lots to get to today, everyone have a safe and happy july 4th!!
Beirut Announce International Summer 2011 Tour First In For Four Years
Beirut have also unveiled the artwork for 'The Rip Tide' and details of it's physical release. The CD digipak comes with a booklet and the deluxe heavyweight vinyl is entirely cloth bound and includes an MP3 download code for the album.
Read more and get the tour dates at contactmusic.com
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wonderful write-up in the montreal gazette about this iconic LP
Peter Frampton's 1976 live album made him an iconic figure, much to his continuing astonishment
By BERNARD PERUSSE, The Gazette
So it seems absolutely prehistoric that an audioonly live recording could capture a whole generation's imagination for a couple of years. It's what happened with Frampton Comes Alive!, the 1976 double album by Peter Frampton that ended up selling 16 million copies worldwide and staying in the Billboard charts for almost two years.
Read more at montrealgazette.com
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Patti Smith's OUTSIDE SOCIETY is the First Single-CD Collection to Span Arista and Columbia Years from 1975 to 2007
Perfect entry point for fans of her autobiographical memoir, JUST KIDS, winner of the National Book Award and a New York Times bestseller; CD includes personal recollections of each song written by Patti Smith
OUTSIDE SOCIETY also packaged as a double-LP vinyl set, available everywhere starting August 23, 2011, through Columbia/Arista/Legacy
Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Patti Smith raises the curtain on OUTSIDE SOCIETY, a new collection of her signature songs on the Arista and Columbia labels. The landmark 18-song release marks the first single-CD collection to span Patti's entire body of recorded work. The chronologically arranged tracks move from 1975 (her debut album, Horses, with "Gloria" and "Free Money") through 2007 (Twelve, with her cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). Also released on vinyl as a double-LP set, OUTSIDE SOCIETY will be available everywhere August 23rd through Columbia/Arista/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
The music on OUTSIDE SOCIETY is newly remastered by award-winning engineer Greg Calbi and Patti Smith band member Tony Shanahan. The CD booklet will feature brief recollections of each song written by Patti, who personally supervised the choices.
Of "Because The Night," for example, Patti writes: "Bruce Springsteen gave me a great gift in allowing me to lend verses to his beautifully constructed anthem. My contribution was written for my future husband, Fred 'Sonic' Smith. Though we have performed it hundreds of times, the strong response it draws always makes it fresh and exciting to sing."
The release of OUTSIDE SOCIETY caps the year and a half of critical praise and adulation that has greeted the publication of Patti's New York Times non-fiction bestseller Just Kids (Ecco, January 2010).
In her autobiographical memoir, wrote the Times, "the godmother of punk recalls her time with Robert Mapplethorpe and their yearnings for a life in art in New York City."
In November 2010, coinciding with the paperback edition of Just Kids, Patti received the 2010 National Book Award for nonfiction, at a special awards ceremony held in New York. The award topped a list of honors that were also bestowed by:
•The American Library Association (ALA) – the list of Notable Books of 2010;
•The Los Angeles Times – annual Book Prize finalist in Current Interest field;
•National Book Critics Circle Award – finalist in Autobiography/Memoir field;
•Publishers Weekly magazine – the list of the Top 10 Best Books of 2010.
The release of OUTSIDE SOCIETY also precedes the Polar Music Prize gala in Sweden on August 30th. Patti Smith and the Kronos Quartet were selected as Laureates to receive the prestigious award from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. "By devoting her life to art in all its forms," said the Polar Music Prize committee, "Patti Smith has demonstrated how much rock'n'roll there is in poetry and how much poetry there is in rock'n'roll. Patti Smith is a Rimbaud with Marshall amps. She has transformed the way an entire generation looks, thinks and dreams. With her inimitable soul of an artist, Patti Smith proves over and over again that people have the power."
The establishment recognition of Just Kids has won an enormous new following for Patti Smith – and OUTSIDE SOCIETY now provides the perfect entry point into her music for those new fans.
Writing about "Trampin'," the final track on OUTSIDE SOCIETY, Patti muses in autobiographical style reminiscent of Just Kids: "This unique spiritual, originally sung by Marion Anderson, was performed live in the studio with my daughter Jesse. It sings for the weary traveler seeking a home after years of work, words, and wandering."
