Music News and Notes

The Prodigy are set to release a new record in 2009

The Prodigy are set to release a new record in 2009. Invaders Must Die is the upcoming, fifth studio album by the electronic act The Prodigy. It will be released on March 2, 2009 on the band’s new label, “Take Me to the Hospital” and distributed by Cooking Vinyl. It will be the first studio album released by the band since 2004’s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned and is the first Prodigy album since 1997’s The Fat of the Land to feature Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim. The album will be released as a CD, CD/DVD, Double Vinyl, Luxury 7 inch Vinyl box set and Digital Download. No tracklist is available at this time and we will post more details soon.

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The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are just about done, done, done.

The Brooklyn indie-rock trio's nearly finished with a year-long writing and recording process to deliver the follow-up to last year's Is Is EP (review) (Interscope). While the band isn't ready to give the set a title, it's pretty adamant that the new album won't sound much like any previous records.

"Will it sound kind of like Show Your Bones (review)? No, been there done that," the band said in a blog post. "What about Is Is? Is that more of the direction it's going in? Absolutely not, it sounds very different from last year's EP. Did we go back to our roots and write something closer to Fever to Tell (review)? No looking back now silly, just full speed ahead."

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Ultravox's Classic Lineup Reunites

The best known lineup of synth-pop act Ultravox is getting back together for a tour.

The reunion tour, which runs through much of April in the United Kingdom, places singer/guitarist Midge Ure at the front of the band. Ure's responsible for the best-known in the States recordings by Ultravox, particularly 1982's Quartet. He split with Ultravox in 1985, and the act folded shortly thereafter.

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MASTODON vinyl box set

A collector's edition MASTODON vinyl box set will be released on November 18 via Relapse Records. This box set will be a one-time pressing strictly limited to 1,000 copies and include nine 180-gram LPs encapsulating the legendary band's entire history of recordings.

The box set will be cased in a heavy duty, foil stamped black box and include the following:

* The vinyl pressing of MASTODON's 2006 Reprise debut, "Blood Mountain", on expanded double LP.
* The band's critically acclaimed 2004 release "Leviathan", expanded to double LP.
* MASTODON's covers of "The Bit" (MELVINS), "Emerald" (THIN LIZZY) and "Orion" (METALLICA).
* A live record documenting the band's performance at the Relapse Contamination Festival in 2003. This LP is, and will remain, exclusive to this box set.
* The band's reissue of early recordings, "Call Of The Mastodon".
* The final vinyl pressing of the original "Lifesblood" recording.

The box set will also include an embroidered logo patch, a vinyl sticker set, as well as a custom MASTODON turntable mat. All of these items will be exclusive to this box set, never to appear outside of it.

SOURCE: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net

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M83 Albums on Vinyl

Mute Records will release all five M83 albums on vinyl for the first time on Novemeber 25th. Each release will include a bonus CD and all are double LPs (save for Digital Shades Vol. 1 - which was previously a digital only release and just came out on CD October 28th).

M83's music, primarily Anthony Gonzalez (original member Nicolas Fromageau left after the tour for Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts) is at once cinematic in scope as well as emotionally stirring.

M83 has confirmed a headlining US tour throughout November. The tour kicks off in Atlanta, GA, on November 11th and wraps up in Los Angeles, CA, on November 29th. Following those dates, M83 will head across the pond to the UK to open for Kings of Leon (?!). These dates are all in support of M83's fifth record, Saturdays = Youth, which has been heaped with praise on this site: "(M83) makes something majestic, grand and sweeping, but never anything less than heartfelt and personal."

Morgan Kibby, M83's keyboardist on this tour, is contributing a tour blog from the European jaunt to Kevin Bronson's new website, BuzzBands.

The five M83 albums to be released on vinyl on November 25th are:
-Saturdays=Youth – originally released 2008
-Digital Shades Vol. 1 – originally released 2007 on digital format only
-Before the Dawn Heals Us - originally released 2005
-Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts – originally released 2004
-M83 – originally released 2002

SOURCE: http://rockandrollghost.blogspot.com

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McCauley's War Elephant reminiscent of Hank Williams Sr.
New album is actually a re-release.

By Tom Carbone

It all began one cold winter in 2004 - John McCauley, aka Deer Tick, locked himself into his bedroom in Providence, R.I., with a full bottle of brandy and Hank Williams Sr.'s Gold Collection. In this bedroom, an epiphany occurred for McCauley, and a few short months later he found himself touring around the country.

A lifestyle like this is quite hectic, especially for someone as young as McCauley. At the ripe young age of 18, he began to tour in support of the songs he was howling in his bedroom. With two full years of touring under his belt, the then 20-year-old released War Elephant in late 2007, but is now re-issuing the record on Partisan Records. The new release features a limited edition double vinyl and CD coupled with its new album artwork.

McCauley's uniquely pinched croon is spine-tingling - his voice cannot be overlooked. On the opening track "Ashamed," McCauley claims, "I am the boy your mother wanted you to meet."

"Ashamed" is a folksy acoustic piece that really sets a precedent for the rest of the record. His gritty-yet-fluid voice seems to be fully developed on this song, despite his young age. The lyrics, however, are a tad juvenile. This could be intentional, but it could also just be a result of his youth. There is no reason to complain about the lyrics, though, as they put across messages and ideas in ways that fully trained poets and musicians sometimes cannot do.

The Hank Williams in McCauley starts to shine with the second track, "Art Isn't Real (City of Sin)." A seemingly depressed McCauley states, "I gotta get drunk now/I gotta forget about some things." As he yells, a string section begins, and the song continues. The song is beautiful, despite its lyrical content. Ol' Hank has taught him well, but hopefully McCauley doesn't end up like him.

McCauley's pattern of drunken rambles and experiences changes with "Spend The Night," a poppy, upbeat tune about love that again can be directly compared to Hank Williams when he was performing more pop-influenced tunes. "Spend the night in my arms/I'll keep you tight, I'll keep you warm," McCauley promises. Even if you don't have McCauley in person to do this, the record will suffice; He's that talented.

Despite playing all of the instruments on War Elephant himself, he has now recruited two other full-time members to the band he tours and records with. This doesn't change the live show at all, but it remains to be seen what this will do to studio recordings.

Granted, if you've never listened to John McCauley before, don't expect to be in love with him after the first spin. These songs and his voice will grow on you much like Joanna Newsom's did. Or even Conor Oberst's. His voice isn't bad, but it's certainly unconventional.

SOURCE: http://www.themaneater.com
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Killers, Ludacris, Kanye albums move up a day

NEW YORK (Billboard) – New albums by the Killers, Ludacris and Kanye West will be released a day earlier than planned, on Monday November 24, to capitalize on the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, their Island Def Jam label said.

Each project has already spawned a hit. The Killers' "Human," drawn from the album "Day & Age," is No. 6 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart.

Ludacris' "One More Drink" co-starring T-Pain is No. 34 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs; it comes from "Theater of the Mind."

West's "Love Lockdown," from "808s & Heartbreak," has already peaked at No. 3 on the flagship Hot 100 single chart.

Reuters/Billboard