2005

Bonnie Raitt eschews the 12-bar blues of her past on the new album “Souls Alike,” due Sept. 13 via Capitol. For the first time, the artist also takes the production reigns in tandem with Tchad Blake (Pearl Jam, Crowded House).

Tracks include first single “I Will Not Be Broken,” “The Bed I Made,” “I Don’t Want Anything To Change,” “Deep Water” and “Crooked Crown,” penned by what the label describes as unnamed, “lesser-known writers.”

“Some of the songs are clearly terrain that people have come to know and appreciate from me, but the rest are about finding some new direction and something new to say,” Raitt says.

In related news, Eagle Rock Entertainment will on Tuesday (May 31) release the DVD “Live at Montreux 1977,” featuring Raitt’s early hit cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” Four songs from her 1991 return to the famed Swiss festival are included as bonus tracks.

Source billboard.com.

As it prepares to launch a European tour Saturday (May 28) in Barcelona, Sonic Youth is also prepping a series of upcoming releases. According to its official Web site, the group is “putting the finishing touches” on a double-disc reissue of its 1990 major-label debut, “Goo.” No release date is yet confirmed for the album, which will be bolstered with eight-track demos, B-sides and previously unreleased tracks.

“I always kind of discounted ‘Goo’ and thought [1992’s] ‘Dirty’ represented more what we were going for at that point,” Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore told Billboard.com in 2004. “In retrospect, listening to ‘Dirty,’ especially in reissue form, it leaves me a bit spent. But I have a completely renewed interest in ‘Goo’ now and I’m really excited.”

Also on tap in the coming months is a CD chronicling an April, 12, 2003, performance at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, plus a double-vinyl album that captures four instrumental tracks recorded in Melbourne by Moore, drummer Steve Shelley, guitarist Lee Ranaldo and bassist Jim O’Rourke.

Source billboard.com.

Nine Inch Nails have chosen Interscope labelmates Queens Of The Stone Age to open their fall North American arena tour. The itinerary will be announced early next month, according to NIN’s official Web site, and will most likely not begin until mid-September. Sources say a third band may join the bill, but that a final decision has not been made.

NIN will wrap its current North American run with Dresden Dolls June 2 in Mexico City. International festival and headlining dates are on tap through August. QOTSA will follow a similar path, completing a North American tour June 4 in Auburn, Wash., and then heading to Europe through late August.

The Trent Reznor-led NIN has returned to the top of the charts thanks to “With Teeth,” its first album since 1999. Save for a headlining slot at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the first batch of North American dates have been held in theaters and large ballrooms and have done big business at the box office.

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s founding in San Francisco, as well as the 10th anniversary of the death of the band’s reluctant leader, Jerry Garcia. Monterey Video will commemorate the milestones with concert and documentary DVDs, due July 5.

“Truckin’ Up to Buffalo” captures the band on July 4, 1989, at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y., in the midst of a tour that was arguably the peak of the band’s latter era career. The nearly three-hour Independence Day show is preserved in its entirety, and includes a host of classics, including “Deal,” “Ship of Fools,” “Bertha,” and an apropos encore performance of “U.S. Blues.”

One song from the show was previously officially released; “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” appeared on guitarist Bob Weir’s 2004 retrospective “Weir Here” (Hybrid Recordings).

The video portion of “Truckin'” utilizes the original master tape from a six-camera shoot at the venue, while the DVD’s audio includes 5.1 Surround and stereo mixes taken from multi-track soundboard tapes. A two-disc CD version of the show due from Grateful Dead Records was mastered in HDCD.

Monterey’s second offering, “The End of the Road,” is a documentary about the Grateful Dead’s final tour. Begun three months before Garcia’s death, the filmmakers planned to capture life on the road with the enduring act but ended up witnessing the outpouring of grief and celebration of his life at the public memorial held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The film includes appearances by late Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, organist and frequent Garcia collaborator Merl Saunders and 1960s counter-culture figure Wavy Gravy. Bonus features include uncut footage of the memorial and extended interviews.

Source billboard.com.

In support of their new live album, Live In Japan, The Bad Plus will be touring the world. The jazz trio will kick things off in Norway, with dates planned through early 2006.

Tour Dates

Wed 05/25/05

Nas, Redman, the Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and Ghostface (performing material from their 1995 album “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”) and Gang Starr MC Guru lead the lineup for the Rock the Bells festival, to be held July 30 at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernadino, Calif.

The show will be hosted by Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, Cypress Hill’s B-Real and the Beat Junkies’ Mr. Choc. Pre-sale tickets go on sale Friday (May 27) and will gradually increase in price as the show date approaches.

The Rock the Bells lineup will also boast performances by Sage Francis, Q-Bert, Cut Chemist, Living Legends, Heiroglyphics, Supernatural, DJ Muggs and Nonphixion.

At last year’s show, the Wu-Tang Clan reunited with all of its principal members, including the now deceased Ol’ Dirty Bastard, for the first time in years. That performance will form the basis of the film “Rock the Bells (The Documentary),” which will hit theaters and DVD later this year.

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Snoop Dogg, the White Stripes, 311, the Black Eyed Peas and the Pixies are among the acts confirmed for the 2005 edition of the San Diego Street Scene festival. Set for July 29-30 at an area adjacent to the city’s Qualcomm Stadium, the event will feature more than 30 artists.

Others on the bill are Garbage, the Used, Flaming Lips, Method Man, Unwritten Law, Flogging Molly, Dashboard Confessional, Social Distortion, Death Cab For Cutie, Kasabian, Hot Hot Heat, Rise Against, Louis XIV, the Adolescents, (International) Noise Conspiracy, Autolux, Von Bondies, Swollen Members, Morningwood, the Locust, West Indian Girl, Mixmaster Mike and Hard-Fi. More artists are expected.

Source billboard.com.

Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will release his next album this fall via a new deal with Epic. Having recently demoed two songs with noted producer Bill Laswell, Matisyahu and his band plan to hit the studio in the next two weeks to begin work on the follow-up to last month’s “Live at Stubb’s” (Or Music/JDub), which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart.
Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will release his next album this fall via a new deal with Epic. Having recently demoed two songs with noted producer Bill Laswell, Matisyahu and his band plan to hit the studio in the next two weeks to begin work on the follow-up to last month’s “Live at Stubb’s” (Or Music/JDub), which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart.

“We have material ready, but a lot of the way we write material is to just come together in a room and someone will have an idea that forms into a song,” the artist tells Billboard.com. “It happens pretty quickly.” As for why Laswell was chosen to produce, Matisyahu says, “We thought Bill would get the dub thing and the reggae thing.”

While he’s out West in the coming days to perform at the Sasquatch! Festival outside Seattle, Matisyahu will also record a track intended to appear on rap/rock outfit P.O.D.’s next album, due later this year via Atlantic.

Source billboard.com.