News

Fresh off last fall’s release of Tour de France Soundtracks, their first album in more than 15 years, electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk have posted dates for a world tour.
The trek is set to begin February 6 in Helsinki, Finland. After a week of Scandinavian dates, they’ll jump to Japan for eight shows, five of them in Tokyo. Then it’s back to Europe, where they’ll make the rounds until mid-April, when they cross the Atlantic for some North American exposure.
According to the current itinerary, Canada and the United States get two shows each, but don’t be surprised if more dates are forthcoming.
The story of their latest album actually began about 20 years ago. The single “Tour de France” was released in 1983 and was originally slated to appear on the Techno Pop album. However, due to a variety of complications, that album never made it to stores. An updated version of the original single appears on the Astralwerks release of Tour de France Soundtracks, along with a bevy of new compositions.
Source pollstar.com.

Liz Phair, Junior Senior, Mission Of Burma, N*E*R*D, the Walkmen, TV On The Radio, Papa Roach and Modest Mouse are among the first crop of acts confirmed for the South by Southwest music festival, to be held March 17-21 in Austin, Texas.
Other acts set to perform are comedian David Cross, the B-52s, Alkaline Trio, Crystal Method, Ozomatli, the Decemberists, Pretty Girls Make Graves, the Thrills, Athlete, Matthew Dear, Battles, British Sea Power, Cex, Cooper Temple Clause, the National, Cracker, Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Preston School Of Industry, the Delgados, Radio 4 and Dillinger Escape Plan.
In addition, the conference has confirmed interview segments with Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne (March 19) and independent icon Ani DiFranco (March 20). For more information, visit South by Southwest’s official Web site.
Source billboard.com.

Before The String Cheese Incident heads out of the country for a Spring tour, this years Mid-Winter Music Festival will have the band returning to the Fillmore in Denver, March 11, 12 & 13th. As usual, special guests will join The Cheese, with this years acts being Mofro, David Lindley and Wally Ingram, and Vassar Clements.
The band’s 4th International Incident will be held shortly after, on March 19 & 20 in Interlaken, Switzerland. This year’s International Incident, dubbed The Swiss Cheese Incident combines 4 days of skiing in the magnificent Jungfrau region of Switzerland with 2 full-blown shows. Madison House Travel has secured special negotiated rates and will be offering full travel packages available to all who wish to attend.
These intimate shows high in the Swiss Alps will kick off a two-week whirlwind tour of Europe which takes the band from Milan and Munich to Amsterdam and London with stops in-between.
And that’s not all. After Europe, SCI is heading to Australia and Japan from April 10th thru the 23rd where they will share the stage with James Brown, Taj Mahal, Dr. John, and many more great artists at the Blues & Roots Festival in Byron Bay.
For all tour dates and related news, see stringcheeseincident.com.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters eighth album Crimes of Passion on Sanctuary Records is due in stores February 10th. Two themes run consistently through Crimes of Passion, a love of rock and roll and the need to tell compelling, human stories.
The band will hit the road on February 10th in support of the release with shows running through March 27th in Park City, UT.
For complete tour dates visit bigheadtodd.com.

Five studio albums George Harrison recorded for his own Dark Horse label, most of which have been out of print for years, will be reissued on February 24th along with a box set covering the same span.
The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992, includes 1976’s 33 1/3, 1979’s George Harrison, 1981’s Somewhere in England, 1982’s Gone Troppo and Cloud Nine, which broke into the Top Ten in 1987. The box also contains 1992’s Live in Japan, a set in which Harrison performed songs from his solo career as well as his Beatles highlights backed by Eric Clapton and his band. Each record contains bonus tracks, and the box is augmented with a seventy-five-minute DVD featuring live clips and promotional footage. Also included is a history of Dark Horse Records by Harrison’s wife Olivia and liner notes by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke.
The remastered albums will also be issued separate from the set.
Source rollingstone.com.

As expected, organizers have officially confirmed that Radiohead and the Pixies will perform on the first day of the fifth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held May 1-2 in Indio, Calif. Pioneering German rock act Kraftwerk will also play on May 1. As first reported here, the lineup will also feature Air, Prefuse 73, the Thrills and Electric Six, plus the newly added Sahara Hotnights and the (International) Noise Conspiracy.
The Pixies will be playing their first show since abruptly disbanding in 1993. It is unknown if all four original members — guitarists Frank Black and Joey Santiago, bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering — will be present, or if the show will dovetail into a tour or new recording project.
As previously reported, a Pixies DVD is in the works, featuring eight videos and a full 1988 concert, as is a newly compiled “best of” to replace the out-of-print 1997 album “Death to the Pixies.” Billboard.com can confirm that Black is also planning a spring release for new solo music on spinART, which has issued his last three studio albums.
Kraftwerk’s appearance will come at the end of a three-month world tour that begins Feb. 6 in Helsinki. Last year, the group released “Tour de France Soundtracks,” its first new album since 1986’s “Electric Cafe.”
Source billboard.com.

Queen’s 1976 rock opera “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Marvin Gaye’s 1973 album “Let’s Get It On” and Simon & Garfunkel’s signature 1965 song “Sounds of Silence” are among 33 recordings that have been added to the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame. The Hall, which was formed in 1973, now includes 639 titles.
“This year’s inductees span nine decades and represent a diverse array of genres from classical and show tunes to blues, jazz and rock’n’roll,” said Academy president Neil Portnow in a statement. “They exemplify the best qualities that make the recording arts such a vital part of our culture — and each not only uniquely reflects the zeitgeist of its time, but also possesses the enduring power of transcending time.”

Other songs added in this year’s induction include the Everly Brothers’ 1958 recording of “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” B.B. King’s 1955 song “Everyday I Have the Blues,” Glen Campbell’s 1967 single “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” Carly Simon’s 1973 hit “You’re So Vain,” the Beatles’ 1970 classic “Let It Be” and the 5th Dimension’s 1969 composition “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.”
The slate of albums includes folk hero Joni Mitchell’s 1974 set “Court and Spark,” Johnny Cash’s live 1969 document “Johnny Cash at San Quentin,” the Miles Davis Sextet’s 1958 album “Milestones,” Led Zeppelin’s self-titled 1969 debut and the soundtracks to “Walt Disney’s Fantasia” (1956), “West Side Story” (1961), “Saturday Night Fever” (1967) and “Funny Girl” (1964).
Frank Sinatra is represented in this year’s crop by both the 1953 single “I’ve Got the World on a String” and the 1958 album “Come Fly With Me.”
Grammy Hall of Fame selections must be at least 25 years old, and are selected by a special Academy member committee. The oldest recording among this year’s inductions is Al Jolson’s 1918 song “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody,” while the most recent are a song and an album from 1978: Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” and the classical album “Golden Jubilee Concert: Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3,” featuring Vladmir Horowitz and Eugene Ormandy conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Source billboard.com.

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival, scheduled to take place Wednesday, March 17 – 21, 2004 in Austin, Texas, has announced two SXSW Interviews with notable artists Ani DiFranco and Wayne Coyne along with a partial list of bands.
Many more speakers, panelists and session topics will be announced in the near future.
Some highlighted acts scheduled to appear include: Alkaline Trio (Chicago IL), The B-52’s (Athens GA), Cory Branan (Memphis TN), Cartel de Santa (Monterrey MEXICO), The Church (Sydney AUSTRALIA), Carmen Consoli (Catania ITALY), David Cross (Atlanta GA), The Crystal Method (Las Vegas NV), Matthew Dear (Detroit MI), The Decemberists (Portland WA), The Fiery Furnaces (New York NY), The Holmes Brothers (New York NY), Junior Senior (Copenhagen DENMARK), Jimmy LaFave (Austin TX), Bernie Leadon Band (Nashville TN), Los Lonely Boys (San Angelo TX), Mission Of Burma (Boston MA), Modest Mouse (Issaquah WA), N.E.R.D. (Virginia Beach VA), NOFX (Los Angeles CA), Ozomatli (Los Angeles CA), Papa Roach (Sacramento CA), Pedro the Lion (Seattle WA), Liz Phair (Los Angeles CA), Pretty Girls Make Graves (Seattle WA), The Sleepy Jackson (Perth AUSTRALIA), The Stills (Montreal QC), Telefon Tel Aviv (New Orleans LA), Tendril (Dallas TX), The Flatlanders (Lubbock TX), Sharde Thomas and The Rising Star Fife And Drum Band (Senatobia MS), The Thrills (Dublin IRELAND), Tv On The Radio (New York NY), Uzbegim Taronasi (Tashkent UZBEKISTAN), The Walkmen (New York NY)
see sxsw.com for more info.

Oscar statuettes will be presented to audio company Digidesign and to Bill Tondreau of Kuper Controls at the scientific and technical awards ceremony February 14, which precedes the main Oscars on February 29.
Tondreau is being honored for developing robotic-camera systems used in visual effects. Digidesign is being honored for its Pro Tools workstation, a digital setup used in movie soundtracks.
Other technical awards announced Monday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences include: Oscar plaques for four Eastman Kodak employees who developed technology to control static-charge buildup on film; Kinoton GmbH for developing a new high-speed studio projector; and Stephen Regelous for an animation system used to create large numbers of computer-generated extras in battle sequences for “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Source cnn.com.

Fresh off its well-received, yearlong comeback following a two

The fifth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will be held May 1-2 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif. Although organizers are still a ways off from announcing the lineup, Billboard.com can reveal that Air, Prefuse 73, the Thrills and Electric Six are confirmed to play. Radiohead and a reunion of the Pixies are strongly rumored as headlining acts.
“It’s something we’ve talked about but I don’t know if it is confirmed,” Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood told Billboard.com this morning (Jan. 12) about the possibility of the band appearing at the event. Radiohead wraps an eight-date tour of Japan and Australia on April 27 in Melbourne.
Fans can expect about 60 bands to descend on the sprawling venue over the course of two days. Last year’s festival, promoted by Goldenvoice, featured headliners the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, alongside Sonic Youth, Interpol, the White Stripes, the reunited Iggy and the Stooges, Underworld, N*E*R*D and the Hives. Organizers estimate more than 68,000 fans were in attendance.
Source billboard.com.
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Primus, who reunited for their first tour in three and a half years has confirmed an additional fourteen shows to begin next month. The Tour de Fromage will being February 24 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, MO and continue through March 13 at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.
For more informatin visit primussucks.com.

After being pronounced bankrupt two years ago, The Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal Records has resurfaced on the auction block where it’s being sold on the www.bid4assets.com web site.
Though the defunct label has been up for auction for a little over a month, bids have yet to be made. According to the web site, the auction is open for 9 more days and the minimum bid is $10,000.
You can bid on the label here.
Source SOHH.com.

Yonder Mountain String Band are out to provide a respite from the winter blahs with their annual Cabin Fever Tour. he outing starts just a couple weeks after the band’s stint aboard the Jam Cruise II out of Florida. Dates run the whole month of February and include a two-night stand in Atlanta.
Tour Dates –
Wed 02/04/04

A German brewery has developed a beer containing vitamins and minerals it says are designed to slow the aging process.
The Neuzeller Kloster Brewery plans to introduce its “Anti-Aging-Bier” this year and sell it in grocery and drug stores, a spokesman for the company said Friday.
“It tastes like beer more than it tastes like anything else,” the spokesman told Reuters.
The brewery said the beer contained a host of added ingredients that promote good health.
But the German government may object to the brewery calling the drink “beer” since a law dating back to 1516 says beer brewed in Germany can only be made from barley, hops, yeast and water.
Source CNN.com.

The Doors of the 21st Century are at work on a new album they hope to release by the middle of this year. “We want to say something about the human condition in the twenty-first century, just like the Doors in the twentieth century said something about the human condition,” says keyboardist Ray Manzarek. “If it doesn’t have weight to it, it’s not worth doing. That’s why we’re back together.”
The band — which features Doors vets Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, as well as former Cult frontman Ian Astbury on vocals — is enlisting poets and songwriters to take over the late Jim Morrison’s lyric-writing duties. Jim Carroll, Michael McClure, X’s John Doe and Warren Zevon have already contributed.
Last month, Manzarek and Krieger paid tribute to Morrison on what would have been his sixtieth birthday by attending a memorial for the singer at his Paris grave site. That night they played a secret show at the city’s La Scene. The set focused on material from L.A. Woman, the Doors’ final album, recorded just before Morrison’s death in 1971.
“We never got to play those live,” says Manzarek, “so we wanted to play them for Jim. It was like being back at the Whisky. It was Morrison’s birthday and a full moon. People were howling, literally howling.”
Doors drummer John Densmore, who is involved in pending litigation against his former band mates over their reunion, did not attend the events. “We were saddened Densmore didn’t come,” says Manzarek. “We wish he would have been there. We’re hoping in 2004 John will put aside his differences and come play live. We’ll see what happens.”
Source Rollingstone.com.

Former Motown house band members the Funk Brothers have corralled several guest artists to join them on their upcoming North American and European tours. Peabo Bryson and Phoebe Snow will be on hand for North American gigs beginning Jan. 17 outside Philadelphia, while Steve Winwood and Isaac Hayes will join in beginning Jan. 29 in Manchester, England.
The group is still riding the success of the documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” which spotlighted its often uncredited contributions to countless Motown hits. The CD of the same name won the best compilation soundtrack award at the 2002 Grammys.
On Feb. 3, UME will issue “The Best of the Funk Brothers: The Millennium Collection,” featuring instrumentals later turned into such smash Motown cuts as “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Nowhere To Run,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “What’s Going On” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).”
The album also sports the non-LP singles “Soul Stomp” and “All for You,” plus “The Stingray,” an oft-sampled track from the long-out-of-print release “Earl of Funk.”
Here are the Funk Brothers’ tour dates:
Jan. 17: Glenside, Pa. (Keswick Theatre)Jan. 18: New York (B.B. King’s Blues Club)Jan. 19: Alexandria, Va. (Birchmere)Jan. 20: Annapolis, Md. (Ramshead)Jan. 22: Harrisburg, Pa. (Whitaker Center)Jan. 24: Boston (Berklee Performance Center)Jan. 29: Manchester, England (Carling Apollo)Jan. 30: London (Royal Festival Hall)Feb. 1: Berlin (Tempodrom)Feb. 2: Bonn, Germany (Bruckenforum)Feb. 3: Amsterdam (Paradiso)Feb. 5: Hamburg (Congress Centrum)Feb. 6: Frederiksberg, Denmark (KB Hall)Feb. 7: Helsinki (Ice Hall)Feb. 8: Stockholm (Berns)Feb. 9: Antwerp, Belgium (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
Source billboard.com.

Joe Jackson, Jason Mraz and Edie Brickell are among the artists who will perform at the Sundance Music Cafe during the Jan. 16-23 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Produced by performing rights association ASCAP, the performances will take place daily at Plan B/The Nightclub at 2:30 p.m. (4 p.m. on Jan. 16).
Also slated to entertain are the All-American Rejects, Joseph Arthur, Sweet Pea Atkinson & Was (Not Was) Quintet featuring Don & David Was, Jon Brion, Shawn Colvin, X leader/sometime actor John Doe, Ricky Fante, Goapele, John Hiatt, Tim O’Brien, Fernando Osorio, Clem Snide and Dan Wilson.
Music will have its place on the silver screen at the annual film festival. As previously reported, the documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” will be screened as part of the “American Spectrum” series.
Also, the drama “Grand Theft Parsons” will be show in the “Park City at Midnight” series. The film plays out the infamous drunken heist of legendary singer/songwriter Gram Parson’s coffin from Los Angeles International Airport and a pilgrimage to the Joshua Tree desert to incinerate his body.
In the “Native Forum,” Danis Goulet’s “Spin” deals with a DJ’s obsession with a particular record and will see its U.S. premiere at Sundance. Among the “Premiere” films is a Depression-era feature starring Isabella Rosellini that centers on a contest to discover “The Saddest Music in the World.”
Source billboard.com.

Following the May dissolution of his band Hookah Brown, former Black Crowes principal Rich Robinson will embark on a six-date solo tour Jan. 15 in Trenton, N.J. Robinson will be backed by former Hookah Brown drummer Bill Dobrow, bassist Tony Shanahan and keyboardist Jack Petruzelli.
The artist is expected to unveil such new tracks as “Forgiven Song,” “Hold You,” “On My Way” and “Know Me” at the shows, which will also mark his first as a lead vocalist. “I’ve always been a songwriter,” he says. “But these songs show where I’m at as a musician, and as a person. They’re evolving, like I am.”
The Jan. 16 show at New York’s Knitting Factory will feature backing by a string quartet, and will be professionally recorded and sold online. Robinson’s official Web site adds that fans are encouraged to tape at all gigs.
The first three shows of the trek will be opened by Sparticle, featuring former Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon, Blind Melon guitarist Roger Stevens and multi-instrumentalist Rene Lopez.
In related news, Rich’s brother/Black Crowes vocalist Chris Robinson and his wife, actress Kate Hudson, welcomed their first child today (Jan. 7) in Los Angeles, a boy named Ryder.
Here are Rich Robinson’s tour dates:
Jan. 15: Trenton, N.J. (the Conduit)Jan. 16: New York (Knitting Factory)Jan. 17: Allston, Mass. (Harper’s Ferry)Jan. 20: Sacramento, Calif. (Roadhouse)Jan. 21: Santa Clara, Calif. (Avalon)Jan. 22: Los Angeles (Viper Room)
Source billboard.com[.

A Perfect Circle will hit the road on a U.S. spring tour that will be sponsored by cable music video channel Fuse. Kicking off March 18 in Salt Lake City, the run is expected to last through an April 16 concert in Chicago. Opening acts for the tour have not yet been announced.
“The network’s proactive interaction with the fans will make the live experience for us even more exciting,” band co-founder/guitarist Billy Howerdel says in a statement.
APC will set off on a European tour next week, with the first show set for Jan. 14 in Rome. A swing of the South Pacific will take the band to New Zealand and Australia on the Big Day Out tour in February and to Japan in early March.
Like Fuse’s sponsorship of the upcoming Simple Plan/MxPx tour, and past tours by the Deftones and Staind, the A Perfect Circle outing will be supported through broadcast and online elements such as contests and interviews. “This tour is about ultimately giving music fans experiences and opportunities they cannot get anywhere else,” Fuse VP of marketing Mary Corigliano added.
A Perfect Circle is touring in support of its sophomore Virgin album, “Thirteenth Step.” Released in October, the set debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 643,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Here are A Perfect Circle’s North American tour dates:
March 18: Salt Lake City (E Center)March 20: Denver (Magness Arena)March 21: Albuquerque (Convention Center)March 23: Dallas (NextStage)March 24: Norman, Okla. (Lloyd Noble Arena)March 26: Amarillo, Texas (Amarillo Coliseum)March 27: El Paso, Texas (Don Haskins Center)March 28: Phoenix (Dodge Theater)March 29: Las Vegas (The Joint)March 31: Sacramento, Calif. (Memorial Auditorium)April 1: Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Arena)April 2: San Diego (Cox Arena)April 3: San Francisco (Bill Graham Civic Center)April 5: Boise, Idaho (Bank of America Building)April 6: Spokane, Wash. (The Opera House)April 8: Vancouver (Queen E Theater)April 9: Seattle (Tacoma Dome)April 12: Bozeman, Mont. (Valley Ice Garden)April 13: Rapid City, S.D. (Rushmore Center)April 15: Kansas City, Mo. (Municipal Auditorium)April 16: Chicago (UIC Pavilion)
Source billboard.com.

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