Milwaukee's Verge Music Festival (formerly Your Music Festival) will take over the June 4-5 weekend at Summerfest Grounds and have already packed some big names into their initial line-up including Weezer, Three Days Grace, AFI, Eagles Of Death Metal, Cold War Kids, She & Him, The Raveonettes, Rogue Wave, Crash Kings, Nico Vega, and more. Buy tickets here with no fees at Ticketmaster starting Friday at 10AM. Advance tickets available now through June 3rd. Advance single day passes are $25. Advance two-day passes are $40. Every advance ticket purchased includes a...

Seattle indie rock band Minus The Bear will burn up the road this Spring in support of their fourth full-length album Omni, which is scheduled for release on May 4th via Dangerbird Records. The record was produced by Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, My Morning Jacket) and features 10 tracks. Download opening track "My Time" right here and check out tour dates below including some South By Southwest action.

Tour Dates
03-18-2010 / Filter Showcase @ Cedar St Courtyard (3:30pm) Austin, TX
03-19-2010 / Relix Magazine...

Athens, Georgia jam band Widespread Panic will come out with their eleventh studio album Dirty Side Down on May 25th via ATO Records and the group have some tour dates lined up to celebrate. The disc will feature 12 tracks including a cover of the late Vic Chesnutt's "This Cruel Thing". Chesnutt had collaborated for the band twice in the past under the Brute moniker. John Keane produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the new album. Check out the dates below including stops at Jazzfest, Wakarusa, and All Good Festival.

Tour Dates
03-25-2010 / House of Blues @ Myrtle Beach, SC
03-26-2010 /...

We are ecstatic to be just a couple weeks away from Knoxville, Tennessee's Big Ears Festival, which takes place on the March 26-28 weekend at a number of downtown venues with some of our favorite artits like The National, Joanna Newsom, Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors, The xx, St. Vincent, My Brightest Diamond, Andrew W.K., Sufjan Stevens, Doveman, Clogs, Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly, and more scheduled to appear. Check out the updated schedule here and find tickets here....

It may sound ironic, but Stars is a wonderful way to start off a morning. So hearing news about a new album from the Canadian indie pop band when I woke up was a supreme delight since the group haven't had a new record in two and a half years since 2007's lovely In The Bedroom After The War. This Summer, on June 22nd to be expect, Stars will release their self-released fifth studio album, appropriately titled The Five Ghosts. Tours around the world are expected to be announced in support of the new record, so we will have those to you as soon as they start rolling out. Check out the tracklisting below.

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Half of the former everybodyfields duo, Sam Quinn, has formally announced the release of his debut solo album, The Fake That Sunk 1,000 Ships, which will be out on May 11th via Ramseur Records. Intense title can only mean the subject matter is right down the same line. His backing band is called the Japan Ten and they are streaming a new track entitled "Suite Motown" over at Paste. Check out the tracklisting and album art below.

Tracklisting:
1. Hello
2. Fanboy
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It was reported late last night that Sparklehorse leader Mark Linkous has taken his own life. His family released this statement: "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there’s a star for you."

His debut album vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot came out in 1995 and he ended up releasing three more full-length albums. In addition to those, he also collaborated in 2009 with Danger...

Birmingham indie rockers Editors will be making their way around Europe starting today in Lincoln, England at the Engine Shed with experimental synthpop group Cold Cave joining them for several dates in the UK. The Editors guys will be supporting their top-selling 2009 album In This Light and on This Evening while Cold Cave supporting their 2009 debut Love Comes Close. Check out the dates below.

Tour Dates
03-06-2010 / Lincoln, England @ Engine Shed (with Cold Cave)
03-07-2010 / Preston, England @ Guildhall (with Cold Cave)
03-08-2010 / Bradford, England @ St. George's...

One of Chicago's many music festivals, Pitchfork Music Festival is set to return to Union Park on July 16 – 18. Continuing to expand the list of acts for the weekend, the festival announced the additions of Canadian-collective Broken Social Scene, El-P, Panda Bear, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Bear in Heaven, Titus Andronicus, Freddie Gibbs, Dàm-Fun, The Smith Westerns, Girls, CAVE, and Allá.

Three-day passes for the festival have already sold out, but single-day passes for all three days are still available here.
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My favorite band in the world The National have finally announced the title of their fifth full-length album... High Violet! The record will be released on May 11th and the band have a plethora of tour dates that start this Spring in support of the new effort beginning with headlining the final night of the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 28th. Get ready to see me posting around with a little more bounce in my words over the next couple months. Check out the tour dates below.

Tour Dates
03-28-2010 / Tennessee Theatre (Big Ears Festival) @ Knoxville, TN
04-22-2010 / The...

Oxford dance-punks Foals have finalized a release date for the follow-up to their fantastic 2008 debut Antidotes and have spilled a full schedule of touring this Spring through Europe. Their sophomore album entitled Total Life Forever, which was produced by Luke Smith formerly of post-punk/electropop band Clor, will hit stores on May 10th via Transgressive Records in the UK and on Sub Pop in the US. We debuted the exciting new single and music video for "Spanish Sahara" earlier this week right here. Check out the dates below, which...