We here at The Tripwire logically get a lot of PR. Much of it is sort of an exercise wherein superlatives take find new hyperbolic heights. Can a band really be the second coming of Nirvana and take slight influence from the best parts of Limp Bizkit and the Arcade Fire at the same time? God, we hope not. Thankfully Dead Man’s Bones sound nothing like that. And they’ve made a festive little video for their first ever tour. If all PR took the form of 90-second long YouTube clips involving cracked out dogs popping balloons we might sleep a little better at night. See for yourself above.

It might have taken out the whole middle man on this if Ryan Gosling just held up a sign saying “I’m Ryan Gosling. I’m not and bearded and am going to perform on stage in a very vulnerable manner.” But I guess that would ruin the whole “We’re a real band thing” they legitimately have going for them. Dah well. If you didn’t quite catch those tour dates, here they are.

10.14 Cambridge, MA @ Brattle Theatre
10.15 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
10.16 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
10.17 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
10.19 Montreal, Quebec @ Le National
10.20 Toronto, Ontario @ The Opera House
10.21 Chicago, IL @ Schubas (early show)
10.21 Chicago, IL @ Schubas (late show)
10.23 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
10.24 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Venue
10.25 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
10.27 San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall
10.30 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent

The Tripwire offices are located in lower Manhattan, and we have to admit when we make the short trek over to Brooklyn the line sort of blurs in our heads between what spots we’ve seen many times before and what spots were just brought into such vivid detail in our minds from the prose of author Jonathan Lethem. Yeah, that’s right. In case the headline didn’t tip you boneheads off, this is a book post.

Lethem achieved national notoriety for novels like A Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, but as you can tell by the latter title reference, often kept his home borough near and dear to his heart. Lethem now has eight novels to his name (along with plenty of other short story collections, essays and a novella), and his ninth, Chronic City, is due for release on October 13. And oh yeah, he’s not too shabby at the music writing either. To coincide with its release, Lethem is going on a pretty substantial book tour that will include readings, signings and discussions along the way, beginning with the New Yorker Festival in late October.

10.16 New York, NY @ New Yorker Festival
10.20 Brooklyn, NY @ Book Court
10.21  New York, NY @ NcNally Jackson
10.22 Brookline, MA @ Brookline Booksmith
10.25  Portland, OR @ Powell’s Books
10.26  Seatle, WA @ University Books
10.27 Los Angeles, CA @ LA Public Library
10.28  San Francisco, CA @ San Francisco City Arts & Lectures (In Conversation with Paul Lancour)
10.29  Berkely, CA @ Moe’s Books
10.30 Denver, CO @ Tattered Cover
10.31 Austin, TX @ Texas Book Festival
11.02 Washington D.C. (Location T.B.D. for Pen/Faulkner Reading)
11.05 Brooklyn, NY @ Greenlight Books
11.06 Ann Arbor, MI @ Borders
11.08 Chicago, IL @ Chicago Humanities Festival
11.10 St. Louis, MO @ Left Hand Books
11.12 Philadelphia, PA @ Philadelphia Free Library
11.13  New York, NY @ CUE Foundation Gallery
11.15  Miami, FL @ Miami Book Fair
11.17 Brooklyn, NY @ Spoonbill & Sugartown
11.21  Manchester, VT @ Northshire Books
12.04  Brooklyn, NY @ Book Court (with special guests)

(Via: JonathanLethem.com)

So the whole Glasvegas dude going missing thing seemed a little bit overblown to us, sort of like that weekend in college our Mom thought we’d been kidnapped but we just road tripped to D.C. to see the Dismemberment Plan reunion and our phone died (our bad!). But if Allan goes missing again at least this new video for “It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” can serve as his viral milk carton, as he is basically the only person in it. Check it out below after their tour dates supporting Kings Of Leon.

9.16 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
9.17 Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
9.19 Hamilton, ON @ Copps Coliseum
9.20 London, ON @John Labatt
9.22 Auburn Hills, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
9.23 Columbus, OH @Schottenstein Center
9.25  Noblesville, IN @ Verizon Center
9.26 Milwaukee, WI @ Bradley Center

(Via: Spinner)

The fourth most famous fuck-related band (give or take one or two spots either way, depending on your musical preference) is growing up right before our very eyes. Portland-based indie-dance outfit Starfucker released a statement saying, among other things, that they were just sort of (star)fucking around when they came up with the name, that it doesn’t really fit anymore and yes, it may be a bit limiting for the birthday party/Bar Mitzvah crowd.

Here’s their full statement (Via their MySpace):

“The truth is we never thought we’d make it this far with Starfucker. It started as just a fun little house-show project, but now that we have the opportunity to do this full-time, travel and continue making music, we don’t feel like the name makes sense anymore.”

So why does this matter to you (other than rearranged your f-word band power rankings later tonight)? Because you can help make these dudes into the artists formerly known as Starfucker. They’re taking suggestions on the ole’ MySpace and the winner gets a free concert at their house. So if you’ve been avoiding this band because of their name, you have no excuse now. They’re touring now too. If you pick the right date you could be one of the first fans to ever witness the debut of ___________. Here are the dates.

9.12  Morrison, CO @ Monolith Festival
9.14  Sioux Falls, SD @ Nuttys
9.16  Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
9.17  Urbana, IL @ Pygmalion Festival
9.18  Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
9.19  Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk
9.21  Boston, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
9.22  Brooklyn, NY @ Bruar Falls
9.23 New York, NY @ Santo’s Party House
9.25  Haverford, PA @ Lunt Basement, Bryn Mawr College
9.26 Durham, NC @ Duke Coffee House
9.28 Nashville, TN @ The End
9.30 Denton, TX @ Hailey’s

10.1 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10.4  Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
10.5  San Diego, CA @ The Loft
10.6  Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
10.7  San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
10.9  Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
10.10  Vancouver, B.C. @ Biltmore Cabaret

(Via: Paste view Starfucker’s MySpace)

TV On The Radio is a band of many positive descriptions, but direct is rarely one of them. This is what makes the second track from Malone’s Rain Machine project all the more interesting, “Smiling Black Faces” is a chilling tale of genocide and horror and police brutality that seems to leave much less room for interpretation than most of the layered ditties Malone has been touring on for some years now.

Malone also just announced a Rain Machine tour, which will begin in Brooklyn’s Bell House on September 21, one day before his album is scheduled to come out for the masses. Dates are as follows.

09.21.09 Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House
09.25.09  Echo Park, CA @The Echo
09.26.09  Los Angeles, CA @ The Getty Center
09.28.09  San Francisco, CA @The Independent
09.30.09  Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
10.01.09  Seattle, WA @ Neumos
10.02.09  Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore
10.09.09  Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree
10.10.09  New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
10.12.09  Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
10.13.09  Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10.15.09  Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
10.16.09  Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
10.17.09  Chicago, IL @ Double Door
10.18.09  Detroit, MI @ Small’s
10.19.09  Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
10.20.09  Montreal, QB @ Il Motore
10.22.09  Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstair
10.23.09  Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s

(Via: Urb & Steoeogum)