Pitchfork

[Posted Wednesday, October 8th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Professional Scottish depressives (redundant?) Arab Strap are keeping busy for fall-- with an extensive European tour, a tour-only live album, and a new EP for "The Shy Retirer." The live album (titled The Cunted Circus-- charming) will initially only be available on the road; any remaining copies will be made available from the band's website following the tour. This is actually their second live album, following 2000's Mad for Sadness, but lest you think they're just money-hungry, live album releasing whores, be aware that the two releases only share two tracks. Plus, um, anyone trying for big sales probably wouldn't call their album The Cunted Circus. Or only sell them on tour. In any case, here's the tracklist:

01 Intro
02 Who Named The Days
03 Loch Leven
04 Here We Go
05 Soaps
06 Fucking Little Bastards
07 Meanwhile, At The Bar, A Drunkard Muses
08 Peep Peep
09 The Good Part
10 The Shy Retirer
11 Act Of War
12 Packs Of Three
13 Flirt
14 Why Can't This Be Love [Van Halen]
15 You Shook Me All Night Long [AC/DC]
16 Glue
17 Serenade
18 Secret Encore

No, your sharp eyes aren't lying to you-- Arab Strap are getting in touch with their inner mullets, playing both AC/DC and Van Hagar covers with alarming frequency on recent dates. But if you're looking for studio recordings of the above gems, look no further than the recently-released The Shy Retirer EP, available on CD and twelve-inch from Chemikal Underground in the UK. In addition to the covers, the EP sports two new originals and a remix of the title track. Here are the specs:

01 The Shy Retirer [radio edit]
02 Why Can't This Be Love [Van Halen]
03 The Good Part
04 The New Saturday
05 You Shook Me All Night Long [AC/DC]
06 The Shy Retirer (Dirty Hospital mix)

This incarnation of the Strap has expanded from their recent U.S. tour, and they're back to a seven member full-band lineup. The tour is already underway, so here we go with the rest of the dates:

10-08 London, England - Mean Fiddler
10-09 Portsmouth, England - Wedgewood Rooms
10-10 Bristol, England - Fleece
10-11 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
10-15 Stavanger, Norway - Checkpoint
10-16 Bergen, Norway - Garage
10-17 Oslo, Norway - John Dee
10-18 Malmo, Sweden - KB
10-19 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
10-20 Copenhagen, Denmark - Lille Vega
10-22 Esch-Alzette, Luxemburg - Kulturfabrik
10-23 Koln, Germany - Gebaude 9
10-24 Hamburg, Germany - Logo
10-25 Berlin, Germany - Knaack
10-26 Poznan, Poland - Blue Note
10-27 Warsaw, Poland - Jazzget
10-28 Prague, Czech Republic - Roxy
10-29 Munich, Germany - Feierwerk
10-30 Milan, Italy - Rainbow
10-31 Bologna, Italy Container
11-01 Geneva, Switzerland - Usine
11-02 Basel, Switzerland - Borroaum
11-03 Belfort, France - La Poudriere
11-04 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
11-05 Rennes, France - L'Ubu
11-06 Groeningen, Netherlands - Vera
11-07 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
11-08 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
11-09 Hasselt, Belgium - Muziek O Droom