[News] The Avett Brothers Reveal Artwork, Tracklist for 'The Carpenter'

The Avett Brothers made an announcement earlier this year that they would be releasing their sixth album this fall, and that the famed Rick Rubin would be carrying out production duties. Now, more details regarding the album, which is set for release on September 11th via Universal, have arisen. The official artwork for The Carpenter is pictured above, and the official tracklist for the album can be seen after the jump.

Also after the jump, you can check out the band's full tour schedule, along with a stream of the first single from the album, titled "Live and Die".

The Carpenter Tracklist:
01. The Once And Future Carpenter
02. Live And Die
03. Winter In My Heart
04. Pretty Girl From Michigan
05. I Never Knew You
06. February Seven
07. Through My Prayers
08. Down With The Shine
09. A Fathers First Spring
10. Geraldine
11. Paul Newman Vs. The Demons
12. Life

The Avett Brothers 2012 Tour Dates:
08/22 – Chico, TX @ California State University
08/24 – Jacksonville, OR @ Britt Pavilion
08/25 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield
08/26 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield
08/29 – Palmer, AK @ Alaska State Fair
08/31 – Quincy, WA @ Gorge Amphitheatre *
09/01 – Quincy, WA @ Gorge Amphitheatre *
09/02 – Quincy, WA @ Gorge Amphitheatre *
09/12 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Canadian Ampitheatre
09/14 – Fredericton, NB @ Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival
09/15 – Burlinton, VT @ Grand Point North Festival
09/16 – Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
09/18 – New York, NY @ Rumsey Playfield
09/21 – Atlanta, GA @ Music Midtown
09/23 – Baltimore, MD @ Pier Six Pavilion
09/28 – Chicago, IL @ Charter One Pavilion
09/29 – St. Louis, MO @ Fox Theater
09/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ White River State Park
10/11 – Tuscaloosa, AL @ Tuscaloosa Ampitheatre
10/12 – Memphis, TN @ Mud Island Ampitheatre
10/14 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/16 – Fayetteville, AR @ Arkansas Music Pavilion
10/21 – Charleston, SC @ Southern Ground Music and Food Festival
10/21 – Clearwater, FL @ Clearwater Jazz Festival
10/26 – New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Experience

* = w/ Dave Matthews Band

[News] Snoop Dogg No Longer, Snoop Lion Reincarnated

Snoop Dogg recently announced that he was making a full-length reggae with the help of Diplo, and even went on a trip to Jamaica to embrace the reggae lifestyle. The result was Snoop Dogg changing his name to Snoop Lion, embracing the title given to him by the rastafari. Now, the rap legend will release Reincarnated later this year via Vice Records, and has no plan on returning to the rap game. As FACT reports:

Speaking to press in New York this week, Snoop claimed that he hadn’t planned to go to Jamaica to make a reggae record, but “the spirit called me … And, you know, anytime the spirit calls you, you gotta know that its serious.”

Indeed. Continuing, Snoop explained that he doesn’t want Reincarnated to portray “Snoop Dogg in a reggae track”, instead, claiming that he “want[s] to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion”, after a spiritual meeting with a high priest in Jamaica. “Rap is not a challenge to me. I had enough of that. It’s not appealing to me no more. I don’t have no challenges … I’m ‘Uncle Snoop’ in rap. When you get to be an uncle, you need to find a new profession so you can start over and be fresh again.”

Well, there you have it, Snoop Dogg is no more. In the meantime, you can stream the lead single from Reincarnation, the Diplo-produced cut "La La La", as well as the trailer for the Reincarnation documentary, which will premiere at Toronto Film Festival later this year.

[News] Muse Unveil 'The 2nd Law' Artwork, Plan Battersea Power Station Show?

As tension builds in the lead up to Muse releasing their sixth studio album, The 2nd Law, the band are up to their usual tricks and yesterday afternoon started posting pictures to their twitter account every 10 minutes. It turns out it's their new album artwork and it's a rather interesting idea. They've used a "Neuro image supplied courtesy of the Human Connectome Project, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA." It's basically a map of the brain. See it above.

Along with that an interesting listing over on Celebration! Cinema has been discovered. It supposedly reveals that Muse will be performing at Battersea Power Station on the 16th September, the day before The 2nd Law is released. 

NCM Fathom, Warner Music Group and Omniverse Vision are partnering to present Muse Live from London. The performance will launch Muse's 6th Studio album, The 2nd Law, and feature tracks from the new album as well as classics from their 16 year career. Broadcasting from one of London's most iconic landmarks, Battersea Power Station, the event will be a theatrical spectacle with dramatic flair that has made Muse so successful with fans - including a shoot with helicopters amid the full backdrop of the impressive London landscape.

We'll bring you more information as we have it but it could promise to be a very interesting watch. Remember when Foo Fighters did the live show at the end of Back and Forth? I'll happily go to the cinema to watch Muse broadcast a live event!

Muse will tour their new album across Europe in the latter part of 2012. Dates can be found over here. The 2nd Law is released on which hits stores on September 17th/18th via Helium 3/Warner Bros Records.

[News] Matt and Kim Announce North American Tour

Matt and Kim will hit the road this fall in support of their fourth studio LP Lightning, which hits stores on October 2nd via FADER. The North American tour will see the Brooklyn duo performing in 38 cities over the course of a month and a half, and every stop they make will see them playing host to each city's No-Kill Animal Shelter. At each venue they perform at, the pair will give fans the opportunity to learn about how they can support their local no-kill locations. Definitely a worthy cause.

Check out Matt and Kim's full tour schedule after the jump, where you can also check out the video for "Let's Go", the lead single from Lightning.

