March 28, 2024

The Duran-Timberlake Nexus

Oct. 25, 2006
Duran Duran and Justin Timberlake? Yep, you read that right - the innovative ‘80s English dance-popsters and naughties’ hitmaker Timberlake have been in the studio together working with producer Timbaland for a collaboration that is likely to appear on D2’s next album. The Elaborately Hairsprayed Quintet and the N’Syncer originally met at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, where Duran Duran were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Timberlake later talked with the band - who he is reportedly a huge fan of - about the possibility of them working together...

A whole pile of ska acts are packing up their Vans to hop on the, er, van for a musical roadtrip that’s been dubbed The Fall of Ska tour, which will kick off next week in Aspen, Colorado. Among the acts along for the ride will be Reel Big Fish, Westbound Train, Suburban Legends, and Streetlight Manifesto, with the tour set to play shows in over two dozen cities before it wraps in Jacksonville, Florida in December; Reel Big Fish will be promoting their recently released live disc, Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album, which hit stores this past August...

The Latin Grammy Awards are about ready to say “me gusta!” to their favored acts of the year, and Colombian popster Shakira is leading the nominations with five nods, including both Song and Album of the Year. Her producer, Gustavo Cerati, also got some recognition with four nominations; two for Album of the Year, one for his work with Shakira, and one for his own record. In some of the other categories, Sergio Mendes received a Best Record nomination for his 40-year-old song “Mas Que Nada,” which had been revamped by The Black Eyed Peas; and Pamela, Lena, Ines Gaviria, Ceu, and Puerto Rico’s Calle 13 are all battling it out for the Best New Artist prize. The Latin Grammies will be aired on November 2...
In Afro-Cuban music news, producer Demitrio Muniz is working with members of Buena Vista Social Club to remix several of today’s popular modern rock songs into a charity album. Among the songs selected to get an exotic spin are Coldplay’s “Clocks,” Franz Ferdinand’s “Matinee,” Sting’s “Fragilidad,” Dido’s “One Step Too Far,” and additional tunes from Maroon 5, Arctic Monkeys, U2, and Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer; The set will benefit environmental awareness non-profit organiza-tion Artists Project Earth, and more info can be found at
www.rhythmsdelmundo.com...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: Hey, Cobra Starship fans! The band has just posted a new song from their album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets - hop online to www.purevolume.com/cobrastarship to snag the tune “It’s Warmer in the Basement”...

MINI BUZZ:
A new album by Grammy-winner singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith is set for a November 14 release; Ruby’s Torch is said to be a collection of torch songs, some written by Griffith and some covers...
Irish folk-rocker Damien Rice will also release his latest album (his sophomore effort) on November 14; titled 9, Rice recorded and produced the album and also created the artwork for the disc, which contains not nine, but 10 songs...
And one more November 14 release to announce this week - keep your eyes/ears peeled for The Uneventful Vacation by a band called Commander Venus - the album, originally released in 1997, features a teenaged, pre-Bright Eyes Conor Oberst...
Chevelle have gone back into the recording studio to start work on their next album, which will serve as the long-awaited follow up to their 2004 release, This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) - the new Chevelle disc is schedule for release in spring of 2007...
The Deftones have announced a series of headlining fall tour dates in support of their upcoming album, Saturday Night Wrist, which will hit stores on October 31 - Deftones’ tour dates will include stops in San Diego (11/12), Atlanta, GA (11/25), and Philadelphia (12/2)...
Sufjan Stevens might have a Christmas album on the way in November, but he’s still going to keep himself busy until then; he’s joining friend and labelmate Daniel Smith on a track for the upcoming compilation CD I Killed the Monster, which pays homage to the music of Daniel Johnston; Stevens and Smith collaborate on the song “Worried Shoes”...

And here are this week’s new releases... ON CD: Lindsey Buckingham’s Under the Skin... The Kooks’ Inside In/Inside Out... DJ Shadow’s The Outsider... Howie Beck’s Howie Beck... The Mosquitos’ Mosquitos III... and Weird Al Yankovic’s Straight Outta Lynwood, complete with Al’s takes on songs by Green Day and Chamillionaire... ON DVD: The Cars Unlocked: The Live Performances... Ray Charles’ At the Olympia... Face to Face’s Shoot the Moon... and Englebert Humperdinck’s Totally Amazing... 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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