R.E.M. confirms Accelerate, schedules shows, releases videos

As we recently reported, R.E.M. has a new album on the way. Warner Brothers will release the Jacknife Lee-produced Accelerate, the band's 14th studio LP, on—no joke—April 1 (March 31 in non-U.S. locales).

After a rather busy 2007, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills are keeping the pedal down this year, gearing up for Accelerate's release with festival-headlining gigs at Langerado and South by Southwest.

In the meantime, the band commissioned Vincent Moon—director of the maddeningly addictive La Blogothèque Take-Away Shows—to shoot a series of short film clips for an album-release countdown website called Ninety Nights. What makes Ninety Nights different from, say, hitting up YouTube or checking out last year's footage from R.E.M.'s "working rehearsal" in Dublin is the opportunity for visitors to download each day's high-definition video snippet for whatever personal use they can dream up. Who knows, maybe you could be the next Tarsem Singh.

Tour dates:

March
8 - South Florida Everglades @ Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation (Langerado)
12 - Austin, Texas @ Stubb's Bar-B-Q (SXSW)

Related links:
REMHQ.com
Paste: R.E.M. - On the Shoulders of Its Own Mythology
Youtube: R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion"

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.