Although we announced the majority of this tour a couple of months back, it seems timely to take note that Bon Iver is playing his first UK tour next week. With the inaugural gig this Saturday (10th May) at All Tomorrows Parties festival, he is then playing a smattering of shows across the country, and several dates in London. Unfortunately the original date in Manchester, supporting Iron & Wine has had to be cancelled due to other commitments. Bon Iver will be returning to the UK in early June, with a duo of dates in Dublin and London. The London show will be in the wonderful settings of St Giles Church. Full details of all shows are below. 10th May - ATP Festival - Camber Sands
12th May - ABC - Glasgow (Supporting Iron and Wine)
14th May - Leadmill - Sheffield (Supporting Iron and Wine)
15th May - Great Escape Festival - Brighton
16th May - The Forum - London (Supporting Iron and Wine)
17th May - Great Escape Festival - Brighton
19th May - Chess Club @ The Social - London
20th May - The Scala - London (Supporting Jens Lekman)
2nd June - Crawdaddy - Dublin
4th June - St Giles Church - London

We're delighted to confirm what the eagle eyed among you have already spotted, Stereolab's forthcoming new album, Chemical Chords, is indeed being released by Duophonic UHF Disks / 4AD on August 18th (August 19th for those in the US). Chemical Chords is their first album proper since 2004's Margerine Eclipse (if you discount the EP collection of 2006, Fab Four Suture) and it features thirteen songs by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane and one solo Gane composition, as well as string and brass arrangements from Sean O'Hagan. The picture you see to the right is the sleeve for the new album and the tracklisting reads like this... 1. Neon Beanbag
2. Three Women
3. One Finger Symphony
4. Chemical Chords
5. The Ecstatic Static
6. Valley Hi!
7. Silver Sands
8. Pop Molecule (Molecular Pop 1)
9. Self Portrait with "Electric Brain"
10. Nous Vous Demandons Pardon
11. Cellulose Sunshine
12. Fractal Dream Of A Thing
13. Daisy Click Clack
14. Vortical Phonotheque
More news to follow - including touring plans in both the US and Europe - as we get it.

As already announced, Atlas Sound’s‘Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel’ is finally getting a release outside North America through us. For the uninitiated, Atlas Sound is the solo project of Deerhunter frontman / provocateur Bradford Cox and since the record’s original release in the States (out on Kranky) back in February, has been garnering much praise like the choice quotes below... "Bradford Cox's solo debut shows one genius in his bedroom can produce a sound as big and weird as the galaxy. Drenched in colour, it's shoe gaze pop of the highest order.” Dazed & Confused “As with each of Cox's projects, Let the Blind… works best as a swirling, disorienting whole, organizing traditionally abstract styles like graphic-design elements within his unifying vision until they communicate like good pop.” Pitchfork (8.6) Our version is being released on May 5th and differs from the US release by having a second disc of bonus material added and different artwork courtesy of our long time collaborators, v23. As already premiered on Pitchfork earlier today, here is Another Bedroom (the first track from the second disc) for you to enjoy - Click here - anotherbedroom.mp3 Go here for the full track listing. ATLAS SOUND ON TOUR MAY 2008 12 May Amsterdam, Paradiso, Netherlands 13 May Helsinki, Kuudes Linja, Finland 15 May London, Stag and Dagger Festival, UK 16 May Manchester, Salford Mill, UK 17 / 18 May Minehead, All Tomorrow Parties, UK 19 May Dublin, Tripod, Ireland * 20 May Glasgow, Oran Mor, UK * 21 May Leeds, Brudenell Room, UK * 22 May London, Koko, UK * 23 May Strasbourg, Laiterie, France * 24 May Paris, Alhambra Theatre, France * 25 May Lille, Grand Mix, France * 26 May Bordeaux, Krakatoa, France * 27 May Porto, Teatro Batalha, Portugal * 28 May Lisbon, Lux Fragil, Portugal * 29 May Malaga, AV Cevantes, Spain * 31 May Barcelona, Primavera Spring Festival, Spain * Supporting Animal Collective

Today sees the release of the first Breeders album since 2002's Title TK. By turns goofy, groovy, melancholy, strung-out, catchy, atmospheric and - at times - impossibly lovely, Mountain Battles underlines that Kim Deal is a songwriter and a musician of rare intuition. Her songs move from offhand charm to emotional truth with casual grace, balancing scuffed-up noise against fraught silence; timeless structures against strange new shapes. And throughout, of course, there's Kim's unique voice - languid, urgent, bruised and beautiful. In short, Mountain Battles captures all the bittersweet electricity of classic Breeders records like Pod and Last Splash, and still manages to break new ground. Mountain Battles was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, Erika Larson at Stagg Street, Manny Nieto at Manny's Studio, at Refraze in Dayton and by Ben Mumphrey in the Basement. The band were : Kelley Deal, Kim Deal and Title TK veterans Jose Medeles and Mando Lopez. “(Kim) Deal is probably one of the foremost pop technicians of her generation” – Observer Music Monthly 4/5 "The Breeders remain instantly recognizable. 'Mountain Battles' is characteristically elegant, undercooked and intimate. This melancholic, warm-hearted collection is a big hug of a record" - The Times" 4/5 "Deal's bass is one of the most comforting sounds in rock, her tender, bruised-violet voice being another, and hearing her again is like meeting a good friend after a long hiatus" - The Guardian 4/5 This week, The Breeders return to the UK for their first dates since the summer of 2002 : Tues 8th April - Glasgow ABC Wed 9th April - Leeds Metropolitan Uni Thurs 10th April - Nottingham Trent Uni Sat 12th April - Sheffield Leadmill Sun 13th April - Birmingham Academy 2 Mon 14th April - Manchester Academy 2 Wed 16th April - London Koko Thurs 17th April - London Koko

It is with much regret that we announce the cancellation of Beirut's European tour this summer. This affects all festival dates as well as the previously rescheduled German dates. The following message from Zach echoes the sentiment shared by all involved and that we are very sorry for the disappointment caused to all fans and gig-goers. "Hello, It's with great regret that I have to tell all of you that Beirut is canceling their summer European shows. My reasons for doing this are many, some of which I don't care to discuss, but I still feel I need to provide something of an explanation. The past two years have been a mind-blowing experience. From the first indications that people were putting songs from Gulag up on their blogs to our incredible tour of Australia and New Zealand that we just completed, everything that has happened has been beyond anything I'd ever hoped could happen with the music I wrote and recorded in my bedroom. Once things started happening, I decided I wanted to do everything as big as possible. So, I set about putting together a large band, and giving that band a huge sound, and making the most spectacular records we possibly could. I know this can sound like an artist shithead kind of comment, but going through all that really does have its low points along with the highs. The responsibilities of gathering people around your vision, working with great people like those who work directly for the band and those at the label, wanting to ensure that every show is as good as humanly possible so that every single person in the audience sees that we put in a real effort, all of that leads to a lot of issues in terms of doing right by people who have done you right. It's come time to change some things, reinvent some others, and come back at some point with a fresh perspective and batch of songs. Please accept my apologies. I promise we'll be back, in some form. Zach"