Nicole Barille and Sam Meister — better known now as Cleveland‘s Mr. Gnome — saw the release of their album Madness In Miniature last year to some high praise, including being named Verbicide’s Top 50 Albums of 2011.

Their new digital seven-inch, Softly Mad, features two B-sides from the Madness In Miniature sessions, “The Way” and “Still Life,” both of which show a more restrained side of the band that was previously only hinted at on the album.  It will be released on March 20th on El Marko Records.

The duo will also be touring this spring, including a stop at SXSW. See below for tour dates, as well as a free MP3 download.

Verbicide Free Download: Click here to download “Bit of Tongue” by Mr. Gnome

Mr. Gnome on Tour
3/01 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
3/02 Cincinnati, OH @ Mayday
3/03 Lexington, KY @ Green Lantern
3/06 Durham, NC @ Garage Bar at Motorco Music Hall
3/08 Atlanta, GA @ The Five Spot
3/09 Pensacola, FL @ The Handle Bar
3/10 Orlando, FL @ Orange You Glad Festival
3/13 Dallas, TX @ Double Wide – Prekindle SXSW pre-party
3/14 Austin, TX @ Red 7 – Terrorbird/Force Field SXSW party
3/15 Austin, TX @ Lucky Lounge – TapeOp magazine SXSW party
3/16 Austin, TX @ SXSW – TBA
3/17 Austin, TX @ SXSW – TBA
3/20 Fruita, CO @ Cavalcade
3/22 Boise, ID @ The Red Room – Treefort Music Festival
3/23 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
3/24 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
3/27 San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
3/28 Sacramento, CA @ Luigi’s
3/29 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater
3/31 Albuquerque, NM @ The Launch Pad
4/03 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
4/04 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
4/06 Springfield, MO @ The Outland
4/07 Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room/Middle of The Map Festival
4/10 Columbia, MO @ Sideshow
4/11 St. Louis, MO @ Plush
4/12 Indianapolis. IN @ Radio Radio
4/13 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
4/14 Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme
4/20 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
4/21 Toledo, OH @ Ottawa Tavern
4/27 Dayton, OH @ Blind Bob’s
4/28 Columbus, OH @ Skully’s

Wooden Shjips return this February with the brand new Remixes 12″ that follows on the heels of 2011′s West. Featuring two remixes, one by Andrew Weatherall, and one by Sonic Boom, and a collaboration with kandodo.

Stream Andrew Weatherall’s remix of “Crossing” below.

Wooden Shjips – Crossing Remix [Andrew Weatherall] by Thrill Jockey Records

Belgian electronic industrial band Lords of Acid, known for their 1991 single “I Sit On Acid,” return with their first album in over eleven years, Deep Chills, slated for an April 10th release on Metropolis Records.

The 14-track album was recorded in Belgium and Los Angeles with Praga Khan and longtime collaborator Erhan Kurkun working on the music and arrangements.  Vixen vocalist DJ Mea takes center stage throughout the album.

The band will soon announce a North American tour.

Kimya Dawson‘s new video for “Solid and Strong” features Kimya and her daughter Panda at their community pool with the sync swimmer teem. The video, released today, was directed by Clyde Peterson, Forrest Baum, and Kimya herself.

Today, a federal appeals court declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, saying a state can’t revoke gay rights solely because a majority of its voters disapprove of homosexuality.

In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Proposition 8′s limitations on access to marriage took rights away from a vulnerable minority without benefiting parents, children or the marital institution.

“Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California,” the court said.

For more, visit the San Francisco Chronicle.

If the image they posted on their Facebook wall is any indication, the Gorillaz are likely working on a new album. Though the band has been on an indefinite hiatus for about one year, the image posted this morning shows animated lead vocalist 2D sitting with a pencil in hand and some paper that says “Album 13? ideas.”

No text accompanied the image, and no press release has been announced, but it seems as though they’re dropping hints that the creation of the long-awaited follow-ups to 2010′s Plastic Beach and The Fall is underway. (via Filter)

The title is 100 percent true.  A Las Vegas rally for Republican Newt Gingrich on February 2nd was interrupted by Nevada grindcore band Traumatic Anal Devastation. The band showed up outside the rally, plugged their instruments in, and generated what a Gingrich staffer described as “the sound of a tank driving through a minefield.”