Upcoming shows for Patti Smith and her Band (including Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan and Jack Petruzzelli) include the Castle Clinton National Monument in Manhattan's Battery Park on Thursday, July 14th; and the Shinnecock Indian Reservation pow-wow grounds on Friday, August 5th, the opening day of the "Escape To New York" weekend festival.
OUTSIDE SOCIETY by PATTI SMITH (Columbia/Arista/Legacy 88697 94315 2) Selections: 1. Gloria (Horses, 1975) * 2. Free Money (Horses, 1975) * 3. Ain't It Strange (Radio Ethiopia, 1976) * 4. Pissing In A River (Radio Ethiopia, 1976) * 5. Because The Night (Easter, 1978) * 6. Rock N Roll Nigger (Easter, 1978) * 7. Dancing Barefoot (Wave, 1979) * 8. Frederick (Wave, 1979) * 9. So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star (Wave, 1979) * 10. People Have the Power (Dream of Life, 1988) * 11. Up There Down There (Dream of Life, 1988) * 12. Beneath The Southern Cross (Gone Again, 1996) * 13. Summer Cannibals (Gone Again, 1996) * 14. 1959 (Peace and Noise, 1997) * 15. Glitter In Their Eyes (Gung Ho, 2000) * 16. Lo and Beholden (radio edit) (Gung Ho, 2000) * 17. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Twelve, 2007) * 18. Trampin' (Trampin', 2004).
Learn more at www.pattismith.net and legacyrecordings.com.
SOURCE Legacy Recordings
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Modern Witch Releases First Record on 7" White, Virgin Vinyl
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great read about vedder's new album
Eddie Vedder on music, life & ukuleles
As Pearl Jam celebrates its 20th year, his "Ukulele Songs" explores new vistas
By George Varga
In music, as in life, knowledge and experience can be valuable tools for growth. But for former San Diegan Eddie Vedder, knowing next to nothing about Hawaii’s most famous stringed instrument proved invaluable when he made his endearing new solo album, "Ukulele Songs."
Then there's the fact that a ukulele only has two octaves, which requires the person playing it to do more with less. Vedder chuckled when asked if that was part of the instrument's appeal. His response was thoughtful and unhurried.
Read the rest at signonsandiego.com
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forbes.com has a great article about vinyl and the revival of our beloved format:
The Record Album Re-Turns
Zack O'Malley Greenburg
Why some insiders believe LPs will outlast CDs.
Put a psychedelic pop band and a bird-obsessed electronic duo together, and you get sensory overload. That's what happened when the groups Dom and Ratatat played Manhattan's Terminal 5 last fall: Throngs of teenagers in fluorescent sunglasses bobbed to seizure-inducing videos of gyrating white budgies. Though calmer, the scene at the merch table came with its own surprise--Dom wasn't selling CDs. The band's only sonic offering was an LP with a download code.
So why would Dom--a band made up of twentysomethings, all raised in the compact disc era--decide to hawk vinyl to a crowd young enough to be guests at Justin Bieber's birthday party? As it turns out, the group launched its debut album last April on vinyl only; it wasn't until February that Dom officially released its music on compact disc, after landing a deal with EMI.
"The reason we sell vinyl is that there will always be a market for it," the band's lead singer later explained via telephone (he identifies himself as Dom but won't reveal his full name "until I pay all my bills").
"The people in the crowd probably already downloaded the music anyway, and they'll buy the record because of the big artwork and because it's something you can hold on to."
Read the rest at forbes.com
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Wilco Announce New Album
"The Whole Love" will drop on Sept. 27 through the rock group's own dBpm record label.
Jeff Tweedy & Co. hit the road in the U.S. starting on Sept. 13 in Indianapolis; Lowe will be opening. The gigs are preceded by a stop at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan on July 31.
"The Whole Love" is Wilco's eighth full-length album, and the follow-up to 2009's "Wilco (the album)."
Here is the tracklis for "The Whole Love":
1. Art of Almost
2. I Might
3. Sunloathe
4. Dawned On Me
5. Black Moon
6. Born Alone
7. Open Mind
8. Capitol City
9. Standing O
10. Rising Red Lung
11. Whole Love
12. One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)
Get the tour dates at hitfix.com
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fantastic interview with an up and coming band at hitfix.com
Interview: The Head and The Heart on Sub Pop, bad band names, Iron & Wine
Could this Seattle band be the next Mumford & Sons?
