Beginning next month in Boston, Crocodiles will link up with the Horrors for a mini tour that isn’t going anywhere near the west coast for some reason (bad for pale skin). If you have any interest in meeting dudes that like to wear boots and leather jackets you will be able to find plenty there. You’ll also be going to a show featuring bands that are named after things you don’t ever want to see in real life. It’ll be jam city though! Scroll down for tour dates.

Sep 15 PARADISE ROCK CLUB – Boston, Massachusetts
Sep 16 JOHNNY BRENDA’S – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sep 17 BOWERY BALLROOM – New York, New York
Sep 18 SONAR – Baltimore, Maryland
Sep 19 BLACK CAT – Washington DC
Sep 21 THE EARL – Atlanta, Georgia
Sep 22 ONE EYED JACK’S – New Orleans, Louisiana
Sep 24 WALTER’S ON WASHINGTON – Houston, Texas
Sep 25 GRANADA THEATRE – Dallas, Texas
Sep 26 EMO’S – Austin, Texas
Sep 28 THE CLUBHOUSE – Tempe, Arizona
Oct 10 TURF CLUB – St. Paul, Minnesota
Oct 11 DOUBLE DOOR – Chicago, Illinois
Oct 12 MAGIC STICK – Detroit, Michigan
Oct 16 MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG – Brooklyn, New York

Bishop Allen, (sort of) fresh from their cameo in ultra-twee film Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist are back in the film game. The band’s Justin Rice will be starring in Harmony and Me, playing “a depressed lyricist clinging to the memory of an ex-girlfriend.” Oookay…not the most original idea, but we’ll hold judgment until we can actually check the entire movie out. Oh yeah, the band has a new video for “Shanghaied” starring a bunny and is also touring Europe in July, if you live there or are around there check them out.

TOUR DATES:
07/16/09 Guimaraes, Portugal – Manta Festival
07/18/09 Dornstadt, Germany – Obstwiesenfestival
07/19/09 Nijmegen, Netherlands – Volkhofaffaire
07/20/09 Barcelona, Spain – Be Cool
07/21/09 Vic, Spain – Jazz Cava
07/22/09 Sevilla, Spain – Nocturama
07/23/09 Son Servera, Spain – S’Esglesia Nova
07/24/09 Sonneger See, Austria – Acoustic Lakeside

The Latin Alternative Music conference is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary across New York July 7-11, featuring performances and panels from Juana Molina, electro-cumbia DJ EL G, Los Amigos Invisibles and Latin rock icons Los Fabulosos Cadillacs among others. More information on the event, including a full lineup and schedule is available here. We’ve also got a handful of tickets to give away, hit us at contests@thetripwire.com with your full name and LAMC as the subject for your chance to win.

Coming soon to a television near you, nonstop positivity warrior Andrew W.K. hanging out with a bunch of kids and destroying stuff. But wait! It’s actually not that delinquent because post-destruction the kids will compete to make super gnarly, hopefully indestructible machines out of the wreckage and it will be called Destroy Build Destroy. For whatever reason, it’s an oft-forgotten fact that W.K. actually held down his own show on MTV2 in 2004 called Your Friend, Andrew W.K., in which he hung out with fans in need and gave them positive re-enforcement. Apparently nobody liked to see people being helped and the show only lasted one season. Hopefully the concept of children demolishing and rebuilding stuff is a more exciting viewing prospect.

The B-52s are scheduled to play Highline Ballroom’s second annual series of summer shows at Governors Island August 18th. To celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch your parents sing along to “Rock Lobster” and dance in funny ways that will transcend the entire concept of embarrassment, The Highline is also awarding 52 girls who attend the show in the most creative beach or nautical attire free tickets to a future show. CAN’T DUDES GET A BREAK? Whatever. Check this out if you want to bond with your family by getting wholesomely weird on an island in New York.

