Thom Yorke to Release “The Hollow Earth” Next Month

Just when we thought a week could pass without Radiohead shaking up the music news world via intentional song leaks and EP rumors, information about an actual physical release next month has been uncovered. Exclaim’s Brock Thiessen made contact with a source at Sonic Unyon distributors who confirmed a limited 12-inch of two new Thom Yorke songs, “Apart By Horses” and “The Hollow Earth,” to be released on September 22.

The release, by ATO’s TBD Records (Exclaim points out that this is the same label that put out the In Rainbows’ CD release), is limited to only 4,000 copies in North America, 4,000 in Europe, and 300 in Canada.

The most likely explanation for all this is that one or both of these new Yorke tunes are his contribution to the forthcoming New Moon soundtrack. After all, “The Hollow Earth” does sound a bit vampire-y, does it not?
(via twentyfourbit)

Nirvana Live at Reading CD/DVD Due

The legendary 1992 performance finally gets an official release.

Nirvana’s stage-annihilating performance at the UK’s Reading Festival on August 30, 1992– the one where Kurt jokingly came out in a wheelchair– has been bootlegged to oblivion (check YouTube for proof) but it’s getting an official, remastered release this holiday season.

Nirvana Live at Reading will be available November 3 in CD/DVD, CD-only, and DVD-only formats courtesy of Universal; a double-LP version comes out a couple weeks later, on November 17. Click on for the full DVD tracklist:

Nirvana Live At Reading DVD:

01 Breed
02 Drain You
03 Aneurysm
04 School
05 Sliver
06 In Bloom
07 Come as You Are
08 Lithium
09 About a Girl
10 tourette’s
11 Polly
12 Lounge Act
13 Smells Like Teen Spirit
14 On a Plain
15 Negative Creep
16 Been a Son
17 All Apologies
18 Blew
19 Dumb
20 Stay Away
21 Spank Thru
22 Love Buzz *
23 The Money Will Roll Right In (Fang cover)
24 D-7 (Wipers cover)
25 Territorial Pissings

* not on CD

Police review death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones

LONDON, England (CNN) — British police are reviewing the death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, 40 years after the hard-living rocker was found dead in a swimming pool.

Police in Sussex, in southern England, have confirmed they are examining documents given to them by an investigative journalist who has been researching events surrounding Jones’ death.

Scott Jones, who is not related to the musician, has spent four years reviewing the evidence and speaking to key witnesses in the case.

In an article published in the Daily Mail in November 2008, Jones wrote, “I’m convinced Brian Jones’ death was not fully investigated. The only question that remains is why?”

Brian Jones’ body was found in the swimming pool after a party at his home in Cotchford Farm, East Sussex in July 1969. He was 27.

An inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure, despite post mortem results showing he had not taken illegal drugs and had only consumed the alcoholic equivalent of three and a half pints of beer.

One of the most popular conspiracy theories that followed was that Jones was murdered by his builder, Frank Thorogood.

The theory gained credence after Thorogood allegedly confessed to the killing before his death in 1993. The storyline formed the basis of the 2005 film “Stoned.”

Sussex police told CNN they could not say how long it would take to review the new material, nor whether it could lead to a full investigation.

There have been repeated calls for closer examination of the case since Jones’ death, which came just three weeks after he left the Rolling Stones.

His drinking and drug-taking had taken a toll on his health and the band, and in 1969 Jones announced he was leaving.

In a statement he said, “I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting.”

Last year, Scott Jones published an article containing contents of an interview he conducted with one of the people present at Jones’ home on the night of his death.

In the article, published in the Daily Mail, Jones’ said Janet Lawson, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones tour manager Tom Keylock, gave him a version of events that contradicted her official police statement.

She is reported to have called her original statement, “a pack of lies… total rubbish.”

Lawson’s revised version of events is among the documents Jones has supplied to Sussex police. It is also believed to include previously unseen files released by the Public Records Office.

Lawson died of cancer soon after telling Scott Jones her new sworn testimony.

DJ AM found Dead in NYC Apartment

NEW YORK (Reuters) – DJ AM, the stage name of disc jockey Adam Goldstein whose music could be heard on albums by Madonna and Will Smith, was found dead in his New York apartment at age 36 on Friday, according to media reports. John Sweeney, a spokesman for the New York police, told Reuters officers found a man dead at 5:23 p.m. EDT on Friday but he could not immediately confirm the man was Goldstein. The address where Sweeney said the man was found matches that of Goldstein’s apartment. Celebrity news website TMZ.com said Goldstein, who socialized with Hollywood celebrities and in 2008 survived a plane crash with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, was found with prescription pill bottles near his body after he had not been heard from for days. As a DJ, Goldstein’s work appeared on albums by Madonna, Will Smith, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Papa Roach. He performed at clubs in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and elsewhere. With the band Crazy Town, Goldstein had the 2001 hit song “Butterfly” but the group broke up two years later. He partnered with Barker of punk band Blink 182 last year to create a live DJ and drum performance and the duo played occasionally at clubs and other concert venues. In September 2008, Goldstein and Barker were in a private plane that crashed while trying to take off from an airport in South Carolina. The two pilots and two passengers were killed. Goldstein and Barker suffered serious burns and were hospitalized in critical condition. Goldstein posted his last known public remarks on the social networking website Twitter on Tuesday when he wrote: “New york, new york. Big city of dreams, but everything in new york aint always what it seems.” The words were lyrics from a song by Grandmaster Flash, a pioneer of hip-hop music. Goldstein dated reality TV star Nicole Richie, to whom he was at one point engaged, and later went out with singer and actress Mandy Moore.

