Has Southern rapper Flo Rida’s ubiquitous summer smash “Sugar” -- with its Echo and The Bunnymen-inflected reminder of the female vocalist’s “lips like sugar” and its totally perplexing sample of the Eiffel 65 freak hit “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” -- got you craving something more original, something more, say, post-punk? That chorus! That lady voice! It’s so saccharine that you really feel that, yes, perhaps her lips do consist entirely of pure cane sugar and possibly some high fructose corn syrup as well. But that’s not what this is about, and by now you can probably figure out the direction this story’s taking. That’s right: Eiffel 65 has been added to the roster for this fall’s All Tomorrow’s Parties in New York State!! Nah, I’m just messing with you guys. Echo and the Bunnymen are releasing a new album. That’s the news.
The band’s most recent output came four years ago with Siberia (TMT Review), but now, on October 13, all that will change with the release of The Fountain! Recorded in Liverpool by Scottish producer John McLaughlin, the album promises “pulsating rock anthems and Bowie-ish pop” (according to the press release). Ooh -- pulsating! But wait -- there’s more! After some very popular appearances at London’s Camden Crawl and South by Southwest, the band has been booked to play the All Points West festival in New Jersey alongside MGMT, Fleet Foxes, Jay-Z, Arctic Monkeys, and Coldplay.
AND, in extra-special news, the Bunnymen are now booking several North American dates, during which they will play their seminal 1985 album Ocean Rain in its entirety. A few confirmed dates are listed below alongside UK dates, with more on the way
10.12.09 - Wolverhampton, UK - Wulfrun Hall
10.13.09 - Manchester, UK - Ritz
10.14.09 - Glasgow, UK - Barrowlands
10.15.09 - London, UK - Roundhouse
10.20.09 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theater
10.22.09 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
10.24.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre
12.12.09 - Oxford, UK - O2 Academy
12.18.09 - Liverpool, UK - O2 Academy