Matt and Kim 2012 Tour Dates:
10/03 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
10/04 – Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater
10/05 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
10/06 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
10/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
10/09 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/11 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
10/12 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
10/13 – Orlando, FL @ The Beacham Theatre
10/14 – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore at Jackie Gleason Theatre
10/16 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Moon
10/17 – Tampa, FL @ The Ritz Ybor
10/18 – New Orleans, LA @ House Of Blues
10/19 – Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
10/20 – Austin, TX @ Stubbs
10/21 – Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
10/23 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
10/24 – San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues
10/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
10/26 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
10/27 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
10/28 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/30 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
11/01 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
11/02 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
11/03 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
11/04 – St Louis, MO @ The Pageant
11/06 – Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
11/08 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
11/09 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
11/10 – Chicago, IL @ Congress Theater
11/11 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
11/13 – Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
11/14 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
11/15 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/16 – Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
11/17 – Montclair, NJ @ Wellmont Theater

[News] Animal Collective Launching Weekly Radio Program

Animal Collective sure as hell know how to build hype for an album, and they're doing it in a way that you might not expect. From July 29th to August 19th, the Baltimore psychedelic outfit will host a weekly radio program every Sunday night, which will stream live on their official website. If the idea of an Animal Collective-run radio show isn't enough to whet your appetite, they're promising that the first episode will feature brand new content from Panda Bear, Black Dice, Haunted Graffiti, and Sublime Frequencies. Not a bad way to get fans excited for Centipede Hz.

Centipede Hz is out on September 4th via Domino Records.

[News] Outside Lands Festival Reveals 2012 Schedule

Festivals can be difficult to manage, as you're guaranteed to miss at least a few bands you were hoping to see in order to see another. San Francisco music festival Outside Lands is no exception. The official set times for the festival have now been revealed, and you'll have to choose between Beck, The Walkmen, Tennis, or YACHT; Neil Young and Crazy Horse or Justice; Norah Jones or Passion Pit; and perhaps the most difficult of all, Stevie Wonder or Skrillex. Check out the full schedule after the jump, or at the Outside Lands website, and click on the specific day to see a full size version.

Some Kind of Awesome will be present at this year's Outside Lands Festival, so expect some preview coverage in the next couple of weeks, as well as full coverage of the festival before and after it takes place.

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

[News] Aphex Twin to Reissue '…I Care Because You Do' and 'Richard D. James Album' on Vinyl

Electronic legend Richard D. James, better known by his most famous of aliases Aphex Twin, will get another one of his amazing works reissued by 1972 Records, who reissued his album Selected Ambient Works Volume II on vinyl earlier this year. On September 18th, two of Aphex Twin's best works (also with the creepiest album covers), 1995's ...I Care Because You Do and 1996's Richard D. James Album, will be reissued on vinyl for the first time in over ten years.

According to Exclaim, the Richard D. James Album reissue will only come as a single LP, meaning it most likely won't have the bonus tracks included in the original North American and Australian releases. Although, given the length of ...I Care Because You Do, it will most certainly be a double LP. Now would be a good time to mark September 18th on your calendars.

[News] Crystal Castles Announce New Album for September, Fall Tour Dates

Crystal Castles very recently dropped a brand new track titled "Plague", and now they have unveiled some important details about the album it'll appear on. The duo's third studio LP, which is currently untitled, will be released in late September via Universal Republic/Casablanca, according to NME. The album was reportedly recorded and self-produced by the duo in Warsaw, and is now being mixed and mastered in London.

When speaking to NME, Ethan Kath stated that the new album will sound very much like their past work: "There's no departure. We like how we sound. We don't wanna change." Alice Glass went further to say, "There’s lots of themes, but feeling, like, oppressed… A lot of things not personally happening to us, since the past record, but people we know kind of profoundly influenced everything. Like, I didn’t think I could lose faith in humanity any more than I already had, but after witnessing some things, it just… the world is a dystopia. I’m on step away from being a vigilante. I’ve thought about it."

On top of the reveal, Crystal Castles have announced a tour for this fall with HEALTH, which starts at the end of September and goes through till early November. Check out the full tour schedule after the jump.

Crystal Castles 2012 Tour Dates:
08/09 – Cannes, FR @ Festival Pantiero
08/18-19 – Osaka and Tokyo, JP @ Summer Sonic
08/24 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/25 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
09/02 – Stradbally, IE @ Electric Picnic
09/27 – Charlotte, NC @ Fillmore Charlotte *
09/28 – Fairburn, GA @ Counter.Point Music Festival
09/29 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
10/02 – Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory *
10/03 – New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom *
10/06 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues *
10/07 – Montreal, QC @ Metropolis *#
10/09 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre *#
10/10 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
10/11 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Art Works *#
10/14 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/16 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater *#
10/17 – Denver, CO @ Ogden *#
10/18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue *#
10/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Palladium *#
10/21 – San Diego, CA @ Soma *#
10/22 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater *#
10/24 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater *#
10/25 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox Sodo *#
10/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore *#
10/28 – Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall *#
10/29 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Event Centre *#
10/31 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre *#
11/01 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue *#
11/02 – Chicago, IL @ Congress Theater *#
11/04 – Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus *#
01/18 – Sydney, AU @ Big Day Out
01/20 – Gold Coast, AU @ Big Day Out
01/25 – Adelaide, AU @ Big Day Out
01/26 – Melbourne, AU @ Big Day Out
01/28 – Perth, AU @ Big Day Out

* = w/ HEALTH
# = w/ Kontravoid