May or may not be called (probably not...) Can I Borrow A Feeling.

By Fred Mills

It's been 6 years since the last Saint Etienne album of new material, 2005's Tales from Turnpike House. Although you could forgive the band for the lengthy delay, and it's not like they were exactly on hiatus anyway; since then here have been plenty of fanclub-only releases as well as deluxe editions of all the early albums, and the group continues to do occasional live and DJ dates.

This week the band officially broke the embargo-of-sorts, however, by announcing that they have signed a new record deal (label tba) and intend on releasing an album titled Can I Borrow A Feeling sometime in early 2012. Well, maybe; they may be joking about that title, and they apparently haven't finished the record yet.

Advises St. E, via email: "We've been plotting, hatching and other mysteriously creative verbs. We have been working with various different luminaries and are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. A nice tunnel mind you, like a tunnel of love.... There are other plans afoot which we don't want to jinx by mentioning but we'll email you as soon as we can."

So there you have it. Stay tuned...

September 26 at the House of Blues the bard, along with The Duke and The Duchess (plus wife Allison Moorer), delivered the goods.

Text & Photos by Rebecca Carter

Touring in support of a recently released book and album, both titled I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive, Steve Earle has taken to the road this time with backing band The Duke and The Duchess.  In past years his tours have consisted mainly of solo appearances, and while that format has been quite powerful, the full band and traditional bluegrass approach showcased the old and new material with added dimension.

He opened the show with several cuts off the new album, "Waiting on the Sky", "Little Emperor" and "The Gulf of Mexico"; each song a perfect example of Earle's brand of political commentary steeped in the folk tradition. I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive itself covers the spectrum of satire, scathing commentary and apolitical ballads in the same fashion that his career has and Monday night's show brought a mix as well.

The Duke and the Duchess really accented the performance, and having a full backing band rounded out the popular songs like "Copperhead Road" and "Hardcore Troubadour".  The band was tight and versatile, switching between guitars, fiddle, steel slide, organ and banjos. Earle, always the musicologist live, explained the histories and traditions of the mandolin and bouzouki and how he fit into the themes of each song.

Between songs Earle used anecdotes from his own life to give insight into their meanings and personalize his political views. He encored with "Billy Austin", a song about a man on death row. Earle explained that a few nights prior someone had passed a note on stage that said "play something for Troy Davis" following his execution and that it had taken him some time to think about the appropriate response, and "Billy Austin" was it. You could have heard a pin drop during the song and it's those moments that make Steve Earle the kind of musician you have to see live.

Setlist:

Waiting on the Sky

Little Emperor

The Gulf of Mexico

Molly O

City of immigrants

Telephone Road

Every Part of Me

My Old Friend the Blues

Guitar Town

Days Aren't Long Enough

(Allison Moorer set)

 (Break)

Copperhead Road

Dixieland

Train A-Comin'

Galway Girl

The Mountain

Meet Me in the Alleyway

Heaven or Hell

This City

Taneytown

Hardcore Troubadour

The Revolutions Starts Now

Encore:

Billy Austin

Devil's Right Hand

Those tickets were going for $400 on eBay at one point...

By Blurt Staff

Retro pop tart Lana Del Rey unexpectedly cancelled her two US tour dates last month without explanation, although word has it that she was busy working on her debut album and had to bear down on that at the time. This left ticket scalpers across the nation (or at least in LA and NYC) pretty bummed out; Del Rey tickets listed on eBay at the time were already topping out at 400 bucks, if you can believe that for a novice/untested act.

(Meanwhile, promotional CD copies of her upcoming "Video Games" / "Blue Jeans" single, due out digitally and on 7" vinyl on Oct. 11 via Stranger Records, were furiously trading hands on eBay; the single reportedly will not be issued commercially on CD. Prices were spotted steadily creeping up at eBay and other auction sites, and at last glance they were well past the $100 mark.)

Anyhow, Del Rey has rescheduled her shows, so get cracking before the scalpers do. The North American dates will now take place a couple of weeks after her European and UK tour:

11/ 4 - Manchester, UK @ Ruby Lounge
11/5 - Glasgow, UK @ Oran Moir
11/7 - Paris, France @ Nouveau Casino
11/10 - Amsterdam, Holland @ Upstairs at Paradiso
11/12 - Cologne, Germany @ Gebauede 9
11/14 - Berlin, Germany @ Roter Salon
11/16 - London, UK @ Scala
11/17 - Birmingham, UK @ HMV Institute
11/30 - Toronto, Canada @ Mod Club
12/05 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
12/07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour

For those who purchased tickets to her September shows at The Box and Hotel Cafe, Bowery Ballroom and Troubadour will be in contact directly to offer priority booking.

Tickets for the Toronto, Mod Club show will go on sale Friday, 10/7 at 10AM ET, at this link:
http://www.ticketweb.ca/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3986895

Tickets for Bowery Ballroom will go on sale Friday, 10/7 at 10 AM ET, at this link:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00004744B1969215?artistid=1646704&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1

Tickets for Troubadour will go on sale Oct. 7 at 1 PM PT, at this link:
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/69931?utm_medium=bks

Forward-looking music collective has album due in November.

By Blurt Staff

DRC Music (artists/producers Damon Albarn, Dan the Automator, Actress, Richard Russell, Kwes, TEED and more) flew to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo this summer to make a record with local Congolese musicians - with all proceeds from the project benefiting OXFAM and their work in the war-torn country. 

Today the first music video from the project is available - for the track "Hallo".  Check it out below:

The album is out digitally this week and will release on CD & limited edition vinyl Nov. 8. 

Tracklisting:

1. Hallo featuring Tout Puissant Mukalo and Nelly Liyemge
2. K-Town featuring N'Gotshima and Bebson
3. African Space Anthem (A.S.A) featuring Ewing Sima of Tout Puissant Mukalo
4. Love featuring Love
5. Lingala featuring Bokatola System and Evala Litongo
6. Lourds featuring Yende Bongongo of Okwess International
7. Respect Of The Rules featuring Loi X Liberal
8. We Come From The Forest featuring Bokatola System
9. Customs featuring Bokatola System
10. Virginia featuring Magakala Virginia Yollande and Yowa Hollande
11. Ah Congo featuring Jupiter Bokondji and Bokatola System
12. Three Piece Sweet part 1 &2 featuring Bebson
13. If You Wish to Stay Awake featuring Washiba
14. Departure featuring The Bokatola System

Avatar of the original British folk revival in the ‘60s, he was active up through 2010, including a high profile tour with Neil Young.

By Fred Mills

Scottish folk legend and Pentangle founding member Bert Jansch passed away earlier today at the age of 67. The cause of death was lung cancer, which he had been battling for two years. Britain's The Guardian reports that Jansch recently had to cancel live shows because of his health, and he subsequently went into hospice care in north London until the time of his death. He is survived by his wife and son.

It's a huge blow to the acoustic music community; Jansch had been called "the British Bob Dylan" and, as part of the ‘60s folk revival in Britain, was an influence on everyone from Neil Young - with whom he toured last year, on young's "Twisted Road" solo tour - to Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Johnny Marr and Devendra Banhart. In 2006 he released the album The Black Swan, his 23^rd solo release, featuring contributions from Banhart and Beth Orton. His last live performance was at a Pentangle show in London on August 1, according to NPR Music.

A comprehensive overview of Jansch's career is posted at Wikipedia, and it's worth noting that during the past decade he had been showered with awards, from a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award to a MOJO Merit Award, and he additionally landed on the Rolling Stone "100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time" list. The gentleman will be greatly missed.

[Photo Credit: via Wikimedia Commons, taken in 2008 by Chris Barber]

The Swedish heartthrob packs 'em in at San Francisco museum the California Academy of Sciences on September 29.

By JUD COST

There are many exhibits in the hallowed halls of the California Academy of Sciences that deal with endangered species. Apparently, the Swedish pop star is not among them, judging by the massive crowd that swarmed into the sprawling museum on a chilly Thursday evening to cheer on Jens Lekman.

Those arriving when the doors opened at 6:00 p.m. could queue up for the planetarium, stroll along a circular ramp to view a rain forest or take pictures of each other in front of an over-stuffed California brown bear with a hundred-foot ichthyosaur skeleton dangling overhead. Or they could have a gander at Claude, the immense albino alligator, floating on a log while taking an early-evening siesta. Those with a more limited attention span might ogle a giant pendulum with so much mass it doesn't rotate along with the rest of the Earth and tells the time by knocking over tiny pegs.

As I walked by the hefty swinging weight, I flashed back to something almost as unsavory as the Edgar Allen Poe tale "The Pit And The Pendulum." It was the last annual freshman General Science field trip to the Morrison Planetarium by Carlmont high school, forever canceled after some of its wilder elements hopped on the swinging pendulum and rode it as if they were auditioning for Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Opening the show well before the tsunami of Lekman fans arrived, was Geoffrey O'Connor, formerly of Australian combo the Crayon Fields, singing quietly in a voice that had broken-hearted moments of Robin Gibb poking out every now and then. Once he added bass and keyboard loops to his psych-pop electric guitar, however, he ran into trouble with the bass feeding back through the PA severely enough to all but obliterate the guitar.

If you judged Jens Lekman only from his When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog album you might classify him as a melancholy warbler with a sound that fed directly into the tap root of Morrissey and Stephin Merritt. But Lekman seems like so much more than that tonight, very upbeat without a trace of suicidal tendencies.

Accompanied on drums and background vocals by Addison Rogers, Lekman is very chatty from the low stage constructed in the Eastern Garden, just outside the Academy's walls. Before playing "Black Cab," a low-key gem from his Oh Jens You're So Silent album, Lekman explains to the crowd that he's one of a few artists who doesn't mind if people talk during his show. "But for this one you have to be quiet-or get closer together," he says.

