Pitchfork: The Cure to Release 13th Album in June, Announce Street Date for First Set of Expanded Reissues

The Cure to Release 13th Album in June, Announce Street Date for First Set of Expanded Reissues
Chris Ott confides he "has to turn away to keep from bursting"

The Cure have revealed plans to release their forthcoming 13th full-length on June 22nd, according to a report from Billboard. Though details are still a bit sketchy, the album, which is yet to be titled, is apparently being produced by Korn and At the Drive-In producer Russ Robinson. The record will be issued on Robinson's fledgling I Am Recordings label, which, weirdly, will make The Cure official labelmates of The Blood Brothers, Glassjaw, and September.

Though fans are concerned that Robinson's harder-edged style could detract from or overdigitze the band's trademark atmospherics, The Cure's decision to hire Robinson marks a step up from their previous two albums, which were produced by longtime engineers Paul Corkett (Bloodflowers and Steve Lyon (Wild Mood Swings)-- neither of which had much experience under their belt as full-fledged producers: Corkett had previously only produced for Suede and Placebo, while Lyon had only one production credit, for The Creatures.

The Cure are scheduled to promote the new release a week from today on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and have also announced a handful of live dates-- including a headlining performance on the second night of the Coachella Festival on May 2nd. The group will then hit Washington, DC's RFK Stadium on May 22nd, alongside Jay-Z, Modest Mouse and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and will also be making the rounds on the European festival circuit this summer. Additionally, an extensive North American tour is reportedly planned to kick off in late July, though dates have not yet been revealed. Dates, as they stand currently:

04-30 Los Angeles, CA - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
05-02 Indio, CA - Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
05-22 Washington, DC - RFK Stadium
06-26 Hamburg, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-27 Stuttgart, Germany - Southside Festival
07-09 Manchester, England - Move Festival
07-10 Naas, Ireland - Oxegen Festival

In related Cure news, the band are apparently about the become the latest beneficiaries of Rhino Records' apparent campaign to offer expanded reissues of the complete discographies of every band that ever found a home in the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic stable. Four of The Cure's early albums are being eyed for an August 17th re-release-- including their 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys, 1980's Seventeen Seconds, 1981's Faith, and 1982's Pornography-- with the remaining albums to follow, Costello-style, over the next 18 months. Tracklists, however, have yet to be announced.

Those of you wondering if there'll be anything left over for the bonus discs of The Cure's forthcoming expanded reissues after the recent release of the four-disc rarities/b-sides box set, Join the Dots, can rest assured: The Cure vaults contain more than 4,000 tapes of scrapped recorded output spanning the band's entire 25-year history.