Set the Tivo, kids, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing SNL tomorrow night. We're almost as excited to see what Karen O will be wearing as we are to see what host Zach Efron might not be wearing -- hiyo!

It's Blitz, released last week on Interscope, has quickly been one of the most unexpected pleasant surprises of 2009 around the D+T office. It easily outperforms the expectations we had for the record -- in fact, we are already prepared to call "Zero" as the song of the summer.

Full tour dates for summer after the jump.-AM

Apr 11 2009 8:00P Saturday Night Live New York, New York
Apr 14 2009 12:00A Late Show with David Letterman New York, New York
Apr 15 2009 12:00A Late Night With Jimmy Fallon New York, New York
Apr 19 2009 8:00P Coachella Indio, California
Apr 22 2009 8:00P Academy - SOLD OUT!!! Manchester
Apr 24 2009 8:00P Roundhouse (Camden Crawl) London
Apr 25 2009 8:00P Shepherds Bush Empire - SOLD OUT!!! London
Apr 26 2009 8:00P Shepherds Bush Empire - SOLD OUT!!! London
Apr 29 2009 8:00P Paradiso Amsterdam
Apr 30 2009 8:00P Bataclan - SOLD OUT!!! Paris
May 2 2009 8:00P Polsslag Festival Hasselt
May 3 2009 8:00P Live Music Hall Cologne
May 4 2009 8:00P Magazzini Generali Milan
May 6 2009 8:00P Columbiahalle Berlin
May 8 2009 8:00P Debaser Medis Stockholm
May 10 2009 8:00P Ramat Gan National Stadium Tel Aviv
May 23 2009 8:00P Sasquatch Festival QUINCY, Washington
Jun 12 2009 8:00P Bonnaroo Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 24 2009 8:00P T-Mobile In Music Festival Zagreb
Jun 27 2009 8:00P Le Rock Dans Tous Ses Etats Evreux
Jun 30 2009 8:00P Openair Arena Vienna
Jul 1 2009 8:00P Roxy Prague
Jul 4 2009 8:00P Werchter Festival Werchter
Jul 5 2009 8:00P Roskilde Roskilde
Jul 7 2009 8:00P Docks Hamburg
Jul 10 2009 8:00P T In The Park Kinross, Scotland
Jul 11 2009 8:00P Oxegen Festival Punchestown, Dublin
Jul 31 2009 8:00P All Points West Jersey City, New Jersey
Aug 29 2009 8:00P Leeds Festival Leeds
Aug 30 2009 8:00P Reading Festival Reading

I know the subject heading sounds like the title of a Christian spirituality magazine, but I'm referring to a collaboration between Rivers Cuomo and comedian(?) Rainn Wilson.

The two partnered up on a Rivers cover of Joan Osbourne's "What if God Was One of Us," for a radio show he is co-hosting with Jason Schwartzman. Rainn played bongos -- well, actually. He has a nice touch, reminiscent of a young Tito Puente.

The video's pretty boring, but it seems to be that River's is developing a pretty wicked bald spot. Or have the headphones just mussed his hair about ever so slightly? See for you yourself:

Yeah, yeah, the album artwork is pretty juvenile, but so what? Aren't Green Day supposed to make you feel 16 again?

Hopefully they'll do just that with 21st Century Breakdown, they're forthcoming full length, and first in five years. The band will be debuting its lead-off single "Know Your Enemy" on April 16th through MTV and its subsidiaries. -SB

The lovely Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent has a new record underway. Actor will be released on May 5th. Here's the first video. It's for the song "Actor Out Of Work." -IL

It should be interesting to see how music fests fare this summer. Now that the world is broke, will people still shell out the big bucks for three days of debauchery and tunes? Maybe now more than ever, people need a reason to let loose.

The Pitchfork fest looks particularly strong this year, and they have just announced the addition of Black Lips, Waaves, and M83.

Pitchfork Fest goes down in Chicago's Union Park Friday July 17 - Sunday July 19, and the lineup includes The Flaming Lips, The National, Matt & Kim, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, and tons more. Full lineup after the jump.-AM
Friday - "Write the Night: Set Lists by Request"
Built to Spill
The Jesus Lizard
Yo La Tengo
Tortoise

Saturday
The National
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Fucked Up
Matt and Kim
Wavves
Charles Hamilton
The Duchess and The Duke

Sunday
The Flaming Lips
Grizzly Bear
M83
The Walkmen
Pharoahe Monch
Black Lips
The Very Best
Vivian Girls

Man Man's video for "Rabbit Habits" is more like a short film than it is a music video. It stars Fred Armisen, Charlyne Yi and Martin Starr (go see Adventureland). Enjoy! -IL

No, you don't have to wait until Record Store Day to run out to your local shop to pick up new releases. If you feel like getting in some warm-up practice, you might want to do a test run with Micachu and the Shapes. The UK trio's debut record, Jewellery, is out today on Rough Trade. They were one of this year's most talked-about new bands at SxSW, and we're predicting they're going to make waves in '09.