Lekman's best story comes from his hometown of Gothenburg, last summer. "A friend calls and says, 'Guess who just arrived in town: Kirsten Dunst.' And she supposedly really likes my songs. Now, I grew up next to a potato-chip factory, so I'm trying not to be impressed by that." But he does spend a very long time with a pal waiting for Dunst to show up in the hippest club in town. "But she couldn't get in," says Lekman. "That shows we have no VIP lists in Gothenburg." And it served as inspiration for his next song, "Waiting For Kirsten."

Some of Lekman's material recycles great moments from "Heat Wave" by Martha & the Vandellas, a vocal refrain from Manfred Mann or an early single by the Shangri-La's. But most of it is purely his own trip. And it looks like it's going to be a very long and fruitful one, at that. Just as exhilarating as Lekman's set, was the vibe of this oddball venue. I saw more beautiful girls of all ages tonight than I have in a long time. It was particularly refreshing to see the girls with the Heidi Klum legs (and dresses to match) mingling with old codgers who could have been here to accept an assignment from the National Geographic Society to search for the source of the Nile. 

Hip-hop, techno, bass and more, including streaming tunes and MP3s.

By Blurt Staff

Our latest look at blogger Dominic Umille's "dusty instrumental hip-hop, techno and bass" includes Walls (pictured, above), HTRK,  Martyn, I Break Horses, Balam Acab, Max Cooper, and Chris "Tropics" Ward- it's all part of Umile's Beats Working blog that aims to get way, way gone and dig deep into the underground.

In addition to commentary and artwork, we've also got some pretty choice sounds streaming, like the one below, so click through to the blog and check out the whole deal.

HTRK - Eat Yr Heart by ghostly

Also keep your eyes peeled for the new print issue of Blurt, due next month - we'll have a special analog edition of Umile's blog that you can hold, handle, fold, spindle and mutilate...

Due November 21 on Anti-.

By Blurt Staff

In what's undoubtedly a major coup for tastemaker label Anti- (home to Tom Waits and others), Kate Bush has announced that her new album 50 Words For Snow (previously discussed here) will be coming out on Anti- on November 21.

The album features 7 new tracks set against a background of falling snow, with a total running time of 65 minutes. It features a small number of special guest musicians including Elton John, Andy Fairweather Low and, on the title track, the British writer/broadcaster/raconteur Stephen Fry.

The label describes it thusly:

"Through a highly evocative musical and lyrical landscape this haunting album once again pushes the boundaries."

Country legend also eyes run for Senate in Tennessee.

By Perez Mills

It was a stunning reversal for Kanye West. On any normal day the loudmouth rapper (and Pitchfork pet rock) could feel content with the knowledge that even President Obama considers him the number one jackass in America, an image he'd cultivated for several years. But no longer: in one brief appearance yesterday on the Fox network program "Fox & Friends" country superstar Hank Williams Jr. swooped in to scoop up the jackass crown.

As you no doubt have heard already, Hank Jr. compared Obama to Adolph Hitler in comments regarding the President's golf game with House Speaker John Boener. He called it "one of the biggest political mistakes ever. That turned a lot of people off... It'd be like Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu." Williams additionally called Obama and Vice President Biden "the enemy." Watch the video clip:

Sports network ESPN quickly pulled a pre-taped performance by Williams that had been slated to appear on "Monday Night Football" as pundits across the nation howled in protest. (Well, some of them yawned, too.) Today, however, Williams went into spin/damage control mode and in a statement characterized his comments - in a classic stroke of a non-apologizing apology - as being "misunderstood" and that it was "a Dumb statement and I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone."

Williams added, "Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme - but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me - how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President."

This is a guy, remember, who has already indicated he is thinking about running for the Senate next year in Tennessee. As a Republican, of course.

Sorry Kanye, but your dick has clearly been knocked into the dust. It will be hard to top this kinda stuff...

Ersatz-ah!

By Blurt Staff

The irrepressible Mark E. Smith is back with a new studio album from his long-running band The Fall. Titled Ersatz G.B.,it features the same lineup as for the last few Fall releases: Peter Greenway (lead guitar), Keiron Melling (drums), Elena Poulou (keyboards,vocals), Mark E. Smith (vocals) and David Spurr (bass).

Ersatz G.B. drops December 6 and is The Fall's first album for Cherry Red Records and it will be released on CD, limited edition vinyl and digital formats, preceded by a double A-side 7" single.

You really don't need an introduction to The Fall at this point in time, do you? Smith has helmed to group since forming it in Manchester in 1976 and somehow has steered the ship ever since - sometimes aground, as anyone who's ever witnessed Smith getting into a fight with his bandmates can testify, but it's been an impressive run just the same.

BBC disc jockey John Peel championed the group from the very early days and often cited them as his favourite group, famously opining, "they are always different; they are always the same."

Tracklisting:

• Cosmos 7
• Taking Off
• Nate Will Not Return
• Mask Search
• Greenway

• Happi Song
• Monocard
• Laptop Dog
• I've Seen Them Come
• Age of Chang