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The Drive-By Truckers have set an April 25 release for their sixth studio album, “A Blessing and a Curse.” As previously reported, the 11-track set is largely made up of freshly written tunes, as opposed to including songs from the group’s hefty back catalog of unreleased material.

“Most everything on it is real new,” group member Patterson Hood told Billboard.com in October. “Lord knows I’ve got a backlog of songs, but when we went into the studio I pretty much ignored it. Everything else we’ve written since we started recording.”

“Blessing” gets off to a rocking start with the Replacements-inspired “Feb. 14,” and is further highlighted by the rootsy, emotional “Daylight,” the Rolling Stones homage “Aftermath USA” and the reflective, six-minute-plus “Goodbye.”

Closer “A World of Hurt,” which features spoken lyrics from Hood, was inspired by the early 2005 birth of his daughter. “It’s about figuring out a way to turn the demons that can threaten to destroy you when you’re an angry young man into something that you live with and maybe even do well with, and I think certainly that’s been the case with me,” he said.

The Truckers will preview the new material during a Jan. 19-21 stand at the 40-Watt Club in their Athens, Ga., homebase, and have a handful of other shows on tap through mid-April. Hood has solo gigs on tap for Jan. 25 and Feb. 6 at Athens’ Flicker.

“A Blessing and a Curse” is the follow-up to 2004’s acclaimed “The Dirty South,” which reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.

Here is the track list for “A Blessing and a Curse”:

“Feb. 14”
“Gravity’s Gone”
“Easy on Yourself”
“Aftermath USA”
“Goodbye”
“Daylight”
“Wednesday”
“Little Bonnie”
“Space City”
“A Blessing and a Curse”
“A World of Hurt”

Source billboard.com.

Electronic-folk four-piece Animal Collective are preparing to kickstart a North American tour in support of their latest, surprisingly pop-packed effort, Feels, on February 21st in Boston.
The album, which features the energetic, choral-pop tracks “Grass” and “Did You See the Words,” is a kind of turning point for the Brooklyn collective, with its roots in ecstatic, free-form jams. “The music has a lot to do with love and loving in our lives in the past year,” says drummer Panda Bear.

The group’s intense live show tends towards the improvisational, sometimes breaking into dancing and drum circles.

“For us,” says guitarist Deakin, “playing music together is happiness.”

Perhaps in a nod to their more raja-inflected songs, popular Nepali folk singer Prem Raja Mahat is slated as one of Animal Collective’s opening acts.

Animal Collective North American tour dates:

02/21: Boston, Paradise Rock Club
02/22: Montreal, La Sala Rossa
02/23: Toronto, Lee’s Palace
02/24: Lansing, MI, Temple Club
02/25: Chicago, Logan Square Auditorium
02/26: Minneapolis, First Avenue
03/1: Seattle, Neumo’s
03/2: Vancouver, Richard’s On Richards
03/3: Portland, Wonder Ballroom
03/4: Sacramento, The Library
03/5: San Francisco, The Fillmore
03/7: Los Angeles, Vanguard Theatre
03/14: San Diego, Epicentre
03/15: Tucson, Solar Culture
03/19: Atlanta, Variety Playhouse
03/20: Asheville, NC, Orange Peel
03/21: Washington, DC, Black Cat
03/22: Philadelphia, Starlight
03/23: New York, Webster Hall
03/25: New York, Bowery Ballroom

Source Rollingstone.com.

King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp visited Microsoft Corp.’s campus recently to record sounds that could be used in the forthcoming version of the company’s flagship Windows operating system.

A Microsoft Web site posting shows a dark, 25-minute video clip of Fripp recording ethereal sounds that, the posting says, could be used for the audio cues found in Windows.

“So, what was he (Fripp) doing on campus? Recording the various sounds we’ll all hear in Windows Vista,” Robert Scoble, a Microsoft technical evangelist and prominent employee blogger, wrote in text accompanying the posting.

Vista, the first new version of Windows in five years, is due out sometime this year. The site says the recording took place a few weeks ago on Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

But King Crimson fans may not want to get their hopes up just yet.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft’s outside public relations firm, Waggener Edstrom, said in an e-mailed statement that it was too early to say what sounds will be included in Vista.

“We haven’t made any decisions and it’s very early stages,” the statement said.

The video was posted Jan. 5 on Microsoft’s Channel 9 Web site, which aims to be a forum for employees and customers to discuss Microsoft products.

Fripp was a co-founder of the progressive rock group King Crimson and also has worked with such musicians as Brian Eno.

Source yahoo.com.

Octone/J Records recording artist Michael Tolcher will be part
of the lineup for the inaugural Dave Matthews & Friends Cruise, which sets sail from Miami and Port Canaveral, FL on two separate Royal Caribbean ships, Sovereign of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas, on February 3. The lineup for the 3-day cruise includes Michael Tolcher, Bob Weir & Ratdog, G. Love & Special Sauce, Ozomatli, and the North Mississippi All Stars. The ships will port in Nassau and Royal Caribbean

The 10 finalists for the inaugural New Pantheon Awards have been chosen, Billboard.com can exclusively reveal. The award, which continues the mission of the now-defunct Shortlist Prize in recognizing noteworthy albums that have sold less than 500,000 copies in the United States, will be handed out Feb. 6 at a Los Angeles venue to be announced.

Among the titles that will battle for the New Pantheon prize are Animal Collective’s “Feels” (Fatcat), Antony and the Johnsons’ “I Am a Bird Now” (Secretly Canadian), Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine” (Epic), the Arcade Fire’s “Funeral” (Merge) and Bloc Party’s “Silent Alarm” (Vice/Atlantic). Last fall, “I Am a Bird Now” took the Mercury Music Prize, the U.K. award on which both the Shortlist and the New Pantheon are modeled.

The remaining five finalists are Death Cab For Cutie’s “Plans” (Atlantic), the Decemberists’ “Picaresque” (Kill Rock Stars), Kings Of Leon’s “Aha Shake Heartbreak” (RCA), M.I.A.’s “Arular” (XL/Beggars Banquet) and Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois” (Asthmatic Kitty).

The albums were selected by a panel of listmakers that includes Elton John, Elijah Wood, Beck, Margaret Cho, John Legend, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Keith Urban, Ric Ocasek, Shirley Manson, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, Suzanne Vega, Dave Matthews and Keith Urban.

The final Shortlist Prize, handed out in November 2004, was won by TV On The Radio’s “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes” (Touch & Go).

Source billboard.com.

Particle is poised to return to the stage this spring with a fresh lineup, new material, a tour, and a DVD. The bands first live performance of the New Year will be on Friday February 24 at The Henry Fonda Theater Hollywood. Billed as Particle: Transformations, the show will be filmed for a DVD to be released this summer and will feature an array of special guests. Tickets will go on sale this Saturday January 14 at 10am, and are available online at goldenvoice.com. Additional information about the evening’s festivities and guests will follow over the next few weeks.

Particle is excited to announce it’s signing with Shout! Factory, who will release the Particle: Transformations DVD nationwide. Produced by Captured Live Productions, it will be the bands debut DVD, and a follow-up to 2004’s ‘Launchpad’ released by Or Music.

They will mount their spring tour and return to road warrior status with an appearance at South by Southwest before traversing the country for the better part of April. Particle has also confirmed that they will headline the Joshua Tree Music Festival this May in Southern California.

Jeep MacNichol, original Samples drummer 1987-1997, recently traveled to Kingston, Jamaica armed with an acoustic guitar and drum machine. His goal was to record the ultimate chill-vibe party album with his heroes of reggae music. Teaming up with music legends Sly and Robbie, Bounty Killer, Black Uhuru’s Michael Rose, and Dave Wakeling from The English Beat, MacNichol created a unique blend of reggae, trip-hop and dub titled, Mr. Anonymous.

MacNichol tracked the album during a ten-week period that involved three separate trips to Jamaica. On one such trip, Jeep recorded with well-known rapper, Cutty Ranks. “I was fortunate enough to stay at his place,” says Jeep. “Every morning I would wake up to the sound of Cutty cranking tunes on his boom box and singing lyrics at top volume. We would hang out under the palm trees in his backyard, smoke fat joints, and write lyrics all afternoon. It was an incredible experience.”

“This album,” says Jeep, “is about enjoying the moment and taking in the experience. There are songs about love, family, sex and life.” Highlights include “Good Vibe,” featuring a signature Dave Wakeling vocal sound wrapped around the melodic, rhythmic vocals of Michael Rose. “Shylean” features Dr. Dre-style keyboard stabs against a hip-hop groove. Bounty Killer throws out the same aggressive, throaty vocal sound on “Shylean” as he did on No Doubt’s hit single, “Hey Baby”.

“Working with these guys was the experience of a lifetime. I spent every second of my high school years listening to most of them, studying their different styles, and teaching myself how to play drums to their tunes,” says MacNichol. “To go from that, to working and writing in the studio with these guys still blows me away.”

Mr. Anonymous will be released worldwide by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s KAB America label on April 11, 2006.

Scottish chamber pop act Belle and Sebastian and Canadian indie outfit the New Pornographers will join forces for a twenty-city North American tour beginning this February. While the New Pornographers spent last fall on the road behind their critically acclaimed album Twin Cinema, Belle and Sebastian will debut songs off their Seventies-pop-inspired album, The Life Pursuit, out February 7th.

Though both bands are known for their expansive pop sounds, another common factor is sheer size: Each group is comprised of at least seven members, and often expands to upwards of nine players.

On this tour, however, two of the New Pornographers’ additional musicians, Neko Case and Dan Bejar, will not perform. But count on Kathryn Calder, Pornographers frontman A.C. Newman’s niece, to take over vocal and keyboard duties. “We’re going to be kind of like the Fiery Furnaces: the relatives band,” Newman says with a laugh.

And expect some changes to Belle and Sebastian’s live show, as well. “We were trying to do a kind of New Order thing,” guitarist Stevie Jackson says of some of The Life Pursuit’s shimmery, celebratory sound. “Everybody came in with a keyboard instead of their usual instrument.”

This tour, Belle and Sebastian’s largest in North America, brings the two bands to large clubs and theaters. The New Pornographers will appear on all dates, with the exception of the stop in their hometown of Vancouver.

Belle and Sebastian/New Pornographers North American tour dates:

2/25: Toronto, the Docks
2/26: Montreal, Metropolis
2/27: Boston, Avalon
2/28: Boston, Avalon
3/2: New York, Nokia Theatre
3/3: New York, Nokia Theatre
3/4: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
3/5: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
3/6: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
3/8: Nashville, Ryman Auditorium
3/9: Louisville, KY, Brown Theatre
3/10: Chicago, Riviera Theater
3/11: Milwaukee, WI, Riverside Theatre
3/12: Minneapolis, Orpheum Theatre
3/14: Dallas, Granada Theatre
3/18: Los Angeles, Wiltern Theater
3/19: Los Angeles, Wiltern Theater
3/21: San Francisco, Concourse at the SF Design Center
3/23: Portland, OR, Roseland Ballroom
3/24: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom(Belle and Sebastian only)
3/25: Seattle, Paramount Theater

Source rollingstone.com.

Tortoise is eyeing an April release for a three-disc set of 33 rare tracks via Thrill Jockey. According to a label spokesperson, the project was originally titled “Rhythms, Resolutions and Clusters” (after the group’s 1995 remix album) but will most likely wind up with another name.

In addition to a DVD whose contents have yet to be solidified, the collection will feature two audio discs full of hard-to-find remixes by the likes of Autechre, Yo La Tengo and Mike Watt as well as the contents of the original “Rhythms, Resolutions and Clusters.”

Watt’s recasting of “Cornpone Brunch” was intended to appear on that album, but the master DAT tape arrived damaged in the mail just before mastering. Unable to obtain a usable copy before time ran out, Tortoise sat on the broken tape for a decade until longtime collaborator Bundy K. Brown was recently able to resurrect it for use on the upcoming boxed set.

In addition, the audio discs will include tracks from such compilations as the Joy Division tribute “A Means to an End,” “Offbeat: A Red Hot Sound Trip,” “Chicago 2018: It’s Gonna Change” and “Lounge Ax Defense & Relocation CD,” plus limited-edition tour singles and EP cuts such as “Goriri” and “Gamera,” two of the group’s best non-album songs.

Source billboard.com.

Rock trio Loose Fur, which features Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche in tandem with multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke, will release its sophomore album on March 21. The 10-track “Born Again in the U.S.A.” is the follow-up to Loose Fur’s self-titled 2002 effort.

Asked to compare the new album’s sound to the eclectic folk/rock mix heard on the debut, Tweedy previously told Billboard.com, “It’s maybe a little bit heavier. There’s definitely a lot of harmonized guitar parts. I think it’s a similar mix of folk-ish elements, but the rock elements are a little less stridently abrasive, and maybe a little bit more prog-rock or something.”

The new set will be the first concentrated batch of original O’Rourke material since his acclaimed 2002 solo album, “Insignificance.” “He has been really busy with other people’s music. I love getting to work with Jim and he has some really, really great songs on this,” Tweedy said.

Although Loose Fur played a handful of shows in support of the debut album, no live dates are in the works in conjunction with “Born Again in the U.S.A.,” according to a Drag City spokesperson.

In related news, Kotche will on March 7 release his next solo album, “Mobile,” via Nonesuch. He will also join Tweedy on another round of solo acoustic dates, beginning Jan. 31 in Vancouver. On his fall solo tour, Tweedy unveiled the new Loose Fur tune “The Ruling Class,” which features the lyrics “Well he’s back, jack, smokin’ crack, find him if you wanna get found.”

Here is the track list for “Born Again in the U.S.A.”:

“Hey Chicken”
“The Ruling Class”
“Answers to Your Questions”
“Apostolic”
“Stupid As the Sun”
“Pretty Sparks”
“An Ecumenical Matter”
“Thou Shalt Wilt”
“Wreckroom”
“Wanted”

Source billboard.com.