Lester Bangs-approved at that.

By Blurt Staff

En route is a career-spanning Talking Heads DVD, Chronology, due November 21 via Eagle Rock. It includes classic performances and interviews showing transition from the early three-piece days (singer/songwriter/guitarist David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz in 1975) to a quartet (keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison joined in 1977), on into an ensemble of multi-cultural proportions.

A deluxe edition of the release will also be available that will include a 48-page hard-cover book with photographs plus an essay by the late Lester Bangs, originally published as a review of Fear Of Music for the Village Voice in 1979. The essay is the complete and unexpurgated version, available here for the first time.

The early clips from The Kitchen and CBGB in New York City...the global success in the 1980s...the celebratory reunion performance of "Life During Wartime" when they were inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002...it's all here. (Although they continued to record, Talking Heads stopped touring in 1983. They officially broke up eight years later.) Bonus Features include a Byrne interview in 1978, a 35-minute 1979 documentary-styled British television show on the band and commentary from Byrne, Harrison, Frantz and Weymouth.

TRACK LISTING:

1) Mic Test (1976)   

2) With Our Love (1975)   

3) I'm Not In Love (1975)   

4) Psycho Killer (1975)   

5) Intros Montage (1976)   

6) The Girls Want To Be With The Girls (1976)   

7) Don't Worry About The Government (1978)   

8) Dressing room fan footage: Found A Job (1978)   

9) Thank You For Sending Me An Angel (1978)   

10) Warning Sign (1978)   

11) Artists Only (1979)    

12) Take Me To The River (1979)   

13) Crosseyed And Painless (1980)   

14) Animals (1980)   

15) Love → Building On Fire (1982)   

16) Cities (1982)   

17) Burning Down The House (1983)   

18) Life During Wartime (2002)

Band puts tour on hold while trying to sort the situation out.

By Blurt Staff

GWAR guitarist Flattus Maximus - Cory Smoot, of Midlothian, VA - was found dead on the band's tour bus yesterday, Nov. 3, prior to the band crossing from the US into Canada, according to mdia reports. GWAR was on tour and had just performed in Minneapolis. The cause of death is as yet unknown.

Smoot, 34, had been in the band since 2002 and also played in Richmond band Mensrea and Locus Factor. GWAR frontman Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie) issued the following statement:

"It is with a sense of profound loss and tragedy that the members of GWAR must announce the passing of their long time guitarist and beloved friend Cory Smoot, also known to thousands of metal fans worldwide as Flattus Maximus. Cory was found deceased this morning as the band prepared for a border crossing. There is no word as to the cause of death and the members of GWAR are completely shocked and devastated that this has occurred. At this point there is no word on arrangements and the disposition of the remainder of GWAR's current North American tour, nor are there any details regarding long term plans. At this point we are just dealing with the loss of our dear friend and brother, one of the most talented guitar players in metal today. We ask that our fans and the media be respectful of our request for privacy for those that have suffered this terrible loss. A full statement will be coming in the next day or so, in the meantime please give your thoughts and your prayers to Cory, his family, and all the people that love him."

Both tracks slated for Record Store Day's "Black Friday".

By Fred Mills

 UPDATE: This just in - the full-length, titled Clear Heart Full Eyes, will be released on Jan. 24 via Vagrant.

Hold Steady fanboys across the planet all breathed a grand, Oh my! recently when word arrived that the Hold Steady's Craig Finn plans to release a solo album sometime next year, featuring guests from White Denim, Centro-Matic, Phosphorescent and the Heartless Bastards. (Don't worry; the Hold Steady ain't breaking up.)

Meanwhile, though, on Nov. 25, via Vagrant, Finn drops a limited edition 7" single for Record Store Day's upcoming Black Friday, "Honolulu Blues" b/w "Rented Room." You can get an advance listen via the streaming audio, below.

Honolulu Blues by fulltimehobby Honolulu Blues by fulltimehobby

Are you ready to testify? ATR solicits videos from fans for new Occupy Wall Street-themed project.

By Blurt Staff

Atari Teenage Riot and activist group Anonymous have collaborated for the 2nd video edit of "Black Flags." Fans and friends of Atari Teenage Riot and Anonymous, including support from Steve Aoki, Boots Riley, and Occupy Wall Street, supplied the footage for the ongoing video project.

