March 28, 2024

Tuning in the latest from Radiohead

May 24, 2006
Radiohead are not, repeat, not, breaking up - nor has singer Thom Yorke “gone solo” - but Yorke has put together an album of his singular works with longtime Radiohead producer/collaborator Nigel Godrich, and with, as he puts it, the “blessing” of his bandmates. Yorke, who reportedly has had all of the elements of a number of his self-penned songs “...kicking ‘round now for a few years,” put the disc together quickly, and decided to release it as just a Thom Yorke effort as opposed to including the songs on a Radiohead album. Consisting of more beats and electronics than the usual Radiohead offerings, the set will be released as a full album, titled The Eraser on XL Recordings, and will hit stores in July; those interested can get a preview by sticking around for the end credits of the upcoming Philip K. Dick/Richard Linklater rotoscoped film A Scanner Darkly, which will feature Yorke’s song “Black Swan”...

Yorke’s musical pal Bjork is set for a new release of her own, namely Surrounded, a box set overview of her career that will include her solo albums all the way from Debut (1993) to her work on the 2005 soundtrack for the film Drawing Restraint 9. Seven albums will be included in all, and five of the albums will include promo videos, so fans can expect to see some terrific Bjork visuals in the form of music vids for tunes “Human Behaviour,” “Army of Me,” the retro-cool “It’s Oh So Quiet,” “I Miss You,” “Bachelorette,” “Cocoon,” “Triumph of a Heart,” and “Where is the Line,” among others. The Bjork Surrounded box set will hit stores on June 27...

Just returned from an extended band break, Apples in Stereo are already back at it, recording their fifth studio album, which they’ve dubbed New Magnetic Wonder and have planned for a 2007 release date; the album will be their first since 2002’s Velocity of Sound. The band has also been snagged to open for The Strokes on the last five dates of The Strokes’ current North American headlining tour; Apples will be joined on stage by Olivia Tremor Control’s Bill Doss, who will cover backing vocals and keyboard duties for the band during their Strokes’ live dates...
And Weezer member Matt Sharp’s former band, The Rentals, have reformed, complete with Rachel Haden plus multi-instrumentalist Sara Radle, viola player Lauren Chipman, drummer Joeright, and keyboardist Ben Bringle, and are set to tour this summer, beginning July 2 in California. The band also has plans to return to the recording studio later this year, to record a disc that is planned for release some time in 2007; the group’s last album was 1999’s Seven More Minutes...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: Influential alt-rockers Wire are re-releasing CD versions of their first three albums,
Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, and 154, and they’ve bundled them with a pair of cool live discs - it’s a special box set that you can check out and order online at www.posteverything.com...

MINI BUZZ:
The MTV Movie Awards are now set to be taped on June 3 at Sony Pictures Studio in L.A., with performances lined up from Christina Aguilera and AFI...
Iceland’s Sigur Ros have just booked a huge outdoor homecoming show for themselves this summer - they’ll take the stage in late July in front of 90,000 fans in their hometown of Reykjavik...
Chris Cornell and Audioslave have given a name to their new album - look for Audioslave’s Revelations in stores later this summer...
The Killers have been sequestered in Las Vegas’ recording studio, Studio at the Palms, with producers Alan Moulder and Flood, working on sixteen new songs that are slated for the next Killers’ full-length album...
No Doubt, sans Gwen Stefani, have also gone back into the studio, to slowly begin pre-production on songs for a new album; the band expects to really get working on the album full-force once Stefani has her baby and feels ready to get back into the game...
Lostprophet will release their album, Liberation Transmission,on June 26, with the album’s first single, “Rooftops” (Aiberation Transmission) set to hit radio a week earlier...

And hitting radio this week are these new releases... ON CD: Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open... The Stills’ Without Feathers... Matmos’ The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast... Clear Static’s Clear Static... Plain White T’s Hey There Delilah... Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium... ON DVD: Iggy Pop’s Live in San Fran 1981... Natalie Merchant’s VH1 Storytellers... Kate Bush: Under Review... and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Nocturne...and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions about this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!

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