Tortoise's McEntire, Herndon, Bitney Team Up for Bumps

Tortoise's McEntire, Herndon, Bitney Team Up for Bumps side projects are born, retired, and revived at a pace that completely belies the band s name, so it doesn t come as a huge surprise that three of members of the band-- John McEntire, John Herndon, and Dan Bitney-- are releasing an album of instrumental percussion under the name .
The surprise is that they re releasing the album, simply titled Bumps, on , that bastion of excellent underground soul and hip hop.
That s not to say it s not a nice surprise.

In fact, the possibility of Bumps becoming the go-to sample source for a new generation of hip hop heads is mighty intriguing. The three-piece suit could become the new gold chain.
Stones Throw will release Bumps on June 19.

, Tortoise will launch their North American summer tour in Columbus, Ohio on June 14.
Deerhunter, Menomena, Klaxons, Fujiya Added to Pitchfork Music Festival! The lineup just keeps growing, and today, we re thrilled to announce the latest additions to the roster of our first-ever three-day festival, taking place July 13-15 at Union Park in Chicago.

Of course, they all join Pitchfork Music Festival performers Cat Power, New Pornographers, Clipse, Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, Iron and Wine, Of Montreal, Girl Talk, Jamie Lidell, Grizzly Bear, Battles, the Ponys, Professor Murder, Ken Vandermark s Powerhouse Sound, and, of course, (in collaboration with ). Best of all, that s just a taste of the many artists who ll be performing at this year s fest, for which we still have yet to announce two more artists who, like Sonic Youth, will be performing their classic albums in full as part of Friday s ATP/Don t Look Back festival kickoff. Well, this was unexpected!

After and and shows to her neverending journey in support of her debut album , has apparently canceled her entire May-June American tour.
According to several clubs at which Lily was scheduled to play, the reason for the quashed tour is scheduling conflicts, and it will be rescheduled in the fall. So far, 11 dates, stretching from Kansas to Florida, have been removed.

However, representatives from Lily s camp would not confirm that the entire tour would not be taking place. No word yet on whether Lily s still playing Coachella or Bonnaroo or this weekend s KCRW Sounds Eclectic Evening.
Is a show really a Les Savy Fav show unless someone accepts Skittles straight from Tim Harrington rsquo;s mouth?

Methinks not. Mildly uncomfortable audience participation is as much as mainstay of the LSF experience as spiny riffage, barking vocals, or sweat descending into your nether regions.
But on any given night, there s only so many mouths one can feed regurgitated candy to, and those Les Savy freaks are widening their reach with a new approach to fan-fellowship.

They d like it very much if you d visit their website, learn a few lines from a few new choice cuts ( Nine Teen Ninety Nine , The World , and Resent the Rent ) and then call 718-228-8954 and sing them into their voicemail. A chance to go all Idol with Les Savy Fav? Sweet slimy bon-bons!

In other Fav news, looks like the grumblings about scheduling another UK date around their May 19 date at the festival will amount to little more than that, as, according to their website, the idea of booking a gig sounds like work and they, therefore, are gonna just keep it easy. Too lazy to slate a show and getting ringers for vocal duties? How sinfully slothful!

When French remixer/DJ/ head chef/club sensation crashes North American shores later this month, he won t be alone. Indeed, this propagator of all things danceable will bolster the agreeable blend of house, techno, electro, and disco found on this year s Monsters Silly Songs ( ) with four separate live bands branded with similar but distinct names.
We know this much: Joakim s Ectoplasmics include Maxime Delpierre on guitar, Juan DeGuillebon on bass, and Mark Kerr on drums.

As to who or what comprises the Euroschmucks, the Ectosluts, or the Europlasmics, folks in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago will just have to wait and find out. And don t even get us started on the Ectoschmucks (who turn up in Barcelona) and, of course, the Eurosluts (bound for Dublin). Do these refer to actual variations of Joakim s band?

Or are they merely products of the Frenchman s whimsy? Either way, like Bill Murray, they re pretty funny.
In related news, Joakim lends his production muse to Chateau Rouge, the debut LP by buddy/collaborator -- aka Guillaume Teyssier, aka the lyricist behind Poni Hoax s kick-ass .

Look for that one May 15 on Tigersushi, and later, another Joakim-produced Poni Hoax LP. Part Chimp Tour Europe, Spill Cup on U.S.

s odds n sods comp Cup busts through your headphones and pounds directly on your eardrums, shooting to kill your auditory nerves. The blaring Brits collect ten shattering singles, some mauling miscellaneia, and, improbably perhaps, a Beatles cover. North Americans will get to hear Cup May 22 thanks to , but they may not be able to hear anything afterwards, ever.

Cup comes complete with a pair of videos for War Machine and conveniently-titled new single New Cross which noise-punk fans on the go can load on their video iPods for portable punishment.
Part Chimp are currently going ape around Europe.

Making fun of stuff is a hobby, because I don't have any other hobbies.

songwriter and frontman Josh Homme is friendly, funny, smart, and talkative. In other words, he s an ideal interview. I knew from the moment I picked up the phone and he said, Dave, this is your conscience calling that our conversation would be fun, but I had no idea it would touch on pirates, gravy, raves, jumbo shrimp, and cowbell addiction.

Homme s band has a new album-- (Latin for Common Era )-- coming out June 12 on Interscope, and we talked about that too. It s a long interview, but where else are you going to see the phrase arcing ropes of jism ? (Nevermind, don t answer that.

)
Pitchfork: How much Latin do you know?
Josh Homme: I know that, and then the one that everybody knows, in vino veritas. In wine is truth, right?

