2005

My Morning Jacket takes its Southern-tinged rock’n’roll to new and exciting places on its fourth studio album, “Z.” As previously reported, the 10-track set will be released Sept. 20 via ATO/RCA and was produced by John Leckie (Radiohead, New Order).

The addition of new members Carl Broemel (guitar) and Bo Koster (keyboards) has helped broaden the band’s sound, with more keyboards and overall sonic texture in the nooks and crannies than on 2003’s “It Still Moves.”

The album opens with the vintage keyboard bounce of the aptly named “Wordless Chorus,” which immediately reintroduces frontman Jim James’ reverb-drenched voice. “We are the innovators / they are the imitators,” he sings, eventually rising to a full-on falsetto of “hoos” as the song concludes.

Here is the track list for “Z”:

“Wordless Chorus”
“It Beats for You”
“Gideon”
“What a Wonderful Man”
“Off the Record”
“Into the Woods”
“Anytime”
“Lay Low”
“Knot Comes Loose”
“Dondante”

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In addition to previously announced headliner Nine Inch Nails, the seventh Voodoo Music Experience will feature performances by Queens Of The Stone Age, My Chemical Romance, the Flaming Lips, Billy Idol, the New York Dolls, Secret Machines, DJ Tiesto, the Bravery, Ryan Adams and Mickey Hart’s Voodoo Drum Circle. The event will be held Oct. 29-30 at New Orleans’ City Park; tickets go on sale July 8.

Other acts set to appear include LCD Soundsystem, Handsome Boy Modeling School (plus separate sets from group members Dan the Automator and Prince Paul), Brazilian Girls, Carl Cox, Louis XIV, Social Distortion, the Decemberists, VHS Or Beta and Digable Planets.

A number of eclectic acts will grace the One Basin Street Stage, such as Joss Stone, Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, Kermit Ruffins with the Rebirth Brass Band, Michael Tolcher and the Spam Allstars.

For more information, visit the festival’s official website

Source billboard.com.

Four people were stabbed and one killed during a Corrosion of Conformity show at the Masquerade in Tampa last night. A man was pronounced dead of his wounds at Tampa General early Friday morning, while a woman remains in critical condition, according to Tampa police.

The altercation began around 11:30 last night, in the mosh pit during the North Carolina punk/metal band’s set. According to police, a disagreement between two female fans somehow resulted in one man fatally stabbing another.

The authorities are searching for the suspect, described as a white male in his late twenties to early thirties with a shaved head and red-brown goatee and moustache. The man fled the venue before police arrived, and anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Tampa police.

Corrosion of Conformity posted a statement on their official Web site in response to the assaults. “We are stunned, deeply saddened by the brutal stabbings of three [sic] people at the Tampa show last night,” they wrote. “We don’t have much information at this time. Unofficially we heard that one victim didn’t make it. In twenty-plus years of gigging, we’ve never seen anything like this. It’s sad that people can’t come together for a good time listening to music without something tragic happening. We feel for the families of those attacked and wish success to Tampa law enforcement in their quest to solve this pointless crime. Take care of each other and go in peace.”

Corrosion of Conformity are scheduled to continue their tour, in support of their April release In the Arms of God, tonight in Atlanta. The club venue, in an unfortunate coincidence, is also called Masquerade.

Source rollingstone.com.

Welsh rock act the Super Furry Animals will release its seventh album, “Love Kraft,” Sept. 13 in North America via XL Recordings/Beggars Group. Internationally, the set will be released Aug. 22 and preceded on Aug. 8 by the single “Lazer Beam.”

“Love Kraft” was recorded in Spain with Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys) and features more songwriting collaborations between band members than on prior efforts. String arrangements were handled by the High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan, and 100-member Catalan choir even turns up for an appearance.

Easing up on their political leanings, the Furries here offer a more personal set of songs. “The world is so ridiculously dark at the moment,” says frontman Gruff Rhys. “When you don’t know where to start politically, it’s sometimes easier to become inward looking or to enter the world of the imagination.”

Source billboard.com.

The head of security for Death Row Records threatened to “get” Notorious B.I.G. in retaliation for the killing of Death Row star Tupac Shakur, Shakur’s former bodyguard testified Wednesday.

Kevin Hackie took the stand saying he feared for his life as a key witness in the federal wrongful death trial. The lawsuit filed by B.I.G.’s family blames the Los Angeles Police Department and city for the rap star’s death.

Hackie, who was an FBI informant while serving as Shakur’s personal bodyguard for three years, said his security boss, Reginald Wright, told him before B.I.G. was killed, “We were going to get those (people) who downed ‘Pac Biggie and his crew.”

California rapper Shakur was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip six months before his New York rival B.I.G. was shot to death in Los Angeles. The slayings have long been linked in hip-hop lore and news media accounts, though never in court.

Source: yahoo.com