The latest single from album Is This Hyperreal? is a political anthem declaring Atari Teenage Riots' support for Anonymous' human rights campaign. The viral videos for "Black Flags" feature monolithic black flags, anonymity and "corpsing". Together these solidify the ideals of the movement and absorb the basic principles of equality and freedom.
 
"Are you ready to testify?" Anonymous and Atari Teenage Riot are inviting fans to submit a video statement and support. For more information read Alec Empire's statement below.

More details:

http://www.facebook.com/Atari.Teenage.Riot.ACTIVATE

http://www.dimmak.com

http://www.atari-teenage-riot.com

A statement from ATR's Alec Empire:

"In the past decade we have witnessed how dangerous corruption can be for ordinary citizens, from Fukushima to the financial crisis, we could even include the current phone hacking scandals in the UK in this. The list goes on. Almost weekly more shocking news is being published. Corporate greed has too often put the lives of people in danger.
Historically, the Black Flag stood for not belonging to a certain Nation State (due to the fact that no national colors were used on it). For the us, it means also that no individual can look at him/herself as superior to others just because of his/her national identity.

"The mainstream media often looks at "consumers" and labels them as "apathetic." But as the protests around the world have indicated, there is more political activism than ever before. And not only that, we see the same activism and energy at our concerts.

"Cynics always find many reasons for not doing anything and being miserable. Often they say that the world is too "complex" to get involved. We believe that even though the world is complex, there are some fundamentally powerful ideas. Respect for another human being, for example, is a fundamental idea that grants great power. If you agree to the basic principles of equality and freedom, join us and make a statement!
...

"If you want to be in the video and show that you support the ideals mentioned above, please send us the following footage:

• Take your mobile phone, webcam or any other camera and film yourself lip-synching the song Atari Teenage Riot - "Black Flags" (feat. Boots Riley) by Alec Empire/ ATR

• Have a black flag in the background, or hold it while you're lip-syncing. (The black flag motif will link all images together. If you don't have one to hand, use a black T-shirt, pull it inside out, stick the arms into it...there you go.)
• You can choose any location for it. If you want to do it at home, great. If you know a crazy location, do it there. (In front of your school or university? At a shopping mall? With your friends at a party?)
• We will use fragments of all videos, which are sent in and ultimately add all of you to the official video.
• If you want to support the idea but want to do so anonymously, you can cover your face. No problem."

Also TURNING Documentary Film Premiere- One-Night-Only Performance on January 26 Commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art; TURNING Documentary with Charles Atlas to Premiere in Copenhagen November 11.

The Museum of Modern Art has commissioned artist/musician Antony to conceive, produce, and perform a large-scale concert and performance event, Swanlights, with Antony and the Johnsons, on Thursday, January 26, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. at Radio City Music Hall. Featuring a 60-piece orchestra, the performance piece is conceived as a new commission especially developed for the January 26 performance, and an evolution of the highly acclaimed The Crying Light, which was presented at the Manchester Opera House for the 2009 Manchester International Festival. Envisioned as a meditation on light, nature, and femininity, Swanlights includes songs from all four of Antony and the Johnsons' albums (self-titled, I am a Bird Now, The Crying Light, and Swanlights), set to symphonic arrangements by Nico Muhly, Rob Moose, and Maxim Moston. It is produced in collaboration with light artist Chris Levine, lighting designer Paul Normandale, and set designer Carl Robertshaw. Antony and the Johnsons: Swanlights is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator at Large of The Museum of Modern Art and Director of MoMA PS1, with the assistance of Eliza Ryan, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA PS1.

[Read the BLURT interview with Antony here.]

This month also sees a work-in-progress screening of TURNING, a film by Charles Atlas and Antony on November 11th at Copenhagen's Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX. In 2006 Antony and the Johnsons and Charles Atlas toured Europe with a concert and live video portrait of 13 women from New York City.  The Guardian called their presentation at The Barbican, "fragile, life affirming, and truly wonderful (five stars)." Le Monde in Paris hailed the performance at the Olympia as "Concert-manifeste transsexuel." The film TURNING explores the heart of that performance. Through its synthesis of Antony´s songs and unfurling video portraiture of the beauties who performed on stage, TURNING creates an intimate and cinematic experience exploring the themes of identity, transcendence and the revelation of essence.

Since being awarded the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize in 2005, Antony has collaborated with musicians including Björk, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, Boy George, CocoRosie, and Lou Reed, and recently he has performed with symphonies around the world. Reed has said, "When I first heard him I knew I was in the presence of an angel." Anderson adds, "Two words and he has broken your heart. When he sings it is the most exquisite thing you will hear in your life."

Following its acclaimed presentation at the 2009 Manchester International Festival, the group's performance of Antony and the Johnsons The Crying Light was included in the exhibition 100 Years (version #2, ps1, nov 2009) at MoMA PS1, which was organized by Klaus Biesenbach and RoseLee Goldberg, Performa Director and Curator.

Last summer, Antony was the musical director and a performer in the critically lauded The Life and Death of Marina AbramoviÄ�, directed by Robert Wilson.  This piece will tour Madrid, Amsterdam, Basel and Antwerp in Spring 2012.

As a visual artist, Antony has exhibited drawings at Palais Des Beaux Arts in Belgium, Isis Gallery in London, Accademia Albertina in Turin and the Triennale in Milan. Antony's premier exhibit of drawings in the US will be held at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in January 2012, curated by James Elaine.

Strong suspicion of interstate Faygo transport using under age Juggalettes. Above: group of Juggalos displaying gang colors, tattoos and hand gestures.

By Fred Mills

There's the Crips, the Bloods, the Aryan Brotherhood - and now, the Juggalos. According to the FBI, which recently published its annual report on national gang activity, the Insane Clown Posse's legions of fans, or at least those who favor face painting and elevate their fandom to cult-worthy levels, are a "loosely-organized hybrid gang... forming more organized subsets and engaging in more gang-like criminal activity."

This according to a news feature published last week at Wired.com.

"Although recognized as a gang in only four states," reports the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center," many Juggalos subsets exhibit gang-like behavior and engage in criminal activity and violence."

The Wired.com report goes on to note that the FBI hasn't definitively linked the Juggalos to standard issue gang activities such as murder, gun-running and drug trafficking, with "thefts, hand-to-hand drug sales and felony assaults" typically constituting their "lower caliber" brand of mayhem.

Which sounds, er, suspiciously like what bored teenagers do.

(Below: Japanese Juggalette, proof that the gang has ties with international crime organizations.)

The report continues: "Social networking websites are a popular conveyance for Juggalo sub-culture to communicate and expand... Juggalos' disorganization and lack of structure within their groups, coupled with their transient nature, makes it difficult to classify them and identify their members and migration patterns."

We'll say it once again: teenagers. In all fairness to the FBI, however, it's worth noting that back in the day the governmental agency was so suspicious of another semi-subversive, broadly-sourced group of young Americans that it routinely infiltrated their ranks to spy on them. They were called hippies.

But hey, that's just one BLURT editor's opinion, a reformed juvenile delinquent who still looks fondly back at his mayhem-inducing past. Never could rock the face paint, however.

Read the full Wired.com report - there's a lot more good stuff. Meanwhile, elsewhere at BLURT you can view the recent documentary American Juggalo.

Grab the download now while you can...

By Blurt Staff

A new FREE 8-track digital EP from garage rock kingpins Reigning Sound just dropped courtesy Scion A/V. Scion A/V Presents: Reigning Sound - Abdication EP is available as a free download at http://www.scionav.com/

Reigning Sound - aka Greg Cartwright (vocals/guitars), plus for this particular release Benny Trokan (bassist), Mike Catanese (guitar), Mikey Post (drums) and Dave Amels (keyboardist) - formed in Memphis a decade ago prior to Cartwright's relocation to Asheville, NC. The group's latest studio LP, Love And Curses (reviewed here at Blurt), was released in 2009. Five tracks from this new EP was recorded and produced by Dan Auerbach. 

"Scion A/V has a desire to find artists that embody a sound that's constantly evolving," says Jeri Yoshizu, manager of sales promotions for Scion. "Reigning Sound have found a way to take the sounds of a golden age in rock and mash them together with influences that are sweet, sour and everything in between."

Check out the band at: http://www.facebook.com/reigningsound

Well, for a pair of shows at least. But it ain't your average kinda indie band reunion...

By Fred Mills

It's the alterna-rock reunion you never expected - or, more accurately, the college-rock reunion, as bands operative from the mid ‘80s to the dawn of the ‘90s weren't quite yet known as "alternative." But Cleveland's Death of Samantha was certainly AN alternative to a lot of what was going on at the time, alternately thrilling and horrifying regional audiences while amassing a national reputation for their in-your-face combination of punk, glam and garage.

After a handful of records for St. Valentine's and Homestead, the band split up, with members John Petkovic, Doug Gillard and Dave Swanson subsequently forming Cobra Verde. Later, Petkovic and Gillard were tapped to join Guided By Voices, and Gillard was a mainstay of that band for a good chunk of the ‘90s.

More recently, Gillard has been one of the busiest men in rock, as this recent BLURT profile clearly outlines.

And now comes word, via a Facebook announcement, that the original DoS lineup of Petkovic, Gillard, David James and Steve-O Eiredam will be getting back together for their first gig in 25 years for a pair of Christmas shows in Cleveland. Mark your calendars, fans, for Dec. 23 and 24 at the Beachland Ballroom - you can tell your grandchildren you were there.

More DoS: song samples, etc. at the band's MySpace page.

Subject header says it all...


By Perez Mills


It's a sad state of affairs, no pun intended, when the rock press decides to start salivating on par with grocery story checkout tabloids, but that appears to be the level we've finally descended to, judging but all the recent interest in the breakup of Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore - and now, Zooey Deschanel and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard.

Pitchfork, for example, breathlessly reports today (on a USA Today-originating report; see what I mean?) that Ben and Zooey's two-year marriage is now on the rocks, and tons of other blogs are doing likewise. It's the sorrry-ass TMZification of the music press, and there's not much else we can add, other than to say that maybe normal people - as opposed to, say, Kim Kardashian -  would like to be left alone when they are sorting out marriage issues. Bah.

Not every day you get a dose of pagan folk metal...

By Blurt Staff

Russian pagan folk-metalliers Arkona will be touring North America for the first time, first as headliners and then as direct support to Nuclear Blast recording artists Korpiklaani. Supporting their brand-new  album Slovo (Napalm), the band will begin a string of headlining Canadian dates on November 11th and then join up with Korpiklaani on the 25th, as they enter the United States, and then finally conclude back in Canada on December 18th.

In a prepared statement by the band: "After a long absence due to endless touring worldwide and recording a new album, 'Slovo,' ARKONA tours North America for the first time. Again and again, traveling thousands of miles and visiting dozens and dozens of cities, ARKONA brings the 'Word' - or 'Slovo,' in Russian - to every soul which respects the legacy of their ancestors and those still-sleeping hearts which are still alive with the will of our fathers. After more than 300 concerts, two years of hard work went into our new creation 'Slovo,' which has received positive reviews worldwide, thus giving the group the ability to rise one more step up. Moreover, this tour will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the group, which means that in addition to the presentation of new songs from the album 'Slovo,' you will get to hear classic songs from all ARKONA albums. By tradition, ARKONA invites all brothers and sisters to a grand celebration!"

Tour Dates:

November 11 - Montreal, QC @ Théatre Plaza*
November 12 - Toronto, ON @ WreckRoom*
November 13 - London, ON @ Music Hall*
November 14 - Ottawa, ON @ Maverick*
November 16 - Quebec City, QC @ Bar l'agité*
NOvember 17 - Sherbrooke, QC @ Bar le Magog*
November 18 - Drummonville, QC @ Salle Gaston Mandeville*
November 19 - Saint-Hyacinthe, QC @ Bar le Thrash*
November 25 - New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater
November 26 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's
November 27 - Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
November 29 - Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theater
November 30 - Regina, SK @ The Exchange
December 01 - Edmonton, AB @ Pawn Shop
December 02 - Calgary, AB @ The Distillery
December 03 - Vancouver, BC @ TBA
December 04 - Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
December 05 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
December 06 - Oakland, CA @ The Pound
December 07 - Hollywood, CA @ Key Club
December 08 - Tempe, AZ @ Clubhouse
December 10 - Austin, TX @ Emo's
December 11 - New Orleans, LA @ The Hangar
December 12 - Orlando, FL @ Firestone Live
December 13 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
December 14 - Columbus, OH @ Alrosa Villa
December 15 - Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
December 16 - Reading, PA @ The Reverb
December 17 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
December 18 - Quebec City, QC @ Imperial Theater

* = ARKONA headlining