2006

Octone/J Records recording artist Michael Tolcher will be part
of the lineup for the inaugural Dave Matthews & Friends Cruise, which sets sail from Miami and Port Canaveral, FL on two separate Royal Caribbean ships, Sovereign of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas, on February 3. The lineup for the 3-day cruise includes Michael Tolcher, Bob Weir & Ratdog, G. Love & Special Sauce, Ozomatli, and the North Mississippi All Stars. The ships will port in Nassau and Royal Caribbean

The 10 finalists for the inaugural New Pantheon Awards have been chosen, Billboard.com can exclusively reveal. The award, which continues the mission of the now-defunct Shortlist Prize in recognizing noteworthy albums that have sold less than 500,000 copies in the United States, will be handed out Feb. 6 at a Los Angeles venue to be announced.

Among the titles that will battle for the New Pantheon prize are Animal Collective’s “Feels” (Fatcat), Antony and the Johnsons’ “I Am a Bird Now” (Secretly Canadian), Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine” (Epic), the Arcade Fire’s “Funeral” (Merge) and Bloc Party’s “Silent Alarm” (Vice/Atlantic). Last fall, “I Am a Bird Now” took the Mercury Music Prize, the U.K. award on which both the Shortlist and the New Pantheon are modeled.

The remaining five finalists are Death Cab For Cutie’s “Plans” (Atlantic), the Decemberists’ “Picaresque” (Kill Rock Stars), Kings Of Leon’s “Aha Shake Heartbreak” (RCA), M.I.A.’s “Arular” (XL/Beggars Banquet) and Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois” (Asthmatic Kitty).

The albums were selected by a panel of listmakers that includes Elton John, Elijah Wood, Beck, Margaret Cho, John Legend, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Keith Urban, Ric Ocasek, Shirley Manson, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, Suzanne Vega, Dave Matthews and Keith Urban.

The final Shortlist Prize, handed out in November 2004, was won by TV On The Radio’s “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes” (Touch & Go).

Source billboard.com.

Particle is poised to return to the stage this spring with a fresh lineup, new material, a tour, and a DVD. The bands first live performance of the New Year will be on Friday February 24 at The Henry Fonda Theater Hollywood. Billed as Particle: Transformations, the show will be filmed for a DVD to be released this summer and will feature an array of special guests. Tickets will go on sale this Saturday January 14 at 10am, and are available online at goldenvoice.com. Additional information about the evening’s festivities and guests will follow over the next few weeks.

Particle is excited to announce it’s signing with Shout! Factory, who will release the Particle: Transformations DVD nationwide. Produced by Captured Live Productions, it will be the bands debut DVD, and a follow-up to 2004’s ‘Launchpad’ released by Or Music.

They will mount their spring tour and return to road warrior status with an appearance at South by Southwest before traversing the country for the better part of April. Particle has also confirmed that they will headline the Joshua Tree Music Festival this May in Southern California.

Jeep MacNichol, original Samples drummer 1987-1997, recently traveled to Kingston, Jamaica armed with an acoustic guitar and drum machine. His goal was to record the ultimate chill-vibe party album with his heroes of reggae music. Teaming up with music legends Sly and Robbie, Bounty Killer, Black Uhuru’s Michael Rose, and Dave Wakeling from The English Beat, MacNichol created a unique blend of reggae, trip-hop and dub titled, Mr. Anonymous.

MacNichol tracked the album during a ten-week period that involved three separate trips to Jamaica. On one such trip, Jeep recorded with well-known rapper, Cutty Ranks. “I was fortunate enough to stay at his place,” says Jeep. “Every morning I would wake up to the sound of Cutty cranking tunes on his boom box and singing lyrics at top volume. We would hang out under the palm trees in his backyard, smoke fat joints, and write lyrics all afternoon. It was an incredible experience.”

“This album,” says Jeep, “is about enjoying the moment and taking in the experience. There are songs about love, family, sex and life.” Highlights include “Good Vibe,” featuring a signature Dave Wakeling vocal sound wrapped around the melodic, rhythmic vocals of Michael Rose. “Shylean” features Dr. Dre-style keyboard stabs against a hip-hop groove. Bounty Killer throws out the same aggressive, throaty vocal sound on “Shylean” as he did on No Doubt’s hit single, “Hey Baby”.

