The Velvet Teen to Release New Album, Tour
The Velvet Jesus to weep, bleed above grandma's fireplace

What do you get if you combine a G4 laptop, a reasonable facsimile of Thom Yorke's winsome falsetto, and a successful battle against brain cancer? Okay, actually, you'd better let us answer this for you: It's The Velvet Teen, the Santa Rosa band who're just about ready to deliver their second album and first headlining tour. Elysium comes out July 20th on Slowdance Records, and showcases the band's transition from straight-up rock to slow-building orch-rock in a manner reminiscent of former tourmates Death Cab for Cutie. But with tracks averaging over six minutes each, Elysium strides farther into the world of the new taking-your-damn-time indie-rock than everyone's favorite Bellinghamsters have. As a means to this end, or perhaps just in emulation of Radiohead, The Velvet Teen have entirely excluded guitars from the new record. Which has these words on it:

01 Sartre Ringo
02 Penicillin (It Doesn't Mean Much)
03 A Captive Audience
04 Chimera Obscurant
05 Poor Celine
06 Forlorn
07 We Were Bound (To Bend The Rules)

Though he did contribute to the new album, original drummer Logan Whitehurst was recently diagnosed with-- and had removed-- a brain tumor. The operation went well and Whitehurst is recovering apace, but has chosen to leave the band and concentrate on his solo project, Junior Science Club. In an open letter to The Velvet Teen fans written just before his operation, Whitehurst explained his motivations: "During my illness I have had a lot of time to think about what I want to do and where I want to be in life, and I realized that, right now, the music I want to make is the music of the Junior Science Club. Not because I think it's better music (not by a long shot), but because of the way I feel when I'm making it." Whitehurst goes on to explain that there are no hard feelings motivating or surrounding his departure. Casey Deitz (formerly of The Americas) will be replacing him until the end of time, which you'll notice is only slightly longer than this tour:

07-20 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill *
07-22 Los Gatos, CA - The Outhouse
07-23 Petaluma, CA - The Phoenix Theater #
07-24 Pomona, CA - 51 Buckingham *
07-25 Los Angeles, CA - The Knitting Factory *
07-26 Phoenix, AZ - Modified *#
07-27 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture *#
07-28 Santa Fe, NM - Warehouse 21 *#
07-29 Amarillo, TX - The Refuge *#
07-30 Norman, OK - Opolis *#
07-31 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves *
08-01 Austin, TX - Emo's *
08-03 Houston, TX - The Proletariat *
08-04 Baton Rouge, LA - The North Gate Tavern *
08-05 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar *
08-06 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *
08-07 Orlando, FL - Will's Pub *
08-08 St. Augustine, FL - Café Eleven
08-09 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
08-10 Chattanooga, TN - Lamar's #
08-11 Nashville, TN - Exit In #
08-12 Carrboro, NC - Go! Studios #
08-13 Washington, DC - DC9 #
08-14 New York, NY - Knitting Factory #
08-15 Boston, MA - Middle East #
08-16 Philadelphia, PA - The Fire #$
08-17 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop $
08-18 Detroit, MI - The Magic Stick $
08-19 Urbana, IL - Caffe Paradisco $
08-20 Chicago, IL - The Fireside Bowl $
08-21 Minneapolis, MN - Dinkytowner $
08-22 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground $
08-23 Lawrence, KS - Jackpot $
08-24 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre #
08-25 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court $
08-26 Boise, ID - Neurolux
08-27 Seattle, WA - The Vera Project
08-28 Portland, OR - Nocturnal

* with the Polar Bears
# with the Americas
$ with Statistics

The Velvet Teen: http://www.thevelvetteen.com