By Katie Hasty
It’s folky and sometimes rock, it’s sad or memorable, and cohesive.
It’s what you get when it’s members all live in one house in Seattle and spend endless hours around each other in tandem: to get signed, get that backing, and hit the road in a methodical manner. The band recently toured opening for Iron & Wine; they’re beloved by iconic indie station KEXP; they were a constant every night at SXSW. It’s not the easiest way to get famous, but it’s an effective way to get people to listen.
Read the rest at hitfix.com
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CITY OF SHIPS TO RELEASE “MINOR WORLD” ON JULY 19
City of Ships Debuts New Track, “Low Countries"
Avant-rock trio City of Ships have announced their much anticipated sophomore album, Minor World, which will be co-released by Translation Loss Records and Sound Study Recordings on July 19. Minor World is the follow-up to 2009's critically acclaimed debut full-length Look What God Did To Us. Check out the worldwide premiere of City of Ships’ debut song “Low Countries” streaming exclusively at brooklynvegan.com
Beginning today, Sound Study Recordings is offering fans the chance to pre-order Minor World on limited edition (500) 210 gram vinyl here http://soundstudyrecordings.com and Translation Loss Records is offering a CD pre-order here translationloss.com
On City of Ships’ follow up to Look What God Did To Us, one of Decibel Magazine’s Top Metal Albums of 2009, Eric Jernigan (guitar/vocals), Andrew Jernigan (bass) and Rob Motes (drums) set out to push the boundaries of their music farther than ever before. Expanding immensely upon 2009's heralded release, City of Ships meticulously weave post-metal and art-rock styles resulting in an intense yet completely accessible sound that's all their own and impossible to pigeonhole.
“We recorded with Andrew Schneider (Rosetta, Pelican) again, this time at his new studio in Brooklyn,” says Jernigan. “We had some meetings with Schneider ahead of our sessions and agreed we'd set no limits on the variety of timbre and texture on the record. To that end we used a wide range of unusual mics, multiple guitars, more than half a dozen amps, and even different drum tones in order to highlight the individuality of each track.”
After six months of writing and recording, their newfound vision paid off. Instead of re-creating Look What God Did To Us, City of Ships continue to challenge themselves, breathing new life into the band’s massive sound with each note.
“Without sacrificing our love of the almighty riff, we let melody guide the trajectory of Minor World,” adds Jernigan. “The song-writing is more fluid than anything in City of Ships history and vocals take center stage more frequently than they ever have.”
While Minor World’s title is a tongue-in-cheek nod to City of Ships’ self-described relative obscurity, there is nothing “minor” about the new album. Colossal guitars and roaring vocals meld seamlessly with mountainous sound-scapes of ambient melody and indie-rock fervor on tracks like "Subrosa," "Low Countries" and "Celestial Navigation" as City of Ships skillfully churn their way through the peaks and valleys of the 42 minute long Minor World.
City of Ships is currently trekking their way across Europe and will return for a US tour later this summer.
Minor World Track Listing:
1. Clotilde
2. Subrosa
3. Low Countries
4. Tantric Engineer
5. Darkness at Noon
6. Easy Way / Hard Way
7. Celestial Navigation
8. Sweet Delirium
9. Chainman
10. Low Lives
For More Information:
http://www.cityofships.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/City-of-Ships/6616304498
http://twitter.com/cityofships
http://www.myspace.com/cityofships
http://www.translationloss.com
http://www.soundstudyrecordings.com
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this from our friends at mute.com
Big Deal Offer New Single
It is with great excitement that Big Deal unveil details of their debut album Lights Out to be released October 11th AND new single “Chair” released on August 30th.
With the strum of an acoustic guitar set against the fuzzed out chords of an electric guitar and the tones of a boy / girl vocal, the band announced their arrival in the summer of last year.
WHO: Kacey Underwood & Alice Costelloe
WHAT: Lights Out, co-produced by Underwood and Dean Reid, emerges from its bedroom beginnings as a collection of twelve deeply personal songs innately tapped into the innocence, insecurity, wonder and lust of young love.
The album sweepingly opens with the nostalgic “Distant Neighborhood”, a blissful, sun-kissed daydream. The raw, confessional “Talk” perfectly translates the frustration and push and pull of relationships, while “Seraphine” is full of deep reflection.
