Kingblind.com Presents: Rock And Roll High School - Saturday September 1st

Rock And Roll High School - Saturday September 1st (9pm till 2am) @ SOLO

with Dj Kingblind, Dj Teenage Rampage and Dj Self- Administered Beatdown! spinning the best in Rock N' Roll, Punk, Glam, Garage, Pop & New Wave!!

This edition of Rock and Roll High School is our special Bumbershoot Edition!! Come out to the Solo Green-Room and meet your favorite Bumbershoot acts !!

Great Music, Rock Movies and Free Album Giveaways all night long!!

REMEMBER!!
1st Saturday of Every Month @ Solo
100% FREE!!!

Solo
200 Roy St.
Seattle, WA 98109
*(206) 213-0080

http://www.kingblind.com/events

BUMERSHOOT INFO

Band of Horses:: Is there a Ghost (New Single!)

The first mp3 to appear from Band of Horses' upcoming new LP, Cease To Begin. "Is There a Ghost" The new track features Ben Bridwell's unmistakable soaring voice. It's safe to say that fans of Everything All The Time are going to be VERY happy. Look for the new LP on Oct 9th 2007 on Sub Pop Records.
Band of Horses- Is There a Ghost MP3

Foo Fighters Nail Down U.K. Arena Tour

The Foo Fighters will spend two weeks touring in the United Kingdom in November, where they have grown exponentially in popularity in recent years. The tour begins Nov. 3 in Manchester and wraps with a Nov. 17-18 stand in London.

As previously reported, the Foos' new album, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace," is due Sept. 25 via RCA. First single "The Pretender" is already No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart.

And although dates have yet to be announced, a promotion is underway for presale tickets for a forthcoming North American tour via iTunes. Fans who pre-order the new album via the service will receive a code for early tickets via Ticketmaster, as well as downloads of "The Pretender" and the B-side "Seda."

Here are the Foo Fighters' tour dates:

Sept. 15: Carson, Calif. (Home Depot Center/KROQ Invasion)
Nov. 3: Manchester, England (Evening News Arena)
Nov. 6: Birmingham, England (NEC)
Nov. 9: Glasgow (SECC)
Nov. 10: Aberdeen, Scotland (AECC)
Nov. 12: Sheffield, England (Hallam Arena)
Nov. 13: Cardiff, Wales (International Arena)
Nov. 17-18: London (O2 Arena)

Bo Diddley in stable condition after heart attack

GAINESVILLE, Florida (AP) -- Bo Diddley was in stable condition at a Florida hospital after suffering a heart attack, his publicist said Tuesday.
Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley is known for the "Bo Diddley beat," featured in songs such as "Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love."

The 78-year-old singer-guitarist complained of dizziness and nausea during a routine medical checkup Friday, said publicist Susan Clary.

She said Diddley suffered a heart attack after being taken to North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville. The hospital is near his hometown of Archer.

Clary said the musician was in stable condition at the hospital's cardiac care unit after spending the weekend in intensive care.

"He is conscious," she said. "The situation is very serious."

In May, Diddley was hospitalized in Nebraska after suffering a stroke after casino performances in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He was soon transferred to Florida.

Diddley, with his black glasses and low-slung guitar, has been an icon in the music industry since he topped the R&B charts with "Bo Diddley" in 1955. His other hits include "Who Do You Love," "Before You Accuse Me," "Mona" and "I'm a Man."

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 1998.

Amy Winehouse’ in-laws urge fans to boycott her music

Although I didn’t find it necessary to direct anyone to read about singer Amy Winehouse’s alleged suicide attempt, this latest development in the troubled singer’s accelerated public tailspin provides an unfortunately unique moral aspect to the decadent, all-too-familiar story. The parents of Winehouse’s husband, Black Fielder-Civil, Giles and Georgett Fielder-Civil, appeared on Victoria Derbyshire’s BBC Radio 5 program to urge fans not to buy Winehouse’s albums in hopes that the boycott could give the singer (and their son) a wake-up call. They also asked that Winehouse not receive any awards for which she has been nominated.

Weirdly, the Fielder-Civils also told Derbyshire that they had asked some of Winehouse’s drug dealers to stop supplying the pair. Hm, I guess that’s the second best thing to do, you know, besides calling the cops. They admit, however, that it didn’t help much: “Unfortunately we have learned in the past three weeks that not everybody’s word is their bond, and we don’t live in a totally honest world.” Ah yes, what is this crazy world coming to when you can’t even depend on the word of a heroin dealer? In all seriousness, it’s clear that this world isn’t entirely crazy when at least one celebrity’s parents appear seriously committed to putting the health of their scandal-plagued relative ahead of their own personal gain.

Feist: 1234- Live on Letterman (Music Video)

Rilo Kiley- Under the Blacklight (Album Review)

Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley's 2007 major-label debut, is surely designed as the Los Angeles quartet's entry into the big leagues, the album that makes them cross over to a mass audience -- or perhaps it's just meant to make their now de facto leader, Jenny Lewis, cross over, since it plays as a sequel to her 2006 solo stab, Rabbit Fur Coat, as much as it plays as the successor to 2004's More Adventurous, putting the former child right out front, bathing in the spotlight. If More Adventurous gave the group's game plan away in its title, so does Under the Blacklight, for if this album is anything, it's a sleazy crawl through L.A. nightlife, teaming with sex and tattered dreams, all illuminated by a dingy black light. So, it's a conceptual album -- which ain't the same thing as a concept album, since there is no story here to tie it together -- and to signify the sex Lewis sings about incessantly on this record, Rilo Kiley have decided to ditch most of their indie pretensions and hazy country leanings in favor of layers of ironic new wave disco and spacy flourishes pulled straight out of mid-'80s college rock. Echoes of earlier Rilo Kiley albums (and even Rabbit Fur Coat) are still evident -- the title track is a slow country crawl at its core, the opening "Silver Lining" glides by on a subdued blue-eyed soul groove reminiscent of Cat Power's The Greatest, a move that "15" makes more explicit, while "Dreamworld" plays like an easy listening makeover of prime R.E.M. The latter is the only song here where Blake Sennett, once a co-captain with Lewis, sings lead, confirming that he's now firmly in a subservient role to his former paramour, who dominates this record the way Natalie Merchant used to rule 10,000 Maniacs, leaving the impression that the band is now merely her support group.