You can accuse Bjork of a lot of things: being weird, acting in the most depressing movie ever, wearing that one dress that was basically an entire swan that people still talk about even though it happened forever ago and also that time she got all aggro with the paparazzi. But she’s always been aware of who her audience is. Following that train of thought, Bjork is streaming Voltaic on NPR, the most ideal website for a musician whose fans are also incredible nerds. It’s a collection of alternate versions “recorded live to tape” of the music from a bunch of her previous albums, so yeah, you’ve probably heard most of them before, but apparently not like this. In addition to the album, screenings for concert film Voltaic: The Volta Tour are currently being held all over the United States. Dates are down below.

June 17 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
June 19, 20 – Anchorage, AK @ Bear Tooth Theater
June 20 – Philadelphia, PA @ 941 Theater
June 23 – New York, NY @ School of Visual Arts Theater
June 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Montalban Theater
June 23 – Madison, WI @ The Orpheum Stage Door
June 23-28 – Oxford, MS @ The Amp
June 23-28 – Lake Geneva, WI @ Geneva Theater
June 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Trylon Microcinema
June 26, 27 – Seattle, WA @ Northwest Film Forum
June 26, 27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Roxie
June 26, 27 – Bellingham, WA @ Pickford Film Center
June 26, 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Zeitgeist Arts Center
July 20 – Austin, TX @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

Pitchfork reports Crowded House’s Neil Finn, Johnny Marr, Ed O’Brien (Radiohead drummer), Phil Selway, Jeff Tweedy, KT Tunstall, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Pat Sansone and others have formed this supergroup-esque collaborative follow-up to 2001’s 7 Worlds Collide. Unfortunately, Monsters of Folk just announced their record and Dead Weather remains fairly awesome. Too many supergroups in existence at one time will swallow all other non-super bands into a supergroup black hole, but we can look the other way just this once because this one’s a benefit for Oxfam International and not just a publicity stunt or excuse to tour with your bros. It’s also less a supergroup and more Judgement Night-style pairings of famous artists with other famous artists for individual tracks, only instead of rappers pairing up with rockers and our music collections suddenly including a Mudhoney/Sir Mix-A-Lot song, Neil Finn teams up with KT Tunstall and a ton of little kids around the world get to eat.

It’s no secret that in today’s musical climate, touring is where the money is at. This may explain why The Walkmen, whose most recent record, You & Me, came out late last summer, have decided to tour this summer with Cass McCombs, whose most recent record, Catacombs, comes out this summer, and play the SummerStage in Central Park with Dinosaur Jr, whose most recent album, Farm, comes out tomorrow, two days after the official start of this summer, in August, which is right smack dab in the middle of this summer. To be honest, You & Me didn’t really hit us until early fall, so maybe this actually makes sense since that album was clearly made for more summery type circumstances. Full tour dates after the jump.

7/16 – Benicassim Festival – Barcelona, Spain
7/18 – Super Bock Super Rock – Lisbon, Portugal
7/19 – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL
7/21 – Turner Hall – Milwaukee, WI *
7/22 – Mad Hatter – Cincinnati, OH *
7/23 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH *
7/24 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON *
7/25 – Mr. Smalls – Pittsburgh, PA *
8/14 – Guggenheim ‘It Came From Brooklyn’ – New York, NY
8/16 – Central Park SummerStage – New York, NY
* with Cass McCombs

Brooklyn’s Woods have joined up with Kurt Vile and Swedish psych stars Dungen for a tour we’re just going to call A Bunch of Great Bands on One Stage Tour 2009. In addition to the aforementioned trio of excellence, select dates will feature Grooms, Wavves, Real Estate and Popo. Other potential tour highlights include a stop in Big Sur (peyote optional) and a tour-closing date in Seattle, which seems pretty fitting considering all these guys clearly owe a debt to ’90s Northwest rock.

