Kelly's Soulacoaster cover

Remember last fall's hullabaloo surrounding R. Kelly's memoir Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me? First announced back in December 2009, Kelly's book was originally slated for last November 15, but then mysteriously disappeared from online retailers a few days earlier, only to be pushed back to spring 2012.

That deadline may've come and gone, but we can officially confirm that the book finally has a release date and it's soon--next Thursday, June 28, to coincide with Kell's upcoming full-length Write Me Back. If you're one of the unfortunate few who can't make it to the R. Kelly cruise, Robert Sylvester will be signing Soulacoaster copies at the Tribeca Barnes and Noble, from six to eight pm, that same day. We will not be able to shut up about this book for months.

The press release going out tomorrow is below.

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The reunited Pulp—the brilliant Britpop act led by Jarvis Cocker, and responsible for anthems, dirges, and songs that somehow managed to blend the aesthetics of those two forms—is bringing the reunion tour that started last year to New York City. This morning the band announced that it would be playing Radio City on April 11; while on-sale details are scant at the moment, this is a fine excuse to post a bunch of videos of the band. Just another Monday morning, indeed. UPDATE: Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 27, at 10 a.m. ET. The videos are still below!

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The distorto-pop duo Sleigh Bells' second album Reign Of Terror will be out next year, and the first single has dropped: It's called "Born To Lose," it veers between being absolutely pummeling and losing itself in dream-pop chime, and it has a blown-out guitar solo that sounds like a chorus of video-game consoles on the march for the purposes of reclaiming music for the forces of—well, if not good, at least liveliness. A stream of the track, which premiered today in the UK (via Spin), is below.

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A year and change ago SOTC emerituses (emereti?) Rob Harvilla and Zach Baron said it seemed at least a bit likely, and now it's really happening: The Afghan Whigs, the Cincinnati chroniclers of suffering for love while swaddling one's self in soul to help ease the pain a bit, will be getting back together for concerts in 2012. Yes! (My brain has pretty much been a series of exclamation points since I first heard the news this morning.) Next fall they'll play the All Tomorrow's Parties-masterminded I'll Be Your Mirror Festival in Asbury Park, which will take place down the shore from September 21 through 23; the lineup beyond the Whigs hasn't been set yet, although lead singer Greg Dulli is apparently putting it together. First, though, the band will play their first show in 13 years when they headline the I'll Be Your Mirror festival in London; that takes place at the Alexandra Palace from May 25 through May 27, and oh boy does it have a doozy of a roster so far—it includes the teased-in-this-space Codeine reunion as well as sets by Mudhoney and Slayer. Just look at this flyer!

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Normally I am not too into the idea of the "album trailer"—just put out a song, jeeeez—but the trailer for the second album by the always-maxing-out-the-sound-system duo Sleigh Bells, called Reign In Terror, is too good—a thrashy loop that I could, truth be told, probably listen to for a much longer time than the trailer's 2:25 length running under footage of Alexis Krauss outfitted like HIStory-era Michael Jackson and somberly fixing her glossy hair, which is intercut with various bits of home movies that date all the way back to the camcorder era. The only thing missing from the video, really, is a release date. Anyone? Anyone? [Via]

Most people think the name's a bad joke, but Wheelchair Sports Camp are anything but offensive. A psuedo-hip-hop trio from Denver fronted by Kalyn Heffernan, a 56-pound wheelchair-bound badass emcee with CRIP LIFE tattooed on her stomach, the band is playing Kenny's Castaways tonight at 8pm and they sample everything from Radiohead to J. Dilla, feature a monster sax player, and sometimes cover the song "My Vagina Isn't Handicapped." Need we say anything more?

Post-Irene malaise got you down? Bailing out your basement? Bummed that the subways came back just in time for you to go to work in the AM? Still trying to erase Jessie J's histrionics from your mental audio loop? Why not check out the spectacular album by the megagroup Wild Flag—Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney, Mary Timony of Helium/general guitar heroics, and Rebecca Cole of the Minders—which is currently streaming at NPR two weeks in advance of its release. It's a corker, with Brownstein and Timony trading off on vocals over songs that pop and bend and feel urgent and alive from start to finish, and it'll very likely help pull you out of whatever Monday-morning/hurricane-significant-other-related doldrums you might be experiencing at the moment.

Some exciting changes around the office: Starting now (well, Friday really, but we wanted to give him a day to settle in), Nick Murray—former Voice music intern, Bronx block-party attendee, Razzie enthusiast, and Bieber-flick sleuth, among other things—is taking over as Clubs and Music Listings Editor. He'll also be an even-more-regular contributor to Sound of the City, which should be great for our bad-movies-about-hip-hop coverage and lots of other things. Follow him on Twitter here, add him to your mailing lists here, and get ready for his impending review of Selena Gomez's PNC Arts Center show.

The term "supergroup" is pretty well overused in this hyperadjectived age, so let's call Wild Flag—ex-Sleater Kinneyans Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, former Helium mastermind Mary Timony, and onetime Minder Rebecca Cole—something more superlative, because they certainly deserve it. Superdupergroup? Megagroup? Mondoband? Whatever you prefer, they're playing the Williamsburg Waterfront tonight with Sonic Youth and Kurt Vile, and tickets are still available. A few reasons why you should maybe alter your plans tonight and take the plunge near the East River, after the jump.

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Tina Tyrell

On August 25, the virtuosic and all-around awesome St. Vincent will perform at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden—the first time a concert's taken place in the Met's rooftop space. Tickets go on sale at some point today and will probably sell out fast despite the four-per-person limit, so if you want to get in on it, bookmark this page and keep hitting reload. While you're waiting, why not listen to "Surgeon," the hypnotizing, twisty first single from St. Vincent's forthcoming album Strange Mercy? It's embedded after the jump.

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