Kevin Keenan reports:
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have revealed to Pitchfork that they have just completed a new EP, which is set to be released sometime in late March or early April via Interscope Records. Entitled The Secret of Elena's Tomb, the disc will contain not leftovers from the Source Tags & Codes sessions (those were already released on the band's US and UK editions of their Relative Ways EP), but brand new studio material that the Austin, TX natives have been working on over the past couple of months.

The highly anticipated four-song EP will, according to Interscope, be of the enhanced variety and include "secret bonus features." Cock-teasingly, our contact was reluctant to divulge what, exactly, those features might be, but we have confirmed that the Pitchfork-donated Quicktime video of editor Ryan Schreiber ejaculating for 50 straight minutes to ST&C; was coldly rejected by the label. Send an email if you'd like to help him post bail. Tracklist:

01 Mach Schau
02 All Saints Day
03 Crowning of a Heart
04 Counting Off the Days

Late-breaking news! Trail of Dead have already planned six tourdates to support the release of the EP, with more to be scheduled over the course of the next month or so. We'll drop those when it's time, but this is what we've got for now:

04-18 Philadephia, PA - First Unitarian
04-19 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
04-22 Toronto, ON - Opera House
04-23 Lansing, MI - University of Michigan
04-24 Chicago, IL - Metro
04-26 Columbia, MO - Peace Park Springfest

.: Pitchfork Review: Trail of Dead: Source Tags and Codes
.: Pitchfork Interview: Trail of Dead
.: Pitchfork Feature: Top 50 Best Records of 2002
.: Trail of Dead: http://www.trailofdead.com/
.: Interscope Records: http://www.interscope.com/

Chris Leslie-Hynan reports:
Cute Death Alert! Bellingham, Washington's Death Cab for Cutie have announced a tour in support of the band's recent demo-reissue/rarities release, You Can Play These Songs with Chords. The eleven dates stretch across the west over February and March. Why go? Well, go to see if the Cab's got enough in the trunk to take over for the departing Dismemberment Plan as the nicest guys in indie pop. Go for the jokes as Chris Walla plays Walla Walla, Washington. Go because you're in freaking Omaha and there's nothing to do there anyway but... well, alright, Omaha's pretty hot right now. Umm... did we pick on Walla Walla yet?

In other DC4QT news, the band will, in fact, not be hitting the road with an 808 as a replacement for departed drummer Michael Schorr. An announcement came recently that the band have hired themselves a new permanent member: the decidedly human ex-Neo drummer Jason McGerr. McGerr has also taught classes for the awesomely named Seattle Drum School of Music-- with any luck, he'll be making the most of his teaching authority to dismiss showgoers to the restroom while on the road (but not before humilatingly querying whether or not it's an emergency). Dates:

02-22 Walla Walla, WA - Whitman College
02-28 Seattle, WA - Showbox (all-ages) *
03-01 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
03-07 San Francisco, CA - Slim's #
03-09 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour #
03-10 Las Vegas, NV - Huntridge Theater (w/John Vanderslice, Hella) #
03-13 Austin, TX - SXSW, Barsuk Records Showcase
03-16 Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater #
03-17 Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom #
03-18 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground with #
03-19 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater #

* - with The Thermals
# - with The Velvet Teen, The Thermals

.: Pitchfork Review: Death Cab for Cutie: You Can Play These Songs with Chords
.: Pitchfork News: Drummer Michael Schorr Leaves Death Cab for Cutie
.: Death Cab for Cutie: http://www.barsuk.com/dcfc

