Archive: 2004

As reported on rollingstone.com –

WILCO, the FLAMING LIPS and SLEATER-KINNEY are already set to ring in the New Year with a stellar joint show at New York’s Madison Square Garden..

After playing at the Eclipse numerous times in the venue

Mos Def will next month return to famed New York jazz nightclub the Blue Note’s Another Side Series, at which he performed last year. The rapper-turned-actor will perform two shows a night Nov. 3-5 backed by an acoustic band featuring Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun and pianist Orrin Evans.

The artist’s musical diversity comes through on his just-released Rawkus/Geffen album “The New Danger,” which debuted this week at No. 5 on The Billboard 200. While there is plenty of hip-hop throughout the set, the Blue Note stand will likely find Mos Def singing and scatting more than rapping.

On the acting front, Mos Def will next be seen in “A Confederacy of Dunces” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” both set to premiere in 2005.

Source billboard.com.

Conor Oberst will release two new albums in January under his Bright Eyes moniker, one a collection of acoustic songs and the other a more rock-oriented affair. “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn” will be issued by Saddle Creek, and preceded by Oct. 26 by the respective singles “Lua” and “Take It Easy.”

The releases will serve as a simultaneous follow-up to 2002’s “Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has sold 174,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The 10-track “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” is described as a “country-tinged melange” that sports guest appearances by Emmylou Harris on three tracks and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James on one other. “Digital Ash” boasts five tracks with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner.

Additional guest appearances spread across the two sets include the Postal Service’s Jimmy Tamborello, producer Mike Mogis and members of fellow Saddle Creek bands Rilo Kiley, Cursive, Now It’s Overhead and the Faint, among others.

Oberst recently wrapped a run of dates on the Vote for Change tour. A six-date European swing begins Nov. 7 in Stockholm, to be followed next March by a 10-date support slot on R.E.M.’s tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Here is the track list for “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning”:

“At the Bottom of Everything” (featuring Jim James)
“We Are Nowhere and It’s Now” (featuring Emmylou Harris)
“Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)” (featuring Emmylou Harris)
“Lua”
“Train Under Water”
“First Day of My Life”
“Another Travelin’ Song”
“Landlocked Blues” (featuring Emmylou Harris)
“Poison Oak”
“Road to Joy”

Here is the track list for “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn”:

“Time Code”
“Gold Mine Gutted”
“Arc of Time (Time Code)”
“Down in a Rabbit Hole” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“Take It Easy (Love Nothing)”
“Hit the Switch” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“I Believe in Symmetry” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“Devil in the Details” (featuring Nick Zinner)
“Ship in a Bottle”
“Light Pollution”
“Theme From Pinata”
“Easy/Lucky/Free” (featuring Nick Zinner)

Source billboard.com.

It can be argued, and I

For some, there

In the early stages of a month-long fall tour supporting its new release, Gov’t Mule has also just announced a two-night New Year’s Eve bash (December 30-31) at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The first night features special opening guest James “Blood” Ulmer, while the second night is all Gov’t Mule

Air, TV On The Radio, Dizzee Rascal and Nellie McKay are confirmed to perform at the 2004 Shortlist Prize awards ceremony, to be held Nov. 15 at Los Angeles’ Avalon Theatre. The acts are among the 10 finalists for the prize, which also include Franz Ferdinand, the Killers, Ghostface Killah, Loretta Lynn, the Streets and Wilco.

In addition, Razor & Tie will on Nov. 2 release “MTV2 Presents: Shortlist 2004 Nominees,” a compilation featuring all 10 finalists plus cuts from Secret Machines, Ryan Adams, Cafe Tacuba, Muse and Jem, who were nominated in the prize’s Long List.

MTV2 will broadcast a special based on the event on Nov. 20. XM Satellite Radio will carry the awards live.

The Shortlist honors critically acclaimed albums that have not yet been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. shipments of 500,000 copies. Nominees and winners are chosen by a panel of Listmakers which this year includes Norah Jones, John Mayer, Jack Black and Jim Jarmusch.

Source billboard.com.

Alison Krauss and Union Station will strike while the iron is still hot with the Nov. 23 release of their next Rounder album, “Lonely Runs Both Ways.” Krauss has reached a new peak in visibility this year, performing at the Grammys and the Oscars and garnering five nominations for the upcoming Country Music Association awards, at which she will also perform with Brad Paisley.

The new 15-track set finds Krauss and guitarist/vocalist Dan Tyminski, dobro player Jerry Douglas, banjo/guitarist/vocalist Ron Block and bassist/vocalist Barry Bales tackling such songs as Del McCoury’s “Rain Please Go Away,” Woodie Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty” and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ “Wouldn’t Be So Bad.”

Krauss co-wrote “This Sad Song” with Alison Brown, while Block turns in “I Don’t Have To Live This Way” and album closer “A Living Prayer.” The set is rounded out by four tunes penned by Robert Lee Castleman, including opener “Gravity” and first single “Restless.”

“Lonely Runs Both Ways” follows 2002’s “Live,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart, and the 2001 studio set “New Favorite,” which hit No. 2 on the same tally.

Although a run of December tour dates is not yet confirmed, Krauss and Union Station will perform during release week on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and the following month on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Here is the track list for “Lonely Runs Both Ways”:

“Gravity”
“Restless”
“Rain Please Go Away”
“Goodbye Is All We Have”
“Unionhouse Branch”
“Wouldn’t Be So Bad”
“Pastures of Plenty”
“Crazy As Me”
“Borderline”
“Poor Old Heart”
“This Sad Song”
“Doesn’t Have To Be This Way”
“I Don’t Have To Live this Way”
“If I Didn’t Know Any Better”
“A Living Prayer”

Source billboard.com.

U.K. rock act Snow Patrol will cap a breakthrough year with the concert DVD “Live 2004: Mums and Dads of the World Be Patient With Your Children.” Due Nov. 23 via Interscope, the 15-track release chronicles a sold-out August show at London’s Somerset House, featuring the smash U.K. singles “Run” and “Chocolate” plus such obscurities as the B-side “Post Punk Progression.”

The package also includes videos for “Run,” “Chocolate,” “Spitting Games” and “How To Be Dead,” as well as band-shot behind-the-scenes footage from its tours of North America, Japan and Ireland.

Snow Patrol crashed into the mainstream this year on the strength of its third album, “Final Straw,” which hit No. 1 on the Oct. 16 edition of Billboard’s Heatseekers chart after 27 weeks and has sold 158,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In the U.K., the set has been certified double platinum for shipments of 600,000 units.

Also on Nov. 23, “Final Straw” will be reissued in DualDisc format, featuring the regular album on one side and a DVD side boasting three videos, a performance and interview on “Sessions@AOL,” a Surround Sound audio mix and a photo gallery.

As previously reported, the band has approximately 10 new songs written in advance of hitting the studio in February to record its next release. Beforehand, Snow Patrol will embark on an already-sold out U.K. tour, beginning Nov. 22 in Belfast. Frontman Gary Lightbody recently told Billboard.com the group would return to North America to play a handful of radio station-sponsored holiday shows, but none have yet been confirmed.

“It’s a wonderful, blessed life that people in bands lead,” Lightbody said. “We had nine lean years, I suppose, but bands that actually sell records are in a privileged position to sit back and listen to other peoples’ records. When your job is your hobby, it’s amazing.”

Source billboard.com.

Former Squeeze mainstays Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook will reunite for a live acoustic performance Nov. 18 in London. The free show at Borders Books and Music store in Charing Cross Road, London, dovetails with the Nov. 15 U.K. publication of Jim Drury’s “Squeeze: Song by Song,” the first fully authorized story of the long-running English group, of which Difford and Tilbrook were founding members and principal songwriters.

The Borders event will be followed by a Q&A session with both performers. Drury is also the author of “Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Song by Song” and co-author of “The Stranglers: Song by Song” with that band’s Hugh Cornwell.

Tilbrook’s recent second solo album, “Transatlantic Ping Pong,” released on his own Quixotic label in the United Kingdom and on Quixotic via Compass in North America, featured a track co-written with Difford, “Where I Can Be Your Friend.” The song was the first collaboration by the duo, who first met in 1973, since Difford left Squeeze, prompting the band’s demise in the late 1990s.

“We avoided each other for a few years,” Tilbrook told this writer in August about his recent rapprochement with Difford, “and I think we probably needed to do that. Now we’re at a stage where we can work together. What we want from our lives is quite different now, and that’s hard to reconcile, but there’s no need to reconcile it — we can work on the good bits.”

“‘Where I Can Be Your Friend’ is a really sweet lyric addressed, I think, to me — a sort of apology from Chris about the way the band ended up,” he continued. “I didn’t fully appreciate some of the things he was going through at the time. So it was a really sweet thing for him to write. I do love him. Even though sometimes I’d like to punch him.”

Source billboard.com.

According to a news posting on the Ween site, “Due to personal reasons we have decided to postpone the upcoming shows. We are extremely sorry to those of you who purchased tickets and made travel plans, but we will be back and much better for it next year. We fully intend on making up the dates in the same cities and same clubs at a later time when our chi is better aligned or something. Again we are very sorry about this, but it’s necessary right now. Thanks for understanding.”

For more info see chocodog.com

Photos by Robert Massie of Rich Robinson at The Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH 10/13/04

Bridging the gap between avant-garde jazz of the sixties, politically charged poetry slams of the seventies, and the raw rap sound of the eighties, ISWHAT?!

U2 and Apple Computer Inc. are expected to announce next week that they have signed a deal to sell custom iPods.

According to a source, the Irish rock band’s upcoming album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” due Nov. 23 via Interscope Records, will come preloaded on iPods that will be available the week of street date.

Interscope, a unit of Universal Music Group, declined to comment; an Apple spokesperson could not be reached.

E-mails from Apple chairman and CEO Steve Jobs and U2 members Bono and the Edge have invited members of the press to a “special event” scheduled for October 26 in San Jose, California.

U2’s new single “Vertigo” is featured in current television ads for the iPod. The track is currently No. 2 on Billboard’s airplay-based Modern Rock Tracks chart, and No. 44 on the Hot 100, which is based on both retail sales and radio airplay.

Source CNN.com.

Jam Cruise 3 is sold out. The cruise will set sail on January 6th, 2005 with 1800 music lovers on board.

Madison House Travel is still taking names for the wait list, in case any cabins open up or any holds are released. To sign up on the wait list email jamcruise@madisonhousetravel.com with your name, phone number, e-mail, and number of people are in your party. You can also sign up on the mailing list at www.jamcruise.com to get updates on availability and information on Jam Cruise 4 in 2006, which is already in the works.

Jam Cruise 3 will set sail from Jacksonville, Florida on January 6, 2005. 1800 Jam Cruisers will hit the high seas for 4 days aboard Carnival Cruiselines’ Celebration. The ship will stop in Freeport, Bahamas and, fulfilling a popular request on a questionnaire filled out by last year’s cruisers, will offer passengers two full days at sea to enjoy over 40 musical performances. The festival line up includes Galactic, Les Claypool, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Keller Williams, Col Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Jazz Mandolin Project featuring Jamie Masefield and Jon Fishman, Zilla featuring Michael Travis, The Remarkable Elba Kramer featuring Kyle Hollingsworth, North Mississippi Allstars, Ozomatli, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Umphrey’s McGee, Garaj Mahal, MOFRO, Benevento/Russo Duo, Tishamingo, DJ Logic, and DJ Harry. In addition to incredible performances by many of the genre’s most celebrated musical pioneers, the Jam Cruise experience promises once-in-a-lifetime artist collaborations and opportunities for hang time with the musicians who are so often inaccessible backstage.

Jam Cruise is presented by Cloud 9 Adventures: a partnership between Mark Brown of Florida’s Brown Coffee Productions, Athens promoter Josh Moore of Jomo Entertainment, Roger Naber of Legendary Blues Cruises, and Attorney Joe Hanan.

Depeche Mode- Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher- are unique. For nearly 25 years they have been making groundbreaking music, which has influenced generations of artists.

Depeche Mode have always been at the vanguard of remix culture since its inception, and the history of Depeche Mode is inextricably linked with the history of the remix. Very early on in their career the band worked closely and extensively with up and coming remixers who would go on to become pivotal figures in the field including Francois Kevorkian, Adrian Sherwood, William Orbit, Portishead and Air.

The Libertines

You might know Billy Talbot as the bass player for Neil Young

HeadCount, a non-profit group that registered more voters than any all-volunteer organization in the country, will stage an Election Eve Rally in New York City on Monday, Nov. 1 at the Mercury Lounge.

The event, which will celebrate HeadCount registering 50,000 voters nationwide, will feature New Jersey-based rock band Rana as well as Big Fuzz, a new project led by former Deep Banana Blackout frontman Fuzz, and the Katy Pfaffl Band.

Also on the bill is Moshi vs. Omen, an electronica duo featuring Disco Biscuits keyboardist Aaron Magner. Jon Gutwillig, guitarist for the Disco Biscuits, will also perform. HeadCount was founded by Disco Biscuits bass player Marc Brownstein, who will serve as the emcee for this event.

The Election Eve Rally will raise money for HeadCount’s future while celebrating its success in 2004. Launched only in February, the organization aligned itself with Dave Matthews Band, Phish and the Dead as well as about 25 other major concert acts.

HeadCount sent voter registration volunteers on the road with bands and also produced public service announcements – starring Dave Matthrews, The Dead and Trey Anastasio of Phish – that have been airing on TNT and TBS. The PSA’s have been seen more than 100 million times.

An organization that is truly grassroots in structure, HeadCount has no paid employees, no major corporate funding and no central headquarters. But through a network of 2,000 volunteers and the backing of a board of directors that includes The Dead’s Bob Weir, HeadCount became one of the most successful voter registration groups

“The event will be our last of about 1,000 acts to encouraging and facilitate voting,” said Andy Bernstein, HeadCount’s co-chair. “Our volunteers are absolutely exhausted, but we figured they have one night of celebration left in them.”

Upcoming Show Details

Monday Nov. 1, 2004
The Mercury Lounge (www.mercuryloungenyc.com)
217 E Houston St – New York, NY
7:30 pm
$12
Tickets at www.headcount.org