07-04 Brooklyn, NY – 979 Broadway Backyard (Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival)
07-15 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom ^
07-16 Brooklyn, NY – Cameo Gallery (Mexican Summer/Insound Party)
07-24 New York, NY – Whitney Museum *
08-06 Boston, MA – Great Scott
08-07 Montreal, Quebec – Divan Orange
08-08 Toronto, Ontario – Sneaky Dee’s
08-10 Iowa City, IA – Picador %
08-12 Columbus, OH – TBD %
08-13 Buffalo, NY – Big Orbit’s Soundlab %
08-14 Brooklyn, NY – Bell House %
08-15 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s %
08-17 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar %
08-18 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle %
08-19 Atlanta, GA – The Earl %
08-21 Austin, TX – Mohawk %
08-22 Dallas, TX – The Loft %
08-24 Tempe, AZ – Rhythm Room %
08-26 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour %#
08-29 Big Sur, CA – Folk Yeah/Kemado Records/Mexican Summer Festival %#
08-30 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill %#
09-01 Portland, OR – TBD %#
09-02 Vancouver, British Columbia – Richard’s on Richards %#
09-03 Seattle, WA – Neumo’s %#

^ with Wavves, Real Estate, POPO
* with Grooms
% with Dungen
# with Kurt Vile

In their various iterations, Islands/The Unicorns/Th’ Corn Gangg seem to have broken up and lost and/or gained members more than they’ve released actual albums. September 22nd marks the release of Islands’ third album Vapours on Anti- as well as signs of stability in the return of original Islands member Jamie Thompson. If the first Islands album was marked by erratic pop sensibilities, jumping from Beach Boys-style harmonizing to full-on orchestral rock and even to (dubious) rap, and the second was a collection of proggy, sprawling, somewhat overly ambitious epics, than what will Vapours hold? Apparently it’ll hold “moody synthesizers and drum-machine-heavy beats, while remaining firmly rooted in the classic pop sensibilities and multitude of melodic hooks that Islands is known for.” See also: A combination of their first two albums.

Starting June 27th, Indian Jewelry and Psychic Ills are teaming up for a brief jaunt through a bunch of towns in the United States. Neither band has properly geared up to release follow up records to Free Gold and Mirror Eye respectively, so this tour can be looked at as a bunch of bros linking up and driving from venue to venue spreading the gospel of sweaty electronic grind and hypnotic psychedelia just because they feel like it. Tour dates below.

June 27 Houston TX at the Mink Backroom w Wicked Poseur, Flowers to Hide
July 3 Austin TX Mohawk w Daughters of the Sun, MoTel Aviv, Caddywhompus, Cartright, Shapes Have Fangs, The Dead Space
July 6 Tucson AZ at Hang Art Space w Flagrante Delicto
July 9 Long Beach CA Prospector w Psychic Ills, Grand Elegance
July 10 Oakland CA 21 Grand w Psychic Ills, Clipd Beaks
July 11 San Francisco CA Hemlock Tavern w Psychic Ills, Late Young
July 12 Portland OR Holocene w Psychic Ills, Plants
July 13 Seattle WA Funhouse w Psychic Ills, Backward Masks
July 14 Vancouver WA at Little Mountain Studios w Psychic Ills, Solars
July 15 Springfield OR at Ditch Projects w Psychic Ills
July 17 Santa Cruz CA the Crepe Place w Psychic Ills
July 18 Irvine CA @ UC IRVINE w Psychic Ills, Tan Dollar
July 19 Los Angeles CA at Part Time Punks (at the Echo) w Psychic Ills

After a hiatus of somewhere close to a million years (five years), Norway’s favorite Belle & Sebastian fans, Kings of Convenience are set to release their third studio album this September. No word on what it’ll sound like yet, but if we had to guess, we would guess that it sounds something like sitting on the floor in your socks, putting pictures in frames and making your own paper on a rainy afternoon. Here’s hoping they’ll follow it up with another album of ridiculously prescient electronic remixes, like this Four Tet remix of “Weight of My Words” from 2001’s Versus.

