Whoa. Helmet just announced a show in St. Louis, at the Bluebird on July 25.

According to a MySpace tour update, Sigur Ros is playing Kansas City on Thursday, June 12 at the Uptown Theater. It's not on the venue's Web site yet, but soon, most likely. Yeah, I'm going. Sorry, Raconteurs.

[Update, 5:30 p.m. The Pitch has the pre-sale password here, for anyone interested.]

That's Wednesday, April 30.

I didn't have room in the paper to write about either band, but it's not due to quality. Oh, no. Neva Dinova has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw them open for Rilo Kiley at a 200-person club in Boston. The Omaha band's earliest albums were full of dreamy indie-pop; the new one, You May Already Be Dreaming, is straight-up indie-country, sad-sack twang in which to drown your whiskey sorrows.

Ladyhawk hails from Vancouver, Canada. Shots came out on Jagjaguwar last year, and is recommended for those who like '80s indie rock, Canadian-style country tunes and the following, as per the band's MySpace:

That one day in summer when you get up really early for some reason and you happen to catch the sunrise and it's so silent out and the streets are all empty except for little squirrels and you almost start to cry because everything is so beautiful, that's what Ladyhawk sounds like. Also, cashmere underwear!

I was mighty impressed with promising young local band the Sham the only time I saw them. Apparently I'm not the only one: The band is opening for White Rabbits at the Record Bar in Kansas City on June 1.

Anyway, in concert the quartet treads similar strummy-rock ground the Strokes did a few years back, but with much more verve and a decided lack of snotty boredom. "Roller Skates," a new studio creation, finds the Sham channeling the crinkly, wiry atmospheres of Modest Mouse, while Chris Phillips' vocals echo (but don't ape) Built to Spill's Doug Martsch and all sorts of indie dudes who can actually carry a tune.

Hear for yourself right here!

MP3: The Sham, "Roller Skates"

-- Annie Zaleski

St. Louis, I have a confession to make: Lately I've felt restless. Bored. In a rut. Perhaps this is spring fever talking -- although the heat I have to blast at home to stay warm begs to differ. (It's almost May. Why am I still wearing sweaters?) Either way, the whys and wherefores of my moods are beside the point.

aBut I am looking for the shock of the new, as it were. (Click on the link; it's an obscure new-wave song by Trees I love; I'll post the MP3 of it below.) What bands should I go to see? What places should I go to find new musical gems of all stripes? Are there any music stores, news nuggets or general community goings-on that I'm missing?

I'm being totally serious. I feel like I'm wearing a well-worn tread to the same places and seeing the same people. Give me some new places, people and sounds to experience. I'm all ears. Post in the comments what I should be seeing and doing, and where I should be going.

-- Annie Zaleski

On Monday night, Def Jam hosted a listening lounge for Ne-Yo’s upcoming album Year of the Gentleman at the Gramophone, the new venue on Manchester in the Grove. We snagged a quick Q&A with the singer/songwriter.

Kristy Wendt: You describe your upcoming album Year of the Gentleman as having a different sound than previous ones In My Own Words and Because of You. Will you describe what you mean?
Ne-Yo: Well, those first two albums are traditional R&B. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, listening to new kinds of music, and I wanted to try something new. I stayed in England for a while recently, and I’m trying to bring some of that house culture and nightlife into my music, and I’m also trying to break out of the box with new lyrics. There’s a little more of a rock sound than before. It’s more organic in some places that way.

You hail from Arkansas. Any country influence?
I love country music. The storyline always seems so clear; there’s a clear beginning, middle,and end, and it enhances the beauty of it -- the beauty of a good story. I have a high appreciation of country music.

What was it like growing up in Vegas?
I went to high school in Vegas and it’s really divided into the strip versus the people who are living there. The trip of the strip is different than living there. It’s a tourist town, so friends that you have for a year will often be gone the next, and you have to learn to make new friends.

That sounds hard. Where were you when you got your “in”?
I was actually in California. I was in a group with three other guys called Envy. We had no money, no place to stay, and a plan. We were going to drive to the front of the Capitol Records building in a VW van and [stand on top of the van singing] until we got a record deal. [laughs] That didn’t work out so well. I was working small jobs -- McDonalds, Pizza Hut, you name it. And I got a job working for a production company called New Time Entertainment, who had signed Youngstown and they allowed me to start writing professionally for that group and others. [Envy] broke up, but I got a solo deal with Columbia Records.

Whoa.
Yeah, it sounds like a big deal. And it was -- but it wasn’t -- but it was. If you come into the music business not knowing who you are, they will create you. And if you decide that’s not who you want to be, or you grow into someone else, then you get shelved.

So you’re happier with Def Jam?
Yeah. They’re letting me be who I am.

Ne-Yo presented six songs from Year of the Gentleman...

So, the RFT Music Showcase is merely a month away: It takes place on Sunday, June 1. The voting will go live on our Web site this week! Bands will be contacted shortly to play the showcase. The ballot? Still here.

Feel free to chime in with any questions/comments in the space below.

-- Annie Zaleski

I don't think this press release needs any comment.

COACHELLA organizers are offering $10,000 and four (4) festival tickets for life in exchange for the safe return of the two-story inflatable pig that broke loose during Roger Waters’ set on the final night (Sunday, April 27) of the 2008 COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL. The pig escaped and floated into the desert sky just prior to the intermission between Roger Waters’ back-to-back sets--marking the only back-to-back COACHELLA sets by one artist in the critically acclaimed festival’s history.

Anyone with information on the lost pig, should email lostpig@coachella.com.

Oh wait, this totally needs a comment.

PIGS

IN

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!

Those expecting a grand piano on an empty stage at last night’s Alicia Keys As I Am tour stop at the Scottrade Center were mistaken; accepting Alicia Keys as she is only means yielding to legend. The concert included incredible lighting and stage production, weirdly fast costume changes, backup singers who could be professional dancers and one, Jermaine Paul, who is probably talented enough to make it on his own as a singer/songwriter.

(photo of Alicia Keys by Kristy Wendt)

Jermaine’s opening act seemed an embodyment of As I Am’s spirit; he stood alone with his guitar singing numbers he’d written himself. While not lyrically compelling, his songs were still good – and not coincidentally, I liked the ones that reminded me of something John Legend might crank out. Most impressive were “Talkin ‘Bout Love,” and notably, “Ready to Fall in Love” (both sampled on Jermaine’s MySpace page) which provided an instance when his gospel-influenced sound balanced the simplicity of sweetly hopeful lyrics.

It’s an understatement to say that I was less impressed with Ne-Yo.

Just announced! Co-ed dreampop duo Mates of State are hitting the Bluebird on Sunday, June 8. Here's a video for new song, "Get Better," from the upcoming Re-Arrange Us. RIYL Headlights, Velocity Girl.