And if we're lucky, some Bollocks-branded soap on a rope!

By Fred Mills

Ever get the feeling you've been scented?

That's the only reasonable reaction to the news that the Sex Pistols have an official unisex perfume scheduled to launch in the US on Sept. 14. According to Billboard.com it will be packaged "in a striking, tartan-topped bottle featuring the band's classic ‘God Save the Queen' imagery [and] is a collaboration with Paris-based perfume brand Etat Libre d'Orange, which licensed the Sex Pistols name from the band's merchandising partner Live Nation Merchandise."

The fragrance has been available since July in France, selling for approximately $51, and once it hits these shores it will be available at Henri Bendel in NYC. The Billboard report adds that plans are for a Never Mind the Bollocks-branded soap later this year and possibly another perfume for 2011.

And yes, Malcolm McLaren would be proud: the Pistols themselves are reportedly "closely involved" when it comes to making decisions about what products will be officially licensed using the Pistols name or logo.

Even the losers - you, dear readers - get lucky sometimes when another title in Eagle Rock's "Classic Albums" series appears in the bins. View the trailer, and a vintage clip, below.

By Mary Leary

The Classic Albums series is likely to be absorbing in at least two ways: (1) Musically, re: tips and demos by guitarists, drummers, and pianists; and (2) around engineering (which, these days, is done, in a way, by lots of musicians), especially if inquiring minds want to know what's increasingly falling into the "old-school" (pre-digital/programmable) category of knob-turners' tricks. I can raise my hand on both counts. With 45 minutes of footage omitted from the original television broadcast, there's plenty here to fascinate -- if not the millions for whom Tom Petty's Damn The Torpedoes is a favorite, at least those curious about the ins and outs of its creation.

There are all sorts of tidbits on display in Damn the Torpedoes - Classic Albums,  including the story behind Mike Campbell's 12-string Rickenbacker, and a great entry into any rock trivia game: What band almost ended up with Petty's "Don't Do Me Like That"? Even someone who doesn't love "Refugee" could be intrigued by the serendipitous presence of Jim Keltner (who, per engineer ShellyYakus, persistently lurked in the hall outside the studio) in helping resolve a percussion issue that was holding the track up. Those into creative processes should have their ears open for intermittent discussion of Petty's confidently intuitive songwriting. One of the more hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments comes as he relates the black hole in the lyrics of "Even the Losers" and how it came to be filled with the Zen concision of his line about an impromptu romantic moment under... yes, the stars (love those Gainesville bo's). And it would be hard to guess Mike Campbell's pathway into the genesis of "Refugee," although a classic blues guitarist had something to do with it.

Footage of the guys as exuberant early-20-somethings in Gainesville, in the van crossing the line into L.A., and on an early tour, evokes hunger for the whole saga, along with more performance footage. Neither is here as more than intermittent spice and illustration (Peter Bogdanovich's excellent Runnin' Down a Dream tells the whole story). What we do have is Petty, sometimes at his funniest, and a humble, likable group of cohorts, deconstructing "Here Comes My Girl" and the other DTT tracks. But the one who nearly steals the show is Yakus, whose craftsmanship also played a part in recordings by a roster including The Ramones, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Patti Smith, and Van Morrison. His tales of mixing-board dilemmas, breakthroughs, and jerry-rigs are so riveting, it's easy to be convinced that another, similarly-themed series could be a hit: Classic Producers and Engineers. 

Tour kicks off next week and runs through early October. Free MP3 from expanded album below.

By Blurt Staff

The Dirty Projectors' classic 2009 album Bitte Orca wasn't satisfied with nestling in the upper reaches of year-end Top Ten lists. Now it is set for expanded release on 2xCD & digital Sept. 28. The new limited edition Bitte Orca two-disc set comes with premium packaging and a bonus disc with unreleased live material and b-sides. Included on the bonus disc is an EP-length live acoustic performance recorded at New York's Other Music in June of 2009. Also included are previously vinyl only b-sides from the 'Ascending Melody' 7" and 'Stillness is the Move' 12". To top it off, the bonus disc concludes with a brand new cover of Bob Dylan's "As I Went Out One Morning".

Download "Temecula Sunnrise (Live at Other Music)" here: http://bit.ly/dmUyLn

In support of the expanded Bitte Orca, the band, consisting of David Longstreth (lead vocals, guitar), Amber Coffman (vocals, guitar), Angel Deradoorian (vocals, keyboard, guitar, bass), Brian Mcomber (drums), Nat Baldwin (bass) and Haley Dekle (vocals), hit the road for an extensive tour of North America starting in Washington, DC on Sept. 7^th. Full dates below.

Tracklisting:

DISC ONE

1. Cannibal Resource

2. Temecula Sunrise

3. The Bride

4. Stillness Is The Move

5. Two Doves

6. Useful Chamber

7. No Intention

8. Remade Horizon

9. Fluorescent Half Dome

DISC TWO

1. Fluorescent Half Dome (Live at Other Music)

2. Temecula Sunrise (Live at Other Music)

3. Two Doves (Live at Other Music)

4. Cannibal Resource (Live at Other Music)

5. No Intention (Live at Other Music)

6. Ascending Melody

7. Emblem of The World

8. Wave The Bloody Shirt

9. Bitte Bitte Orca

10. Stillness Is The Move (Lucky Dragons Remix)

11. As I Went Out One Morning

TOUR DATES

09-07 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *

09-08 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero *

09-11 New York, NY - Terminal 5 *

09-13 Boston, MA - Wilbur  *

09-14 Montreal, Quebec - Le National **

09-15 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House **

09-17 Chicago, IL - Metro **

09-18 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre **

09-19 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue **

09-23 Pomona, CA - Glass House ^

09-24 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern ^

09-25 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore ^

09-28 Portland, OR - Aladdin ^

09-29 Portland, OR - Aladdin ^

09-30 Seattle, WA - Showbox ^

10-05 Durham, NC - Page Auditorium

10-20 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden w/ Phoenix, Wavves

* w/ Owen Pallett

** w/ Happy Birthday

^ w/ Dominique Young Unique

[Photo Credit: Sara Cass]

Best Coast, Thee Oh Sees, The Ponys, Times New Viking, Digital Leather, The Raveonettes, King Khan & The Shrines, The Gories, The Clean, Oblivians...

By Fred Mills

Well, even though it's a shamelessly corporate event, of sorts, seeing that Toyota is behind the deal, once you get a gander at the lineup of bands you won't be worrying whether you drive a vehicle in the manufacturer's Scion line or have to get to the show on a skateboard.

Scion A/V has announced another entry in their ongoing Garage Fest series. The free festival will be taking place on October 2nd at a variety of venues in downtown Lawrence, KS. The line up features performances by The Oblivians, Best Coast, Thee Oh Sees, The Ponys, Times New Viking, Digital Leather, The Raveonettes, King Khan & The Shrines, The Gories, The Clean and more.

Check the poster above, then start saving those pennies for gasoline and air fare. You'll have to go to the festival's official website and rsvp in order to guarantee your admission, so get crackin'. Limit one rsvp per person...

To see some videos from the 2009 Scion Garage Fest 2009: http://vimeo.com/album/162806

See update, below, following initial news post. Magazine suspends publication but will continue on as digital media.

By Fred Mills

It was just a rumor being circulated via private emails last night and this morning: that venerable music/pop culture magazine Paste was no more. BLURT received such a message that read simply, "Paste has folded." Then by lunchtime a number of blogs were posting the speculative news. The ever-reliable Gawker.com posted, "A tipster tells us ‘They announced it internally yesterday in an afternoon meeting, giving employees approx... 2 hours notice.'" Several other media outlets posted similar accounts, usually referencing from Gawker.

By mid afternoon the news was being heavily trafficked via Twitter - you can view the series of tweets here. Meanwhile, as noted at the original Gawker post, various Paste staff members took to their own personal Twitter feeds to let their followers know the news (and that they were in the market for jobs now, incidentally).

Well, tipsters being tipsters, sometimes the rush to break news can be fraught. We have been told that an official press release is being readied and should be circulated later this afternoon, so please keep your eyes peeled for that. We'll have full details shortly.

UPDATE:

Since the above news was posted to our site at 4:00 pm today, Paste has published an official statement at the Paste.com website. Under the headline "Paste Magazine Suspends Print Publication," editor-in-chief and co-founder Josh Jackson wrote, in part:

"Today Paste Media Group announces, with deepest sadness, the suspension of the Paste magazine print product.

"Struggles with mounting debt were made public last year when our readers responded with generosity to save the magazine. But the prolonged downturn of the ad market has forced a hiatus. All subscribers have access to the digital version of their magazines through the June/July issue on PasteMagazine.com. Paste, while considering strategic alternatives, is focusing on its digital assets, including PasteMagazine.com."

So as we indicated earlier, the rumors circulated by Gawker and other media outlets were, indeed, somewhat premature - if not entirely incorrect. Paste is not entirely dead. For the time being, Paste will be focusing on its digital business (website et al), with the June/July issue, #63, of the print magazine being the final one. One assumes that the daily operations of the website will remain unchanged while the owners look for fresh investors or seek to divest themselves of the business, so with any luck, fans of the long-running publication will still be able to get their Paste fix one way or another, even if it turns out to be in digital-only form.

We've said it in the past and we'll say it again: it's always a tragedy when a fellow print magazine goes out of business. We here at BLURT are intimately familiar with the struggles that go into staying afloat as a hard-copy publication, having just put the finishing touches on our fourth print edition, due on newsstands in a couple of weeks. The idea, you see, is to have MORE voices in the mix, not fewer, and we wish the folks at Paste all the best with their future efforts.

As the comedian preps for his upcoming U.S. tour - he's in Dublin tonight - we take stock of his hot new live album, Hot February Night.

By Jonah Flicker

The crowds that bring out the best in Neil Hamburger are the most antagonistic ones. Undoubtedly the central basis of his shtick, Hamburger thrives on heckling, insults and threats of violence. Such reactions are inevitable when he's opening for a comedy band like Tenacious D, hurling borderline offensive and deceptively simplistic jokes at large theaters packed with many who have most likely never heard of him before. Such is the case on his hilarious new live comedy album, Hot February Night, issued by Drag City.

Hamburger takes the stage hacking and coughing up phlegm that seems to be unearthed from the depths of his lower intestine, pausing now and then to hurl out a sardonic one-liner, often dealing with Paris Hilton, James Brown, or, strangely, Gerald Ford. In between, he emits a high-pitched moan, especially when the audience is either silent or hateful - which is the case more often than not. But that's why this is hilarious. Of course, you kind of have to be in on the joke to get it. It's not clear whether one who has never heard of Hamburger and is not familiar with his persona would find it as funny.

Chants of "You suck" from the crowd? Hamburger points out that he's actually sucking the money right out of the audience's wallets, and that they have fecal breath. Sounds silly, but his delivery kills it. "What is the difference between Britney Spears' vagina and the decaying corpse of Gerald Ford? In the interest of public decency, the corpse is not being openly displayed." [crowd groaning, Hamburger moaning, "Well, thaaaat's my life."] He taunts the crowd, acting like he's about to introduce the main act, but instead bringing out Tenacious D's... crew! Or Tenacious D's.... curtain!

Again, it's all in the delivery. This sad sack schlump of a comedian knows exactly what he's doing and he's pressing all the right buttons. For Hamburger's gimmicks, this is actually some seriously smart comedy.

[Photo Credit: Simone Turkington]

Last night (Sept. 1) at the Grammy Museum in L.A., the acclaimed up-and-coming singer-songwriter talked and twanged about his career to date.

By Jose Martinez

Celebrating the release of Junky Star, the third full length disc on Lost Highway for Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Ryan Bingham, the affable musician delighted a audience of 200 fans, including actor Bill Pullman, at the Grammy Museum with a discussion about his career and life after "The Weary Kind" before playing an energetic six-song set.

Best known for penning and singing "The Weary Kind," the hauntingly beautiful theme song for the acclaimed film Crazy Heart, Bingham admits there were quite a few "people tugging at [his] sleeve" after winning both the Golden Globe and Academy Award, forcing him to deal with "months of smoke and mirrors" but his latest effort, Junky Star, recorded in only three days with producer T Bone Burnett, continues to showcase the stellar abilities of an honest artist.

"When there are a lot of people around saying, ‘look, you have to capitalize on this and do something really commercial,' you might think about it for a second, but at the end of the day, there's not a chance in hell I could do that," the now LA-based singer points out. "It made me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. I couldn't get up in front of people and play a bunch of stuff that didn't mean anything to me."

Originally from New Mexico and raised all across the Southwest, the former professional bull rider, who admits to being involved with junior rodeos like kids playing little league baseball, joked he keeps his Oscar in his bathroom, noting, "It's the only room with a shelf."

With his gritty, whiskey-soaked vocals, Bingham recounts dark tales on Junky Star. Talking about life on the wrong side of the tracks, familiar territory for the former homeless singer, Bingham sings powerful and gripping songs with a voice reminiscent of Mellencamp and Waits.

With his band, The Dead Horses, at his side, the tight four-piece tore through half a dozen news songs from Junky Star: "The Poet," "Strange Feelin' In The Air," "Junky Star," "Depression," "Hallelujah" and "Direction of the Wind."

Bingham's Junky Star is available now, just in time as the band hits the road opening for country legend Willie Nelson before mounting a headlining tour including a December 5 stop at Santa Monica's Bergamot Station benefiting Stand Up For Kids.

Supporting latest record Pharmacy Of Love.

By Fred Mills

Okay, music fans, we don't post too many tour itineraries here at Blurt (could spend all day doing nothing but post tour dates, in fact, and then we'd get nothing else done...), but this one is pretty special: Dutch band Bettie Serveert, who recently released a new album called Pharmacy Of Love on Second Motion. The tour kicks off on Sept. 23 in Boston and heads across the country then back again to wrap on Oct. 31 in Arlington. Full itinerary, below.

Here's what we originally had to say about the record:

"On album number nine, this Dutch indie band returns to its roots, eschewing the tortured adult-rock of 2000's Private Suit and the wonderful pop/dance fusion of 2002's Log 22.  As such, if you're a fan of their more sophisticated side, you lose out this time but for anyone who cherishes their simple rock rush, that's a lot to savor here. Singer Carol Van Dyk still commands a suave-but-take-no-bullshit voice in the mode of Chrissie Hynde, and her co-writing partner Peter Visser juices things up nicely with stomping guitar riffs, especially buoying on soaring songs like "Semaphore" and the title track.  Things don't let up into ballad territory until the fourth song ("Mossie") and even that turns into crunching rock soon.  Only the overly long droning intro to the "Calling" breaks the mood of an otherwise solid album. Still, you have to wonder when Van Dyk and Visser will pursue their adventurous spirit again in their music. When they do, they'll surely give Rilo Kiley a run for their money."

Tour Dates:

Sep 23: T.T. the Bear's - Cambridge, MA
Sep 24: Maxwell's - Hoboken, NJ
Sep 25: Southpaw - Brooklyn, NY
Sep 26: Daniel Street - Milford, CT
Sep 28: The Drake Hotel - Toronto, ON
Sep 29: Grog Shop - Cleveland Heights, OH
Sep 30: Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI
Oct 01: The Abbey - Chicago, IL
Oct 02: First Avenue & 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN
Oct 04: Larimer Lounge - Denver, CO
Oct 06: Empyrean Coffee - Spokane, WA
Oct 07: Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
Oct 08: Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC
Oct 10: Dante's - Portland, OR
Oct 12: Cafe Du Nord - San Francisco, CA
Oct 13: Spaceland - Los Angeles, CA
Oct 16: Plush - Tucson, AZ
Oct 17: Launchpad - Albuquerque, NM
Oct 19: The Prophet Bar - Dallas, TX
Oct 20: Stubb's - Austin, TX
Oct 22: Blueberry Hill - St. Louis, MO
Oct 23: Exit / In - Nashville, TN
Oct 24: Earl - Atlanta, GA
Oct 25: Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC
Oct 27: Brillobox - Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 28: North Star Bar - Philadelphia, PA
Oct 29: Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Oct 30: The Record Collector Store - Bordentown, NJ
Oct 31: Iota Club & Café - Arlington, VA

Amateur crowd-shot footage combined with the band's own audio masters.

By Fred Mills

It's called Live in Praha, and Radiohead has given the filmmakers its blessing: according to Pitchfork, an August 23, 2009, Radiohead concert held at VýstavištÄ� Holešovice Exhibition Hall in Prague was filmed via a barrage of flip phones (apparently a slew of fans shot from the crowd and then the combined footage was edited together), and then the band donated its audio masters from the same show for synching with the footage. (Thanks to Pitchfork.)

The 25-song show is now available for download and streaming, in varying degrees of quality at a couple of different spots on the web, including Radiohead Prague and YouTube. View the trailer, below.

Meanwhile, how about another gulp of that tasty Moog Filtered Ale?

By Fred Mills

Continuing to track the upcoming MoogFest that takes place on Halloween weekend in Asheville, NC: just added to the bill are Cee-Lo, Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian, Mutemath and Omar Souleyman, bring the total number of performers to 37. They'll be taking the stages of the Orange Peel club, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and the Civic Center. See the full lineup, below. There will also be workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more taking place in Asheville that weekend - full details tba at the event's official website, Moogfest.net.

Friday, October 29

DEVO

MGMT

Big Boi

Girl Talk

Panda Bear

RJD2

Mutemath

Dan Deacon

Van Dyke Parks

Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich & Fussible

Saturn Never Sleeps (Featuring King Britt & Rucyl)

The Octopus Project

Kuroma

Clare & The Reasons

Saturday, October 30

Massive Attack

Thievery Corporation

Jonsi

Disco Biscuits

Caribou

Four Tet

Matmos

Dâm-Funk

School of Seven Bells

Jon Hopkins

Emeralds

Mountain Man

Ikonika

Sunday, October 31

Cee-Lo

Pretty Lights

Hot Chip

Sleigh Bells

El-P

Neon Indian

Omar Souleyman

Mimosa

Two Fresh

DJ Spooky

Life's a bitch: Sony Legacy returns to the Bitches Brew well once more with a Legacy Edition and a massive Collector's Edition. Assorted bonus goodies abound. Should you open up your wallet again? Our resident Miles freak ponders all that, and more. Check out the video below as well.

By Hal Bienstock

Like Elvis Costello's first three albums and just about anything by Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew seems to get reissued every five years or so. There are two reasons for that. The first is obvious - money. The second is that, like Elvis' and Jimi's albums, it ranks among the greatest and most inspired of the rock era, more than deserving of renewed attention every half decade.

Let's begin with the obvious. If you're a fan of jazz, rock, R&B or hip-hop and don't have Bitches Brew, you need it, and this reissue is as good a reason as any to buy it. That said, most serious music fans probably have a copy somewhere in their collection by now, and hardcore fans likely already shelled out $50 a few years ago for the 4-CD Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, which covers all the groundbreaking music recorded by Miles and this group of musicians between August 1969 and February 1970 as they reinvented jazz by melding it with funk and rock.

This latest reissue comes in the form of a two CD set containing the original album and six bonus tracks, as well as a DVD of a previously unreleased performance from Copenhagen in November of 1969. (A larger 40^th Anniversary Collector's Edition, due out September 14, also contains a 48-page book, audiophile vinyl and a live CD from August 1970). The bonus tracks include alternate versions of "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" and "John McLaughlin", both of which have been previously released, as well as single edits of several other tracks. In other words, interesting stuff, but nothing essential.

So, the selling point is really the DVD. Musically, it's fantastic, taking place about three months after Bitches Brew was recorded, when the band was at the peak of its powers. It's a great listen, but unfortunately, it's not much to speak of visually. Production values are non-existent, so once you've seen it, it's not something you're likely to watch repeatedly, unless of course, you're a musician hoping to learn something.

Miles fanatics will probably have no choice but to bite their lips and buy the collector's edition. But if you're happy with an earlier reissue, you may want to hold off until the next upgrade.

Afro-beat/surf/rock/dub/trance fusioneers drop second studio album next week.

By Fred Mills

As announced in this space a few weeks ago, BLURT faves Toubab Krewe have their new album TK2 due out on Nat Geo Music on September 7. We've got an interview with the band in the new print issue of BLURT (due on newsstands in a couple of weeks) and additional plans for the near future - you can read an excerpt from the interview here.

The Asheville-based band will have a special album release performance next week, Sept. 10, at New York's Brooklyn Bowl.

Meanwhile, check out a stream of "Holy Grail" from the album, as well as the video teaser, below.

MP3: "Holy Grail"

[Photo Credit: C. Taylor Crothers]

String of northeast dates to mark recently released anthology.

By Blurt Staff

Pioneering post-punk guitarist, songwriter, and producer Kevin Dunn, whose provocatively idiosyncratic musical contributions are being rediscovered by a new generation via the release of the anthology No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985 (Casa Nueva), will embark on a rare northeast tour this September. The tour combines full-length concert performances with mini-concerts at selected independent record shops, and represent his first northeastern performances in over three decades.

In the BLURT review of the album, our writer called it  "...an essential introduction to the artistry of this unheralded hero of American post-punk, whose combination of hyper-literate lyricism, angular, envelope-pushing guitar playing (think Glenn Phillips of the Hampton Grease Band meets Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe) and a voice that brings to mind a Dixie Tom Verlaine is long overdue for rediscovery."

A pivotal figure in the Atlanta/Athens new wave renaissance of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Dunn co-founded the legendary Fans (among the very first art-rock/new wave bands in the southeast) and co-produced seismic early releases by the B-52's (their seminal "Rock Lobster" 45) and Pylon (their "Cool" 45 and the Gyrate album, recently reissued by DFA). Between 1979 and 1985, he released a series of ingenious, widely acclaimed art-pop solo projects, welding brainy, inquisitive lyrics to off-kilter, insidiously catchy melodies, with his undulating, thickly processed guitar acting as the bonding agent.

The twenty-one tracks of No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985 include Dunn's solo debut LP The Judgement of Paris in its entirety, fully restored from the original multi-track master tapes, augmented with selections from prior and subsequent LPs, EPs, a singles - including a rare Fans a-side. Positive initial media reaction (see below) has inspired Dunn to take to the road for the first time since the Fans played at such punk landmarks as New York City's CBGB and Boston's the Rat.

Tour Dates:

Wednesday, September 15        Crooked Beat                           Washington, DC
Friday, September 17                The Lily Pad                            Cambridge, MA
Saturday, September 18            Mystery Train Records            Amherst, MA
Monday, September 20            Permanent Records                   Brooklyn, NY
Tuesday, September 21            Joe's Pub                                   New York, NY

[Photo Credit: Priscilla G. Smith]

Tune in Monday...

By Blurt Staff

Röyksopp's new instrumental album Senior, will become the first pre-release album exclusively through MP3 blog aggregator Hype Machine. On Monday September 6, a SoundCloud player will be added to Hype Machine giving fans who search out Röyksopp the opportunity to stream Senior in it's entirety one week ahead of the street date. Hype Machine's network of bloggers will also be actively encouraged to embed the SoundCloud player into their personal blogs to ensure their readerships also have access to the full album stream.

Speaking of the partnership with and Hype Machine, SoundCloud's Dave Haynes said, "The Hype Machine has fast become one of the best places to discover new music. We're really thrilled to be a part of this by allowing artists like Röyksopp to make their music available to bloggers and The Hype Machine itself via SoundCloud."

 Senior is the counterpart to last year's critically acclaimed album Junior and hits European stores on September 13. It's described as "more introspective and freeform than its poppier partner and fully instrumental... the Nordic electronic pioneers Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland recorded Senior at the same time as Junior and it finds Röyksopp in fine form. "  

Quoth Röyksopp: "The two albums (Junior and Senior) have a kinship, in that they represent Röyksopp's two very different artistic expressions. Junior - with emphasis on vocals, accessible melodies and harmonies - has the energy, the inquisitive temper, and confidence with the "hey-ho, let's go!" attitude of youth."

Track Listing: 1. ... And The Forest Began To Sing  2. Tricky Two  3. The Alcoholic  4. Senior Living  5. The Drug 6. Forsaken Cowboy  7. The Fear  8. Coming Home  9. A Long, Long Way

"Helicopter" - and we got it right here for ya.

By Blurt Staff

Taken from the upcoming Halcyon Digest, the track "Helicopter" is a noirish/inscrutable black and white slice of Bradford Cox. Visually arresting, the music is irresistible.

The album drops on Sept. 28. Watch for the new issue of BLURT for the full breakdown, along with an interview with Cox...

DVD of acclaimed film drops next week. See the trailer, below.

By Blurt Staff

Blood Into Wine has been called the "rock 'n roll version of Sideways" - it arrives next week on DVD, and we'll have a pretty fun interview with film subject Maynard James Keenan (Tool/Puscifer/A Perfect Circle frontman) to coincide with the release. An accompanying soundtrack, Sound Into Blood Into Wine will be released simultaneously and features music from Puscifer. 

The documentary focuses on Keenan and vineyard partner Eric Glomski as they bring attention to the new winemaking region of Northern Arizona amid industry prejudices, celebrity misconceptions and an unforgiving mother nature.  An untraditional documentary, the film also features comedians Eric Wareheim, Tim Heidecker, Patton Oswalt and Bob Odenkirk.  Milla Jovovich, who has worked with Keenan as part of Puscifer, makes a guest appearance. 

The film's directors, Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke, who were previously best known for their award-winning film Moog met Keenan while filming The Heart Is A Drum Machine in 2008.  The pair had casually discussed Keenan's winemaking endeavors at the time of the meeting and were intrigued by the prospect of exploring the notoriously private singer's newest undertaking. (Since that time, Page, Pomerenke once again worked with Keenan on the forthcoming feature film Queens of Country, which stars Lizzy Caplan (True Blood, Mean Girls) and Ron Livingston (Office Space, Band of Brothers).  Queens of Country is currently being edited for a 2011 release.)

DVD Release Parties:

Boston -Sept. 7 - Parris Nightclub (tickets)

Las Vegas - Sept. 6 & 7 - ZIA Records (free, information here)

New York City - Sept. 7 - Highline Ballroom (tickets)

Washington DC - Sept. 2 - Arlington Drafthouse  (tickets)

Tour commences this week; album due next year.

By Fred Mills

Billy Bragg, who last album for Anti- Records was 2008's Mr. Love & Justice, kicks off a short U.S. tour this week in Minneapolis that will take him through Sept. 19 in DC. Full itinerary is below.

Meanwhile, the Bard of Barking is also planning out recording sessions this fall that should result in a new release early next year - and it's a collaboration with Rosanne Cash and producer Joe Henry, according to Billboard.com.

Billboard reports that the project "is an outgrowth of Henry's biannual curation of a song cycle at the Ludwigsburger Sclossfestspiele in Germany, where Bragg first worked in tandem with Cash." Bragg told Billboard that the collaboration clicked, conversations ensued, and as a result he and cash have been funneling songs to Henry, with plans now to get together at Henry's L.A. studio in November. "I spend a lot of time on my own records in the driver's seat," Bragg said, "so it will be nice to sit back in [Henry's]basement with his musicians and Rosanne and sort of chip in and...riff off what the band is doing and what Joe and Rose want to do."

Read the entire article here.

Tour Dates:

Sep 8                  Minneapolis              Cedar Cultural Center            

Sep 9   Madison, WI   Madison Turners Hall              

Sep 10             Chicago           Dominican University              

Sep 11             Ann Arbor, MI            The Ark          

Sep 14             Indianapolis    Vogue Theater           

Sep 16             Knoxville, TN             Bijou Theater Center  

Sep 17             Asheville, NC             The Orange Peel         

Sep 18             Raleigh            Cat's Cradle     

Sep 19             Washington DC          9:30 Club

Tour starts next week as well.

By Blurt Staff

NYC upstarts The Drums recently cut a version of Arcade Fire's "We Used To Wait" for the BBC on the Three Live Lounge show, and you can get free download of the MP3 below.

"We Used To Wait"

Meanwhile, with their new album The Drums due out next week on Downtown, the band has also released a video clip for their song "Down By The Water." You can view it, below. Produced by Brian and Brad Palmer of SURROUND and The Drums, the video is described by the band thusly: "Both the video and song are a tribute to the girl groups of the 50's and 60's, a great inspiration to the band and one of the reasons we started it."

The Drums also hit the road with Surfer Blood next week:

9/11 Providence, RI @ Jerky's Live Music Hall
9/12: Washington, DC @ The 9:30 Club
9/13 Chapel Hill, NC @  Local 506
9/15: Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
9/17: Orlando, FL @ Social
9/18: Miami, FL @ Grand Central
9/19: Tampa, FL @ State Theatre
9/20 Gainesville, FL @ Common Ground Coffeehouse
9/21: Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
9/23: Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald's (The Drums ONLY)
9/24: Dallas, TX @  The Loft (The Drums ONLY)
9/25: Austin, TX @ ND (The Drums ONLY)
9/27: Phoenix, AZ @ Clubhouse
9/28 Pomona, CA @ Glass House
9/29: Los Angeles, CA @ The Music Box
10/01: San Francisco, CA @ The Independent (The Drums ONLY)
10/03: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
10/04: Seattle, WA @ Neumos (The Drums ONLY)
10/05: Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret
10/07: Boise, ID @ Neurolux
10/08: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10/10: Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
10/13: Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity Theater
10/14: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/16: Toronto, ON @ Mod Club (The Drums ONLY)
10/17: Montreal, QB @ Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour Rire (The Drums ONLY)
10/18: Boston, MA @ Paradise (The Drums ONLY)
10/20: New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/22: Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time

German band covers the ‘80s legends, with some Human League thrown in for good measure.

By Blurt Staff

You may have heard that ‘80s electro/disco punks Heaven 17 are currently planning to mount their "Penthouse & Pavement" tour in November (interesting interview in "The Quietus" here). Hopping preemptively on the H17 bandwagon, then is German electronic band NUD", whose trademark sound celebrates break beat, drum n bass, big beat and electro punk: they've just released a cover of Heaven 17's classic 1982 hit single "Let Me Go."

The band may look like refugees from a Hot Topic job fair, but they've got the musical chops. Inspired by Heaven 17's 1982 original, NUDE's version is steeped in big beats and melodic hooks. The song, along with a re-recording of Human League's "Being Boiled," will appear on their forthcoming second album, "Basic Guerrilla Moves," released in October. Listen to it the H17 tune at this link or see it at YouTube, below.

Erstwhile members of legendary ‘70s combo the Hot Knives return, the proverbial 96^th musical element, to shake up Cali venue Chris' New Harbor on September 5.

By Jud Cost

Walk into Chris' New Harbor Bar in Belmont, Calif., about 40 yards off the exhaust-choked 101 freeway that connects San Francisco to San Jose, and you instantly feel you've been here before. There must be a million scruffy little taverns like this, dotting the American landscape, with a dozen old-timers at the bar nursing drinks on a Sunday afernoon and watching the ball game on one of three tiny TVs crowded in between neon Budweiser signs that decorate the walls.

A five-piece band named Keymonium - two guitars, electric keyboard, bass and drums - is tuning up on the floor, no stage here, about 15 feet from the bar in front of well-traveled amps they did not purchase at garage sales. And this is where it gets interesting. The short, rail-thin keyboard player is Michael Houpt, and the lanky, extroverted bassist, the obvious loose cannon of the group, is Ed Wilson, working the house, talking to everybody in a vintage automobile-enthusiasts club while Houpt is gesturing at him to come back to get the show on the road.

Both Houpt and Wilson were founding members of Hot Knives, a blistering yet heartfelt San Francisco folk-rock band that released just two singles during a relatively short band lifespan that began in 1972. The original combo also boasted a pair of former Flamin' Groovies, guitarist Tim Lynch and drummer Danny Mihm, as well as their ace in the hole, co-lead vocalist Debbie Houpt, Mike's younger sister.

As Pennsylvania school kids, the Houpts were entranced by the folk-pop vocals of Peter, Paul & Mary and, once they'd moved west, would record "Hey Grandma" by San Fran ballroom legends Moby Grape as their debut Hot Knives single. The band's unreleased material, plenty of scorching originals and fine versions of "Silver Threads And Golden Needles" and "Lies," a Knickerbockers cover, is done with a vocal sound that effortlessly blended early Jefferson Airplane with mid-period Fleetwood Mac.

Caught in between eras, the Hot Knives were a little too late for the '60s hippie trip and a little too hippie for the punk-rock firestorm of the mid-'70s. In the aftermath of tracking down Hot Knives, to pen liner notes for their unreleased, career-spanning album (due out soon on an Australian label) I'm here to see the two founding members play live almost 40 years later, sometimes a risky proposition.

No worries today though with Houpt and Wilson running the show. These old pros are aided by the acoustic guitar of Karl Malinowski, the John Cipollina-like electric guitar leads of Paul Leto and the no-nonsense drums of a girl who goes by the name of Deona. Houpt sings most of the leads, while Malinowski ("It Ain't So Bad") and Wilson ("Lonely Town") step forward on their own intense folk-rock originals that sound something like the earnest jangle of Terry Dolan, onetime frontman for Terry & The Pirates.

"We're Keymonium, named for the 96th element," announces Houpt-perhaps mistaking items on the atomic chart for the tears shed by Question Mark & the Mysterians. They kick things off with a Bobby Troup chestnut, "Route 66," introduced as music from a TV show about "two guys who used to go tooling around in a sharp Corvette." Houpt's fabrication, of course, is aimed at piquing the interest of the antique-auto crowd. Music from the Martin Milner/George Maharis TV series was the creation of Frank Sinatra maestro Nelson Riddle. One thing Houpt definitely got right, something Mick Jagger muffed on the Stones' 1964 version, the string of towns as you "motor west" - Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino. "Lovin' You," the Byrds-like A-side of Hot Knives' second single, sounds terrific, even without Debbie's lush harmonies. Keymonium winds up a boiling 45-minute set with the best live version of "All Along The Watchtower" I've ever heard, and I've seen Dylan, himself, do it several times.

There's an added bonus waiting for you after they've finished. When you point the Zipcar towards home, it's only 40 yards to the freeway.

New album due October 26 on Verve Forecast.

By Blurt Staff

"If I had to compare our albums," says Elizabeth Ziman, the singer/songwriter/keyboardist behind Elizabeth & the Catapult, "I'd say Taller Children has the sarcastic lightness of a Woody Allen film, and the new record's more like Kubrick or Lynch-a little darker, a little more tongue-in-cheek." 

Not that any of these shifts are a surprise. After all, Elizabeth learned how to manipulate moods through music at an early age, whether that meant performing a wildly-expressive piano piece or belting out bizarre harmonies in New York's world-renowned Young People's Chorus. 

And now this: The Other Side of Zero, an Elizabeth & the Catapult album that started with a Lincoln Center song cycle - performed last spring after a commission from NPR's John Schaefer - and a cover-to-cover study of Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing collection. As the latter's pages sunk in, Elizabeth couldn't help but draw parallels between Cohen's failure to meet Buddhist goals in a monastery and her own coming-of-age struggles in the big city. (The New York native grew up in the heart of Greenwich Village.)

She also wrote Elizabeth & the Catapult's rawest set of recordings yet, including the clanging chords and galloping groove of "The Horse and the Missing Cart," the sputtering, string-grazed percussion of "You and Me," "We All Fall Down, the Buddhist twist on a classic love song, "Julian Darling," a wake up call to a friend and the hopeful but heartbroken contrasts of "Thank You For Nothing." And then there's the title track. Led by a lean, winding piano line, it builds to a spine-tingling crescendo alongside the honey-dipped harmonies of Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings-a collaboration that was completely unplanned. Not that you'd notice, considering how seamless it sounds.

Unlike their thoroughly-demoed debut-an album that took two years to complete-the Zero sessions boiled down to a month of recording with producer Tony Berg (Peter Gabriel, Phantom Planet, Jesca Hoop) and such respected sidemen as guitarist Blake Mills and Tom Waits' longtime touring keyboardist, Patrick Warren. The result was rough but refined, bruised but beautiful, as if Berg had placed a mic in a room and walked away, letting Elizabeth and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Danny Molad do their thing. 

As Molad puts it, "The record is more blatantly honest, even rude at times..." Elizabeth continues, "Even the happiest sounding pop songs on this record have a tinge of regret and darkness to them...And thank goodness for that. Ultimately that's the only way I'd feel comfortable singing them. I'm drawn to the ambiguity like a menacing smile." 

Tour Dates:

Sept 25 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA #
Oct 2 - Rusty Rudder - Dewey Beach, DE    
Oct 7 - Bates College - Benjamin Mays Center - Lewiston, ME    
Oct 11 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN *
Oct 12 - Cactus Club - Milwaukee, WI *   
Oct 13 - Schubas - Chicago, IL *   
Oct 14 - Radio Radio - Indianapolis, IN *  
Oct 15 - The Brillobox - Pittsburgh, PA *   
Oct 16 - Black Cat - Washington, DC *
Oct 22 - Cornell University, Just About Music Residence Hall - Ithaca, NY    
Oct 23 - Rockwood Music Hall - NY, NY    CMJ
Oct 28 - The Red Room @ Cafe 939 - Boston, MA    
Nov 4 - NightCat - Easton, MD   

# w/ Aimee Mann

* w/ Jukebox the Ghost

Sun City Girls' Richard Bishop and Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny lock together September 2 at Easthampton's Flywheel venue. Also performing: Major Stars and Sunburned Hand of the Man.

Text and Photos by Jennifer Kelly

We had all the guitars Thursday night.

Or at least that was how it seemed on a hot night in Easthampton. It was like all the guitars, all the pedals, all the guitar players had stepped onto a tilted board and slid helplessly towards the Flywheel. There were two of them in Sunburned Hand of the Man, three in Major Stars, two in Rangda (and at least one pretty famous one in the audience), and when they got going, in Sunburned's endlessly morphing drones, in Major Stars' psychedelic 1960s mayhem, or in Rangda's closing waterfall cascades of guitar notes, Sun City Girls' Richard Bishop and Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny locked together in the beautiful downward scales of "Plain of Jars," it could sound like an army. If you were looking for a guitar last Thursday and you were anywhere else, good freaking luck. You should have been at the Flywheel.

The night was supposed to open with a band called Muzzled Ox, essentially Sunburned Hand of the Man plus free-jazz saxophonist Paul Flaherty. But Flaherty never showed - at the close of the set, Sunburned's drummer said he'd been involved in some sort of accident - so it was really Sunburned Hand of the Man. An expanded version of Sunburned Hand of the Man. There were 11 musicians set up in a semicircle, a drumset and a big brass lamp.

A visiting poet set up a music stand for the first bit, reading a piece called (I think) "Paradise Pond", as grey-haired gentleman keened through one reverb-addled mic and Matt Krefting in a Spiderman mask blew and moaned into another. At one point, the poem turns to describing a conversation between a man and a woman, in which the woman utters the fighting words, "You have a woman's hips."  The man answers, "You have a monkey's pelvis. You have a crow's beady eyes."  But the piece really takes off when the poem ends, a smouldering drone erupting into crescendo, the vocalist convulsing and howling into the mic, bending nearly double from the waist and collapsing around a utility pole in the middle of the room.

All this would be too much chaos without a very strong rhythmic anchor, and the main drummer, set up with kit in the center, does a Herculean job keeping the piece moving again. Between him and the bass player, there's actually kind of a groove going, a heavy, sinuous forward motion that brings about a 100 different sounds together and allows them to make sense. It's hard to tell, even so, if Sunburned Hand of the Man plays one long piece or several, whether they're making the music up on the spot or following pre-established ideas, or even what a couple of the musicians are actually doing. (One holds a small electronic instrument in two hands and works with his thumbs. It looks exactly like he's texting, except for the wire that leads to the amps.)  But okay, it sounds pretty good most of the time and occasionally really good, so who's counting?

The Major Stars are next, moving the action off the floor and onto a small raised stage. Or at least most of the action, since the giant riff has hardly crested when Kate Biggars jumps down onto the floor with her guitar, hair flying, to corner a young woman in front and hold her guitar over her until the feedback howls. Hayley Thompson King, the singer, also makes good use of the mic cord, roaming the floor at the front of the stage in a white slip dress, banging heads with the boys in front as she moans out the bluesy verses. ("It's like a big sweaty playpen," she observes at the break.)  Wayne Rogers and third guitarist Tom Leonard stay up on the stage, but Rogers, at least, is in constant motion, one rock star gesture melting into another, as he leads a frantic mesh of 1960s hard rock, trippy wah'd psychedelia and chugging metal vamps.

The Major Stars aren't afraid to work the clichés of old-style guitar rock. Every power chord is an occasion for an outsized gesture, and most riffs end with Rogers leaning back in a lunge, his pick hand curved over his head like Jimi at Monterrey. In one of my favorite moments, he and Biggars lock into a thundering riff, both pulling their guitar necks up when they hit the final high note. They do it once or twice in perfect synchrony, then crack up over it. It's a goof, but not really irony. And anyway, it wouldn't come across at all if they weren't such good players. Rogers gets a chance to show off mid-set in an extended, high and rapid solo that reminds me of Eddie Van Halen.  

All this is fine, but I've really come to see Rangda, which is quite possibly the world's obscurest super-group, comprised of Sun City Girl Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance and free-jazz drummer Chris Corsano (a frequent collaborator with the missing Paul Flaherty, among others). Their album False Flag, out since the spring on Drag City, is a really amazing blend of noise and lyricism, friction, fury and flat-out gorgeousness in equal measure...and a shoo-in for my top ten this year, probably top five. It's kind of a miracle, given how busy all three of them are, that they had time to record the album, let alone tour it, let alone play small towns like Easthampton, so when they show up to play, it's a special occasion.

They start with the lyrical "Sarcophagi," Richard Bishop taking the high lovely lead, Chasny filling in below with rounder, fuller tones. Corsano is all over the cymbals, some on the drum set, some hung on a bar behind him, in a quiet frenzy. The piece builds in a slow, stately way, Corsano moving from cymbals to sudden bursts of rapid sticks on toms, a pair of mallets held between his teeth as he goes.

The whole Rangda set is drawn from False Flag, a record that was, itself, an attempt to recapture a one-off improvised show in Seattle last year. There is massive, dissonant "Fist Family," with its siren-like guitar wails, and ponderous "Bull Lore" full of firestorm-like drum rolls and obliterating crescendos. And last of all, best of all, there is "Plain of Jars," the long, meditative album (and show) closer, this time with Chasny playing the melodic lead, way high up on the bridge of the guitar, and Bishop supporting. And then, as the piece gains strength, they are both playing the same riff, that liquid cascade of guitar notes that sounds clear and pure and a bit like Television. Their fretting hands move in tandem up the neck of the guitar, and it's just as beautiful as the record, maybe more so.

And with that the preponderance of guitars that has, somehow, descended on Easthampton dissipates, and we all walk out into a night that is still humid, but cooler. As I leave, I hear someone behind me humming the closing riff from "Plain of Jars," trying, I suppose, to keep a beautiful moment present, at least in memory.

Blurt issue number 9 hits newsstands very soon.

So without undue fanfare... here we go.

Please hoist a mug or two of your morning coffee in the direction of our cover subjects, Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal and Janelle Monae (pictured above, duh; wait'll you see the interior spread). Among other goodies you'll encounter once you come across the new issue - it's our ninth, so we're pretty stoked - are Otep, The Big Lebowski, the Dead Boys' Cheetah Chrome, Deerhunter, !!!, Antony & the Johnsons, Justin Townes Earle, Superchunk, Grinderman and tons more. 

"Electric Endicott" the title track from LP, arriving in November.

By Blurt Staff

Okay, outsider music fans, this one's for you: there's a new Gary Wilson record, Electric Endicott, due November 9th on Western Vinyl. If you know the name Gary Wilson, you won't need any convincing to click the link below to nab an advance MP3 of the title track.

MP3: "Electric Endicott"

For the rest of you, here's a little background by way of introduction:

"In 1977 Gary Wilson famously released a uniquely bizarre and personal album titled You Think You Really Know Me..., full of electro-funk, proto-new wave, noise collage, and avant-garde jazz.  Despite the fact that the album's fans included Beck, Questlove from The Roots, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and Stones Throws' Peanut Butter Wolf, widespread fame and notoriety eluded Gary Wison until the 2002 re-release of his debut album.  Soon after media outlets like Pitchfork, The Village Voice, and The New York Times were talking about the lecherous outsider artist, remarkable as much for his idiosyncrasies and DIY aesthetic as his edgy and creative music."

Of the new album, the label describes Wilson as "equal parts Prince and Pee Wee Herman, Joe Jackson and Charlie Brown. His songs celebrate our inner ickiness, silliness and grooviness, the romance and randiness of born-losers from Endicott or Anywhere.  Rather than alienating us with their creepiness, his lyrics and melodies ultimately make us feel more comfortable being who we are....more comfortable being human."

 Boy howdy to that. Trust us, we've been listening to the album for several days now and this'll be one worth looking forward to. Check out the video flashback to an earlier Wilson song, below.

We're talking Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Burnin Brides, Redd Kross, Rocket From the Crypt, kids....

By Blurt Staff

Herein check out  "Upside Down," the first of many ferocious songs you will hear from OFF! - a new band on Vice featuring Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless/Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt) and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross).

MP3: "Upside Down"

The 1 minute 19 second banger will appear on the forthcoming October 12th, 7" only release of the bands 1st EP, which comes with a limited edition Raymond Pettibon print. The 1st EP, along with 12 additional tracks, comprise the full length debut from the band, First Four EPs, out November 23rd digitally and as a four 7" boxset. 

OFF! CONFIRMED SHOWS:

October 9th - Chicago - Riot Fest
November 7th - Austin - Fun Fun Fun Fest

Out this week via Warner Home Video, the six-disc Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season  had more than a few challenges to surmount.

By Chris Zimmerman

Given how good Smallville's eighth season was, fans of the series waited with baited breath to see just what else the show had left. Ever since it's shift from soap opera teen romance to genuine super heroics, the series has undergone a drastic change in quality. When the series first made it to the airwaves, a set of rules were put into place by the overseers of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar with the most controversial being no flights and no tights. Ironically enough, Gough and Millar's departure from the series the season before last allowed the writers to expand their horizons and break the rules that had continually handicapped them. What we got was a drama filled season of Clark finally coming face to face with his destiny as he encountered time travelers, laid to rest close friends, and battled his ultimate nemesis in Doomsday.

The series writers knew they had a challenge ahead of them, having to outdo what was arguably the most satisfying season to date. With that knowledge fresh in their minds, season nine began what should be labeled as the jam session, with characters from the Superman mythos weaving in and out of episodes as Clark acquainted himself with other super powered beings. Sure Batman is still nowhere to be found and Wonder Woman is MIA but considering the series managed to produce a faithful adaptation of the Justice Society of America in what is considered the best episode the series has done to this point, fans should be more than satisfied with the trade off.

The finale of last season saw Clark finally take up his role as the guardian of Metropolis. Though not quite as super as one might expect at this stage of his career, the soon to be man of steel found himself confronted by multiple enemies such as the kryptonite infused Metallo, the shadowy organization of Checkmate, and the familiar threat of Zod, bearing a more youthful appearance and with an army of Kryptonians this time around.

Of course, the series still managed to evoke emotional drama with the ever growing relationship between Lois and Clark as well as Green Arrow's downward spiral after his disastrous handling of the Doomsday situation.  While the latter is cleared up early on in the season's run, there are plenty of moments that will leave fans' jaws hanging.

The special effects of the show have been among some of the strongest for a network television series. Season nine remained fairly constant aside from the two-part, aptly named "Absolute Justice," in which Smallville was granted a movie-like feel. Everything about those episodes was so well done, they bear special mention and are the main draw of this set. From the brief glimpse of the Martian Manhunter's true form to the retention of the classic appearances of the Justice Society, "Absolute Justice" was a fanboy's wet dream.

Given the overall scope of the season, the writers should be commended for having not dropped the ball under the mounting pressure to deliver a satisfying payoff to the much anticipated confrontation between Clark and Zod. Season nine took everything great about the previous eight and meshed them into a cohesive arc that was as much a journey for fans as it was for Clark. Sadly though, it looks to be the penultimate season with ten being the climax to Clark's growth from boy to man. Given how strong the series has been over the past few years, one can only imagine what the show has in store as it prepares for its final bow. With the writers' new found desire to integrate as much of the mythos into the show as possible and the continuing upping of the ante every year, those looking for the definitive live action take on Superman need look no further than Smallville.  

Special Features:

Commentaries on 2 Key Episodes

Unaired Scenes

Kneel Before Zod!: the Evolution of a Classic Evil Character

Absolute Justice: From Script to Screen Introducing Venerable Justice Society of America Heroes into Smallville's Universe 

Songs also available in limited edition vinyl format at tour stops.

By Blurt Staff

Dr. Dog is offering four new songs for free download to their fans beginning this week. The band recently recorded a brand new batch of songs after spending the last five months traveling and performing in support of their acclaimed new album Shame, Shame. The four songs will also be available on a gatefold double seven-inch vinyl to be sold exclusively at venues on the upcoming fall tour.

Dr. Dog will release the first track today (September 8th) via their Facebook page (facebook.com/drdog) and additional tracks in the coming month. Fans can pick up the exclusive vinyl 7" on the upcoming tour. Tour dates below.

Inspired by songwriter/guitarist Scott McMicken's involvement and experience with Weathervane Music (weathervanemusic.org); a non-profit that creates community, opportunity and resources for independent musicians, Dr. Dog recorded and mixed four new songs in eight days. The resulting recordings offer a rollicking snapshot of a premier rock band in fighting shape from months of touring, joyfully rediscovering and further exploring their distinctive sound




Tour Dates:

* With Here We Go Magic
** With Good Old War
*** With Here We Go Magic & Good Old War

October 16        Phoenix                         Toronto, ON *
October 18        The Town Ballroom       Buffalo, NY *
October 19        Beachland Ballroom      Cleveland, OH *
October 20        Crofoot Ballroom           Pontiac, MI *
October 21        The Vic Theater            Chicago, IL
October 22        Turner Hall                    Milwaukee, WI  *
October 23        First Ave                       Minneapolis, MN *
October 25        The Waiting Room       Omaha, NE  *
October 26        Boulder Theatre           Boulder, CO  *
October 27        Urban Lounge              Salt Lake City, UT *
October 29        Showbox Sodo             Seattle, WA ***
October 30        Vogue Theater              Vancouver, BC ***
October 31        WOW Hall                     Eugene, OR **
November 2      Crystal Bay Club           Crystal Bay, NV ***
November 3      The Filmore                   San Francisco, CA ***
November 4      The Filmore                   San Francisco, CA ***
November 5      The Wiltern                    Los Angeles, CA **
November 6      Belly Up                        San Diego, CA ***
November 8      Orpheum Theater         Flagstaff, AZ *
November 9      Sunshine Theater         Albuquerque, NM *
November 10    ACM                             Oklahoma City, OK *
November 11    Palladium Showroom    Dallas, TX  
November 12    Stubbs BBQ                  Austin, TX
November 13    Warehouse Live          Houston, TX *

Features C Joynes, Sam Moss, Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses), William Tyler (Lambchop, Silver Jews)  and others, plus Gatefold LP & CD Artwork by Paul Romano (Mastodon)

By Blurt Staff

Since its first volume in 2005, Tompkins Square's 'Imaginational Anthem' series has introduced many new acoustic guitarists, and unearthed many forgotten legends of the American Primitive genre. Vol 4 strays from the formula by focusing on the present generation of pickers, representing American and English musical traditions. The gatefold LP (limited edition of 500) and CD are created by Paul Romano, best known for his incredible designs for Mastodon.

The compilation drops Sept. 21 via T.S.

Track listing :

Chris Forsyth "Paranoid Cat"
William Tyler "Between Radnor and Sunrise"
Sam Moss "Miniature Dwellings II"
Nick Jonah Davis "San Cristobal De las Casas"
Pat O'Connell "Song For Eugene"
Tyler Ramsey "Our Home Beyond The River"
Micah Blue Smaldone "Rose March"
Mike Fekete "Birds On The Lake"
Aaron Sheppard  "We Meet On The Level"
C Joynes "Jemmy Steel"

Rappers from the crapper and much, much more...

By Blurt Staff

Blurt blogger John Moore recently conducted a free-wheeling interview with Pete Dee Davison, guitarist and co-founder of the legendary, and long-running, UK punk band The Adicts. Yeah, those Adicts: the ones who look like they stepped off the screen of A Clockwork Orange and never looked back, and featuring a lead singer who apparently had been harboring a Joker fetish from day one.

The band has a kickass new studio album, Life Goes On, and Davison it itching to tell you about it as well as serve up assorted other bon mots. Among them:

"[Music has] all gone to shit to be honest. We need instruments and musicians just like we need proper artists again who can paint. Fuck me anyone can lay a pile of  bricks  down and gets a grant for it is a genius really, come on. We need to get back some common sense here. I like art and music but somehow we are not using the capacity of our brains or knowledge or even either these days. Maybe I'm a dinosaur and if I am then who cares ‘cause I don't. It's easy, I just switch it off and don't bother with it, but when I see the kids out there... retardos.  Everyone's a rapper from the crapper."

Astute lad, that. Click on over to Moore's blog, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, to read the entire interview.

That's quite some headgear...

By Blurt Staff

Blurt fave Juliette Commagere's new album is due out the last week of October - titled The Procession, it's the followup to last year's Queens Die Proudly. You may remember her from Hello Stranger - she's the keytar fetishist - who opened for  bands like Foo Fighters and  Kings of Leon, and she's also collaborated with Maynard James Keenany from Tool/Puscifer, Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters and The Bird and the Bee. Keenan even married her to her drummer, Joaquin Cooder (Ry Cooder's son, who is also in her band).

The new album is described as fusing "seductive vocals with dreamy electronic soundscapes... very textured and atmospheric."  After you pull your eyes away from the photo above, you can check out a free MP3 teaser from the record.

MP3: "Impact"

[Photo Credit: Elliott Lee Hazel]

Hello, Chain Gang fans! All the bands you know and love, quite a few you forgot about or (depending on your age) never even heard of, and a fistful of poker chips just to hedge your bets.

By Fred Mills

You already heard the news about Matador Records throwing themselves a 21^st birthday party in Las Vegas on Oct. 1-3 - the one that prompted the "classic era" Guided By Voices to reunite - and last week the label also published the final schedule for the event, which now includes Liz Phair, the Clean, Times New Viking, Perfume Genius, and Esben & the Witch on the bill.

So yesterday Matador made another, possibly even more tantalizing, announcement: Sept. 28 will see the release of a massive limited edition box set, Matador at 21, which as you might imagine is a chronicle of the label's history to date, going all the way back to 1989. It's a six-disc box with one CD devoted to live performances recorded professionally at the label's 10^th anniversary concerts in NYC in 1999.

According to Matador: "The set comes in a blue-grey foil-stamped linen-bound box. The six CDs sit in custom digipaks. An 85-page perfect-bound book documents the history of the label with essays, photos, ephemera, emails and more. In addition, the box holds 36 custom Matador poker chips in three values." There will also be a 2LP set containing the tracks on disc 5, "Matador Today," comprising material from 2008 to the present. See the full tracklistings for all six CDs below.

Sales of the box will be donated to three charities: The Jane Addams Hull House Association, the Ali Forney Center and the Heart Institute at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. (Full details at the Matador box set link listed above.)

DISC 1 - THE PRE-DAWN (1989-1992)

1. Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows
2. H.P. Zinker - Dancing Days
3. Superchunk - Slack Motherfucker
4. Dustdevils - Throw the Bottle Full
5. Railroad Jerk - These Streets
6. Come - Fast Piss Blues
7. Bettie Serveert - Kid's Alright
8. Chain Gang - Cut Off The Drug Czar's Head
9. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - More Glee
10. Unsane - This Town
11. Circle X - Compression of the Species
12. Toiling Midgets - Mr. Foster's Shoes
13. Bailter Space - The Today Song
14. Pavement - Perfume-V

DISC TWO - THE YEARS OF MILK AND HONEY (1993-1995)

1. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Afro
2. Yo La Tengo - Big Day Coming
3. Railroad Jerk - The Ballad of Railroad Jerk
4. Helium - Superball
5. Pizzicato Five - Baby Love Child
6. Liz Phair - Mesmerizing
7. Pavement - Silence Kit
8. Guided By Voices - Game Of Pricks
9. 18th Dye - Whole Wide World
10. Chavez - Peeled Out Too Late
11. Come - String
12. Moonshake - Secondhand Clothes
13. Guitar Wolf - Midnight Violence Rock'n Roll
14. San Francisco Seals - Back Again
15. Bardo Pond - Rumination

DISC 3: DAYS OF WHISKEY AND TEARS (1996-2001)

1. Boards Of Canada - Telephasic Workshop
2. Spoon - Waiting For The Kid To Come Out
3. Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater
4. Chavez - You Must Be Stopped
5. Silkworm - Tarnished Angel
6. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Flavor Part 1 (Beck)
7. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Flavor Part 2 (Mike D)
8. Pole - Fliegen
9. Cat Power - American Flag
10. Belle & Sebastian - We Rule The School
11. Mogwai - Helps Both Ways
12. Arsonists - Backdraft
13. Large Professor - ‘Bout That Time
14. Cornelius - Tone Twilight Zone
15. burger/ink - Flesh & Blood
16. Pavement - You Are A Light
17. Arab Strap - Blood
18. Matmos - L.A.S.I.K

DISC FOUR: DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK (2002-2007)

1. Interpol - Hands Away
2. Cat Power - He War
3. Yo La Tengo - Today Is The Day
4. The New Pornographers - From Blown Speakers
5. Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp
6. Dead Meadow - Good Moanin'
7. Mogwai - Kids Will Be Skeletons
8. Mission Of Burma - The Setup
9. Early Man - Death Is The Answer
10. Belle & Sebastian - Dress Up In You
11. Pretty Girls Make Graves - All Medicated Geniuses
12. Cat Power - Love & Communication
13. Shearwater - Johnny Viola
14. Brightblack Morning Light - Everybody Daylight
15. Lavender Diamond - You Broke My Heart
16. Jennifer O'Connor - Tonight We Ride
16. Earles & Jensen - Just Farr A Laugh: The Yogurt Machine
17. Stephen Malkmus - Discretion Grove

DISC FIVE: MATADOR TODAY (2008 - )

1. Fucked Up - Son The Father
2. Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster
3. Kurt Vile - Amplifier
4. Yo La Tengo - Nothing to Hide
5. Jay Reatard - There Is No Sun
6. Times New Viking - Move To California
7. Harlem - Friendly Ghost
8. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Bottled In Cork
9. The New Pornographers - My Shepherd
10. Cold Cave - Youth and Lust
11. Interpol - Summer Well
12. Shearwater - Castaways
13. Esben and the Witch - Marching Song
14. Girls - Lust For Life
15. Magic Kids - Superball
16. Delorean - Stay Close
17. Cat Power - Metal Heart
18. Perfume Genius - Learning
19. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

DISC SIX: UNRELEASED LIVE RECORDINGS FROM THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERTS, NEW YORK CITY, SEPTEMBER 1999

1. Pavement - Here (Live 1999)
2. Pavement - Trigger Cut (Live 1999)
3. Pavement - The Hexx (Live 1999)
4. Pavement - She Believes (Live 1999)
5. Pavement - Unfair (Live 1999)
6. Pavement - Zurich Is Stained (Live 1999)
7. Pavement - Debris Slide (Live 1999)
8. Pavement - Spit On A Stranger (Live 1999)
9. Come - New Coats (Live 1999)
10. Bardo Pond - Walking Stick Man (Live 1999)
11. Bardo Pond - Tommy Gun Angel (Live 1999)
12. Cat Power - Good Woman (Live 1999)
13. Cat Power - Naked, If I Want To (Live 1999)
14. Cat Power - You May Know Him / Sea Of Love (Live 1999)
15. Mogwai - Ex-Cowboy (Live 1999)

The Windy City boys come breezing into Northampton's Iron Horse on September 6, part rocket science and part just plain rock.

Photos & text by Jennifer Kelly

Tortoise -- the five-person, instrument-switching, jazz-rock-fusion band out of Chicago that single-handedly launched post-rock -- has just kicked "High Class Slim Came Floatin' In" up a notch. Two drummers, Dan Bitney and John Herndon face off on kits set back to back, playing syncopated rhythms that move in and out of phase with each other, now an identical beat doubled, now two intersecting cadences that fill in each other's spaces and dot each other's "I"s. John McEntire is up on the multiple-tiered keyboard synth set, while Doug McCombs settles into a groove in the back. For now, guitar-bass-keyboard player Jeff Lewis is picking out a melody on a keyboard in the back, but don't get too comfortable. When the song's over, everyone will change places. It would be remarkable if the band's five members were this good on #one# instrument. Instead, they're adept at three or four.

Before Tortoise, openers Ben Vida and Greg Davis led the audience through a fascinating display of electronic experimentation, all three principals (not sure who the third guy was) hunched over circuit boards massed with wires and adorned with red, green, blue and yellow flashing lights. To play them, they constantly plugged and unplugged wires into various holes, turned dials and flicked switches. It was hard to say who was doing what, really, until the sound thinned out and you saw that Greg Davis was creating the deep pounding sound, Vida adding higher, blippier accents overtop. The sound was rhythmic, machine like, sometimes grindingly heavy, others playful, syncopated and lighter. We got there in the middle of what appeared to be one long improvisation, and as the mechanical sounds died down, it was time for Tortoise.

Tortoise is still touring 2009's Beacons of Ancestorship, and leading off "High Class Slim", they turn to the very different, very lyrical "Charteroak Foundation," with Lewis spinning out serene runs of notes on his guitar over a hard, cymbal-heavy beat. Talking to Bitney last year, he said he thought the new material better reflected their rougher, grittier live presence than previous albums. And, in fact, in the live setting, Tortoise's music turns surprisingly visceral, physical even, despite its obvious complexity. Bodies are moving, more or less in time with Tortoise's difficult rhythms. During one cut, I start counting to try to figure out what time signature the band is working in and end up with a tentative 8/9. Yet though the beat is non-linear and, indeed, almost disorientingly off the four-square, you can't help trying to dance to it.

Piles of gear are crowded onto the small stage - guitars, drum sets, basses, keyboards, xylophones - and space is so tight that one large vibraphone-ish instrument has been set down in the space just to the right of the stage. When Herndon goes to play it, no one can hear him. You can see Lewis and McCombs shaking their heads, and Herndon whacking the bars with ever more force. Finally, during the break, they ask for more vibe in the monitor. "It just sounds like the Ramones without it," someone says.

Ramones?  Not really. But it does sound way more propulsive and rock than you might expect, if you've cut your teeth on Tortoise's earlier, more tranquil materials. "Yinxianghechengqi" from the newest record, explodes off the stage, in a driving, distorted haze. "I Set My Face to the Hillside" from TNT is more subdued, though still rhythmic, paced by Latin-sounding shaken percussion. There's a groove going on here, people on stage thumping bass lines and slapping tambourines and, in a cerebral, many-years-of-training kind of way, letting loose.

You might think, from the records, that seeing Tortoise live would be good for you, interesting, intellectually absorbing, a difficult pleasure. They are, but they're also a great, fun rock band, even if they do play in time signatures invented by rocket scientists.

Released last week, the Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison DVD, on Highway 61/MVD, seeks to revive the controversy via some cassette recordings allegedly made by George Harrison (who, conveniently, is still quite dead himself).

By Lee Zimmerman

Wasn't this crazy controversy settled some 40 years ago?  To recap, for anyone who missed it the first time around -- Paul McCartney is dead, he was replaced by a look-alike named Billy Shears and all those so-called clues that graced all the latter Beatles album were clearly clues or an elaborate mind-fuck, depending on your perspective. Apparently, there are those who believe there's money to be made by dredging up this silly affair and recycling it for the sake of sheer exploitation. According to this new twist on the tale, a package was received at the Hollywood office of Highway 61 Entertainment in December 1999 containing two cassette recordings allegedly made by George Harrison. He reveals therein (gasp) that Paul did die in a car crash after all. Apparently the mishap took place in November 1966 after a spat with John Lennon during a recording session at Abbey Road. McCartney stormed off in his sports car, picked up a hitchhiker who distracted him when she began making amorous advances, and totaled the car, decapitating himself in the process. Never mind the fact that Macca lived around the block from the studio and could have walked the short distance; facts are incidental when concocting a whale of a tale.

So why did his band mates wait so long to reveal the truth? According to this nutty narrative, John, George and Ringo were warned not to reveal the truth so as to prevent an unprecedented wave of mass suicides among the Beatles faithful. (Hmmm. John and George's deaths were rather tragic too, but history doesn't record a run on tainted Kool-Aid when they passed.) Presumably the remaining Fabs were so intimidated by the necessity of maintaining the shroud of silence imposed by British Intelligence, they opted to keep the secret for the next 44 years, offering only the ubiquitous clues that were etched on their album covers.

Over the course of just over an hour and a half, producer/director Joel Gilbert guides the gullible through this unlikely scenario by recreating the events surrounding the alleged incident, using Harrison's supposed narrative to tie the trajectory together. Truth be told, the speaker does sound very much like someone trying very hard to imitate the spiritual Beatle. He reveals that John was killed for threatening to come clean and that an attack on George and his wife Olivia was also payback for George's determination to set the record straight. Wait a minute! Didn't George die only a couple of years after making this tape? Coincidence? Yeah... decidedly so.

Of course, there will inevitably be those who will be lured to purchase this disc merely for its novelty. For them, there's some redemption in the accompanying documentary that traces the summit that took place in London between the Beatles and Bob Dylan. As for the rest... keep it away from any sensation-seeking deejay that wants to start the rumors anew.

Held, once again, at Kutsher's Resort in Monticello, NY, this year's (Sept. 3-5) ATP NY just may have been the greatest one ever. Witnessed: the Scientists (above), Stooges, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, GZA, Michael Rother's Hallogallo, Fucked Up, Tortoise and much more.

Text by Evan Haga / Photos by Abbey Braden

"This song goes out to anyone with a record problem," said Damian Abraham, the massive, mostly naked front man of the Canadian band Fucked Up. He was detonating another cut of hardcore punk during the group's set at this year's All Tomorrow's Parties New York festival, and, more than likely, his dedication applied pretty squarely to most of the few thousand people who made the schlep. ATP NY, in its third year at Kutsher's, a faded Jewish hotel and country club in the Catskill Mountains of New York, is custom-built for music geeks and vinyl junkies; a three-day sleep-away camp for hipsters young and old - or at least middle-aged - whose tastes are at once diverse yet steadfastly focused in their rejection of the bourgeois and the overtly commercial. All indoors, it's a festival for club people: five-dollar domestic beers but no sunburn, beyond-hammered frat boys or massive lines for the bar and bathroom. The sound was precise, the lighting and projections were quaint and things started when they were supposed to. It's probably the most comfortable time you can have at something that considers itself a rock festival.

Not that Kutsher's is by any stretch of the imagination posh; on the contrary, it's hard to imagine anyone staying there if they weren't going to see Sonic Youth and Raekwon. It's dilapidated, mildew-ridden and generally sketchy: Sit in the lobby long enough - in my case, about five minutes - and you'll spot vermin scurrying by. But for an event populated by folks wary of corporations and unafraid of lousy New York apartments or a little rocker B.O., it's kind of ideal - frozen in time, full of irony. There were two standing-room venues, one a banquet hall and the other a multi-leveled, old-school-casino-style ballroom with outstanding sightlines and a kitschy floating-in-space décor. That Tomorrowland vibe could also be found at the Deep End, the best and busiest of ATP's three bars, where hip-hop architect Kool Herc DJ'd a weekend-closing set on Sunday night. There was also a pond you'd be fairly horrified to fall into, indoor and outdoor pools that actually looked OK, some resortlike activities and amenities not worth mentioning, and on-site food options that included solid pizza, less solid barbeque and little else. All of this was connected by massive stretches of couch-filled lobby where the wasted or just plain exhausted could stretch out un-harassed. Security checked wristbands with diligence but didn't play God.

It all made for an atmosphere something like that of a small liberal arts college: You saw the same faces everywhere you went, and made fast friends. The artists stayed on the premises, and many of them enjoyed the entire weekend right alongside the fans, providing encounters whose surreal nature had rapidly diminishing returns. (In other words, people didn't seem too scared to say hi to their heroes.) You could have spotted Lee Ranaldo eating ice cream and watching his kids play air hockey; Jack Lawrence, after a solid set with his Greenhornes, with a bottle of suds by the pond; T-Model Ford (pictured, below) jamming through a battery-powered amp in the lobby and faring better than he did at his proper show; or Ron Jeremy, who introduced Raekwon on Sunday (huh?), kicking it on the Deep End's dance floor. And you couldn't miss filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, whose shock of white hair wound through the crowd at most of the shows I saw. 

Jarmusch curated the final day, and has through his films already done a great deal of musical taste-making. Certain collaborators you may have hoped or expected to find on the bill weren't there - Neil Young, Tom Waits, John Lurie, RZA - but many other of his film or soundtrack veterans were included: GZA, the Greenhornes, Sunn O))), Boris. (Some Jarmusch favorites, like the Stooges and Sleep, made it onto the weekend schedule without his help.) Following ATP tradition, the weekend began with an evening of album performances and continued on Saturday with a versatile line-up chosen by the fest. And if you grew tired of ear-splitting distortion, there was other stuff, too: comedians like Todd Barry (below) and Hannibal Buress, both of whom killed; films from the Criterion Collection; a book panel; and a Q&A with the ageless Thurston Moore and Jarmusch, somewhat marred by concertgoer-submitted queries that were too cute to be either funny or provoke worthwhile discussion.

The music, however, was hardly cute or precious at all. (OK, maybe Girls.) It was, largely, deafeningly loud and rip-roaring - enough so that stage diving and crowd surfing were a constant in the Starlight Ballroom. The Scientists (top of page, and below) in their first-ever Stateside show, opened Friday's "Don't Look Back" program with a run-through of their 1983 classic Blood Red River, making an imposing argument for a full U.S. tour. The quartet's bluesy, lock-step, noir-inflected post-punk sounded sharp and sinister: Kim Salmon's atonal howls and curt falsetto shouts perfectly complemented his guitar work, which primarily consisted of crude slashes of slide and scribble-scrabble runs. (Few guitar bands do anti-technique as effectively, or, for that matter, write songs as stylish as "Swampland.")

Mudhoney still had it, performing its Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles out of order and reminding everyone what grunge is supposed to sound like.

Iggy and the Stooges reminded everyone what a rock and roll show is supposed to be, or can be. Again, the sequencing of the album in question, 1973's Raw Power, was shuffled, but deftly so: "Raw Power" was played first, and the space in front of the stage became a seesawing mob; as usual in the reformed Stooges set, some of that mob - "dancers," "spazzers" and "freaks," per Iggy's request - got onstage to convulse, this time through "Shake Appeal." After the band finished the album material it worked through songs like "1969," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "Fun House" and "No Fun," and bucked any stigmas of nostalgia or revivalism. James Williamson, the original Raw Power-era guitarist who reclaimed his spot in the reformed Stooges after Ron Asheton died in 2009, riffed and wailed with the best of them, and Mike Watt, who hobbled on and offstage with an injured knee, seemed more like an O.G. Stooge than a hired gun. Iggy, at 63, can still make security nervous. He stage dove, crowd surfed, fell off amps into the audience, rocked a speaker back and forth until it wedged underneath the PA, and pulled his weight vocally, whether offering a pseudo-croon on "Gimme Danger" or inciting a slight riot on "Search and Destroy."

Matt Pike's seminal '90s stoner-rock band Sleep, with Neurosis' Jason Roeder on drums, played monolithic heavy metal from its Holy Mountain and Dopesmoker records for two hours and 10 minutes. The power trio's hypnotically grooving sound, particularly Al Cisneros' bass, which felt like a constant breeze, was so loud the set became a disorienting physical experience. It was satisfying to hear Pike, who mostly plays a nine-string guitar at blinding speeds in High on Fire, use his Gibson Les Paul for an entire set and play very, very slow: not slow by rock standards, but with an extreme sense of space found in some strains of the jazz and classical avant-gardes.

An ultra-rare performance by Altar, Sunday's Jarmusch-picked headliner, worked in an even more experimental milieu, in terms of both volume and leaden sonic landscapes. A combination of the American band Sunn O))) and the Japanese group Boris, Altar provided wild and creepy avant-metal ambience before it played a note, with an absurd wall of amplifiers that stretched toward the ceiling and smoke that obscured the stage, filled the room and spilled out into the nearby hallways. The musicians emerged, cloaked - in Sunn O))) fashion - like druids, and proceeded with distorted drones and sirenlike harmonies that overwhelmed the space and guaranteed tinnitus.

Jarmusch's Sunday lineup offered much to fans of artsy post-Sabbath hard rock: White Hills' space rock and Dungen, who brought the crowd's vintage-prog vinyl collections to life, were highlights. The filmmaker, who is currently working on a documentary on the Stooges, also chose solo gigs by Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon and GZA, and both were excellent. Raekwon did something like the standard university-appearance hip-hop set - efficiently designed with hype, choice solo material and classic Wu bangers - and addressed the crowd as if everyone there were born and raised in the sticks of the Hudson Valley. GZA's performance, the only one that required rescheduling all weekend, was rough in parts: It included some slight race-based tension up front, false starts and flubbed verses with guest Raekwon. But it extended way past curfew and was overall more interesting, a raw exhibition for Wu's foremost lyricist. There were, expectedly, some overlapping Wu staples - among them "Triumph" and "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" - but GZA covered Liquid Swords terrain and his virtuosity snowballed as the show progressed; showing his mettle, he rhymed brilliantly a cappella and over what he referred to as "open beats."

Other peaks during Jarmusch's day included Hope Sandoval's dreamy Americana and Fucked Up (both pictured, below) whose Damian Abraham is a transgressive frontman who has much more in common with current Iggy than he does with G.G. Allin. Instead of antics that demean or damage, his in-the-mix punk-rock theatrics were based on community-building: He incited group hugs, shared his drink, frequently turned his mic over to the kids, and was a constant friendly presence around the resort. The band, with its mighty three-guitar attack, played anthems like "Crusades" touting a ferocity that belied its art-school looks.

Saturday included a number of ATP favorites that reflected the organizers' penchant for Gen X-era alt- and indie-rock. Sonic Youth, a band that seemed to represent most of what this weekend was about, was back to being a quartet with Kim Gordon on bass and stuck with older material: a bunch of cuts from Daydream Nation, some from Sister and EVOL, "Death Valley '69," "Shaking Hell."

The Breeders, a band whose famous sisters still play their excellent songs as if they learned them two weeks ago - that isn't a put-down - hit the high points off 1993's Last Splash and pared down to a trio so Kim Deal could perform the Amps' "Empty Glasses." Shellac's brand of thorny, severe post-hardcore was as potent as ever, especially "Dude, Incredible." 

Tortoise played a very rhythmic, nearly danceable set that relaxed its propulsion with sterling, pastoral compositions like "Crest."

Their set was right before former Neu! guitarist Michael Rother's Hallogallo 2010 with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and Tall Firs bassist Aaron Mullan, and the sequencing pointed up how much Tortoise's aesthetic is rooted in Krautrock. The set was worthwhile but the mix was troubling. Part of the appeal of those classic Neu! records is how the rhythms are insistent and propulsive but in a watery way; they're never overpowering. Here the rhythm section was too loud; in particular, Shelley's backbeats seemed to suffocate Rother's guitars and electronics. In stark contrast to most everything else about ATP, it didn't leave much breathing room.     

 [Photo Credit: Abbey Braden; courtesy ATP]

Flamin' Groovies, Jim Jones Revue, Henry Gray, Duane Eddy, SugarPie De Santo, Thee Midniters, Red Simpson, The Trashmen, Honeyboy Edwards, Lazy Lester, LaLa Brooks of the Crystals, Roy Head, Barbara Lynn, DL Menard and more. Plus a music history conference to boot. Sweet!

By Blurt Staff

The 9th Annual Ponderosa Stomp Festival bum-rushes the fall  after eight years of spring events, and fans are marking their calendars on the 24th & 25th of this month.The Ponderosa Stomp throws down in its 9th year with an incredible array of performers. The line up represents American music's expansive range of genres, from twangy guitar genius to bold, sassy R&B, Chicano rock, primal garage, truckin' anthems, Southern soul, blues, Cajun, swamp pop and rockabilly.

Duane Eddy, SugarPie De Santo, Thee Midniters, Red Simpson, The Trashmen, Honeyboy Edwards, Lazy Lester, LaLa Brooks of the Crystals, Roy Head, Barbara Lynn and Cajun genius D.L. Menard will lead the charge.

They are joined by R&B singer Wendy Rene, Texas rockabilly guitarist Huelyn Duvall, New Orleans' Joe Clay, the swamp pop masters Harry Anselmi, Leroy Martin, Vin Bruce blues shouters Young Jessie and Tommy Brown, New Orleans R&B singers Wallace Johnson and Willie West, Lil Buck and the Top Cats, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Johnnie Allan,  Doug Ardoin & Bert Miller, Joyce Harris, Sammy Ridgley, Deke Dickerson and his Eccofonics, Michael Hurtt and his Haunted Hearts, Eve and the Exiles and Homer Henderson.

Concurrently, during the day there will be the American music history conference, presented in partnership with the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame & Museum and the Louisiana State Museum, at the beautiful Cabildo in Jackson Square, in which the great producers, iconoclastic performers, journalists and notable music figures speak on panels and oral histories. This year interviewees include Duane Eddy, Thee Midniters, Ronnie Spector, The Trashmen, Gloria Jones, Roy Head and Dave Bartholomew among others. The historians Holly George-Warren and John Broven is on board; acclaimed journalists like Ann Powers and Chris Morris join the experts from the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame to handle the interviews. Also, an exhibit, curated by The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, "The Secret History of Louisiana Rock ‘n' Roll" is on display at the museum as well. Outside the Cabildo is a record show, for those who'd like to pick up some new albums.

This year's Clandestine Celluloid film series moves to One Eyed Jacks, a few blocks from the Music History Conference being held in the Cabildo in Jackson Square.  The two-day series, with filmmakers Les Blank, Bradley Beesley and others in attendance,  includes the first ever public screening of "It's What's Happening, Baby!, a 1965 TV special hosted by the infamous East Coast DJ Murray the K, a sneak preview of the film-in-progress "Bayou Maharajah" about New Orleans piano legend James Booker, "Hot Pepper", the story of Clifton Chenier , and some extremely clandestine films that have been scarcely seen and hotly pursued by those who have heard the whispers.  

To open the Stomp this year, there will be a performance and interview with bluesman Henry Gray at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on Thursday. Sunday, the Stomp throws an afterparty with Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan of the Flamin' Groovies w/ The A-Bones and the Jim Jones Revue at One Eyed Jacks in the quarter. This is a can't-miss opportunity to experience the principals of the Flamin' Groovies on stage together.

For more information on Ponderosa Stomp:

http://www.ponderosastomp.com/ponderosa_stomp_9.php

http://www.ponderosastomp.com/ponderosa_stomp_music_conference.php

Gee, TMZ got their information wrong - who'd a thunk it!

By Fred Mills

Don't believe everything you read on TMZ.com - and certainly, if you're a responsible media outlet or news aggregator, don't be in a rush to repost what TMZ's staff of mouth breathers puts up on the web.

Yesterday afternoon the music and entertainment worlds were all a-twitter (literally and figuratively) over the news that TMZ posted regarding Lou Reed making singer Susan Boyle cry on Wednesday after he purportedly refused to let her do his classic song "Perfect Day" on the TV show America's Got Talent. According to TMZ, the show's producers needed the actual songwriter's permission, and he turned them down "because he isn't a Boyle fan... When Boyle found out, she dissolved into tears -- unprepared to change her tune for the show. We're told Boyle went to LAX this afternoon -- still in tears -- and is catching a flight back to London."

Not so fast, kids: Anybody with even a rudimentary knowledge of how music publishing and performance clearance works can spot the fuzzy math in that equation. Indeed, by Wednesday night Reed's reps were informing Access Hollywood that Reed "was not the reason Boyle was unable to perform" the song, according to a report at MercuryNews.com. Boyle had apparently only rehearsed that one song, but writes Mercury News, "Reed's reps said that because of a glitch, the song was not cleared for the American market in time for the show, something that had nothing to do with the former Velvet Underground member. The song was cleared for use in the U.K."

Announcing the latest installment in our "Play For Today" series of video game reviews. This time out we take on Batman: The Brave and the Bold The Videogame, Disney Guilty Party, Ace Combat Joint Assault, Metroid: Other M. Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, due on newsstands in mid September.

 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!

(above) Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Disney Guilty Party

Ace Combat Joint Assault

Metroid: Other M

Along with opening act the Flywheels (making their live debut), the Bay Area popsters make out just fine at San Francisco's Make-Out Room last week, on Sept. 10.

By Jud Cost

San Francisco's Make-Out Room, on the surface a pretty drab joint, had never sparkled with so much musical energy in the 10 years I'd been hanging around the place. And about 50 people were lucky/smart enough to witness an unforgettable performance by the Orange Peels and the Flywheels, yet another example of why rock 'n' roll will never die, no matter how many times the ignorant try to bury it.

The Orange Peels, long-established as the Bay Area's best (albeit slowest-rising) pop band, were no surprise to those who love them. Their tight set was a perfect balance of frontman Allen Clapp's classic songs ("Mystery Lawn," "A Change In The Weather") and the newer, slightly noisier stuff from the Peels' recent album 2020 (Minty Fresh). The boyish Clapp, now sporting a cloth cap to finish off his buttoned-down look, was once tagged "the lo-fi Lutheran" by respected indie-rock producer Jeff Saltzman before he moved on to Portland and studio fame with Stephen Malkmus.

The Orange Peels have finally found the man who may be the best in a long line of fine guitarists in John Moremen, and all they had to do was move him over from the drum slot, now filled by Gabe Coan. If you've never had the pleasure, Allen Clapp's music is a curious blend of the innocent, early electric Modern Lovers period of Jonathan Richman, with a few shakes of 1977 Talking Heads-style red pepper flakes.

When the cake comes out of the oven, however, you get an overwhelming sense that if Clapp had been born 20 years earlier he might have penned a long list of Top 40 radio smashes for British Invasion heroes the Hollies, the Zombies and Herman's Hermits. As a preaching-to-the-converted bonus, the Peels reeled off a knockout version of Jimmy Silva's "Hand Of Glory," once a regional hit by New Jersey pop stars the Smithereens.

Tonight at the Make-Out Room also turned out to be a make-up night for the horrible sound endured by the Orange Peels recently at San Jose's Left Coast Live festival. Those unfortunates who missed them last night are well advised to skip the trick-or-treating this year and get to the Apples In Stereo's Halloween show early at San Jose's Blank Club. With both the Apples and Oranges in a fruit & veg extravaganza, sparks should fly.

The X-factor tonight was the maiden voyage of opening act the Flywheels. Lead singer Kim Wonderley, along with the band's bassist, Eric Scott, were once members of the Goats, the last group of much revered songwriter/singer Jimmy Silva before he, fatefully, moved to Seattle in 1994. Two days before Christmas, Silva died after contracting chicken pox, sometimes dangerous to adults. Wonderley, who'd sung a handful of leads for Silva's four brilliant studio albums, hadn't played live in 20 years and expressed severe doubts about her abilities prior to the Flywheels' three rehearsals. She needn't have worried.

Thirty seconds into the set, it's obvious that Kim Wonderley is a natural. Her powerful reading of "Fair Exchange" - a hallmark of this year's Silva tribute album, Through A Faraway Window (SteadyBoy) tracked by Seattle madmen the Young Fresh Fellows - is stunning. It's easy to see from the Flywheels' pair of trib tracks, Wonderley's voice has that smoky, Chrissie Hynde thing going on, but who knew she was as tough a cookie as Joan Jett?

Decked out in Carnaby Street threads kept in mothballs since the '66 heyday of the Troggs, Wonderley's got all the right moves, and her daytime gig as the traffic reporter at SF's all-news radio giant KCBS means she knows what to do behind a microphone. "Jimmy wrote that song for (Get Smart heroine) Barbara Feldon, didn't he?" Wonderley asks of Scott, before introducing the next Silva opus. "Jimmy was a great lyricist who wrote a lot of songs that people loved. This wasn't one of 'em," she smirks before launching into "Name That's A Number."

Something of a belated record-release party for the Silva tribute, the Flywheels' set also sprinkles in a few ringers that include Small Faces chestnut "Sha La La La Lee," a fab Mod staple that had shredded Wonderley's pipes in rehearsal only three weeks earlier. "I've Got Time," another gem whose lyrics proved sadly untrue for Jimmy Silva, sounded terrific, even without the ethereal harmonies added by Christy McWilson (Dave Alvin's Guilty Women) to the tribute version. Wonderley and Scott's simpatico vocal blend and Moremen's soaring guitar, along with Gabe Coan's solid drums and keyboard flourishes by Paul Whiting give the song everything it needs to bring a smile to the face of Silva's boyhood pal, Eddy Irvine.

"As I was driving here for the show tonight, I had this overwhelming feeling I should turn around and run away," confesses Wonderley before kicking off "City Of Sisterly Love," another Silva tribute highlight, cut by Jon Auer of the Posies. Wonderley wraps her tonsils around the song's tongue-twisting couplet ("Cortez said to Pizarro/'Didja hear about Coronado?'/Pizarro said, 'Yeah, but tell me again'") with all the aplomb of someone who's just maneuvered her Mini Cooper around a bag of yard clippings dumped onto the Golden Gate Bridge.

The set was nailed to the wall like a zebra skin in a jungle hut by another tribute-album veteran, the legendary Roy Loney, onetime Flamin' Groovies frontman, who ripped through a rare Silva rocker, "Big House," like they'd practiced it for months. In reality, just like the glory days of Chuck Berry's one-nighters, Loney shook hands with the Flywheels for the first time that night and was off to the races.

"What the hell was up with all Kim's insecurity?" I asked a sweat-drenched Scott afterwards of Wonderley's pre-show jitters. All he could do was shake his head and smile: "Yeah, Kim's great." One would hope, after tonight's spectacular coming-out party, she finally believes it, herself. 

Issued recently by Eagle Vision, Going Home is possibly the closest thing to a definitive bio yet on the West Coast troubadour.

By Lee Zimmerman

Jackson Browne never seems to go out of style. The virtual innovator of the West Coast singer/songwriter idiom, he's survived long after many of his offspring have been forgotten. Even when politics took hold off his muse in seemingly unshakable ways, Browne's music has retained its indelible bonds - the heartbreak, the tragedy and the triumph all laid bare, and often painfully so. Never mind the fact that 40 years have barely intruded on his boyish good looks or that constant reminders of his legacy still linger - in archival recordings, live sessions, books, constant touring and video documentaries like Going Home. The latter resembles the closest thing to a definitive bio, an exhaustive yet introspective glance into Browne's songwriting, his means of tapping into his inner soul and his various musical associations. The narrative is spoken by the subject himself and those who have been closest to him throughout his prodigious career - among them, the ever faithful David Lindley, mentors David Crosby and Graham Nash, and at least one individual who first benefited from his ample song stash, Don Henley.

Nearly two-dozen live performances and several candid, behind the scene sequences form the soundtrack for this profound 90-minute overview, with the concert footage sometimes splicing together footage from various decades literally without missing a beat. One moment, we have the baby-faced Browne, looking innocent and reserved in black and white photos plucked from another era, and in the next frame, there's today's stoic troubadour, channeling his past and shedding light on his idyllic origins. The live shots are still riveting even now, and most, like an onstage appearance with the Eagles in 1974, Browne and Lindley's two man take on "Take It Easy," or clips from the all-star MUSE concerts, give the impression not of simply looking longingly at the past, but of still basking joyfully in the present. Candid, up close and personal, Going Home demonstrates the captivating essence of Browne's songs, their ability to rouse the senses and stir the spirit.

Ultimately, for anyone who loves music that's melodic and pure, Going Home is an inspiring journey, and a touching tribute besides.

Due in January, it was funded via fan donations through PledgeMusic.

By Blurt Staff

Gang Of Four - founding members Jon King (vocals & melodica) and Andy Gill (guitar & vocals), plus Thomas McNeice (bass) and Mark Heaney (drums) - are set to release their first album of all-new material in 16 years on Jan. 25. Bearing the semantically-provocative title Content and described as keying off "the simple but tough and loud sound of drums, guitar, bass and vocals," it'll arrive courtesty the venerable Yep Roc label.

"What we're trying to do is keep it totally stripped down, where everyone in the band makes an equally intense contribution," says King. "What I've been thrilled by over the years is that our music still seems to make sense to our audiences, however old they are, and these days they're mostly under 30.

"They tell us that our music means something, that it makes them want to go start a band. That amazes me. I would never have imagined when we started off that we would have this impact after such a long time."

The album was written by King and Gill, and recorded and produced by Gill. The band also partially funded the recording by tapping the fan-sourced utilities offered by PledgeMusic (similar to IndieGoGo or Kickstarter). "We've always said that musicians should get reasonably paid for what we do," King tells writer Ron Hart, in the new issue of BLURT, in a story about grassroots fund-raising by musicians. "But the new model-where music is shared and downloaded for nothing, where traditional record companies are doomed but where technology-based intermediaries like Apple, who don't invest a cent in talent and are making almost all the money-means that it's no longer possible to earn any money from recorded music."

The album will be available in a standard CD release and on vinyl. It will also be available in the Ultimate Content Can - this contains the new album on CD, a book version of an art piece Jon and Andy have done on ceramic tiles depicting the last 40 years of world history, a book of lyrics, a book of Rotoscoped photographs of the band's emotions, phials of band members' blood and a scratch and sniff booklet which reflects the key areas of human activity. 

Career-spanning collection dips all the way back to pre-Experience days.

By Blurt Staff

Arriving Nov. 16 from Legacy Recordings and Experience Hendrix LLC: West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology, featuring more than four hours of rare and previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix music on a 5 Disc (4 CD/1 DVD) deluxe box set.

The career-spanning box set tracks Hendrix's journey from little known R&B sideman to international stardom through an unprecedented assemblage of previously unavailable recordings.  West Coast Seattle Boy is not a collection of existing Jimi Hendrix albums but instead 45 unreleased Jimi Hendrix live and studio recordings including demos and alternate versions of songs from Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland. West Coast Seattle Boy includes Hendrix's never before heard version of Bob Dylan's 'Tears Of Rage," solo acoustic recordings of Electric Ladyland favorites like "Long Hot Summer Night" and "1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be)" as well as never before heard live performances from Berkeley and the legendary Band Of Gypsys Fillmore East concert on New Year's Eve 1969 combined together with such new Hendrix songs as "Hear My Freedom," "Hound Dog Blues," "Lonely Avenue" and more.

Include are demos, alternate takes, live concert jewels and more -- from all phases of the artist's recording career (1964 -1970). In particular, it offers the most complete collection of Jimi's pre-Experience R&B performances (including his singles with the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, Don Covay, King Curtis and more) to ever be officially anthologized, while bringing together the most comprehensive set of fully realized songs, never before heard live performances, alternate studio takes, acoustic and electric demos, and other rarities. See the tracklisting for the four CDs, below.

It also includes Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child, a new 90 minute documentary directed by  Grammy-winning Bob Smeaton (Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, Beatles: The Studio Recordings, Band of Gypsys).  An autobiographical journey told in the musician's own words as read by Parliament-Funkadelic's Bootsy Collins, the film incorporates interviews with Hendrix, coupled with the artist's letters, writings and recordings. The documentary features some of Jimi's greatest performances as well as rare and never before seen footage and photos including, for the first time ever, examples from the Hendrix family archive of the late guitarist's personal drawings, postcards home to his father, song drafts, sketches, and lyrics.

In a statement, Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix and co-producer of the box, said, "Who better to tell the incredible story of a man's life than the man himself? Jimi was amazing and only his music, with tones and textures that he conjured, can capture the colorful and expansive essence of his time here on earth.  I am enthralled with this all-encompassing new anthology which not only illuminates his years on both sides of the Atlantic and beautifully reveals his versatility as a performer, from his R&B origins to his explosion on the pop culture scene, but highlights who he was for those who knew and loved him. This vast exploration of my brother's musical and life experiences leaves no stone unturned and is sure to broaden our understanding of who Jimi really was, not only as a legendary musician, but also as a timeless messenger of love."

Also arriving on November 16 from the artist Rolling Stone magazine called "the greatest guitarist of all time" are deluxe editions of Jimi Hendrix Experience: BBC Sessions and Jimi Hendrix: Blues, his legendary Live At Woodstock performance, and Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year, the highly collectible Jimi Hendrix Christmas EP.

A single disc "Best Of" edition of West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology will be available, with or without the Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child DVD documentary.  West Coast Seattle Boy will also be available in a deluxe edition featuring 8 12" vinyl LPs.

Included on Disc One are the early years:

1. Isley Brothers - Testify (1964)                                                                       

2. Don Covay & the Goodtimers - Mercy, Mercy (1964 - #1 Cashbox R&B - #35 Billboard Hot 100)                                                                                   

3. Don Covay & the Goodtimers - Can't Stay Away (1964)                                              

4. Rosa Lee Brooks - My Diary (1965 - written by Arthur Lee)

5. Rosa Lee Brooks - Utee (1965)                                                                                     

6. Little Richard - I Don't Know What You Got But It's Got Me (1965)

7. Little Richard - Dancing All Around The World (1965)                       

8. Frank Howard & The Commanders - I'm So Glad (1966 - written by Billy Cox)           

9. Isley Brothers - Move Over And Let Me Dance (1965)                                               

10. Isley Brothers - Have You Ever Been Disappointed (1965)                                      

11. Ray Sharpe - Help Me (Get The Feeling) (Part I) (1966)                                          

12. The Icemen - (My Girl) She's A Fox (1966)                                                           

13. Jimmy Norman - That Little Old Groovemaker (1966)                                              

14. Billy Lamont - Sweet Thang (1968)                       

15. King Curtis - Instant Groove (1969)

Disc Two focuses on 1967-68 and Hendrix's breakout sessions with the Jimi Hendrix Experience:

1. Fire  (1967) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

2. Are You Experienced (1967)  - Previously Unreleased Recording

3. May This Be Love (1967) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

4. Can You See Me (1967) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

5. Love Or Confusion  (1967) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

6. Little One (1967) - Previously Unreleased Recording (featuring Dave Mason on sitar)

7. Mr. Bad Luck (1967) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

8. Cat Talking To Me (1967) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

9. Castles Made Of Sand (1967) - Previously Unreleased Recording

10. Tears Of Rage (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

11. Hear My Train A Comin' (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

12. 1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be) (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

13. Long Hot Summer Night (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

14. My Friend (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

15. Angel (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

16. Calling All The Devil's Children (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

17. New Rising Sun (1968) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

Disc Three revisits 1968-1969:

1. Hear My Freedom (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

2. Room Full Of Mirrors (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

3. Shame, Shame, Shame (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

4. Messenger (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

5. Hound Dog Blues (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

6. Untitled Basic Track  (1968) - Previously Unreleased Recording

7. Star Spangled Banner (1969) - Previously Unreleased Original Mix

8. Purple Haze (1969) - Previously Unreleased Original Mix

9. Young/Hendrix (1969) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

10. Mastermind (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

11. Message To Love (1969) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

12. Fire (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

13. Foxey Lady (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

Disc Four opens with Hendrix's incendiary New Year's Eve performance of "Stone Free" at New York's Fillmore East on December 31, 1969 and closes with a previously unheard recording from Hendrix alone in his Greenwich Village apartment in 1970:

1. Stone Free (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

2. Burning Desire (1970) - Previously Unreleased Recording

3. Lonely Avenue (1969) - Previously Unreleased Recording

4. Everlasting First (1970) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording (featuring Arthur Lee)

5. Freedom (1970) - Previously Unreleased Recording

6. Peter Gunn/Catastrophe (1970) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

7. In From The Storm (1970) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

8. All God's Children  (1970) - Previously Unreleased Recording

9. Red House (1970) -  Previously Unreleased Recording

10. Play That Riff [Thank You] (1970) - Previously Unreleased Recording

11. Bolero (1970) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

12. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) - Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

13. Suddenly November Morning (1970) - Previously Unreleased Recording

Meanwhile, let us offer you some of Keenan's wine tips...

By Blurt Staff

A Perfect Circle have returned from their self-imposed hiatus.  The band, led by Maynard James Keenan (Tool, Puscifer) and Billy Howerdel (Ashes Divide), will embark on a five-city tour this fall (dates and ticket on-sale information will be announced shortly - keep checking the band's official website).

Shows in Phoenix (Marquee Theatre), Los Angeles (Avalon), Seattle (Showbox at The Market) and San Francisco (The Fillmore) will be three-night stops with each night featuring one of A Perfect Circle's three albums in its entirety (Mer de Noms, Thirteenth Step and eMOTIVe).  Las Vegas (The Pearl) will be a two-night outing (Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step).  

The band will perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Oct. 27.

A Perfect Circle have sold four million records in the U.S.  After the band announced their hiatus in 2005, Keenan focused on Tool , launched the multimedia project Puscifer and worked on his burgeoning Arizona vineyards. 

Read the recent BLURT interview with Keenan about his vineyards, his winery and his drinking and eating tips here.

 Howerdel went on to form Ashes Divide who released their debut album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, in 2008.

Blurt shutterbug Scott Dudelson attended the September 4 FYF Fest at Los Angeles State Historic Park in Los Angeles and we've got a selection of his photos, below. (You can also check out Dudelson's photoblog for BLURT elsewhere on our site.)

(above) Thee Oh Sees

Ariel Pink

!!!

7 Seconds

AA Bondy

Abe Vigoda

Best Coast

Ceremony

Cults

Davila 666

Dead Man's Bones

Let's Wrestle

Local Natives

Lower Dens

Man Man

Mountain Goats

Off!

Screaming Females

Ted Leo

The Blow

The Growlers

The Rapture

The Sleep

The Soft Pack

The Unbroken

Warpaint

As our marquee feature today we're running a story on San Francisco indie rockers Film School. Writer Annamarya Scaccia interviewed guitarist Greg Bertens at length, and she additionally polled Bertens and other members of the band about their fave flicks that are deeply identified with their home state of Cali. (Intriguingly, only one of the musicians in Film School actually attended film school. Go figure.) So below are the flicks they picked - fire up that Netflix queue, folks.

Picks from Greg Bertens (guitar/vocals):

Bullitt (1968)

"Cop Steve McQueen tearing through the streets of San Francisco in a 1968 green Mustang Fastback - to this day one of the best car chases on film."

Milk (2008)

"Also shot in San Francisco. I grew up in the Bay Area and heard about Harvey Milk's murder and the Twinkie defense, but was too young at the time to really understand what happened. In the late ‘90s, I lived in the Castro Area for a couple years, but didn't realize at the time I was walking by Milk's old office and apartment almost once a week."

Pick from Lorelei Plotczyk (bass/vocals):

Clueless (1995)

"As the one member of the band who actually did go to film school, I would be tempted to name Sunset Boulevard, Rebel Without a Cause, or The Graduate. But I came of age in the ‘90s, and so I have to instead go with... Clueless! When this came out, I was a 15-year-old tomboy skater chick who dressed in insanely baggy and oversize clothes. The next day at school, inspired by the fashion in the movie, I wore a girly outfit that included a plaid "skort." It was so out of character for me that I was continually mistaken for a new student throughout the day. Whatever, as if." 

Pick from Jason Ruck (keyboards):

Barton Fink (1991)

"I saw this before moving to California from the east coast (btw, I want to start a side band called Least Coast) and I was intrigued by the old Hollywood feel of it, albeit through the twisted lens of the Coens. I suppose I got a similar feeling after seeing LA Confidential, but, by then, I was in San Francisco and was not allowed to like anything about LA. Whenever I get writer's block, I think of this movie.  But then I think of John Goodman running down a flaming hallway yelling ‘I'll show you the life of the mind!,' and I get scared."

Pick from Ken Bernard (drums)

Laurel Canyon (2002)

"I watched it because the actual band in the movie had Lou Barlow of Sebadoh and members of Red Red Meat. It made me kind of excited about being in LA because of the all the great imagery. The idea of recording in a house in the hills seemed like something small and insignificant to most, but it was a dream for me, so the movie kind of spoke to me in that sense. The soundtrack was really well done. There's nothing wrong with having a little Mercury Rev for you musical montage!"

It's not you, it's me: BLURT readers are, like, so over music festivals.

By Fred Mills

Back in late August, for our latest BLURT poll (you know, that silly thing that appears on the left-hand side of our home page, and occasionally generates actual data instead of superfluous rankings), we queried the readers on a topic we felt certain would be near and dear to their hearts: contemporary music festivals. What with an extremely busy concert season once again this year, starting late spring and extending into early fall, it seemed a no-brainer that everyone would have attended at least one such event and would have some strong feelings about it and others.

But as the saying goes - what if they gave a festival and nobody came?

Turns out this poll was one of our weakest-drawing polls ever. You can place the blame on the question or the methodology, but it sure looks like you folks have finally had your fill, as only 23 people responded (compared to 75-125, on average, each time we post a new poll).

We asked:

The 2010 festival season is winding down, with just a handful of high profile events like ATP, ACL and MoogFest left. Which of these were your favorites?

Ultra Music (March 26)

Coachella (April 16)

Stagecoach (April 24)

Merlefest (April 29)

Rock On The Range (May 22)

Sasquatch! (May 29)

Mountain Jam (June 4)

Bonnaroo (June 10)

Glastonbury (June 23)

Electric Daisy Carnival (June 25)

Pitchfork (July 16)

Lollapalooza (Aug. 5)

Wilco Solid Sound (Aug. 13)

Mile High Festival (Aug. 14)

Outside Lands (Aug. 14)

Some good events, eh? But as you can see from the results, below, only a handful were picked, with most of those receiving a mere 1, 2 or 3 votes. Representative sample or not, this meant that the first-ever Wilco Solid Sound festival, held up in Massachusetts on August 13, was the clear winner, with a whopping (cough) SIX votes, or 26% of the total.

The Wilco bash did, in fact generate a glowing comment by reader "Chandler," however, and it's worth publishing here:  "Hands down the best festival type situation I have ever been to in my 30 years of going to concerts was Wilco's Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. That's saying a lot since I have Pitchfork and Lolla in my backyard and I eschew their overheated and overcrowded big fests for Solid Sound. It was a calculated guess that it would be worth it and Wilco and Higher Ground delivered."

Meanwhile, though, what does all this portend for the 2011 festival season? Our magic 8-ball is at the repair shop, so we cannot say for sure, but to all you wannabe promoters out there, take heed: things look ominous. The BLURT readership has spoken...

Film will also be included with the DVDs in the upcoming box set.

By Fred Mills

Nearly a year ago word arrived from the Bruce Springsteen camp that a box set containing a remastered Darkness on the Edge of Town along with assorted rarities was in the work. Speaking to BLURT at the time, Backstreets magazine editor Chris Phillips speculated on what might turn up on the box and enthused, "If this thing is anything like the 30th anniversary Born to Run box -- and signs point to yes -- it's going to be a must-have."

Then - nothing. At least nothing until a couple of weeks ago, when Columbia Records and Springsteen dropped the bomb that the box was finally finished and would arrive in stores on Nov. 16. It's to be a 3CD/3DVD collection comprising the original album, two CDs of outtakes, a documentary on the making of the album titled The Promise and a slew of 1976-78 live footage (notably a semi-legendary concert from Houston in '78 on the Darkness tour). Full details, including a video trailer, at BruceSpringsteen.net.

Meanwhile, today, Billboard.com is reporting details on the aforementioned documentary, which will have its premiere tonight at the Toronto International Film Festival (3 additional screenings are scheduled for the TIFF, on Wednesday and Saturday). Actor Edward Norton will be talking about the film with Springsteen prior to the screening tonight, Norton being quoted by Billboard as saying, "I've seen the film, and it's amazing to see him at that age going through the creative process on it. Any artist, I think, will appreciate the chance to see someone who is as great as he is at that age struggling and struggling and struggling to get things to where he hears them in his head."

The Promise, directed by Thom Zimny, will subsequently air on HBO on October 7.

Two tribs, one recently released, one due next year, attempt to answer that question.

By Perez Mills

It's an idea whose time has come... but perhaps should be left to go away. Pitchfork is reporting on not one but two Guided By Voices tribute albums - one,  which is apparently due from the No More Fake Labels label in early 2011, and the other on Wild Animal Kingdom, which has just issued Guided by Guided by Voices on cassette.

The former, we learn, will feature the Flaming Lips, whose Wayne Coyne has posted an intriguing video clip of him singing "Smothered in Hugs." The latter includes such heavy hitters as Harpoon Forever, Fluffy Lumbers, Air Waves and Halelujah the Hills, so you know you are already racing to track that down.

But ask yourself: with so much extant GbV product already out there, much of it of such high quality that no cover could ever do it justice, not to mention the possibility of seeing the reunited band perform this fall at the Matador anniversary bash and selected other national dates, do you really need to listen to a bunch of other bands doing GbV songs? It actually defeats the purpose of listening to a Robert Pollard composition - let's face it, if it ain't him singing it, it ain't a "real" GbV tune.

All respect to brother Wayne and all the others, but this would seem to be an instance of the tribute album syndrome swallowing its own tail. Tributes have been on a downward spiral, quality wise, for some time now. You have to ask yourself, how many of these damn things have I bought, and how many did I actually listen to?

Wait - here's an idea. "A Reggae Tribute to Guided By Voices." No? How about a fresh entry in the "Pickin' On..." series of bluegrass tributes to rock bands, hmmm?

"Digging For Something" taken from new album Majesty Shredding. See the clip, below.

By Blurt Staff

Superchunk premiered their new video for "Digging For Something" at Videogum this week, and you can view it below. Directed by former Daily Show writer Scott Jacobson, the video features special guests John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats, comedian Ted Travelstead, and The Love Language (described by Videogum as "a bunch of dudes from LookAtThisFuckingHipster.com").

Meanwhile, the album from which the tune is culled, Majesty Shredding, is out this week. We've already filled you in on that, so let's just add that the band appears next Monday night on the Jimmy Fallon show. And we've got a full-page feature on Superchunk in the new issue of BLURT, arriving at newsstands this very moment.

It's a pretty fun article as it has drummer Jon Wurster and guitarist Jim Wilbur reminiscing on assorted highs and lows they've experienced with the band over the course of the past two decades. Among the former: playing Lollapalooza and meeting Mike Watt. The latter: well.... there was that time they played on the same bill with Sugar Ray, for starters....

Superchunk on tour:

9/16 Durham, NC - The Nasher Museum
9/17  Washington, DC- 930 Club w/ Let's Wrestle & Tommy Keene
9/18  New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom w/ Let's Wrestle SOLD OUT
9/19  Brooklyn, NY- Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Wild Nothing & Todd Barry SOLD OUT
9/21  Boston, MA- Royale w/ Versus
9/22  Philadelphia, PA- Trocadero w/ Versus
9/23 Montreal, QC- Le National
10/2 Las Vegas, NV - Matador 21
10/13 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret w/ Telekinesis
10/14 Seattle, WA - The Showbox w/ Teenage Fanclub & Telekinesis
10/15 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom w/ Teenage Fanclub & Telekinesis
10/19 Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box at Fonda w/ Telekinesis

Kinda like a super Big Mac, only with fewer calories... see the intriguing video commercial below.

By Blurt Staff

The Dead Weather will be releasing three versions of their single "Blue Blood Blues" this week including a brand new format entitled the Triple Decker Record^TM.  The Triple Decker Record ^TM designed by Jack White and assembled by United Record Pressing Nashville, TN is a unique 7" version of the single embedded inside a 12" version.  Triple Decker Record ^TM will be available in a limited edition of 300 copies, 100 of which will be on-sale at the Third Man Records store in Nashville, and the  remainder available randomly through mail order and at select brick and mortar vinyl dealers worldwide.

For those who can't snag it in time, an alternate 7" version of "Blue Blood Blues" with a double-sided cover will be available as a standalone purchase and comes with b-side "Jawbreaker (live). Tri Color 45s of the single will also be available. The 12" version will come with alternate B side "No Hassle Night"/"I Just Want to Make Love to You" (live).

The 7" and tri-color 45 are available today at Third Man Records and via the web store. The 12" and Triple Decker Record^TM will be available in the same locations this Friday, September 17th.

Taking place last week, Sept. 4, 5 and 6 at the Seattle Center grounds, the 40^th anniversary bash featured everyone from Dylan, Weezer and Mary J. Blige to Wheedle's Groove, the Constellations and - sort of - Courtney Love.

By Gillian G. Gaar

Seattle's Bumbershoot festival celebrated its 40^th anniversary with headlining spots from Bob Dylan, Weezer, and Mary J. Blige - not to mention the hundreds of other musical acts, theatre and comedy events, films, and art shows that took over the grounds of the Seattle Center over Labor Day weekend.

The weather mostly cooperated too, given Seattle's notoriously unpredictable weather, especially this year (mostly spent under a pall of grey - "The winter that never ended and the summer that never began," as one local wag put it). Though there was only a smattering of sunshine, no rain fell until Monday, which even then didn't damped the spirits of Blige's set.

There are two ticket prices for Bumbershoot; the cheaper option gets you into most of the fest; the pricier ticket also gets you into the outdoor Memorial Stadium (where the headliners played). Bob Dylan's Saturday night set drew the most packed house, and a familiar scent wafted through the air as he kicked off with "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." There were plenty of old favorites ("Just Like A Woman," "Highway 61 Revisited," and closing with "Like A Rolling Stone"), the backing band conjuring up an amalgamation of country, blues, and rock, with longtime fans forgiving over the fact that well, Dylan's voice is decidedly showing its age (the adjective most commonly used to describe it being "gravelly").

On Sunday, Weezer gave every indication of having a ball throughout their energetic set, with lead singer/guitarist Rivers Cuomo bouncing around like there was no tomorrow. But even that wasn't enough for him. He also climbed on the stage's scaffolding and at one point seemingly disappeared entirely, only to be revealed bopping away in the crowd (how did he do that?), as the band bopped into a cover of MGMT's "Kids." But Cuomo wasn't done yet; when he finally made it back to the stage he resurfaced in a blonde wig and pulled off a rousing cover of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." Yowsa!

Mary J. Blige was the Stadium headliner on Monday, and unfortunately had to bear the brunt of the rainfall. But Blige proved to be a trouper, turning up the heat on such numbers as "No More Drama," "Family Affair," and "Real Love," prancing in front of her backing band (with its host of backing singers), as an impressive light show unfurled around her. For an event not known for spotlighting hip-hop, Blige showed us just what we'd been missing.

Most of the drama at this year's fest surrounded the anticipated performance of former local resident Courtney Love, back fronting her band Hole. The local media had spent much time debating on what state she'd be in; the Seattle Times even suggested missing the show ("They're terrible in concert and Love is embarrassing in an unfunny way").

The most Courtney-esque moment was not on stage, but at a special pre-show performance taped for KEXP, that Blurt wasn't hip enough to hear about. Love performed four songs (accompanied by guitarist Micko Larkin), and chatted at great length on various subjects (her chat lasted longer than the song performances), including the upcoming Kurt Cobain bio-pic, pulling in Heavier Than Heaven author Charles R. Cross, sitting in the audience, to participate in the discussion. She also dedicated her cover of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" to Cross.

At the show a few hours later, Love emerged on stage to the sounds of Ravel's "Bolero," then launched into a medley of "Pretty On The Inside"/"Sympathy For The Devil"/"Skinny Little Bitch." Her voice wasn't actually much better than Bob Dylan's, but Love does have an undeniable stage presence that makes her compelling to watch. All the Live Through This material rocked hard; when Love is matched with a good song, she's at her best. She performed "Jeremy" again, stating she'd "bury" the song in Seattle as "We suck at it." After the performance, someone down front obviously said something along the same lines, prompting a jocular "Oh, fuck you, you loved it!" from Love. The show began and ended on time, disappointing those hoping for a meltdown, and Love obligingly jumped in the photo pit at the set's conclusion to shake hands with well-wishers, though she declined to sign a copy of that week's Seattle Weekly, which featured an unflattering portrait of Love shooting botox in her lips with a Space Needle-styled syringe; she elsewhere referred to the cover as "irresponsible" (she evidently didn't read the fawning article inside).

Other musical highlights included a terrifically funky set from Wheedle's Groove, an all-star supergroup of singers and musicians from Seattle's soul scene of the 1970s, recently the subject of the documentary Wheedle's Groove. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was on hand to announce the city's dedication of "Wheedle's Groove Day," in acknowledgment of this "overlooked jewel in the crown of soul music." They soon had the crowd jumping with hits from back in the day and unexpected covers like "Hey Jude." (For Seattle residents, another show is planned for 10/1 at Neumo's).

Other acts Blurt caught over the weekend included a rhythmic set by Atlanta's Constellations, whose singer Elijah Jones pounded his drums so hard he bellowed "These bongos aren't gonna last!" at one point The Maldives were mellow and dreamy (at least when Blurt walked by), and Chris Ballew (of Presidents of the United States of America), in his alter-ego of kids performer "Casper Babypants," entertained the kiddies with a cover of Nirvana's "Sliver." The Decemberists were in a chatty mood during their set, with lead singer/guitarist Colin Meloy praising the crowd for their vocals during the singalongs: "Beautiful singing! Must be the Puget Sound marinated the vocal chords of each and every one of you!" Billy Bragg's between songs commentary was as entertaining as the songs themselves, such as his constant berating of Starbucks, and making the pointed observation, "If any of you are going around thinking Obama is as bad as Bush, you have very short memories." And a reconstituted English Beat guaranteed that the fest would end with an audience sent on their way in an upbeat mood.

The musical acts get most of the attention, but there's plenty of other activity taking place at Bumbershoot, and the visual arts offerings are among the most interesting. "Counterculture Comix: A 30 Year Survey of Seattle Alternative Cartoonists," curated by Fantagraphics' events coordinator Larry Reid, showed how much of the look of the alternative pop culture scenes of the 1980s-on began with artists in the Pacific Northwest. The early work of Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, and Charles Burns (all students at Olympia's Evergreen State College), Bruce Pavitt's early fanzine version of Sub Pop, and issues of Seattle music paper The Rocket all lay the groundwork for Fantagraphics' eventual move to Seattle. Peter Bagge's "Buddy Bradley" comics told the story of Seattle's music scene as well as any biography, and the tenor of the "grunge" era was nicely satirized in a Pat Moriarity comic on display, entitled "Mr. Statistic Moves To Seattle," in which the protagonist moaned "Dropped from Sub Pop Records, fired from Expressorama and banned from the Blue Moon [tavern], all in one day!"

Other art exhibits included Hugo Solis "Metaphors for Dead Pianos"; two pianos with their tops off, wired with sensors that picked up movements as people walked by, creating the kind of eerie sounds you might hear in a horror film. Erika Simmons' "Ghosts in the Machine" portraits used unspooled cassette tape to fashion portraits of Debbie Harry and Lauryn Hill. And an entire venue was given over to "Flatstock," which both exhibited and sold poster art; you could even watch posters being newly silkscreened.

There was also a preview of excerpts from the upcoming documentary I Am Secretly An Important Man, about the late Seattle poet Jesse Bernstein (whose album Prison was posthumously released on Sub Pop; the album's "No No Song" was used in Natural Born Killers). The footage in the film was evocative and haunting, director Peter Sillen casting Seattle as an industrial wasteland that's somehow still beautiful; musician/producer Steve Fisk and cellist Lori Goldston provided atmospheric sounds during the silent portion of the screening. The film's Seattle premiere will be 10/6 at the Moore Theatre (where Bernstein once opened for William S. Burroughs) with a week-long run beginning 10/22 at the Northwest Film Forum.

 Photo Credits:

-Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Courtney Love, Billy Bragg by Christopher Nelson/courtesy Bumbershoot

-Weezer by Morgan Keuler/courtesy Bumbershoot

-Constellations, Wheedle's Groove, posters, living statue by Gillian G. Gaar

Sure-to-sellout event takes place Halloween weekend.

By Blurt Staff

So by now you've heard about MoogFest, a 3-day celebration of all things Robert Moog and more, to be held Oct. 29-31 (Halloween weekend, appropriately enough) in the Moog Foundation's home base of Asheville, NC. Nearly 50 acts will be appearing over the course of the weekend at three venues, and based on the strength of the lineup, it's sure to be a sellout. There will also be workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more taking place in Asheville that weekend - full details tba at the event's official website, Moogfest.net.

So we're holding a ticket giveaway contest: just click over to our contest page to fill out the forms and enter. Trust us, you'll be glad you did.

The artists appearing at Moogfest include: DEVO, MGMT, Big Boi, Girl Talk, Panda Bear, RJD2, Mutemath, Dan Deacon, Van Dyke Parks, Clare & the Reasons, Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich & Fussible, Saturn Never Sleeps, The Octopus Project, Kuroma, Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Jonsi, Disco Biscuits, Caribou, Four Tet, Matmos, Dam-Funk, School of Seven Bells, Jon Hopkins, Emeralds, Mountain Man, Ikonika, Cee-Lo, Pretty Lights, Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells, El-P, Neon Indian, Omar Souleyman, Mimosa, Two Fresh, DJ Spooky.

More details can be found at BLURT here and here.

Friday night, in fact. Make sure John Pitts is on the guest list, boys.

By Blurt Staff

Surfer Blood kick off their hotly anticipated monthlong US tour Friday in Orlando - accompanying the acclaimed indie upstarts for most dates will be Drums. It'll stretch across to the west coast and then back again to wrap in Philly on Oct. 22. We'll have some coverage of the tour coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

Meanwhile, we've got the band's new video which you can see, below. It's for the song "Floating Vibes," the catchy leadoff track from their debut album Astro Coast, which arrived way back in January but remains a strong contender for year-end Top 10 lists.

Tour Dates:

09.17: Orlando, FL @ the Social*
09.18: Miami, FL @ Grand Central*
09.19: St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre*
09.20: Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds*
09.21: Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder*
09.23: Champaign, IL @ Pygmalion Music Festival
09.24: Cincinnati, OH @ Midpoint Music Festival
09.25: Grand Rapids, MI @ Rosa Parks Circle
09.27: Phoenix, AZ @ Clubhouse*
09.28: Pomona,CA @ Glass House*
09.29: Los Angeles, CA @ The Music Box*
10.03: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom*
10.05: Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret*
10.07: Boise, ID @ Neurolux*
10.08: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge*
10.10: Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre*
10.13: Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre*
10.12: Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium*
10.14: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall*
10.17: San Francisco, CA @ Treasure Island Festival
10.20: New York, NY @ Webster Hall*
10.22: Philadelphia, PA @ Making Time at Voyeur Night Club*

*with The Drums

Including the release of their new single. And they recently put on a highly successful benefit concert.

By Blurt Staff

Yesterday the Smashing Pumpkins issued new track "Spangled" exclusively as a free download for 24 hours through the website for The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund: www.sweetrelief.org.  It's now available today (Wednesday, September 15) at www.smashingpumpkins.com where a widget is also offered that enables fans to host the song anywhere on the web.

The band's highly active in the Sweet Relief community, in fact. When fans went to the Sweet Relief website, they were encouraged to donate to the organization, although it is not a requirement to contribute money when freely downloading the song. The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems.  Visitors to the site who donate $10.00 (or more) to the Sweet Musicians Relief Fund can also enter a raffle to win a Fender "Billy Corgan Stratocaster" custom guitar that will be signed by the musician.

The Pumpkins recently raised over $80,000 at their sold-out benefit concert July 27 at Chicago's Metro for Matthew Leone, bassist for Chicago band Madina Lake. The money is going to the Matthew Leone Fund at Sweet Relief and is helping to pay for the ongoing medical care needed for the musician who this past June was hospitalized with severe brain trauma after intervening to stop a woman he passed on the street from being beaten by her husband.

Pyramids, Sailors With Wax Wings, White Moth, etc.

By Blurt Staff

White Moth (aka R. Loren, from Pyramids and Sailors With Wax Wings) will officially debut on Oct. 12 with a self-titled album on the Angel Oven label. It features an eye-popping cast of guests, too: Alec Empire (Atari Teenage Riot), Lydia Lunch, Dälek, Sam Hillmer (Zs), Shelby Cinca (Frodus), Collin Marston (Krallice), John Gossard (Assunder), Christoph Heeman (HNAS) and others.

New track "The Sea Was Blue Meadow" has just premiered at Brooklyn Vegan. And you can also check out footage of Shelby Cinca laying down vocals for the new record (the song "You Texas, Dark Star") in the YouTube clip at this link. Incidentally, Sailors With Wax Wings also will be debuting in October, a week earlier. That self-titler will feature guests David Tibet (Current 93), Ted Parsons (Swans, Jesu, Godflesh), Simon Scott (Slowdive), Aidan Baker (Nadja), Vern Rumsey (Unwound), Dominick Fernow (Hospital Productions, Cold Cave, Prurient), Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) and Marissa Nadler.

 Tracklisting:

1. There was a man with tongue of wood
2. Two women, knitting
3. The sea was blue meadow
4. Shoot the clock
5. You texas, dark star
6. Blood and torn grass
7. Smiles warm red light
8. To the cathedral

Taken from Pharmacy of Love - just in time for the American tour.

By Blurt Staff

BLURT faves Bettie Serveert kick off their U.S. tour next week in support of their recent album Pharmacy of Love. See the tour dates, below; the road trek begins Sept. 23 in Boston and will run through the end of October.

Meanwhile, check out the band's brand new video - it's for the track  "The Pharmacy".

Tour Dates:

 Sep 23: T.T. the Bear's - Cambridge, MA
Sep 24: Maxwell's - Hoboken, NJ
Sep 25: Southpaw - Brooklyn, NY
Sep 26: Daniel Street - Milford, CT
Sep 28: The Drake Hotel - Toronto, ON
Sep 29: Grog Shop - Cleveland Heights, OH
Sep 30: Magic Bag - Ferndale, MI
Oct 01: The Abbey - Chicago, IL
Oct 02: First Avenue & 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN
Oct 04: Larimer Lounge - Denver, CO
Oct 06: Empyrean Coffee - Spokane, WA
Oct 07: Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
Oct 08: Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC
Oct 10: Dante's - Portland, OR
Oct 12: Cafe Du Nord - San Francisco, CA
Oct 13: Spaceland - Los Angeles, CA
Oct 16: Plush - Tucson, AZ
Oct 17: Launchpad - Albuquerque, NM
Oct 19: The Prophet Bar - Dallas, TX
Oct 20: Stubb's - Austin, TX
Oct 22: Blueberry Hill - St. Louis, MO
Oct 23: Exit / In - Nashville, TN
Oct 24: Earl - Atlanta, GA
Oct 25: Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC
Oct 27: Brillobox - Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 28: North Star Bar - Philadelphia, PA
Oct 29: Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Oct 30: The Record Collector Store - Bordentown, NJ
Oct 31: Iota Club & Café - Arlington, VA

Is it an EP, an LP, or Memorex? Only their hairdressers know for sure. New release is out next week on Hydra Head.

By Ron Hart

"You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world" is the mantra of New York's all-news AM radio station WINS. That span of time might be well and good for one to catch the headlines of the day, but falls quite short on expectations when you have to wait over two years to hear new material from one of the best post-stoner metal bands rattling the American landscape. The Miami-based trio is calling its follow-up to 2008's brain-melting masterstroke Meanderthal an LP.

But as good as these eight quintessential Torche rockers that make up Songs for Singles may be, particularly the epic closing number "Out Again," to call this a full-length album at just 22 minutes long just has gyp written all over it - almost like when you get a tiny amount of pasta on a massive dinner plate at your local Macaroni Grill. Torche can call this a longplayer all day long. But don't get it twisted-to quote the Digital Underground, "This is an EP release."

Yes, we are serious. As evidenced on the recent  Live - The Early Years (Eagle Records), this band could kick out some serious jams, so take THAT, punk purists. Watch the video clips, below, for further evidence. All respect to Mike Edwards (R.I.P.), too.

By Mary Leary

It's hard to believe the gawky cat with the halo of unruly curls sold more than 50 million albums with this outfit alone. Or that George Harrison, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty have been among the bright lights eager to collaborate with or be produced by him. The other players are mostly skinny, geeky-looking guys with cellos or violins. The motley crew lays into "King of the Universe" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with the stagy ferocity usually associated with Roxy Music or David Bowie. Then the weird-looking cat with the halo of unruly curls opens his mouth, and that sound - the one that's made so many women say "Yes" to improbable propositions; that keeps fingers from nixing classic album format stations that were getting boring until that ELO song came on - pierces the air.

Jeff Lynne's odd, Pop/Classical/Rock/Theatrics mash could have been jettisoned by his restless imagination. Instead, watching his career has been a bit like holding one's breath as a tightrope walker tiptoes over the wire at the center of the ring. Ever since collaborating on the Move albums that were sought by collectors back in the day before everything went viral or digital, most everything has worked out. From the beginning, ELO performances packed a combination of splendid musicianship with ringmaster tricks that drew widening crowds. It didn't hurt that Lynne grabbed some of the vibe given off by The Beatles at their most stately, circa Magical Mystery Tour or Sergeant Pepper's.

If that's all a bit much to take in, here's what happened when the band tackled "Great Balls of Fire" at Brunel University in 1973. Lynne's clarion shout of "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain" calls the troops to arms. The others kick in, with the rhythm section (Mike de Albuquerque/bass and Bev Bevan/drums) throwing a heavy bottom onto a backbeat that never falters. Richard Tandy nails Jerry Lee Lewis's piano part. Lynne tosses off some perfectly unobtrusive lead bits. Trailing a long black cape (Why? Why not?), Mik Kaminski answers these with light-speed violin bowing. Then the camera cuts to 21-year-old Hugh McDowell, who can't seem to decide between playing his electric cello in a stand-up or suspended position - when in the latter, he's slicing furiously at it in a Guinness World Record, Chuck Berry imitative way.  Lynne glances over at a widely-grinning Kaminski before diving into the last verse with an expression that says he might be on the verge of cracking up. Instead, he meets the band's rising fire. ELO's highly irregular take ends up meeting or exceeding Lewis at his most frenetic while mixing in some richness and more nuanced musicality. It's like one of those dreaded awards show super-jams with too much talent crowding the stage - except here, it (just) works.

For anyone who thinks that sounds good, Live - The Early Years captures a good helping of ELO's sonic hijinx, although the domestic edition omits fan favorites "Roll Over, Beethoven" and "Daytripper," along with personal guilty pleasures like "Telephone Line." Some songs appear more than once. There's footage of four songs from Brunel U., six from a wild '74 Rockpalast (German TV) appearance, and 12 from a '76 Fusion Tour stop at The New Victoria Theatre in London. For anyone who only knows the band from radio or soundtrack bites, the DVD shows that, rather than being embellished by studio orchestras and tracks, ELO was making all this sound itself. It's a pretty complex stew, held together by group proficiency and Lynne's talent for infusing dramatic starts and stops.

The '76 show best showcases his merging of delectable Pop with sometimes dense, sometimes near-dissonant Rock and Classical elements. Favorites include "Showdown" (in both the Rockpalast and Fusion segments) and "Poker" (from Fusion, it would be classic Power Pop if it didn't have a couple too many changes and instrumental elements for the genre). Other Fusion standouts include "Nightrider," "Evil Woman" (ELO at its guilty-pleasure cheesiest), and one of the most moodily hypnotic Pop songs I know, "Strange Magic." Only The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' "Jackie Blue" and some Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac rival its compelling spookiness. Well, there are others, like Heart's "Crazy on You," especially as realized via The Virgin Suicides... but this is getting too weird...

These guys always looked like they were having a good time - nice work if you could do it, eh?

There's a perfectly theatrical (as in slapstick), tragic-comic postscript: Mike Edwards, ELO's other wild cellist (from '72-75; known for playing the strings with citrus fruit and for the "Dying Swan" solo that culminated in his cello "exploding"), died on September 3, after a huge bale of hay hit his van, causing a collision on a highway in Devan, England. No, it's not really funny. I just have a feeling that if there's another life (Edwards quit the band in '75 to dedicate himself to Buddhism), the guy may be having a chuckle at giving others one with his last performance.     

How does a four-disc edition sound to ya?

By Blurt Staff

Nov. 2 brings a deluxe reissue of Paul McCartney & Wings' 1973 classic Band on the Run (MPL/Concord Music Group). Band on the Run marks the first release from the Paul McCartney Archive Collection and it will essentially supplant Capitol's 1999 two-CD, specially packaged limited edition of the album - although collectors might be advised to hang onto their copies of the latter, as there was a slew of content (see it at this link) that apparently is not going to be included on the new edition.

Overseen by Sir Paul along with the same team of Abbey Road studios wizards who remastered the Beatles' back catalog, it will be available in a variety of formats originating with the single disc digitally remastered, essential 9-track standard edition. The 3 disc (2CD, 1 DVD) special edition features nine bonus audio tracks (including the top 10 smash "Helen Wheels"), rare footage of the McCartneys in Lagos and behind-the-scenes at the famous album cover shoot, original Band on the Run promotional video clips, the One Hand Clapping television special (highlighted by studio performances filmed at Abbey Road in 1974) all with beautifully enhanced packaging. 

Collectors will gravitate towards the 4 disc (3CD, 1 DVD) deluxe edition which adds a 120-page hard bound book containing many unseen and unpublished photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, album and single artwork, downloadable hi-res audio versions of the remastered album and bonus audio tracks, a full history of the album complete with a new interview with Paul and expanded track by track information for all four discs. The deluxe edition also includes a special Band on the Run audio documentary (originally produced for the 25th Anniversary edition.)  The original remastered album and bonus audio content will also be issued in a 2 disc 180gm audiophile vinyl edition that comes with an MP3 download of all 18 tracks. Lastly, the standard and deluxe versions of Band on the Run will be available digitally worldwide.

TRACKLIST:
Remastered Album
1. Band on the Run                                  
2. Jet                                     
3. Bluebird                                
4. Mrs Vandebilt                                
5. Let Me Roll It                               
6. Mamunia                             
7. No Words                               
8. Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)                      
9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five      

         
 
Bonus Audio Tracks
1. Helen Wheels
2. Country Dreamer
3. Bluebird [from One Hand Clapping]
4. Jet [from One Hand Clapping]
5. Let Me Roll It [from One Hand Clapping]
6. Band on the Run [from One Hand Clapping]
7. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five [from One Hand Clapping]
8. Country Dreamer [from One Hand Clapping]
9. Zoo Gang

 
Audio Documentary
Remastered documentary disc originally produced for the 25th Anniversary release of Band on the Run.  Featuring interview contributions from Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Geoff Emerick, Tony Visconti, Al Coury, Clive Arrowsmith, James Coburn, John Conteh, Kenny Lynch, Michael Parkinson, Christopher Lee, Clement Freud, and Dustin Hoffman.

 
DVD
1. Band on the Run Music Video                                                                       
2. Mamunia Music Video                                               
3. Album Promo                                                                                   
Featuring Band on the Run, Mrs Vandebilt, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, Bluebird                       
4. Helen Wheels Music Video                                                                       
5. Wings In Lagos
6. Osterley Park
7. One Hand Clapping

Nash Kato, King Roeser & Co. to record new album and do selected shows. Free download of new song, below.

By Blurt Staff

Urge Overkill are officially back together 15 years after the release of their last album, 1995's Exit the Dragon. The band released its first full-length, the Steve Albini-produced Jesus Urge Superstar, in 1989 through Touch and Go Records and steadily began ascending in popularity.  By the early 90's, they were opening for Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and eventually signed to Geffen Records, who releasedtheir beloved classic LP, Saturation.  The group's biggest moment in the spotlight came when Quentin Tarantino prominently used their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" in his film Pulp Fiction.  The soundtrack soon became one of the most successful of the decade and Urge's version of "Girl" became a hit.

 
The reformed band is made up of original singer/guitarists Nash Kato and Eddie "King" Roeser, along with drummer Brian "Bon" Quast (also in Polvo) and bassist Mike "Hadji" Hogkiss,."  They are currently writing and recording new music in their hometown of Chicago, and will be performing at the Samuel L. Jackson-hosted Friar's Club Roast of Quentin Tarantino on October 1^st. Urge has also announced an October 4^th show at New York City's Mercury Lounge.

 
Click here to stream/download the band's new song "Effigy."

Nice idea, but why not simply play the entire album live?

By Blurt Staff

On November 2^nd, Matt & Kim will release their third full-length effort, Sidewalks, via FADER Label. (August 31^st already broth the album's first single "Cameras", which, within one hour of its release, soared to the number 20 spot on the iTunes Alternative Chart.)

Sidewalks features 10 original tracks and was recorded in February with producer Ben Allen in his Atlanta, GA studio. This week marks the start of the band's three-month coast-to-coast North American tour, during which they will host exclusive album listening parties for concert ticket holders in every city. As soon as venue doors open, the album will be played from start to finish, giving fans the chance to hear the new music before the album hits stores this November.

TRACKLISTING:

1.     Block After Block

2.     AM/FM Sound

3.     Cameras

4.     Red Paint

5.     Where You're Coming From

6.     Good for Great

7.     Northeast

8.     Wires

9.     Silver Tiles

10.  Ice Melts

TOUR DATES:

Sep 17 2010    8:00P

            Newport Music Hall   Columbus, OH           

Sep 18 2010    8:00P

            Majestic Theater          Detroit, MI     

Sep 19 2010    7:00P

            Metro Chicago, IL    

Sep 21 2010    8:30P

            Majestic Theatre          Madison, WI  

Sep 22 2010    8:00P

            First Avenue   Minneapolis, MN       

Sep 23 2010    9:00P

            The Granada Theatre Lawrence, Kansas      

Sep 24 2010    8:00P

            Ogden Theater            Denver, Colorado      

Sep 25 2010    12:00P

            Virgin Mobile FreeFest - Merriweather Post Pavilion            Columbia, MD           

Sep 27 2010    8:00P

            The Rickshaw Theatre            Vancouver, BC, CANADA  

Sep 28 2010    8:00P

            Showbox at the Market          Seattle, WA   

Sep 29 2010    8:00P

            Roseland Theater        Portland, OR  

Sep 30 2010    8:00P

            The Fillmore    San Francisco, CA     

Oct 1 2010      7:30P

            House of Blues           San Diego, CA           

Oct 2 2010      8:00P

            Henry Fonda Theater | Music Box      Los Angeles, California         

Oct 3 2010      8:00P

            Glass House    Pomona, CA  

Oct 6 2010      8:00P

            The Clubhouse            Tempe, Arizona          

Oct 8 2010      8:00P

            House of Blues Dallas            Dallas, Texas  

Oct 9 2010      7:30P

            Austin City Limits Festival     Austin, Texas

Oct 11 2010    8:00P

            The Lyric Oxford        Oxford, MS   

Oct 12 2010    8:00P

            House of Blues New Orleans             New Orleans, LA       

Oct 13 2010    8:30P

            Club Downunder        Tallahassee, Florida    

Oct 14 2010    7:30P

            Culture Room             Fort Lauderdale, FL  

Oct 15 2010    8:00P

            State Theatre   St Petersburg, FL       

Oct 16 2010    8:00P

            Masquerade     Atlanta, GA   

Oct 17 2010    8:00P

            Exit/In             Nashville, TN

Oct 19 2010    8:00P

            The Orange Peel          Asheville, NC            

Oct 20 2010    8:30P

            Cat's Cradle    Carrboro, NC

Oct 21 2010    8:00P

            Canal Club      Richmond, VA          

Oct 22 2010    8:00P

            9:30 Club        Washington DC, Washington            

Oct 23 2010    8:00P

            Rams Head Live         Baltimore, MD           

Oct 24 2010    7:30P

            Starlite Ballroom         Philadelphia,, PA       

Oct 26 2010    8:00P

            Webster Hall   New York, NY          

Oct 27 2010    8:00P

            Webster Hall   New York, NY          

Oct 28 2010    8:00P

            Water Street Music Hall         Rochester, NY           

Oct 29 2010    8:00P

            Phoenix Theatre          Toronto, ON, CANADA       

Oct 30 2010    8:30P

            Le National     Montreal, QC, CANADA     

Oct 31 2010    6:30P

            Northern Lights          Clifton Park, NY       

Nov 2 2010     8:00P

            Higher Ground            Burlington, VT           

Nov 3 2010     8:00P

            Port City Music Hall   Portland, Maine         

Nov 4 2010     8:00P

            House of Blues Boston           Boston, MA   

Nov 5 2010     8:00P

            Toad's Place    New Haven, CT         

Nov 6 2010     8:30P

            Pearl Street Nighclub Northampton, MA

Chronicles the elaborate 2009-10 New Year's Eve bash.

By Blurt Staff

Word has it that on Dec. 31 Girl Talk put on a "mind-blowing, over-the-top New Year's Eve extravaganza, where he threw one of the largest house parties the world has seen to celebrate the end of the decade." Or so his handlers say. However, the hype is borne out by a new documentary of the event, Girl Talk NYE Chicago. The short film is en route and should be available next week, Sept. 21, but meanwhile, he's posted a brief teaser trailer to YouTube for you viewing pleasure.

The Girl Talk camp kindly provided some details about what went in to the whole deal:

As a surprise to the 4,500-capacity Congress Theatre audience in Chicago, Girl Talk had a two-story, five room house built on stage. This house took months to plan, and 4+ full days and 21+ crewmembers to build. Girl Talk and the set designers seriously took things to the next level when it came to the detail that went into each aspect of the house. They drywalled the rooms, made a real staircase, and fake wooden floors, built a kitchen that included a refrigerator with a note stuck on the door, and a table with a fruit bowl, blender and more, a living room that included a hutch filled with china, fireplace, couch, coffee table, rug, picture frames and more, the kid's room had a bed, desk, computer and mouse, pencil jar, trophy, amongst other items, and the bathroom featured a real toilet, sink, shower and curtain. Plus, outside the house, there were even fake trees lining the yard, and a rock was placed in front of the house covering the table Girl Talk works on.

The lights constructed on the outside and inside of the house, including an LCD curtain surrounding the house to make it look like the night sky, and all over the venue, were equally elaborate. When the house was first presented to the audience, only a few lamps inside each room were turned on, however, as the night neared midnight, the house counted down from 9 to 0, and then once midnight hit, the house came alive as lights all over the house, inside and out, shown bright. The kitchen floor eventually lit up turning into a disco-dance floor, the entire bathroom could strobe any color, the computer in the kid's room had an LED light attached to it, and intense lights came from the fireplace. There were also special lights strategically hidden all over the venue that were active and radiant throughout the night.

The Animal Collective chaps roll up for a splendid evening of tunes at Baltimore's Ottobar on Sept. 12.

Text & Photos by Logan K. Young

A lot has changed for Noah Lennox (pictured above) since he left home.

For starters, the precocious kid from Roland Park goes by Panda Bear now. Long gone from the 410 suburbs, he currently lives in the picturesque Iberian city of Lisbon with his fashion designer wife and two kids of his own. And perhaps most importantly, the little basement band he started more than a decade ago with some other Waldorf kids has, for better or worse, become the face of American indie rock in the Pitchfork era - warts, and animal masks, and all. 

So it was hardly surprising to find the Ottobar sold out and already stuffed for Sunday's quixotic, but nonetheless entertaining openers DJ Dog Dick and Prince Rama.

And yet, there was still cause for concern.   

From his much maligned performance at Pitchfork's bash in July to his only slightly better showing in Los Angeles at FYF Fest earlier this month, Mr. Bear's been charged with a slew of invective not normally hauled at the Collective: listless, non-descript, torpid, and to put it boorishly, just plain bor-ing. Moreover, to this day, none of the species in the AnCo kingdom has been able to engender universal acclaim as a live, solo performer - thus lending credence to that whole sum-greater-than-parts jive. Regardless, as great an album like Person Pitch is, maybe it's just not meant to be heard in a 400-person capacity club. Like a lot of what passes as indie rock nowadays, it's as if the lion's share of work is indeed done at home a priori, with the live, in-person aspect nothing more than a ready-made cooking show of mashed pedals and turns on the knob.

To his credit though, Deakin, née Josh Dibb, proved to be a most excellent sous-chef for his headlining friend. Lennox and Dibb have been pals ever since a second grade Baltimore County classroom, and in the end, this pairing ultimately proved a better, more complementary choice than any Avey Tare or Geologist coupling. Truth be told, Deakin is the real native son here. It was back in January that he treated the Ottobar to his coming out party as a soloist - a gesture not soon forgotten judging by the hometown hoard's welcoming back. And while his catalog, understandably, remains a little thin, the sounds he created therein were as dense and as full-figured as anything Panda Bear would later conjure. And for at least twenty minutes anyways, there was only one Deacon of Charm City. 

Even the blogosphere needs a Sabbath, so alas, there was little buzz regarding what to expect for Panda Bear's prodigal gig. Not more than twenty-four hours earlier, Lennox had played Governor's Island while just across the bay in front of him, the Manhattan skyline was all aglow thanks to Mayor Bloomberg's 9/11 memorial. In Baltimore however, the fireworks were at the rear, care of ODDSAC director Danny Perez and his appropriately psychedelic projections (and expectedly reckless smoke machine operation). Compared to the FX découpage of old staples like "Comfy In Nautica" and "Song For Ariel," the newer fare such as "Tomboy" and "Slow Motion" sounded much more focused and straightforward. What this new found clarity does, of course, is further flaunt the one quality that none of the other guys in his day band can best him on - that voice. A curious timbre that's both siren and clarion, Panda Bear's voice could rightfully stand on its own. Perch it atop an intricate nest of guitar, synth and sample, and it sounds even more right. But be careful. Should he give it just the right amount of broken earnestness - as he so delicately did with "Ponytail" - Panda Bear's voice might just render your own mute.

And that would be a shame. For then you couldn't cheer one of Baltimore's most welcome returns since the Colts came back from Cleveland as the Ravens in 1996...the same year that Noah Lennox left for Boston.                          

Joaquin Phoenix documentary turns out to be a hoax, according to director Casey Affleck.

By Blurt Staff

"It's a terrific performance, the performance of his career," Affleck told reporters, in a report filed yesterday at Billboard.com. Sigh....

Howlin Rain, Young Prisms, Sic Alps, Wooden Shjips, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, Carlton Melton, White Manna, Glitter Wizard and more will appear at Oct. event.

By Fred Mills

So, the festival season would seem to be winding down, finally - which is a good thing, one imagines, as the offerings this year have been underwhelming, to say the least. Still, one can't ignore the fact that in America, music festivals have finally become big business, so don't expect them to disappear anytime within the next decade.

Plus, there are always a handful of shining lights, and there's one coming up in San Francisco on Oct. 16 not to be missed: The Frisco Freakout. (Full name: "The Third Annual Frisco Freakout Psychedelic Dance Party.") Just added to the bill are Howlin Rain and Young Prisms, who join Sic Alps, Wooden Shjips, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, Carlton Melton, White Manna, Glitter Wizard and more in a full frontal assault on punters' cranial cortex matter.

The all-ages event will go down at Thee Parkside in SF and it's hosted by Heavy Lode, KUSF, Arthur Magazine and Aquarius Records. It's a benefit for arts organization Creativity Explored, by the way. It also includes an art exhibition curated by Secret Serpents, with examples of contemporary psychedelic rock poster art and fine art from artists such as Alan Forbes, Dave D'Andrea and Stacey Willoughby (among many).

Go to the official website for more details and ticket info.

Majesty Shredding show broadcast from Washington's 9:30 Club.

By Fred Mills

Superchunk will be playing live tonight, Sept. 17, in D.C. and the show will be webcast via NPR Music starting at about 10 pm EST. The show's part of a string of dates in support of the just-released album Majesty Shredding. (You can view those tour dates plus the video for the song "Digging For Something" here at BLURT.)

Meanwhile don't forget to pick up our new issue, which should be on newsstands by now. We have an interview with the band talking about assorted highs and lows over the course of its long illustrious career.

[Photo credit: Jason Arthurs]

Continuum Books'  recently published analysis of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, by Christopher Weingarten, adeptly charts the cause-and-effect.

By Rev. Keith A. Gordon

It's hard to remember just how unique, and subsequently influential that Public Enemy's sophomore album would become. While the rap group's 1987 debut, Yo! Bum Rush The Show, would receive mild acclaim in hip-hop circles, the following year's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back was like an atomic bomb dropping in the heart of New York City. The artistic growth shown by Public Enemy, both in the lyrical scope of frontman Chuck D's raps and in the group's overall performance, between the two albums is remarkable. The Bomb Squad's production work - a dense sonic collage of samples, sirens, and explosive rhythms - was revolutionary for the era, and would be imitated ad nauseum (to a lesser effect) by a horde of rap-outfits-as-rock-bands to follow.

Writer Christopher R. Weingarten, as controversial at times as Public Enemy, is a well-known Brooklyn-based music blogger and contributor to a wide span of music rags; from rap original The Source and rock's Spin to the alternative newsweekly Village Voice and heavy metal magazine Decibel. His contribution to the uniformly excellent 33 1/3 series from Continuum tackles the making of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, shedding new light on the backstage maneuvering and by-the-seat-of-the-pants thought process that resulted in what could easily be termed the most radical record release of the 1980s.

Weingarten begins his journey in 1951, with a young Clyde Stubblefield - who would grow up and become James Brown's groundbreaker drummer - attending a military march and getting hooked on the martial rhythms of the soldiers' feet. With a move akin to literary whiplash, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back jumps to Manhattan, New York City, circa 1987 and Public Enemy getting booed off the stage by Grandmaster Melle Mel of rappers the Furious Five. From this point, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back provides a roller-coaster ride of cause-and-effect as Chuck D and The Bomb Squad, producers Hank Shocklee and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, carefully craft the album rhyme by rhyme and sound effect by sound effect, the album's dozens of seconds-long song samples cementing the new technique among rap producers and creating a sonic texture that nobody could have believed to exist beforehand.

Don't worry - Weingarten gets back to Stubblefield, the book's protagonist, of sorts - whose improvised drumbeats on the James Brown song "Funky Drummer" provides the steel-girder rhythmic foundation for several songs on It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, the fleeting sample creating a familiar aesthetic theme running through the album. Weingarten walks us through the primitive sampling technology and The Bomb Squad's herculean efforts to piece together a backdrop of dozens of samples of JB, Funkadelic, British glam-rock stars Sweet, even PE themselves, from a live performance among many more samples, the crew creating a once-in-a-lifetime tapestry of sound that would never again be duplicated by Public Enemy or, given the litigious nature of the music biz, by few others, including Dr. Dre.

Weingarten addresses the band's radical politics and revolutionary-clad onstage imagery, delving deeply into the stubborn racism experienced by PE forefathers such as Brown, or George Clinton, which helped create the mindset in the first place. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Isaac Hayes and Stax Records, the Wattstax show; Jesse Jackson; Clinton's P-Funk; rap pioneers Run-DMC; and much more are covered by Weingarten in taking us to the place where Public Enemy could create a masterpiece.

Throughout It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Weingarten spins a tale of generations of African-American popular culture and music, which would result in Public Enemy and this single classic album. Weingarten's prose is crisp and informative without ever seemingly bogging down in boring minutiae, the author displaying both a familiarity with and a passion for the subject matter, his words eye-opening and entertaining. For fans of Public Enemy, or anybody interested in rap music, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back provides an important story about a singular (historic) moment in time.

Jones and his revue headed to all-star-studded New Orleans shakedown...

By Fred Mills

How many of you are headed to New Orleans this week (Sept. 24 & 25) for the 9^th annual Ponderosa Stomp? The 2010 lineup represents American music's expansive range of genres, from twangy guitar genius to bold, sassy R&B, Chicano rock, primal garage, truckin' anthems, Southern soul, blues, Cajun, swamp pop and rockabilly, with everyone from Duane Eddy, Honeyboy Edwards and Roy Head to the Trashmen, Flamin' Groovies and the aforementioned Jim Jones Revue slated to perform.  Sweet!

Watch for our coverage of the festival soon. Meanwhile, we asked Jones - recently featured in a lengthy interview ("Rock ‘n' Roll Psychosis," Sept. 17) - to weigh in on the event, and here's what he had to say:

"We've got two days off during Ponderosa Stomp and we've also been confirmed to play the party at the end of it. We did a show in London with Mark Lamarr, this BBC DJ who has unquestionable good taste in music. He was talking about the Ponderosa Stomp, and he said he's been to the States many times, trawling up and down looking for those little nuggets of great music - and then the first time he went to the Ponderosa Stomp, he said, ‘It's all here. I could have saved myself all that trekking around! Here I am watching Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana jamming - wow.' So yeah, we are very excited!"

Boy howdy to that.

At Newport's Southgate House on September 11, Lynn takes the stage looking like David Bowie's rockabilly sister while channeling the spirits of Tony Joe White, Dusty Springfield and Jimmy Webb.

By Steven Rosen

Just in case there was ever any doubt, Shelby Lynne plays by nobody's rules but her own. When word got out that she was touring behind her new, introspective Tears, Lies & Alibis album with just an accompanying guitarist - and would play mostly acoustic guitar, herself - the assumption was a sedate, theater-style show, with Lynne the troubadour seated on stage telling stories between songs. It'd have an early start and end. You know, the unplugged tour.

So somewhere past 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night at Southgate House in Newport, Ky. (essentially Cincinnati), after a very strong but already distant opening set by Matthew Mayfield of Birmingham, Ala., Lynne took the stage looking like David Bowie's rockabilly sister - carrying a gleaming black-and-white electric guitar, boyishly cut blonde hair twirled up in front, studded jacket, tight jeans, high-heeled black leather boots. Her accompanist, the less-stunningly outfitted John Jackson, nevertheless had a guitar with the most resplendent shade of yellow this side of a sunrise. They plugged in - standing - and went into a dark, tough blues-rock tune with a "Mystery Train"-like groove, the older "I'm Alive." She made clear she was there to rock - to front a band of two.

This may have well have been the perfect tone for the venue - an old roadhouse with a ballroom that has good sound but won't win any awards for its scruffy, minimalist décor. But actually, the approach initially posed a problem - for the first and last time - on the second song, the delicately wistful "Why Didn't You Call Me" from the new album. It seemed rushed and uptight with the electric accompaniment. But then everything clicked into place, and even though Lynne switched to an amplified acoustic for most of the set, this "band of two" collaborated on an intense, commanding, alert set.

As she slowly introduced herself to the audience with short, concise remarks - spoken in her calming, raised-in-Alabama drawl - Lynne made it clear she wasn't trying to channel Wanda Jackson or Gene Vincent. She wasn't trying to be a hard, stone-cold rocker. She just liked the sound that she and Jackson made together - and presumably their performance style.

 She never actually said that specifically, but it was evident in her smile when her fantastic accompanist finished the lightning-fast strumming on his steel guitar during the rumbling "Life Is Bad" or fired off explosively concise, melodic phrases during a stretched-out "Jesus on a Greyhound" that by turns echoed Richard Thompson and Jerry Garcia.

Lynne is proud that she started her own label, Everso, to release Tears, Lies and Alibis, departing Lost Highway to do so. Why she left, exactly, is a mystery. Introducing the new "Something to Be Said," her dreamily descriptive tribute to highway trailers, she said, "I wrote a song about Airstreams and they didn't get it." So she split.

But what's not to get? This evocative mid-tempo song - quintessential Americana - is equal to Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" or "Wichita Lineman," and contains a memorable line for anyone who equates the California desert with freedom: "Maybe I'll stop in Needles/say hello to all my people." (She now lives in southern California.) It received the night's longest and loudest applause, save for the show closer.

Her interest in the sturdily constructed, classily sung pop of the 1960s and 1970s led Lynne in 2008 to record a tribute to songs made popular by Dusty Springfield, Just a Little Lovin.' But the song she performed from that album was "Pretend," her own composition. Free from the Springfield association, bathed in history, it emerged as a memorable contemporary composition about love's difficulties, a melancholy torch song that transcends genre or era.

The Webb and Springfield influences probably influence her more lyrical side, also evident in the gentle way she sang the "did you miss me" part of the transfixing "Dreamsome." But Lynne also loves the swampy, Southern country-blues of Tony Joe White ("Polk Salad Annie"). Several of her more gnarly songs shared his funky attitude, none more so than "Can't Go Back Home," which she told the audience she wrote with White.

It was late - after midnight - by the time she finished her encore. Relaxed, knowing her show had been a success, she commented that, "I'll be a good Southerner and leave you with a good Southern song." "Iced Tea" followed - a great relaxing chaser to the show that preceded it.

The Bard of Barking hits the stage of N.C. venue The Orange Peel on September 17, touching hearts and probing minds with equal gusto. All wankers welcome.

By Fred Mills

Perhaps the least-remarked about aspect of British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg is how deeply romantic a singing voice he can deploy when he wants to - and here, I don't mean as an affectation. Once you notice it, it's always there, even when he's hurtling off onto a vitriol-laced screed about some unsavory governmental goings-on (more on that in a sec). But there he was, early in his set at Asheville, NC, venue The Orange Peel, lovingly caressing the lines of his 1988 gem "The Price I Pay," and as I looked around the room, I swear I saw people hugging each other just a little bit closer, and in the instance of a forty-something couple, the lady was gently laying her head on her man's shoulder, her eyes narrowed dreamily as if to let Bragg's rich tones wash over and caress her.

Yet barely a song or two later Bragg was letting loose a right ripping yarn, concerning a stop at a Cracker Barrel, a visit to Kentucky's notorious Creation Museum, and recent Delaware Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell's self-appointed mission to save America from the scourge of masturbation, as his lengthy spoken intro to the equally memorable (and by some measures, also rather romantic) "Greetings to the New Brunette" (from '86, known to fans sometimes simply as "Shirley"). No mass cuddling in the audience this time; everybody was too busy clutching their sides and hoisting beer bottles in approval.

This, then, is the central contradiction of The Bard Of Barking: is he an ol' romantic softie trapped in the body of a crusty, combative socialist, or is he the last of the great stand-up troubadours, crucially aware that in the era of bloggers and Twitter, his is a dying craft but he doesn't really have anything better to do with his time? Ah, that's where we, the fans, come in - and as long as there's still a handful of us out here, Billy Bragg will have a place in our collective heart and plenty of opportunities to do what he does best.

You, gentle readers, need no introduction to Bragg; suffice to say that tonight in Asheville he was in the home stretch of his latest North American tour in support of 2008's Anti- Records album Mr. Love & Justice, a tour that has seen him performing in front of thousands at outdoor festivals (one of my fellow BLURT correspondents caught him a week earlier at Seattle's Bumbershoot, in fact) as well as for relatively intimate crowds such as comprises the Orange Peel gig (which featured the right-hand third of the venue floor devoted to seating and the rest available to those who wanted to stand and party - the cuddlers and the hoisters, respectively, one supposes). A Bragg show generally doesn't vary too much from one tour to the next, other than the setlists and the man's topical concerns; you go to see Billy Bragg, and unless it's billed as a full-band affair (say, with The Blokes), you know you'll get a few songs featuring him on an acoustic guitar, a few on an electric guitar, and a steady stream of invective ‘n' patter to keep things lively in between the tunes.

Non-Bragg fans probably need not apply, in that regard. A Bragg show isn't ideally tailored for the unconverted. That said, there was another interesting "audience moment" that took place in my vicinity, about midway into the show. Throughout the evening, Bragg had been dropping the stray disparaging remarks about the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, the above-mentioned Delaware Republican, and the like. Tea Partiers in particular appear to have gotten under Bragg's skin - several times he mockingly referred to them as "Tea Baggers" (tell the kids to leave the room and then look up the term), and it's clear that he's not down with the bizarre Libertarian-Conservative hybrid that is becoming the Tea Party ideology, and at one point he compared the Tea Party to England's British Nationalist Party. This isn't particularly surprising considering Bragg's socialist bent; several recent editorials in the mainstream media have made it clear that "socialism" is the Tea Party's big bogeyman.

However, even I was caught offguard when I heard the woman standing in front of me lean into her date's ear and say something to the effect of, "He probably doesn't realize that there might be quite a few of us here tonight." Billy Bragg has fans who are also Tea Partiers? I have no idea; yet given the number of disaffected boomers and youth who have been gravitating to the Tea Party of late, and given that those people are probably also music fans, it's entirely possible. I've been at Steve Earle shows in the past when he railed against George Bush, the invasion of Iraq, etc. and witnessed more than a few pissed-off, presumably "patriotic," punters willing to stand up and heckle him.

All that aside, it was a night of bloody good fun. One of the aforementioned Tea Party salvos was launched shortly after a Bragg minder brought out a steaming cup of tea, leading directly into, appropriately enough, "Tomorrow's Gonna Be A Better Day," which Bragg smartly augmented with a whistling solo ("ironic whistling," he announced). A rap about the recession and the current state of the economy was followed by a spot-on reading of Woody Guthrie's "I Ain't Got No Home." Switching from his electric to a gorgeous acoustic guitar bearing Rastafarian-colored lettering that read "STRUMMER" and "THIS GUITAR KILLS TIME," Bragg did a strummy segment that was part-Dylan, part-Neil Young, the highlight being a cover of Long Ryders/Coal Porters frontman Sid Griffin's song "Everywhere," originally about the internment of Japanese-Americans during and after WWII, and here the culmination of an extended monologue about prejudice, bigotry and stereotypes. (To that end, he spun an blackly humorous faux-anecdote about being on the London tube one day and eyeing an individual get on who was "clearly" an American - because he had perfect, shining teeth of course - and starting to freak out when the person reached stealthily inside his jacket to extract... drumroll please... not a gun, but a toothbrush! Ba-da-boom!)

And it occurred: Here is this loud-mouthed Brit, touring the States on the eve of what is gearing up to be the most contentious election season in memory, and amid all the rampant punditry, his snap insights and casual observations are more cogent than those put forth by 99% of U.S. commentators. He's doggedly liberal, but it seems to be less that his politics are of a liberal bent, and more that he simply abhors hypocrisy in its myriad forms regardless of the actual politics the hypocrite espouses. Hell, he even took President Obama to task a couple of times. I'd vote for the damn bloke if he moved to the States, got naturalized and ran for office purely on that basis alone. It'll never happen, but I can dream, can't I?

And with that realization, I put down my pen and my camera and just enjoyed the rest of the show - Bragg alternating between the raging and the serene, between the comic and the deadly serious; expounding one minute on America's potential greatness in the world with Mr. Love & Justice standout "I Keep Faith" and then turning around and making more than a few eyes turn misty when he eased into his eternal anthem "Levi Stubbs' Tears." Hell, he even incited a mass singalong with the insistent, jangly "There Is Power in the Union," and you can take that little bit of social subversion anyway you want to.

"You cannot change the world by singing songs," Bragg insisted, towards the end of the show. "It's what you do afterwards." Well, sir, I partly agree with that. But I feel compelled to add that unless someone like you gets up there and sings the songs in the first place, there won't be any work left for the rest of us to complete.

Alt-rockers follow up May tribute with four West Coast shows in October, plus new single "Til the End."

By Blurt Staff

Having already eulogized fallen drummer Gregory Slay last May with a New Orleans reunion show—their first in eight years, alt-rockers Remy Zero will pay further tribute with four additional memorial performances in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles in October.

Slay passed away on New Year’s Day of complications relating to cystic fibrosis, and the original tribute show in occurred in his birthplace. The new dates are in towns where Slay had a high concentration of family and friends—and were the scene of the final four dates of his tour with O+S, the band formed around Orenda Fink and Remy Zero bass player Cedric Lemoyne.

Remy Zero also marks the occasions with the release of “at least one” new or unreleased song. Currently, “Til the End” is available for free download at www.popantipop.com/remyzero. Proceeds from the shows and new music will benefit the Honeymoon Trust (www.honeymooontrust.com) set up for Slay’s wife and daughter. Also, according to the press release, “Just prior to his passing, Gregory finished recording a solo album, The Sound Will Find You, that will officially be released in tandem with the memorial tour dates, although it is already available for streaming on bandcamp.com.

Tour Dates:

10/7                                         Dante's                        Portland, OR

10/8                                         Crocodile Cafe            Seattle, WA

10/11                                       Cafe Du Nord                         San Francisco, CA

10/12                                       Spaceland                    Los Angeles, CA

www.remyzero.com

http://www.popantipop.com/remyzero/

http://www.facebook.com/RemyZeroMusic

(Thrill Jockey, 90 minutes)

www.thrilljockey.com

BY RANDY HARWARD

77 Boa Drum is a stunning, multi-camera visual documentation of July 7, 2007 (7/7/07), when Japanese avant-garde noise rockers the Boredoms rounded up 77 indie rock drummers (from Oneida, Burning Brides, M. Ward, Come, Man Man and more), arranged them in a coil and performed the 77 Boa Drum concert in NYC's Brooklyn Bridge Park. The coil, meant to signify a snake (with the Boredoms at the center, as its head), might as well be a crop circle.

How does anyone get that many drummers to show up on time? Perhaps it's moot, and a better focus would be how so much beating and pounding could be so appealing, or even musical. Even with the Boredoms' keyboards, hammered seven-neck guitar, screeching and ululations, the percussion is overwhelming. Ultimately one realizes it's about time we gave the drummers some. They don't provide just backbeat; they really do move the music, and this concert moved them-and even if you persist in bashing drummers, you'll be moved too.

Published this week by Vanderbilt University Press and featuring a foreword by Peter Guralnick, songwriter Chapman's newest volume probes the minds of Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Rodney Crowell and more.

By Steve Pick

It doesn't sound like the most promising idea you've ever heard. Who wants to read a book of interviews about the first day people spent in a given city? What kind of car did you drive? What hotel did you stay in? Do you remember the first time you heard of this city? These kinds of questions seem likely to lead to the most pedestrian replies possible, right?

Well, it helps if the people being questioned are celebrities, most specifically some of the finest country-based singer-songwriters and musicians of our time. And it's even better if the interviewer has a long-term relationship with most of the subjects, so that the answers are always elaborated with details which might not be shared with a professional journalist. But the number one reason to read They Came to Nashville, a new book of such interviews, is that it is Marshall Chapman setting the context and asking the questions. Her songwriting, live performances complete with between-song patter, and of course, her previous memoir of a sort, 2004's Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller, have proved over and over that she is charming and quirkily intelligent enough to invigorate any subject. If Marshall Chapman wanted to ask her friends about their favorite bathrooms, the book would probably turn out to be vastly entertaining.

Caveat: don't bother to read this book if you don't have some previous knowledge of at least a portion of the musicians being interviewed. It's not that you won't find yourself wanting to hear records by Rodney Crowell or Bobby Bare or John Hiatt. Chapman's brief introductions and the tone of the conversations is more than enough to pique interest in artists previously unknown. But you'll be frustrated when Crowell, for example, is left sleeping on a picnic table near Nashville's Parthenon, and you only get hints of how he went on to write and record so many incredible records in the next 35 years. (You do, however, get a couple of incredibly funny Johnny Cash stories in the bargain.)

That said, it's fascinating to hear the tales of Kris Kristofferson living in a hovel while trying to sell his songs - imagine a time when "Sunday Morning Coming Down" or "Me and Bobby McGee" were merely numbers heard in the occasional guitar circle. It's delightful to have the Emmylou Harris interview interrupted by one of her 20 or so dogs, or her mother who lives with her, and the tales of Harris' early days in Nashville are far less romantic than some. It's invigorating to hear how Beth Nielsen Chapman overcame so many problems to turn into one of the most successful songwriters of the ‘90s.  On the disappointing side, the interview with Mary Gauthier, a fabulous songwriter with a very intriguing backstory, suffers from the lack of a close connection between her and Chapman. And Miranda Lambert just hasn't lived long enough to really be able to engage her past, though the germ of an interesting story is in place.

And then there is the chapter on Willie Nelson. It's 45 pages, while most of the other interviews take up an average of 15. It's full of rich and hilarious details, triumph and a sort of tragedy, and could probably only be improved by having Chapman read it aloud. (If you've heard her speak, with that upper class South Carolina accent tinged with Nashville drawl, you'd want to hear her say anything you can think of, too.) Suffice it to say that Nelson answers all the same questions, but so much more about him is revealed when he's not talking at all. It's an absolute tour de force of a chapter, one of the most insightful pieces of writing about music you'll find, and it's also just Chapman telling what happens and what she sees and does.

It's sometimes too easy to assume our musical heroes are somehow superhuman, but every one of these interviews, and the chapter on Willie Nelson, reveal just how human and normal they really are. Sure, talent is something special, but Chapman realizes that great insights can be generated after remembering details about the car driven for the first time to the city where music dreams were accomplished.

September 9, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville - were you there? If you weren't, check out the images, below. And if you were, you definitely have good memories of Robert Plant, John Mellencamp, the Avett Brothers, Jack White and Wanda Jackson, Buddy Miller, and more.

By Brad Hodge

It was a night to remember in Nashville, as the 9^th annual Americana Music Association Awards - held at the Ryman, natch - yielded a bevy of memorable performers and appearances. Veteran shutterbug Brad Hodge was on hand to capture the images for posterity, below. Meanwhile, check out Hodge and his work on the web at his official website, BradHodgePhoto.com.

(above and below) Robert Plant w/Band Of Joy

Avett Brothers

Avett Brothers & Grace Potter

Wanda Jackson

Jack White & Wanda Jackson

Rosanne Cash

John Mellencamp

Lucinda Williams

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Buddy Miller

Ryan Bingham & Buddy Miller

Blurt shutterbug Scott Dudelson attended the September 18 show of the Uproar Festival tour in Irvine, Callifornia, and we've got a selection of his photos, below. The tour runs through October 4  and you can get full details right here. (You can also check out Dudelson's photoblog for BLURT elsewhere on our site.)

(above and below) Stone Sour, featuring Corey Taylor from Slipknot

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold (Johnny Christ)

Avenged Sevenfold (Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance)

Avenged Sevenfold (Zacky Vengeance)

Airbourne

Attika 7

Disturbed

Eyes Set To Kill

Hail the Villain

Hell Yeah

Hell Yeah (Chad Grey from Mudvayne)

Hell Yeah (Greg Tribbett from Mudvayne)

Hell Yeah (Vinnie Paul from Pantera)

New Medicine

Songwriter's label attempts to strike a blow for small labels and indie record stores alike.

By Fred Mills

Those of you who track new releases and related ephemera (or even those of you have spotted several tweets BLURT has put out on our Twitter feed in the recent past) already know of the recent trend involving bands having their albums offered at rock-bottom prices by Amazon.com upon their initial release. Arcade Fire's The Suburbs could be bought at Amazon for the amazingly low price of just $7.99 ("operators standing by to take your call!") during its first week onsale at the e-retailer, and more recently the Swans' My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, issued this week (and reviewed today at BLURT), could be nabbed for 24 hours for a mere $2.99.

Certainly, this practice has been in place at big box retailers for a number of years, with Target, Best Buy and the now-defunct Circuit City having first-week prices hovering around $9.99 for hot new releases and even dipping down to as low as $7.99 for certain titles. However, to take advantage of those prices you have to live in a city with one of those stores, whereas in the case of Amazon, being online and selling via mail order is what we can charitably term "ubiquitous."

Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if Little Johnny can in fact get his new music fix at $7.99 and below and he decides that's a frugal way to plan out his personal budget, if Little Johnny has also been a regular shopper at the local mom ‘n' pop or cool indie record store, well... somebody's gonna take it on the chin, and it's not Little Johnny or Amazon. An indie store simply can't compete with those prices, although for a long time that particular bullet was dodged due to the fact that bands like Arcade Fire and Swans weren't the usual stuff of first-week discounting. Instead, you'd see the new Kanye West, Miley Cyrus or Avenged Sevenfold album in the Sunday newspaper advertising flyers. Clearly, though, that situation has been gradually changing to where more and more non-mainstream acts have been getting discounted, and the Amazon deal is the latest manifestation of that shift.

Factor in the long-term effect, in which consumers eventually decide that a new record should be priced at $7.99, and you can also see where artists and small labels also may suffer. A label that can only afford to press up, say, 5000 copies of a new release is going to pay more on a per-copy basis compared to a bigger company that is having 100,000 - 500,000 copies of new releases made, which means that the smaller label's already thin profit margin gets eroded further by heavy discounting. (This isn't a debate about what the "right" price for an album should or should not be, by the way. What you, the consumer, will or will not pay for any material goods is an entirely private calculation.)

So into the debate steps Sufjan Stevens and his label Asthmatic Kitty. (Thanks to Pitchfork for bringing this to our attention.) Stevens has a new album due out Oct. 12 titled The Age of Adz, and apparently the label learned that Amazon was going to go the low-initial price route - and isn't totally sold on the idea. Here's a portion of an email the label sent out to people who had purchased Stevens' previous EP via Bandcamp:

"We have it on good authority that Amazon will be selling The Age of Adz for a very low price on release date, not unlike they did with Arcade Fire's recent (and really terrific) The Suburbs. We're not 100% sure Amazon will do this, but mostly sure.

"We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing. Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan's music and to this wonderful album. For that, we're grateful.

"But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte. We value the skill, love, and time they've put into making their records. And we feel that our work too, in promotion and distribution, is also valuable and worthwhile.

"That's why we personally feel that physical products like EPs should sell for around $7 and full-length CDs for around $10-12 We think digital EPs should sell for around $5 and full-length digital albums for something like $8.

"So you might wonder why we'd "allow" Amazon to sell it for lower than that.

"There are several reasons why, but mostly? It's because we believe in you. We trust you and in your ability to make your own choice. Here are some you might make if you decide to obtain the album:

*You can preorder the physical CD and LP. We are currently taking preorders on both.

*You can preorder the digital album via Bandcamp, starting right now.

*You can mosey on down to your local independent record store and preorder or buy it there. 

*You can wait for whatever pricing may or may not occur on the big broad Internet on release day. 

*Finally, you could just download the album after it leaks without paying a dime from any number of sources on the internet. (We'd rather you not.)"

The email goes on to outline the label's arrangement for pre-ordering and a bit about how their company operates, as well as Asthmatic Kitty's alliance with Bandcamp. It's a pretty fascinating dialogue providing much food for thought. You can read the entire email here.

What's left unsaid are details on business deals that Amazon strike with labels; one would presume that when a title is sold at the low prices cited above, labels (small indies, big majors or otherwise) inform their artists about it, so there is a certain degree of complicity that can't be overlooked. In that regard, this is also food for thought for the labels and artists, and they'd be right to ask themselves: is there a subtle, hidden cost - a social or psychological tariff - that accompanies those sweet Amazon first-week (or first-day) deals? Based on all of the above, it sounds like Asthmatic Kitty and Amazon have reached some sort of arrangement, but it's definitely to the label's credit that it took these preemptive steps (call it "benevolent spin"?) to get people thinking about the matter.

... and when your lover man is made out of shag carpet, it brings new meaning to the term "rug burn." Anyhow, word arrives that Perry's too-hot-for-TV appearance on Sesame Street has been strategically excised from the broadcast.

By Blurt Staff

The Daily Swarm is helpfully reporting (via Huffington Post and TMZ) that while Katy Perry filmed a Sesame Street segment featuring her and Elmo singing "Hot and Cold" (it's a takeoff on her hit, revised to teach toddlers about opposites), since the was posted to YouTube prior to the actual broadcast, pressure generated by parental complaints have reportedly led to the children's show to scrap the segment.

Gee, a pop star who shoots whipped cream out of her bra getting under the skin of parents of impressionable young children? Who'd a thunk it!

HuffPo singles out several parental complaints:

"You can practically see her tits. That's some wonderful children's programming."

"They're gonna have to rename it cleavage avenue."

"My kid wants milk now."

Mmmmm.... us too.

TMZ added this complaint apparently received at Sesame Street:

"DUDE MY SON SAW THIS AND GOT A BONER WTTTTTTTTTF."

Of course, any parent that writes or talks like that is probably destined to raise a sex-obsessed freak... but we digress. Let's watch that video before it gets yanked. UPDATE : Well, since we posted, it's been yanked. So we'll post a video newsclip about the deal below too that includes some of the original segment.

Yes, you could call it a "supergroup" - members drawn from Sleater-Kinney, Helium and the Minders.

By Fred Mills

Yesterday afternoon NPR Music's "All Songs Considered" blog announced that erstwhile Sleater-Kinney member and NPR commentator Carrie Brownstein has formed a new group with her old drummer Janet Weiss plus Helium's Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole from the Minders. (Recall that Brownstein and Timony also worked together as The Spells about a decade ago.) They're calling it Wild Flag.

This in addition to Brownstein's recent work scoring the !Women Art Revolution documentary and working with Fred Armisen on the new IFC comedy series Portlandia - that's one busy Renaissance gal.

At any rate, Brownstein, at the NPR blog, writes a bit about what she's done and what she's been feeling since Sleater-Kinney broke up in 2006, and how Wild Flag came about. "About a year ago I started to need music again, and so I called on my friends and we joined as a band," she explains. "Chemistry cannot be manufactured or forced, so WILD FLAG was not a sure thing, it was a "maybe," a "possibility." But after a handful of practice sessions, spread out over a period of months, I think we all realized that we could be greater than the sum of our parts, not four disparate puzzle pieces trying to make sense of the other, but a cohesive and dynamic whole."

To that end, the band has signed with Merge, is prepping an album for a 2011 release, and has established a Facebook page. A handful of west coast gigs have also been announced:

11-10 Olympia, WA - The Northern
11-12 Seattle, WA - High Dive
11-13 Portland, OR - Doug Fir
11-17 Sacramento, CA - The Hub
11-18 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
11-19 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
11-20 San Diego, CA - Casbah
11-21 Pomona, CA - Alladin's

Musician also was integral on the NYC hardcore scene and helped bring the Bad Brains to national prominence.

By Fred Mills

Sad news for punk and hardcore fans arrived a couple of days: according to an obituary at Papermag by Holly George Warren, Jerry Lee Williams (aka Jay Dublee) passed away on September 19 following a protracted stint with failing health brought on by liver problems. He was 61. Williams, a North Carolina native born in Charlotte, was a founding member of legendary Raleigh punk pioneers Th' Cigaretz, and later a New York City-based producer and soundman whose studio at 171 Avenue A was a nexus for the burgeoning NYC hardcore scene during the early ‘80s. Over the years he worked with the likes of the Bad Brains, Beastie Boys, Reagan Youth and the Velvet Monkeys, additionally playing in bands that included Hi Sheriffs of Blue, Workdogs and Church of the Little Green Man.

On a personal note: I was on the Chapel Hill-Raleigh scene in the mid/late ‘70s and saw Th' Cigaretz perform many times, often on a double bill with my dear friends The H-Bombs (featuring Peter Holsapple and Mitch Easter). Williams founded the band along with Byron McCay and drummer Scott Jarvis, and their performances were instrumental in kickstarting the Triangle area punk scene. The members also had a hand in a now-legendary Raleigh-based punk fanzine, Blind Boys Gazette, that was also a key manifestation of various punk scene goings-on.  

A highlight of a Cigaretz show was frequently when the band would assault (theoretically) unsuspecting members of the audience with bags of chips, popcorn and other junk food; that, plus the sheer volume and in-your-face attitude, was generally enough to clear the room of any lingering hippie presence and ensure plenty of room on the dance floor for the pogo contingent. And then there was the legendary Halloween show when the band played 3 sets, and for each set they dressed up as a dead rock star's band - time to slay some sacred cows - and while my memory is a tad wobby, I think the bands were Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and Buddy Holly. Their lone full-length 1978's Crawl Rite Outta My Skin (Cancer Records) remains a visceral document, as do the numerous live tapes that have survived, and is today quite the Tarheel collectible.

A couple of years after Williams and Jarvis had gotten their studio up and running, I was vacationing NYC and dropped in at the facility to say hello. At one point a tall dreadlocked African-American casually wandered past, nodding at Jarvis, who informed me that it was one of the Bad Brains - Jerry Williams, of course, produced and recorded the Bad Brains' 1982 debut and subsequently worked as their live soundman.

[Cigaretz photo by Malcolm Riviera; Williams photo by Caki Kallas]

UPDATE: the Deerhunter free show in Chicago is Saturday, Sept. 25 at 4:00 p.m. at the underpass at 560 W. Grand @ the Chicago River under the Kennedy overpass.  

But wait - there's a twist. They ain't saying where, yet.(Above: Where's Bradford?)

By Blurt Staff

Deerhunter is set play Chicago this Saturday, September 25, and Neon Indian will play Boston on October 3. FREE concerts, at that. The rub, however, is that they're not announcing just yet where the shows will be. According to the bands - "it's not any of the usual places. Here's the deal: Each show is powered by a generator which means these surprise shows can pop-up anywhere in the cities."

It's a deal hatched by Levi's and Urban Outfitters, who have been dropping hints, and their Facebook and Twitter followers were able to deduce, initially, the cities, but not the venues. Keep your eye on the Urban Outfitters blog for hints and local media for more information as the date approaches. You can also text SECRET to UOUOUO (868686) or like Urban Outfitters on Facebook to get exclusive clues as to where the shows are happening.  

"Psychedelic, greasy, sneaky, manic, wise, seasoned, nervous and ragged in all the right places." Yep. Sounds like Wynn to us.

By Blurt Staff 

Earlier this month we published a lengthy interview with Steve Wynn, talking about his early band the Dream Syndicate's 1984 album Medicine Show, and towards the end of the conversation he disclosed that he was putting the finishing touches on a new studio album from his current band the Miracle 3, recorded in Richmond and in the process of being mixed in NYC.

Titled Northern Aggression, it's the first M3 album in five years, for as Wynn put it, "We've been playing in the meantime, and I love the band, but I've also been doing different things and everyone had stuff going on so we didn't do it until now."

Well, the wait was worth it, particularly if you're willing to wait until Nov. 30 as that's when Yep Roc will do the release honors. A tour will no doubt follow, so meanwhile, here's the official word from the label to get you thinking about all this and more...

Steve Wynn remembers the day that he and the Miracle 3 entered the city limits of Richmond, VA last fall ready to embark on recording the band's first new album together in more than five years.  Wynn got on the phone with his old pal and band mate Stephen McCarthy who jokingly warned him to "leave your northern aggression at the door."  The phrase seemed funny, ironic, apropos and, as a result, naturally became the favorite catch phrase of the session and, inevitably, the title.

Wynn and his partners in crime were the fast talking, hard hitting, hyped-up, tightly coiled Yankees - that's not a baseball reference, let's save that for Wynn's other combo, The Baseball Project - sliding into the slower, easier, drawling, mysterious Southern lifestyle for a week.  Anyone who has followed Wynn's long recording history knows his love for throwing himself into unfamiliar territory, leaving open the possibility of surprise, befuddlement, inspiration and adventure.

Working with the father-son engineering team of Bruce and Adrian Olsen (the former engineered both Gutterball albums) allowed Wynn and the band, which includes Jason Victor, Linda Pitmon and Dave Decastro, the chance to work around the clock.  Bruce was behind the board at 8 a.m.; Adrian would close up shop about 18 hours later.  They all slept at some point in between.  As for the result? Northern Aggression -the title is a reference to what some below the Mason Dixon line call the Civil War- is psychedelic, greasy, sneaky, manic, wise, seasoned, nervous and ragged in all the right places. Mixed in Brooklyn by Nicolas Vernhes (Spoon, Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, Stephen Malkmus) this is no civil war, no bloody battle, no historical reenactment.  No, this is Wynn and the Miracle 3 doing what they do best-colliding against each other and their surroundings, not holding back and barely taking stock until all was done.  It's what they do.  To paraphrase Ornette Coleman, this is their Northern Aggression.  Enjoy.

Song "Miss Yuka" (as in, Yuka Honda) taken from the band's self-titled debut, out next week.

By Fred Mills

So if you've picked up the new issue of BLURT (the one with Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes and Janelle Monae on the cover), you've no doubt spotted the glowing review of the new CD from Floored By Four - aka Minutemen/Stooges bassist Mike Watt, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Cibo Matto keyboardist Yuka Honda and in-demand avant-garde percussionist Dougie Browne. Offers our astute reviewer, of the Floored By Four album:

"[They] make with the atonal jazz-soul noise and roll with furious funk. Four songs singularly named and composed by the bassist for each of the quartet's members, the Floored By Four started as Watt's "New York project," and wound up as a testament to their shared love of Krautrock, Captain Beefheart and latter-day Miles Davis, with some Stax stuff thrown in as a good luck rabbit's (good) foot. Add to the grueling groove and the simmering avant-soul the stop-and-start complexity of four improvisational-ists at the top of their games."

The rec's officially released by Chimera Music next week, and we've got an MP3 premiere clip right here for you to get you started. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Floored By Four - Miss Yuka

Comprising recordings from 1980, "Bob Moog Live" arrives in October just a few weeks before MoogFest. Meanwhile, drink more Moog beer!

By Fred Mills

Legendary synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog performed at a pair of concerts way back in 1980 in his adopted hometown of Asheville, NC, and now the music is going to be released in October as Bob Moog Live, according to a report in today's Asheville Citizen-Times daily newspaper. It will feature much of the Nov. 23, 1980, show taped at the Asheville Art Museum, along with rehearsals that Moog, Mike Abbott and Dan Lewis recorded prior to the concert. (The other show that year had taken place several months earlier, at the annual Bele Chere outdoor festival.)

The newspaper describes the performances as "original ‘neoclassical' music written by Lewis and Abbott" recording on quarter-inch reels and recently restored and transferred to hard disc.  "It's not perfection, but it allows you to listen to an historic event and hear Bob Moog speak and perform on his most famous invention," Lewis told the Citizen-Times, and the late Moog's daughter, Michelle Moog Koussa, verified that her father did not play live all that much, preferring to work on his inventions.

Proceeds from the sale of the CD will go to the nonprofit Bob Moog Foundation - and if you've been paying attention, later in October, the Moog profile will be raised even higher when the first annual MoogFest takes over Asheville for three nights of music madness. More details about that at BLURT can be found right here - not to mention a chance to win tickets to the event here.

British singer's "first true love" selling off the song's original handwritten lyrics.

By Fred Mills

If you're a Kate Bush geek (is there any other kind of Bush fan?), then you've no doubt spent many an hour pondering, with furrowed brow, exactly who was the subject of La Bush's early hit "The Man With The Child In His Eyes." In the internet age, the debate has continued to rage (well, simmered, perhaps...), with Pink Floyd guitarist (and Bush producer) David Gilmour frequently getting the nod by default.

But now the burning truth can be revealed: it was her childhood sweetheart, Steve Blacknell.

According to a report yesterday in Britain's Daily Mail, Blacknell has come forth, as these things tend to come forth, via a money grab: he's selling off Bush's original hand-scrawled lyrics to the song (reproduced below), with an asking price of £10,000. It's being hawked at memorabilia site www.991.com.

 Described by Blacknell, 58, as a "love letter" from his old girlfriend, the document hearkens back to around 1975 when he and Bush were an item around East Wickham. Blacknell told reporters, "All I really knew about her was that she wrote songs, played the piano and lived in a lovely house with an equally lovely family.... I'll never forget [when] I went round to her house and she led me to the room where the piano was. I thought "Oh my God". What I heard made my soul stand on end. I realised there and then that I was in love with a genius.

 "I've been told by those around her that I was indeed The Man With The Child In His Eyes and I know that those words were given to me by someone very special. They say you never forget your first love and in my case it's as true as it is for anyone. It's true too that she went on to charm, enlighten and entrance people all over the world."

You can read the entire story and see photos of Bush at Blacknell at the Daily Mail site.

In a solo acoustic/electric show last night (Sept. 23) at Hollywood's (near Miami) Hard Rock Live venue, Young previewed material from his new album Le Noise (due in stores next week) while offering up a healthy sampling of his back catalog. Verdict? The new stuff's charm is fleeting, but the rest of the tunes remain among the most durable in the great American songbook. Opening for Young: Allen Toussaint, subbing for an ailing Bert Jansch.

By Lee Zimmerman

Few performers can actually be described as genuine musical chameleons, artists that change their MO with practically every new release so as to leave fans guessing their next move. David Bowie fit that bill back in the day. Tom Waits and Todd Rundgren occasionally qualify as well. But as far as an artist that continues to morph and change his persona, even now, 45 years into his prodigious career, no one comes close to the ongoing synthesis of Neil Young. From Rock to Rockabilly, Folk to Country, Grunge to Thrash and experiments with ambiance and electronica - not to mention his occasional side jaunts with Crosby Stills Nash and Young and Crazy Horse - Young is famous for keeping his audiences guessing and breathlessly anticipating his every move.

It's no different in concert, which finds his performances offering an overview that glances back at the expanse of his early catalogue while also previewing newer material. Young's solo show at the Hard Rock would have seemed ample opportunity to sample his more subdued side, but in truth, he went mellow only in moderation. Looking dapper in a white fedora, seersucker sports jacket, dark tee shirt and jeans, he won the capacity crowd's approval early on, performing acoustic versions of "My My, Hey Hey," "Tell Me Why" and "Helpless" in succession, seemingly intent on fulfilling the audience's expectation that he'd return to his wandering hippie days of old. But then again, Young is also known for foiling that anticipation and here he did the same. Although he did shuffle from acoustic guitar to upright piano to grand piano and, for one number, "After the Goldrush," even to a pipe organ - all with his ever present harmonica in tow - he also took ample opportunity to rock out on electric guitar with a ferocity that rivaled his full band shows.

Likewise, being famous for testing new songs on unsuspecting audiences, Young took ample opportunity to do that as well. With a new album due next week - convincingly dubbed Le Noise, a series of atmospheric soundscapes featuring Young alone on guitar directed through the ambitious agenda of producer Daniel Lanois - Young treated his adoring audience to no less than six of the album's eight songs, and introduce a pair of tunes that have yet to find any home at all -- "You Never Call" and an odd would-be children's song played at the piano called "Lela." The latter provided his most expansive introduction of the evening ("This is a song for all the little people, people too little to be here tonight. Mama said ‘nope.' ... all the tiny, little redneck people..."). It was an especially auspicious intro, given that his comments were mostly random and infrequent.

Truth be told, the Le Noise material sounded somewhat slight, consisting mainly of Young thrashing about on electric guitar and tossing in lyrics that seemed to be obsessed with darker themes. In fact, one, "Love and War," would have fit comfortably on his protest opus from four years back, the searing Living with War. Overall however, the material seemed little more than another grand experiment like Trans, one will eventually find its way to the margins of his ample catalogue. With nearly half the concert devoted to unknown offerings, the crowd was often left milling about impatiently, eagerly anticipating the next chestnut that would reverberate with second-nature familiarity. Fortunately, there was a fair sample of those as well - riveting versions of "Down by the River" and "Cortez the Killer," the obvious and expected "Cinnamon Girl" and "Ohio," a tender "I Believe in You," and the somewhat ironic encore of "Old Man." Indeed, at age 64, Young was clearly more suited to sing the song's lyrics from the perspective of the title character. Even so, he stuck to the original lyric, describing himself as "24 and there's so much more" just as he did four decades back. Given that his voice - that famous high pitched warble that still defines him - still sounds as sturdy as ever, and that he's no less energized or ambitious, we can only hope that in fact the "so much more" still proves prophetic.

Young was preceded by legendary New Orleans pianist, producer and songwriter Allen Toussaint, a last-minute substitution for British folkie Bert Jansch, who had to bow out early due to illness. With a brassy voice and a sprightly keyboard style, the ever-affable Toussaint charmed the crowd and narrated a tour of sorts through his prolific career, touching on the numerous top ten hits that have likely made him a very wealthy man. Among them were "Mother-in-law," Southern Nights," "Fortune Teller," "Brickyard Blues," "Working in a Coalmine," and the instrumental "Java," songs that have been covered by a remarkably eclectic group of patrons, including the Stones, the Yardbirds, Ernie K. Doe, the Judds and Glen Campbell. "I'd like to thank all those who are only going to see the back of my head all night," he offered up early on. Nevertheless, being heard, if not seen, was all that mattered.

Set List:

1.         My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)

2.         Tell Me Why

3.         Helpless

4.         You Never Call

5.         Peaceful Valley Boulevard

6.         Love And War

7.         Down By The River

8.         Hitchhiker

9.         Ohio

10.       Sign Of Love

11.       Leia

12.       After The Gold Rush

13.       I Believe In You

14.       Rumblin'

15.       Cortez The Killer

16.       Cinnamon Girl

            ---

17.       Old Man

18.       Walk With Me

Move follows high profile arrest last week.

By Blurt Staff

Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, who recently released his latest Bloodshot album Harlem River Blues and also appears in pictorial showing off his array of tattoos in the new issue of BLURT, has cancelled his current tour and will be entering rehab, according to a report at Billboard.com. The ongoing tour had been slated to run through mid November; no rescheduled dates have been announced yet.

The move comes in the wake of Earle's arrest last Thursday (Sept. 16) in Indianapolis on a string of charges that include battery (he reportedly smashed up a dressing room and punched the daughter of the owner of the Radio Radio club), public intoxication and resisting arrest. A wave of online coverage ensued some of them not particularly flattering, with regular updates being added as more details came in. Shortly after the arrest, Earle issued a statement saying that the online reports of the incident were inaccurate but that his lawyer had advised him not to comment further. Earle is due in court on Oct. 19.

A statement posted to Earle's official website Wednesday read thusly:

"Justin Townes Earle has decided to suspend the remaining dates on his tour and enter a rehabilitation facility. Earle is strongly committed to confronting his on-going struggle with addiction and thanks his family, friends and fans for their continued support through this difficult time."

BLURT would like to wish Earle success with his rehab and we hope to see him back onstage in the very near future.

Acclaimed psych/folk quartet to release new album in early November.

By Blurt Staff

VHF Records has announced the impending fourth release from psych/folk quartet Fern Knight. Titled Castings, it's due Nov. 9. The record is described as "somewhat less fastidious" than 2008's comparatively ornate Fern Knight, boastin "a warm, analog feel, with looser and louder performances from the quartet."

 Led by Margaret Ayre's voice, guitar, and cello, the group stretches out on rockier fare like "The Poisoner," growling with fuzz, while leaving plenty of room for softer moments. There are also "jammy" moments but everything is expertly sized and placed, with not a moment wasted on doodles. The centerpiece of the album is the band's treatment of the King Crimson epic "doom" classic "Epitaph." Trading their own cello and violin for the original's signature mellotron, the group channels the vibe of the original while making it their own. Margaret's cool and understated vocal plays it straight in a situation that less assured players and performers would make a bombastic mess of.

As on the self-titled CD, Jesse Sparhawk's harp and James Wolf's violin provide the heart of the sound in many spots, a unique strategy that lets the band update the classic genre forms and styles while making them their own.

"3 days. 10 venues. 120 bands": let's do this. September 9, 10, 11 brought one of the biggest and most vibrant music festivals the Tarheel State has ever known, and we were there...

By John Schacht

In 2003, Charlotte, North Carolina's annual Center CityFest died a much-deserved death, serving up one last hairball that year with a bill that virtually banned local talent from the stages. As they'd done for years, organizers relied on the kegger-and-‘shrooms nostalgia of frat boys (Hootie, Widespread Panic), baby boomer's expendable income (Steve Winwood), and stale 90s' AOR leftovers (Collective Soul) to fill their coffers. Trudging through the dirt and blacktop parking lots that year in the shadow of Ericsson Stadium where the stages were hastily thrown up, dejection and ennui clung in the air like poison gas - or maybe that was just .38 Special.

Good riddance, then, though it seemed the Carolinas would have to make do with smaller local festivals, single genre-oriented regional events like Merlefest, and an occasional shindig like Merge Record's 20^th anniversary.

But in March I got an email from Raleigh's Independent Weekly Music Editor Grayson Currin. He and a couple of other staff members on the advertising side were putting together a three-day festival in September. Eventually an impressive list of artists rolled out: "3 days. 10 venues. 120 bands." read the event posters.

When it finally arrived, the weekend delivered on nearly every level. The gigs featured just about every imaginable genre - rock, hip-hop, country rock, metal, dance, punk, noise, free jazz, drone, folk and more - in every conceivable venue, from rail-thin Slim's with its curb-high riser to Raleigh's impressive open public space, City Plaza. And though the big draws included a reformed Public Enemy (plus marching band!), Canada's electric Broken Social Scene, and Animal Collective's sound-manipulator Panda Bear, the local and regional acts who comprised most of the line-up provided the weekend's finest moments.

Up-and-coming Triangle folk experimentalists Megafaun (pictured at top, above) transported themselves from venue to venue like Spock, Kirk and Bones (Brad Cook played bass with three other bands Friday - that we know of). The trio played packed day parties, hushed evening improv sets, and after-hours jam sessions. They also hosted some of the nation's finest experimental drone musicians in Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis. At the far other end of the spectrum, Durhuam rockers Red Collar and MapleStave left their day party stage splattered with busted guitar parts and their own blood; Charlotte's Temperance League nearly did the same during theirs the day before. The sneaky heat generated by The Kingsbury Manx's melodic crescendos worked as a perfect buffer between Chapel Hill neighbor Bellafea's molten rhythms and the lustrous pop of Carrboro's Schooner - all three got the packed Tir na nOg venue primed for the epic psychedelic folk blend of Philly's The War on Drugs. And so and so on - "3 days. 10 venues. 120 bands." Part of the fun of festivals (at least well-run ones) is the dizzying array of music you can experience in compacted time. Catching a spine-tingling free jazz set from Chicago's Jeb Bishop Trio, hopping down the block for Floating Action's strangely compelling Asheville-in-Motown-and-Trenchtown hybrid, then heading down the street for mind-bending instrumental rock from Tortoise -- it's like avatar-strolling through your iPod's "shuffle" button.

But Hopscotch succeeded because it treated the locals and regionals with the same respect afforded The Big Guns. To feel the love in the room, as they say, you only had to hear, from stage after stage, bands expressing genuine thanks to Currin and the Indy Weekly for their commitment to local music coverage, and out-of-town acts - from the festival-savvy to those more at home playing house shows - acknowledging the fun they#were having seeing the locals play.

No doubt there were hitches and glitches behind the scenes, and sometimes on stage - musicians are not always the fussiest people when it comes to schedules. But whatever went sideways was quickly forgotten and forgiven, or simply went unnoticed via the tap, bottle or aluminum can. And of course if a band didn't float your boat (looking at you, Bear In Heaven), the one playing next door most likely would.

On Friday between sets at Tir na nOg, a couple of us Shuffle Magazine staffers chatted with a member of Charlotte's Black Congo NC (they'd played Thursday night), who posited that what made the Carolinas' music scene special was that it was a "state" scene and not reliant on any one city. That dovetailed with why our humble and amusingly dysfunctional publication (which covers the Carolinas' music scene) made sense - there'd be little chance we'd ever run out of shit to write about.

In the end, that extraordinary well of regional talent and diversity was what the inaugural Hopscotch Festival really celebrated, and what corporate rock schlock like Center CityFest never understands: A vibrant music scene only exists if you water the roots.

[Megafaun photo by Derek Anderson]

John Schacht is a regular contributor to BLURT as well as editor of the exceedingly fine Carolinas-based music magazine Shuffle. You can view their latest issue on the web right here.

Announcing the latest installment in our "Play For Today" series of video game reviews. This time out we take on Halo: Reach, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions.  Incidentally, don't miss the debut of "Play For Today - The Print Version" in the Fall 2010 issue of BLURT, due on newsstands in mid September.

 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!

(above) Halo: Reach

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest

Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions

Mixed Race is a mixed bag - but with moments that rank among his best. It's due out Oct. 5 on Domino.

By Mark Jenkins

Fifteen years after the epochal Maxinquaye, it's clear that the guy who made that richly layered masterpiece is not coming back. Indeed, in the notes to his new Mixed Race, Tricky says he now considers some of his early work "too cluttered." That can't be said of his latest album, which is direct, often uptempo and only 29 minutes long. It includes some tracks that rank among musician's best -- and a few that sound like rough sketches.

Currently based in Paris, Tricky recalls his bad-boy Bristol adolescence on such crackling numbers as "Kingston Logic" (with vocals by Terry Lynn) and "Murder Weapon" (featuring the album's principal female singer, Frankey Riley). The latter track, which reworks an Echo Minott tune, exemplifies Tricky's current approach: It's propelled by an insistent "Peter Gunn" loop rather than a murmuring, kaleidoscopic array of samples.

Mixed Race dabbles in lounge balladry ("Early Bird"), techno ("Time to Dance") and Arab music ("Hakim"), but the album's major influences are reggae and Delta blues. The sultry "Come to Me" is a bluesy vamp, while "Every Day" features a bleating harmonica and a work chant that might have come from the Smithsonian Folkways archives. On the latter track, as on "Really Real" (which features Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie), Tricky drifts toward his trademark ghostly slo-mo. But there's more guitar and saxophone than aural mist on this album, the work of a studio wiz who's become less painstaking, but no less passionate.

TOUR DATES:

December 9^th                    New York, NY                             Le Poisson Rouge

December 10^th                   Brooklyn, NY                              Brooklyn Bowl

December 11^th                   Montreal, QC                     Club Soda

December 12^th                   Toronto, ON                               Mod Club

December 13^th                   Chicago, IL                                 Lincoln Hall

December 14^th                   Minneapolis, MN                          Varsity

December 17^th                   Seattle, WA                                Neumo's

December 18^th                   Vancouver, BC                            Venue

December 19^th                   Portland, OR                               Doug Fir Lounge

December 21^st                   San Francisco, CA                        Independent

Decemeber 22^nd                 Los Angeles, CA                          The Troubadour

Dillon Fence, Valient Thorr, Chatham County Line, Jack Oblivian, Wesley Wolfe, Birds of Avalon and Dan Melchior are among the dozens of bands announced for Nov. event in Durham, NC.

By Blurt Staff

Defying the notion that music festivals are outdoor summer happening, the 6^th annual Troika Music Festival will take place in Durham, NC, on Nov. 4-6.  This year's lineup--which includes bands from more than a dozen labels from 307 Knox, Mammoth, Trekky, Churchkey and Odessa among many others--promises to continue in the vein of previous years, with the Triangle's own new-traditionalists Chatham County Line on board to play a headlining set at the brand new Motorco Music Hall while other local favorites, including fist-pumping rockers Red Collar and standard-bearers Dillon Fence are on tap to play throughout the festival's three days. Newcomers including the very buzz-worthy Cassis Orange, from the brand-new Grip Tapes label is also set to perform alongside other favorites like Old Bricks, another Triangle band that garnered heaps of praise during this month's inaugural Hopscotch festival in Raleigh. 

Troika organizers also announce the inclusion of two new venues in this year's lineup, making the 2010 festival a strictly-downtown event that is for the first time entirely walkable. The Casbah, located on West Main Street and booked by former Yep Roc label head Steve Gardner, and Motorco, on Geer Street, are opening this fall just in time for Troika programming. Motorco is booked by Chris Tamplin, formerly of Raleigh's Tir Na Nog which played host to the extremely popular WKNC-sponsored Local Beer Local Band series every Thursday for the last several years.

"Bring your walking shoes and sample all the offerings of this year's festival," Director Melissa Thomas said.  "Look out for some close-to festival weekend announcements on Twitter and Facebook.  We are excited about our line ups this year and as always are looking forward to three days of great music in Durham." 

Organizers are also happy to announce the inclusion of three events being curated by local favorites. Greg Humphreys, of Dillon Fence, is in the process of curating a songwriter's night, Craig Powell, of Layabout House and local DJ fame will present a showcase and Independent Weekly music editor and Hopscotch organizer Grayson Currin will also present an evening of bands. 

Additional lineup announcements, including a full schedule, will be announced in coming weeks. The full list of bands announced this week includes:

Americans In France * Billy Sugarfix's Carousel * Birds & Arrows * Birds of Avalon * Cassis Orange * Chatham County Line * Dan Melchoir und Das Menace * Decoration Ghost * Dillon Fence * Double Negative * Filthybird * Free Electric State * Futurebirds * Gross Ghost * Hammer No More The Fingers * Hog * I Was Totally Destroying It * In The Year of the Pig * Jack Oblivian * Joe Romeo * Justin Robinson and the Maryannettes * Last Year's Men * Mandolin Orange * Midtown Dickens * Minor Stars * Mount Moriah * Naked Gods * North Elementary * Old Bricks * Onward, Soldiers * Organos * Phil Cook and his Feat * Pink Flag * Red Collar * Shipwrecker * Spider Bags * The Jackets * The Sames * The Small Ponds * The Wigg Report * Valient Thorr * Veelee * Wesley Wolfe * Wood Ear

Details on the web:  http://troikamusicfestival.org/

Touring bus sells after being on eBay for less than a day.

By Blurt Staff

Last week Deer Tick announced they were auctioning off their 2001 GMC Savana Schoolbus (mileage: 122,134 miles) - dubbed "The Flagship" -  in order to raise money to donate to Oxfam's flood relief efforts in Pakistan.

"The situation over there is so critical, but it seems that very few people are aware of it," said Deer Tick frontman John McCauley, at the time. "Maybe it's the stigma with that part of the world, I'm not sure. Either way, we feel really strongly that people should be more aware of the situation and hopefully we can help with that."

"At Oxfam America, we are lucky to have some of the world's most amazing artists support our mission and campaigns," said Bob Ferguson, Senior Advisor of Music Outreach for Oxfam, "We're very pleased that Deer Tick has joined that group in advocating on behalf of our flood relief and recovery efforts in Pakistan."

The auction began Sept. 21 and was to run for up to 3 weeks at eBay (viewable at http://tiny.cc/deertickbusauction) - but after an opening of $500, the thing was gone within 24 hours when a bidder opted for the Buy It Now price of $2,000.

Said bidder has no bidding history at eBay so here's hoping the whole deal progresses to completion to everyone's satisfaction. And nice showing, Deer Tick.

The band hits the road for another tour, and presumably in another bus, next week:

10/06 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
10/07 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club *#
10/08 Greenville, SC - Fall For Greenville *
10/09 Auburn, AL - Bourbon Street *
10/10 Birmingham, AL - Zydeco +
10/11 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks +
10/12 Houston, TX - The Bronze Peacock Room @ House of Blues +
10/13 Austin, TX - Emo's +
10/14 Laredo, TX - Old No. 2 +
10/16 Tempe, AZ - Sail Inn +
10/17 San Diego, CA - The Loft / UCSD +
10/19 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey +
10/20 San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom +
10/21 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom +
10/22 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret %+
10/23 Bellingham, WA - Wild Buffalo +
10/24 Seattle, WA - Neumos +
10/26 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
10/27 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
10/28 Omaha, NE - Bourbon Theatre
10/29 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
10/30 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
10/31 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway !
11/02 Washington, DC - Black Cat
11/03 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
11/05 Providence, RI - AS220
11/06 Providence, RI - AS220 (matinee show)
11/06 Providence, RI - AS220 (late show)
11/10 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
11/11 Boston, MA - Royale
11/12 Newport, RI - Newport Blues Café
11/13 Newport, RI - Newport Blues Café

* = w/ Jason Isbell
+ = w/ J. Roddy Walston and the Business
# = w/ Blitzen Trapper & Malcomb Holcolmbe
% = w/ Phosphorescent
! = w/ Band of Heathens

Song "Buttercups" taken from debut solo album Wreckorder, due next week.

By Blurt Staff

Fran Healy, lead singer and main songwriter of Scotland combo Travis, has his debut solo album WRECKORDER set for an October 5th release on Ryko, and he's got the video for the first single, "Buttercups," set to go. Check it out, and watch BLURT for a review of the album very soon. Did we mention that both Neko Case and Paul McCartney guest on the rec?

Top 10 remixers to be awarded $1000 prize. Winners announced early next year.

By Blurt Staff

Metric have partnered with Indaba Music, Topspin and RCRDLBL.com to launch a remix program designed to source an entire album's worth of remixes of the songs from their album Fantasies. The album, which was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for Album of the Year, and won the Alternative Album of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards, will undergo a reinvention at the hands of Indaba Music's musician community. The band will pick its favorite remixes of each of the album's 10 tracks.

Metric believes that directly engaging their fans, as well as Indaba Music's community, will provide them an ideal forum for sourcing remixes while at the same time deepening the connection with their supporters. The band's decision to self-release Fantasies in 2009 in approximately 20 countries across 5 continents without the backing of a record label marked the beginning of a new chapter in their career and has given rise to an explosive growth in the band's worldwide profile and popularity. Despite becoming the first band to achieve their first ever top 20 hit at US commercial radio without label support (a feat they repeated with their second single) and a slew of other impressive accolades, above all else Metric credits the tenacious support of their fans as being most responsible for taking the band to new heights.

Says Metric, "We've always believed that if we could just cut out all the extraneous middle men and interact as directly as possible with our fans that we would win. The more we engage with them, the better we do. The more we do it, the better it gets! With people in 205 countries and territories able to participate in remixing Fantasies, this will become the thing we've done with the furthest reach to date. We know how many talented musicians there are around the world that are just looking for a chance to be heard and this seemed like a good way to potentially offer some of them an opportunity to see that happen!  We're super excited to see what's going to come of it!"

Not only is the program forward-thinking for the band, the program also marks a first for Indaba Music, as Topspin Media's direct-to-consumer sales technology will be incorporated into all Metric remix competition pages. A long standing Metric collaborator, Topspin's involvement will enable fans and musicians to purchase advanced stem packs straight from each contest page for $1.99/song, providing musicians with dozens of isolated stems, and thus enhanced sonic flexibility. Additionally, as with all Indaba Music remix programs, the competition will also offer a free basic set of stems for each song.

Nate Lew Head of Marketing, Business Development at Indaba Music said, "More than a third of Indaba Music's users spend over $1,000 annually on instruments, equipment and offline tools. Clearly they invest in their craft, and we're thrilled to be working with Metric and Topspin to offer our global community of musicians, many of whom are active remixers, with a musician-specific version of the Fantasies record (via advanced stems), as well as an incredible career opportunity."

Entrants should register at http://www.indabamusic.com/studio_access/metric.

The Thin White Duke's transition album sounded like nothing before, nor after - as EMI's new expanded special/deluxe edition, out this week, amply illustrates.

By A.D. Amorosi

It's been said that 1976's Station to Station was the transitional center point of Bowie's 1970s, the testy album that found him exiting princely literate pop, character-driven glam and plastic soul (Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Young Americans) for more experimental waters (the Berlin trilogy). Yet, with its numb musical web of steely cabaret, motorik-electro-metal, histrionic balladry and ice queen death disco set below existentialist themes and an overawing schmaltzy croon, not only is StS an anomaly in Bowie's ever-shifting career. There's nothing else that sounds like it; not before (despite Can/Neu! influences) not after (despite Beck steeling bits for Midnight Vultures).

Stripped of the oxygenated feathered rock and the wily pomp circumstances of cracked actor-characterization, this Bowie - lean, slicked back and black-and-white what from the wealth of StS photos and paraphernalia inside the Isolar tour programs and such that make up the Deluxe edition - sounded as wintry cool and stark as he appeared. The block red lettering and bleak white-and-gray photography of its cover (returned to such after the famed Ryko re-issues used the color originals taken from his starring role in The Man Who Fell to Earth) is cutting and spare. The airless StS, despite several lengthy songs, is brief (six songs, no outtakes or lost tracks) and feels both incomplete (then again, so does Low which followed it), yet perfectly finite, withdrawn within itself and all worlds around it.

The entire package, from inside to out, is hermetically sealed and severe. Or is it?

The music is frozen - stilted angular pianos, brain-rattling bass and synthetic train sounds mark the title track like a pox even when its melodies prove ever-reaching and rich; the ice-cavernous production of "Stay" and its soul-blasting guitar licks are without thaw even when its tasteful solo raves on. There are tinted, weird whispers to be heard if you listen hard, blowing like tiny gusts of icy wind. The vocals, whether soaring from low to high on the mid-tempo disco-flicker of "Golden Years" ("don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere... angel") or swooning through romancing the stony religiosity of "Word on a Wing" are so chill you can still see Bowie's breath hanging in mid-air thirty four years after the fact.

And make no mistake - this is Bowie at his powerhouse vocal best. Storied as one of his most (the most?) cocaine-fueled recording sessions and coming off the frailty of singing on Young Americans, it's amazing that the singer had any voice at all. Yet, StS - the paranoid studio album and famed Live from Nassau Coliseum CD that this box contains - show Bowie to be pop's most protean yet elegant singer.

That he, the Euro-man cometh, this Thin White Duke, shows his disconnected connection for wayward television monitors (the jaunty "TVC-15") may say that this Bowie is incapable of loving beyond the alien. "And who will connect me with love?" asks Bowie through the raging racing second half of the clinical epic "Station to Station." Yet the Christian-themed and hymn-like feel of "Word on a Wing" prove, perhaps, that Bowie's focus was on something higher than modern love or mortal man.

Ain't that close to love?

[Photo Credit: Andrew Kent]

(A.D. Amorosi is a BLURT Contributing Editor)

Tennis shoes, that is...

By Blurt Staff

The footwear and indie rock world is apparently all abuzz over the news that Animal Collective is designing its own line of shoes in conjunction with the Keep company. Due next March, initial preorders will also get you a musical bonus: a cassette of unreleased A.C. music. The image above shows a slip-on pair called "The Tobin" (the illustration was created by Avey Tare) and you can check it and more angles out at the Keep website.

The Scocorro Island Conservation Fund will be the recipient of proceeds - always nice to hear of bands doing good works. In a statement, Geologist expressed his love for the Revillagigedos islands saying, in a statement, "Hopefully this project will protect the animals of the [islands] through at least one more fishing season and draw more attention to the global problem of illegal fishing." (Thanks to Pitchfork for the tip.)

The Inevitable Past Is The Future Forgotten, out this week on Temporary Residence, delivers the inevitable truth: the band that spawned Pinback and Black Heart Procession was one of Amerindie's greatest. As it turns out, it still is.

By John Schacht

This was going to be a much-scrutinized release no matter how it turned out, because in the 13 years since Three Mile Pilot was last heard from rumors of an imminent record circulated as regularly as the changing of the calendar.  In addition, the two bands TMP split into - Pinback and the Black Heart Procession - are inarguably more focused than the original, and have remained viable record-releasing-and-touring entities over that time-frame. So whenever the rumor rolled around, the question arose: Why bother? Well, now that it's finally happened, the fourth full-length from the parent group emphasizes the "inevitable" in its title because this is precisely the outcome you'd expect when you merged the musical DNA of Pinback and Black Heart. Just about the only question was going to be which band's music the reformed TMP might tilt toward. One sure thing, it least resembles the old TMP. That incarnation's three records varied enough that, even on the third, best and final pre-hiatus record (1997's Another Desert, Another Sea), TMP often sounded like a band in search of an identity - or two, as it subsequently turned out.

They have one now, though, and even if it's a familiar one, that doesn't make The Inevitable Past an academic exercise at all. Trading in some of TMP's adventurous forays and punk underpinnings for bouncing-but-brooding grooves and firmer song structures, the two principal songwriters and singers - Black Heart's Pall A. Jenkins and Pinback's Armistead Burwell Smith IV - sound totally revitalized here: This is either the best Pinback record since 2004's Summer In Abaddon, or Jenkins' best work since 2002's Amore del Tropico. The inevitability of the record's sound also points to the unique musical personalities the two key members of the trio - along with drummer Tom Zinser, the other original Pilot member -- have forged during TMP's hiatus. But in recent years both offspring acts have settled into comfort zones (or ruts, according to some), so you can argue that The Inevitable Past may be just the ass-kick both acts needed.

If there's a winner in the "sounds more like" sweepstakes, it's Pinback. The majority of these dozen tracks pulse with the same sinewy momentum as the best Pinback songs: "Still Alive," "Days of Wrath," and "What's In the Air" share thick bass lines that slither between Zinser's kinetic beats, helix-like guitar lines that wind in and out of the melodies and over dense mists of organ and synth swaths, and vocals that fold back over each other so often and create so many textures it's hard to tell who's singing lead or harmony. Classic Pinback, in other words, only with the inimitable Jenkins out front, who sounds far more assured as a singer here than he did in the first TMP.  Of course, we've come to identify Jenkins' voice indelibly with the sinister Black Heart sound - as though he'd somehow swallowed the eerie singing saw that followed him around on Black Heart's 2 and 3. But the Pinback-tempo songs here find him tapping into a different, almost up-beat range, and Smith's intricate harmonies (often in near-falsetto) provide marvelous leavening for the heaviness.

Still, a few songs sound more Black Heart than Pinback. "The Threshold," with its midnight stalker-blend of organ and piano, is one of them, as is "One Falls Away," whose deliberate 3/4-time and pizzicato strings make it sound like a gothic Dance of the Opium Addicts. But even these tracks are tweaked in some fundamental, if subtle, manner as Smith's input re-tools their rhythmic underpinning. "Battle" opens like one of BHP's jittery paranoid-rockers from The Spell - but Smith's roiling bass and some Steve Nieve-like Farfisa add a light relief element that The Spell lacked. Similarly, the marvelous headlong rush of "Same Mistake" trumps any rocker in the Black Heart catalog and stands tall next to any of Pinback's.  

Despite their fondness for different narrative devices, both bands traffic in dark and brooding narrative fare as though determined to keep the shades shut against the terminal and bleaching sunshine of their native San Diego. That was also the case with the original TMP, of course, so expecting something different here would be counter-intuitive. But by now both bands excel at it, and that's why a typical narrative here like "Grey Clouds" imbues the darkness with solace when Smith and Jenkins coil their vocals around one another in one of the album's - fuck it, one of the year's -- best moments: "It's a far-off dream/It's a long way off" Smith mantra-chants, as Jenkins counter-points "You can't stop it."

No doubt some first-incarnation TMP fans who grew up with that band will express disappointment that little new ground is broken here -- that fact is certainly true - or mourn the final passing of the original if they're not fond of the offshoots. But for fans of Pinback and BHP, the familiar ground covered is like seeing a well-worn field-headed-to-fallow deliver a bumper crop. The Inevitable Past offers proof for what many TMP fans suspected way back when -- so, that's where they were headed. It also validates all three entities in the process, and adds a compelling, sort-of-new hybrid to the mix. That tilts the balance overwhelmingly in favor of this reunion - inevitable or not.

Concert slated for this Sunday in London.


By Blurt Staff


Famed British string arranger Robert Kirby passed away a year ago, October 3, and in his time he'd worked with the likes of Elvis Costello, Paul Weller, the Strawbs and Elton John - and Nick Drake in particular. That's his work you hear on the late Drake's Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter. In fact, it was in 2005 that Kirby handled conducting duties with an 18-piece orchestra at Central Park to put on a tribute concert of Drake's music.

Now Kirby is getting his own tribute concert, this Sunday at London's Cecil Sharp House. No less than folk legend Vashti Bunyan (above) is slated to appear, along with Teddy Thompson, Steve Ashley, Ben & Jason and an as-yet-unanounced "special guest."


If you haven't gotten your tickets and airline arrangements yet, however, be forewarned - ths show is rumored to be sold out already.

Roll over Sigur Ros, and tell Bjork the news...

By Fred Mills

Can't tell your Icelandic exports from your, er, Icelandic exports? Guess what? Neither can we! They all sing in this weird, unintelligible dialect and compose ethereal, avant-ish music (nobody from Iceland rocks). Plus, they all seem to have similar names, which compounds the branding issues. Don't even ask us about trying to insert the myriad symbols that are supposed to go over the vowels in their names...

Case in point: Olafur Arnalds, and Olof Arnalds, each with recent releases gaining Stateside attention. One of ‘em is a guy, and the other's a gal, and we have reviews of both of them today at BLURT so you can update your musical scorecards, so follow the links below.

Bottom line: if you recently got a secret thrill when you saw the headline for our Jim Jones Revue story, only to get a low-grade bummer when you started reading and learned it wasn't about the cult leader (Guyana; Koolaid; etc.) Jim Jones, this note's for you, bubba!

 Olafur Arnalds - ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness

Olof Arnalds - Innudir Skinni

2011 Nominees are Tom Waits, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Donovan, Neil Diamond, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, J. Geils Band, Donna Summer, Chic, Dr. John, Laura Nyro, Joe Tex, Darlene Love, and Chuck Willis

By Fred Mills

It's an annual ritual by now - and now, we don't mean the announcement of the latest crop of nominees for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but the inevitable bitching and navel gazing that accompanies the announcement. Which of course is followed soon enough by more bitching and navel gazing when the inductees themselves are selected and announced.

So as you've no doubt heard by now, for the Class of 2011, those nominated for the first time are Tom Waits, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Donovan, and Neil Diamond - pretty hard to argue with any of those, although punk purists will have a field day with the Bon Jovi nod and everyone who's not familiar with the pre-schmaltz-era Diamond may have a thing or two to say as well. (Suggestion: pick up a copy of Diamond's early hits and you'll be a believer.)

Then those who were previously nominated and get another shot at the brass ring this year are Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, J. Geils Band, Donna Summer, Chic, Dr. John, Laura Nyro, Joe Tex, Darlene Love, and Chuck Willis. No arguments there, either; all are sound selections of deserving artists. Here's hoping we will not have a reprisal of that silly it's-disco-so-how-can-it-be-rock-and-roll argument that accompanied Summer and Chic  nominations in years past.

Have at it, kids. More details at the official Rock Hall site. The announcement will come in December with the induction ceremony slated for March 14 in NYC.

Meanwhile, check out our perennially popular dissection of the Rock Hall, published quite awhile back but still generating heated controversy in the reader comments section.

Oh, and congrats to Tom Waits. Wouldn't it be awesome to see an onstage collaboration with Waits and the Beasties?

Band is among five artists selected for this year's induction.

By Fred Mills

While Cleveland's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was busy yesterday announcing the 2011 inductees, Down Under in Australia, the ARIA Hall of Fame was announcing its latest crop of inductees - among them, BLURT faves The Church. It's an especially sweet stroke of timing as this year also marks the band's 30^th anniversary in the music industry. Salute!

Entering the ARIA Hall this year will be The Church plus ‘60s popsters the Loved Ones, punk legends the Models, pop artist Johnny Young and country singer John Williamson.

In a statement, ARIA chairman Denis Handlin commented, "It's very exciting to be again celebrating the extraordinary history of Australian popular music and the many incredible artists who have made it so special. We are delighted to induct such a distinguished group of Australian artists into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Between them there are many years of unforgettable music history, including the 40th career anniversary of John Williamson and the 30-year anniversary of the church. We are proud to honour them all."

The induction ceremony will be at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Oct. 27.

Featuring performances by Grammer School plus panelists/commentators Joe Kendrick (WNCW-FM), Stephanie Morgan (stephaniesid), percussionist River Guerguerian and an editor from BLURT... Interact via Twitter via hashtag #linguamusica.

By Fred Mills

We'd like to invite you all to the White Horse club in Black Mountain, NC, or if you're not necessarily in the immediate vicinity, to join in the festivities online, tonight at 7pm EST for the new web show Lingua Musica. As conceived and hosted by our good buddy Joe Kendrick (one of the DJs at WNCW-FM and also host of that station's "What It Is" show), Lingua Musica is presented as an evening of music and conversation.

Go to the official Lingua Musica website for details and more, including a link to the first show from about a month or so ago. The show will be streamed live starting around 7:00.

The show is designed to showcase a rotating cast of musical artists, journalists and industry professionals as panelists who talk about music news, history and culture while inviting the audience to take part. Meanwhile, for the hour long live webcast, in addition to a pair of in-depth conversations ("Music Business 101" and "Great Concerts"), music will be provided by the house band - tonight, Asheville trio Grammer School.

Lingua Musica's live stream on the website will also take viewer comments on twitter with the hashtag #linguamusica which will be seen by the round table of panelists who may then respond to the audience, creating a continuous loop of conversation. We'll have a literal and virtual room full of musical professionals and fans who will be talking about their their passion and business: the news, history and culture of music.

The panelists tonight: moderator Kendrick, yours truly, Stephanie Morgan (vocalist for Asheville's acclaimed indie rockers stephaniesid) and internationally-acclaimed percussionist River Guerguerian.

27% of BLURT readers get their new music fix from public radio and NOT from their local indie record store - what's up with that?

By Fred Mills

The votes are in, and the readers have spoken: NPR Music is where you folks go to get your new music fix. Apparently all those week-before-release-date streams of key new releases - which recently included Deerhunter, Neil Young, Corin Tucker and Sufjan Stevens -  have tipped the scales in the favor of the good folks at NPR. A big salute!

The original question was, "Where do you get your main new music fix?" As you can see from the results of our web poll, below, NPR Music was way out in front with 27% of the votes, with satellite radio, college radio and MP3 blogs coming in more or less second. Some of you also get your jollies via illegal downloads (at torrent sites), at 9%, while sadly only a small percentage, 6%, claim to get your buzz on at record stores. C'mon folks, let's get out there and support those indie retailers. Just because they can't match Amazon.com prices is no reason to leave ‘em hanging out to dry.

The rest of the results pretty much speak for themselves, although our good friend Jamal, who mans the bootleg CDR kiosk down on the street corner near the BLURT offices, is going to be severely bummed that NOBODY is interested in his wares. Hey, he had the new Arcade Fire even before - and cheaper than - Amazon.com.

Check out our newest BLURT poll at left-hand column of the home page. In honor of Matador Records' big 21^st anniversary bash in Vegas this weekend, we're asking who is your all-time favorite Matador act.

1000 Years, out next week on Kill Rock Stars, is mom rock you can really get behind.

By Ron Hart

Coming soon: an interview with Corin Tucker, in which she talks about life since Sleater-Kinney and how her new outfit came together. "It's funny - we're all of us in our late thirties, playing these songs," says Tucker, of the band. "But once we really go for it and play rock songs, we could feel like we're 22 again. You just have that moment when you get to completely let yourself go and enjoy it. It's so much fun." Meanwhile, have a sneak preview of the record, below. - Ed.

The full album is streaming now until October 5 on NPR. You can listen here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130041778

You can download "Doubt" from 1,000 Years now:

http://krs5rc.com/krs/bands/corintuckerband/audio/Doubt.mp3

For anyone who ever wanted to hear Corin Tucker test her massive pipes behind the quietude of a piano, your ship has finally come in. Written and recorded over the course of the last year following the Oregon siren's extended break from the music industry to raise two children in the wake of her celebrated group Sleater-Kinney's hiatus, 1000 Years might not be exactly the furthest cry from the last couple of records with her longtime band, as tracks like the Wire-esque "Half A World Away" and the Dig Me Out throwback "Doubt" signify.

However, it is those moments when Tucker (expertly backed by Unwound bassist Sara Lund and Golden Bears drummer Seth Lorinczi) totally plays against her riot grrrl urges that her solo debut shines the brightest, employing acoustic guitars and Fender Rhodes on "It's Always Summer", cello for "Dragon" and electronic static on "The Big Goodbye". But it's the implementation of that beautiful baby grand on ballads like the stark "Thrift Store Coats" and the gorgeous album closer "Miles Away" which serves as a perfect vessel to catapult her iconic voice into the upper reaches of heaven. 1000 Years is mom rock you can really get behind.

Sometimes a memoir is far more than "just" a memoir. Smith's "Just Kids" will be out in paperback on Nov. 2.

By Fred Mills

Patti Smith's memoir of her times (and life) with late artist Robert Mapplethorpe Just Kids (Ecco Books) was published much earlier this year (it's due soon on paperback) and got covered in all the "right" places; a big excerpt was published in Rolling Stone. Yet lost among all the "event" stuff, perhaps, was what a quietly personal, and ultimately meditative, volume it actually is. Rather than a "when gods walked the earth, blah blah blah..." account of rock ‘n' roll misadventures, it's a reflective book that, even when namechecking some of the biggest and boldest of those gods (Dylan, Hendrix, Ginsberg and Sam Shepard were among the many icons whose paths Smith crossed), attempts to place everything within the larger context of how a pair of artistically-inclined misfits gradually found their way in the world.

What's more, a sense of inevitability hangs over the entire thing that renders the very act of reading a deeply emotional one. You already know that Mapplethorpe will die on March 9, 1989, and that Patti wrote the book to fulfill a promise she'd made to him, so there's no getting around the fact that Just Kids is offered not only from a position of respect/remembrance, but also from deep grief.

Approaching the final, devastating chapter in which Patti writes about Mapplethorpe's death, in fact, an overwhelming sense of grief washed over me; I had to put the book down for several minutes just to calm myself enough to continue. Up until now she'd been recounting the very-real shared history that was hers and Mapplethorpe's, from when they first met in the late ‘60s after she'd escaped southern New Jersey in order to land in the artistic bohemia of NYC, through their mutual explorations of their respective muses, and to the mid/late ‘70s when each had spun off unto their own artistic universes - all the while knowing of (and frequently expressing) their unyielding, permanent devotion to one another as friends, as inspirations and as soul mates no matter where they might journey individually.

Patti's writing throughout is cautious, yet exhilarating. One moment she appears to be deliberating with her prose so as not to fall prey to an unnecessarily florid flourish. The next, she's caught up in the utter celebration of a memory, whether it's one of her own personal triumphs (her descriptions of how she went from being a wannabe scenester to doing poetry readings to the initial stirrings of the Patti Smith Group are particularly valuable as a first-hand chronicle of the 1970s Max's/CBGB milieu) or one of Mapplethorpe's (even when she's expressing mild confusion over the photographer's fixation on homoerotica and S&M imagery - bullwhip in the ass, young man pissing in another's mouth, etc. - she still marvels with unencumbered enthusiasm at the man's visual gifts). And the story of how the iconic cover of Horses came to be, a moment when the pair's muses locked arms for all posterity to witness, is simply a must-read.

"When I look at it now," writes Patti, of the album sleeve, "I never see me. I see us."

It's that permanent connection, I think, that haunts me now. I'm not sure if I ever truly considered how powerful those things can be, extended beyond the grave and, perhaps, into infinity. Maybe I've just never been strong enough as a person to dwell too deeply or at length upon those I've lost; defense mechanism or simply cowardice on my part, at least I can report that with this book, my eyes are just a little bit more open. Hopefully my heart, too.

On the next to last page of the main body of Just Kids, Patti Smith writes of driving down to the beach with her family for Easter, a few weeks after Mapplethorpe's death. She's standing beside the ocean, looking at the waves, hearing the cries of seagulls mingling with the voices of her children, and she imagines Mapplethorpe's green eyes, his dark hair, and his voice: Smile for me, Patti, as I am smiling for you.

We should all smile.

Sometimes a video clip is worth a thousand words...

By Fred Mills

So with Neil Young's new Daniel Lanois-produced Le Noise album out this week, Young has also served up a 39-minute film from the recording sessions. You can view it below, and get ready to shred. ‘Nuf said. Review of the record incoming...

Followup to their acclaimed Vagrant album Ain't Too Bright.

By Blurt Staff

Electric Owls announce the release of CULLOWHEE SONGS EP, available November 9 through all digital outlets. The 4-song EP was recorded over the last two months at Electric Owls leader Andy Herod's home studio in Asheville, North Carolina.

"We'd been playing a few of these songs live over the last year so this EP was an attempt to finally get them recorded and out," noted Herod, in a statement. "I also wanted to release something that I recorded and produced myself from home, so I thought an EP was a good way to approach that."

The EP will also be released on 7" vinyl and only available at upcoming Electric Owls shows or directly through their website. The vinyl package will include a digital download code with original screen-printed artwork created by Herod.  

Fans can check out a stream of "When I Was A Flood" at the band's website.

Cullowhee Songs features multi-instrumentalist Herod on mouth harp, banjo, keys, xylophone, accordion, guitar, shakers, and more, while Matt and Krum Rumley join on bass and drums, Nick Campbell on guitar, and Shane Connerty also on ukulele.

The EP was mixed at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, the same place that Electric Owls debut album, Ain't Too Bright (2009, Vagrant) was recorded. No less a (cough) musical authority than BLURT enthused over the album, calling it a "charmingly eclectic, dreamily melodic and hook-laden album of pop songs. The subject matter is romantically personal but filled with the kind of lyrical touches that mark a talented songwriter."