aug 27 Leeds, UK - Leeds Festival
Aug 28 Reading, UK - Reading Festival
Aug 29 Saint-Cloud, France - Festival Rock en Seine
Aug 31 Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom
Sep 02 Bologna, Italy - Arena Parco Nord (I-Day Festival)

* w/Spoon

Superchunk reveals "Majesty Shredding" details & announces first TV appearance since 1994!

On September 14, Superchunk will release Majesty Shredding on CD, LP and digital download. The band has announced summer festival dates and September east coast dates, with west coast dates to be announced soon. Superchunk will also perform on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday, September 20, their first television appearance since 1994.

Having cleared the deck of odds and sods with last year's Leaves in the Gutter EP, Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan set about to write a batch of songs that would capture the spirit of the band's live shows. From 1997's Indoor Living through 2001's Here's to Shutting Up, Superchunk had written most of their records together, building their songs through collaborative writing and rehearsal. But, in an effort not to overthink their new material (and because drummer Jon Wurster lives a couple hundred miles away from the rest of the band), Superchunk approached Majesty Shredding the same way they approached their early records: McCaughan provided skeletal demos to his bandmates, who in turn fleshed out the songs during a brief period of rehearsal and recording.

Since releasing their first 7-inch in 1989, Superchunk has run the gamut of milestone albums: early punk rock stompers, polished mid-career masterpieces, and lush, adventurous curveballs. Conventional wisdom holds that a band two decades into its career can only rehash or reinvent, but with Majesty Shredding, Superchunk has done something entirely different. Neither a return nor a departure, Majesty Shredding telescopes two decades into 41 indelible, action-packed minutes. It is the sound of youthful exuberance fine-tuned with grown-up confidence. And it may very well be Superchunk's best record yet.

Watch a mini-video of Superchunk in the studio, and Mac, Laura, Jon & Jim can now be found on Twitter, too!

Track listing:

1. Digging for Something
2. My Gap Feels Weird
3. Rosemarie
4. Crossed Wires
5. Slow Drip
6. Fractures in Plaster
7. Learned to Surf
8. Winter Games
9. Rope Light
10. Hot Tubes
11. Everything at Once

Superchunk tour dates:

Jun 19 Denver, CO - Westword Music Festival
Jun 20 Chicago, IL - Taste of Randolph Street Festival w/The Love Language
Jul 24 Omaha, NE - MAHA Music Festival
Sep 17 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
Sep 18 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
Sep 19 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sep 20 New York, NY - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Sep 21 Boston, MA - Royale
Sep 22 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero

Versus returns with "On the Ones and Threes" in August

On August 3, Versus will release On the Ones and Threes on CD and deluxe-edition double-LP.

On the Ones and Threes is the band's first LP in ten years and possibly their best. From the nascent verve of 1993's epochal debut The Stars Are Insane to the more haphazard yet equally great Secret Swingers (1996), on through the glossier pop sheen of Two Cents Plus Tax (1998) and 2000's apparent swansong Hurrah, Versus has consistently astounded. And even though it's been a decade since we've heard from them, they're still one of the best bands out there-gritty yet melodic, serene yet explosive, and balanced on the brink in a way that has become somewhat of a lost art.

On the Ones and Threes is something of a return to form, featuring the reappearances of original member Edward Baluyut, and engineer Nicolas Vernhes (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Cat Power, Spoon) who worked on Secret Swingers and Two Cents Plus Tax.

The deluxe-edition double-LP format will feature an alternate sequence and two additional tracks from the album's recording sessions. These extra tracks will also be available as a bonus for immediate download when you pre-order the CD or the deluxe double-LP in the Merge store beginning June 8.

In July, Versus will join the Teen-Beat 26th Anniversary tour for shows at the Bell House in Brooklyn (sold out) and the Black Cat in DC. More tour dates are in the works for later this summer.

Pre-order On the Ones and Threes on CD and double-LP in the Merge store, and download a free MP3 of "Invincible Hero" now!

Track listing (CD):

1. Invincible Hero
2. Nu Skin
3. Into Blue
4. Gone to Earth
5. Cicada
6. Erstwhile
7. Pink Valhalla
8. Saturday Saints
9. Scientists
10. The Ones and Threes

Track listing (deluxe-edition double-LP):

1. Death Ray
2. Invincible Hero
3. Erstwhile
4. Gone to Earth
5. Cicada
6. Into Blue
7. Saturday Saints
8. Scientists
9. Neither Nor
10. The Ones and Threes
11. Pink Valhalla
12. Nu Skin

Lou Barlow kicks off summer tour with new EP "= Sentridoh III"

Lou Barlow + the missingmen will kick off their first headlining US tour on June 10 at the Casbah in San Diego. New dates with Wye Oak have just been added! To celebrate, we are releasing a brand-new digital EP entitled = Sentridoh III.

Described by the band as "an almost live representation of the Lou Barlow + the missingmen live show," = Sentridoh III is another step forward for Lou Barlow, and his first release with new backing band the missingmen (guitarist Tom Watson and drummer Raul Morales). With new cuts, rocking reworks of songs from Lou's Merge debut Emoh and his latest solo record Goodnight Unknown, as well as a hauntingly beautiful cover of Skip James's "I'm So Glad," = Sentridoh III is a must-have testament to this remarkable partnership.

= Sentridoh III is available via digital download now in the Merge store and you can watch a brand new video of "On the Face" at the Merge Vimeo page.