“Homework” is achingly beautiful in its schoolyard simplicity and then “Locked Up” fights back with a wall-of-sound, swooning and fleshed out from its early recordings.
Big Deal release a new single “Chair”, a highlight from an album brimming with potential singles. Bringing together electric fuzz and acoustic sheen, the track is a bittersweet 3 minutes about the pulsating longing to take a crush to the next level, centred around the poignant lyrics:
“You don’t trust me to sit on your bed / Put me on a chair in the corner instead.”
ALBUM TRACKLISTING:
Distant Neighborhood
Chair
Cool Like Kurt
Swoon
Homework
Talk
With The World At My Feet
Locked Up
Summer Cold
Visions
Seraphine
Pi
Big Deal take to the road this summer for a series of festival appearances in the UK including Wireless, Reading & Leeds and End Of The Road. Having wowed audiences during the NME Radar tour earlier this year, the bands woozy, understated bed-room rock sounds all the more magical live. With their mesmeric chemistry and hard-hitting restraint being brought to the fore, you leave with the sense that you’ve been privy to a secret exchange. A big deal indeed.
http://www.myspace.com/weareabigdeal
http://www.facebook.com/weareabigdeal
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The Features Announce New Album on Kings of Leon's Label This Month
The Features have announced the release date for their third full-length album, 'Wilderness' (a July 26th release). The album follows 2009's 'Some Kind Of Salvation' and is the first release from Kings of Leon's label, Serpents and Snakes, a venture with music publisher, Bug Music, - began coming together upon The Features' return home after a lengthy 2010 tour alongside Manchester Orchestra.
For this album The Features teamed with longtime friend, producer Brian Carter, who recorded their 2003 release, The Beginning EP and engineer Craig Alvin at Carter's Paradox Productions Recording Service in Nashville, Tennessee.
As the band gears up for the release of Wilderness, in an effort to satiate fans' desire to hear some of the new music as well as offer limited edition vinyl, The Features have released the "Rambo" 7-inch.
"Rambo" appears on Wilderness and the B-side, "This Much I Know," is an unreleased song that fans may recognize from live shows.
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The Radio Dept Reissue Albums On Vinyl
The Radio Dept.'s first three albums; "Lesser matters", "Pet grief" and "Clinging to a scheme" are being released on 180 gram vinyl! Lesser Matters (2003): "Lesser matters" was originally released in 2003 and ended up on NME's Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade - list among other things.
Pet Grief (2006) The band's second album "Pet grief" was originally issued in 2006 after having released two stand alone EPs ("Pulling our weight" and "This past week") which landed tracks on Sofia Coppola's film "Marie Antoinette".
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Radiohead Announce Second Limited Edition Vinyl
Phonica Records have recently announced the second vinyl release in Radiohead's summer remix series. The series features fresh takes of tracks from the band's latest and eighth album, The King of Limbs, by a range of electronic artists and DJs.
The newest release, a 12-inch vinyl due out July 14, will feature "Morning Mr. Magpie" by English electronic artist Nathan Fake and two remixes of "Bloom" by Australian electro producer Mark Pritchard.
On July 4, the first release in the series will be available from XL/Ticker Tape in the UK and tbd Records in North America. It features Canadian musician Caribou's remix of "Little Boy Blue" and a version of the album's lead single "Lotus Flower" by Canadian R&B and electronic producer Jacques Green.
Both vinyl and digital formats will be available for purchase on the band's website.
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Band release edible and playable chocolate record
After several weeks of trial and error, baker Ben Milne was able to make the working chocolate record by using the same negative metal templates used to produce vinyl versions.
Ben, of the Fisher & Donaldson bakery, figures that people will get around 10 plays from the record before it wears down. Of course once it has worn out you can always eat it.
Ben added: “I heard that vinyl is on the increase and that CDs are on their way out, so chocolate records could be part of a resurgence and people getting their record players out of their attics.”
Unfortunately only fifty of the chocolate 7" singles are being produced.
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Warhol's Blondie Portrait Sells For Millions At Auction
The Heart of Glass singer posed for Warhol in his New York studio back in 1980 and the finished product - a hot pink silkscreen canvas - was one of the star lots at Sotheby's two-day auction in London, which ended on Thursday (Jun 30, 2011).