This may not be entirely true -- Rilo Kiley still sound like a cohesive band here; Sennett's guitar is often forceful, not meek -- but Under the Blacklight nevertheless plays like a star turn for Lewis, for better or for worse. Better, because she reveals here that she has the charisma to be a star, leading the band through some dicey territory with her vocals, which are easily her best on record. Worse, because she's the one that pushes the band toward sheer silliness through her carnal obsessions, which all come from the cranium, not the crotch. Since Lewis writes about sex at a safe, studied distance -- and even if her vocals are newly throaty, she doesn't sound sexy -- the group overcompensates with stiff disco-funk since that, naturally, is music that signifies bad sex. And there is nothing but bad sex here. There's the tragic girl gets "money for sex" on "Close Call"; there's the implied pornography on the clenched-fist funk of "The Moneymaker"; there's the spoiled virginity of the title character on "15"; finally, there are two descents into the ridiculous with the threesome saga "Dejalo," which is topped only by the wannabe dance craze of "Smoke Detector," where Jenny takes men back to her room to smoke them in bed. That's a lot of cheap, tawdry sex, especially since it all feels affected, not lived in, which may be why Rilo Kiley labor so hard to get this knowing new wave disco off the ground, sometimes achieving some trashy fun, other times seeming a little adrift. After so much heavy lifting, it's not entirely a surprise that the band runs out of momentum by the end, letting Under the Blacklight peter out with "The Angels Hung Around" and "Give a Little Love," two songs that play to their former strengths and wind up being more endearing than much of the record. But, by that point, Rilo Kiley have done what they set out to do: they've made a record that leaves their indie rock past in the dust. This may not burn up the charts -- it quite consciously sounds more 1987 than 2007, which may keep some listeners away -- but not a note sounds like the work of a small, precious indie rock band, with the notable exception of "Dreamworld" which, of course, is Sennett's song. The rest of Under the Blacklight feels like the Jenny Lewis show, and even if this album doesn't push Rilo Kiley to the top, it's hard to deny that it feels like the launching pad for her ascent into true stardom.
(by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Bad Brains announces West Coast dates

Fans of the legendarily eclectic and influential band Bad Brains will get a chance to see the band bring it live at a handful of select West Coast tour dates. The band is supporting its recently released album Build a Nation, which was produced by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.

9/22 San Diego, CA - San Diego Street Scene
9/24 San Francisco, CA - Slim’s
9/25 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
9/26 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues

My Bloody Valentine reuniting for Coachella?

According to the Daily Swarm, 2008 may finally be the year that My Bloody Valentine reunites. The legendary band’s frontman Kevin Shields already insisted in a Magnet interview earlier this year that his former group is “100% going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something.” The Daily Swarm posted yesterday that, according to “sources in the United States and the United Kingdom who are familiar with the negotiations,” MBV will be reuniting to headline next year’s Coachella festival (April 25-27) before embarking on a world tour. So far, Coachella founder/ musical programmer Paul Tollett has refused to comment on any rumors.
(Via Daily Swarm)

Caribou: Andorra (Album Review)

The fourth album from Caribou is the sound of the summer we're only just getting round to enjoying. Caribou, known to his friends as maths genius and soundscapist extraordinaire Dan Snaith has relocated to London from his native Canada and his music now reveals touches of British psychedelia. 'Sandy', 'Desiree' and the multi-layered masterpiece 'She's The One' (nothing to do with the Robbie Williams abomination of the same name) are refreshingly sweet, with beautiful baroque touches thanks to the guchin that Snaith learned to play during a visit to China. Essentially 'Andorra' sounds like The Zombies' legendary 1968 album 'Odessey And Oracle' if it was reworked by Four Tet. So much so on opener and single 'Melody Day', that if people are still drinking pseudo-Irish cider over ice in 40 summers' time, this song will surely soundtrack the advert.
(Nathaniel Cramp)

Chemical Brothers announce US tour

The Chemical Brothers have announced the details of their first US tour in more than five years.

The electronica duo will kick things off at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on September 21 and play dates in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco before wrapping up in Los Angeles on September 29.

The band are supporting their new album 'We Are The Night'. The follow-up to 2005's 'Push The Button' features collaborators including The Klaxons, Midlake, Ali Love and Willy Mason.

The tour dates are:

New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom (September 21)
Brooklyn, NY McCarren Pool (22)?
Chicago, IL Riviera (24)
Denver, CO The Fillmore (26) ?
San Francisco, CA Concourse (28) ?
Los Angeles, CA Nocturnal (29) ?

Hipster Olympics

Amy Winehouse bloody, bruised after alleged fight

LONDON, England (AP) -- A British newspaper splashed photos of singer Amy Winehouse bloody and bruised across its Friday edition after she allegedly had a fight with her husband.
Winehouse

Amy Winehouse rides with a friend last week. Recent photos appeared to indicate she'd been in a fracas.

The photos, supposedly taken early Thursday morning, showed Winehouse wearing blood-soaked ballet shoes, with bruises to her neck, bandages on her arms and makeup smeared down her face.

A gossip Web site reported that Winehouse had said her injuries were self-inflicted.

Police confirmed they had been called to an incident at a London hotel by a concerned member of the public but said no charges were filed.

The singer announced Tuesday that she was postponing her upcoming U.S. and Canadian tour dates after she canceled August performances due to "severe exhaustion."

Britain's Press Association said the couple were staying in the hotel after leaving a drug rehabilitation clinic in Essex, east of London.

The Daily Mail also published photos of Winehouse together with her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, after the alleged fight. His face and neck were covered in scratches.

The gossip Web site perezhilton.com said it received text messages from Winehouse explaining the incident and denying Fielder-Civil was responsible for her injuries.

"Blake is the best man in the world. We would never ever harm each other," the Web site quoted Winehouse as saying. "I was cutting myself after he found me in our room about to do drugs ... and rightly said I wasn't good enough for him. I lost it and he saved my life

Morrissey Rewards Diehards, Quashes Smiths Reunion

Morrissey is taking special care of his most devoted fans on his upcoming fall North American tour, which, as previously reported, begins Sept. 20 in Tijuana, Mexico.

A number of special opportunities have been created for multiple-night runs in Los Angeles and New York, including a "seasons ticket," with a reduced price for fans that want to attend every show.

For a 10-night stand at L.A.'s Palladium, a package with tickets to each show will be sold for the price of nine and will allow fans early entry to the venue, which will be closed for renovation following Morrissey's performances. This package goes on sale Monday (Aug. 27) and will only be available through Sept. 5.

For a five-show stint at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, fans attending every night will save $125 off the combined face value of the tickets, and will receive early entry and a commemorative poster. On-sale dates have yet to be announced.

In addition, Morrissey's publicist has confirmed the artist refused a $75 million offer to tour under the Smiths name in 2008 and/or 2009, with the only mandate being that Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr would be part of the band. The Smiths also declined a multi-million dollar offer to perform in recent years at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

Rilo Kiley- Silver Lining (Music Video)

Common – ‘Finding Forever’ (Album Review):

Like Timbaland, it all started going wrong for Kanye West when he decided to step up from producing to forge a solo career and appearing in all of his mates’ music videos - Snoop Dogg is also guilty of this hip hop whore behaviour. Don’t get me wrong, West has a superfluous ear for splicing old soul songs into great samples (what I wouldn’t give to delve into the dude’s record collection…), and is also a highly understated beatmaker, as the thundering intro to ‘Gold Digger’ will testify. West has the natural knack of taking Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott-Heron and even - heaven forbid - Michael Bolton, and make something refreshingly new out of it. In fact, as good as West’s 2 albums are, his production credits on Jay-Z’s 2001 album ‘The Blueprint’, John Legend’s debut album ‘Get Lifted’ and Common’s 2005 release ‘Be’ should - by rights - overshadow his own solo output. I’d go as far as to say that the 4-times Grammy-nominated ‘Be’ is not only one of my favourite hip hop albums of all time (and, believe me, that’s saying something), but also easily one of the best hip hop albums released in the last decade or so (and, believe me, that’s not saying much).

See, the thing is, hip hop has become a bit of a joke genre over the last few years, be it Eminem’s unfortunate downhill spiral into forever dissing his Mum or doting on his daughter, or 50 Cent’s laughable bling output. Message to Fiddy: we know you have more money, cars, jewellery, mansions and hot bitches than us “normal” people. You’re better than us, we get it. Now change the subject, if you can. It’s this unfortunate bling “mo money, mo shit material” phenomena (not all released from Slim Shady or Interscope Records by the way) that is cheapening hip hop at the moment, and it’s albums like Common’s previous release ‘Be’ that help to combat this. It’s such a joyous record, with positive vibes and no filler. Even the cover artwork of the album, of a happily grinning Common, contrasts to the macho posturing that the likes of G-Unit continually foist upon the record-buying public. So now, in 2007, Common releases ‘Finding Forever’ and expectations are obviously high; ‘Be’ was highly favoured by critics and fans alike, winning a slew of new fans and even being compared to Marvin Gaye’s 1971 classic ‘What’s Going On’.

So it’s hard to NOT compare this album to ‘Be’. For instance, even the cover artwork for ‘Finding Forever’ finds Common dressed in some kind of robe, looking all prophet-like and regal. It’s a serious Common, as opposed to the gleeful Common. ‘Finding Forever’ is a confusing album. For instance, the first track on ‘Be’ is easily one of Common’s greatest tracks (THAT double-bass, THAT Albert Jones string sample, THAT tinkling piano and xylophone riff), because it sounds so full of elation and genuinely carefree. In fact, the first word uttered on the record is a bright and breezy Common proclaiming ‘Yes!’. It’s this positivity that sadly contrasts to the beginning of ‘Finding Forever’. Due to hip hop’s strange penchant for needless minute-long intro’s (and don’t even get me started on all those ‘hilarious’ and ‘worthwhile’ skits you find on hip hop albums nowadays…), ‘Finding Forever’ starts with a minute of melancholy harp and random ambience that wouldn’t sounds amiss on a Zero 7 B-side. It’s an unsettling start, because it’s such a waste of a track; it does nothing and it goes nowhere.

Even more maddening is the fact that it’s followed by the Kanye West-produced ‘Start The Show’. Here, West not only intones the chorus’ hook, but also speaks the first words on the album - an honour usually left for, well, Common really, seeing as it’s his album and all. The cheek! It’s a bit tired in all honesty, and it’s with considerable relief that it segues into standout track (and lead single) ‘The People’, with its repeated emphasis on ‘Louder! Louder! Louder!’ and Common’s initial dedication of ‘Yeah, this is for the people’. Even the video - seeing Common walking the streets and meeting the people he speaks of - outlines a rap star not forgetting his roots. Common is clearly far removed from Fiddy’s idiotic “I’m better than you guys!” ramblings.

Track 4, ‘Drivin’ Me Wild’, is another fantastic track, especially the catchy Lily Allen-sung chorus: ‘It’s this thing now / Drivin’ Me Wild / I gotta see what’s up / Before it gets me down’. It’s unashamedly hypnotic. Even the chorus’ end (‘Love’s not a mystery / it’s everything’) focuses on this all-encapsulating feeling of including everyone because, after all, we - the people - will always fall in and out of love because, you knows it, it’s everything. Next up we have the Will.I.Am-produced ‘I Want You’, with said producer sounding suspiciously like John Legend. Track 6, ‘Southside’, is again produced by and features Kanye West, and again seems a bit stale and tired. And this is the unfortunate thing about this album. Whilst most reviews show ‘Finding Forever’ as Common at the top of his game, I just seem to hear a messy and confused album, because it’s so patchy; as if each great track is followed by a mediocre one, and then another great one and so on. It’s pretty off-putting. Whilst ‘Be’ (and even Common’s early albums ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ and ‘Resurrection’ spring to mind) are highly rated albums, ‘Finding Forever’ is pretty hit-and-miss.

Track 7, ‘The Game’, is rumoured to be a future single (the video, of Common in a Boxing Club, is rife on Youtube), but feels more like filler than something playable on commercial radio, which is a shame. Three more adequate tracks fly by before we’re hit by another album standout, the darkly intense ‘Misunderstood’, complete with Nina Simone sample. Like ‘Be’, the final track (‘Forever Begins’) is another 7-minute looooooong number and, due to the album’s propensity for nothing new or exciting, it feels like an anti-climax. The UK release of the album includes an extra bonus track (‘Play Your Cards Right’) but, seeing as it’s already been made available on the ‘Smokin’ Aces’ soundtrack album, the word “bonus” isn’t really called for. So, to conclude, ‘Finding Forever’ is a wasted opportunity of an album. It’s not a disaster of epic proportions or anything, but it’s also not the classic that we hoped for either.
By J. M. Ross

Animal Collective - Peacebone (Music Video)

M.I.A.- Kala (Album Review)

Kala and Arular are similar in that they are both wildly vigorous and wholly enjoyable albums, generous with blunt-force beats, flurries of percussion, riotous vocals, and fearless stylistic syntheses that seem to view music from half of the planet's countries as potential source material. But Kala nearly makes Arular seem tame in comparison, magnifying most of its predecessor's qualities as it remains bracingly adventurous. While it certainly sounds like a second M.I.A. album, nothing about it is stagnant. Made in piecemeal fashion while located in several countries, Kala involves a few co-producers: U.K. "dirty house" producer Switch is the primary collaborator, while Baltimore club don Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Timbaland assist M.I.A. on one or a couple tracks each. Further variety is added vocally, not only through M.I.A.'s numerous modes, but also through feature spots from Nigerian MC Afrikan Boy and a crew of young Aborigine rappers. Roughly half the album -- including the opening three-track sequence, which incorporates Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner," samples from two Tamil-language film soundtracks, squawking chickens, (what sounds like) yelping children, and clustered rhythmic devices that boom, stab, clap, rattle, twitter, and sometimes even prance -- is more intense than anything on Arular. The tracks are so full of chaos and jagged noise that it is disarming to reach the relatively relaxed material, especially the two tracks that resemble actual songs. "Jimmy" is a rather faithful cover, willfully chintzy strings and all, of a flirtatiously lovelorn neo-disco number from the '80s Bollywood film Disco Dancer. "Paper Planes" has a sing-songy float to it, aided by the Clash's "Straight to Hell," though it also appropriates Wreckx-N-Effect's "Rump Shaker" while replacing "zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom" and "boom-boom" with sounds from shotguns and cash registers. Like the remainder of the album's best moments, it recalls the late Lizzy Mercier Descloux, another artist who made thrilling music by mixing cultures with respectful irreverence. Perhaps some of Arular's detractors knew M.I.A. was capable of this all along
(Andy Kellman)

Pete Doherty Goes Free On Technicality

Pete Doherty was released today without being charged with breaching his bail conditions after authorities failed to get him to court on time. Doherty, who has been undergoing court-ordered rehabilitation treatment, was arrested yesterday in east London on suspicion of possessing drugs, police said.

