Andrew Bird is keeping busy, or so reports the BBC 6. All whilst on a lengthy tour, Bird is finding time to score a film, create an art installation, and cover Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”

The film in question is titled Norman. It’s a high school drama starring Adam Goldberg and is the first legit full-length feature Bird has scored. The art project is harder to explain. According to Bird, “I’ve been collaborating with this sculptor in Chicago who makes these horns that I play through – they are like speakers – to create a whole installation, a room full of these horns that are shaped like poppies, making loops that come out of different horns. It’s like an arboretum of sonic sculptures. It’ll be a traveling museum show.” Whoa.

The Kermit cover is part of a Sesame Street 40th Anniversary disc, featuring artists like My Morning Jacket and (no surprise) Weezer playing your favorite Muppet tunes. It’s due out early next year. No word yet on whether or not Steve Martin will cover “Dueling Banjos” for the comp. (via P4k)

Tour Dates:

11.13 Paris @ Casino de Paris
11.15 Amsterdam @ Melkweg
11.16 Tumhout @ de Warande
11.17 Gent @ Vooruit
11.19 Katowice @ Festival Ars Cameralis
11.21 Madrid @ Joy Eslava
11.23 Valencia @ Palau de la Musica
11.24 Barcelona @ Sala Apolo
12.08 Champaign, IL @ Foellinger Auditorium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
12.10 Minneapolis, MN @ St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
12.11 Minneapolis, MN @ St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
12.15 Chicago, IL @ Fourth Presbyterian Church
12.16 Chicago, IL @ Fourth Presbyterian Church
12.17 Chicago, IL @ Fourth Presbyterian Church
12.30 Marion Bay, AS @ The Falls Music & Arts Festival
12.31 Lorne, AS @ The Falls Music & Arts Festival
01.01 Melbourne, AS @ The Hi-Fi
01.03 Sydney, AS @ Sydney Opera House
01.07 Brisbane, AS @ Sunset Sounds
01.09 Busselton, AS @ Southbound
01.26 Singapore @ Esplanade
01.27 Hong Kong @ Grappa’s Cellar
01.29 Shanghai @ Zhijiang Dream Factory
01.30 Beijing @ Mao Live House
02.03 Tokyo @ Club Quattro
02.06 Honolulu, HI @ Pipeline Café
02.20 Los Angeles, CA @ Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California

Fans of Super Furry Animals are in for more psychedelic treats. Frontman Gruff Rhys, who has been working on his upcoming feature film Serperado!, plans to release the soundtrack as his next solo album. Based on Rhys’ journey to track down Rene Griffiths, his distant uncle who moved from Wales to Patagonia, South America in 1974, the film is showing at Cardiff’s Soundtrack Film Festival on November 19th. The Agit Reader reports Rhys wants to find a distributor for his film before making any moves on releasing the soundtrack. Explained Rhys, “We’re going to show the film for the first time in November and hopefully someone will help me put out a DVD for release sometime next year… I also did a soundtrack for it, so that will be my next solo album by default.”

In late October, blog darlings The xx had to cancel a handful of shows due to exhaustion. However, the whole band wasn’t suffering from fatigue, only keyboardist-guitarist Baria Qureshi. Since the medical malady was announced, the group played a few shows without Qureshi, including last night’s stint at the Bowery Ballroom. Today comes the unfortunate news that the group is now officially a trio, with no plans for Qureshi returning to the fold. No worries for those hoping to see The xx live, as they plan on fulfilling all the their 34,314 touring obligations from here on out.

Tour Dates:

11.13 Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time at Pure
11.15 Washington, DC @ DC 9
11.16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
11.17 Atlanta, GA @ 529
11.19 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
11.20 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
11.23 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
11.24 Sacramento, CA @ Sacramento State University
11.25 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
11.26 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Commodore Ballroom
11.27 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
11.30 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
12.01 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
12.02 Toronto, Ontario @ Phoenix
12.03 Montreal, Quebec @ Le National
12.05 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
12.15 Belfast, Ireland @ The Speakeasy
12.16 Galway, Ireland @ Roisin Dubh
12.17 Cork, Ireland @ The Pavilion
12.19 Dublin, Ireland @ The Button Factory
01.15 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega
01.16 Aarhus, Denmark @ Vox Hall
01.18 Oslo, Norway @ Garage
01.19 Stockholm, Sweden @ Debaser Slussen
01.20 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pusterviksbaren
01.21 Malmo, Sweden @ Debaser
01.22 Berlin, Germany @ Astra
02.16 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
02.17 Brussels, Belgium @ AB
02.18 Paris, France @ Cigale
03.01 Brighton, England @ Komedia
03.03 London, England @ Shepherds Bush Empire
03.05 Birmingham, England @ Birmingham Academy 2
03.06 Manchester, England @ Manchester Academy 2
03.08 Leeds, England @ Cockpit
03.09 Edinburgh, Scotland @ Studio 24
03.10 Liverpool, England @ Kazimer

Breathe a sigh of relief, Steven Tyler has rejoined Aerosmith. As soon as all this Tyler-Leaves-Aerosmith news came, it’d already been reversed. The hubbub started last week when Tyler publicized plans to go solo in an interview and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry fired back with tweets announcing the band would hire a new singer. Now, neither of those seem too likely. Tyler reneged on his solo aspirations two nights ago when he joined Perry on stage to perform “Walk This Way.” Before diving in Tyler proclaimed, “I just want New York to know, I am not leaving Aerosmith!”

And as cut and dry as the above quote seems, try deciphering this gem, also from Tyler that night, “Joe Perry, you are a man of many colors. But I, motherfucker, am the rainbow!” According to Rolling Stone however, things aren’t that simple. Adding to the confusion, it was reported that Tyler took the stage by surprise; the aforementioned show was for Perry’s solo project and everyone, Perry included, was shocked to see the front man show up wanting to perform. Tyler’s sporadic behavior lead Perry to offer up this explanation: “I never won any money trying to second-guess what goes on in Steven’s mind. I guess this is just Aerosmith business as usual.” Check the YouTube clip above to see the spontaneity yourself.

Neil Young fans, rejoice! Not only were you treated to the first volume of Young’s massive Archives project this summer, but now his first four albums are being re-released on 140-gram vinyl.

Arguably some of the best works from Young’s exhaustive catalog, his self-titled debut, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest have all been remastered for the upcoming reissue, scheduled to drop on November 23rd. If you want to purchase all four, there are also limited edition box sets available on Young’s website and Because Sound Matters, collecting all four albums on 180-gram vinyl or 24-karat gold CDs.

Sounds to me like the perfect opportunity to re-purchase some great records or finally hear what your dad had been fussing about on all those long car rides.