2005

Eclectic hip-hop outfit the Roots are eyeing a February 2006 release date for their next Geffen studio album, “Game Theory.” “We’re about 60% finished with the new album,” drummer ?uestlove tells Billboard.com. The set will likely feature a collaboration with Black Star’s Mos Def and Talib Kweli called “Where I Come” and one song with just Mos Def, “Workin’ on It.”

“Game Theory” will be the follow-up to the Roots’ 2004 effort “The Tipping Point,” which debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 395,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The Roots have a host of summer shows lined up, including a run with fellow hip-hop outfit Floetry. Headlining dates get underway Friday (April 29) in Bridgeport, Conn., and are booked through a July 1 appearance at New Orleans’ Essence Festival. The group will head to Europe in August.

Here are the Roots’ tour dates:

April 29: Bridgeport, Conn. (Fairfield University)
April 30: Washington, Pa. (Washington & Jefferson University)
May 1: Memphis (Tom Lee Park)
May 16: Philadelphia (Electric Factory; w/ Floetry)
May 18: Boston (Roxy; w/ Floetry)
May 20: Cleveland (House of Blues; w/ Floetry)
May 21: Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State University; w/ Floetry)
May 23: Detroit (Royal Oak Theatre; w/ Floetry)
May 26: Milwaukee (the Rave; w/ Floetry)
May 28: Chicago (Vic Theatre; w/ Floetry)
May 30: St. Louis (Pageant; w/ Floetry)
June 2: Atlanta (Tabernacle; w/ Floetry)
June 4: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Revolution; w/ Floetry)
June 6: New Orleans (House of Blues; w/ Floetry)
June 8: Houston (Hush; w/ Floetry)
June 11: Dallas (Gypsy Tea Room)
June 15: San Francisco (the Grand; w/ Floetry)
July 1: New Orleans (Essence Festival)
Aug. 23: London (Shepherd’s Bush Empire)

Source billboard.com.

Bob Mould has wrapped work on his first studio album in three years, “Body of Song.” As previously reported, Yep Roc will release the former Husker Du/Sugar leader’s new 12-track set on July 26. Guests include Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, former Sugar bassist David Barbe, Garland Of Hours principal Amy Domingues and former Bob Mould Band member Matt Hammon.

Aside from the vocal effects on tracks like “(Shine Your) Light Love Hope,” the new album largely dispenses with the synth/electronica-flavored sound that dominated Mould’s 2002 release, “Modulate.” Instead, there are a handful of ballads (“Gauze of Friendship,” “High Fidelity”), several Sugar-esque rockers (“Paralyzed,” “Underneath Days”) and such intriguing sound collages as the six-minute closer “Beating Heart the Prize.”

Mould will begin a world tour in the fall with a full band featuring Canty on drums. According to a spokesperson, the trek will touch on all aspects of Mould’s back catalog.

Here is the track list for “Body of Song”:

“Circles”
“(Shine Your) Light Love Hope”
“Paralyzed”
“I am Vision, I am Sound”
“Underneath Days”
“Always Tomorrow”
“Days of Rain”
“Best Thing”
“High Fidelity”
“Missing You”
“Gauze of Friendship”
“Beating Heart the Prize”

Source billboard.com.

For the first time in twenty-five years, alt-rock hero Curt Kirkwood is officially on his own. And as he puts the finishing touches on his solo debut, the Meat Puppets guitarist, singer and songwriter is enjoying his newfound independence.

“I don’t have to wake up and find out so-and-so hasn’t had their enema yet, or that the enema went awry and it’ll be another hour before they can leave their hotel room,” Kirkwood says with a laugh. “Musicians are great and all that, but every musician I’ve ever met lives in a world of their own.”

Now signed to Grammy-winning producer Pete Anderson’s label, Little Dog Records, Kirkwood is currently completing theprovisionally titled Snow for fall release. But just because Anderson helped pioneer cowpunk — and worked with Dwight Yoakam — don’t assume the new disc is a country effort.

To read more, please visit rollingstone.com.

For what will be one of the most potent rock double-bills in recent memory, System Of A Down and the Mars Volta will team for a two-month North American tour later this year. Dates and venues have yet to be announced for the outing, which will begin in early August and feature support from an as-yet-unconfirmed third band.

This will be SOAD’s first extended North American tour since 2002. “With the Mars Volta on the bill, I think we’re giving our fans a terrific show,” says SOAD frontman Serj Tankian.

The group will be out in support of “Mesmerize,” the first of two discs it will release this year. That set arrives May 17 via American Recordings, while the second album, “Hypnotize,” is due in the fall. First single “B.Y.O.B.” is No. 9 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart this week; the band will perform it May 7 on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Source billboard.com.

Rock trio the Secret Machines will unveil a new EP on June 7, led by the single “The Road Leads Where It’s Led.” In addition to the previously unreleased track “Better Bring Your Friends,” the Reprise set boasts covers of Krautrock pioneer Harmonia’s “De Luxe (Immer Wider),” the Motown staple “Money (That’s What I Want),” Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” and Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.”

The latter two tracks have been part of the band’s live sets for some time. At deadline, Secret Machines’ only two confirmed dates are this weekend at California’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and June 10 at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.

Sources say Secret Machines are also eyeing a run of dates with Kings Of Leon. Although the routing has not been confirmed, based on Kings Of Leon’s tour schedule, which finds the band opening for U2 through May 28 in Boston and then headed to the United Kingdom, the outing couldn’t begin until mid- or late July at the earliest and may not materialize until the fall.

Source billboard.com.

The String Cheese Incident release their fifth studio album, One Step Closer, on June 28, 2005 on their own record label, SCI Fidelity Records. One Step Closer was recorded at a friend’s home in the hills of Colorado’s Front Range, and was produced by Malcolm Burn (Bob Dylan, Chris Whitley, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois). The recording experience proved to be cathartic for the five members of SCI, and the high and low points of the process are revealed in an accompanying DVD that features 30 minutes of exclusive B-roll footage. The end result: a gritty, free-wheeling and powerfully honed collection of 13 original songs, and a band reborn and re-inspired to continue their legacy as one of today’s most visionary and talented rock bands.

You know that a show has been around a long time when they start measuring milestones in episodic increments of 50.

But it’s understandable that “The Simpsons” should want to make a big deal out of hitting 350 episodes with this Sunday’s installment.

As the legendary Fox series wraps up its 16th season, the denizens of Springfield are wading in some uncharted prime-time waters. When executive producer Al Jean boasts that “The Simpsons” “just enjoyed the best 16th season of any comedy ever,” that’s because no other comedy has ever made it this far.

How many episodes is 350? More than the combined total of “Seinfeld” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” “The Simpsons” will pass “Dallas” (357 episodes) on the all-time series list before 2005 is out. Then it takes aim at the only two comedies to have produced more segments: “My Three Sons” at 380 episodes and “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet” at a somewhat astounding 435.

Can “The Simpsons” really make it to 435 — a feat that would require the show see a (gasp) 20th season?

To read more, please visit CNN.com.