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Thursday, July 2, 2009

I'm Not Sure How I Feel About This

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 2:16 PM

Travis Morrison, (sometimes) talented songwriter and (always) fantastically entertaining frontman of the Dismemberment Plan, has retired from music.

Guess that D-Plan reunion I keep hoping for is never gonna happen, huh? Then again, I won't have to be disappointed by another uninteresting solo record either. Travistan was a stinker. But it seemed that things were starting to go back in the right (listenable) direction with the Hellfighters. Oh well, I guess we'll never know.

Sigh.

Today's Music News

Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 1:34 PM

Michael Jackson's Public Memorial Service Has Finally Been Confirmed: And for $25, you too can witness history. (T-shirts will also be available.)

Meanwhile...: The DEA is joining Jackson's death investigation.

Are the Get Up Kids Recording New Material?: The band's recent Twitter activity makes it seem likely.

A Lot of Dudes Will Get a Boner Over This One: Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones are recording a record together.

Speaking of Cool Collaborations: Jesu + Isis = Greymachine.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Today's Music News

Posted by Brian Cook on Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Martyr for the record industry: Michael Jackson breaks Billboard record

Father knows best: Quincy Jones to save Vibe?

Funeral for a friend: Atlanta music scene lynchpins raise money for peer’s “green” burial

Stickin’ with Get In The Van: Big name indie acts contribute to book about touring

That’s what you get for helping Sammy Hagar’s career: Chickenfoot cancels shows due to drummer injury

That’s what you get for helping Michael Savage’s career: All That Remains drummer injures hand, drops off Rockstar tour

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Alice in Chains Announce Tour, New Album Details

Posted by Dave Segal on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 7:29 PM

"A Looking in View" from Alice in Chains' forthcoming album, Black Gives Way To Blue (out Sept. 29; it’s their first album since 1995’s Alice in Chains) sounds as if it could’ve been grunted out in 1990. It’s a girthful, slurred slab of grunge™ that won’t shock a single diehard AIC fan.

About “A Looking In View,” which features new vocalist/guitarist William DuVall, group co-founder Jerry Cantrell said, “The song basically speaks to any number of things that keep you balled up inside. A cell of our own making with an unlocked door that we choose to remain in. Focusing our attention inward instead of reaching out to a much larger world. I think this is common to us all. It’s funny how hard we fight to hang on to a bone we can’t pull through a hole in the fence, or how difficult it is to put down the bag of bricks and move on.”

Tour dates (no Seattle show yet, but additional cities to be confirmed):

Date City Venue
July 18 Detroit, MI Comerica Park (with Kid Rock)
Aug 1 Dublin, IE Marlay Park
Aug 2 Stevenage, GB Knebworth House - Sonisphere
Aug 4 London, GB Scala
August 6 Cologne, DE Essigfabrik

August 8 Berlin, DE Columbia Club

August 10 Hamburg, DE Grunspan

August 12 Amsterdam, NL Melkweg
August 22 Pomona, CA Epicenter
Sept. 4 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
Sept. 5 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
Sept. 7 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
Sept. 8 New York, NY The Fillmore
Sept. 15 Toronto, ON The Opera House
Sept. 16 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
Sept. 19 Chicago, IL House of Blues
Sept. 20 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
Sept. 21 Minneapolis, MN First Ave
Sept. 26 Portland, OR Roseland Grill
Sept. 28 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

Wallow in the Mayer: Kompakt Preps Total 10 Comp

Posted by Dave Segal on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 1:00 PM

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Köln, Germany label Kompakt Records is renowned for its exacting quality control and deep stable of elite producers working many strains of techno, house, and ambient music. The imprint's Total compilation series annually collects Kompakt's creamiest cuts from the preceding year. With Total 10, Kompakt will collate "essential tunes from our catalogue" and exclusive tracks and remixes from Wolfgang & Reinhard Voigt, Michael Mayer, the Field, DJ Koze, and many others. The album comes out Aug. 10.

- - - - TRACKLISTING - - - -

CD1:
1. DJ Koze - 40 Love
2. Thomas/Mayer - Total 9
3. Justus Köhncke - (It's Gonna Be) Alright (Dirk Leyers Mix)
4. Shumi - The Wind And The Sea
5. Sam Taylor-Wood produced by Pet Shop Boys - I'm in love with a German film star (Gui Boratto Mix)
6. Ada - Lovestoned
7. Coma - Sum
8. Gui Boratto - No turning back (Wighnomy's Likkalize Love Rekksmi)
9. Nicolas Stefan - Closer
10. Jonas Bering - Who is who

CD2:
1. Justus Köhncke - Give it to me easy
2. Matias Aguayo - Walter Neff
3. Mayburg feat. Ada - Each and every day
4. Gotye - Heart's a mess (Supermayer Mix)
5. The Field - The more I do (Thomas Fehlmann Mix)
6. Burger/Voigt - Wand aus Klang (It's a fine line Mix)
7. Wassermann - Berg und Tal (Instrumental)
8. Juergen Paape - Ofterschwang
9. Reinhard Voigt - Am Limit
10. Mugwump - Ignored Folklore
11. Pachanga Boys - Fiesta forever

3LP

A1: DJ Koze - 40 Love - DEU670900067
A2: Thomas/Mayer - Total 9 - DEU670900068
B1: Gotye - Heart's a mess (Supermayer Mix) - GBJET0800002

C1: Mayburg feat. Ada - Each and every day - DEU670900076
C2: Justus Köhncke - Give it to me easy - DEU670900075
D1: Wassermann - Berg und Tal (Instrumental) - DEU670900078
D2: Juergen Paape - Ofterschwang - DEU670900079

E1: Jonas Bering - Who is who - DEU670900074
E2: Reinhard Voigt - Am Limit - DEU670900080
F1: The Field - The more I do (Thomas Fehlmann Mix) DEU670900007
F2: Pachanga Boys - Fiesta forever - DEU670900081

Not a Vibrant Thing

Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 12:59 PM

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Two things about Vibe magazine's end: One, it's another death that's tied to Quincy Jones. Two, my dead friend Joe Wood.

Who is Joe Wood?

Last summer's Unity Conference for Journalists of Color took Joseph L. Wood, Jr. to Seattle. He disappeared on July 8, 1999, while birdwatching on nearby Mt. Rainier. He is presumed dead at this point...

One of the most frustrating things about Joe's death at the age of 34 is the loss of all that he was going to be as well as all that he was. He had already edited one stellar anthology, Malcolm X: In Our Own Image, and in his work as an editor at The New Press (one of only two black male editors working at a major New York publishing house), he had acquired and edited such important works as The Race to Incarcerate, about America's crazed prison system. He'd also written reams of dazzling essays and reportage for publications like The Village Voice, The New York Times Magazine, Vibe and Transition.

I believe the first article Joe Wood wrote for Vibe magazine was about Seattle—indeed, the article might have been in the inaugural issue of that magazine. Joe Wood spent the summer of 93 in Seattle, returned to New York City, and wrote the piece. Admittedly, the article was not very good. Admittedly, I hated it. Admittedly, I never told him this in his face because I was ambitious and did not want to lose a powerful ally in NY's literary world.

My problem with the article? It pretty much stated that Seattle was not, as a big American city, black enough because (and this got my goat) it didn't have any projects (or projects at the scale of, say, Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes). What bothered me about this assertion had nothing to do with city pride but the fact that it associated blackness (a racial designation) with the projects (a spacial designation). This was a dangerous way of thinking. Any link between the projects and blackness is arbitrary and not, as Wood seemed to argue, essential. (Similarly, Henry Louis Gates once believed that a link existed between a way of speaking and being black—this link was instantly broken when he heard the English of black Brits.) Blackness and its social and cultural productions or situations are not natural; they all result from accidents—the accident of place, language, climate, birth, so on and so forth.

Joe Wood died a decade ago; Vibe died today. It would, however, be much better if Wood and Vibe were alive, and the only dead thing was that way of thinking about the projects and blackness.

Today's Music News

Posted by Brian Cook on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 10:26 AM

Cutesy Swede gets locked up: Jens Lekman quarantined with H1N1 virus

Cocky Swedes sell out: Pirate Bay sold to gaming company

RIP pt. 1: Sky Saxon of The Seeds passes

RIP pt. 2: Vibe closes its doors

”You will be the kind of person who suddenly gets recognized at places like Burger King, but you will still be the kind of person who eats at places like Burger King”: New reality show stars members of TLC and Salt-N-Pepa

Monday, June 29, 2009

This Doesn't Sound Promising At All...

Posted by Megan Seling on Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:54 PM

First of all, the Killers are going to do a covers album.

Fine. I usually hate it when bands do covers albums unless that band is Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, but whatever. Do a covers album, Killers, I don't care.