And then it stops cold there. But I m going to try to learn how to say intercourse in Latin. I just got to look it up.

Pitchfork: What s the story behind the title?
JH: It sounds like the Vulgar Era , which I like, because that sounds like something that I would like to be part of.
Pitchfork: So you don t think we re in the vulgar era, just that it s something to shoot for?

JH: I mean, I think we re in it, and I m stoked.
Pitchfork: Why do you think we re in it?
JH: Because I think our generation is, they don t want to be dock workers or coal miners.

They want to delay adolescence and prolong adolescence, prolong thought about what to do, and try to take advantage of life while it s around, take more artistic jobs, like working at Pitchfork, playing rock music. And I totally understand that. And I also think it s an age of disinformation, where it s not like it s being kept from you, it s more like it s being piled on top of you.

And so I think every time you go to make a personal decision, it s like more information comes to light. I think it s not really bad, it s more gluttony rad. It s sort of like indecision.

And I think while we re all deciding, everyone samples a little bit of everything. And I d like to play that party.
and the were supposed to tour together in Europe earlier this year.

Unfortunately, Win Butler got and the dates were canceled.
But now all is right with the world, as Electrelane have been chosen to open seven dates on Arcade Fire s forthcoming (plus Sasquatch!, at which both bands appear).

These seven dates follow the seven dates featuring opening act , . Lucky number, indeed. Thanks a bunch to reader Dallan Guzinski for the heads up!

Having been Chosen, Electrelane must, with regrets, cancel on a few of their dates with the Blow and Tender Forever. Montreal, Detroit, Vancouver, and Portland are out, but as consolation, Electrelane will play several smaller shows amid the Arcade conflagration.
Electrelane s latest, , is an absolute gem.

Pick it up beginning May 8 via . Never content to give the people too much at once, adorable Austineers -- who ll finally give up their eponymous LP debut in the wake of, like, a hundred great EPs-- have thrown a few tour dates on the back end of their summer stint. It ain t much, but as we ve come to know and love about our Voxtrot, any stinginess in quantity is more than made up in the quality department.

In other Voxtrot news, those curious as to how the notoriously short-form Voxtrot came to the conclusion to go full-length can check out the for a mini-documentary helmed by Voxtrot chum Elizabeth Skadden. They ll also take part in Urban Outfitters rack-rumbling , and puddlejump over to the mere days before the May 22 release of their / debut.
As aficionados and Pitchfork News freaks well know, Beck s latest opus, last year s , came with snazzy do-it-yourself cover art.

More precisely, it came with a bunch of stickers and a blank grid, with the implication that you could design Beck s album cover any damn way you pleased, limited only by the illustrative imaginations of the 15+ artists at London-based who created the stickers. The hardest part, of course, was choosing which stickers to use and which to leave behind. Thankfully, for those who want it all, you ll soon get your chance.

Come May 1, LDN-based online gallery will begin selling limited edition prints of Big Active s Information artwork. We re talking a big ol print that collects over 100 of the Information stickers, all conveniently arrayed on one visual plane.
Time truly is money with these prints, however, as they increase in price as more are snatched up-- and there are only 200 to begin with!

Get your browsers revved up at 9 a.m. GMT (aka three in the morning in Chicago, four in New York) on May 1, as the prints go on sale with the initial price of 125 (aka $247.

91, as of today). Did we mention all prints come signed by Beck himself?
With the release of this Beck print, Product of God springs to life.

Check back there later this year for art from Big Active s Sanna Annukka (who did the lovely covers for Keane s Under the Iron Sea and its attendant singles), Kate Gibb (who s worked with Chemical Brothers and the Magic Numbers), and Dave Foldvari.
Oh, and those little Beck stickers won t stop there. From April 15-19, according to Beck s website, they star in an Information art exhibit at Tokyo s La Floret Museum.

Scientific types say it takes a good month for one s body to fully recuperate after losing just one night of sleep, so it s safe to assume that needs way more than a week to recover following a good 18 months of pretty much non-stop touring. And so it goes: a pair of UK dates at her doctor s behest, Sov has gone ahead and scrapped the rest of her home country tour, citing exhaustion.
Said Sov s people in a statement on her website: Sovereign s condition has not improved.

She performed in Leeds yesterday but following the show her condition deteriorated, and with this continued illness [she] has been advised by her GP to rest recover for a further week.
Sorry to all the fans who had tickets for these shows..

.Sovereign is massively disappointed.
The four canceled dates: April 13 in London, April 14 in Bristol, April 16 in Norwich, and April 17 in Manchester.

Refunds are available at the point of purchase.
As mentioned, sly Sov did manage to squeak in in Leeds last night, however, and she apparently tore it up-- if the omg u were amazzin last nite!!

!!1 s of her many friends are to be believed.

At least, we hope they re talking about the Leeds gig.
For the moment, Lady Sovereign will still cross the Channel to play her EU dates next week, and she ll still try to stand tall during that humungous , even if doing so leaves her bedridden through early 2009.
Our advice to Sov: garlic!

Works wonders for personal health, plus it ll ward off vampires-- and, more importantly, . Do you have a news tip for us? Anything crazy happen at a show you attended recently?

Do you have inside info on the bands we cover? Is one of your favorite artists (that's not somebody you know personally) releasing a new record you'd like to see covered? You will remain completely anonymous, unless we are given your express permission to reveal your identity.

(Please note that publicists, managers, booking agents, and other artist representatives are generally exempt from this rule, but will also be granted anonymity if requested.