Pitchfork

 -- As Bloodshy & Avant, the Swedish producers Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg provided the deliriously great synthetic whizzing noises for jams like Britney Spears's "Toxic" and "Piece of Me", as well as hits for Kylie Minogue and Rachel Stevens. And now they've pulled an N.E.R.D., hooking up with musician Andrew Wyatt (Fires of Rome, Black Beetle) and forming a band called Miike Snow. They've already leaked a few tracks, and had songs remixed by DJ Mehdi, Crookers, Benny Blanco, and Treasure Fingers. Downtown Recordings will release Miike Snow's self-titled debut album June 9. 

-- Syracuse indie poppers Ra Ra Riot have a busy few months coming up. They'll spend the entire spring touring all over North America, playing shows with the likes of Cut Off Your Hands and Passion Pit before a run of dates opening for Death Cab for Cutie. Also, on March 3, Barsuk will release the single for "Can You Tell", from their latest album The Rhumb Line. The single includes a remix by Tom Campesinos! of Los Campesinos.

-- Also touring North America this spring: tough-to-Google Calgary fuzz-rock men Women, who will play dates with Crystal Stilts, Abe Vigoda, and Chad VanGaalen.

-- NY/SF dance-skronkers Lemonade apparently want you to hear what other people have done with their music so badly that they're giving this stuff away for free. Right now, the RCRD LBL website is offering their Remixtape remix compilation for free download. They've also got a bunch of American shows coming up this March.