But what's this... what do they say they might cover? According to NME.com, the band's drummer "cited acts including 'Genesis, Tom Waits, a little Cyndi Lauper, Iggy Pop' as his preferred choices for the album, adding that he's also been 'messing around with a couple of Fleet Foxes songs' recently."

Dear God, no.

New Band Alert: Halo of Snakes

Posted by Megan Seling on Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 10:25 AM

Halo of Snakes features Brandon Wallace (old drummer for Champion), Rich Hoak (Brutal Truth), Matt Smith (Hot Cross), and Joey Angel. The band recently recorded a couple songs and posted them on their MySpace page.

Not bad, not bad. Some metal-ish guitar, some doomy bass, some thrashy, pissed off vocals. I don't love it, but I'm intrigued. They supposedly working on a new record as well.

Here's what they have to say about the new music: "No sampling, no beatmapping, no guitar pod silliness, minimal overdubs. We used our actual gear, dimed it, recorded live in the same room (there's feedback! I miss feedback!) We're all pretty pleased."

How punk rock.

In other news, the Hot Cross EP Fair Trades and Farewells is still totally killer and you should buy and/or listen to it right now.

(Thanks for the tip, Punknews.org.)

Friday, June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson: A Remembrance

Posted by David Schmader on Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 7:24 PM

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From the intro:

How do you memorialize a one-of-a-kind musical genius who went crazy, morphed his race and gender, slept with kids, was repeatedly acquitted of child-molestation charges, and then died, alone and $400 million in debt? You’ll find our answers to this question in the collection of pieces below. (Much like the man’s life, it gets fucked up toward the end.)

Michael Jackson: A Remembrance, including:

*Growing Up with Michael Jackson (Who Never Grew Up) by Dave Segal

*The Kiddie-Pleasing Linguistic Inventions of the King of Pop by Eli Sanders

*How Michael Jackson Touched Me as a Child by Megan Seling

*Michael Jackson: Dying in Slow Motion by David Schmader

*No, Really: Michael Jackson Was Crazier Than Anyone Else Has Ever Dreamed of Being by Lindy West

*Michael Jackson, Mon Amour by Kid X, Age 12

*Posthumous Ruminations of One Pissed Angel by Farrah Fawcett

*RIP, Kate Jackson by Adrian Ryan

Find the full line-up here.

The Jealous Sound to Support Sunny Day Real Estate on Fall Tour

Posted by Megan Seling on Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 3:33 PM

As if seeing Sunny Day Real Estate won't be awesome enough, now the Jealous Sound have been added to the bill. I'm a fan of the Jealous Sound—Kill Them With Kindness is a great record to listen to on a summer's day. I'm listening now, in fact.

Speaking of the Sunny Day reunion: Tickets for Seattle's October 16th show at the Paramount officially go on sale tomorrow at 10 am via Ticketmaster, but the pre-sale started today and will be going until 10 pm tonight. Tickets are $28 before service fees, and you can buy them here. The password is theend (many thanks to Harms for that one).

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson Rushed to UCLA Hospital with Cardiac Arrest

Posted by David Schmader on Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 2:39 PM

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TMZ's got as much of the story as there is. The crux:

We've just learned Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Los Angeles ... and we're told it was cardiac arrest and that paramedics administered CPR in the ambulance.

UPDATE: A Jackson family member tells TMZ Michael is in "really bad shape" and the brothers are headed to UCLA.

Earlier this month came tabloid reports of Jackson's self-starving, a practice that not-infrequently involves potentially lethal heart trouble. Stay tuned, and for now, let's remember the man in happier times.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Bar/None to Reissue the Feelies’ First Two LPs

Posted by Dave Segal on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 4:39 PM

On Sept. 8, Bar/None Records will re-release 1980's Crazy Rhythms and 1986's The Good Earth, the first two LPs by the Feelies, a New Jersey group who epitomized a certain strain of college rock in the ’80s. They merged Talking Heads’ rhythmic jitteriness with the Velvet Underground’s mantric riffing and deadpan vocalizing while sometimes instilling a rural, downhome aura that made it easy and logical for DJs to segue them into R.E.M. and dB’s songs. They also executed an amazing cover of the Beatles' "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey."

The Feelies could impress you with songs that either moved at a lackadaisical lope or zipped by in blurred overdrive (their cover of VU's "What Goes On" is a case in point; also, "Slipping [into something]" is a masterpiece of gradual acceleration). On top of that, Glenn Mercer and Bill Million's melodies typically hit you with an understated poignancy. These guys are classic introverts who nevertheless can sneak up on you with rave-ups that will send you to the burn unit.

