The Pixies are busy this spring with a steady diet of touring — not to mention the upcoming release of their first album in eons — but frontman Black Francis has found time to engage in a more literary endeavor, this week publishing his first novel, “The Good Inn,” co-authored with Josh Frank.

American Laundromat Records next spring will release a double-CD tribute to quirky director Wes Anderson titled I Saved Latin!, a collection that will feature indie artists such as Black Francis, Kristin Hersh, Juliana Hatfield, Mike Watt and more covering songs featured in films.

The Pixies have been rehearsing for their upcoming tour with new bassist Kim Shattuck of The Muffs in Los Angeles this past week, so perhaps it’s no surprise the band headed out last night for a last-minute, surprise warm-up show at the Echo — where the band debuted six of their new songs.

With their fall tour set to open next week with a club run in Los Angeles, the Pixies today released the first in a series of new EPs — a four-song set cleverly titled EP-1 that’s available as a digital download or on limited-edition 10-inch vinyl — and premiered the music video for one of those songs, “Indie Cindy.”

Anyone who’s listened to the Pixies’ “Debaser” knows Black Francis sounds fairly deranged on that classic opener to 1989’s Doolittle. But give the isolated vocal track a listen, and, well, as Fluxblog’s Matthew Perpetua notes, the Pixies’ frontman “just sounds like a maniac screaming on the street.”

Over the past few weeks, the members of the Pixies — Black Francis, Joey Santiago, David Lovering and new bassist Kim Shattuck — have been treating fans to photos and video through a collection of new Twitter, Vine and Instagram accounts named “The Actual Pixies.”

The Pixies will debut their new Kim Deal-less lineup with four Los Angeles concerts prior to their appearance at Riot Fest Chicago this September, to be followed by four more small club shows in New York City before the band embarks on a previously announced European tour.