Pitchfork: Exclusive: Art Brut Sign American Record Deal

Exclusive: Art Brut Sign American Record Deal

They released their record! TWICE! They released their record! TWICE!

It took a whole year, but Art Brut's barnstorming debut album finally has an American record label and Stateside release date. Bang Bang Rock & Roll will come out May 23 on Downtown Records, home of Gnarls Barkley and Eagles of Death Metal. Fuck yeah!!

(Aside to those who care about label politics: Yes, Downtown is an indie. Although the Gnarls Barkley album is being released jointly on Downtown and Atlantic, the label itself remains independent.)

The U.S. version of Pitchfork's third-favorite album of 2005 will be beefed up by three bonus tracks, "These Animal Menswe@r", "Really Bad Weekend", and "Maternity Ward", all previously released as UK B-sides.

So the tracklist goes a little something like this:

01 Formed a Band
02 My Little Brother
03 Emily Kane
04 Rusted Guns of Milan
05 Modern Art
06 Good Weekend
07 Bang Bang Rock & Roll
08 Fight!
09 Moving to L.A.
10 Bad Weekend
11 Stand Down
12 18,000 Lira
13 These Animal Menswe@r
14 Really Bad Weekend
15 Maternity Ward

Art Brut are busy ravaging the Midwest right now on their current North American tour, which will take them to Coachella at the end of April. It will also take them to the Metro here in Chicago on Thursday night, where the band just might make a very special announcement, perhaps regarding a certain summer music festival that a certain website's staff members will be holding a raffle to win tickets for that night. If you catch my drift...

Art Brut! TRL countdown! Art Brut! TRL countdown!

03-28 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry *
03-30 Chicago, IL - Metro *$
03-31 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom #*
04-01 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern
04-02 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *
04-03 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs #^
04-04 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #!
04-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *%
04-07 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *%
04-08 Haverford, PA - Haverford College *
04-09 Washington, DC - Black Cat ^%
04-10 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar ^
04-11 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw ^
04-13 London, England - The Insomniac's Ball +
04-30 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella) &
05-01 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
05-02 San Diego, CA - Casbah
05-03 Tucson, AZ - Plush
05-06 Lawrence, KS - The Granada @
05-11 Athens, GA - 40 Watt
05-13 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn @
05-15 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle @

* with Gil Mantera's Party Dream
$ with Tyrades
# with the Ponys
% with the Robocop Kraus
^ with the Rogers Sisters
! with Bling Kong
+ with British Sea Power, Mando Diao, Battle, the Pipettes, Vincent Vincent and the Villains, Black Wire, more
& with Tool, Massive Attack, Madonna, the Go! Team, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, James Blunt, etc.
@ with Be Your Own Pet

* Pitchfork News: Art Brut Kick Off North American Tour