Press release after the cut.


Continue reading »

Today's Music News

Posted by Megan Seling on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 12:21 PM

New Supergroup: Members of Black Lips and King Khan and BBQ form new band, the Almighty Defenders.

RIP: Autopsy concludes Jay Bennett died of a drug overdose.

Fight!: Manager of the Black Eyed Peas has been charged with hitting Perez Hilton.

Freakout!: Crystal Castles throw another on-stage hissy fit.

"The Music Industry Is Saved": The Beastie Boys release new album details, promise to save music industry.

Oxford Collapse Collapse: Sub Pop has announced Oxford Collapse are breaking up.

Sunny Day Real Estate: Reunited

Posted by Megan Seling on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 10:25 AM

Looks like those recent Sunny Day Real Estate reunion rumors turned out to be true:

Following a more than 10 year hiatus, all four original members of pioneering Seattle rock band Sunny Day Real Estate will regroup for a 20-date US tour starting Sept. 17th, 2009. In addition, Sub Pop Records will re-issue both Diary and the band’s second full-length album, commonly known as LP2 (or “The Pink Album” for its entirely pink cover). Both re-mastered albums will include rare bonus tracks as well as newly written liner notes and will be released on both CD and LP Sept. 15, 2009, just prior to the start of the tour.

The Seattle date is October 16th at the Paramount. All tour dates are after the jump. No ticket information was included in the most recent press release, but keep your eye on sunnydayrealestate.fm for more information. (And If I find out more, I'll post it.)

UPDATE: Tickets are $28 and on sale this Saturday at 10 am. A pre-sale is also happening for people on 107.7 the Ends mailing list. (per Harms)

Continue reading »

Monday, June 22, 2009

Chris Brown Pleads Guilty to Felony Assault

Posted by David Schmader on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 2:54 PM

TMZ has the story so far:

He won't do jail time, but he will spend 6 months doing things like road cleanup. He's also been ordered to stay 50 yards clear of Rihanna.

He'll spend 180 days doing community labor (8 hours a day—1440 hours total)—which is, in effect, hard labor. He'll do his service in Virginia which is where Brown lives...

He gets 5 years probation for FELONY assault. He'll get supervised probation. He'll have to come back to court every three months.

He must enroll in a domestic violence counseling program.

This is interesting ... the judge said if Brown and Rihanna are at the same public events, the 50-yard stay away turns into 10 yards. The stay away order lasts 5 years.

Brown is now a convicted felon and loses the right to vote or carry a gun....If Brown violates probation, he could get up to 4 years in prison.

Full TMZ report here.

Selling Out

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 2:46 PM

3887/1245705759-blackeyedwhores.pngSlate has a little mediation about The Black Eyed Peas' recent shilling for Target, and what it means for the idea of "selling out."

But to retire the very concept of "selling out"? To dismiss the notion that an artist's reputation could ever be sullied by wanton greed? Nuh-uh. I can't allow it.

First, I still hate when a piece of music I love—something that stirs profound emotions—gets directly associated with a brand or product. I want to believe that the art means just as much to the artist as it does to me. When a deeply moving song gets sold for an ad, it's like finding out that the cute girl you've been having long, philosophical conversations with at the coffeehouse spends her weekends turning tricks. Call me sentimental. Call me naive. It's just how I feel, and that will never change.

Second, and more important: We as a culture must reserve our right to shower disdain on the Black Eyed Peas.

That second point is inarguable, although the analogy just before it, about a cute girl who is also a whore, makes me want to slap the author a little bit. But I have encountered TV commercials that make me like a recording artist just a little bit less. "Bag of Hammers" by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down appearing in a Clorox commercial:

...really made me less excited for the band.

But musicians have to eat, too, and the music business isn't doing as good a job with that as they used to do. I wonder if the idea of a band selling out will ever come back into fashion. It won't be anytime soon, at least: I just discovered jinglicio.us, which lists pop songs that appear in movies, commercials, and television shows. It's kind of an evil blog, but the out-front business-speak of it all—"The energetic song is a great fit for the quirky scenes with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds."—has the kind of auto accident honesty that makes me want to become a devoted follower, just to see how soulless it can all get.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Legendary Drummer Clyde Stubblefield Suffers Tough Break

Posted by Dave Segal on Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 2:51 PM

Very sad news: 66-year-old Clyde Stubblefield, the drummer who played on several James Brown classics, including "Cold Sweat," "There Was a Time," and one of the most sampled tracks ever, the 1970 single “Funky Drummer,” is now on dialysis until he can get a kidney transplant.

ht: Melvin Gibbs via Twitter

Friday, June 19, 2009

"The $1.92 Million Playlist"

Posted by David Schmader on Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 2:16 PM

Yesterday, a federal jury ruled that Jammie Thomas-Rasset must pay the Recording Industry Association of America $1.92 million for infringing on the copyrights of 24 songs she'd made available through the file-sharing service Kazaa. "Under the Copyright Act," reports Wired.com's Threat Level, "juries can award damages of up to $150,000 per pilfered track," but yesterday's jury settled on the mid-range figure of $80,000 per track.