Obscure psych rocker turned modern cult legend Rodriguez is embarking on a west coast tour, backed by San Francisco’s Fresh & Onlys. He’ll also be teaming up with stoney jammers Brightblack Morning Light, Pink Mountaintops, Fool’s Gold (not the label), and Arthur & Yu for what we can only imagine will be multiple evenings of swirling guitar and lots of dudes totally figuring the meaning of life out. Light in the Attic is offering a chance to win free tickets to the Portland show on June 24th, just send an email to noah@lightintheattic.net with your favorite set of Rodriguez lyrics and “a brief explanation of why you love these particular words.” Dig deep!

Mon, Jun 22 6pm In-Store Signing @ Zulu Records
1972 West 4th Ave Vancouver BC
Mon, Jun 22 Richard’s On Richards Cabaret
Vancouver BC
Tue, Jun 23 The Triple Door Seattle WA
Wed, Jun 24 6pm In-Store Signing @ Jackpot Records
203 SW 9th Ave. Portland OR
Wed, Jun 24 Doug Fir Lounge Portland OR
Fri, Jun 26 Slim’s San Francisco CA
Sat, Jun 27 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles CA

It’s no secret that Built to Spill are a jam band, so it’s nice to see them fully embrace the culture by allowing their fans to determine the setlist for their show at the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle on July 24th. Trust us when we say that this is a way better method of getting what you want than just yelling song names at the band while they’re playing. Go here to vote. (via The Stranger Music Blog)

According to Dave Mustaine, ENDGAME, the 12th studio album from Megadeth is a commentary on “the state of the world we live in.” With song titles like “Headcrusher,” “How the Story Ends” and “This Day We Fight,” Mustaine miiiight be living in a different world than the one we’re familiar with, but hey, whatever works.

Mustaine had this to say:

“Thematically, I’ve never been known to be a silent bystander in a world that needs our participation. As more is revealed about our former President’s legacy, a little-known yet staggeringly frightening document which was signed into law, named ‘ENDGAME,’ has been uncovered. The album ENDGAME is the most energetic music offering I have penned in over a decade and is far more believable than knowing someone signed ‘ENDGAME’ -the document- into law. The album is also the perfect ‘ass- kicking’ music to listen to once you are done reading the aforementioned document!”

No word on whether the album’s liner notes will feature a reprint of the actual Endgame document for context, but we’re pretty sure they’ll contain at least one lushly painted skeleton.

To celebrate the release of his new album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, Elvis Costello will perform twice in one day in one state for free. Monday, June 22nd, you can catch him at both the San Francisco and Hollywood Amoeba Music locations. He performs at the SF location at noon, nice and early, giving everyone enough time to hop on a plane or drive at a nearly legal speed down the coast to catch him at the Hollywood location at 8pm. For those not on the West Coast, the entire LA leg of the one day tour will be streamed live on the Amoeba website.

Austin, Texas based three-piece Harlem recently signed a “multi-record, worldwide deal” with Matador Records. Hearing “multi-record” is not something that is said by record companies very often anymore and might make it sound like you’ll be able to get drunk to new Harlem albums every year until either you or they die. That may not be the case, but for now, you can certainly the 2008-released Free Drugs and enjoy the idea of whatever they decide to call their sophomore album when it comes out sometime in 2010.

In addition to the already announced and already pretty good Siren Festival lineup (including Built to Spill, Spank Rock, The Raveonettes, Frightened Rabbit, Grand Duchy, Monotonix, Future of the Left, Japandroids, Micachu & The Shapes and Bearhands), Justine D, the Deadheat DJs, guitar grinders A Place To Bury Strangers, and prolific psych-garage weirdos Thee Oh Sees have been added to the lineup. Expect fuzzy vocals, layers of guitar effects and a few Coney Island regulars who will totally let you touch the Boa Constrictor ominously slithering around their shoulders.