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GRIMEY'S BEST SELLERS 6/20 - 6/26, 2011
Top 25 Vinyl:
1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2. Eastern Block - Wing Walker 7"
3. KORT - Please Don't Touch 7"
4. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
5. Jeff The Brotherhood - We Are The Champions
6. Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
7. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
8. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
9. Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome
10. Radiohead - Supercollider 12"
11. Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong
12. The Black Keys - Brothers
13. Bon Iver - Calgary 12"
14. Battles - Gloss Drop
15. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
16. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
17. The Features - Rambo 7"
18. Levon Helm - Ramble At The Ryman
19. King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
20. Reatards - Teenage Hate / Fuck Elvis Here's the Reatards
21. The Flaming Lips w/ Prefuse 73 - Supermoon Made Me Want To Pee 12"
22. Twin Shadow - Forget
23. Jeff Buckley - Grace
24. Tyler The Creator - Goblin
25. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
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and in music history for today:
In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on NBC- TV's The Steve Allen Show and performed “Hound Dog,” to a live Hound Dog. U.S. TV critic John Crosby panned Elvis' performance, calling him an “unspeakable, untalented and vulgar young entertainer.”
Also in 1956, Brenda Lee signed her first recording contract at the age of 11, after five years of singing professionally. Little Miss Dynamite, as she was called, would go on to have a total of 29 US Top 40 singles in the 1960s, including "I'm Sorry", "Break It Too Me Gently" "All Alone Am I" and "Fool #1".
In 1962, Gene Vincent was the featured act at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, along with an up and coming local group called The Beatles.
In 1963, The Beatles recorded "She Loves You", which was released in August and become the group's second UK #1 hit. Adding to the song's popularity among young people was the phrase "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah", which was looked down upon by British establishment and in some quarters was seen to hail "the collapse of civilized society."
In 1967, the #1 album on the charts was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles (15 weeks).
In 1967, the Association held down the top spot in the US for the first of four weeks with their biggest hit, "Windy". Strangely, the record failed to chart at all in the UK. The song's writer, Ruthann Friedman said that she wrote it in about 20 minutes when she started to fantasize about what kind of a guy she would like to be with.
Also in 1967, Jefferson Airplane's psychedelic masterpiece "White Rabbit" entered the Billboard chart, where it eventually reached #8. The song became one of the first records to sneak drug references past radio censors. It uses imagery found in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass, such as changing size after taking pills.
In 1973, the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar closed after 720 performances.
Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" was released in 1978.
In 1981, Rushton Moreve, bass player with Steppenwolf was killed in motorcycle accident Santa Barbara, California, aged 32. Had the 1968 U.S. #2 single “Born to be Wild” and he co-wrote their hit “Magic Carpet Ride.”
In 1983, a New Jersey based quintet calling themselves Bon Jovi were signed to Phonogram's Mercury label.
The Grateful Dead's "In The Dark" LP was released in 1987.
In 1999, American singer Guy Mitchell, died aged 72 at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas. He had the 1957 U.K. & U.S. #1 single “Singing the Blues' plus over 10 other U.K. Top 40 singles. Mitchell also appeared as George Romack in the 1961 NBC western detective series Whispering Smith.
In 2000, Cub Koda, the leader of Brownsville Station and composer of their hit "Smokin' in the Boys Room", passed away from complications arising from kidney dialysis at the age of 51.
In 2005, Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the legendary Motown singing group The Four Tops, died at the age of 69.
Also in 2005, R&B artist Luther Vandross passed away at the age of 54, two years after suffering a major stroke.
In 2009, the week after Michael Jackson's death, The King Of Pop dominated the Top Ten of Billboard's album chart. Leading the pack was "Number Ones", followed by "The Essential Michael Jackson" at #2, "Thriller" was #3 and "Off The Wall" was #4. The Jackson 5's "Ultimate Collection" held the #5 spot, "Bad" was #6, "Dangerous" was #7, "Greatest Hits - HIStory - Vol. 1" came in at #8 and Michael's "Ultimate Collection" occupied the #9 position. Collectively, Jackson's solo albums sold 415,000 copies for the week, 58% of which were digital downloads. The week before his death, his titles sold a combined 10,000 units.
celebrating birthdays today include (among many others): Debbie Harry (Blondie) (66), Fred Schneider (B-52's) (60), Roddy Buttum (Faith No More) (48) and Sufjan Stevens (36)
