The debut, produced by Aaron Katz (Percy Hill), surfaces with the radio pop of Jason Mraz mingled with the more introspective songwriting of Mason Jennings.
Baltimore has long been a musical vacuum where many bands exist in its space but few are able to escape the void. The Bridge, a five-piece from the local area seem poised to be the next to free themselves from the city limits.
After almost a decade and a half of scruffy indie rock and sprawling space-pop, the California band Grandaddy are headed for the great big rock and roll nursing home in the sky. In an interview with Pitchfork yesterday, frontman Jason Lytle revealed that Just Like the Family Cat, due out May 9 on V2, will be the last Grandaddy album, and that the band has no plans to tour.
“We’ve seen an erosion happening,” Lytle said. “I use the word
Dinosaur Jr. has announced their Spring 2006 Tour, which will bring them into 21 U.S. markets, many of them for the first time since the unlikely reunion of the band’s original members – J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph – last year.
Dinosaur Jr. has long been celebrated as one of alternative rock’s most significant pioneers. Their sonic wall of melodic bass, furious drums and stunning guitar wizardry, coupled with an almost laissez faire vocal delivery, forever changed the face of rock & roll music. The New York Times calls them “Loud, alternative, and still definitive.” Indeed, the band’s first three albums, re-issued last year on MERGE, have proved their music to be as relevant today as it was when the band first became. The albums – Dinosaur, You’re Living All Over Me and Bug – were recently deemed by critics as “classics,” offering “near-perfect, ridiculously hooky thrash.” (Blender)
Dinosaur Jr. Spring 2006 tour dates are as follows:
March 29 2006 Gypsy Tea Room Dallas TX
March 30 2006 Stubb’s Bar-B-Q Austin TX
March 31 2006 Warehouse Live HoustonTX
April 01 2006 House of Blues New Orleans LA
April 02 2006 The Moon Tallahassee FL
April 03 2006 Free Bird Cafe Jacksonville FL
April 04 2006 House of Blues SCN. Myrtle Beach SC
April 05 2006 9:30 Club Washington DC
April 06 2006 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro NC
April 07 2006 The Orange Peel Asheville NC
April 08 2006 Variety Playhouse Atlanta GA
April 09 2006 City Hall Nashville TN
April 10 2006 Young Avenue Deli Memphis TN
April 11 2006 The Vogue Indianapolis IN
April 12 2006 Blue Note Columbia MO
April 13 2006 Liberty Hall Lawrence KS
April 14 2006 The Fox Theatre Boulder CO
April 16 2006 The Depot Salt Lake City UT
April 18 2006 WOW Hall Eugene OR
April 19-20 2006 Great American Music Hall San Francisco CA
April 21-22 2006 The Troubadour West Hollywood CA
Tickets on sale now at www.baselineticketing.com.
Dinosaur Jr. has also announced plans to release their first ever DVD. This full length concert DVD, which will feature the band in its original line-up, was filmed at New York’s legendary Irving Plaza in December 2005, and at other shows along the band’s December tour. The DVD is being directed by Gold In Berlin, which is run by Mascis’ own brother in-law, German filmmaker Phillip Virus. With unfettered access to this famously elusive band, fans can expect complete backstage access to Dinosaur Jr.’s recent reunion tour, one-on-one interviews, behind the scenes goings-on and a full set of performances of Dinosaur Jr. favorites. The DVD will be packed with bonus materials that any fan of the band – seasoned or brand new – will find thrilling and entertaining. Look for the DVD to be released in summer 2006.
So what’s next for these still-definitive rockers? The band is spending the next month at J Mascis’ home studio recording new material. It’s true – J, Lou and Murph are in the studio. But for now, that’s all they’re saying.
For more information, visit dinosaurjr.com.
Arctic Monkeys have achieved the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history, opening at No. 1 yesterday (Jan. 29) thanks to sales of 360,000 copies of “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (Domino). That comfortably exceeded the 306,000 sales achieved by pop act Hear’Say with its 2001 debut album, “Popstars.”
But the Monkeys were unable to secure simultaneous album and single chart-toppers, as their second No. 1 single, “When The Sun Goes Down,” fell from the top to No. 2. Instead, Notorious B.I.G. scored a posthumous No. 1 with “Nasty Girl” (Bad Boy), featuring P. Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge and Avery Storm.
It’s rare for a single to rise to the No. 1 position on the British chart, and the fact that the rapper’s first U.K. No. 1 arrives nine years after his death makes the event all the more remarkable.
Source billboard.com.
Hollywood Records has signed an exclusive worldwide recording agreement with acclaimed roots-rock band Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, it was announced today by Bob Cavallo, Chairman of the Buena Vista Music Group. On April 11th, Hollywood will reissue an enhanced version of the band
Wilco has announced their spring tour dates. The band will kick things off with a two night stand in Chapel Hill, NC and then proceed through the southeast, with a tour finale in Des Moines, IA on March 22nd. In the meantime Jeff Tweedy kicks off his solo tour on January 31st in Vancouver and will play much of the west coast. For more information, please visit Wilco’s website.
Tour Dates
MAR-05 CHAPEL HILL, NC MEMORIAL HALL TBA
MAR-06 CHAPEL HILL, NC MEMORIAL HALL TBA
MAR-08 CHARLESTON, SC NORTH CHARLESTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
MAR-09 ATHENS, GA CLASSIC CENTER EXHIBIT HALL BUY
MAR-10 JACKSONVILLE, FL FLORIDA THEATRE TBA
MAR-12 SUNRISE, FL LANGERADO MUSIC FESTIVAL AT MARKHAM PARK
MAR-14 TALLAHASSEE, FL THE MOON INFO
MAR-15 MERIDIAN, MS TEMPLE THEATRE TBA
MAR-16 KNOXVILLE, TN TENNESSEE THEATRE BUY
MAR-17 NASHVILLE, TN RYMAN AUDITORIUM TBA
MAR-18 FAYETTEVILLE, AR WALTON ARTS CENTER TBA
MAR-19 ST. LOUIS, MO THE PAGEANT TBA
MAR-22 DES MOINES, IA VAL AIR BALLROOM TBA
Photos by Robert Massie of Reverend Horton Heat with the Supersuckers and Split Lip Rayfield, House of Blues, Cleveland, OH 12/11/05
A Wednesday night and a blizzard is basically a promoter’s nightmare, but book a couple of derelict bands in a small venue and surely the promoter’s loss will be the audience’s gain. Reinventing the word tacky with their 70’s Lacoste formal fashions of paisley patterns and heinous ties, OK Go proved they weren’t all a bad fashion statement, while giving the small showcase lounge at Higher Ground something to shout about.
Laid out in theatre format and playing like the soundtrack to a mid century German film on existentialism produced by a floundering grad student, Book of Sand’s music bores from start to finish. The three main movements titled “The Century Trilogy: Conquest, Empire and The Fall” are grandiose in title only. The album is fundamentally instrumental with random chanting; some of it from guest Devendra Banhart, however the ghostly wails do nothing to further the music in any direction.
