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Singer/songwriter and keyboardist Billy Preston is recovering from a recent bout with a serious infection of the sac encasing his heart. “Billy had a very catastrophic incident happen to him, but he is doing considerably better,” his manager, Joyce Moore, said last week.

Preston, 59, is best known for his work with the Beatles during the later portion of their career, playing the organ on “Get Back.” He also toured with the Rolling Stones and was a regular member of Eric Clapton’s band. His solo hits include “Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing” and “Will It Go Round in Circles?”

He has suffered from chronic kidney failure brought on by uncontrolled high blood pressure since 2001, Moore said. He had a kidney transplant in 2002, but the kidney failed and he has been on thrice-weekly dialysis treatments ever since.

Moore said that while Preston isn’t “brain dead” as some reports suggested, he remains seriously ill and is not up and walking around. He cannot speak because he has a tracheotomy.

Moore said he’s not hospitalized at the clinic, but is in a facility where he can receive physical therapy and other medical treatment. Preston is not contemplating another kidney transplant, she said. “He just decided that he could not go through that again,” Moore said.

Source billboard.com.

The National, Mark Eitzel, Vernon Reid and Martha Wainwright were among the acts on hand Saturday to perform Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album in its entirety at New York’s World Financial Center Winter Garden, and the Boss couldn’t resist putting in an appearance.

Springsteen joined the ensemble at the end of the concert for a cover of Woody and Jack Guthrie’s “Oklahoma Hills” and then stuck around to converse with the artists backstage.

“I think he might have felt nostalgic after hearing ‘Nebraska’ played back at him by such a motley assortment of musicians,” the National’s Aaron Dessner tells Billboard.com. Springsteen featured the National’s “About Today” in the music played in venues before shows on his recent solo tour, and Dessner enthuses, “It was almost absurd to me that he knows and likes our music.”

The National has a reached a new level of visibility and critical appreciation thanks its 2005 Beggars Banquet debut, “Alligator.” But the group isn’t resting on its laurels, and is already working on writing new songs. “We hope to start recording in late spring,” Dessner says.

Before then, the group will join Broken Social Scene for a Jan. 25 show at Tufts University in Boston and headline the Plug Awards Feb. 2 at New York’s Webster Hall. Dessner says “a short east coast and west coast run” will follow in late March.

Fans can also hear the song “Wasp Nest,” from the National’s 2004 “Cherry Tree” EP, in the new George Clooney film “Syriana.”

Source billboard.com.

Idaho-based rock act Built To Spill will return April 11 with its fourth Warner Bros. studio album, “You in Reverse.” As previously reported, this is the first Built To Spill full-length since its 1993 debut, “Ultimate Alternative Wavers,” to not be produced by Phil Ek. “We just wanted to try something new to spark us to do something different,” frontman Doug Martsch told Billboard.com last year.

Martsch admitted he was not satisfied with the last Built To Spill studio album, 2001’s “Ancient Melodies of the Future,” which was met with a muted response from critics and fans alike. “I just wasn’t too into making Built To Spill records. Taking a little time off makes it more exciting to come back to,” he said.

If the new album opener “Goin’ Against Your Mind” is any indication, the group seems to have been revitalized by the time off. At nearly nine minutes, the song is the most rocking and expansive piece of music Built To Spill has unveiled in years. It is now available streaming on the group’s Myspace.com page.

“You in Reverse” features the studio debut of former Delusions guitarist Jim Roth, who has been a part of the Built To Spill live band for several years. Quasi’s Sam Coomes also contributed on keyboard. The first single from the set will most likely be “Conventional Wisdom,” according to a spokesperson.

Having toured in lieu of a new album on and off over the past few years, Built To Spill will hit the road later this year in support of the new album.

Here is the track list for “You in Reverse”:

“Goin’ Against Your Mind”
“Traces”
“Liar”
“Saturday”
“Wherever You Go”
“Conventional Wisdom”
“Gone”
“Mess With Time”
“Just a Habit”
“The Wait”

Source billboard.com.

A unique combination of indie singer/songwriters is hitting the road together this February as The Undertow Orchestra on a tour that promises plenty of special moments.

Vic Chesnutt, Dave Bazan of Pedro the Lion, Mark Eitzel of American Music Club, and Centro-matic frontman Will Johnson will share the stage, taking turns at the mic and serving as backing band on each other’s material.

Centro-matic’s Scott Danbom will also be along to provide accompaniment on piano and violin.

