2006

Legendary live performers Widespread Panic have announced the release of Earth to Atlanta November 14, 2006 on Sanctuary/ Widespread Records. The two DVD set was filmed at the kick off of this year’s Widespread Panic tour, set at the historical Fox Theatre in Atlanta. In a groundbreaking move, Widespread Panic simulcast the concert live to 115 Regal/Edwards/United Artists cinemas nationwide. For the first time ever, over 60,000 ticket holding fans across the country were given the ability to experience the evening live with Panic without actually having to travel to Atlanta.

A companion piece to Widespread Panic’s critically acclaimed 2006 CD release Earth to America, the set offers a unique visual counterpart to the recent studio album. Known for their prodigious live shows, the DVD’s were filmed in stunning High Definition/ 5.1 surround sound in order to capture every nuance of the Widespread Panic live performance. Overall the collection features 26 songs, including classic live versions of “Tall Boy,” “Travelin’ Man,” “Pigeons,” “Time Zones” and “Second Skin.”

With ‘Thirteen,’ Tony Furtado fulfills the immense promise of his 2004 breakthrough ‘These Chains,’ his initial foray into songwriting and singing.

‘Thirteen,’ set for January 23, 2007 release on Funzalo Records, reveals Furtado as an artist with a great deal on his mind and a full arsenal of skills with which to express his thoughts and feelings.
Recorded to 16-track, two-inch analog tape during the summer of 2005 at Tucson’s Wavelab Studios (a favorite venue for Calexico, Neko Case, M. Ward, Iron & Wine and other cult heroes), the album features an all-star cast including keyboardists Sean Slade (whose production credits include Uncle Tupelo and Radiohead) and Jim Dickinson (producer of the seminal Ry Cooder albums that inspired Furtado to take up the slide guitar, plus Big Star and the Replacements), bassist Dusty Wakeman (whose resume includes three previous Furtado LPs, Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams and Anne McCue), drummer Winston Watson (who has played with Dylan and Giant Sand) and Wavelab’s own Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Case, Iron & Wine), who produced and engineered.

The multimedia madness of The Mutaytor will be lighting up stages across the Western U.S. over the next month and a half.
The experimental troupe recently performed at the Download Festival in Mountain View, Calif., and has dates planned in the Pacific Northwest for early October. A seven-night residency at Universal Studios Hollywood will follow, with the group promising one of its largest productions yet.
After gigs in Las Vegas and San Francisco, The Mutaytor will perform at Music Box @ Fonda in Los Angeles, taping the November 17 performance for its debut DVD.
The group numbers more than 30 members, including bassist John Avila, percussionist Steve Reid, the Dub Psi Lab, a three-piece horn section and teams of acrobats and fire dancers on a stage set that includes more than 100 drums.

Source pollstar.com.

Ten White Stripes tracks have been given new orchestralral readings for an album dubbed “Aluminium,” due Nov. 6 internationally via XL Recordings. A North American release date has yet to be announced.

White was not involved in the project, which was spearheaded by XL head Richard Russell. “I’ve grown up on popular music, but in the last couple of years I’ve begun to appreciate classical music, and for some reason I’ve often thought of the White Stripes when I’ve heard it: the hypnotic, repetitious, enigmatic nature of it,” he says.

Working with composer Jody Talbot, Russell drafted a “specially assembled orchestra comprising many of the U.K.’s finest young classical musicians” to perform tracks like “The Hardest Button to Button,” “I’m Bound To Pack It Up,” “Let’s Build a Home” and “Forever for Her (Is Over for Me).” Four Tet has remixed the latter cut but it has not yet been revealed how that version will be released.

“Aluminium” will only be available through the project’s Web site in a limited run of 3,333 CDs and 999 vinyl albums, the latter edition of which will include a silkscreen print by artist Rob Jones. The album will also be sold in digital form.

Here is the track list for “Aluminium”:

“Aluminum”
“I’m Bound To Pack It Up”
“Why Cant You Be Nicer To Me?”
“Astro”
“Never Far Away”
“Little Bird”
“Let’s Build a Home”
“Who’s a Big Baby?”
“The Hardest Button to Button”
“Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)”

Source billboard.com.

Virgin/EMI Music Catalog Marketing will release Five Men In A Hut (A’s, B’s & Rarities: 1998-2004), a career-spanning 2-CD set chronicling internationally acclaimed British rock band Gomez

The Nirvana concert film “Live! Tonight! Sold Out!” will make its DVD debut Nov. 7 via Geffen. Originally issued on VHS in 1994, the release was conceived by Kurt Cobain as a way to anthologize Nirvana’s quick ascent to rock superstardom but was not completed until after his 1994 suicide.

The bulk of the DVD features live footage from the band’s 1991-92 tour in support of “Nevermind,” highlighted by versions of “Breed,” “Drain You,” “Dive” and “Aneurysm.” According to the label, the footage has been color-corrected and digitally remastered; previously unreleased bonus performances will be included but details have yet to be announced.

Source: billboard