The charge of breaching his bail conditions was dismissed because the 28-year-old Babyshambles frontman had not been brought to court within 24 hours, said prosecutor Anjulika Vatish.

"The court has no jurisdiction to deal with this matter anymore," she said at West London Magistrates' Court.

Earlier this month, a judge warned Doherty that he must prove his desire to quit drugs within a month or face a jail sentence for previous offenses.

Doherty has admitted possessing crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine, as well as to two driving offenses.

R.E.M. Preps First Concert CD/DVD Set

In a career first, R.E.M. will on Oct. 16 release the aptly named "R.E.M. Live," its maiden concert album. The two-CD, one-DVD set is drawn from a Feb. 27, 2005, concert at Dublin's the Point on the Around the Sun tour. The DVD portion was directed by Blue Leach (Depeche Mode, Snow Patrol).

The track list is weighted toward material from "Around the Sun," from which six songs are taken. But it also features a handful of oddities, including "I Took Your Name" from 1994's "Monster," the vintage "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" and the previously unreleased "I'm Gonna DJ."

A trailer for the project can be found on the R.E.M. fan site Murmurs.com.

As previously reported, the group is in the studio with producer Jacknife Lee, with an eye on a 2008 release for its next album. A host of new songs were debuted during a recent run of shows in Dublin.

Here is the track list for "R.E.M. Live":

"I Took Your Name"
"So Fast, So Numb"
"Boy in the Well"
"Cuyahoga"
"Everybody Hurts"
"Electron Blue"
"Bad Day"
"The Ascent of Man"
"Great Beyond"
"Leaving New York"
"Orange Crush"
"I Wanted To Be Wrong"
"Final Straw"
"Imitation of Life"
"The One I Love"
"Walk Unafraid"
"Losing My Religion"
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"
"Drive"
"(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"
"I'm Gonna DJ"
"Man on the Moon"

Amy Winehouse cancels US tour, cites health issues

It was all just fun and games until this (oh, and those drug problems) — citing concerns due to the hardships of touring, soulstress Amy Winehouse has canceled her upcoming September U.S. and Canadian tour. Just a week after the singer was hospitalized last week for, ahem, “severe exhaustion,” a spokesperson has released the following statement:

“Due to the rigors involved in touring, Amy Winehouse has been advised to postpone her upcoming September U.S. and Canadian tour dates. All ticket holders may obtain refunds at their point of purchase. Amy’s European and U.K. tour dates in October and November remain in place. Plans are being made to reschedule her U.S. tour for early 2008. Until then, Amy has been ordered to rest and is working with medical professionals to address her health.”

Neil Young to release sequel to unreleased 1977 album Chrome Dreams

Perhaps inspired by the success of Brian Wilson’s completion of the Smile album in 2004, Neil Young has announced plans to revisit an album rumored to have been scrapped 30 years ago. It’s not clear how much of the original Chrome Dreams was recorded before it was shelved, but songs from the album such as “Like a Hurricane,” “Will to Love,” “Powderfinger” and “Will to Love” showed up on subsequent albums. Chrome Dreams II will feature ten songs, three of which were previously written; two tracks clock in at the monumental lengths of 18:30 and 13:00. Are we in for a revisit of “Hurricane’s” and “Cortez the Killer’s” blistering shred-fests? Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The New Pornographers- Challengers (Album Review)

A.C. Newman—tell ‘em why you mad, son! This is your FOURTH ALBUM, yo. Your FOURTH ALBUM and the New Pornographers still don’t get treated like a “real” band. To clear things up, “real” bands only make new albums after two years of grueling tour schedules and intense soul searching. Dan Bejar and Neko Case call up Newman whenever they feel like making our mixtape-making lives easier, but if either needs to do laundry or hit up Six Flags, they can be easily replaced on the road. As such, it’s been hard for some to see their output as part of a trajectory as opposed to compartmentalized entities, since they’re the least substance-abusing band that could understandably be expected to break up after every album.

Mass Romantic felt like a glorious one-off, the feeling after Electric Version was “that was nice while it lasted,” and then after Twin Cinema, “how are they topping this?” Challengers is their first LP that feels like a realization of an artistic arc of sorts and sounds as if it’ll be listed next to the likes of Wincing the Night Away, Sky Blue Sky, and Easy Tiger in iPods of people you used to think were way cooler back when those artists released their early 21st-century masterstrokes.

Now, you’d have to be a pretty irredeemable asshole to dismiss Challengers based on the fact that repping New Pornographers doesn’t score you as many style points as it used to. Consequently, you’d have to be pretty unfamiliar with the rest of their work to find that straining against the inherent finality of their existence resulted in something other than their least pleasurable and most “pleasant” record. The New Pornographers concept would’ve fallen apart after the first note if they gave any indication that they were keeping a few in the chamber for their numerous outside interests, but while the melodic gifts of Mass Romantic and Twin Cinema were separate but equal (quantity vs. quality), they tip their hand on the first half of Challengers by trying to peak on the strength of studio tricks with mild degrees of difficulty.

“My Rights Versus Yours” gives some sort of indication that it might lead into true scrutability, but it never gets beyond an NPR-soundbite title, clip-clopping along until it tries to offer an ELO-style vocal effect as a climax worth building to. “All the Old Showstoppers” heavily recalls the pacing of “The Fake Headlines” but exchanges a carousel of big-top hooks for a couple of wholly predictable handfuls from the Brion Grab Bag.

Were I fighting with more constraints on space, I could really write this review by listing which older New Pornographers song a new one sounds a lot like, only less immediate. Even Newman’s trademark hairpin chord turns on “Mutiny, I Promised You” and “All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth” can be seen from two towns over, to say nothing of “Failsafe,” which is either a sketch version of “Four or Five” or a Monster-style guitar effect searching for a song. Either way. Dan Bejar could only wish for such relative triumph by association, as his contributions relegate him right back to third banana status. “Entering White Cecilia” and “Myriad Harbour” are erected on slack-wristed strumming, run-on travelogues that are either a parody of Fiery Furnaces or something even worse and listless. Newman has claimed that these are “typically sexual” Bejar songs. Make of that what you will.

And yet, these guys are still such pros that Challengers can be listened to front to back with minimal skipping. Challengers certainly gets tastier after you’ve chewed on it for a bit, and on an overly wistful record, Neko Case’s sad songs and waltzes (particularly the infidelity lament of the title track) become nice tent poles even if they’re stripped of any the typical power-pop fizz of her NP output. It’s even downright enjoyable, but as with the records I’ve brought up in the first paragraph (with the exception of Wincing the Night Away), if you’re the type that believes that new records still compete with older ones for your free time, this is something that you’ll play and enjoy for a couple months out of a sense of loyalty before wondering a couple years later how it’s aged.

