Pitchfork

-- They returned from nowhere to release an EP last year, and now 90s alt-pop survivors the Rentals have a big year-long project going on through their website. It's called "Songs About Time". Once a day, Matt Sharp's post-Weezer project put up a new photo. Once a week, they'll post a new black-and-white short film with an original soundtrack that you won't be able to find anywhere else. And once every three months, they'll release a new mini-album, with the first one coming in April. You'll be able to stream or buy them on the Rentals site and nowhere else. At the end of the year, it will all be bundled into a box set. It'll be interesting to see if this project produces anything as enduringly great as "Friends of P".

-- On February 17, Ninja Tune will release the Soca Sound System EP, Canadian lazer bass producer Ghislain Poirier's toe-dip into the frantic Carribean dance genre known as soca. Poirier has a busy year coming up. This summer, he'll release his dancehall experiment Run the Riddim EP, and this fall he'll drop the Low Ceiling dance EP. At the end of the year, he'll round up all those dabbles into a double-CD compilation called Running High. In April, Poirier will embark on a West Coast DJ tour.

-- Last year, we reported that Aussie indie pop mob Architecture in Helsinki had a new single called "That Beep" coming out. "That Beep" will finally see American record-store shelves this Tuesday, February 17, when Polyvinyl releases it on CD and 12". (It's available now digitally.) The single will include four remixes, including two from Radioclit, one of which features Marina Ribatski, formerly of Bonde do Role.

-- Brooklyn beard-folkie Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent will tour the U.S. this March and Europe in May. At his SXSW and New York shows, he'll play To Willie, his Willie Nelson tribute album, in its entirety.

-- British experimental folkers Tunng will tour the UK this March with a pared-down three-member version of the badass Malian desert-rock band Tinariwen. Earlier this year, the two groups recorded a collaborative session for BBC Radio 3's Late Junction; it will air on February 19. Tinariwen are working on a new album with producer Jean-Paul Romann. According to their website, some recording will be done "out in the bush in nomad camps and other magical locations," with a film crew in tow to document the proceedings. Tinariwen will tour Australia and the U.S. in April. On March 23, Need No Water will release a split 7" between Tunng and Soy Un Caballo, a Belgian band that has also worked with Will Oldham and the High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan.