The New Music

Hotly tipped Brookyn band The Drums have finally announced both a release date for their debut album and the label behind it. On the band’s website they confirmed that the album will come out on June 7th. Meanwhile, during an interview with Interview Magazine, the band’s label was revealed as Island/Universal. If you’re familiar, however, with North American release dates, June 7th could pose a problem seeing as it’s actually a Monday and not the standard Tuesday. Oh well, hopefully they’ll strike a deal over here soon…

On that same day (and label), Robyn will also release the long awaited follow-up to her 2005 self-titled album. Titled Body Talk Part 1, this will be the first of three albums Robyn has promised to release before the end of the year. The eight-track LP will feature the recently released track “Fembot” as well as a new single called “Dancing On My Own.”

Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke, however, has struck a North American deal to release his curious new solo album. Now going under the name Kele (like Madonna, Rihanna and Shakira), the album will be called The Boxer and will drop on June 22th via Glassnote Records (Phoenix, Temper Trap). Produced by Spank Rock’s XXXChange, Kele says “The key for the sound of the record was to take things as harsh and as physical as I could make it. The reason for going there was that these are the sounds that make me the happiest in the world.”

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore will become a proper professor this coming Sunday, April 11th. The influential indie/noise rock legend will deliver a “Dissertation on White Noise” to a class of eight to 12 year-olds as part of the Partners & Spade “Avant Garde Preschool” in New York City.

And speaking of Sonic Youth, the band will be offering up some goodies for Record Store Day on April 17th. Not only will they be reissuing early LPs Confusion Is Sex and EVOL on white vinyl, but they’ll be bringing back their mysterious Starbucks “greatest hits” comp Hits Are For Squares for a double LP release. Other cool exclusives planned for the day include a split 7″ between Dum Dum Girls and Male Bonding, The Flaming Lips’ cover of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (on seafoam green vinyl no less) and a mouth-watering reissue of Rhino’s 4LP Joy Division vinyl box set.