Pixies Plan Euro Trek, Frank Black Preps Double LP

This summer, the alt-rock dinosaurs will head to Europe for many a music fest and one appearance at a pavilion in Lisbon. Such is life for the reunited, we guess.

Here comes your band:

07-14 Trencín, Slovakia - Pahoda Festival
07-15 St. Pölten, Austria - Nuke Festival
07-16 Zagreb, Croatia - Salata Festival
07-19 Toulon, France - Voix de Gaou Festival
07-20 Lisbon, Portugal - Pavilhão Atlântico
07-21 Benicàssim, Spain - Benicàssim Festival
07-23 Carhaix-Plouguer, France - Vieilles Charrues Festival

According to Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago, however, the whole reformation thing might be on its way to PlayedOutsVille. He recently told Billboard.com, "It will be an organic process, I guess. After these shows, should we continue on? Should we let it rest? We really don't know." That "organic process" stuff applies to the prospect of a new Pixies record as well.

The "tour" announcement comes amid a flurry of Pixies-related activity. The book Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies by Josh Frank and Caryn Ganz was released in America just last week. The reunion documentary loudQUIETloud premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. And the 33 1/3 book series' examination of the Pixies classic album Doolittle, written by New York Times dude Ben Sisario, is due in stores in April.

Billboard.com also reports that Kim Deal is working on a new Breeders album (yes!), Santiago contributed the score to the Canadian documentary film Radiant City, and drummer David Lovering is, uh, still really into his magic career. Cue "The Final Countdown".

Frank Black, on the other hand, continues to record music like the rest of us check our email. In February, he unleashed a double-album collection of B-sides on iTunes. And then on June 20, he'll release another two-disc set, Fastman Raiderman, on Back Porch/EMI. According to his website, it will contain "a combination of tracks that 'didn't fit' with Honeycomb as well as a second Nashville session in 2004 and some new numbers recorded in the recent FBLA Sessions." FBLA is FrankBlack.net-speak for Frank Black in Los Angeles.

Fastman features contributions from a murderer's row of veterans, including Levon Helm of the Band, Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, Al "I played the organ on 'Like a Rolling Stone'" Kooper, Steve Cropper of Booker T. & the MG's, and Memphis soul legend Spooner Oldham. Somewhere, Cat Power is drooling.

But will it ever end?:

Disc One:

01 If Your Poison Gets You
02 Johnny Barleycorn
03 Fast Man
04 You Can't Crucify Yourself
05 Dirty Old Town
06 Wanderlust
07 Seven Days
08 Raiderman
09 The End of the Summer
10 Dog Sleep
11 When the Paint Grows Darker Still
12 I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)
13 Golden Shore

Disc Two:

01 In the Time of My Ruin
02 Down to You
03 Highway to Lowdown
04 Kiss My Ring
05 My Terrible Ways
06 Fitzgerald
07 Elijah
08 It's Just Not Your Moment
09 The Real El Rey
10 Where the Wind Is Going
11 Holland Town
12 Sad Old World
13 Don't Cry That Way
14 Fare Thee Well

Pixies (unofficial): http://www.pixiesmusic.com/
Frank Black: http://www.frankblack.net/