Pitchfork: Avalanches Plan Afro-Soca Club Nights

Fresh off their leftfield inclusion in several Top Singles of 2004 lists (including our own) for their re-working of Belle and Sebastian's "I'm a Cuckoo", anticipation for the Avalanches' follow-up to their 2000 debut Since I Left You grows greater each day. Really, we here at the Pitchfork news desk would be happy to hear anything about the record besides the fact that they're recording it. However, we don't expect much work will get done during February, as the Australian six-piece will take their "Brains" club show on the road for seven dates.

It's sort of hard to explain what the fuck "Brains" is, exactly-- basically, the band makes a bunch of crazy noise at a club in Melbourne with a revolving cast of musicians under the rubric of afro-soca. Now they're taking that idea on the road, enticing "those unfamiliar with African sounds onto the dance floor by blending soca rhythms, sirens, and extraordinarily psychedelic afro rock," according to the group's website. To heighten the "frenzied carnival of dancing and percussion", Gambian drummer King Marong and his band will accompany the Avalanches for the tour. I know it sounds like we're making this up, but we're not.

The last two dates of the tour will be held at two decidedly different festivals in Australia. The first, at the Perth International Arts Festival, will come in the midst of an expansive fortnight that features the Shins, the Delgados, and the Black Keys. The second festival is not quite so epic, and instead will be held in a Chinatown alleyway in Melbourne. The Avalanches will be joined there by Architecture in Helsinki, the Dears, and Art of Fighting, a line-up sure to liven up to the Avalanches' description of the festival as "a one-off ape-shit street party."

01-29 Melbourne, Australia - St. Jeromes
02-04 Sydney, Australia - The Civic
02-05 Brisbane, Australia - The Rev
02-06 Byron Bay, Australia - The Great Northern
02-11 Adelaide, Australia - Jive
02-19 Perth, Australia - Concert Hall Verandah (Perth Festival)
02-27 Melbourne, Australia - St. Jeromes Laneway Festival