Northern Irish dance pop band Two Door Cinema Club have just announced a string of 12 dates for September. The tour starts on the 15th of September in Birmingham and includes their biggest headlining show to date, at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire on 22 September. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday (19 March).

Wednesday 15th September 2010 – Birmingham, Academy 2
Thursday 16th September 2010 - Newcastle, Northumbria University
Friday 17th September 2010 – Glasgow, Oran Mor
Saturday 18th September 2010 – Manchester, Academy 2
Monday 20th September 2010 - Sheffield, Leadmill
Tuesday 21st September 2010 – Leeds Metropolitan University
Wednesday 22nd September 2010 – London, Shepherds Bush Empire
Friday 24th September 2010 – Oxford, Academy
Saturday 25th September 2010 – Brighton, Digital
Monday 27th September 2010 – Stoke, Underground
Tuesday 28th September 2010 – Cambridge, Junction
Wednesday 29th September 2010 – Liverpool, Academy 2

Having lit up the hearts and imaginations of the Hype Machine crowd with new track ‘World Sick, and with their third album “Forgiveness Rock Record” due for release early May, Broken Social Scene have just announced some more UK shows in late June.

Tickets are available at Gigsandtours on Friday morning (19th March 2010)

Saturday 26th June 2010 – Birmingham O2 Academy2
Monday 28th June 2010 – Manchester Club Academy
Wednesday 30th June 2010 – London HMV Forum

One of Manchester’s brightest talents, Doves have announced a string of UK shows for April and May this year to co-incide with the release of their greatest hits, “The Places Between: The Best Of Doves” which is out on 5th April.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (19th March 2010)

Wednesday 28th April 2010 – Hull City Hall
Thursday 29th April 2010 – Leicester De Montfort Hall
Sunday 2nd May 2010 – Blackburn King Georges Hall
Tuesday 4th May 2010 – Folkestone Lea Cliffs Hall
Wednesday 5th May 2010 – Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Thursday 6th May 2010 – London Troxy
Saturday 8th May 2010 – Liverpool University
Sunday 9th May 2010 – Bradford St George’s Hall

Many, many years ago I had a young girl’s dream of becoming a singer. Long story short: for a multitude of reasons, it never happened, but as a result, I’m very critical of female singing voices upon hearing them for the first time. Most of the time, I am displeased (that’s putting it mildly) by what frivolous and unimpassioned warblings some girl is passing off as quote music unquote. I’m happy to report that last week I was pleasantly surprised and even a bit stunned upon hearing the band I am about to describe to you.

The anti-folk foursome Erin K and Tash is fronted by, yep, you guessed it, two angelic, incredible-sounding singers named Erin Kleh and Tash ter Braak. The two met in August 2009 after ter Braak, a talented pianist, answered Kleh’s ad for a backing vocalist for her burgeoning amateur band. The two hit it off right away and have been writing and performing together ever since with Paul Durbin (percussion) and Nicolas Cornu (guitar).

Check out the funny and evocative ‘Sorry I’m Not Black’ (mentioning American basketball star Dennis Rodman and English party girl singer Amy Winehouse) for an example of their lyrics: witty, humourous, and a breath of fresh air. The songs are delivered with such sweetness than the first thing that came into mind upon listening to a gorgeously spare version of ‘Oh Well (without noise version)’ on their MySpace, I thought of Emmy the Great.

The sultry ‘Jiggy Miggy’ reminds me of the great Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas. It’s a great example that even though female voices can be angelic, these women are real women; they feel emotions like love and lust like the rest of us and aren’t afraid to sing about them in a thoughtful way that we normal people can relate to, not at all in the distasteful way that seems pretty much par for the course for female, mass-marketed pop singers these days. So I say to Erin K and Tash, hip hip hooray!

This unsigned band is based in London and plays in venues around town. Here are some upcoming dates taken from their MySpace.

Sunday 21st March 2010 – London Islington Old Queens Head
Thursday 15th April 2010 – London Gladstone (free gig)
Thursday 22nd April 2010 – London Earl’s Court Troubadour
Monday 10th May 2010 – London 12 Bar (Blang! night)
Saturday 22nd May 2010 – London Leytonstone Library Hall

Touring in support of their new album ‘Beast Rest Forth Mouth,’ Brooklyn band Bear In Heaven will hit SXSW before spending a week playing for audiences across the UK.

Tuesday 20th April 2010 – London, The Lexington
Wednesday 21st April 2010 – Brighton, Freebutt
Thursday 22nd April 2010 – Manchester, The Deaf Institute
Friday 23rd April 2010 – Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
Saturday 24th April 2010 – Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
Sunday 25th April 2010 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
Monday 26th April 2010 – London, Windmill Brixton

Tickets are available now through Seetickets.

And while you’re at it, check out their video for ‘Fraternal Noon’:

London electronic rock band Three Trapped Tigers are hitting the road this April in support of their newest effort ‘EP3′. Check out the video for ‘6′ below and go see them in a town near you!

