March 29, 2024

BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Forty

Sept. 5, 2007
Currently celebrating their 40th anniversary, BBC Radio 1 has plenty of festive things planned, one of them being one that, should you live overseas or not, you’ll be able to (and will likely want to, if you’re a music fan!) snag. The UK broadcaster is prepping to release a compilation disc that will bring together 40 cover songs, one for each year that the station has been on the air, as performed by many of the musicians currently on the BBC Radio 1 playlist. Although the tracklisting hasn’t yet been solidified, as some of the tracks are still being recorded as you read this, a few of the notables will (hopefully) include Franz Ferdinand taking on David Bowie’s “Sound and Vision” - Razorlight covering Sting’s “Englishman in New York” - Natasha Bedingfield doing her take on Madonna’s “Ray of Light” - Keane covering the Queen/David Bowie classic “Under Pressure” - Corinne Bailey Ray trying her version of The Raconteur’s “Steady as She Goes” - and The Fray covering R.E.M.’s “Great Beyond”...

Speaking of R.E.M., the legendary indie-rockers are getting ready to drop their very first concert album, the simply-dubbed R.E.M. Live. Arriving as a 2-CD, single DVD set, the album was recorded at the band’s February 27, 2005 concert in Dublin, Ireland, and was directed by Blue Leach. Although the setlist is heavy on newer material, the band also rips through several B-sides, including “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” “I Took Your Name,” and the previously unreleased “I’m Gonna DJ.” R.E.M. are also currently in the studio, working with producer Jacknife Lee on what’s hoped will be a new R.E.M. album in 2008...

The Shins are set to tour the fall away in promotion of their current album, Wincing the Night Away,” and will cruise through Europe before heading back to the U.S. to continue their stateside dates on the 30th in the unlikely locale of Bend, Oregon, where they’ll kick off the remainder of their tour. Other stops on the trek will include Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival on 9/1, Chicago’s Download Fest on 9/2, and additional shows in Los Angeles (10/7), Hotlanta (10/17), and Las Vegas (10/27). And, if you can’t catch ‘em live, chances are you’ll at least be able to catch the band’s new radio single, “Turn On Me,” as remixed by whistlin’ Swedish band Peter Bjorn and John...

And CMJ recently announced the first set of acts that will appear at the next CMJ Music Marathon and Filmfest, a 5-day event that will take place in NYC’s Greenwich Village from October 16th through the 20th. Solidified into the live playlist so far are Mates of State, Mute Math, UNKLE, The Ponys, British Sea Power, Xiu Xiu, Simian Mobile Disco, and Spoon, who will close out the big show at the end of the week. For an official line up and more info on the films and bands that will be playing at CMJ, check out the event’s official website at www.cmj.com/marathon...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Pinback have put together, no, not a special edition CD; nope, not a T-shirt; nah, not a new website - but a wacky yet beautiful videogame to help promote their latest album. The game, titled November Fireflight, is set to brand new Pinback songs, and the goal of the game is to bring the main character safely back to The Autumn of the Seraphs, which also, hmm, conveniently happens to be Pinback’s new album’s title. Go online to play at
www.pinback.com/game...

MINI BUZZ:
Head on over to iTunes this week to check out Beck’s new album-free (at least, so far) single - his “Timebomb” track will be an iTunes exclusive until the end of the month...
L.A. radio station KROQ has renamed their Inland Invasion Festival to “L.A. Invasion,” and they’re bringing in a ton of big names to headline the equally big show on September 15th, including Smashing Pumpkins, Chris Cornell, Hot Hot Heat, and Foo Fighters...
Aussie popsters Architecture in Helsinki are packing up to tour the U.S. to help promote their latest set, Places Like This, which is hitting stores this week on Polyvinyl Records; tour stops will include Philly (10/10), Chicago (10/16), Toronto (10/18), and Montreal, Canada (10/19)...
Producer Daniel Lanois is at the helm for Here Is What Is, a new documentary film of U2 that will in large part showcase how the band works in the recording studio; the film will also include appearances by Sinead O’Connor and Brian Eno...
The Foo Fighters, performing live during the BBC’s Jo Whiley Show’s Live Lounge segment, were asked to, in addition to playing their own songs, also cover a tune by a band that they admire; so the Foos did their own take on the Arcade Fire’s “Keep the Car Running”...
There’s still one more concert film to talk about this week, this one being Pearl Jam’s Imagine in Cornice (Picture in a Frame, a new DVD concert film that showcases the band’s live performances during the European leg of their last tour...
And here are this week’s other new releases... ON CD: Eisley’s Combinations... Emperor’s Wrath Of The Tyrant (Special Edition)... The Stage Names’ Okkervil River... Mae’s Singularity... Minus the Bear’s Planet of Ice... and Social Distortion’s Greatest Hits... ON DVD: Chris and Rich Robinson’s (Black Crowes) Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy... Shirley Horn - Live at the Village Vanguard... Jazz Icons: John Coltrane... and This is Elvis... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com


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