For once, a clutch of New Pornographers songs, however well-constructed, just isn’t enough. Even if many of them recall the interstitial tracks of Twin Cinema that caused it to flow so smoothly, we still need highlights, or more substantial tweaks (even the six-and-a-half minute “Unguided” is just a good NP song that happens to be twice as long as the rest of them) or, gasp!, some sort of concrete lyrical takeaway. Because even when the latter was missing, it was acceptable because the New Pornographers were merely keeping secrets from us and a sense of mystery never hurts when the songs are so melodically and verbally seductive. Maybe that completely understandable calling-it-quits is imminent, because on Challengers, there’s a distinct sense of something missing, the work of people keeping secrets from each other.

The return of The Jesus & Mary Chain

After reuniting earlier this year for its first shows in nearly a decade, the Jesus & Mary Chain is heading into the studio to make its first new album since 1998's "Munki." No release date or label affiliation has been announced for the project.

In addition, the group has confirmed five fall shows on the West Coast: Oct. 20 in Las Vegas, Oct. 22 in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 23 in Los Angeles and Oct. 26-27 in San Francisco. Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando will open all dates, while Soulsavers, which features Mark Lanegan, are on the bill for the last three shows.

Gnarls Barkley's Album Delayed

The new Gnarls Barkley album has been reportedly rescheduled for next year because of producer Danger Mouse’s new ‘supergroup’.

The follow up to Barkley’s crossover debut ‘St Elsewhere’ is ready to go and was expected to hit record ship shelves this Autumn.

However, apparently Danger Mouse is now too busy with a new project called Underground Animals, he’s too busy to undergo the promotional trail, according to a record label source quoted in The Sun.

Pete Doherty Arrested After V Festival

Pete Doherty was arrested early this morning (Aug. 20) on suspicion of drugs possession, a police source said. Doherty, 28, was arrested with a man and a woman after being stopped in a car in Tower Hamlets in east London.

The troubled singer had been performing with his band Babyshambles at the V Festival in Staffordshire late on Sunday. All three were taken to an east London police station where they remain in custody.

Doherty was warned by a magistrate earlier this month he faced a prison sentence if he failed to demonstrate he was trying to kick his drugs habit. The singer pleaded guilty in July to possessing crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine.

Morrissey Adds fall tour dates

I guess Morrissey wants to make up for the mess that was a a bunch of cancelled dates and add a few more for good measure.

Morrissey - 2007 Tour Dates
September 20 TIJUANA, MEXICO : El Foro
September 21 LAS VEGAS, NV : The Pearl
September 23 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 24 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 26 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 27 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 29 SANTA BARBARA, CA : County Bowl
October 1 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 2 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 4 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 5 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 6 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 8 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 9 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 11 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 12 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 13 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 15 SALT LAKE CITY, UT : Thanksgiving Point
October 17 WAUKEGAN, IL : Genesee Theatre
October 19 ROYAL OAK, MI : Royal Oak Music Theatre
October 20 MERRILLVILLE, IN : Star Plaza
October 22 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 23 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 26 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 27 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 28 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 30 BOSTON, MA : Orpheum
October 31 BALTIMORE, MD : Rams Head
November 2 WASHINGTON, DC : Constitution Hall

* Kristeen Young supports on all dates

The Go! Team- Bull in the Heather (Sonic Youth Cover)

No surprise, the Go! Team turn this pulsating Kim Gordon song (from SY’s Experimental Jet Set No Star) into an indie dance raver. What’s great about the Go! Team is their relentless lo-fi wall-of-sound; between the huge hip-hop drums and cherry red guitars, you can barely hear those creepy lyrics (”Tell me / That you / Wanna / Whore me”), so you don’t know whether to boogie or recoil in fear. Nope, Ninja don’t got half the star power of Gordon, but she gets the job done. A solid effort, as is everything I hear from this group; download the song for free off their website site.

The Shins- Turn me on (Music Video)

John Vanderslice:: Emerald City (Album Review)

Emerald City finds John Vanderslice moving in a more organic direction, relying less on electronic studio trickery and more on the weight of lyrics in his songs, in the vein of the Decemberists or Neutral Milk Hotel. According to a press statement by Barsuk Records, Emerald City was supposedly written as John Vanderslice dealt with legal issues due to an incident where his Parisian girlfriend's visa immigration was rejected by US Immigration. Of course, with Vanderslice it's hard to know the difference between fact and fiction. (He cried wolf once before when he told the press that Bill Gates was suing him because of his song "Bill Gates Must Die," and his lyrics are often buried so deep beneath layers of mixed metaphor that it's more likely about something else entirely -- or then again, it could be about nothing in particular.) That's the beauty of Vanderslice's music. With good art, you can take away many different meanings depending on your perspective. There is a definite reoccurring theme that alludes to events of 9-11, with imagery of towers disappearing in a cloud of white smoke, but the stories are convoluted enough that it's difficult to know positively the concept of the record. It seems to be a tale of a man who destroys the Chrysler Towers in an act of terrorism. Afterwards, the protagonist loses the police in a parade and flees to a new home where he is tormented by paranoia and eventually leaves the country to escape. He starts taking codeine to help ease his mind, but is constantly haunted by memories of the past; a neighbor bemoans the loss of her daughter in the war, a tarot card reveals a picture of a burning tower on it, and tension builds and eventually drives the main character further into seclusion where he is consumed by loneliness. In the last song (the beautifully moody, electric piano based "Central Booking"), he receives a letter from his former lover but decides not to open it for fear of giving away his secret location. Of course this take on the content is merely one interpretation of the songs' meanings and if the press statement explains Vanderslice's motivations truthfully, the record is actually an autobiographical love story dedicated to a girl in France. It's doubtfully that simple, especially considering that his last four albums were so character-driven, but it's entirely plausible. Like Pixel Revolt his melodies are still strong and unpredictable, at times sounding like Matthew Sweet performing a ballad by Neil Young, and the production is still huge and full, although audiophiles may be disturbed by the overdriven acoustic guitars on certain songs that give an unnerving sensation of blown speaker cones. It's a forgivable stylistic decision, and doesn't detract much from the overall solidarity of the disc, which reiterates once again that Vanderslice is holding the torch as one of indie-rock's most imaginative songwriters.

Legendary Jazz Drummer Max Roach Dies At 83

Acclaimed be-bop drummer and composer Max Roach died in his sleep early yesterday morning (Aug. 16) at age 83 in New York, according to a spokesperson from Blue Note Records. The cause of death was not announced.

Considered one of the most influential drummers in jazz and beyond, Roach was born Jan. 10, 1924, in Newland, N.C., and moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., as a child. Raised in a musical family, he started drumming with gospel bands at age 10 and played with Duke Ellington at 16.

Roach recorded more than 70 albums, working with luminaries like Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins. In 1952, he co-founded Debut Records with Mingus and released the groundbreaking live album "Jazz at Massey Hall," featuring Parker, Gillespie, Bud Powell and Mingus.

He went on to record albums with Dinah Washington and Ellington, and in 1966 released a solo album, "Drums Unlimited." The record, containing several tracks comprised solely of drum solos, caused a stir at the time and remains one of the few records of its sort to date.

