The very promising Jack White/Brendan Benson side project, The Raconteurs, will actually be playing a show on April 7 at the Irving Plaza in New York. Although that doesn't really effect the Minnesota folk directly, I just thought it was cool. Plus, they will be playing Lollapalooza in Chicago in August if anyone is up for a road trip.

Australian natives The Vines will be releasing their third album Vision Valley (Capitol) on April 4. What? Really? Eew.

Earlier this year, Chan Marshall (Cat Power) postponed a handfull of tour dates due to a health-related issue. Marshall released today a few of the new dates, and luckily, there are some gaps indicating a bit of routing flexibility. Here are the dates for now:

04.27.06 - Tucson, AZ (Rialto Theater)
04.29.06 - Indio, CA (Coachella)
05.01.06 - Seattle, WA (Showbox)
05.03.06 - San Francisco, CA (Palace Of Fine Arts)
05.04.06 - San Francisco, CA (Palace Of Fine Arts)
06.16.06 - Manchester, TN (Bonnaroo)

Local buzz boys Tapes 'n Tapes were added to the Pitchfork Music Festival bill earlier this month, and were interviewed by MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine over the South-by-Southwest weekend. Also, rumor has it that the boys may be listed on Rolling Stone's Top-10 Bands to Watch list.

Last week, Brooklyn's Les Savy Fav (French Kiss Records) released a 7" locally (if you live in New York) and a two-song eMusic-exclusive download. This release officially ends their extended hiatus (much earlier than we all thought, thank god), and sets up the ground work for quite the year (a re-release of 3/5 and the recording of a new full-length).Download the hot tracks here.

Due to an unfortunate eye injury, Built to Spill has rescheduled their spring tour for the summer, starting June 9 in Calgary, AL(They'll be here on Sept. 12-13 at First Avenue). Check out the new tour schedule below:

06.09.06 - Calgary, AL (MacEwan Ballroom small room)
06.10.06 - Edmonton, AL (Reds)
06.12.06 - Vancouver, BC (Commodore Ballroom)
06.13.06 - Seattle, WA (The Showbox)
06.14.06 - Seattle, WA (The Showbox)
06.15.06 - Seattle, WA (The Showbox)
06.16.06 - Portland, OR (Crystal Ballroom)
06.17.06 - Portland, OR (Crystal Ballroom)
06.18.06 - Bend, OR (Domino Room)
06.19.06 - Eugene, OR (WOW Hall)
06.21.06 - San Francisco, CA (Slim's)
06.22.06 - San Francisco, CA (Slim's)
06.23.06 - San Francisco, CA (Slim's)
06.24.06 - San Francisco, CA (Slim's)
06.27.06 - San Diego, CA (House Of Blues)
06.28.06 - Los Angeles, CA (The Troubadour)
06.29.06 - Los Angeles, CA (The Troubadour)
06.30.06 - Los Angeles, CA (The Troubadour)
07.01.06 - Los Angeles, CA (The Troubadour)
07.07.06 - Tempe, AZ (TBD)
07.08.06 - Albuquerque, NM (Launch Pad)
07.10.06 - Boulder, CO (Fox Theatre)
07.11.06 - Boulder, CO (Fox Theatre)
07.12.06 - Salt Lake City, UT (TBD)
08.05.06 - Chicago, IL (Lollapalooza @ Grant Park)
09.12.06 - Minneapolis, MN (First Avenue)
09.13.06 - Minneapolis, MN (First Avenue)
09.14.06 - Madison, WI (Barrymore Theatre)
09.15.06 - Chicago, IL (Metro)
09.16.06 - Chicago, IL (Metro)
09.17.06 - St. Louis, MO (Mississippi Nights)
09.18.06 - Columbia, MO (The Blue Note)
09.20.06 - Lawrence, KS (The Bottleneck)
09.21.06 - Tulsa, OK (Cain's Ballroom)
09.22.06 - Rock, AR (Vinos Little)
09.23.06 - Memphis, TN (Young Ave. Deli)
09.24.06 - Nashville, TN (City Hall)
09.26.06 - Indianapolis, IN (The Vogue)
09.27.06 - Columbus, OH (Newport Music Hall)
09.28.06 - Detroit, MI (St. Andrews Hall)
09.29.06 - Pittsburgh, PA (Mr. Smalls)
09.30.06 - Buffalo, NY (Town Ballroom)
10.01.06 - Burlington, VT (Higher Ground)
10.02.06 - Boston, MA (The Roxy)
10.04.06 - New York, NY (Irving Plaza)
10.05.06 - New York, NY (Irving Plaza)
10.06.06 - New York, NY (Irving Plaza)
10.07.06 - Philadelphia, PA (Trocadero)
10.08.06 - Philadelphia, PA (Trocadero)
10.09.06 - Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
10.10.06 - Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
10.11.06 - Carborro, NC (Cat's Cradle)
10.12.06 - Carborro, NC (Cat's Cradle)
10.13.06 - Atlanta, GA (Variety Playhouse)
10.14.06 - Athens, GA (40 Watt Club)
10.15.06 - Birmingham, AL (Zydeco)
10.17.06 - New Orleans, LA (TBD)
10.18.06 - Houston, TX (Warehouse Live)
10.19.06 - Dallas, TX (Gypsy Tea Room)
10.20.06 - Austin, TX (Stubb's)
10.21.06 - Lubbock, TX (Jake's Backroom)

In a blog update posted February 23 on their MySpace page, British rock band Test-Icicles announced that the band has broken up and cancelled their impending U.S. tour, including the show scheduled for March 13 at the Triple Rock Social Club.

"I've [...] twisted my brain inside out trying to explain the chaos, dilemmas and confusion that has engulfed this band in the past 18months," lead singer Raaary Decihells writes in his post. "Our only intention was to have bit of fun, to play a few shows, cause some trouble and to split up shortly afterwards, the fact of the matter is that we played our 5millionth gig the other day after a year of multiple tours and we're sick, tired and miserable, and to put it simply, it just isn't fun anymore and hasn't been for a very long time, so we've decided it's time to find something that does make us happy because unfortunately this isn't it."

According to the Triple Rock website the show, originally slated to include opening acts Melodious Owl and The Battle Royale, will not go on as scheduled, and has been cancelled altogether.

Decihells adds: "I'm really sorry to anyone who was [...] catching us on tour in the US, I hope that anyone who bought a ticket manages to get their money back without too much hassle. I would've loved to have toured the US, but in our current state of disrepair it was never going to happen."