Chicago’s garage-pop masterminds CoCoComa will be kicking off the new decade with a three-week trek throughout mainland Europe, beginning with a riotous New Year’s Eve show in Berlin followed by a caravan through Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Along the way, friends Sonic Chicken 4, Mondo Ray, and Chimiks will join them.

Just in time for their European dates, Germany’s Red Lounge Records will be releasing a collection LP containing a slew of CoCoComa’s 7” singles, live bits, and unreleased tracks. The collection album is titled “Spectrum of Sounds” and will be available at the band’s merch table and shortly thereafter via the internet and various distributors.

CoCoComa “Pick Slides Across Europe” Tour 2010
12/30 – Munster, GERMANY @ Gleis 22 w/ Mondo Ray
12/31 – Berlin, GERMANY @ Cortina Bob w/ Mondo Ray
1/1 – Dresden, GERMANY @ Groove Station
1/2 – Stuttgart, GERMANY @ Club Zwoelfzehn
1/3 – Treviso, ITALY @ Outside/Inside Studio (limited space, RSVP: info@outsideinsidestudio.com)
1/6 – Perpignan, FRANCE @ El Mediator
1/7 – Zaragoza, SPAIN @ Kezka
1/8 – Valladolid, SPAIN @ Wallaby
1/9 – Madrid, SPAIN @ Wurlitzer Ballroom w/ Le Jonathan Reilly
1/10 – San Sebastian, SPAIN @ Mogmabo
1/12 – Bordeaux, FRANCE @ St. Ex
1/13 – Orleans, FRANCE @ Paxton’s Head w/ Chimiks
1/14 – Paris, FRANCE @ Le Gambetta 2/ Chimiks
1/15 – Rouen, FRANCE @ Emporium Gallorium
1/16 – Kortrijk, BELGIUM @ The Pit’s
1/17 – Groningen, NETHERLANDS @ TBA

CoCoComa released their second LP Things Are Not All Right earlier this year on Memphis’s infamous Goner Records, home to other garage rock titans like Jay Reatard, Ty Segall, Box Elders, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and many others. The record has already garnered considerable praise from critics, some of who have said:

“Forget blitzkriegs, CoCoComa’s Things Are Not All Right is the real all-out assault. […] This is garage rock on an entirely new and bountiful level. Blink and you might miss the drunken genius of Cococoma, but take them in and you’ll probably be left blinking in surprise for days anyway.” – Skope Magazine

“A word of free advice: Any bands out there considering making a record that lands anywhere along the fairly lengthy (yet somehow narrow) gamut of garage/punk/power pop/rock, do it this way. On their sophomore full-length for Goner Records, Chicago quartet CoCoComa offer what is essentially a blueprint for how to create a loud, melodic, built-to-last punk record. […] Things Are Not All Right bursts with simple, well-crafted tunes that walk a fine edge between sweet and sour; garage and glam; gritty and glossy. They’re delivered with an urgency and directness that practically dares other bands to come up with something so impossibly simple and dead on.” – Dusted

“With bursting pop mayhem, this reminds me of the Lookout roster of years gone by, like the Pattern, albeit with a tad bit of Cheap Trick as well, like huge hooks, marshaled drums, and tight tunefulness. […] This stuff is hectic, unpretentious, lacking that winking irony, and actually full-throttle fun — just an organic heap of all things righteous and rollicking.” – Left of the Dial

In the midst of their current tour across the Midwest and down the East Coast, Gainesville’s Spanish Gamble have posted the cover art and track listing of their forthcoming debut album. Entitled “It’s All Coming Down,” the record will be released on CD, LP (with CD), and digital formats in the early months of 2010 by the ever-prolific Paper + Plastick.

The album’s artwork was created by Craig Horky (Cheap Girls, North Lincoln, Lemuria) and will feature an interlocking die-cut LP jacket enclosing the vinyl record.

Spanish Gamble has also leaked another new song from the album. You can check out “A Prescription To Your End” on the band’s MySpace page, along with the previously leaked tracks “It’s All Coming Down” and “Four Letter Word.”

“It’s All Coming Down” track listing:
1. There Is No God Tonight
2. Science Can’t Explain Magic
3. Four Letter Word
4. It’s All Coming Down
5. The Art of Settling
6. We Are The Restless
7. Don’t Tell Me How To Drive
8. Can I Live?
9. Let Me Go
10. Sunday Curse
11. A Prescription To Your End
12. I Just Wanted To Know…

The band has spent the past two weeks on tour with longtime buds Reverse The Curse, and they’ve got a few dates left which can be seen by clicking “more” below. Following these dates, they’ll take a short break over Christmas and then get back to work planning more tours throughout 2010, with hopes to hit the entire US and possibly Europe before the year’s end.
(more…)

Off With Their Heads have announced plans to continue their tireless conquest of the road in support of their critically acclaimed album “From the Bottom,” released last year on No Idea Records, which found its way onto many writers top lists of 2008!

On this run, the band will be sharing the stage with the legendary ALL and The Queers.

w/ALL
1/6 – Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
1/7 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
1/8 – Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar
1/9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Williamsburg Hall of Music (early show – 5pm!)
1/9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Williamsburg Hall of Music (late show – 9pm!)
——————–
2/12 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
——————–
w/ The Queers
2/17 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia
2/18 – Newport, KY @ The Southgate House
2/19 – Toledo, OH @ Frankie’s
2/20 – London, ON @ Call The Office
2/21 – Whittier, CA @ Horse Shoe Tavern
2/23 – Quebec, QC @ L’Agitee
2/24 – Montreal, QC @ Les Foufounes Electriques
2/25 – Saint Catherines, ON @ Mikado
2/26 – Buffalo, NY @ The Mohawk Place
2/27 – Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Cafe Metropolis
2/28 – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat – Backstage

For those of you who somehow have been living your life without hearing Off With Your Heads, you can still stream From The Bottom on the band’s Punknews.org band profile.

Richmond’s The Riot Before have posted a video of singer Brett Adams performing an acoustic rendition of their song “You Can’t Sexy Dance to Punk Rock” from the band’s last album, “Fists Buried In Pockets.” You can check it out right here.

The video is the first installment of Paper + Plastick’s Bathroom Tapes, a series the label hopes to continue with more acoustic performances filmed within all manner of stalls, porta-potties, and outhouses. The mad scientists of Thunderclap Supergenius filmed this edition, which follows in their line of previously posted intimate performances using only a single camera, a single microphone, and a single take. They’ve also posted videos from bands like Grabass Charlestons, Joey Cape & Jon Snodgrass, and Mike Hale & Austin Lucas.

The Riot Before recently wrapped up recording for their third full-length and Paper + Plastick debut, “Rebellion.” The album was tracked at The Magpie Cage in Washington, DC, with legendary producer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Jawbreaker, Against Me!). It is currently in the mixing stage, with an anticipated release date of March 16, 2010.