Embed and breakfast man: The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers did Letterman yesterday. Here, don't take my word for it - here they are...

More tour pain

Neko Case has hobbled off the New Pornographers tour after fracturing her ankle.

She'd tried to carry on, dragging her broken bones through two gigs, explained the band in a statement:

"[She] was really trying to be a trooper and stayed on as long as was possible through Richmond and Athens, but it has gotten to the point where she must return home.

"She's very upset about having to leave, it's been super fun having her on stage and around the bus. We hope that you understand Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Madison and Cleveland. The rest of us will just have to play that much harder to put on the best show possible."

We're sure the towns will be understanding about the non-appearance of Case, although they might be less forgiving on the use of the phrase "super fun".

Download delights

Matador Records are currently offering a niftily-zipped downloadable version of their annual sampler album. Including Cat Power, The New Pornographers, The Jicks and - as they'd say if they were flogging it on the telly - much, much more.

Is "groose" even a proper word?

Something to ponder as you enjoy The New Pornographers iTunes only live album, live from SoHo, upon which they cover ELO's Don't Bring Me Down.

(You can see what that's like, by the way, here, providing you can manage schoolboy French and have patience with a stuttery server.

Of hamsters and metre: Neko Case on poetry

Neko Case has contributed to the current number of Poetry magazine, although not without some misgivings:

About twenty minutes after sending my e-mail of acceptance I paused to triumphantly sharpen my claws on the bookcase when I noticed the blazing, neon writing on the wall. It said: YOU'VE NEVER EVEN PASSED ENGLISH 101 AND EVERYONE WHO READS THIS MAGAZINE WILL KNOW IT.

We're sure there's room for a sister article in Psychology magazine.

Pornographers' art refreshed

Neko Case is re-releasing her most recent three albums, including Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, which only originally emerged last year and seems a little early to be getting the shake-down. Fox comes in a new package, which includes a whole extra disc of... you know, the usual 'buy this record all over again' stuff.

Leaked Pornographers

Some more new music: Idolator has got a first mp3 from the new New Pornographers soon-arriving Challenger album.

New New Pornographers stuff: Expected August

Talking to Pitchfork, Carl Newman has confirmed the seemingly impossible-to-organise New Pornographers fourth album is getting under way this month:

Yeah, we're about a week away from starting to mix our record. We're going to try and have it finished by the end of April, then it should come out at the end of August, something like that.

It's going to be called Challengers and, apparently, will be "quieter than they've ever been."

Pornography on the streets of London

We're not sure that three dates in London quite constitutes a UK tour, but we're not going to complain about The New Pornographers playing dates. These dates, to be precise:

18 June - Bar Acadamy
19 - Borderline
20 - 93 Feet East

This is to be a Neko Case-less visit, we should say, but none the worse for that.