After five minutes or so, police showed up and put a stop to the protest performance. Vocalist Chip “Gravelthroat” Corbin said the inpromptu performance was a political statement based on the band’s agenda for equal rights, animal rights, and support of anti-war movements across the world, and added that the band’s name “is obviously metaphorical for the way the government and capitalism has continually raped the public at-large.” (via Universe Number Five)

So the economy is down, eh? Perfect! We can use this opportunity to shift blame to the poor. Let’s start with the welfare recipients. By requiring that they must pass a piss test to get benefits, we may have to violate the fourth amendment — but the ends justify the means, right? Especially when drug use runs rampant among those on welfare, and we can save taxpayers lots of money in the process.

Unless, of course, it turns out that welfare recipients use drugs far less than the average American, and the whole program actually wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then we’d look foolish, right? All that constitutional subversion for nothing!

The Susan G. Komen website was hacked last night in response to Komen caving to anti-abortion activists and cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood. Additionally, a petition is circulating in support of Planned Parenthood.

An image of the hacked website is below (via Reddit):

Beaus$Eros, the recently-announced seventh full-length from indie rap artist Busdriver, is out soon with a North American release date of February 14th. Preorders of the CD and double-vinyl editions of the album in advance come with a shirt, a book of original poetry by Busdriver, as well as a limited edition seven-inch that features ”Superhand’s Mantra (Fuck Us All),” Busdriver’s collaboration with Aesop Rock. Stream “Superhand’s Mantra” below.

SUPERHAND’S MANTRA( FUCK US ALL ) feat. AESOP ROCK prod. by Loden by Busdriverse

Busdriver is also currently on tour.

Busdriver on Tour
2/3 Fort Collins, CO @ Hodi’s Halfnot
2/4 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
2/16 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom with The Coup & Buck 65
2/17 Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
2/18 Bend, OR (venue TBA)
2/19 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
2/21 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
3/14-17 Austin, TX @ SXSW

It pains me that I have to do this, but…

The Compact Disc (also known as a CD): An optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass storage of data (CD-ROM) – via Wikipedia

If the fact that we reference CDs bothers you, just pretend it’s vinyl. Problem solved! On to the reviews…

Drake
Take Care
Universal Music Group

Lana del Rey
Born To Die
Interscope

Garbage has announced that their fifth studio album, Not Your Kind Of People, will be released in the United States on May 15, 2012, on the band’s label STUNVOLUME.

The iconic ’90s alternative band, consisting of  Shirley Manson (vocals), Steve Marker (guitars, keyboards), Duke Erikson (guitars, keyboards), and Butch Vig (drums, loops), will hit the road this spring in support of the album by performing several headlining shows and various festivals. Announced dates are below, with more to be added.

Garbage on Tour

Headlining Tour Dates
5/09 London, England @ Troxy
5/11  St. Petersburg, Russia @ Jubilenyi Hall
5/12 Moscow, Russia @ Crocus City Hall
5.16 Paris, France @ Olympia

Festival Tour Dates
6/16 Hultsfred, Sweden @ Hultsfred Festival
6/17 Aarhus, Denmark @ Northside Festival
6/22 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany @ Southside Festival
6/23 Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival, Red Stage
6/28 Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter, Pyramid Marquee

Butch Vig wearing eyeliner lol

Every now and then, something comes along that makes me wonder, Why didn’t I think of that? The premise of this movie is one of those things.

On January 24th, Nada Surf released their latest critically-acclaimed album The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy. They have just unveiled the music video for “When I Was Young,” and will perform tonight on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”

Watch the video below:

Deerhoof is releasing a series of collaborative seven-inch records featuring guest vocalists singing self-composed lyrics and vocal melodies over a Deerhoof instrumental. Their latest is the DeerBazan seven-inch, out now on limited edition clear blue vinyl. The a-side features the vocals of David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones) singing “No One Asked Bazan to Dance” with new lyrics over Deerhoof’s “No One Asked to Dance” (from Deerhoof vs. Evil).

The b-side includes Bazan’s version of the classic Headphones song, “Gas and Matches.”

Stream “No One Asked Bazan to Dance” below:

Deerhoof (feat. David Bazan) – No One Asked Bazan to Dance by Polyvinyl Records