Ryan Goldman reports:
Hip-hop's bad-assest live band The Roots are presently making their way all across the United States and Canada, with that PR machine is grinding steadily away behind them. Not only do they have their very own Grammy behind them, but their "Break You Off" video, featuring Musiq, is in heavy rotation on MTV, and even The Columbia Broadcasting System is down, having booked the Philly cats as the musical guests on Late Night with Dave Letterman on Tuesday (where they played their provocatively titled new single, "The Seed 2.0", alongside neo-soul crooner/caps-lock womanizer Cody ChesnuTT). Shit, that gossip-n-cheeze-smattered rag People Weekly just proclaimed the band's newly released Phrenology their "Album of the Week"! There are 36 dates left to go, not including their TBA tour of Europe, and they go a li'l somp like this:

02-06 Knoxville, TN - Tenessee Theatre
02-07 Atlanta, GA - Americasmart (w/Ja Rule, Jurassic 5, Eve, Biz Markie, Doug Fresh)
02-08 Cincinatti, OH - Bogart's
02-09 Cleveland, OH - Odeon
02-11 Indianapolis, IN - Vogue Theatre
02-12 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theatre
02-13 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
02-14 St. Louis, MS - The Pageant
02-15 Lawrence, KS - Abe and Jake's Landing
02-16 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
02-17 Park City, UT - Harry O's
02-19 Seattle, WA - Showbox
02-20 Vancouver, BC - The Commodore
02-21 Portland, OR - Roseland
02-22 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre
02-23 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
02-24 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
02-26 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
02-27 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
02-28 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
03-01 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
03-02 San Diego, CA - Belly Up*
03-03 Phoenix, AZ - Club Rio*
03-05 El Paso, TX - Club Vallare*
03-06 Albequerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre*
03-07 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room*
03-08 Austin, TX - Stubb's Bar-B-Que*
03-09 Houston, TX - Numbers*
03-10 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues*
03-12 Atlanta, GA - Roxy Theatre*
03-14 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom*
03-15 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory*
03-21 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
03-28 Manchester, England -Manchester University
04-01 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belguique
04-26 Burlington, VT - University of Vermont

* - with Cody ChesnuTT

.: Pitchfork Review: The Roots: Phrenology
.: The Roots: http://www.theroots.com
.: Cody ChesnuTT: http://www.codychesnutt.com

Steve Haag reports:
This may be startling geographic news to a lot of you out there, but there's a part of this country that doesn't touch either the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, referred to by many Americans as "the flyover states." It is, in fact, known as the Midwest. And apparently, there are even bands from this Midwest. To wit, Rilo Kiley (we know they're from L.A., but go with us on this one), The Good Life (now we're talkin') and Mayday (dirt farm) all released very fine albums in 2002 on Conor Oberst's Omaha-based Saddle Creek label.

And now, finally, these krazy kidz are ready to venture from the kozy kombines of Middle America to unleash their delicate pop upon non-Midwesterners. Will this tour make them forget about the simple pleasures of Nebraska life? Or, in the words of The Dude, "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they seen Karl Hungus?" Find out on the next episode of Shut the Fuck Up and Give Us Those Dates, Already:

02-10 Denver, CO - Bluebird (sans Rilo Kiley)
02-11 Salt Lake City, UT - TBA (sans Rilo Kiley)
02-13 Seattle, WA - Vera Project
02-14 Portland, OR - Meow Meow
02-15 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
02-16 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
02-17 Silver Lake, CA - Echo
02-18 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
02-19 El Paso, TX -TBA
02-21 Denton, TX -Rubber Gloves
02-22 Austin, TX -Emo's
02-23 Houston, TX - Mary Janes
02-24 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
02-25 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds
02-26 Orlando, FL - The Social
02-27 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge
02-28 Carrboro, NC - Go Studios - Room Four
03-01 Washington, DC - Black Cat
03-02 New York, NY - Knitting Factory
03-03 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bears
03-04 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
03-06 Columbus, OH - Little Brothers
03-07 Chicago, IL - Schuba's
03-08 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
03-09 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground

.: Pitchfork Review: Rilo Kiley: The Execution of All Things
.: Pitchfork Review: Mayday: Old Blood
.: Saddle Creek: http://www.saddle-creek.com