Noel Gallagher says he has quit Oasis

LONDON (Reuters) – Songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher announced Friday he had quit Oasis, saying he could no longer work with his brother Liam, the rock band’s singer.

“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,” he wrote in a statement on the Oasis website.

“People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”

The band, from Manchester, was a key member of the so-called Britpop movement in the 1990s with a series of hit singles such as “Wonderwall” and “Roll With It.” However, they were in the news as much for their rock-and-roll lifestyle as for winning music awards.

The volatile Gallagher brothers have previously fallen out and speculation had been rife about a possible break-up after the band’s failure to appear at the V Festival in Chelmsford, southeast England, last Sunday.

Liam Gallagher, writing on his Twitter page, denied media reports that the band had played its last British gig. Viral laryngitis was blamed for their no-show.

However, the combo failed to play at a concert in Paris Friday and Noel apologized to fans about forthcoming shows.

“Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan,” he said on the website. About 30,000 people attended the sell-out “Rock en Seine” event in Paris. Oasis were due to play in Germany Saturday and in Italy on Sunday.

Foo Fighters announce greatest hits release

Foo Fighters have announced they will release a ‘Best Of’ album this year.

The collection, titled ‘Greatest Hits’, will come out on November 2 and features a selection from across Dave Grohl and co’s 14-year career, plus new tracks.

The first new track ‘Wheels’ was premiered at President Obama’s July 4 barbecue at the White House, while ‘Word Forward’ was also recorded especially for the compilation.

Along with the new material, the collection features ‘The Pretender’, ‘All My Life’, ‘Learn To Fly’, ‘Best Of You’, ‘Times Like These’, ‘My Hero’ and ‘Everlong’ among others, with the full tracklisting set to be confirmed soon.

Destroyer: Bay of Pigs (Album Review)

Dan Bejar’s latest project with his band Destroyer is an old-fashioned 12-inch single, with the 13-minute art-disco track “Bay Of Pigs” on one side and the spacey, eight-minute “Ravers” on the flip. After all the recent talk about what can be done to revive the album as a distinct, popular artform, here’s what looks to be an effort to retrain focus on one song as a singular event. The single is vinyl-only (though it comes with an MP3 download code), and though “Ravers” feels a little like an afterthought, “Bay Of Pigs” is a real epic—a meditation on life and love in times of crisis. Bejar opens the song with a minute of drone, then a minute of synthesizer twinkle. Then he begins singing quietly over a low throb, free-associating about the end times and happier days. Later, the synthesizer blips rise and a strong beat kicks in, accompanied by background la-las, handclaps, and some warm guitar strumming. “Bay Of Pigs” sounds more like early-’80s post-punk than classic disco—it has some of the texture of Tears For Fears’ The Hurting, or early New Order—but Destroyer has isolated the individual components, letting each take its turn with the song’s simple melodic progression. Using different sounds to create the same tune over and over, Bejar and Destroyer create the feeling of a tale told again and again by different people. It’s a haunting effect, well worth its unusual frame.

Nike Makes Sub Pop Sneaker

While we’d guess most people who love Sub Pop wouldn’t exactly love wearing a pair of $150 Sub Pop sneakers manufactured by Nike, the two Pac NW-based companies have teamed up nonetheless.

The sneaker is a bumblebee-flavored addition to Nike’s Quickstrike SB Blazer Elite series, which probably means something to those who subscribe to Hypebeast’s RSS feed.

We would tell you more but– perhaps tellingly– we can’t find any further info about these shoes on Sub Pop’s official site.

New Death Cab for Cutie song to be first single on New Moon soundtrack

It was announced today that Death Cab for Cutie’s contribution to the Twilight series’ “New Moon” will be the first single from the soundtrack album. The song, “Meet Me On the Equinox” will premiere on September 13th at the MTV Video Music Awards.

In a phone interview with MTV News, Nick spoke about the song, Death Cab’s connection the Twilight series, and more. Click here to listen to the interview and read the full article at MTV.com. You can also read a statement from the band at stepheniemeyer.com.

Them Crooked Vultures : Elephants- Live at Pukkelpop Festival
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qXtUwGYlDA&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
Live: August 20, 2009 Hasselt, Belgium – Pukkelpop Festival

A film about The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein’ is set to be made.

‘A Life In The Day’ has been written by Tony Gottelson and will be produced by David Permut, reports Variety.

Permut is currently in the process of attempting to secure the rights to use The Beatles’ songs in the film. He said the movie will concentrate on the formation of the band.

Epstein managed the Liverpool legends between 1961 and 1967, the year in which he died of a drug overdose.

Kings Of Leon Ready Remix Album, Live DVD

Even though Kings of Leon continue to tour in the wake of 2008′s platinum “Only By Night,” the group is planning a couple of new projects for the fall — and is starting to focus on its next album.

Though both are untitled and unscheduled at the moment, the quartet plans to release a live DVD and a remix album in the coming months. The former was filmed at London’s O2 Arena in July, an appropriate locale since, as drummer Nathan Followill Said “England is really the first place we broke…We figured what better place to make a live DVD than where the fans have been the craziest for the longest?” The show featured some choice rarities, and Followill says “we just put the cameras in the back of our minds and acted like they weren’t even there.”

Even more exciting, however, is a remix album that came to life after Kings of Leon learned that other artists such as Justin Timberlake and Pharrell had started working on revisions of the band’s songs. Mark Ronson, Kenna, Lykke Li and Linkin Park are also contributing remixes, according to Followill.

“It’s neat to have these people who we would’ve jumped at the chance to work with ourselves…coming to us before we even get a chance to ask them,” the drummer says. “It’s amazing to hear your song played by these people who are so creative. Most of the time it takes me two or three listens to even wrap my head around, ‘Oh man, that’s our song…’”

While all that is going on, Kings of Leon are pondering the release of another single for “Only By Night” — Followill is thumping for “Notion” — but will not, as rumored, be contributing anything to the soundtrack for “New Moon,” the second film in the “Twilight” series. Frontman Caleb Followill, meanwhile, is preparing for a fall appearance as a guest judge on “Iron Chef,” which brother Nathan, who’s getting married in November, says “is awesome…Me and him are really big fans of nice meals and nice wine, but we just let him do it because I’m usually so drunk by the end of the meal that I probably would not make any sense on that show and they would have to bleep out a lot more than they could use.”

Amidst all this, Kings of Leon has been working on new material, mostly at sound checks, and has “a good eight or 10 ideas kicking around” according to drummer Followill. “The new stuff is all over the place,” he reports. “I call it ‘Aha Shake…’ but by guys that are a little grown-up and a little better at their instruments. There’s stuff that sounds like Radiohead. There’s stuff that sounds like Thin Lizzy. There’s stuff that sounds like The Band. We’re pretty much to the point now where…we can be experimental and try stuff we would’ve been scared to death to try on the first couple of records. Now we find ourselves being a little more adventurous.”

The group plans to enjoy the holidays at home, but Followill doesn’t expect the quartet to stay at rest for long. “At the end of every record cycle,” he notes, “we’re like, ‘Dude, we’re taking a year off.’ We get home and after two weeks of sitting on our ass we’re like, ‘Y’all wanna rehearse or something?’ and that gets the creative juices flowing and leads to writing and before you know it, we’re back at it.”

Beck: Summer Tapes
[soundcloud width="100%" height="81" params="g=wi&" url="http://soundcloud.com/planned_obsolescence/no-7-summer-tapes-1"]No. 7: Summer Tapes by planned_obsolescence

Beck gets all Girl Talk on us.. Enjoy his Summer Mix

Colleen- Summer Water
Jens Lekman- Another Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill
Lee Hazlewood- Summer Nights
Al Green- Feels Like Summer
Love- Bummer In The Summer
Brave Belt- Summer Soldier
Marc Bolan & T Rex- Celebrate Summer
Eddie Cochran- Summertime Blues
The Who- Summertime Blues
Guitar Wolf- Summertime Blues
Outsiders- Summertime Blues
Blue Cheer- Summertime Blues
Alex Chilton- Summertime Blues
Eddie Cochran- Summertime Blues
Jens Lekman- A Sweet Summers Night On Hammer Hill
Michael Kelly Brewer- I Survived The South Bass Island Summer Of 82
Belle & Sebastian- A Summer Wasting
Ross Johnson- Theme From A Summer Place
Rob Crow- Over the Summer
Girl Talk- Summer Smoke
Lee Hazlewood- Summer Wine
Little Free Rock- Roman Summer Nights
Grandaddy- Summer Here Kids
Beat Happening- Indian Summer
Girl Talk- Summer Smoke
Caural- Summer On Cassette
Prince- Sex In The Summer
Jimi Hendrix- Long Hot Summer Night
Of Montreal- Oslo In The Summertime
Pavement- Summer Babe
R. Kelly- Summer Bunnies
Curtis Mayfield- Summer Hot
YACHT- Summer Song
ABBA- Summer Night City
Animal Collective- Summertime Clothes

Karen O debuts ‘Wild Things’ tune with kids choir

Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O is streaming a new tune she recorded for the ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ soundtrack online now.

The song, ‘All Is Love’, features Karen O accompanied by an untrained children’s choir. It can be heard on the film’s MySpace page. It is also available as a download beginning today (August 25).

Spike Jonze’s film adaptation of the popular children’s book opens in the US on October 16. The soundtrack, which features Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, The Dead Weather’s Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner and Brian Chase, is due out on September 29, as previously reported.

Film’s MySpace page

Them Crooked Vultures to support Arctic Monkeys tonight in London (August 26)

Them Crooked Vultures – the supergroup formed from members of Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age and Led Zeppelin – are believed to be making their UK live debut tonight (August 26).

Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones’ band are set to support Arctic Monkeys at their O2 Academy Brixton gig in London.

Who will fill the vacant support slot for the sold-out Reading And Leeds Festivals warm-up show has led to a string of rumours over the past week, with names including Britpop veterans Echobelly even suggested as a possibility.

However, while not officially confirmed, the band are favourites to take to the stage tonight at 7.30 pm (BST).

Arctic Monkeys: Humbug (Album Review)

Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner has an endearingly annoying habit of quietly thinking that he is the smartest bloke in the room. And, really, his saving grace is that he appears to view this as more of a curse than anything else. It’s not that he’s a misanthrope; it’s just that you really bother him.

Through out their relatively short but entirely noteworthy career, the Arctic Monkeys have made a non-art out of ironic indulgences and tongue-in-cheek introspections. Set all this to some dastardly catchy British guitar rock with just a whiff of post-punk/Gang of Four leanings, and the hype will basically work itself. However, the Arctic Monkeys did prove themselves to (more or less) be the real deal with a debut album (Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not) that was about twice as good as expected and about half as good as NME would have you believe.

With their follow-up (Favourite Worst Nightmare) a year later, Turner found himself quite young, quite famous, and… surrounded by even more douche bags than before. It’s a mindset that came across easily in the album’s lyrical content, but was also evidenced by the faster (perhaps even angrier), less polished production and composition of the LP. Whether or not the album was destined to be as big a hit as its predecessor, one thing was sure: for better or worse, Turner knew how to push his band in different directions.

Apparently looking to do it again, the Arctic Monkeys latest (Humbug) aims to shake up the band’s foundation while, at the same time, purposefully playing with expectations. Co-produced by Queens of the Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme and veteran British Indie producer James Ford, Humbug easily establishes itself as Arctic Monkeys most menacing album to date. Methodically paced, brooding, and world-weary, it is a bitter, exhausted statement that tends to be far wiser than it has any business being.

Somehow gaining an even more intimate understanding of his role within the group, Humbug finds Turner’s dexterity at both its most inviting and its most steely eyed. The album’s murky atmosphere feeds off of this quality, as it wraps its sound around an intentionally arcane mindset; but a mindset with a relatable cynicism. The end result is an album as moody as the Arctic Monkeys have ever released, and, quite possibly, their boldest.

A fuzzy, swampy production slows down their usual raw/punk edge, but actually adds another dimension that doesn’t necessarily sound more mature–this band would never take themselves quite so seriously–but it certainly comes across as older. Lead single Crying Lightning is one of the better examples of this. About a half a step slower than the band is used to, they make sure to double up on the atmospheric malaise to the track’s great success. Later, third act stunner Pretty Visitors speeds things right up to a familiar pace with its tour de force drum fill clinic and all of its cheeky imagery–not to mention its creepy, sing-along breakdown. Other noteworthy moments are provided by album opener My Propeller, as well as Fire and The Thud, and The Jeweler’s Hands. Unfortunately, though, this is hardly an album without filler. Even slight duds like Potion Approaching, or the heavily metaphorical Secret Door tend to bring the album’s impressive momentum to a halt with their faux-balladry and off-centre aesthetic. In regards to the Arctic Monkeys career, Humbug can realistically end up being either a terrible mistake, or, quite frankly, a revelation.

Standing out as usual, though, Turner is certain to make it known that this is his show; and he doesn’t disappoint. Not as interested in skewering poseurs and sycophants this time around, Turner spends most of the album turning the lens on himself–but not so much in a reflective way as much as personal anguish sort of way. One could speculate there’s been some recent heartbreak there; I’m not up on my gossip, personally. Nevertheless, Turner’s defense mechanisms are as honed and as vicious as his rather formidable bullshit detector has proven to be in albums past, and whatever Humbug lacks in middle fingers, or even thematic continuity, it makes up for with sinister gazes and scathing ambiguities.

Joan Jett Hopes Kristen Stewart Film Is A Runaway Success

Joan Jett and her creative and business partner Kenny Laguna are expressing optimism for “The Runaways,” the film based on the maligned but influential all-female rock band that Jett co-founded and led from 1975-79.

The film, which is partly based on Runaways singer Cherie Currie’s 1989 memoir “Neon Angel,” features “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart as Jett, Dakota Fanning as Currie and Michael Shannon as original producer Kim Fowley. It was directed by Floria Sigismondi and is currently in post-production, with a release planned for 2010.

“It was very surreal and hard to put a word on,” Jett, who executive produced the film and was on hand for the filming. “If anything it definitely made me smile. It reinforces my love for the band and the fact I think it was an extremely important band, regardless of our level of success in America. It just reinforces my love of the whole time and of the band and what we did and how it was implausible and improbable at the same time.”

And Jett hastens to explain that “The Runaways” is “absolutely not a biopic. It’s not fact-for-fact. What they did was basically take elements from the Runaways story and created a parallel narrative.”

Laguna adds that, “We’re hoping it will be great. They exceeded our expectations with the casting…Even if it’s not a huge movie, it’s going to have a colossal effect on young girls playing rock ‘n’ roll, for sure.”

Jett and Currie each coached their cinematic counterparts during the filming, and Jett was particularly impressed by Stewart, who came to the set almost immediately after wrapping the second “Twilight” film, “New Moon.”

“Kristen was so into it, into the whole vibe of doing this,” Jett reports. “I think she felt a weight and a responsibility to interpret it correctly. She was really serious about it and was watching me and asking me all sorts of question, from speech aspects to watching my body language, watching where I stood, watching my guitar playing. She really worked hard to get it right.”

The Runaways were previously the subject of a 2004 documentary “Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways.”

Soundtrack details are currently being worked out for “The Runaways.” Jett, meanwhile, is considering releasing a new greatest hits album in 2010 that may include some of the new material she’s been working on.

R.E.M.’s new DVD release comes shortly

R.E.M.’s 2007 “working rehearsals” in Ireland for its latest studio album, 2008′s “Accelerate,” are the subject of the group’s new live album, “R.E.M. Live at the Olympia,” which comes out Oct. 27.

The two-disc set was recorded during July 2007 at the Olympia club in Dublin, where the group played five shows while in the midst of recording “Accelerate” with producer Jacknife Lee, who also helmed the “Olympia” set. It’s R.E.M.’s second concert souvenir in three years, following 2007′s “R.E.M. Live.”

Bassist-keyboardist Mike Mills said that the Olympia stand “did the things we wanted it to do in terms of not only generating excitement for the record, but it also helped us, I think, to make a better record.” R.E.M. had already gone into “Accelerate” with a desire to make a more rocking, live-on-the-floor kind of album than its more labored-over predecessors, “Up” and “Around the Sun.” The live dates, Mills said, were a test for the new songs.

“So often when you make a record you haven’t played the songs live,” he explained, “and then you start taking them out on tour and they get faster or you change parts and think, ‘Man, I wish we had done [i]that[/i] on the album. I didn’t want to have that this time. I wanted to play them live so we could get all that out of way and really know what we wanted to do with the songs in the studio.”

Guitarist Peter Buck concurred that the Olympia shows “really helped us focus on what the record was all about. It was really nice to play the songs in a kind of adrenalized setting in front of people. It helped to show us that, ‘Yeah, we’re on the right path’ and then we did go back in the studio and re-record a couple things and clean a couple of other things up. And there was one song in particular we played and figured out that, ‘Eh, we don’t need to have that on the record.’ “

“Olympia” features pre-release versions of “Accelerate” tracks such as “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” “Mr. Richards,” “Man-Sized Wreath,” “Horse to Water,” “I’m Gonna DJ” and the title track, as well as “Supernatural Superstitious” under its original title, “Disguise,” and two songs — “Staring Down The Barrel Of The Middle Distance” and “On the Fly” — that ultimately didn’t make the album. The set also includes as R.E.M. rarities such as “Second Guessing,” “Disturbance at the Heron House,” West of the Fields” and “Wolves Lover.”

Dan Deacon: Paddling Ghost (Music Video)

Elvis Costello Kicks Off Live Album Series With 1978 Toronto Show

In March 1978, Elvis Costello & the Attractions’ classic debut My Aim Is True was out, and the even better follow-up This Year’s Model was just about to drop.

Costello superfans already know about Live at the El Mocambo, the live recording of the Attractions’ March 6, 1978 Toronto show. The show was broadcast live on a Canadian radio station and released in a very limited promotional pressing, which was subsequently bootlegged many times over. In 1993, it was included as a bonus disc on the Costello box set 2 1/2 Years, which collected the near-perfect first three Costello albums. And on September 29, Live at the El Mocambo will finally see wide release, via Hip-O/UMe.

Live at the El Mocambo, which includes songs from My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model, is the first installment in The Costello Show, a series of live Costello albums that will be released over the course of the coming year.

In other news, the first season of “Spectacle”, Costello’s Sundance Channel music-and-talk show, is now available from iTunes.

The Cave Singers: Welcome Joy (Album Review)

With a warmer style than the name Cave Singers might suggest, Welcome Joy is a simple and easygoing indie folk romp that picks up right where the trio’s debut, Invitation Songs, left off. Welcome Joy was recorded again with Black Mountain’s Colin Stewart in Vancouver, and his pals Amber Webber (of Black Mountain and Lightning Dust) and Ashley Webber (also of Lightning Dust) assisted Derek Fudesco, Marty Lund, and Pete Quirk on the record. It’s an Americana-rooted soundtrack for the change of the seasons, with two-chord structures and organic, free-spirited instrumentation. John Prine and Jeff Tweedy are touchstones here, but the most overt influence is Fleetwood Mac. Not only do the songs resemble the melodies found on Rumours, but coincidentally, Quirk’s voice sounds a lot like a cross between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. “I Don’t Mind” is a carefree jamboree, with kick drum, tambourine, and harmonica laying the foundation for a fingerpicked electric guitar. Meanwhile, “VV” is a pleasant backwoods birdwatching ditty, and “Leap” propels from a stripped-down guitar and vocal line into a full-fledged rollicking romp. A few songs take a tougher turn — “At the Cut” incorporates some gritty distortion and “Shrine” is a dark, brooding bongo number, where Quirk’s weathered voice shines, but the Cave Singers’ best moments are when they tone back the brooding and stick to carefree major-chord jams. Most of the album stays true to a light flavor, and Welcome Joy is a nice, comfortable listen, right up there with Invitation Songs.

Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ Remake In The Works

Robert Zemeckis is in negotiations to direct a remake of “Yellow Submarine” for Disney.

“Submarine” was a 1968 animated feature based on music by the Beatles. It was produced by United Artists and King Features Syndicate.

Disney had no comment on the dealmaking, which is in the thick of trying to acquire the rights to the music to the film, which included the title track as well as classics such as “Eleanor Rigby,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “When I’m Sixty-Four” and “With a Little Help From My Friends.”

Like all Zemeckis productions, “Submarine” would be done in performance capture and would also be a digital 3D endeavor.

The movie, a hit when it was released, is about a soldier called Old Fred who meets up with the Beatles and travels in a yellow submersible to Pepperland. Among the group’s encounters are the Blue Meanies, music-hating creatures.

Them Crooked Vultures: Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I (Studio)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYYdli0P8YI&hl=en&fs=1&]

Jay Reatard:: Watch Me Fall (Album Review)

Funny story: A guy with one of the worst stage names in music (born Jay Lindsey) also has some of its sharpest melodic instincts. The dozen brief, ridiculously infectious tunes on Watch me Fall come wrapped in arrangements that run from frenetic punk to bouncy Britpop to wistful balladry. It’s a bravura performance that ought to win this blog favorite the widespread recognition his songcraft deserves. Do yourself a favor pick this gem up now.

Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch Updates Fans

Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys has e-mailed fans with an update on how things are going.

The MC recently announced that the group would have to cancel shows and delay the release of their new album as he has been diagnosed with cancer in his salivary gland and a nearby lymph node.

Coldplay and Replacement headliner Jay-Z performed covers of B-Boys songs at the All Points West festival. You can watch videos of the Jay-Z performance after reading MCA’s letter below.

hey all,
hope you are doing well.
so i’m about a week and a half out of surgery now and rapidly recovering from it. i haven’t taken any of the pain meds, which supposedly speeds along the healing process, or should i say, taking them slows it down. anyway, i spent 1 night at the hospital after the surgery. the hospital was too crazy to get any rest so i headed home to relax, have home cooked food and hang out with the family. i’m pretty well detoxed from the anesthesia that they pumped me up with to keep me under for all that time. that took several days to get out of my system. my neck and jaw are still pretty stiff from the surgery, but it gets better everyday. had the stitches out this past monday… so things are moving along.

but no sooner am i on the mend from this first torture than are they lining up the next one. the next line of treatment will be radiation. that involves blasting you with some kind of beam for a few minutes a day, 5 days a week, for about 7 weeks. that will start in a few weeks… saw the jay-z cover of no sleep, and the coldplay one of fight for your right from APW on youtube. good s**t. and i heard karen o wore a “get well MCA” armband, and that q-tip gave a shout out too….. very kind of them. just wanted to thank them and everyone else who sent positive thoughts my way. i do think that all of the well wishes have contributed to the fact that my treatment and recovery are going well. much love back at all of you!
adam

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CR5vW9M4HI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

Melvins get remixed

Pacific Northwestern stoner-rock perennials Melvins are not exactly the first band you’d expect to release a remix album. But on September 29, Ipecac will release Chicken Switch, in which dancefloor animals like the Boredoms’ Eye Yamatsuka, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Matmos, and Merzbow will rework the band’s jams.

‘Beatles’ Rock Band song list revealed.

A list of 19 songs by the Beatles including classics “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “A Hard Day’s Night” for a new “Rock Band” video game were revealed Tuesday, leaving only one mystery title remaining.

Other new tunes include “Ticket to Ride,” “Helter Skelter,” “If I Needed Someone” and “Drive My Car,” bringing to 45 the number of titles unveiled so far by MTV Games and Harmonix, which developed the “Rock Band” series that lets fans play plastic guitars or drums along with music on TV screens.

One more song remains unannounced, the companies said in a statement, but did not disclose when it would be revealed.

“The Beatles: Rock Band,” which will be released worldwide on Sept. 9, marks the legendary band’s first leap into selling their music digitally, leading to much speculation on which songs would be used. For years, the Beatles’ catalog of songs has not been available anywhere online such as iTunes.

The game will be compatible with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game, Sony’s Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii systems.

MTV has said the game was creatively conceived by Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the wives of late Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, respectively.

The Beatles, among the most influential rock acts in history, have sold more than 600 million albums worldwide, including “Help!” “Revolver,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Abbey Road” and “Let it Be.”

Sufjan Stevens schedules fall tour

Sufjan Stevens has scheduled a fall tour, kicking off with an appearance at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival.

On October 6th, Stevens will release his new album, Run Rabbit Run, a reimagining of his 2001 collection Enjoy Your Rabbit.

Tour dates:
9/12 Monticello , NY ATP
9/21-2 Philadelphia , PA Johnny Brenda’s
9/23 Ithaca , NY Castaways
9/24 Cleveland , OH Beachland Ballroom
9/25 Pontiac , MI Crofoot
9/26 Champaign , IL High Dive
9/27 Minneapolis , MN 400 Bar
9/28 Madison , WI Majestic
9/29 Bloomington , IN Buskirk Chumley
10/1 Toronto , ON Lee’s Place
10/2 Montreal , QC Cabaret
10/3 Portland , OR Port City Music Hall
10/4-5 New York , NY Bowery Ballroom
10/6-7 Brooklyn , NY Music Hall Of Williamsburg

Robert Pollard: Elephant Jokes (Album Review)

You can say this about post-GBV Robert Pollard: he’s a man quick to satisfy urges. He entertains every musical whim that comes to him, even more shamelessly now than before. Before, he had the home base of Guided by Voices to return to once he entertained himself out on those bizarre satellites. But now, cut free from his band, he’s as prolific as he ever was, and in some ways even less predictable.

But the last couple of solo efforts from Pollard—and, similarly, his work with Boston Spaceships—have hinted at his desire to get that home base back. To have some straight-up rock ‘n’ roll to return to after he’s done doing whatever it is, say, the Circus Devils do. Recent solo discs Robert Pollard is Off to Business and The Crawling Distance were fully-formed albums, cohesive statements made of driving and well-built songs. So, if you were to fall into the trap of thinking you know what’s next from Pollard, you’d think Elephant Jokes would be another of these more traditionally put together records.

And, of course, you’d be wrong. Elephant Jokes is Pollard at his most schizophrenic and plainly joyful. The album runs over 22 brief tracks, and stylistically jumps all over the place. What brings it together, and makes it a fitting follow up more to the Boston Spaceship albums than his solo work, is that Elephant Jokes finds Pollard returning to the joy of being in a band. There are plenty of players here—not just the often insular playing and production of Todd Tobias—and these songs sound built to be played with the rest of the fellas.

Some of the best stuff here is simple, goofy dude rock—making you wonder if the album title isn’t some vague phallic reference. “Things Have Changed (Down in Mexico City )” starts things off with churning guitars and Pollard’s plaintiff bleat powering up the chorus. Later on, “Symbols and Heads” comes on like the soundtrack to a drunken party you want to be at. “Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah”, is all Pollard sings on the chorus, and it is plenty for a song so simple in its joys. Elsewhere, “Stiff Me” and “When a Man Walks Away” toe the line between this party rock and the emotive feel of late-era GBV, and that combination makes for two of the best cuts here, the kind that remind you just how bracing it was to hear Alien Lanes for the first time.

But this 22-track collection is not Alien Lanes, so while the songs themselves stay brief, they start to pile up and some get lost in the shuffle. The bouncy pop of “Compound X”, the moody minor-chord crescendos of “I Felt Removed”, the pastoral build-up of “Parts of Your World”—all of these are interesting tangents, but none assert themselves enough to be memorable. With the exception of the psychedelic stomp of “Epic Heads” and the power-ballad-turned-noise-experiment “Tattered Lily”, Elephant Jokes is at its best when Pollard plays it straight. Leading the players through a bunch of rafter rattlers is what Pollard does best, and this album has plenty of those to keep the album as a whole afloat.

And really, to expect a steady feel from this album is to mistake Pollard’s intentions. He is a man unconcerned with his legacy, with critical response, with pleasing anyone but his fickle muse. So to hear albums as willfully uneven as Elephant Jokes can be frustrating, particularly when you know Pollard can crank out infectious pop bliss in his sleep. But it also admirable in its own way, how Pollard stays focused on his own artistic vision, even after all these years. And even if that vision is too scattershot for the rest of us to fully understand.

Sly Stone claiming social security and living in cheap hotels?

Sly Stone is allegedly claiming social security and living in cheap hotels, according to a new documentary about the revered soul singer.

‘Coming Back for More’ by Dutch filmmaker Willem Alkema alleges that Stone has been forced to claim benefits after his manager Jerry Goldstein refused him access to his royalties.

A trailer for ‘Coming Back for More’ was uploaded to YouTube – though it has now been removed.

Alkema’s film suggests that Stone signed a deal with Goldstein in the late ’80s, whereby the manager acquired the rights to Stone’s music and paid him a fixed wage.

Goldstein has since “turned off the tap” of wages according to the trailer due to a “debt agreement”, reports The Guardian. As a result, Stone has been forced to live off social security.

Stone reportedly: “lacks the funds to engage a lawyer to proceed his case,” the documentary explains.

Alkema’s film also states that Stone had been working on songs for Michael Jackson’s new album before the self-styled king of pop’s death in June.

‘Coming Back for More’ is due to be released this autumn.

Michael Jackson will be buried on his 51st birthday

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Michael Jackson will be buried Saturday, August 29, on what would have been the singer’s 51st birthday, according to a statement from publicist Ken Sunshine.

Katherine Jackson has proposed she or one of her children be added as an executor to Michael’s will.

The private ceremony will take place at Holly Terrace in The Great Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, and “will be limited to family and close friends,” the statement said.

Jackson died June 25 of cardiac arrest. The famed entertainer was 50.

Other Jackson plans have moved sluggishly. Monday, a judge delayed his approval of the exhibition agreement between concert promoter AEG Live and the Jackson estate until Friday, when he will hear testimony about why Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, thinks it should be renegotiated.

The three-city exhibition of Jackson memorabilia could be derailed, as relations between Jackson’s mother, the men Jackson named as executors of his will and the promoter of his planned comeback concerts have been challenging.

Questions surrounding Michael Jackson’s death and AEG Live’s role in his last days are an “obvious source of tension” as Katherine Jackson objects to the agreement, Jackson attorney Burt Levitch said.

Michael Jackson’s family has “floated” the possibility of filing a wrongful-death lawsuit against AEG Live because of its “very, very active role in Michael’s life during the last six months,” Levitch said Monday.

Levitch said AEG Live “apparently paid for the services of Dr. Conrad Murray, who we’re told is under criminal investigation in connection with the decedent’s death.”

Warrants used to search Murray’s home and clinics indicated police were investigating his role in Jackson’s June 25 death. A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN that Murray gave the anesthetic propofol to Jackson in the 24 hours before he died.

“There’s an obvious link between AEG and concerns that we have about the decedent’s demise,” Levitch said. “So, that’s one obvious source of tension right now.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff set a November trial date to hear Katherine Jackson’s potential challenge of John Branca and John McClain, who were named as executors in Michael Jackson’s 2002 will. Katherine Jackson has proposed that she or one of her children be added as an executor.

“We think it’s important for the family to have a seat at the table,” Levitch said. “It’s not just a matter of making a quick buck here.” A Jackson family member would be in the best position to guide Michael Jackson’s legacy, he said.

Beckloff delayed a decision until Friday on Katherine Jackson’s objection to the agreement made by Branca and McClain, who are serving for now as special administrators of the estate, to allow AEG Live to produce a Michael Jackson exhibition.

Jackson lawyers argued in Monday’s hearing that the 50-50 split of profits for the exhibition was too generous to AEG Live, but estate lawyers said they negotiated the best terms possible.

AEG Live lawyer Kathy Jorrie said any further delay in approval would cause the company to abandon the deal and the company would not renegotiate.

AEG Live would hold the exhibition just as a documentary about Jackson’s last months hits theaters at the end of October.

“It’s important to the world that we present them with the memorabilia at the time the movie is released,” Jorrie said.

The judge has approved a merchandising agreement and the movie deal, both of which were adjustments to the contract Jackson signed with AEG Live earlier this year for a string of 50 comeback concerts that were to start last month in London, England.

Estate lawyer Howard Weitzman said canceling the exhibition deal could cost the Jackson estate $5 million

Sonic Youth Bringing “Starpower” To Gossip Girl

Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that Sonic Youth will perform an acoustic version of “Starpower” from their 1986 album EVOL on the fith episode of the upcoming season of “Gossip Girl.”

“Sonic Youth is one of my favorite bands,” says GG showrunner Stephanie Savage, “and last year when I was doing my regular Gossip Girl google search, it came up in some blog about a Sonic Youth show that Thurston [Moore] was playing ‘Psychic Hearts’ and Gossip Girl was playing on a screen in the background. And I was like, ‘Whaaaat? Oh my God. I hope they’re not making fun of us! I hope it was a cool, edgy homage!’ And it turned out that it was — tongue in cheek for sure, but definitely with love, and that they were fans of the show.”

Savage says that the episode involves a “very special event” for which the band seemed “the ideal musical guest.”

Jack White’s Band Resume

Let’s try and count all the bands that Jack White has been in, shall we? There are the easy ones: the White Stripes, the Raconteurs and the new band, the Dead Weather. But let’s dig deep.

He was in a band called the Upholsterers with his old boss, a guy who ran a furniture re-covering business. He was in a band called the Hentchmen, an old Detroit band where he sang and played guitar. They have one album–which you can still find. He was the drummer in a band called Goober and the Peas under his old name “Jack Gillis.” And for a while, he was in a band called “The Go.” This doesn’t count any of the production work he’s done for people like Loretta Lynn or the James Bond stuff he did with Alicia Keys. Or all the guest appearance he’s made on other albums.

Jack White is one busy dude.

Justice Department Backs Crazy $1.92 Million RIAA Verdict

As much as we support the Obama administration, they certainly aren’t perfect. And they sure aren’t going to win any fans around here by supporting ridiculously outsized RIAA lawsuits.

Back in June, we reported that a Minnesota jury had awarded the jaw-dropping sum of $1.92 million to the trade organization following their lawsuit against a woman named Jammie Thomas-Rasset. Thomas-Rasset had committed the unforgivable crime of sharing 24 songs on Kazaa. She testified that either her two young sons or her boyfriend had probably done most of the downloading, but that didn’t stop the RIAA from hitting her up for $80,000 per song.

As the Daily Online Examiner reports, the Justice Department thinks that’s totally fair.

Right now, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis, who oversaw the case, has to decide whether to declare that verdict unconstitutional. There’s some indication that he’s sympathetic toward Thomas-Rasset. As the Daily Online Examiner points out, a jury awarded the RIAA $220,000 of Thomas-Rasset’s money in 2007, Davis threw the case out. And though the reason was mistaken jury instruction, he also criticized the jury’s decision. But if he wants to throw this one out, too, the Justice Department isn’t behind him.

As CNET points out, the Justice Department filed a brief today urging Davis to reject Thomas-Rasset’s appeal to set the verdict aside. The Justice Department doesn’t want the courts messing with acts of Congress. The brief defends the law under which Thomas-Rasset was prosecuted and fined: “Congress took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe that they will go unnoticed.”

The brief also states, “The Copyright Act’s statutory damages provision serves both to compensate and deter. The inadequacy of actual damages and profits to compensate copyright owners is evident under the circumstances of this case. It is impossible for a copyright owner to calculate actual damages when an online media distribution system is used to distribute illegally its copyrighted sound recordings.”

Since the damages are impossible to calculate, hey, $1.92 million sounds about right, huh?
(via pf media)

Sub Pop to Reissue Nirvana’s Bleach

Nirvana’s 1989 debut Bleach is a whole lot more than Nevermind’s wily, unformed precursor. It’s a monster of an album in its own right, a gnarled blast of fuzzed-out frustration that still finds room for some seriously sneaky melodies. The canonized R.E.M. move “About a Girl” is a clear highlight, but so is the snakey Zep-esque stomper “Love Buzz”. Really, the whole thing absolutely destroys, and some days it’s my favorite Nirvana album.

Bleach turns 20 this year (feel old yet?), and Sub Pop is planning a deluxe reissue on CD and 180 gram white vinyl. (The first run of Bleach was also on white vinyl, appropriately enough.) The 20th anniversary edition is due November 3. Jack Endino, the album’s original producer, oversaw the remastering, which was done from the original tapes.

This edition will also include a complete recording of a never-before-released 1990 live show at Portland’s Pine Street Theatre, remixed by Endino from original tapes. And there’s a booklet: 48 pages on CD and 16 on LP, featuring previously unseen photos.

Radiohead Release ‘Twisted Words’ Online

As predicted, Radiohead has offered a new song for download today (Aug. 17). “These Are My Twisted Words” is available from the band’s official Web site as a free download. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

“We’ve been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We’re pretty proud of it,” writes multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood on the site. “There’s other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we’ve been practicing, and which we’ll probably play at this summer’s concerts. Hope you like it.”

The band also indicated its acceptance of file-sharing by also offering a link to the torrent of the track listed by BitTorrent tracker Mininova.

There was, however, no full EP following speculation online about such a release. “These Are My Twisted Words” was leaked on to fan site At Ease’s message board last week and then appeared on YouTube.

Radiohead does not have a long-term label deal at present, releasing its 2007 set “In Rainbows” via its own Web site on a pay-what-you-want basis for the MP3 and following that with a full release in January 2008 via XL Recordings in the U.K and ATO/Red in the U.S.

Radiohead is currently rehearsing for festival appearances including Leeds and Reading Festivals (Aug. 29 and 30) in the U.K.

On Aug. 5, it issued the digital track “Harry Patch (In Memory Of),” with proceeds going to the British Legion, the U.K. charity that supports the armed forces and its veterans. Harry Patch, who died aged 111 on July 25, was Britain’s last surviving veteran of World War I