Mount Wittenberg Orca EP picks up thread from last year's live happening.

By Fred Mills

Pitchfork and Stereogum bring us news about a recording collaboration between Bjork and Dirty Projectors - it's a brief (20-minute) 7-song EP titled Mount Wittenberg Orca, and it's an outgrowth of a project the two artists debuted a little over a year ago in NYC in front of a small audience at the Housing Works Bookstore Café as a benefit for Housing Works.

Turns out they wanted to get some of this down for posterity, so near the end of April they all convened at Rare Book Room studio to record the Dave Longstreth-penned tunes, and it is now set to arrive as a digital release next week (June 30). Tracks include

1 Ocean
2 On and Ever Onward
3. When the World Comes to an End
4 Beautiful Mother
5 Sharing Orb
6 No Embrace
7 All We Are

You can go here to preorder it, and it's kind of a no-brainer since it's also a benefit for the National Geographic Society.

Suggested minimum donation: a mere 7 bucks. Pony up, kids. The EP cover is displayed above. Incidentally, follow the Stereogum link to read comments from Longstreth about how the whole thing came together. Hey, how about a physical release for all us fans out here that are more down with permanent, not fleeting, artifacts, Dave?

Get on the nut, M.I.A. Or off it. Whatevs.... Definitely not going to go down as one of music's legendary beefs.

By Fred Mills

Okay, so nu-music blogs and websites like Pitchfork are blowing up over the still-escalating feud between M.I.A. and the New York Times' Lynn Hirschberg - everybody loves a good catfight, and this one is "sexy" (read: makes for good copy, not because either one of the cats fighting is particularly sexy) because M.I.A. is apparently intent on stringing the beef out for as long as possible. That's possibly what happens when you have thugs instead of artists for role models, but hey...

Pitchfork's been clocking the escalating kerfluffle and you can read their account here. Meanwhile, to summarize:

*On May 25, the Times published Hirschberg's profile of the singer, "M.I.A.'s Agitprop Pop," which by some estimations was "not altogether flattering" but not entirely offbase, either, if you've followed M.I.A.'s public shenanigans to date, which typically involve leading with her mouth and not with her brain, much like one of Hirschberg's earlier targets, Courtney Love (more on that in a sec).

*On May 27, M.I.A. took to the Twitter airwaves and put out the following tweet: "917.834.3158 CALL ME IF YOU WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT THE N Y T TRUTH ISSUE, ill b taking calls all day bitches ;)". The phone number listed happened to be Hirschberg's, and as Pitchfork points out, the journalist's voicemail box was soon very full). M.I.A. also had a followup tweet that same day indicating her intention to publish something approximating her version of the interview that Hirschberg conducted: "NEWS IS AN OPINION! UNEDITED VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW WILL BE ON neetrecordings THIS MEMORIAL WEEKEND!!! >>>>" (Neet Recordings is M.I.A.'s record label, www.neetrecordings.com).

*Then also on May 27, just a few hours later, Hirschberg gave an interview to The New York Observer in which she found M.I.A.'s response to the original story "kind of interesting that she would cast the spotlight on the story in any way, shape or form. I can't say what she thinks of it. But it seems you would want it to go away." She added, regarding M.I.A.'s tweeting of her phone number, "It's a fairly unethical thing to do, but I don't think it's surprising. She's a provocateur, and provocateurs want to be provocative... The messages have mostly been from people trying to hook up with M.I.A. If she wants to get together with John at Bard next week, I have his number."

So this weekend it was M.I.A.'s turn. At the Neet site, using the title "War Crimes and French Fries," she posted a pair of audio snippets from the interview between her and Hirschberg (that's actually a pretty smart move for a musician, to make a recording of when you're being recorded). And her intention, obviously, was to provide the raw transcript of a portion of the conversation so people could compare what was specifically said with what Hirschberg wrote and how the context was framed.

Fair enough - but if M.I.A. thinks that the journalist was spinning that context and unnecessarily distorting the quotes, she's wrong. Aside from a couple of words and some subtle paraphrasing that Hirschberg employed, there's just no material difference in what was said and what was written. Sorry M.I.A., but you whiffed.

M.I.A. should stick to doing what she does best - making music, engaging in political activism, doing fashion spreads - and not worry about what's being said or written about her. Actually, she did just that: also at the Neet site she has posted a new song called "Haters" which is about exactly what the title suggests. You can hear it at the Neet link, above.

Point of fact, this is a pretty tepid "beef" if you look back over the grand legacy of public disputes between musicians and journalists. Just a few months ago the good folks at Flavor Wire, reacting to the non-feud between LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and the Village Voice's Michael Musto, published a fun article called "Great Journalist-Musician Feuds: A History." In it, they rounded up a number of stories from rock's rich tapestry, including the tete-a-tete in the ‘70s in CREEM magazine between Lou Reed and Lester Bangs, the classic 1992 Courtney Love-Lynn Hirschberg war of words that resulted from the writer's Vanity Fair profile of Love (the "doing-dope-while-pregnant" tale) and the 1993 dust-up between Billy Corgan and Jim DeRogatis that appears to be ongoing (the Ryan Adams-DeRo answering machine beef was actually more interesting).

Bottom line: beefs, though pretty stupid, can still be cathartic for those involved, and they make for great spectator sport. Even for low-level hacks like yours truly. In addition to the occasional guest-list-denial-of-privileges and negative letter-to-editor, I once had the bad timing to not be on hand at the office of the weekly newspaper I worked at when none other than Don Henley personally phoned to lodge a complaint about a less-than-enthusiastic concert preview I'd written for his upcoming show (I'd offered our readers a few comments plus the entire lyrics of Mojo Nixon's classic screed "Don Henley Must Die"). Upon arriving in town, Henley apparently saw the write-up and when he called the office he blistered my editor's ear about me for a good ten minutes.

Another time, upon writing a similarly unflattering concert preview of Atlanta new wave has-beens, I was called out over the airwaves of a local radio station where the band was doing a live interview. They challenged me to come down to the gig and take it up with them in person and onstage, although I declined because the deal was too rigged - call me chicken, but it didn't exactly seem to be neutral territory in front of a neutral crowd.

However, I did pick up the gauntlet thrown down by faux-heartland Americana goobers The BoDeans one time in the aftermath of an incident at a BoDeans concert in which they treated the opening band - friends of mine - like dirt, and appeared to enjoy playing rock star in the process. My friends were pretty steamed, and so was I. So the next time the BoDeans came to play I arranged a "BoDeans lyric reading and album burning party" in the parking lot of a cross-town venue, and as I was the music editor of the weekly newspaper at the time, we published the details of the event in the paper and sent an invite to the band to appear. This time it was they who declined, but no matter. A good time was had by all; I did a bunch of silly shit, including squirting lighter fluid on albums, posters and CDs and firing ‘em up; the BoDeans were made to look even sillier than me (I mean, have you ever read their lyrics? jeezus...); and we published photos in the newspaper just so there would be a semi-permanent record. (This was back during the pre-Internet era.)

Juvenile? Oh yeah, you betcha. It's right up there with acting like a spoiled pre-teen and scribbling a rival's phone number on a bathroom wall - or tweeting it. But hey, I reckon it's better than pulling out a gat and shooting someone just because you think they're full of it.

Announcing the latest installment in our "Play For Today" series of video game reviews. This time out we take on Skate 3, Lost Planet 2 and Alan Wake

Head over to BLURT blogger Aaron Burgess' "Play For Today" blog - he's just posted some action-packed (term used relatively and literally) reviews of three more top-rated games. Included are his own ratings plus screenshots - like the ones below - and trailers. Game on!

Skate 3

Lost Planet 2

Alan Wake

Erstwhile One Dove vocalist demands true love from the listeners...

By Blurt Staff

Although Scotland's Dot Allison initially made her name in the early ‘90s with trip-hop outfit One Dave, she's subsequently collaborated with a slew of other artists, among them Death In Vegas, Arab Strap, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine and Pete Doherty of the Libertines/Babyshambles. Since the demise of One Dove she also recorded several solo albums, and her latest is Room 7 ½, which came out late last year in the UK and is now slated to arrive Stateside on June 21. Produced by Allison and Rob Ellis (of PJ Harvey fame), it's described as "an unusual and arresting collection of heartfelt pleas demanding true love amongst an atmospheric-noir backdrop of some beauty."

Big words, but anyone who's followed Allison's career to date probably knows that those words are justified. The album features Bad Seeds members Mick Harvey, James Johnston and Terry Edwards, along with Pete Doherty and Paul Weller.

"I got involved with Paul Weller as he texted me out of the blue one night when he was out with Bobby Gillespie," said Allison. "He just introduced himself, explained he got my number from Bob and asked if I fancied writing a song with him". The result was "Love's Got Me Crazy". The album's other duet is "I Wanna Break Your Heart", with Doherty and will be the lead single (combined with remixes) in the US.  Of that partnership, Allison added, "I sang on "At The Flophouse" without even meeting him; he liked my voice from afar and asked me to cover it as a B- side for The Shambles. I went to the studio and it was just me and the engineer, so I recorded it myself. Later he texted me to ask me to perform with him singing Carl's parts at The Rhythm Factory... and that was the beginning to our long term writing and performing partnership." Allison subsequently toured with Doherty in the UK and Europe.

The Bad Seeds were enlisted because, as Allison explained, "I asked Rob Ellis to approach Mick, James Johnston and Terry Edwards to help me get [a] natural sound. With these musicians, I love the looseness and space they leave and their choice of sound and harmony, I think they are incredibly empathic, emotive players."

The album also features a cover of the Scott Walker song "Montague Terrace (in Blue)" which originally appeared on the tribute album 30th Century Man. Walker had requested that Allsion join his production of "Drifting And Tilting" (The songs of Scott Walker) at The Barbican in Autumn 2008 alongside Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker and Baritone Owen Gilhooly among others.

Since the recording of her solo album, Allison has completed work on a film score, 'The Black Death' (starring Sean Bean) for the director Chris Smith with Christian Henson. She is the soloist and performs with a 40 piece orchestra. Meanwhile, she also recently collaborated with Henson for another new horror movie directed by Smiths, Triangle.

Tracklisting:

 01. Cry

02. Paved With A Little Pain

03. I Wanna Break Your Heart Feat. Pete Doherty

04. Buzzing Round The Honey Pots

05. Room Seven And A Half

06. Fall To Me

07. Love's Got Me Crazy Feat. Paul Weller

08. Montague Terrace (In Blue)

09. Johnny Villan

10. While She Sleeps

11. Portrait Of The Sun

Murder At The Discotek, due out June 15 on Om/Child's Play, finds the producer and assorted guest MCs in serious boundary-pushing mode.

By Jonah Flicker

You may have first come across producer Amp Live over a decade ago as one half of the Bay Area hip-hop duo Zion I. At the time, there were certainly indications that he wasn't content to craft traditional hip-hop beats. Instead, at times he tricked out Zumbi's rhymes with a smooth background of LTJ  Bukem-style drum and bass. It was clear this producer had club and dance music stylings on his mind as much as hip-hop boom-bap.

Now, on his new solo album Murder At The Dicotek, Amp Live has fully realized those leanings. Although guest MCs including Yak Ballz, Myka Nyne, and The Grouch put in appearances,  the through-line here is slinky club beats and techno and electro sequencing. Tracks like "Blast Off" and "About to Blow" are certified electro-pop anthems, while "Chick Pop" breathes life into dance music via programmed beats and chunky guitar lines. "Hot Right Now" is a classic posse cut, with rappers like Eligh,  Dude Royal, and Fashawn letting loose over a minimal electro beat that would  feel right at home on a Cool Kids record.

Even when Amp Live is staying close to his hip-hop roots, he is pushing the boundaries of the genre and forging his own path. It wouldn't be surprising if this album causes many a forward-thinking MC to come calling for some new beats.

Nasher Museum exhibit will zero in on the intersection of contemporary art and vinyl; participants include Laurie Anderson, Christian Marclay, David Byrne - not to mention some intriguing contributions from members of Superchunk, My Morning Jacket and TV On The Radio.

By Blurt Staff

The Nasher Museum of Art, located at Duke University in Durham, NC, will be hosting a new art exhibition called "The Record:  Contemporary Art and Vinyl." It will be opening September 2.

This exhibition features work by 41 artists from around the world, from the 1960s to the present, who use vinyl records as subject or medium. The exhibition includes sound work, sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, video and performance.

"The Record" includes rising stars in the contemporary art world (William Cordova, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto), outsider artists (Mingering Mike), and well-established artists (Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Carrie Mae Weems, Christian Marclay). 

Musicians include Marclay, Laurie Anderson, and David Byrne. For example, one display features a hybrid violin and record player, "Viophonograph," a seminal work by Anderson. Then there's Byrne's original life-sized Polaroid photomontage used for the cover of the 1978 Talking Heads album "More Songs About Buildings and Food". Works by Marclay, who has made art with records for 30 years, include his early and rarely seen "Recycled Records" as well as his most recent record video, "Looking for Love."

Another piece is from New York artist, Xaviera Simmons, who created photographs of the North Carolina landscape and solicited musical responses from musicians such as Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The original songs will be pressed onto a 12-inch record and played with her installation. A monumental column of vinyl records was created by Cordova, and there is an important early work by Robleto, who transformed Billie Holiday records in an alchemic process to create hand-painted buttons.

The accompanying " Cover to Cover" installation features eight artists and musicians who each curated a crate of 20 albums that tell a story through the cover visuals. Visitors will peruse the crates and listen with headphones to records on record players. Crate artists include Harrison Haynes (Les Savy Fav), DJ Rekha and 9th Wonder, among others.

The Nasher Museum is the first venue for the travelling exhibition, which will be on view on Duke's campus from Sept. 2 through Feb. 6, 2011. A preview week for local visitors will be Aug. 26 - Sept. 1.

"Since the heyday of vinyl, and through its decline and recent resurgence, a surprising number of artists have worked with vinyl records," said Trevor Schoonmaker, curator of contemporary art at the Nasher Museum. "‘The Record' presents some of the best, rarest and most unexpected examples. The artists in the exhibition use the vinyl record as metaphor, archive, artifact, icon, portrait or transcendent medium."

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 240-page color catalogue distributed by Duke University Press and available at the Nasher Museum Store ($45, paperback). It includes an introduction by curator Trevor Schoonmaker, statements by each artist in the exhibition and essays that balance personal reflection with critical exploration and scholarly analysis. Contributors include Jeff Chang, Vivien Goldman, Jennifer Kabat, Mark Katz, Josh Kun, Barbara London, Mac McCaughan, Carlo McCormick, Charles McGovern, Mark Anthony Neal, Piotr Orlov, Luc Sante, Trevor Schoonmaker and Dave Tompkins.

The full list of artists: Laurie Anderson, Felipe Barbosa, David Byrne, William Cordova, Moyra Davey, Kevin Ei-ichi deForest, Jeroen Diepenmaat, Sean Duffy, Yukio Fujimoto, Jack Goldstein, Gregor Hildebrandt, Satch Hoyt, Jasper Johns, Taiyo Kimura, Tim Lee, Ralph Lemon, Christian Marclay, David McConnell, Mingering Mike, Dave Muller, Ujino Muneteru, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto, Ed Ruscha, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Mark Soo, Meredyth Sparks, Su-Mei Tse, Fatimah Tuggar, Alice Wagner, Carrie Mae Weems and Lyota Yagi.

Additional information is available at http://www.nasher.duke.edu/therecord

The Seattle International Film Festival opened for business last week and BLURT was there, taking in films about Ian Dury, Byrne & Eno, Wheedle's Groove, the Topp Twins and more.

By Gillian G. Gaar

A British music legend, Seattle's unheralded soul scene and yodeling lesbian twins are just some of the subjects featured in the films at this year's Seattle International Film Festival, which kicked off on May 20 and runs through June 13.

SIFF, which this year features over 250 feature length films, always includes a quotient of music-related films in their "Face The Music" series. Highlights screened thus far include:

Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, a UK bio-pic about proto-punk-poet Ian Dury. Director Mat Whitecross has turned the story into a madcap visual feast (especially in the eye-popping opening sequence), that skips back and forward as if in time machine permanently set on "dizzying." It's still no match for Andy Serkis' riveting performance as a man bursting with so much energy he can barely contain himself. The film has been available on Comcast on Demand, but it's well worth seeing on the big screen for visual impact alone.

(www.sex-drugs-rock-roll-thefilm.com)

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a documentary about the irrepressible Lynda and Jools Topp, who have delighted New Zealand audiences for years with their humorous take on country & western, and have won over international audiences as well. The film charts their course from animal loving farm girls (which they remain) to pro-gay and anti-nuclear activists, using the medium of song. Not that they're always political (or always country & western, for that matter); the film's archive footage reveals the wide spectrum of characters the two have conjured up over the years (Blurt's favorite: good ol' Kiwi blokes Ken Moller and Ken Smythe). SIFF's audiences got a bonus in that the Topps made an appearance at both screenings, singing a few songs and delivering some carefully timed one-liners, e.g. Lynda's crack "Some of our best friends are straight people. We just don't want them teaching our kids."

(http://topptwins.com)

(Topp Twins perform at the festival; photo by Kathy Ann Bugajsky)

Ride, Rise, Roar chronicles "Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno" tour of 2008/2009, though it works to vary the standard concert film format. The film welcomes the viewer by opening with a song even casual fans will recognize,  "Once In A Lifetime," then moves on to more recent fare. In between each song come interviews, with Byrne explaining how he put the show together, with the greatest emphasis being on the different choreographers he chose to stage the dancers; the choreographers then explain their own creative process. Shooting the interview sequences in black and white, and the concert sequences in color, makes the show seem even more alive.

(www.rideriseroar.com)

But SIFF's music-related films aren't limited to the Face The Music series. Wheedle's Groove is a fascinating documentary about Seattle's soul/funk scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Inspired by the 2004 compilation of the same name released by Seattle-based Light In The Attic records, the film (re)introduces the talents of such acts as the Black On White Affair, The Soul Swingers, and Cold, Bold & Together (the latter, integrated group featuring a sax player named Kenneth Gorelick - later Kenny G), who were strong draws at area clubs but never managed to rise above regional success. It's a hidden history that hasn't previously been explored. Bonus: a clip of Pastor Patrinell Wright, co-founder of Seattle's Total Experience Gospel Choir, recording a cover of Soundgarden's "Jesus Christ Pose."

(www.wheedlesgroovemovie.com)

(cast members of Wheedle's Groove; photo by Henrik Brameus0

Music personalities show up in non-music films as well. The Shins' James Mercer makes his feature film debut in Some Days Are Better Than Others, a low key story set in Portland that follows four characters on a meandering search for meaning in their lives. James works at odd jobs he hates; Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein also appears as a reality TV addict recovering from a breakup (and her bandmate Corin Tucker also makes a cameo).

(www.somedaysthemovie.com)

Other Blurt picks coming soon to a theater near you: Holy Rollers, based on the true story of about a ring of drug smuggling Hassidic Jews (yes, you read that right) [ www.holyrollersfilm.com ]; The Tillman Story, a moving documentary about NFL player Patrick Tillman, killed in Afghanistan in 2004, and the struggle of his family to uncover the truth about his death; Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, a surprisingly poignant look at a comic legend's fight for respect, with plenty of laughs along the way.

Tacklebox is out now....


By Blurt Staff


Head over to the official Cool Kids website and grab the swag, y'all. Just click on the download button.


According to the band, "TackleBox is something new to get you through the summer. Remember it sounds better in the car or on some great headphones, those laptop speakers just don't cut it...Hope you enjoy it."

And The Doolittle Tour continues apace... hey, don't they have more than one album in their back catalog, however?

By Blurt Staff

Having previously "done" Europe and Australia along with a handful of U.S. shows, the Pixies are now bringing The Doolittle Tour back to the States for a full 11-city run. It kicks off on September 7 at the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia and will extend the 20th anniversary celebration of the release of the band's classic 1989 album, Doolittle. As has become the band's tradition, all of the shows will be recorded and the CDs will be made available immediately after every show at the band's merch table; all live CDs can also be ordered at DoolittleLive.com.  Fuck Buttons, the two-piece electronic pop group from Bristol, England, will open all shows.

On this tour, the Pixies - Black Francis, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering - will perform all of the songs from Doolittle and its related B-sides, "Weird at My School," "Dancing the Manta Ray," and "Bailey's Walk" among them. 

An imaginative cinematic production has been created for The Doolittle Tour.  Designed by long-time Pixies lighting designer Myles Mangino and designer Paul Normandale, the set features four huge, undulating, eyeball-like spheres flown just below the lighting rig and are part of the concert's light show.  Filmmakers Judy Jacobs, Tom Winkler, Brent Felix and Melinda Tupling were brought on board to create 11 films especially for the production.  The films are projected onto a massive backdrop video screen to accompany 12 of the 21 songs that comprise the show.

The group is also launching the first-ever official Pixies website.  After disbanding in 1993 and essentially taking the "web years" off, the Pixies have quietly begun using the Internet to communicate directly with fans.  This week, the band is playing the two sold-out shows in London for which the band is the sole promoter and ticketing company, offering tickets only to those on the band's email list, and soliciting set list ideas via email.  This approach continues next Monday, June 7, when the pre-sale for the American tour commences (at PixiesMusic.com). Presumably this will provide access to the best seats at each show, and each purchase comes with a complete live recording of the show, delivered via email the day after the show.  (For most dates, the public on-sale begins Monday, June 14.)

September Tour Dates:

 7    Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, PA*
10    Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN*
13    Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA*
17    Uptown Theatre, Kansas City, MO
18    Brady Theatre, Tulsa, OK**
19    Verizon Theatre, Dallas, TX*
20    Verizon Wireless Theatre, Houston, TX
22    Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX***
24    Mesa Amphitheatre, Mesa, AZ (tix sold through the venue)
25    The Joint, Las Vegas, NV*
26    RIMAC Arena, San Diego, CA*

Let's hear it for the Little League. Builds character. Attracts chicks, too.

By Fred Mills

As both Pitchfork and the Chicagoist are noting, Wilco is sponsoring a pair of Little League baseball teams this summer. One is in Chicago, the Royals, of the Warren Park Youth Baseball League, while the other is in Northampton, Mass., the TMM/Wilco team, part of the Northampton Little League Junior Division. The news was originally posted at the official Wilco website.

Speaking (writing) personally, as a Little League dad who's been assistant coaching a 2A team this year, I think Wilco deserves a big round of applause at the next 7^th (or 5^th) inning stretch.

The possibilities are endless. Wouldn't it be awesome to, say, be on a team that had a psychedelic logo designed by team sponsor Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips - or for that matter, to be on a team CALLED "The [name of your town here] Flaming Lips"...?

Sets August 17 release date, also announces tour w/David Gray.

By Blurt Staff

Ray LaMontagne is set to release his new album, Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise on August 17^th (RCA), his follow-up to Gossip in the Grain.  

Entirely self produced (for the first time) God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise was recorded in two weeks at LaMontagne's home in the woods of western Massachusetts.  The newly restored historic home served as a homemade recording studio for LaMontagne and his fellow musicians. The setting provided a backdrop for the creation of songs imbued with LaMontagne's signature poignancy.  With LaMontagne's vocals at the forefront of the songs and a loose, almost live sounding recording, the album stands as a testament to a band at the height of their powers.  The newly coined 'Pariah Dogs', consists of Jay Bellarose (drums), Jennifer Condos (bass), Patrick Warren (keyboard), Eric Heywood (guitar) and Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar). Individually, these musicians have contributed to the live work of  such heralded musicians including Beck, Joe Henry, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams and Joe Cocker to name a few of their career highlights. Together with LaMontagne, they shared a sense that the sessions for this record were rare and extraordinary. 

 LaMontagne will hit the road with David Gray beginning August 15th and ending September 10^th - dates below.

Track Listing:

1.                  Repo Man

2.                  New York City's Killing Me

3.                  God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise

4.                  Beg Steal Or Borrow

5.                  Are We Really Through 

6.                  This Love Is Over

7.                  Old Before Your Time

8.                  For The Summer

9.                  Like Rock & Roll and Radio

10.              The Devil's In The Jukebox

Tour Dates:

August 15                     Columbia, MD             Merriweather Post Pavilion

August 17                     Boston, MA                 Bank of America Pavilion

August 18                     Boston, MA                 Bank of America Pavilion

August 19                     Wantagh, NY               Nikon @ Jones Beach

August 20                     Camden, NJ                 Susquehanna Bank Center

August 25                     Chicago, IL                  Millennium Park

August 26                     Rochester, MI              Meadow Brook Theatre

August 27                     Toronto, ON                Molson Amphitheatre

August 29                     Council Bluffs, IA         Stir Cover @ Harrah's Council Bluffs

August 30                     Morrison, CO              Red Rocks Amphitheatre

August 31                     Santa Fe, NM              Santa Fe Opera House

September 1                 Phoenix, AZ                 Dodge Theatre

September 3                 Los Vegas, NV            The Pearl @ The Palms

September 4                 Valley Center, CA        Harrahs Rincon

September 5                 Santa Barbara, CA       Santa Barbara Bowl

September 8                 Los Angeles, CA          The Greek Theatre

September 10               San Francisco, CA       The Greek Theatre

Wait - it's not exactly who you're thinking...

By Blurt Staff

Neutral Uke Hotel, will bring their unique pop spin to Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea - by playing  on ukulele. Brought to you by Golden Bloom front man, Shawn Fogel, Neutral Uke Hotel has played one-sold out show, and there are more on the way. Fogel says of this project, "It's one of my favorite records ever, and the album doesn't just have fans. The people who love that album are obsessed with it.... The goal of the project: [is] to strip these songs down and get people in a room to share their love for this album.''

This idea came after Fogel worked with producer Roger Greenawalt's "Beatles Complete on Ukulele" project. Fogel explains, "After recording a version of the Beatles' B-side ‘I'll Get You' with Roger at his Shabby Road Studios, I performed with Golden Bloom, Guster's Ryan Miller, The Zambonis and Leah Siegel at the 2nd Annual Beatles Complete on Ukulele Festival held at Brooklyn Bowl this past December," says Fogel. In March Fogel went to SXSW Austin to play The Beatles Complete on Ukulele Festival alongside other artists including Ben Kweller.

"Inspired by Greenawalt's successful merging of one of the biggest bands in the world with one of the smallest instruments in the world, I decided to use the uke to tackle another major influence of indie musicians across the world: Neutral Milk Hotel."

Tour Dates:

Tuesday, 6/15 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY
Wednesday, 6/16 - Rongovian Embassy - Trumansburg, NY
Friday, 6/18 - NXNE - Toronto, ON
Sunday, 6/20 - Mohawk Place - Buffalo, NY
Tuesday, 6/22 - The Khyber - Philadelphia, PA
Friday, 6/25 - The Basement - Northampton, MA

But not necessarily his final album...

By Blurt Staff

Swansongs marks the final chapter in an extended trilogy (as in, fourth; see also 1998's Black Music, 2001's Godmusic and Black Yankee Rock released in 2004) that's turned Chocolate Genius' first-person tales into truth-seeking therapy sessions. More than just an exploration of the letter "I", you know? Or as Chocolate Genius - aka Mark Anthony Thompson - puts it, "Gracefully embracing decay is the constant theme. Letting go. The curse of religion. The passion is the poison. That old dilemma-worship and penance; sparkle and fade; bass and trouble."

The album's due out August 31 on One Little Indian.

True to its title, Swansongs says goodbye to many people, places and things, including some rather important characters that left us several albums ago. Listen closely and you'll see their spectral trails, discovering how ghosts have been here since the beginning, starting with the solemn sleeve of Black Music, Thompson's first proper Chocolate Genius record.

"I'm sitting on the bed that my mother would die in right before we released the second offering, Godmusic," explains Thompson. "She sings vocals on the first song of that record ("Perfidia"). They were caught randomly when I was a kid, as she walked into my bedroom while I was learning how to record.

"Decades later, I am in Los Angeles trying to find her missing widower. On a piano that hasn't been tuned since the Watts Riots, I record 'Like a Nurse' and write four songs in that very same bedroom. A few days later, I find my father crashed into a pole on La Brea and Venice. It is the same intersection that I sang about in one of the first songs I'd ever written, 'Pinks & Greens'."

Thompson finished "Sit & Spin" on the final day of his father's life. The spare, piano-driven ballad is one of 11 chapters in the Swansongs cycle, a struggle with letting go that arrives two tracks after a voicemail collage that calls out from beyond the grave. As it turns out, the messages-all wrapped up in queasy ambient soundscapes-are simply the sound of Thompson's father trying to get a hold of him over the years.

"I used the recordings of my parents on both releases because they are priceless artifacts to me," explains Thompson, "and I wanted to lock them in the time capsule that each of these documents are. My children's children will be able to download a little piece of their history. An indulgent, guilty conceit and perhaps nothing more - but I love the recording of my mom singing and the humor and spirit of my folks shines on both offerings."

Swansongs is an album that ties up the loose ends of Thompson's never-ending story. Meanwhile, his Chocolate Genius guise shifts ever-so-subtly, as Thompson embraces a simple idea-to "record something I didn't have to apologize for...a complete listening experience."

"Reluctantly, the book of songs is done," says Thompson, who also dabbles in sound design and theatre/film scores (American Splendor, Twin Falls Idaho, the Obie-winning A Huey P. Newton Story). "I say reluctantly because I'll soon have to stare at a blank page again, and greet whatever is next. That's always the tricky part-by the time music is released,  the process usually inspires an entirely new workflow, or has you headed to the road, sofa, beach, airport or bar. At least that's been my syndrome. Though I write constantly, I release things sporadically at best, and sometimes as quietly as a cough. As Richard Ford says, 'When a tree falls in the forest, who cares but the monkeys?'"

Thompson was born in Panama, raised in California, and molded by New York's music scene. The creation of Chocolate Genius Inc. led to collaborations with Meshell Ndegeocello, Van Dyke Parks, Doveman, Cibo Matto, 2/3 of Medeski, Martin & Wood, and Thompson's only constant, Marc Ribot. He also took part in Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Tour in 2006. Swansongs is his first album since 2004's Black Yankee Rock.

Track listing, TV appearance, even a video clip (below) of them in the studio.

By Blurt Staff

A few more details to add about Superchunk, who recently announced the upcoming release of a new album, Majesty Shredding, and a string of tour dates.

*The album's due Sept. 14 from Merge, and on Sept. 20 the band will make its first TV appearance since 1994, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

*Frontman Mac McCaughan set about to write a batch of songs that would "capture the spirit of the band's live shows." Superchunk approached Majesty Shredding the same way they approached their early records: McCaughan provided skeletal demos to his bandmates, who in turn fleshed out the songs during a brief period of rehearsal and recording.

* Scott Solter, notable engineer and producer (The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice, St. Vincent) was at the console, while the Goats' John Darnielle provided backing vocals.

*The band's first studio album in years is "neither a return nor a departure... [it] telescopes two decades into 41 indelible, action-packed minutes. It is the sound of youthful exuberance fine-tuned with grown-up confidence. And it may very well be Superchunk's best record yet."

Track Listing:

1. Digging for Something
   2. My Gap Feels Weird
   3. Rosemarie
   4. Crossed Wires
   5. Slow Drip
   6. Fractures in Plaster
   7. Learned to Surf
   8. Winter Games
   9. Rope Light
   10. Hot Tubes
   11. Everything at Once

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Win fabulous prizes, plus a hug from Perry Farrell!

By Blurt Staff

It's called the 2010 "Lolla Remix Throwdown" and between now and June 25, aspiring Lollapalooza performers can vie for a slot on Lolla founder Perry Farrell's Perry's Stage (not to mention the chance two win fabulous prizes, of course).  To date there's been an average of over 500 entrants and 300,000+ votes each year, so competition is naturally fierce, but hey.

Artists can enter the contest by submitting an original composition or remix at the Do312.com site - go there for full details. Fifty semi-finalists will move on and have the opportunity to remix one of four songs provided by 2010 Lollapalooza artists, including Tiga. Four finalists will then be selected to compete live the week before Lollapalooza at Green Dolphin Street in Chicago for the prize package, which includes the aforementioned gig at Lollapalooza on Perry's stage.

Beat this.

By Blurt Staff

According to a report published this week by IndieWire.com, Yony Leyser's new documentary William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, will be released theatrically in the U.S. the fall, with a DVD to follow. In addition to tons of archival footage of the man himself, the film includes interviews with John Waters, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Gus Van Sant, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Sonic Youth, Laurie Anderson, Amiri Baraka, Jello Biafra, and David Cronenberg, among others, with actor Peter Weller narrating - and a soundtrack by Patti Smith and Sonic Youth.

Indie Wire describes the film as a "probing, yet loving look at the man whose works at once savaged conservative ideals, spawned countercultural movements, and reconfigured 20th century culture."

It was picked up by Oscilloscope and debuted at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival. PBS also has plans to broadcast the doc during its 2010-11 "Independent Lens" series.

Definitely not your mother's CD. Or your daddy's 8-track. Or your grandaddy's shellac record... Watch the video, below.

By Blurt Staff

NYC-based musician and visual artist Tristan Perich - described by The Wire as "an austere meeting of electronic and organic" who has collabored with Bang on a Can, Calder Quartet, Meehan/Perkins and others - is setting an August 24 release date for his new 1-Bit Symphony, and it's guaranteed to raise eyebrows. It's an electronic composition in five movements on a single microchip. Though housed in a CD jewel case, 1-Bit Symphony is not a recording in the traditional sense; it literally "performs" its music live when turned on. A complete electronic circuit - programmed by the artist and assembled by hand - plays the music through a headphone jack mounted into the case itself. The project is set to be released on Cantaloupe Music.

A return to the format of Perich's earlier1-Bit Music (described by the Village Voice as "technology and aesthetic rolled into one"), 1-Bit Symphony further reduces the hardware involved while simultaneously expanding its musical ideas. 1-Bit Symphony utilizes on and off electrical pulses, synthesized by assembly code and routed from microchip to speaker, to manifest data as sound. The device treats electricity as a sonic medium, making an intimate connection between the materiality of hardware and the abstract logic of software.

While 1-Bit Symphony is purely electronic in its execution, its contents reflect Perich's long-standing interest in orchestral composition. Since the release of 1-Bit Music in 2006, Perich's compositional work has combined 1-bit audio with acoustic classical instruments, providing insight into the conceptual and aesthetic relationships between physical and electronic sound. With 1-Bit Symphony, Perich brings this insight back into the digital realm, juxtaposing the grand form of a classical symphony with the minimal nature of 1-bit circuitry. 

Tristan Perich: 1-Bit Symphony (Part 1: Overview) from Tristan Perich on Vimeo.

No word on whether citizens who have de-evolved over the years will be included in the push for equality....

By Blurt Staff

As previously noted in this space, DEVO will have  their first new studio album in 20 years Something for Everybody released on June 15 - stay tuned, as we have an exclusive interview with the band that will run very soon at BLURT.

Meanwhile, the spudboys have also announced they're to appear in the animated series Futurama for the big 100th episode special.

Appropriately enough, the episode, titled The Mutants Are Revolting, will see DEVO campaign for mutant rights. Leela's parents are second-class, mutant citizens who live underground in the sewers, the members of the band have mutated over the years, while vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh helps out with their campaign for equality.

The new season of Futurama stars June 24 on Comedy Central.

Former Swervedriver/Toshack Highway mainman's second album with his Bolts of Melody combo pits reflective melodies against swirling, My Bloody Valentine-worthy masses of guitars. It's released later this month on Second Motion.

By Jennifer Kelly

With Swervedriver, Adam Franklin had an eight-year run spinning out dreamy textures of distorted guitar that, however, loud they might turn in live performance, had an unruffled serenity to them.  Bolts of Melody, following a quieter interlude as Toshack Highway, pursues the same muscular, feedback-glazed reveries as Swervedriver, its reflective melodies hedged with swirling masses of guitar sound.   Franklin's band - which now includes Ley Taylor on guitar, Josh Stoddard on bass, Gerard Menke on pedal steel - has gotten noticeably more confident on second Bolts outing  I Could Sleep for a Thousand Years, building dense, hallucinatory thickets of sound around Franklin's rueful songs. 

"Yesterday Has Gone Forever," the album's first cut and one of its best, pits soft, ruminative lyrics against a firestorm of distorted guitar a la My Bloody Valentine.  Its instrumental layers shimmer, waver and fade like heat mirages in psychedelic uncertainty.  "I'll Be Your Mechanic" leans more into Sonic Youth's lyrical washes of feedback, a muted roar cresting under Franklin's worn-in murmur.   "She Is Closer Now Than I've Ever Been" is janglier, quieter, more introspective, yet haunted by the same bittersweet backwards-looking.   And long, lovely "Take Me Too My Leader," follows a shambolic tambourine over brightly colored melodies that have the symmetry of pop, the gauzy luminosity of experimental guitar rock.  

Even without the guitar-driven sturm und drang, this would be one of 2010's prettiest pop records.  With it, it's something else altogether stronger, more dramatic and more affecting.

[Photo Credit: Johnny Moto]

Also joining the gang: Brandon Curtis from Secret Machines.

By Blurt Staff

Following up on our earlier report about Carlos D quitting Interpol at the conclusion of recording sessions for the band's forthcoming, self-titled album: in the wake of U2 cancelling its North American tour, only a handful of Interpol dates remain officially scheduled (see below) as Interpol had been tapped as opening act, although more are certainly to be added.

Meanwhile, the record is now slated to come out in September (street date tba), and according to a post at the group's website, indie go-to guy David Pajo (Pajo, Papa M, Tortoise, Stereolab, Zwan, etc.) has been enlisted as Carlos D's replacement on bass, while Brandon Curtis from Secret Machines will be handling keyboard and backing vocal duties.

Here's what Interpol had to say:

Hey gang,

We'd like to take a moment to introduce you to our new editions:
Two fresh faces who will be joining us live on our upcoming tours.

On Bass: Dave Pajo

Pajo has a vast body of work. He was the guitarist for Slint. He has recorded as Papa M and Ariel M. And he has worked with Tortoise, Will Oldham, Zwan, and numerous other artists. So, you know....do the math.

On Keys and Vox: Brandon Curtis

Curtis is a member of the Secret Machines. Enough said.

We are very excited and honored to be working with such talented individuals.

Come and see why.

Interpol

Tour Dates:

6-21 Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall
6-22 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
6-23 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre
6-25 Allentown, PA - Crocodile Rock Cafe

[Photo Credit: Sebastian Mynarski]

Well-traveled gourmand knows a thing or two about some damn Mexican food, yo.

By Blurt Staff

We chew ‘em up and spit ‘em out here at BLURT, and the line of bloody blogger carcasses pretty much extends down 14 stairwells from our  penthouse suite to the ground floor here at BlurtCo Inc. This time, though, we may have met our match - precisely because our new blogger's stock in trade is also chewing things up (though not necessarily spitting ‘em out).

Please welcome to our cadre of bloggers renowned singer-songwriter Greg Laswell, who debuts this week with his "Food Appreciation" column. First up: Mexican food.

San Diego native Laswell seems to be able to sniff out an authentic taqueria anywhere in the US, and he's sharing his favorite Mex food finds with us, to the tune of 10 choice eateries, selected from his many travels as a travelin' troubadour. Check his blog out right here, and meanwhile, if you have any good eating tips for him, make sure you let him know in the comments section following the blog.

Laswell is currently on the road for his new release Take A Bow. Recorded in a remote cabin in Arizona with his dog for company, Laswell wrote, performed (he plays all the instruments) and engineered the songs, making his "band" the studio and the studio his laboratory. The results are lush without being slick, textured while still maintaining an organic feel. His songwriting draws comparisons to writers such as Martin Sexton and Jeff Buckley and his sonorous, distinct vocal style (not unlike Stephen Merritt of Magnetic Fields) is haunting and has made him a top choice of film and TV licensers. Check out news and tour dates at Laswell's MySpace page.

You can read our review of the album elsewhere on the BLURT site...

No cause of death has been announced yet.

By Fred Mills

UK media are reporting that Stuart Cable, former drummer for the Stereophonics, was found dead in his Abedare, Wales, home early this morning. Police are not commenting other than to confirm "the sudden death of a 40-year old man," and no cause of death has been announced yet. "No suspicious circumstances" have been reported thus far.

No statement has been issued yet by the Stereophonics; media accounts indicated that lead singer Kelly Jones was at a funeral for his great uncle today.

According to Cable's mother, Mabel, "Stuart has travelled all over the world with the band and I have worried myself silly. He is now settled down and then this has happens. It has not sunk in yet." His brother added, "The family has no further comment to make at this stage. It is in the hands of the police."

Cable was an original member of the group when it formed in 1992 and remained until 2003 when he was fired, following the release of 4^th album You Gotta Go There To Come Back, in the wake of reports that he'd become unreliable and was missing rehearsals and gigs. He subsequently drummed for Darkness offshoot Stone Gods and formed his own band, Killing For Company.

Check out the video clip below. Free MP3 teaser available as well.

By Blurt Staff

It's cooler than Led Zeppelin III! On August 10 Daptone Records will release The Budos Band III. Produced by Bosco Mann and TNT at Daptone Records' "House of Soul Studios" in Bushwick, Brooklyn, the band's third full-length studio effort was conceived during weekly, beer-fueled Staten Island writing sessions - as well as more than 150 live gigs over the last two years - and recorded during a 48 hour period in January 2010. 

The first single from The Budos Band III is the afro-rock burner, "Unbroken, Unshaven."  Download the free Mp3 here: "Unbroken, Unshaven"

The Budos Band has confirmed a national tour in support of the new album, beginning in June and running through September 2010. Covering the U. S. and Canada, the band is performing in intimate night clubs to high profile festivals including Celebrate Brooklyn! in Prospect, Bumbershoot, Millennium Park in Chicago, Outside Lands in San Francisco, and multiple jazz festivals in Canada.  See below for tour dates. Park

"Heading into the studio for Budos III, I really thought we were going to make the first psychedelic, doom-rock record ever recorded at Daptone," recounts longtime Budos de facto front man and baritone saxophonist, Jared Tankel, "but somehow it ended up sounding like a Budos record." Stacked with tight rhythms, blistering breakbeats, blaring horns and, yes, perhaps even a tinge of psychedelic doom-rock, The Budos have been able to take their sound around the world and make a danceable mess of festival-goers from Montreal and Vancouver to Bumbershoot and High Sierra, as well as hold their own on stage with a diverse array of artists, from the Flaming Lips to Santigold, Maceo Parker to Les Claypool, Meshell Ndegeocello to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. The unique and signature sound of The Budos has become a favorite for music supervisors to use in TV, film and video games, as well as producers who have sampled The Budos on numerous hip-hop tracks.

Tour Dates:

Fri June 11           New York, NY              Rocks Off Concert Cruise

Sat June 26          Vancouver, VC            Vancouver Jazz Festival @ Commodore Ballroom

Sun June 27         Calgary, AB                 Calgary Jazz Festival @ The Whiskey

Tue June 29         Saskatoon, SK            Saskatchewan Jazz Festival @ Lydia's Pub

Wed June 30        Winnipeg, MAN          Jazz Winnipeg Festival @ Pyramid Cabaret

Sat July 10            Chicago, IL                 Chicago Folk & Roots Festival @ Welles Park

Sun July 11           Bloomington, IN          Bluebird

Mon July 12          Chicago, IL                  Millennium Park

Tue July 13           Ann Arbor, MI              Blind Pig

Thu July 15           Quebec City, QC         Quebec City International Summer Festival

Fri July 16             Ottawa, ON                  Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest

Sat July 17            Toronto, ON                 Lee's Palace

Wed July 21          Philadelphia, PA         Johnny Brenda's

Thu July 22           Harrisburg, PA             The Abbey Bar at ABC

Fri July 23             Floyd, VA                      Floydfest          

Sat July 24            Washington, DC          Black Cat

Sat Aug 7              Brooklyn, NY                Celebrate Brooklyn! @ Prospect Park Bandshell

Thu Aug 12           Los Angeles, CA          Levitt Pavilion

Fri Aug 13             Pasadena, CA               Levitt Pavilion

Sat Aug 14            San Luis Obispo, CA    Downtown Brew

Sun Aug 15           San Francisco, CA       Outside Lands @ Golden Gate Park

Tue Aug 17           Phoenix, AZ                  Sail In

Thu Aug 19           Santa Fe, NM               Santa Fe Brew Co

Sun Aug 22           Dallas, TX                    Granada

Tue Aug 24           Oklahoma City, OK       Conservatory

Wed Aug 25          Kansas City, MO           Record Bar

Fri Aug 27             Denver, CO                   Larimer Lounge

Sat Aug 28            Boulder, CO                  Fox Theater

Tue Aug 31           Salt Lake City, UT         State Room

Wed Sept 1           Boise, ID                       The Grove Plaza

Thu Sept 2            Eugene, OR                  W.O.W. Hall

Fri Sept 3              Portland, OR                  Dante's

Sat Sept 4             Seattle, WA                    Bumbershoot

Uncle Blurt say: wait for the Julien Temple-helmed biopic.

By Doug Wallen

The Kinks are one of the best and enduring bands rock has produced, and they deserve much better than the bargain-bin DVD You Really Got Me: The Story Of The Kinks (Voiceprint/MVD).

Purporting to tell the band's story, You Really Got Me simply intersperses a disjointed documentary structure with prolonged live footage. Some of that vintage live footage is at least worth a look, like the mob of teens dancing to the lesser-known morsel "I'm A Lover Not A Fighter," but the material is handled with frustrating clumsiness. We see the Kinks performing "You Really Got Me" in both the '60s and the '80s, an interesting idea that suffers from poor execution. And longer, later songs like "Celluloid Heroes" and "Superman" are shoehorned in before much material that preceded them, like the far superior Village Green stuff.

Indeed, the film skips around in time without explaining it, leaving newcomers with a jumbled sense of the band's history. There are awkward stabs at sentimentality, and right on cue, the '80s portion of the story simply features a handful of the band's MTV videos in their entirety, mostly dropping the narrative. The only possible saving grace might be a few fleeting interviews cobbled from different sources and some funny glimpses of Dave Davies' many different looks and hairstyles. On the technical side, the DVD is crippled by budget titles, pixilated photos, and shoddy voiceover narration that abruptly gives way to concert footage. And not that one would clamor for them after beholding this film, but there are no extras either.

Avoid this ham-fisted effort and wait instead for Julien Temple's planned biopic on the band. Or in the meantime, go the book route and check out the idiosyncratic biographies from both Davies brothers as well as Doug Hinman's exhaustive discography and history All Day And All Of The Night.

New album out next week to be followed on June 29 with the hi-def edition - "a first by a contemporary artist."

By Blurt Staff

You're already aware that the new Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album Mojo is issued next week, on June 15. In an intriguing marketing move, the band's label, Reprise, is streaming the record in its entirety NOT as one of the more obvious media outlets like NPR Music - but at ESPN.com as part of ESPN Music's "Listen Up" series. (Sure, go ahead, cue up some Petty-themed joke about this or that song you'd like to hear at the ballpark or football stadium... "I Won't Back Down," duh.)

Anyhow, we've been listening to the record for awhile now and it gets the ol' BLURT thumbs-up; full review coming soon. Meanwhile, the band's Mojo tour continues apace, having kicked off last week in Denver, and it will run through early October. Tour dates at TomPetty.com. (There's a pretty decent review of Petty's show in Oakland the other night posted at RollingStone.com.)

Now, what's even more intriguing is that in a first by a contemporary music artist, on June 29  the album will be released as a stand-alone audio-only Blu-ray disc which can be played in stereo or 5.1 surround sound. The Blu-ray disc contains 256 times more resolution than a CD, providing greater detail and reproducing the music's full dynamic range, from the softest to the loudest sounds. In a 14-page cover story on the album the leading audiophile magazine Sound and Vision raved about the Blu-ray while calling the album "stunning." The Blu-ray version will be available online exclusively from Amazon as well as at all independent retail stores (http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home)

Also on June 29, a special vinyl edition of MOJO will be released. The vinyl edition of MOJOis an 180 Gram 2-LP Set pressed at Pallas, Germany and mastered at Bernie Grundman Studios from the uncompressed 24-bit 48 kHz files.

Each copy of the vinyl and Blu-ray editions also includes a code to download the album in one of three formats: 320kbs Mp3, Apple Lossless, or FLAC.

iTunes will feature a special LP edition of MOJO. A preorder of the ITunes LP, now available, gets a buyer the first single "I Should Have Known It" immediately upon purchase.  In addition to the standard 15-track album, the iTunes LP edition comes with exclusive music, videos and many other special features:


- "Little Girl Blues" - bonus audio track (exclusive)
- "Good Enough" - video (exclusive)
 - "I Should Have Known It" - video
 - MOJO road trip photos by Sam Jones
 - MOJO album package art with Lyrics
 - Scans of 4 hand written lyrics sheets from Tom's own notebook

(The videos from the album along with others can be viewed at Petty's YouTube channel.)

Staples also planning to appear at the Wilco-hosted Solid Sound Festival.

By Blurt Staff

Mavis Staples will drop her new Anti- album You Are Not Alone on Sept. 14, and the rumors you've been hearing are true: it's produced by Jeff Tweedy.

They cut the record a Wilco's studio The Loft. It mixes traditional gospel numbers with two new songs written for Mavis by Tweedy, plus her interpretations of songs by Pops Staples, Randy Newman, Allen Toussaint, John Fogerty, Rev. Gary Davis and Little Milton.

The album features Mavis's touring band of the last three years: Rick Holmstrom, guitar, vocals; Jeff Turmes, bass, vocals; Stephen Hodges, drums; Donny Gerrard, background vocals; plus special guests Jeff Tweedy on guitars, bass, and vocals; Wilco's Patrick Sansone, keys, vibes; Mark Greenberg, vibes, keys; with additional background vocals by frequent Neko Case collaborators Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor, and Richard Parenti.

It's the followup to her 2007 studio album We'll Never Turn Back - not to mention coming on the heels of 2008's Grammy-nominated concert album Live: Hope at the Hideout. This summer Staples will play Lollapalooza on August 6, and the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCa on August 14 with additional US and European tour dates to be announced soon.

Track Listing:

1.         You Don't Knock (Pops Staples/Wesley Westbrook)

2.         You Are Not Alone (Jeff Tweedy)

3.         Downward Road (Pops Staples)

4.         In Christ There is No East and West (traditional; arranged by Jeff Tweedy)

5.         Creep Along, Moses (traditional)

6.         Losing You (Randy Newman)

7.         I Belong to the Band (Rev. Gary Davis)

8.         Last Train (Allen Toussaint)

9.         Only the Lord Knows (Jeff Tweedy)

10.       Wrote A Song for Everyone (John Fogerty)

11.       We're Gonna Make It (Little Milton)

12.       Wonderful Savior (traditional)

13.       Too Close To Heaven / I'm On My Way to Heaven Anyhow (Prof. Alex E. BradfordJr./Brad Pathway)

Fake robot bands are always fun.

By Blurt Staff

Word arrives that Polyvinyl will be issuing a 12" EP on July 16 featuring two versions of Of Montreal's "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal," originally released on 2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? album.

The hook? According to Polyvinyl:

The B-side is a new version of "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" that was made for the Spike Jonze short film "I'm Here," in which a fake robot band called The Lost Trees perform the song. The song was re-envisioned by of Montreal chief musician Kevin Barnes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' guitarist Nick Zinner, and members of the Moonrats.

The songs clock in at 11:53 and 5:30, respectively, and the blue vinyl platter comes in a hand silk-screened cover by Gemini Tactics. It's a limited edition of 500 copies, so better hop over to the PV site pronto and get your order in (you'll get MP3 downloads of both tracks right away when you do place an order).

Headliners and high profilers include Lady Gaga, The Strokes, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, The Black Keys, Green Day, Phoenix, Social Distortion, Spoon, Cut Copy, Soundgarden, Arcade Fire, MGMT and The National.

By Blurt Staff

Lollapalooza revealed the schedule of performers today. Daily grids for the festival posted at Lollapalooza.com outline the 130-plus band set times and stages for the three-day festival happening in Chicago's Grant Park August 6-8.

Friday highlights include Lady Gaga, The Strokes, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, and The Black Keys; Saturday features Green Day, Phoenix, Social Distortion, Spoon, and Cut Copy; and Sunday will close with sets by Soundgarden, Arcade Fire, MGMT and The National.

 
For tickets, the schedule, and show information, go to www.lollapalooza.com

No truth to that rumor about Peter Frampton guesting on talkbox, however...

By Blurt Staff

"It's always good to be home," announces interplanetary rapper MF DOOM to a New York crowd on the new live album Expektoration. "It's like a  big-ass family reunion in here."

Featuring Big Benn Klingon, the album's due from Gold Dust on September 14 and documents a show in the life of the most mysterious rapper in hip-hop and gives an ultra-rare glimpse into this enigmatic figure.

Broken up into two acts, complete with intermission, Act 1 draws mainly from 2004's MM..FOOD and Madvillainy, the latter of which Pitchfork called "one of the most anticipated releases in underground rap history" and "inexhaustibly brilliant." DOOM breathes new life into tracks like Food's "Kon Karne" and Madvillainy's "Accordion," constantly working the crowd while never letting his intricate, tongue-tying rhymes get the best of him live.

After a "Star Trek"-themed intermission (Don't ask. Just listen.), the man behind Vaudeville Villain, Born Like This and Unexpected Guests revisits his 1999 debut solo album Operation: Doomsday on Act II. "Hey!", which deftly flips the theme song from "Scooby Doo" and has become one of the rapper's best-known tracks, dovetails right into the smooth "Rhymes Like Dimes" for a balance of the absurd and soulful. Listen closely at times and you'll hear the audience recite every lyric along with the emcee. Also included on Act II are the 2003 single "Change the Beat" and an appearance by DOOM's alter ego King Geedorah on "The Fine Print."

For over 20 years, MF DOOM has existed on his own planet in the hip-hop universe, entertaining and confounding listeners with his unique mix of playful samples, outrageous showmanship, and esoteric lyrical references. No one will ever be able to understand a mind like DOOMs, but Expektoration gets you one step closer to experiencing the rapper's frenetic, energetic and interactive live performances. Here's to another 20.

More details on the web: http://www.mfdoom-expektoration.com/

Headed to Tennessee this week? We are too. Here are some our picks to click. See ya there, and if you spot the official BLURT scribe and shutterbug wandering the site, ask for some bumper stickers. Full lineup of acts can be found at the official Bonnaroo website.

By Blurt Staff

Thursday, June 10:

4:00 pm Frontier Ruckus (Troo Music Lounge)

4:15 pm The Postelles (That Tent)

5:30 pm Elizabeth Cook (Troo Music Lounge)

5:45 pm Baroness (The Other Tent)
7:00 pm Local Natives (That Tent)
8:30 pm Neon Indian (That Tent)
9:00 pm The Dodos (This Tent)
10:15 pm Blitzen Trapper (The Other Tent)

10:30 pm Margaret Cho (Comedy Theatre)

10:30 pm Mayer Hawthorne (This Tent)
11:30 pm The xx (That Tent)

11:30 pm The Constellations (Troo Music Lounge)

Friday, June 11:

12:00 pm Trombone Shorty (Which Stage)
1:00 pm Conan O'Brien (The Comedy Theatre)
1:45 pm The Gaslight Anthem (Which Stage)
1:45 pm Jay Electronica (This Tent)

1:45 pm Carolina Chocolate Drops (That Tent)

2:00 pm Mighty Clouds of Joy (What Stage)

2:15 pm Steep Canyon Rangers (Sonic Stage)

3:45 pm The Gossip (This Tent)
4:00 pm Damian Marley and Nas (What Stage)

4:00 pm Nneka (Troo Music Lounge)
5:00 pm She & Him (This Tent)
5:45 pm The National (Which Stage)

6:30 pm Tenacious D (What Stage)

7:30 pm Steve Martin & Steep Canyon Rangers (That Tent)

8:00 pm Samantha Crain (Café Whre?)

12:00 am The Flaming Lips (Which Stage)
12:00 am The Black Keys (That Tent)
12:00 am Daryl Hall and Chromeo (The Other Tent)
12:00 am Hercules and Love Affair (DJ set) (The Lunar Stage)
1:00 am The Crystal Method (The Lunar Stage)

2:00 am Galactic (The Other Tent)

2:30 am LCD Soundsystem (This Tent)

Saturday, June 12:

12:15 pm Langhorne Slim (That Tent)

1:00 pm Conan O'Brien (The Comedy Theatre)

1:15 pm Mexican Institute of Sound (The Other Tent)

2:40 pm Truth & Salvage Co. (Troo Music Lounge)

3:15 pm Dave Rawlings Machine (That Tent)
3:30 pm Isis (This Tent)

3:45 pm Aterciopelados (The Other Tent)

3:45 Imelda May (Sonic Stage)

4:30 pm Clutch (Sonic Stage)

4:45 pm Avett Brothers (Which Stage)
5:15 pm The Melvins (This Tent)

5:15 pm Los Amigos Invisibles (The Other Tent)

5:20 pm Red Cortez (Troo Music Lounge)

6:00 pm Aziz Ansari (Comedy Theatre)
6:00 pm The Dead Weather (What Stage)
6:00 pm Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel (The Comedy Theatre)
6:45 pm John Prine (That Tent)

7:00 pm Jeff Beck (This Tent)

7:00 pm Ozomatli (The Other Tent)

7:30 pm Angus & Julia Stone (Café Where?)

12:00 am Thievery Corporation (That Tent)

12:30 am Dan Deacon Ensemble (This Tent)

1:30 am Lissie (Troo Music Lounge)
2:30 am GWAR (The Other Tent)

4:00 am Timo Maas (The Lunar Stage)

Sunday, June 13:

12:00 pm Tinariwen (Which Stage)
12:30 pm Japandroids (This Tent)
1:15 pm Calexico (Which Stage)

2:00 pm Lucero (This Tent)

2:30 pm Danny Barnes (Café Where?)

3:00 pm Regina Spektor (Which Stage)

4:00 pm John Fogerty (What Stage)

4:00 pm Supagroup (Troo Music Lounge)

4:15 pm John Butler (The Sonic Lounge)

5:00 pm Ween (Which Stage)

5:00 pm Dropkick Murphys (This Tent)

6:15 pm Medeski Martin & Wood (The Other Tent)
7:15 pm Phoenix (Which Stage)

7:30 pm Aziz Ansari (Comedy Theatre)
9:00 pm Dave Matthews Band (What Stage)

Canadian-born studio auteur has worked with some of the biggest and most respected artists in the business; plans for his new band put on hold.

By Blurt Staff

Daniel Lanois was involved in a motorcycle accident Saturday, June 5^th in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, CA. The famed Grammy-winning producer (U2, Peter Gabriel, Tom Waits, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, Bob Dylan) and solo artist suffered multiple injuries but is expected to be released from intensive care soon.

Due to the severity of the injuries, the 58-year old Lanois has canceled all upcoming tour dates - a European tour had been scheduled -  and will be recuperating for the next two months. He and his new band Black Dub, which includes Trixie Whitley and Brian Blade, had recently signed to Jive Records and had been planning to release their debut album - according to the label, the record will now appear "when circumstances permit" and when Lanois has recuperated sufficiently to tackle promotional activities.

Britain's Guardian reported that Lanois had spoken to music journalist Larry Leblanc, who indicated Lanois had "spoke lucidly" and was in a lot of pain. "He just said, 'Look, I got a lot of broken bones,'" said Leblanc

Courtney Love just loves to shock us! She just posted some new (well, old pics since she appears sans her recent goofy flower tattoos) where she appears nude or semi-nude in most them. One shot features everyone's favorite transexual Amanda Lepore (who bears a striking resemblance to Love). The Daily Mail has them all here. 

Upon viewing, have a plastic bag handy. You're going to need it.

TP and his Heartbreakers recapture their mojo on Mojo, released June 15 by Reprise, and hit the road for an extended summer tour intended to get their fanbase's collective mojo working. Ours, too - no lie.

By Fred Mills

In a way, it's a shame we've got the internet and all the attendant accelerated media when it comes to the arts, and to rock ‘n' roll in particular. Once upon a time, a new record would be released and you'd hear about it from a friend, or maybe chance upon it in a store, and then a month or so later read a review in Rolling Stone or Time or, if the artist was coming to your town on tour, in the daily newspaper. The sense of personal discovery made it seem like you were taking possession of a genuine artifact, an act not to be taken lightly since the presumption was that your hard-earned $4.98 - yes, that's what LPs used to cost - was gonna buy you a lifetime's worth of musical memories.

Nowadays, of course, those memories are as lasting as a click or two of a mouse, or a quick trip to the trade counter of your local CD store. And with record labels' marketing departments not willing to gamble on word of mouth to shift units for them, the p.r. campaigns get rolled out way in advance so that the buying public knows well before the official street date what to expect and what the record's backstory is (and, increasingly, what it sounds like, too, given how the illicit leaking of albums has given way to the inevitable practice of artists streaming new releases prior to street).

So anyone reading this probably already knows the deal with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' new Mojo (Reprise), about how it (a) reflects Petty's desire to employ the six-guys-in-a-circle-in-a-room-jamming approach to songwriting, in this instance at the band's rehearsal space; (b) comes on the heels of the 2008 Mudcrutch summit that found Petty dipping into sonic styles from the ‘60s and early ‘70s with members of his early, pre-Heartbreakers band, and getting his batteries recharged as a result; and (c) additionally comes on the heels of last year's sprawling The Live Anthology box - reviewed here at BLURT, "That Southern Accent" - which had Petty and guitarist Mike Campbell trawling a career-spanning archive of concert recordings and revisiting some of the emotions made them want to be a band in the first place.

Translation for you, the discriminating music consumer: Mojo is a return-to-roots affair, loaded with the blues, Southern rock and West Coast psychedelia of Petty's youth, a loose, collaborative and comfort-zone effort for the band aimed at pleasing themselves first and foremost (but which won't come across as exactly esoteric to their core audience).

In fact, everything in the preceding two paragraphs has been spelled out fairly explicitly by the mainstream media in the weeks leading up to the album's June 15 release. For example, on June 1, the day the Heartbreakers kicked off their Mojo tour in Denver, the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot published an interview with Petty ("We got into a comfortable space in our rehearsal room... As soon as we had something working as group, there was a recording of that event, and that became the record... For the last 10, 11 years, I've been immersed in blues. That's what I listen to all the time and we got caught up in that vibe on this record."). The current issue of Rolling Stone, which hit newsstands about 10 days ago, contains David Fricke's four-star review of Mojo in which he mentions its live vibe, its similarity in tone to Exile on Main Street, the vintage instruments the band used, and - on three separate occasions - the word "blues."

Then just last Thursday, to ensure that your parents didn't miss the news either, USA Today ran a front-page feature on Petty in the "Lifeline" section that dutifully reported all of the above: "blues," "blues," "bluesmen," "blues records," "vintage guitars," "the [album's] sound was created in the room" and - in the article's most telling boomer-centric Petty quote - "We found a comfortable identity. I don't want to be turning flips at 60. I see rock musicians who really don't understand how old they are, and it's undignified. I find those people embarrassing." To be fair, you can't blame Petty, his handlers or the media for playing this game; in the same USA Today piece Petty pointed out, accurately, that while radio was key to his initial success (and I'd add that the aforementioned word-of-mouth among fans played a big part too, having known my fair share of totally rabid Pettyphiles), in 2010, contemporary hits radio doesn't program all that many artists of his ilk. It's a wise man who looks for fresh outlets when the old ones are no longer there, and Petty's no dummy.

All this raises the question, then, is there anything left to even write about Mojo in a nominal review of the album?

Well... sure. For starters, it's a stronger, more assured effort than the last proper TP and the Heartbreakers album, 2002's The Last DJ, which was very good but got bogged down in a few spots by its thematic conceits. And it's a zillion times better than 2006's Highway Companion, a Petty solo album that, aside from some contributions from Campbell and coproducer Jeff Lynne, featured Petty playing most of the instruments and going for a loose (if polished) feel that ultimately came off as tentative and too introspective for its own good. So whether Petty came to view those two records as misfires or was energized by the Mudcrutch and The Live Anthology experiences (or both), the end result is a collection of tunes that sounds like it was fun to write and record, one which evolved organically from the sheer joy of making music together.

After kickstarting the album with a harmonica-and-piano powered Little Walter-styled boogie ("Jefferson Jericho Blues," whose part-surreal, part-cheeky subject matter involves Thomas Jefferson's love child with one of his slaves), Petty & Co. move into the first of several signature numbers destined to find their way onto live setlists: the psychedelic "First Flash of Freedom" is half-Allman Brothers, half-Quicksilver Messenger Service, what with its waltz-time rhythm, prominent organ motif and elliptical, elegiac, almost Coltrane-esque riffing; and at seven minutes in length, there's plenty of potential for in-concert extrapolation. Going in another direction, but one equally inclined towards rock classicism, is "I Should Have Known It," which sounds like somebody's either been listening a lot to Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti (check Campbell's Page-like guitar breaks plus the way Steve Ferrone's thundering drums are pushed up in the mix) or, equally likely, trying to come up with a number they could easily segue with their blistering cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well," a concert fave for the band. And the slinky, smoky blues of "Lover's Touch" has a sexy late-night vibe and sensual swing not that far removed from Petty staple "Breakdown," simultaneously anthemic and laid-back, perfect for a mid-set change of pace.

Yet Mojo is a long (65 minutes) record, so with 15 songs, there's a lot here to draw upon, and in some instances it's the subtle performances that comprise the album's strongest. The ethereal, dreamy "The Trip to Pirate's Cove" is a first person travelogue reminiscent of parts of 1994's masterful Wildflowers; Campbell's delicate fretboard filigrees dance alongside Benmont Tench's equally tasteful electric piano lines, with both lending sonic gravitas to Petty's cinematic narrative. The twangy, slide guitar-powered "U.S. 41," initially slight, gains urgency with repeated listens until it becomes an irresistible foot-tapper, and at exactly three minutes in length and positioned as track #8, makes for a great center-of-album number. "Let Yourself Go," likewise, has a deceptive get-under-skin feel; part boogie and part shuffle, it brings to mind the old Billy Boy Arnold (by way of the Yardbirds) blues chestnut "I Wish You Would." Meanwhile, cautionary tale "High In The Morning" is simultaneously slinky and tough and a guitar geek's dream piece to boot thanks to Campbell's jazzy riffs, twinned lead passages and deep-mix backwards bits.

Ultimately Mojo, by striking a deft balance between earthy performances and crystalline production and presenting a focused-yet-diverse array of tunes, is the most satisfying studio release from Petty in a decade or more. Damn the media clichés, then; it's far more than a return to roots.

It's a goddam renewal, spinning the same kind of new-discovery magic that sparked the imagination of a pre-internet generation all those years ago. Who's up for some memories?

Released this week, Goodbye Killer is a lusty roar of triumph from one of America's preeminent, most literate, songwriters.

By Mike Shanley

Writing songs about relationships can pose a challenge as time goes on. When a 40-something sings about hot girls - as opposed to women - it can sound a little creepy. Or clichéd. Or else it feels like a desperate attempt to cling to youth, and that's never a good thing.

Not so for Joe Pernice. Right as the latest Pernice Brothers album is settling in, he's lusting after a femme on a train, but what's in her hands carries as much cred as what's in her pants: "I want to gum up her plans/ were that I was a book in her hand/ Christ, she's reading Ford Maddox Ford and Jacqueline Susann." It's a skilled twist on the subject and the phrasing nails it. The song, named for the second author in the lyric, also contains the hardest rock the Pernice Brothers have committed to disc since 2005's "Snow," with chunky power chords and a feverish guitar solo. The blast of passion doesn't last beyond this track, but it proves that this songwriter is ready to expand on the sound that marked his back catalog too.

After a series of adult symphonies to God, Pernice has broken a four-year silence with Goodbye Killer (Ashmont), an album that takes his finely crafted narrative style (read: tragic and beautiful) and tweaked the arrangements. He has pared down the quasi-orchestral sea of guitars and keyboards from earlier albums with the current lineup of his brother Bob, Ric Menck (Velvet Crush, Matthew Sweet) and James Walbourne (Son Volt, among others). The quartet has a more immediate live sound, as they switch from electric to acoustic guitars, deliver more of those distorted solos and drop in some dual guitar leads that sound like they originated on All Things Must Pass.

Lyrically, Goodbye Killer overflows with couplets - and even phrases - that sound as good out of context as they do within: "Now it only half-way scares me to the bone," ranks among the best of them ("The Loving Kind"). Always the writer's writer, Pernice even stops himself mid-chorus in another song to opine, "That's a metaphor, I believe." "We Love the Stage" roasts the life of a never-will-be musician who can't shake the performance bug even as success regularly misses the set. "It doesn't matter if the crowd is thin/ we sing to six the way we sing to ten/ we like the way an intro four-count sounds like three," he deadpans without getting maudlin or hokey while the band plays a jazzy soft shoe.

"Bechamel" almost gets the album off to a too-precious start, due to Pernice's over-enunciated vocal over the pristine acoustic guitars. He's much more convincing when he sings softly about relationships in disarray. But even this song manages to win the cynic over with its dinner party/seduction storyline, especially when he rhymes "cellophane" with "aspartame." The song's setting might be something the over-40 crowd can relate to, but the emotions of the song are timeless, which proves what a skilled songwriter Pernice is after all this time.

The just-published Return of the King: Elvis Presley's Great Comeback makes a compelling case for revising the standard-issue skeptic's take on Elvis.

By Lee Zimmerman

Suffice it say that there have been countless volumes written about Elvis Presley, enough to make him arguably the most documented music performer of all time, the Beatles being possibly the only exception. Consequently, a skeptical observer might have good reason to question the need for yet another tome... and at 270 pages, a rather lengthy one at that. Yet despite the vast number of entries already occupying literary shelves, Return of the King: Elvis Presley's Great Comeback (Jawbone Press), Gillian G. Gaar's spellbinding examination on the King's unexpected renewal via his triumphant 1968 NBC television special, stands out from the pack, not only due to its specific focus, but also owing to the fact that Gaar's detailed narrative uncovers insights that the usual array of fawning bios often breeze over. 

Gaar begins with the back-story about how the King fell from grace, swept up in the steady tide of mediocre movies and marginal material that diminished his output with the start of the ‘60s. Usurped by the bands at the helm of the British invasion, Dylan and other up-and-comers who showed their grit and grasp of Rock's new era, Elvis had been reduced to little more than an also-ran by that summer of '68. In succumbing to the manipulation of his mentor, Colonel Tom Parker, he had become a mere shadow of the charismatic rebel who little more than a decade before forever changed the course of popular music and seduced an entire generation in the process. Sadly, Elvis appeared all too willing to relinquish his place in pop's pantheon, seemingly resigned to the notion that he had little choice other to accept the goods he was given. Even the prospect of a television special offered little reason to believe it would have any effect on his fortunes

"The special didn't begin with the thought that it would play a major role in resurrecting Elvis' career," Gaar notes early on. "Instead it had its genesis when Colonel Parker ran into an unexpected roadblock in securing his standard $1,000,000 fee for an Elvis movie; no one was interested in meeting his price."  According to the author, the alternative idea of offering his client to NBC was merely a fallback tact, just another way to keep the cash coming.

However, as the creative process got underway, Elvis took interest and his enthusiasm was unexpectedly spiked. To their credit, the show's writers and producers had the wherewithal to turn it into a command performance, one that would effectively reflect the Presley legacy, while also showing that the potential for further glories could still be tapped. The instigation for the show's format appropriately originated with Elvis himself, although the inspiration was likely unintended. Sitting in a room with the program's writers on the evening of June 6, 1968, he and the others watched in disbelief as news reports followed Robert Kennedy's assassination after his win in the California presidential primary. Elvis sought refuge from the tragedy by sharing personal reflections on his career and his role as an American icon, making his points by strumming songs throughout the night on an acoustic guitar. It immediately became clear that the special now had its theme, one that would resonate with the public and reinstate Elvis' relevance.

Gaar describes the events that set the stage for the show, providing specific descriptions about its development, and concluding with Elvis' subsequent downhill spiral -- what she calls "a gradual slide into what some would see as ignominious caricature." She also includes numerous quotes from those closest to the King -- his henchman, fellow musicians and those involved in the creation of the program itself. And while the book basks in stunning detail, its most intriguing entries are those that provide insights into Elvis' personality. The performer Gaar describes here isn't the arrogant maniac who shot up TV screens and dispatched his entourage to do his bidding, but rather a savvy, self-deprecating and thoughtful individual who cared about his career even while mired in frustration.

"I found Elvis to be a very sweet person," an insider is quoted as saying. That's a surprising adjective for a man who's often described as brooding and aloof. Yet, it's a telling image, one that pops up repeatedly and helps to redefine Elvis in a way that's rarely been done before.

Then again, Gaar is well qualified to pen this treatise. A respected writer and critic for such notable journals as Mojo, Rolling Stone, Goldmine (which carried her column "All Things Elvis") and BLURT, she's authored books about Nirvana, Green Day and a history of women in Rock. "Return of the King" is clearly her most ambitious effort to date -- not to mention her most compelling - a book that should appeal both to diehard devotees as well as the casually curious.

We braved the sweltering (even for Tennessee) heat and the overflow (even for Bonnaroo) crowds in order to report back to you, dear readers. Here are some of our visual recollections. Bikinis optional....

By Michael G. Plumides, Jr.

(above and below) Avett Brothers

Weezer

Constellations

Melvins

Clutch

Dr. Dog

Crystal Method being interviewed by Blurt

NeedToBreathe

 Calexico

Postelles

Dave Rawlings Machine

GWAR

GWAR's Oderus Urungus w/his favorite Blurt writer

Our Hosts of Big Hassle!

 Kings of Leon

Margaret Cho

Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers

Tenacious D

Avett Brothers

That's hyphenated, not caffeinated...

By Blurt Staff

"I'm finishing my third opera w/bass brother tony maimone at studio g in brooklyn now," writes Mike Watt, in a missive to the media. The Minutemen/fIREHOSE/Stooges bassist is typically in the middle of several projects at once, but the punk opera news will definitely give longtime Watt watchers a charge.

Continues Watt, "the 'third opera' for watt (me) is called 'hyphenated-man' and it is w/tom watson and raul morales (mike watt + the missingmen) - different proj than 'my shubun no hi.'"

It was recorded in the middle of the "prac'n the 3rd opera" tour 2009 in Brooklyn, at Tony Maimone's Studio G - Maimone of course wielded bass for Pere Ubu and is cited as a personal hero to Watt.

"we're doing practice on the songs on the tour but not actually playing the piece which is like one big song w/thirty parts...I put this trio together just for this proj but it's been a little bit coming since of incredible time spent by me in the stooges classroom. by the way, my first two punk operas were 1997's 'contemplating the engine room' and then 'the secondman's middle-stand' in 2004.

"this one is different in that there's no _beginning-middle-end_ like the other two... it's more like all middle which makes some sense maybe since I'm fiftytwo and kind of weird type of middle-aged person, a punk one?!"

Meanwhile, on that "other projects" front: Floored By Four is the eponymous debut from Watt's "Manhattan project," a quartet of renowned musicians comprising Dougie Bowne on drums, guitarist Nels Cline, Yuka Honda on keys, and bass, spiel and compositions by Watt. Their debut studio album was recorded by Matt Verta-Ray at Bowne's basement studio on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Floored By Four is being released September 28 by Chimera Music.

Stay tuned for hyphenated-man  details...

Watt on the Web: Hoot Page

DVD comes with special live album containing additional material.

By Blurt Staff

Burning, Mogwai's concert film collaboration with Vincent Moon and Nathanael Le Scouarnac, will be getting screen time around the US this fall. Following its release on DVD on August 24^th (packaged with accompanying live album Special Moves), there will be full screenings of the film in multiple locations around the country. See the present itinerary, below.

About the film: "For Parisian visionaries Moon and Le Scouarnec (REM: Supernatural Superserious; Take-Away Shows), the three night residency they recorded at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg in early 2009 presents itself  as a 45-minute modern, urban noir thriller through the electrifying streets of New York. In grainy black and white, the show unfolds. The band make their way through a rain-washed Manhattan as ‘I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead' hovers like a commuter's soundtrack in the background. (This scene can be seen HERE.) A Mogwai gig is an experience of the senses, and Burning comes as close to the real thing as one could ever hope. As the opening quote to the band's debut album Young Team, a recording of a Norwegian fan reading a review of the band, suggests: ‘This music is bigger than words, wider than pictures; if the stars had a sound, they would sound like this.'"

Incidentally, the Special Moves album comes as an 11-song CD, or in a limited vinyl edition (w/download card) containing 5 bonus tracks. You can check out an MP3 teaser here. The songs are:

1. I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead 2. Friend of the Night 3. Hunted By a Freak 4. Mogwai Fear Satan 5. Cody 6. You Don't Know Jesus 7. I Know You Are But What Am I 8. I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School 9. 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong 10. Like Herod 11. Glasgow Megasnake [BONUS] 12. Yes! I Am a Long Way From Home 13. Scotland's Shame 14. New Paths to Helicon Part 1 15. Batcat 16. Thank You Space Expert 17. The Precipice

Screening Dates:
Aug 24 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Aug 24 - Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Cinematheque

Aug 25 - Seattle, WA @ JBL Theater

Aug 26 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall

Aug 28 - Long Beach, CA @ Art Theatre of Long Beach
August 28 - Cambridge, MA @ Brattle Theatre

Sept 2 - Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot

Sept 4 - San Francisco @ Roxie Theater

Sept 10- Portland, OR @ Bagdad Theater

Sept 12 - Los Angeles @ Echoplex

Sept 14 - Toronto, ON @ The Drake Underground (2 showings)

Sept 23 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater

Global-hopping collection of instrumentals was initially inspired by a dream the NYC musician had.

By Blurt Staff

Cochemea Gastelum is one of New York City's most in-demand horn players, a touring member of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and a recurring saxophonist in the original band for the Broadway musical, Fela! The Brooklyn-based multi-reedist has performed and/or recorded with a diverse group of artists, including Paul Simon, The Budos Band, The Roots, Public Enemy and Amy Winehouse. Now this key figure of New York City's underground Afro-beat and new soul community will release his solo debut album, The Electric Sound Of Johnny Arrow, on July 20 via MOWO! Inc. The ten-track effort, co-produced by Adam Dorn (aka Mocean Worker), is a collection of instrumentals that span the global rhythmic horizon from afro-centric jazz to keyed down low rider jams over which Gastelum peels back the layers of his story through his horn.

Gastelum calls upon a myriad of influences, ranging from the effects laden excursions of Eddie Harris' electric saxophone to the percussion-driven orchestrations of War to the winding horn dimensions of Mulatu Astatke. The idea for Johnny Arrow first came to Gastelum in a dream he had that related back to his Native American roots. It was upon this vision that the complete concept for the album was formed. With that as a guide, Gastelum not only paid tribute to his elders, but also embraced the very pioneering spirit with which they fearlessly forged new trails.

"The Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow is about the end of one journey and the beginning of another," Gastelum said, in a statement. "It's about staying true to the inner voice, respecting the ancestors and those who pioneered before us."

From Jon Spencer & Pussy Galore (above) to the Mummies to HeWhoCannotBeNamed, it's a gunk's gunk's gunk's gunk punk world...

By Fred Mills

Elsewhere on the BLURT site today you are no doubt reading part one of our interview with author/New Bomb Turks frontman Eric Davidson in which he talks about his new book We Never Learn (Backbeat Books). That 352-page chronicle of the so-called "gunk punk" scene circa 1988-2001 is liberally decorated with images, from band photos to gig posters to rare record sleeves, so just to do this thing up right we've decided to give you a peek at some of those images, below. Unga bunga!

New Bomb Turks (nineties)

New Bomb Turks (2005 reunion, Brooklyn)

HeWhoCannotBeNamed (Dwarves)

Gories gig poster (note other artist on the bill)

Slicks

Rip Offs shoot an LP cover

Mummies

Supercharger record ad from Estru

Penning fist-pumping anthems a la Springsteen, Hold Steady, Gaslight Anthem and Green Day, the New Jersey rockers march proudly into the arena. New album Steel Train arrives in stores June 29.

By Lee Zimmerman

In today's homogenized pop environment even the best bands with potential for mass appeal sometimes have a difficult time separating themselves from the pack. After all, it's not always easy to make music that's easily accessible while also tossing out the type of tunes that can suggest a unique niche. Steel Train have always been burdened by this disparity; an accomplished outfit, they've nevertheless failed to make their mark as a band that has something different to say. Consequently, their new self-titled release successfully shores up their strengths but fails to tackle new ground, although their versatility and approach ought to garner them kudos for trying. After all, they may retrace familiar terrain, but it doesn't mean they're innocuous. Their early EP, 1969, featuring cover songs from that crucial year by Creedence, CSN, Bowie and Bob Marley, proved they had the right instincts, at least so far as their master plan.

Not surprisingly then, their ambitious inclinations seize control, and while the influences may be less reliable, Steel Train's ability to broaden their base still serves them well. They enter the stadium rock arena by exerting some fist pumping inducement, be it the anthemic opener "Bullet," the instantly assertive "S.O.G. Burning in Hell" or the rowdy, rambunctious rallying cry of "Children of the 90's (I'm Not the Same)."  The Hold Steady, Green Day, Gaslight Anthem, even Springsteen's E Street Band, are all referenced here, given the rousing sentiments both invoked and incited. Granted, genuine conviction and dedication can't always be measured reliably, and much of the verbosity Steel Train exudes seems strictly in service to the songs. However, they do deliver convincingly, enough to qualify this latest outing as a mighty formidable contender.

New album due from Fat Possum September 14. Check out MP3, below.

By Blurt Staff

Last year Crocodiles released Summer of Hate, the San Diego outfit's debut album, on Fat Possum. The album garnered them endless blog buzz and tours across the US and Europe supporting bands like Holy Fuck and The Horrors. Straddling vast sonic terrains from the jagged guitar stabs of street-strutting lead single 'Neon Jesus', to throbbing kraut rock, expansive shoegaze and irresistibly danceable disco-punk jams, Summer Of Hate drew comparisons with The Velvets and Primal Scream.

Significantly, Summer of Hate also caught the ear of one James Ford - Simian Mobile Disco man and producer of Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons and Florence and the Machine amongst others. Together, all three headed into the desert in early 2010 to create  the follow-up. An album that would later be christened, somewhat fittingly: Sleep Forever

Check out the MP3 of the title track: "Sleep Forever"

"It was this home made studio in the middle of Joshua Tree that was just bulging with vintage equipment," remembers singer Brandon Welschez. "You'd open a cupboard and a 60s organ would fall out or there'd be a 1950s hollow-body guitar under your bed!" 

James Ford adds, "The studio in Joshua tree was a perfect place to record. It's a magical place and the studio had lots of otherworldly toys and instruments to play with! We bonded over a love of Harmonia and the Monks and got excited by the idea of combining these krauty rhythms and textures with the bands' psychedelic songs and melodies."

"More krauty, more dub" are the watch-words that Brandon and guitarist Charles Rowell use to describe Sleep Forever.  "James was really great," says Brandon of its producer. "I guess there was a small fear that because he is someone who produces hit records that he'd clean us up a lot, but he did a great job of keeping it raw."

Raw it may be, but Sleep Forever is still an unmistakably more refined beast than its predecessor. Drums and organ whirls envelope you on tracks like 'Mirrors' and 'Sleep Forever', which nod to 'Ladies and Gentlemen' era Spiritualized as much as they do Neu! and The Velvet Underground. Meanwhile, Brandon's tough Cali sneer gives it's most emotional performance to date in 'All My Hate and My Hexes Are For You'.

"The album's still gritty and punk,' says Charles, but it's also really big and loud and psychedelic. It's just a lot more organic."

Crocodiles will be touring this summer with a full five-piece live band - including drummer Alianna Kalaba, bassist Marco Gonzalez and keyboardist Robin Eisenberg. Dates at their MySpace page.

[Photo Credit: Chris Becker]

Guitarist known as "Diaperman"  played on many of the two groups' most indelible tracks.

By Fred Mills

New Jersey's Star-Ledger is reporting that diaper-wearing Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider died yesterday, June 16, from complications due to brain and lung cancer. He was 56.

Shider's early band United Soul had been produced by Funkadelic mainman George Clinton, who subsequently brought the guitarist into the P-Funk fold in 1972. He was a key contributor to both Parliament and Funkadelic albums as well as a touring member for both, and his his association with Clinton extended into the ‘90s with the P-Funk Stars.

According to the Star-Ledger, "In recent weeks, friends and fans who had learned about his illness organized a series of benefits on his behalf. One was scheduled for the Multi Media Arts Center in Bloomfield on July 10."

A medical fund had been established to help pay for Shider's bills as well.

And BLURT's resident pop historian tells you exactly why. Stan Cornyn of Warner Bros., go soak yer head. Any questions?

By Rick Allen

If there's any one real big surprise in store for anyone savvy enough to pick up on the recently released Francis Albert Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim: The Complete Recordings (Concord) it would be how familiar so many of these songs are and how many Antonio Carlos Jobim had a hand in composing. "The Girl From Ipanema", "Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars", "Meditation" and "One Note Samba" are just a handful of the sixteen out of twenty songs on the disc written or co-written by guitarist and samba king Jobim. Even if the titles - beyond "Ipanema" - aren't familiar right away, as you listen, recognition will creep up on you like a pleasant champagne buzz on a warm spring night on a beach in Rio. The music's really, really good, and Sinatra's singing is immaculate. But let's talk about the notes.

The booklet contains what reads like an eyewitness account of the two separate recording periods; January 30-February 1 1967 and February 11^th through February 13^th; a hell of a productive six days. For that and its anecdotal detail it's worth wading through the snotty, pompous and, most important, inaccurate anti pop and rock and roll jibes of its author, former Warner Bros. exec Stan Cornyn.  Cornyn mentions how by the time of these sessions Sinatra's Reprise label - a Warners subsidiary and the original label for these recordings - had shifted its focus from the "good music" of Eddie Fisher and Perry Como for the "odd" music of Tiny Tim, Captain Beefheart and the Fugs.

Conceding the "oddness" of such acts, it's still no exaggeration to say that neither Fisher nor the somnambulistic Como have maintained the enduring popularity of other Reprise "good music" artists like Sinatra, Sammy Davis or Dean Martin any more than, say, Tiny Tim or the Fugs have endured the way other "hip" Reprise acts like Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot have. More important, Cornyn's jabs at rock and roll and pop music are completely unnecessary. Nothing has to be torn down so that Jobim and especially Sinatra can be built up. For Cornyn the idea that one can appreciate both Frank Sinatra and the Kinks is completely unfathomable; too bad for him.

Caligula used to lament that "all of Rome" didn't have a "single neck" that he could slit at one time. Many feel the same way about the Andrew Lloyd Webers, Simon Cowells etc., who have ruined what Sinatra used to call "saloon singing," helping to convince the world that Michael Bublé represents the state of the art of that particular genre. The truth is that for those who get the chance to be heard in the first place, few have the chops or the balls to present a song the way Sinatra could at his best. Sinatra recorded these songs between his 51^st and 53^rd birthdays when he was a mature artist at the top of his game, his voice confident and strong, subtle and never once lapsing into the histrionics that characterizes the Weber-ites and Cowell-istas. Sinatra recognized how important melody is and had the guts and skill to stick to one rather than woo woo-ing his way all over a tune.

This collection of twenty songs from two great artists (one of whom is among  the greatest pop singers of all time) is a reminder that while snobs like Cornyn were wrong about the "what" and the "why" of "good" and "bad" music, the notion rings true. One way to explain would be to cite a few hundred comparative examples, but it'll take up less time and space to say it this way: American Idol - bad; Frank Sinatra - good.

Author Antonino D'Ambrosio's A Heartbeat And A Guitar: Johnny Cash And The Making Of Bitter Tears (Nation Books) reevaluates and re-elevates "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" as a slice of classic (Native) Americana.

By Rick Allen

It's almost hard to believe that longtime music writer Antonino D'Ambrosio was unfamiliar with "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," the song that inspired his book A Heartbeat And A Guitar: Johnny Cash And The Making Of Bitter Tears. By his own admission he came upon Johnny Cash's recording of the tune during a visit to Bowling Green University's Music Library and Sound Recording Archives. Yet the song had been recorded by folk singer Patrick Sky in the 1960s and again by Bob Dylan, plus Kinky Friedman, in the 1970s; written by Native American songwriter Peter LaFarge, the song had also been covered by Kris Kristofferson, Hazel Dickens, Tom Russell, Pete Seger and Townes Van Zandt, and it was a #3 Billboard Country Music Chart hit for Cash in 1964.

But better late than never. And once D'Ambrosio was in, he was in all the way.

D'Ambrosio provides comprehensive extensive background of the song itself, its Pima hero, his people and other Native peoples and their historical relationship with the United States. The book does a lot toward explaining how this country got into one of the ethnic messes in which it is still entangled, and touches on the reasons behind a couple more. Moreover, it fleshes out a hitherto sketchy portrait of the troubled and talented songwriter LaFarge. It's a portrait so sketchy that there are no less than three alleged causes of his 1965 death at the age of 34; those causes include accidental death by overdose of Thorazine, a drug LaFarge was supposed and ironically introduced to LaFarge by Cash; suicide, by slitting his wrists; and death by stroke.

Whether or not Cash - no stranger to pharmaceuticals - had anything to do with LaFarge's acquaintance with the drug that may have taken his life, the Man in Black is definitely the main hero of the book. Cash was a tireless crusader for the rights of the working class, farmers, prisoners, ex-cons and Native people, though somewhat strangely he was relatively silent as regards African American civil rights. D'Ambrosio says it was "hard for Cash not to be stirred by the events of the civil rights movement" but there isn't much followup. Dylan, Pete Seger and Theo Bikel were among the non-black folk artists who were more vocal and pointed in their support before the mid-1960s. Later, Cash did buck the still lopsided status quo by featuring and performing duets with Ray Charles, Charley Pride, Louis Armstrong and other black artists on his TV show.

But one man can only do so much. Even so, Cash publicly butted heads with the radio industry and his own record company when it came to the Native American themed Bitter Tears: Ballads Of The American Indian album which featured "The Ballad Of Ira Hayes," and he risked his own recording contract to make his iconic Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison album. He stood up for other artists including Dylan and Seger and LaFarge, and his support for the causes close to his heart never wavered.

While Cash has become one of the most written about popular musicians of the last few decades - growing into a sort of guitar-wrangling cross between Abraham Lincoln, Mike Fink and Johnny Appleseed - there always seems to be room for more. Attaching the stories of Hayes, LaFarge and the movements for the rights of Native Americans and other minorities to the locomotive powered by the ever growing Johnny Cash legend in this very readable book is a mitzvah on D'Ambrosio's part.

He may have gotten on the train relatively late but he seems to be aboard for the whole trip.

Roots-rockers' concert today broadcast live at NPR Music.

By Blurt Staff

Blurt faves Truth & Salvage Co. will be doing a free live concert today (June 18) at noon EST at Philly's World Café Live. It will be broadcast over WXPN-FM as well as at NPR Music - follow this link at the appointed time if you want to listen to it online.

Last fall we tipped you to the L.A. (by way of Asheville, NC) band's debut EP, citing their "intuition and built-in chemistry among the players most new groups don't enjoy. There are a lot of familiar elements in the T&SC sound. But the delivery is infectious, and the emotions ring true, and those are the qualities that can't be grafted forcibly onto any artist. As suggested, it's all about the chemistry. And these guys got plenty of that to go ‘round."

More recently, in a review of their new Chris Robinson-produced full-length Truth & Salvage Co., we praised "their starry-eyed outlook and its references to mountain vistas, endless highways and down-home designs is rarely emanated by today's breed of down trod troubadours.... [the debut is] a tonic for troubled times."

So check ‘em out. Uncle Blurt sez so.

Also adds more dates to fall tour...

By Blurt Staff

On July 13, Superchunk will release the "Digging for Something" b/w "February Punk" 7-inch, hand-numbered on multi-colored vinyl and limited to 1000 with cover art by Harrison Haynes of Les Savy Fav.  "Digging for Something" features backing vocals by John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. The b-side, "February Punk" is a non-album track from the same sessions with Scott Solter that yielded the forthcoming Majesty Shredding. "Digging for Something" premiered yesterday on Stereogum to great response, and you can link to a stream of "Digging for Something" now available in the Merge store.

The album's due Sept. 14 (more on that here), and the band has also just added more fall concert dates to those previously announced. See below for the itinerary as it now stands.

6/19  Denver, CO - Westword Music Festival
6/20  Chicago, IL - Taste of Randolph Street Festival w/The Love Language
7/24  Omaha, NE - MAHA Music Festival
9/17  Washington, DC- 930 Club
9/18  New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
9/19  Brooklyn, NY- Music Hall of Williamsburg
9/20  New York, NY - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
9/21  Boston, MA- Royale
9/22  Philadelphia, PA- Trocadero
10/13 Vancouver, BC - Venue Nightclub
10/14 Seattle, WA - The Showbox
10/15 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
10/19 Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box at Fonda

A/k/a to live and die in L.A. with your good friends at Blurt...

By Blurt Staff

Yeah, we know... apologies for the headline. Couldn't resist. But it probably got your attention, and now we'd like to direct your attention to our ace photog Scott Dudelson's latest installment in his long-running "2 Weeks In L.A. Photo Blog." He's got some serious ‘80s action going on, what with images of both Wang Chung and Naked Eyes, along with buzzband-types (Hot Hot Heat, Suckers), roots icons (Dr. John and Wayne "The Train" Hancock - and even actor Gary Oldman, stepping off the silver screen (apparently, without shaving his Dark Knight Commissioner Gordon ‘stache) to perform onstage with guitarist Jonathan Clark.

Just head over to Dudelson's blog right here. You know you wanna...

The Seattle International Film Festival's final two weeks showcased guests Edward Norton and Stephin Merritt plus films on John Lennon, Hugh Hefner, reggae and more.

By Gillian G. Gaar

The Seattle International Film Festival closed on June 13, unveiling a treasure trove of movies and special events in its final two weeks, a number of which will move on to regular screenings later in the year. (Go here to read part one of our 2010 report.)

One of the highlights was an evening honoring Edward Norton, which included a screening of his latest film, Leaves of Grass. The film has Norton playing twins, a good twin who's escaped to the East Coast, and the ne'er-do-well, who remains in Oklahoma, refining his skills as a marijuana grower. While it's fun watching Norton playing two roles, the film's dark turns make it increasingly unpleasant, as might be expected of any film when a crossbow turns up (a totally unbelievable love interest is also tossed in for good measure).

But Norton's appearance at the screening was a good deal more enjoyable. Norton was given the 2010 Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting, the award itself being an "artistic" rendering of the Space Needle designed by glass artist Dale Chihuly. Norton proved to be a charmingly modest guest, momentarily perplexing his interviewer during the Q&A session when he declined to answer questions about how his early life might have informed his acting. "What will that illuminate?" he said, going on to say he didn't believe that knowing anything about an actor's personal life enhanced the public's appreciation of their work - a rare attitude indeed in our media saturated age.

As for his wide ranging roles, Norton explained, "Every time you do something, they want to put you in a box... I'm always trying to slip out of that box." He said he wasn't bothered if one of his films had little success initially, as it frequently takes time for a movie to find its audience, Fight Club being a good example of a film that wasn't a big commercial success on first release but which now enjoys a healthy cult following. Norton was especially pleased to be in Fight Club as he felt it was a film that truly spoke to his generation, as his father had said that The Graduate spoke to his own generation. He added that his father said his own dad (Norton's grandfather) hadn't liked The Graduate; so when Norton's father said he didn't like Fight Club, "I was like, ‘Yes!'" Norton says. His sense of humor was evident throughout; following a clip of American History X, where Norton plays a racist skinhead, he cracked how odd it was to see the clips out of context: "You start sounding like the Arizona legislature!"

Stephin Merritt was another SIFF guest, both as performer and film subject. Co-directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara worked for a decade on Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields; perhaps they needed that much time to get the recalcitrant Mr. Merritt to open up. Merritt's dry, often blunt conversation rubs many the wrong way, hence the range in reviews how Merritt comes across in the film, alternately described as "fascinating" or "smug." It's perhaps not the kind of movie that will change your mind about Merritt, but it is illuminating if you know little about him or his work. Look for the film to open later this year. (www.strangepowersfilm.com)

Merritt also crafted an irreverent score for a silent screening of the 1916 version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (first performed by him in San Francisco) at Seattle's beautiful Paramount Theatre. Merritt provided keyboards and vocals; Daniel Handler (the Lemony Snicket author) on accordion and vocals, Johnny Blood, tuba and trumpet, and David Hegarty, organ. The film broadened Jules Verne's original story (mixing in elements of his The Mysterious Island for one), and featured then-state-of-the-art underwater photography. Merritt provided wry dialogue for all characters (though the megaphone amplification system wasn't loud enough on occasion), the star musical contributions being a recurring sea shanty based around the film's title, and an unexpected ditty performed while an island maid was being forced into trousers, "I Don't Want To Wear Pants," which brought forth a burst of applause from the audience (save the silent film purists, who weren't pleased with all the shenanigans).

Nowhere Boy looks at the pre-fame years of John Lennon, played with authority by Aaron Johnson. It is terrain that's been gone over pretty extensively, in the TV movies The Birth of the Beatles and The John Lennon Story as well as the feature film Backbeat. In common with Backbeat, Nowhere Boy has the aspiring rocker caught in a triangle, this time between his aunt Mimi (with whom he lived for most of his youth) and his free-spirited mother Julia. The facts are skewed to make the story highlight the emotional angst Lennon suffered due to this tug-of-war, but far from being an unknown presence in his life, as the film implies, John actually saw his mother regularly while growing up. The film is strongest when it looks at how rock ‘n' roll seduced the straight-laced British isles, with Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" sounding positively otherworldly when played on a record player in the Liverpool suburbs. The film will open in the US this fall.

Beyond Ipanema and Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae look at the histories of Brazilian music and reggae, respectively. Both follow the familiar path of vintage clips and talking heads; Rocksteady also follows the Buena Vista Social Club path by reassembling a group of reggae greats (photo, above) for a final triumphant concert.

Of the two, Ipanema proved to be more interesting, as director Guto Barra follows the intricate ways Brazilian rhythms (samba, bossa nova, Tropicalia, baile funk) have insinuated themselves into the musical mainstream generation after generation, from Caetano Veloso (above), Carmen Miranda and Astrud Gilberto to Devendra Banhart (below), David Byrne and Beck's Mutations. (www.beyondipanema.com; www.rocksteadyrootsofreggae)

Is there room for yet another film on a Warhol "personality"? Yes, if it's as well put together as Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar. Director James Rasin made a fortuitous connection in the late Candy's friend Jeremiah Newton, who held onto her diaries and other artifacts. Candy emerges as a more thoughtful person than might be expected, committed to reinventing herself as one of the beautiful people, but who still longed for a real, human connection and was often surprisingly lonely (not to mention broke) when out of the glare of the spotlight. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the antics of the Warhol factory.

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel chronicles the rise of Playboy magazine and the culture it spawned, for Playboy wasn't just a magazine, it was also a lifestyle. The doc largely steers away from the pictorial aspects of the magazine in its efforts to portray Hef as a fellow who was more concerned with the issues of the day, such as civil rights (when franchised Playboy clubs down south wouldn't admit black members, Hefner repurchased them) and freedom of speech. Hef's friends and fans are present and accounted for, but there are also interviews with feminist author Susan Brownmiller and Pat Boone, who admits to perusing Playboy's first issue (with its pictorial of Marilyn Monroe) but hastens to assure you that he still considers the mag "pornography." Most interesting are clips from The Playboy Penthouse and Playboy After Dark TV shows, which featured guests as varied as Pete Seeger, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joan Baez. It would have been better to have a bit more depth in some areas; why did Playboy resist to urge to go raunchy when faced with competition like Hustler in the ‘80s, and how is the magazine adjusting to the new realities of running a magazine in the 21^st century? But overall an interesting look at a true self-made man.

[Photo of Edward Norton by Gillian G. Gaar]

DeepChord Presents: Echospace, on the new Liumin (in stores this week via Modern Love), chart a new, challenging direction.

By Dominic Umile

In the wake of their acclaimed 2007 debut LP, producer pair Rod Modell and Steven Hitchell magnify Liumin's techno and house with pervasive ambient street noise sourced from Tokyo. The duo garnered universal approval three years ago under the Echospace guise for the 80 minutes they called The Coldest Season, an extension and proper compiling of the analog-centric, dub electronic music the pair had been issuing as twelve inch singles. Since the release of that album, Modell and Hitchell have ventured down distinctive side-roads under various pseudonyms, evidently the best possible method for strengthening and expanding their sound as Echospace.

Liumin isn't much of a neighbor to The Coldest Season. Although lengthy running time is again a prominent feature, with tracks breaching the 10-minute mark, the set here points in the opposite direction of the submerged, tape hiss-rich productions of a few years back. Instead of "Winter In Seney," there is "Summer Haze," "Firefly," and plainly, "Warm." The album captivates in its own manner, with disarming night music that sometimes rattles thunderously before it seeps into the subsequent track. Street chatter and train stop announcements are either front and center of Liumin's compositions or in segues, materializing if only just for a moment. The Echospace back catalog might be here in shades, as well as labelmate Claro Intelecto's Warehouse Sessions are, but The Coldest Season feels like it was sequenced approximately planet systems away from this ethereal cityscape, where bustling traffic and subway doors are such a significant part of the presentation (indeed, a bonus CD hosts the field recordings in full).

When the segue pieces dissolve, Modell and Hitchell have us to themselves again, where they'll soften the hulking thud of "BCN Dub" with adjacent clamor and decimated brass that sounds as if someone is playing sax in front of his apartment window, three avenues away. "Burnt Sage" is a murky ride, with layers of nearby commuter activity blended practically into a roar against soothing drones and rhythm. It's like listening to beautiful, provocative dance music on a faulty pair of sound-canceling headphones.

Them shows be sellin' out, kids...

By Blurt Staff

Arcade Fire has added a second date at New York's Madison Square Garden. The new show has been confirmed for August 5 - the first show, August 4, has sold out already. Spoon will be opening both dates, as well as shows in Philly, D.C. and Atlanta. Pre-sales for the new date will begin this Wednesday, June 23. Tickets will go on sale to the public 9 a.m. EST Saturday, June 26. Check www.arcadefire.com for further details on this and the other shows. (The band is also doing Lollapalooza in Chicago on Aug. 8.)

As previously noted in this pace, the band's third full-length studio album, The Suburbs, is out August 3rd on Merge. Written, arranged, performed and produced by the band and co-produced by Markus Dravs, The Suburbs was recorded around Montreal and New York over the past two years. A double A side, limited edition 12" was released to record stores May 27 featuring the title track and "Month of May," both of which are available for immediate download with album pre-orders placed at www.arcadefire.com. (You can also hear the tracks right here at these links kindly provided by BLURT.)

More recently, first single "Ready To Start" and the track "We Used To Wait" have also surfaced on the internet.

Tracklisting:

1. The Suburbs
2. Ready to Start
3. Modern Man
4. Rococo
5. Empty Room
6. City With No Children
7. Half Light I
8. Half Light II (No Celebration)
9. Suburban War
10. Month of May
11. Wasted Hours
12. Deep Blue
13. We Used to Wait
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16. The Suburbs (continued)

September release to be preceded by summer tour.

By Blurt Staff

Several months ago we had some interesting news about Robert Plant's next album - how he'd revived the Band Of Joy name and was working on songs with Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin and Darrell Scott. A tour is also going to kick off in July.

Now we've got some more concrete details on what's going down.

Titled simply Band of Joy the album is due September 14 from Rounder and is billed as "a timeless plunge into authentic Americana." The album was co-produced by Plant and Miller. "Buddy's integral to this album, you can hear his taste all over the instrumentation," said Plant, in  a press release. "Buddy's zone is beautiful, with a lot of reflections going back into mid-Fifties rockabilly, the singing fishermen and all the great country stuff, along with the soul and R&B from Memphis."

As well as Miller, the Band of Joy is made up of multi-instrumentalist Scott, who provides the mandolin, guitar, accordion, pedal, lap steel and banjo lines, singer Griffin who adds the main vocal foils to Plant's lead parts, plus Byron House on bass and percussion by Marco Giovino.

Band of Joy features intriguing new interpretations of songs from a wide range of sources. Opening with a throbbing rendition of Los Lobos's 'Angel Dance', the album encompasses the glittering drone-rock of Low's 'Silver Rider' and 'Monkey', the Fifties-style country-gospel harmonies which transform The Kelly Brothers' Sixties soul classic 'Falling In Love Again', the desolate banjo-driven interpretation of 'Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down', the transplanted English/Appalachian folk ballad 'Cindy I'll Marry You Some Day', and jangling blues imagery of 'Central Two-O-Nine'.

Tracklisting:

1.      Angel Dance

2.      House of Cards

3.      Central Two-O-Nine

4.      Silver Rider

5.      You Can't Buy My Love

6.      I'm Falling In Love Again

7.      The Only Sound That Matters

8.      Monkey

9.      Cindy I'll Marry You Someday

10.   Harm's Swift Way

11.   Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down

12.   Even This Shall Pass Away

The original vampire, Peter Murphy, to appear in new Twilight film; has new album and tour en route too. Revisit those video memories below.

By Blurt Staff

Erstwhile Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy makes a central cameo appearance as ‘The Cold One' in Eclipse, the most recent installment of the Twilight series, which arrives in theaters June 30. Murphy reportedly will be walking the red carpet at the London premiere in Leicester Square at the Odeon Theatre, accompanied by his daughter, Hurihan.

Murphy watchers will recall that this isn't the singer's first association with the undead: he appeared in the opening sequence of Tony Scott's 1983 vampire thriller The Hunger starring David Bowie, Catherine De Neuve and Susan Sarandon - the nightclub scene, where he's singing Bauhaus classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead."

Commenting on the upcoming cameo role, Murphy said, in a statement, "Who else could have and should have done it? It was really lovely and smart of David Slade to ask me...I was honored, actually."

Murphy also launches his "Dirty Dirt Tour" in late July, and is adding the finishing touches to his new studio album Ninth, due in the Fall. Tour dates, including an August performance at Rebellion Festival in the UK, below.

"I have had my Ninth album ready to go for a while now," Murphy said. "I've been playing it live, alongside Bauhaus classics and my own hits, long before the official release and it's added more stardust to the long shelf life of songs I have under my belt."

Murphy was spotted last year with Trent Reznor during his 2009 final Nine Inch Nails tour. Descending on a chain from the rafters upside down at New York's Terminal 5, Murphy joined NiN to perform The Downward Spiral's "Reptile," along with Murphy's "Strange Kind Of Love," Bauhaus' "Kick in the Eye," Joy Division's "Atmosphere" and Pere Ubu's "Final Solution."  (Murphy's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" has also been a recent staple of live sets.)

Tour Dates:

Thurs, July 29 - Paris, France - La Machine Du Moulin Rouge
Fri, July 30 - Aletejo, Portugal - Evora Festival Alentajo
Sun, Aug 1 - Wolverhampton, UK - The Slade Rooms Wolverhampton Civic Halls
Mon, Aug 2 - Glasgow, Lanarkshire - UK Classic Grand
Tues, Aug 3 - Dublin, Ireland UK - The Button Factory
Thurs, Aug 5 - London, UK - Electric Ballroon
Fri, Aug 6 - Sheffield, UK - Corporation
Sat, Aug 7 - Blackpool, UK - Rebellion Festival

Sun, Aug 8 - Hamilton, ON Canada - Festival of Friends

Tues, Aug 10 - Toronto, ON Canada - Lee's Palace

Overdose ruled "accidental." Most O.D.s are.

By Blurt Staff

Following up on our report last month on the death of Slipknot bassist Paul "The Pig" Gray (his body was discovered in a motel room near Des Moines, Iowa), an autopsy has been completed and the death has been ruled by Iowa authorities an accidental overdose of morphine and fentanyl (a morphine substitute). It has been reported in the media that in 2003 Gray was busted for possession of drugs and syringes but no subsequent details about his personal live have been disclosed.

According to a newsclip this morning at Billboard.com, the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office also determined that Gray suffered from heart disease but did not indicated if that was a contributing factor to his death.

Blurt faves get the Stein-Gottehrer seal of approval. Just might be even cooler than an instant record!

By Blurt Staff

The Black Angels third album is set to be the first release on the newly-resuscitated Blue Horizon label. Titled Phosphene Dream, it's set for release on September 14^th and was produced and mixed by Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Black Mountain) over a period of six months in Los Angeles.

To hear the first track from Phosphene Dream, "Bad Vibrations," click here.

While past albums Passover and Directions to See a Ghost were recorded in the band's hometown of Austin, Texas, the process by which Phosphene Dream was created pulled the band out of their comfort zone and forced them to look at songwriting and recording in a way they never had before.  Years of non-stop worldwide touring have turned The Black Angels into a tightly wound unit, and those years of work are all on showcase here.  The band plans to celebrate the release with more years of touring, starting at the end of August where the band will be playing the Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK, Rock en Seine in Paris, and the highly coveted Jim Jarmusch curated stage at ATP in NYC.  An announcement of their full fall touring plans will be coming shortly. 

The deal also serves of particular importance as it marks the first band signed to the label since industry icons Richard Gottehrer, co-founder of The Orchard, and Seymour Stein CEO of Sire Records announced its revival earlier this year at MIDEM.

Seymour Stein commented, "Great musicianship and performers, mesmerizing vocals, and songs that penetrate the subconscious.  That's the best way to describe Black Angels, our first signing to Blue Horizon records.  In every way the band is perfect choice to re-launch to this iconic label."  

Richard Gottehrer continued on, "Everyone was so receptive when we announced we were bringing Blue Horizon back.  We hope they share in our excitement for the great things we have in store in modernizing this label to serve as a source of music from emerging artists across genres."

Currently in middle of lengthy tour as well - see below for dates.

By Blurt Staff

Indie/roots songstress Lissie, who charmed hearts and ears everywhere las year with her Why You Runnin' EP, returns on August 17 with her official full-length debut for Fat Possum. It's called Catching A Tiger.

Catching A Tiger and its advance In Sleep EP have already been earning rave reviews for this young songwriter across the pond in the UK (where the album is released today), with glowing coverage in The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Mirror ("One of the year's true finds"), Time Out, The Big Issue, and the BBC.  Lissie's UK press run was capped off last month with a transcendent performance of the hymn-like "Oh Mississippi" on the legendary Later...with Jools Holland.  Catching A Tiger also follows her 10-shows-in-4-days sprint at this year's SXSW festival.

It was recorded in Nashville, TN, with Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Modest Mouse) and in Asheville, NC, with Bill Reynolds (of Band of Horses, who also produced most of Why You Runnin').  The hand-clapping, foot-stomping "Little Lovin'" (which, like the Ed Harcourt-produced "Oh Mississippi," and the haunting "Everywhere I Go," is shared with Why You Runnin') sits as the perfect bridge between the classic pop of "Bully" and the whirling, '60s girl group-reminiscent "Stranger."  The stirring, unearthly  "Look Away," meanwhile, evokes the clearly "folksy, Appalachian heart" (Bust) of last fall's EP.  Yet when the unfettered pop of standout songs "When I'm Alone" and "In Sleep" is strung together with the eclectic shuffle "Record Collector" and the blazing "Loosen The Knot," Lissie's range and versatility shine.  And then there's that remarkable, soulful voice that cuts straight to the core: powerful, achingly raw and soaked in sun, whiskey, and heartache.

"When I'm Alone" is currently taking root on both Radio 1 and Radio 2 playlists in the UK and a number of Lissie's videos have recently lit up the blogs.  Her cover of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" has garnered over half a million views and her take on Kid Cudi's "Pursuit Of Happiness," released last week, is already catching extensive attention.  Live videos of new album tracks "In Sleep" and the recently released "Bully" have also been getting major traction.

Track Listing:

Record Collector

When I'm Alone

In Sleep

Bully

Little Lovin'

Stranger

Loosen The Knot

Cuckoo

Everywhere I Go

Worried About

Look Away

Oh Mississippi

Tour Dates:

Jun. 22         Birmingham, Uk                  Glee Club*

Jun. 23         London, Uk                         Bush Hall*

Jun. 25         Pilton, Uk                           Glastonbury Festival (Park Stage)

Jun. 26         Pilton, Uk                           Glastonbury Festival

  (Queen's Head Stage)

Jun. 27         London, Uk                         Hard Rock Calling (Hyde Park)

Jul. 9           Punchestown, Irl               Oxegen (New Band Stage)

Jul. 10         Kinross, Uk                         T In The Park (Futures Stage)

Jul. 11         London, Uk                          Itunes Festival

Jul. 16         Henham Park, Uk                 Latitude Festival

Jul. 17         Tonsberg, No                      Slottsfjell Festival

Jul. 25         Cambridge, Uk                     Secret Garden Party

Jul. 28         London, Uk                          Ica London

Jul. 29         Cambridge, Uk                     Cambridge Folk Festival

Jul. 30         Lulworth, Uk                       Camp Bestival

Aug. 3          Washington, Dc                  Lilith Fair

Aug. 4          Raleigh, Nc                         Lilith Fair

Aug. 6          Charlotte, Nc                     Lilith Fair

Aug. 7          Nashville, Tn                      Lilith Fair

Aug. 13         Leicester, Uk                     Summer Sundae Weekender

  (De Montfort Hall And Gardens)

Sept. 7         Dublin, Irl                          Academy 2

Sept. 8         Belfast, Uk                          Open House Festival

                                                                (Mchughs Basement Bar)

Sept. 9         Isle Of Wight, Uk                Bestival

Oct. 8-10     Austin, Tx                            Austin City Limits Festival

* With Alan Pownall

Released this week by Sounds Familyre, The Threshingfloor marks erstwhile 16 Horsepower frontman David Eugene Edwards' sixth album as Wovenhand. It's a bone-shaking rocker leavened by spirituality, and a career capper in every sense of the term.

By Jennifer Kelly

"Oh beat the drum for him, oh holy measure, strum and buzz for Him, is our only treasure," booms David Eugene Edwards in his echo-haunted, arena-scale voice on "Oh Holy Measure." And yes, in this sixth full-length as Wovenhand (following more than a decade with 16 Horsepower), there are plenty of driving drums, an onslaught of raw and stinging open-chorded strumming, an ominous undercurrent of buzz throughout, and, perhaps most important, the palpable, overriding presence of the "Him."  One of 2010's most intense and riveting albums, The Threshingfloor (Sounds Familyre) infuses the bone-shaking transport of rock music with spiritual struggle.

Edwards' core band - Pascal Humbert on bass and Ordy Garrison on drums - is back from Ten Stones, and they continue to become larger-sounding and more sure. It's hard to even remember that Wovenhand was once a solo project. The driving rhythms that these two contribute have become integral to the band's sound.

The rhythmic drama underscores a sense of headlong search and turmoil. There is nothing complacent or settled about Edwards' faith. Indeed, the title track's central metaphor is of one earthly suffering, of life as a violent threshing that shakes out the small grain of good in us. The song, the album's best, underscores its point with a relentless, pummeling beat, and guitars that sting like whiplashes.

The title cut is the first of several Threshingfloor tracks to employ Middle Eastern sounds, this title cut bristles with multi-toned percussion and some sort of primitive wind instrument. It's a violently propulsive track, faster than the rest of the album and imbued, despite its darkness, with a kind of physical release.   "Terre Haute," near the album's close," has the same wild sense of transport, a high shepherd's flute (that's guest artist Peter Eri) careening over outsized rhythms. "Raise Her Hands" brings Edwards' affinity for Native American forms to the front, with its ritual beat and interlayered, incantatory vocals. These are heady, intoxicating cuts, short-circuiting any attempts at analysis and going directly to the primitive, spiritual parts of the brain. Even Edwards is sometimes overcome by the rush of these songs, singing in tongues or soaring, wordlessly, in choral flourishes.

The Threshingfloor, like all Wovenhand albums, is full of drama, yet it also includes intervals of respite. "His Rest," coming a little before the midway point, is the first of these, its pace slow, its tone serene, its arrangement eased by cello. Later, "Truth" has the echo-washed keyboards, the stately percussion of the Cure. Odd little "Wheatstraw," only a minute long has a Latin lilt to its drum machine and keyboard riff. Closer "Denver City" sounds lighthearted and garage-y and oddly like the Eagles of Death Metal, though minus the raunch.

These tracks allow listeners to catch their breath, providing a bit of a rest between barrages of pounding, pummeling intensity. Yet what you remember, what makes Wovenhand so compelling, is the struggle Edwards' work embodies. Some Christian songwriters attempt to capture the solace of religion, the tranquility and sureness that they expect from heaven. Edwards stays right here on the threshing floor, in the hard, sweaty midst of life, suffering now but looking towards salvation.   

[Wovenhand is currently on tour opening for Tool. A European and Middle Eastern tour follows in July. Details and dates here. Photo by Gary Isaacs.]

Feeling fucked-up inside rarely sounds so good: the firm of Berninger, Dessner, Dessner, Devendorf & Devendorf, abetted by St. Vincent and Sufjan Stevens, are propelled to a prestigious sold-out event in NYC on June 18. Greatness looms - or maybe it's already here.

By Zachary Herrmann

There's a saying in the acting business that when you are playing bored, it's not enough to just look bored. You have to really sell the emotion. You must learn to appear actively bored.

This apparent contradiction is at the heart of what The National are all about, especially as live performers. The chief emotion isn't boredom though; it's misery.  And boy, do these guys ever know how to sell that.

Armed with a string and horn section, famous friends and a whole lot of A-game, The National stormed Radio City Music Hall, only letting up for a ballad ("Runaway", "Daughters of the Soho Riots") here and there. It was the picture of a band in its moment - all the rave reviews and profile pieces for High Violet, the band's bombastic masterpiece, seem to have propelled the band to this one sold-out night at Radio City Music Hall.

If The National didn't seem cowed by the vastness of the venue, they were certainly appreciative of the adoring reception from their adoptive home. Lead singer Matt Berninger expressed thanks time and time again. Saying it is one thing, but swimming through the crowd to belt out "Abel" from, well, the top of my seat... that's really showing it.

To be sure, the crowd interaction is a thoroughly calculated move: Berninger's done it regularly on tour, and came out later in the night to scale the sides and mezzanine of the venue, trailing the world's longest mic cord. Clearly, the routine must have been blocked out to some extent, pre-show. Populist stunt or not, the theatrics work and felt genuine. For a band that splits the difference between mannered (see strings and horns) and unhinged (see Berninger, and the Dessner brothers' guitars), it's about the primal and instinctual winning out. Berninger, as s singer and songwriter, is something like one of J.G. Ballard's protagonists. He's an everyman through a glass darkly, violence seething under his monotone, occasionally bursting through to the surface. It's a constant battle going on between civility and chaos in the music - it's the balancing dynamic that makes The National such an interesting case.

Fun doesn't really seem like the appropriate adjective, but somehow, all the rage and sorrow connects. Just ask the guy near the front row who was fist-pumping during "Fake Empires".

 "We wanted to play you something from when Matt was single and tortured," Aaron Dessner quipped, as he introduced "Available", one of the band's "bitter" songs.

"It's a little dark," Berninger conceded before launching into one of the band's ragers (to be contrasted with everything else, the brooders). His admission, of course, was made all the more facetious by the following "cannibalism" song ("I was afraid/ I'd eat your brains"/ "Because I'm evil" in "Conversation 16"). Berninger's damn civilized on stage - showered and black-blazered - up until the point he breaks loose.

And it all works brilliantly for the live show.  If I could levy any serious criticism against The National, it's in the still waters of Side B of The Boxer. Sometimes, in all that depression and misery, things get a little too civilized and stagnant.

Those moments occurred here and there (however beautiful, "Runaway" gets tired live), but the electricity was palpable nearly everywhere else. You could hear it in Bryan Devendorf's thundering drums, or in the guitar riff slashing through the center of "Afraid of Everyone".

Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and Sufjan Stevens made a brief appearance to repeat their contributions to High Violet, creating a trifecta of Brooklyn rock royalty. Their presence and relative power broke the trance briefly, providing a few more laughs and smiles amidst The National's sort of overbearing presence.

Things are just looking too good for these guys to feel bad, even if the music is, more often than not, absolutely dour. It's in that spirit that "Mr. November", the story of a has-been, has now become more of a celebration. "Bloodbuzz, Ohio" and "Apartment Story" felt like Bruce Springsteen anthems, crowd singing along to the latter, repeating the refrain: "Stay inside until somebody finds us/ Do whatever the TV tells us".

It's music that feels downright American, a mix between the wide-open, wide-eyed Midwest and self-pitying, self-proscribing East Coast, delivered in Berninger's honest voice. Feeling fucked up inside rarely sounds so good.

Set list:

Mistaken for Strangers

Anyone's Ghost

Bloodbuzz, Ohio

Brainy

Secret Meeting

Slow Show

Squalor Victoria

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks (w/ Annie Clark on vocals, piano)

Afraid of Everyone (w/ Annie Clark and Sufjan Stevens on vocals)

Little Faith

Available

Conversation 16

Apartment Story

Abel

Daughters of the Soho Riots

England

Fake Empire

-- encore break --

Runaway

Lemon World

Mr. November

Terrible Love

Hear the tune, below. Tear down that wall, folks.

By Blurt Staff

Billboard.com is reporting that Mistachuck - that's Chuck D, of Public Enemy, to you, pal - has issued a new single called "Tear Down That Wall" in protest of Arizona's controversial new immigration law. It's out on his own label SlamJamz (www.slamjamz.com) and will eventually be included on his next solo album as well.

According to Billboard.com, Chuck D told them, of his motivation behind recording the tune, "Yeah, because the governor is a Hitler. Things do change from time to time but it goes right back into just proving that it wants to be something else. 'Tear Down That Wall' is something that has its own life. It's not that you're doing anything to be opportunistic. I talked about the wall not only just dividing the U.S. and Mexico but the states of California, New Mexico and Texas. But Arizona, it's like, come on. Now they're going to enforce a law that talks about basically racial profiling."

The hypnotic, gritty song, incidentally, cleverly samples Public Enemy's earlier Arizona-themed screed, "By the Time I Get To Arizona."

The story also outlines how Public Enemy is funding its next album through fan donations (it's slated for a 2011 release) as well as some details about a P.E. box set.

On-again, off-again reunion appears to be off for the moment.

By Blurt Staff

Well, is he or isn't he? Spinner.com tells us that Beach Boys frontman Mike Love has been suggesting that founding member (and musical architect) Brian Wilson will be reuniting with the band, saying, "We're gearing up for the 50th anniversary and Brian Wilson, who has been working on some unfinished Gershwin music project, will rejoin us."

However, Spinner.com is also telling us now that "such a collaboration is not in the cards," citing a statement by Love on the band's website that reads thusly:

"The Beach Boys continue to tour approximately 150 shows a year in multiple countries. At this time there are no plans for my cousin Brian to rejoin the tour. He has new solo projects on the horizon and I wish him love and success. We have had some discussions of writing and possibly recording together, but nothing has been planned. I, as I'm sure he is, am proud and honored that the Beach Boys music has endured these 50 years, but felt the need to clarify that there are no current 'reunion' tour plans."

Those wacky Beach Boys - ya never know what one of them will say. Love and Wilson have had, shall we say, an on-again, off-again relationship over the years. Stay tuned!

Remade/remodeled live album accompanied by fall tour.

By Blurt Staff

Latin alternative label Nacional Records has set a Sept. 28 release date for Genius of Live - and yeah, you guessed it: a new (sorta...)  album from the Tom Tom Club.

It will feature select tracks from classic album ‘Live At The Club House' as well as a Latin remix tribute to the group's iconic hit, "Genius Of Love."

Tom Tom Club will also embark on their first lengthy U.S. tour in 10 years this fall.  "It will be a real pleasure for us to see so much of the USA again this fall," said Tom Tom Club drummer/founder Chris Frantz (you may also remember him and his partner Tina Weymouth from the Talking Heads). "We are all very excited about this tour, to go out and make new friends and reconnect with old friends. The band consists of seven players, is smoking hot and completely live. We don't use any sequencers or backing tapes at all!"

‘Live At The Club House' was recorded with the group performing at peak energy for a collection of friends in their Connecticut home studio. It features Tom Tom Club's effervescent, energetic, and upbeat live show while proving their original fusion of hip hop, reggae, Afrobeat and funk is truly timeless. The album travels the group's catalog from "Genius Of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood" to their renowned covers of Al Green's "Take Me To The River" and Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing." It was recorded shortly after the September 11 tragedy, converting the stress and paranoia of the times into positive energy.

"We have a really exciting band and wanted to record the band for posterity while we were all together," said Franz. "Who knew if we would still be all together in the future? This was in October immediately following the harrowing events of September 11 and we wanted to do something positive and fun to counteract the sad and confused feeling people were experiencing at the time."

"Genius Of Love" has been prominently sampled since the early days of hip hop, from Grandmaster Flash to Mariah Carey and Tupac Shakur to T.I. On ‘Genius Of Live,' Latin alternative artists like Ozomatli, Nortec Collective, Money Mark and The Pinker Tones tackle the track for their own remixes.

"‘Genius Of Love' is a song that really has taken on a life of its own," added Franz. "It is not just about dancing or getting down. It's about musical salvation; that a life can be saved by funky music. When we were first introduced to Grandmaster Flash, he said, ‘You're going to hear a lot of people using this track.' Of course, we had no idea how right he would turn out to be."

Franz and Weymouth originally connected with Nacional founder/president Tomas Cookman in a conversation about Cookman's longtime management client Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. They were approached to produce the legendary Argentine band's album ‘Rey Azucar.' 

Explained Franz, "I took one look at the video for ‘Matador' and before I knew it, I was on a plane to Puerto Rico to meet the Cadillacs. I soon found out that Tomas had been a habitué of CBGB's and we shared a lot of common. My first thoughts were, ‘How will I communicate with the band if I cannot speak Spanish?' But, when I met them for the first time and saw what amazing musicians they were, I knew that we would be able to understand each other on a musical level. Producing ‘Rey Azucar' in the Bahamas was a completely satisfying and successful experience and one that we will always remember with great affection."
 

Tour Dates:

9/21 - StageOne - Fairfield, CT
9/22 - - StageOne - Fairfield, CT
9/23 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC
9/24 - Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH
9/25 - Midpoint Music Festival - Cincinnati, OH
9/26 - Exit In - Nashville, TN
9/27 - The Old Rock House - St. Louis, MO
9/28 - Metro - Chicago, IL
9/29 - Mickey Finn's Pub - Toledo, OH
9/30 - Phoenix Theatre - Toronto, ON
10/1 - Cabaret Mile End - Montreal, QC
10/2 - Higher Ground Showcase Lounge - Burlington, VT
10/3 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
10/8 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
10/9 - The Getty - Los Angeles, CA
10/10 - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA
10/12 - Casbah - San Diego, CA

Three chords, a pair of green Chucks, and the truth! Members of Best Coast, Vampire Weekend and Kid Cudi team up.

By Blurt Staff

Converse - yes, that Converse - is bringing together three musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as Three Artists. One Song. The nucleus of this initiative is a brand new, all original track featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Kid Cudi that will be released this July and available to music fans globally via free download at converse.com and authorized Converse websites around the world. In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which will be released later this summer.

"Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino is one of today's most hotly-tipped musicians," said Geoff Cottrill, Chief Marketing Officer of Converse, in a statement. "She has jumped onto everyone's radar within the past six months due to her refreshingly honest and clean musical style and having her be involved with the new collaboration was a no-brainer. She brings a west-coast flair and ease to the single and we couldn't be more excited to have her participate in the songs creation."

This film is the first installment in a series of three short films being released in anticipation of the song's release, featuring each of the musicians. It follows Cosentino of Best Coast on her first European tour as she explores Hamburg, Germany and discusses the west coast, warm weather and the beachy, sun-kissed songs of the 50's and 60's that inspired her to create music of her own. (You can view the clip right here - check out those green Chuck Taylors the gal is prominently sporting, natch....)

Roll over Beethoven and tell Howlin' Pelle the news...

By Blurt Staff

The Hives are back and have completed what they are calling "a surprise EP release for the fans" titled Tarred and Feathered." It's three choice cover songs and recorded live to tape:

*"Civilization's Dying" by the Zero Boys (legendary Indiana hardcore band; read the Blurt interview with the Zero Boys right here)

*"Early Morning Wake Up Call" by Flash and the Pan (equally legendary Aussie group that featured producers Vanda and Young)

*"Nasty Secretary" by Joy Ryder & Avis Davis

It's going to be released digitally worldwide on July 2^nd and then a 7 inch version will be released on July 9^th.  Fans can go to www.thehivesbroadcastingservice.com and sign up for the mailing list to receive a free song download from the EP. 

Meanwhile, the Hives kick off a European tour this weekend (no US dates yet) - see the itinerary below.  

Tour Dates:

Jun 25 - Hard Rock Calling Festival  - London, UK
Jun 26 - Askena Rock Festival - Vitoria-Gasteiz, ES
Jul 02 - Peace & Love Festival - Borlänge, SE
Jul 03 - Festival Eurockéennes Territoire de Musiques - Belfort, FR
Jul 04 - Heineken Open'er Festival - Gdynia, PL
Jul 08 - Hultsfredsfestivalen 2010 - Hultsfred, SE
Jul 31 - Putte i parken Festival - Karlskoga, SE
Aug 11 - Sziget Fest - Budapest, HU
Aug 13 - Rocco del Schlacko Festival - Püttlingen/Saarbrücken, DE
Aug 14 - Open Flair Festival - Eschwege, DE
Aug 15 - Taubertal Festival - Rothenburg, DE
Aug 27 - Open Air Festival - Zurich, DE

Internationally acclaimed experimental artists came together at the Big Ears Festival in 2009.

By Blurt Staff

It's titled Knoxville, logically enough, and it's a live document of the first meeting of three of the most recognized players in experimental music - Christian Fennesz (guitar and electronics), David Daniell (guitar), and Tony Buck (drums). The album is due Aug. 24 from Thrill Jockey, and it was originally recorded in February of 2009 at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The musicians were brought together and encouraged to collaborate by the festival, and used the opportunity to channel their collective energies into a darkly atmospheric piece of music that ebbs and flows with remarkable cohesion.  Minimalist drum passages scatter over the top of textured layers of guitar and subsumed melodic sequences, eventually giving way to warm beds of evolving, tactile drones.  Sonic rain showers roll into full-blown thunderstorms of effected guitar and pounding drums only to yield a field of shattered electronic and percussive debris.  For never having played together (aside from a brief soundcheck), the three retain a remarkable sense of unity while allowing plenty of room for each person to express their individual personality.  

Christian Fennesz is known for creating his own intricate musical world and for his impeccable work in crafting beautiful compositions for guitar.  Somewhere between concrete music, classical and ambient sounds, he stretches musical resources and effects to create melodies and atmospheres that fuse classical and orchestral concepts with conceptual musical research and complex digital structures, resulting in dense multilayered sheets of sound underpinned by a strong melodic sensibility.  He has recorded and performed with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Keith Rowe, David Sylvian, Sparklehorse, Mike Patton and many others.  Fennesz has also worked for nearly a decade alongside Peter Rehberg and Jim O'Rourke in the improvisational trio Fenn O'Berg.

David Daniell recently recorded his Thrill Jockey debut Sycamore with Douglas McCombs of Tortoise.  As a duo, the two create a delicate tapestry of spacious and ethereal guitar lines woven into abstract, slow-burning and multi-layered textural improvisations. The sounds blend and overlap to create richly faceted and thickly psychedelic passages, unveiling new layers of detail with each and every listen.  Over the years, Daniell has collaborated with many notable musicians, including Loren Connors, Rhys Chatham, Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Greg Davis, and Jonathan Kane, as well as releasing numerous albums under his own name and with his band San Agustin on labels such as Table of the Elements, Family Vineyard, and Antiopic.

Born in Sydney, Tony Buck is regarded as one of Australia's most creative and adventurous exports, with vast experience across the globe.  He is best known as the drummer for the award-winning piano/bass/drums trio The Necks, with fifteen albums over their 20-year history.  The Necks work in extended forms featuring lengthy pieces which slowly unravel in the most mesmerizing fashion, founded in a confluence of avant-garde, minimalist, jazz and ambient approaches.  Early in his musical life, after having graduated from the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, he became very involved in the jazz scene in Australia, often touring with visiting international artists such as Vincent Herring, Branford Marsalis and Ernie Watts.  Tony has played, toured or recorded with, among others, Otomo Yoshihide, John Zorn, Tom Cora, Haino, The Ex, Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink, and Wayne Horvitz.

Stay tuned for more details - the trio is rumored to be working up more performances in order to tour behind the release.

Legendary ‘70s/'80s punk zine collected under one cover while TV and his Hate Police jam for posterity and profit.

By Blurt Staff

The Washington Post once called him "a cross between Buddy Hackett and Johnny Rotten" - so you know we must be talking about Tesco Vee, erstwhile frontman from the infamous Meatmen. As the saying goes, "fans of scumpunk can rejoice, he hath returned once again."

Tesco and his band Tesco Vee's Hate Police kick off a series of shows with his 'Summer of The Cuddly Convict Consort' Series July 16 in Cleveland Ohio. Tesco swears this brand spankin' new line up to be the "biggest, baddest and beefiest assemblage of bangers" he has ever put together:

Featuring 'Hairy Pits" Latini on the axe (recently paroled from Rikers Island for crimes against man, nature, and an antalope), Freddie 'Green Sack' Cobretti on the basso profundo (recently paroled  from the supermax wing of San Quentin for assault and buggery, Zip Gun manufacture, and for  delivering repeated  'wood shampoos' in the cellblock'), and Swarthy 'Bun Length' Franklin (just extricated via late nite chopper commando raid  from the yard of Jackson Prison, where he spent 7 years for moonshining, bunko, and grifting grannies). Bands along for the ride at various stops on this cavorting cavalcade of cockbags, includes Negative Approach, Hellmouth, White Flag, and many others.

"This line up of hardened pricks flat out brings it on stage," said Mr. Vee, ever a master of understatement (who as you recall was turned into a bobblehead not all that long ago).

But wait, there's more: longtime TV watchers will recall the man's punk zine Touch and Go, one of the great rock mags ever to come out of the U.S. punk scene. He's now got a new book titled Touch and Go - The Complete Hardcore Punk Fanzine 1979-83. All 22 issues, and 576 pages, of the seminal fanzine in one loud fast volume, published by Bazillion Points.  Many bookstore appearances are also planned where Tesco will be signing copies. Check the book and music itinerary below.

July 16 - Cleveland
READING @ Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth) 7pm
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Now That's Class (11213 Detroit Avenue) with Hellmouth and White Flag
 
July 17 - Chicago
READING @ Quimby's (1854 W. North Ave) - 7pm
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE  @ The Abbey Pub (3420 West Grace Street) with Fester and White Flag
 
July 30 - Oak Park, MI
READING @ Bookbeat (26010 Greenfield) - 7pm
 
July 31 - East Lansing / Detroit
READING @Flat Black & Circular (541 East Grand River)-1PM
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ St Andrews Hall (431 East Congress Street) with Violent Apathy, Hellmouth, Sorcen, TVHP, Negative Approach
 
August 14 - Pekin, IL
READING and TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Bottoms Up (431 1/2 Court Street) with Chelsea Brick
 
August 26 - Pittsburgh
READING @ Eide's Entertainment (1121 Penn Avenue) - 4pm
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE  @ 31st Street Pub (3101 Penn Avenue) with Hellmouth
 
August 27 - Philadelphia
READING @ Brickbat Books (709 South 4th Street) - 7pm
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE@ The North Star Bar (Poplar & N. 27th Street) with American Speedway, Hellmouth and Common Enemy
 
August 28 - New York City
READING @ TBA
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE  @ Santos Party House w/Hellmouth, Negative Approach, Mind Eraser and tba
 
August 29 - Rehobeth Beach, DE
READING and TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Double L Bar (622 Rehoboth Ave)
 
August 30 - Richmond, VA
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Banditos Burrito Lounge (2905 Patterson Avenue)
 
October 7 - Buffalo NY
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Mohawk Place (47 E Mohawk St) w/Easy Action
 
October 8 - Providence, RI
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Club Hell (73 Richmond Street) with Easy Action
 
October 9 - New Haven, CT  
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ Cafe Nine (250 State Street) with Easy Action
 
October 22 - Lansing, MI  
TESCO VEE'S HATE POLICE @ The Loft (414 East Michigan Avenue) with Easy Action

So what were YOU doing a year ago today? Drinking the Kool-Aid? Here - we've finally perfect the antidote.

By Fred Mills

Wow - has it been a year already? Well, before you throw up your arms in surrender and give yourself over to today's 24/7 airbrushed eulogizing of Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009), how about taking a deep breath, splash some water on your face, and spend a few sober moments in reflection via a story we published on Jackson early last July.

Titled "King of Hype" and written by our contributor/blogger Mark Jenkins, the essay attempts to cut through some of the bullshit and hysteria that followed immediately in the wake of Jackson's passing. Offers Jenkins, among other observations:

"The non-trash media-from op-ed pages to Sunday morning talk shows-have to justify the amount of coverage their newspapers or networks have given Jacko. If he's just dance-pop's equivalent of a brain-damaged professional wrestler, the attention is unjustified. So MJ must have been significant. This yields such straw-grasping punditry as the claim that "we" all identified with Jackson because he blurred racial and gender identity. But he did so in a way that was creepy, not inspiring, and revealed self-loathing, not self- acceptance. Anyone who seriously identified with the latter-day Jackson should seek professional help... Selling lots of albums is consequential, but not in the way Jackson's analysts earnestly wish. So maybe it's time for the legit media to let Jacko go. He belongs not to history, but to TMZ."

Speaking personally, I enjoyed some of Jackson's songs, but couldn't call myself a fan, and I certainly never drank the Kool-Aid like a lot of my critical peers. And while I'm always sad to learn of a musician dying, I couldn't bring myself to grieve for Jackson. Today, I don't think I'll be marking anything as a result (other than writing this quick news entry) - I think I'll go listen to a James Brown album instead.

Meanwhile, you can read the entire article right here at BLURT, and don't forget to check out the original readers' comments at the end. Yes, a couple of readers accused us of being racist and mean-spirited, just like we predicted would happen. What else can we say? Just beat it...

More Jacko at Blurt:

Obituary: http://blurt-online.com/news/view/2463/

Pants Auctioned: http://blurt-online.com/news/view/3716/

Jackson and Phil Spector: http://blurt-online.com/features/view/450/

Review of This Is It: http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/1597/

Warren Cuccurullo talks about watching Jackson's nose fall off: http://blurt-online.com/features/view/637/

Recently published by Voyageur Press, Neil Young: Long May You Run - The Illustrated History, by Daniel Durcholz and Gary Graff, doubles as a classic coffee table volume and a true love letter from and for fans.

By Lee Zimmerman

There were those who complained - and rightfully so - that after years of waiting and eager anticipation, Neil Young's much trumpeted Archives Vol. 1 failed to deliver on its promise of unearthing its holy grail of all things Neil. Given its hefty cost and duplication of several volumes that had been given a sneak preview prior to its release, its wealth of riches seemed severely truncated in comparison to what had been hoped for.

Happily then, Long May You Run - The Illustrated History should provide some consolation to the "Rusties" -- as Young's faithful legions are known - and to all the other true believers as well. Priced at a mere $30, it's only a fraction of the cost of the box set and chock full of its own treasures to boot. Granted, it's a book that boasts no music (a bonus disc would have been a nice touch), but the wealth of archival photos, notes, quotes and memorabilia make it a compelling journey through the past just the same. Tracing his trajectory from his childhood in the Canadian heartland and his early attempts at forming his own bands, through his momentous breakthrough and fractured relationship with the Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and ultimately on to his longstanding stint with Crazy Horse and a prodigious if unpredictable solo career, the book manages to survey it all in its picture-packed 224 pages.

Granted, the text isn't nearly as revelatory as that ultimate Young biography, Shakey (published in 2003 by Jimmy McDonough, and done partly with Young's cooperation), and true, it occasionally glances over the more tantalizing trivia. As an example, the Springfield's legendary "lost" album, duly dubbed Stampede, is pictured but otherwise ignored. Even so, the basic narrative is informative and at times, illuminating, and a wealth of sidebars on different subjects - Young's supposed feud with Lynyrd Skynyrd, a rundown of his many studio collaborators, the recording of "Ohio" -- are equally intriguing and make for great bathroom reading as well. Not surprising, the various comments about the subject as offered from the mouths of other musicians are universally fawning, but skeptics would be reminded they befit a musician of Young's history and stature.

Still, Long May You Run is best viewed as a coffee table tome, one that provides ample rewards merely by thumbing through its pages and reading various sections at random. Indeed, authors Durchholz and Graff have done an excellent job of retelling Neil's saga and peppering it with posters, record sleeves, rare photos, a reasonable discography of his commercial releases and the kind of minutiae that can make a devoted fan gawk and gaze for hours at a time. Both men have lengthy resumes that make them well suited to the task -- Durchholz by virtue of his editorial stints at Request and Replay magazines and frequent contributions to Rolling Stone, Billboard, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post, and Graff via his work with Billboard, the New York Times Features Syndicate and the volumes he helped pen on Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen.

Nevertheless, this is a stunning accomplishment, not so much for its editorial inclinations, but rather for the fact it's a genuine fan offering, one that not only celebrates its subject, but also allows for further fascination. It can't be lauded enough.

Go ahead, you know you wanna say it... "one foot on the break, one foot on the gas... he can't write - fifty-five!!!"

By Blurt Staff

HarperCollins imprint ItBooks has announced plans to publish an autobiography by Sammy Hagar next year. The sometime solo rocker, erstwhile Van Halen frontman and current lead singer for Chickenfoot inked the deal the other day, saying in a statement, "I've been writing this book my whole life. It's time to put it between two covers."

San Francisco Chronicle pop critic Joel Selvin has been tapped as co-author because, you know, we can't just let these decadent rockers run loose.

According to the publisher:

Hagar will provide readers with incredible behind-the-scenes stories from his multi-platinum career, including his rise as a solo artist and his eleven years with Van Halen, after the controversial departure of original lead vocalist David Lee Roth. During Hagar's time with Van Halen, the band released four consecutive No. 1 albums.  From worldwide stadium concerts tours to private jets, Hagar enjoyed the trappings of fame and success with Van Halen until he was, as he puts it, "unceremoniously fired."  Hagar later thrived as a solo act, leading his band, the Cabo Wabos, before returning triumphantly to Van Halen for an historic reunion tour after which he set off on his own once again.

 Honest and compelling, Hagar's account spares no one, least of all himself. Hagar's autobiography reveals the inside story of one of rock music's most recognizable voices, from his humble beginnings in the town of Fontana, California, to his incredible business success with Cabo Wabo Tequila and the Cabo Wabo Cantinas.

It's rumored that both David Lee Roth and Gary Cherone are also in negotiations with book publishers to pen their memoirs, but nothing official has been announced yet...

Joins the growing chorus of musicians who oppose Arizona's illegal immigrant stance.

By Fred Mills

Just a few days ago we had news about Chuck D recording "Tear Down That Wall" in protest of the Arizona SB 1070 law and earlier there was news about the groundswell of support from the music community for Sound Strike, organized by Zack De La Rocha of Rage Against The Machine.

TwentyFourBit is now reporting that Bright Eyes mainman Conor Oberst has recorded a new track called "Coyote Song" that he's going to be offering to Sound Strike. He also suggested he was hoping to be involved in "a series of concerts later this year that will be a chance for people to get together and find out about the issues, be educated, and also see some of the best bands play."

Check out a clip Oberst recorded in which he talks about the tune (he characterizes it as a long song about two lovers) and his motivations behind it - he makes a point of saying that he has fans and friends in Arizona and that taking part in the boycott is not an attempt to punish them, but that sometimes action has to be taken to shake people into awareness. The clip also contains footage from an actual video he recorded in El Paso at the border for the song.

Conor Oberst for The Sound Strike from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

Latest pick of cool emerging artist in our ongoing collaboration with Sonicbids.

By Fred Mills

The BLURT staff put our heads (and ears) together and we have the latest (June 2010) pick for our Blurt/Sonicbids "Best Kept Secret": it's Phoenix-area trio The Rebel Set.

The band came together a few years ago in Scottsdale via a mutual love of classic surf music from the early ‘60s, ground-zero ‘70s punk and ‘90s lo-fi garage  - cited influences include Link Wray, Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, The Ramones, The Rezillos, The Drags, and Rocket From The Crypt, so you know these guys ain't putzin' around, pal!

In October of 2008 they released a 4-song EP, Teenage Killer,  and quickly became a Valley club mainstay, additionally notching an impressive regional rep (they were a hit at the Neon Reverb Festival in Vegas earlier this year) while prepping material for their full-length debut. The resulting Poison Arrow, which arrived in April courtesy Silver Hornet Records, is not to be missed if you are an aficionado of the above-mentioned styles and artists.

The lineup:

Joe Zimmerman-guitar, vocals
Chad Kaffer-bass guitar
Jeff Doing-drums

We'll have an interview with the band posted to the site shortly. Check out the band's MySpace and Facebook pages for song samples, tour dates and more. And congratulations to The Rebel Set. They're one of the good ‘uns, trust us.

***

Bands, go to www.sonicbids.com/blurtonline to submit and have us review your materials for feature consideration.

>Our November ‘08 Best Kept Secret: The Handcuffs, from Chicago.

>Our December Best Kept Secret: Black Swan Green, from Brooklyn

>Our January Best Kept Secret: stephaniesI­d, from Asheville

>Our March Best Kept Secret: Polly Mackey & the Pleasure Principle, from England

>Our June Best Kept Secret: Wiretree, from Austin

>Our August Best Kept Secret: Bulletproof Vests, from Memphis

>Our November Best Kept Secret: The Vivs, from Boston

>Our January Best Kept Secret: The Public Good, from D.C.

>Our February Best Kept Secret: Dirty Dancing, from Austin

>Our April Best Kept Secret: Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents

Athens band will return to the record bins on September 14. Meanwhile, click link below to get the first song.

By Fred Mills

As reported previously, Of Montreal has a new Jon Brion-produced album en route, and now the band's label, Polyvinyl, has announced a September 14 street date for it.

Titled False Priest - and sporting what's surely some of the best artwork of any album all year (see above) - it was recorded in Athens and Los Angeles and features contributions from Solange Knowles and Janelle Monae. To that end, Pitchfork reports that leader Kevin Barnes has cited a strong R&B influence for the album ("very dancey, very funky songs"), which makes sense considering the direction Barnes has steadily been headed in.

Go here to nab a free download of first single "Coquet Coquette". (It's also streaming at their MySpace page.)

You can read our August 2009 interview with Barnes right here to bring yourself back up to speed on the group's trajectory to date.

Track Listing:

1 I Feel Ya' Strutter
2 Our Riotous Defects [ft. Janelle Monáe]
3 Coquet Coquette
4 Godly Intersex
5 Enemy Gene [ft. Janelle Monáe]
6 Hydra Fancies
7 Like a Tourist
8 Sex Karma [ft. Solange Knowles]
9 Girl Named Hello
10 Famine Affair
11 Casualty of You
12 Around the Way
13 You Do Mutilate?

Tour Dates (so far):

7-25 Jackson, MI - Land of Nod Experiment
7-30 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival
7-31 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
8-02 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel

With the recently released Free Forever double-DVD, the British rock and roll Wild Bunch is offered up for reappraisal for both the older and younger generation. All hail the late, great guitarist Paul Kossoff.

By Rick Allen

Free's Paul Kossoff was a wonder of a guitarist. A demon when it came to tone and vibrato, Kossoff would have changed the way the whole book was written had he lived another decade or two beyond his 25^th birthday. With "The Voice" Paul Rodgers on vocals and a rhythm section-Andy Fraser on bass and Simon Kirke on drums- to rival Jones and Bonham, out of all the great late-'60s/early-‘70s British blues-rock acts, Free channeled the true blues spirit like no other - as evidenced on the recently-issued 2-DVD Free Forever (Eagle Rock Entertainment; www.eaglerockent.com).

But internal strife, substance abuse and a bad break or two meant that they couldn't sustain the momentum generated by their hit "All Right Now" (still a classic rock radio staple) and they became one of the great "what if" stories in rock and roll.  Perhaps Free's greatest asset after Rodgers' voice and Kossoff's guitar is the natural enthusiasm and controlled abandon with which they made music. They seemed like four guys who would have been just as happy playing in a pub for fifty people as for tens of thousands as they did at their famous Isle of Wight show, one of their highest moments some video of which is included in this set.  Except for Fraser, who could be a bit of a dandy (and in recent years came out of the closet, not that that factoid is necessarily relevant, but still...  - Fact Checking Ed.) they looked like they were four guys who got up, put on whatever was clean, and went to work. In the interview section of the DVD we find they did just that, usually performing in the same clothes they wore driving to the gig.

This set collects pretty much all of the available footage of the band so there is a little padding, including four versions of "All Right Now" and three of "Mr. Big." Several other songs come around twice but each take has something to recommend it (though the silent concert footage that takes up a good part of one disc is definitely a fans only feature). The live audio of their Isle of Wight show is less so, and might as well have been released separately as a CD, since only part of the concert was captured on film. There are two edits of that footage and the rest of the audio is played over candid snapshots, publicity photos and shots of ticket stubs and other memorabilia. It's great to listen to but for viewing, once around will probably do.

A touching encapsulation of Kossoff's downward spiral featuring childhood photos is handled the same way. To see Kossoff as a chubby, smiling but sad-eyed little kid is to recognize some of the reasons behind the drug and alcohol abuse that led to his early death. Overweight kids don't always grow out of the sense of isolation and insecurity, the scars that come with being that way. Even as a fairly normal weight adult, with his pink skin and red beard Kossoff looks like an overgrown gnome, softer and less sexually lethal than the criminally thin Fraser and Rodgers.

That said, when Kossoff plays, there's a look of anguished ecstasy on his face, his mouth forming words but his guitar doing the speaking, screaming, wailing.

It's magnificent to see and hear, and it does much to illustrate the greatness of the band. Watching Free it's hard not to feel that they made rock and roll music the way it was meant to sound, taking its blues roots and developing them along natural lines.

Among the extras are interviews with the surviving members of the band and two rather odd videos from Fraser's post-free solo career in which he comes across somewhat like a pumped-up, bare-chested hipper version of Peter Allen (...ahem... see above. - Archival Ed.) not quite what you would expect from a founding member of a band as down to earth as Free but, you know, chacun a son gout and all that.

The package might have had a better flow if it had been edited down to a single disc, but better too much than too little. (You got that right, sir. Free was one of the greats, and I saw ‘em in concert myself.  - Fanboy Ed.) With Free Forever we have a welcome retrospective of a rock and roll Wild Bunch that held out as long as they could against the slick plastic disco/haircut band/drum machine horrors that were already beginning to infect popular music. It was all right then and it's all right now.

Are you looking for a man, or looking for the patience to wade through 320 pages of stupidity? Or both? Good luck!

By A.D. Amorosi

Not being too terribly adverse to dating columns (especially on a site so smartly cranky as Nerve.com) I didn't think a humorous book with a rockist theme from "Miss Information" would be bad.

That said, if Every Rose Has Its Thorn: The Rock ‘n' Roll Field Guide to Guys (Tarcher/Penguin), written by Erin Bradley and illustrated by Heather Bradley, were a romantic interlude, it'd be one lousy lay.

Having zip to do with awesome Bret Michaels' tawdriest ballad, ERHIT, is a gals-eye-view at lovesick relationships through the lens (chapter headings) of the pop continuum. At first, it's a harmless read where you get to code the people in your life and find their rock-punk-hop correlative. If you meet an older man who loves shopping for the finer      things and hates showing up alone to tony office functions (as opposed to theater events) you've met a "Mr. Big Stuff" (think Mark McGrath - really?!) in Bradley's estimation -  as opposed to a decider, a "Father Figure" (who'd be, in Bradley's eyes, a Bruce or, yup, an Ozzy).

From that standpoint, you'll find a slew of occasionally clever, even insightful, quizzes and true life renditions of love's slipperiest slopes and how to find them.

Most of the time, though, you don't find enough to fun or fact or relatable escapades to warrant reading even the shortest paragraphs.

s he a "Boy with a Thorn in his Side" ( a cuddling mope), a "Mr. Roboto" (icy nerd) or a "Johnny B. Goode" (political on social networks)? Are you a woman who is more apt to love a sex god (I guess) Mötley Crüe manqué, or are you laid back enough to get with a Beastie Boy?

And do you have the time or patience to go through all this stupidity? That'll truly let you in on what kind of person you're dating - something for another book entirely.

Bassist's powerhouse low end helped create the original Kinks sound.

By Fred Mills

Peter Quaife, a cofounding member and original bassist of the Kinks, passed away on Wednesday, June 23, reportedly due to kidney failure. He'd been diagnosed with renal disease in 1998 and had been on dialysis treatment. The musician (above, left) was 66.

Quaife had left the Kinks in '69 after a five year run that he himself admitted had its highs and lows - plenty of them lows. However, as the BBC reports, he was still immensely proud of "his work on the band's landmark Village Green Preservation Society album. ‘Making that album was the high point of my career,' he told Jukebox magazine in 2006. ‘For me it represents the only real album made by the Kinks... in which we all contributed something.'"

After his departure from the group he attempted to continue his musical career but eventually opted to go into graphic design and in recent years had been living in Denmark. Over the years there had been many recurring rumors about a full Kinks reunion, but the only time he performed again specifically with the Davies brothers was during the encores of a Kinks concert in '81 in Canada. The Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and he also took part in the big induction ceremony jam.

Steve Earle's kid's third full-length is followup to last year's acclaimed Midnight At the Movies. Features guests Jason Isbelly, Bryn Davies and Paul Niehaus.

By Blurt Staff

Woody Guthrie once said, "Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple." On Harlem River Blues, due Sept. 14 from Bloodshot, Justin Townes Earle takes that lesson to heart, making a statement without making a wall of sound.

Compared to the much-lauded Midnight at the Movies, Harlem River Blues is more mature and increasingly nuanced, while still embracing the raw voice and clean sound of previous standout tracks like "Mama's Eyes." Featuring guest appearances from Jason Isbell, Bryn Davies and Calexico's Paul Niehaus, it's rockin' and reelin' at times, sweet and slow at others - and it's great. Like good fried chicken, a well-cut suit and a hand made guitar, there's heaven to be found in the beautifully crafted simpler things.

Sporting some of those well-cut suits, Justin Townes Earle spent 2009 pounding the proverbial pavement, touring constantly and wowing audiences worldwide. That hard working earnestness has paid off, to say the least. Justin won the Best New and Emerging Artist at the 2009 Americana Music Awards. Midnight at the Movies was named one of the best records of last year by Amazon, got four stars in Rolling Stone and found a sweet spot in the blackened hearts of fans and critics alike. GQ magazine named him one of the 25 best dressed men in the world in 2010. He also appeared on HBO's Treme with his dad, troubadour Steve Earle, on whose Grammy Award winning Townes record Justin also guests.

As versed in Mance Lipscomb as he is in M. Ward and sporting Marc Jacobs suspenders, Justin Townes Earle is a man beyond eras. With Harlem River Blues, a record that's perfect for late Indian summer nights on either the front porch or fire escape, Justin's found yet another way to be a timeless original.

Strong contender for "busiest and most prolific musician in NC," indeed.

By Blurt Staff

If you're from the Asheville, NC, area you already know the name Aaron "Woody" Wood - he literally pops up every other week in some incarnation or another, from his roots/power trio (Hollywood Red) and Led Zep covers combo (Custard Pie) to assorted solo outings and even the occasional reunion gig with the mighty Blue Rags, who were signed to Sub Pop back in the ‘90s and were hugely influential on the Tarheel music scene. (Their fans were thrilled when they decided to get back together a few years ago, and the old chemistry apparently remained, so Blue Rags spotting has become a bit of a local pastime.) And the guy has a musical background that is as diverse as it can get.

His earliest memories are of making the rounds in the bluegrass circuit with his father A.L. Wood, often sitting on stage with Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers. He's dabbled in every genre from folk to rock to blues. He's had the opportunity to share the stage with R.L. Burnside to Leon Russel. to Sara Evans to Carlos Santana as well as a slew of New Orleans finest.

He's currently embarking on a new venture, funding a solo project on his own, having recently polished off a 5-song EP at Asheville's Echo Mountain studios by tapping the grassroots potential of fan-funding via Kickstarter.com. His plans are to now make a complete full-length via Kickstarter, with the usual array of donation tiers ranging from downloads and specially created merch to having him record a special cover song just for you and having him perform at a private party for you.

(A special tier will be offered for local fans, that will get you a copy of the full album as well as an invite to a house show/pool party featuring Aaron Wood, Jason Krekel and a few more musicians THIS WEEKEND on the 4th of July. Food, drink, pool, yard games and 40 ft slip and slide will be provided. Space is limited for this tier so sign up early. Go to Kickstarter.com for details.)

The gifted guitarist and songwriter really is a regional treasure, so check him out - he's got the Blurt seal of approval. There are several spots on the web you can hear his tunes and find out more - the first link below features those five recently recorded songs, in fact.

http://www.aaronwoodmusic.com/

http://www.woodywoodmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/woodywood33

Series of photos unveiled yesterday show Buck in studio with Meloy & Co., playing guitar, mandolin and other gear.

By Fred Mills

Esteemed ‘80s college rock site (term used loosely) Slicing Up Eyeballs is reporting on the newly unveiled "photographic evidence" of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck sitting in with The Decemberists earlier this month. Apparently a new Tucker Martine-produced album from Colin Meloy & Co. is slated for a Feb. 2011 release on Capitol, and the Martine connection (he worked not long ago with R.E.M. on demos) plus Buck's NW proximity made the collaboration a no-brainer.

A series of photos (including the one above, which depicts Buck, Chris Funk and Meloy) taken by Scott McCaughey (R.E.M., Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, etc.) appeared yesterday at the R.E.M. website and were subsequently picked up by Slicking Up Eyeballs. They were taken during a recording session in a barn near Portland.

It's always a great day when we can drop the word "Beatles" into a new item!

By Blurt Staff

Beatles auteur and solo provocateur John Lennon would have been 70 on October 9, so naturally that provides some great marketing opps: eight of Lennon's classic solo albums and other standout recordings have been digitally remastered, and while this is hardly the first time the legend's back catalogue has been revisited for remastering, these are being promoted as coming from Lennnon's "original mixes."

Overseen by Yoko Ono, John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" campaign will launch on October 5 with the worldwide release of those eight remastered studio albums and several newly-compiled titles.

Double Fantasy, 1980's GRAMMY Award winner for Album of the Year, will be presented in a newly remixed 'Stripped Down' version remixed and produced by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas, co-producers of the original mix with John Lennon. The new stripped down version of the album comes in an expanded 2CD and digital edition pairing the new version with Lennon's original mix, remastered. 

The campaign's other new collections include:

• A hits compilation in two editions titled Power To The People: The Hits
• A 4CD set of themed discs titled Gimme Some Truth
• A deluxe 11CD collectors box with the remastered albums, rarities, and non-album singles, titled the John Lennon Signature Box

All of the remastered albums and collections will be available on CD and for download purchase from all major digital service providers

Lennon's widow Yoko Ono issued a statement: "In this very special year, which would have seen my husband and life partner John reach the age of 70, I hope that this remastering / reissue programme will help bring his incredible music to a whole new audience. By remastering 121 tracks spanning his solo career, I hope also that those who are already familiar with John's work will find renewed inspiration from his incredible gifts as a songwriter, musician and vocalist and from his power as a commentator on the human condition. His lyrics are as relevant today as they were when they were first written and I can think of no more apposite title for this campaign than those simple yet direct words 'Gimme Some Truth'."

The albums have been digitally remastered from Lennon's original mixes by Yoko Ono and a team of engineers led by Allan Rouse at EMI Music's Abbey Road Studios in London and by George Marino at Avatar Studios in New York.  All of the remastered titles will be packaged in digisleeves with replicated original album art and booklets with photos and new liner notes by British music journalist Paul Du Noyer. The albums to be reissued are:

• John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
• Imagine (1971)
• Some Time In New York City (1972)
• Mind Games (1973)
• Walls and Bridges (1974)
• Rock ‘n' Roll (1975)
• Double Fantasy Stripped Down (2010) / Double Fantasy (1980)
• Milk and Honey (1984)

YOKO ONO added:  "Double Fantasy Stripped Down really allows us to focus our attention on John's amazing vocals. Technology has advanced so much that, conversely, I wanted to use new techniques to really frame these amazing songs and John's voice as simply as possible. By stripping down some of the instrumentation the power of the songs shines through with an enhanced clarity. Double Fantasy Stripped Down will be complemented by the original album in the 2CD format. It was whilst working on the new version of this album that I was hit hardest emotionally, as this was the last album John released before his passing."

Power To The People: The Hits gathers 15 of Lennon's most popular songs, and will be available as a 15-track single-disc and digital package, and as an Experience Edition with additional content.  Both versions will be packaged in digisleeves with booklets including a new liner note essay by Du Noyer.

Gimme Some Truth, to be packaged in a slipcase with rare photos and a new liner notes essays by American music journalist and author, Anthony DeCurtis, presents 72 of Lennon's solo recordings on four themed CDs:

• ‘Roots' - John's rock ‘n' roll roots and influences
• ‘Working Class Hero' - John's socio-political songs
• ‘Woman' - John's love songs
• ‘Borrowed Time' - John's songs about life

The John Lennon Signature Box is a deluxe 11CD and digital collection of the eight remastered albums, a disc of rare and previously unreleased recordings, and an EP of Lennon's non-album singles. The CDs will be housed in digisleeves within a deluxe box including a collectible limited edition John Lennon art print and a hardbound book featuring rare photos, artwork, collages, poetry, and new liner notes by DeCurtis.

Told reporters last week that he's been sober for years. With that little detail out of the way, it was time to start partying THIS week, apparently. Love that barbed wire in the photo above, btw.

By Fred Mills

You gotta love those deliberately provocative, mildly misleading headlines that folks use on the internet to get your attention... at any rate, cutting to the chase: Billboard.com reports this morning that Motley Crue's Vince Neil was busted in Las Vegas late Sunday evening for DUI. He was pulled over by police while driving his Lamborghini near the Strip, then was released on Monday after posting bail. He's due in court Sept. 27.

The mug shot:

His attorney declined to issue a statement yet, and the Vegas police said they would not be releasing details of the arrest.

Billboard.com reports:

"In an interview last week with the Associated Press about a tell-all book due out in September, Neil said he hadn't used drugs in 20 years and had stopped abusing alcohol. ‘There's just a point in your life where you kind of stop, that's what happened with me,' Neil had said. ‘There's other things in life than just drugs and alcohol.'

"Neil said he admired the sobriety of top performers today. ‘Those are the guys that are doing it right,' he said. ‘It's the ones that self-destruct with the drugs and alcohol that have gone by the wayside many years ago.'"

Apparently there are other things in life than just drugs and alcohol - for example, there's "just alcohol"....

Following up on that marathon interview with New Bomb Turks frontman Eric Davidson, we now present the official review of Davidson's recent book We Never Learn.

By Rev. Keith A. Gordon

(Dateline: the Future) Gather 'round, young 'uns, 'cause Grandpa has a story to tell ya snot-nosed little miscreants! Take those earbuds outta those pincushion lobes for a minute, sit back in your officially-licensed Misfits^TM beanbag chairs, and listen to what the doddering old fool has to say....

Now, I know that you kids these days don't have any proper musical culture of your own to speak of, just that dreadful, droning muzak that Sony Universal Music downloads to your sound implants at $20 a pop...which is probably why y'all have become obsessive nostalgists genuflecting at the mention of St. Cobain's name and eagerly buying all that "collectible" grunge crapola on the Sony Universal eBay auction website. Lemme fill you drooling cretins in on a dirty lil' secret, through...there was more to rock music in the 1990s than Nirvana, Sir Edward and Pearl Jam, and those Soundgarden fellows (yeah, years before they were android superstars, they were real flesh-n-blood musicians).

Bubbling under the mainstream during the decade of the '90s was an entire shadow scene of honest-to-dog rock 'n' roll bands that had nothing at all to do with Seattle, Athens, or Austin. Bands like the New Bomb Turks, the Supersuckers, the Lazy Cowgirls, the Dwarves and others were too reckless, too raucous, too filled with the spirit of St. Iggy to appeal to the hype-jaded ears of the flannel-clad, unwashed masses. While Ruling Stooge magazine and other middlin' mainstream music rags featured St. Cobain and his evil transvestite bride on the cover, and a generation of dim-bulb record-buyers fell for the hype, some of us oldsters were groovin' to madcap tunes like "Born Toulouse-Lautrec."

Little Suzie Q, pull down that book with the orange spine from the shelf...yeah, We Never Learn by author Eric Davidson, and published by Backbeat Books. Yes, I know that only canines and old geezers like the Reverend still keep these wood-fiber antiques around anymore, but We Never Learn is an important tome, ya know! Davidson, ya see, was a rocker, and a member of one of the underground scene's best bands, the New Bomb Turks. From his rare viewpoint at the forefront of what we rockcrit types called "garage-punk," and Davidson terms the "gunk punk undergut," the book documents the musical achievements and failures of the era, roughly 1988 to 2001, in brilliant (and, often sordid) detail.

We Never Learn works 'cause Davidson was there, riding the ramshackle rollercoaster that was underground rock during the 1990s, and the words here are written in his blood, sweat, and tears, and more than a little spilt beer. Wearing his most erudite rock-writer hat, Davidson interviewed dozens of musical fellow travelers from like-minded guitar-wielding gangs, folks like Eddie Spaghetti from the Supersuckers, Mick Collins from the Gories, Blag Dahlia from the Dwarves, and too many more to tell you bloody test-tube babies about in one short sitting. He also talked to deal-makers and scene-breakers like Crypt Records' Tim Warren and Long John of the Sympathy For The Record Industry record labels, as well as show promoters and zinesters and other satellites that orbited the gunk punk planet.

While you black leather-brained perpetual teens may deem your senile ol' grandpa a relic from another age, back in the day the one true spirit of rock 'n' roll continued to thrive decades after its "sell by" date. Davidson's We Never Learn chronicles the wild-n-wooly era of a fragmented and marginally-popular music scene that was never going to challenge Nevermind for chart hegemony, much less make even more than a slight imprint on an increasingly corporate-dominated decade of music that would come to a crashing close with clowns like the Backstreet Boys and Britney topping the charts.

Still, for a short while, cold-blooded rock 'n' roll dinosaurs stomped across America, Europe, and even Asia with a disdain for the popular music of the day, and a penchant for the absurdly reckless and self-destructive sort of behavior that killed off the reptilian age in the first place (meteors my tired old ass!). It was bands like the aforementioned that breathed new life and fire into a moribund musical scene that, thanks to their efforts, managed to keep rock music inspired well into the 21st century or, at least...ahem...until President-for-Life Palin outlawed music.

Davidson does a fine job of collecting these dodgy stories from the scene's participants, and weaves them into an informative narrative that accurately sketches a portrait of the grime and grit that personified the "gunk punk undergut." That Davidson downplays his own band's experiences in favor of those stories from other bands is admirable, but it is his firsthand knowledge of the scene and its players, and his own stories that help shape the book into more than a mere personal memoir.

So, the lesson that Grandpa is trying to teach you too-young pinheads is this: instead of pining for a long gone and tired '90s music scene that was over-hyped and under-criticized, take a damn nanosecond to check out We Never Learn and bring a little white light to your cerebellums. You'll discover a lost world of great rock 'n' roll that, if you give it a chance, will have all of you strutting down the cyber-hallways of your virtual high school like streetwalkin' cheetahs with hearts fulla napalm!

Cryogenically-preserved Ed. note: We have picked up a transmission from BLURT magazine circa 2010 in which author Davidson was interviewed about his book. Go here to read part one of a two-part feature, and then go here to view a photo gallery.

With Yo La Tengo, Big Jay McNeely, Orange Peels and the Mumlers - plus, almost, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy - held in downtown San Jose on June 25.

By Jud Cost

It was pretty much a reversal of fortune for this year's Left Coast Live festival in downtown San Jose. Especially when compared to last year's dismal maiden effort that had all the joie de vivre of an alien autopsy. At least, this year's Saturday night headliner, Yo La Tengo, was not saddled with an unworkable 6:00 p.m. starting time, as was Booker T., the 2009 main event. They've closed off an even longer chunk of South 1st Street this year, but the 9:15 time for Yo La Tengo means more hustle and flow on the boulevard and a markedly more party-like vibe for the 2010 gathering. But you still can't book a hundred mostly unknown acts into every tiny joint in town with four walls and a restroom, wave a magic wand and get instant South By Southwest. And yet, progress is progress.

The Orange Peels, certainly the Bay Area's best pop band since the late-70s heyday of the Rubinoos, were slotted to play what looked like the storage room of a small Latino art gallery called MACLA. The sound here was brittle enough to shatter glass, and at the same time booming to the point that all nuance from the OPs' trademark harmonies and lush melodies was totally lost. It was quite simply the worst room acoustics I've ever heard in 40 years attending rock gigs.

Orange Peels frontman Allen Clapp heartily agreed as he mopped his brow after the set. "It felt like I was inside a garbage can out there," he sighed. It was a shame that Clapp's intelligent lyrics and the brilliant lead breaks of new guitarist (and former band drummer) John Moremen were all but inaudible, trapped in quicksand by the oatmeal-and-tapioca ambience of a room that should never have been used for live music.

With an audience of only 15 or so who wandered in (and out) before Yo La Tengo  finished its set in the street outside, it almost felt like the Orange Peels were playing to an empty room. "It's really quiet in here. It feels like the come-down lounge," said Clapp after one Peels tune that was distorted by the acoustics to the point of sounding like something by garage-psych heroes the 13th Floor Elevators.

The main stage PA, on the other hand, sounded terrific. San Jose band the Mumlers opened for Yo La Tengo in fine style at 8:00 p.m. with their South Bay take on the "freak folk" sound of  Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Vetiver. The Mumlers have an oddball lineup that combines tenor sax, trumpet and two kinds of tuba with the angular lead vocals and occasional fuzzed-out electric guitar of Will Sprott. "I was gonna do some stage-diving tonight, but it's a really long way down to the ground," mumbled Sprott amiably as he eyeballed the eight-foot drop to the asphalt below, before breaking into "99 Years Ago," a bluesy remake of old chestnut "St. James Infirmary."

"Being a band from San Jose has its good nights and its not so good nights," said Sprott afterwards as he peddled CDs from the merch table. "The real problem is there just aren't enough places to play here." He also noted that nearby downtown university San Jose State is mostly a commuter college, leaving a relatively small pool of resident students with any interest in the indie-rock night life.

Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew, lugging an armload of band t-shirts to sell before the gig, vaguely recalled playing San Jose's Cactus Club back in the '80s, the empty shell of which stares at us from right across the street. The billions of dollars spent in high-rise, luxury hotels and towering glass and concrete office buildings since the phoenix-like rise of Silicon Valley have gone unnoticed. And from this three-block vantage point, nothing's really changed in 25 years. Except the five once-thriving rock clubs have all gone belly-up.

Yo La Tengo took the stage to a warm welcome from a crowd of about 350 with usual lead guitarist/singer Ira Kaplan playing bass, Georgia Hubley on drums and McNew splattering the crowd with a lumbering, dangerous guitar sound that would seem more at home on a Melvins record. Of course, that's one of the best elements of Yo La Tengo, now 26 years old and weaned on old Velvet Underground albums. You may think you know what they're going to play, but there are always plenty of surprises, both live and on their 12 full-length albums.

I haven't seen the New Jersey trio, who cut their teeth at Maxwell's in Hoboken, since 1992 when My Bloody Valentine and Buffalo Tom opened for them at the Warfield in San Francisco. But things haven't changed too much since then. "Georgia and I are going to sing a duet. Duet, that's a technical term," laughed Kaplan as the band played something mellow off their most recent longplayer, Popular Songs.

The evening took a decidedly weird turn as I hoofed it over to Milano, a dingy nitery with zero curb appeal, tucked away over on 2nd Street. As I was thoroughly frisked for weapons at the door (none found), a car parked around the corner blared out what sounded like Vietnamese hip hop. Once inside, I instantly felt I'd been transported to a slightly more polished version of One-Eyed Jack's, the scary roadhouse from David Lynch's TV masterpiece, Twin Peaks, where high school girls were shanghaied to work as prostitutes.

Or maybe it was the reincarnation of legendary Santa Clara, Calif. honky tonk Napredak Hall without the sawdust on the floor. Located somewhere off Lawrence Station Road, Napredak was the joint high on the tour itinerary of every '50s/'60s country & western star, from Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Roy Acuff, Webb Pierce and Faron Young to George Jones, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. Whatever the vibe, oldtime hipsters, dressed to the nines, are dancing the bop tonight with their dolled-up ladies to hardcore doo wop and early '50s R&B.

After a half-hour teaser set by his backup combo, there he was right in front of me, Big Jay McNeely, walking around the dance floor hunched-up and blowing the honkingest tenor sax, ever, into a wireless mic attached to the bell of his horn. Now 83, this guy has been around so long, he was playing tenor when John Coltrane was still in the Navy. McNeely's been making records since the late '40s and frequently played live dressed up in colorful threads, blowing a horn illuminated by fluorescent paint while lying flat on his back. He's billed now as "the godfather of rock 'n' roll saxophone."

McNeely's curtailed the onstage gymnastics these days, but his buzzsaw tone, learned from records by famed tenorman Illinois Jacquet, can still hypnotize the crowd much like another famous dude in a loud suit, the Pied Piper. McNeely sits with the audience a spell while still playing his horn, then sings "I Can't Stop Loving You" in a barrelhouse baritone.

How to top what I've just seen? The only possibility is a nightcap with storied local crazyman, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, scheduled for a post-midnight set at First Street Billiards. "You're just in time," mutters the guy at the door when I inquire whether "the Ledge" and his notorious bugle and cowbell have made an appearance yet. The last time I saw the man who once cut "Paralyzed" back in the '70s, somebody tossed a full bottle of water onto my wife's head from a balcony seat.

I sidle into the pool hall just in time to hear an unknown trio of old geezers, dressed in spike-topped World War I German army helmets, singing the Who's "My Generation"... in German. Since I don't have a helmet of my own I make the snap decision to call it a night, before I wind up in the ER, myself. It's been a helluva trek through the underbelly of San Jose, a center-cut sliced from the pumping heart of Left Coast Live, a rock festival that may be going somewhere in spite of itself. 

Said to be the "classic era" lineup from the Matador salad years.

By Fred Mills

Matador Records dropped a bomb yesterday at the label's Matablog:

Matador will be celebrating the label's 21st anniversary this October and this much we can finally confirm : there will be 3 nights of shows starting Friday October 1, and concluding Sunday October 3 at the Palms Casino & Resort In Las Vegas, NV. We'll be dropping further hints about the amazing lineup in the days ahead, but a final announcement and information about how to purchase tickets will be made here at the trusty Matablog on July 5.

Fair enough. As you can see from the poster (below), it's a killer lineup, what with Pavement headlining, plus Sonic Youth, Belle & Sebastian, Spoon, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the New Pornographers, Girls, Superchunk, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Guitar Wolf, Fucked Up, Shearwater, Harlem, Cold Cave, Kurt Vile, Jeffrey Joe Jenson and more.

But what's really getting the indie world all in a dither is the Guided By Voices notation - specifically the "classic '93 to '96 lineup." That would roughly mean the Robert Pollard, guitarists Tobin Sprout and Mitch Mitchell, bassist Greg Demos and drummer Kevin Fennell incarnation and the Bee Thousand - Under the Bushes Under the Stars era, prior to the arrival of John Petkovic and Doug Gillard (it's unlikely those two would be getting back with Pollard anytime soon).

And Pollard himself posted on his website the photo at the top of the page along - just 4 of the 5, but perhaps not tellingly so - with a notation that the classic lineup would be getting back together without specifically naming names.

So - start booking those Vegas plane tickets, folks. We already know of at least one west-of-the-Missisissippi-based BLURT editor who's making his reservations right now...

[Photo Credit: Michael Lavine]

Street Songs of Love, featuring Al and his band the Sensitive Boys and produced by Tony Visconti, is out this week on Fantasy/Concord. It's the sound of triumph.

By Fred Mills

As visceral and uncompromising as his early solo outings were cerebral and widescreen, Street Songs of Love makes a strong case for Alejandro Escovedo being one of our pre-eminent rock ‘n' roll artists now operating well outside the parameters of the so-called Americana realm. That the man voted No Depression magazine's "Artist of the Decade" for the ‘90s should submit such a powerhouse set will come as no surprise to anyone who's seen him perform with his band during the past year or so (or, going all the way back, is familiar with Escovedo's exploits during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s with the Nuns and the True Believers). However, this is also a man who will turn 60 in six months and spent several years during the ‘00s recovering from a near-fatal duel with hepatitis, so it's unlikely anyone would raise an eyebrow if he'd opted for a kinder, gentler brand of strum ‘n' twang and settled into the sunset-years role of Americana godfather.

Not Al. To hear him exploding out the gate on Street Songs of Love with material that recalls classic raveups from the Stones, Mott the Hoople and the Clash is to bear witness to the eternal fountain of (mental) youth that rock ‘n' roll has always represented. Small wonder that a couple of other bonafide survivors, Bruce Springsteen and Ian Hunter, neither of whom has ever indicated a desire to fade away quietly, turn up on a pair of tracks to contribute guest vocals. Here, the cat sounds positively possessed: the anthemic, Mott-like "Anchor," which boasts a biting guitar solo (courtesy longtime axe foil David Pulkingham), randy-but-right female vocal harmonies and a string of memorable lyric metaphors ("If your love was a ship/ I'd pull your anchor and christen it" goes one particularly juicy one); punk romp "Silver Cloud," which actually sounds like a Clash outtake; swaggering manifesto "Faith," with its Keef-styled meaty riffs and, in lieu of a cameo by Mick, The Boss growling into the mic at just the right spots.

True to the album title, these are songs about affairs of the heart, the joys and aches alike. Escovedo, he's had a few, and there are moments of sheer bliss ("First time I saw you I thought I must have dreamed you up," he exults, in the raucous, pounding "Tender Heart") alongside paranoia-fueled angst ("This bed is getting crowded/ Baby, something feels wrong," from "This Bed Is Getting Crowded"). And there are also moments of such poetic beauty that you want to go grab the nearest stranger and jam your earbuds onto his head:

"She said her first love was her last

So she cries when she hears Johnny Cash

All she wants to do is fall apart with me

All I want is to fall apart with you...

We know that nothing ever lasts."

( - "Fall Apart With You")

It's also a precisely-paced album that provides a subtle yet insistent dynamic flow. Five songs in, on the heels of a brace of rockers, comes the insistent yet gentle reverie of "Down In the Bowery" (the one featuring Ian Hunter); and then a couple of songs later comes a spooky slice of New Orleans-flavored swamp rock, "Tula," one of the highlights of the set precisely because it's unexpected and so different from the rest of the record. There's also a lovely instrumental, "Fort Worth Blue," to close the record, and in its nocturnal, subtly Spanish ambiance (just Escovedo and Pulkingham on guitars, plus distant percussion) it supplies the perfect coda; worth noting is that the arrangement was inspired by the late Stephen Bruton, who frequently worked with Escovedo, and the meditational vibe is profound.

Escovedo and his band the Sensitive Boys worked out the new material over a series of regular weekly gigs in Austin, building the songs from the ground up, acoustically, then gradually fleshing them out. But credit for much of the album's thematic and sonic cohesion, no doubt, is due to producer Tony Visconti, behind the glass for a second time following the commercial and critical success of 2008's Real Animal; he and Escovedo are clearly simpatico in the studio, in tune with one another both generationally and philosophically. Also returning for an encore is Chuck Prophet, who while not playing guitar as he did last time co-wrote fully half of the album, testimony both to the vitality an outside vision can bring to a project and to Escovedo's keen instincts in sussing out a valuable collaborator. (Tellingly or not, the album's heaviest tunes - "Anchor," "Tender Heart," "Faith," "This Bed Is Getting Crowded" - bear the Escovedo-Prophet songwriting credit.)

Still, Street Songs of Love represents as pure a distillation of Alejandro Escovedo Mk. 2010 as one could imagine or hope for. That sweet taste you get in your mouth while you're listening to this record? That's the nectar of triumph, my friends.

[Photo Credit: Rosco Weber]

Announcing the latest installment in our "Play For Today" series of video game reviews. This time out we take on Green Day: Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Toy Story 3, The Sims 3: Ambitions; plus Nintendo 3DS

By Blurt Staff

Head over to BLURT blogger Aaron Burgess' "Play For Today" blog - he's just posted some action-packed (term used relatively and literally) reviews of a slew of more top-rated games. Included are his own ratings plus screenshots - like the ones below - and trailers. Game on!

Green Day: Rock Band (above); Super Mario Galaxy 2 (below)

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Toy Story 3

The Sims 3: Ambitions

Signs with Jagjaguwar for an early 2011 release.

By Blurt Staff

Jagjaguwar has just announced that Seattle's Cave Singers will have their next album on the label. The quirky NW  folksters (guitarist Derek Fudesco, singer Pete Quirk and drummer Marty Lund) plan to enter the studio this summer with Seattle producer Randall Dunn, the man behind the boards with bands like Sunn O))), Boris and The Cave Singers' friends Black Mountain. "In working with Dunn," the label tells us,  "the band hopes to give its sound some added weight and a soaring ferocity more akin to The Cave Singers' incredible live show. The recording session will manifest itself as The Cave Singers' Jagjaguwar debut early next year."

"Everything's more electrified on this record, and just louder," Fudesco recently told Seattle Weekly. "We wanted to work with someone who we felt could have a bit thicker production, and working with someone who does a lot of heavier records, [we thought] even our quieter songs would probably come off more like we play 'em live."

The band will unveil some of the new songs in August at Happy Valley, Oregon's Pickathon and then at the No Depression Festival in Redmond, WA. Between the two festivals The Cave Singers will share the stage with Dr. Dog, Bonnie Prince Billy, Lucinda Williams, The Swell Season, Alejandro Escovedo and many more. And in September, the band will go abroad to tour China for the first time.

TOUR DATES:

08/06 Happy Valley, OR- Pickathon Festival

08/07 Happy Valley, OR- Pickathon Festival

08/08 Happy Valley, OR- Pickathon Festival

08/21 Redmond, WA- Marymoor Park- No Depression Festival

On the web:

The Cave Singers Myspace

New album arrives next week. Meanwhile, what about those belt buckles?

By Blurt Staff

Finally hitting U.S. stores next week, July 6,  is the new Current 93 album Baalstorm, Sing Omega , via the Coptic Cat label - which describes it, somewhat floridly (but not necessarily innacurately), as "the most raw, powerful and hallucinatory album yet by multi-million selling Baptist Satanist Toy Boys and Toy Girls."

In addition to leader David Tibet the current formation of the group includes Eliot Bates, James Blackshaw, John Contreras, Baby Dee, Andrew Liles, Melon Liles, Alex Neilson, Bea Taylor and Isabel Taylor.

The CD comes in a full-color digi-pack with a booklet including all the lyrics and photos of the banned band; the cover art is a new Tibet painting entitled "She Is Naked as the Water, at the Door."

Track Listing:

1. I Dreamt I Was Æon

2. With Flowers in the Garden of Fires

3. December 1971

4. Baalstorm! Baalstorm!

5. Passenger Aleph in Name

6. Tanks of Flies

7. The Nudes Lift Shields for War

8. Night! Death! Storm! Omega!

9. I Dance Narcolepti

Exactamundo! Ain't no better Afro-beatmeisters on the planet.

By Blurt Staff

Brooklyn Afro-beat music collective Antibalas has been pretty busy of late, arranging and performing the musical score for the acclaimed Broadway musical FELA!, about the life and times of Fela Kuti. Now the group is planning to mark its twelfth year together with two releases in the summer of 2010, as well as a week-long tour including a West Coast run supported by The Sway Machinery and East Coast dates in Philadelphia and New York City.

The first release comes from the group's newly-formed Exactamundo imprint.  Rat Race/Se Chiflo is a 12" limited edition vinyl pressing of two of the band's hottest live songs. Produced by Victor Axelrod (Dap-Kings, Dub Side of the Moon, Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse), "Rat Race" is a fierce, driving interpretation of the Bob Marley classic, while "Sé Chiflo" (translation: "Everything's Gone Mad") is a swinging, Spanish critique of the absurdity of the recent global financial crises, featuring vocals by Marcos García (Chico Mann).

On August 17th, 2010 Antibalas will also celebrate the re-release of the 2004 critically acclaimed album Who Is This America? on Ropeadope Records. Recorded and produced by Antibalas and Bosco Mann (Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse) at Daptone Records' "House of Soul" Studios in Brooklyn, the politically-charged album features nearly 80 minutes of Afrobeat epics with many contributions from Antibalas's extended family, including members of the Dap-Kings as well as TV on the Radio front-man Tunde Adebimpe.

Tour Dates:

Wed, July 14 - San Diego, CA - Casbah*
Thu, July 15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echoplex*
Fri, July 16 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall*
Sat, July 17 - Garberville, CA - Reggae on the River
Mon, July 19 - Portland, Or - Berbati's Pan*
Tue, July 20 - Seattle, WA - Neumos*
Thu, July 22 - New York City - River to River Festival, Castle Clinton
Thu, July 29 - Philadelphia, PA - Kimmel Center, Perelman Theater
*With the Sway Machinery

Album from Secretly Canadian; book by Abrams Image; meanwhile, Bjork turns up on a track.

By Blurt Staff

Antony and the Johnsons will release their new album, "Swanlights", on October 12^th (a week later from the original date announced) in the US via Secretly Canadian.  Abrams Image will simultaneously release a special edition of "Swanlights" which will include the CD inside a 144-page hard cover book containing Antony's paintings, collages, photography and writing.

The album only version of "Swanlights" on Secretly Canadian will also include the song "Flétta", a duet with Björk. The album and book are a continuation of Antony's work exploring his connection to the natural world.

Below you can read what the label has to say about the eagerly awaited project:

While I Am a Bird Now is compelling in its vulnerability, and The Crying Light is a masterpiece of austerity, Swanlights may be Antony's most wide-rangingly emotional work to date. It is a record that is at moments heartbreakingly  tender, and at other times has a joyful gleam to its teeth. Unlike previous work, which was often quite sparsely voiced, on Swanlights the vines in the garden are overgrown and the sound palette has become more exotic; strange percussive elements, John Cale-esque string drones, heavily distorted guitars and symphonic winds and strings thread the song cycle together.

"Everything is New" opens the album with a newborn piano melody that quickly gathers in momentum and excitement. Strings and bursts of percussion carry the song forward in a feral cacophony of sound. Later on the album, the title track  "Swanlights" finds us navigating a primordial and hallucinatory world of hazy guitar tones. The enigmatic layered melody of "Swanlights" emerges from a glistening soundscape. A central image on the album, Antony explains what he means by the word "Swanlights":  "It's the reflection of light on the surface of the water at night. It's the moment when a spirit jumps out of a body and turns into a violet ghost."  On "Thank You For Your Love", Antony expresses a soul-infused sentiment of gratitude, but the song progresses into urgency, leaving behind the 4/4 rhythmic structure and breaking into an emotional gallop that reveals an underlying pathos.

The Swanlights book is a collection of thought-provoking paintings, drawings, collages, photography, and writings. Dreamlike and often bleakly environmental, Antony depicts a natural and spiritual world under siege. Much of the work aches with a forlorn romanticism. In some pieces, the artist draws together fragments of the past, the present and the future to create a ghostly sense of omniscience. One image features a portrait of the artist with his great grandmother's face projected upon his own, creating a ricochet through time and genealogy.  Found images of natural landscapes are stained with scrawls of ink, indicating invisible presence and movement. Some pieces are more conceptual; in "Cut Away The Bad", the artist removes corrupted elements in an attempt to restore balance.  In pieces like "I Want To Help" Antony sews a torn landscape back together with a magical intent.

Music and visual art intersect in these two presentations of Swanlights to create an arresting vision of the world through the artist's eyes.

Tracklisting:

1. Everything is New
2. The Great White Ocean
3. Ghost
4. I'm In Love
5. Violetta
6. Swanlights
7. The Spirit Was Gone
8. Thank You For Your Love
9. Flétta (with Björk)
10. Salt Silver Oxygen
11. Christina's Farm