A longtime civil rights advocate, Roach in 1960 released a seven-section suite themed around slavery and racism, "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite," that featured vocalist Abbey Lincoln, who he married two years later.

In later years, Roach performed solo show and recorded duets with such outside the mainstream musicians like Cecil Taylor, Abdullah Ibrahim and Connie Crothers. He also wrote for the theater and performed with hip-hop act Fab Five Freddy and the New York Break Dancers.

In addition to eight honorary doctorate degrees, Roach also served on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts. He is survived by three daughters and two sons.

Down the Line by Jose Gonzalez, from his forthcoming In Our Nature

Amy Winehouse 'a heroin and cocaine addict' claim

It is being reported today that Amy Winehouse's mother in law has called the singer a heroin and cocaine addict.

Speaking to The Mirror, Winehouse's mother-in-law, Georgette Civil-Fielder, said of the singer the singer had confessed to her.

"She told me she was addicted to heroin and cocaine," claimed Blake Civil-Fielder's mother.

She also suggsted that during Amy Winehouse and husband Blake 's hotel stay following her drug overdose last Tuesday (August 7), the couple were delivered heroin by a friend, which they allegedly took in the hotel.

Amy Winehouse is currently in the Causeway drug rehab centre in Essex, casting doubt on whether Winehouse will perform this weekend's V Festival (August 18 and 19) as scheduled.

This morning a V Festival spokesperson told the NME that they had heard no word from Winehouse's camp about a possible cancelation, and so still expected her to play.

Live Album To Chronicle Daft Punk Tour

Daft Punk will in late November release a live album chronicling the June 14 Paris stop on its first tour in a decade. The as-yet-untitled Capitol set will be available in a single CD edition plus a two-disc set which features the show's encore. As of now, no live DVD companion is in the works, according to the group.

"We're from Paris and we hadn't played there for 10 years," Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter told Billboard last Friday, the afternoon following the tour closer in Brooklyn, N.Y. "It must have been a special night for the audience, as well as for us."

The tour version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" will be issued as a single from the live set, and a video, directed by Oliver Gondry, will feature footage shot by fans at the Brooklyn show. "It is a montage of people shooting the song in the audience with 250 cameras," Bangalter says. "We were inspired by the Beastie Boys' 'Awesome, I F***in' Shot That!' and tried to do that in a four-minute video."

Daft Punk will return to the U.S. in late October for a performance at the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas, and is weighing offers for more shows next year. After such a long layoff from live performance, the group admits it was blown away by the response to the recent North American shows, which included a co-headlining performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago.

"We pretty much felt it everywhere, which was fascinating," Bangalter says. "It was a big deal each time. It's a big deal for us each time, too, which is what keeps it fresh."

With a stroke of good timing, Daft Punk is also in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to the "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" sample Kanye West utilizes on his new hit, "Stronger."

The two acts did not collaborate in the studio, and the actors who portray the Daft Punk robots in the film "Electroma" took Bangalter and partner Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's place in the "Stronger" video. But the pair say they are thrilled with how West's track turned out, having heard first heard it on Los Angeles station Power 106 while waiting for a recent flight to San Francisco.

"The DJ had made an edit of our song at the beginning and then it turned into his song," de Homem-Christo says. "Our song had a good sound, but when he put Kanye's record on, the sound was really fat. It sounds really big. It's not a collaboration in the studio, but the vibe of the music we do separately connected in what he did with the song."
(via billboard)

Shins, Ween, M.I.A. Help Open New NYC Venue

Shows from the Shins, Ween, M.I.A., the National and the Decemberists are among the first confirmed for Terminal 5, a new venue opening in early October on the west side of midtown Manhattan. Launched by Bowery Presents, the venue at 610 W. 56th St. will boast a capacity of 3,000.

At present, the first show booked is the National on Oct. 11, followed by M.I.A on Oct. 19, up-and-coming French dance act Justice on Oct. 20 and the Shins with Vetiver on Oct. 23-24.

The Decemberists are booked for a Nov. 1-2 stand, followed by State Radio on Nov. 23 and Ween on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The latter shows will be Ween's first non-private gigs in Manhattan since 2003. The group's new album, "La Cucaracha," is due this fall.

Tickets for the National, M.I.A., Justice, State Radio and Ween go on sale Friday (Aug. 17); tickets for the Shins go on sale Saturday.

Terminal 5 is the second new venue opened by Bowery Presents in recent months, following the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The company also recently promoted Daft Punk's sold-out show at Brooklyn's Keyspan Park and Muse and the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden.

John Lennon's catalog comes to iTunes

Let the speculation resume about when the full Beatles catalog is coming to iTunes. For the first time, 16 of John Lennon's solo albums and exclusive videos from EMI Music made their digital debut on the service today (Aug. 14). Like all other EMI tracks, they will be available free of DRM in higher-quality files for $1.29.

The "Lennon Legend" and "Acoustic" albums are making their worldwide digital debuts as part of the initiative. And for a 30-day window, exclusive video content is bundled with the albums "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band," "Sometime in New York City," "Walls and Bridges" and "Milk and Honey" and the collections "Anthology" and "Working Class Hero."

The solo catalogs of two of Lennon's Beatles bandmates -- Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr -- are available on iTunes already.

Battles soldier on on tour

Battles will battle on in its quest to bring the band’s brand of groovy electro rock to those who still aren’t convinced to but Mirrored on their year-end top ten lists. Ah, the uninitiated. Battles is currently touring in Europe, will continue to do so the rest of this month, and return there in October. Later that month, the Warp mind-warpers will return to North America. Follow on after the jump for those shows…

10/27 Las Vegas, NV - Vegoose
10/30 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
11/1 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11/2 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
11/3 Seattle, WA - Neumo’s
11/4 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest
11/7 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Cafe
11/8 Chicago, IL - Metro
11/9 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
11/10 Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace
11/11 Montreal, QC - Le National
11/12 Boston, MA - Paradise

Go! Team- "Doing It Right" (Music Video)

Dax Riggs to tour with QOTSA

Former deadboy and the Elephantmen leader Dax Riggs just released his new solo album We Sing Only of Blood or Love on Fat Possum Records. Next month, Riggs will hit the road to drum up support for the catchy-named new work. He’ll also be opening for Queens of the Stone Age. After a solo show at the Austin City Limits Festival, Riggs jumps on stage with QOTSA at that same fest before the two acts ride off together. Follow on after the jump for the Riggs/QOTSA tour dates…

9/15 Austin, TX - ACL Fest AT&T Stage (solo show)
9/15 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
9/16 Dallas, TX - House of Blues
9/17 Houston, TX - Verizon Theater
9/19 Orlando, FL - House of Blues
9/20 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon
9/21 Jacksonville, FL - Plush
9/22 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
9/24 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
9/25 Norfolk, VA - NorVa
9/26 Baltimore, MD - Ram’s Head Live
9/28 Pittsburgh, PA - Carnegie Theater
9/29 Charleston, SC - Riley Stadium

Vedder, Sonic Youth, Tweedy Do Dylan For Soundtrack

A host of rock notables have banded together for the soundtrack to Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan-themed film "I'm Not There," due Oct. 30 via Columbia. More than 30 tracks have been recorded for what is intended to be a double-disc set, including songs from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and X's John Doe.