The tour starts February 8 in Athens, Ga., and hits 18 cities, including a double-night stand in Arlington, Va.

The gang will cover the South, East Coast and Great Lakes regions before wrapping back in Georgia at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse March 1.

Source pollstar.com.

Ever We Fall has just announced plans to hit the road with The Fall Of Troy, The #12 Looks Like You, Days Like These, The Audition, and An Angle. The Pop-Punk / Emo band is currently touring in anticipation of their Hopeless Records debut

Galactic is proud to announce the upcoming Coup de Gras Tour. Inspired by New Orleans’ annual celebration of Mardi Gras, the tour will feature traditional Crescent-City openers throughout. Each stop will be a unique New Orleans’-style celebration centered around Galactic’s progressive funk. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles, whose elaborate costumes, rituals and performances have made them a Mardi Gras staple, will open the first four dates. The Hot 8 Brass Band will support the latter leg of the tour, leading into the run’s final destination, Mardi Gras. Both of these authentic New Orleans talents have mastered the fine art of fueling the party. The month-long tour begins in Tempe, AZ, on February 8th., and will include a special stop in Denver, CO on February 18th, where guitarist Leo Nocentelli of The Meters, Big Chief Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians, Teedy Boutte and the legendary Rebirth Brass Band will all join Galactic for a very special night of New Orleans’ inspired funk and collaborations. The Rebirth Brass Band is one of the Crescent-City’s most well-known and loved acts will open the show.

Following a run through Texas, the Coup De Gras Tour will culminate with two nights in New Orleans during Mardi Gras weekend, playing at Tipitina’s on February 25th & 27th. The Hot 8 Brass Band will finish their run with Galactic on the 25th, while special guests The New Orleans Klezmer All Stars will open the night of the 27th, helping Galactic keep their Lundi Gras tradition of playing until sunrise on Fat Tuesday for the festival’s grand finale. These final two shows will serve as the culmination of the run, bringing the Mardi Gras theme full circle.

Galactic was born in the mid-’90s, after two Washington DC punks–guitarist Jeff Raines and bassist Robert Mercurio–relocated to New Orleans and found themselves intoxicated by the sounds of the scene that nurtured The Meters, Professor Longhair, the Neville Brothers and Dr. John. Armed with the rhythmic tradition of their adopted hometown, Raines, Mercurio, saxophonist Ben Ellman, keyboardist Rich Vogel, and drummer Stanton Moore have spent ten years tearing through venues across the world, leaving hordes of die-hard Galactic junkies in their wake. Weaving modern and retrospective styles into their own trademark jazz-funk-rock fusion, Galactic created a far-reaching canon–including six albums and countless live performances–informed by ongoing influence from a wide range of genres, including hip-hop, blues, pop, and electronica.

CONFIRMED TOUR DATES BELOW:

FEBRUARY
8 Marquee Theatre Tempe, AZ *
9 4th & B San Diego, CA *
10 House of Blues Anaheim, CA *
11 House of Blues West Hollywood, CA *
12 Ceasars Tahoe Showroom Stateline, NV
14 & 15 Belly Up Aspen, CO
16 Levelz Nightclub Steamboat Springs, CO
17 Club 8150 Vail, CO
18 The Fillmore Auditorium Denver, CO
19 Rafters Mt. Crested Butte, CO
21 Farmers Public Market Oklahoma City, OK **
22 Cain’s Ballroom Tulsa, OK **
23 Gypsy Tea Room Dallas, TX **
24 Meridian Houston, TX **
25 & 27 Tipitina’s New Orleans, LA

* – Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Golden Eagles supporting
** – Hot 8 Brass Band supporting
*** – The Rebirth Brass Band supporting / with special guests Leo Nocentelli of the Meters, Big Chief Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias and Teedy Boutte.

King of France will be hitting the road again, this time with Nada Surf and Rogue Wave.

Confirmed dates:

*Wed 2/8/06 Eight By Ten Baltimore MD
*Thu 2/9/06 Starr Hill Music Hall Charlottesville VA
*Fri 2/10/06 Cats Cradle Carrboro NC
*Sat 2/11/06 Loft Atlanta GA
*Sun 2/12/06 Exit / In Nashville TN
*Tue 2/14/06 Blue Note Columbia MO
*Wed 2/15/06 Granada Lawrence, KS
*Fri 2/17/06 Trees Dallas TX
*Sat 2/18/06 Emo’s Austin TX
*Mon 2/20/06 Clubhouse Tempe Az
*Tue 2/21/06 House of Blues San Diego CA
*Wed 2/22/06 Henry Fonda Theater Los Angeles CA

For more info see thekingoffranceband.com

Coming off a breakout year, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has announced a full North American tour beginning March 7th in Philadelphia. Notable shows include an appearance at the Langerado Festival March 12th, SXSW dates, a two night run at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and a closing stand at the Bowery in New York City April 14th and 15th.

Pre sale is now available for most dates. More to be announced

March 07: Philadelphia, PA // TLA
March 08: Washington DC // 9:30 Club
March 09: Carrboro, NC // Cat’s Cradle
March 10: Atlanta, GA // Variety Playhouse
March 12: Sunrise, FL // Langarado Festival
March 15: Ft. Worth, TX // Ridglea Theater
March 16 – 19: Austin, TX // SXSW Festival
March 21: Tucson, AZ // Solar Culture
March 22: San Diego, CA // The Casbah
March 23: Los Angeles, CA // El Ray Theater
March 24: San Francisco, CA // Great American Music Hall
March 25: San Francisco, CA // Great American Music Hall
March 28: Denver, CO // Bluebird Theater
March 30: Lawrance, KS // The Bottleneck
March 31: Omaha, NE // Sokol Auditorium
Apr 01: Minneapolis, MN // 400 Bar
Apr 03: Chicago, IL // Metro
Apr 05: Newport, KY // Southgate House
Apr 06: Cleveland, OH // Beachland Ballroom
Apr 07: Ann Arbor, MI // Blind Pig
Apr 08: Toronto, ONT // Lee’s Palace
Apr 10: Montreal, QUE // La Tulipe
Apr 11: Burlington, VT // Higher Ground
Apr 12: Boston, MA // Paradise
Apr 14: New York City, NY // Bowery Ballroom
Apr 15: New York City, NY // Bowery Ballroom

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.

Wu-Tang Clan principal Ghostface Killah has put the finishing touches on his fifth album, “Fishscale,” due Feb. 28 via Def Jam. The set is led by the single “Back Like That,” which features up-and-coming Def Jam labelmate Ne-Yo. Production on the project was supplied by MF Doom, Pete Rock, Madlib and J. Dilla, among many others.

Rock produced “Be Easy,” which hit the streets on mixtapes last fall, while Wu-Tang cohort Raekwon appears on four tracks, including “Kilo.” Ghostface’s manager tells Billboard.com the song “Wu United” features all the members of the Wu-Tang Clan, who are regrouping in February for their first tour since 1997. Kanye West is also working on a track for the project.

“Fishscale” is the follow-up to Ghostface’s 2004 Def Jam debut, “The Pretty Toney Album,” which opened at No. 6 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 219,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Ghostface is also tipped to appear on Raekwon’s sequel to his 1995 solo album “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx,” but no release date has yet been confirmed.

As for the Wu-Tang tour, Ghostface’s manager says all the members of the act will participate. At deadline, 10 shows were confirmed, beginning Feb. 7 in New Haven, Conn., but discussions are underway for additional summer dates. Both Raekwon and RZA hinted at the possibility of a Wu outing in prior interviews with Billboard.com, with RZA stressing that group members should be thinking about something other than money when it comes to Wu-Tang’s future.

Here are the Wu-Tang Clan’s tour dates:

Feb. 7: New Haven, Conn. (Toad’s Place)
Feb. 8-9: Boston (Palladium)
Feb. 10-11: Philadelphia (Electric Factory)
Feb. 12: Baltimore (Sonar)
Feb. 13: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)
Feb. 14: New York (Hammerstein Ballroom)
Feb. 17: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Revolution)
Feb. 18: St. Petersburg, Fla. (Jannus Landing)
Feb. 19: Orlando, Fla. (Hard Rock Live)

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.

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.

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.

New York rock trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will return on March 28 with its second Interscope album, “Show Your Bones,” according to a label spokesperson. First single “Gold Lion” will be commercially released a week earlier in the United Kingdom. The set was produced by Squeak E Clean and mixed by rock veteran Alan Moulder.

The group is planning to tour extensively in support of “Show Your Bones,” but for now the only event on its schedule is May 14 as part of the U.K.’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will perform alongside their own handpicked roster of acts, including TV On The Radio, Oneida, Liars, Blood Brothers and Ex

Source: billboard