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Little Joy tour dates (Bowery), a new Regina Spektor album

Little Joy @ Mercury Lounge (more by Zach Stern)
Little Joy

Little Joy is playing the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, June 23rd. Tickets for the NYC show go on presale Wednesday, May 6th at noon. General sale starts Friday, May 8th at noon. The show looks like it’s part of a larger, not-fully-announced tour (all known dates below).

Little Joy is Binki Shapiro, Rodrigo Amarante and Fabrizio Moretti — the last of whom is the drummer for the Strokes. News with that band includes a March 27th message on the Strokes’ website, which reads “The Strokes are now all back hard at work in their NYC space on writing and rehearsing new material for a 4th full-length album.”

Regina Spektor, friend and collaborator of the Strokes, is set to release her own new album, Far, on Tuesday, June 23rd on Sire Records. The Stokes and Spektor have a long past together. One part is the fact that “Spektor’s first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003-2004 Room on Fire tour” (Wikipedia). Other past connections include collaborating on Reptilia b-side “Post Modern Girls”/”Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men,” Spektor playing piano on Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture’s Nickel Eye side-project album, and Spektor playing shows with Albert Hammond Jr. That includes the rainy stop at McCarren Pool last summer.

“Spektor will tour the world beginning in June. Tour dates to be announced soon.”

More info on Regina’s new album with art, plus two Little Joy videos including an unplugged version of “Keep Me in Mind”, below…

Little Joy – Keep me in Mind – [unplugged]

Little Joy – “No One’s Better Sake”

Regina Spektor

Sire Records and Regina Spektor are very proud to announce the release of FAR; the highly anticipated follow up to Spektor’s gold album BEGIN TO HOPE. Set for a June 23rd release, FAR continues to reveal new layers in Spektor’s songwriting as she pursues the next level in her inimitable musical style. With her uninhibited imagination and her hands on approach in the studio, FAR not only succeeds with 13 impressive and accessible tracks, but it spotlights Spektor’s remarkable gift to craft intelligent and refreshingly honest odes to life. Four exceptional producers collaborated with Spektor on FAR: Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Traveling Wilburys), Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes) and Garret “Jacknife” Lee (Weezer, REM).

Captivating audiences with songs that are distinctively her own, BEGIN TO HOPE, allowed Spektor to go from hypnotizing small crowds to selling out 3,000 capacity venues worldwide with what Rolling Stone praised as “one of the most intensely joyful rock shows we’ve seen.” BEGIN TO HOPE also spent 5 weeks in a row at #1 on the Billboard new artists chart before moving to #20 on the Billboard Top 100 and selling 1 million copies worldwide (Gold or Platinum in 7 countries).

Spektor’s ability to explore rich soundscapes and combine them with her evocative and intricately structured melodies and lyrics has grown tremendously on FAR. From the gripping lyrics of the first single LAUGHING WITH to the intoxicating beat of THE CALCULATION, from the multilayered vocal work on BLUE LIPS to the rocking EET, FAR is the work of a talented, daring and important artist.

Spektor will tour the world beginning in June. Tour dates to be announced soon. [pr]

Little Joy – 2009 Tour Dates
06/03/09 San Francisco, CA The Independent
06/04/09 Costa Mesa, CA Detroit Bar
06/05/09 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour
06/19/09 Philadelphia, PA Khyber Pass Pub
06/23/09 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom