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

By Blurt Staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Blurt Staff

Thursday, June 10:

4:00 pm Frontier Ruckus (Troo Music Lounge)

4:15 pm The Postelles (That Tent)

5:30 pm Elizabeth Cook (Troo Music Lounge)

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

10:30 pm Margaret Cho (Comedy Theatre)

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

11:30 pm The Constellations (Troo Music Lounge)

Friday, June 11:

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

1:45 pm Carolina Chocolate Drops (That Tent)

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

2:15 pm Steep Canyon Rangers (Sonic Stage)

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

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

6:30 pm Tenacious D (What Stage)

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

8:00 pm Samantha Crain (Café Whre?)

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

2:00 am Galactic (The Other Tent)

2:30 am LCD Soundsystem (This Tent)

Saturday, June 12:

12:15 pm Langhorne Slim (That Tent)

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

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

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

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

3:45 pm Aterciopelados (The Other Tent)

3:45 Imelda May (Sonic Stage)

4:30 pm Clutch (Sonic Stage)

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

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

5:20 pm Red Cortez (Troo Music Lounge)

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

7:00 pm Jeff Beck (This Tent)

7:00 pm Ozomatli (The Other Tent)

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

12:00 am Thievery Corporation (That Tent)

12:30 am Dan Deacon Ensemble (This Tent)

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

4:00 am Timo Maas (The Lunar Stage)

Sunday, June 13:

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

2:00 pm Lucero (This Tent)

2:30 pm Danny Barnes (Café Where?)

3:00 pm Regina Spektor (Which Stage)

4:00 pm John Fogerty (What Stage)

4:00 pm Supagroup (Troo Music Lounge)

4:15 pm John Butler (The Sonic Lounge)

5:00 pm Ween (Which Stage)

5:00 pm Dropkick Murphys (This Tent)

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

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

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

By Blurt Staff

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

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

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

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

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

By Jennifer Kelly

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

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

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

[Photo Credit: Johnny Moto]

Also joining the gang: Brandon Curtis from Secret Machines.

By Blurt Staff

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

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

Here's what Interpol had to say:

Hey gang,

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

On Bass: Dave Pajo

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

On Keys and Vox: Brandon Curtis

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

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

Come and see why.

Interpol

Tour Dates:

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

[Photo Credit: Sebastian Mynarski]

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

By Blurt Staff

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

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

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

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

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

No cause of death has been announced yet.

By Fred Mills

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

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

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

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

But not necessarily his final album...

By Blurt Staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Blurt Staff

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

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

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

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

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

Track Listing:

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

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Win fabulous prizes, plus a hug from Perry Farrell!

By Blurt Staff

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

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