Local

Ames veteran pop-rockers Pookey Bleum will release their latest recording April 25 at an all-ages show at Boheme.

“Chords A Friend Suggested” will be released on the group’s very own BiFi records. The album was recorded at the Pookey Bleum’s home studio and was mixed down at Catamount, the same studio where Iowa’s rock legend House of Large Sizes record.

“We evolved from a mellow folk rock sound to power pop,” Pookey Bleum singer/guitarist Aaron Hefley explained. “The album emphasizes the change and us maturing as a band.”

In addition to releasing their own material on BiFi records, plans are underway to release material from other area artists.

In the meantime, Pookey Bleum is basking in their own accomplishments. The new album demonstrates the maturing of a band that began in Newton over four years ago.

Pookey Bleum started under Hefley’s involvement in Bowlapallooza, a music festival he began for the Maytag Bowl.

Although the band originated for the sole purpose of playing at the festival, eventually they evolved into something more than just a side project, he said.

Hefley and the rest of the band got more serious in August of 1998 when they released their first album. As the band got more serious so did their sound, as proved in their latest work.

As Pookey Bleum grows together, their progress is being noted by venues throughout the Midwest.

“One year ago we wouldn’t be able to play where we are playing now,” said Hefley about the bands growth.

The Vibe in Cedar Falls and Rock Island in Illinois are two clubs that have accepted Pookey Bleum with open arms and plans are underway for them to appear at Hairy Mary’s in Des Moines and Gabe’s in Iowa City. The group will also perform at KURE’s anniversary party this Saturday at the M-Shop.

On Tuesday Pookey Bleum will be celebrating the release of their new album at Boheme. Local groovesters the Mediocre Superheroes and Cedar Falls’ The Badger Haus will be joining in the celebration. The Badger Haus will also be releasing their second album at the event. Described by Hefley as having a low-fi indie rock sound, the group should be pleasing to fans of Pavement and the Pixies.

Check out this menagerie of music at 8 p.m. at Boheme. The all ages event costs $3 and free tapes will be given out courtesy of Pookey Bleum.

Regional

Veteran Rock experimentalists Sonic Youth will hit the road in June with Stereolab, according to Chris Lee of Smells Like Records, the label owned by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley.

The duo will play a handful of concerts throughout the month of June. Joining the New Yorkers on stage will be Jim O’Rourke, who produced the band’s upcoming album and also collaborated with Sonic Youth on their two most recent self-released recordings, 1998’s “SYR 3” and 1999’s “SYR 4 (Goodbye 20th Century).”

Midwesterners will get the first taste of the mini-tour before the group heads out East.

The first stop occurs at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis on June 9, followed the next night by a show at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago.

The shows fall between the May 23 release of Sonic Youth’s next album, “NYC Ghosts & Flowers,” and a new disc from bassist/guitarist Kim Gordon, according to Sonicnet.

The latter album includes DJ Olive and former DNA drummer Ikue Mori.

Cibo Matto’s keyboardist, Yuka Honda, also appears on the disc, which was recorded by O’Rourke and longtime Sonic Youth collaborator Wharton Tiers.

“SYR 5” will be the first album on the band’s Sonic Youth Recordings imprint not by Sonic Youth and is due out on August 21.

Clocking in at 42 minutes, “NYC Ghosts & Flowers” will be Sonic Youth’s shortest album since 1987’s “Sister.”

But what the album lacks in listening time it makes up for in visual stimulation as William Burroughs painting, “X- Ray Man,” appears on the album’s cover.

National

Tricky, who recently departed from a longtime relationship with Island Records, is currently recording new material with the European branch of the California punk label, Epitaph.

The new work is scheduled for release in the fall.

In the meantime, he has written an autobiography which will be published in November by Payback Press. “All I Hear Is Words” features writing, poetry, lyrics and artwork written and drawn by Tricky throughout the duration of his musical career, according to New Musical Express.

The publication will be accompanied by a free cover-mounted CD that includes new and exclusive Tricky tracks, however it has yet to be determined what exactly will appear on the disc.

The autobiography adds to Tricky’s previously published literature which includes a poem that appeared in a collection titled “The Fire People.”