Friday 23rd April 2010 – Cardiff, Arts Institute
Saturday 24th April 2010 – Bristol, Start The Bus (Tickets)
Sunday 25th April 2010 – Manchester, DEAF Institute (Tickets)
Monday 26th April 2010 – Edinburgh, Electric Circus (Tickets)
Tuesday 27th April 2010 – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds (Tickets)
Wednesday 28th Apr 2010 – Brighton, Freebutt (Tickets)
Thursday 29th Apr 2010 – London, Institute of Contemporary Arts (Tickets)

Talons is the support act for this tour.

In order to test the “new live band” before next month’s headlining gig at Coachella, Gorillaz will be embarking on a short 6-date tour of the UK in a little over a week. The lineup will likely include former Clash members Paul Simonon and Mick Jones, who collaborated with Damon Albarn on Gorillaz’s new album, ‘Plastic Beach,’ which was released this past Monday, March 8th.

Sunday 21st March 2010 – Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
Monday 22nd March 2010 – Bristol, Trinity
Tuesday 23rd March 2010 – Cambridge, Junction
Thursday 25th March 2010 – Brighton, Old Market
Friday 26th March 2010 – Birmingham, Irish Centre
Saturday 27th March 2010 – Lincoln, Shed

Tickets are limited and are only available to members of the G-Club on a first-come-first-served basis. If you’re unable to get tickets for these shows, console yourselves by watching their new video and don’t worry – rumour has it they’ll be doing a more extensive tour later in the year.

Oxford quintet Foals‘ much anticipated second album Total Life Forever will be released on May 10th, preceded on May 3rd by debut single ‘This Orient’, and to celebrate they’re gonna be hitting the road for a sizeable tour in late April and early May.

Tickets for all dates go on sale on Friday (12th March 2010) at 9am.

Thursday 29th April 2010 – Liverpool Kazimier
Friday 30th April 2010 – Newcastle University
Sunday 2nd May 2010 – Glasgow ABC
Monday 3rd May 2010 – Leeds Met University
Tuesday 4th May 2010 – Manchester Ritz
Thursday 6th May 2010 – Cambridge Junction
Friday 7th May 2010 – Nottingham Trent University
Saturday 8th May 2010 – Bristol Anson Rooms
Monday 10th May 2010 – London Electric Ballroom
Wednesday 12th May 2010 – Oxford O2 Academy
Friday 14th May 2010 – Dublin Abassador

A new side project of Feeder, Renegades, are hitting the road for their second tour in April. Made up of Grant Nicholas, fellow long time Feeder member Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil, they did a few low-key dates in January 2010 going back to the roots Feeder burst from almost 18 years ago.

Tickets on sale now priced £18.50 except London £22 and doors open 7.30pm each night. Ticket price includes copy of the 4 track EP ‘Renegades2’ which features 4 brand new tracks and a video of ‘Sentimental’ shot exclusively by fans who attended the first Renegades shows in Jan/Feb 2010.

Thursday 15th April 2010 – Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire
Friday 16th April 2010 – Newcastle Northumbria University
Sunday 18th April 2010 – Sheffield Leadmill
Monday 19th April 2010 – Cardiff Millennium Hall
Wednesday 21st April 2010 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Thursday 22nd April 2010 – London Electric Ballroom

North Wales band the Joy Formidable will be logging many miles travelled as they trek across the UK in March and April on tour. Note that four dates in Scotland originally slated for the start of the tour have been rescheduled for early April. Catch the band on the dates below.

Their new single ‘Popinjay’ is now available as a digital download, with a limited run of 500 7″ vinyl singles planned for 5 April.

Sunday 14th March 2010 – Manchester, Ruby Lounge
Monday 15th March 2010 – Liverpool, Korova
Tuesday 16th March 2010 – Nottingham, Bodega
Wednesday 17th March 2010 – Leeds, Cockpit
Friday 19th March 2010 – Cambridge, Portland
Saturday 20th March 2010 – Birmingham, O2 Academy 2
Sunday 21st March 2010 – Oxford, O2 Academy 2
Monday 22nd March 2010 – Brighton, Audio
Wednesday 24th March 2010 – London, Electric Ballroom
Thursday 25th March 2010 – Southampton, Joiners
Friday 26th March 2010 – Bristol, Start the Bus
Saturday 27th March 2010 – Cardiff, Barfly
Monday 29th March 2010 – Northampton, Roadmenders
Tuesday 30th March 2010 – Sheffield, O2 Academy 2
Wednesday 31st March 2010 – Newcastle, O2 Academy 2
Thursday 1st April 2010 – Wrexham, Central Station
Saturday 3rd April 2010 – Glasgow, King Tuts
Sunday 4th April 2010 – Inverness, Madhatters
Monday 5th April 2010 – Aberdeen, Snafu
Tuesday 6th April 2010 - Dundee, Fat Sams

MP3: The Joy Formidable – The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade
MP3: The Joy Formidable – Cradle
MP3: The Joy Formidable – Austere
MP3: The Joy Formidable – While the Flies