Wired's got the $1.92 million playlist, 24 tracks now loaded with $80,000 worth of meaning each:

Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle"; "November Rain"
Vanessa Williams "Save the Best for Last"
Janet Jackson "Let’s What Awhile"
Gloria Estefan "Here We Are"; "Coming Out of the Heart"; "Rhythm is Gonna Get You"
Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"
Journey "Faithfully"; "Don’t Stop Believing"
Sara McLachlan "Possession"; "Building a Mystery"
Aerosmith "Cryin’"
Linkin Park "One Step Closer"
Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Reba McEntire "One Honest Heart"
Bryan Adams "Somebody"
No Doubt "Bathwater"; "Hella Good"; "Different People"
Sheryl Crow "Run Baby Run"
Richard Marx "Now and Forever"
Green Day "Basket Case"
Destiny’s Child "Bills, Bills, Bills"

In other news, Jammie Thomas-Rasset says she cannot and thus will not pay her $2 million fine. Stay tuned.

Kings of Convenience Announce New Album

Posted by Brian Geoghagan on Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 10:36 AM

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If you've been waiting for the 3rd Kings of Convenience album, your wait is almost over. Eric and Erlend promise to deliver the next album in late September after recording sessions in Italy, Bergen and Erlend's flat. Here is the text:

***********
Bergen June 8th 2009

Dear FANS!

Good things come to those who wait. We know it's taken a while but finally we are done with our 3rd album. It will be released in the very end of September and after that we will go on tour :-) The album was recorded in studios in Italy and Bergen and in Erlends flat.

See you soon!!!
Erlend & Eric

************

Click here to view the back of the postcard.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Holy Mountain Visited by WSCLB, Now on Hiatus

Posted by Dave Segal on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:13 AM

Holy Mountain, an art space/warehouse venue in South Lake Union known for its adventurous booking policy (Black Dice/Wolf Eyes, Past Lives, Talbot Tagora, etc.) and aesthetics, recently received a visit from the Washington State Liquor Control Board, which told the all-ages club's owners to cease selling beer and allowing smoking indoors. Consequently, Holy Mountain has stopped hosting shows until its organizers decide whether they want to continue throwing events without booze and smoking.

We have a call into the venue's residents. Stay tuned for more info.

UPDATE: A Holy Mountain organizer responds: "None of what you wrote is true. I don’t know who you talked to. We don’t even really do shows anymore. The Liquor Control Board never visited us. For the last four or five shows that we did do, we didn’t allow smoking or alcohol inside at all. We're not sure whether we're going to do shows anymore."

I heard about the WSLCB's visit to Holy Mountain from three separate sources, none of whom hold any antagonism toward Holy Mountain. I have a call and an email in to the WSLCB and will report what I hear as soon as they respond.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

And You Thought Sasquatch Was Rough...

Posted by Eric Grandy on Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 3:33 PM

Cleaning crews have found a dead body in a tent at this year's Bonnaroo Festival:

Coffee County authorities say a cleaning crew found the body of a white man in his 20s in a tent on Tuesday. Authorities said the man was last seen alive about 3 p.m. Monday.

Sheriff Steve Graves says there were no signs of trauma to the body. Police are trying to determine his identity. They think he may have been from Alabama.

(via The Daily Swarm)

Today's Music News

Posted by Megan Seling on Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 1:29 PM

Hey Old Man in Vegan Shoes: Mike Dirnt designs an animal-product free shoe.

Touch and Go... to Another Label: Quasi signs to Kill Rock Stars.

Delay Denied (Again): The Chris Brown trial will go on as scheduled. Again.

The Least Exciting Feud Ever: Mariah Carey takes a swing at Eminem via her new record.

Miss World Returns: Courtney confirms her next record will be a Hole record.

Bad News/Good News: As Polyvinyl downsizes, they're putting everything on sale.

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