14 musicians from the likes of Maroon 5, Gomez And Phantom Planet gathered together for 30 days in Maui, Hawaii to write and record Operation Aloha. The group lived in a tree house compound and experimented with "blues inspired rock and Hawaiian folk music." The self-titled album will be released on May 27th.
M83 and The Los Angeles Philharmonic will co-headline an event at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA on March 7th. The program features three sets, individual performances and M83 accompanied by the orchestra.
Fennesz and Sparklehorse have collaborated on an album for the "In The Fishtank" series from Dutch label Konkurrent. The album will be released in March. [exclaim.ca]
New Zealand's Flight of the Conchords have announced a massive US tour, beginning April 6th, in support of their 2008 self-titled, debut full-length. [tinymixtapes.com]
Cursive will release their forthcoming album, Mama, I'm Swollen, on March 10th via Saddle Creek. Check out the artwork, track list and pre-order the album at the Saddle Creek store.
Elbow are now taking pre-orders for The Seldom Seen Kid Live at Abbey Road CD/DVD set, recorded with the BBC Orchestra on January 17th. The set includes full audio and video of the performance. UK fans can stream the performance on the BBC website, but US fans are SOL due to idiotic region restrictions. [www.xfm.co.uk]
Nick Thorburn revealed to Stereogum that he's well into the third Islands album. The new material is "electronic-based, with plenty of drum machine and programming." If that wasn't enough, Thorburn is planning a second, acoustic Islands full-length and a solo album. You can follow Nick's progress on Twitter. [stereogum.com]
Black Moth Super Rainbow will return on May 26th with Eating Us through Graveface. The album was produced by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT). Graveface has offered up an MP3 sampling of what's to come. [www.thetripwire.com]
Stereogum caught up with Spencer Krug to discuss his 2009 plans. Krug will release Enemy Mine with Swan Lake on March 24th and the new Sunset Rubdown album is well underway. [stereogum.com]
Charlie Cooper of Telefon Tel Aviv passed away on January 22nd. The duo just released their new album, Immolate Yourself, on January 20th. Bandmate Joshua Eustis posted this letter to fans. [www.myspace.com]
Super Furry Animals will release a new album digitally on March 16th through the band's website and physically on April 21st in the US. Head over to superfurry.com for the complete details. There's no indication yet that this album has anything to do with the instrumental album Gruff Rhys revealed to BBC. [www.superfurry.com]
The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice will head out on an acoustic spring tour in March and April. [www.livedaily.com]
With Middle Cyclone out on March 3rd, Neko Case has scheduled a spring tour in support of the album's release. The tour kicks off in Austin, TX on March 31st. Download an MP3 of "People Got A Lot Of Nerve" from ANTI-. [www.livedaily.com]
On February 13th, Ben Kweller will kick off a tour in support of his forthcoming album, Changing Horses, in Salt Lake City, UT. The album will hit stores February 3rd through ATO. [kweller.net]
The Langerado Music Festival will be held March 6-8th at Bicentennial Park in Miami, FL. The festival's daily schedule is now up on its website. Bands performing include Broken Social Scene, The Faint, Against Me!, Bad Brains, Death Cab For Cutie, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals and Mute Math. [www.langerado.com]
Los Angeles' Funeral Party will open the forthcoming ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead tour, beginning in February. The band's self-titled debut will hit stores April 21st. [www.myspace.com]
Modest Mouse will head out on tour beginning February 22nd in Oakland, CA. Jim Fairchild of Grandaddy will fill in on guitar and Mimicking Birds will open. [www.modestmouse.com]
According to their MySpace blog, Rival Schools have begun recording their follow up to the 2001's United by Fate. [blogs.myspace.com]
Following the "Help I'm Alive" single, Metric has announced their fourth album, Fantasies, will be available for preorder March 2nd and in stores April 14th. Metric has decided to self-release the album in US, while Last Gang is handling Canada. [www.billboard.com]
mewithoutYou has completed work on their follow-up to 2006's Brother, Sister. According to the band, the album will soon be sent off for mastering, a spring release on Tooth & Nail is tentative and a summer tour is in the works. [blogs.myspace.com]
