Pitchfork

Washington D.C. band El Guapo is gearing up to release what might be the strangest record of they year. That is, if last year's 18-track, genre-bending Super/System is any indication. The new album, Fake French, scales it down to a mere 12 tracks (that's good, since Super/System's 18 seemed to overwhelm our reviewer). It's their fourth full-length-- their second with legendary D.C. label Dischord-- and it's scheduled to hit the shelves of your local, um, Wal*Mart on April 14th. Tracklist:

01 Glass House
02 Just Don't Know
03 Ocean and Sky
04 Space Tourist
05 Justin Destroyer
06 Fake French
07 Underground
08 I Don't Care
09 Hawks
10 The Time: Night
11 Pick it up
12 Hollywood Crew

According to the most-certainly non-hyperbolic press release, the album "brings brash art-punk to the post-millenial dance floor." By the way, where is this dancefloor and exactly who is dancing to this crazy shit? But I digress. Comparisons range from Devo, Suicide, and Kraftwerk to The Stooges and Run-DMC. In addition to all the hard work that is art-punk today, El Guapo drummer Justin Moyer also plays guitar in a band called Antelope, from which a six-song EP is slated for early this year as a split release with Dischord and Bug Records. Keyboardist Peter Cafarella has recorded with The Rapture and periodically tours with his synth duo Shychild.

These guys have been touring extensively for the past few months. They wrapped up a U.S./European tour in December with heavy-hitters such as The Dismemberment Plan and Black Heart Procession, among others. And for those of you who missed these dates, yet remain curious about how these guys will pull it off on stage, now's your chance because they gonna be flyin' all ovah this biatch. As reported previously, El Guapo will be supporting Q and Not U for a few of the shows and will also get Ted Leo's back for part of the tour. Here are those dates:

03-29 Brooklyn, NY - Newsonic HQ
04-01 Boston, MA - Middle East *
04-02 New York, NY - Knitting Factory *
04-03 Baltimore, MD - Talking Head *
04-04 Harrisonburg, VA - MacRock Festival (w/ Q and Not U, Black Eyes, Kid 606, Pele)
04-07 Durham, NC - Duke Coffeehouse #
04-08 Wilmington, NC - The Soapbox #
04-09 Myrtle Beach, SC - The Rhythm House #
04-10 Atlanta, GA - The Eyedrum #
04-11 Murfreesboro, TN - Red Rose Coffee #
04-12 Lousiville, KY - Aslans How Art Gallery #
04-13 Indianapolis, IN - Solidarity Books #
04-14 Champaign, IL - Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center #
04-15 St. Louis, MO - The Gargoyle (At Washington University) #
04-16 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck #
04-17 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
04-18 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
04-19 Las Vegas, NV - The Cooler Lounge
04-20 Los Angeles, CA - The Smell
04-22 Ventura, CA - The Loft
04-23 Claremont, CA - Pomona College, Doms Social Room
04-24 San Diego, CA Scolari's Office (w/ Xiu Xiu)
04-25 San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
04-26 Berkeley, CA - Gilman Street (w/ Xiu Xiu)
04-27 Sacramento, CA - TBA
04-28 Portland, OR - The Blackbird
04-29 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
05-02 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry (w/ I Am Spoonbender)
05-05 Milwaukee, WI - The Cactus Club $
05-06 Chicago, IL - Fireside Bowl $
05-07 St. Louis, MO - Creepy Crawl $
05-08 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground $
05-09 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck $
05-10 Denver, CO - Climax Lounge $
05-14 Seattle, WA - Graceland $
05-16 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill $
05-17 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour $

* w/ Pele
# w/ Q and Not U
$ w/ Ted Leo and the Pharmacists