Click here for tunes and tour dates.-AM

Dent May and his Magnificent Ukelele has a great new video (tuxedo, crazy glasses, chapstick, aquarium background...) and new tour tour dates to announce.

Dent May has been championed by Animal Collective, touring with them in '08 and releasing the debut full-length on Animal Collective's label, Paw Tracks. (They also opened for AC Newman in '08.)-AM



DENT MAY & HIS MAGNIFICENT UKULELE

05/15 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
05/16 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill
05/17 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Saloon
05/19 Denver, CO Hi Dive
05/20 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
05/21 Boise, ID Neurolux
05/22 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
05/23 George, WA Sasquatch
05/27 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar
05/28 Chicago, IL Schubas

Eminem's latest is perhaps more referential than Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire." But is it as good? You decide. And while you're doing that, count how many times MADtv's Bobby Lee throws up in the video. Eminem's Relapse is out on 05/19/09. -IL

Here's the video for "Stronger Than Jesus" by A Camp. A Camp is Nina Persson from The Cardigans' project. It's off Colonia, which is her second album and features contributions from Nathan Larson (her husband, Shudder To Think). Colonia will be released very very soon. 4/28 to be exact. Enjoy! -IL

5/20/09 - Guelph, ON @ E-Bar
5/21/09 - Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
5/22/09 - Peterborough, ON @ Montreal House
5/23/09 - Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox
5/27/09 - Kingston, ON @ The Grad Club
5/29/09 - Toronto, ON @ The Music Gallery
5/30/09 - Waterloo, ON @ Starlight Room

OK, yeah, the title of this blog is kind of a bad pun. But really, this New York Times article about new discoveries in neuroscience really did blow my mind. Deep in the heart of Brooklyn, in a little SUNY Downstate Medical Center in East Flatbush, scientists tinkering away with rats and chemicals are discovering the key to memory--and how to erase it.

Yeah. I know. Crazy. Looks like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind isn't so far from reality after all! The theory for this stuff begins way back with Plato--the guy may not have had microscopes, but he sure knew what he was talking about. In his dialogue entitled Theaetetus, he proposed the idea that the mind is like a block of wax, and experiences leave imprints on the block as they occur. German scholar Richard Semon gave this idea the name "engram" in 1904.

So what is an engram? Since 1904, much research has expanded the idea. A "speed-dial" concept of memory arose--brain cells involved in an experience keep each other on "speed dial," so that when something (smell, taste) triggers one, the others react and form the complete memory. In 1999, Dr. Jeff Lichtman and Joshua Sanes from Harvard published a paper listing 117 molecules involved in the speed-dial memory process.

Find out how one of these molecules could potentially erase memory and, conversely, how another could strengthen memory (and all the ethical battles this implies) after the jump. -AK

Dr. Todd Saktor of the Brooklyn lab started studying the molecule PKMzeta after his dad, another neuroscientist, suggested it. Turns out, this little chemical with the funny name is basically responsible for keeping the speed dial functioning between neurons--this molecule holds the key to memory.

Dr. Andre Fenton is another memory-studying neuroscientist. He learns about the brain by training rats to follow certain paths in mazes through memory-creating methods. But when he injected them with the drug ZIP, a chemical that interferes with PKMzeta, they lost the memories that had reminded them for months which path to take in the maze. Looks like the antidote to PKMzeta had been found.

So what does this mean for modern medicine? Potentially, a hell of a lot. PKMzeta could be used to combat such incurable diseases as Alzheimer's, dementia, and other memory-degenerative conditions. And the ability to erase memory could spare people from remembering traumatic experiences, or even help addicts, as addiction is a learned behavior. But it could also help people forget seeing crimes. So, as you can see, the ethical questions surrounding such procedures are endless.

Final thoughts: Not everything that happens in Brooklyn involves underground music and art. Modern medicine can discover some crazy shit. And Michel Gondry's 2004 fantastical cult film could be looked on by future generations as a real-life documentary. -AK

Riddle: When are you at Pizza Hut, and also at Taco Bell -- at the same time? Answer: Why, when you're at the Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, of course!

The hilarious new track from Das Racist, "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell," plays like a three minute koan, posing the question over and over. It's like a 21st century of "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" The song takes the form of a conversation between the two members of Das Racist, Himanshu Kumar and Victor Vazquez, who are both ostensibly at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and yet unable to find each other. They keep insisting over and over, "I'm at the Pizza Hut. I'm at the Taco Bell. I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." As the phrase repeats over and over, it becomes an existential meditation on consumer identity in corporate America. It's both feverishly juvenile and somehow profound -- a little like The Streets before Mike Skinner got all serious and bummed everyone out.

The only lyrical deviations from the core phrase are all beautifully executed, like, "I got that taco smell. I got that pizza butt - I'm at the combination Taco Bell and Pizza Hut." This is our song of the day, and we recommend you check it out here.-AM

Check out The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's network television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly below. The song performed is "Young Adult Fiction" off their self-titled debut album. Yes! -IL