News

Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus will release his third solo album May 24 via Matador. The 11-track “Face the Truth” includes the track “It Kills,” a live version of which was recorded with his backing band, the Jicks, and released last fall on Matador’s “At Fifteen” compilation.

“I did more of it myself, a little bit like the old Pavement records,” Malkmus told Billboard.com last September. “Because the studio was in my basement, I took the helm. I pretty much engineered it myself; punching in with my toe, Todd Rundgren-style.”

A Matador spokesperson says the Jicks appear on four songs on the record, with bassist Joanna Bolme and drummer John Moen also contributing to some songs individually. Malkmus said last year that Moen “is featured quite prominently on a lot of stuff [like] backing harmonies. He did a great job.”

“Face the Truth” the follow-up to 2003’s “Pig Lib,” which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart. Because Malkmus is soon to become a first-time father, he will not tour extensively in support of the set but is confirmed to appear March 18 in Austin, Texas, as part of Matador’s showcase at the South by Southwest Music Festival.

In other news, Malkmus will appear on the first album in four years from Silver Jews, which is led by longtime friend/collaborator David Berman. The 15-track Drag City set will also feature guest spots by former Pavement members Bob Nastanovich and Steve West, singer/songwriter Bobby Bare Jr., former Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison and vocalist Azita, among others.

Here is the track list for “Face the Truth”:

“Invisible Bodies”
“Baby C’mon”
“Horslip”
“Mmmmm…”
“Loud Cloud Crowd”
“No More Shoes”
“Mama”
“Malediction”
“Pencil Rot”
“It Kills”
“I’ve Hardly Been”

Source billboard.com.

A milestone in the history of recorded music was marked on New Year’s Eve when Quantegy, the last company in the U.S. to manufacture the magnetic tape used for studio analog recording, shut its doors.

Analog recording has fallen by the wayside since the mid-Nineties, when faster, cheaper digital recording and editing programs such as Pro Tools became the norm. Still, die-hards — including Neil Young, Jackson Browne and producer Rick Rubin — swear by the natural sound of analog. “Digital has gotten really good, but it’s never going to be analog,” says Lou Reed. “People who want a vintage sound are going to have a problem.”

Quantegy’s closing caught most by surprise. “The news really freaked me out,” says Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, whose band’s current album, Deja Voodoo, was recorded almost entirely in analog. “There’s no other way to get that warm sound.” The Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch worries that a valuable way of thinking about music will be lost. “With digital you might look at the sound waves and see that the bass player is a little behind the drummer and move some of those notes to make it look tighter,” he says. “But with tape you might listen to that same performance and just think, ‘That bass player has a nice feel.'”

As the news spread, analog tape reels hit eBay, and tape vendors were besieged with phone calls. ATR Services, which makes and services analog gear, has plans to launch a line of tape by summer. “There’s still a solid base of customers for analog,” says Michael Spitz, ATR’s owner. “But any company making it needs to realize it’s not the de facto recording choice anymore.”

In addition to concerns about digital music’s sound quality, questions have been raised about archiving it. “I get folks coming in here with waterlogged boxes of analog tape where there’s actual mildew on the reels, and we can still clean them up and get them to sound great,” says John Nicholson, owner of Hilltop Studios, the longest-running studio in Nashville. “You show me a hard drive that can handle that.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Big Joe Burrell, the gregarious saxophone player who towered over Burlington’s music scene for three decades, died Wednesday morning from complications following abdominal surgery. He was 80.

Burrell learned from Count Basie and B.B. King and passed his knowledge on to a new generation of musicians including Trey Anastasio of Phish. His sweet sax drifted into the ears of untold thousands across the world, across the country and across Vermont after the Michigan native arrived in Burlington in 1976. His reach went as far as blues festivals in Europe and as close to home as Halvorson’s Upstreet Cafe on Church Street, where he played every Thursday.

He was an imposing physical presence, but with his cherubic face, large spectacles and larger smile, he was a friendly presence, too, quick to support any charity event in town.

Burrell was big in name, big in size and big in reputation. If the Burlington music scene had a patriarch, a Jedi jazz master, it was Big Joe Burrell.

“He fell in love with Burlington a few years ago, and Burlington fell in love with him, and we were really blessed to have him in our community,” said Chuck Eller of Charlotte, who played for years with Burrell in the Unknown Blues Band.

Burrell entered Fletcher Allen Health Care last month for abdominal surgery and developed respiratory problems. He died about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, a week shy of his 81st birthday. Burrell, who will be cremated, didn’t want a funeral; Eller said he is organizing a musical tribute likely to take place in May on a Thursday night – “the Big Joe day of the week.”

Source burlingtonfreepress.com.

The 5th Annual Jammys Awards will be held on April 26th, once again at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Fan voting will begin on February 18th. More info on performers and details will be released shortly on jammys.com.

Reid Genauer, Assembly of Dust’s lead vocalist and primary songwriter, has been dubbed by critics as “one of the most vital voices, singers, storytellers and songwriters in today’s live music scene.”

For The Honest Hour (Hybrid Recordings, September 2004), Genauer and AOD keyboardist Nate Wilson co-wrote five of the album’s nine original songs, and the album proves the Genauer/Wilson collaboration is a more-than worthwhile pairing. AOD’s distinctive “hick funk” style sets up the album’s best songs as “instant classics,” while the genuine songwriting and storytelling maintains all of the edgy and fresh appeal of today’s most popular singer/songwriters.

All the songs on The Honest Hour were recorded live at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY in 2004, and the collection boasts both the open-sky breeziness and energy of a live show and the pristine production of a studio album. AOD also features bassist/backing vocalist John Leccese (Percy Hill), drummer Andy Herrick (Moon Boot Lover), and guitarist/backing vocalist Adam Terrell (Groovechild).

Assembly of Dust will begin their spring tour tomorrow, with more dates being added. The current list of tour dates is as follows:

2/2 Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ *Reid Solo*
2/3 World Cafe Live, Philly, PA *Acoustic Band*
2/4 Mexicali Blues, Teaneck, NJ
2/5 Recher Theater, Towson, MD *Open for North Mississippi Allstars*
2/10 Fox Theater, Boulder, CO *Reid and Adam Acoustic*
2/11 Frites Edwards, CO *Reid and Adam Acoustic*
2/12 Cervantes Ballroom, Denver, CO *Reid and Adam Acoustic*
3/3 Acoustic Cafe *Reid Solo*
3/4 Higher Ground, Burlington, VT
3/5 Revolution Hall, Troy, NY
4/8 Knitting Factory, NYC, NY
4/9 Knitting Factory, NYC, NY
4/20 Lupos, Providence, RI *Open for Ratdog*
4/23 Orpheum Theater
5/1 Johnson State, Vermont

Jack Johnson and some of his best musical friends will drop in on Hawaii in April for the second Kokua Festival. The shows will be held April 13 in Oahu and April 16 in Honolulu and will feature performances by Johnson, Jackson Browne, G. Love and Special Sauce, Ozomatli, John Cruz and slack key guitarist Kawika Kahiapo with his band Kaukahi.

Proceeds from the shows will benefit the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which works to preserve Hawaii’s natural environment. Some funds have been earmarked to expand recycling programs in schools, sponsor field trips and curriculum development and establish a healthy school lunch program.

Local environmental groups will be on hand at both shows, which will also offer local organic food vendors, childrens’ activities and goods purveyed by environmentally friendly, Hawaii-based companies.

Tickets go on sale Feb. 12 via Ticketmaster, but a limited number of pre-sale tickets will be available beginning Feb. 7 via Johnson’s official Web site.

As previously reported, Johnson will release a new album, “In Between Dreams,” March 1 via Brushfire/Universal. Ben Harper appears in the video for first single “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.”

Source billboard.com.& F

The surviving members of Alice In Chains will regroup for the first time since 1996 at a Feb. 18 tsunami benefit in Seattle. Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and Mike Inez will be joined by as-yet-unannounced vocalists for the event at the Premiere nightclub, which will also feature performances by Heart’s Ann Wilson, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Queensryche’s Chris DeGarmo and rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Proceeds will be donated to the humanitarian organization CARE, which will funnel them into Asian tsunami relief efforts. Tickets go on sale Thursday (Feb. 3) via the Web site of event sponsor KRQI-Seattle.

Source billboard.com.

Rapper Lyrics Born will offer up five new songs and eight remixes on “Same !@#$ Different Day,” due April 26 via Quannum. Among those lending a hand are producer Dan “The Automator” Nakamura on “I’m Just Raw,” DJ Shadow and Joyo Velarde on “Over You,” KRS One and Dilated Peoples’ Evidence on “Pack Up,” Morcheeba on “Stop Complaining” and Lateef the Truth Speaker on “The Last Trumpet.”

The source material for the remixes was tracks from Lyrics Born’s 2003 Quannum album “Later That Day,” which reached No. 40 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart. The single “Callin’ Out,” which is remixed by Casual and E-40 on the new collection, is currently heard in a commercial for Diet Coke featuring actor Adrien Brody.

Lyrics Born will be featuring the tracks on his spring tour, which gets underway Feb. 24 in San Francisco.

Source billboard.com.

Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails will headline the sixth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held April 30-May 1 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif. The fest will also feature reunion performances by pioneering rock acts Gang Of Four, the Cocteau Twins and Bauhaus, as well as the first live appearance since late 2002 from Weezer.

The first day’s bill will also feature rock acts Wilco (who were originally confirmed last year but forced to cancel while frontman Jeff Tweedy underwent treatment for painkiller addiction), Snow Patrol, Keane, Bloc Party, the Raveonettes, Mercury Rev, Fantomas, Ambulance LTD, the Kills, Secret Machines, Spoon, Razorlight, Radio 4 and Eisley, plus, as first reported here, Doves and Rilo Kiley.

Electronica and hip-hop will be represented on day one by the Chemical Brothers, Sage Francis, Armin Van Buuren, Boom Bip, Jean Grae, Swayzak, M83, Josh Wink, Four Tet and MF Doom, plus the customary DJ set from Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell (as DJ Peretz).

Beyond Nine Inch Nails, New Order, Bright Eyes, the Prodigy, Roni Size, the Faint and the rarely reunited hip-hop duo Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) are the top attractions on day two. The Arcade Fire, Junkie XL, the Bravery, the Futureheads, Matmos, Kasabian, Autolux and the Fiery Furnaces will also be on hand.

Tickets for Coachella will go on sale Saturday (Feb. 5) via Ticketmaster.

Source billboard.com.

Lou Reed, the Kinks’ Ray Davies and vocalist Antony have joined the lineup for the 15th annual Tibet House benefit concert, to be held Feb. 9 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. They join a bill that already includes the Black Keys, Patti Smith, Trey Anastasio, Nellie McKay, Chocolate Genius, the Drepung Gomang Monks and longtime artistic director/Tibet House VP, composer Philip Glass.

In other news, Reed has unveiled plans for a 21-date European tour, kicking off April 14 in Oporto, Portugal, and wrapping May 13 in Helsinki. The artist has also split with longtime label Reprise and signed a worldwide recording deal with Sanctuary. His final release for Reprise was the 2004 live set “Animal Serenade,” which featured material from his 2003 Edgar Allen Poe-inspired studio album “The Raven.”

Source billboard.com.