Northwest-based indie rock stalwarts Built to Spill will spill their noodle-like guitar heroics all over the U.S. this winter/spring with a tour in support of their last album, 2006's You in Reverse. The tour, set to kick off with a pair of gigs in Los Angeles near the end of February, will then deliver frontman Doug Martsch and crew to San Francisco for two gigs, before crossing the nation and dropping into cities like Austin, Charlotte, and Atlanta. [Via Pitchfork]

Built to Spill tour dates:

2/22, Los Angeles, CA (Echo Plex)
2/23, Los Angeles, CA (Echo Plex)
2/24, San Francisco, CA (Fillmore)
2/25, San Francisco, CA (Fillmore)
2/27, Salt Lake City, UT (The Depot)
2/28, Englewood, CO (Gothic Theatre)
3/1, Fort Worth, TX (Ridglea Theater)
3/2, Austin, TX (Stubb's)
3/3, Houston, TX (Warehouse Live)
3/4, New Orleans, LA (Howlin' Wolf)
3/5, Gainesville, FL (The Venue)
3/6-9, South Florida Everglades, FL (Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation/Langerado Music Festival)
3/6, St. Petersburg, FL (State Theatre)
3/8, Jacksonville, FL (Free Bird Live)
3/10, Charlotte, NC (Neighborhood Theatre)
3/11, Asheville, NC (The Orange Peel)
3/12, Atlanta, GA (Variety Playhouse)
3/13, Knoxville, TN (Bijou Theatre)
3/14, Louisville, KY (Headliners Music Hall)
3/15, St. Louis, MO (The Pageant)
3/16, Columbia, MO (The Blue Note)
3/17, Kansas City, MO (Madrid Theatre)
3/19, Albuquerque, NM (Launchpad)
3/20, Flagstaff, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
3/21, Solana Beach, CA (Belly Up Tavern)

Kooks' 'Konk' Set for Spring Release

Over the past seven weeks slapdash Brit rockers the Kooks have been recording the follow up to 2006's underground sensation Inside In/Inside Out in a London studio, and have now emerged with 16 songs for the forthcoming effort titled Konk -- a name that keeps the recording digs close to heart. "Why don't we call it the studio name?" guitarist Hugh Harris told NME.com of the album's title. "And we thought The Kooks Konk sounded right," frontman Luke Pritchard added. Simple enough.

But in addition to the album's namesake studio, the band traveled to Los Angeles and met with producer Tony Hoffer, the man behind the boards on the Kooks' debut. "Tony's a genius, but this time we wanted more involvement in the production," Pritchard explained. "We wanted a modern yet warm, roots-based sound." The Kooks' Konk LP includes titles like "See the Sun," "Shine On," "Do You Wanna (Make Love to Me)," "Disappear," "Lonely Cat," "Sway," and "Stormy Weather," and will likely be trimmed to around 14 tunes for the album's release, expected in March or April of 2008. "I think we've made a dynamic album," Pritchard said. "Every song has its own character. It's a good pop album. But talk is cheap -- I want everyone to hear it."

Wu-Tang Clan Flesh Out Winter Tour

Back again by popular demand, Staten Island-bred rappers Wu-Tang Clan have filled in the holes of their previously announced winter tour in support of 8 Diagrams, the collective's Beatles-channeling reunion LP out today (Dec. 11) in the U.S. Now, surrounding their sure-to-be merry holiday season with all the "mad cream" and all, Wu-Tang will hit cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore.

New Wu-Tang Clan tour dates:

12/15, Chicago, IL (Metro)
12/18, Boulder, CO (Fox Theatre)
12/19, Aspen, CO (Belly Up)
12/22, Bakersfield, CA (Fox Theater)
12/27, San Francisco, CA (Ruby Skye)
12/28, Boise, ID (Big Easy Concert House)
1/4, Tempe, AZ (Marquee Theatre)
1/9, Baltimore, MD (Rams Head Live!)
1/11, Boston, MA (Palladium)
1/13, New Haven, CT (Toad's Place)
1/14, South Burlington, VT (Higher Ground)
1/15, South Burlington, VT (Higher Ground)
1/16, Providence, RI (Lupo's)
1/18, Richmond, VA (Toad's Place)
1/19, Norfolk, VA (NorVa)
1/21, Charleston, SC (Music Farm)
1/24, Orlando, FL (Club Firestone)

Goldfrapp Reveal 'Tree' Details

With the Feb. 26 release of Goldfrapp's fourth LP, Seventh Tree, just around the corner, fans are likely still pondering what exactly tunes "gilded in the butterfly colors of English Surrealism" sound like. Coming to your aid, albeit vaguely, frontwoman and namesake Alison Goldfrapp has revealed the album's tracklisting and commented on their newfound ethereal sound. "We did talk quite a lot about what kind of instruments would get that kind of warmth and that kind of sound we wanted," Alison Goldfrapp told Billboard.com of the new record's sonic and polar change in instrumentation. "We'd never used acoustic guitars before. We wanted the sound to be delicate, but not weak."

And Will Gregory, Goldfrapp multi-instrumentalist, claims the duo will take their fresh approach on the road in support of Seventh Tree next year. "We're going to try and do it [tour] unplugged and be more acoustic about it, and see how that feels," he explained. "We did an acoustic radio session and we really enjoyed that. I think that involves more people, having little chamber group sounds." Tour dates have yet-to-be announced.

Seventh Tree tracklisting:

1. "Clowns"
2. "Little Bird"
3. "Happiness"
4. "Road to Somewhere"
5. "Eat Yourself"
6. "Some People"
7. "AandE"
8. "Cologne Cerrone Houdini"
9. "Caravan Girl"
10. "Monster Love"