Thursday, January 29, 2009

Music News & Notes

Cover Art of Michelle Branch's New LP


An official cover art for Michelle Branch's new album "Everything Comes and Goes" has been outed. The artwork pictures the singer sporting white tank top and picking up her guitar while looking sideways with street view during the daylight on the background.

"Raphael Mazucco shot this out in the desert while we were taking photos for the album," Michelle wrote on her official website about the video. "It's amazing what you can do with a store bought hand held video camera these days. I especially like the part where "hold" is written across my chest."


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Modest Mouse Tour

Indie rocker's Modest Mouse are returning to the road next month for a short 12-date U.S. tour, beginning in Oakland on Feb. 22. The tour ends on March 8th at the Langerado Festival in Miami.

The band has attained significant mainstream success since being signed to Sony's Epic Records in 2001 and have been one of the leading bands in the commercialization of indie rock, beginning with their 2004 album "Good News for People Who Love Bad News."

The band's name was derived from a passage from the Virginia Woolf story "The Mark on the Wall" which reads: "I wish I could hit upon a pleasant track of thought, a track indirectly reflecting credit upon myself, for those are the pleasantest thoughts, and very frequent even in the minds of modest, mouse-coloured people, who believe genuinely that they dislike to hear their own praises."

It's reported that ex-Grandaddy guitarist Jim Fairchild will join Modest Mouse on stage in the place Johnny Marr, who will be touring with UK rock act the Cribs this spring. However, Marr remains a member of Modest Mouse, according to the band's publicist.

The opening act on the tour will be Mimicking Birds, the latest band signed to Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace label.

Here are Modest Mouse's tour dates:

Feb. 22: Oakland, Calif. (Fox Theatre)
Feb. 23: Visalia, Calif. (Fox Theatre)
Feb. 24: Los Angeles (Hollywood Palladium)
Feb. 25: Tempe, Ariz. (Marquee)
Feb. 26: Albuquerque, N.M. (Convention Center)
Feb. 28: Boulder, Colo. (Balch Fieldhouse)
March 2: Kansas City, Mo. (Uptown Theatre)
March 3: Oklahoma City (Diamond Ballroom)
March 4: Austin, Texas (Stubb's)
March 5: Oxford, Miss. (the Lyric)
March 7: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
March 8: Miami (Langerado Festival)

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Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival

Heavy rockers Slayer, Marilyn Manson and Bullet For My Valentine will lead the bill for the 2nd annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, which kicks of on July 10 at the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Sacramento. The festival ends on August 18 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in San Antonio.

Jagermeister is sponsoring one of two second stages, on which Trivium, All That Remains, God Forbid and the liquor company's "battle of the bands" winner will perform. On the Hot Topic side stage, Cannibal Corpse, Job For A Cowboy, Behemoth, Black Dahlia Murder and Whitechapel will round out the bill.

Tickets for the 27-date North American shed tour go on sale April 24 via mayhemfest.com and livenation.com.

Last year's inaugural Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival featured Slipknot, Disturbed, Airbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, 36 Crazyfists, Machine Head, Black Tide, Suicide Silence, the Red Chord and Wall Of Jericho. The trek attracted nearly 340,000 concertgoers, according to organizers.

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Another New Jay-Z Song Leaks Online

Although there's still no official release date for Jay-Z's upcoming album (which is rumored to be titled "Blueprint III"), new songs continue to be leaked onto the Internet.

"Money Goes" hit the Interent yesterday on Tuesday, becoming the seventh expected "Blueprint" track to arrive early either via the Web or radio. The leaks have continued unabated despite Def Jam's consistent message that there is no "Blueprint III" album on their release schedule.

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Hot City- Alex Harvey Band Reissued

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band are releasing the 1974 album "Hot City," which never saw the light of day in its original form. The band ditched the original version of the album because they were unhappy with the work done by producer Shel Talmy. While most of the songs ended up in new versions on their next album, "The Impossible Dream," the original versions were never released until now.

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Country Music Hall of Fame Fundraiser

The Country Music Hall of Fame has began a $1.1 million fundraising campaign in order to help pay the costs of four instruments that were once owned by Maybelle Carter, Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe. The instruments were awarded to the museum in a recent court case, but the decision requires that the Hall pay $750,000 by February 22, 2009.

Ricky Skaggs is taking the appeal to the fans. “Like their lifelong partners, these beloved instruments can now rest in peace. This outcome means that we, the public, remain the owners of these treasures, and it reminds us that we are fortunate to have them protected and accessible under the stewardship of one of the finest museums in the country. As owners, we have an obligation to help with these costs, and I believe fans will be honored to have the opportunity.”

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Classic TESTAMENT Titles To Be Reissued On Vinyl

Two classic albums by thrash legends TESTAMENT — 1997's "Demonic" and 1999's "The Gathering" — will be reissued on gatefold double vinyl by Prosthetic Records on February 3. Each will feature etched artwork on Side D and be limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. Additionally, 100 copies of "Demonic" will feature red vinyl, while 100 copies of "The Gathering" will feature gold vinyl. Pre-orders can currently be placed at store.prostheticrecords.com.

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U2 to rescue iconic recording studio?

U2 are reportedly considering buying London's Olympic Studios.

The Irish band recorded part of their forthcoming album 'No Line On The Horizon' at the historic Barnes studio, which has also been used by Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Oasis.

Olympic's current owners EMI said in December that the studios weren't making enough money to justify their existence, and put the building on the market.

Despite already having their own studio in Dublin, U2 apparently liked Olympic so much they are considering putting in an offer for it, reports The Sun.

In recent years, the studio's 'bunker' has also been a musical-home to producer Stephen Street. Street produced albums by The Courteeners and Kaiser Chiefs there, as well as Pete Doherty's upcoming solo album 'Grace/Wastelands'.

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Ole Blue Eyes Is Back

The new Frank Sinatra compilation, Seduction: Sinatra Sings of Love, debuts this week at 23 on the album charts on sales of 17,000.

Overall, sales for the week were at 6.43 million units, down 12% from the same week last year.

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