Pitchfork

For two guys who stopped making music together, David Bazan and TW Walsh sure do have similar schedules in the upcoming months.

Bazan will release an EP, Fewer Moving Parts, under his own name. According to a press release, Fewer Moving Parts will feature artwork by "acclaimed graphic novelist Zak Sally" (never mind that he used to be the bassist for Low) and "two different versions [each] of five new Bazan songs [except for "Backwoods Nation", which was previously featured on the Jade Tree compilation Location Is Everything, Vol. 1]. One will be stripped down acoustic and another version will have full instrumentation," full instrumentation provided by Bazan, who performed and recorded the entire EP by himself in his home studio.

We know the release will be available on tour and through Bazan's website starting June 13, but we're unsure of whether the acoustic or the full-band versions of the tracks will come first and whether or not they will be one after another. His website lists the songs in the following order:

Fewer Moving Parts:

Holy War (Making It, Faking It, Breaking It)
How I Remember (Don't Cry, I'm Not Gonna Hurt You)
Backwoods Nation (Here We Go Again)
Fewer Broken Pieces (Precious, Please Make Up Your Mind)
Cold Beer and Cigarettes (The Devil Is Beating His Wife)

Before he returns to the studio to work on his next full-length, tentatively scheduled for a spring 2007 release, Bazan will also be touring both by himself and with friends Vic Chesnutt, Mark Eitzel of American Music Club, and Centro-matic's Will Johnson and Scott Danbom, as Undertow Orchestra. According to Bazan's website, these shows will be collaborations in which the band members "rotate between each songwriter's material, while serving as backing band on various instruments for each other's tunes." All dates are as Undertow Orchestra unless otherwise noted.

Transcontinental:

05-31 Mallorca, Spain - Teatre Lloseta
06-01 Zaragoza, Spain - Casa del Loco
06-03 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Fest
06-06 Porto, Portugal - Casa da Musica
06-07 Haarlem, Netherlands - Patronaat
06-08 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli de Helling
06-09 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
06-11 London, England - Union Chapel
06-15 Chicago, IL - Schuba's (solo show)
06-16 Cleveland Heights, OH - The Grog Shop (solo show)
06-17 Toronto, Ontario - Music Gallery (solo show)
06-18 Montreal, Quebec - Mile End Cultural Centre (solo show)
06-19 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's (solo show)
06-20 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw (solo show)
06-21 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's (solo show)
06-22 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live (solo show)
06-23 Washington, DC - Black Cat (solo show)
06-24 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café (solo show)
06-25 Newport, KY - Southgate House (solo show)

Bazan's synth-heavy side project Headphones, of which Walsh is also no longer a member, also has a couple of shows scheduled, conveniently bookending his other dates.

Headphones:

05-28 George, WA - Sasquatch Festival
07-01 Seattle, WA - Neumo's (Suicide Squeeze 10th Anniversary Show)

As for Walsh, he is also releasing a limited edition EP of sorts, which will serve as the debut of his band the Soft Drugs. It is titled The Soft Drugs in Moderation and will be released on Walsh's new label, Tower of Song. It features contributions from members of the Crystal Skulls, Sufjan Stevens' band, and who else but David Bazan. "I wish I could quit you," indeed. Here's the tracklist:

01 Defending the Paint
02 The Pitch
03 Brand New Name
04 Don't Sweat It
05 Broken Truces

In Moderation will have a slightly larger release than Bazan's EP. It will appear on the internet and in what a press release calls "select independent music stores" on June 6. Finally, a vaguely Christian rocker using the 6-6-6 release date to its fullest potential! Actually, that would probably include fire, brimstone, and the resurrection of the Stone Temple Pilots' recording career. We'll take the Soft Drugs, in moderation of course.

The Soft Drugs have two shows scheduled, both taking place in June in the Pacific Northwest:

06-22 Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern *
06-23 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *

* with Mark Eitzel, Damien Jurado

For those feeling nostalgic for Pedro the Lion, Jade Tree digitally re-released the Tour EP 2004 on May 9, which featured reworked Pedro the Lion originals as well as covers of Randy Newman, Cat Power, and Radiohead songs.

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