Track listing:

1. Apologize
2. Gravitate / One Machine
3. On the Face
4. Caterpillar Girl
5. Faith Defies the Night
6. Losercore
7. Praise
8. I'm So Glad

Lou Barlow + the missingmen on tour:

Jun 10 San Diego, CA - The Casbah
Jun 11 Tucson, AZ - Plush
Jun 12 Santa Fe, NM - Santa Fe Brewing Co.
Jun 14 Austin, TX - Mohawk
Jun 15 Dallas, TX - The Loft
Jun 16 Norman, OK - The Opolis
Jun 17 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
Jun 18 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
Jun 19 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
Jun 21 Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
Jun 22 Vancouver, BC - Media Club
Jun 23 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
Jun 25 San Francisco, CA - Café Du Nord
Jun 26 Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater

All dates below with Wye Oak:

Aug 18 Washington, DC - Rock N Roll Hotel
Aug 19 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Aug 20 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
Aug 21 Nashville, TN - The Basement
Aug 22 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
Aug 23 Madison, WI - The Frequency
Aug 25 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
Aug 26 Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
Aug 27 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
Aug 28 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
Aug 29 Montreal, QC - Il Motore
Aug 31 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
Sep 01 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
Sep 02 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
Sep 03 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

Teenage Fanclub's "Shadows" in stores now

Today, Teenage Fanclub's long-anticipated new album, Shadows, is available on CD and digital download in the Merge store and at your favorite independent record store or digital music provider.

Teenage Fanclub's first US show will take place on September 30 at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn with Belle & Sebastian. Tickets are on sale now, and more US tour dates will follow!

"Simply put, Shadows is probably Teenage Fanclub's best record to date." ~Under the Radar

Wye Oak releases "My Neighbor / My Creator" on CD & announces Siren Festival and dates with Lou Barlow

Wye Oak's new EP, My Neighbor / My Creator, is available now at all digital outlets, and the limited-edition CDEP is now available in the Merge store. In addition to an appearance at the free Siren Festival at Coney Island on July 17, Wye Oak has just announced a string of dates beginning in August with Lou Barlow + the missingmen.

If you missed it, be sure to watch Wye Oak covering The Kinks' "Strangers" with special guest Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater as part of The A.V. Club's "Undercover" series. Andy will also join Jonathan at the Whitney Museum in NYC for "Backyard Birds: An Evening of Prose and Music Celebrating Charles Burchfield" on June 25.

Wye Oak tour dates:

Jun 25 New York, NY - Whitney Museum (Andy solo with Jonathan Meiburg)
Jul 17 Coney Island, NY - Siren Festival (FREE!)
Aug 18 Washington, DC - Rock N Roll Hotel
Aug 19 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Aug 20 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
Aug 21 Nashville, TN - The Basement
Aug 22 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
Aug 23 Madison, WI - The Frequency
Aug 25 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
Aug 26 Chicago, IL - Schubas
Aug 27 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
Aug 28 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
Aug 29 Montreal, QC - Il Motore
Aug 31 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
Sep 01 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
Sep 02 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
Sep 03 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

Radar Brothers expand summer tour including dates with Modest Mouse

Radar Brothers have added some new tour dates, including several shows opening for Modest Mouse, to their summer show calendar! Don't miss your chance to experience in person what The A.V. Club described as "that feeling of being happily sunbaked and mildly delirious, subsisting on pure sensory intake."

The Illustrated Garden is available now in the Merge store!

Radar Brothers on tour:

Jun 17 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Jun 18 Santa Cruz, CA - The Crepe Place
Jun 21 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Jun 22 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
Jun 24 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
Jul 07 Tempe, AZ - Yucca Tap Room
Jul 09 Santa Fe, NM - Paolo Soleri Amphitheatre^
Jul 10 Broomfield, CO - First Bank Center^
Jul 12 Sioux Falls, SD - Ramkota Exhibit Hall^
Jul 13 Fargo, ND - Hub at the Venue^
Jul 14 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre^
Jul 16 Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
Jul 18 St. Louis, MO - The Old Rock House
Jul 19 Norman, OK - The Opolis
Jul 20 Dallas, TX - The Cavern
Jul 21 Austin, TX - The Mohawk
Jul 23 Tucson, AZ - Plush
Jul 24 Pioneertown, CA - Pappy and Harriet's

^ w/Modest Mouse

Stream and pre-order The Love Language's "Libraries" now in the Merge store

The Love Language's Merge debut, Libraries, will be released on July 13 on CD, LP, and digital download. Pre-order your CD or LP in the Merge store and listen to a stream of the full album.

The Love Language is a fortunate by-product of frontman and North Carolina native Stuart McLamb's rudderless mid-20s, where a tempest of breakup, inebriation, and incarceration found the abandoned songwriter embarking on a storage-space recording project to slow his seeming disintegration. On sophomore effort Libraries, the equilibrium of frontman McLamb's madness and producer BJ Burton's discipline has rendered an album in the classic sense, in which no song is expendable and no passage is without purpose. Libraries captures Spector-esque walls of reckless sound, cavernous drums, middle-school percussion, and moody swells of stringed instruments, all decorated hastily with stray leads that bleed beautifully all over everything.

"The perfect summer soundtrack." ~Magnet Magazine

The Love Language on tour:

Jun 20 Chicago, IL - Taste of Randolph Street Festival w/Superchunk
Jul 12 Washington, DC - Black Cat Backstage
Jul 14 Boston, MA - TT the Bear's
Jul 15 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
Jul 16 Charlottesville, VA - The Southern Café & Music Hall
Jul 17 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle (CD release show!)
Sep 11 Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Festival w/Public Enemy

Summer rockin'

This summer brings a new round of amazing live shows from your favorite Merge bands: Caribou, The Clientele, She & Him and Spoon all continue their travels worldwide, and Richard Buckner heads out for another round of dates. Stay tuned for even more as the months get hotter!