2004

Pianist Brad Mehldau’s next album, “Live in Tokyo,” will arrive Aug. 31 via Nonesuch. The set features covers of Nick Drake’s “Things Behind the Sun” and “River Man,” Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android,” Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Dream” and the George Gershwin standards “Someone To Watch Over Me” and “How Long Has This Been Going On?”

Mehldau will end a short break from the road July 26 in La Roque, France, with a North American tour due to kick off Sept. 28 at New York’s Village Vanguard. The artist already has a handful of shows scheduled in 2005 with the John Scofield Trio.

Source billboard.com.

With noted jam band Leftover Salmon planning a hiatus, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Drew Emmitt is making plans to hit the road this fall on a solo tour. Joining him will be the band’s Greg Garrison on bass, as well as noted bluegrass banjo player Matt Flinner and guitarist Ross Martin.

Although not yet fully booked, the run looks set to kick off in late September and run through early December, and encompass an appearance at San Francisco’s Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.

The group will head into the studio in January with an eye on releasing the debut Drew Emmitt Band album in April 2005 via Compass.

Leftover Salmon has a slate of shows scheduled through a Sept. 18 appearance in Bristol, Tenn., and a one-off Oct. 30 show in Denver.

Source billboard.com.

PBS stations across the United States will on Aug. 2 premiere a 90-minute special chronicling Phish’s August 2003 IT festival at Maine’s Loring Air Force Base. The film was directed by Mary Wharton, who won a Grammy for her Sam Cooke documentary “Legend,” and features sound engineering by multiple Grammy winner Elliot Scheiner. Select stations will broadcast the special in high-definition.

Phish’s official Web site hosts a list of stations planning to screen the film. IT drew 60,000 fans to watch the band play six sets over the course of the Aug. 2-3, 2003, event.

As previously reported, Phish is planning to split following its Aug. 14-15 Coventry festival in Coventry, Vt. Although the event is sold out, the band is auctioning a handful of tickets via Yahoo! Auctions, with proceeds above face value earmarked for its charitable Waterwheel Foundation. A contest is also underway via Phish.com to design the official Coventry t-shirt.

Meanwhile, the band has made the previously unreleased track “Tiny” available for download exclusively from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The cut was recorded during sessions for Phish’s recent Elektra studio album, “Undermind.”

Source billboard.com.

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Lou Reed looks set for a return to the U.K. singles chart with the July 19 release by NuLife/BMG of a pop remix of “Satellite of Love,” originally produced by David Bowie and included on Reed’s classic 1972 album “Transformer.” The new mix, by London team Dab Hands, has been personally approved by Reed.

“Satellite of Love 2004” was well-received at the Winter Music Conference in Miami earlier this year and has been gaining club popularity since then. Reed not only gave the green light for a full commercial release of the track — which was never a U.K. single in its original version — but is fully involved in promoting the single.

“I’ve been getting all these great mixes sent to me out of the U.K. for years and years,” he told Attitude magazine, “and I just started saying to the record company, ‘Look, I really, really love what they are doing.’ I think that my record company was a little taken aback but, genuinely, if I could make that type of music then I would. If I could master the equipment then I would love to. Maybe I will now that I’ve got my own studio set up.”

The track will be included, alongside the original, on a new single-disc version of the 2003 compilation “Lou Reed … NYC Man,” also due July 19. It includes his best-known material as a solo artist and with the Velvet Underground.

Source billboard.com.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion has exited longtime home Matador Records and inked with Sanctuary. The first release under the new pact will be “Damage,” due Sept. 29. It features production work from several unlikely collaborators more known for their work in hip-hop and electronica, including DJ Shadow, Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and David Holmes.

Also contributing behind the boards were Steve Jordan, who produced JSBX’s 2002 album “Plastic Fang,” and Alan Moulder. The set was recorded in part at drummer Russell Simins’ New York Studio.

Among the guests lending a hand on “Damage” are Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, vocalist Martina Topley Bird and veteran New York post-punk artist James Chance.

The group has begun confirming fall North American tour dates, beginning Nov. 6 in Detroit. Beforehand, JSBX will appear Aug. 6 at Norway’s Notodden Blues Festival, which will also feature the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jeff Healey and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, among many others.

Source billboard.com.

Bjork’s upcoming album, “Medulla,” finds the artist singing over rhythms fashioned by such beatboxers as former Roots member Rahzel, Shlomo and Dokaka. As previously reported, the 14-track set is due Aug. 31 via Elektra. It was produced by Bjork, with assistance on four tracks by longtime collaborator Mark Bell.

Other guests include Fantomas/Mr. Bungle principal Mike Patton, singer/songwriter Robert Wyatt (on the duet “Submarine”), classical vocalist Gregory Purnhagen, Inuit throat singer Tagaq and the Icelandic and London Choirs. Programming was supplied by Matmos, Mum’s Valgeir Sigurdsson, Olivier Alary and Jake Davies.

