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In support of their new album "The Richest Man in Babylon", the Washington, DC based THIEVERY CORPORATION will be doing a small US tour that will be culminating with a performance at Coachella on April 27. These live dates will be featuring the talents of Thievery Corporation maestro's Rob Garza and Eric Hilton and include two percussionists, bass, guitar and sitar players. The stage should be full as they are also planning to include a horn section, vocalists Emilana Torrini, Pam Bricker and Lulu as well as the MC's Notch and Sleepy Wonder.

The Thievery boys are infamous for producing and remixing material from the likes of Stereolab, Pizzicato Five, David Byrne and Bebel Gilberto. While running their own label (Eighteenth Street Lounge Music [ESL]), they've also worked extensively with Verve Records, including remixing Astrud Gilberto's "Who Needs Forever?" on the acclaimed 'Verve Remixed' disc released in 2002.

'There There', the new single by RADIOHEAD is said to be hitting the UK stores on May 26. This new single will be hot on the heels of a few European dates for the 'Head. Details on the new album are still sketchy. As of now the sixth full length has a release date of June 9, but no track listing or even title has been leaked.

It's been five years since the last time you or I saw a LOLLAPALOOZA tour. Kicking off on July 3 in Grand Rapids, Michigan the tour will criss cross the US during July and August highlighting performances by the likes of Jane's Addition, The Donnas, Queens of the Stone Age, Audioslave, Jurassic 5, and Incubus. "We will have more bands, this is the initial lineup" stated Farrell during a February press conference. There will be more announcements soon.

Alright, so PRIMAL SCREAM's last album did technically come out this winter in America... so this uber-delayed and uber-short US tour should come as no surprise. The Scream have confired 3 shows in NYC, one in San Fran and an appearance at Coachella. Feel free to scream foul at any time if you're not on either coast. FOUL! Despite the hit or miss attitude most people have about 'Evil Heat' no one can really deny that they're a fantastic live band, so... the 5 days they're willing to give us *lucky* Americans can be found on our tour page.

There's a new album on the way from the world of pixiedust and hot springs. According to BJORK's website the new material is currently being referred to as "The Late Album" and you can hear a snippet of Bjork in the studio on the website. There's no release date set yet, but the goddess of ice will be tripping around Europe this summer on a rather extensive festival tour and should be coming stateside possibly as early as August. We'll let you know when we have confirmed dates on that.

Many of you on the list heard my yelps of joy last week when I found out I had been picked to be in a Bluetones video. They're probably my favourite band - I've been a member of the Blue Army for five years, seen them live eleven times (nine of those in one year), met the band so many times I have nothing left that *isn't* signed, and even been to a few fanclub-only and secret gigs.

The Charlatans (UK) have announced via their website that the world can expect a new single from them this summer. While it appears they've only laid down 4 tracks so far, this is an even better sign that the band is not going to let Tim's forthcoming solo career get in the way of future Charlatan's releases. The four songs in progress have the working titles of: "Try Again Today", "Wave The World Goodbye", "Feel The Pressure" and "See How Clear It is". Oh, and if you'd like some T, Timmy will be serving it in the Park on Sunday, July 13. ;-)

Well, both of these tours happened to start in Boston this week.

Supergrass were better then when I saw them on tour during the X-ray album. They played lots of songs from "I Should Coco" and most of the new tracks sounded great.  I think the drums rocked a bit TOO HARD. Supergrass don't need this heavy metal arena rock stomp behind them! Nevertheless (furtherthemore), it was an impressive sound. The Coral opened up and even if it's hard to describe their music without saying "sea shanty", they played a surprisingly excellent set with some new songs, culminating in a incredible 10 minute jam on "Goodbye" that I'm kicking myself for not recording.

The next night Idlewild took the stage and played an incredible set - the best I've seen from them yet. The setlist was near perfect (not including "Actually, It's Darkness" is criminal!) and never in a million years would I think they would open up with "You Just Have to Be Who You Are" as a segue into "I Am (What I Am Not)". I did tape this one, learning my lesson with the Coral the night before. I walked in while French Kicks were on, and from what I heard I wasn't too impressed. But yes, do check out Idlewild during this tour.

Setlists (in approx order)
Supergrass :
Za
Mansize Rooster
Sitting Up Straight
Strange Ones
Seen The Light
Rush Hour Soul
Mary
Brecon Beacons
Late In The Day
Never Done Nothing Like That Before
Pumping On your Stereo
Richard III
Lose it
Sun Hits The Sky
La Song
Lenny
Encore:
Moving
Neil Young Cover
Caught By The Fuzz

Idlewild :
You Just Have To Be Who You Are (!)
I Am (What I Am Not)
Little Discourage
You Held The World in Your Arms
I'm a Message
Tell Me Ten Words (sounded pretty good on electric guitar)
A Modern Way Of Letting Go
These Wooden Ideas
I'm Happy To Be Here Tonight
Anihilate Now (!!!)
American English
When I Argue I See Shapes
Rusty
Live in a Hiding Place
Film About the Future
Roseability
Encore:
Listen To What You've Got
In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction

Available this Monday on Astralwerks is the sophomore album by British duo TURIN BRAKES. The second album, titled "Ether Song" has received critical acclaim with it's UK release last week as a followup to their 2001 album "The Optimist". The new US release is set to contain a limited second disc containing live tracks, video and more. The album was recorded over the summer of 2002 in California with producer Tony Hoffer (Air, Supergrass, Beck, etc) as the band's attempt to break away from the "new acoustic" sound of the moment. As a followup to the release, the boys are doing a quick jaunt through the states in late March, early April. They are in the process of planning a more extensive tour in May, so if they aren't hitting your neck of the woods now, no worries.

THE WHITE STRIPES have a new record coming out in April. But that's probably old news to you, because if you're on the internet, chances are you already own it, as an advance copy of "Elephant" has snuck its way onto the Net and is likely being downloaded by 2,592 people as you read this. As news of the mass bootlegging hit the band, Jack White posted this to the White Stripes website:

"I'm very sad at some of you for peeking at your Christmas presents before Christmas morning. Can't you wait? We want you to have it when we want you to have it. It's unfair that some get a taste and confuse others before they have the chance to have it for themselves, but the devil is at work here and you will pay for your impatience. This world of have-it-now, millisecond attention span and gross neglect for quality is getting old."

As a result of the leak, the release date of "Elephant" has been bumped from April 15th to April 1st.