Connecticut-based indie-pop duo Mates of State have announced a second leg of tour dates in the U.S., beginning October 26th in Birmingham, AL. Starting on September 21st, the band will tour the East Coast, kicking off at D.C.’s 9:30 Club and wrap up their trek after stopping in the South and ending in the Midwest on November 21st, where they will play Cleveland’s Beachland Ballroom just in time for Thanksgiving. Along the way, the band will be performing in such historic venues as New York City’s Webster Hall and Los Angeles’ Music Box. Suckers, Yawn, Other Lives, and Generationals will all share in support along the tour. For a full list of tour dates and accompanying support, please see below.

The tour is in support of the band’s forthcoming record, Mountaintops, which will be released on September 13th via Barsuk Records. Mountaintops is the band’s full-length follow up to 2008′s critically acclaimed Re-Arrange Us. The self-produced album was written and recorded over the last year and a half in 6 different studios with multiple different engineers. For complete track listing, see below.

Mates of State U.S. Tour Dates

9/21 – Washington DC @930 Club *#
9/22 – Cincinnati, OH – Mid Point Music Festival
9/23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls *#
9/24 – Philadelphia, PA – Popped Festival
9/26 – Boston, MA – Royale *#
9/27 – Montreal – Il Motore *#
9/28 – Toronto – Phoenix Concert Theatre *#
9/29 – Detroit – St. Andrews *#
9/30 – Chicago – Metro *#
10/1 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall %#
10/3 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel %#
10/4 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In %#
10/5 – Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theatre %#
10/6 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn %#
10/7 – Orlando, FL – The Social %#
10/8 – Sunrise, FL – Langerado Festival
10/10 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club %#
10/11 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar #%
10/12 – New York, NY – Webster Hall %
10/26 – Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay Theatre $
10/27 – Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder $
10/30 – Little Rock, AR – Revolution Music Room $
10/31 – St. Louis, MO – The Firebird $
11/01 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom $
11/02 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater $
11/04 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s $
11/07 – Tucson, AZ – Plush $
11/08 – Los Angeles, CA – The Music Box $
11/12 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge $
11/13 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater $
11/15 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar $
11/16 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room $
11/18 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Café $
11/19 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom $
11/21 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom $

* w/ Suckers
# w/ Yawn
% w/ Other Lives
$ w/ Generationals

Crushes… is the first full album recorded and produced by Mates Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner themselves, with a mixing assist from longtime collaborator Peter Katis (The National, Swell Season, Interpol, etc.). Arguably their most vibrant effort to date, every one of Crushes’ ten tracks is equal measures bold choice and affectionate celebration. The Mars Volta’s brooding psychedelic epic “Son et Lumiere” segues seamlessly into an ever breezier re-interpretation of Belle & Sebastian’s “Sleep the Clock Around,” while Tom Waits’ “Long Way Home” is transformed from a sparse ode to tough luck love into an adrenalized anthem, and so forth.

The Summer Crushes tour will bring a similar twist to the Mates of State live experience, as the band’s signature ebullient and uplifting performances will be supported on this one time only occasion by multimedia guests ranging from the unapologetic Philadelphia dance-rock of Free Energy to the humor of Todd Barry (Flight of the Conchords, Lucky Louie, Bored to Death) and comedian Nick Thune (Comedy Central Presents, Knocked Up). The Summer Crushes tour will see the Mates presiding over and holding together this unique roadshow, transforming familiar venues they’ve previously headlined into venues for a virtual traveling variety show featuring live magic, sword swallowers, contortionists, human blockheads and more. In addition, Mates’ own Jason Hammel will serve as the tour’s resident DJ.

For further information, see the itinerary below and/or contact Amy Grote at nasty little man t 212 343 0740 e amy@nastylittleman.com

Mates of State
SUMMER CRUSHES TOUR

6/15 Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse * #
6/16 Rochester, NY @ Water Street * #
6/17 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church % #
6/18 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s * #
6/19 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop * #
6/21 Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century * #
6/22 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall * #
6/23 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar *
6/24 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar *
6/25 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown *
6/26 Denver, CO @ Bluebird *
6/28 Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue *
6/30 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall * ^
7/1 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall * ^
7/2 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo * ^
7/3 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo * ^
7/4 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress *
7/6 Lubbock, TX @ Jake’s *
7/7 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre *
7/8 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live *
7/9 Baton Rouge @ Spanish Moon *
7/10 Birmingham @ Workplay *
7/12 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt * ^
7/13 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel * ^
7/14 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar * ^
7/15 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall ^
7/16 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom ^
=====================================
* w/ Free Energy
# w/ Todd Barry
^ w/ Nick Thune
% w/ Suckers

1. Laura (Girls)
2. Son et Lumiere (The Mars Volta)
3. Sleep the Clock Around (Belle & Sebastian)
4. Technicolor Girls (Death Cab for Cutie)
5. Long Way Home (Tom Waits)
6. Love Letter (Nick Cave)
7. Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac)
8. 17 Pink Sugar Elephants (Vashti Bunyan)
9. Roller Coaster Ride (Dear Nora)
10. True Love Will Find You in the End (Daniel Johnston)

Crushes… is the first full length recorded and produced by Mates Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner themselves, with a mixing assist from longtime collaborator Peter Katis (The National, Swell Season, Interpol, etc.). Arguably their most vibrant effort to date, Crushes… has been preceded by a free download of the album opening version of Girls’ “Laura,” currently available at matesofstate.com. Every one of the album’s ten tracks is equal measures bold choice and affectionate celebration. The Mars Volta’s brooding psychedelic epic “Son et Lumieire” segues seamlessly into an ever breezier re-interpretation of Belle & Sebastian’s “Sleep the Clock Around,” while Tom Waits’ “Long Way Home” is transformed from a sparse ode to tough luck love into an adrenalized anthem, and so forth.

Commenting on the inspiration behind the genesis of Crushes…, the Mates said, “We’ve been talking about doing a covers record for a long time. We’d hear a great song at 2 AM while driving the straight line from one part of Texas to the next, and all we’d want to do is play that song as if we had written it. There are so many artists we considered, some for the mere fact that they wrote a perfect song, some for nostalgia’s sake, some because more people need to hear them, some for the challenge, and some to shed a whole different light on a song: Our light… make it a duet, more optimistic or maybe less traditional.”

The completion of Crushes… also had the unexpected after-effect of jumpstarting the creation of the next Mates of State record: “When we were finished, we couldn’t wait to write our own songs again…. We hadn’t counted on this covers project making us approach our own songs in these new ways. Too often in the past, we’d get stuck writing in a certain structure. In dissecting these songs, taking out the biggest creative component–actually writing the song–we were more thoughtful of other musical aspects. We considered design, tones, patterns or lack of patterns, the beauty of simplicity and simply put, different artistic impressions of music. And then most of the time we’d come to the conclusion that you just can’t analyze and you can’t deny a good song, it’s just magic… In a sense, these other great bands made us a better band.”

Having kicked off their fall tour schedule with an appearance at AUSTIN CITY LIMITS that elicited raves from the AUSTIN CHRONICLE (“an act that’s matured both personally and professionally”) and THE ONION (“the duo continues to save itself by producing albums that are better than the previous ones”), and currently on tour with Santogold, the indefatigable MATES OF STATE have added a November series of headline dates to their Re-Arranger tour.

The new dates begin November 7 in Asbury Park NJ and run through November 23 in Baltimore MD. All dates will feature LA hip-hop duo Brother Reade as main support – see below for a full itinerary.

The Re-Arranger tour is of course named for the MATES’ fifth album, Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk), which was released May 20, the same day marking the band’s network television debut on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN.

Re-Arrange Us has received the best critical (and public) response of MATES OF STATE’s career: NEW YORK magazine called the record “a bona fide breakthrough,” MAGNET praised it as “the best album of their career for a second straight time,” while DETAILS and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY focused on individual tracks, the former raving “‘Now’ has summer anthem written all over it” and the latter featuring “My Only Offer” as a “Choice Cut.”

Gardner and Hammel will be joined on the upcoming dates by additional musicians Linnea Weiss (cello) and Chris Cosgrove (guitar, bass, electronics).

For further information, contact Steve Martin or Amy Grote at nasty little man 212 343 0740 amy@nastylittleman.com

MATES OF STATE
THE RE-ARRANGER TOUR
NEW HEADLINE DATES IN BOLD

10/04/08 SEATTLE, WA Showbox Sodo with Santogold, Low vs Diamond
10/05/08 PORTLAND, OR Crystal Ballroom with Santogold, Low vs Diamond
10/07/08 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Fillmore with Santogold, Low vs Diamond
10/10/08 SAN DIEGO, CA House of Blues with Santogold, Low vs Diamond
10/11/08 LAS VEGAS, NV House of Blues @ Mandalay Bay with Santogold, Low vs Diamond
10/13/08 ANAHEIM, CA House of Blues with Santogold, Low vs Diamond
10/14/08 LOS ANGELES, CA Wiltern with Santogold, The Ting Tings, Low vs Diamond
10/16/08 MARQUETTE, MI Northern Michigan University
10/17/08 GRAND RAPIDS, MI Calvin College
10/18/08 KALAMAZOO, MI Kalamazoo State Theater
10/19/08 DETROIT, MI Magic Stick

11/7 Asbury Park NJ @ Wonder Bar
11/8 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
11/9 Morgantown, WV @ Mountainstage (NPR show)
11/10 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
11/11 Washington DC @ Black Cat
11/12 Charlottesville VA @ Gravity Lounge
11/13 Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
11/14 Lexington KY @ The Dame
11/15 Louisville, KY @ Headliners
11/16 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
11/17 Nashville, TN @ Exit / In
11/19 Jacksonville Beach FL @ Freebird Live
11/20 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
11/21 Greenville SC @ The Handlebar
11/22 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
11/23 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar