Archive: 2004

Rock supergroup Velvet Revolver plans to jumpstart the release of its debut album Contraband with its first-ever tour.

The band is composed of ex-Guns N’ Roses members Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums) with ex-Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland as well as guitarist Dave Kushner. A 2003 Los Angeles show remains the band’s only live appearance thus far.

Velvet Revolver’s long-awaited tour begins May 13 in St. Louis, Mo., and hits major cities including Detroit, Toronto, New York, Seattle, and San Francisco, with the current itinerary stretching into early June.

The much-hyped album comes out June 8, when the band plays the first of two nights at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre.

Source pollstar.com.

It’s hard to imagine, but there was actually a period in the 70’s when the music establishment ignored Little Feat. With their eclectic blend of styles and surreal lyrics still rocking crowds today, perhaps these California rockers were just ahead of their time.

Wilco has cancelled an eight-date U.S. tour to allow lead singer Jeff Tweedy additional time to undergo rehabilitation for an addiction to painkillers. The trek was set to kick off April 21 in Columbia, Mo., and culminate May 1 at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Ticketholders can obtain refunds for all of the shows except Coachella via local venues.

It is unclear if Wilco will be replaced by another act in the Coachella lineup. “Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. We fully expect all dates after May 1 to go off as scheduled,” the band writes on its official Web site.

Wilco will resume touring May 28 at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. The group then returns to the United States for four shows, including the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn. A month-long European tour will get underway June 20 in Oslo.

The group’s highly anticipated new album, “A Ghost Is Born,” will arrive June 22 via Nonesuch. The set can be streamed from Wilco’s official Web site.

Here are Wilco’s cancelled tour dates:

April 21: Columbia, Mo. (Blue Note)
April 23: New Orleans (Orpheum)
April 24-25: Austin, Texas (Stubb’s BBQ)
April 27: Santa Fe, N.M. (Lensic Theatre)
April 28: Flagstaff, Ariz. (Orpheum Theatre)
April 29: Tucson, Ariz. (Rialto Theatre)
May 1: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival)

Source billboard.com.

Tortoise’s April 24 show at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club will by cybercast on the Web site of the Chicago band’s label, Thrill Jockey Records. Afterward, the concert will be available from the site as an audio stream, as will photos from the gig. The label says it is hoping to begin offering live music events on the site on a regular basis.

Tortoise recently launched its first official Web site, which features a 15-track online radio show and will in the future host remixes and hard-to-find tracks for download. The group is touring in support of its brand new sixth album, “It’s All Around You.”

Source billboard.com.

The Pixies unleashed a 27-song set last night (April 13) at Minneapolis’ Fine Line Music Cafe in what was the pioneering alternative rock act’s first show in 12 years. The evening went heavy on the group’s earlier material, including nine songs from the album “Doolittle” but just one each from the Pixies’ final two releases, “Bossanova” and “Trompe le Monde”

Tickets to the gig were selling for $400 on Internet auction site eBay, and shirts inside jokingly commemorated the production as the “Pixies Sellout” tour. Perhaps the lone track not immediately recognizable to the audience was a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong,” which was sandwiched in-between the group’s own “The Holiday Song” and “Nimrod’s Son.”

Obscure oldies such as “Broken Face” and “Levitate Me” were received as warmly and vocally as the band’s nearest things to hits: “Here Comes Your Man,” “Velouria” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven.”

As previously reported, the Pixies are selling instant live CDs from the tour, which culminates May 1 at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Pre-orders for the first three gigs have already sold out.

After spending the summer touring internationally, the group will return to North America for an extensive fall run. Ten dates for that tour have been booked so far, through Nov. 24 in Toronto.

Source billboard.com.

Jobarteh Kunda

Based on the best selling book of the same name,Touching The Void recreates a 1985 mountaineering expedition that explores a man

You Are the Quarry, the first new solo material in seven years from Morrissey, is to be released May 17th in the UK and May 18th in the US on Sanctuary’s revamped imprint, Attack. Recorded in Los Angeles and London, Quarry is an album of extraordinary original songs using keyboards interwoven with crunchy guitars that work to create a lush, musical backdrop.

“There are no links to the past. This is a much brighter sounding album, than much of my previous work. We’ve turned the page with Quarry. It’s a dynamic album and I couldn’t be any happier.” says Morrissey.

See morrisseymusic.com for more info.

A Frank Zappa celebration featuring Zappa alumni Ike Willis, Ernie Watts, and Napoleon Murphy Brock & The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival Big Band Conducted and arranged by Ed Palermo will be one of the highlights of this years Burlington Discover Jazz Festival to be held June 4th-13th in Burlington, VT.

Other acts named to the festival include: the Vorcza Trio, Medeski Martin & Wood, Soulive, DJ Logic, Branford Marsalis, Randy Weston

Photos by Andrew Francke of the Vermont Easter Jam featuring the Trey Anastasio Band and Phish from the Higher Ground in Winooski, Vermont on April 11th, 2004.

Visit Francke Design at www.franckedesign.com.

New York rock act Interpol is hard at work on its sophomore Matador album. The as-yet-untitled set is being targeted for a September release and re-teams Interpol with producer Peter Katis, who was behind the boards for the group’s 2002 debut, “Turn on the Bright Lights.” Confirmed tracks recorded so far include “NARC” and “Length of Love.”

Interpol will tour in support of the new album but has no plans to play live “for the next several months,” according to its official Web site. For now, fans can enjoy an unsolicited remix of the last album’s “Untitled,” dubbed “Swimwear Remix,” available on the site.

In addition, the instrumental “Interlude,” which was only released on the Japanese edition of “Turn on the Bright Lights,” can be downloaded via Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Guitarist Daniel Kessler has also contributed a “celebrity playlist” to the store.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

“Ch-Check It Out,” the first single from the Beastie Boys’ upcoming album “To the 5 Boroughs,” will be available for digital download April 28 via Apple’s iTunes Music Store, the same date it is delivered to U.S. radio outlets for airplay consideration. A video for the track was recently shot by group member Adam Yauch’s alter-ego Nathaniel Hornblower, best known for directing previous Beasties clips “So What’cha Want” and “Intergalactic.”

As previously reported, “To the 5 Boroughs” will be released this summer by Capitol. It’s the rap trio’s first new album since 1998’s “Hello Nasty.” A world tour is expected later this year.

Source billboard.com.

After a hugely successful national tour this winter with Phish’s Mike Gordon, celebrated guitarist Scott Murawski brings his legendary band, Max Creek, back to the edge of the Rockies for a three night run.

Thursday, April 29th @ The Fox Theatre in Boulder, Friday, April 30th @ Cervante

A number of new artists have been added to this years Bonnaroo Festival lineup. The newest wave of additions include: Robert Earl Keen, Addison Groove Project, Jem, Antigone Rising, Xavier Rudd and Praxis

Phish will perform thirteen concerts this summer in two short legs – eight shows in June and another five in August. The June concerts kick off with a special two night run at Coney Island’s Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, NY, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball club, and also include a long overdue return to SPAC in Saratoga, NY as well as two-nighters at old favorites Deer Creek and Alpine Valley. In August, the band returns to Great Woods for two shows and to the Tweeter Center in Camden NJ for one night.

From there, the band is hard at work seeking necessary approvals to stage a festival in northern Vermont the weekend of August 14 & 15.

June 17 KeySpan Park, Brooklyn, NY
June 18 KeySpan park, Brooklyn, NY
June 19 Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
June 20 Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
June 23 Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN (Deer Creek)
June 24 Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN (Deer Creek)
June 25 Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI
June 26 Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI
August 10 Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA (Great Woods)
August 11 Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA (Great Woods)
August 12 Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ

Photos by David Bann of Toots and the Maytals’ live performance at The Paradise in Boston, MA on March 31st, 2004.

Billy Martin continues to explore the art of percussion, avant-garde and beyond with his eclectic Amulet Records label with illy B Eats Volume 2, This recording features a series of Martin made break beats and percussion samples intended for DJ use – appearing on both vinyl and disc.

Calexico manages to place their patented romantic gypsy artistry throughout most of this 6 song EP, featuring 3 distinct covers. With their hints towards jazz, world, experimental and rock, Calexico continues to earn their well due cult praises.

In the same vein as the Pickin

Online file-sharing and other digital piracy persist, but a gradual turnaround in U.S. music sales that began last fall picked up in the first quarter of this year, resulting in the industry’s best domestic sales in years.

Overall U.S. music sales — CDs, legal downloads, DVDs — rose 9.1 percent in the first three months of the year over the same period in 2003, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Album sales were up 9.2 percent. Sales of CDs, which represent 96 percent of album sales, rose 10.6 percent. For the first time since 2000, two recording artists — Norah Jones and Usher — managed to sell more than 1 million copies of their albums in a single week.

U.S. album sales declined annually in the three years following 2000, the biggest year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking U.S. music sales.

In 2001, sales were down 3 percent. The next year, sales dropped 11 percent. Last year, until September, sales were down 8.5 percent, but the pickup in sales at the end of the year narrowed the total decline for 2003 to less than 4 percent.

The burgeoning online music market accounted for the sale of more than 25 million tracks between January and March, eclipsing the 19.2 million tracks purchased in the last six months of 2003, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Source canoe.ca.