A limited edition of “Medulla” will sport expanded artwork and a 16-panel poster. According to her spokesperson, Bjork is not expected to embark on a full tour in support of its release. It is unclear if select dates are a possibility.

Here is the track listing for “Medulla”:

“Pleasure Is All Mine”
“Show Me Forgiveness”
“Where Is the Line?”
“Vokuro”
“Oll Birtan”
“Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)”
“Submarine”
“Desired Constellation”
“Oceania”
“Sonnets/Unrealities XI”
“Piano II”
“Mouths Cradle”
“Wednesday (Midvikudags)”
“Triumph of a Heart”

Source billboard.com.

Southern California rockers Los Lobos, who continue to celebrate their 30th anniversary, are filling up their tour plans for the coming months.

The band is scheduled to play a mix of festivals and headlining shows through September as they continue to support their new, guest-filled album, “The Ride,” which hit stores in May.

On Aug. 3, Los Lobos will drop the six-track covers EP “Ride This,” which features the group’s takes on Elvis Costello’s “Uncomplicated,” Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon,” The Blasters’ “Marie Marie,” Bobby Womack’s “More Than I Can Stand,” Thee Midnighters’ “It’ll Never Be Over for Me” and Ruben Blades’ “Patria.”

Costello, Blades, Waits, Womack, The Blasters’ Dave Alvin and Thee Midnighters’ Willie Garcia are among the guests who contributed to “The Ride.” Other contributors include Mitchell Froom, Mavis Staples, Garth Hudson, Martha Gonzalez and Cafe Tacuba.

“As we were making our 30th anniversary disk, ‘The Ride,’ we were constantly amazed by the giving spirit of our guest artists,” the band said in a statement on its official website. “What was truly a dream project for us became an unforgettable experience, and struck by their graciousness, we decided to say thank you (and have a little fun at the same time) by making this EP.”

Tour Itinerary

July 2004
17 – Toronto, Ontario – Harbourfront Centre
18 – Detroit, MI – Concert of Colors
20 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
21 – Louisville, KY – Whitney Hall
22 – Lexington, KY – Kentucky Theatre
23 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
24 – Kettering, OH – South of the Border Festival
25 – Trumansburg, NY – Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival
29-30 – San Francisco, CA – Fillmore

August 2004
1 – Lake Placid, NY – Songs at the Lake
2 – Albany, NY – Washington Park Concert Series
4 – Nashville, TN – Uptown Mix
6 – Des Moines, IA – Simon Estes Amphitheater
7 – St. Louis, MO – River Splash
8 – Paso Robles, CA – California Mid-State Fair
19 – San Diego, CA – Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay
21 – Chicago, IL – The Chill on Kingsbury
22 – Boulder, CO – Chautauqua Auditorium

September 2004
1-2 – St. Paul, MN – Minnesota State Fair
4 – Chilliwack, British Columbia – The Ranch
5 – Oakland, CA – Art & Soul Festival
9 – Edmonton, Alberta – Winspear Centre for Music
10-11 – Calgary, Alberta – Bowness Community Center
17 – Kansas City, MO – KPCT TV Dinner
25 – Puyallup, WA – The Puyallup Fair

March 2005
1 – Arcata, CA – Humboldt State University (acoustic show)
3 – Carmel, CA – Sunset Center (acoustic show)

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl logged time last week behind the drum kit with Nine Inch Nails at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif. His contributions are expected to appear on the Trent Reznor-led act’s long-awaited new album, “Bleed Through,” due later this year via Interscope.

Eagle-eyed fans spotted Grohl on Nine Inch Nails’ in-studio Web cam, sitting behind a mixing console. His presence was also tipped off by members of rock act the Exies, who are recording their next album at the same studio.

“Last week, we had a great barbeque with Queens Of The Stone Age and this week we come in to see Dave Grohl playing drums for Nine Inch Nails,” the band wrote on its official Web site. “Is that a trip or what?! I guess Trent Reznor is going for real drums this time around. Good call, I say.”

A Foo Fighters spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

An unattributed message on Nine Inch Nails’ official Web site says the band is “about to head back to New Orleans to begin work with [engineer] Alan Moulder. We’re in the midst of a very inspiring recording session that has everyone thrilled. We’re working on a new batch of songs Trent just wrote and we cannot wait for you to hear them.”

“There are lots of surprises in store — wish I could tell you what they are,” the post continues.

“Bleed Through” will be the follow-up to 1999’s “The Fragile,” which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 875,000 copes in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was followed in February 2002 by the concert album “And All That Could Have Been, Live.”

Source billboard.com.