Freelance Whales Team Up With Starbucks

Freelance Whales are having a pretty decent spring. Still riding positive buzz behind their debut album Weathervanes, the band has locked up a nation-wide tour with Foals and the Naked and Famous as well having their music land on a Starbucks commercial.

The commercial is actually not bad (for an ad) and you can watch it right here.

The band will re-release a deluxe version of its debut album on April 5th via iTunes. You can check them out on tour throughout April here:

4/10 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC*
4/11 – The Showbox at The Market – Seattle, WA*
4/12 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR*
4/14 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA (co-headlining with Foals)
4/16 Coachella, India, CA
4/19 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX*
4/20 – The Loft – Dallas, TX
4/21 – La Zona Rosa – Austin, TX*
4/23 – The Firebird – St Louis, MO*
4/25 – The Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN*
4/26 – Metro – Chicago, IL (co-headlining with Foals)
4/27 – Outland Live – Columbus, OH*
4/29 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH*
4/30 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON*
5/01 – Le National – Montreal, QC*
5/02 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA*
5/04 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY (co-headlining with Foals)
5/05 – Theatre of the Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA*
5/06 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC (co-headlining with Foals)
5/07 – Ottobar – Baltimore, MD*
5/08 – The Met – Pawtucket, RI*

*Foals & The Naked & the Famous

tUnE-yArDs unveil “Bizness” video, start Japan benefit facepaint contest

tUnE-yArDs are hot on the heels of recording w h o k i l l , coming out April 19th on 4AD, and the band has released a video for single “Bizness.”  In the video, school children playfully run amok, a collage of face-painted adults rotate, reconfigure, and recombine as organic, geometric shapes, and Merrill Garbus fleshes out an envisioning of her primal wail.

In related news, the band have started a contest encouraging fans to “submit photos of themselves – or any other objects they see fit – adorned in coloured face paint. To enter, fans should upload photos via a dedicated Flickr account here. For every photo submitted, Merrill will dedicate $1 to the Japan relief effort. The photo judged to be the most creative will win a boombox decorated by tUnE-yArDs in the colours of the w h o k i l l album artwork.”  Get an idea of what they’re looking for here.

The Morning Benders Release EP In Support Of Japan Relief Efforts

If you didn’t know, Chris Chu brothers of The Morning Benders was born in Japan. And the band was going to play a concert in Japan this month. In light of the recent disaster over there, and in order to offer all the help they can give, The Morning Benders are releasing Japan Echo, an EP only available on the band’s website, whose proceeds, 100% of them, will be donated to the Japan Society’s Emergency Relief Fund. Get it HERE.

Full EP Tracklisting:
1. Cold War (Star Slinger Remix)
2. Better In Blue
3. Hand Me Downs (Wild Nothing Remix)
4. Excuses (RAC Remix)
5. Mason Jar (Twin Sister Remix)
6. Wet Cement (Aislyn Remix)
7. Little Riot
8. Promises (Star Slinger Remix)

My Morning Jacket Announce New Shows

In case you haven’t heard, My Morning Jacket is debuting a new album (Circuital) sometime this summer.

To celebrate and celebrate with fans, the band has picked a handful of shows across North America to showcase the album’s new material. If your city isn’t on the list, don’t fret. The band promises more tour dates to be revealed shortly.

Another thing to keep an eye on is the band’s “T5 Coutndown” to Circuital. This coundown releases a live track from each of their Terminal 5 shows performed in October. Head here to get the lowdown, and you can see My Morning Jacket here:

6/17 – Auditorium Theatre (Chicago, IL)

6/22 – Pantages Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)

6/24 – Fox Theater (Oakland, CA)

6/26 – Paramount Theatre (Seattle, WA)

6/28 – Edgefield (Portland, OR)

6/29 – Orpheum (Vancouver, BC)

7/11 – Kool Haus (Toronto, ON)

7/12 – Metropolis (Montreal, QC)

8/04 – Red Rocks (Morrison, CO)

 

Gold Panda Release EP Compilation

Before releasing his acclaimed debut Lucky Shiner, Gold Panda assembled a series of EP’s on Make Mine Records (UK), Avex Records (Japan) and his own Notorious Records.

Now these rare EP’s have been assembled into one package, called Companion. The album came out this week on Ghostly International Records. You can get it wherever records can be found.

What’s more, Gold Panda was recently the subject of a brief documentary by film-maker Shai Levy. In it, the artist opens up about touring and the lonely road. Speaking of touring, Gold Panda has a new North American Tour. You can catch the dates right below the video.

03.31 Philadelphia, PA @ THE ARCH
04.01 Washington, DC @ RED PALACE
04.02 Brooklyn, NY @ GLASSLANDS

Datarock Releases EP In Advance of Full Album

Datarock has suddenly released an EP, California, in anticipation of their opus, Datarock – The Musical.  All tracks on the California EP will be on the full-length album, due out later this year.  You can hear the entire EP streaming right here:  http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/spinner#/1.  Enjoy!