Pitchfork

As you most certainly already read here on the Newswire, Yo La Tengo are gearing up to release their latest album, Summer Sun, on April 8th via Matador Records. "Little Eyes" and "Don't Have to Be So Sad", two tracks from the upcoming record, can be previewed now at the band's website. In preparation and preemption (a popular word these days) of that release, the Tengos will be hitting the road for a tour the likes of which gaaawwd has never seen (pardon the Dune ref, we're fuckin' nerds) on both sides of the Atlantic. We'd give you the exact count; but, really, there are so many that by the time we reach a 12-count the late-night combination of caffeine and narcotics make the code go all blurry. So, let's just leave it at "substantial", k? The band will cover the south, briefly, then will gear up for an April tour of the eastern U.S., a May spin through Europe, and back home for coverage of the central and western States in June. Check that shit, homie:

03-12 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse (w/The Glands)
03-14 Austin, TX - Stubb's (SXSW show w/Spoon, Cat Power and Dead Meadow)
03-15 Jersey City, NJ - WFMU studio
04-10 Columbus, OH - Music Factory *
04-11 Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House *
04-12 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom *
04-14 Toronto, ONT - The Phoenix *
04-15 Montreal, QUE - Cabaret *
04-16 Boston, MA - The Roxy *
04-18 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero *
04-19 Washington, DC - 930 Club *
04-20 Baltimore, MD - Recher Theater *
04-22 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place *
04-23 Northhampton, MA - Academy of Music *
04-24 Providence, RI - Lupo's *
04-25 New York, NY - Beacon Theater *
05-04 Cork, Ireland - Half Moon
05-05 Dublin, Ireland - Ambassador
05-07 London, UK - Shepherds Bush Empire
05-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05-10 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
05-11 Koln, Germany - Kantine
05-13 Berlin, Germany - Maria Am Ufer
05-18 Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik
05-20 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm
05-22 Madrid, Spain - Arena
05-23 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera
05-24 Vitoria, Spain - Sala Azkena
05-26 Turin, Italy - Hiroshima Mon Amour
05-27 Rimini, Italy - Velvet
05-28 Bologna, Italy - Link Club
06-06 Detroit, MI - TBA
06-07 Chicago, IL - TBA
06-08 Minneapolis, MN - TBA
06-09 Minneapolis, MN - TBA
06-11 Denver, CO - TBA
06-13 Seattle, WA - TBA
06-14 Portland, OR - TBA
06-15 Vancouver - TBA
06-18 San Francisco, CA - TBA
06-19 San Francisco, CA - TBA
06-20 San Francisco, CA - TBA
06-21 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium (All Tomorrow's Parties)

* - with Portastatic

In other YLT news, the band will once again make their contributions to good taste everywhere by selling out for a cause as part of WFMU's annual spring fundraising drive. This Saturday, March 15th, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, Yo La Tengo, along with their friend "Bruce", will honor listeners' requests of cover songs in exchange for monetary contributions from WFMU listeners. Since 1996, the Hoboken band have lent their talents as the best live jukebox in the world (in addition to their numerous other accolades) to the fundraiser.

Yo La Tengo's dedication to WFMU and the dying art of the cover song will be tested as the band races back to the their native New Jersey following their March 14th show at SXSW. WFMU, broadcasting out of Jersey City, NJ (91.1 FM in the New York City metro area, 90.1 in New Jersey, and www.wfmu.org on the web, is one of the last independent all-freeform radio stations in the nation. And, we might add, it's also the best.

Highlights from last year's benefit show include bassist James McNew singing The Rutles' "Cheese and Onions"; frontman Ira Kaplan's not quite Alex Chilton-esque take on "September Gurls", and drummer/vocalist Georgia Hubley's solemn rendition of "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick. And who could forget the awesome closeout medley from 2002 that began with "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker, moving on to "My Sharona," with detours into "Sonic Reducer" (The Dead Boys), "God Only Knows" (yeah, THAT band), "Schizophrenia" (Sonic Youth), "Another Girl, Another Planet" (The Only Ones), and "Wichita Lineman" (Jimmy Webb), among others? If you live in the area, be sure to tune in; if not, thanks to the internet, you don't have to have to break out the homemade shortwave, just tune in via the web, yo.