New York's +/- are set to return with Let's Build A Fire sometime this year. The album, which will be released through Teen Beat, has been out in Japan for months already. We're also all still waiting on the split-EP with Bloodthirsty Butchers. Japan gets all the love, this time. You can currently preview streaming clips of most of the album at & Records. The group has also already put up a video on their website for the song "Steal The Blueprints" (created by drummer Chris Deaner, by the way).

Not too long ago we found out Page Hamilton was giving Helmet another go and was in the process of writing new material. We've now learned the album is finished, titled Monochrome and due out July 18th on Warcon. You can read the full press release on the Warcon website.

The third annual, Derek Hess backed Strhess Tour is gearing up for a month long run from mid-July until mid-August. This year's tour will feature Shadows Fall, Poison The Well, It Dies Today and Still Remains, among others. For full details, head over to strhesstour.com.

You can now view some teaser videos promoting the upcoming album from The Eraser (i.e., the Thom Yorke solo album... dur). Thom Yorke and co. also officially announced The Eraser can be heard "on different radio shows and different radio stations" starting this week. I'm sure that's not everyone's payola-fueled, modern-rock radio stations, but larger cities and colleges are a safe bet. July 11th needs to get here sooner.

The rested and ready Ima Robot should explode back into the public realm with a new album sometime soon. In the meantime, their new single, "Creeps Me Out," is gaining momentum and getting a little radio play. You can preview the track on MySpace. It's also highly probable they'll play the song live on their current tour with She Wants Revenge and Mellowdrone.

Silver Mt. Zion have announced their first ever North American tour, running from late July until the end of August. There may be a mid-summer release of their new live album, Fuck You Drakulas, on Constellation (both the title and timeframe are tentative). The tour, however, is very much confirmed.

Jonny Lives!, the NYC-based retro-rock outfit, have paired up with MTVu to give their Get Steady EP away digitally. It's already underway, so head here to check it out, and keep in mind that the LP will be out on August 22.

Boston-native Bleu is set to release his new album, A Watched Pot, sometime this year. You can preview 4 new songs from the album, which is even more over-the-top pop balladry a la 2003's Redhead, on Purevolume.

Pearls & Brass are taking their Drag City approved, stoner-rock show all over the East Coast and you have until mid-July to catch them live. All dates are in support of their latest and greatest, The Indian Tower.

You may remember we're all anxiously awaiting a new DJ Shadow album. That said, we've learned the title of the album will be The Outsider and you can preview the first single, "3 Freaks," on djshadow.com. The album should hopefully see an August release on Universal.

Small Sins (aka Thomas D'arcy) dropped its debut, self-titled full-length last week to some acclaim, as if we need another electro-pop act. But don't let us make up your mind, you can preview three songs from the album in Downloads or check Small Sins out on tour with Radio 4 through the beginning of July.

It's been awhile since our last Hella update, so we'll fill you in. The group has expanded from a duo to a quintet, adding cousin Josh Hill as well Aaron Ross and Carson McWhirter from The Advantage. On the album front, the previously Japanese-only Acoustics EP could see a US release in September on 5RC. As for a new full-length, it looks as if Ipecac will release that in January 2007.

Circa Survive is set to head out on The Twilight Army Tour with The Receiving End of Sirens from July through August, in further support of their new album Juturna.

Thunderbirds Are Now! will release Make History on French Kiss Records this coming October. The album consists of 11 tracks that will likely rock your face off. There was an mp3 available at French Kiss but they seem to have taken it down. You'll have to find it elsewhere.

We knew that Viva Voce would be releasing a new album through Barsuk this fall and now we know that it's called Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. The disc will hit shelves on September 12th. There's no tracklisting yet but you can check out a new song on their MySpace page or in our downloads section.

The latest video from Broken Social Scene can be viewed online here. "Fire Eye'd Boy" is taken from the bands self-titled sophomore album and aside from featuring a lot of talking over the song features a guest appearance by Geddy Lee of Rush.

Not only can we look forward to the US release of Black Holes and Revelations from Muse on July 11th, the group has also announced a quick July/August tour in support. "Knights Of Cydonia" has been picked as the first US single (not "Supermassive Black Hole," as previously thought) and you can hear the track on MySpace. Lastly, just in case you're interested, here is the album cover.

In further promotion of their recently released (and quite good) full-length Beartrap Island, Division Day has released a video for the track "Hurricane." You can view it over here and then check out more songs from the album over here.

It is now safe to assume that if you put out a double-disc of tracks, like the Eels did with Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, that you are required to tour for twice as long. That being said, we have a ton more Eels tour dates that keeps the band out and about until late August.

Since The Rentals have likely completed their new album it's time for them to hit the road, test out that new material, and see how many people they can get to sing along with the infectious "Woo hoo hoo" of 'Friends of P.'