2006

Tortoise is eyeing an April release for a three-disc set of 33 rare tracks via Thrill Jockey. According to a label spokesperson, the project was originally titled “Rhythms, Resolutions and Clusters” (after the group’s 1995 remix album) but will most likely wind up with another name.

In addition to a DVD whose contents have yet to be solidified, the collection will feature two audio discs full of hard-to-find remixes by the likes of Autechre, Yo La Tengo and Mike Watt as well as the contents of the original “Rhythms, Resolutions and Clusters.”

Watt’s recasting of “Cornpone Brunch” was intended to appear on that album, but the master DAT tape arrived damaged in the mail just before mastering. Unable to obtain a usable copy before time ran out, Tortoise sat on the broken tape for a decade until longtime collaborator Bundy K. Brown was recently able to resurrect it for use on the upcoming boxed set.

In addition, the audio discs will include tracks from such compilations as the Joy Division tribute “A Means to an End,” “Offbeat: A Red Hot Sound Trip,” “Chicago 2018: It’s Gonna Change” and “Lounge Ax Defense & Relocation CD,” plus limited-edition tour singles and EP cuts such as “Goriri” and “Gamera,” two of the group’s best non-album songs.

Source billboard.com.

New York rock trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will return on March 28 with its second Interscope album, “Show Your Bones,” according to a label spokesperson. First single “Gold Lion” will be commercially released a week earlier in the United Kingdom. The set was produced by Squeak E Clean and mixed by rock veteran Alan Moulder.

The group is planning to tour extensively in support of “Show Your Bones,” but for now the only event on its schedule is May 14 as part of the U.K.’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will perform alongside their own handpicked roster of acts, including TV On The Radio, Oneida, Liars, Blood Brothers and Ex

Source: billboard

Kaiser Chiefs, James Blunt and Coldplay are amongst the main nominations for next month’s Brit Awards.

This year’s awards take place at London Earl’s Court on February 15, and will see live appearances from Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, James Blunt, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson and KT Tunstall.

Hosted by Chris Evans, the awards have recognised Kaiser Chiefs who are nominated in five categories – the most of any band and only equalled this year by James Blunt. Kaiser Chiefs are nominated in the British Group, MasterCard Album, Breakthrough Act, Live Act and Rock Act categories.

Last year Franz Ferdinand were nominated for five awards, but this year have been nominated in three – Best Band, Best Live Act and Best Rock Act.

Source: nme

The Black Eyed Peas are topping the bill on this year’s Honda Civic Tour, with the kickoff date set for March 23 in Fresno, Calif.
No further dates have been confirmed, but the tour – now six years running – typically spans most of North America with about 35 cities on the itinerary.
A special 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid – customized to the Peas’ own specifications – will travel with the tour and be showcased at each venue, and one lucky fan will win the car.
BEP’s Will.i.am said the group is excited to team with the car manufacturer.
“It shows you that if you really try hard and don’t give up, the dreams that you have can even surpass the little dream that you once had,” he said.
“Here we are, we went from wanting a Civic to doing something with Honda Civic, launching a new hybrid. I mean, that’s dope.”
Past Honda Civic Tour headliners have included Maroon 5, Dashboard Confessional, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, and Incubus.

Source pollstar.com.

Sonic Youth has begun recording its next Geffen studio album at Sear Sound Studio in New York, where the group put such prior albums as “Sister” and “Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star” to tape.

According to the band’s official Web site, among the tunes recorded so far are “Pink Steam,” “Do You Believe in Rapture?,” “Or” and “Sleepin Around.” The as-yet-untitled album is due for release sometime this year.

As previously reported, Sonic Youth is recording without the aid of multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke, who had been part of the band on stage and in the studio since 2002’s “Murray Street.”

“Some of it seems to be an extension of the last couple of records, but some hearkens forward into territory and also back to earlier, more dissonant and atonal stuff we’ve done,” guitarist Lee Ranaldo told Billboard.com in October of the new material. “There’s definitely some rocking songs and also some sound piece-y kind of things that are pretty interesting as well.”

Also in the Sonic Youth pipeline for the first part of the year are reissues of the band’s 1982 self-titled EP, the peculiar 1988

Atlanta’s 12-year-old outdoor festival Music Midtown won’t be held this year, concert promoter Peter Conlon said January 5.

Conlon said it was too expensive to hold the three-day event at its current location – a tract near the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, where the festival was moved from Piedmont Park.

Other sites in and outside Atlanta are under consideration, Conlon said, adding the new site will need to have adequate green space, size and public transportation accessibility.

The first festival was held in 1994 and attracted as many as 300,000 people over a spring weekend with national acts like Bob Dylan and Ashlee Simpson.

“We’re crying guitar-sized tears,” said Greg Pridgeon, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s chief of staff. “It’s become an institution in Atlanta. There’s a hole left by its absence. But we respect and understand the business decision that led to the cancellation. We’re not opposed to working with the festival in the future.”

Source pollstar.com.

America’s favorite mind-bending, hallucination-inducing jazz trio from Tulsa, OK, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, gets back to business in February 2006 with a string of tour dates on the Left Coast, a run of high profile appearances on the East Coast and a jump over the Atlantic for a stretch of shows in Europe. The European leg of the treck will be JFJO’s first official tour of the continent, including performances at Bimhuis in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Turku International Jazz Festival in Turku, Finland. All of this in support of their latest release, The Sameness of Difference, on HYENA Records.

JFJO’s west coast tour dates in the U.S. will include special guests, The Dead Kenny Gs, who are comprised of JFJO’s own Brian Haas on keys, the irrepressible modern tenor giant Skerik on saxophones and the multi-dimensional big beat master Mike Dillon on percussion. The Dead Kenny Gs tour sparingly, so every show is a rare opportunity to witness their very own rendering of musical madness. JFJO drummer Jason Smart will also pair with freestyle poet Al Howard for a collaboration dubbed, Echoes Consciousness.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s Winter 2006 tour dates are:

February 14 / Winstons / San Diego, CA
February 15 / The Palmer Room / West Los Angeles, CA
February 16 / Moe’s Alley / Santa Cruz, CA
February 17 / Cafe Du Nord / San Francisco, CA
February 18 / Cafe Du Nord / San Francisco, CA
February 19 / Six Rivers Brewery / McKinleyville, CA
February 21 / Mobius / Ashland, OR
February 22 / Luna Jazz / Eugene, OR
February 23 / The Goodfoot Lounge / Portland, OR
February 24 / Tractor Tavern / Seattle, WA
February 25 / The Nightlight Lounge / Bellingham, WA
March 8 / Casadesus Hall / Binghamton, NY
March 9 / Regatta Bar / Boston, MA
March 10 / Blue Note / New York, NY
March 11 / Blue Note / New York, NY
March 17 / Lantaren / Rotterdam, The Netherlands
March 18 / Sugar Factory / Amsterdam, The Netherlands
March 21 / Stadtgarten / Cologne, Germany
March 22 / Bimhuis / Amsterdam, The Netherlands
March 24 – 27 / Dates TBA / Italy
March 29 / Rytmihairioklubi @ Juttutupa / Helsinki, Finland
March 30 / Turku International Jazz Festival / Turku, Finland
April 7 / The Parking Garage / Norman, OK
April 8 / Cain’s Ballroom / Tulsa, OK