“Working with these guys was the experience of a lifetime. I spent every second of my high school years listening to most of them, studying their different styles, and teaching myself how to play drums to their tunes,” says MacNichol. “To go from that, to working and writing in the studio with these guys still blows me away.”

Mr. Anonymous will be released worldwide by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s KAB America label on April 11, 2006.

Scottish chamber pop act Belle and Sebastian and Canadian indie outfit the New Pornographers will join forces for a twenty-city North American tour beginning this February. While the New Pornographers spent last fall on the road behind their critically acclaimed album Twin Cinema, Belle and Sebastian will debut songs off their Seventies-pop-inspired album, The Life Pursuit, out February 7th.

Though both bands are known for their expansive pop sounds, another common factor is sheer size: Each group is comprised of at least seven members, and often expands to upwards of nine players.

On this tour, however, two of the New Pornographers’ additional musicians, Neko Case and Dan Bejar, will not perform. But count on Kathryn Calder, Pornographers frontman A.C. Newman’s niece, to take over vocal and keyboard duties. “We’re going to be kind of like the Fiery Furnaces: the relatives band,” Newman says with a laugh.

And expect some changes to Belle and Sebastian’s live show, as well. “We were trying to do a kind of New Order thing,” guitarist Stevie Jackson says of some of The Life Pursuit’s shimmery, celebratory sound. “Everybody came in with a keyboard instead of their usual instrument.”

This tour, Belle and Sebastian’s largest in North America, brings the two bands to large clubs and theaters. The New Pornographers will appear on all dates, with the exception of the stop in their hometown of Vancouver.

Belle and Sebastian/New Pornographers North American tour dates:

2/25: Toronto, the Docks
2/26: Montreal, Metropolis
2/27: Boston, Avalon
2/28: Boston, Avalon
3/2: New York, Nokia Theatre
3/3: New York, Nokia Theatre
3/4: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
3/5: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
3/6: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
3/8: Nashville, Ryman Auditorium
3/9: Louisville, KY, Brown Theatre
3/10: Chicago, Riviera Theater
3/11: Milwaukee, WI, Riverside Theatre
3/12: Minneapolis, Orpheum Theatre
3/14: Dallas, Granada Theatre
3/18: Los Angeles, Wiltern Theater
3/19: Los Angeles, Wiltern Theater
3/21: San Francisco, Concourse at the SF Design Center
3/23: Portland, OR, Roseland Ballroom
3/24: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom(Belle and Sebastian only)
3/25: Seattle, Paramount Theater

Source rollingstone.com.

Rock trio Loose Fur, which features Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche in tandem with multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke, will release its sophomore album on March 21. The 10-track “Born Again in the U.S.A.” is the follow-up to Loose Fur’s self-titled 2002 effort.

Asked to compare the new album’s sound to the eclectic folk/rock mix heard on the debut, Tweedy previously told Billboard.com, “It’s maybe a little bit heavier. There’s definitely a lot of harmonized guitar parts. I think it’s a similar mix of folk-ish elements, but the rock elements are a little less stridently abrasive, and maybe a little bit more prog-rock or something.”

The new set will be the first concentrated batch of original O’Rourke material since his acclaimed 2002 solo album, “Insignificance.” “He has been really busy with other people’s music. I love getting to work with Jim and he has some really, really great songs on this,” Tweedy said.

Although Loose Fur played a handful of shows in support of the debut album, no live dates are in the works in conjunction with “Born Again in the U.S.A.,” according to a Drag City spokesperson.

In related news, Kotche will on March 7 release his next solo album, “Mobile,” via Nonesuch. He will also join Tweedy on another round of solo acoustic dates, beginning Jan. 31 in Vancouver. On his fall solo tour, Tweedy unveiled the new Loose Fur tune “The Ruling Class,” which features the lyrics “Well he’s back, jack, smokin’ crack, find him if you wanna get found.”

Here is the track list for “Born Again in the U.S.A.”:

“Hey Chicken”
“The Ruling Class”
“Answers to Your Questions”
“Apostolic”
“Stupid As the Sun”
“Pretty Sparks”
“An Ecumenical Matter”
“Thou Shalt Wilt”
“Wreckroom”
“Wanted”

Source billboard.com.