Pitchfork

Keytars are always, always, always wacky, which must make Shy Child a wackier band than their meek moniker would suggest.

The ostentatious electro-punk duo of Nate Smith and Pete "I Play the Friggin' Keytar" Cafarella has signed with the Kill Rock Stars crew, who'll issue the band's 2007 LP Noise Won't Stop in North America for the first time May 5. The disc, produced by White Rabbits/Les Savy Fav knob-twister Chris Zane, features MC Spank Rock on the tune "Kick Drum". And keytar! So very much keytar.

Shy Child will unload gobs of keytar fury all over the U.S. this spring with Midnight Juggernauts, though the crowd gathered at Kill Rock Stars' SXSW showcase down at Emo's this Friday (March 14) will be the first to have their ivories plastics tickled and their (nonexistent) strings bent. Can a single club really contain a magical instrument that combines a keyboard and a guitar? Yeah, probably.

Noise Won't Stop:

01 Drop the Phone
02 Pressure to Come
03 The Volume
04 Kick Drum [ft. Spank Rock]
05 Generation U
06 Angel of Mercy
07 Murder Capital
08 Astronaut
09 Noise Won't Stop
10 Summer
11 What's It Feel Like?
12 Cause and Effect

Shy Child:

03-14 Austin, TX - Emo's (Kill Rock Stars SXSW showcase)
04-22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards *
04-23 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine *
04-29 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive *
05-02 Chicago, IL - Double Door *
05-03 Toronto, Ontario - Anti *
05-04 Montreal, Quebec - Les Saints *
05-06 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
05-07 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *
05-09 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *

* with Midnight Juggernauts