"I'm Not There" features six different actors, including Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Christian Bale, portraying Dylan at various points in his career. The film opens Nov. 21 in U.S. theaters.

A number of tracks feature backing from the Million Dollar Bashers, which was assembled by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and also features that band's Steve Shelley on drums, Television guitarist Tom Verlaine, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, guitarist Smokey Hormel, keyboardist John Medeski and Dylan bassist Tony Garnier.

Among the most intriguing songs are Dylan's own "I'm Not There," a rarity from "The Basement Tapes" era, as well as Sonic Youth's version of the same track. Vedder fronts the Million Dollar Bashers for "All Along the Watchtower," while Malkmus takes the mic with the group on "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Maggie's Farm." Fellow Matador artist Cat Power covers Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile With Memphis Blues Again," which will not appear on her upcoming covers album, due early next year.

Calexico serves as the backing band on a number of tunes, with artists like My Morning Jacket's Jim James, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willie Nelson and the Byrds' Roger McGuinn chipping in on vocals.

The sequenced track list for the soundtrack has not yet been finalized, but it will feature the following songs:

"All Along the Watchtower," Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers
"As I Went Out One Morning," Mira Billotte
"Ballad of a Thin Man," Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers
"Billy," Los Lobos
"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," the Hold Steady
"Can't Leave Her Behind," Stephen Malkmus and Lee Ranaldo
"Cold Irons Bound," Tom Verlaine and the Million Dollar Bashers
"Dark Eyes," Iron & Wine and Calexico
"Fourth Time Around," Yo La Tengo
"Goin' To Acapulco," Jim James and Calexico
"Highway 61 Revisited," Karen O and the Million Dollar Bashers
"I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine," John Doe
"I Wanna Be Your Lover," Yo La Tengo
"I'm Not There," Bob Dylan
"I'm Not There," Sonic Youth
"Just Like a Woman," Charlotte Gainsbourg and Calexico
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," Ramblin' Jack Elliot
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door," Antony & the Johnsons
"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," Mason Jennings
"Maggie's Farm," Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers
"Mama You've Been on My Mind," Jack Johnson
"The Man in the Long Black Coat," Mark Lanegan
"Moonshiner," Bob Forrest
"One More Cup of Coffee," Roger McGuinn and Calexico
"Pressing On," John Doe
"Ring Them Bells," Sufjan Stevens
"Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)," Willie Nelson and Calexico
"Simple Twist of Fate," Jeff Tweedy
"Stuck Inside of Mobile With Memphis Blues Again," Cat Power
"The Times They Are a Changin'," Mason Jennings
"Tombstone Blues," Richie Havens
"When The Ship Comes In," Marcus Carl Franklin
"Wicked Messenger," the Black Keys
"You Ain't Goin 'Nowhere," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem tour itinerary set

They’ve been adding dates here and there for a few weeks, but now the joint tour featuring Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem, two of the biggest and best indie bands around today, is all mapped out. The titans will join up at the Austin City Limits Festival in the middle of next month and spread out across the U.S. from there. Follow on after the jump to see if your city (what’s up, Lehi, UT?!) is one of the lucky ones to be visited by this landmark pairing…

9/15 Austin, TX - ACL Fest
9/17 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks
9/20 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
9/21 Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
9/24 Seattle, WA - Bank of America Arena
9/26 Lehi, UT - Waterfall Amphitheatre @ Thanksgiving Point
9/28 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
9/30 St. Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins Auditorium
10/3 Louisville, KY - Waterfront Park
10/5 Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion
10/6 New York, NY - Randall’s Island

Van Halen Tour Kicking Off In Late September

The first leg of Van Halen's long-awaited reunion tour with frontman David Lee Roth will kick off Sept. 27 in Charlotte, N.C., and run through Dec. 11 in Calgary, Alberta. Tickets for the trek, announced today at a Los Angeles media gathering, go on sale beginning Saturday (Aug. 18) via LiveNation.com.

A proposed summer amphitheater tour by the group, first tipped here in late January, never got off the ground, with guitarist Eddie Van Halen entering a rehabilitation facility for undisclosed reasons in March.

Roth has not toured with the act in more than two decades; the bass spot formerly occupied by Michael Anthony will be filled by Eddie Van Halen's teenage son, Wolfgang.

"It's a new band," Roth said. "I've done more rehearsal in the last four months than I've done in the past 20 summers. The whole sound is better than it has ever been."

Roth added, "It was Wolf who picked the song list, and we've got close to 25 of your greatest hits -- all the favorites that you've been hearing tearing out of the back of a pickup truck at the Burger King drive-through for how many summertimes. It's all very well intact -- the same sh*tty attitude but with a whole new look."

Various allusions were made to a potential new Van Halen studio album, which would be the band's first with Roth since the seminal "1984."

"There's a high standard here," Roth said. "We could waddle out there and halfway do it. A band like this could totally come in after an absence of this amount of time and get away with a lot, if we only do one tour. That's not our ambition. This is not like the Police. The idea is that it will continue on and on, and you have to get a good start."

"None of us want to give you less than our best, and we are at our best," Eddie Van Halen added.

Here are Van Halen's tour dates:

Sept. 27: Charlotte, N.C. (Bobcats Arena)
Sept. 29: Greensboro, N.C. (Coliseum)
Oct. 1: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)
Oct. 7: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Oct. 10: Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
Oct. 14: Indianapolis (Conseco Fieldhouse)
Oct. 16: Chicago (Allstate Arena)
Oct. 18: Chicago (United Center)
Oct. 22: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)
Oct. 24: Minneapolis (Target Center)
Oct. 26: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)
Oct. 28: St. Louis (Scottrade Center)
Oct. 30: Boston (TD Banknorth Garden)
Nov. 3: East Rutherford, N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena)
Nov. 13: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Nov. 20: Los Angeles (Staples Center)
Nov. 23: Glendale, Ariz. (Jobing.com Arena)
Nov. 25: San Diego (Cox Arena)
Nov. 27: Sacramento, Calif. (Arco Arena)
Nov. 29: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion)
Dec. 1: Portland, Ore. (Rose Garden)
Dec. 3: Seattle (Key Arena)
Dec. 5: Vancouver (GM Place)
Dec. 9: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Palace)
Dec. 11: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowth Saddledome)

The Hives single and album release dates / cover art

The Hives have announced release dates for their upcoming album and single. The full length The Black and White Album and is due out October 9th, 2007 in North America, and a day earlier in the UK. It will be preceded by the single "Tick Tick Boom," which will hit download services in the US on August 14th and September 24th in the UK. While the UK does have to wait on the download, they do get a CD / 7" single on October 1st.

The Black and White Album follows up 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives. You can find the cover art for album above

Kingblind Downloads

Thurston Moore- The shape is in a trance

Sharon Jones- 100 Days 100 Nights

Panda Bear- Comfy in Nautica

Sea Wolf- You're a Wolf (Live in Studio) Sirius Session

Joy Division- Tranmission

Yeah Yeah Yeah's- Down Boy

Black Flag- Police Story

Dirty Projectors- Police Story

Bishop Allen- Rain

John Vanderslice- White Dove

Anthony H Wilson 1950-2007

Tony Wilson, co-founder of Factory Records, has died at the age of 57.

Born Anthony H. Wilson on February 20, 1950 in Salford, England, he went on to become a renowned broadcast journalist, band manager, record label executive and night club owner.

As the Factory Records boss, he was responsible for signing legendary bands including Joy Division and New Order to his label.

Also, as owner of the renowned Hacienda nightclub in Manchester, he played a key role in the Madchester scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s that mixed indie rock and dance music and included artists such as Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses.

The Hacienda, which hosted Madonna's first UK television appearance in 1983, was forced to close in the late 1990s as it was losing money allegedly because its patrons were taking ecstasy rather than buying drinks at the club.

Wilson reportedly became involved in the Manchester music scene in the 1970s when hosting the culture and music programme 'So It Goes' on Granada Television.

After covering a Sex Pistols performance at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976, he described the experience as "nothing short of an epiphany" and booked the band for one of the first television broadcasts of British punk rock.

These aspects of Wilson's life were later chronicled in the semi-fictional 2002 feature film '24 Hour Party People', in which he was portrayed by British actor Steve Coogan.

More recently, Wilson was involved in In The City, a yearly music festival and conference that takes place in Manchester and New York City, which he co-founded with his partner Yvette Livesey.

In 2005 he launched F4, the fourth incarnation of the Factory Records label.

Earlier this year, the music mogul was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery to have one of his kidneys removed.

From signing the likes of Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, to being a general support of exciting an innovative music, Wilson established himself as a true indie hero.

New Cure Album Shifts From Fall To Next Spring

Originally due in early 2007 and then bumped to the fall, the new Cure album will now not see the light of day until next spring, according to a Geffen spokesperson.

Frontman Robert Smith is still recording material for the planned double-disc set but ran into a time crunch with an impending North American tour on the books. That outing begins Sept. 13 in Tampa, Fla. The band is presently in Australia for three shows, beginning tonight (Aug. 10) in Sydney.

"Whenever I think we're finishing it, it becomes something else," Smith said in late June. "We recorded all 33 backing tracks with scratch vocals last April, May and June. Then I took a break to kind of knock the words into shape and figure out which of these songs are going to make the album."

From there, Smith got sidetracked by work on the Cure live DVD "Festival 2005," but returned to the album material in March. "We've now reached the point where I've lost track of the number of songs we've got," he said. "There's an A-list of 30 songs on the wall."

Tracks due to make the cut include "Lusting Here in Your Mind" ("It sounds suspiciously like heavy rock to me," Smith said), "The Hungry Ghost," "The Perfect Boy," "Christmas Without You" ("That's not a very happy song," he said) and "Please Come Home."

"There are songs about relationships, the material world, politics and religion. They're very upfront and dynamic," said Smith of the new songs. "People will be surprised how stripped-down and in-your-face the record is."

Okkervil River: The Stage Names (Album Review)

Admittedly, the life of a touring indie rock hero isn't the hardest row to hoe, and the thought of some privileged white dude whining about how tough it is to, y'know, not wash for a couple days and ride a tour bus cross-country just so's he can sell a couple CDs and drink free beer is enough to make anyone choke on their own bile.

So the fact that Okkervil River main man Will Sheff's loosely linked collection of songs exploring the dark, rank underbelly of life as a rock 'n' roller is not only great, but leaves you with intense empathy for travelling troubadours is a testament to the man's tremendous skill as a songwriter.

Sheff manages to tease out captivating songs by wriggling right inside the brain of his protagonists – the long-suffering girlfriend patiently waiting backstage in Plus Ones, the frontman desperate to connect with (and protect) the sensitive girl in the crowd in Unless It's Kicks, the dad who wishes he hadn't stumbled on his daughter's diary in Savannah Smiles. The storytelling here is phenomenal.

The Stage Names is much more of a balls-out rock album than most of Okkervil River's oeuvre, and also more orchestral and layered, with arrangements that include everything from non-sissy glockenspiel to metronome percussion. The complexity is the perfect counterpart to Sheff's dense writing.
(Sarah Liss)

Modest Mouse- “Missed the Boat” Live on Conan

Magic Numbers make U.S. tour plans

Sunny British pop outfit the Magic Numbers will cross the pond for some American live dates later this month. The Brothers Stodart/Sisters Gannon foursome is supporting their album Those the Brokes, which only recently made it over to the U.S. after being available elsewhere since last year. The Magic Numbers will play a few dates with labelmates the Little Ones before joining up with Rufus Wainwright.

8/14 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey*
8/15 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall*
8/17 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe*
8/19 New York, NY - Central Park Summer Stage+
8/21 Boston, MA - Avalon+
8/23 Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion+
8/24 Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theatre+
8/25 Chicago, IL - Ravinia Pavilion+
8/27 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre+
*w/the Little Ones
+w/ Rufus Wainwright

AT&T Cuts Anti-Bush Lyrics From Pearl Jam Webcast

Pearl Jam fans and Internet watchdogs are up in arms today after it was revealed that AT&T censored portions of the band's live Lollapalooza concert cybercast on Sunday.

While performing "Daughter," the band segued into a portion of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall," during which frontman Eddie Vedder sang, "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush, find yourself another home." Those lyrics were missing from the broadcast.

Vedder also railed against oil giant BP Amoco during the set, and later, brought a disabled Iraq War veteran onstage to call for an end to the conflict. Neither of these segments were edited.

In a statement, AT&T attributed the bleeping to "a mistake by a Webcast vendor" that was "contrary to our policy. We have policies in place with respect to editing excessive profanity, but AT&T does not censor performances. We very much regret that this happened in the first place."

The company also says it is "working with the band to post the song in its entirety," a sentiment echoed by Pearl Jam on its official Web site. "In the future, we will work even harder to ensure that our live broadcasts or webcasts are free from arbitrary edits," reads a statement on PearlJam.com.

The incident has generated hundreds of posts on the band's Web forum as well as a response from the Future of Music Coalition, a strong advocate for "net neutrality" laws that ensure free speech online.

"This event shows that companies like AT&T will risk the appearance of censorship by turning off the sound on a webcast that's being viewed by thousands of people, just because it works counter to their financial interests," says FOMC head Jenny Toomey. "What do you think they will do to protect their financial interests on the web when no one is looking?"

White Stripes' couple welcome baby boy

Jack White and his wife, Karen Elson, are the parents of a baby boy.

White Stripes frontman Jack White and wife, model Karen Elson, are parents of a second child, Henry Lee White.

The couple's second child, named Henry Lee White, was born Tuesday, a publicist for the White Stripes frontman said Wednesday.

White and Elson have a 15-month-old daughter, Scarlett Teresa White.

"The new child and his mother are both feeling very healthy and happy," White's representative, Chloe Walsh, said in a statement to The Associated Pr